"Dad?" Annabeth questioned as she stepped into the front lobby of the gym. When her phone vibrated, that was the last person she expected to call her. They hadn't talked since their last awkward conversation, and she wasn't looking forward to continuing it.
"Hey Beth," her father began. "I never did congratulate you on your last victory."
"Oh," Annabeth said in surprise as she stopped walking. "That's okay. I know you're busy."
"I have a question for you," her father suddenly uttered. Annabeth tensed and started to walk again. She made it into the gym and looked around. The only two there were Nico and Percy. Both of them were working together to change out the punching bags. Annabeth smiled brightly as she saw Percy.
"Annabeth?" her father asked.
"Sorry," Annabeth replied quickly as she snapped back to reality. She walked towards Percy and wrapped him in a half hug. Percy hugged her back as well with a smile. "What can I do for you, dad?"
"You okay?" Percy mouthed. Annabeth held up a finger because she wasn't so sure yet.
"The boys won't stop talking about your next fight," her father informed nervously. "With the boys having their birthdays coming up, and I was wondering if I could get tickets for them to watch your next fight. Can you arrange that?"
"Of course," Annabeth agreed after a pause. "I think I can get backstage passes for them as well."
"Thank you. About our last conversation-"
"I have to go, actually. I'll talk to you later," Annabeth interrupted. "Bye, dad."
Annabeth quickly pressed end and put her phone back into her pocket. She bumped Percy's shoulder, "Hey, stranger."
"Hey," Percy returned cooly. "Sorry I haven't been around much. There have been a lot of patients."
"Don't stress it," Annabeth waved off. She looked at Nico. "How is Reyna doing?"
"Not great," Nico admitted with a soft sigh. "I can tell it's still digging at her, and she's tried to talk about it. It doesn't really get anywhere. I just wish I could help her."
"It takes time," Percy tried to soothe. Nico nodded, but he didn't look too happy about it. "You should have seen how long it took for Annabeth to open up to me. When I used to ask her what she was doing, she would just glare at me like I disgusted her."
"You disgust everyone," Nico commented. A hand slapped his arm. "Ow!"
"Don't be mean to Percy," Hazel ordered. She gently shoved Nico out of the way and hugged Percy. A grin split Percy's face as he returned the act, and he even had the gall to stick his tongue out at Nico.
"I'll be mean to him," Nico promised. "Now come on, loser. We have more bags to replace."
"I'll help," Hazel offered.
"Lupa needs to talk to us," Reyna announced to the group. Annabeth almost jumped in surprise, and she turned towards the woman. "Upstairs as soon as you can. Her office."
Reyna adjusted the backpack that she had. Her eyes were still red, and Annabeth found herself frowning. She knew this breakup was tearing Reyna apart, but she didn't think it would be this bad. Then again, there had to be more beneath the surface.
"I just need to change," Annabeth promised. Reyna nodded and turned away. Hazel quickly followed by Reyna and talked to her, probably trying to cheer her up. Annabeth made her way towards the lockers and changed in record time.
Annabeth hurried up the stairs and made it to Lupa's office. Frank was already sitting down in a chair, and Reyna was sitting on the couch with Hazel by her. Annabeth stood by the desk, and Lupa looked at them. A small smile came to her face.
"Annabeth. Reyna. The league wants to have an early face-off for the fight. I'm sure there will be another one or two along the way, but they wanted a few sound bites to hype the match," Lupa explained. "It will be on Friday. There won't be any weigh-ins, rather just questions being asked. Then, you will have a face-off, so they can snap a few photos."
"They want me there too?" Reyna asked as she glanced at her wrist.
"They do," Lupa confirmed. She leaned back in her seat. "I also heard a rumor, but I'm not quite sure how true it is. Every title is being defended at the anniversary event, and there's going to be a blood feud fight or two like the one between Reyna and Clarisse. The rumor is that a woman's fight will be the main event."
Annabeth's jaw almost dropped. At the moment, there was only one woman's title, and no two women had any kind of feud as bloody as Reyna and Clarisse did. Which meant that Annabeth would have the main event fight against Arachne on the biggest stage there possibly could be.
"Congratulations, Annabeth. You deserve it," Reyna spoke up. Annabeth looked at her and slowly nodded her gratitude. They both knew the title fight would be the main event. Unless the title fight wasn't on the card, a regular fight wouldn't close the event.
"Frank and Hazel, your fights are going to be announced next week, so we are going to ramp up our research," Lupa decided. "With all four of you preparing for fights, we are going to do this a little differently. I want everyone to collaborate on a strategy for each fight. We will start with Frank's fight today, Hazels' tomorrow, Annabeth's Wednesday, and Reyna's on Thursday. We'll do that for most of the day and then exercise for the rest."
"I will spend one day a week working with all of you," Lupa continued. "Reyna, we will follow your doctor's recommendations and alter your training based on that. We'll be cutting it close."
Reyna nodded but didn't offer any other response. Lupa continued, "Percy has volunteered to come in as much as he can to help, and Annabeth, please tell him he is going to accept payment."
"I'll do my best," Annabeth promised. Lupa nodded, and her gaze fluttered over to Reyna.
"Why don't you all start researching," Lupa suggested as she stood. "I'll order lunch."
It was three hours later that Annabeth found herself chewing on a pen, and she was going to blame Piper for the habit. There was a notebook filled with notes in front of her. Frank and Hazel had their own notebooks as well. Reyna was the only one who hadn't written anything down, but Annabeth would chalk that up to her not being able to write.
"So, what do we think?" Frank began as he paused the video. They had spent time watching the fights of Frank's next opponent: Ethan Nakumura. Annabeth glanced down at her notes. "Any suggestions on how I should tackle him?"
"Go after his blindspot," Hazel piped up as she looked at Frank. "I know you might feel dirty for it, but you have to take any advantage you can."
"I wouldn't," Reyna countered after a few moments. She studied the paused video. "Everyone goes after his blindspot, and he expects it every time."
"Attack his good side," Annabeth added. Reyna glanced back at her. "Some other fighters started doing that, but they abandoned the attack not long after Ethan blocked everything. You have to treat Ethan like a regular fighter."
"She's right," Reyna finally agreed in a quiet, almost tired, sigh. Her head rested on her fist as she used her elbow to support her. "That's what no one ever does: they focus on his blind side. If you know the attacks are coming from one side, it's easier to defend."
"Ethan loves to grapple," Hazel chimed in. "Try to stay on your feet."
"Turn it into a boxing match," Annabeth suggested again. "We'll have to work on your mix-ups. We should get you comfortable with different combinations and then have you make your own."
"That sounds good," Frank said after a few moments. He took a shaky breath. "I have to win this fight."
"You will," Hazel reassured warmly. Annabeth quickly voiced her agreement. The only one who didn't speak was Reyna. Annabeth glanced at her and found herself getting ready to lecture the other woman. Before she could, she saw Reyna had her head resting on the table and was asleep.
Frank quietly grabbed the remote from the table and turned the volume all the way down. Then, he started to play the next fight. Hazel smiled gently at Reyna before focusing her gaze on the video as well. Annabeth didn't pay attention. She had her eyes solely on Reyna.
Annabeth knew just how seriously Reyna took her job. It wasn't like her to be falling asleep in the middle of the gym. Was this the aftermath of the break up or even the car wreck? Was it all piled up on top of each other? Annabeth resisted the urge to reach out and grab Reyna's arm.
Annabeth would just have to be supportive of her friend. And also help her teammates. Then, she had the face-off to worry about. Annabeth couldn't show any fear or worry in front of Arachne. The woman would feed off of the smallest weakness that Annabeth showed, so she couldn't show any at all.