Chapter Text
He was home. After twenty years, Odysseus felt the sand beneath his feet, on the shores of Ithaca. Yet he could feel the wrongness seeping from the familiar land. His palace felt filthy to gaze upon, as if the rot within its walls had permeated the entire place. Odysseus noticed an owl sitting in a tree near him, and without making eye contact with it, he spoke, his words cold. "Athena. Are you proud of me now? I've taken both yours and Poseidon's advice to heart. I should have listened back then and just killed the Cyclops. Isn't that what you want me to say?" Athena shed the form of the owl she had taken, appearing in her normal godly form. "It's been a long time, old friend." Odysseus turned, a flash of anger in his eyes. "We aren't friends, and we never were. You made that clear yourself, GODDESS." Athena paused, simply staring at Odysseus for a moment. He truly had changed. He was not the man that she had once guided to victory, the bright-eyed boy who had believed in mercy. "You've changed." Odysseus turned away. "At the hands of you gods. But that doesn't matter, does it? I'm doing what you told me to. Not showing mercy. You all made sure I learned my lesson when I tried. Polities, my mother, Eurylochus, everyone is gone. And now, I am going to get back to the only creatures in this world that I have left. It's been twenty years, Athena. For a god, that might be next to nothing, but I need to get back to my wife and son."
Athena stared at Odysseus, before quietly speaking, almost a whisper, but loud enough that he could hear. "I'm sorry." Odysseus didn't even respond, instead beginning to walk up towards his palace. Athena followed, placing a hand on Odysseus's shoulder to stop him. "Wait-" Odysseus moved instinctively, smacking Athena's hand off him with a look of both anger and almost fear in his eyes. Athena swallowed but didn't touch him again. "Your palace. It's filled with suitors. They've been after Penelope, and they tried to kill your son. Just be careful."
Odysseus snarled. "They won't live long enough to see the sunrise." Odysseus turned, seeing Athena holding out a hand to him, a magnificent bow clasped in it. The bow was made of olive wood, and of the finest quality. An owl was expertly engraved on the front of the bow, Athena's own symbol of protection. Odysseus hesitated for a moment, before taking the bow. Athena then handed him a quiver of arrows and spoke quietly. "Owl feathers. May your arrows fly true, Odysseus."
With that, Athena left, taking her owl form once again to be able to fly away silently. Odysseus turned, and stalked up through the streets of Ithaca, to his palace. Home. Getting inside, Odysseus could hear voices coming from the dinner hall, far, far too many voices for his liking, and not one of them Penelope or Telemachus. Good. Odysseus opened the doors to the hall and stepped inside. Athena was now watching from afar, and she decided to subtly help Odysseus, despite his blatant rejection of her. The moment Odysseus stepped into the hall, Athena extinguished all the torches, plunging the suitors into complete darkness.
A commotion of shouts went up, before a few men managed to light a couple handheld torches, holding them up to see. Unfortunately, that painted them as easy targets. The twang of Odysseus's bow rang out, loud even in the chaos, and an owl feather tipped arrow lodged itself through one of the suitor's eyes, the tip stabbing into their brain. There was a brief delay, before the man began screaming, falling to the ground and dropping the torch as blood streamed from his eye, leaking crimson rivulets onto the ground, before just as suddenly as they began, the man's screams stopped, his face frozen in a caricature of grotesque agony.
The hall was filled with screams once what happened set in, and Odysseus watched as the suitors who had lit torches threw them away from themselves in panic. It was too late by then already. Odysseus loosed a flurry of arrows, mowing the suitors down endlessly, with no regard for their pleas. Suddenly, he felt hands gripping his knees, and looking down, he saw one of the suitors. "Please, great king! Spare us, you've cut down many of our number already, greet us once more with open arms. Antinous- He's the one you want! He planned everything, he suggesting killing your son, and taking your wife-"
Odysseus froze, staring down at the man. For a moment, he saw Polites, begging him to show mercy once again, then he saw the suitor again. Odysseus felt his hands trembling as his mind was overcome with images of the cyclops, of the sickening crunch that had rung out when that cursed club had come down, snuffing out his friend's life in an agonizing way. Suddenly, Odysseus felt the soft touch of hands on his shoulders, and without more thought, shot an arrow directly into the hollow at the base of the man's throat. A choked gurgle left the man as he fell over, writhing in agony in his last moments. Odysseus turned to see who had snapped him out of the flashbacks and found nothing but an owl feather on the ground.
Odysseus spun, grabbing a man that had sprung at him from behind by the throat, pulling out his waterskin, which was filled with Poseidon's golden ichor, and pouring some down the man's throat. The man choked and spasmed, eyes rolling back in his head before he fell limp.
Suddenly, the torches in the hall lit, revealing Odysseus's carnage. The men he had shot ruthlessly lay sprawled all over the room frozen in their death throes, crimson leaking across the floors like a macabre painting. One man was left. At the back of the room, cowering against the wall. Antinous. He could recognize him instantly, even after twenty years, and a part of him was glad that he wasn't dead yet.
Odysseus stalked over to Antinous, grabbing an arrow and instead of getting ready to shoot it, pressed it against Antinous's throat with his bare hands, ready to shove it through if needed. "I'm feeling generous, you have ten seconds to convince me to kill you just like the others, and to not make you suffer more." Odysseus didn't plan to actually give Antinous a merciful death, yet he enjoyed the thought of the man pleading in vain.
Antinous flinched, stumbling over his words, eyes wide with terror. "I- You- You're merciful! You aren't like us, you wouldn't- You welcomed us once! Are you now to- to completely switch up? Think of Polites-" Odysseus's eyes flashed dangerously as Antinous spoke Polites name. "Anything. Else?" Before Antinous could speak, the doors to the hall opened, and a soft voice rang out.
"...Dad?" Odysseus spun around, eyes wide as he took in his son. "Telemachus... I'm home." Telemachus hesitated in the doorway, staring at the gruesome scene before him, owl feathered arrows sticking out of the twisted bodies of the suitors, and he felt a bit sick. It was then that Antinous moved, attempting to take advantage of Odysseus's distraction. Antinous lunged upwards at Odysseus, aiming to attack him, but Odysseus was quicker. Odysseus's hand met the side of Antinous's head, and he shoved it brutally sideways, kneeling down to be able to slam Antinous into the floor, hard enough to hear a sickening crack ring out through the hall, and for Antinous to instantly stop struggling, eyes crossing as he fought to stay conscious.
Telemachus flinched, but as he saw his dad grip Antinous's hair presumably to slam his head into the ground again, he called out. "Wait- Dad!" Odysseus stopped, still holding the prone Antinous down as he turned to look at Telemachus. "Yes?" Telemachus stammered. "Could- Could you leave him alive at least-? I don't- I don't want him dead yet. Haven't you done enough? He isn't a threat-" Odysseus shook his head. "I love you, Telemachus. But I cannot promise you this man's survival. I will at least not do anything that is SURE to kill him though. Now- Go see your mother, Telemachus. Tell her that I'm home but tell her that I'll be busy for the time being, and by all the gods, do not come back here until I leave."
Telemachus could tell that he needed to leave, and listen to his father, and so that was exactly what he did, heaving for Penelope's quarters and letting the doors slam shut behind him. Odysseus looked back at Antinous, who was groaning, eyes partially open, but not attempting to struggle yet. Antinous let out a pained noise as Odysseus yanking his head up by the hair, standing up and forcing him to his feet. Antinous's legs struggled to support him, but luckily, or perhaps unluckily for him, Odysseus shoved him onto one of the tables. Odysseus grabbed the arrow again, this time driving it through Antinous's shoulder and into the table in one go.
Antinous screamed, loud enough that it was probably able to be heard from outside the hall, yet Odysseus didn't care. Instead, he reached across the table, grabbing a wine glass that had somehow not fallen over. Setting the wine glass down directly next to Antinous's head, Odysseus snarled. "If you knock that over, you will experience suffering worse than the underworld. And believe me, I've been there, I mean what I say."
Antinous was shaking, eyes glazed over with pain. "P- Please- You can't do this-" Odysseus laughed, yet any hint of mirth was absent in it. It was a cold sound, coming from a broken man. "I've done it to a GOD. What the HELL would stop me from doing it to YOU." Antinous's eyes widened, and he stammered. "A god? S- Surely you jest-"
Odysseus lifted his flask once more, opening it and pouring a bit of Poseidon's golden ichor across his fingers, letting the sparkling liquid leave trails of molten gold across his skin. "Do I? Do I JEST, you shameless whore." Antinous flinched, eyes glued to the golden liquid dripping across Odysseus's fingers. "Is that-"
Odysseus smiled coldly. "Gods bleed too. However, their blood is a bit different. It kills mortals to drink; did you know that? Of course, it would be quite interesting to see exactly how much it takes to kill someone, wouldn't you agree?" Antinous squirmed weakly, but quickly stopped, both from fear of knocking the wine glass over, and from the pain of his struggling making the arrow in his shoulder cut him further.
Odysseus moved the hand that had Poseidon's ichor on it over Antinous's mouth, letting a drop of the ichor slowly bead at the tip of his finger. Antinous tried to jerk away in fear, eyes wild like a cornered animal. Odysseus snarled. "Go on then. Beg for me not to do this. Make it good, or else you will die choking on the blood of a god." Antinous shuddered, and he forced his mouth to move, to form words. "Please- Don't do this- I'll do anything, I'll stop struggling- Just don't- Don't kill me like this-" The drop of ichor was getting dangerously close to falling, and Antinous felt another jolt of terror shoot through him. "PLEASE! PLEASE DON'T- GODS PLEASE-"
Odysseus laughed mirthlessly, moving his hand to grab Antinous by the throat, smearing the blood of a god across his skin. "The gods won't save you now. The only one who might is currently licking his wounds like the overconfident dog he is." A strangled noise escaped Antinous as Odysseus began to squeeze, pressing hard against his throat and cutting off his ability to breathe. "You were going to rape my WIFE. You were going to KILL my SON. You're nothing but a shameless bitch and should be treated as less than dirt."
Antinous's eyes rolled back in his head as he continued to struggle to breathe, and Odysseus ignored him, grabbing a knife from the mess of a table. Odysseus drove the knife about an inch deep into Antinous's chest, slowly dragging it through his flesh, making crimson blood drip down onto the table. Antinous's throat worked furiously under Odysseus's grip, simultaneously trying to intake air and scream. Odysseus didn't stop quickly, instead scoring Antinous's chest and torso with no small number of wounds.
Antinous felt his body shutting down, vision starting to go black as he was still deprived of air. Odysseus noticed Antinous starting to go limp, and released his grip on his throat, instead grabbing him by the hair and yanking his head up so that he was forced to stare down at his blood covered body. The room smelled strongly of metal; the blood splattered on practically every surface being the cause. Antinous was gasping desperately for breath, and he only registered what Odysseus was about to do when Odysseus grabbed the wine glass, and began to pour it over the wounds on his body.
Antinous let out a hoarse scream, twisting desperately to try and get away, making the arrow rip more severe wounds into his shoulder. Odysseus didn't stop, pouring the whole glass of wine slowly over each wound on Antinous's body, watching as he attempted to shift away, but was unable to. Finally, Odysseus set the now empty glass down, staring down at Antinous. The once arrogant man was shaking violently, tears streaming down his face, and broken whimpers streaming from his mouth. Odysseus wasn't satisfied. He knew that Antinous still had fight inside him, still held onto his stubborn pride. He was going to break that.
Odysseus dropped Antinous's head, letting it hit the table with a thump. Antinous gave a broken noise of protest as Odysseus ripped his pants off, baring him completely, yet he was in too much pain, and too exhausted by now to truly resist. Odysseus shoved Antinous's legs apart violently, ignoring the choked sound of pain Antinous made as he did. Antinous's entrance was exposed, and Odysseus wasted no time in brutally shoving two fingers in completely dry up to the knuckle. Antinous's body jerked, and a soft cry of pain left him. By now, Antinous had screamed so much he was starting to lose his voice, making noise becoming painful.
Odysseus curled his fingers, nails scratching painfully along Antinous's inner walls. Antinous was sobbing, muffled pleas of 'stop' and 'no' falling from his lips like rain. Odysseus ripped his fingers out of him suddenly, making Antinous's body jerk weakly once again. Reaching for one of his remaining arrows, Odysseus snarled at Antinous. "Open your damned mouth. Unless you want me to shove this in completely dry." Antinous gave a heaving sob but opened his mouth obediently.
Odysseus pushed the arrow into Antinous's mouth with the arrowhead first, slowly pushing it down his throat. Antinous was panicking, but Odysseus only laughed at him. "I'd try not to tense your throat. It could cost you your life." Antinous whimpered, doing his best to relax his throat. Odysseus pushed the arrow down until he could faintly see the outline of the head in Antinous's throat. Antinous was tense, still as a statue as fear paralyzed him.
Odysseus moved his free hand to trace the shape of the arrowhead on the skin of Antinous's throat, making the man whine in fear. He waited a couple more moments, before pulling the arrow out of Antinous's throat. Antinous gasped for breath, relaxing quickly and going limp again. "Please... Just stop..." Odysseus snarled. "No."
Antinous shuddered as he felt the arrowhead, slick with his own saliva, pressing against his entrance. Odysseus didn't hesitate, beginning to push the arrow in. Antinous hissed in pain as the arrow pushed into him, the sharp edges of the arrowhead cutting into his flesh and causing warm blood to spill inside him, mortifyingly helping the arrow in. Antinous was twitching uncontrollably, eyes rolled back in his head as the pain was overwhelming his senses.
Odysseus spoke coolly. "If you keep clenching like that, it will cut you more." Antinous gave a broken sob, doing his best to relax as Odysseus fucked him with the arrow, before he finally pulled it out, and dropped the bloody thing on the already crimson stained table. Odysseus suddenly felt Antinous go completely limp. The bastard had passed out. Odysseus huffed in annoyance. He would have liked to break him for longer, but it seems that isn't in the cards.
He would take the man to the cells, and if he didn't bleed out by morning, he'd let his son do whatever he was planning with him.