Chapter Text
The goddess stood on the edge of the hourglass, staring out into the vast emptiness of the cosmos she called her realm. Amongst the calm and quiet, she felt more at ease than anywhere else on Olympus. There was also the advantage of implementing it in battle. This skill had given her the advantage over foes and sparring partners alike - even now, she remembered how Olympus seemed to spill over with laughter when she first used it against Ares. Hermes had taken to calling it her “Quick Thought” that day and, unfortunately for her, it stuck. If given the chance, she would have chosen a better name. A lengthier one, yes, but far more fitting and practical for what this trick of hers was.
…But, then again, “Quick Thought” did have a funny little ring to it.
Sucking in a deep breath, she closed her eyes as she focused her thoughts onto one of the many mortals she’d taught and mentored throughout her centuries of life. The hourglass beneath her feet cracked as the sand flowed out in a relentless stream. As the grains began to gradually take shape, she could hear the deep, pain-fueled cries of Polyphemus and the sounds of a fleet sailing on the waves as one voice, proud and clear, rang out above all the noise.
“It was never Nobody who hurt you, Cyclops! Remember my name well - I AM ODYSSEUS, KING OF ITHACA!”
At the declaration, she could hear his fellow men, his soldiers, cheering at their captain’s victory over the ‘beast’. Athena’s eyes flew open, grey slates watching the grains display the king, her greatest pupil, yell out his own name while his eyes blazed with what she now knew as a well-placed fury. His sword drawn, pointing it in the direction of the now-shrinking isle as the shawl he wore billowed in the wind that carried the fleet away.
Even though it was only a vision, the goddess’s mouth quirked upwards into a gentle smile. Pupil wasn’t the right word for him anymore, these days. Telemachus’s words still rung clearly in her head. She was a friend to him, not a mentor. Odysseus had mentioned it only once in her argument, but his son… almost every day, he seemed to remind her that she had been more than a goddess and mentor to Odysseus.
“Hello again, old friend. It’s been some time, hasn’t it?”
The image fell away, the grains swirling beneath her feet as they coalesced into a swirling vortex not far below from where she stood. It had been ten years since they’d parted so unceremoniously. But she’d taught him for years, guided his hands and mind. He had to have understood the consequences of what he’d done by allowing Polyphemus to know his name. Didn’t he?
Another thought banished from her mind. Of course he wouldn’t - he bore only a fraction of the knowledge she had. But the way his words had left her so shaken… it was unbecoming of a goddess to admit a weakness, and yet he had been so right that day. Despite the countless heroes and warriors she’d taught, would any one of them call her a friend like he had? Would any one of them be foolhardy enough to call out her greatest fault to her very face?
Only Odysseus ever had. And, despite the joy in Telemachus’s smile, she could sense the heartbreak he bore. He had no tangible memory of his own father, only the words and whispering of his mother and court of Ithaca. And Odysseus would not linger away from home willingly. Was it some other god’s wrath he inadvertently managed to invoke, or had he managed to-
No. He wasn’t dead. She was certain he was still alive, even now. The frown on her face grew the tiniest bit as she invoked her power further. With a well-practiced flourish, she leapt off the edge, watching as the grains of sand began to glow in shades of bright blue and grey while she hurtled towards them.
“Let’s see how well you’ve done without me…”
“-just don’t open this bag, and you’ll be fine!”
“Impossible. You can’t simply make it that easy for me to return home.”
“But I never said it was easy, silly!”
A chatter of giggles sounded around Athena as she watched Odysseus stare down the god of the winds. Aeolus’s hair curled and billowed around them as they gleefully held the bag just out of reach of her warrior. No, friend - she had to remember that. The small grey creatures surrounding the two cooed in awe as they watched Aeolus speak to the mortal. Athena couldn’t recall the name Aeolus had granted them, but they were… slightly adorable.
“Your men might wanna know what’s in this bag, and you’ll have to stop them from opening it until you get home!”
“Kill ‘em if you gotta!”
The grey fuzzballs chirped that line in unison. Odysseus glanced down to the horde surrounding them, the disbelief in his eyes obvious.
“...sorry, what?”
“Whatever it takes to get home, right?”
Aeolus hovered uncomfortably close to Odysseus now. The light blue of their eyes shone with an intense light as they continued to smile at her friend. Odysseus stared down the god for a minute or two before sighing in defeat.
“...right. Whatever it takes.”
With that, the winds around them began to howl as they lifted Odysseus off the ground, carrying him back down to the fleet below. The goddess’s cape snapped at the force as the winds only continued to escalate in their speed. Athena’s eyes began to water as their speed only continued to increase, and she blinked as they furiously whipped around her–
–and just as quickly as she had closed her eyes, she opened them, the ground of the floating isle beneath her feet giving way to wood. The sound of rushing water around her forced her head to look up, staring as she watched Poseidon glare down at the fleet from a rocky outcropping. Disgust and bile rose up in her throat at the very sight of him. For years, her uncle had dogged her steps, seeming intent on disrupting every gift and blessing she’d bestowed on others. But she knew that, despite it all, he was one of the few gods that truly seemed to care for his children.
“...apologize.”
“What?”
“Apologize for what you did to my son. For maiming him, blinding him and letting him suffer as he does now.”
Her uncle stared down the fleet, fingers tightening their grip on his trident as he looked down at her friend. The Laestrygonians at his side hauled up immense boulders and slabs of stone onto their shoulders, waiting in sadistic anticipation for the king’s response. Odysseus effortlessly leapt onto the railing of the ship, balancing himself on the prow of the trireme as he looked up at the god of the oceans.
“Please, mighty god of tides! We never meant to harm your son! He killed some of my men, and I only wanted to save the rest! It wasn’t out of pleasure that we chose to harm him. Our only goal was to return home, nothing more.”
The god only stared down at her and her friend, gaze unflinching as the waves continued to roar wildly around the fleet. Odysseus looked on, a trace of a smile on his mouth as he waited for the god’s response. But Athena knew her uncle all too well, and she only watched on in silent resignation as a twitch of a cruel and cold grin made its way onto his face.
“...did you really think I’d make it so easy for you to leave?”
“You said that–!”
“I demanded you apologize. I never said you’d be free if you did. My niece may choose to be lenient on you mortals, but I’m not as easily swayed as she.”
Before Odysseus could protest, Poseidon lowered his trident from where he rested it on his shoulders, aiming the points at her friend…before he directed his aim to where the other ships helplessly bobbed among the waves.
“Let this serve as a reminder of your… ‘mercy’, King…”
“...wait. No, stop-! You can’t-! They didn’t do anyth–!”
Too late. She could hear the cries of over five hundred men - some begging for mercy from Poseidon, some begging for aid from their captain. But she knew it would be useless. The boulders passed over the ship as waves surged up, up, higher than the main mast of the ships before they crashed down onto the other eleven ships. The waves from the impact surged up over the railings of the trireme, sweeping towards Odysseus he rushed towards the railing, watching in horror as each ship was crushed, his men swept away. Athena watched as a fierce wave surged over the railing and towards her. She lifted an arm up to protect herself as–
–the wave gave way to a palace, smooth marble seeming to leach away the water that still surrounded her in an instant.
“I haven’t done anything to those men that they didn’t already deserve.”
Despite the cool breeze that flowed through the courtyard of Aeaea, the atmosphere was oppressive and overbearing. Glazing to one end of the courtyard, she could see the sorceress carefully beginning to weave out a garment for herself. At least, she had been. Immediately, she rose to her feet, looking at Odysseus from over her shoulder with a look of disdain.
“You turned my men… into pigs.”
“Most men are, dear - I only did them a service to let their forms best fit their status.”
The sorceress turned to face Odysseus and the goddess down from the top of the stairs. Producing a small wooden stave of willow, Circe’s eyes glowed with a golden light as her hair and dress began to float around her, almost as if she were suspended in the very element Athena had just left.
“Whomever you may be, whatever kingdom you may hail from, I will not allow you to have any peace in my home. The nymphs here are under my protection, and I’ll not have them suffer pain from your ilk again.”
A quick twist of the hand bearing the stave, and a chimera suddenly shimmered into existence. Out of instinct, the goddess allowed her spear and shield to manifest in her hands, holding both with a deadly grip as she watched the chimera stalk towards them both, three sets of eyes focusing on Odysseus. As the beast roared, Athena briefly held her shield before her as the chimera launched towards her–
“There is only one path I see before you, King. A sacrifice, a betrayal, a final stand. You shall fall, but a man shall rise and return to home and throne.”
The goddess immediately willed away the spear and shield in her hands at the familiar voice. An unfortunately familiar one this time around. Even the memory of the Underworld seemed to chill her to the bone. Turning to look at the source of the voice, she was not at all surprised to see the eidolon of the prophet standing before her. This time, he’d taken on the form of a young man. And a form so similar to that day she’d first met him.
Athena felt embarrassment rise in her for a moment. And even more embarrassment still considering how - and more specifically, why - she’d blinded him in her panic. At the time, the gift of prophecy was the only way she thought to restore his sight. And yet it was another fault of hers she wouldn’t be able to remedy.
She only looked on as Odysseus’s eyes widened, then narrowed into a glare. He grasped for a sword that would be useless against the eidolon standing before him.
“No… I won’t believe it. I can’t. I’ve lost so much, suffered so much death, and you’re telling me that’s how we–!”
–the sound of screams pierced through her mind as she felt herself step into another memory. Wood back beneath her sandals again. And blood. Too much blood. Glancing around her, she could only watch as what remained of Odysseus’s crew began to hack away at the tails of sirens. She could hear some of them beg - some of them calling for another by name - but the crew continued to work.
But it did not mean they did the task eagerly. While some of the crew obeyed their captain with looks of disdain towards the creatures, others looked nauseous. One of them, in particular, hesitated, only pausing in his work as he threw one bisected half of a siren overboard. The immense sword on his back seemed to weigh them down more than usual. Athena only followed his gaze as he looked towards Odysseus. He seemed…distant. Detached. How had Tiresias’s prophecy affected him so?
One of the soldiers approached a siren near her. She was struggling to claw her way off the deck. As the soldier raised his sword, Athena mentally braced herself for the slaughter that would come next. The siren could only be heard begging as the soldier brought his sword down and–
–howled in pain as he was lifted up into the air by a massive canine head, a torch falling from his hand. The goddess briefly felt fear strike her heart as another head clamped down onto the man’s legs before pulling. In an instant, the goddess turned away as the screams were replaced in an instant by the sound of tearing flesh. Despite being known as a master of war, the sights of suffering swayed her resolve at times.
Forty men left, then thirty-nine, then thirty-eight. Four heads fed, and only two left. Her gaze craned upward to look at the monster… no, nymph. The pale, bedraggled face of Scylla stared down with empty hollow eyes, and her friend met the nymph’s gaze. Despite the screams and pleas of the soldiers, he remained unmoving. Unwavering. Only a slight shake of his hands gave away his true feelings as another soldier cried out, begging for mercy as his arm was bitten into and his body was forcefully pulled off the ship.
The soldier with the large sword, however, frantically rushed by her. Close enough for her to read the inscription on its hilt - “The Strongest of Same.” Eurylochus, she now recalled - Odysseus had spoken about him and another at length during the times she’d trained him.
He was calling out another soldier by name - lost among all the frantic babble of prayers and curses from those at the oars. The soldier turned, torch by his side blazing brightly at his face, reflecting the fear and panic within his eyes.
Until it, too, clattered unceremoniously to the floor as a canid head swept him away, his blood spattering the deck. Eurylochus stopped in his tracks, his eyes looking back to his captain. Still unmoving, still unheeding. Eurylochus only stood in panic, glancing down to the torch that lay there on the ground, then let his gaze track from that torch to the five others that lay there among the viscera. His eyes widened as he finally began to realize the unfortunate truth. Athena could only watch as Eurylochus’s face changed from one of shock, to disbelief… to hate.
The sixth soldier was gone. The final head fed. And in that moment, Eurylochus saw his greatest friend, his brother-in-law as someone lesser.
Lightning. The blinding light of her father’s craft caused her eyes to water as the loud rumbling of thunderclouds consumed her mind. The look in his eyes bore both duty and amusement at the same time. His hair billowed outward like the very clouds he sat on, watching her friend with a playful smirk on his face.
Her stomach turned with revulsion as she recalled that day. Helios had raced back to Olympus, the fury practically rolling off of him with every step. He had demanded a sacrifice, a life that needed to be given for the cattle that had been mercilessly killed. Her father had attempted to keep the peace as best he could - but only when Helios threatened to drive his chariot to the very depths of the Underworld did Zeus finally agree to his terms. The roll of thunder that shook the air around her caught Athena off guard as she watched her father lean over from the perch he had crafted for himself.
“Choose.”
Her gaze turned to Odysseus. A wave of worry and sympathy rushed over her as she saw him clutching tightly at his side, the blood staining his tunic. If she bothered to look hard enough in the crowd not far behind him, she could find that fool, Perimedes, still with her friend’s blood staining the blade. At least one of his men had made sure to wrap a makeshift bandage around his side, however simple it was. Confusion began to sweep in and overwhelm the painful expression Odysseus previously bore.
“...choose?!”
“Someone needs to pay for the cow that was slaughtered.”
“But I never wanted them to-!”
A flash of piercing light, and her father stood on the deck of the ship. He still managed to tower over her friend by a foot or two. The brilliant blue eyes brightened, glinting in amusement as her father leaned in, only inches away from Odysseus’s face.
“It doesn’t matter what you want. It never did. What matters is what the gods want. And Helios demands a sacrifice for the life you stole from his herd. Or would you rather the world be plunged into eternal night?”
Odysseus couldn’t say a word. The thunder rumbled around him yet again - a warning, this time.
“So, who do you say it should be?”
Anger bristled in her as she watched her father take Odysseus’s chin in his hand, that same awful smirk on his face. The one he’d used to… ‘woo’ countless women and men to his bed. Nausea rose in her throat as she looked on - had she known this was what had transpired, she would have intervened. Pushed him away from Odysseus, held her Aegis to keep him at a distance.
If only she’d known back then. If only she’d brought herself to know.
“You… or your crew?”
Just as quickly as he’d held her friend's face, her father had let go. Odysseus’s eyes widened, his breath coming out in sharp, painful gasps as he heard the fate cast upon him. She could sense how desperately his mind was reeling.
“No… you– you can’t! You can’t have me make a choice like that again!”
Without a word, he looked in desperation behind him. Thirty-six pairs of eyes returned the look with a myriad of expressions. Ones of panic, ones of fury - only one pair seemed to plead in desperation. Eurylochus and Odysseus held each other’s gaze, the both of them looking at the other in worry.
“Odysseus?”
That voice. She knew it. Both her and Odysseus turned to face the source… and the goddess’s heart plummeted into her stomach. She knew that face, the way her smile seemed to shine through even the darkest of moments. The way her friend had incessantly talked her ears off about her. And the gleam in her eyes when she had introduced Athena to Telemachus for the very first time.
Penelope stood before her husband. Only the bright color of her eyes gave away who it truly was. How dare he… how dare he use her against him?! With a soft and pleading smile, ‘Penelope’ stepped forward, holding ‘her’ hands out towards the king.
“Please, my love… I miss you. You’ve been gone for so long. Come back home. Come back to me.”
Odysseus remained frozen as ‘Penelope’s’ hand touched his cheek. A sharp inhale only gave away his true feelings as tears began to run down his cheeks, mixing with the rain that poured down from above. The silence on the ship was palpable, broken only by a single step as Eurylochus moved towards his brother-in-law.
“...Captain?”
Odysseus didn’t move, still staring deep into the eyes of his smiling ‘wife’.
“I have to see her…”
The crew rippled in unison, some reaching for the hilts of their swords as they listened to Odysseus. Eurylochus flinched, then took another step forward, hoping to close the distance between him and Odysseus.
“But… we’ll die.”
Odysseus turned, offering Eurylochus a broken half-smile. In that brief moment, he looked the furthest from a king than ever. The tears didn’t stop flowing as her friend pointed a shaky finger at his greatest ally.
“I know.”
‘Penelope’s’ smile widened, turning from ‘love’ to sadistic satisfaction. A golden flash took ‘her’ place before it rocketed upwards into the black clouds circling overhead. Like a horde, the crew surged forward, shouting angrily as they raised their swords to strike Odysseus down. Eurylochus–
The goddess’s eyes widened as the second-in-command drew his sword, desperately blocking the attacks from their crew members, the rage of the other thirty-five. Even after all of that… he chose to help him? An uneasy ache settled in Athena’s chest as the thunder roared overhead - she knew, with growing sorrow, what would come next for them.
“Damn you, captain!”
“What about my wife? My daughters?!”
“Eurylochus, you fool! You brought his judgement down on us all!”
“The gods won’t forgive either of you for this!”
The curses and damnations only grew in volume. Eurylochus turned back to look at Odysseus, the panic and desperation all too obvious. Her friend’s eyes were dull, the tears still relentless as he stared at his brother.
And then the world grew bright. Brighter. And brighter still until Athena was forced to close her eyes while the lightning came crashing down around her. It even pierced through her eyelids.
She was grateful it was only a memory.
As the light fell away, Athena couldn’t help but blink multiple times as she looked at the devastation. She was left hovering in the air, her cape acting as a stand-in for the wings she bore as an owl. The ship was gone, fragments of it haphazardly strewn about the surface of the ocean. The bodies of the crew bobbed on the waves, eyes staring lifelessly back at her, some of them already beginning to sink into the depths of her uncle’s ocean. Her heart already felt on the verge of tearing itself out of her chest. The cruelty of her father was immeasurable at times, and she loathed witnessing it even now.
Thirty-six crew members were dead, and thirty-six accounted for as she scanned her surroundings for any sign of her friend. But there was no sight of him. Her heart began to pick up in its beating, the slow but dreadful chill of worry finally beginning to settle in.
“Odysseus… where did you go?!”