A/N:

Hey everybody! This is a new story that I've had on my computer for a few months. It's a Percy Jackson/Avengers crossover, but it won't follow the plot line of any of the movies. I've only decided to do a crossover because my plan for this story is a nice parallel to the plot of the Captain America: Civil War (foreshadowing :))

This story will get going pretty quickly. I'm going to be updating the second chapter right after this one, and I'll likely finish the third one up by tonight.

Please let me know how you like it. Reviews really light up my day!

Goodbye, my lovelies! :3

Early in the morning, on a cold winter's day in New York City, everything was calm. The sun had still not yet risen, and the world was bathed in the grey pre-dawn glow. The usual sounds of the city that never sleeps drifted lazily through the air, a precursor for another busy Monday morning.

In a small one-bedroom rather run-down apartment, however, this calm was interrupted.

A young man and woman were laying on a queen-sized bed, both still very obviously asleep. The young man in all reality couldn't be more than 17 or 18 years old. He looked to be rather tall and had a naturally tanned complexion like he spent his entire life on the beach. His messy raven black hair was splayed all around him, sticking up in random places from his movements throughout the night. His arm was draped lazily over the waist of the young woman who was sleeping next to him. She had curly golden blond hair that was tied back in a loose side-ponytail so that it was out of her face. She, too, was very tanned and seemed athletic.

The girl was sleeping peacefully, her face completely serene and at rest, but the boy was anything but. His face was contorted into a sort of grimace, and a tear escaped the corner of his eye. His muscles jerked and spasmed randomly as he slept, and he muttered random words and names to himself.

He was trapped in a nightmare, forced to live through his own memories over and over again.

She was blind and screaming his name. Those screams cut right through to his very soul and made him fight against the curses all that much harder. He ignored the pain that inevitably came whenever he cut one down. He ignored the sheer panic that coursed through him whenever he killed one and nothing happened, for he knew that it would happen one day. All he knew was that he had to get to his Wise Girl. He had to tell her that he would never abandon her, never.

The boy was now thrashing and screaming, reacting to the pain that he felt, so real in his dream. He woke up the girl asleep next to him, but she didn't seem to panic or even be surprised by his behaviour.

"Shhh... Shhh, Percy. It's okay. Wake up. We're not there anymore, it's okay", she said in her soothing voice, rubbing gentle circles into the scarred skin of his back.

His sea-green eyes shot open, wide and glistening with pure panic. He almost lashed out at whoever and whatever was near him, but when he looked up and saw those familiar stormy grey eyes, he almost broke down crying in relief. They weren't murky and white with a curse, she wasn't screaming and crying and dirty and bleeding on the ground in the darkest pits of hell. They were in their apartment, they were fine, they weren't there anymore. And... He had just woken them both up at 5 in the morning on a school day.

He cursed to himself in his head and nodded to Annabeth to tell her that he was okay.

"Do you want to talk about it?", she asked softly, knowing that this was a sensitive topic for both of them.

He shook his head but mumbled some words under his breath all the same. "It was just the Arai again...", he trailed off, but she knew what he was talking about. That was one of the nightmares that frequented both of their minds. There were still curses that had been planted on Percy that he didn't even know about. He lived his life in constant fear that one day he would do something and just keel over dead or some other sort of petty revenge from a monster.

Annabeth turned her head to look out the window in their shared bedroom. They hadn't been able to sleep apart since Tartarus, and with the ring currently planted firmly on the ring finger of her left hand, she didn't see why they had to.

She could tell that it was almost morning, and even though she was tired, she knew that there was no way she was getting back to sleep. Especially after the reminder of what she considered one of her worst memories.

"Come on, Seaweed Brain. We have to get up for school", she said, planting a gentle kiss on his lips before climbing out of bed and heading for the bathroom.

Percy groaned and flopped his head back into his pillow.

"Nooo! Can't we just stay here? I hate Mondays!" he groaned melodramatically. She smiled all the same at the small grin that played on his lips. She had been successful in distracting him.

"No. We have school. Come on, we're already halfway through the year, and then we're done with this whole high school nonsense, and we can go to college in New Rome just like we planned", she said with a wistful smile. She remembered all their conversations about the future when they were travelling on the Argo II to defeat Gaea. It was arguably one of the only things that had kept them sane through the whole thing, remembering and planning for a future that they might not even get. Yet here they were, a year later, seniors in high school and engaged with just a hint of PTSD. It didn't matter to her. As long as they were together.

Percy flopped back over on the bed and pretended to go back to sleep.

"Percy, come on! I'll take you to the cafe on our way to school", she bribed, waiting by the open bathroom door for any sort of reaction. His stomach growled loudly, and she laughed.

"Fine...", he grumbled, just like she knew he would. "Only for you, Wise Girl".

She beamed at him for a split second before reverting back to business mode. "Now hurry up and get ready. We're walking today, and we don't have time to wait for you to run around the apartment like a chicken with your head cut off searching frantically for underwear or something".

Now that was funny. (Don't ask)

Her offer of going to get food at the cafe must have been more enticing then she thought because Percy was up and ready to go in just a little bit over half an hour.

"Ready to go, Ms Chase?" Percy asked her with a teasing grin.

"Always, Mr Jackson", she replied.

Percy shouldered his backpack, and Annabeth slung her messenger back across her chest before they set out, locking the door behind them.

Percy and Annabeth had managed to rent an apartment not far from Percy's mom- a block or so away- and they were at her place almost as much as they were in their own. Nico had rented an apartment just a couple of floors below theirs, despite only being 14 (almost 15!). He used the mist to make sure that nobody noticed anything unusual. Besides, it's not like he was ever late on any of his payments, his father is the god of wealth after all. In fact, all of their apartments may or may not be paid for by the gods. It was the least they could do.

Percy laughed out loud as they met Nico in the lobby of their building (or what counted as a lobby anyway). He looked like a dead man walking, the ever-present bags under his eyes were like purple smudges, and his skin was still deathly pale. Those that knew him, though, could tell that he was improving. He had gained back the weight that he lost during his time in the jar, and even though he still had bags under his eyes, they weren't as dark as they had been during the war, and his onyx coloured eyes had regained that certain twinkle that they had lost ever since Bianca died.

"Hey, Nico. How's it going?" Percy asked once they were close enough to speak.

Nico just rolled his eyes and pushed off the wall. "You're late".

Annabeth shot Percy a warning look, but as always, he didn't see it and continued on.

He put an elbow on the shorter boy's shoulder. "What's wrong, Neeks?".

Nico froze. "Don't call me that! You're making it worse!".

Percy stood up tall and on his own and drifted back behind Nico to walk with Annabeth.

"What's wrong with him?" he asked, still oblivious.

Annabeth contained her laugh before answering him. "Oh, Percy. How do you think you would feel if you weren't allowed to be with me after the war? He just misses Will. Don't call him Neeks, that's what Will always calls him".

"You guys know that I'm still here, right? I'm walking right in front of you, and I can hear everything you're saying".

Percy, ever the tactful one, drifted back up to walk by his younger cousin's side. "So? Are we right? Is that why you're the walking dead this morning, little cousin?".

"First of all, I'm always the walking dead, I'm the son of Hades. Second of all, don't call me little cousin, I'm technically way older than you. Third of all, yes, you're right, I do miss Will", he said the last part quieter and kicked a stray rock in the middle of the sidewalk.

Percy was quiet for a while. He could really sympathize with Nico. After Tartarus, he and Annabeth had to be together constantly. If they were ever apart, either one or both of them would start to have panic attacks, they were each other's support systems. Will was Nico's support system. To be honest, he didn't know how the younger son of Hades was even coping, to begin with. After all, he had been down there alone.

"Hey, tell you what, Nico. Why don't we all go back to camp this weekend? We have midterms, but I'm sure we can bring our books with us when we go. We'll ask the others, okay?".

Nico turned around to face Percy and Annabeth on the sidewalk behind him. "Really?".

Annabeth laughed at the cute amount of anticipation in his eyes. "Yeah, of course. I'm sure the others would love to go back. I know I would".

"Besides, we can't have you shadow travelling there by yourself in the middle of the night. You'll turn into a shadow!". The playful tone in Percy's voice was back, and Nico scowled at him.

"I already told you guys I'm fine. Dad fixed me up. I don't need to be coddled anymore, see?", he said, stepping into a nearby shadow and reappearing right behind Percy.

Annabeth and Percy still both narrowed their eyes.

"Fine. But don't overextend yourself again. Don't know what I would do without my little death friend", Percy said, swinging an arm around Nico's shoulders which he then tried to desperately escape.

That prompted a miniature shoving fight that lasted until they arrived at the rest of their friends' building.

"Knock it off, you two. We're here", she said, wedging herself in between the two fighting cousins.

They stood in front of a slightly shorter apartment building that stood at only about five stories. There was a small garden on the roof and an even smaller garage on the ground floor. Jason, Piper, Leo, and Calypso shared a larger apartment here. It was an older building, but it worked well for them.

With an ease and soundlessness that shouldn't have been possible, the rusted out garage door opened to reveal a rather messy interior. A half-built car was in the middle of everything. It looked just like any other car would, except for the fact that it was made almost entirely of celestial bronze plating. Leo had collected the pieces of the Argo II after it had been destroyed in the war, and was currently trying to combine it with Festus to create a car that they would all be able to use to get around. Obviously, it was only half-finished at the moment, but that didn't really matter too much to them. They were happy enough, just walking around the city, and it was really just a project that Leo could use as an excuse to get his hands dirty.

Speaking of Leo, the smaller Latino boy was currently running around said garage frantically trying to do some last-minute things while his girlfriend chased after him with his backpack and books.

Calypso had decided not to attend mortal school with them. She and Leo were planning on opening up their own garage once he graduated, and only one of them really needed an education to do that. Besides, they had enough work cut out for them just teaching her about all that had changed in the mortal world since she had last seen it, never mind trying to teach her about the inner workings of high school. That was something else entirely.

"Leo! Don't worry about that, I'll do it! Just go. Your friends are waiting for you", Calypso said, sounding exasperated. This was no doubt something she had been trying to convince her boyfriend to leave alone for a while now.

Leo feigned being hurt and put a hand over his chest, finally stopping his constant movement around the garage. "Are you trying to get rid of me, sunshine? I'm hurt!".

She shoved his bag in his hand, pecked him on the lips, and shoved him out the door of the garage.

"Bye, Repair Boy!".

"Bye, Sunshine!".

The garage door closed behind Leo as he said his goodbyes, probably just Calypso attempting to make her boyfriend actually go out into the world and do something.

He wiped the grease off his hands onto his pants and slung his bag over his shoulder. Percy noticed, with a hint of amusement and nostalgia, that they were the same kind of pants that he had always worn on the Argo II on their quest.

I guess some things never change.

"Hey, Leo. Where's Jason and Piper?" Annabeth asked, checking her watch.

Leo looked around the group as if just noticing that his two best friends weren't there and groaned.

"Hold on, I'll get them".

"Yo, Jase! Pipes! Stop sucking face on the roof and get down here! We're going to be late!", he yelled up at the roof of the building.

The entire group tilted their heads back and looked. Sure enough, Jason and Piper were sitting on the roof with their legs dangling over the edge breathing very hard with beet-red faces.

"Shut up, Valdez! It's not like you and Calypso don't do it too! You know I was scarred the other day when I walked into the garage! All I wanted was to ask you two what you wanted for dinner! Scarred, scarred I tell you! Nobody should have to see that! And you didn't even give me a good answer!" Jason yelled back, still from the roof while Piper frantically tried to fix her slightly dishevelled appearance from where she sat next to him.

"How'd you even get up there, bro?", Percy asked him.

His entire group of friends turned to stare at him incredulously.

"Umm, Perce? Did you somehow manage to forget the fact that I can fly?" Jason asked all thoughts of yelling at Leo gone from his mind.

This time it was Percy's turn to blush. "Ummm, no?". His reply came out as more of a question than the statement that it was meant to be, and it made everybody laugh. Jason and Piper walked around to the side of the roof not facing the street before jumping off, Jason using the winds to control their descent and put them down just around the corner of the building.

"Of course you forgot, Seaweed Brain. It's times like these that make you earn your nickname", Annabeth said, playfully shoving him as he stood next to her.

Percy pouted before his typical lop-sided smirk took over his face and he closed the space between them in one long stride.

"Oh come on, Wise Girl. You know you love me", he said, smirk still adorning his face as he stood at least a good five or six inches taller than her and took advantage of their close proximity.

She inhaled his natural sea scent and immediately became flustered, playing with the ring on her finger like she had a habit of doing ever since he proposed.

Percy probably would have gone further if somebody behind them didn't clear their throat rather uncomfortably.

"Would you two please get a room?!", Leo cried, looking scandalised.

Percy pouted again and stepped away so that he was now just standing beside Annabeth with his arm lazily wrapped around her waist.

"You guys have no idea how much I wish we could. Why do we have to go to school anyway? We've saved the world like twice! We shouldn't have to be subject to the torture that is school anymore!", he whined, utterly oblivious to the violent red shade that Annabeth's face had taken on as she looked at the ground.

Both Jason and Leo spluttered indignantly while Nico and Piper looked really excited.

"Percy!" Annabeth exclaimed, swatting him over the head. "You don't just... say stuff like that out loud!", she said, still an alarming shade of red.

Everybody burst out laughing while Percy looked around at all their faces, still completely lost.

He scowled as they continued laughing, and nobody explained. "Whatever... Come on, let's just go. I remember a certain somebody bribing me with food this morning", he said, shooting Annabeth a meaningful and hopeful look.

Annabeth rolled her eyes but nodded her head anyways. "He's right guys, the cafe is in the complete opposite direction, by the time we go there and come back we'll be late".

Annabeth grabbed Percy's hand, and they started walking, though the laughter still hadn't completely subsided.