The next thing Tony knew, he was in his room alone, he took a pair of clean pajamas and changed into them. After he was finished, he went to find Jarvis, Tony had to let Edwin know he was home, and he had time to think about the news his real parents gave him with more details later. After the boy had let the butler know that he was home safe and sound, he had gone back to his room, he had so much to process. He went to lie in bed and tried to sleep, but he could not, too many things to think and process. What does that really mean for him? He was not necessarily as mortal as everyone else. But was he a true immortal? Was he capable of dying? What would happen to him if his body was destroyed? Would he heal or reform? Would he be like a phoenix? Well, it was not urgent at the moment, Tony noticed that he could tell if someone was being honest based on their shadow, and he wondered if there was something new about them. He should go to sleep, he already had so many things to do in the morning. Aunt Peggy would be coming to continue his training. He needed to be well rested; his lessons tomorrow would be about hand-to-hand combat in self-defense. He needed to organize his time better if Tony was to have lessons with Sol Tao as well.
The morning came without issue, a thing that he noticed was the strained relationship between his dad and Aunt Peggy. He had noticed the slight tension between the two before. But he didn't pay it too much attention. He wonders why. Peggy's shadow was kind of rigid. It was hard to explain looking at it. She was hiding something from him, and his father seems to know and does not like it. For the time being the boy ignores it, there will be time to learn more. In the meantime, he will learn everything he can from Peggy and from his flesh parents. Every now and then, he will visit Sol-Tao and learn her type of magic. Howard makes sure that Tony knows how to disable the weapons they make, but also that he knows how to use them. Tony learns about the business world from an early age, and Howard makes sure he learns to navigate it.
It's not easy, but he learns, and with every kidnapping, he puts his abilities to use, he learns more about himself that way. That is something his soul parents can't teach him, nor can Tao. He is different, he is unique. He learns with time and experience that the not-shadows are a reflection of the soul, the more wicked the person the more dirty/oily/(tar-like?) their not-shadows are. The not-shadows cannot lie, no matter how good a liar the person is, their not-shadow would give them away. Lies also affect others, like the person lying to, it gives their not-shadow a type of distortion, like a glitch, especially if the person is semi-aware of the lie, like if they are in denial, or sub-consciously aware of the lie but not really. To explain it is hard; sometimes people are stupid it is difficult at first, he learns to read people from his flesh parents, Howard is a good businessman and Maria is a socialite, a philanthropist, so both are constantly in the limelight, followed by the media. Tony also learns to put on different masks under their care, to not let the media learn about his true self, and to let them see only parts and only the one he wants. Tony still does not approach Peggy's not-shadow; Tony does not want to find out, and not when he can see something in her eyes. Howard tries to keep them apart as much as possible especially if he is not around to supervise, Howard does not want Tony along with Peggy and the people who work under her.
Tony understands what his soul parents tried to tell him about not ripping people's not-shadows. As he grows and understands more about the world, touching other people's not-shadows makes him slightly ill, observing the worst of their crimes, they show their owner's true self, all of their wickedness. The first time he did it, he truly did not understand what he was observing, and sometimes he wishes he still had that innocence, that naivety. Tony is no longer allowed that, he needs to understand the good, the bad, and everything in between. He needs to be as pragmatic as he can, to be fair. Tony does not think he can be fair. As a human, he knows humanity can be awful to each other.
Learning from Tao is not easy; they have to find a way to tap into his natural abilities without the type of magic she uses and to use her type of magic to access his natural abilities. They discover that his abilities grow with him; it is just like how his soul parents told him the day they met. He learns languages, some because it is expected from him from his flesh parents and some because they are what the books in Kamar Taj are written in, like Sanskrit. He tries to connect with other people. The only people he is close to are the Jarvis family and Tao, but Tony finds that he can't, not really, he can see their hypocrisy, the truth behind their lies, and it is not worth it in his eyes. He is just not capable of forming connections with other people. That is until he goes to MIT, where he connects and becomes friends with another student, his name is James Rhodes.
Author Notes:
The next chapter will be dedicated to James Rhodes. Sorry for the delay and the rambling on the notes at the beginning. Hopefully, I can get a fixed updating schedule soon. If someone notices mistakes please let me know so I can fix them, I know they are there I just can't see/find them.