Shards (A Percy Jackson and Avengers Crossover)

The Idiot's Guide to Godhood / Demigod 101

"They're coming from the Pit, Percy." Nico met the new god's eyes, a severe look on the young demigod's face. "From Tartarus."

Percy sucked in a sharp breath.

Tartarus.

Percy closed his eyes, pushing back the darkness that threatened to overtake him. He felt like he was going to throw up. He sucked in large gulps of air.

He was drowning. Drowning in his own darkness. His own past.

Boxes. His boxes were crumbling.

Nonononono.

He needed those boxes. They were the only thing keeping his sane. He had to compartmentalize. To distance himself from his emotions. Or they would overwhelm him. Bury him under layers and layers of pain and self-loathing.

They would drown him.

Destroy him.

Percy couldn't breathe. His lungs wouldn't inflate, no matter how much the son of Poseidon gasped for air.

Drowning. They were already drowning him.

Boxes.

All of his boxes were disintegrating. Dissolving. Collapsing under the weight of his darkness. His agony.

Just like him.

"--ercy!" Someone touched him. He flipped them over, the person landing on the floor with an 'oomph.' In an instance, he was on top of the person, Riptide aimed at the jugular of Percy's unfortunate victim.

Percy blinked as his vision came back into focus. He realized he was on top of a black-haired teen. A goth, black-haired demigod teen whose father was the king of the dead. And who happened to look annoyed. Very, very annoyed.

Whoops.

"Err...sorry Nico." Percy stood up with a chagrined look before holding out his hand to the irked boy. Nico took Percy's hand with his signature scowl on his face. Percy helped him up and opened his mouth to apologize again—

Percy suddenly grunted as his feet were swept from under him. The world tilted. His back slammed into the floor, and he exhaled loudly.

"Ow." The god glared at the smirking son of Hades before letting his head fall back to the floor with a thump. "Guess I deserved that."

Nico just grunted in reply. The younger demigod held out his hand and helped up the slightly miffed god.

Percy glanced around the room and realized the Avengers hadn't moved. They didn't seem too concerned with the two demigods' antics.

Huh. Guess they're getting used to us.

Most of them, however, were watching Percy with worried looks. Which, he figured, had more to do with his panic attack than the cousins' strange shenanigans.

Percy sighed mentally. He had been doing so good. Well...at least good for him. As long as you didn't include his mini-freak-out in the elevator. And his two-week sulking session after he was given immortality. Okay, so maybe good was pushing it.

Decent. He'd been decent. Until the half-dead, demigod son of the ruler of the Underworld popped from the shadows, fell into a three-day coma, and then awoke and suddenly announced that a sadistic, power-hungry primordial, who ruled the deepest depths of hell (and who also happened to be the object of your nightmares and subsequent PTSD), was trying to rise--probably to take over the world--and bringing countless monsters with him.

Don't you just hate when that happens?

Percy ran his hand through his hair with a sigh. He glanced over at the Avengers again. "I'll explain later." He sat down and scrubbed a hand over his face tiredly.