The Lost Twins 16. Apollo

"We're here," Felix gently whispered to Athena several hours later as the plane began to descend over the lovely island of Sao Miguel in the middle of the Atlantic. The sunlight was slanted and tinted with orange, since the evening was closing in, and the snow-capped mountains shone like cone candles, sticking up between cotton candy of clouds.
"Home sweet home," she said almost scornfully as she spotted her island, the town and the runway by the sea.
"You're not glad to see it?"

"I am. Yet honestly, Felix, I'm more like afraid of what I'm going to face. Oromandus was like an uncle to me, or a way older brother. He started out as my mother's personal attorney but over the years he became so much more. Almost like a member of the family. He was the one who taught me to drive and to handle the guns. He took care of us during times of turmoil, always the steady form, the lighthouse guiding me home through stormy seas."
"And now you fear for him?" Athena could only nod her head at Felix' sombre words while the plane banked in over the runway, preparing to set itself down on the tarmac.

Fifteen minutes later the seatbelts signs chimed and went off and the two of them gathered their belongings, and headed out from the plane and towards immigration. Athena noted that Felix was carrying an Italian passport, but she didn't think that much of it. However she had always assumed him to be Austrian or perhaps Swiss. For some reason he seemed more held together than the regular southern European still without the general squariness of the northern Europeans.

On the other side of the immigration they picked up their valises and then they were out of the airport building, hailing a taxi and asking the driver to take them to Ponta Delgada and the Santa Maria Hospital. And once again a hesitant silence settled between the two of them while the car drew them in towards the county seat. Athena brought out her Blackberry, trying to get hold of Eric and ended up leaving a message on his answer machine, then she found herself staring at the well-known scenario of her home island, lost in thoughts. Neither Felix said much, he seemed to be preoccupied with something as well.

Half an hour later, as she and Felix walked into the little hospital, Athena immediately spotted Eric coming towards them in the foyer. He appeared to have obtained some minor injuries, mostly just cuts on the side of his face and which had been taken care of. Ostensibly they had all been through a rough day, each in their own part of the world. Hastily, Athena gave him a hug.
"Dearest, I'm so glad to see that you're okay," she sighed in relief, giving him one quick squeeze before she disconnected from the embrace. Then she turned to Felix. "Eric, this is Felix Polonius, Felix, this is Eric Thonius. My son, whom I told you about."

If Felix noted anything about the dissemblance between Athena and the mulatto 20 year old, he didn't say a word about it. Eric in turn squinted briefly, looking upwards as though trying to remember something.
"Polonius?" He then cocked his head towards his mother. "Didn't you work with someone named Polonius a few years ago?" A bit surprised that he had recalled that information so quickly, she chose to evade the question for the time being.
"It's quite of a long story, I prefer to save it for a bit later."

As the men introduced themselves to one another, Athena's eyes wandered about the sparsely crowded lobby. There was no sign of Artemis.
"Where's..." Athena began to ask but Felix cut her off.
"Artemis?"

Athena gave him an utterly baffled expression. It was as if he had red her mind when he filled in her statement. As she stared at Felix, she realized that he wasn't talking to her. His attention was directed somewhere else. Following his sea-blue gaze, Athena turned around, and, sure enough, Artemis was standing a few feet behind her. For a split second Athena noted that her sister suffered from more or less the same types of injuries as Eric did, as well as a bit more drastic one on her upper arm. It was wrapped in bandages that showed a bit of dried blood that had seeped through, and a dark bruise surrounding the area. But that was not which had caught Athena's attention. The younger woman looked like she'd just seen a ghost and her pretty face had turned deathly pale.
"Dear heavens, it cannot be," Artemis breathed. "Apollo?"

When Eric and Athena exchanged puzzled looks she found her son being as perplexed as she was. Apollo? Here? Had she travelled all over the world to locate Artemis' lost brother, only to find him here? In the very Ponta Delgada hospital where Eric and Artemis had searched aid earlier? Turning around, following Artemis' gaze, Athena found herself staring at the equally confounded face of – Felix Polonius.

"You know him?" Eric questioned Artemis, who in turn couldn't take her eyes off of Felix as a myriad of emotions flew across her face, surprise, elation, sadness, anger, consternation and then an astonished disbelief again as if she assumed that she was dreaming. Athena could just imagine what her sister was going through. It would be the very same thing as she had felt yesterday, at the Unicorn plant in Tokyo, Japan, where she first had encountered Felix Polonius. But could he really...?
"Do I know him?" Artemis exclaimed as she swallowed and blinked several times. The next moment she finally seemed to collect herself. "He's my brother!"

Athena gazed back and forth between the two of them. By all means! The picture her sister had shown her earlier! The picture of Artemis and her brother.

It was Felix. Felix was Apollo. Apollo was Felix.

And Athena had apparently succeeded in her venture, without even knowing it!

"Why didn't you ever tell me you had a sister?" Athena turned to Felix, asking the only thing she could come to think of.
"Actually," Felix/Apollo sought for words to say. "You never asked," he settled for, and that much was true. She had never asked. Why should she have? As a matter of fact, the talk of families had never brought up between the two of them, however it had hovered there at the back of both of their minds, since they were both enhanced and both believed that they might possibly be related in one way or another. Or at least connected to Professor Titan's project.

Besides, Athena hadn't even told Felix/Apollo why she really had come to Tokyo, Japan and the Unicorn compound that other night. He had probably assumed she was there mainly for the strange experiments, just as him, and Athena hadn't thought of giving him a reason to believe in anything else, so caught up in the motions had she been. In any case she realized she had a lot of explanations to do, foremost when it came to what this all was about. Why she had travelled around the world to find him. She needed to tell him about their father Zeus and the planned Circle of Twelve.

"You! You're alive, your bastard," Artemis exclaimed, unable to keep herself together. The light makeup surrounding her eyes started trickling down her face, leaving behind thin lines of black, along with the tears washing it away. She raised her hands in the air, but not knowing what to do with them, she let them fall again, as a stream of Italian words came through her mouth. Tentatively, Apollo stepped closer to Artemis and then he gathered his courage and engulfed her in an embrace while Eric and Athena stood back and watched.

A small group, with an old patriarch in a wheelchair passed them by, casting short glances in their directions. Then again, dramas in hospital foyers weren't exactly uncommon, and the other group disregarded them quickly and disappeared through the glass doors and out in the dark of the late evening.

Athena could tell that her sister was in a far more shock than she had been the other night. Something she understood, remembering what Artemis had told a few days earlier when they had just met. That the young actress hadn't seen her twin brother since the two of them were barely nineteen years old. How long would that have been? Nearly twelve years?

Now Athena could see the resemblance; the deep golden blond hair, although Artemis's was slightly darker. Even the features of their faces were now visibly similar, like their nose and chin. And their eyes, they were dead ringers of one another; both a captivating, electric blue. The same blue as Zeus' eyes in fact, why hadn't she earlier seen her father's eyes in Apollo, she scolded herself. Probably because she hadn't been looking, a dry, realistic voice told at the back of her head. She had been too preoccupied with other things, first in Norway then in Japan.

Artemis was sobbing at her brother's shoulder and while Apollo didn't shed a tear, his eyes were distant and blurry. Another minute or two passed before he finally released her.
"This makes..." Artemis was saying, looking to from Apollo to Athena and then back again. As she was unable to speak, Athena decided to break the news.

"Apollo, this makes us sister and brother as well. However not twins, and only sharing a father."
"You mean," Apollo was pointing to his own frame and then to her with his left hand while still cradling Artemis in his right arm. "You're a daughter of Zeus too?"
"I sure am."
"I should have guessed," Apollo said, and now it appeared as if he was the one scolding himself. "Honestly, I almost suspected it after Norway. However I was never given the time to pursue that suspicion. And the notion was awakened yesterday, Athena, when you mentioned your sister's name being Artemis. Just like mine. That was why I wanted to come with you. However I chose not to say anything about my reason, in case I should be wrong."

"Norway?" Artemis asked.
"Long story," Athena replied. "In any case, Zeus sent me out to find the two of you. And I seem to have acquired that faster than I ever thought." Then she remembered something. "Eric! Where's Oromandus?"

¤*¤*¤*¤*¤

A nurse showed the four of them up a flight of stairs, down a hall and into the room where Oromandus was resting. The elderly man sure was a sight for sore eyes, where he laid beneath the white and teal coloured bed covers, hands to his side, a drip connected to a vein in his right arm and an oxygen mask covering half of his face. A heart monitor was giving its steady blimps as it drew a perfect cardiac curve in green on the black screen. Athena seated herself on the stool beside Oromandus's bed and took his feeble hand in hers.

"Oromandus, can you hear me? It's me. Athena," her low voice pleaded at the barely conscious man in the bed. As a response he partly opened his wise, elderly eyes and looked at her.
"Lady Athena, it's good to see you." Oromandus greeted her, his voice meager and raspy, as he lifted the face mask with a weak left hand. He managed to give her weak smile and she noted that his hand was shaking.

"What, exactly happened?" Athena asked, turning to her son.
"He was shot. Twice. In the back." Eric said, hardly daring to meet his mother's steel gray eyes. "The doctor said that it wouldn't usually be fatal but his age makes a difference." His look shifted from concerned to downright furious. While pommeling his fists by his side, the normally so gentle and timid Eric looked as if he were about to punch someone in the face. "It was her, Athena. That damned little friend of yours."

"Who?"
"Medusa Gorgona."

Athena's head felt as though it were about to explode, and once again, tears stung her eyes. But this time it wasn't just because of her distress for Oromandus. Now her anger was boiling. Medusa Gorgona. She should have guessed.

Medusa Gorgona originally came from Iceland but had left her home country to study engineering in Switzerland, and after graduating had she come to work for the CERN back in the mid 00ies. It was there Athena had gotten to know the younger woman and been impressed by her dedicated and skillful work and how she was selfishlessly sending parts of her salary to her parents and two younger sisters back in Iceland. Athena had hired her, making sure she was getting her deserved promotions.

First Athena had found the young woman nice and smart, but she had soon begun to note peculiarities going on around her. Nothing she could put a finger on, but there had been small signs that not everything was kosher with Miss Gorgona. Nevertheless, Athena had invited Medusa to come with her to a conference for scientists in Saint Tropez, France. There, Athena had encountered Poseidon Olympias, Zeus' brother and her uncle, who had become something of an extra parent to her during her years in Greece, taking her out for sailing holidays and similar things. Delighted to see him, Athena had introduced Medusa and Poseidon to each other and then she hadn't thought more about it – not until she had learned that the two of them had engaged in a relation.

Athena had tried to warn Medusa then, telling her that Poseidon walked through women like other people changed underwear. However her employee had misunderstood of course, believing Athena considering her not good enough for her wealthy and influential Greek family.

It had gone downhill from there, the women's business relation had been affected too, and when Athena had promoted another young engineer to a title Medusa had wanted, the Icelandic woman had not been late to blame Athena for what she interpreted as having been 'sidestepped' in the promotion process. Then, when Medusa's relation with Poseidon had ended, something Athena knew would happen, the younger woman had once again blamed Athena for the development. At that time her animosity began affecting her professional life as well, Medusa had actually started messing around with things and back-talking Athena at the research facility. In the end Athena had seen no other solution than, after giving her several chances to atone herself, finally firing her.  

That was when Medusa had disappeared out of Athena's life after more than five years of more or less day to day encounter, and these days Athena had no idea about where her former employee had gone. She had presumed that Medusa had gone back to Iceland, but she felt at that moment she couldn't care less. When it comes to her, the chapter of Medusa was over. That was why she was so surprised in finding about this woman having been here on the Azores. Not to mention attacking Eric and Artemis. There seemed to be a lot more going on beneath the surface than she first had suspected.

Oromandus coughed, bringing her back to reality again.
"Oromandus, you're going to be alright. I promise," Athena held his hand tighter, she wanted to squeeze but she hardly dared. The old lawyer coughed once more. Then smiled at Athena again.
"You're so much like your mother, you know," he began. "So gentle under that firm steel, so full of care. Just as Metis was." He took a deep breath. Just talking was apparently making him weaker, and Athena wept in her heart.

"Oromandus, don't say anything right now. You can tell me later," Athena insisted. She bit her lip to keep her eyes from tearing up. She had to be strong.
"No, Athena. There won't be a later, I'm afraid," Oromandus said. Calmly, as if it meant nothing to him. He continued after a moment of regaining his breath. "Athena, a while before your mother was..." He stopped, being careful not to say what she knew he meant to say. "Before she passed away, she gave me this." Oromandus reached for the table beside him, grabbed something small and placed it into Athena's hand. "Metis told me to give it to you when I felt you needed it most."

Athena opened her hand. It was a small box made out of dark red leather, hardly the size of her fist. Opening it up, she found herself looking at a little silver locket in the shape of a heart. She plucked it out of the box and turned it over. On the back side, there was one tiny name engraved in cursive lettering: Metis. Athena remembered the charm from a long time ago. Metis, her mother, had always worn it. It used to belong to her, as it was given to her by her own mother, Thetys. Since she hadn't seen it in years and years, Athena had assumed it had been lost. Now she opened it up. Still, just as she remembered it, there was a picture of her mother inside. Now she was crying for real, not even bothering with drying the tears off her cheeks.
"Thank you, Oromandus! I can't even begin... I miss her so much!"

Closing her eyes, she clasped the charm in her hand as a million pictures were flowing through her head. Her mother playing with her by the beach, her mother leading the pony she was sitting on. Her mother and her dining together. Her mother in the audience as she was on stage, playing one of King Lear's daughters in the school play. Athena had been twenty when Metis had passed away, had just returned from Greece and her education. She remembered calling her father, pleading for him to come, but he had not been able to make it. The strange disease, which had ripped Metis prematurely from the world had had such a fast development and the doctors had all been at loss, even the German and American expert jetting in from abroad had been crestfallen at the dying beauty in front of them in the hospital room.

"Mother," she whispered slowly and silently. Oromandus choked on a few more violent coughs. Seeing the forlorn expression on Athena's face, he took her hand again and squeezed it ever so gently.
"Athena," he softly said, his calm, chestnut eyes looking into hers. It was so quiet, yet she could hear it perfectly. The way he said her name made her realize that this was it. She couldn't hold it back anymore. One tear after another came running down her face when Oromandus's hand went frighteningly cold and loose.
"Athena," he tried again. "You have to be strong now. Take care of your little family!"

Every moment throughout the years had Oromandus been the most truly loyal companion to both her and her mother. He had been as close to them as if he really was family. After having him by her side all through her life, save for her Greek years, it was now all over.

He was gone.