Chapter 7

Athena's POV

As the pain in my abdomen subsided, I began to feel the rest of the world as well. I could hear construction around me, and, slowly, familiar voices came in as well. My body began to feel the cold concrete, but my head was on something soft. I tried to open my eyes, but they felt too heavy.

I could feel the slightly cold wind on my cheek, but my arms and torso were warm. Taking a small breath, I was able to get a sent off of what was covering me; it smelled of leather and Alex. I was able to start twitching my fingers, and I could start to flutter my eyelids as well. Finally able to open my eyes, I could see a blurry image that looked like Raven.

"Raven?" I asked weakly. My voice was hoarse, and my throat felt dry.

Raven looked down at me with worry filled dark blue eyes. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "Athena, thank god, you're awake.

Lifting my hand from underneath the leather jacket, I held my aching head as I sat up with Raven's help. My vision began to focus, and I saw Hank and Sean come over to Raven and I. My mind briefly wondered where Alex and Darwin were, but then I remembered what had happened before I blacked out. I felt ashamed. Charles had told me that I should tell them, and because I waited too long, they found out in the worst way possible.

"How are you feeling Athena?" Hank asked concerned.

I couldn't look at him or the others. "I'm okay," I replied. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for you to find out like that."

"You were going to tell us?" Seas asked. I nodded.

"Why did you wait?" Raven asked.

"I was scared that you would reject me," I confessed. "The reason that I came to America was to kill Charles and Erik. But, they offered for me to join them; something I didn't think they would do." Tears had started to swim in my eyes, and Raven reached over to take my hand.

"We've already forgiven you," she said. My head snapped up to look at her. "If you really deceived us, you would have left with Shaw."

I looked at Hank and Sean, and they both nodded. A smile found its way onto my face, and I let a few happy tears fall. "Thank you," I whispered. After wiping my eyes, I looked around again. "Where are Alex and Darwin?" I asked.

The three of them shared a look. That made me worry. "What happened?" I demanded.

They proceeded to tell me about how they had tried to kill Shaw, and Darwin tried to protect Angel. That it didn't work, and Shaw killing Darwin. I felt horrible. Darwin was dead, and Alex must feel terrible about it. "Where's Alex?" I asked.

Sean turned around looking in the direction of the few trees in the lawn. I looked around him, and saw Alex sitting with his back against a tree; his arms hugging his knees, and his head resting on his knees. Sighing, I put his leather coat across my arm, and stood up to walk over to him. I wobbled a little when I stood up, but Raven helped to steady me.

As I approached Alex, I took the leather jacket and put it around his shoulders. He looked up, and seemed surprised to see me. I noticed that his eyes were a little bloodshot and red around the edges; he must have been crying. "May I sit down?" I asked cautiously. He nodded, and I sat down next to him.

We were quiet for a while. "Thank you for the jacket," I said.

"No problem," he replied, his voice hoarse. We fell into silence once more.

"The other told me what happened," I began. "It would kind of be pointless to say it wasn't your fault, since you seem adamant that it was. But, you can't let Darwin's death stop you."

He looked at me. "Why do you care?" he demanded.

I resisted the urge to flinch. I looked him in the eye. "Because for the first time since my mother's death, I'm happy. For the first time, I don't feel like an object for people to use. I feel like a person." I sighed when he looked away. "I know that I should have told you and the others about why I was here, but I didn't want to ruin what I had found. I was going to tell you guys, but I was waiting for a right moment. I didn't want you to find out that way.

It was silent as he took in what I said.

"The others forgave me," I continued. "Do you?"

I held my breath as I waited for his response. It felt like forever, but he finally turned to me, looked me in the eyes and nodded. I let out my breath and smiled at him.

"What did you mean?" he asked. I cocked my head to the side in confusion. "Earlier, you said that I shouldn't let Darwin's death stop me. What did you mean?"

"Look, no matter what you think, you didn't kill him, Shaw did. Shaw can absorb energy, he probably had enough energy to begin with to kill Darwin," I explained. "Shaw doesn't care who he kills, or what he does to others. But we can't use Darwin's death as an excuse to give up; he wouldn't want that. And I highly doubt that he would blame you either."

He nodded before looking away again. In a bold move, I took his hand in mine. He looked at our hands in surprise, and then at me. I gave him a small smile, and he returned it.