More Than Just Little Soldiers (PART 2)

CHAPTER 12: WE GIVE SOME NECESSARY EXPLANATIONS

Annabeth POV

At this point, now that Thor had given away our identities, I'm pretty sure we had to say something to appease the Avengers who were all sitting there on the couch, staring at us as if we just grew a second head.

"Sooo, is there any chance that you guys don't ask about what just happened?" Percy just asked, his face still red from his interaction with Thor. The two of us stood up and faced the supposed "mightiest heroes of earth".

"Are you kidding? You better give us something more than that," Tony said, continuing to eat more of his pizza.

Percy looked over at me, as if hoping that I had all of the answers. I had never told this many mortals before about the godly secret. Sure, we had our families, but they were already somewhat aware. Rachel was an exception. And she was the only one.

I shot up a prayer towards my mother, asking for her blessing to reveal our heritage. Like always, I got nothing in return. But then Percy touched the back of my hand and gave me a nod.

I pretended like it didn't hurt that Percy's dad always responded to him whenever he called while my own mother only gives me the silent treatment.

"Okay then, we're going to give you all of it. But this is a long, long story," Percy told them, a dark laugh slipping out in the end. "But for starters, let me tell you a little bit about our parents."

While Percy did most of the talking, I did input my own fair share of our story. He started off with explaining the gods and how they had affairs and how we were the product of two of them. We go to a special camp (we wouldn't tell them where) and we learn how to survive because we have monsters that hunt us. We told him about our quests, our first war, and then Percy's kidnapping, the Roman camp, and the second war. We easily tried to brush over Tartarus, but I saw that Steve caught on to that.

"I just don't understand, you both are so young. Why are you the ones in charge of all of this? I mean kids? Hunted? How is that fair!" Steve asked, not really understanding the whole situation.

"Steve, Annabeth and I are demigods," Percy said, with utter seriousness in his voice. "We are born to die."

It was just five simple words, but I could feel them wrap around and crush my heart. Why is it so unfair to us that we are fated to be "born to die"? The life of a demigod is difficult, but I have never been so desperate to just be alive.

"But—"

"Most of us die very young," I told him. "It's just simply a fact at this point. Kids that aren't claimed, because their parents forgot about them, are dead before they don't reach camp before 12. Kids that do make it and learn to fight even still meet their match against a monster and die. We had numerous casualties after the wars."

Steve and Bruce looked like they were going to be sick.

"So your whole marines story...?" Tony started to ask.

"No, that was just a cover up," Percy told him. "Our parents are gods. We have access to resources that you can't possibly imagine. Besides, how else can they cover up so many kids dying and going missing?"

"You're leaving something out," Natasha said, her cold, steel eyes staring at us, as if challenging us. "Between your supposed war and its end, you glanced at each other and left something out."

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't speak of our battles that way," Percy said, taking a defensive step towards Natasha. He was clenching his jaw and his eyes were looking sharply against hers.

Percy is fiercely protective of his friends. He took all of their deaths hard, especially after the first war. This was not something to joke around in front of him.