Achilles (PJO/Avengers)

XVII

May 22 2013

Achilles was still dazed when he got back to the tower.

"Where have you-" Angel began, before noticing Achilles' expression. "Woah. What happened?"

"Estelle." Achilles said. "I- I-"

"Estelle?" Angel frowned.

"Mom's..." Achilles said.

"Oh." Angel said, connecting the dots.

"How did you find out?" Ash asked.

"Clarisse." Achilles said, and chaos broke out.

Steve, Clint, Thor, and Tony walked into the room just in time to catch the beginning of the shouting and pandemonium. They couldn't understand any of it, as they were very animatedly and emphatically speaking in Greek.

Angel and Ash were very alarmed and panicked, while Achilles looked haunted and defensive. All three of them were in various stages of distress. They were speaking over each other, growing more exasperated.

"My. What is going on here?" Loki chimed, having snuck up behind the Avengers in the doorway.

"They are... Arguing." Thor frowned.

"Mm." Loki hummed, and then gestured between two of them. "Excuse me." He slipped past them, and walked up to Achilles, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

"[What are you blathering about?]" Loki asked Achilles in Latin.

"[I ran into someone from my past life.]" Achilles told him in the same language. His siblings frowned, falling silent for a moment and catching their breath.

"[I see.]" Loki said. "[Does this person hold ill intent?]"

"[Not towards us.]" Achilles said.

"[He knows?]" Angel asked, still in Greek.

"[Uh, yeah. For a while now.]" Achilles said sheepishly.

"[Yeah, they're friends.]" Ash dragged out the last word, her gaze panning from Angel to linger on Loki's hand upon Achilles' shoulder.

Achilles tilted his head, his brows scrunched together. "[Why'd you say it like that?]"

Angel legitimately snorted. A hand clamped over his mouth as he struggled to hold in a laugh. To his left, Ash couldn't entirely stifle her own chuckle. That broke Angel's composure and he laughed fully, his arms wrapped around his torso.

Loki frowned and crossed his arms as the two collapsed in laughter. He'd missed what they'd said after Achilles had addressed him directly. The Avengers were taken aback by the abrupt change in tone of the conversation. If it could be called a conversation, and not a minor mass panic.

Achilles stared, confused. "What?"

The two just kept laughing.

Achilles turned to the Avengers, with the face and posture to match the expression '?????'. Tony shrugged, even more confused.

~~~

"So you saw Clarisse?" Ash asked after dinner.

"Yeah."

"And you talked?" 

"We did."

"What did you talk about? What happened?" Angel asked.

"We died." Achilles said. "They found our bodies."

Ash shook her head and Angel closed his eyes.