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

The Woods - Chapter 21

Nico 2nd POV

The two boys appeared in the middle of the woods. What woods? Nico had no clue. Percy stumbled over to a tree.

Nico looked around, he could hear a faint sound of rushing water. Otherwise the world was quiet, a strange feeling after the explosions.

"Where are we?" He asked, still looking around at the trees. It seemed dark, although it was right before sunrise when they left the junkyard.

"Percy?" Nico asked again. He looked towards the older boy. Well, where he was.

He was now lying on the ground.

"Oh, fuck!" Nico exclaimed and went to Percy's side, looking him over.

Blood was flowing down the left side of his face, dripping onto his shoulder and soaking his shirt. There was dozens of cuts all over his arms and what was exposed of his legs. His ankle looked sprained, maybe broken. It was twisted at a slightly funny angle and swelling badly.

"Dammit, Percy." Nico cursed again, albeit this time quieter. Percy stayed unresponsive, appearing unconscious.

Nico thought rapidly, the head wound looked serious. With a constant flow of blood gushing quicker and quicker.

He had to stop the bleeding. He grabbed Percy's backpack and opened it. There was a first aid kit in there that the two had picked up at a gas station in Pennsylvania.

He grabbed a couple sheets of gauze and pressed them onto his head firmly, making sure not to jostle the head too seriously.

He stayed like that for a while, holding the gauze onto his head. Blood soaked onto his fingers. He waited. And waited.

Eventually, the blood seemed to trickle, and then came to a stop.

Nico looked closer at the wound. Clean-ish cut, idiot probably banged his head on the corner of something.

Nico grabbed a large bandage from the first aid kit and covered the cut with it, after applying some antibiotic cream to the wound.

After the head wound was covered, Nico checked the ankle again.

Nothing he could do, the ankle was thankfully sprained not broken from what he could see. He didn't have any ice or anything.

Nico leaned up against the tree and looked around once more. There was barely any light. The sky was cloudy and most of the stars and the moon was covered. The woods around him was quiet once again. Only the faint rush of water in the far, far distance.

Sitting there in the quiet, Nico felt more alone than he cared to admit. More alone than he had in a long, long time. Alone.

Just alone.

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It was about 6 hours later. At least, Nico thought it was. He had fallen asleep.

Nico had woken up, then looked around. He had been doing that a lot. It was still dark, which was really weird.

Percy seemed to also be up and was leaning against a tree gazing into the distance.

"Percy?" Nico asked.

Percy's head snapped back to him so fast, Nico was worried it might have given him whiplash. "Nico! Hey."

"Hey? You okay?" Nico questioned tentatively.

Percy gave him a smile, "Always."

Nico sighed, knowing Percy was most likely lying but also knowing that he would not be telling him the truth any time soon. "We need to get out of here. It's been dark since we appeared, even though it was sunrise when we left the junkyard."

"Okay." Percy said. "Do you know where we are?"

"No clue. Do you?"

"Uhh, kind of?" Percy replied.

"Really? How on earth would you know?" Nico exclaimed.

"I think I might be able to get us out of here. Just follow me." Percy dodged the question, and got up.

"Hey! Your ankle is sprained. You shouldn't put too much pressure on it!" Nico put in, getting up as well.

"I'm fine." Percy shrugged and started walking, more like limping, down a small path.

Nico sighed and began to follow him.

They walked down path after path, branching onto different paths every few minutes. Percy seemed to be in pain. He wasn't saying anything but Nico could see it in his eyes.

He looked tired, hurt.

Finally, Nico asked, "Percy, what are we doing?"

Which Percy replied with, "For starters, we are both growing mustaches very, very slowly. But we are also trying to find something, or rather someone."

"Who?"

"Just someone."

Nico stopped in his tracks, directing a look at Percy. "You're doing it again."

Percy stopped too, and turned around so he was facing Nico. "Doing what?"

"Withholding information. Not telling me everything, even if it's important. I let you get away with it before, I let you get away with a lot of things, but not anymore. Tell me what I want to know or I am staying right here." Nico ranted.

"Oh come on, Nico. You can't stay in the woods." Percy argued. He still looked like he was in pain, Nico actually kinda felt bad for him.

But he pushed that away, he could tell that this was something he needed to know. "Can and will." He stubbornly crossed his arms and planted his feet.

Percy sighed. "I'm just trying to find a dryad, okay? Her name is Willow. She's a, well, willow tree. She might be able to tell us more about what we're up against. What T-" He trailed off, looking nervous.

"You know what we're up against. You know it and you're not telling me." Nico pointed out. It was honestly obvious.

"Yes. I know what we're up against." Percy sighed again. The pained expression coming back. He looked conflicted, too. At war with himself. He started to breath a bit heavier.

"Well, what is it?" Nico asked.

"I-I can't say." Percy looked down.

"Tell me! I need to know! I can tell it's important. Please!" Nico started.

"It's Tartarus. We're up against Tartarus." Percy forced out. The pained expression came back and he hissed in pain softly. Squeezing his eyes shut and breathing shakily.

Nico barely noticed. He could feel the color draining from his face. "Tartarus." He finally looked at Percy. "What's wrong?"

Percy tried to reply but started violently coughing. Blood spattered onto his hand, then onto the ground.

"Woah!" Nico said, coming to Percy's side.

Eventually the coughing cleared. Percy was still breathing shakily and looked in pain, however. "I know what's going to happen. I know what's happening right now."

Percy was gasping for breath at this point and talking fast, like any second he could be cut off.

"What? What's happening?" Nico pleaded.

"Tartarus is possessing me and trying to take over the world." Percy forced out once again, looking  around. He attempted to talk more but no words came out.

Percy stumbled into a tree, coughing up blood once again. His eyes squeezed shut.

Nico stood. Blank-faced. Staring into nothing. Trying and failing to process what Percy just said.

And there's another chapter. Sorry it's so late, I was having some family things yesterday. I think I might have to shift my schedule so that I upload on wednesdays instead. Anyway here y'all go.

EDITED FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Word Count: 1141 Words Total