Look At The Sky ~ An Achilles And Patroclus Fanfiction

Chapter Five ~ Hiding won't help

NEOPTOLEMUS'S POV

I used to never doubt my father. Growing up without him, I wanted to be greater than he would even be, but soon after meeting him I realised that I will never become half of the man he truly is and that's fine, because I can grow to be my own person while being inspired by his kindness, his willingness to help and his unconditional love and respect to everyone close to him. This time though, my perfect father had taken a questionable decision: we would hide in disguise amongst the people who died recently, gather information about who are the greatest men in history according to them and then gather those men to come with us to we can all stand up to Hades and his recent decisions.
That same night, I asked some of my friends to find us our disguises. Needless to say, my own mother didn't recognise me: that part of the had definitely worked. I did look the same, but from what we knew nothing big was known about me, so I didn't camouflage as much as the others, happy to be somewhere that no one would have known my real identity. It took me some time to adjust and get used to my family's new appearances, but we managed to leave without anyone noticing us. My father was standing near me while Patroclus was walking with my mother and Briseis behind us. We had decided to wait until nighttime, so no one would see us wandering around. We walked for hours, when we finally reached our destination: the newest part of the underworld, looking as chaotic as it did for us when we first arrived.
My father gave me an approving look and we went in, as nothing ever happened. People were looking at us, but we could tell it was purely put pf curiosity, there was no way we reminded them of someone. Suddenly,  someone came close to us.

- And who are you, people?

- We just died, I said.

- How?

- Earthquake, Patroclus rushed to say.

- Welcome, a man's voice said. You will get used to it here.

- Hope so, my father said.

- You! You remind me of someone, the man shouted to me.

- Really? Who?

- My father used to tell me a myth, about a war in some place, he had a drawing of what people thought the greatest warrior looked like and it's exactly like you!

- How can it be? I haven't been in any wars.

- Your scarf, he said, is hiding copper curls, like the great warrior's. How can you look so much like him?

- Coincidence, I said. How can I've been in a mythical war if I died a week ago?

- I don't know, he admitted. He was said to be the greatest man of them all.

- I see, my father said. Well, do you think there were other great men, besides this anonymous one that you told us about?

- Well, there was Odysseus and his son Telemachus, and many many more.

- Sorry, my father said, what was the name of the great warrior you were talking about before?

- Achilles, he said, lowering his head.

- Never heard of him, my father said.

I had to look back at him in disbelief. He had managed to trick them that he doesn't even know the man they were talking about, even though they had him in front of them. They also thought I was looking too much like him, so I was grateful to Briseis that suggested to hide my father's green eyes. My mother and Patroclus were standing silent, trying to hold their laughs. It was indeed funny, but our minds should have been focused.
After gathering some more names, we decided to leave and go hide in the most common parts of the underworld, where they kept the people who meant nothing to them. We recognised the pattern, old caves and dirt, rocks of all shapes. They has been completely forgotten, a step away from being vanished. We found an old cave in a lonely hill and decided to stay there until we formed the next part of the plan. We kept reassuring eachother, prayed and spoke as quiet as possible, while we were adding details to our plan. Everything was good, except a small detail I noticed: we were being followed.

- Father, I said that night, can we talk?

- Sure, he said. What's wrong?

- I noticed a guard standing way too close to our cave earlier today, I said.

My father looked at me with a worried face, then embraced me.

- Thank you for letting me know, he said. Wake everyone up, we have to move forward with our plan.

I did as he said and we all gathered around him, looking at him, desperately wanting to know what our next move would be.

- I decided, he said, that if you all agree we will head back and gather the men up to go stand up to Hades. Neoptolemus saw a guard earlier and guards aren't supposed to just hang around without having any responsibilities, someone sent the guard here. Please consider it.

Everyone agreed and we left that cave that same night. We were all aware of one thing now: Hades knew something was going on, and hiding won't help.