"Hello Annabeth, your presence is requested on Olympus, no, that sounds too much like a demand," Athena mumbled to herself. "'Hello daughter, I was wondering if you wanted to swing by my place and check it out.' No, that sounds even worse. 'Annabeth come to Olympus at once I de-.' No, that's the worst one yet."
It should not be this hard to invite your daughter over to your palace to spend time with her. But then if she had not been so distant over the years, not to mention what happened with Minerva, then perhaps it would not be. Athena was not the type of goddess to run away from things, avoid things sure, that's what her family did, but she did not run away from a challenge, no matter how hard or awkward it can be.
Athena was trying to figure out a way to ask Annabeth to come visit her palace on Olympus and had been for the last hour. Currently helping her were Diomedes, Monica, and Tamsin who mostly helped by watching her pace.
"I still think you're overthinking this," Diomedes said, not taking her eyes off of her work. Currently she was styling the blue wig Monica was wearing for some reason, but Athena did not question it. She would later, but for now she was too busy to be curious. "I think Annabeth will be happy just to be able to spend time with you. Most kids want their parents to pay attention to them, demigods more than most."
"Maybe five or ten years ago she would," Athena argued back, she did not even pause her pacing. "I am far too late to play the parent giving attention to the attention starved child. Even if Minerva did not complicate our relationship, it would not be appropriate to hold attention over her."
"I'm not saying you lord anything over her, Athena," Diomedes said gently, finally looking up from her work with Monica's wig. "But she wants her mother's attention and approval, most people do even if they pretend they don't, even if they think they don't. Showing her that you want to change, that you sincerely want to spend time with her. I think it would mean a lot more than you'd think."
Athena hated her champion sometimes. Sure, Diomedes is smart and skilled, but she did not need to be right either. "I will put that in the maybe column," Athena relented. She wrote just tell her in green on her white board. So far the board was full of maybes in green and no's in red, the only blue was at the top spelling out YES, with nothing below it.
"Monica," she turned to the owl in Diomedes' lap, "what's your idea."
"She's dating that Perseus kid right," Monica said excitedly.
"Percy," Athena corrected. If she was going to refer to him as such, so would her subjects to make it easier to remember. "But continue."
"Well you could kidnap him," she started. Diomedes kept saying no in the background but Monica ignored her and continued. "Sneak into New Rome when they're asleep and take the guy quietly. Leave a random note telling Annabeth to come to Olympus and he won't be harmed. She'll come here in record time and once she realizes her boyfriend isn't in danger she'll be so relieved that she won't even be mad at you."
"Would that even-," Athena started to wonder before Diomedes cut her off.
"No! Do not do that unless you want Annabeth to hate you forever," Diomedes said to her goddess.
"You're my accountant," Tamsin said, gobsmacked as she flew an additional foot away from Monica. She had been doing so all day, most of the No's had been Monica's suggestion anyway.
"Why not," Monica whined, she was getting sick of having all of her suggestions go in the No column.
"Kidnapping is just a bad idea in the first place, so let's just preemptively put that in the No column from now on. If you abduct Percy, that will trigger your daughter," Diomedes said, deciding to focus on Athena, then Monica. "The darkest moments in her life, outside of Tartarus, were when Hera kidnapped Percy and you were broken by Minerva that you couldn't help her if you wanted to. Kidnapping him would bring all that back up, it wouldn't matter if he's fine, she will hate you for the rest of her life."
With a sigh, Athena nodded and wrote 'kidnapping Percy' in red. She knew it was a bad idea, but abductions worked about 50% of the time in her family, it was worth considering. At least until Diomedes reminded her about what Annabeth had been through in that horrible year.
"We can save that for another kid I suppose," Monica pouted.
"What if you tried appealing to her sense of curiosity and her pride," Tamsin said once she felt capable of taking her eyes off of Monica in suspicion. "You are planning on bringing your children to your palace for a bonding experience, maybe mention that to her. Say something like 'I want to make sure that my palace was ready for all of your siblings' or maybe even, 'you're the architect of Olympus, I was wondering if you would like to see my palace fully furnished,' just something like that would work."
"That is actually a wonderful idea, Tamsin," Athena said, rubbing her chin. It could definitely work. Her children were brilliant, but they were also cursed with her own curiosity. If she made the offer to see her palace now that it was finished according to her plans, an architect as skilled as Annabeth would love to see the finished product.
"It is," Diomedes agreed, "but perhaps you could still be honest with your daughter about why you want to spend time with her. It matters at any age," she said sadly. It was hard for Athena to ignore her champion at any time, but she had experience with desiring attention from a parent.
"Fine, but I will not call," Athena said stubbornly. "I believe that sending a text message would be better. It will give her time to respond." She pulled out a phone and started texting her daughter. 'Hello Annabeth, I was wondering if you had some time to meet sometime today or in the next few days?' After hitting send and waiting for a few moments Athena made sure to clarify, 'signed Athena Goddess of Wisdom and Warfare.' A few more seconds passed before she added, 'your mother.'
"There," Athena said turning to her council, "sent and now we play the waiting game."
"How has your family not realized how much of a dork you are," Diomedes asked in sincere wonder.
Athena was going to respond but then her phone rang, startling her. Her mind immediately went to bomb and threw it aside before realizing what she had done. Thankfully as a goddess she could move as quick as the wind and was able to catch the cellular device before it shattered on a marble pillar or something.
"Is this really you mother,' Annabeth texted back, 'because Connor if it's you, I will drown you in the lake and I won't even need Percy's help."
"Hello Annabeth, this is your mother Athena," Athena said, calling her on the phone. She decided it would be the easiest way to not make her identity clear. "I am calling you to confirm my identity."
"Mom," Annabeth squeaked on the other end, "I'm sorry, I didn't recognize the number."
"It is no issue Annabeth," Athena told her. "As I said in my text message that I was hoping you had some free time today to discuss some matters. Not a quest," she followed up quickly, "I know that you are exhausted on quests for now, just a matter of a request that bears no real importance on the fate of the world or civilization. If you are busy today the matter can wait," she assured her, knowing her daughter would make time for her out of respect for her station if not their paternal bond. And she did not wish that.
"I am teaching a small seminar at 10 today," Annabeth said as she checked her schedule on the other end. "But after that I have no plans for today."
"That will work," Athena assured her daughter, "it is a personal matter that I wish to discuss. Nothing of incredible importance," she wanted to ease Annabeth's worry. She knew her daughter well enough that part of her would be panicking at the idea of her mother coming to talk. Athena did not feel it was something worth worrying over, but then if Metis came calling she would be in a similar state. Though to be fair, Athena felt she would have had more of a reason if that was the case than Annabeth, for multiple reasons.
"Okay," Annabeth said, writing something down, "I will see you then, should I meet you in New Rome or would you prefer if we met outside of the boundaries of Camp Jupiter?"
"I can meet you in the city," Athena assured her. It would be frustrating, but now that the Athena Parthenos had been returned by Reyna, a Roman and Praetor of New Rome, Minerva was not thirsting for blood and vengeance. Meeting her daughter in New Rome would be bearable for her. Hopefully, Athena had methods of keeping her Roman counterpart at bay, it would not last, but it would keep her from rekindling war between their children if it came to it.
"O-Okay," Annabeth said nervously, clearly she had not forgotten her meeting with Minerva. Not that Athena would expect her to. "If you're sure," she gave Athena the information of where she was teaching her seminar so they could meet up. "I'll see you in a few hours," she said.
"I will see you then Annabeth," Athena replied. She took a moment before saying, "I hope your seminar goes well," she said.
Annabeth was quiet for a moment before saying, "thanks mom, I'll see you then," and she hung up.
Perhaps not the warmest of calls between a mother and daughter, but it was something. Athena's therapist told her to celebrate progress instead of wallowing in how far she had to go. "She said yes," she said to her council. "At least she is willing to meet with me," she could not keep the excitement out of her voice.
"I'm glad my lady," Diomedes said with a sincere smile, "aren't you glad you called ahead."
"Yes, yes," Athena said, "you were correct Diomedes, I am glad I took your advice," she rolled her eyes but she was not upset. It was not wrong to admit when someone else was right, only a fool did not acknowledge the wisdom of others, and Athena was no fool.
"Just remember that she meant 10 o'clock her time my lady," Tamsin told her. The owl knew her mistress well enough and while she could bury her disdain for the Romans for Annabeth for a time, it could potentially be a disaster for her to arrive three hours earlier than expected.
"Right," Athena said, "Annabeth is going to school on the West Coast. Thank you Tamsin. It was only 8 on Olympus, she had some time, some time to plan on what she was going to say.
"Who are you and what are you doing here," a statue yelled at her. That would be Terminus if her research on Roman gods was correct and of course it was. "Stand in front of me and let me get a look at you. He definitely looked angry. "Weapons, weapons, you're covered in weapons so close to the city. How dare you. I would strangle you to death right now if it weren't my job."
Athena decided not to bring up his lack of arms, even if he had them they would do him no good against her. "I am a traveler here to speak with Annabeth Chase. She resides in the city."
"Oh her, the daughter of That goddess," Terminus said, rolling his eyes. "I wouldn't put it past her to be making trouble," he grumbled. "Very well, if you have the clearance you can enter after putting all of your weapons in the box."
"By that goddess," Athena managed to get out without snarling.
"Oh she is the daughter of an oath breaking goddess," Terminus said, happy to spread some gossip about, even if he did not know this stranger. "Minerva of all goddesses having a child despite her oaths. For shame."
"But she is the daughter of Athena, not Minerva," Athena told him. Give people a chance to learn from their mistakes, Diomedes and Dr. Lupe had told her.
"Bah it's the same thing, one is Greek and the other is Roman, but they are the same goddess," Terminus said, writing her off.
"No," Athena's voice echoed with power as she glowed with her power, "Minerva is what happens when a goddess is betrayed and violated. Who had pieces of her identity chopped off of her to be more docile and accommodating. Athena however," she said fully snarling before the minor god before her, "is the war goddess Minerva always wanted to be."
It would have been so easy to smash this minor god to dust and force her way into the city. But that could cause war when they have just established a peace between the two factions of demigods. Athena might love war, but it would not be worth it for such a small offense, nor the headaches. Besides Reyna was a Roman and a good one, Annabeth had found a second home in New Rome, to restart the war would be something Minerva would do in her madness. Athena could rise above.
"Now, I have business with my daughter in the city so open up the barrier," she commanded.
"B-but your weapons," Terminus managed to get out from pure stubbornness and muscle memory.
"My weapons stay with me," Athena said to be obstinate. It was not like she was in any danger in New Rome, it was no longer enemy territory. But even if she was, she could summon an armory with the flick of her wrist and no Roman god would be able to stop her. But no, she wanted him to know how little authority he had over her. "You have my word as someone who has never broken my oaths, that I will harm no one in the city unless I am attacked first."
"Now I will only repeat myself once more. Open the barrier so I may continue with my day or I will shatter it myself." For emphasis she placed two fingers on his barrier around the city. Applying a bit of pressure and power, the barrier started to crack. Just a little bit, something easily repaired but enough let her flaunt her power a bit. No one with mortal eyes would be able to see the crack, but the two of them could and that is what mattered.
"I-if you aren't going to cause any trouble, I don't see why I shouldn't let you in," Terminus told her, shaking on his pedestal. The barrier opened enough for her to walk through.
"Thank you," Athena said with a slight nod of her head. She started to enter the city, but she stopped. "Oh and Terminus," she called out to him smiling sweetly, "never speak a bad word of my daughter or Minerva again or I will be back and make you wish you were born a marble countertop." And then she turned her heel and put him out of her mind.
Part of her will always hate Minerva, but no one gets to speak ill of her other half in her presence. Besides, no one hates Minerva more than Minerva so it is best to leave her alone and in peace inside of their head.
The city of New Rome was beautiful, Athena had to admit as she walked down the streets. The Romans knew architecture and city planning, she would give them that. It was strange to see this many demigods and legacies of all ages in one place. Not even Ancient Greece had this many people of divine blood together as a community.
Even with her father, uncles, and siblings trying to add more to the number, demigods were still outnumbered by mortals by a huge amount. She wondered if the Greeks could have a city like this, where their children could grow up without the fear of being hunted. Athena had more children that made it to adulthood than the rest of her family, but it would be nice to have the average age of demigods raised above 18.
For now, Athena put that out of her mind. That was a matter for later. Perhaps Annabeth would be interested in drawing up plans for a terrestrial city if she could convince her family to expand Camp Half-Blood into something more.
It was not hard to find Annabeth, she had called ahead and she knew her daughter. Despite the semester being over, she was teaching architecture to children too young to learn about it in school.
That was her daughter, wise beyond her years and hungry for knowledge, but happy to share it with others. That is how one of her children should be, even if it was teaching Rom-.
'No,' Athena said, shaking the thoughts from her head and pinching her arm to drive those thoughts further away. It was not a healthy coping mechanism, but pain was something more familiar to her than anything else so it was all she had at the moment. Whatever the Romans did to her in the past was the past. They were dead, some of them twice over thanks to Apollo. If she was going to move on, she would have to accept that these children of Rome have done nothing to her.
'Have done nothing for me either,' a darker voice whispered in her head, but Athena just pinched her arm harder. Keep those voices back in her head, for now at least. They could be dissected later. She wanted to see her daughter.
Athena found Annabeth in an outdoor cafe, she was surrounded by children of all ages who listened to her with rapt attention. Architecture; Athena could tell by listening in, her daughter's first love. She had no desire to interrupt Annabeth, so she watched proudly from afar.
Her daughter was a good teacher. Annabeth understood that she was not teaching an advanced college level course, she was speaking to a bunch of children. She did not use complicated terms and was patient when they interrupted her to ask questions. It was a basic explanation of architecture, but then they were children so it was understandable. About 15 minutes later, the class was over and the students were dismissed. Most stayed behind to ask questions or hug their nice teacher. Annabeth looked embarrassed, but Athena could tell she was eating up the attention.
One girl, maybe six or so, actually hugged her around the legs. Annabeth was surprised but accepted it after a moment. Then all the kids wanted hugs from their favorite teacher. It was adorable, Athena took pictures from her for posterity and then waited patiently until they left with their parents.
"You are good with children," Athena said walking up behind her daughter, "perhaps after you retire you could take up teaching."
Annabeth jumped in surprise. She had been living in New Rome for the past few months, but her senses hadn't dulled. Being hunted by monsters since you were seven kept you vigilant even when you thought you were safe, especially when you thought you were safe. But Athena snuck up on her like it was nothing.
"Mother," Annabeth said, recovering. "I didn't expect you so early."
"I prefer to arrive early," Athena explained, "there can always be complications," sometimes there is traffic, sometimes roads are closed, sometimes there are giant monsters that need to be dealt with. "If you plan to arrive early then at worst you tend to be on time."
Things were awkward and silent around the two of them for a few moments. "So," Athena started, "I saw that you did well in your classes this last semester."
"Yeah," Annabeth said proudly, "mostly A's, one B," she said definitely, as if wanting Athena to criticize her for not have straight A's across the board.
"I suppose it is nice to be challenged for once by the material than the words," Athena answered back, with seemingly no judgment to Annabeth's surprise. There were many reasons why Athena hated the American education system, but not allowing children to do reading in Ancient Greek to see if they could comprehend that better was a big one. Her children tended to suffer a lot due to that rule despite their brilliance. Hence why they were labeled troublemakers or know it alls because they knew they were smart and were not being treated fairly.
"I guess so," Annabeth admitted, not expecting Athena to be accepting of her not having perfect grades. "Not having to worry about monsters jumping me in the bathroom helps too."
"I have spoken to Zeus about creating a space like this for our Greek children as well," Athena mentioned. "It is not going well, but he has not dismissed it out of hand so there is a chance for the future." Camp Half Blood was a fine idea for their children, but it has been over a hundred years and children grow up, even if most demi-gods do not. Monsters might attack demi-gods who make it to adulthood less, but it still happened, and creating something like New Rome for the Greeks would help increase that number.
"I've sketched up plans for something similar," Annabeth admitted. She did not have the magical power to keep a place as large as New Rome safe so it was just an idea for now, but maybe if they found a way to extend the boundaries of Camp…, one day maybe.
Athena smiled at that, she knew Annabeth would, her warrior, her leader, her architect, it would be a dream to create something like a city that would last forever. A home for demi-gods where they would not have to live in fear. Perhaps she could help move things along in the future. But that was something to put on her to do list, which was already miles long. Athena fiddled with the buckles on her armor to ground herself.
"While it is not on the same sort of scale, I do wish to talk to you about an architecture project that I think you might be interested in," Athena said, knowing that alone would peak her daughter's interest. "You see, in a month or so, I have not decided on a date. I am planning on inviting you and your siblings to spend a weekend or so at my palace on Olympus. In sort of a family bonding activity." Sally had suggested it and Athena desired spending time with her children even if it did not always seem like it.
"I know demi-gods visit Olympus during the solstice, but rarely see more than the council chamber or other neutral sites. I thought it would be…fun if we could spend some time getting to know each other…, at my home," Athena admitted. She knew she sounded awkward. "I rarely entertain visitors and my palace has remained unchanged for decades, perhaps, as Architect of Olympus you would be interested in helping me change it to be more accommodating to your siblings."
"I'd love to," Annabeth said the moment Athena stopped talking. As strange things were between them, Annabeth knew it was better to not interrupt a goddess, especially her mother. She wasn't Percy afterall, he barely survived the stupid things he did. Still, designing the city of Olympus was one thing, to design her mother's personal abode, something she had never seen before as god's palaces were not something she had access to without them requesting her services. Some did, others didn't but her mother never had.
"Wonderful," Athena said, letting out the breath she was holding. She wanted things to get better with Annabeth, with all of her children really, but Annabeth was the one she hurt the most and the one she needed to start with. This was something Sally and Dr. Lyra suggested. To mend their relationship, sincerely ask Annabeth for help with something that she wanted to do and it would give them a chance to spend time together. "If you are free now, I can take you to Olympus. I can have you back here by dinner time," Athena said offering a hand.
"Let me go home first, let Percy know where I'm going and grab my bag for designing things. I can meet you back here in half an hour," Annabeth told her, full of nervous energy.
"Take your time Annabeth," Athena told her through gritted teeth. She could stand being in the boundaries of Roman territory, but the urge to shift to Minerva scratched at the back of her head. She hated the feeling, Minerva hated being Minerva as much as she wanted to be Athena. Athena, for her part, knew that while much of what she presented to the outside world was a facade, it was still a type of armor. She was still the most powerful goddess or god of her generation, but the reminder of what the Romans made her into made her fingers itch for her spear even now.
Still, Athena stayed her hand. For now New Rome was the closest thing her daughter had to a home. Sure demigods could live in the mortal world if they were careful, Athena had enough grown children who had children of their own to know it was possible. But the last few years had been particularly hard for the children of Olympus. She did not fault Annabeth for moving to a city that could at least guarantee a measure of safety, more than anywhere else other than Olympus. Even if it was Roman.
Athena merely took a seat and closed her eyes as she waited for her daughter's return. Thirty three minutes and fifteen seconds passed until Annabeth returned, her daughter's breath slightly labored. She must have hurried so Athena would not chastise her for being a little late.
"I am surprised Percy is not here demanding he accompany you," Athena mused.
"He wanted to," Annabeth admitted, "but he has sword classes to teach this afternoon that he couldn't miss. The younger demi-gods love him, you know."
"I suppose that it is good he found what he is good at," Athena said neutrally. Percy was a good swordsman, she thought he could do with proper instruction since he relied too much on his natural talent, but experience is one of the best teachers. Survival is the best proof of skill after all. And sometimes teaching is the best way to learn.
"How are we getting to Olympus," Annabeth asked. "I could get Mrs. O'Leary to shadow travel us to Central Park at least. It's not much of a walk to the Empire States Building from there."
"I have a quicker way," Athena said, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder. And an instant later they were at the entrance of her villa on Olympus.
"Damn," Annabeth said in wonder, not caring that she had just swore in front of her mom, "I wish we could move that quickly on quests."
"Yes," Athena said bitterly, "that would be useful, but the King of Olympus in his infinite wisdom knows that heroes need the journey as well as the success when it comes to quests." she had repeated it enough she would have memorized it even if she did not have perfect memory.
"Would you like to come inside," Athena asked awkwardly. Welcoming one of her children into her home for the first time in generations.
So part 1 of 2 where Annabeth and Athena get to spend some quality time together like I said at the beginning I hope you like it.
as usual I have to play with canon a bit with Olympus, originally I was going to have Athena ask Annabeth to make changes to her palace that she already made, but then I realized that the gods personal abodes probably weren't destroyed in the war. at least not to the same extent the main city of Olympus was so I changed it.
One thing I want to make clear with this story is that Athena for all her power and wisdom is a huge dorky nerd.
Terminus might be out of character with the insults to Minerva and Annabeth, especially after the war, but I didn't read the last few books of trials of Apollo that take place in new Rome so he's kind of in his mark of Athena characterization since that's what I know. He's kind of annoying in SoN and MoA, so I kind of put him here to show that while there is peace between greeks and romans, some prejudice holds firm and I don't think Terminus would be accepting of Minerva since in the series she's treated as kind of a joke and oath breaker. Athena however would not stand for that and she is not someone to write off as much as the romans do in the series.
Just so people know, I have no plans to write the sleepover with Athena's children, it will be mentioned, but that is far too many oc's for me to write. anyone can with my blessing, but it's too many characters and too much dialogue for me to write, I know my own limits
Hope you all like it, leave a kudo and a comment if you did. Comments especially keep the creative engine going.