ashlynflagg

With the main meat of the story done, I really could've just left things  in that last chapter, but I wanted to go a little further. This (admittedly quite sizable) epilogue chapter will hopefully offer a little glimpse into life after the challenge, and what our intrepid heroes got up to after their adventure's end... or beginning. I guess it depends on how you think of it.

In any case, I hope you enjoyed reading Agrossa Thrinakie as much as I enjoyed writing it! Much love to all of you. Thank you so much for giving this story a try and seing it through to the end!

Chloe

Artemis was more than happy to allow us to stay in the past a while longer, especially since our main reason for doing so was to spend time at one of her temples. In the fading twilight, in the light of the rising moon, Sipriotes weaved a dizzyingly complex magical array, and in a flash, we were in the forest’s edge near Brauron. I gave her a smile.

“Just so you know, Sipriotes. Sophia and I weren’t exactly subtle about the whole divine magic thing last time we were here. Are you sure you're ok with the attention?”

Tentatively, she reached up and placed a hand on my shoulder, offering me a slightly nervous (but still quite warm) smile.

“I should be fine, Chloe. I’ll be with the both of you, after all.” She looked at Sophia and I in turn. “Besides, it’s not like we’ll be heading into the town proper, right?”

Sophia interjected, swooping in between us and taking both of our hands in her own.

“RIght.” She started strolling forwards, still holding both of our hands. “Now let’s head over to the temple. I’m fuckin’ starving.”

And that’s exactly what we did, although it would be a little while yet before we got to eat. The moment we crossed the bridge, Sophia was tackled by a tiny bundle of energy.

“SOPHIAAAAAAAA!!!!!! IODORAAAAAA!!!!!!! YOU’RE BACK!!!!!”

Sophia gently patted the girl’s head before pulling her into a hug.

“It’s good to see you too, Althea.”

I stood off to the side, now feeling kind of awkward. I didn’t look anything like my old self anymore. There was nothing but the barest familial resemblance. It’s not that I blamed her for not recognizing me, but it did feel kind of awk-

“Wait… Miss Chloe?!?”

“Wha-? I- uhh… How?”

The arktoi had released Sophia from her vice-like grip, and now her attention was fully on me. She stared at me with an intensity I found almost disconcerting as she crept ever closer. In her eyes I saw awe, excitement, and a dozen other emotions besides.

“You’re voice… it’s so pretty.” I’d frozen up completely under this child’s appraising eye. “Did Artemis help you then, Miss Chloe? She did a really good job then. You look so strong and pretty and your voice is like a songbird’s and I think it’s pretty cool that you're still kinda tall and your hair was already really pretty and…”

And this kid was gonna make me cry.

Scratch that. I already was.

“I was worried you didn’t recognize me…” I took a few deep, shuddering breaths. “Yes… yes, Lady Artemis helped me. In a lot of ways… It was a lot of work to get here, and a lot of heartache, but it was worth it…”

Althea wrapped her arms around me tight, burying her face in my chest.

“This is happy crying then, right?”

“Yeah, Althea. It’s very happy crying.”

“Good.”

I sank to my knees then and there. Something about the reality of the situation finally sank in then. Having it all put so plainly by someone as unabashedly honest and sweet as Althea really hammered home what happened. My wish had been granted. The one thing I dreamed of more than anything else in my life had come to pass, and I’d been granted even more besides. I was finally comfortable in my own skin, finally comfortable with how people saw me, finally happy.

I’d been doing better since I came out to Sophia, don’t get me wrong, but there was something so wonderful about looking like me that I never would’ve dreamed of before.

In the end, Sophia and Sipriotes joined us on the ground, and we sat together for a long while, just basking in the moonlight. Eventually, our stomachs forced us to our feet so we could share a meal, and the rest of the night was spent in bright firelight, eating delicious food and telling (fairly watered down versions of) stories of our adventures. Admittedly, Sipriotes had more of them than us, but Sophia and I did our best too. A few days later we said our goodbyes, but this wasn’t our first visit to the temple at Brauron, and it wouldn’t be our last. Our goddess could fling us through time on a whim, so it’s not like it was that much of a trek, really.

Sophia

And fling us through time she did, thank you very much Chloe. Having completed our challenge and said our goodbyes, it was time to go home… kind of.

We returned to our time, certainly, but our home was with Artemis now. That being said, Chloe and I did have some business to attend to before we could commit ourselves fully to the hunt. After everything we’d been through and all our time together, technically speaking, we still hadn’t had our first date.

“Sophia…”

I rolled my eyes.

“It’s a strawberry danish, Sophia.”

“Yep.”

“A strawberry danish with an iced caramel latte, Sophia!”

“That is in fact what you ordered, yes.”

“Did you not miss this?!? It’s been nothing but trail food for weeks, Sophia! Why are you not more excited about this?”

I grinned.

“Cuz you’re cute when you get all worked up like this. Reigning it in is easy if it means I get coffee and a show.”

Her cheeks went bright red, and she stammered incoherently for a bit. I took a bite of my coffee cake as she tried to recover. 

“You’re- Sophie, I don’t- how do you keep doing that?!?”

“Doing what?” I asked, innocently.

“How are you just so smooth literally all the time? Like, surely with enough time, you’d do something cringey eventually, but you just keep getting to me, y’know?”

“Well that’s the secret, babe. Half the shit I say is cringey, but I say it with confidence. It helps that I’m super crazy gorgeous and you’re wildly attracted to me though.”

“Heh, you’re so humble too.”

“Oh yeah, very.”

Coffee on Lesbos, just like we’d agreed. Could there ever be a more tropish, stereotypically gay date? I was certainly struggling to think of one, unless you counted renting a moving van. Cliche or not, it was perfect because it was with Chloe. We were together, we were alive, and if nothing went horribly wrong, we’d stay that way a long time.

Chloe

And that was that. Promises were fulfilled, and all ties to our mortal lives were finally severed.

Well…

Almost all of them.

The truth is, I had a sister, and I was worried for her. Our parents weren’t exactly the best, and while I stayed in the closet for most of my life, their transphobic bigotry had been a constant presence. Olivia had stood up to them, even when I’d been too afraid. It just wouldn’t sit right with me to disappear on her. I had to let her know I was ok. Maybe she could even come with us!

When I brought it up, Artemis was more than happy to oblige.

“Joining my hunt is a big change” She said, “I understand that it’s not always an easy transition. Anything I can do to help you find closure, and to tie up whatever loose ends you may have, I’d be more than happy to do.”

And so at midnight we arrived, calling for her outside our family home.

????

It was a beautiful night, and I had the whole damn house to myself. The ‘rents were off in Vegas doing who knows what, and Chris was “studying abroad” in Greece. I had edibles, a guitar, and all the time in the world, so I figured I was about to have a better night than any of them.

Then the laughter started.

It was just pot in that brownie, right?

Laughing voices, whispers on the wind, reaching, calling, over and over and over again.

Olivia…

Shut it.

Olivia…

You’re not real, shut up.

Olivia…

“STOP FUCKING CALLING ME THAT YOU CREEPY FUCKERS!!!”

Silence.

Then a single voice rose up once again, strong and beautiful.

“Chloe… I thought you said you had a sister.”

Chloe

“I- uhh… what?”

“The person in that house is not a woman.”

“Huh?”

“They’re probably trans, Chloe.”

Oh.

Huh.

What are the odds?

My sibling’s voice called out from the patio.

“I can still hear you! Who the fuck are you and what do you want?!?”

“Good luck, Chloe.”

With that, Artemis and the others vanished into the night, leaving just Sophia and I to figure things out. Great. This was sure to go smoothly. A hand slid into my own. Sophia smiled as I turned to look at her.

It’ll be fine, Chloe. I promise. Just tap twice if you’re feeling too nervous and I’ll take over.

I gave her a tight smile in return.

Ok. Thanks Sophie.

Together, the two of us approached the house. It loomed before us, dark and unwelcoming, but the patio was bright and warm. My sibling was there, awkwardly plucking away at their guitar, not unlike I sometimes did with my bow. As we entered the light, they spoke up again.

“Stay where you are. Tell me who you-” They trailed off. “Sophia?”

Sophia waved awkwardly at them.

“What the hell are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be back for another few weeks! Where the fuck is-”

“She’s fine.”

Their eyes went wide as saucers.

“SHE?!?”

Now it was my turn to wave.

“Hey there, uhh… What's your name now? Also, what pronouns should we be using for you?”

They flinched slightly at my voice, like they’d forgotten I was here.

“It’s Axl, and he/him.” He stared intently at me. Probably trying to figure out if he knew me. “So uh… how about you? I don’t think we’ve met.”

Ow.

That one hurt.

I kinda figured this was going to happen, but that didn’t mean it felt good. Axl was one of the only people from my old life I still cared about. I wanted him to recognize me.

“M-my name… is Chloe. My p-p-pronouns are she/her, a-and I’m your sister.”

He narrowed his eyes at me.

“Bullshit. You’re at least three inches shorter, your voice is miles higher, and there’s no HRT in the world that could work this fast.” His eyes shot over to Sophie. “Who the fuck is this girl Sophia? Where’s my sibling?”

I cringed at his words, and quickly started curling in on myself. My fingers fluttered on Sophia’s hand before I realized what I was doing, and I felt fat tears running down my face. I tried to hold it together, I really did, but if my own brother didn’t even recognize me, I didn’t know what I could do to convince him.

I started to shake as the tears kept coming. Dimly, I felt Sophia’s hand on my back as she whispered calming nonsense in my ear. Her other hand was still holding tightly to mine, her thumb running gently across its back. I just kept spiraling, falling deeper and deeper into my own head. He probably thinks we did something to Chris, that we kidnapped him or something. He’ll end up spending the rest of his life thinking his big brother was killed and-

“Are you ok?”

That pierced through the fog, pulling me back, ever so slightly. I realized I was sitting down, knees pressed against my chest, I realized that it was Axl who’d said that, and then I realized he was crouching in front of me right now. My voice caught in my throat as I tried to answer him.

“I don’t know why you’re pretending to be my sibling, but there’s clearly something going on here. Were you pressured into this or something? I don’t- just tell me what’s happening and I can help you.”

At some point while he was talking, I finally recovered my voice. I took a deep breath, looked him in the eyes, and gave him a smile that was only half forced.

“Big talk from a guy who named himself after his guilty gear main.”

“What?”

With another deep breath, I allowed divine light to fill my eyes. From nowhere, a bow appeared in my hands.

“My name is Chloe, my pronouns are she/her, and I’m your sister.” I rose to my feet, staring down at him. “I was right, Axl. The Greek gods are real. Apollo really did save Sophia and I when we were kids, and Artemis granted me this. You punched the neighbor’s kid when you were seven because you saw him pouring salt on a slug. We used to play together with your dolls and my cars, making up the most ridiculous plotlines imaginable. We snuck out to a party together in high school and you ended up high as hell. I had to carry you to your room on my back because you wouldn’t get out of the car, and we never told anyone about it. I’m upset because I’m your sister and I love you. I want you to recognize me. My skin, my eyes, the color of my hair, it’s all the same. We’re still family. Please recognize me.”

He stared up at me, mouth flapping like a fish. His eyes kept flicking between my eyes and bow, and he’d tipped backwards from his crouch, now sitting dazed on the floor.

“You…” He searched for the right words. “Axl is a perfectly good name!”

WIth great effort, I valiantly suppressed a laugh.

“That’s what you took from this?”

A wave of emotions washed over his face, settling on uncertainty.

“Look, there’s clearly something unnatural going on here, but it’s not exactly easy to believe that you got your gender magically transed by the goddess of the hunt. Plus, the moment I do start to believe that, I’m just gonna be jealous. I’d kill for such a quick and thorough change.”

“I might be able to help with that, child.” The voice of my goddess rang out across the lawn, and we all stared transfixed. She wasn’t alone. She was holding a certain other god by the ear. “Brother dearest would you be so kind as to help our young musician here?”

Apollo, looking tired and bewildered, glared at his twin sister. I suppose he was a sun god, after all. He’d probably been sleeping.

Or was he on the other side of the world?

When does a sun god sleep?

Huh.

“I’m sorry, what?!? You just dragged me halfway around the world, directly into midnight, which you know makes me sleepy just so I could help some mortal musician I’ve never met? What does… he, yep, definitely a he. What does he even want?”

“You’re Apollo?!?”

Axl was staring at him, a manic glint in his eyes.

“Yep.”

“As in, the god of music and poetry and healing and prophecies and the sun. That Apollo?”

“The one and only.”

“Fuck, dude. I mean, shit, you just appeared out of nowhere, like some kind of-”

“Like if a table just appeared in your living room. I know. Your big sister already told me that.”

“I was gonna say some kind of magician…” He looked sideways at me. “Did you really compare him to a table, Chloe?”

I made no comment, instead opting to avert my eyes and kick my feet. The absolute picture of innocence. Apollo, exhaustion apparently forgotten, practically beamed at him. In fact, he actually did.

“Oh, I like this kid.” He twisted free from his sister’s clutches and bounded over to us. “I tell ya what. Play me something good and let me have one of those brownies, and I’ll go ahead and solve whatever little issue you’ve got.”

“Just so we’re clear, if I play well, whatever song I end up playing, you’ll hit me with the ol’ genderbend ray?”

“Sure. Yeah. If that’s your issue. I can even make it a proper ray. Some nice trans sunlight.”

“Ok.”

He slid his little plate of edibles across the table towards Apollo and cracked his knuckles. Apollo snatched one of the brownies, Sophie did the same. With a nervous smile, Axl’s fingers graced the strings of his battered old guitar.

“So anyways here’s Wonderwall.”

Shockingly, the best cover of Wonderwall in the world is still Wonderwall, a thoroughly overdone 90’s hit that felt entirely out of place in the presence of gods. I don’t know if Axl’s cover was the best, but it was damn good. Certainly good enough to fulfill the terms of the arrangement he’d made with Apollo.

With a wave of his hand, an impressed and obviously slightly disappointed Apollo conjured beautiful golden light that danced across my brother’s skin. Apollo’s magic was almost like if you had a table that could magically trans your-

“CHLOE! I AM GOING TO SMITE YOU!!!”

The spell faltered, before returning again in force.

Heh.

The radiant power of the younger twin enveloped Axl, hiding him from view, flooding the area with bright and vibrant daylight so bright it hurt. With long minutes of tense concentration, Apollo’s magic continued to flow. He was muttering under his breath, whispering some kind of spell. I did my best to listen.

“But maaaaaaaybeeeeee, you’re gonna be the one that saaaaaaves meeeeee. And after alllllllllllll. You’re my-”

I see.

Eventually, the glow of magic faded, and I witnessed my brother anew. He was (regrettably) my height now, flat chested and lanky, with a scraggly beard that suited him wonderfully. He looked a lot like I had, to be entirely honest. Like me, but confident and happy and with much better taste in men’s fashion. His clothes had resized to fit him, and they gave him this kind of grungy rock singer look.

He practically barrelled me over with a flying tackle of a hug, and it was only my immortal reflexes that prevented me from toppling. His smile was big and bright as he began to cry.

“Chloe I- Fuck, I get to be your brother, don’t I?”

I hugged him back, tight.

“You always would’ve been.” I gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “I love you Axl.”

He squeezed me tighter before finally stepping back to look me in the eyes.

“I love you too.” He grabbed his guitar and his now empty plate and stepped back towards the house. “I’ve missed you, sis. Do you guys wanna hang out tonight? I’ve got a frozen pizza I was planning to make.”

My smile faded only slightly, but it was enough.

“Sorry bro, but we’ve gotta head out soon. We’re burning moonlight. Plus, you’re a guy, so…”

“Oh, right, Artemis.”

“Yep.” I let out a deep sigh. “I promise I’ll visit though. You’ll see me again. Your sister’s a minor goddess now, after all.”

“Right…”

He pulled me into another tight hug, his tears now a bit less happy. I held him just as tight, gently patting his back and whispering the same calming nonsense Sophia had whispered to me earlier in the night.

“Oh for fuck’s sake. Stay the night if you want, Chloe. He's your brother, and if you can't tell," She darted forwards, flicking Apollo on his head. "Apollo and I aren't exactly estranged. A brief visit should be more than fine.”

With that, Artemis fizzled out of existence.

“Almost like a table, right?”

“Exactly like a table, Apollo!”

And with that, Apollo prepared to follow suit. That is, until Sophia dashed over to him and grabbed his wrist. I’d never get over how strong and fast she was now.

“Wait.”

Apollo waited.

“Thank you for saving Chloe and I when we were kids, and thanks for helping her brother. We’ll teach him how to make offerings properly tonight, and make sure you get some.”

“I would appreciate that, Sophia. Thank you.”

He vanished.

For the rest of the night, all the way up until sunrise, Sophia and I regaled my brother with tales of our adventures, taught him proper worship of the gods, ate delicious food, and watched some damn good movies.

When Artemis returned for us, she found us all passed out in a pile on the floor. Someone had drawn a crescent moon on my cheek and somehow there was glitter in my hair. Our goddess gently shook us awake with a warm smile.

“So,” She pulled us to our feet. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yes.” We replied.

And we finally, really, truly were.