For My Love (Percy Jackson/Avengers Crossover)

CHAPTER 1: PERCY

I sat in the car; in awe of the new-born I was cradling in my arms. I had agreed to carry her during the journey to keep her comfortable while Mom slept in the front and Paul drove. Elizabeth mewled softly, blinking softly. She seemed so fragile and, with my track record, I was scared of breaking her. A light dusting of freckles was scattered across her tiny nose and her minuscule fingers twitched and clenched at the air. I was overcome with pride and love, this small being in my arms was my sister who I could help grow up over the years, help her learn how to walk and then ride a bike and throughout her life I could be the older brother she'd look up to. Lizzy trusted me, clear as day, as she lay in my arms, curled into my chest and fast asleep. Enraptured by the sight of her feet flexing gently and the small snuffles she let out, we reached the apartment in what felt like no time at all yet realistically was closer to 40 minutes to an hour of non-stop driving.

Elizabeth Charlotte Blofis. 15th September 2011. My heart swelled at even the thought of the warm body nestled in my arms, I finally had the chance to live some semblance of a normal life with Mom and Paul and now Lizzy. Of course, Annabeth and I had made plans to go to college in New Rome and I'd have to study if I had any hopes in Hades to get in. But I was sixteen, I could live at home for a couple of years even if that meant I'd have to go to a normal school. The past five years had been fraught with danger and quests but finally the gods had decided to leave us be for now. Having saved the world twice, I deserved a break. And the gods agreed. A year flew past and although I was still haunted by the wars I'd been in, I was learning to move on with Mom and Paul's help.

One night, a seemingly usual night, I headed to bed an hour earlier than usual, having been up studying late to get up to the standard level of a senior. Gods, I wished I'd decided to just stay up a little late, maybe watching a movie or something. Just something so I wouldn't have left them all alone and defenceless.

It was 11.43am, I remember seeing the green lights of my alarm clock glaring at me as I woke up to loud noises in the room next door. Gunshots. Leaping to my feet, I grabbed the nearest thing I could use as a weapon. My old New York Yankees branded baseball bat. How ironic, something I was so passionate about, an active weapon in this incident. The metallic tangy scent of blood was in the air already, he'd got what he wanted, murdering a poor couple for the 'sport'. Raising my bat high over my head, I brought it down over his head as he turned, already firing the gun. The bullet struck me in the leg, but the man collapsed, blood matting his flat brown hair as he lay slumped on the floor. Hobbling to the shrieking coming from Lizzy's crib, I picked her up yet she continued to bawl, her face turning bright beetroot red as she screamed incessantly.

'Shh...' I bounced her in my arms, rocking her in the hopes that she would cease screeching and the pounding in my head would ease.

Sliding down the wall with Lizzy still in my arms, the blood loss leaving me woozy, I rested my head against the wall. The scent of blood increased, until it became all I could smell, the ringing in my ears unremitting now. The world around seemed to seep away at the corners of my vision and I could feel the ceiling dripping on me, thick syrupy droplets. Castor. No, not him, it couldn't be. Castor had died in the Battle of the Labyrinth. And I had never learnt his name before then. He blurred in and out as I watched him run towards the mouth of the Labyrinth, unable to make a sound or yell a warning. How many demigods had died because I was too careless with my strategies? Thick, acrid smoke filled the air, forcing a heavy cough out of me. A funeral pyre. But who was dead? Pollux was weeping by the pyre. Castor was dead and Dionysus grieved. But the smoke took forms, figures of gigantic beasts that escaped the fire and flew towards the watching campers.

"No!" The scream that tore out of my throat was unrecognisable as my own voice, twisted by grief and an animalistic side I never knew existed within me.