Catch Me If I Fall (PJO/Avengers Crossover)

4

Loki told Percy to close his eyes as they approached a door, to which Percy obeyed. He heard keys fumbling around in Loki's hands, but he didn't open his eyes as he didn't sense any disloyalty or any trickery.

Now that Percy thought of it, he didn't actually know why he had followed Loki to the other side of the castle he'd never been to before. Something was compelling about the prince of Asgard, something that beguiled Percy. The Greek wanted to know more about the Asgardian, he wanted to know why there was such a captivating aura around him.

"Can I open my eyes now?" Percy asked, but not impatiently. For once, he had no difficulty standing still and simply listening to Loki working away at whatever he was doing. For once, he didn't mind that he wasn't doing anything that caused trouble. It was almost peaceful.

"A few moments," Percy heard Loki say. More clinging and clanging of keys. "Ah, there we are! You may open your eyes."

Percy opened his sea-green eyes to a balcony with a gorgeous view of Asgard. A few towns and winding, cobbled roads lay below him and Loki, and beyond that, a thick, dark wood. The sky was a shade of pinkish-purple as the sun set.

"Wow," Percy managed to say.

"Indeed," Loki agreed, then looked seriously at Percy.  "I've been wondering about the Greeks. How they run things. You told my father they were nothing like us. I'd like for you to elaborate on that."

"What, you mean now?" The younger god asked, and Loki replied with a nod. "Okay. We do things... really differently," he began. "For one, we don't have guards all over the place."

"Who do you send to fight your wars, then?" Loki asked.

Percy paused for a moment, trying to block out his emotions but to no avail.

                                            *

Her chest rose and fell quickly, her breaths ragged. Annabeth's grey eyes sparkled with tears. "Percy, listen to me..." she grabbed his tattered, orange shirt. "Y-you can't let Gaia win."

"Annabeth, don't do this," he begged, stumbling over his words and frantically trying to staunch the bleeding in her gut wound. "We can fix it- Apollo, he's just over there-"

The daughter of Athena put her finger to his lips and shook her head. "It's over for me, Seaweed Brain," she coughed, and blood splattered Percy's face, most of it was washed away by tears shortly after. "You need to swear to me on the River Styx that you'll move on. You won't mourn, you hear me? Live your life, do everything you've ever wanted-"

"Annabeth I can't," he sobbed, shaking his head furiously. "You can't leave me like this, Wise Girl, please."

"Swear it," she rasped.

"I-I swear," Percy's voice cracked with despair and he cried out as Annabeth's stormy eyes, that once lit up with joy, became dull.

And just like that, her heart stopped beating, she took her last, hitched breath. Her smile, her laugh, the way her face would light up when she spoke about architecture. Gone.
  
                                              *

"Perseus?" Loki snapped him out of his trance. "Who fights your wars?"

Percy took a deep breath, and when he spoke his voice was bitter- his anger barely restrained. It took all of the son of Poseidon's willpower not to scream and kill everyone around him. "Their children."

There was silence, and Percy counted 11 seconds before Loki spoke again. "Their children?"

The younger god nodded. "There was a time when I was included in that particular group of children. I fought two wars for them. I lost everything, Loki. And you know what they did? Made sure I could never die; that I could never see any of my friends and family again. They made me like this."

"Like what?" Loki asked quietly, not sure if he entirely wanted to know the answer.

"A god," Percy laughed humourlessly. "I used to be half mortal, but they obliterated that in two seconds. Now I'll never see anyone I love again. And I've got those good-for-nothing, loathsome skatá kefália to thank for it."

"You can do that?" Loki spoke in a hushed tone, feeling remorse for the younger god beside him. "Make someone a god?"

"I don't know about you guys, but the Greeks can, and I fucking hate them for it."

"What's the ruler there like? What's his name... Zeus?"

Percy scoffed. "He's the worst. A complete drama queen, a coward, any negative thing you can say about a person- that's him. He hates me, but still makes me do all his dirty work."

Loki thought about that for a moment, before putting a reassuring hand on Percy's shoulder. "I'm sorry. If you ever need to talk, I'll be here. I know how it feels to be loathed by someone yet they still never leave you be."

"Thank you, Loki," Percy said, and Loki thought he saw him smile. "I should probably get to bed- it's late, and I have another one of those gods-forsaken meetings with Odin first thing tomorrow morning."

"Goodnight," Loki said, and, as Percy turned to go, he spoke again. "Perseus, one more thing."

"Mm?" Percy turned back around to face Loki.

"There's no use boiling your cabbage twice."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's an old saying," Loki explained. "Once something is done, there is no need to revisit it; don't dwell on your past. The future is bright for you, Perseus, I can feel it."

********************

Word Count: 993 words

This chapter took FOR.EV.ER! I had no idea what I wanted to happen, and honestly it's just a filler chapter. It still needs to be edited, of course, so there should be a few mistakes.

Also y'all can credit my grandad for that cabbage saying- it's his favourite XD

Anyway it's really late right now so this probably makes no sense whatsoever :D

-Megafetus