This fanfiction contains spoilers from the book 'Blood of Olympus' and the movie 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'. However, it not all events in this fanfiction are true, and may have been altered to fit this crossover.

There will be mild swearing, a homosexual relationship (Steve x Tony/Percy) and mild character death.

Enjoy!

It wasn't dark, like you would think a nightmare would be. The world was glowing bright oranges and reds. The air swirled with the image of flames, the tendrils reached up towards the sky, twisting and curling in an alien dance. The heat released from the glowing lights was suffocating; blistering.

The flames source was skeletal bodies, twisting in agony. Rolling, falling, flailing and screaming in an inhuman mixture of pain and anger. The reached up with flame scorched hands, black with soot, to the unforgiving sky. They groped at the charred earth in search of something, anything, to take out their anger and pain on.

Their inhuman wails were jumbled, sounds indistinct at their pitch. But then the sounds began to drop, instead turning to a low and dwindling whine. Garbled words passed through their teeth, becoming more distinct as the time drew on.

Why, They hissed with words laced in pain. Why did we deserve to die. Their hands reached out, bone hands turning into jagged claws as they scraped the earth; pulling themselves forward with ear-splitting scraping sounds. They became more energized, their movements gaining ferocity and momentum as they clawed themselves toward their target.

Why couldn't we live! They opened their jaws in a terrifying scream, flames casting eerie shadows on their scorched forms. Why did you let us die! Why! Why!

The air was growing hotter by the second, the world drawing in on itself. It was close. Too close. Everything was tight, too dense.

No, no stop! Too close, too much. He couldn't breathe. Where was the air? Why couldn't he breath! Stop it! Stop it, stop it, stop it!

(**)

Dark brown eyes flashed open,a panicked gasp escaping lips parted mid-scream. Tony bolted upright, feeling his bed sheets tangling around him tighter and tighter as his body thrashed. It was too much, too constricting. Tony's hands reached out, gripping the fabric in an attempt to get it off of him. In his panicked frenzy he ended up ripping the sheets off of himself, body twisting and turning on his bed. He was too close to the edge and ended up slipping and falling on the hard ground with a thud that made him freeze.

Mr. Stark?

The voice that spoke was concerned, and yet seemed to come from nowhere. There was no other person in the room, but the man on the floor didn't seem to upset or worried about that. He even seemed to relax as the British sounding AI spoke. His body -once tense- seemed to almost melt into the ripped silk sheets that he lay tangled in.

"Jarvis," Tony said, his voice breaking with a sob. Only know did he realize that there were tears streaming down his cheek, weaving cold trails on his flushed skin. He pushed himself up in a sitting position, palms slick with sweat. Sweat dripped from his forehead as well, making his dark hair glisten where it beaded at his hairline. The front and back of his nightshirt was dampened from his exertion, sticking to his scarred back and chest.

His bedroom was dark. Corners enveloped in the suffocating inky darkness. With a shaky breath, Tony used the bed to push himself to his feet as he looked around. "Open the windows," He ordered Jarvis. The AI did as instructed and the windows across the room -which had been keeping it dark- slowly changed it's opaqueness and let the light outside stream in.

The sky was still dark; there was no sun to let in natural golden beams. But the city that never sleeps, was never dark either. Artificial lights of amber, red, and white hues easily illuminated his room.

Still uneasy from his nightmare, Tony Stark stumbled across the room and leaned against the panes. Resting his forehead against the cool glass, he let out a sigh. The glass fogged as the moisture from his breath condensed against it. "Are you alright, sir?" Jarvis asked, voice echoing in the dark and empty room.

"Yeah," Tony said with a breathless and almost hysterical laugh. "Yeah, I'm totally fine. Just been having the same fucking nightmare every night for nearly ten years now, but other than that I'm totally fine." He sighed and closed his eyes. Knees weak, he sank to the carpeted floor.

"I'm tired, Jarvis. I'm tired of these nightmares. I'm tired of waking up in the middle of the night. I'm tired of all this guilt, and sadness." Tony ran a hand over his face, feeling his hands grow wet from the tears that had dampened his cheeks. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. "Anyway, I'm fine. Whatever."

Tony got to his feet and dusted off his pajama knees. "Anyways, I might as well get some work down now that I'm up." Using his palms, he wiped away any remnants of his tears and made his way to the door. Stumbling at the beginning, but getting his feet as he continued towards the door.

As the door slid open, he poked his head around the corner to make sure that no one else was up. The lights were either off entirely, or dimmed so that certain aspects of the Avengers living space was still illuminated. It had been his idea, since he was tired of hearing Thor trip over air when he was sneaking towards the kitchen for snacks in the middle of the night.

He quietly walked down the hall, turning the corner to overlook the Avengers living space through the lines in the wall. The living space was usually filled with people in the evening, due to his often lavish parties. They were attempts at driving himself into a drunken stupor till he was pretty much dead on his feet. These attempts would result in him being able to have a dreamless sleep. But now it was eerily quiet.

The glass walls allowed light to stream in from the city; casting eerie shadows against the furniture and other objects in the room. They stretched along the floor and to his eyes; still affected by his dream, they seemed to twist and turn in an alien dance.

Tony backed away, rubbing his eyes furiously until he seemed to enter a strange dimension of pulsating colors when he drew his hands away. Warily approaching the wall again, he carefully peaked back into the room. There. No moving shadows. No moving skeletons coming to claw their way towards him either. Letting out a sigh, he drew his hand over the keypad by the doorway in an upwards motion. The lights came on, glaring with harsh yellow light as they illuminated the expansive room.

Blinking, Tony made his way down the stairs with one hand on the rail and the other in his pajama pants pocket. Who made pajama pants with pockets? What exactly could you keep in there, a screwdriver?

Tony made a beeline for where the drinks were stored, stepping behind the counter carefully as he reached for the glasses. He winced at the sound they made as their surfaces made contact. It was a dainty sound and in no way would be able to awaken the sound sleepers upstairs. Heh. Sound sleepers. Good thing Tony had made their rooms with that thought in mind. If it wasn't for the soundproof walls between their rooms, no one would get any sleep.

Opening the mini fridge with his foot, Tony looked around curiously. It was true that the Avengers suffered from PTSD, and that their sleep wasn't always a soundless one. It wasn't uncommon for him to have company most nights, but tonight he was alone. Oh, those lucky ducks.

Without examining the bottle he had chosen at random, Tony used the bottle opener to pop the lid before pouring himself a good portion of it into his glass. The amber liquid ran between the two containers before he stopped the flow and placed the bottle on the counter.

"Isn't it a bit early for drinking?"

His eyes flashed upwards -body tense- only to relax a moment later as he recognized Pepper. "You're early." He commented, ignoring her question about his drinking habits. "Why?"

Pepper, in full business attire, made her way over to him. Her eyes darted to look at his glass and he tried to ignore the way her eyes filled with knowing. "Well, let's just say a certain AI wanted to make sure everything was alright."

Tony pouted, pretending to be hurt as he looked up at the ceiling. "Aw, Jarvis come on. I'm a big boy now! I don't need someone to check under my bed for monsters!"

"Yes, sir." The British voice answered, tinted with an almost human and teasing tone.

Tony looked back over to Pepper. "Honest, I'm fine. You don't have to keep showing up whenever I need a drink." He raised his glass teasingly and moved the glass from side to side so that the liquid almost sloshed over the side. He raised the glass to his lips and thoughtfully sipped.

Pepper looked doubtful. She had heard him say he was fine a thousand times, and yet she always asked a thousand times anyway. "Tony, we both know monsters don't hide under beds." She began. "So are you sure those monsters aren't-" She cut herself off at the sour look Tony gave her.

Pepper looked at the wall, gaze thoughtful; as though she were contemplating something she wanted to say, which had Tony uneasy. Whenever she had that look, he knew she was planning on making him do something."It's that time of year." She said, changing the subject. "I know what you usually do,"She gestured to his glass of alcohol. "And Tony I don't think you should. This has been going on for too long. I understand she meant a lot to you, but getting drunk on her birthday and celebrating it locked in your room wont bring her back."

"I know that." Tony snapped. "But I'm not gonna stop. Speaking of her birthday though, what exactly do you get for your deceased girlfriend?" His eyes were narrowed as he looked at her, warning her that his teasing tone was not him being in a teasing mood. He wasn't drunk enough for that yet. "For some reason, no one seems to have an answer. Wonder why."

Pepper sighed. "Tony, please. You must be drunk right now with the nonsense your talking. And I'm concerned about you."

Tony took a bigger swig from his drink, downing almost half the glass. "Well, don't be. I'm doing fine. I just need to finish this and find something to do today. Hey, we don't have any more save-the-world missions now, do we?" He headed over to one of the barstools and plopped down, gesturing to the one next to him as an invitation for her to join him.

Pepper sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, frowning for a second before taking the offered seat. "No, Tony. People have been pretty quiet ever since an intelligent metal robot tried to destroy the world." Tony frowned and mumbled into his glass as he took another sip. "I was trying to do something good, does anyone remember that little fact?"

"I have something you could do." She said casually, looking at the far wall like it was oh-so-interesting." She looked at him from the corner of her eye. "Two things, actually.

"One, you could stay here and answer fan mail. Happy's been upset with how full the storage room is getting. Two," She took a breath. "You could go to camp and be Percy for a day. Go to that group therapy thing. Get help. Because Tony," She sighed. "You need help."

Tony let out a bitter laugh at that, lowering the glass as alcohol dripped from the corner of his mouth. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he put the glass back on the counter. He laughed for a few seconds more before meeting her gaze. She was glaring at him, putting on her most menacing and I'm-not-going-take-shit look.

"Oh," He said meekly. "Wow cousin, you're not kidding." He sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Fine!" He snapped, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation. "Fine, I'll go to the support group!"

"Group therapy," Pepper corrected with a smirk.