Chapter Text
The branches of the trees swayed in the wind, leaves falling past his face. The breeze pushed his hair back and out of place, the dirt beneath him getting trapped in his paws and fur.
"Hermes! Are you really wondering around the border of the forest again?" The leopards voice broke through the peaceful silence, spinning a glass of wine in his hand, almost spilling the liquid. "Look, I don't care what you do, but the big man does."
"I know I know." His tail flicked against the ground, the black crown marking of his fur standing out against the orange. "You just gotta be sneaky enough. He's easy to sneak around if you're careful."
Dionysus chuckled a little as Hermes approached him. "You're gonna get yourself fucked up one day you know that? Only beasts with hunting permissions are allowed into the forest." The two began walking, leaving the edge of the forest, Hermes occasionally kicking dirt off his paws. "I'm sure Apollos out thare right now actually."
"Think he'll get anything, or will Artemis beat him to it?" Hermes giggled, the twins often gave themselves challenges to compete with each other, Artemis always won.
"Artemis always wins, you know that." Dionysus took a gulp of the wine he held in his hand, claws tapping the glass to get the last few drops into his mouth. "Aw man.. I'm out of wine. How about we go to the bar? Ive not been in agesss." The man dramatically dragged out the last word.
"you went yesterday."
"Exactly! Thats like forever." Hermes' headwings flared out as the leopard grabbed his wrists and dragged him along.
____________
The air felt heavy as he ran. Paw prints were left behind in the mud that stained their paws. They had to run somewhere else now that they had definitely left tracks.
The rabbit turned into a dense area of the forest that was mostly grass rather than mud, before ducking under some branches and feeling the base of the tree. His hands cupped around the edges of a tree hollow just big enough to hide inside. He wasted no time before crawling inside. They could feel their whole body trembling while they held themselves low to the ground, his ears spread apart yet flat against his back.
He heard footsteps land heavy in front of his hiding spot, a stray feather finding it's way inside. "You find anything else?" The man spoke, stretching his wings slightly.
"I got a deer!" A womans voice came from somewhere up ahead, along with the desperate pleading of said deer, who was quickly silenced by a weapon that Tiresias could not identify.
"You think we've got enough to last a while?" The man questioned, talons flickering dirt into the tree hollow.
"Uh- I think so. We have to remember not to overdo it," she sighed, shaking her head slightly as she lifted her prey
"some of the others with hunting permissions don't seem to remember that we're all beasts at the end of the day."
"I suppose that's why we're in charge. Lets head back." With a flap of wings the man disappeared. Tiresias waited, staying hidden until he heard the sounds of other beast wondering around, looking for their loved ones that may or may not be gone.
He pulled himself out, kicking the grime off his paws. He wondered around for a while, other beasts were grieving, still searching, or crying tears of joy after discovering their loved ones were still alive. Something they wished they could still do.
He pushed aside the vines covering the entrance to his burrow, he was forced to flee after realising a hunt had started, it was simply the safest option. He settled down on the makeshift bed made from a mixture of leaves and grass, the occasional wilted flower here and thare, and drifted off to sleep.
____________
"Heh- and then they-..they hit me, man! Crazy right!?" Dionysus landed his face on the bar table, the ear that had the crown marking twitching as his hair shifted. Everyone had one of those markings, everyone related to Zeus or Hera, everyone in the city. A symbol of their royalty.
Dionysus was completely wasted, Hermes was drunk but he was getting thare. "Dude, whaaaat, what'd they do that for?"
"I dunno!" Dionysus flung his arms up, the bottle he held slipping from his grasp, landing in Apollo's hands.
"Are you two seriously drunk?" The crow signed, wings twitching in mild frustration. "Me and Artemis just brought back a fresh hunt. You're free to get a fresh meal and sober up a little."
Hermes giggled for seemingly no reason, his tail swaying from side to side. "Nah..I'll grab some later." Dionysus on the other hand, jumped to his feet, stretching his arms above his head.
"Hell yeah, I'm starving here." As the two walked away, Hermes sipped whatever was left of his drink, before ordering a water and walking through the dark city. Sun had set a couple hours ago.
He chugged down the water, breathing in fresh air, by the time he had gone sober again, mostly, he was back at the forests edge. Just staring into the trees. He had considered it a few times. Considered running off, never returning to the city, leaving behind everything.
He spun on his heel and headed home, ears falling back against his head. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and began fidgeting with the loose coin he had in one of them.
The door to his apartment let out a loud creaking noise that made his ears twitch. The fox pulled his messenger bag over his head and launched it carelessly onto the couch. He passed by the kitchen without making anything and pushed into his bedroom, kicking the dirty clothes that littered the floor. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, pausing to turn and stare at the reflection.
He stared at the headwings that rested on either side of his head. He was a fox, yet he had wings. Many of the beasts here are a mix between two species due to Zeus' infidelity, Hermes was one of the unlucky few to gain more prominent features from that. Sure Apollo is mixed species, but the eagle from Zeus didn't do much other than give him the crown mark in his feathers. He reached a hand up, grabbing one wing and stretching it out to look at the scars that rested at the bottom of it.
_____________
The bathroom floor was cold, but it didn't bother him much. Apollo burst in, black feathers fluffed up and messy. He shouted a few words, but Hermes didn't understand them, the blood loss made everything fuzzy. He felt Apollo lifting him up as warm liquid poured from his wings. He could make out the word "idiot" before he lost consciousness.
______________
The moment flashed through Hermes' mind, he had attempted to cut off his own wings, he got down to the bone before he collapsed and Apollo found him.
His fingers poked at the claw scar across his side, he had gotten it after pissing off Ares. The fox found it funny but the other clearly did not.
He took off his hoodie, tossing it onto the edge of his bed. He stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed, curling under the warm blankets and drifting off to sleep.
______________
His eyes darted around the dark streets, he felt people staring. So many people. He saw their eyes in the alleyways, judging him. Whispering things about him.
He picked up the pace, but he felt as if he couldn't run fast enough. His legs felt heavy as he tried, the word in front of him seemed to be fading away but he didn't stop running.
He was falling, he didn't know when he started falling or how, or even where he was falling. Everything was dark.
He landed on the hard invisible ground with a thud, yet somehow it didn't hurt. He pulled himself onto his knees, it took him a second to process who stood in front of him. "Father..?" His voice came out as a desperate, pathetic sound. The man's eyes narrowed, and Hermes almost crumbled from the disapproving look Alone.
"Truly pathetic." Zeus turned, and with a flash of lightning he was gone. Hermes scrambled, reaching forward and desperately trying to grab onto the man that was supposed to be his father.
"Father, please! Wait!" His voice cracked, no wonder he was treated like this. His hands grabbed something, it wasn't his father. His thumbs brushed against smooth skin, a gentle smile clear in the persons face.
"Hermes?" The voice was soft, gentle. The mans curly brown hair fell in front of his eyes. What colour were they again? Brown? Blue? Green? The hue of his eyes seemed to change in that order, before landing on a deep purple.
"Crocus.." Hermes trembled, his voice matching. He stared in awe, before a gash opened in the young man's forehead, purple flowers blooming from the wound as blood poured down. "What-"
"I'm dead, Hermes." His voice turned cruel, his gaze feeling like weights. "You killed me."
"No-.. No I-..I didn't mean to! Please-" He wasn't sure what he was begging for, or why he even tried. "I'm sorry."
He closed his eyes for a second, when he opened them, his lover was gone, and a discus was headed straight for him. Just before it hit, his eyes opened and he shot up drenched in an awful cold sweat.
A nightmare, of course. A stupid nightmare. He groaned as sunlight hit his eyes through the blinds. He stared at the wall before forcing himself up, stumbling on the mess that was his floor. He didn't have the energy to clean it. He can at least take a quick shower, he thinks.
He flinched at the cold water, waiting for it to heat up before he stepped in. The eventual warmth was nice. He lazily scrubbed his fur and the part of his torso that lacked it. His hair was still tangled, his hands found a stubborn knot that couldn't be conditioned and refused to be combed out. He grabbed a brush, the bristles catching and pulling out the tiny yet frustrating thing. He tossed the brush onto the sink and rinsed out his hair.
He ran a towel over his body before slipping into the only clean pair of boxers he could find. He'll just wear the same clothes.
Wondering back to his bedroom, he pulled on the same pair of loose enough black shorts and pulled the grey zip up hoodie over his shoulders. His hands gripped the bottle of pills on the table beside his bed, swallowing the last few pills and tossing the bottle into the bin with the others. He honestly hated them. Sure he hasn't killed himself yet but he would rather be labelled as mentally ill than be constantly numb from antidepressants.
He walked past the kitchen, once again ignoring the need for food. His hand hovered over the handle of the front door, he was shaking. Only slightly but it was thare, he didn't want that to be noticed. He rushed back to the kitchen and grabbed a shitty granola bar. He paused in front of the door and took a deep breath, forcing his face to look less depressed as he walked out.
He saw Dionysus in the hall slumped against a vending machine, he flashed a forced smile at the leopard and waved as he passed by.
After getting his daily messages from Zeus, he went about his day delivering mail to homes and a couple short face to face meetings his father didn't want to do himself. Occasionally, he'd stop by the forest, watching for a few minutes.
He finished delivering everything by the afternoon, he was good at getting things done quickly. He found himself by the forest again, he hadn't even realized how close he'd gotten, he could almost touch the trees in front of him.
He took another step forward, already feeling the grass in his paws. He turned, looking side to side and ensuring no one was watching, before taking off into a sprint. Adrenaline rushed through his veins as he ran, the forest got denser the further he went. It felt a little freeing. He wasn't sure why'd he'd broken the rules and ran off, but it felt nice.
That numb feeling faded slightly.