𝐂œ𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐬é𝐬 [Percy Jackson]

58

How could he forget the voice when he spent hours listening to the boy rant about Achilles and Patroclus and about his favorite mortal singer? He didn't want to believe it for a minute. But a thousand things started to make sense. The way Hadrian seemed to know a bit about Luke even though he claimed Annabeth told him, the way Hadrian refused to talk about his past, the battle he described his friend had died in...

Did he mean the Battle of Manhattan? Or the labyrinth?

"What?"

He was still reliving the memory.

Before Percy even knew what was happening, the hat was ripped off his head and thrown away. He shimmered into existence just as the other boy stepped into the light. He had been wearing Annabeth's hat, he almost forgot.

"Perseus Jackson, as I live and breathe" He grinned. It reminded Percy of a Cheshire cat, supposed to look reassuring, but instead sending shivers down his spine. The face that stared back at him was the one he was all too familiar with.

The same freckle next to his mouth, the same shaggy haircut, only longer and less tame, the same brown eyes, the same graceful curve of his eyebrows, the same exquisite cheekbones. Percy felt sick to his stomach. This wasn't happening, there was no possible way this was happening.

He tried to remember if this was the way it had gone down in real life, or if it was something Gaea was showing him to make him doubt his friend.

Hadrian's hair was split dyed- one side red, the color of blood and the other, black.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

His brain yelled.

Riptide had faded out of existence on the floor and appeared in his pocket. He wasted no time on drawing the sword.

"Who are you?"

"You didn't answer my question" he continued to smile unnervingly. His smile said- come on, just lean in, I know you want to. "Its trippy, isn't it?" He shrugged, looking at the sarcophagus which lay open without the lid.

Percy wanted to throw up. He felt like he did when he had been dipped in the river Styx, just filled head to toe with dread. He waited to wake up, It's just a dream. He told himself.

Hadrian wasn't... Hadrian wouldn't...

Would he?

His head was spinning, the world was spinning. Only Hadrian's face seemed in focus. This wasn't real. It couldn't be.

He thought about the Hadrian he knew now, the wide smile, the frown, the glare, the way he hummed along to Louis Tomlinson and Taylor Swift songs. He thought about the place where his neck met his torso, how it looked magical the night he slept in his room. Percy had seen a spot on Hadrian's neck, a birthmark in the vague shape of a heart.

"Luke?" He said instead. It was still a dream, so he said what his past self had said.

"Yes, Luke. Or I suppose, he isn't Luke anymore" Hadrian frowned, he looked troubled, split in confusion.

"You didn't answer mine" Percy said in reference to the question he had asked, "Who are you?"

"You don't need to know that" He smiled again and tilted his head like he was regarding a child. "We've never met before, have we Percy? But I've heard a lot about you"

"Have you?" Percy wanted to throttle him, he wanted to hug him. Why hadn't he told anyone? What else was he hiding? "Do I have a secret admirer?"

He snorted. Like actually snorted. "Yeah, you wish. I'm just marveling at your stupidity"

"Oh yeah? So you do think about me"

It sounded so similar to their usual banter. Percy wanted to curl into a ball and cry. His Hadrian wouldn't do something like this. But then again, did this mean Percy never really knew Hadrian at all?

"I don't waste a lot of time on it" He shrugged. He wasn't actually shrugging Percy discovered. He took off the weapon he had slung on his back, his celestial bronze bow. Apollo had given him that bow. Why was Percy remembering random facts about Hadrian?

"Did you really think Kronos would leave his vulnerable body without any protection?"

"Listen- there's still time for you. You don't have to do this" Percy heard himself say "You may not understand fully what's going on"

"Oh I do" Hadrian stopped smiling, somehow that was even more unnerving. He drew an arrow from his quiver and knocked it, straight at Percy's heart. Percy refused to believe this was the same boy that he knew "I chose this Percy, like so many others, Luke promised us everything the Gods couldn't"

"Luke" Percy said.

"What?"

"You called him Luke"

Anger flashed across his face and he let the arrow go. Percy blocked it with the flat part of his sword, but before he could look up again, pain erupted in his thigh.

Hadrian shot him. Seriously? When he woke up, he was going to kill him.

Percy hobbled back unceremoniously. He bent down and pulled the arrow out by it's shaft. Annabeth's Yankee's cap was lying right next to him so he picked that up too.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll turn back and leave where you came from" Hadrian said, nocking another arrow. Percy had the feeling he would go for somewhere more lethal the next time. The pain in his leg was just a warning shot. "Luke said we need you alive"

"You still call him Luke"

"I'll call him sweet cheeks gods damn it if I want to" He yelled out in frustration. "The other demigods are rash and stupid. Kronos is himself" He looked at the sarcophagus as if afraid Luke would sit upright and flay him right there. "You know the prophecy I suppose... you have to live-"

"What? What prophecy, man?" Percy frowned, "I don't know any prophecy"

A half blood of the eldest gods, shall reach sixteen against all odds. 

Was Percy seriously the last to know about that prophecy? 

"Liar liar" The boy grinned. Another arrow faster than Percy could comprehend. He supposed this one was for comedic effect since it was a flaming arrow, aimed at his butt. It just grazed his pant, lighting it on fire. Normal fire, thank the gods, "Pants on fire" He sang.

Percy wanted to charge, throttle Hadrian. He was making everything difficult.

Then the voices of the telekhines were right behind him.

"Oops" He waved, "Good bye for now, Percy Jackson. I hope we meet again" 

The scene dissolved and Percy heard another familiar voice- a woman's voice. Gaea laughed. 

"Percy Jackson" she hummed. "Always being betrayed by the ones you trust, aren't you tired of it?"

The dream dissolved.

A/N: OOf things are getting dicey