On the Other Side of Heaven With You

Chapter three: Lucien

Garrett opened his eyes slowly, moving a hand to shield his eyes from the bright light the sun beamed on him. Sure, the sun would never cause his eyes any damage, but it still was lightly annoying to him. He loved his ability with light, but damn did the light beaming into his retinas feel like a personal insult sometimes.
He sighed and went over to his mirror, honestly, he was glad he'd been able to avoid all of the girly clothes mother had put in his wardrobe so far. Just because mother had tried to bar him from befriending mortals didn't mean he hadn't found a way to get to their planet behind her back. He didn't like the outfits she tried to force him into. She put dresses, blouses, and skirts in his closet, wanting them to be his only options. He was thankful for him access to the mortal plane, it allowed him to get clothes he has a higher preference for, dispite their less than preferable durability.
To get his clothes past his mother he'd wear one of the more cloak like dresses over them. He always took it off when he was out of her sight and by the river.
Whenever she saw his prefered clothes, she had given them to one of the Fai to "deal with". That usually meant burning them to ashes or something of the sort. It was extremely upsetting to him, so he had gotten good at hiding them from her quickly. Protesting it only got him more trouble; he'd learned that quickly. She had done many things he'd rather not remember.
He threw on the dark grey dress, it had rose like details on the left shoulder seme. He disliked this one, but his favorite was muddied from the riverbank. This one was one of mother's favorites, and was one of his only hopes of getting him out of her sight today.
He walked out of the little cornered off part of the garden he was to call his room. It wasn't a room, it wasn't even really that private. Mother could enter and leave it whenever she pleased.
He was lucky she'd let him have the mirror, as it gave him the ability to hide the clothes he preferred. he'd made a little cubby behind the mirror, using the thick bushes mother had used to make the "walls" of his room to make a small dresser, which the mirror hid. He'd manipulated their branches Into little shelves to support the folded clothes he put in them.
Mother hadn't noticed it, and didn't think to look behind the mirror. He felt lucky for that, but then again she was definitely convinced that he'd never try to sneak clothes by her again. He was glad she thought that, but disappointed that his reaction to her extremely cruel "punishments" for doing it in the first place were bad enough to convince her. He didn't like that he'd given her the thought of the power she held over him.
He stepped out into the rest of the garden and looked around for his mother. After not spotting her, he made a mad dash for the gardens exit,  but he was swiftly stopped by someone. He turned to see who had stopped him, assuming it was his mother.
But it wasn't. It was one of the Fai. This was one of the Fai that had never talked to him before.  In fact, he wasn't sure if he'd ever seen this one before.
"Uhm... Hello" Garrett said anxiously, looking at this new Fai.
"Finally caught ya! Sorry for the scare! I'm Lucien. I'm not supposed to be here..." The Fai, Lucien, said.
"Are you here to tell me not to see the river? Or take me to mother?" He asked, trying not to sound disappointed. He was really hoping he'd be able to visit the lost soul today.
"Oh! No, not at all! I'm not actually a Fai. I'm the child of the God of nightmares. I'm the God of Identity! Or well, I'm an awakened demigod."Lucien, the not-Fai, said.
"What's a demigod? Or awakened demigod? I wasn't aware of any gods other than mother."
"Oh, Dad was right! She didn't tell you anything!" Lucien said, looking sad for a moment before they brightened up. "Well, that just means I get to teach you!"
Garrett tilted his head a bit, and yelped as his hand was grabbed by the not-Fai. The strange one dragged him out of the garden with a smile donned on their face.
"Hey, uh Lucien! Could you stop?!" Garrett seemed a little panicked.
"Yea, sure!" Lucien purred, coming to a stop and letting go of Garrett.
There was a moment of pause, then a mildly panicked shout of "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
Garrett was taking the dress off; he was confused as to why Lucien was so panicked by it. He was just getting off the least comfortable thing he'd ever worn.
"And now we can go..." Garrett said, smiling as he hid the dress in the outer bush of the garden. "Why are you freaked out?"
"Wha... You don't look like a girl. Dad said that you were her daughter"
"Haha, sorry to burst your bubble on that. But I'm her son, she just wishes I were a girl. She says I'm her daughter, and that I've always been a girl." Garrett says, humming as he smoothed out his shirt. "I bet you were told my name's Gabriella too. It's actually Garrett."
Lucien looked fairly confused before shaking his head a little. "Sorry, didn't know that. Well, nice to meet ya Garrett!"
"Are you going to tell me about what demigods are, or who the other gods are?"
"I'm an awakened demigod, it means I was born of a god and a mortal copulating.  But I went through a fairly traumatic experience that awakened me! I'm basically on the level of a normal god now." Lucien said, using his wrist to move his hand in a circular motion. "And I was gonna take you to meet my dad. He'd be able to explain who the other gods are better than I!"
"I wanted to go to the river to see the boy with white hair. I wanted to talk to him again."
"Well then, Let's go!"