tthhee oddiissee Chapter 15

Ro hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep in weeks. He knew, on an intellectual level, that the idea the Angels would still be after him was slim-to-none, but logical thinking did nothing to ease his mind. He was almost killed, he lost his money, and nearly broke his leg (he still had a limp when walking around). There was a thought in the back of Ro’s head that the Angels would recognize him from out on the field and would be coming back to finish the job. He had kept moving ever since that night, trying to not to spend too much time at any one place. He hadn’t even gone back to his railway shack, not willing to compromise the closest thing he had to a home. Rest and recovery should’ve been a priority, but it was hard to imagine that Ro would be seeking either anytime soon.

And so that was the end of his string of “professional” jobs. He had gone back to what he had always done, and rode the train wherever it would take him, hoping to bilk a few Kronar out of a couple of unknowing marks, but he was far from being in the ideal condition for it. He hadn’t even been able to do use his holoskates since the masquerade ball, making quick getaways that much more difficult. Ro had to be extra careful and he knew it, but he also knew he was closer to fucking up than he had ever been since he started.

Ro did his best to keep a low profile, getting off the busy train and onto 36 plaza. He usually would’ve been careful to not hit the same train such short of time, but he had been getting desperate, and he knew the train route better than anything else. He would’ve usually stopped by in the bathroom to shake off any initial followers, but he couldn’t bear to see what he looked like in the mirror lately. Instead, he made a bee-line to the tethered terminal, trying to get in and out as fast as he can. He had the feeling that he was being followed, making him even more eager to get this over with as fast as he could.

Ro deposited the goods from the bump and grab like always, and was disappointed to see only 200 Kronar coming his way. I can barely afford a decent fucking meal. Ro let out a heavy sigh as he opened the drawer back up and reached for the pittance within.

“I saw what you did,” said a voice behind him. At least it wasn’t The Magician this time. That was the last person he wanted to see.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ro said, not turning around.

“Don’t act dumb.”

Ro straightened up, flipping his hand over, summoning the Silver Star into his hands. He turned around, his right hand holding the hammer right below the hammer head, ready to strike.

He was greeted by the sight of a man, late 20s if Ro had to guess, very short, around five-foot-two, but incredibly muscular. He was wider than any bodybuilder he had ever seen, clad in some tight-fitting athleisure wear including shorts, a tank top and loose windbreaker. He had sharp features, with dark blue eyes, a prominent nose, and a decent jawline that was defined, but it dominate his face. The thing that stood out more than anything else was his dark blue, short-cropped hair with two pointy wolf ears coming out the top. He was an animalia, but there was something else that Ro couldn’t put his finger on. He stood there studying the man’s for a few for more moments, before being totally shocked that he knew who the beastman in front of him was.

“Oh my god, it’s you,” Ro said, shuddering.

The man was taken aback by that. “W-what?”

“Here, here,” Ro said, frantically opening his turtleneck up and exposing the bite mark on his shoulder, lowering himself to put it right at the other man’s eye line.

The man stared at it for a moment before his eyes went wide with realization.

“Tell me you remember. Please, tell me you do,” Ro pleaded.

The other man scrambled to try and get Ro to cover back up, looking around to make sure no one would see them.

“Yes, yes, of course I do, put that away!”

Ro did as asked, standing back up, a big, relieved smile coming across his face. “I can’t believe it’s you. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

The other man still looked shocked. “I didn’t think anyone could survive it.”

Ro let out a little chuckle in return “Well, I’m not…” Ro’s eyes started watering. “I’m not like most people,” he said softly, wiping away the water.

The other man couldn’t help but be confused by Ro’s reaction.

“Uh…” The man gently took Ro’s hand. “Here, we should get off the streets and somewhere more comfortable. We can talk more somewhere else.”

“Of course, of course.”

The two men found themselves seated at Broux in the dark corner of the cafe that Ro always favored. He made sure to set himself so that he would be facing the door, just in case trouble would come along.

“I don’t even know how you recognized me,” the man, who had introduced himself as “Leon” told Ro.

“To be honest, I’m not sure how I did it, myself. The whisper didn’t even tell me who you were.”

“The what?”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s not important. I should’ve asked though, do you actually remember me? I look a bit different than I used to.” Ro let out a little chuckle. “Of course, the same thing could be said about you.”

“I actually did remember you. It took a minute or two, but it came to me shortly after it must’ve occurred to you. I think that’s maybe why I followed you in the first place. But I remember it all: the canoe, the beach, the fog, your hammer. I was more surprised to see you still had it.” They both exchanged a bit of a chuckle.

After quieting down a bit, Leon started again “I, uh…” he started to blush a little.“I bit a lot of people back then. It wasn’t something I had control of. This is actually the first time I’ve met someone I bit.”

“I guess I should feel lucky then?”

“I… I guess. I think. Well, I think you’re the only who lived that long. I mean, there probably are some other survivors out there, but, uh… how do I put it…”

“I don’t look like I’ve aged. I’m guessing you haven’t, either.”

Leon slammed his fist on the table, excited. “That’s exactly it! You’re the first person I’ve met like that. What’s that about?”

“I wish I could tell you. Maybe it’s the mutagen or something. The Colonel called me ‘Unending.’ I think he might’ve been right.”

“The colonel? Who-”

They were interrupted by the waiter coming by with their beverages.

“Buckwheat tea?”

“That’s me,” Leon said, taking the saucer and cup from the waiter.

“And a quatro, black for you,” the waiter said putting the coffee down in front of Ro. Ro gave a slight nod in acknowledgment as the waiter walked away.

Leon took a peek at Ro’s mug of tall murky black coffee. “What is that?”

“It is four shots of espresso.”
“Jesus. Doesn’t that cause people’s, uh… like, make their hearts explode?”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Ro replied, taking a big swig and letting out a weary sigh.

“Are you doing okay? You seem… troubled.”

There was a small derisive chortle that emanated from Ro. “My whole life is trouble.” He let out yet another weary sigh as he put his arms on the table, dropped his head, and stared directly into his coffee cup.

“The labyrinth, the bite, the mercs, and of course, The fucking Magician. It’s not exactly like before all that it was going great, but…” Ro took another swig of his coffee, looking back up at Leon as he spoke.

“To make a long—and I mean long— story short, I tried my hand at being a more… professional sort of criminal. The whole thing went sideways and the Angels showed up. I’m sure you heard about the masquerade ball?”
“Yeah, it was all over the tether. They were after you?”

“No idea. It’s probably more likely they were after the guy who I was giving the tapes to, but it’s not like I stuck around to find out. I just have that feeling that they’re going to try and tie up some loose ends, you know what I mean?”

“Of course I understand. But also, they stop after a week, don’t they?”

“Yeah, I know. It’s just… I’ve been left alone with my thoughts for a while, and I just can’t help looking over my shoulder. Seeing the Angels again really shook me up.”

“I’m surprised to hear anyone had more than one run-in with the Angels.”
“Don’t be too impressed. The only other time I saw them it ended poorly. You may have heard about it from Mako on his publicity tours to end the merc wars,” Ro responded with a faint touch of bitterness in his voice.

“Wait, you knew Mako during the merc days?” Leon thought about it for a second, before the revelation came across his face. “You’re Arro, aren’t you?”
“I was Arro. Arro died with the rest of the Red Band, but Dexetrio saw fit to bring me back to the world of the living, with some minor alterations.”

“That checks out. They were people who brought me back to relative normalcy. Granted, they were responsible for my transformation in the first place, but at least they made up for it. All the money I signed up for decades ago with some extra on top.”

“You signed up to become a monster?”

“No, of course not, it was for, well…” Leon stopped himself and though, taking a deep breath. This was something he had explained before, but clearly didn’t enjoy doing.

“I was born with a disease that affected my muscular development.”

“Oh. I thought you were just a bodybuilder.”

“No, you still have it wrong. It was the exact opposite: my muscles couldn’t develop properly. I spent most of my adolescent years in various braces and mobility devices. Probably why I’m so short, heh.” He said with sad smile.

“Anyway, I caught wind of Dexetrio. There were rumors going around the Tethered forums I was on. They were doing some sort of research into genetic therapy options and were looking for some adult animalia. It’s funny, I found out about it and I still had to wait two years before I could even sign up for the clinical trial. My parents thought it was too risky, of course, but they didn’t know what it was like. They weren’t the ones grasping for whatever miracle may be out there. So, I turned eighteen, I signed up and… you can guess what happened.”

“I have a rough idea, yeah.”

“So they tranq me, bring me in and give me a long-awaited round of treatment, letting me ‘off-gas’ for a few dozen years, release me to the closest living relative with a decent amount of hush money and that was that. I guess the good news is that they did cure my condition, even if there are some odd side-effects with my myostatin, leading to what you see before you. Can’t go through life without being some sort of freak, I guess.”

“Trust me, I know what you mean. It looks good on you, though.”

Leon blushed, giving a little smile. “Thanks. I try to embrace as best as I can. You don’t look half-bad, yourself.”

“You don’t have to tell me I look good, I already know. Part of what made me a such a successful gigolo. Not that I don’t appreciate it, hot stuff.”
Leon’s face become even redder. God, he’s cute for a roided-out freak.

Leon scrambled to move past the flirtation “S-so… anyway, I was a little surprised to see you being a pickpocket. I would’ve thought Dexetrio would give you a decent pay-out.”

“Pay-out?” Ro said incredulously. “They hired The Angels to kill me and drag my gigantic lifeless body to be destroyed. They didn’t expect me to survive and when they did they held me prisoner. Sure, I’m not a gigantic, mute mercenary, but they didn’t exactly lend a helping hand after I broke out of their facility. They did their best to cover the whole mess up, I guess. As far as they know, I wasn’t there and their scientists died for no reason.”

“Jesus”
“Don’t act so surprised. I was a mercenary, remember? It prepares you for a certain sort of problem-solving. I had your ‘cure’ foisted upon me. You? They can pay you, make it look nice and square on the books and use the research for later, even if they’re publicly ‘ashamed’ of it. For me, they were trying to cover things up. I’m not supposed to exist, and in official capacity, I don’t. You can do whatever you want to someone who doesn’t exist.”

Leon was visibly stunned and disturbed by what Ro was saying to him.

“What… what do you mean? I mean, I didn’t have anyone to come back to either, but I still found my way eventually. Surely, you can-”
“No, Leon. All I knew was the roving merc life and when I got out it wasn’t an option. And the guy responsible for it all was someone I loved more than anyone before.”

“Have you… have you tried seeking him out.”

Ro closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“I couldn’t do that. To him or me. The martyr for his cause: Arro, the gentle giant who was forced into a life of violence turns out to be alive, unrecognizable, and has a real mouth on him. I doubt I’d get far enough with him for him to even believe me, but if anyone caught wind of it, it would destroy his legacy. And don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what he did, but… guys like me get left behind.”

Ro did his best to hide it, but he was close to crying when he continued. “Mako got to live an entire life without me. Why should I bother ruining it?”

There was another awkward silence. Ro looked away from Leon and did his to keep himself from tearing up while Leon was trying to figure out how to get away from the topic that was causing the man across from him so much pain.

“Fuck, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-”
“You didn’t know.” Ro wiped his eyes, taking a big breath, sucking all his mucus back in. “My point: I don’t have anything to go back to. Even before the merc life and even before getting bit. There’s no going back, I’ve tried to figure it out. See, I…” Ro stopped himself. Don’t be stupid, he won’t believe it. “Never mind.”

“What? What is it?”

“It’s not worth trying to explain. It’s too… out there.”

“Are you serious? We’ve both gone over the lives we had that don’t make sense at all. You’re really saying you have something to make me doubt you now?”

“You say it doesn’t make sense, but there is an explanation for it all, outlandish as it is. This… This is different. This is beyond explanation; I don’t even understand it myself. I doubt anyone could aside from… well, I don’t want to talk about The Magician.”

“The what?”

Ro ignored the question. “What I’m saying is that even by the standards we’ve set, this is far-fetched.”

“Try me.”

Ro stared back at Leon for a moment, examining the man sitting in front of him. Leon looked more enraptured by Ro’s story than anything else and seemed ready to accept any sort of information that would come his way. Ro let out another heavy sigh before continuing.

“I can’t go back to my old life because… I don’t know what it was.”

“How do you mean?”

“I mean that the world I was born into and spent the formative years of my life is simply… gone. Or maybe it’s still there, but I have no idea where it is. I just opened up my apartment door one day and there was nothing there. And then I ended up here.”

“So, you’re… I mean… you’re an alien?”

Ro stopped to think about it for a while. “I don’t think it’s that simple. I’m as human as anyone else. Well, as any human is. I mean, I guess I don’t know for sure, but…” Ro stopped himself, trying to figure out the exact right way to say it. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, swirling the air in front of him with his hands as if trying to grasp the right words. He finally opened his eyes.

“It’s like the world I’m from influenced this place somehow, or maybe it’s the other way around. There's similar foods, trains, cities, trees, whatever, but it’s just… off. We’re speaking the language I grew up with, but it isn’t English. ‘Earth’ is just a word for the dirt beneath or feet and ‘Jesus’ is just a name. In some ways, it’s refreshing, but…

“When you were released from Dexetrio, it was shocking, right? Everyone you used to know died, technology progressed, music, movies, all of it changed. It took a while to adjust, right?”

“Yeah. Of course.”

“But you can still put on your favorite song from before and it sounds just as good. The tethered has advanced in a lot of ways, but from what I can tell that things been around for at least a century so you can build on the knowledge you had before to get adjusted to what we have today, right?”

“Yeah. That’s how I got my job in audio engineering. It hasn’t changed that much, even in seventy years.”

“Right! And your parents may be gone, but you can still see their photos. You can find the obituaries of most people you remembered. Even if it’s painful, you can still find closure. I don’t have any of that. Everything I knew disappeared. Sure I heard some good techno when I was in the Red Band, but I still can’t listen to those Detroit classics. There are movies and books and comics that are so fundamental to my development as a person, that formed my ideas and views of the world, and they’re all gone. And tell me…”

Ro leaned over, intensely. “Do you know what it’s like to forget the faces of your own family? To not have any evidence they existed? The longer I live, the more everything fades. My first boyfriend is completely gone from my mind, I can’t even remember his name. And there are no photos. No videos, no obituaries, no evidence they ever existed. There’s no evidence I ever existed. And like I said-”

Leon finished Ro’s sentence, disturbed by the notion “You can do anything you want to someone who doesn’t exist. God.” Leon couldn’t help but stare at Ro with a puzzled and shocked expression.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Ro asked.
“It’s not that, it’s more like… I don’t know. It’s a lot to take in. I believe you were Arro and I believe you’re, in a technical sense, a non-person at the very least. I don’t really know you well enough to believe everything.”

Ro took a deep breath, and a small, bitter smile came across his face, a harsh little laugh came from his chest. “I should’ve known better,” he muttered.

Ro chugged the rest of his coffee, slamming it down on the table. “I’m sorry for wasting your time.”

Ro got up and started to walk away, but Leon leapt out of his seat and grabbed Ro’s hand, hard. Those muscles aren’t just for show. “Wait, Rollo, no. I can’t just let you leave. I want to help you.”

“Help?” Ro asked derisively. Ro ripped his hand away as he turned back towards Leon. “I don’t need help. I’ve got a perfectly solid life of prostitution and petty theft ahead of me. What could you even do for me, puppy?” Ro said harshly.
“Don’t give me that shit,” Leon replied angrily. “You can act as tough as you want, I know the truth. You’re lost and scared, even if you want the world to know, you’ve got it all figured out.”

Ro’s tone softened. “How do I know you’re not just doing this because you feel guilty.”

“Guilt? Rollo, you’re the one person I’ve met who’s gone through nearly the same thing I did. We’ve both lived far too long and lost too much. I can’t know exactly what you’ve gone through, but I’m the closest you’ve got.”

Leon let go of Ro’s hand, and let out a sigh of his own. “Look, you’re an adult. I can’t ask you to do anything you don’t want to, but I want to be here for you. You just have to ask.”

Ro rested his hand on Leon’s shoulder, considering it all for a moment. I couldn’t do that to him.

“See you around,” Ro said, turning away and walking out the door, leaving Leon alone and hurting. Ro didn’t even turn around to look at him.