Tony Stark POV
Percy was still unresponsive and I couldn't help but feel guilty. Why had we just sat there when the two teengers went to go fight the two monsters? We should have at least tried to help.
I knew the truth.
It was better off that we didn't. We probably would have made things worse if we had. But I couldn't help but just feel guilty.
The waiting period for Percy was the hardest. No one gathered around anymore, we all just came and went on our own time. Hours had turned into days and, all of a sudden, the boy was in a coma for three whole days.
Until today.
"Percy's awake!" I heard a scream from the infirmary. I sprinted over there and saw that the rest of the team had a similar idea. Annabeth was jumping up and down with excitement at the sight of Percy slightly moving around on the bed. His eyes were fluttering.
"Come on Percy, come one!" I quietly cheered, hoping that he would get up. Percy groped around for the side rails and then, in one weak but swift movement, shot his eyes open and pulled himself upright.
Annabeth lunged over to give him a hug, and then promptly slapped his arm.
"Don't ever do that again, you hear me?" she said in between her tears.
"Consider me warned," Percy replied weakly, laughing. Silence fell over the crowd as Percy nervously sat at the head of his hospital bed and picked at the sheets.
"How long was I out?" he asked, to no one in particular.
"Three days Perce," Steve responded. He also took the whole situation really hard. The three veterans became unnaturally close as they shared their experiences and seeing Percy almost die must have been really scary.
"I just remember falling. All I could think about was how it reminded me of Tartarus. I was just falling and falling and I didn't know when it would end."
His voice trembled in the end and he, all of a sudden, seemed so much younger. He always acts like he's much older than he is because of the things that he faced. Now? He was just a kid that needed people.
"You're safe now," I told him.
"Don't you get it Tony? I'm never safe. I'm a danger. I'm a poison. Everyone that gets close to me gets hurt. All those people that died? You know the one thing they had in common? They were my friends. This is on me. The monster attacks won't stop now that they know where I am. I have to leave."
"No, Percy, the one thing they all had in common was that they were all HEROS. Their deaths are not your fault. You tried your best and you fought. You didn't kill them."
"I might as well just lea—"
"You're family Percy. If you think you're getting away from us, you're wrong," Clint said. Clint wasn't even that close to Percy, but the fact that he went out of his way to say that meant so much.
"Yeah, okay, fine, but this isn't over," Percy ultimately said.
"Like hell it isn't. I mean, when would you even go? You lost your apartment," I told him, snorting and his insistence.
"I'd live on the streets," he said simply, as if that was the answer to everything.
"Okay Percy, once you're all better, we'll talk about how living on the streets isn't as glamorous as the movies make it."
"Oh trust me Tony, I know. I've been on the streets before. And I don't watch TV. Technology attracts monsters."
"You've lived on the streets before?! When!?" Steve asked in concern. Annabeth just rolled her eyes.
"I mean yeah. When we go out on quests, you think they're checking out a five star hotel for us? We're on the streets for weeks on end. Also, I ran away when I was 7. I was running from street to street for as long as I can remember until I made it to camp," Annabeth told us.
She ran away when she was 7!
"Where did you think I went when Gabe kicked me out of our apartment? I didn't have friends, I just found a spot near an alleyway where I could find a cardboard box. I was like five though, I didn't know what I was doing."
I felt sick to the stomach. Hearing the stories of a demigod seems to get worse each minute.
"Is it like this for everyone?" I asked them.
"You mean tragic? Then yes. We're either fighting our way through our short lives or dying and hoping we make it to Elysium," Percy started to explain. "Most of us don't come from good homes either. I was lucky to have my mom, but even I was stuck with Gabe. Most mortal parents either go crazy or hate the god or goddess for leaving them, putting their anger out on their kid."
"I'm going to go back to my lab," I suddenly announced after we all stared at each other in silence at the bomb that he just dropped.
I may not know that much about the gods or Greek mythology or parenting in general, but I know that this was wrong.
And I'd be damned if I let this go on any longer.
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More Than Just Little Soldiers (PART 2)
FanfictionThe war had ended and all of the demigods had been left to pick up the pieces. For Percy and Annabeth, it was harder than most. The curse had worn off and their bodies had started to heal, but it seemed as if nothing could be done about their mental...
