AN: Another fic. Let's see how faithful and successful I'll be this time, eh?
I haven't read PJO nor HoO in a long time (who doesn't like the last chapter of Blood of Olympus as much as I do?), but I'll try to be as factual as a slightly AU fanfiction can be :P
A Modern Prophecy
Prologue
They were coming after him with tranquilizer guns, and he couldn't teleport away, and- oh for Zeus' sake, he was running across the Golden Gate Bridge now. He willed his mortal legs to move faster and faster up the slight slope, until his pudgy legs were straining with the exertion, muscles screaming silently, and all he wanted was to sit down and take a long break. But a glance behind him and the deafening roar of jet planes in the distance was enough to give him alibi to stop in his tracks. Lungs expanding, his brain got enough oxygen to concentrate. The god looked around him, gauging the population, and snapped his fingers.
The magic didn't start with any one mortal, really. As if on cue, everybody's functions shut down as they were taken over by the nonsensical fear and panic that came with witnessing the power of insanity. The bridge almost glowed with the chaos of yelling and smashing cars, large splashing sounds as hordes of pedestrians leapt over the railing of the walkway to end their suffering. And all the while, the wine god continued over the bridge at a more leisurely pace- still at a fast walk, but at least his heart wasn't going to spill out of his mouth.
The farther he distanced himself from the bridge, the faster the active effect would disappear. There was no telling if the mortals would recover entirely, but it was for the best- no thinking what the demigods would teach mortal scientists in their laboratories. He shuddered just thinking about it. What had Hecate thought before disappearing from the face of the earth?
The Mist- a veil of magic keeping mortals happy and secure in their normal lives- had seemingly disappeared overnight. There was no need to mention that Dionysus had just beaten the thousandth level in Pac-Man when the news started rolling in from his Hermes earpiece. Dionysus reached in his ear canal and switched it off when it became clear it would distract him from the arcade game in front of him. The moment of victory wasn't enough to keep him elated when he discovered the source of the godly hyperventilation.
"What do you mean the Veil isn't there anymore?" Artemis yelled at Apollo. "This is no time for your inane jokes, little brother. You cannot imagine what would happen if mortals interfere in the hunt."
Apollo retorted, "Would you stop that about your Hunters? Nobody's being serious about this. I told Hermes this was a bad idea for us to talk about important things over the ear thingy-"
"It's an earpiece, Apollo," came Hermes' slightly hurt voice. "They were invented by a writer- his name was Ray Bradbury, I think. Anyway, I'm trying to make this a 4-D experience. It's only a prototype, to tell you the truth-"
"SILENCE!" Zeus thundered. Everyone fell silent. "This is an urgent situation. Apollo is telling the truth. I don't know why the Mist has failed. Athena is working on it as I speak, but this situation has not occurred for two thousand years. It's very... peculiar. Everybody gather in the throne room."
There was no need for the word "immediately" for all of them to comply. Which brought him back to his situation. Why did he teleport to such a populated area when he was bleeding golden trails of ichor? Dionysus rolled his eyes at his own stupidity, and ducked behind a building. Checking that nobody was looking his way, he quietly disappeared.