Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus.

Chapter Summary; The Athena Parthenos, worth it or not? Why is Reyna so lucky?

A Mother's Apology - Annabeth

Annabeth gave her mother an incredulous look, "I beg your pardon?"

The mighty Athena sighed, and repeated the previous statement louder, "I am saying that I am sorry. I am apologising to you, my daughter."

When Athena had pulled Annabeth away from the mess hall, they went straight to Annabeth's cabin. All is silent except the footsteps that echoed throughout the corridor.

They stood in the middle of her room. Her mother looked around her room, taking in the place that Annabeth had cozied herself in. There were countless of maps and blueprints, the books lawn strewn on the floor, and the blue hat that Athen had given to her all those many years hung on the wooden wall.

The Goddess of Wisdom smiled fondly.

The goddess's gray eyes, the same ones Annabeth had inherited, looked at her. Her gaze ever calculating, intimidating the teen. The seventeen-year-old felt like she was experiencing a MRI scanning. So this is what people feel whenever I look at them, Annabeth thought.

Athena started, "How are you?"

The question was so simple yet so complexed. Her mother asked for them to talk privately just to ask How are you?

"Please do not think so much about the question, I am simply asking how you are, daughter." The smallest hint of mirth gleamed in her eyes as she spoke.

"I thought you disowned me at Grand Central Station, am I still acknowledged as the daughter of Athena?" Annabeth shot that sentence at her mother fast. The bottle of vexation that she had kept aside since that encounter burst open. She hadn't meant to be so harsh, but could you blame her. No sane child would like to be disowned by their parent.

Normally, when mortals and immortals talk in such tone to Athena, she would have felt great disrespect and would retaliate with a curse. Athena does have one of the worse tempers among the Olympian Council, no doubt inheriting that form her father, Zeus. However, already foreseeing this, the wisdom goddess was prepared for an outburst.

"It was Minerva you spoke to you at the station," she corrected.

She sighed heavily, she continued, "However, regardless of which form I was, Athena or Minerva, I had no right to say such things to one of my children, and I regret the harshness that I gave you when you were looking for guidance in a dire time."

She gestured to her daughter's bed and reluctantly, the demigoddess sat beside her mother.

"I have had many children over the span of a thousand years. Ever since my statue was taken, I have given the task of retrieving my statue to my wisest child of that age," She sighed, "You must understand the importance of the statue, Annabeth. That statue is not only a figure of power and authority, but it is also my link to the mortal world. It is my anchor, as Percy is yours."

"Your link to the mortal world?"

"Yes, over the years, mortals and demigods alike have been praying to that statue, giving offerings and such. It has become my source of energy, and after accumulating over the years, it manifested into a spiritual anchor that ties me to the mortal world, preventing me from fading." Athena paused, letting her daughter digest.

"How can you even fade? As Goddess of Wisdom, lost people pray to you on a daily basis for guidance. As Goddess of Battle Strategy, soldiers pray to you for an upper hand in a battle. Countless of prayers—"

"From demigods." The war goddess finished. "The prayers and offerings I receive now are from demigods and legacies, and only them. The Athena Parthenos was my connection to the mortals, believers and non-believers. Nowadays, mortals don't pray to me as much. You can imagine how much strength I had back in the days, when demigods, legacies and countless of mortals worshipped me."

"So your number of offerings and prayers has dwindled, due to the lack of mortal prayers and as a result, your powers have grown weaker. And since your statue, that had contained all those countless offerings was taken and covered by Arachne, it had blocked your spiritual anchor to the mortal world." Annabeth summarised, getting what her mother was saying. Athena nodded.

Understanding the situation her mother was in, the demigod's fury towards her mother shrunk. She still can't seem to let go of the harsh meeting at the station with Minerva, her hubris preventing her from doing so. Though her mother was hard and impassive, having her fade will cause Annabeth more emotional pain and to be frank, the teenager don't think she can handle any more emotional blunders.

"I hope you understand why I, both in the form of Minerva and as Athena, pushed so much for the Athena Parthenos. However," she paused for a minute, "The retrieval of my statue was not worth the pain of losing one of my brightest children, and my favoured daughter to Tartarus." She took a deep breath, "Hence, I apologise to you, Annabeth Chase, my daughter, that you had to experience such hell and torment. For you to experience such fate, not only in Tartarus but for the entirety of the journey as a demigod, and the two wars you faced and are facing right now, I know that I, Athena, have failed miserably at my duty as a mother. I am sorry."

Annabeth watched as a lone tear went down her mother's cheeks.

The usually impassive and proud goddess was admitting her wrongdoing and apologising to her demigod daughter. She didn't realise that her body moved, so when she hugged her mother and buried her head into the crook of Athena's neck, she surprised herself. As her mother's arms wrapped around her waist, Annabeth coudldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, her relationship with Athena, as mother and daughter, could be salvaged.

What Luck - Reyna

"Hold up, cupcake. So you are telling me, that both Lycaon, the King of Werewolves, and Orion, a giant hunter, are after us because of this," Coach Hedge pointed to the Athena Parthenos.

They were resting at a cave at the coast of Venezuela, the Athena Parthenos standing proud as a lighthouse on the beach. Nico di Angelo had fainted immediately using the last of his energy, and a bit of Reyna's, to transport the trio away from the menace of the werewolves. It has since been a day and a half since then and the son of Hades hadn't budge.

His pale skin seemed translucent in the sun, Reyna had the slightest urge to put her cape on his slumbering form before reprimanding herself. He's not your little brother. Though Reyna puts her trust in Nico's hand, and had felt his feedback when she shared some strength, Reyna didn't feel that it's appropriate to treat him like family. With a sigh, she used a damp cloth and wiped sweat off his heated forehead. She had been doing this every now and then, repeating the routine since yesterday when they arrived.

The only new thing that came up since then, was the dream Reyna had the night before. Instead of how they usually start, in the Gardens of Bacchus, drinking a cup of hot chocolate, overlooking the city she came to love, she had experience nightmarish hell as Gaea invaded her dream and plagued it with what the primordial calls, "Reality".

Her beloved city burning, greeks and romans fighting and friends, new and old, dying is not a reality she would like to have. The only good thing that came from the nightmare, was the information that the giant Orion, is hunting them down.

What a blessing, Reyna thought to herself.

She has been thinking of what to do with Lycaon and his pack. Silver is the key to fighting with wolves, but beside Reyna's small pocket knife, she had no other form of silver weaponry. She had been pacing in the cave, thinking of ways to combat the wolves. She did not want to face them unprepared just as they were in the Amazon Forest.

Coach Hedge had helped their situation by casting some satyr magic on the entrance of the cave and on the statue, hindering the werewolves and hopefully the giant from finding them.

The afternoon sun was high in the sky. The satyr's voice pierced the silence, "How 'bout you take a walk, cupcake? I can hear you thinking hard and I think a gentle walk will calm you down. Maybe beat down some monsters you see as well. The violence will help."

She slowly nodded, registering Hedge's suggestion. She shot a grateful look at him, before silently walking out. Reyna thought to herself, Lady Fortuna was really hate me, as darkness blinded her, not even 5 minutes after leaving the cave.

AN; Hi. Long time no update, I know. Sorry about that, had a bit of a writer's block. I'll try to update faster, and more frequently. SO this chapter is mostly on Annabeth, 'cause you doesn't love some Annabeth Chase, right? Reyna's part is a bit short I must admit, but her part will be major later on. Once again, sorry if I made you wait too long. 'Till next time!

Next Chapter; La Rue and Grace / Campers and Hunters