Catch Me If I Fall (PJO/Avengers Crossover)

8

Percy woke at around five that morning. It was unusually early for him- his face was nuzzled in the space between Loki's shoulder and neck, his arms wrapped around the other's waist. Percy smiled to himself. No nightmares.

He slowly unravelled himself from Loki, careful not to wake him, and sat up, losing his smile when he remembered what was due to happen in five hours. He looked back down at Loki, hoping that one day they'd see each other again. He had been the one good thing in Percy's whole existence since the giant war. He didn't want to go back to Midgard and face Zeus. Not when he'd finally come to terms with how he really felt.

Percy brushed some of Loki's hair away from his face, and the younger god smiled. The Asgardian looked so at peace when he slept, his body was relaxed, despite constantly being tense during the day.

He simply looked at Loki, an hour passing by, not wanting this morning ever to end. At around a quarter to seven, his emerald green eyes fluttered open.

"Morning, sleeping beauty," Percy grinned, still stroking Loki's scalp. Loki looked confused.

"What's a sleeping beauty?" He asked, looking up at Percy.

"Oh," the younger god tried not to laugh. "It's like a Midgard thing. This princess gets cursed at birth, and then when she's sixteen she pricks her finger on a spinning wheel. She sleeps for a hundred years until-" Percy planted a kiss on Loki's forehead- "true love's kiss wakes her up."

"Oh!" Loki exclaimed. "Like Brynhildr!"

"Who?"

"Quite some years ago, there was a valkyrie called Brynhildr," Loki explained. "Now, valkyries are like the angels of the battlefield, women warriors who can sense the approach of death and are tasked by my father, Odin, to aid his einherjar in battle. When a warrior dies a heroic death with a weapon in hand a Valkyrie will bring them to Valhalla, the Hall of the Slain, where they join the Einherjar. There they basically live their afterlives and stuff and then never know sorrow until the coming of Ragnarök- the prophesied destruction of Asgard."

"Okay," Percy kept eye contact, listening intently to every word Loki spoke. He could listen to him forever.

"I can't remember much about the story. I haven't heard it since I was a child, but I think Brynhildr did something wrong. She broke a rule or something," Loki furrowed his eyes in concentration, trying to remember. "For this, she was condemned to marry the first mortal she saw. She begged my father for mercy and eventually he decided to go a bit easier on her; he laid her sleeping in a castle, hidden behind a wall of fire. There, only the most courageous mortals would travel- and if no one came, she would lie sleeping there for all eternity."

"Damn," Percy whistled. "That's harsh."

Loki nodded. "Sooner or later, a warrior by the name of Sigurd came over the wall on his horse. He had a cursed ring, from an adventure prior to meeting Brynhildr. He saves her, falls in love with her and gives her the ring: Andvarinaut."

"What happens next?" Percy asked eagerly, raising an eyebrow.

"This is where my story differs from yours. Sigurd gets bewitched and unwillingly spends the night with another woman. Despaired and betrayed, unaware of Sigurd's curse, Brynhildr kills herself."

Percy blinked at the tragic ending. He imagined growing up with that instead of Sleeping Beauty, like Loki had. Sure, he'd like the whole fire wall part, and he was sure his friend Leo would, but he didn't think he had the stomach to listen to Brynhildr dying every night before going to sleep. He had enough nightmares as it was.

"We won't be like them," Percy said at last. "We'll always be faithful. We'll always tell the truth, right? No matter how hard it is for us? We'll be like Sleeping Beauty- not Brynhildr."

Then Percy remembered: always was a bit of a long shot when you were about to leave for a different world in three hours. But, nonetheless, the other god nodded. "Our story won't be like anyone else's. I want the two of us to be in charge of this narrative, and I won't let anyone- not father, not Zeus, not even the norns- keep us apart. I give you my word on that, Percy."

"You mean it?"

"Absolutely."

Percy checked the time once again on the clock. Seven. "You'll write to me, won't you?"

"Of course I will," Loki nodded as Percy got up and slipped on his jacket and jeans from last night. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to my room to get dressed before anyone notices I'm gone," he explained. "I'll see you in an hour, okay?"

Loki nodded again, and Percy disappeared.

He was back in his room, picking out some comfy clothes for travel, settling on a Metallica t-shirt and a pair of ripped jeans. When he was fully clothed, he started pacing. Stress overwhelmed him. Sure, Odin seemed happy enough with his job, but what if Zeus found Percy's efforts insufficient? Would his mother and Paul and his unborn baby sister be punished? No. He wouldn't let it happen. Not in a million years.

Another half hour passed and he picked up an Ancient Greek copy of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Percy had never been much of a reader, but Loki had recommended it to him, telling him it dealt with topics like the evil inside everyone and, how no matter how hard a person tries, this evil can never be separated from the good. It's in a living being's nature to be ruthless; goodness and fairness are just things we made up to feel better about ourselves, even when we are no better than anyone else. The topic interested Percy but he'd never actually gotten around to reading it. Now that he had the time, he decided he'd start it now. 

"Mr. Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance, that was never lighted by a smile..."

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Go listen to the Jekyll & Hyde musical rn

Anyway, as always, this chapter has yet to be edited and therefore should have a lot of mistakes :)

Word count: 1073 words

-Megafetus