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a knock on my door startled me.
i was re-reading the hobbit in my new apartment. thankfully, it hadn't been destroyed in the battle of new york. that would have been sad.
i placed a bookmark in before going to the door (which was like five steps away).
opening it, i waved at steve.
"hey," he muttered, rocking on the balls of his feet.
"c'mon in," i ushered him inside and he sat on the bed.
i sat in a beanbag i'd placed near the bed.
"this is... your apartment?" steve asked, looking at the tiny thing.
i laughed a little, "yeah. it's small and tiny. it was going to be demolished, and my dad and i had a bet. whoever lost would have to buy the apartment. i lost."
"the terms of your bet was to buy an apartment?" steve asked, completely confused.
"that's the starks for you," i shrugged.
"believe me, i know," steve muttered. "your grandfather was the same. it's a family trait that you guys have."
i grinned.
a beat passed in silence before i sat forward. the mood in the apartment had shifted and i knew steve felt it as well.
"i called you here about rebecca," i told him. "rebecca and her past."
steve nodded, eager to hear more.
"well, it started a little over a year ago," i began. "i was chosen to lead a quest into the labyrinth — greek death maze, tell you later — and i had to go get a prophecy. when i went to the attic, i saw a trunk. it was labelled r.b. 1961."
steve made a sound like he'd been sucker punched. "i — i went to the cemetery, the one where rebecca and bucky's parents were buried. there — um, there was a tombstone. it said, rebecca annaliese barnes. 1921 to 1961. a fighter, a healer, a helper."
i nodded, "i don't know everything about her, but someone must've brought the trunk to camp. when i went up... it... called to me. i don't know how to explain it, but i wanted to open the trunk. then, i was snapped out of it, and i grabbed the prophecy."
"why would someone bring it to your camp?" steve asked. "rebecca wasn't a demigod."
"i'm getting to that," i told him. "that's when the visions started. i began seeing a girl and her brother. the voices were blurry, but i knew what they were saying. the faces were blotched out, and i could never see them clearly. but i watched the visions. they all seemed normal to me. like i'd lived them before. i hadn't even met the people, but i felt protective over them. then i found out their names. rebecca annaliese. james buchanan. and steve."
steve sat up straighter.
"i didn't know enough to get J.A.R.V.I.S. to do a scan," i told him. "but i saw more and more visions. some of them only had rebecca, some only had buck, some had steve, some had a mix. i told ethan — a friend of mine — about these visions, and he promised he would help me get to the bottom of them. a couple months passed, but he did help."
"what'd he say?" steve asked.
"i'll tell you in a bit," i said. "but after buck and steve... well, you, after you 'died', rebecca took her clinic to the road. i caught glimpses of her helping demigods on the run. i saw how she died. an empousai had bit her. she told the demigods to take her car and leave. they were reluctant, but they did it."
"but... her tombstone?" steve asked. "who — who gave her a funeral?"
my thoughts went to the italian kids i saw in a short vision, the connection i felt to nico, and everything began making more sense.
"lord hades," i told steve. "the god of the dead gave her a funeral and a tombstone. she — she helped his kids once. and he repaid her by honoring her death."
steve looked pale, "how — how — what's the connection to you and rebecca? what'd your friend find?"
i took a deep breath before looking steve in the eyes, "i am the reincarnation of rebecca annaliese barnes."
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