A/N ...
Tony awoke with a groan, squinting his eyes, he tries to figure out where he is. The last thing he can remember is some shouts and intense pain, oh and someone yelling at him to stay awake, and that-that was Percy.
He shot up-or tried to rather-with a jolt. Where was Percy? Is he okay? What happened? Are the others okay? He began spiralling into a panic attack and tried to ground himself.
Tony then heard someone distantly say, "Tony, Tony, breathe with me, in and out, in and out, it'll be okay, just breathe."
Tony did as told and Bruce sighed in relief as Tony calmed down. Bruce checked his vitals once more before softly asking, "You feeling okay Tony?"
Tony rolled his eyes and replied, "Yeah, m'fine, just peachy. Anyhoo how long was I asleep for?"
Bruce sighed this time in exasperation though and said, "About a day Tones."
Tony looked shocked, he hadn't expected it to be so long Bruce chuckled at the genius' expression saying, "Yeah, you were hit pretty bad Tony, not gonna lie but you're lucky you made it out."
Tony laughed bitterly, "I'm unique Bruce, I've survived near death plenty of times."
Bruce just smiled understandingly at him. Tony fell silent again and then asked, "Did-did we win?"
Bruce smiled a wistful smile and nodded, "Yeah-yeah we did but-"
Tony cut him off, the fact finally sinking in, the one thing he was afraid of becoming reality, "He's gone, isn't he?"
Bruce was surprised and shocked at first, and heartbroken at the small tone of Tony's voice. Tony was looking anywhere but at Bruce, like he already knew the answer. And suddenly it occurred to Bruce, that Tony probably knew what was going to happen.
Bruce gaped at the man in shock and anger, Tony saw the realization dawn on Bruce's face and spat bitterly, "Yes. I knew, ever since he came back. He made me promise not to tell."
Bruce finally gained his speech back and whispered, "How could you? You could have prevented this! He would've been alive and laughing right now."
Logically Bruce knew that if Tony knew he must already have done everything in his power to keep Percy alive, but that didn't stop the angry words from spilling out.
Bruce stopped however when he saw the self loathing, the guilt and the anger buried in Tony's eyes. Giving him a laugh that sounded more like a growl Tony replied, "Do you-do you know how hard it is to know that the boy who deserved happiness and love the most out of any of us was also going to be the first to leave us? To know that soon, so soon Percy would no longer be with me laughing and telling terrible puns, no more yelling at him for recklessness, no more adventure stories to listen to, no more seeing the love struck puppy look on his face when he talked about Annabeth and not be able to do anything about it?"
Bruce opened his mouth to interrupt but Tony was on a roll now. "I searched everything, and anything to find any other way. I'd give myself up a thousand times if it meant that he would be here. I searched for any way to protect him, but there was no other way Bruce. I hate it, I hate this why did it have to be Percy? Why do the worst things have to happen to the best people Bruce?"
"Percy had his whole life ahead of him, I couldn't save him, I could've done something."
At this Bruce immediately stops Tony, "Tony, Tony hey listen, what happened was not your fault okay? You searched for other ways, didn't you, you tried, right? So please, please don't blame yourself for this Tony. Percy would never want you to do this to yourself."
Tony nodded but obviously didn't believe it. Bruce sighed, survivor's guilt was a haunting thing. He shook his head and said, "Why don't you get some rest Tony, I'll wake you up later."
Tony immediately turned towards him, "No, there's too much stuff to do and-"
Bruce once again cut him off and sternly said, "Tony, you were stabbed, twice, you are going to sleep or I will sedate you. Your body needs the rest, please get some."
Tony grumbled but nodded. Bruce deduced that this talk and the emotions must have worn him out and he fell asleep quite quickly.
Bruce wondered how others would react to this but decided to keep it quiet, he would let Tony decide whether he wanted to tell them or not.
Bruce stepped out of the room and was immediately engulfed by the Avengers asking questions. He quickly answered them saying, "He just woke up, did not take the news well and is asleep again right now, so keep your voices down. I had to practically threaten to sedate him."
The others looked a bit relived but the mood was dampened by Nat softly asking, "He's blaming himself isn't he?"
Bruce simply sighed and nodded, "You know him."
Natasha stepped forward and pulled Bruce into a hug, Bruce hugged her back tightly, soon Steve and Clint joined. Thor unfortunately couldn't be here since he was conferring with the Gods.
The four stood in the hallway comforting each other. Steve was the one to break off first, "Guys, you know Tony is going to take this the hardest and try to lock himself in his lab and we know how he gets. We'll have to help him out of this one. He will try his hardest to push us away but try to help as much as you can. And also Nico and Thalia."
Clint then spoke up, his voice slightly raspy but no one called him out on it, "We offer Nico and Thalia a place to stay with us. I don't think they'll come but just as a place to crash anytime they want."
Natasha nodded, "Yeah, I don't think Tony will mind, too much."
The four of them then agreed and split up, Bruce went to the infirmary with the Apollo kids and Steve, Natasha and Clint went to help with clean up but there wasn't much to do.
Natasha tried to keep her mind off of Percy, distracting herself with work to do but it seemed she couldn't, everywhere she went she saw some part of him. Finally she gave up and decided to search for Thalia.
Nat wandered around asking for her and finally found her sitting in the training arena. Thalia was just looking at a spot completely zoned out. Natasha lightly sat down beside her. Thalia still did not notice.
In the end Natasha lightly put an arm around the girl, offering as much comfort as she could. Thalia jumped an almost drew her weapon before she realized it was Natasha. Thalia then relaxed slightly but was still slightly tense.
Natasha pulled her even closer and rubbed her back slightly, "We'll be okay Thalia. We'll be okay."
And Thalia could only nod, too tired to even speak.
Natasha began softly humming a lullaby, which then changed to singing gently in Russian, coaxing Thalia to some sleep. Natasha kept singing even as her throat went dry and voice went hoarse, she sang until she was sure the girl beside her was asleep, her head resting in Natasha's lap.
The Black Widow gently picked her up and without anyone seeing them carried her back to her room. She removed the ruined clothes and pulled the covers over Thalia. Brushing a gentle hand over Thalia's forehead Natasha left.
Shortly after the red-head left another woman, this time Artemis entered the room. She placed a calloused and warm hand on Thalia's forehead, muttering a quick spell.
"Sleep well, my Lieutenant, you have a long and difficult journey ahead."
A/N Sorry for the waterworks guys...I hope you've enjoyed this story and this isn't the end. This story still has about a handful of chapters to go. So stick around! Thank you for all the reviews, favs and follows. Love y'all!
The next chapter will be up on 14th July, 2021!
