Chapter Text
Octavian thinks it's somewhat cruel to face punishment after being revived. Was getting killed beforehand not enough of a punishment? But here he is, sentenced by the gods to take care of some mad woman.
He had been briefed on the situation beforehand. Some lady, May Castellan from what he's been told, was driven mad and is desperately waiting for her son, Luke, who is dead, to come home safe. Octavian is going there to take that place of said son, taking on his identity around her so Octavian can care for her.
Apparently they look, or looked as only one of them is alive, somewhat similar. Although Octavian's mismatched eyes should be a giveaway, said lady has mistaken people who looked far more different for Luke. Octavian has been reassured that she'd be unable to tell Octavian is a different person as long as he keeps the act up.
He stands in front of a house that feels far from the rest of society. He supposed that makes sense, from what he's been told it's probably for her own safety. And maybe a little bit of an attempt to keep what has happened to her a secret.
Octavian rings the doorbell. It fails to make a noise. Should he be surprised that this house is unkept? Probably not. He knocks on the door.
Octavian can feel footsteps rushing towards the door before it's thrown open. He comes face to face with his new pretend mother. Her appearance looks unkept, but she smiles warmly at him.
"Luke, you're home." She says to him, pulling Octavian into a hug.
Octavian doesn't want to hug her back, but perhaps he feels a sense of pity for this woman he's fooling so he gives in and returns the hug.
"You're home, you're finally home." She repeats. Releasing him from the hug she grabs onto Octavian's wrist and tries to tug him into the house. "I've made all your favorites while you were out!"
Octavian complies with May's tugging and follows her indoors. Straight away he's hit with the smell of rotting and burnt food. He can barely hold back a gag. How could someone live like this?
Octavian certainly won't live like this. Deep cleaning the house will be his first course of action.
May takes him to the kitchen where the scent only worsens. Scattered all over the kitchen are jugs of lemonade, sandwiches, and charred cookies. Besides being burnt some of the food has been out so long the rot on them has progressed to the point Octavian's surprised they have mutated into a new life form.
Letting go of him, May rushes to the oven, pulling out a tray of cookies, all varying degrees of burnt.
"These are fresh!" She says, offering the tray out to him.
There's no way Octavian is eating any of that. He has to find a way out of this.
"Mama," Octavian's unsure what to call her. He sticks to what he used to call his own mother before she had requested he stop speaking to her so she could enjoy her life without annoyance. "You worked hard making all this for me. Why don't I clean the kitchen while you go rest?" He says to May, attempting to dodge his way out of eating any of the food around him.
She smiles at him. "Such a sweet boy."
Octavian nudges her by the shoulders. "Go sit on the couch. I'll join you as soon as I'm done."
He mostly wants her out of the room so she doesn't notice he's avoiding her food. But, to a degree, Octavian, with his continuing sense of pity, believes she looks overworked. Some rest would do her well.
She clutches one of his hands. "Do you promise? You won't leave again, will you?" May says, sounding like she's on the verge of a breakdown.
"What a terrible life she must lead, believing all this time that Luke would ever come home," Octavian thinks. But at least she has him now to play make believe with.
"I promise. Just let me get the kitchen nice and clean as a thank you. I'll be right over the moment I'm done." Octavian reassures her, placing his free hand over her's in hopes to help soothe her.
May relaxes his reassurance and casts Octavian another smile. "I'll be in the other room. If you need anything, anything at all, call for me."
Octavian doubts she'd be of any help. After all, she's the one who never cleans this place. But she seems to love her son dearly. If Octavian wasn't warned of her frightening trances he could never understand why Luke left someone so loving. It could be Octavian has low standards for love. After all, he had never been loved by any mortal before, especially not by his own parents.
He wonders how awful these trances must be. Though, no matter how dreadfully terrifying they may be Octavian would have to stay. It's his punishment to stay with her and gods do not take kindly to dodging punishments.
"I'll make sure to, but, for now, Mama, please go rest. You look tired." Octavian gives a gentle smile. He's sure it'll help May, even if it is false.
May squeezes Octavian's hand then leaves the room, checking over her shoulder once that Octavian is still where she left him. Upon seeing him still there she looks at peace and then exits the room.
What a pitiful woman.
But Octavian has no time for pity right now. He has to get to work on fixing this disaster and this is only the start of how much he'll have to clean to make this place livable for himself. In any and every gods' name he has no idea how he'll manage
But he must start so he gets to work.
It'a disgusting work. Octavian's unsure how he hasn't thrown up handling the sheer amount of rotted food, covering every surface in this kitchen. His work is only made harder by May continually checking on him, making Octavian have to reassure her he will be there soon but first he's going to make this kitchen spotless for her.
She praises him each time he says that, calling him a sweet boy. Octavian doesn't believe that to be true. He's only doing this because he was told to and because he doesn't want to live in filth.
It takes several hours to get the kitchen cleared and cleaned. There's numerous trash bags around the room that'd Octavian would have to bring outside and the air reeks of cleaning product.
Grabbing some of the trash bags Octavian heads to the door. May lets out a panicked yelp and runs over to him.
"Where are you going? Are you leaving?!" She's in a panic.
"I'm taking the trash out." Octavian replies.
This does not calm May any. "Oh, Luke, please don't leave again! Don't leave me again!" She nearly weeps.
There's a pang in Octavian's heart. He doesn't quite understand why. "Mama, I'm just taking the trash out. If you're scared I'll leave why don't you come with me? That way you can make sure I don't leave."
Octavian's unsure why he offered that. It'd only slow him down and make his work harder. But seeing May panic so severely made him feel guilty. He doesn't believe this woman can handle anymore loss.
He offers his elbow out for May to take, "Come on, we can go together."
She clutches Octavian's arm so tightly he bets it will bruise, but he makes no pained noise. That'd only make May more upset and Octavian has no urge to do that right now.
He was right when he thought this would make things harder and take longer. Still, he guides May inside and outside until there's no trash remaining.
"Mama, does it look nice?" He says, gesturing to the now clean kitchen.
"Luke, you've done a wonderful job!" May praises him the way Octavian's parents never did, no matter what he did.
"Let me wash my hands and then we can go sit down." He doesn't urge her to leave the room this time, figuring having him in sight would help keep May calm.
She releases his arm, allowing him to walk to the sink to clean his hands. But her eyes do not leave him even once. It's as if she feared if she could not see him Octavian would vanish into thin air. Once his hands are clean he takes May's arm once again, leading her to the living room he'd have to clean later as well.
Octavian treats May like she's made of glass, like if one more bad thing were to happen she would shatter. He can see why she could never know the truth of her son. May's life has already been ruined, if she knew she would clearly become a danger to herself.
As Octavian leads May to the cleanest couch he can find she suddenly freezes in place. Her eyes glow green and she grabs Octavian by the shoulders. In a voice that isn't quite her's she begins spouting off bits of prophecy about her son's fate, a prophecy that has already come true. She begins to weep and wail about how her Luke would never come home.
As quick as the trance came on it vanishes. Octavian can see how this could scare someone. But it did not scare Octavian. He can feel his pity become sympathy. May has lost everything. The only thing she has now is Octavian, someone pretending to be her son.
Octavian wonders how the gods he once worshiped could be so cruel? How could they leave this poor woman to her tragic fate, alone in a house full of rotting food, dreaming of an impossible reality where her son finally comes home and they can live happily together.
"It'll be okay, Mama. I'm home safe now." Octavian says, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug. It's already too late to save May, there is nothing left for her remaining in this heartless world. This lie is the most Octavian can do for her so he'll live it out as long as she needs him. "You don't have to worry about me anymore. I promise I won't leave you again."
"Luke, oh Luke," May weeps in his arms, "I thought I had lost you."
"It was your love for me that kept me safe," Octavian lies and for once he's feels horrible for his trickery, but trickery is the only thing that could make May happy.
Her real son is gone. There is no chance of him ever coming back. She had lost him, just as she had feared she would. It's a horrible secret Octavian has to keep, but May did not deserve more heartbreak. She has already suffered too much.
Even though guilt burns like poison in his throat, Octavian will keep up this charade, pretending to be someone he's not to make someone he's just met happy.
"It's alright, Mama. I'm home. You'll never have to worry about losing me again." Octavian forfeits his own life for the sake of making May happy. Someone who was treated as cruelly as he was by the gods and then punished for it. They were paying the price for believing in false promises like the fault was their own.
Octavian knows what she's going through. He's gone through it himself. He chooses to help her, to comfort her, like nobody had done for him
She remains in his arms, tears flowing down her face as she clings to him. Octavian will let her stay there as long as she needs. It's one of the few things he can do for her.
He holds her as she slowly calms down, muttering the name of the son she doesn't know she has lost like a mantra.
"Mama," Octavian says when he believes her to be mostly calm, "Do you need to lay down? You look like you've had a rough day. I can watch over you as you rest."
He believes his continued presence would help May rest. If he were to leave her on her own May's creeping panic that'd he'd leave would strike her again. Octavian could skip meals. He could wait to make this place more livable. There's many things he could live without to protect May's fragile mind.
"Don't you need your rest too?" She asks him, voice full of worry that her "son" is neglecting himself.
"Don't worry, Mama. I'll rest soon enough. Let me watch out for you right now. I don't want to leave your side yet when we've only just reunited." Octavian says a blurred mix of truth and lies. Words he hopes are of comfort, even if some are false.
May furrows her brow in concern.
"I promise I'll rest. But it's been a terribly long time since I've been home I'd like to stay by your side a bit longer." Octavian says,
making sure to refer to this place as home to show he has no intention of leaving. "Let me do this for you, Mama. The way you've done so much for me."
May's silent before hesitantly nodding. "As long as you make sure to take care of yourself." She replies to him, voice still tinted with worry.
"I will." He responds, before doing something he believes is childish under the belief it'll be reassuring. He holds out his pinky, "We can pinky promise, okay."
May latches her pinky to his as if the gesture is truly binding.
Octavian smiles at her, more honest than the one he had shown her before. "Good, please lead the way to your room, Mama."
Octavian hopes his lack of knowledge of the house's layout won't give him away. It doesn't seem to, at least not this time.
May takes him by the wrist and guides him to her room. It's a horrible mess like the rest of the house. It's also the place Octavian will make sure to clean next. He doubts better living conditions will help May but it could at least make her day a little brighter to have somewhere nice to rest.
"Go lay down. I'll sit beside you." Octavian says.
Cautiously May makes her way over to her bed, checking over her shoulder repeatedly to see if Octavian is still there. Octavian dumps the items piled on a nearby chair off and drags it over by the bed. With Octavian back by her side May climbs in bed and pulls the covers over herself.
Octavian offers out his hand for her to take. May uses both her hands to hold onto his.
"Goodnight, Mama. I'll see you in the morning." Octavian wishes May before he begins to sing a soft lullaby, lulling May into the first peaceful sleep she's had in a long time.