The next time Odysseus opens his eyes, he finds himself back on his ship, in his quarters. He remembers Eurylochus put him here after the initial mutiny, but that's all he can see clearly. There are figures around him, touching him, feeling him. He can hear them saying words, but he can't make out their meanings. Odysseus knows that these men are part of his crew, but he also knows that if Eurylochus knew what these men were doing, they would be dead. He wants to call out, tell the men no, but he's too hurt, tired, and fucking blind to tell them not to.

Before Odysseus succumbs to his bedridden slumber, he feels something enter into him and finally makes out a phrase he always despised: "such a good omega."

When he comes to again, Odysseus can hear screaming. He knows the owner all too well, Eurylochus. It's pure rage that he's hearing. He can see a little more clearly this time, still in his cabin. His lower half is burning. He knows what happened to him by the men, and as he thinks closer to how many were in the room, he'd guess about six or eight of them. Which, while cramped, still allows room for one to experience pleasure.

That thought makes Odysseus' head, side and groin throb at the thought of it.

"-will pay for what you did to your captain, my brother!" Eurylochus spits out.

Odysseus wanted to get up, to show everyone that he was okay. But, the moment he tried to move, his side, where Perimedes stabbed him, felt like the fires in Heaphesteasus' forges were lit ablaze on his skin. It made Odysseus' vision go blurry and then dark.

Everything hurt, everything felt ablaze, the thought of breathing felt like he was dying, the thought of dying hurt even. But the cooling touch of a hand on his stomach made him want to move, get away from the touch. The last time he was touched, he couldn't remember it and it angered his brother.

"I'm so sorry for doing this to you, Ody," the owner of the hand voiced. "This should have never happened to anyone, especially you. I'm so sorry. But don't worry, sure our numbers are slightly smaller now, we don't have to worry about them again."

Eurylochus , Odysseus thought. He wanted to hug his brother, tell him everything was okay, but the thought of moving, even a little hurt too much to even try.

The cries of Eurylochus became quieter and quieter until he could hear his surroundings no more.

Now, everything but his head was numb. His head was throbbing. He also was no longer in his cabin as the cool air of the sea fluttered across his skin. He also moved his arms, but they were attached to some kind of stone.

"Agh, my head… Where are we?" I groaned out, looking forward, towards Eurylochus.

Eurylochus looked back, just slightly, sorrow on his face, "Some island, the first one we found. It's bursting with cows, just roaming around. Begging us to eat so much meat, and hunger is so heavy."

The man then turned fully around, to face Odysseus, gesturing to the statue his captain was tied to, "This statue, the God of the Sun. Don't know where it's from, but here's where we found all these cows to hunt right in front, and hunger is so heavy." To almost prove a point, the act of standing was almost too much for the man as he wobbled from side to side just to keep the strength of using his feet.

The realization hit him, eyes widening in fear, "please don't tell me you're about to do what I think you'll do," Odysseus pleaded.

Sighing, Eurylochus crouched next to Odysseus, "Ody, we're never gonna get to make it home. You know it's true."

Pushing against his restraints, Odysseus felt his side burning again, "you don't know that's true, this is the home of the Sun God!"

Eurylochus moved his arm at lightning speed, gripping Odysseus' chin, bringing his face closer to his, "I'm tired, my friend!"

Leaning his forehead against Eurylochus, "but we're so close to home, this can't be where it ends."

Standing, almost falling over from the abrupt movement, Eurlyochus wobbled, turning away from Odysseus. "How much longer must I suffer now?"

Odysseus, pleading, pushing more against his restraints, "please don't do this!"

Walking over to the cattle, drawing his sword, Eurylochus continues, "how much longer must I push through doubt?

Feeling the blood from the wound reopening, Odysseus kept struggling, "I need to get home."

The breeze from the salty ocean was anything but comforting as it gently brushed against the men, but it might have been a strong force due to the starvation as Eurylochus stumbled, "how much longer must we go about?"

Odysseus, pleading again, feeling the ropes falter from his consistent pressure, "Eurylochus."

Eurylochus, about halfway to the cows, who were white as the milk they produced and had straight golden horns from the god that watched over them, kept stumbling towards the first fat herd he saw, "how much longer should we suffer now?"

"Reconsider," Odysseus feigned, the ropes getting looser, but he felt the blood starting to dribble down.

"How much longer must we push through doubt," Eurylochus muttered, his stride getting longer as he got closer to the herd.

The rope started snapping as Odysseus kept pushing on it, "we can get home!"

Finally getting to the cattle, bracing himself, steadying his stance, "how much longer must we go about our lives like this when people die like this?"

One final push, more strands in the rope snapping, the strength of the hold is no longer there, "Euylochus," Odysseus begs one more time.

Raising his sword, Eurylochus held the weight above his head, "I'm just a man!"

Odysseus pushed through, standing abruptly and tripping, the blood from his wound splattering across the ground "Eurylochus!"

"NO!" Odysseus screamed, sitting up in a bed.

"What, where?" Odysseus started looking around his surroundings.

The bed he was in was soft and plush, much like the one back home. He saw different herbs and wrappings spilling out of gold and bronze jars. The room looked like a place that put even Agamemnon to shame. I need you checked out by Apollo. You will work with him on getting your weight back to normal as well. I don't like the idea of fucking skeletons . The words flowed through his head, this was Apollo's infirmary.

Looking down to his hands, he found his skin still wrapped around his bones like before he went with Zeus, but his nails were clean and trimmed down. He felt his hair and his beard was still long but it was clean and trimmed. His hair on his head was also cleaned and trimmed. He glanced at his abdomen, it was bandaged up, touching where he had been stabbed, there wasn't much pain at all.

The bandaging on his legs and closer to his crotch is where he froze. What had his men done to him?

"You were unconscious for most of it," a voice said. "But, your men, the ones that were missing during my father's 'judgement call' had raped and cut you. Your friend and brother, Eurylochus, is a good man. If he had left the cattle and you on the island, Helios would have taken you in. But, you're paying for your crews' crime. How very noble of you."

"Apollo," Odysseus started. "Why am I here in your infirmary? I don't quite understand-"

Apollo sighed, sitting on the side of the bed, near Odysseus' feet, "even if my father did not order me to take care of you, I wouldn't want you dead. I never hear about omegas being generals of armies and living to tell the tale. You intrigue me, Odysseus of Ithaca. I'll do my best to keep you safe, but you need to do what I tell you."