"I don't really see how this is gonna help me find my magic."
"Don't be such a nay-sayer, Perseus!" Thor called out helpfully.
"Says the god behind the indestructible glass," Percy yelled back. He'd long since given up on corrected the two Asgardians about his name. They'd call him whatever they felt like at that moment.
"This is a terrible idea," Percy told the other brother in front of him.
Loki's gaze flickered up from where he'd been twirling his knife. Seeing nothing of importance, Loki returned to playing with his weapon. "Your opinion has been noted. Several times. But it has no value in the decision."
Percy scowled and crossed his arms, glaring at the conceited prince before him. "I'm pretty sure it does. In fact, I think my opinion matters the most."
Loki's gaze never left the knife. "If you say so."
The son of Poseidon groaned. He was getting nowhere with the two Norse gods.
Loki finally looked up when Percy was silent for a few moments. He stared at the fuming Greek before sighing. "How many times must I explain this, Percy? You are not able to find seiðr the normal way. So we must try something else. I believe your best option is to experience seiðr firsthand. And you seem to learn and focus best when you are moving and fighting. So we hope to find your magic by fighting with me."
"But I've fought all the time and never seen even a glimpse of magic," Percy protested for the umpteenth time.
"You weren't a god then. And you weren't fighting a magic user," Loki pointed out calmly. "Once you experience seiðr, feel its effects on your body, then you may understand it better. Muscle memory and all that. Besides," he added, "it would be good for you to get used to fighting as a god."
Percy sighed. The Silvertongue's words made sense, like they often did, but still... "I can't believe Thor agreed to this," Percy grumbled under his breath.
Thor had returned from Asgard to find the two in Loki's room. Loki had been lying on his bed and reading one of his books. Percyd been sitting on the floor, trying—and failing—to see magic.
According to the god of thunder, Odin had granted Loki a bit more time on Thor's behest. When Loki proposed his idea to Thor, without even consulting Percy first, Thor had agreed (with a little persuasion from his brother). And so, the two gods had dragged the protesting teen to the training room.
There, Thor had removed Loki's inhibitors. Luckily, Tony had installed magic dampeners around the training room after the New York attack. So while Loki could do whatever he wanted in the actual training room itself, his magic could not extend any farther. And since Percy was the only one in the room with him, Loki could not hurt anyone except Percy.
It wasn't like Loki could hold Percy hostage, since Thor could just reactive the inhibitors. And there was no reason for Loki to kill Percy. The Greek had quickly learned that Loki was a creature who cared greatly about his own self-interests. Loki would gain nothing from killing Percy, in fact he'd lose more than anything, so the likelihood of that happening was minimal at best.
Which was much better than Percy's normal odds.
The three of them had silently agreed to not tell any of the other Avengers. The mortals would have adamantly opposed Loki's idea, probably with good reason.
"Are you ready?" Loki asked, shifting into a fighting stance.
Percy was pretty sure the question was rhetorical. The god didn't seem to particularly care if Percy was ready or not.
"I'm going to die," Percy moaned out.
Of course, Percy knew he couldn't die. But he had found it interesting that the Asgardians could die in battle or even of old age (granted their old age was really old). When Percy had brought it up to Loki, the trickster had just said, 'Different pantheon, different gods.'
Thor had explicated further: 'The term 'god' in one culture is not the same as in another culture.' To Percy, that sounded more like the Hunters' partial immortality. Percy would never say that to the two princes, though. He had no desire to anger either one of them. He'd angered enough gods for two lifetimes.
Loki rolled his eyes at the teen's dramatization. "You're not going to die."
Thor's voice boomed from over the loudspeaker. "Do not worry, Percy. Greek gods only fade, not die. You can just be injured to the point of death."
"Well, that just makes me feel so much better."
"Of course. Fight to your heart's content!" The speakers cut off.
Loki smirked at him, happy to be able to finally stretch his physical—and magical—muscles.
Percy tensed, quickly uncapping Riptide. Loki lunged with his dual knives extended. Percy's muscles coiled, and his mind settled itself into battle mode.
And then Loki vanished, mere inches from Percy's figure.
Percy blinked, thrown at his opponent's sudden desertion. His gaze flickered around the room nervously, and he bounced slowly on the balls of his feet.
The air shifted a moment before Loki's dagger cleaved through the space where Percy's head had been.
"Hades, Loki!" Percy yelped, heart beating a million miles an hour, as he spun, attempting to swipe the god's legs. His leg connected, but Loki disappeared before hitting the floor.
"I thought we were trying to help me learn by using magic. Why do you even have knives?!" Percy yelled into thin air. He straightened up, keeping his trusty sword in front of him.
"Your reflexes seem good, and you can sense things around you fairly well." The voice drifted from all around the room.
"...thanks?"
Loki appeared on the opposite side of the room. Percy leveled Riptide at him. Another Loki popped up next to him.
"What the—" Percy muttered. Louder, he said, "Oi, Loki? You got a twin brother I don't know about? Or an evil clone?"
Both Lokis smiled. A third Loki appeared.
"Uh..."
"Magic, remember?" The three Lokis said in harmony.
"Creepy."
The clone Lokis—or clokis, as Percy had taken to calling them—just grinned wider.
"Double creepy."
More clokis popped up around the room, averaging a solid fifty in number.
"Not fair," Percy murmured. "You have a freaking army and magic. All I got is a sword."
Percy's whole life summed up in two sentences.
"You gotta gimme some water at least," he shouted louder.
From the way the clokis shifted and readied their knives, they did not agree with Percy's statement.
Percy sighed and tightened his grip on his weapon. "Bring it on then."
Loki watched the boy from behind his illusions. Of course, Loki wasn't going to tell him that they were only illusions, not clones. Illusions were intangible, so they couldn't even touch the god. His illusions crept forward and circled the Greek, who eyed them wearily.
All at once, they rushed forwards. Loki snuck up behind the fakes. When Percy jerked back, thrown off balance by the fact that he had connected with nothing, Loki attacked. And his hit would have landed, too, if Percy hadn't vanished mid-swing.
Loki froze for a second, frowning. He spun around when he heard a yelp from the far side of the room.
"Perseus?"
"I'm alive." The god patted his body in shock.
Loki's frown deepened. His illusions vanished. "That wasnt seiðr," he muttered. The power had come from inside Percy, the Greek's own personal well, instead of from the air around him.
"Uh, what just happened?" Percy asked, after reassuring himself that he did indeed have all of his limbs.
"That was your own power."
"What? Pretty sure I couldn't do that before."
"You weren't a god before," Loki pointed out, sheathing his two daggers for the time being.
"Oh. Right." Percy ran a hand through his hair. "But whatever I just did has nothing to do with Poseidon's domain."
Loki lifted a shoulder. "Godhood should have heightened your power that stems from Poseidon. But it also should have given you your own domains."
"My nonexistent, nameless domains." Percy sighed, cursing the fates for the dozenth time that day.
"It is hard to tell which it is."
"Uh-huh," Percy murmured. He hadn't really understood what was happening earlier until he was halfway across the room. It'd felt similar to Nico's shadowtravel. It was an uncomfortable experience, but nothing that Percy couldn't handle. He stifled a yawn. "I think I'm gonna, uh, take a nap." He yawned again. "Yeah... a nap."
His voice got quieter, trailing off at the end. He said something else, too low for Loki to hear, and then pitched forward. Loki swore and teleported to his side. He caught the boy right before he hit the floor.
"Thor," Loki yelled to the room. "Get some water."
Loki shifted the Greek gently onto the floor. The Asgardian sat back with a sigh and leaned against the wall.
"Great," he muttered aloud. "Stuck with an unconscious Grecian. Just how I wanted to spend my morning."
There was no one there to hear his sarcasm, of course, but Loki comforted himself with the fact that he was the one conscious.
Thor arrived minutes later with a bucket (where he found it, Loki didn't know) and a bottle of water.
"Brother, I have retrieved the—"
His oaf of a brother was cut off by a loud pop. The cap burst off the water bottle, and the liquid flowed from both containers, combining into one giant stream. Loki stepped back wearily. The flow of water gushed into Percy's chest. Interestingly enough, Percy seemed to absorb the water. His clothes and body weren't even wet. The current finally slowed, and the last few droplets seeped into Percy's skin.
Thor slowly set down the empty bucket and the crumbled bottle. He stared at Percy. The Asgardian was fairly sure that wasn't normal for the son of Poseidon.
"Well, that was certainly different," Loki quipped dryly.
They both approached the prone figure cautiously. Loki nudged him with his foot.
Thor questioned worriedly, "Is he—is he dead?"
The two princes jumped back as Percy shot up with a dramatic gasp.
"Definitely not dead," Loki murmured wryly.
Thor couldn't tell if his brother was disappointed or not.