Fathers and Sons

"I am not your father you fool."

Jack fumbled with the pendant in his hands, still thinking his theory over. After flipping through Zeus' memories severally, he had finally seen what the god looked like. Jack was taken aback at the image that stared back at him and thought Zeus' familiarity and perverseness towards his mother was a sign.

"It is beyond impossible," Zeus scoffed. "My consciousness had no need to resuscitate, so assuming a mortal body while I was incapacitated is folly."

"But our resemblance..."

"The fates thought it would be a good idea if our hosts seemed like complete reincarnations of ourselves when we were about a thousand years old."

Jack frowned. "So I look incredibly old?"

"A thousand years of age is ridiculously young for a god, child. Much less us three elder gods."

"Thank goodness then," Jack said, relieved. He couldn't imagine being the son of such an annoying and arrogant god.

If Zeus wasn't his father, then Jack was forced to still go along with his mother's words about him. Everyone said he was a good man, but Jack wasn't sure where exactly all the good he did went. The man they all claimed was such an amazing person, left both his wife and son alone. Jack wasn't even sure if he was dead. No one ever said he had passed away, neither did he remember any kind of mourning at any time. Either his entire family were masters of concealment or his father bailed out on him and left his mom stranded in a workplace she detested. Jack had a feeling it was the latter.

"Why do you seek your father?" Zeus inquired, picking up bits of his thoughts.

Sighing, Jack hung his head low. "I want to ask him why I guess."

"Why what?"

"Why he left us. Why he made my mother promise she'd stay working in some bullshit school because of some connection he had to it. Why he never hung around to see his damn son."

The tears came rolling down as he spoke, his voice quivering. He felt Zeus' unsureness on what to say to console him and he didn't blame the god for being at a loss of words. He also doubted Zeus was the right person to comfort him in this matter. Even in his state of temporary depression, Jack recalled the full history of the gods. And how Kronos was a shitty father.

At least he was there, Jack thought miserably.

"I would personally take your situation over mine, host," Zeus tried to empathize, but ended up sounding self-centered. Or maybe that's just how the god intended to appear. "Our father never regarded us and ate us wholly without a moment's hesitation. Then after I released my ungrateful siblings, he proceeded to wage a war."

"So he took his title over his kids?"

"More or less," the god replied. "Even as his cupbearer, I hated him. Not only was he a terrible ruler, but he was unwise as well. Most of his kin, my 'uncles' and 'aunties', would most definitely agree that my silver age completely outdid his tyranny in his golden rule."

Forgetting about his own dilemma, Jack asked another question. "Didn't he at least have a good side?"

"Nothing I saw," Zeus scoffed. "From the day our mother told me what he had done, I was fully prepared to kill him, regardless of who he was supposed to be to me. But then again, Hades claims to have been involved in conversations with him."

"Conversations?"

"Yes, apparently he felt bad about his imprisonment and always conversed with him. He says our father was just scared and desperate, but I personally do not care. His crimes outweighed whatever feelings Hades said he had."

"And so you killed him."

"It was my pleasure in doing so. Both Hades and Poseidon felt some sort of sympathy towards him after we had chained him and dragged him to our feet. So did our sisters, Hestia, Demeter, and Hera.

"I was not swallowed along with them, so it did not bother me at all. Like he slew Uranous with his scythe, I vapourised him with one blast of the master bolt.

Jack chuckled. "So you didn't even try to get to know him?"

"I was his cupbearer," the god repeated. "I made sure to speak to him and try and understand why he did everything he did. And in the end, I learned he was just a power-hungry fool with stupid ideals."

"Must've been rough."

"It was indeed difficult," he agreed. "One must not live his life behind a shadow that does not even want to cast over him."

Confused, Jack looked up. "What is that supposed to mean."

"It means you should stop dwelling on a mortal man that has not acknowledged your existence."

"Our problems are not the same."

"Quite the contrary." Zeus paused for a second before elaborating. "We both have fathers that chose themselves over us. That alone gives us enough reason to forget about them and move forward."

"I don't even know mine," he complained. "As far as I know, he might even be dead" Pulling himself up to his feet, he walked over to his bed and collapsed on it. Bouncing up and down briefly, he took in Zeus'words. "If I ever meet him, I think I'll be able to decide then."

"And if you do not?"

Staring blankly at his pale grey ceiling, his mind wandered back to the first time his mom told him about his father. He was just ten years old and already curious about the little things. Before that, he had assumed his mum pulled a Hera and gave birth to him singlehandedly. But upon finding out he wasn't the only male in the family, questions swarmed his head. All asking why. Of course, his mom had swatted his questions aside and turned his attention towards something else, but as he grew older, he guessed it became too hard to divert the topic she ended up claiming he was a good man. Now six years and a lot of barely paid bills later, he was starting to think the great man everyone supposedly missed left a much greater burden than his apparent death.

"We'll just have to find out," he said, his arms behind his head.

Quietened, Zeus retreated back into wherever he went when Jack forcefully subdued his presence. Jack on the other hand drifted into sleep, his thoughts and memories merging to pose an even bigger problem.