Forgotten; Worshipped (Imported from Ao3)

24

James sat in the moon, sullen and in a very bad mood. This was nothing new. In the past three years, he had been miserable and refused to interact with anyone. He couldn't even begrudgingly rely on Thomas to check up on him every once in a while, Thomas hated him now. But James was aware that Thomas hated himself much more than he did him, and the thought almost made him worried, were it not for his complete and utter apathy towards anything and everything at this time. Nothing mattered to him anymore, nothing had any meaning anymore. If he could have, he was sure, he'd have killed himself by now. He'd have flung himself out of the moon and crashed into the realm below, perhaps drowning in an ocean of water rather than drowning in his own misery. His appearance reflected his inner state like a mirror. He was a mess, his hair a rats nest, his clothing, while once it had been pristine and kept exceptionally well, it was full of holes and dirt and dust and it sagged off his shoulders much like the bags under his red eyes. His skin was paler than before, red on the arms from the nights he would clutch at them through a nightmare. There was dirt not only on his clothing but on the rest of his body as well. He had made it a sort of game to keep himself occupied to fling himself from the moon into the other realm and crash into the ground. It hurt, always hurt, but it was the only time he ever felt right. He deserved the burning pain along his face, along his arms, his legs, his chest and back. Punishment for his mistakes he did consciously. He would often fling himself into the ground of the realm below and just lie there for days on end, unmoving, hardly even breathing as he cursed his own immortality. He would just lie there in the dirt, in pain and just... do nothing. For days on end.

Slowly, he rose from the floor. He stood up, and contemplated whether today was such a day or not; it always depended on how miserable he felt, to which there were actually levels. He didn't always feel miserable enough to fling himself from the moon. He then decided that, yup, today is such a day. With a sigh and a shiver down his spine, almost dreading the pain that was to come, he stepped to the exit of the moon and opened it with a lazy and mechanical movement of his hand. He looked down. It was miles upon miles down and he knew he would have time to catch himself on the light of his moon, but he knew that he wouldn't dare to do that. The temptation would be there, he would have the ability to stop, but then he almost laughed at the absurdity. No, he didn't. He didn't have the ability to stop; not the will to stop; not the care to stop. It took him one step, one measly little step, and he was falling. Again.

An hour prior to this, Aaron just exited the King's palace with the magic koto in hands as he noticed a familiar figure behind him. He looked at him and tried to put the face with a name, confused as to why he felt this face was so familiar. Then it hit him. Hercules! Goodness, he hadn't seen him in so long! Wait, it struck him, what was Hercules doing here? Hercules then noticed Aaron looking at him and he flinched back, looking nervous. Aaron remembered he had his cloak on and Hercules wouldn't recognize him, so he waved and waved him over, at which Hercules' confusion grew and his eyes widened and his brows furrowed, but he slowly approached Aaron.

"You can see me?" Hercules asked and Aaron laughed, at which Hercules grew even more confused and somewhat irritated until suddenly realisation hit him and he recognized whom the laughter belonged to. "Aaron?!" Hercules cried out and Aaron nodded with a massive grin, "B-but, how?! How could I not recognize you? Wait, how can you see me? I made myself invisible to the mortal eye!"

"Oh, I found this cloak that makes me unrecognisable to anyone. I should assume that it also helps to spot muses," Aaron giggled at Hercules' dumbfounded expression, "But I wonder how you didn't recognise me or my presence sooner. We were both in the palace, correct?"

"Yeah, I was because someone needed my hel- wait, right, that was you! Huh, I should really make it a habit to be in the same room as the person whom I'm helping," Hercules laughed and shook his head and Aaron grinned.