Lost Hero

Acceptance

After her explanation, after all the questions were done with, Percy left the room, locking herself in her room. Everyone she gathered in the library remained there, each of them absorbed in their own thoughts as they looked through the files Percy had given them. They were written like a report, but even so, they saw Percy's pain as she wrote them. They couldn't imagine going through everything she did at her age. Each of the events had those who participated in them and their ages. They couldn't believe children were forced into battle like this, they couldn't imagine sending children to fight. Sure, the team was young when they started, but they wanted it, they wanted to fight. It seemed as if the half-bloods were either forced to fight or die. 

Suddenly, Dick stands up and leaves the room. Everyone watches him go, not knowing what to do. Roy felt terrible. He didn't know what to do. On one hand, he cared about Percy a lot, but on the other, she had lied to him. She had had a girlfriend and didn't tell him. He wanted to be there for her, but he was angry. She lied to him. 

"Why don't you all go home? Today's been a lot, for everybody. I'm sure Dinah will be available to all of you should you need her," even though he was trying to be kind, it was clear what Bruce was saying, get out. 

They couldn't read him. Nothing about his posture or tone of voice indicated what he was feeling. And they were all lost. No one knew what to do at that moment. They didn't know how to take the news that Andy, no, Percy, gave them. But Bruce did give them direction, get out of his house. They all file out, leaving together. They were quiet, not knowing what to say, files clutched in their hands. But they looked to Kaldur, the only one who seemed to have known about this in the first place. 

"You helped her, you knew who she was and kept it from us," It was Artemis that spoke, anger leaking into her words. 

"I gave my princess the time she needed. Even reading and listening to what happened to her, you couldn't understand. I know I promised not to keep things from you, but we didn't have permission to tell you. Would you rather Percy had attempted to tell you and be killed by a bolt of lightning? Because that was the other option. And how do you think her life would have gone if you knew Andy was Percy? She wanted a little bit of normality, she couldn't have gotten that if she didn't have her life as Percy. I know her and I lying to you hurt, by try to see this from her perspective," And with that Kaldur stormed angrily away. The team was left looking between the mansion and Kaldur's retreating form. 

Oh god, what had they done?

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Inside the mansion, Dick was rifling through his closet, pulling out the preorder case of Blue's he had stashed. Maybe now wasn't the time but it could also be a perfect time. He grabs two bottles and heads off towards Percy's room, hoping to find her there. When he turned down her hallway, he was surprised to see her door was covered in a layer of ice that extended into the hallway from her door and on the floorboards. 

Well that didn't seem like a good sign. 

Walking down the hallway and stopping in front of the door, Dick knocks. He waits for a moment, feeling the chill of the ice radiating towards him. He doesn't hear anything so he knocks again, louder. With a sigh, he pulls his sleeve to cover his hand and opens the door, shaking out his hand once he let go of the doorknob, eyebrows raised as flecks of ice fly from his sleeve. 

Looking at the bed, he sees Percy curled up on it, facing the huge windows and looking at the downpouring rain outside. He couldn't see her face but judging by the ice-covered room, she wasn't in a good mood. 

"Percy, I'm sorry. I know that was hard. I had planned on giving this to Andy and was waiting for a good time, but this seems like a good as time as any," Dick says, not softening his voice. That isn't what Percy needed.