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Odysseus clings into the cloth, hands starting to tremble as the infant wailed in his arms almost as if it was begging for its life. Astyanax was now inching towards the edge, the blazing fire raging from thousands of feet below him as Odysseus’s grip slowly began to loosen on the swaddled infant repeating one last sentence to himself.
“Im just a man,”
And before he knew his hands had slipped from his grip as the infant was gone from his view. He closed his eyes as a faint thud could be heard from the distance. Odysseus’s eyes started to water as he clenched the battlement tightly to keep himself stable. Diomedes watched the man from the towering walls of Troy as if he was waiting for Odysseus to do something, but what can he do now, Zeus’s command was finished. He slowly made his way down, step by step reminding him of the sound he heard earlier up on those walls. God why did it have to be him why doesn’t any of the Greeks just do it instead that way he wouldn’t need to watch, he saw the light below him getting larger as footsteps could be heard gradually getting closer and louder. Odysseus stayed on the spot, he knew who it was of course, who wouldn’t be their first to greet him after such a horrific crime.
“Laertiades!” the voice called as the man made himself known to the Ithacan. “Odysseus…..I saw….and….”
Odysseus’s cheeks were wet, more than before as he realized he was now tearing up from both of his eyes, why?Astyanax was dead-, no he couldn’t think of him at the moment. Diomedes ran up the stairs to help the frozen man as he suddenly collapsed in his arms, resting his weeping head on his cold bronze shoulder as he hugged the man tightly only muttering one word.
“It's done….”
Diomedes doesn’t say anything as he strokes his curls hoping it could give him some remembrance of comfort even though he knows this won’t help with Odysseus’s current mental state. He helped Odysseus up as the shaking man grabbed Diomedes’s arms tightly as he slowly stabilized himself.
“Common, let's find somewhere to talk….”
The taller man guided the Ithacan, huddling him close, he checked his surroundings, hand gripped on his sheath as he took a moment to let the ash and smoke consume them both. The warrior glanced to the side to a small puddle of crimson that flowed slowly then something caught his eye. The small cloth that covered the child’s body as if it protected him from any harmful souls that may try to enter the infant but it certainly didn’t protect him from death.
“What?” Odysseus looks up to Diomedes staring into the distance, he tried to take a peek himself only for Tydides to pull his head back to his chest, he can’t let him see the horror he had seen.
“I-its nothing, just….” he thought for moment before saying anything that could already upset him further, “nothing,”
“Captain!”
“Captain!, Ody!”
Two voices suddenly drew near the kings, Eurylocus and Polites hurriedly ran towards them wondering if their general was alright. Diomedes quickly hid the lamenting Ithacan, positioning himself to make sure his face couldn’t be seen.
“King of Argos, what happened to him?” Polites inquired trying to peek at the hiding Odysseus that was pressed against Diomedes’s chest. Suddenly the mind and commanding tone of the god of wisdom took over the young king of Argo’s.
“Polites, Eurylocus, help with the injured soldiers, Lord Agamemnon requests all minor soldiers to assist with the injured!”
“But-”
Eurylocus interrupted his friend. “Im Odysseus’s brother and I need to check if he’s alright if you may?”
Diomedes feels Odysseus’s head shake on his side, “Apologizes Eurylocus of Ithaca not at the moment as you may observe he is currently under my care, now if you could do a favour to the both of us and to please follow the command of our general Agamemnon as he will frown upon those not making his orders done. This is an order from the King of Argo himself, please understand the circumstances.”
Eurylocus gave a heavy sigh as he grab’s Polites’s arm to usher him away, ignoring his protests to see their king. Once the two were away from view he continued to walk with Odysseus still close to him. It takes a few minutes to find a spot under a recently abandoned home that had been set on fire, thankfully the flames subsided allowing the men to sit down. Diomedes pulled Odysseus away from his embrace, finally got to look closer at the tactician's puffy eyes. He wipes a tear that seemed to escape as he stroked his cheek.
“Wanna tell me what happened ody?”
“I-,” He grabbed Diomedes’s hand without question as the man squeezes it back before he completed his sentence, “I killed him….Hector……his son,”
“Were you instructed by a god?”
“Zues!, he said if I killed him we wouldn’t seek revenge on my- our families and rebuild another Troy, a stronger Troy to revenge his father,” Odysseus choked on his tears, leaning in closer to Diomedes, Diomedes doesn’t resist and just listens, “but, Dio he’s an infant!”
“He was Hector's son, he has the capability-”
“He was an infant Dio!, he was just…..” He buried his head in his hands trying to dispel the image of Astyanax as he looked at him before the man ultimately dropped him to his fate. Diomedes placed a hand on his shoulder. “It's my fault…its my fault…im a monster, a killer”
Upon hearing those words, war like Diomedes' heart softened, and gently he took the man’s tear soaked hands, revealing the shameful face of the man he loved as he guided the sorrowful face of the Ithican, making him face his pitiful eyes.
“Look at me Ody!” Diomedes now pressed his cold palms onto his cheeks and wiped away any tears that escaped his sorrowful eyes. “Look at me alright, it's not your fault!, you had no choice in this,”
“I di-”
“No!, this wasn’t just any infant Ody, this was Hectors. Who knows what could happen years after this bloodshed,” Diomedes sighed, moved one of his hands up to his hair, and brushed through his curls before he brought his head to his shoulder, letting the tears soak the bronze he wore, “Hectors dead, his son is too, by now he’s traveling through the river of styx to reunite with him,”
“His wife?-
“Will soon follow, once Neoptolmus has done with her there is no one left for the woman to seek” Diomedes catched a glance at Andromache, head down as she banged hard on the blood filled dirt bellow, she didn’t care weather her face filled with the filth of the earth, she began to pull her dark locs in a frenzy and a sound so painful came from her heart torn chest that the King of Argos despite being in a relevant distance, her voice picked up slightly.
Odysseus sat himself up and leaned against a wall, staring into Nyx’s blanket filled sky that watches over the blaze below that even the stars couldn’t match the abundance of flames that engulfed a city that once stood so proud over them and now they get to see it crumble before their eyes. But beneath the raging fire before him a glimpse of a tree took shape, almost similar to the one he and Penelope would sleep below it, reminding them of how much they loved each other dearly.
“Dio…” he began as the warrior looked at the tactician as hope filled in his eyes, “since the day I met you, while we were on our way sailing to Troy to take back Menelaus’s bride, I have been forever grateful to you for everything.” the Ithacan took Diomedes hand and stroked it with his thumb, so that even the son of Tydeus couldn’t resist the urge to repeat his gesture. Then taking Diomedes cheek in his hand pressed a light kiss on his lips.
“You know Ody, I always wondered what Ithaca is like…away from war and battle for a bit would be an interesting change, your island is quite small right?,”
“Ithaca…yes, it's a home for me, and for you…you can always stop by?”
A chuckle emerged from the Argo, “I would love that, but for now we need to organize our prizes and what to do now Troy has fallen,” Diomedes stood up, holding out a hand to Odysseus to take, “Common, lets head back to the rest of the kings, you don’t want to keep your homeland waiting now do you?”
Odysseus gave him a smile and gladly took his hand, letting him lead the man up to his feet and take him back to the hollowed ships.