Speed Demons

Part 23

Keith

There weren't many demigods aboard the Atlas, and the number that I knew about was even fewer. I knew of Percy, myself, Kinkade and Adam(for a while I wasn't sure that Adam was a son of Asclepius, but I couldn't be certain, until now). When Percy heard that Beckendorf had died, he completely retreated into himself. He tried to play himself off as fine(which he was painfully good at, by the way,) but I knew better.

I had found him early in the morning, in the training room, running. Luckily no one was there, and after the first incident, he had gotten rid of all of the windows on the track so no one could see inside without the password to the tablet, which he had only given to anyone who knew about his divine heritage.

Knowing better than to stop him again, I hung around the area loosely, monitoring his vitals and speed. "Is he in there?" Adam asked me, "Percy, I mean. We stopped at Planet Drazen for some kind of holiday."

The speedster must have been listening, because the door to the track opened up, and he stepped out. "Clear Day?" He asked, "The one we missed last time because of time confusion? Let's get going then!"

Adam laughed and nodded. "I wouldn't have expected you to enjoy being early."

Percy looked surprised. "I'm a speedster." He said, "My mother always said 'If your not ten minutes early, you're late'. If I'm not punctual, I may as well be a snail." Then he strolled out of the room, me laughing behind him.

Shiro

"Where's Alura?" I asked the group when we met up on Drazen. We had landed to celebrate Clear Day, or at least that's what I told everyone. I knew that morale has been low since Oriande, and this was the perfect thing.

"She wasn't feeling well, so she stayed on the ship to rest," Coran explained cordially.

"Well then, I'm going to get her a get-well-soon gift," Lance stated confidently.

"Oh!" Pidge got excited at the prospect. "I'll help too!"

"Me three!" Hunk chirped,

I rolled my eyes. For the defenders of the universe, they have a miraculous ability to act like children. "What about you Percy?"

He looked up from staring at his shoes, "Hmm? Oh, I was gonna use my powers to cheat at Whack-A-Mole."

Keith chuckled, "Thanks for your honesty, Perce," he said sarcastically.

"You're welcome," The speedster replied obliviously.

Everyone wandered off in various directions. Lance, Hunk and Pidge went their separate ways, but Keith noticeably made sure to follow his brother, keeping an eye.

Adam took my arm(the fleshy one), as I sighed. "You alright, Love?" He asked me. We started walking around aimlessly.

"Yeah," I told him truthfully. "Percy's just been acting stranger than normal, is all."

"I don't know much," He started, "But I know that a friend of his... passed away a few days ago. I don't know Percy well enough to see how he's taking it, though."

"What? I didn't know that. He coulda just said so." I grumbled the last part. "Wait, how'd you know?"

Adam smirked. "Father's intuition"

"What!"

He threw his head back in a laugh. "Oh okay, that's how it is? So my husband returns to Earth for the first time in three years, two if you count the crash-landing." I nodded, gesturing for him to continue. "When he gets here, he's taken on the responsibility of caring for four then-teenagers, an old man, a who knows how old princess, some random Altean, Keith's Galra mom, and an intergalactic wolf?" It sounded so ridiculous when he put it like that. "But, somehow, I'm not allowed to randomly adopt a sixteen-year-old speedster from Manhatten that I barely know?" He asked me incredulously.