Two World's Meet

The Scars

Steve's POV

I was surprised when these kids did not know who we were. We've been all over the news for, well, years. And I guess I had figured that we had reached everyone. But I suppose these kids were different. They definitely seem different, with how uptight they were, how some of them had mental breakdowns (which I did not want to think about), and how I could see a couple scars on their necks hands and faces. They were obviously not normal kids, but what they were was a mystery to me. I was still not entirely convinced that they weren't terrorists.

"Hey," Percy said, breaking the silence that followed Tony saying that we were the avengers," do you guys have any food? I'm starving!" Annabeth chuckled at her boyfriend's antics.

" Is that all you think about Seaweed Brain?" The young girl jokingly questioned.

"It's not all I think about!" Percy joked back.

"Really?" Jason and said joining in the conversation, the blonde hair boy " who, I must admit, reminded me of myself) then switch to another language I did not recognize. Whatever he said must have been quite funny because all the others burst into laughter. Well except for Percy.

"Well Percy is right about one thing," Leo said, "I want fooood" he said stretching out the letter "o", this again made all the kids laugh. And, surprisingly, got a chuckle from some of my colleagues as well.

"Well fine," Tony said with a smile on his face, " I suppose we should give you a little something to eat. Tony then snapped his fingers and an entire table rose from the ground, filled with food. "Bon appetit!" Tony finished with a horrible French accent.

Percy was the first one to the table. I was surprised as I watched him pick up a red apple and throw it in the pocket of his hoodie.I figured he might just be saving it for later, because he then attacked the rest of the food on the table. My colleagues and I stood back and watched them eat. I noticed a couple strange things, for one, Nico di Angelo didn't go up to the table immediately, instead he hung back until Will brought two plates and sat down beside his boyfriend and seemingly made him eat. The second was that Percy constantly looked over at Annabeth with a mischievous grin on his face, I wonder what that was about.

Once there were all finished eating, and there was not a crumb of food on the table Tony stepped forward.

"Wow!" He said laughing, "you all eat like you'll never have another meal again." Most of the avengers chuckled at this, but all of the kids look sadly down at their hands, as if this might actually be a possibility.

"Hey Annabeth!" Percy said excitedly, "Catch!" Percy through an apple Annabeth. And all of the girls in the group gasped as Annabeth caught it. We were all wondering why all of the kids were staring at Percy and Annabeth with wide eyes and mouths hanging open.

" P-Percy didn't I tell you that throwing an apple at a girl was marriage proposal in Ancient Greece?" The young girl stuttered out.

"Why of course Wise Girl, want the ring too?" As he said this he got down on one knee pulling a black box out of his pocket and opening it to reveal a ring. "Annabeth, we have been through so much together, from the first day we met till today, you have gone from being my dad's-rival's-daughter, to be my best friend, my crush, and finally my girlfriend. I'm asking you to become my wife. And yes, I know this isn't the best time. But I never want to be away from you, you are my entire life, you are my Wise Girl."

At this point Annabeth was in tears, Piper seemed to be fangirling, Hazel was fanning her face, and the rest of the people in the room were looking at these two teenagers with wide eyes. But this wasn't right.

"Whoa whoa whoa," I said pulling everyone the attention onto me, "you're way too young to even be thinking about marriage! You're just a kid for heaven's sakes!" Percy then stood up, and I was mortified by a look in his eyes.

"I am not a kid!" Percy spat at me, "none of us are really. We have been through more than you could ever imagine! You couldn't even comprehend the horrors I seen. Your soldier, you all are, I can tell that, but your form of war is nothing compared to what I have seen! You have no idea of what my life has been like! The deaths I've seen, the experiences I've lived through!" Percy then took off both his hoodie and t-shirt, and I was horrified of what I saw. The skin on his chest and arms was covered in scars of every shape and size. I couldn't even guess from where he got some of them. He wasn't done talking though.

"There is a story for every one of these! I can tell by the look in your eye that you think this is horrible! But most of us look like this, and Nico has double the scars that I have! We have been through things and seen things that you couldn't even comprehend! That you couldn't dream up in your most horrific nightmares!" He was about to say more, I could tell he wasn't done, but then Annabeth went in front of him, and gently pressed her lips to his.

"Percy," she said, her voice hardly a whisper. I saw the look of anger melt off his face, and recognition of what he had just done replace it. He then buried his face into the girl's hair.

"It's okay love." She said soothingly, she then reached down and picked up the forgotten box from the floor, "and of course I accept." She finished while slipping the ring on her finger. A small smile slipped onto Percy's lips before he turned to us.

"I'm so sorry." he said his voice filled with remorse. "I'm so sorry." He repeated with the exact same tone of voice.

In that moment I realized that there was no way that these kids were terrorists. That their entire lives have been filled with hardship, and all they're trying to do is have even a single day be normal, their dearest wish is to be able to lead a normal life. I realized the Annabeth meant when she said "we don't live that long"she probably meant that this group of people probably didn't even live long enough to get married by normal standards. I then realized that Percy was probably truthful when he said we couldn't even comprehend what they've been through. The other thing I realized was that we had hurt these kids even more by interrupting what they were doing. And I felt absolutely horrible about it.

"No! I'm sorry. I can tell you were truthful in everything you've told us. And I am so sorry for adding more to whatever trauma you're dealing with." I hung my head in shame as I said this. But more than ever I wanted to learn these kids stories, so I can help them. I watched as Annabeth picked up the clothing that Percy had thrown a side and handed it back to him. After he put the t-shirt on, she led them back to their seats. I looked around and saw the tears threatening to spill out of my team's eyes. I also noticed a lot of Percy's friends looking looking sadly at the ground. I took one of the chairs from around the room and set it in front of the couches the other people were sitting on.

"I understand if you don't want to," I began, "but please tell us your story." All the people and Percy's group made eye contact and nodded their heads simultaneously.

"Ok" Percy said.