The Soldier and the Child

Chapter 4: Greece

So annoyed at my laptop. Was in offline mode when I was traveling back from visiting my grandma before Corona Virus and I had a good chunk (and I mean good chunk) of work that was unsaved because the thing I was using it you have to manually save it. Well I went to go save it and my laptop crashed in the process, so story lost. Lost motivation to try and recover the chapter. Now at my computer and figured I'd do my best to recreate the story months afterward and then gave up and just made a different version of the chapter that I like a bit better.

"We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, never to be undone." - William James, The Principles of Psychology

Percy stood upon the steps he happened to be standing on and just closed his eyes as he took a deep breath of Athens air. His body seemingly ignored the taint that always seemed to exist in New York air and found himself yearning for something that he has only found in Athens.

It was like something in him was calling to the place, wanting him to stay, stay and live. Some type of air that he would swear, that had Loki been on the planet, was pure magic that seemed to filter through his body and call for him.

His mind was clear, he was reading better than he had in ages, and the darkness that has wormed its way into his heart for years, especially after his mother's death, seemed to lift somehow as he stood upon the pathways of Athens.

"We need to keep moving," grunted Winter from beside the boy but made no move to grab him and drag him away from Athens.

In truth, since the month they've been staying in Greece, he noticed some change in his charge. He seemed almost lighter like he had almost found his true calling. Winter Soldier lost in his mind as an image of a determined blond boy to enter the military filtered across his chaotic mind.

"We still have a few more days before we have to change identities," Percy pointed out as he ignored the passport in his pocket that decidedly did not have his actual name or birthday on it.

He didn't know who Patrick Jones was, but Percy figured it was best to not really ask too many questions. Especially since Winter's new name was James Jones, his father.

He's never had a father before.

"Can you tell me about its history?" Percy asked instead, finally opening his eyes and flopping onto the stairs below him, making it known he wasn't ready to leave this spot yet. They were overlooking Athens from their rented cottage under a different name then their current one. Percy did his best to ignore his morals toward fake identities.

Winter had a lot of knowledge about places, and even some people. They came in waves, he knew, but it always seemed like Winter knew a lot about the history of places as if he was forced to learn them at one point and is only just now starting to scratch the scab that had come over the information. That blocked him from fully remembering it all.

"As you know from our tour over the month, Athens is considered the first European city when approached from the Middle East. Though, from the west, it's considered the influence of the East. The food, music...clamorous street life. This city is what nurtured the Western civilization thousands of years ago, so it's wrong to say it's a mixture of East and West. In truth, it is Greek and shall remain on the world stage," Winter said without a tone of voice, but his eyes told a different story as Percy looked up at Winter.

His hazel eyes always told Percy exactly what he needed to know. The hidden pain that was in layers of his eyes was always the first thing he spotted. Then it was the sadness and guilt whenever Percy spots Winter waking up from one of his many nightmares that plague the assassin throughout the night and even into the day. But there was also brief happiness that surged through the assassin's tormented thoughts. Times like whenever he and Percy stayed up through the day and night to watch the sunrise and fall. Not talking but just taking in each other's company.

There were also the times' Winter would tell Percy about the blond boy. A yearning look would enter his eyes also mixed with helplessness as the man never seemed to recall the boy's name, but knew they had been best friends.

Then it was the absolute grief that entered his eyes when they both realized that the assassin was out of his time. Times from the beginnings of automobiles to casually seeing them on the streets and men flying about in their own man-made machines really opened the Winter Soldiers' eyes, along with the fact his best friend, the blond boy, was more than likely dead.

The worst part was that he didn't even know if it was him that killed his best friend or natural causes.

Percy was always told by his mother that the eyes were the windows to the soul. He just never realized how true it was until he met the Winter Soldier, who hid his face behind a mask, both literally and figuratively.

"Do we have to go?" Percy asked quietly as he took in the starry night above him. He felt like he was also pulled into some direction like he was the ocean that was controlled by the moon.

"If we stay in one place for too long, we will become known to Hydra. You've already been attempted to be killed once and kidnapped another, I don't think we need another incident," Winter told Percy sternly, but Percy could hear the soft apology that was hidden deep in his voice and just nodded.

In truth, he was surprised they stayed for the month. Their time in New York together barely lasted three days, and even less in the Middle East where they arrived from the long cruise ride they had stolen two people's identities for that were going to cancel at the last minute until Winter intercepted the call and just used their identities instead.

It helped that since it was so last minute, they weren't going to get a refund anyway.

From there they hitched a few rides around the place. Nearly spending eight days in Syria and only two days in Turkey before they finally arrived in Athens where they stayed for the entire month.

Because of the time they weren't traveling, Winter had taken to teaching Percy the language of most European countries in an attempt to fit in. The better you fit in, the fewer people will remember you and the less Hydra would be able to track their location. It helped that Percy was developing a nice tan and was starting to fit in with most of the folks around, especially some of the kids around that were helping him learn the language.

"Okay. When?" Percy asked as he watched the full moon shining above them.

"Tomorrow," Winter said with finality.

What neither noticed was the rippling rain puddle that was four feet away from them or how Percy's stomach felt like it was about ready to hang itself.