Something to Fight For (Percy Jackson and the Avengers Crossover)

Chapter 20 - Daymares

Percy had never had a daymare before. Well, at least he didn't think he had ever had one, it might have been such a long time since he did that he forgot. Funny thing was, he didn't know which one he preferred, nightmares or daymares. Both were equally terrifying and terrible.

His dreams were always startling vivid, and he noticed this now when he found himself staring into the bleeding and bruised face of a demigod he was beating up. The thing with fighting demigods who sided with the monsters was that they were people.

Real, living, breathing people who wouldn't reform like monsters did.

Dust coated the ground, making a layer of slippery gold that shifted every time the wind blew. Percy's clothes were drenched in sweat and perhaps blood, but he paid that no attention. The most important thing was the horde of monsters and demigods surrounding him, and all of them were calling for his blood.

He dropped the demigod in his grasp and pulled out Riptide from his pocket, having only just remembered it was there. Everything was foggy and murky like he was swimming in a muddy river. Percy lost himself in the dodging, slashing, weaving and ducking.

Relying on muscle memory alone, he easily eliminated enemy after enemy, watching them crumple to the ground or explode into gold dust. Cuts and wounds littered his arms and face, but he didn't notice them. The adrenaline numbed everything.

A hand grabbed him by the arm, and he turned around and slashed his sword through it. The limb severed off neatly, causing the demigod to howl in agony and fall to his knees. Percy decapitated him quickly.

Another hand grabbed his leg, but before he could attack, another grabbed his arm, and yet another grabbed his wrist. Dragged down by the weight, Percy dropped Riptide and twisted around to escape their grasp.

He fell to his knees on the muddy ground and slammed his fist into the face of a demigod. Riptide would be in his pocket in a second, and in the meantime, he used his hands to knock down enemies.

He would survive this.

🌊🌊🌊

Steve originally thought that he had seen everything Percy had to offer, from summoning water, to bringing up the waves. But when the boy began to thrash around in his grasp, he realised that he didn't know anything about Percy at all.

Seeing the light outside, he decided to drag Percy the rest of the way before trying to figure out what was happening. This definitely was not a simple panick attack, not that they were simple of course.

His plan soon failed when Percy suddenly brought out a sword. How? Steve didn't know. All he knew was that he was going to be killed sometime soon by a 17 year old unconscious boy. How ridiculous.

Holding out a hand to stop the sword, he was surprised when it went right through him without leaving a single mark. Percy swung again, and this time Steve simply watched in astonishment as it went through him again.

He grabbed Percy by the arm again and continued to drag him to the gaping hole in the ship. At some point, he heard Tony's suit up ahead and briefly paused.

Percy took the chance to whack him in the jaw with a well aimed punch.

Not even sure if Percy was doing this on purpose or accident anymore, Steve grimly grabbed him again and pulled him towards Tony. Let the billionare deal with the boy for now, Steve was far too battered to even try.

"Tony! Come here," he called loudly.

Tony's suit silenced for a minute, but then the engine started again, and Steve would see him coming closer to their place in the ship.

"What happened?" Tony asked curiously as he saw Percy kicking around on the floor. The boy was mouthing something, but no sound came out of his mouth. His hands were twitching occasionally, and once or twice his eyelids fluttered gently but did not open.

Steve was silent for a few moments. "I think he's having a flashback or panic attack, but I haven't see one on this scale since...a long time," he finally replied .

Tony fell silent. "I'll take over, there's some people coming down the corridor and I don't want to risk blowing up the ship," he said, kneeling by Percy's side.

Steve ran off to apprehend the approaching enemies. Tony studied Percy, not too sure what to do. He knew flashbacks well, but personally had never been unconscious for one. Hopefully, Percy could still hear him.

"Hey kid, can you hear me?"

There was no response. Tony was about to move back and think of something else when Percy's body jerked, hand whipping up to slam into Tony's nose. The teen rolled away into a crouch, bringing out his sword from his pocket.

"Jeez kid, can you calm down for once?" Tony moaned as he nursed his nose.

Percy looked around cautiously, his hand holding Riptide so tightly that his fingers were aching. Every muscle in his body was taut and stiff, and a trickle of sweat ran down his face to his chin. His chest was heaving, his breath rasped loudly from his throat and nose.

He could still see the blood stained dirt, the glittery gold dust and the looks of pain and hatred in front of him. Closing his eyes to shake off the memory, he took a deep breath to try and calm himself.

"What happened?" Percy asked quietly.

"You were having a flashback of sorts," Tony groaned.

"Right," Percy muttered.

"You okay?" Steve asked him as he came back, a gun in his hands.

"Yeah, fine," Percy replied with a small smile that was clearly forced, but none of the men commented on it.

The ship groaned and tilted beneath them, as if telling them to hurry up and fix it. They all exchanged a glance.

"Let's get to work," Percy groaned as he forced himself to stand up. Swaying slightly, he steadied himself on the wall and headed outside to the broken engine.

Tony and Steve looked at each other.

Simultaneously, they decided to simply ignore the event, allowing the boy to have his privacy - for the time being at least. They followed him outside.

There was still work to do.

Okay.

So, I updated, clearly. I hate not updating cause the description literally says 'updates every Saturday' and that's like a promise kinda thing.

I am also dead inside and forever exhausted. It hailed. While we were bike-riding. Up a hill. I honestly thought it couldn't get any worse. Thanks camp. I have 8 exams and 2 assignments in the next two weeks, what more can I say?

On a brighter note, thanks for all the votes and comments! This fanfic is going much better than I thought it would be.

Thanks for reading,

~ѕιℓνєя