More Than Just Little Soldiers (PART 2)

CHAPTER 5: AN UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP

Annabeth POV

If someone had told me I was going to make friends with Captain America, I would not have believed them. I respected Steve, he was honestly a good man. He told us about his story, about how he desperately wanted to join the military to fight alongside all the other men and how he offered himself up for an experimental trial that could have killed him. He saved many lives and was extremely humble about it. I respected that.

After our first encounter while running, Steve, Percy, and I try to meet up twice a week to talk. It's like the gods found us a personal therapist that we don't have to pay for. Talking to a fellow war veteran was so helpful and I'm immensely grateful for that. It's good to talk to therapists and all, but it's also helpful to talk to someone who gets what we're saying from first hand experience. Steve being mortal was also the best thing. We spun our tale to sound normal to humans, but I still went into the gruesome detail. We talked to Hermes and Ares to help make our story actually seem real if Steve ever did any digging.

Talking to Steve about Tartarus was, in my opinion, the hardest part. We told him we got captured by the enemy and were held underground for two weeks but, to us, it was 2 years. Steve told us about the alien technology and stuff and we made up something that the enemy got their hands on it and managed to slow down time in the cells we were kept in.

"I remember her screams," Percy said one time, his eyes vacant as he mindlessly took sips from his coffee. "We were together for the most part, but sometimes they liked to lock us into separate cells. I could hear her screams. I memorized her screams. And, even when it was all quiet, I could hear it, over and over again in my ears, making me go insane."

Every time we talked about something that happened to us, or Steve recounted a harrowing tale from his time in both the wars he served in, I start to tremble. It's embarrassing and it makes me feel weak, but hearing them talk makes my heart go heavy and my skin crawl cold.

"The day I lost Bucky, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. He sacrificed himself so that I could live. He died and it's all my fault. I could have helped him. I could have protected him. I had the serum, for god sakes! I should have been there for him. But no, he died and it's my fault."

"It's not your fault Steve," Percy told him, forcefully. "You blaming yourself is dishonoring his sacrifice. Sure, Bucky may have died so that you could live. You blaming it on yourself is not allowing yourself to embrace how much of a gift it was that he gave you. A friend that I had, Charlie Beckendorf, died in a bomb blast to save my life. He was older than me, and had a girlfriend that he wanted to marry someday. But he died that day so that I could live because he felt that, between the two of us, I was the one that needed to come out alive for the sake of the war. I blamed myself for months, years, even now I still do. But I learned that I just need to be grateful for my life."

I knew it hurt Steve, hearing us talk like this. He was always so big on protecting the kids, the underdogs. Knowing how much pain Percy and I had been through hurt him. Even in the little time we had known him,

"I hate that you both had to have gone through so much at such a young age!" Steve would say periodically, in random bursts, whenever we told him something particularly dangerous that we went through.

"Steve," I would respond each time. "Remember, us joining itself was not the issue. I have made friends and family in my time in the military that I never would have had I stayed with my family. Hades, Percy sometimes tells me he may not even have made it alive had he stayed with Gabe. Yes, the things that happened to us in our time in service were cruel. I think our higher-ups knew that we were young for our age. That our certificate was forged. We were just good soldiers and they couldn't lose that. Sure, we were pawns. We were just being used for our talents. But I wouldn't change it for the world."

Somehow I believed that. I hated everything that happened to me, but if I had been given the option to change anything, I don't think I would have taken it. It happened for a reason. If I wasn't a demigod, who knows if I would have been able to find Percy? Who knows if I would have been able to make the friends – no family – that I built for myself at camp?

"Fine," Steve would huff. "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"That's all we ask," Percy would murmur.

"So you really think that they knew you were under the age requirement and still didn't do anything about it?"

"Oh absolutely," Percy would tell him. "They knew we were too young. But, like Annabeth said, we were good soldiers. We were one of their best and bravest fighters, despite our age. During the battles, it didn't matter to them that we were under age. We helped win, that's all that went through their minds. We got promoted up to first lieutenant and, at that point, we were in charge of lives. We couldn't back down then."

"You both are first lieutenants? That's, wow, that's amazing!"

"You too Captain," I'd say, smirking. I checked my watch. We've been here for three hours. Talking with Steve was like being frozen in time. We'd talk and talk together and it would be amazing, but I'd never realize how much time had passed. "Oh wow, Steve, we really have to get going now!"

"Oh, of course, thank you both!" he would tell us, getting up as we did.

"Thank you Steve," Percy would say, sincerely. "See you again this Friday?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."