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The strangest demigod dream I’ve ever had yet came to me on a train ride. I had been so tired after me and Meg have practically been chased onboard by a stray chimera, and after the adrenaline from the fight wore off I very nearly fell asleep right then and there. I only had time to croak something akin to “gun´ t´ sl´p” to my little master, who had found herself a pack of peanuts in the meantime and was now chewing on a mouthful, before passing out.
In the dream, I found myself in one of my bedrooms in the Sun Palace. My stomach clenched uncomfortably as I took in the sight. Oh, how I longed to be back in that god-sized bed and fall into the fluffy pillows or cuddle with my favorite red cow plushie, but all I could do at the moment was watch.
Next, I saw myself. Well, my past self, my godly self, all bronzed skin and muscles and eight-pack and perfect hair and- all right, you get it. The only thing amiss about past me was my expression. I seemed extraordinarily distressed, an expression my Lester self has adopted as one of its common ones. But seeing it on my godly face was distressing in and of itself. I didn´t just look confused, but flabbergasted and terrified . Of what, my tiny compressed human brain couldn´t recall. Hell, it couldn´t even remember when this had happened. Granted, I didn´t always sleep particularly well, but I highly doubted I woke up looking like this - like I had no idea how I´d gotten in my bed in the first place, and, yes, sometimes, when I went drinking in the company of my lovely little brothers, I did wonder how I´d managed to return to my bed (there was even a time when I brought half a dozen goats back with me- hey, they were adorable! I just couldn´t resist!), but never to this extent.
I frowned. My past self had flung himself out of the bed and stumbled towards the nearest mirror. He stared in it so vigorously as if trying to will it to tell him all its secrets and explain in great detail just how he´d gotten here. Receiving no answers, he turned to look at himself from all angles, though not in a preening manner, but rather like someone who got stuck in a full-body costume and was trying to find the zipper. Upon not finding what he was looking for, he opened my closet and his jaw promptly dropped. I must admit I felt a pang of pride seeing that. As soon as he stopped admiring my very impressive collection of outfits, he chose to dress in a simple t-shirt (one of my favorites with a pattern of tiny spotted cows), jeans and sandals, still looking in a daze. Then he carefully opened the door, as if it could explode at any second. He glanced out into the hallway and stepped out, mindful about every step as if the floor was a minefield.
His eyes looked ready to pop out of their sockets as he whipped his head around, apparently trying to notice every single small and unimportant detail about his surroundings. Finally he made his way to the front door, opened it, and promptly fell on his well-shaped ass.
“Wha- wha wha wha-???” he stuttered. “WHAAAAAAAT???”
I winced. The view from the Sun Palace had always been breathtaking, but now I feared it would literally take my past self´s breath forever, which was stupid, because this was my immortal godly form, but something about him stirred this protectiveness in me. It was ridiculous, I know, but at that moment I really wanted to gather him in a hug, wrap him up in blankets and reassure him everything is going to be fine. But I couldn´t do that. I couldn´t lie to him.
When, after a few moments of taking in the view, he stood to move elsewhere, I recognized immediately where he was going - to the stables. I choked back a sudden bout of anxiety and followed him.
The inside of the stables looked exactly the same as I left it - tall columns of marble adorned with gold gleaming so brightly it hurt my mortal eyes to look at them for more than half a second. But the brightest light inside didn´t emanate from the walls or columns, but the horses. Now I couldn´t hold back a sob as I looked at them all for the first time in months. They, just as the rest of the stables, didn´t look in any way changed. Their bodies were made of pure light, which produced so much heat I could feel my face and arms tanning faster than Hermes could cheat you out of your money in a game of UNO. They whinnied quietly upon spotting me- or, rather, him. I missed them. I missed riding the Sun Chariot. I wanted nothing more than to run up to them, pet their soft noses and apologize that I´d been gone for so long. But, as this was a mere dream that already happened, I glanced at my past self that I didn´t remember a lick of instead.
He stared at them. And stared. And stared. Eyes wide, mouth hanging open, hand gripping the side of his shirt, his breathing hitched. Suddenly he turned back and bolted .
As this was a dream, I didn´t need to try to catch up to him as I was transported back near the Sun Palace, where he stumbled and fell on his knees on the dry summer grass. I was immediately grateful for that, as this guy´s speed could most likely rival Hermes´ on the slowest of his days. No wonder, really, I realized, since he used my godly speed. So he did have divine abilities. He started crying. I really did feel bad for him, as I´ve already started to think of him as someone other than myself, even if he sported my godly body. I supposed that since I had no recollection of this happening it didn´t matter much how I refer to him.
“No, no, no, no,” he sobbed. “what, what, what-?” He wheezed and my vision changed.
I realized he´d transported from the Sun Palace to- where is this? I wondered. The place seemed like your average suburban stress with family houses. It looked like it could be anywhere. In front of one of them a middle-aged man was shoveling snow on the pathway, and I belatedly realized it was winter. The roofs of the houses were white with snow and icicles hung down here and there. That´s when I noticed him, still dressed in my short-sleeved shirt and sandals. He seemed to belatedly notice the weather, too, and he frowned at his clothes. They immediately changed into a long-sleeved shirt, sweater, jacket and a pair of winter boots. If I thought it impossible for him to look even more freaked out than he did five minutes ago, I would have been proven wrong now. Tears stained his face and his eyes were red, but nevertheless he stumbled up to one of the houses and rang the bell. I squinted to see the nametag on the door, but I only managed to notice it started with a “Noc” before the door opened.
In the doorway stood a boy about my (that is to say, my Lester body´s, of course) age. His black hair was slightly mussed and he was wearing an unflattering (if probably very comfortable) baby blue hoodie, but still he managed to make my heart skip a beat. I frowned at myself. I was certain I´ve never seen this guy before. The boy seemed very confused too, as he squinted at my other self so hard his thick eyebrows seemed to unite into a single one. “Wh-” he started to say but was interrupted by my other self quite literally breaking down on his doorstep. “Dave- Dave help,” my other self whined, fresh tears joining the old ones on the journey down his face. He took two steps towards the boy and buried his face in his hoodie. The boy- Dave?-´s eyes, dark like the midnight sky, widened and his mouth formed a name. “Les-”
-
“-ter? Lester?”
I grunted as I was roughly shaken awake by my dearest master. “Hhwha-?” I managed.
Meg rolled her eyes at me. “We have to change trains here,” she explained, taking my hand and hoisting me up with one tug. I followed her out of the train and onto the platform in a daze. I couldn´t stop thinking about that dream. Who was that? When did that happen? Do I know any Daves? My tiny mortal brain unfortunately failed me once again, leaving me with all questions and no answers.
Meg apparently decided it was high time to get a snack. Our next train was leaving in an hour and a half, so I -and my stomach- agreed with her and we went inside a local shopping center across the street. Once there, Meg´s nose quickly found out where the food was sold, and soon we were both enjoying sandwiches with ham and eggs. We ate in silence, only broken by Meg´s chewing and swallowing (her table manners haven´t improved at all). Once we were fed, I risked a question. “Meg?”
She turned to look at me.
“How long was I out for?”
She shrugged. “Around three hours, maybe,” was her reply.
“Why?” she asked. Now it was my turn to shrug.
“Just curious. I had a strange dream-” I began to say, but stopped when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look at it properly, but by the time I turned my head it was gone, leaving just my good old friend, the lingering sense of doom, in my gut. I turned my attention back to Meg, who was touching both of her rings in alarm.
“Saw any monsters?” she asked, voice tight. I shook my head.
“No, I don´t think it was a monster,” I said, though not quite sure. “I just had a weird feeling.” Meg nodded and grabbed her drink instead, keeping an eye on the direction I´d glanced in nevertheless. I´ve already drained my cup and so my bladder decided it needed emptying. I excused myself and went to pay a visit to one of the toilet stalls down the hall.
When I finished, I washed my face and looked at myself in the dirty mirror. Yep, still very much an acne-ridden, having-eyebags-deeper-than-Marianas-trench, tired sixteen year-old. I sighed and glanced at the mirror next to mine. It reflected the same face, my face, only with a considerably more surprised expression. For half a second I thought it was just reflecting me, but then I noticed the difference and looked next to me, where, lo, and behold, stood I . Well, no, not really I. But someone with exactly the same face and nose and mouth and acne and eyes and hair and-
I screamed.
-
Meg was with me in two seconds. She wielded her blades, pointing them between me and… well, me . She obviously didn´t know what to make of the scene at first, furrowing her brows and pursing her lips, trying and failing to assess what was going on. Unfortunately, she wasn´t the only one who felt compelled to answer my call.
“Terry?” the door opened once again and I could see the boy I´d dreamed about, Dave , in the flesh. His hair was combed and he was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts now, but it was definitely the same person. “I heard a- oh my god .” He stopped to stare at the scene. Only belatedly did he notice Meg´s blades and jumped back, moving to stand in front of other-me, arms protectively spread.
“Oh my gods , actually,” I corrected, wheezing. He furrowed his brows just like he had in the dream.
“What?” he hissed, but got no reply as the door opened again, this time to reveal a younger boy, one no older than Meg, with freckles, a long straight nose, brown-gray eyes and black hair that curled slightly at the ends.
“Hey guys, Anita sent me ´cause she heard a scream and-” he stopped halfway through the sentence, eyes darting between his friends basically backed into a toilet stall, me on the opposite side backed into a sink, and Meg, firm in holding her ground next to him. He examined the situation for a moment more, then exclaimed “Well, that´s a Spiderman meme situation if I´ve ever seen one.”
I couldn´t help it. I snorted.
Not-me did the same, and we both wheezed for a moment while our friends looked on with varying degrees of confusion. Dave put a hand to his forehead as if to say “really, man? Right now? Was that necessary?” and Meg slowly lowered her blades. Then our laughter subsided and we were once again hit by the severity of the situation when another person entered the toilet, this time a girl slightly older than Dave, but one undoubtedly related to both of the boys - she had the same eyes as the younger one, same sharp nose as Dave, and her hair, though longer and ginger, fell in a similar way to Dave´s. She assessed the situation for herself, then perfectly summarized it with “Now what in the fresh fuck is going on here?”
I snorted once again. She glanced at me, then at not-me, then back at me like we were in an Old spice commercial. “So,” she spoke up. “Dude?” she meant me. “Care to explain what the actual fuck are you doing in my brother´s boyfriend´s body?”
I froze.
In her brother´s boyfriend´s body?
Oh no. Oh no no no no.
The realization sucker punched me to just about every organ, spreading and spreading like Tarquinus´ poison until every cell of my body screamed.
I knew my father was terrible and punished unjustly, but in that moment I got a taste of how far he´d truly go to make me suffer. I foolishly believed he´d just fabricated a less-than-attractive mortal body for me. I´d never, not for one second, considered he´d use the body of an already existing human. And what´s more, my brain, suddenly keen on giving me answers to be miserable about, supplied, that he´d switch us . Despair coiled in my gut, but it was mixed with something else, something wilder. Rage .
Meg broke my panicked silence first. “Your brother´s boyfriend´s body? No offense, but someone is into that ?” she pointed at me, clearly puzzled. Ah, Meg. Blunt as always. The youngest boy next to her snorted.
“ Yes ,” Dave replied sharply, narrowing his eyes in anger. “And that sure sounded like full offense.” He tensed, but the not-me- Lester , actual Lester Papadopoulos , put a hand to his arm, smiling (though at the moment it seemed more like a grimace) reassuringly. Oh . Brother´s boyfriend´s , huh?
Dave sighed. “Okay, okay,” he put his hands up in surrender. “How about we call it a truce and go somewhere…” he glanced at one of the toilets making strange noises that I didn´t like at all, “ more convenient to talk?” We all agreed, nodding and murmuring.
“And put those swords away,” Dave told Meg, much like a parent would tell their child to stop rolling around in mud and dirt. She stuck her tongue out at him, but, upon seeing no immediate danger, obliged.
We exited the scene just as a random man entered, rushing to one of the stalls and starting to make ungodly noises. I grimaced and wished him the best.
-
“So what you´re telling me is that the Greek gods are real, and Zeus casted you, Apollo , out, because he thinks you caused a war between the gods and giants?” Dave asked. I nodded. “Pretty much, yes,” I agreed. “And I won´t deny I did have a part in it,” I winced, thinking of my descendant Octavian, “but I wasn´t responsible for all of it, you know?” Dave- David , actually, he told me to call him- nodded as if he knew. But he didn´t. He couldn´t.
“And he gave you a mortal body - one belonging to Terry here, for some reason,” he continued, giving Lester a smitten glance. I learned that Terry is a nickname David uses, since it is in the second part of his name - Les ter , Terry. Apparently the Nocturne siblings (a beautiful surname, I know. I wish I had ended up with that instead of your everyman´s Papadopoulos) had a thing for nicknames made that way.
“And then he switched your souls or something?” David´s sister, Anita, supplied. I nodded once again. “That´s really fucking weird,” she judged. Again, I nodded. David gave her A Look. I had noticed he didn´t like it when people swore.
“Why would he do that?” Anita continued, her fingers absentmindedly playing with one of her three necklaces. This I couldn´t fully answer.
“Honestly, I can´t know for sure. I think he wanted me punished, because he had to punish someone, say it was someone´s fault, or he would have had to admit he had made a mistake and judged the situation badly, and he´s never going to do that,” I explained, voice sour. “And I´m his favorite problem child.” All of the four looked at me with sympathy. Meg had been silent the entire time we exchanged explanations, and was now studying the wood of the table in a park next to the shopping center, where we were sat.
“And then you met Meg here,” Joseph, the youngest of the Nocturnes, continued, “And she became your master.” Meg looked up at the mention of her name.
“Precisely,” I confirmed.
“You know, your swords are really really cool,” Joseph beamed at Meg. She stared at him. Then stared at him some more. “Yeah, I know,” she said finally.
“Could you teach me swordsmanship sometime?” Joseph asked and David glared at him. Meg, however, seemed to remain unphased. She shrugged. “Maybe,” she said noncommittally. I smiled. Look at her, making friends.
“And then you did a bunch of crazy sh-” Anita continued the story, then caught David´s eye and corrected herself, “ stuff , and now you´re on your way to destroy this evil Roman emperor, who because a god some-freaking-how, and who also became Meg´s adoptive father after he had her real one killed.” Meg winced at that a little bit. I bumped her shoulder gently and she gave me a death stare. Good old Meg. “That´s right.”
“And then I,” the real Lester Papadopoulos said, “woke up in this beautiful but scary palace that had fire horses, and freaked out pretty badly.”
“And then you came to our house first, tried to understand what on Earth was happening, calmed down, changed back into yourself, and eventually teleported back home to continue your regular life, only now you could also firebend and were super strong and fast and could teleport,” David finished, gently squeezing Lester´s arm.
I looked at Lester. There was still one thing I didn´t understand.
“If I may, Lester,” he looked up at me from where he´d been hugging David. “Why did you- why did you change back into your own body? Did you not- like mine? Or why didn’t you improve yours, if you wanted it so badly?” This is what´s been bothering me the most about this situation, to be honest. Freaking out, not wanting to live in this foreign place and take on foreign duties and trying to live his life normally in his own home is all completely understandable. But why change back to his.. not very handsome body when he could have mine, or even just improve his own, if nothing else?
Lester only shrugged. “Well, it´s not like the ability to change your body at will isn´t awesome, but I just felt the most comfortable in my own. It´s my , acne and flab and all, and I wouldn´t want to be anyone else. If I got rid of a part of it just like that, I wouldn’t feel comfortable. I like myself, you know,” he pouted. “I have good parents and siblings I love, even when they´re being a little too nosy and annoying.”
At this, David and Anita exchanged a look as they glanced at Joseph, who had pulled out a box of cookies in the meantime and offered it to Meg, who was never one to turn down food, so they both shoveled cookies down their throats, apparently trying to see which one of them could do it faster. Crumbs were flying everywhere, but they looked happy, and I was happy Meg could enjoy herself with someone her age.
“And I´ve got friends and the most amazing boyfriend in the whole world,” Lester finished, nuzzling into David´s side. David pouted. “No you don´t,” he disagreed. When Lester looked up at him, he smiled and kissed his cheek. “Because I do.”
“No you don´t!”
“Yes I do!”
“No, I do!”
Anita rolled her eyes. “Siblings, huh?” she said. I could only nod again, my throat suddenly feeling too tight to utter a single word. Lester Papadopoulos was a wise man. Wiser than I´d been, for sure. I found myself wishing I could exchange lives with him, to have good relationships with my parents and siblings, to have friends who like me for me, confidence to be who I am and not try to be anyone else, and of course, a beloved.
I could see the way Lester looked at his boyfriend, and how David looked back at him, with nothing short of utter adoration, and choked back a sob, the intensity of my longing and heartbreak over my long-gone beloved, the most kind-hearted man I have ever met, hitting my heart straight in the bullseye.
“So how did you two meet?” I managed to wheeze out as my lungs constricted painfully.
Lester broke his smitten gaze to glance at me, then back at David, and smiled a little wider. “We met at a summer camp when we were eleven. I didn’t want to go at all, and was so homesick at first, but Dave helped me through it. Looking back, I couldn’t be more grateful,” he explained, putting the other boy’s hand to his mouth and kissing his fingertips. David´s face adopted the color of a ripe tomato, ready to explode. I barely held myself back and didn’t punch the ground because of both their cuteness and my despair. I didn’t think my underground-dwelling Uncle would appreciate the call, anyway.
David gave Lester another one of his soft smiles that even I had begun to be endeared to. “Yeah, we shared a cabin together.”
Joseph and Anita turned to look at each other, silently prompting one another.
“And they were cabinmates,” Joseph started.
“ Oh my god they were cabinmates ,” Anita added, grinning.
I couldn’t help it. I barked out a laugh. The boys were laughing too, Lester loudly and proudly, while David hid a snort in his palm. Joseph had, at that moment, been a perfect picture of the smirking cat who had a knife pointed at itself. He should cosplay it sometime. I should tell him to. That train of thought, however, was lost upon gazing at Meg. Meg, my dear master, had been sitting next to me, eyebrows scrunched together and mouth set in a thin line, looking completely befuddled . And oh, if that wasn’t a rare sight. I found my breath only to wheeze again and double over in what must’ve been the loudest laughter I’ve let out in a while. Perhaps it even came close to rivaling the one Reyna had let out after I asked her out. An embarrassing moment for sure, but, laughing without restraint like this, I began to agree with the former praetor on its therapeutic abilities.
Once the laughter died down, Meg stood up. “So,” she looked at Lester, “you’ll help us, no?” The atmosphere in the room sobered up instantly. All three of the Nocturne siblings turned to stare at Lester. “I… probably could,” Lester replied, eyes cast on his right hand resting palm up on his knee. “But… I don’t know how. I mean, I don’t know how this power works at all. I can’t control it,” he began to ramble, eyes locking onto me. “I haven’t been able to do anything with it when I wanted to, it just,” he ran his hand through his hair, “comes out on its own whenever it pleases, you know? And I- I don’t know where to even begin. I’ve also been trying to maintain a normal life? Going to school and all that, so that my parents don’t worry, and I- I wouldn’t want to throw that away, but also you obviously need help, so I do want to help, I’m just scared I’ll be more of a burden because I can’t control it,” he finished, sighing deeply. “But, I do want to help.” He gave me an uncertain smile.
“ No ,” I said, standing up.
Lester blinked. Meg frowned. “No?” they asked in unison, then glanced at each other for a second before returning their attention to me.
“No,” I repeated. “I´m not about to endanger another life for me. I´m not about to rip another person from their loved ones only for them to never come back,” I explained.
“But-” Meg began.
“I-” Lester stuttered out.
Both, however, stopped talking when David let out a huge sigh of relief. His head was lowered, hovering only inches above the table. As if sensing all of us staring at him, he lifted it with a little guilty half-smile and a quiet sigh of “huh?”.
“You don´t want me helping them out?” Lester asked.
“I don´t want you going into a battle you´re not prepared for and being harmed and maybe even dying,” David replied. He was right, of course. If Lester truly couldn´t use his new godly powers, he could easily doom us than help out. “People have already died,” David pointed out.
“He´s right,” I supported David. “And frankly, I don´t want you there either.”
“What?” Lester sounded genuinely confused.
“If you can´t control your powers, you´d just be a burden,” Meg added bluntly, catching up to me.
The clock on the train station building rang and I remembered we had a train to catch. I grabbed Meg and started running into the direction of the station. “See you after!” I hollered.
After this is dealt with. After we´ve won. Because now these four were four more lives to protect, and I´d be damned if I let harm come to them. I am going to protect them, and maybe then Lester could give me some more of his wisdom, and Meg could teach Joseph how to fight while David frets over it and Anita comments on it. We will see each other again, I promised them silently as I climbed into the train and fell into the nearest free seat. Meg still had crumbs of Joseph´s cookies stuck to her mouth. She licked them off.
“I like them,” she said and nudged my shoulder. I had to agree. I nudged her back.