Chapter Text
It started when Odysseus killed the cyclops.
Actually, to be fair, it started when the seer saw Telemachus after his birth, and proclaimed him a child of the sea.
Well of course he was, Odysseus had said.
His mother was a nymph, Odysseus had said.
No, the seer had replied, her gnarled hand and stick just hitting the middle of Odysseus’s chest, he will be a child of the sea.
It hadn’t made sense to him then.
It was starting to make a little more sense now.
Odysseus stared up at the colossal form of Poseidon, wrathful and cold.
He had only meant to blind the cyclops Polyphemus. He hadn’t meant to kill him, even if he then had made the stupid mistake of revealing his name.
Only then Poseidon had found them, and everything had gone wrong. They had killed Polyphemus. And who would’ve guessed that his dear old dad was freaking Poseidon, of all people!
A Poseidon who was very angry, and knew the name of his son’s killer.
And now it was just Odysseus left.
All the rest of his men were dead. Or pigs, thanks to Circe. It had been fifteen years since he’d left home to wage war on Troy.
He was starting to think he never would make it home.
Not with Poseidon this angry, staring him down.
“ You owe me a son, follower of Athena. ”
Well. That was definitely not helping his case.
“I didn’t know he was your son! I didn’t mean to kill him!” Odysseus’s voice broke on the words. He was exhausted in every way.
He just wanted to go home.
He just wanted to see his wife and son.
…His son.
Telemachus.
No. No! Surely he couldn’t–
“ I have no mercy left for you, boy. ”
The waves swept around him. They seemed almost… solid, as they held him in place. The water almost seemed to burn.
“ You killed my son. So now you will take his place. ”
Odysseus screamed as the water seemed to cover him, enter him, changing him, tearing him apart, remaking him.
The smirk on Poseidon’s face was the last thing he knew before the world went dark.