"The sea is a cruel mistress lads."

Vangelis looked over the expense of the Mediterranean Sea with his eyes cloudy. The deeply blue waters moved, almost in sync, with one another, as though performing a complex dance. He knew his father talked of the raging storms, but he had seen more cruelty from humans than from the sea. This was another one of his father's long winded lessons all aimed towards Simonides, Ikaros, and himself.

Only one other person of his father's original crew were present. Solon had kept many of them home in order to, as he put it "Test my sons and Ikaros. See how they do when we aren't doing most of the heavy lifting." Theodoulos was one of his most trusted men, and a strong addiction for the bottle, his one fault. His hair was as dark as Solon's and was erratically chopped at the ends. He was long in the face and of a mopey appearance with cheeks of a hollow quality. The man looked partially starved. Despite this, as shown by his bulging muscles, he was anything but.

"Poseidon and Tethys have blessed us for many years," Solon continued on. He sat with the rest of them,at the helm of two oars and rowing effortlessly. It had taken Vangelis quite some time to build endurance and gain a more muscular physic and losing his more lithe form,"and Tethys has survived all that has been put in her way. The trade at Voies should be an easy one."

Tethys, named after the Mistress of the Sea, was a crescent shaped vessel with one white sail between two wooden benches in the middle of the ship. It was a caramel colored boat and was once owned by Solon's father Leonidas. He had passed it on to his first son, and Solon was going to pass it on to Simonides. It should be me, Vangelis thought whilst gritting his teeth. He hated being so bitter for it was what his brother expected of him.

Simonides sat in front of him, purposely he was sure, and was appearing more and more like a clone of his father everyday, with half the sense and charisma. He was always barking orders, even when they were nonsensical and the men more knowledgeable than he. Why Solon allowed such a thing, he did not know. Vangelis knew it should be him to acquire the birthright. He loosened the grip on the oars once he realized how tightly he had grasped the handles in anger.

What was he doing? He knew it was futile to even dream. He was second son. The best lot he could have in life was to stay a member of the crew. With Simonides involved, he could only hope to lick his boots. He cursed under his breath.

Many a times, Hades would lament about his fate as the God of the Underworld. Vangelis now knew his plight, although, he couldn't imagine him in any other role. Hades, God of the Seas, he thought humorously.

"What's so funny?" Ikaros whispered into his ear.

Vangelis shook his head and tilted back some.

"Tis nothing old friend. I'm merely getting lost in my thoughts the more we row," he commented.

"Do not worry. We shall reach the town by nightfall as the least," he began,"then we would have missed the storms."

"I know. I just-"

"After all that training, your arms still tire," Ikaros chuckled to himself. "Or maybe you are merely missing your secret lover at home."

Vangelis, who had not told Ikaros of his relationship with Hades, flushed a pretty lightly tinted pink. Though much more masculine than he used to be as a young boy, he still had a face of fine femininity.

"Or maybe he is just second rate," Simonides whispered harshly. Vangelis had almost forgotten he was there. "He is a bastard after all."

"I am not a bastard! I am just as much Solon's son as you are," he whispered back just as harsh.

"Or are you?"

Vangelis wanted to wipe that smug look right off of his face. Ikaros, luckily, calmed him down. Solon watched all of this with his side eye, his lips pinched together.

They reached the port by nightfall as prophesied and they docked, burying their ship under a woolen tarp for the morning's market.

"Follow me," Solon commanded. "I know of a man, great friend of mine, who will open his home to us."

"Father is that wise?"

He narrowed his eyes at Simonides, glaring heatedly. Even Vangelis felt the hotness of his gaze.

"If you want to sleep back on the boat so be it," he said stiffly.

"No father I just wanted to make a slight suggestion-"

"To the Underworld with your suggestions!"

Simonides paled considerably.

"I just think-"

"Well I think that you've usurped my authority for the last time."

"But father," Simonides protested,"I am to inherit this business!"

"Not while I am alive. You will obey me like every other sailor in my crew."

Simonides, chastened, kept quiet the rest of the walk. Vangelis was shocked by the argument and he and Ikaros shared a look. He couldn't deny that the display amused him, however, he couldn't shake the feeling that the argument was about him in some way.

Voies was everything their small village of Canea was not; large and imposing with throngs of people mingling about the roads. The houses were side by side, cramped together as though they were meat packed in a jar. Up ahead in the crowd was a man, waving, albeit in a flamboyant way.

"Andonis..." Solon muttered to himself.

Andonis was a man of modest stature and protruding belly. His was a hair of brown and a beard cleverly trimmed. Vangelis was in awe of him.

"Welcome old friend back to Voies. I got your letter and came as quickly as I could to meet you."

Solon and him embraced each other warmly.

"Let me look at you," Andonis took some steps back and his eyes roamed his friend's face. "You are growing old Mighty Solon. Is that some gray I see?"

Solon chuckled heartily and nodded.

"Ahh and these must be your sons."

He strolled towards them and inspected them as he had Solon.

"You must Simonides," Simonides puffed out his chest proudly. "An image of your father if I've ever sen one."

As he approached him Vangelis suddenly ducked his eyes, far too shy to look at the man.

"And you must be Vangelis. Told to be as golden as a god from Olympus."

There was an odd quality to the way he stared at him. Vangelis lifted his head and was struck by the glint in the man's eyes. As if he held the key to an unsolvable mystery.

"And this young man is-"

"Ikaros," the dark headed man answered. "I am a friend of Vangelis."

"Well, welcome to my home and I hope you will enjoy yourself."

"Where is your wife Andonis?" Solon asked as he and the rest of the crew was ushered on into the home, a moderately large house of white stone and wooden roof.

"Where is she? Why with her friends of course! Although between you and me," he leaned into Solon's ear, "she was not looking forward to seeing you again after Theodoulos's last visit. The man almost milked us dry of any and all wine we had to offer."

"I hope it was not any trouble."

"Trouble? Well if you ask me she was secretly glad he did it. If not him I sure would have if given the chance. Dionysus has been blessing me since the days that you left for Pellana."

A dark cloud fell over Solon's face, but he still forced himself to answer," Is that why you are fat now old friend?"

"It is part drink and part cooking. Not my wife's poisonous fare but the neighbor's wife's. I should have married her instead."

"Aglaia's beauty blinded you."

"Does beauty not blind all men? Even the gods themselves grow weak at the sight of a beautiful face and voluptuous body. Is that not why Hades kidnapped Persephone?"

Vangelis halted in his steps towards the kitchen, a small room of walls decorated red and white. When was the last time Hades had mentioned his wife? He could not remember any instances. He wondered what their relationship was now and what she thought of him. Nothing good I bet.

Theodoulos was the first in the sitting room, nursing his drink while staring towards the ceiling.

"And so we begin the age old ritual. Do any of you want anything to drink?" asked their host with a heavy sigh.

Sheepishly, the boys nodded their heads as Solon shook his.

"I shall pass. I need to stay level headed for the morrow."

"I-I pass as well," came the conflicting answer of Simonides. Vangelis, to his utter annoyance, had to retract his answer as well.

"More drink for me then," Ikaros said shrugging with a smile.

"As you wish," Andonis retreated to the kitchen and Solon turned towards Simonides.

"Come, we need to set up shop."

Vangelis started to follow only to be stopped by a lift of Solon's hand.

"Not you Vangelis. You stay here with Ikaros. Get some sleep. You will need you strength for in the morning." he said all of this with an apologetic smile.

Simonides's smile was anything but apologetic. It isn't fair, he thought as they left for town. Am I not also your son? Am I not worthy enough to help you? Ikaros placed a concerned hand on his shoulder.

"Do not worry about it Vangelis. It is not a slight towards you."

He shrugged off the hand fiercely.

"Then why does it feel like it?"

He shoved past him, swallowing bitterness, and headed to his room for the night, ignoring Ikaros' calls at his back.

Far off into the distance, was a swan of pure white feathers that fell onto the ground like snow and shimmered like stars. It swam in a pool that reflected the sky above. Vangelis grew closer to the creature, mesmerized by its beauty. What was he doing here? He did not know.

The swan seemed to beckon him to its side and he came. The swan tilted his head down in greeting.

"Vangelis."

That voice, that voice. A sadness fell over him like a veil. Never had he heard such sorrow. Tears began to form at the corners of his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

He did not know why he was apologising. All he knew was that, his spirit knew this creature. The swan spread its wings and flee to him, and with her wing, dried his tears. He looked back at it then, and its icy blue eyes stared back at him. So cold and yet, for him, so warm.

"My son come back to me."

"Mother?"

"You have been away for too long. I cannot wait any longer to have you in my arms again as when you were an infant."

"Why," Vangelis whispered," why did you abandon me mother?"

"Abaddon," he drew away as if struck," I had no choice. My husband-"

"Why do you call me that? Abaddon?"

Silence.

"Mother-"

"Because I was foolish," now its voice trembled. "In my grief I gave you a forsaken name. Solon has named you better than I."

"Why do you come to me now?"

A sudden strong wind whipped over the land and the trees moved with it, their leaves swirling about.

"To warn you."

It grew dark then. Shadows crept over the land. The swans feathers began turning a bright scarlet, then, a dark red. The color of blood.

"Come to me quickly Vangelis! Before she gets her hands on you!"

The wind grew stronger than before. Vangelis held on tightly to the tree behind him which was breaking at the seams. In his other hand, he held his mother's wing.

"Who?"

"She-"

The wind blew , toppling him over. He lost his grip of his mother and watched helplessly as she went up into the air, calling his name.

"Mother!"

"Vangelis!"

"Vangelis!"

"Vangelis."

"Poor Vangelis."

Vangelis awoke in his guest room, sweating profusely. Theodoulos stood above him swigging his wine. The man looked anything but sober.

"Theodoulos," he began annoyed," what are you doing?"

"Solon came to me when he first found ya," the man was slurring. "Never seen the man so panicked in his life. Said he had picked up the kid of Helen and had no idea what to do."

Helen. Everyone knew of Helen. The woman who foolishly started a war between the Greeks and Trojans that lost thousands of lives. She...she couldn't be his mother. She had no children other than her daughter Hermione. His mother was Elpis.

"You are lying," he said as calmly as he could. "Elpis is my mother-"

"H've y' ever wondered why you don't look like yer parents?"

"I look like an uncle on my mother's side."

"Hogwash," the man was oddly serious suddenly. There was a glass like quality to his eyes. "This uncle of theirs does not exist. You were never Solon's son, but a welp of Helen."

The smile Theodoulos sent him did not belong on that usually good natured face. It was cruel and enjoyed seeing Vangelis suffer. He took another swig of his wine.

"Get out," Vangelis hated the way his voice shook, hated his weakness. "Get out!"

"As yer wish, Prince of Troy."

The blond's words were trapped in his throat as Theodoulos left his room, taking with him Vangelis's innocence.

You were never Solon's son.

He is a bastard after all.

His father had lied to him, his family had lied to him. The only one who had had the mettle to telling him the truth about himself had been Simonides. No wonder he hated him. Newcomer coming in and taking what should be rightfully his.

The thoughts that he had earlier that morning now felt childish, wishful thinking. He didn't belong here, he wasn't apart of this family. He was never a part of this family.

Vangelis clutched his chest. Suffocating, these walls around him were suffocating. He had to get out. He had to talk to Hades.

He got up from his bed chambers with a steely resolve and crept as quietly as he could outside. In the greeting room, he saw Theodoulos and Ikaros asleep on the floor in a drunken slumber. Pain like he had never known brought tears to his eyes that he furiously wiped away.

Ikaros was his friend, his companion. To think that he would have to leave him behind was just too much for him to bear. He went off into the night and searched for a private place, something not unlike his grove back home on Canea.

Not many people walked around this time of night. The streets were sparse of anyone of importance besides drunkards finding a way home.

A place, made of sparse white stone that surrounded the outskirts of the town was where he settled. The deep blue waters shuffled up on the rocks then cascaded back down into the sea, as if too skittish to meet the land. He called out to his god and watched as he appeared instantly infront of him.

Vangelis could see the mild annoyance in Hades's features but was too distraught to address it.

"Hades my love, please say my name." Vangelis pleaded.

It was such an odd request. He had not asked such a thing since he was a boy.

"Vangelis." Hades said and Vangelis looked as though he had eaten something sour.

"My true name." he replied steely.

"You are Vangelis-"

"Stop lying! I'm tired of the lies," Vangelis growled. "Do you think me deaf? I heard you whispering a name as I slept once all those years ago. Is the name mine or does it belong to another boy who strikes your fancy?"

Vangelis had never thought of Hades as being old, despite him being a god. His outer appearance was that of a man only a few years older than he. At this moment in time, he seemed every bit as old as he was.

"Your true name is Abaddon, given to you by your mother."

"Who is my mother?" Vangelis asked quietly.

"I think you already know."

He flashed back to his conversation with the drunken Theodoulos and his nightmare and bit back a sob.

"My mother is Helen."

A slight breeze, like that in his dream, settled over the harbor. Hades did not say anything to confirm or deny this, but his eyes said it all.

"After our market day I'm going to go look for her. I shall go to the palace of Menelaus." Vangelis said with more bravado than he felt.

"If that is what you wish," Hades heard Hera cackling in his ears. He knew she had won this, but he would perish before he would allow her to harm his lover," then I shall be there by your side. Just call me when you leave and I will be there."

Vangelis embraced him and met his lips in a passionate kiss. Hades laid him down on the rocks and removed his garmets. I need this. I need him. Hades prepared and entered him slowly. Vangelis took in a breath as his body melded with his.

The next day at the market place, Vangelis kept to himself, only speaking when spoken to. Solon and Ikaros, though suffering from a headache from the night before, watched him with concern. Simonides thought his silence was a welcome change. Theodoulos was his usual self and offered advise to the young sailors.

Vangelis couldn't believe it. After all that had happened last night, the man did not remember while Vangelis was cursed to remember all the rest of his days.

They set up their stall and was able to sell many of their wares with Simonides proving to be a successful business man. Vangelis didn't even have the strength to be mad as he would have used to. This was not his family and this, was not his business. It hurt more than he thought it would.

Ikaros greeted every customer with that easy grin of his that had always seemed to gain him notoriety with the girls in his village. Out of his side eye, he wanted Vangelis with mounting concern. He had never seen his friend so distraught, so defeated.

He figured it had something to do with their argument the previous night. He had known things were strained with him and his father, although it had gotten better in sequential years, but never this bad. And there was Simonides lapping up all the glory as he knew how. Ikaros curled his lip in disgust.

"Good job lads," Solon said softly to them," you were able to be successful traders. I've never been so proud."

Ikaros puffed out his chest. He remembered the nights he had fought with his father over his choice to be a trader and join his friend. This moment of pride, made it all worth it.

"Ikaros, you and Vangelis turn in early. Simonides, Theodoulos and I will pack up."

Ikaros turned his grin to Vangelis's direction but found his friend already moving in the direction of Andonis's home.

"Look after him Ikaros." Solon said with much woe. "He has not been himself since we landed."

That elicited a scoff from Simonides.

"I say let him mope. Why should we suffer for his melancholy?"

Solon whipped around and began scolding him. Ikaros went to follow Vangelis. He doubted any amount of rebukes would change Simonides by this point.

He found Vangelis in his room, shoving his things into a sack.

"So, what are you doing?"

He saw his friend's shoulder blades freeze and he turned to face him, his face more guilty than he had ever seen.

"I'm leaving Ikaros. To find my mother."

He must be insane. Ikaros's heart went out to his friend.

"Your mother is Elpis and she's back on Crete. What's this really about?"

Vangelis shook his head. Ikaros could see tracks where tears had run down his face. His friend had always been a cry baby and he had always been there to drt his tears.

"Elpis isn't really my mother and Solon isn't really my father. Didn't you hear the rumors in the village?"

"Yes but," Ikaros argued," those were all just rumors!"

"No they weren't," Vangelis sat on his bedding and Ikaros joined him," Theodoulos came into my room last night and he...told me some things."

"Vangelis you know the man's a drunk. You can't possibly take what he says seriously."

His friend shook his head again and dread settled in his stomach.

"Theodoulos was anything but drunk last night when he told me my parentage and besides," Ikaros could see how hard he was keeping it together and wrapped a comforting arm around him," I look nothing like my parents. No one in my family looks like me. I've wondered why for a long time and now That I know...I gotta leave. I have to find my mother."

Ikaros knew that there was no way to get this foolish notion out of his friend's head. He was Solon's son...wasn't he? Even he had to admit he had his doubts. Vangelis's face was too soft, whilst his family's was hard and his hair too golden. It all, unluckily, made sense.

"I'll get my things."

Ikaros got up and headed towards the doorway.

"What are you-?"

"Do you honestly think I'm just going to allow you to go on your little adventure by yourself?"

Ikaros lifted an eyebrow and left. For the first time that day Vangelis smiled.

They gathered their things and was about to leave the house when a familiar voice called out to them.

"And where do you two think you're going?"

Vangelis cursed under his breath and there stood Andonis, hands on his large hips.

"Well," Ikaros began," we were just going to-"

"I'm going to find my mother." Vangelis said, interrupting him.

He had expected anger and instead got nothing but a twinkle of glee in the old man's eyes.

"Yes, yes quite right, but before you leave on your journey," Andonis left for several moments while Vangelis and Ikaros glanced at one another," have some food and this."

He handed Vangelis a scabbard of oak base and bronze ends. Inside was a silver sword, Spartan in design.

"You will need to protect yourself, out there in the wilderness. I'm sire Menelaus will not be keen on having a long lost son coming from nowhere."

Vangelis swallowed, grateful for the man's help.

"Thank you. I don't know how to repay you."

"Just find your mother lad. I knew keepin 'you away from the truth was a big mistake. I will tell Solon where you have gone. If you go up the hill from where you docked there is a hill that leads to a pathway. Follow that to your destination."

Vangelis tied the sword to his side, nodding. Andonis waved them away on their journey until they were but a speck in the distance. His smile fell into a frown and his body began to mold itself. In his place stood Eris, her eyes flashing red. Her work here was done.

In a corner of the kitchen sat Andonis, knocked out cold. It had been easy to over power the old oaf. That drunkard had been even easier. Almost too easy. The Goddess of Chaos had wanted a real challenge. Oh well, she thought grinning, At least I get to watch the boy and his precious friend die.

On the path Vangelis halted suddenly and Ikaros ran into him.

"What are you-"

"I need to introduce you to someone."

"Who?"

Vangelis let out a name he never would have thought.

"Hades!"

And there was the God of the Underworld in all his dark glory.

"Vangelis, it seems that you have brought a friend."

Links I used:

archives/1473

EBchecked/topic/584463/tavern

. . /issue6/Kelly_

wiki/Ancient_Greek_Female_Names_(Greek_Community)

This was one of those difficult chapters where I struggled with the beginning. This is one of my prouder chapters,even though I had originally planned to make these chapters shorter. This chapter alone is 4,000 words. Which was a lot more than what I was going to type.