Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Annabeth sipped her coffee slowly outside the small cafe she was at in Italy. Gray eyes read a newspaper, glancing up occasionally. As if they were checking their surroundings. They were, for him. Grayson Acker, a stealth billionaire who's been getting in the gods ways. The gun is heavy in her light jacket pocket, the dagger strapped to her leg inside her jeans cold and prominent to no one but her. Her eyes trace the news paper then the building, studying her first love of architecture. Then she sees him. He looked too... Average. Like he wouldn't be a billionaire. Like he didn't hurt one of the unclaimed daughters of Aphrodite on purpose.

He goes inside. Orders a coffee. Sits. Annabeth watches him discreetly. She wonders if he knew he hurt a daughter of Aphrodite. If he knew all the shit he was about to get in. The coffee comes, he thanks the barista. He opens a newspaper. The front page article was about the Hyrules. Another rich billionaire family. It was about the heiress- Zelda's- newest synthetic heart prototype. One her husband has been helping with. She's stops her train of thoughts as he gets up. Once he's far enough away she follows. Follows as he goes to a market, another cafe, and finally his hotel room. She easily figures out which room is his. Waits until night falls. Sneaks in, finds him.

And shoots him.

She disguises it as a suicide.

She isn't fazed as she finishes up her work. As she leaves without a trace. She left the gun and knife with him. She boards her plane to New York, to report to Ares and Aphrodite. To get her next break or mission. She still isn't fazed as she gets off, take a cab the Empire State. Still feels her weird numb feeling as she grabs the key for the sixth hundred floor. She walks to them. The gods smile upon her. Ares and Aphrodite thank her. Zeus tells her she has no upcoming missions so to rest. Athena tells her to focus on her school work and that they will call her in when there is a new mission.

Annabeth nods, still slightly numb. She walks away when she is dismissed. Goes off of Olympus. Takes another cab to the airport. Boards another plane. Flys back to Oakland. She slowly relaxes. Finally realizing she pulled it off, she sinks into the seat. Headphones on, Percy's hoodie warm, she falls asleep.

She drives up to the manor she owns in New Rome, the mansion warm and inviting. She parks the small EV she bought a few months ago and walks in. Her senses are immediately assaulted by the smell of cookies and Hamilton. She laughs as she walks into the living room. Nico looks perplexed on the sofa as Will sings along to the musical. Hazel and Frank are on the floor working on Prator work. She hear's Percy and Leo in the Kitchen, Jason their too just to bug them. Piper's curled up in the love seat, playing on a hand console, Meg curled up in her side. She takes a double take when she sees Meg, the girl preferring to stay in her own home is Southern California.

She smiles at the sight of her family. And then nearly punches Percy when he hugs her from behind. He laughs, "Sorry. Forget your jumpy," he has on the stupid smile she loves. The numbness starts to melt more. "I have cookies going and steak and tofu marinating. How was the trip? What they want to you to study this time,"

"The water paths. They want something like that in the future," and revenge too. She doesn't add her last thought. "What have you been up too? Throwing a rager?" He rolls his eyes, the stupid, handsome, lovely smile still on his face. 

"Yeah. Massive one, should've been there," he spins her into her (their) massive kitchen. Percy continues talking up a storm. Filling her in on everything she's missed when she was killing Acker. She smiles softly, never in a million years did she expect this. She grabs a bag of chips off the shelves, the numbness still there, but less not. Sally's seven layer dip is placed in front of her. A kiss is placed on her lips, questions are asked. Dinner is ate. Games are played. Curses are yelled. It was chaos, it was her chaos. It was hers since the day she overheard the gods yelling about Percy and Hazel. It was hers the day she let Frank beat her a chess on purpose. It was hers the first time Percy had sex with her. It was hers now again as Percy sweeps her in his arms, the sound of Mario Cart still in the background. It was hers as the numbness melted fully as her bra and his pants went off together. It was hers as the were in bed together. It was hers as she moaned his name, and he hers. It was hers when she curled up in his arms safe for the first time in a while. It was hers as she fell asleep to his heartbeat in her ear.

Annabeth's eyes snap open when she feels the bed shift. Percy wakes up a minute later. He gives her a sleepy smile as he says, "I never asked you directly, how was Italy, Wise Girl?" She smiled and started talking, the numbness just a memory now. He smiles as she talks for what feels like an eternity. He smiles as she kisses him and the kiss turn deeper and deeper, and then Leo interrupts.

"I HEARD YOU TWO ALL LAST NIGHT! YOU WILL NOT DO IT AGAIN WHILE I'M HERE!!"

Annabeth laughs, "Maybe you shouldn't live in my house!" She yells back as Percy is bright red in embarrassment. 

"YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE GIVEN ME A KEY THEN!" 

"IT WAS FOR EMERGENCIES!"

"WELL ME HUNGRY IS AN EMER- FRANK!"

A soft knock on the door follows, Annabeth quickly throws on Percy's discarded shirt, "Decent!"

Frank walks in, a squirming Leo wrapped under his right arm, mouth thankfully duck taped. "What do you want me to do with him, Annie?"

Annie privileges were given to five people: Percy, Thalia, Grover, Frank, and her dad (if she can even call him that anymore). She goes to answer when Percy says, "Throw him in the pool," she hears Leo's screams of vengeance coming from all the way across the room. Frank looks towards Annabeth, eyebrow raised. Annabeth nods. Leo sets himself on fire. Neither of them moves as the boys still in the starts fighting. 

Frank shuts the door- bright red- when Percy gestures to his pants on the floor. The two look at each other before laughing. She climbs out of bed, Percy grabs her around the waist, pressing his face into the small of her back, "Stay, you've been gone two weeks with minimal contact. Let's just have a day together before you catch up on school work," he whispers. She could see the of sleep on his face, not just from last night but from the nights she was gone.

She too has that same look.

She wants to stay in bed, talk and make out and do questionable things under a blanket while binge watching movies and shows. She wants to be a normal college student with a boyfriend and friends and trips to her dad's (how could Athena do that to him? To her?) on the weekends. She wants to live a normal life like she was promised by Percy when they found each other.

But she can't.

She turns herself and kisses his head to the best of her ability, "Have to get up, I want pancakes and I think we may owe the house an explanation."

Percy sighs but gets out of bed, grabbing his shorts he said, "But it's what you told Leo. It's your house and he's a guest. So he can deal if we do it after not seeing each other for a few weeks." He turns a little red. Annabeth, growing up adjust Hermes and Aphrodite kids never found the idea of sleeping with someone that taboo considering it was talked about at dinner and all throughout Greek history. Percy, being raised the way he was, found the subject still taboo. It was adorable to her.

Leo turns his head as Annabeth and Percy walk into the kitchen. Annabeth sundress swishes around her ankles as she walks over to the pantry. The routine for when they're all on the same house started on the Argo two. But this time Will and Meg edition. Leo cracks the eggs, Nico sets the table, Percy grabs the equipment, Annabeth the ingredients, Frank and Hazel heat up the pans. Will starts the bacon and Meg the eggs while Piper cuts up any fruits and veggies their having. It's organized chaos complete with blue food dye 

Here's a secret Leo won't confess to anyone. He absolutely loves this. He loves the musicals in the background and the smell of food cooking and the many voices surrounding him. It reminds him of the few good homes he's had and his mom before she was killed. When he hears Will mumbling about the bacon not being crunchy enough, he catches his hand of fire and place it over. Will smacks him, barking orders about it needing to be sterile. He hears his friends laughing. Except for one.

Here's another secret. Despite the fact that Leo is terrified of Annabeth and can barely make eye contact without peeing his pants, he can tell something is wrong. It's the same look he's seen to many times in the system. He watches her as closely as he dares with Percy around. She's smiling, but not laughing like the rest of them. She looks guarded more than usual this past year. As if something is wrong. Or going to be wrong. He's surprised only he can tell.

Leo remembers when she first came home from one of these 'architectural learnings.' She had stitches in her forehead and her arm in a sling with a small fever. Percy freaked out when she came in, and tried to force Leo (it was the night he and Calypso officially broke up again) to fly all the way from California to New York on Festus to get Will. Leo didn't do that but Iris messaged him instead while Percy panicked in the background. Nico shadowed traveled him here. Leo doesn't remember much what happened after, only that Annabeth claimed it was a stray monster and Will healing her while Percy paced. 

Her smile was wrong that night and has been ever since. Annabeth meets his eyes, and quickly looks away as Piper sets a bowl of fresh fruit in his hands. Helping bringing the food over, he thinks for not the first and certainly not the last, What is she actually doing?

Three blissful months past. Three months of games, tests, bookstores, gossips, and fake IDs. It's Elysium to Annabeth. Laughing with Piper, tutoring Percy and Hazel, chess games with Frank over bets of chocolate bars. 

But peace can't last forever.

She gets a text from Apollo, an apologetic test telling her of her next mission. Breakfast is eggs with blue waffles, her telling Percy that the gods want to meet with her. The news blasting in the background-mortal news -telling of the Hyrules. The family has growing traction thanks to the new invention the couple made. As well as the fact that their daughter's murder case finally closed as cold.

It should have been her first sign.

A flight to New York. 

A cab to the Empire State.

A key in an elevator.

Her eleventh time getting a mission.

She walks to the throne room. Only Zeus is there, in his mortal form. He walks over to her and hands her a file. It should have been her sign with how much she's been hearing about the family when he asked,

"How much do you know about the Hyrules?"

Chapter Text

1 year and 6 months ago

Annabeth barely caught Rachel in time as she fainted into her arms, the green smoke still was in the air. Rachel's eyes were still closed as Annabeth eased her onto the couch, she vaguely sees Apollo go over to the red head. She doesn't care. Her mind is still replaying the prophecy Rachel just spat. "Annabeth," she turns and faces Apollo, "for all we know, it's not about Percy and you."

But it was. She just knew it was. "There has to be a way to avoid it," she whispers, sinking to her knees. Flashbacks of Tartaras flood her mind, causing her to panic and shake even harder. Less than a hundred words, maybe not even thirty, yet it held so much power. She feels Apollo's hand on her shoulder, he kneels down before her, reaching her level.

"What if I told you there was a way to avoid it?" Annabeth met his eyes. They looked... fearful, scared, nervous. Still, she said

"...How?'

Rachel began to stir, Annabeth composed herself and got up off the ground. "Annabeth, oh gods, Annabeth." Rachel scrambled off the couch, reaching for Annabeth's hand. "It's probably a different son of Poseidon, a different daughter of Athena," Rachel turned to Apollo, "Right?"

Apollo nodded. "Probably, Annabeth, why don't you return to Chiron, and let's.. not tell him about this prophecy."

Annabeth nodded, as she walked out of the cave, Apollo slid something into her hand, a piece of paper. Once she was far enough away she read it: Empire State, midnight. we have a deal for you.

So, she went.

Present

"Thanks, Marco," the man nodded as he handed her her club sandwich. The one perk about being an assassin for the gods was Marco's deli, she rarely had to deal with cravings for it thanks to the gods sending her on some wild goose chase every few months. She read through the file that Zeus gave her as she ate. All the basic information the public knew was there: Sonia's kidnapping and presumed death, the scandal when Link and Zelda married, Link being an amputee, their jobs, all the stuff you see in a magazine at a dentist's office. 

Nothing seemed to catch Annabeth's interest. No secret love affairs, no bastard children, no white colored crimes.

It was... boring.

Throwing the foil that contained the sandwich away, Annabeth started walking back to her hotel. She flipped through the file again, the only semi-interesting thing was Link being adopted and still not knowing who his birth parents are. Annabeth sighed, entering the hotel; her conversation with Zeus echoed through her mind "Infiltrate, figure out who they are, make them believe you are Sonia, and I'll make sure your family will never be in harms way." She was confused about the last five words, her killing for them being the whole reason she took the job in the first place. 

Her phone ringing jolted her from her mind. Percy. Thanks to her and Leo being tired of not being able to use very convenient technology, they made demi-god safe phones and laptops and all the fun stuff. She answered the phone, "Hey, Seaweed Brain, what's up?"

"Nothing," Gods, she's been gone for only a day but misses him and his voice already. "just wanted to see what you were up to before you went to sleep. The others are all arguing over what movie to watch and trying to force me to make cookies."

She laughed, "Well, to be fair, you are the only one who knows Sally's recipe, and to answer your curiosity, literally just research. It's quite boring actually." It was the truth, she was just researching the Hyrules. And it was quite boring

"Where are they sending you to this time?"

Shit.

"Well, uhh, they're still debating. Either Seal Beach or somewhere up here."

"So no Vegas?" She could hear the teasing and amusement in his voice, she glanced down at the thin band across her ring finger. She's had it for about six months now, Percy a matching one. Granted they didn't mean to elope very very drunk, thanks to the fake IDs Annabeth had, at a casino in Vegas after Annabeth had a mission that was particularly tough on her. But it happened. Honestly Annabeth didn't mind or care, she loved him and her loved her, they'll do a proper wedding in a few years.

That's what she kept telling herself.

A different phone rung, her burner phone. "Hey, sorry to cut this short, but I have to go. I'll call you when I get an answer for how long I'll be gone."

A dramatic sigh, "Fine, love you. Don't die or get kidnapped," if only he knew how true those last words could be. Annabeth hung up, and picked up her burner phone. Hermes.

"Yes?" she answered.

"They're in Seal Beach for the next few months. That's where you'll be heading."

"What exactly am I looking for before I kill them?"

"It's... something you'll know when you see it. Good luck, Annabeth." A text to Percy telling her she's going to California, but not home. Another flight was booked, another sandwich bought, another gun and knife hidden because of the mist. As she crawled into bed, her only thoughts were how she was going to fake it.

Percy wasn't an idiot. He knew Annabeth had some sort of deal with the Olympians, he knew what she was doing was not exactly legal in any sort of way. But he never followed her before, except in Vegas. But perhaps it was instinct, perhaps it was because he didn't want her to be alone did he hop in his car and start driving all the way down to Seal Beach. He knew that she didn't know that he knew. He knows for sure that he doesn't want to partake in any of this, but will to protect her.

So he'll play his role as oblivious, golden retriever boyfriend, (only husband to her, as far as everyone else knows, they're only dating) he'll smile and nod and bake cookies and take about the future. But he knows that if anything hurts her like they did in Tartarus

he isn't holding back this time.

The first thing Link thought as he awoke was that he was going to kill his biological parents if he had some weird brain condition. The second was a prayer that he and Zelda had Tylenol in the house. Link gave himself a minute to lie on the ground where he said a silent thanks that it was his day off rather than him fainting in the middle of some kid's appendectomy. Their ancient cat, George, walked over to him, making eye contact before curling up on his chest.

Link sighed as he replayed his vision, hallucination?, whatever it was, in his mind. A girl who would be around his Sonia's age, if she survived and was found, with beautiful gray eyes and blonde curls similar to his father-in-law's-Rhoam. They were in some sort of Stadium, somewhere in LA, Rams maybe, her eyes (he never saw her face) full of fears as she stared at something only for Link's line of sight to be cut off by some man, who quickly goes in front of her, as if shielding her. It ended there.

George purred softly, kneading against Link's chest. As Link mindlessly petted the cat, he reached for his phone. Sure enough the little ding he heard before whatever vision took him over was from the ancestry test he took a month ago. He froze as he opened it. Holy shit. While he didn't find any of his parents, he found multiple half siblings. Some old enough to be his grandparents while others young enough to be his grandchildren if his daughter was a teen mom. Link searched the family tree, frustration growing in every vein as no lost daughter, no grandparents, and no parents were found.

Link gently scooted George off, the cat looking offended then running when he heard their new puppy running towards them. The chocolate lab barreled towards him, food bowl in mouth. As Link got up, finally to get Tylenol and to feed the dog, his phone buzzed. He didn't look at it immediately, focused on petting his puppy instead. It was only when he was downing the water to get the pill down did he check it. 

And as Link's world changed so did Annabeth's.

Chapter Text

"Absolutely not," Annabeth said, arms crossed and frowning as she looked at her mother. "I do not care if Zeus says me being disguised as their dead daughter is the only way in, I'm already killing them so why do I have to trick them with a false happiness!?" 

"Aren't you the one who flirted with Lady Sloane until she dragged you to the bedroom where you stabbed her?" Athena shot back.

"She was a human trafficker, so no, it's not the same because unless you aren't telling me something, they are innocent! For the love of the fates Link a freaking pediatric surgeon! And Zelda-"

"I am aware of that Annabeth. I swear that sea spawn is rubbing off on you." Athena continued to mutter angrily as a few inappropriate jokes danced in Annabeth's head. Finally, her mother sighed. "I agree with you Annabeth, my father isn't telling us something, but that doesn't mean you can disobey his orders. Especially with this deal you have going on with him."

"They like to hire kids, teenagers, college kids, can't I just do that?" It was at that moment her phone pinged. As soon as she saw her mother's guilty expression, she knew that she manipulated the results of the DNA test from a few months ago, the one that told her she wasn't actually related to her father.

"The company Link took his at teamed up with another company to expand their customers family trees." She read between the lines; they manipulated the situation. "The good news is they're nice and you can go as yourself." 

Annabeth just stood there as her mother left.

When Zelda came home after dealing with meetings and fights all day, she was expecting Link to be making dinner, or napping on the couch, or playing video games, or literally everything else but finding him pacing the living room with his laptop open, Penny- their beautiful chocolate lab puppy- following his every step as George looked annoyed from his cat tree in the corner. "Link?" she asked, walking towards him.

He made eye contact with her, his eyes wide and puffy and full of hope. He opened his mouth to say something. Closed it. Opened it again. Closed it, and then finally just pointed at his laptop. As she sat down pulling the screen to her lap, she froze. A tab was open to the company Link took his DNA test at, after private investigators couldn't find anything relating to his biological parents. There were no parents, but there was something even better.

On the family tree, right under Link's name was another one, connecting to him in the way a child would to their parents on one of these. It was only when Link said, "She has no social media at all, none that I could find at least," did it fully click for her.

She looked at Link, meeting his eyes she said the two words they've been praying were true, "She's alive."

Annabeth decided to splurge and fly to LA in first class. She usually did business, but she decided screw it, she was already going to have the most horrible mission yet, so she might as well be comfortable as she plans. She easily found their emails, and now she has to play the game of Who should she reach out to. Tracing the scar on her left arm Annabeth began typing.

And instantly hit a roadblock.

What the hell was she supposed to say? 

Hi, I'm your supposed dead daughter, can we talk and get close so I can kill you?

Then there was the other matter of which person to send it to. Link? Zelda? Both? Do they have a joint email she can use? Groaning, Annabeth opened up the DNA results again. Link's family tree was a mess, and so was Zelda's. But while Zelda's was mainly divorces and affair children, Link's was different. According to this he had so many half siblings, dating back to even a hundred years ago. 

If he thinks this is a mistake will he believe that I'm his daughter? It only clicked when she remembered something, he was neurodivergent.

Never said what he had but never tried denying it either.

Oh gods.

The fucker was a demigod.

But how did he- adopted by two mortal parents, low level parent, dumb luck. Her thoughts gave her all possible answers and solutions to how he avoided monsters.

Her thoughts swirling around her brain she turned back to write the email. 

And then found one from Link instead.

They checked it twice. They three times. Then five. Then twelve. It was a on twentieth check did the finally send it. And then they started the tedious game of waiting. For all they know she could reply in five minutes, or month. Or maybe just ignore them.

A romcom played in the background, but neither of them were watching the movie, focused rather on either their phones or the laptop. "Should we tell my dad?" Link looked up, staring at Zelda. "I mean, yeah, we don't really talk, but he did love her. We all did." Zelda said, picking at her pizza slice.

Link looked down at his own slice, "Not until we confirm and get private testing. But then, everyone will know by then." Zelda sighed and snuggled into Link. 

"This is going to be an PR mess," she said without emotion. "She doesn't have social media, practically no records besides the stuff in the FBI, and even then being kidnapped and friends with a supposed terrorist? God it's going to be messy."

Link nodded, remembering the few times they were almost scammed by the false hope that their daughter was alive and back. A ding caused them to jolt like dogs and scramble to the laptop.

"She responded," they both whispered at the same time.

Opening her email, they read it through:

"She's on her way. She's coming back. She wants to meet us," Zelda whispered as her eyes scanned the screen. 

That night neither Link or Zelda slept.

This is dumb. This is idiotic, Wise Girl can take care of herself, Percy thought as he checked into a cheap motel for the night. So what the last time he did this he saw her kill someone?

So who cares the last time he did this she lied straight to his face and the two got blackout drunk and woke up married?

She loves him and she'll tell him eventually-

right?