Ágnostos

Chapter 11

Althea

When I woke, it felt like all the energy inside of me had been drained out. I could barely find it in me to open my eyes.

I let out a pained groan before finally getting my eyes to open. I was in a small white room hooked to IV's and a heart monitor.

I let out a cry at the sight of the IV pierced into my vein. I went to pull it out but a hand grabbed my arm.

"Let go of me!" I began thrashing trying to get the person away from me.

"Althea! Althea, hey hey it's just me." I recognized the voice as Peter's. I stopped throwing my arms around. "It's Peter. You're okay."

"Peter? You have to help this IV I —"

"It's just water," Peter said calmly. "You're at the Agents Of Shield hospital. No one is going to hurt you."

I felt myself relax. "What happened?"

Peter sighed and sat beside me on the bed. "No one really knows... you... you saved yourself."

"I...? I... don't remember... what do you mean I saved myself?"

"I don't want a fricking burger Steve I—"

Steve and my dad stopped in the entryway of the room.

"Althea." My father ran to my side, wrapping me in an embrace. "Thank god you're awake. Are you okay?"

"I think so," I said. "Dad, what did I do?"

My dad sighed, looking between everyone in the room. "We're... not exactly sure."

"What happened to Hard-Wire? How the hell did I get out of there?!"

The three of them looked between each other before my dad spoke up. "Hard-Wire... died. We're not sure how but... Harley said that you did something..."

"... Are you saying.... that I...."

"He was going to kill you Althea," Peter said.

"I don't... I don't understand... how...?"

"That we don't know," my dad said. "Some shield agents took some blood samples while you were out. They're studying them and they'll take an MRI soon. They're thinking... they're thinking the near death experiences triggered a mutant gene..."

"A mutant... I'm a... a mutant?"

"It's going to be okay Thea... we'll figure this out." My dad put his hand on my shoulder. "I promise."

"Tony." A woman entered the room. "Can we talk to you?"

Tony looked to me, nodding. He gave me a kiss on my forehead. "Everything will be okay."

He left the room followed by Steve leaving Peter and I alone.

"I can't believe this is happening to me..." I muttered. "It's all my fault."

"Hey, no. You can't blame yourself Althea," Peter said as he intertwined his fingers with mine.

"But if I hadn't come to help you guys then —"

"Then who knows what would have happened to Tony and me. You did what you thought was right and you saved us so don't feel guilty about that."

"Everyone knows who I am now... what I am..."

"You're not alone in this okay Thea? Look at me."

I forced my eyes to look into his. "I'm not going anywhere. I will be by your side through all of this and I will be there to protect you. Because.... Althea I love you."

The heart monitor picked up the elevation of my heart as well as the skip of the beat that occurred when he said those three words.

"I love you too Peter," I said.

"You'll be okay. Everything will be okay."

He cupped my face softly with his hand not intertwined with mine and pressed his lips on mine. In that moment I definitely felt like everything would be okay but at the same time I couldn't imagine how it could be okay anymore.

***

"So I've cracked it down," Peter said pulling his legs up onto my bed.

It had been a week since the incident. I haven't left my house very much. I left once and and was bombarded by photographers and interviewers asking me,

"Why did Tony keep your identity so secret?"

"Who's your mother?"

"How long have you lived with Tony?"

I ignored all of their questions, jumping into the car so Happy could drive me to Peters.

It was the first and last time I left my house since the incident.

"Harley said you kept saying 'dýnami veni' so  I googled the heck out of that phrase and couldn't find anything that might fit so I decided to split them up. I looked up dynami and could only find a bunch of tv show stuff and businesses but then I found out that it's Greek for power and I haven't looked up veni yet but —"

"Peter. I appreciate you doing this for me but... I'm really tired."

I was laying down on my side, curled up in a fetal position. I had been unbearably fatigued and unenergetic since the whole thing. I was lucky if I could pull myself out of bed and into the kitchen. It might have be due to the lack of sleep I had received since the incident as I became plagued by night terrors. They were so vivid, I could feel the pain and Hard-Wire always looked so, so real. My dad would come in every night to wake me up as I screamed in my sleep and he'd lay with me and talk until morning.

It helped, I guess, that we were both consumed by PTSD and anxiety. Heck throw in depression too! The Stark's were a mess.

"Oh," Peter said. "Yeah, of course I'm sorry."

He shut the laptop preparing to get up. "I'll just, uh... talk to you later then."

"Would you stay?" I asked peering into his brown eyes. "I don't like being alone and dad and Pepper won't be home for a while..."

Peter blinked at me for a quick second before nodding and removing his shoes. He laid beside me allowing me to curl up beside him.

"I'm scared Peter..." I said after a while of silence. "Of everything.... I can't sleep, I can't eat. I'm just so, so scared."

Peter held me closer resting his chin on my head. "I know. I'm sorry you're going through this Thea. But you're not alone."

"I know... but it doesn't seem to make the world any less terrifying."

He held me tighter, kissing the top of my head.

"It'll get better."

I was becoming sick of that phrase. Peter said it daily, Uncle Steve said it constantly — it was all anyone could say. The only one who didn't was my dad. I think it was because he knew it didn't really get better.