Sea Prince (Sea Prince Trilogy #1)

Chapter Nine

A few days had passed since Percy had broken down during the mental evaluation test. He'd spent the time since then getting a feel for the tower and avoiding the Avengers. Not only that, but he had been plotting what he would do to achieve his first goal, which was to find Shay's location.

Percy was pretty sure he wouldn't find Shay in the Avengers Tower, for it was swarming with people. That, and the Avengers didn't know the first thing about Percy, nor what he was, so Tony wouldn't be storing Shay here without going to the son of Athena for information on Percy.

Also, Percy had stalked the man for the first day just in case.

Sadly, Percy had little to no idea as to how any of the technology worked, nor could he use it, so he couldn't simply hack the system or something along those lines.

Percy had heard of the SHIELD building being somewhere in New York and was determined to check that out. He would do that later today he hoped. Just go into town and find the location. Casually of course, for he was positive Fury would have set people to watch him.

But first, he wanted food.

There was a kitchen on the tenth floor, he knew that much. But the stairs were blocked for a reason he knew not.

That left the elevator.

Polished closed doors loomed before him.

The longer Percy stared at the elevator the scenery around his started to warp and blur until the place he stood in was no longer Stark's Tower, but someplace much darker. A place where the walls glow red with malice and the tendrils of darkness wrap around your feet, dragging you deeper into despair. A place where every creature is out for your blood and hope is but a distant dream. A place where you trust nobody.

Percy's breathing picked up as he found himself standing before the Doors of Death. His clothes replaced with rags, a multitude of ghost scars radiated pain. He was alone on the path out of Tartarus.

Until he wasn't.

Monsters swarmed around him, fangs bared and claws sharpened.

No. Stop it. Stop it. It's not real. You're not there. You're not you're not!

"-Ercy..."

There was a girl. He knew her. Blonde hair, grey eyes. She was holding his face softly. He lost focus on the world around him as he tried to memorize her features. He didn't want to forget. But already her voice was fading.

"Percy. Percy." She kept chanting his name. Her hands were on his shoulders, shaking him. "Percy, WAKE UP!"

Percy jolted upright, head colliding with somebody else's. All he saw was blonde hair.

Is she here?

"Anna-" He cut himself short.

Annabeth was not a male.

The eyes of Steve Rogers were filled with concern. "Percy, are you okay?"

"What?" It was then that Percy noticed he'd collapsed in the hallway. He avoided looking at the elevator. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay." The raven took a deep shuddering breath. "I'm fine." Steve looked at him doubtfully.

"What happened?"

"I just don't like elevators." Percy didn't plan to say anything more. But if he couldn't get down to floor ten, he couldn't leave the tower. He was not taking the elevator.

"I'll go with you if it helps." Steve suggested.

"That isn't going to help me at all." Percy laughed bitterly. He knew he should just man up, but he couldn't. It was like an arachnophobic facing down a giant huntsman spider, paralyzed with fear. They weren't going to suddenly charge, they were going to run away.

But try as he might, Percy couldn't outrun his past. The memories that constantly drowned him, even four years later.

Close your eyes. You'll be fine. He tried to convince himself. He had to get over it eventually. How would he ever face her again if he couldn't even go inside an elevator?

"You wanna talk about it?" Steve asked as he watched Percy hesitantly press the down button on the elevator.

"Nope."

The doors opened after about a minute. Steve decided to follow the prince inside. The doors closed and Steve could clearly see the struggle on Percy's face. His eyes kept darting around, not focusing on any one thing. His pale hands were wrapped tight around the bars lining the inside of the elevator. The moment the doors opened, Percy was out, practically faster than Steve could blink.

Percy looked immediately better. Steve couldn't help but wonder what could make the prince so frightened.

Percy sat down on the couch which was placed in a room joined with the kitchen. Just as he'd gotten comfortable with a small plate of food, Natasha walked in, Bruce and Tony not far behind and he was instantly alert all over again.

"So Percy, what's the deal with you and Fury?"

~~~~

I got kicked out of class so I decided I'd write some more. (I'm not going on class camp so she sent me outside to do something else and I ended up writing while she debriefs the others).

Question: Would you prefer A) I update on a certain day, OR B) I update as soon as I finish a chapter?

Peace,

BTSWD
Borntosingwithdrama