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"Odysseus.. where did you go?"
Steel pans descended in pitch with every tone, the innocence of the sky shattered by an island laying atop the sea.
The sands flowed gently, caressed by a fleeting and almost tropical wind, lonesome yet beautiful. The siren song of the sunrays caused little glitters of light to tease and play atop the waters, distracting tiny fish skidding along the surface. A flock of cormorants, distant yet all the more obvious on the pale sky.
And a man was crying. His form, barely clothed beyond a cloak draped loosely over him, shook with the cracked spirit of a crime no-one would dare name. Bruises.. at least they might have been bruises.. stained the side of his neck and his left shoulder, some creeping onto his chest.
A pair of winged boots touched down on the shore.
Hermes: Odysseus? Can you..
The old man flinched. Only then did Hermes spot the 'bruises', as Ody would've called them, each one a stab in the soul to witness; if Hermes hadn't already felt his gut twist in the way Odysseus forced his legs together at the sound.
He knew on the instant of it. What had happened. What may happen again.
Hermes: ..ody..?
Odysseus: ..what do you want..
His speech was forced out with the last of the old king's gritted breath before he inhaled again - shaky, like his subtly thinning body.
Odysseus: ..why are you here..?
His teeth clenched in impatience. The strings were soon to snap, and Hermes was plucking them.
Hermes: I wanted to.. check on you, darling. Uh- I mean..
Hermes sighed, his unfamiliarity irritable to his friend.
Hermes: ..if you can.. if you're..
Odysseus: ..are they listening?
Hermes slouched in defeat, lowering himself down onto the sand. He only caught a brief glance at Ody's face before guilt tore him from it - the face of a crying corpse. Eyes heavier than the mountains, bloodshot.
Hermes: No. But..
He shifted himself a little closer.
Hermes: ..we're not out of hope. I talked with.. uhm.. others, and.. they're keen on.. she's keen on.. I suppose bartering? With Zeus.
Odysseus's head pricked up briefly at the name of the God King.
Odysseus: ..Zeus.. do you have any idea what you're asking?
Hermes: I.. well, yes. He's my father, I can only imagine he'd-
Odysseus: ..did you ever hear about Troy, Hermes?
Before the god could respond, Odysseus took out a tiny rock-like thing. It looked as if coal has congregated upon its surface like mould, yet as Ody threw it Hermes's way and the latter picked it up.. it felt as hardy as any good brick from the walls of-
Oh.
Hermes: Rubble?
Odysseus nodded, pointing at the sharpest end of the rubble.
Odysseus: You see that spike? It's a bit cleaner, not as..
His face fell, the distant flows of water overpowering his voice for only a moment.
Odysseus: ..sooty?
Hermes: ..yes?
Odysseus: That end was in the baby's head.
His voice was numb until the last word, where it halted and cracked. If the gods couldn't punish him more than this, his heart would be keen to play to role of executioner - beating his chest half to death. His vision grew heavy, blurry and dark, as if he'd been drugged.
Hermes: Ody?
No response. All Hermes could spot was the way Odysseus's eyes scanned every inch of his skin, every nick and cut and gash and scald left scattered upon it.
Hermes: Why do you still have it, then?
Nothing, apart from Odysseus taking the rubble back from the god's hands. What even was the point he was trying to make?
Whatever it was, he'd lost it.
The ocean drowned out the conversation again, only the still-peckish birds and footsteps audible above them.
Footsteps.
Calypso: Odysseus?
He froze on the instant, his melancholic slouch tensing into stone. Odysseus could only stare, breathless yet violent, at the currents of the water. As if somewhere inside him was begging them to swallow him whole.
Calypso: Where are you? Ody, my love?
Hermes: I haven't seen him.
The shuffling of Calypso searching about the trees stopped briefly.
Calypso: ..hermes?
Hermes: Leave me alone, you..
No insult came to him. No point really.
Hermes: ..i'm busy. Zeus's matters.. can't explain.
She giggled to herself, the shuffling and steps resuming as she seemed - by ear rather than sight - to continue her search.
Calypso: Very well then, I won't pry! If you see Ody, do tell him I'm.. sorry..
The shuffling grew distant, then faded. Hermes himself felt his muscles tense at an ick that he swore made him feel slimy.
"I won't pry"..
Hypocrisy. Hypocrisy that echoed in Hermes's mind like a bell - and Odysseus's like a gong. The old king had his head in his hands, tears slipping by silently.. as if they were mourning too.
Hermes took his leave, uttering one last promise to his kin under his scattered breath.
"I'll convince them.. if I can't, then.. she can."