Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had been a week or so since they have sailed back home.

Also a week or so since Odysseus wasn't there, nobody dared to bring up the theme, the only reminder of it was the, now looking more brown than red, blood stain in the bow of the ship, they had tried to get rid of it, but it was to no avail. 

Eurylochus hopped that maybe the storm, that could almost be called an hurricane at this point, could help with it.

It didn't.

But that was not the important thing right now, the ships were soaked because of the waves, at this rate they would die.

When he had ordered to the captains of the other ships to head where the tide was mostly flat he had felt his voice trembling a little, but he decided to ignore it, he couldn't crumble in front of everyone, especially now. 

"Eurylochus, there's an island in the sky!" Someone was hallucinating, was his first thought, but when he looked up to where Perimedes was pointing he realized that there was truly an island, seemingly unaffected by the chaos unfolding near it.

And it wasn't just the island that was in a perfect weather bubble, but also the water beneath it.

"Give the message that all the ships should go to the island, under it as a refuge"

They barely managed to get under it, the space just enough for the ships, with a not too big jump you could get from one boat to other without much problem.

They would wait there for a while, then they could get back on track without having to deal with the storm.

Two days.

 That's how long the mortals have been staying under his island, not even asking for permission, not even trying to talk to them.

He was one of the "good" gods, yes, but that didn't mean that they could use his place without even something as little as a hello.

The storm didn't subside, not a bit. 

Some crew members were muttering about the island above being of Aeolus, he didn't personally believed in it, from what he knew, the island wasn't supposed to be in the sky but on the water, so the one they were using as a refuge probably was something that had to do more with antics sirens would use.

Or that's what he thought until he saw Aeolus coming down from the island in a cloud.

"I want to know why all of you are here"

"Forgive us, oh great wind God, we're just travelers. There is a great storm out there and we couldn't get back to our home with it, we thought that your island could offer some rest while the storm went off but it hasn't subsided. We didn't meant to stay for so long."

"Y'all could have at least gave a hello." The tone of it was a weird half joking one, it was as if he was waiting Eurylochus to breath wrong so he could kick them out of there but didn't wanted to just yet. "I will help you get home if you accept to play a little game."

"What are the rules of this game?"

He threw a bag at him, seeming like it would be heavy just by looking at the sheer size of it, but when he catches it it was strangely light, almost as if there was nothing inside.

"All you gotta do is not open this bag"

It seemed too easy, specially for a god.

"And what's the catch?"

He just laughed and instead of answering he said "You just got to keep your friends close and your enemies closer, you never can really know who you can trust in." And left, the only things that stayed were something that looked like a mix of the lotus eaters and a cloud.

Some of the men on the ship approached, seemingly they were just waiting for the god to leave.

"Whatcha got there?"

"What's in the bag?"

"The bag has-" that's when he realized, he didn't really knew about the contents of it, just that it shouldn't be opened, "I don't know what it has, but Aeolus told me to not open it, and that if we did we could get home-"

"It has treasure!" The things could talk.

''Let's open the bag!" they somehow inmediately believed the little creatures, but Eurylochus could not let it happen, they shouldn't disobey a god.

"No! Aeolus told me to keep the bag closed, it will stay this way"

They quickly backed away, seemingly following orders, but only half of them really did so, the others were still curious about the contents of the bag but decided not to do anything about it at the moment

It had been seven days and even though he wanted to believe in the others he couldn't bring himself to do it, so he had stayed awake all that time, trying to not collapse while on it.

They were so close to home, he could already see the island and so as he became more tired he started to think about everyone that was on earth, it was shifting between his dear Ctimene and his friends.

They were talking about something, just out of reach for him, she called him, but he couldn't hear anything, that's when the other two turned around, face and body disfigured, barely looking like them, he couldn't keep sleeping for much longer, and as he woke up, he saw it.

There was a group of men around the bag, now on the floor, open.

The storm started to grow again, they were being pushed somewhere, that couldn't be good.

"I told you to get the bag closed, I think you're now heading to the land of the giants!"

No, they couldn't get away from there, they were so close from home.

"Help me close the bag!"

"But it's too late"

"Let's avoid getting farther from Ithaca"

They barely managed to close the bag again, there wasn't even that much air inside at this point.

Now they needed to know where were they and the could set course back to-

"Odysseus of Ithaca! Do you know who I am?"

Chapter Text

They were face to face with lord Poseidon.

And he was searching for the captain. This couldn't end well.

"Lord Poseidon-"

"In all my years of living, it isn't very often that I get pissed off, I've been so gracious to you, and yet you dare hurt my son. That's right, the cyclops you made blind is mine"
They were all going to die.

"I'm left without a doubt and without a choice, I got to see you die, need to see you drown. But before you go, I meed to teach you that ruthlesness is mercy upon ourselves"
Wouldn't it be better for them to just stay low, not doing anything rather than killing everyone?

"You are the worst kind of good, cause you're not even great, you and your false righteousness, you fight to 'save lives' but you won't kill and don't get the job done"

It pained him to admit it but really Odysseus couldn't even save his own life.

"Please, just let us-" he tried to plead again, it was in vain.

"You reveal your name, then you let him live"

Were all of them going to die for something as small as that? 

"Unlike you I have no mercy left to give. It is the time you die, unless, of course, you apologize for my son's pain and all his cries"

This was the time for it.

"Lord Poseidon, we aren't at fault at this, it was all Odysseus' idea, the former captain, he was the one who blinded your son. We are sorry abou what he did but we didn't do anything" He felt slightly bad at faulting his dead friend for all of this, but in a way it really was, and that was what he needed to do so that they could survive.

"He's dead?"

"Yes, killed by a goddess"

Poseidon leaned down, still remaining taller than the boat, but no as tall as before.

"A goddess, why?"

"For... Being disrespectful" That was probably an understantement

Poseidon straightened up, looking down at all of them.

"It seems like he got his punishment before I could do anything" It seemed like it was going to work. 

"But, I don't think that a single man could lift the club and blind my son with it, you were also involved in this. Don't try to lie to me"

Before anyone could even protest there were waves sinking the ships, some giants breaking others and eating part of the crew. They looked a lot like the cyclops, maybe he would have also eaten the bodies of the men who died in the cave.

The whole thing felt like hours, where they couldn't do anything to aid their comrades and just had to watch as more and more of them died.

The only boat that stayed was the one where he was.

"43 left"

The number repeated over and over again in his head, after the cave there should have been at least five hundred men, it couldn't be that that many died on just this, just because of this.

"Any last words?"

He stayed there, frozen, not even understanding what Poseidon just said.

"If you won't use this little gesture of generosity that I'm offering you I guess I can continue with-"

At the moment he didn't knew what had happened, but one moment they were being dragged away from there by a strong wind.

Someone had opened the wind bag again, probably in a panic not even thinking correctly. He kind of wanted, for some reason, to berate them for it when he found out who they were, even though it saved them from Poseidon.