Chapter 7

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Percy P.O.V

The next two days were uneventful, although he got some more stuff to set up in his room and personalized his things a bit more. He had yet to be left alone for long enough to get out to the strange stairs in the building, but overall, things were going pretty well for him. He was having good days, good nights, times where he could actually sleep. That night after dinner Oliver said he had to go out, but taught him how to control all of the fancy rich people streaming services he had. He watched an ocean documentary and laughed much harder than he probably should have, but he just couldn't help it, these things would be 100 times better if everyone could hear what the ocean creatures were saying. Fish had a tendency to gossip about everything, so by the time the documentary finished, he somehow knew all the scandals going on in that corner of the ocean. 

Seeing as he was still in a good mood, he decided to try his luck with some reading that he wanted to do. During his time at Camp Jupiter he'd picked up several books in either Ancient Greek or Latin that were easier for him to read, although he still didn't have much of an attention span for them. He read about a chapter of a story about some chosen one type hero that had to save his world from some great evil before putting the book down. It was so easy for normal people to read these stories and wish they could live them when they didn't realize just how much pain they really caused. And there went his good mood, he thought with a scowl. The thoughts, the images, they began flooding his senses again. He squeezed his eyes shut and stumbled to the bathroom, turning on the water and splashing some in his face hoping to snap out of it but it was too late. He saw them, all of them, their dead bodies. This time new faces appeared, and somewhere in the back of his head those annoying little voices told him that he didn't deserve any of this. He was just going to lose it all again. He deserved to be alone. He failed to save the people that mattered the most to him and he would do it again. He didn't realize, but he let his powers lose and vapor-traveled away. 

Tony P.O.V.

He had been working on some new experimental tech to add to his suit in the lab when he heard a noise behind him. 

"I know, I know, I need to take a break, just give me like 10 more minuets," He said, not bothering to turn around. There was no response. He turned his chair around, slowly tearing his eyes away from his work, expecting to see someone at the door, trying to get him out of the lab, but coming face to face with the kid.

"Holy shit kid! You scared the living daylights out of me!" He shouted, "What brings you back so soon kid?" He asked, taking a closer look at the teen. Something was wrong. His eyes were unfocused and his breathing was ragged. He kept trying to say something but didn't have the breath to get the words out. He was shaking and looked like he could collapse at any second. 

"Sir, Mr. Jackson seems to be experiencing a severe-" Jarvis started.

"Anxiety attack, I know." He said, trying to form a quick plan of action. 

"All my fault...all my fault." He heard the kid mutter finally and stood, calmly and quietly advancing towards him. 

"Kid! Breathe, just breathe, you've got to breathe, you need to focus on the here and now. Whatever your brain is showing you, it's not real." he told him, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. Seeing that he didn't immediately freak out, he gently guided the kid to sit down on the floor. "You said your a swordsman, right?" he tried again, after seeing that he hadn't seemed to reach him before. Percy nodded quickly, trying to gasp in some more air. "Okay, okay that's good, anchor yourself. Think about your sword, feel the blade and feel it balance you. Don't focus on anything but you and your sword, and breathe. Come back into the moment," he said calmly guiding the kid out of it. It took him a while, but Tony watched as his breathing grew steadier and he seemed to return to normal. 

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