Set before and during the events of Tempest, Adhara tries to do something about a secret crush of hers.

Pairing(s): Mark Akagi x Adhara Wren

Warning(s): Mention of death

Word Count: 987

The first time Adhara saw Mark was on her first day at Camp Half-Blood. She'd just been claimed as the daughter of Nemesis, feeling branded and new, when she heard a chorus of laughter rip her out of her worried reverie. With a puzzled look on her face, she turned to follow the sound, and that's when the light came through.

A tall Asian boy bolted by, looking behind him with a devilish smirk on his face as he ran. He laughed, the sound like a beautiful symphony, and continued on. In that split moment, Adhara felt as if the shadows of mystery now surrounding her life were beginning to vaporize, quelled by the light that this boy seemed to embody.

"Mark, I swear to the gods!" An angry feminine voice called, and its source came into perspective shortly after. Two girls stormed down the trails, on the boy's—Mark's tail. One had wavy chocolate hair that cascaded down her back, with shimmering turquoise eyes filled with malevolence. The other girl had lighter hair tied into a fishtail braid, and her golden irises scanned her surroundings with the same sort of fury. Then just like that, they took off.

Little did Adhara know that those three kids—Mark, and his two female pursuers—would become legends. As soon as she discovered and developed her own powers, she instantly felt how much influence that they had over the balance of good and evil. They radiated heroics, goodness, valiance, but they didn't know it yet.

But Adhara knew one thing on that fateful day. Her life would never be the same, not as long as that boy with sunbeams in his eyes was around.

--

There he was, sitting at Tessa Brennan's stone table in the pavilion. He was flanked by Reese Hale, a son of Apollo, on the other side, and the three demigods seemed engaged in a grave conversation, and Adhara knew why. Tessa had been selected to lead a quest, and as soon as it was issued, Adhara could feel the precipice atop which the daughter of Poseidon stood. Every action she executed, every move she made, Adhara would be able to tell how it would affect the scales.

The daughter of Nemesis blinked, clearing the haze of thought from her violet eyes. Just as swiftly, she returned her focus to the son of Iris, his face taught with concern for his best friend.

Oh, how Adhara wished to see that face smile upon her, to see his dark almond eyes gaze into her violet ones. She wanted to be around him, to feel the light he radiated as if he were his own star, to hear his laugh and see him smile.

But every time she got close enough to speak, she'd panic. Some string of words that made no apparent sense would escape from her lips in her daze, and with burning cheeks, she'd dash off to evade the embarrassment. She knew what people thought of her, and while she didn't care most of the time, it was in the moments with Mark that she regretted it all.

Adhara averted her gaze for a moment, staring at the sleek gray tabletop she was seated before. Her few siblings chatted on around her, completely oblivious to their half-sister's state. However, it was when Adhara looked back up that she felt herself freeze.

Mark and Reese were passing her table, having been dismissed from their duties with Tessa. They were mid-conversation, hushed words and whispers being exchanged between them, when Mark turned his head ever so slightly and met Adhara's eyes.

Adhara's violet irises widened, and she fought a squeak.

Mark faltered for a second, but kept moving. And yet Adhara still caught his small smile and wave as he walked, and while she couldn't touch them, she felt as if she had two new treasures—meant for her and her only.

--

The light faded.

In the Battle of Camp Half-Blood, Adhara could feel it. As the fires blazed on, she stopped in her efforts to put them out.

Something was very, very wrong. She could feel it. That light that she could still sense, the one that radiated goodness, was put out. Snuffed out like a flame on a candle.

The world went cold.

No. That couldn't be right.

But it had been.

Adhara watched as the members of the Iris cabin burned Mark Akagi's shroud, iridescent fabric rippling in the sunlight. He had died on the quest, in a cave-in.

And in that moment, Adhara wanted to damn the world. She had the ability to wage war against the balance of good and evil, to throw out revenge and justice and offer the former up to whoever desired it. She could do it all.

But as the days went on, turning into weeks, and then months, fates were intertwined. Tessa's and Kaden's, for instance, woven so tightly together that they could have been one thread. Adhara could feel the strength between them, but another fate caught her attention.

One that flickered like a weakened light in the darkness; trying, but still there. Only hidden beneath layers and layers of darkness, like a cloudburst of rain that would reveal a beautiful rainbow.

And yet, Adhara couldn't bring herself to search for the light. It had been so long, her memories of his smile and laugh becoming distant. She wanted him back, more than anything, but what good would it do? He'd chosen the wrong side, she knew that much.

But as Adhara trudged down the trails of Camp Half-Blood, a rainstorm about to break, she thought she felt that warmth Mark radiated, shining upon her one last time as if telling her not to give up hope.

And so she didn't. But in that moment, of rain and clouds and small rays of light, she knew that things would never again be the same.