Neutral pov
The funeral was short. There were tears, but not as many as there were at the wake. All in all, the bright cloud free sky seemed to be ironic for such a mournful occasion.
Percy Jackson, stood with Tony Stark behind her who was resting a comforting hand on his niece's shoulder. Peter Parker stood closer to the casket that was being lowered into the ground. He was next to Mr. Stacy. The boy was crying profusely. No other Avengers came because none of them really knew Gwen Stacy besides Wanda, who was not very fond of the girl.
Percy looked at the Stacys with deep regret. They weren't looking at her, but instead at the casket of their daughter. They were both sobbing and crying, for obvious reasons.
The wake had been particularly heartbreaking. The worst part was when Mrs. Stacy walked up to her daughter's corpse and looked at her. The dead girl had small cuts from the glass, but had been cleaned up in the funeral home. They had dressed her in a white gown. It kind of resembled a nightgown, Percy noted, which was quite fitting since the girl was never going to wake up. The more she thought about it, the sadder she got. The girl's mother kneeled on the kneeler, praying for her daughter to have safe passage to heaven. Percy had checked the underworld to find what happened to the young lady and found she had chosen rebirth. When the middle aged woman stood, she smiled sadly at her daughter and leaned in to press a tearful kiss to her head. Soft words were whispered to the deceased daughter, something along the lines of "Goodnight, baby. Sleep tight. I love you." Percy couldn't hear this, but found herself crying more at the pain Mrs. Stacy was in from her daughter's death. The mother rested a hand over her daughter's hands, which were folded over her still chest, and reluctantly pulled away and made her way back to her husband. Percy didn't remember Mr. Stacy's last encounter with his daughter.
Peter didn't do much when he went up to her. He keeled for a moment, faking prayer, and then quickly departed from her. Wade didn't approach the corpse, but he came. Percy went up to her, but didn't pray, didn't speak, and didn't make any move to physically touch Gwen. She walked up and looked at the corpse.
It was a quick funeral. White roses were placed on the polished wood of the coffin. The eulogy was spoken. The people listened intently and she'd a few tears for their dead loved one.
Peter felt guilty. It was unbearable because his girlfriend, who he had been planning to break up with, was killed. He could've listened to Percy or he could've taken the front seat, but he chose not to. The worst part was that he knew Percy was probably right, given her track record for bad things happening, and he, blinded by jealousy, ignored her. He had the ability to stop it, but he didn't. Peter was still in the state of mind where he would blame anyone who he could to feel less guilty, so he blamed the person who he felt was truly least at fault here. He blamed Percy. He hadn't made eye contact with her since the accident and she hadn't with him. They were both angry at each other as well as themselves.
---
Graduation was quick and boring. Nothing too memorable, in Percy's opinion. She walked up to the stage, took her diploma, shook a few hands, and walked back to her seat.
By the time of this event, Gwen's death had been old news and life had returned to normal, if you set aside the crippling guilt that weighed on both Percy and Peter and even Wade. School had returned to normal for the most part. They replaced Gwen as Valedictorian, and put a Devon Nolan in her place. It would have been Peter if not for his spotty attendance record. Percy was glad it wasn't him and so was Peter. She didn't need to be forced to listen to him talk about great opportunities and he didn't need the added weight of himself replacing Gwen on his conscience.
Neither of the teens who lived in Avengers Tower had spoken to each other. They barely even glanced at each other and when they did it was accidental. Both were still broken up about the untimely death of a miss Gwendolyn Maxine Stacy.
---
By the time August had rolled around, Percy had forgiven Peter and came to terms with the death of her friend. She couldn't forgive herself just yet, but she was on the right track. The girl had called off her therapy sessions and began preparing to enlist in the United States Military as her 18th birthday drew closer.
Peter had taken a less healthy road to recovery over Gwen's death. He dragged himself down to her grave every day, left flowers, and just sat there, no matter the weather. Spider-Man had been absent for the streets since the fatal car accident, though no citizen knew why. He had not forgiven himself, nor Percy. He wasn't ready to let go of her because, as Percy told Aphrodite the day Gwen died, Peter did have strong feelings for Gwen. Her death hurt him in such a way that he found himself feeling forced to love her out of guilt. His love for Percy melted into his anger and so he managed to stay angry at the demigod.
---
Percy was scheduled to arrive at the Military Enlistment Process Station to complete her enlistment process soon.
The day Percy left, she said goodbyes to everyone. All of which were very emotional for the girl. Wanda had promised to throw her a big party when she came home. Percy knew the girl was worried from the too tight bear hug she received. Steve was proud of the girl who had grown to a stable mental and physical state and said his goodbye by expressing this. Loki told her of how he came to respect her greatly, not only for her power, but for her strength, loyalty, and bravery. Thor told her of how great a hero she was. Clint ruffled her hair and said "come back in one piece, kid". Natasha hugged her and gave a silent his of approval. Bruce was rather upset about her departure. He had stitched her up on more than one occasion and worried a bit. Tony was very emotional. He hugged her and asked multiple times if she was sure she wanted to to this. He was very worried and was panicking because he didn't want her to get hurt, or worse.
She knocked lightly on Peter's bedroom door, even though she knew he wasn't in there. He was where he always was at this time every day. Percy grabbed her stuff and put it in the car. She drove down to the cemetery and walked to Gwen's resting place.
"Peter." She said.
He didn't look at her, didn't acknowledge her at all.
"Peter, please look at me. Talk to me. Yell at me at least. Just give me something." She told him.
He didn't.
"I'm leaving today." She paused. He didn't look up, but he listened intently to every word she said, memorizing every syllable. "As soon as I say 'bye' actually."
He didn't blink.
"I didn't want to leave without seeing you. I wanted to apologize, but then I realized that I didn't want to anymore. I'd rather just say goodbye. I want you to let me have that." She said. Peter recognized the tone in her voice, the strength and vulnerability mixing together to create a deadly solution. He held his tongue.
"You're still torn up about Gwen and I know that, but Peter, people die. You can't save everyone. It's just the natural order of things. The Fates decided that someone would die in that car accident and frankly, I'm glad it wasn't you, even if you don't agree. You need to bounce back from this so you can live. Blame me. Hades, blame Wade if you so wish to, but you need to grow up and stop shouldering the entire blame for yourself. You can't waste your life wallowing in self hatred because someone else died. You had no control over the car that hit you guys. End of story."
He didn't say anything and just continued to stare at the near letters carved in stone. He knew she was right, but he didn't care. Peter Parker continued what he had been doing all summer. He didn't even tell her that he wasn't taking all the blame for himself, that he actually was blaming her too.
"Peter," her voice was steady and calm although her heart was breaking for th boy in front of her. "Say something. Please, look at me."
He blinked. Surely that counted for something, right? No.
Percy shook her head lightly and stood directly in front of his face, with her hands resting on the sides of his face so he couldn't look away. She gazed directly into his eyes. "Take care of yourself, Peter. I love you. Goodbye."
Her voice didn't shake or brake, but her heart did both, as did his. She cried as she exited the cemetery. He cried as he watched her leave without sending him another glance.
He would regret this one sided conversation in a year or so.
---
The Avengers didn't want to believe it, but some accepted it. Thor and Loki had temporarily left to take care of stuff on Asgard. Bruce had gone off to find a better solution to his anger issues. Vision took up residence in the tower when SHIELD requested it.
Tony did first, to everyone's surprise. His niece had died overseas on foreign soil. They said her whole platoon was killed in an explosion while they slept. The man felt something was off earlier in the week, very similar to the feeling he had when she was shot in Florida. He believed that Percy Jackson was dead before anyone else.
Vision pointed out that logically, she was most likely dead. He didn't know her at all or he might've thought differently.
Natasha slowly came to agree with Tony. She noticed the sudden lack of letters from the young woman after the announcement of her death.
Peter was so against the idea that Percy was dead that he went to great lengths to convince himself, even if that meant making up wild conspiracy theories as to how she was alive. Eventually, he accepted the fact that he would never see her again, nor would he get a proper goodbye since he ignored her the last time they were together in person. It came to a point where he snapped at anyone who mentioned her.
The team's separation had begun. Steve, Wanda, and Clint grew closer. Often they would reminisce about Percy and how she still might be out there. They hoped so. Their conversations of her grew fewer and fewer. It hurt to talk about their missing comrade.
---
James Buchanan Barnes decided to do one last thing as part of HYDRA. He would free the last two surviving prisoners of war that had been there for oh so long.
One was a tall man with dark brown hair. His eyes were brown. The other was a girl with dark hair and peculiar green eyes. Still, after all this time, they managed to rely on each other. They were in cells next to each other, separated by a wall, but they spoke through a vent the reached between the doors. When she was close to losing hope, he spoke soothing words to her and resparked the fire in her. She did the same for him. They had lost any other members of their unit to either madness or death.
Bucky had grown attached ever since he began fighting the Winter Soldier urges he had. On multiple occasilns, he had been charged with transporting one of them to the torture room, shower room, or back to their cells. At first, he saw them both regularly, but once they were moved to separate cells, he only saw one at a time.
It seemed inhumane to watch as the agents of HYDRA dehumanized the two people. They faught for so long to keep themselves and each other together. Bucky found himself discreetly leaving their cell doors open and pointing them in the direction of the exit. He wasn't going to leave the duo here to die. The girl was more aware of her surroundings as they escaped and noticed Bucky. She sent him a thankful glance and a small smile.
He also made sure to stay and listen until they made their way out of the underground complex they had been held in for much too long. Once they were out, he followed them and when they reached the woods, he kept following, just to make sure they reached the United States troop located only about a mile from their current position.
Barnes left when they got there. He took his own route to sneak back into the States. He did still have the fake ID and passport HYDRA made for him.
This would not be his last encounter with the former prisoners. He learned their names and any other useful information. The man was a Lieutenant Thomas Garland, age 23. He was born and raised in a small Texas town with his mother, father, and three brothers. The woman was 21 years old. She had only been in the military for a year when they were taken captive. She was raised in Manhattan, New York by her mother and stepfather. At the age of 17 she was taken in by an uncle. Her name was Persephone Jackson and she would not be going back to New York for a long time. Instead, she would take up residence with her former lieutenant. Neither would go back to the military.
THE END!!!
AN the sequel will be up as soon as I can write it. I will say I'm happy I got this far with the story so far. It's fun to write. Ill post an update on this story once I've published the first chapter of the sequel. Hope you liked it.