Out of Place
A/N: You could say it's a companion piece to my other story, Home. Read & Review. Please do review! :)
Sometimes he felt out of place.
It was usually a fleeting moment. His mother would look at him and make a double-take. She'd stare at him, convincing herself that he was there. She'd look at Paul and convey a whole conversation with a glance and he felt… left out. And Paul would try really hard to keep the awkwardness out, but he would only add to the tense environment.
I had been a week since he returned, but they hadn't talk about it yet. When the topic came up, they would try to avoid it and then… silence. Being home was getting more and more uncomfortable as the days passed.
He took concerns and dread out of the window and suddenly the words were spilling out of his mouth.
"I -I don't really know where to start. There was another near-apocalyptic war and, well, it was huge, mom. Gaea -Mother Earth- was rising and planned to destroy everything."
Paul was bewildered by Percy's story. The teen had been kidnaped, put to sleep for eight months, his memories had been erased, he was sent to several almost-suicidal quests, battled entire armies single handedly and literally went to Hell and back. Paul didn't judge his crying. Maybe because he was too worried by Sally's crying.
She had tried to be strong, she really had. But she couldn't take anymore when Percy started talking about Tartarus. His voice was breaking and his eyes seemed haunted. Besides, she was suspecting that Percy was toning it down.
When Percy was finished, silence settled. And Sally rushed to him, tried to talk but couldn't, so she just sat next to him and hugged him, kissed his head and cried and he cried, too, and hugged her fordear life because damn, for the very first time in his life Percy considered himself lucky.
Lucky for making it through two wars.
Lucky for having his family.
He would always feel a little out of place. He didn't mind much, though. He was just glad he had a place and the place was home.