Catch Me If I Fall (PJO/Avengers Crossover)

6

When Percy pulled away from the kiss, he and Loki were silent apart from their breaths in perfect sync.

Percy didn't meet his friend's gaze. He had just kissed one of his best friends. On a rock beside a river. A year after Annabeth died.

The guilt the younger god felt was overwhelming; didn't Annabeth want him to move on? Didn't she ask him to swear it? Sure, but it didn't stop the guilt and disloyalty practically suffocate him. He looked at Loki at last. His emerald eyes were wide and his pale face had gone red.

"I'm sorry, I didn't-" Percy began, but was cut off by Loki.

"It was amazing," the god of mischief breathed. "I've never felt like this before."

They simply looked at each other, not knowing what else to say. Percy wished to apologise again, but, by looking at his friend's expression, it was probably better if he stayed silent. What was he thinking? His thoughts were jumbled and fuzzy. Muffled by the guilt.

"I should go," Percy stood, trying not to let the regret show on his face. "This was a bad idea."

The younger god could hear Loki's pleads for him to come back as he walked away. Percy knew he'd made things awkward, but he couldn't resist what he'd just done.

As he entered his room and flopped down on his bed, he couldn't stop thinking about Loki. The way his eyes examined every little detail of anything that was happening- how his soft, warm lips moved while he talked, accentuating his words perfectly-

No, Percy thought to himself. Snap out of it.

There was no way Loki could possibly love him. Of course, they were friends, but nothing more than that.

Were they?

His eyes closed, listening to only his breathing, when he drifted into a deep sleep.

                                              *
Tartarus paused, examining the broken boy's body below him. "You know..." the primordial personification of the abyss smirked. "I like you this way, Perseus Jackson. I like the way you are truly helpless- crippled on the floor beneath me. You are slowly but surely learning where you stand on the food chain."

Percy tried to say some snarky comment about how he wasn't standing, he was on the floor dying, but all that came out was a muffled moan of pain. Annabeth was across the room from him, and he couldn't stand being that far from her. He thanked the gods she was unconscious and therefore couldn't see him like this: so weak, so unbelievably helpless.

The cell they were in was illuminated by a dim, reddish light and almost toxic fumes of rotten eggs burned Percy's sinuses. His throat was dry, and any sound he made was raspy and croaky. The noxious air made his eyes water and his skin blister. The pit was not meant for mortals.

Percy managed to get one sentence out; rasping and wheezing in between every word. "Let. Annabeth. Go." He broke into a coughing fit, the simple action of speaking feeling like his vocal chords were being mutilated. Tartarus simply laughed- it was a cruel, cold sound that made Percy's ears pop. He hated everything about it.

"I'm afraid I cannot do that, sea spawn," Tartarus cackled. "As long as she is in this cell, the more I get to see you suffer and beg like a dog. It's awfully amusing, I must admit."

"Why?" Percy's voice was low, barely above a whisper, and was so pained that it cracked with emotion at the end of the word.

"You are in my domain now. Your efforts to defeat Gaia are admirable, but on August 1st she will rise again."

Percy was so weak he couldn't even protest as Tartarus unchained him and threw him against the wall. He groaned as the primordial grabbed him by the hair and started smashing his head against that jagged stones. He couldn't take it anymore. He let out a scream and Annabeth stirred.

He didn't want her to see him like this. "Please..." he whispered, so low he doubted Tartarus could hear him. Percy felt blood trickle down his forehead as Tartarus dropped him, landing in a debilitated, bloody heap on the hard, cold floor. The god above him simply laughed.

Tartarus moved along to Annabeth, who's eyes were now open and watching Percy with worry and fear, and he drew a knife.

Annabeth watched him silently, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing her scared. He knelt, dragging the blade deep into her arm. She breathed in sharply.

"Please stop-" Percy coughed again, his breaths coming out in swift, sharp wheezes. "Leave- her- alone."

Annabeth shook her head, trying to undo what her boyfriend had said, when Tartarus turned to Percy, stabbing him in the gut. He didn't even have the strength to scream anymore.

"You're weak, Perseus Jackson," the primordial laughed again. It was like nails on a chalkboard. "Do you really think you and your little friends can beat Gaia? How hopeless can one be?"

                                              *

Percy's eyes snapped open, tears running down his cheeks at the thought of Annabeth and Tartarus. He shook his head, pushing the thoughts away, before taking a cold shower. He remembered every moment in the pit so vividly. From the fall, to the torture, to Akhlys to Bob. He hated it.

Changing into a blue hooded jacket, white t-shirt and a pair of jeans- not something you see everyday in Asgard, but nobody really protested against the god's fashion choices. The most he got were stares, and he didn't mind those. He'd got them all the time, whether it was because of how injured he was or if he was causing trouble. 

There was due to be meetings all day today, and Percy was dreading it. They were always the same. They'd ask him a few things about Olympus and, careful not to overshare anything, he answered. There were other meetings, where Percy had to explain every war they'd had in the past 100 years. World War I, WWII, The Titan War and The Giant War. He'd have to explain Greek Myths, the features of a god or a demigod, basically anything they asked for, he was forced to oblige. He didn't want to think about what would happen if he disobeyed and Zeus found out.

He met with Loki, Thor, Odin and Frigga for breakfast, which was mostly silent as no one could think of a consistent topic of discussion. It came to the point where they started talking about traffic cones.

Things were still awfully awkward between him and Loki, and he hated himself for it. Loki would occasionally shoot glances at him, and quickly turn away from Percy when he noticed.

The day dragged on. Meetings, meetings and more meetings non-stop. And when he finally got to his room and sat down as he wasn't meeting with Loki on the balcony that night, a guard came in and escorted him to the throne room. Odin wished to speak with him.

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Word Count: 1171 words

Oooh what does Odin want??

My dad and I had an argument last night over astronomy 😌

This still needs to be edited to there should naturally be a lot of mistakes :(

Peace

-Megafetus :)