The Uncle and The Nephew (A Percy Jackson/The Avengers Crossover Fanfiction)

Now Arriving... - Chapter 19

Percy POV

"Come on, Nico." I sighed. "We might be able to find a car or something. If not, do you think you can shadow travel us out of here? Just don't let Will find out because he will murder-"

"What's that?" Nico interrupted, looking off into something in the distance.

No, not something. I knew exactly what it was. And we were not going over there.

"Nico. Come on." I urged, looking around. It was still dark. The only sources of light we had were the moon, stars, and flashlights.

The silver orb was hovering just a few feet away. Waiting and watching to see what I would do. It still made me uneasy. Like something was about to happen and it was not going to be good.

I could also be uneasy by the fact that I now hadn't heard from Tartarus since I left New York. I was blocking him out but I wasn't trying to do that anymore. It was like his presence was still in my mind, but he wasn't. Weird.

My head started to hurt. Not a lot, just a slight ache, but enough to make me notice it.

That combined with the rest of the pain I was feeling right now made me feel like I was about to pass out.

The silver orb started to glide towards the junkyard. No. No no no no no.

Nico started to follow it. No!

"Nico." I said again, more urgently this time. "Nico! What are you doing?"

It still didn't seem like he could see the silver orb. Okay, I'm getting tired of calling it the silver orb. Its name is now Greg.

Greg seemed to be beckoning to Nico, however, even though he couldn't see it.

"Nico!" I whisper-yelled. I didn't know what could be here. There could be monsters, snakes, or worse.

He either didn't hear me, or ignored me.

I looked around one more time, and followed him.

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Annabeth POV (2nd)

Annabeth woke up with an idea. She had tear tracks down her cheeks and her eyes were puffy. Her dreams had been filled with memories, painful memories. But nevertheless, she had an idea.

An epiphany, if you will. She knew she couldn't catch Percy. She'll give it to him, he is a master at running away so well that it's like he fell of the face of the Earth. If he didn't want her to find him, she most likely wouldn't. He also needed space.

The daughter of Athena could tell that something was wrong with him, though. Something that Percy wouldn't tell her. She was going to get to the bottom of it.

She vaguely remembered hearing something about a library. That was her best shot. It probably wouldn't help much, but it might. She can also do some stuff online and contact Chiron.

Percy had been looking sick. Pale and a little shaky. His hair looked a little less black and more like a very, very dark gray. He had had dark bags under his eyes and his eyes were sunken, as if he hadn't been sleeping well.

She took all this information in. Annabeth slowly and gently extracted herself from in between Piper and Thalia. Getting off the bed and taking a look around Percy's room.

There was a small bookshelf that looked like it only held SAT prep books along with a few scrapbooks. There was a desk, dresser, two nightstands, and a sitting area. Pretty big room. To the south was a balcony. The room was a shade of blue with pictures of Percy and his family, along with his friends.

It seemed so much like Percy, it made Annabeth's heart hurt.

She shook the feeling away and started towards the desk.

She grabbed a notebook that was completely empty and a couple pencils.

"FRIDAY," Annabeth started. "Direct me to the library, please."

She had research to do.

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Percy POV (again)

I tripped over my own two feet and face-planted.

"Ugh." I spit out some dirt.

I looked at Nico again, but he was way closer to the junkyard. When did he get there?

I hastily got up and started after him again.

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Eventually, Greg disappeared. Nico did not, thankfully.

We reached the junkyard in 10 minutes. It didn't look any different, maybe had a few more pieces of metal but that was it.

"What is this place?" Nico asked. Finally, stopping and looking at me. He looked confused and slightly angry. Or maybe frustrated? It was hard to see his expression in the dark, and I didn't want to blind him with my flashlight.

"I...um...don't know." I lied. I knew I was doing a crappy job, but my head was pounding now and I was wavering slightly, taking shaky breaths. I felt like I was seconds away from either puking or passing out. Or both.

"Don't lie to me. I can tell by the look in your eyes, Percy. You recognize this place. What is it?" He asked, again. He was definitely frustrated.

"It's- it's," I started. I took a deep breath. "It's Hephaestus' junkyard. Where he discards projects or materials that he can't use or don't work anymore."

"Then, why do you look so sad? You look like someone died or something." Nico oh-so-gently put it.

"Funny you should say that." I muttered.

"Tell me!" He said.

I took a deep breath again. Still no Greg. "Nico...this is where Bianca...passed."

I closed my eyes for a few seconds. Then opened them.

Nico's face was stormy, but he looked conflicted. Like he didn't know whether to be angry or sad.

"Oh." His voice was small.

I hadn't brought up Bianca in a long time.

We were silent.

"Hey, Neeks?" I started gently. "Maybe we should get going?"

"Yeah...yeah. Let's go. I can shadow travel us out of here. No problem." He responded. Seemingly collecting himself.

I made a mental note to try and talk to him later. Or at least have Will talk to him. He'd probably have more luck than me.

"Do you want to go to Camp Jupiter or back to New York?" I asked him.

"New York. The others will be worried sick." He said. We turned and started walking through the junkyard, careful not to touch anything.

Then we heard a clang behind us.

We both stopped. Then turned, perfectly in unison. Like those two girls from The Shining.

"What was that?" Nico asked. Still staring in front of us, where the sound came from.

"I don't know." I whispered.

CLANG!

We were waiting. And waiting. But nothing else happened, we didn't hear anything else.

I sighed. I was tired. I never asked for this. To always be fighting. But it happened. I was just so tired.

Nico grabbed my arm, "Let's just go."

I sighed once again. I'll be able to sleep soon, but never soon enough. Regret and turmoil churned in my stomach, twisting it into knots of anxiety. "Alright, Nico. Let's go home."

Thank you! I don't love this chapter but I hope ya'll like it!

EDITED FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Word Count: 1130 Words Total