Catch Me If I Fall (PJO/Avengers Crossover)

32

When Loki opened his eyes, he found himself in a dark valley. It was night, and the cool breeze refreshed him; he hadn't breathed in fresh air in the Norns know how long. He closed his eyes, letting himself savour this moment.

He felt a presence next to him and turned quickly to see Percy standing there. A little pale, and a little transparent, but definitely Percy. The Greek god smiled at the sight of his lover, before taking Loki's hand in his. "Hello."

Loki attempted to open his mouth to greet Percy back, but found that nothing came out. Percy laughed softly.

"You're only dreaming, my love," he explained patiently, and Loki immediately knew something was wrong by the way Percy spoke. His voice, Loki realised, was not soft, as he'd initially thought, but breathy and pained, as though he had been screaming a few moments before. Loki knew this type of voice, for it had only been a few months now since he'd spoken that way himself. "You are not here," Percy looked around, a small, sad smile on his face. "As much as I wish you could be. But I can't ramble for too long. I don't know how much time I have."

He looked Loki dead in the eye. "You are in grave, grave danger."

What? Loki attempted to say, forgetting that he couldn't speak, but Percy understood nonetheless.

"I can't give away too much, but he knows where you are. He knows-" Percy cut himself off with a yelp of pain and he doubled over, his face scrunching up in agony. He fell to his knees and looked at Loki desperately. "Look, Loki, no matter what happens, do not leave Asgard unless I tell you to. Don't-"

But the dream was fading, and Loki felt himself be pulled back into consciousness, finding himself back in the cell he was sentenced to spend eternity in. What had Percy meant- how could Loki possibly be in danger? And, even if he had wanted to, Loki knew he would definitely not be able to leave Asgard, so why bother telling him not to? Gods, he loved Percy with everything he was, but he could be difficult to understand sometimes.

Why couldn't he just, for once, have Percy give it to him straight instead of speak in those dreadful riddles? Loki supposed he had brought this upon himself. If he hadn't spoken to Percy with so many metaphors when they had first met, maybe Percy wouldn't do things like this.

Loki blinked, and when he did, he saw a horrific image underneath his eyes. A man, on the floor across from him, in chains and covered in wounds and bruises. Was it a hallucination? No. He remembered now- he'd read about dreams a few years ago, and one of the side effects of entering someone's dreams was that that someone experienced visions of something you didn't want them to see. Loki didn't know why a man chained to the wall was something Percy didn't want him to see.

All he knew was that Percy was in danger. And, somehow, he was too.

*

Crack.

Percy screamed again as his leg was snapped by Thanos, but he had done it. He'd warned Loki, and that was all that mattered. He also had used another one of his godly powers to duplicate himself. So, while his main consciousness was here in this horrible room, the rest of him was in Manhattan, playing with his baby sister. It was grim, Percy knew, but it was necessary.

"You will help me rule Earth," Thanos commanded, punching Percy in the face. Perhaps, if his full consciousness had been there, Percy would have succumbed to the Mad Titan's mind games. But, seeing as about a quarter of him was on Earth, it wasn't working.

"Never," Percy rasped, determined not to show any more weakness than he already had.

Nothing would make him give into Thanos' endless torture. Nothing would push him so hard as to give up. It wasn't going to happen.

So Thanos and his army visited him every day, with new forms of torture, new forms of persuasiveness. But Percy didn't give in. Not once. He wouldn't let them see what he saw.

He wouldn't let them know that he was, in fact, the most scared he'd ever been. Because when he saw Thanos, he didn't see what everyone else saw. And he didn't hear what everyone else heard.

No. He saw Tartarus, and he heard Annabeth's screams simultaneously with his own.

*

"You've been quite out of it lately, Percy," Sally sat beside her son, who was staring into space while Estelle tugged at his t-shirt, trying to get his attention. Percy was snapped out of his trance- if you could call focusing on part of yourself on the other side of the universe a trance- and looked at his mother. "Is everything alright?"

"Hm? Oh, everything's fine," Percy nodded, lifting Estelle onto his lap and tickling her neck, a smile on his face when he heard her start laughing. "Just still a little... shaken over... you know."

"Oh, okay," she nodded understandably. She knew Percy hadn't been exactly the same since the battle of New York with those Avengers- then again, she didn't know it was because only less than half of him was really with her. "Just let me know if you need anything, okay?"

"Yes, Mom. Don't worry," he smiled weakly and went back to playing with Estelle, who had a head of dark brown curls now, tied in two pigtails. Sally left, glancing back worriedly at Percy as she did.

A few moments later, there was a bright light in the living room to reveal Hermes, who had a frown on his face. "Percy, you're required on Olympus immediately."

Percy raised an eyebrow and put Estelle down, letting her run into the kitchen. "What? Why?"

Hermes grimaced sadly, before taking a deep breath. "Lady Frigga has passed away."

*******