"By the Gods, Kassandra, no!" Brasidas shouted, reaching out towards her as she leapt off the tall cliff, plummeting towards the ground below. The wind whistled past her ears as she soared down. A quick somersault and she landed safely before running off.
Brasidas slumped to the ground, overcome by emotion. His heart beating too rapidly in his chest.
"First time?" Barnabas asked, sidling up, jug of wine in his hands his smile ever present.
Brasidas looked up at him, confusion evident on his face.
"First time Hippokrates saw her do that, he swore his heart nearly gave out. We had to get him to lie down with a jug of wine." Barnabas chuckled motioned the jug at him.
“She does this a lot?” Brasidas breathed, still not believing the height she fell from.
“Probably.” Barnabas shrugged, “Most of the time we don’t see it because we’re on the Andrestia. But when she invites us ashore or we have errands for the ship, we see her sailing off cliffs every chance she gets.”
Barnabas sat down next to Brasidas as he scrambled up to a sitting position, his hand rubbing his chest over his heart. Barnabas handed Brasidas a cup and filled it with some wine from the jug he was holding.
"What about you?" Brasidas asked, feeling his heartbeat slow from its frantic state.
"Ah! Magical! Herodotus and I were so drunk we thought she would fly half way down." Barnbas said dreamily, drinking straight from the jug.
Brasidas laughed and then tipped his wine back, savouring the rich flavor.
“Were you not worried for her safety or that she would come back?” Brasidas queried.
"Ehhh, after she climbed back up with another jug of wine, it was quite a party that night, I think we just asked her to do it again... That night's rather fuzzy." Barnabas rubbed his beard, lost, trying to remember.
“That night was so wild come morning, we ended up with more crew than we started with.” Barnabas laughed, his eyes crinkling in merriment.
“Many nights like that with your crew?” Brasidas asked with a smile.
“Oh, ha! If you’re lucky, many are on the horizon!”
He held the jug out and Brasidas tapped his cup against it, toasting him. The two sat at the cliff edge enjoying the night sky as they waited for their fearless leader to come back.
Ships: Deimos!Alexios/Alkibiades, Alexios/Deimos [AKA Alexios/himself or Deimos/himself]
Length: 5 chapters (31135 words)
Standard mental health trigger warnings apply. More tags in AO3 link below.
Everything feels different when one is no longer a god. Alexios, formerly known as Deimos, needs to come to terms with the fact that those who worshipped him as one are all but eliminated, and he needs to learn how to be human. There are people who can help him, his sister Kassandra's friends from Athens who are the best minds in all of the Greek world. It won't be an easy task, however. In fact, this journey towards humanity seems to be quite an Odyssey, and Alexios isn't sure if he can keep afloat.
