𝐂œ𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐬é𝐬 [Percy Jackson]

172

 Hadrian had heard of someone's life flashing before his eyes.

But he didn't think it would be like this.

Standing with his friends in a defensive ring, surrounded by giants, then looking up at an impossible vision in the sky– Hadrian could very clearly picture himself fifty years in the future.

He was sitting in an armchair in a Manhattan apartment. Percy was sitting next to him, sipping on blue lemonade. It was so easy to imagine. His hair was grey. Deep lines etched the corners of his eyes, but he was still as beautiful as ever.

Hadrian's grandchildren sat around his feet, and he was trying to explain to them what had happened on this day in Athens.

Grandchildren. It was such a ridiculous thought.

No, I'm serious, future him said. Just six demigods on the ground and one more in a burning ship above the Acropolis. We were surrounded by thirty-foot-tall giants who were about to kill us. Then the sky opened up and the gods descended!

Papé, the kids said (because that's what Hadrian had called his grandfather he had never met), you are full of shit.

And Percy would laugh, letting them curse.

I'm not kidding! he protested. Tell them, baby. The Olympian gods came charging out of the heavens on their war chariots, trumpets blaring, swords flaming.

His grandkids laughed at him. And Percy glanced over, smiling, like Would you believe it, if you hadn't been there?

But Hadrian was there. He didn't have to imagine it. He looked up as the clouds parted over the Acropolis, and he almost doubted if he was the one that needed glasses. Instead of blue skies, he saw black space spangled with stars, the palaces of Mount Olympus gleaming silver and gold in the background. And an army of gods charged down from on high.

It was too much to process. And it was probably better for his health that he didn't see it all. Only later would Hadrian be able to remember bits and pieces.

There was supersized Zeus riding into battle in a golden chariot, a lightning bolt the size of a telephone pole crackling in one hand. Pulling his chariot were four horses made of wind, each constantly shifting from equine to human form, trying to break free.

On the underbelly of the Argo II, the glass bay doors split open. The goddess Nike tumbled out, free from her golden net. She spread her glittering wings and soared to Zeus's side, taking her rightful place as his charioteer.

"MY MIND IS RESTORED!" she roared. "VICTORY TO THE GODS!"

At Zeus's left flank rode Hera, her chariot pulled by enormous peacocks, their rainbow-colored plumage so bright it gave Hadrian the spins.

Ares bellowed with glee as he thundered down on the back of a fire-breathing horse. His spear glistened red.

It wasn't just Olympian gods, as Hadrian noticed- Hecate and Eros joined them. Eros with his beautiful snow white wings spread wide. He was handsome, but in a sharp, devilish way. His dark hair was tousled effortlessly, his green eyes tracked Hadrian for a second and then he was looking away.

His features shifted and changed- just like Aphrodite behind him. He looked nothing like what Jason had described him as. That's how Hadrian knew it was Eros. Not Cupid.

Oh gods, Hadrian was going to have some words with his dad- specifically about a certain emo gay.

In the last second, before the gods reached the Parthenon, they seemed to displace themselves, like they'd jumped through hyperspace. The chariots disappeared. Suddenly Hadrian and his friends were surrounded by the Olympians, now human-sized, tiny next to the giants, but glowing with power.