LEE
We wait until Otis finds a little more of his footing and his voice before leaving the safety of his room. I put on the kindest smiles I can manage for him as he struggles to support himself against the wall, even while my stomach feels lodged in the back of my throat.
Knees trembling, breath coming in small pants, Otis's eyes are narrowed in frustration as his temper gradually grows. The initial consensus from the doctor's Katy had hired had all pronounced him in fit shape, a little muscle atrophy but no obvious injuries. What they hadn't mentioned was the immediate need for physiotherapy and help with the million other things he can't do.
If Katy sees him like this I'm not sure she won't try to murder Otis and taxidermy him into a puppet that can perform the tricks she needs him for. I can love my best friend and acknowledge that her empathy levels are barely higher than her patience, after all.
"You're doing well," I lie as Otis flops back onto the bed, tears of frustration in his eyes.
"It's not hard," he complains. "I can move them, I can speak but it's so tiring. I weigh so much now."
"I was a hundred and sixty pounds before I was even in high school, Otis," I remark. I think I know what the problem is.
"You were probably also six-feet-fucking-tall when you were five..." he mutters. "It's not the weight. I could lift buildings. This body does nothing. And it hurts. I used to float everywhere and now I don't even have magic to do that."
I click my tongue and barely stop myself from sinking even deeper into patronising him, despite every inch of my being aching to. It's hard to pity Otis when this is the greatest example of comeuppance since his brother scorched himself to a rotten crisp.
Otis put all of us into danger, Olivia especially so, all for this and now it turns out he didn't even understand the outcome he was chasing. The pain he's referencing, the struggle with the weight of his limbs isn't because he's particularly overweight or handicapped. It's simply the first time in his life he's had to physically exert himself.
How agonising mortality must feel to a God.
-
Otis grits his teeth and bares it as we make our way through Katy's apartment, arm in arm. Old costumes and filming equipment litter the enormous living room like the abandoned toys of a distracted child.
Katy has spent the last year trying to build her already unrivalled online presence, trying to break into yet another field of celebrity for her to dominate. That had all culminated in her plan for an online guest show, hosted and filmed in her apartment, where she could make or break her guests at a whim and have her choice of sponsors.
Of course, that was the plan right up until she had Otis Creed at her mercy.
Who would have known how many cross-network shares Creed Estates held in almost every media station in the Edifice, from newspapers to film. Well, Katy certainly had. I'm still in two minds about my feelings towards the war of deals she waged with Lucia and Thorus Creed purely for the sake of her own fame. Noble deeds with ignoble intentions indeed.
Nor do I know how I feel about the fact the main outcome of everything Olivia, Otis and I have been through has been creating the Edifice's version of a younger, sexier Ellen Degeneres.
I don't mention any of it to Otis as we hobble up to the figure curled tight on the sofa, watching Edifician soap-operas. Otis's glance passes over her dismissively, just a tiny form blending in with the grey pillows and blankets to either side, instead he breaks off on his own towards the kitchen.
"Olivia," I call.
"Lee?" Olivia turns around. When her eyes lock on mine, I realise the lack of recognition goes both ways.
At least Olivia looks somewhat recognisable as the woman she'd once been.
Her freckles are back, returned to swarm the pale skin of her heart-shaped face. She's almost identical, really, despite all the magic that has warped her body in the last two weeks. We're lucky that the worst of it hit her hair, even if the sight of it still fills me with guilt.
The light from the sunny sky outside bursts in through the large window behind her and shimmers on the edge of her pale wavy locks. Root to tip, Olivia's hair has been leached of all its colour. Not in the toned, bottle-blonde definition of pale hair but an aged, brittle mix of grey and white.
"Olivia?" Otis starts. He gapes, mouth open at her, legs almost giving way beneath him once more from surprise. "Olivia?"
"Otis?" Olivia is quick to her feet, blankets falling from her lap to the floor as she closes the space between us in a few quick strides. "Otis."
Throwing herself at him, they both go down in a tumble pained yelps as Otis gains his first ever bruise as a human. Rubbing his elbow, Otis sits up with a groan, only to have his complaints smothered in a frenzy of kisses.
"Mmmfp..." he attempts around Olivia's worried doting. "Olivia, your hair!"
"My hair?" Olivia asks in disbelief, pulling away. "Otis, I didn't even recognise you. What's all this?"
She tugs on a long lock of Otis's hair, curling it fondly around a single finger.
If I hadn't been at his side for almost every minute of the last four nights, I probably wouldn't have recognised him either. He just looks... too human. Otis has become the guy you could pass on the street. The former-god's hair falls straight down to his chest, dirty blond and tousled with sleep. His eyes are a glassy green quite unlike the blue I'd envisioned and his round face is cute with the sort of handsomeness that comes from kindness rather than good looks.
A very, very different being than the one who appeared in my kitchen last week.
Otis covers his eyes bashfully, pink rising to his pale cheeks. "Is it good or bad?"
"It's nice." Olivia cocks her head, deliberating quietly. "It suits you. Much more than the old face, I think."
I'm not a jealous man. Fuck it, I don't need to be a jealous man- I've slept with both of them almost a dozen times in the last week and seen far more intimate moments between the two. Something twinges inside my chest at the sight of the sparkle in Olivia's eyes as she looks at Otis though, the sweet doting within them.
It's a look of love I'm not sure I'll ever get in quite the same way, much less one I'll ever deserve. Instead I rock back on my heels and try to enjoy the reunion like the next goodbye won't come soon enough.
-
OLIVIA
Lee and I receive our summons for an 'official' police interview on the day Otis meets with the one and only Potentate. Armed with our scripts that Katy and her lawyers have spend the last week drilling into us, we each meet with a small team of officers and social workers in Circe's grand mayoral building. To my surprise however, there's barely any questions on Zagan Creed.
They give me nothing to deny at all, in fact. Just an hour of ceaseless questions on my background, my political leanings, my feelings for Otis. I spend most of the waiting time filling out sheets of psychological evaluations, feeling more like someone brought in on suspicion of terrorism than a victim of a violent crime.
I half expect them to detain me at the end of the interview, but I finally emerge out into the safety of the city main street where Otis waits for me at the bottom of the steps, blowing an almighty bubble of gum. People stream past him on the side walk without knowing or caring who he is. I watch him savour the anonymity while he can.
In a few days the pilot episode of Katy's new talk show will air, featuring Otis Creed as its featured guest and the whole world will know of the fall of its most powerful man.
"How did it go?" Otis asks, swooping me into a warm, tight hug and blocking out the cold wind of the early afternoon. He rocks casually on his heels and I stare in awe of his nonchalance, as though he didn't just speak face to face with the Edifician monarch.
"A little scary. The questions they asked were really weird though. Super personal about the both of us."
Otis nods solemnly.
"The Potentate was pretty much the same. They made me try a few spells, just to rub in my pathetic humanity..." He says the last part in a spooky voice as though sensing the guilt I still feel at the sight of him struggling to adjust. "Still nothing has come back, so it looks like this is it. Humanity. Yippee!"
"You weren't scared of them?" I ask, thinking back to the mass of black robes and snaking shadows I'd seen following him into the council chambers. There'd been no sign of a face inside the swirling darkness, but the floor tiles had been stained with soot beneath each step the nameless figure had taken and the lights had flickered for the remainder of my stay.
"They were fine," Otis says, cocking one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. His eyes narrow. "They seemed worried, actually. Gave me a crappy explanation for it all too. They think I expelled my power into Zagan at just the right time, so when my soul transferred to you it closed the loop. I got your humanity and there wasn't anything left to pass on to you."
"Happy ending, then?" I smile.
Otis hums distractedly, eyes on a large billboard across the street, advertising property leases through Creed Estates. "Maybe... They seemed worried about Zagan though. The media is keeping awfully quiet about him and if giving him my magic did more than heal him..."
"You don't think he's now-" I break off mid question.
We both pause as Lee appears at the top of the stairs, caught in avid conversation with one of the demons who lead my interview. She speaks with furrowed brows, long horns rising almost as high in the air as Lee does.
The warlock nods earnestly and they shake hands. The demon spares a long look down at Otis and I, who flinch to be recognised before retreating back into the glass doors of the building. Lee turns and makes his way down to us with his signature long, easy strides.
"What was that about?" I ask curiously as he approaches, hands buried in his pockets.
Lee glances back up at the office behind us before enveloping Otis and I under each arm and squeezing. "Let's go for a walk."
-
He takes us out for lunch before he broaches the subject again, once we settle at a bench in one of the city's large parks with an enormous spread sushi dishes between us. Around us the trees seem to wave more fluidly than those of Earth, bows bending in the cool breeze.
"I didn't want to say anything earlier unless I got your hope up for nothing," Lee says as I take an enormous bite of sushi and Otis struggles with his utensils. He gained almost full working control over his body within his first day awake, yet chopsticks still seem a little bit beyond the skill of his new hands. "But I wasn't completely honest with you about the interviews. Katy and I already gave the only statements they were interested in taking about Zagan."
"Huh?" Otis succinctly asks, scooping sashimi bare-handed into his mouth.
Lee explains, "You're both in a very... unique position here in the Edifice. I don't think anyone in the Ministry of Borders or the Potentate likes it and when you were both unconscious I proposed that you both wanted to go back to Earth."
"Are you saying I wouldn't be able to before this?" I ask, somewhat snappily to think Lee had already been lying all those days ago.
"I said you wouldn't be able to legally return, Olivia,"Lee fixes me with a long stare. "Things might be different now. They are different.Otis is human and from what I've heard the board of Potentate Selection is a little nervous about the power vacuum you're leaving behind. There will be deals they want to draw up with the two of you, NDAs and the like. You won't be able to talk about the Edifice to anyone... but you'll both have a one-time opportunity to get out and enjoy being humans on Earth."
Otis and I glance at each other, all words dying on my tongue as the possibilities whirl through my mind. Of course I was always going to Earth. That was the whole goal... wasn't it? I might have abandoned the hope a couple of times in the last week but I want it. This is what I want. Earth. My life back... yay.
"Otis, the blood tests confirmed that you have enough DNA from Olivia that you shouldn't be torn to shreds going through a portal this side of the border and you'll both have enough money from you know... my dad's inheritance to set you up. Get out a bit too, see the Earth and everything you've been missing."
"Lee, this is..." Otis trails off, eyes bright as the grin that slowly creeps across his face. He shakes his head in disbelief. "This is crazy. This is everything I wanted. Holy crap."
Without warning he launches himself across the table at Lee and smothers him in a fierce hug. I join him hesitantly, watching Lee's face. Despite his words, despite Otis's sheer elation at the news, Lee 's expression remains impassive and his dark eyes unfathomable.
"Well," Lee mutters. "It's the least I can do for you two after the whole... fiasco. Besides, this is the government's decision, not mine. I just knew it's what you both need."
"Are you... coming with us, Lee?" I ask slowly, clocking is every use of the words 'both of you'. Lee grimaces awkwardly, inspecting the packet of cigarettes he has in front of him in place of any food.
Otis pulls away sharply. "Lee? You're coming with us."
"The Potentate can't go making this offer willy-nilly, Otis. They can't just start sending Edificians across the border publically at all. It's a one time offer for you two but... the Edifice is my home, Otis. I've had them both and this is where I belong. I'm not leaving."
Lee snatches a cigarette from the pack and lights it with a wisp of flame from his hands. Otis and I lean back to stare at him. I've grown used to Lee's stony attitude, but this is...
"You're breaking up with us," Otis states, hands forming fists on the edge on the bench.
"C'mon, it's not a break-up. We're not dating," Lee argues, temper building, but as he stares us down he pauses in his anger and retreats back to sadness. "I don't want you guys to go, you know. We're not dating but I like you. A lot. More than most people."
"Then we'll stay," I reply. I hesitate and look to Otis. "Well, I'll stay."
Otis doesn't look at either of us, just stares out at the wooded park with a gloomy expression that wouldn't be out of place on a kicked puppy. My heartstrings tug with pity. First his parents, then Zagan and now this... I know well and truly the loneliness that's plaguing him.
"Lee, you cross to Earth all the time," I try, attempting to make peace between us before the rift of choosing sides gets a chance to grow. "I know it's not legal, but you could visit on weekends, or... I don't want to give this up yet."
"Give us a year," Otis says suddenly, taking both of us by surprise. Lee takes a sharp inhale of his cigarette to listen. "I want to go to Earth but if you teach us the right spells we can come back here on our own, right?"
"You can come back here from Earth once," Lee says. "Otis, they're not going to give you a second chance."
We sit in silent deliberation, alone amid the crowds of the wintry park. Otis links his arm around mine and pulls me close to share his warmth as we think, head tucked into the crook of my neck and face buried in my hair. A comforting heat very unrelated to that of his body swells in my chest.
"You don't have to make a decision now," Lee adds, watching us from the outskirts and looking more weary than I've seen him to date. "Soon, but not now."
I glance at Otis. "It's worth at least a holiday there."
Otis nods slowly. "We can take the offer and decide whether or not to come home. I don't really want to leave Zagan here alone and I don't want to lose this. Whatever it is."
He gives my hand a squeeze and reaches across the bench to hold Lee's left hand with his other. Usually the uncertainty would squeeze my heart until I was sick with nausea, but right now my heartbeat is as still as Otis's had been.
There is no uncertainty. He said it himself. Home.
Otis still won't abandon his brother or the place he grew up and if home is where the heart is... I glance up at Lee through my eyelashes and pass a squeeze of the hand through Otis and towards him.
If home is where the heart is, there isn't any question that we're coming back.