Chapter Text
[ODYSSEUS]
Six hundred men
“And how many men did you go to war with?” Washington inquired, expecting at least double of six hundred.
“Six hundred,” Odysseus replied dryly, answering for an Ody who was still a bit slow to respond. They gave them a few minutes of intermission time, mostly for his younger self to quit hyperventilating.
Alexander blinked several times, astounded. “Not one of them died?”
“Not one of them,” he answered soullessly. There was no pride in his voice. If anything, there was shame.
The younger veterans noted the ominous nature in his tone for later.
Six hundred men under my command
With only one goal in mind
[ENSEMBLE]
Make it back alive to our homeland
About that, Odysseus thought. It was strange, really, whether he was meant to regard the situation with any less weight now that they reincarnated. Yes, they were alive and well and safe now, but yes, they still died.
Because of him.
[ODYSSEUS]
Six hundred men, six hundred miles of open sea
But the problem's not the distance
[ENSEMBLE]
It's what lies in between
“Well,” Eurylochus crossed his arms, “that’s us now. Any caveats we should watch out for, older Ody?”
“I think the content will cover it well,” Odysseus sighed, apologetic. “I can only pray the intention of this... interaction is for you to not repeat the same mistakes I made.
The same mistakes. That couldn’t mean any good.
[ODYSSEUS]
And Ithaca's waiting, Ithaca's waiting
My kingdom is waiting (the kingdom is waiting)
Penelope's waiting for me
“Not anymore,” Penelope whispered, giving Odysseus a kiss on the cheek. He reclined towards her, somehow more than he already was.
So full speed ahead, full speed ahead
[ENSEMBLE]
Captain, Eurylochus
“The fact that we were just midway in this interaction, or at least a modification of it,” Polites beamed, ignoring the negativity in the room. “That’s kind of cool, this whole retelling of us.”
“Let’s pray my introduction is any good,” Eurylochus replied, leaning back on the couch.
[EURYLOCHUS]
Six hundred men (six hundred men)
Six hundred men with big mouths to feed
“And, of course, it’s about food,” Ody chuckles.
On a typical day, Eurylochus would exaggerate offence, but he was just grateful his spark returned.
And we've run out of supplies to eat
[ENSEMBLE]
Curse the war, our food store's depleted
That was an incredibly unfortunate root cause for most of their problems. If they had food, they would’ve all made it back to Ithaca in six days.
Curse the war indeed.
[EURYLOCHUS]
Six hundred men (six hundred men)
Six hundred reasons to take what we can
So captain, what's the plan?
[ENSEMBLE]
Captain, what's the plan?
[ODYSSEUS]
Watch where the birds fly (watch where the birds fly)
They will lead us to land (they will lead us to land)
There we'll hunt for food, my second in command
“I forget you didn’t have maps back then,” John intercepted, raising an eyebrow. “Did that form of direction work?”
“To all the wrong places,” Odysseus responded, mildly ashamed. Greatly ashamed.
Whatever that insinuated, John did not pry any further.
Now full speed ahead, full speed ahead
[ENSEMBLE]
We're up, we're off, and away we go
We're up, we're off, and away we go
We're up, we're off, and away we go
“It’s,” Angelica stated, “quite catchy.”
[POLITES]
Captain
[ODYSSEUS]
Polites!
“That’s me,” Polites chimed, nudging Eurylochus and Odysseus with both elbows.
[POLITES]
Look! There in the distance, I see an island
I see a light that faintly glows
Maybe they're people lighting a fire
Maybe they'll share some food, who knows?
“It’s easy to fall trapped into enemies, pote,” Lafayette mused. “You never know when something could be dangerous.”
“But you never know when something could be good,” Polites retorted, in a playful tone.
If only you knew, Odysseus sighed, closing his eyes for a bit.
[ODYSSEUS]
Something feels off here
I see fire but there's no smoke
[EURYLOCHUS]
I say we strike first
We don't have time to waste
So let's raid the place and
[ODYSSEUS]
No
“Ouch?” Eurylochus overemphasised but did not fake offence.
Polites gear up, you and I'll go ahead
[POLITES]
You and I'll go ahead
“Whoever sang that segment for, what was the name? Polites? Whoever sang that sounded like they were flipping Eurylochus off,” Jefferson snickered, leaning back on his seat.
“Flipping off?” Eurylochus inquired, only to wish he didn’t.
Lafayette casually whipped the finger out.
“Oh,” Eurylochus realised, frowning right after.
[ODYSSEUS]
We should try to find a way no one ends up dead
[EURYLOCHUS]
We don't know what's ahead
Looking back, Eurylochus was very rational. Odysseus just had some kind of fame and saviour and heroic complex.
Too late to change now, was it?
[ODYSSEUS]
Give me 'til sunrise, and if we don't return
Then six hundred men can make this whole place burn
Now full speed ahead
Full speed ahead
Full speed ahead
[ENSEMBLE]
We're up, we're off, and away we go
We're up, we're off, and away we go
Full speed ahead (we're up, we're off, and away we go)
We're up, we're off, and a
Full speed ahead
That would be sure to be one of the happier tunes of the musical.
“It was quite catchy,” Lafayette admitted, “but I think our chanting was better.”
“You can’t compare that,” Hercules interjected, “ours was after winning in a war we were almost sure to lose. Theirs didn’t really show that kind of dire gap, let alone the outcome of the war at all, though we can assume they won– this was about them getting home.”
“True, bon ami,” the French replied, “I rest my case. Good song, though. Repetitive, but the good kind of repetitive.”
“Can I just say,” Eliza proposed, “that song ended on a very... inauspicious note. As if some kind of inevitable doom was impending. I don’t know, perhaps I am overanalysing it.”
“No,” Angelica corroborated, “I hear it.”
I know it, Odysseus refrained from adding.
“I suppose we’ll see what happens,” not Penelope, but it was Telemachus this time who defended what was the inevitable truth of the rest of his father’s journey. He would prolong their obliviousness for as long as he could– assuming that’s what he wanted.
Either way, the next song title made Odysseus flinch.
Open arms.