𝐂œ𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐬é𝐬 [Percy Jackson]

175

As soon as Gaea achieved liftoff, the ground solidified. Demigods stopped sinking, though many were still buried up to their waists. Sadly, the monsters seemed to be digging themselves out more quickly. They charged the Greek and Roman ranks, taking advantage of the demigods' disorganization. 

Jason tried to help Hadrian out of the dirt. They were about to take off when Percy yelled, "Wait! Frank can fly the rest of us up there! We can all—"

"Baby" Hadrian said, "No, they need you here. There's still an army to defeat. Besides, the prophecy—

"He's right." Frank gripped Percy's arm. "You have to let them do this, Percy. It's like Annabeth's quest in Rome. Or Hazel at the Doors of Death. This part can only be them."

 Percy obviously didn't like it, but at that moment a flood of monsters swept over the Greek forces. Annabeth called to him, "Hey! Problem over here!"

"Don't die" Percy gave Hadrian a stern look, "You're taking me back to my mom"

With that, Percy ran to join her. Frank and Hazel turned to Jason. They raised their arms in the Roman salute, then ran off to regroup the legion. 

Jason and Hadrian spiraled upward on the wind.

"I've got the cure," Hadrian murmured like a chant. Out of all the people, he was glad it was him up here. He could save his friends if it came down to it. "It'll be fine. I've got the cure."

Hadrian realized he'd lost his bow somehow during the battle, but he doubted it would matter. Against Gaia, arrows would do no good. This was about storm and fire... and a third power, Hadrian's charmspeak, which would hold them together.

As they ascended, Jason gathered the wind and clouds around him. The sky responded with frightening speed. Soon they were in the eye of a maelstrom. Lightning burned Hadrian's eyes, even though he squeezed them shut. Thunder made his teeth vibrate. 

Directly above them, Festus grappled with the earth goddess. Gaia kept disintegrating, trying to trickle back to the ground, but the winds kept her aloft. Festus sprayed her with flames, which seemed to force her into solid form. 

Meanwhile, from Festus's back, Leo blasted the goddess with flames of his own and hurled insults.

"Potty Sludge! Dirt Face! THIS IS FOR MY MOTHER, ESPERANZA VALDEZ!" His whole body was wreathed in fire. Rain hung in the stormy air, but it only sizzled and steamed around him. 

Jason and Hadrian zoomed towards them. Gaia turned into loose white sand, but Jason summoned a squadron of venti who churned around her, constraining her in a cocoon of wind. Gaia fought back.  

When she wasn't disintegrating, she lashed out with shrapnel blasts of stone and soil that Jason barely deflected. Stoking the storm, containing Gaia, keeping himself and Hadrian aloft...  Hadrian could tell it was difficult.  

But they had to keep Gaia off the ground. That was the secret Kym had hinted at when they spoke at the bottom of the sea. 

Long ago, Ouranos the sky god had been tricked down to the earth by Gaia and the Titans. They'd held him on the ground so he couldn't escape and, with his powers weakened from being so far from his home territory, they'd been able to cut him apart. Now Jason, Leo and Hadrian had to reverse that scenario. They had to keep Gaia away from her source of power– the earth– and weaken her until she could be defeated. 

Together they rose. Festus creaked and groaned with the effort, but he continued to gain altitude. Hadrian still didn't understand how Leo had managed to remake the dragon. Then he recalled all the hours Leo had spent working inside the hull over the last few weeks. Leo must have been planning this all along and building a new body for Festus within the framework of the ship. He must have known in his gut that the Argo II would eventually fall apart. A ship turning into a dragon...

However it had happened, the dragon was a marvel.

"YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!" Gaia crumbled to sand, only to get blasted by more flames. Her body melted into a lump of glass, shattered, then re-formed again as human. "I AM ETERNAL!"

"Eternally annoying!" Leo yelled, and he urged Festus higher. Jason and Hadrian rose with them.

"Get me closer," Hadrian urged. He was tired of feeling useless. "I need to be next to her." 

"Hads, the flames and the shrapnel–"

"I know."

Jason moved in until they were right next to Gaia. The winds encased the goddess, keeping her solid, but Jason strained to contain her blasts of sand and soil. Her eyes were solid green, like all nature had been condensed into a few spoonfuls of organic matter. They reminded Hadrian of Percy's, but there was no sparkle in Gaia's eyes. 

"FOOLISH CHILDREN!" Her face contorted with miniature earthquakes and mudslides. 

Hadrian pushed down his bubbling anger. Nearly a year ago he'd been roped into this quest by Gaia, he'd been given the false promise of getting his best friend back. He wanted to rip Gaia apart molecule by molecule. 

Instead, he swallowed the fury and forced his voice into a placating tone.

"You are so weary," He told the goddess, his voice radiating kindness and sympathy. "Aeons of pain and disappointment weigh on you."

"SILENCE!" 

The force of Gaia's anger was so great that Jason momentarily lost control of the wind. They would've dropped into free fall, but Festus caught him and Hadrian in his other huge claw.

Hadrian faltered but managed to regain his focus. "Millennia of sorrow," he told Gaia. "Your husband Ouranos was abusive. Your grandchildren the gods overthrew your beloved children the Titans. Your other children, the Cyclopes and the Hundred-Handed Ones, were thrown into Tartarus. You are so tired of heartache." 

"LIES!" Gaia crumbled into a tornado of soil and grass, but her essence seemed to churn more sluggishly. If they gained any more altitude, the air would be too thin to breathe. Jason would be too weak to control it.

"What you want," Hadrian continued, "more than victory, more than revenge... you want rest. You are so weary, so incomprehensibly tired of the ungrateful mortals and immortals."

"I – YOU DO NOT SPEAK FOR ME – YOU CANNOT –"

"You want one thing," Hadrian said soothingly, his voice resonated through his own bones. Next to him, Jason's eyes drooped but there was nothing he could do about it "One word. You want permission to close your eyes and forget your troubles. You– want– SLEEP."

Gaia solidified into human form. Her head lolled, her eyes closed, and she went limp in Festus's claw. Unfortunately, Jason started to black out, too. The wind was dying. The storm dissipated. 

"Leo!" Hadrian gasped for breath. The higher they went, the less oxygen he was getting. He felt light headed, like all his blood was leaving his body. "We only have a few seconds. My charmspeak won't–"

"I know!" Leo looked like he was made of fire. Flames rippled beneath his skin, illuminating his skull. Festus steamed and glowed, his claws burning through Hadrian's shirt. "I can't contain the fire much longer. I'll vaporize her. Don't worry. But you guys need to leave."

"No!" Jason said. "We have to stay with you. Hads has got the cure. Leo, you can't –"

"Hey" Leo grinned, which was unnerving in the flames, his teeth like molten silver ingots. "I told you I had a plan. When are you going to trust me? And by the way – I love you guys."

Festus's claw opened, and Jason and Hadrian fell. 

Hadrian had no strength to try and charmspeak Leo into stopping it. He and Jason just clung to each other as Jason cried Leo's name, and they plummeted earthwards. Festus became an indistinct ball of fire in the sky– a second sun– growing smaller and hotter. Then, in the corner of Hadrian's eye, a blazing comet streaked upward from the ground with a high pitched, almost human scream. Just before Hadrian blacked out, the comet intercepted the ball of fire above them.  

The explosion turned the entire sky gold