Chapter Text
1. The Time They Went on Their First Quest
When Adrien is fourteen years old, he is sent on his first quest. He is young and childish and stupid and doesn’t know what, exactly, Master Fu is doing, sending the least experienced person at camp on a quest this important.
He was only claimed less than a week ago, after a game of capture the flag had gone wrong. Lila had sneered at him, picking up her ax, slinging it back across her shoulder. “A child of Nemesis?” she’d exclaimed, “Seriously. And you all think he’s the one from the prophecy?”
A gold halo was emanating from the broken wheel symbol hovering over his head, sword hanging limply in his hand.
Marinette, one hand on the bloody gash on his forearm, one covering her mouth, was staring at him, skin pale and blue eyes wide. She was shaking her head faintly and he could just barely hear the words she had been whispering under her breath. “… that’s not good. I thought you would be– of all the gods, it had to be Nemesis,”
She is staring at him silently now, clearly analyzing something about him as their car made its way to New York City. Adrien had wondered why Camp didn’t just take them all the way west, but Plagg had explained to him, pointedly but not unkindly, that New York City was as far as Camp could take them, and at that point, the three of them would be alone.
Nino hums happily on Adrien’s left, listening to whatever music is pouring out of his headphones. A child of Apollo, Nino didn’t spend much of his time fighting, instead either working on his music or healing people in the infirmary.
Meanwhile, Marinette stares at him while fiddling with the golden coin imprinted with a mural crown– a gift from her mother, Tyche. She sighs, leaning back against the car door, seemingly trying to distance herself from him. “Repeat the prophecy again,” she nearly commands, her fist tightening around the coin.
It wouldn’t be hard to do, considering that the Oracle’s words had been ringing in his head for the past few days.
The broken wheel and wreath combined,
A stolen item you both must find,
Betrayed by one you thought you could trust,
And a beloved item turned to dust.
Adrien wrinkles his nose at how she says it. “I’m sorry, what?”
“I said,” Marinette replies slowly as though Adrien is particularly daft, “Repeat the prophecy again,”
“I know what you said,” Adrien shoots back, muscles tensing, “But really? No, please? No, Adrien could you repeat that for me? You’re not the boss of this quest, you know.” He can see Marinette’s eyes begin to blaze with anger, gold coin spilling out of her palm and into her lap.
“And why do you hate me so much anyway?” he asks, “What have I done wrong?”
The anger that was just in her eyes is doused, and Marinette leans back again, “We’re not supposed to like each other, you know,” she says softly, “Our moms have been clashing for centuries, Tyche representing good luck, and Nemesis often being seen as her counterpart– the bad luck, balancing her out. They… uh, they don’t like each other very much,”
“Then can’t we just balance each other out?” Adrien asks softly, “We don’t have to argue, you know. We could be like…” he hesitates for a moment, searching for some metaphor to attach to this friendship, “Like two sides of the same coin.”
Marinette smiles, and Adrien could swear she holds the stars in her teeth. “Yeah,” she says softly, looking down at the gold pressed into her palm, “Two sides of the same coin.”
Adrien is very quickly learning that being on a quest was not as fun as Plagg had led him to believe. He is quickly running out of time to find this stolen item– Fu had told him it was Zeus’s Master Bolt– the Furies had attacked the bus they’d been riding on, they’d already been attacked by a baby hydra, and Adrien is exhausted.
He sighs, smiling down at Marinette, who’d fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder.
They are on their way to Los Angeles, given the smallest number of directions on how to recover the Bolt, which he’d been told would be the key to stopping a huge war between the gods. And it doesn’t really help that Adrien has no clue what he is supposed to do.
The prophecy echoes through his mind again and again.
The broken wheel and wreath was him and Marinette– their cabin symbols. The two of them had to work together for the quest to succeed.
The three of them had to find the Master Bolt, although he still isn’t sure where it was or who had stolen it.
Adrien isn’t sure who will betray them is, but he is definitely not excited for that part of the prophecy to come true.
Adrien’s grip tightens on his sword almost subconsciously as he thinks about the last line. A beloved item turned to dust. The sword is an important part of him, even though he hasn’t had it for very long. It helps him channel his powers he inherited from Nemesis– without it, he isn’t sure he’d be able to control his tychokinesis.
Marinette stirs against his shoulder, and Adrien wraps an arm around her gently. She opens her eyes blearily, blinking sleep out of her eyes, “You’re tensing up,” she says quietly, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he replies quietly, mindful of Nino sleeping just a few inches over. “Go back to sleep, Lucky. You were on watch for hours. You deserve some rest.”
She shakes her head stubbornly, “No, I’ll stay up with you.” Marinette looks at him for a minute, head tilted as she studies his face, “You’re thinking about the prophecy again,” she says.
Adrien shrugs, “Hard not to.”
Marinette gives him a rueful smile, hand drifting to the coin she always carries. She’d placed it on a leather cord on the first day of their quest so it didn’t get in the way of her fighting. It rests at the hollow of her throat and she brushes her fingers against it. “It’ll be okay, Adrien,” she reassures, “You’re a good fighter and a better leader. You’ll save the day,”
He resists the urge to snort. Adrien could barely save himself, much less all of Western Civilization. He searches for some topic change, something away from him. “Why do you always carry that with you?”
“Oh,” Marinette says softly, unclasping the cord from around her neck, “The coin, you mean? Well, you know it’s a gift from my mother, but one day…” she sighs, “Tyche told me I would need it, one day. Her children all get some of her power to manipulate luck– kind of like you, but this coin,” Marinette taps the surface of it. “It allows me to wield the full extent of her power, if only for a minute. I’ll be able to change our luck as much as my mother could. The thing is,” she adds, re-clasping it and laying the coin across her chest, “I can only use it once. After that, it’s gone,”
“Let’s hope we don’t have to use it,” Adrien says slowly, feeling sleep overcome him.
“Yeah,” Marinette agrees, leaning her head back against his shoulder, “Let’s hope,”
The sword almost slips from his hand. Adrien stares in shock as Lila appears in front of him, cruel sneer and malicious eyes. In her hands, the Master Bolt crackles, pure electricity emanating around her.
“What?” she laughs, “You didn’t think it would be me?”
Adrien exchanges a panicked look with Marinette and Nino, both of them looking as shocked as he felt. Why would a demigod, especially one who knew the consequences and had a home at Camp Half-Blood, steal the Master Bolt?
“The Oracle did warn you,” Lila smirks, holding the lightning bolt by her side, “Betrayed by one you thought you could trust. A horrible decision, trusting me, really,”
“I–” Adrien chokes on his words, “How could you do this? You could ruin Camp Half-Blood. You could ruin everything,”
Lila snorts, “What makes you think I care about that? That stupid camp hasn’t done anything for me in the years I’ve been there.” She sneers. “Just a silly, vapid child of Aphrodite, they called me. I’ll show them. When I’m done, there won’t be any gods,”
Marinette gasps next to Adrien, reaching out for his hand. “You don’t mean–”
“Kronos is coming,” she continues, paying no attention to Marinette. She walks closer to Adrien, a look in her eyes like a hunter stalking its prey, “And you,” she croons, “You could help start this new age,”
Adrien feels like a ton of bricks have just been dumped across his chest. He looks at Marinette, wanting someone, anyone, to tell him what to do.
She shakes her head, blue eyes filled with horror. She begins to reach the knife holstered at her side as Adrien steps forward.
“No,” he says, trying to sound brave. “I won’t help you. Now give us the Master Bolt,”
The older girl snorts, tossing a wave of brown hair behind her shoulder, “Are you kidding me? Was that supposed to sound intimidating? I’ve been training for years, Agreste. You’ve been training for a month, max. You really want to test those odds?”
Well, no, he doesn’t really. But for the Gods, for his mother, for camp, for his friends, for Marinette, he’ll do it. So he raises his sword and prepares himself to fight what members of camp had called the best swordsman in centuries.
Lila raises an eyebrow and smirks, the half iron and half celestial bronze sword glimmering in her hand. “Alright, then,” she says, “Have it your way,”
Before Adrien can so much as move to block it, Lila cuts a line across his cheek, a line of scarlet dripping down his jaw.
He attempts to retaliate, but she blocks easily, faking a yawn with a menacing gleam in her eyes.
Another flick of her wrist, another streak of red across his skin.
He attempts to channel good luck from his sword, praying to Nemesis that this good luck will balance out the fight.
Adrien slashes again, managing a cut across Lila’s bicep, but she doubles back harder and it occurs to him that the fight so far was just play-time for her.
He looks back at Nino, staring in horror, unable to do anything. Marinette’s eyes are filled with fear, one hand on her dagger and one on the coin. He wishes that they could help, but duels like this can only involve the two challengers.
Lila lands another blow, this time scratching a dent across his chest plate. Adrien staggers back from the force of the hit, struggling to keep his footing.
Marinette is rapidly trying to blink back tears, and her hand is wrapped tightly around the coin, which she has removed from the leather cord around her neck.
Adrien shakes his head, trying to tell her he’s not worth it. There can be anyone child of the prophecy, someone far better than him. Marinette should not waste this gift on him. She does it anyway, the coin glowing her palm before turning to dust as Adrien feels strength rush into him, a gold aura around him. The blessing of Tyche.
The sword feels lighter in his hands and Adrien begins to land blow after blow against Lila until she is forced to retreat, but not before he grabs the Master Bolt from her hands. Marinette immediately pulls him into a hug, Nino joining in.
They come home as heroes.