Chapter Text
They just needed food. The reason they came to this cursed island was for food. No one was expecting a cyclops to be guarding the sheep. Is it his fault for trusting the Lotus Eaters? Perhaps, maybe if he hadn’t trusted the odd fluffy creatures, Polites would be dead.
Odysseus gave the command to stab the cyclops in the eye with his own club. The same club stained with the blood of his men, his brothers in arms, that he hadn’t been able to save. He was angry. He wanted the cyclops to know exactly who he messed with. What happens when you receive a gift with violence.
Unfortunately, Athena didn't like that.
He was pulled into Quick Thought, Athena reprimanded him for being foolish enough to give the cyclops his name in anger. He snapped back. He regrets that.
It wasn’t like this was the first time one of Athena’s Chosen was cursed by her. He knows the story of Medusa. He just wasn’t expecting that to happen to him.
As soon as the Quick Thought dissipated was when the pain began. It was sudden and quick and came with no warning other than a split second of remorse on his Lady’s face. The pain centered mainly in his back, ears and legs.
He could feel his breathing pick up as he slid down the ship’s railing to the wooden floor. He vaguely registered Eurylochus asking if he was okay. He didn’t get a chance to answer as Eurylochus put a hand on his back, causing him to scream, albeit muffled due to him putting a hand over his mouth. Eurylochus took back his hand and stared at his brother in surprise.
“Captain?” Eurylochus started, stopping himself before trying again, “Ody? What’s happening? Are you hurt?” He asked to deaf ears.
Eurylochus noticed what looked like feathers on his brother and captain’s ears, covered in blood as they came out of his skin. The back of Odysseus’s chiton was rapidly becoming soaked in blood. Eurylochus panicked and called over the medics on their ship
Polites isn't among them
.
Odysseus barely registered the chaos around him. Barely registered the new weight on his back, tugging against his chiton. Barely registered the blood now soaking the wooden boards of the ship, his blood. Didn’t register the way his hands have sharpened into talons until he saw one of his hands in front of him.
The medics
only two
quickly took off the top part of their captain’s chiton to see what in Hades is happening. Two small bloody, feathery appendages were on his back, visibly growing as more blood fell to the floor.
The rest of the crew, who have been watching with increasing horror and concern for their captain, started muttering among themselves. Eurylochus gave them a look which made them, most of them at least, shut up.
Talons also grew on Odysseus’s feet, not fitting within his sandals. Odysseus himself fell limp on Eurylochus, likely passed out from the pain and blood loss, he reasoned.
He told the medics to help him bring Odysseus to the ship infirmary, he might as well give his brother some sort of privacy.
Eurylochus and the medics picked up Odysseus gently, as to not cause any more blood loss, carrying him below deck. Once they reached the infirmary, too slowly in Eurylochus’s opinion, the trio set down their Captain on a kline. His legs are bent in ways that legs aren't supposed to bend. More bloody feathers peeking out from under his chiton to what’s supposed to be his knees.
The twin appendages on his back, wings , were bigger, around medium sized when the blood finally began to slow. His ears looked less like ears and more like smaller wings. The gray tone on Odysseus’s hands and feet, talons , extended to where the feathers began on his legs and his elbows on his arms.
Eurylochus sat next to Odysseus as the medics got to gently washing the blood off of their captain. The three were covered in his blood, but their captain came first. As the medics cleaned the blood off of the new feathers, their actual color could be seen. Brown feathers that fade to a lighter brown near the end. There's some down mixed in with the actual feathers, those ones were off white and started to quickly litter the floor.
Eurylochus’s mind wandered, what caused this? Did blinding the cyclops curse his brother? If so, why just him? The feathers brought the gods to mind, was that cyclops sacred to the gods? He felt tired, adrenaline from both the fight and his brother’s sudden transformation wearing off.
Regardless of what caused this, Eurylochus refuses to lose another close friend so soon.