Sons of Sparta - A Story of the Spartans, Book 3
(inspired by the story 'Spartan' parts 1 through 4)
by argouru
Note: All credit for the creation of the Spartans and Amazons, as well as the Spartan mythos belongs to the author 'CF', to whom I owe special thanks for his allowing me to write about these incredible people.
WARNING: Portions of this installment of the series includes a section regarding mental illness.
Craig pulled the ambulance to a halt and Henry barreled out the back with his kit in hand, then the pair took off running along the stretch of freeway to the scene of the accident. Henry blanched as he saw the twisted state of the van that had collided with the sedan and knew that this was a bad situation. One of the officers met them and explained what had happened as they walked along at a rapid pace. Apparently the woman in the van had been texting while driving and drifted into the next lane. The driver of the sedan had panicked, trying to dodge out of the way into the next lane as a third vehicle tried to merge into it aggressively, so the sedan driver had swerved back into his first lane, striking the van in the process.
"Severe injuries?" Craig asked as they walked.
"Nothing life threatening from what I can tell, but the woman is trapped in the van. We're trying to use the Jaws of Life to get her out," the officer replied, making the paramedics sigh with relief.
"Are the victims all human?" Henry asked.
"I... Think so," the policeman said, pausing slightly as he glanced at Henry as if to determine his species.
"I'll take the car, you get the van," Craig said.
"Right," Henry said, hurrying over to the wrecked vehicle in question. The van was a mess, the front smashed in where it had been knocked off to the right and struck the wall at an angle. The driver's door was twisted in its frame and a pair of police technicians were fiddling with a set of Jaws of Life, looking worried.
"Shit! I keep telling those morons that we need to replace it!" one of the technicians said, kicking the device in anger.
His co-worker sighed. "We'll have to call in for another unit," he said with disgust.
"Fuck!" the first exclaimed in a tone of suffering. "That bitch is sure gonna love us when we tell her she'll be stuck in there at least another twenty minutes!"
"Well I'm not telling her!" the second exclaimed.
"Something wrong?" Henry asked as he reached them.
"This set of Jaws is broken. We can't get the victim out without it."
"Is she stable?" Henry asked with concern.
"She says her leg hurts, but she can wiggle her toes alright, so it might just be a fracture."
"I'll check it out," Henry said, walking quickly over to the wrecked van.
"Get me out of here!" the obese woman bellowed in outrage to no one specific as he approached.
Henry walked over to the damaged automobile, noted that the airbag had triggered, then deflated and spoke to the woman calmly. "Ma'am, I'm a paramedic. I'll help you with any injuries you have once we can get you free. We have to call in another piece of equipment to get you out, though, so please be patient."
"That's easy for you to say!" she snapped irritably. "You're not the one trapped in a piece of crap that used to be my van! And to top matters off, I dropped my phone on the floor, not to mention what's become of both my car and my leg! What's taking so long, dammit?!?"
Henry sighed mentally, but showed an outward calm. He was used to dealing with patients who were upset due to their injuries. "Please, ma'am... It won't be too much longer. Are you in any severe pain?"
"Yes, dammit!" she snapped.
"I can give you something to help with that, but I need to know if you have any allergies to any medications."
"No," the woman grumbled.
"Good," Henry said, opening his kit and pulling out a sealed bottle of water. He opened the bottle and handed it to her, the woman took a gulp. He handed her a few painkillers and antibiotics.
"Thanks," she grumbled, still cranky but now calmer. "What's taking so long?"
"Sorry miss," one of the technicians said as he approached. "We're waiting for a set of Jaws to arrive to get that door open. It won't take too long."
Henry studied the warped door thoughtfully. "You know..." he said slowly. "I think maybe I can yank that open."
"What?" the tech said in disbelief. "No way!"
"Let me try. Please keep your arm and leg as far from the door as possible, ma'am," he instructed the patient, then putting one hand on the frame behind opening of the door and the other onto the bottom of the open window, he pulled with his left and pushed with his right, grunting with effort until the door tore open. He muscled it all the way open, allowing egress to the woman, who stared at him with wide eyes, as did the tech. "There you go ma'am. Who needs the Jaws of Life?" Henry asked with a grin.
"Holy shit!" the man exclaimed, staring at what the Spartan had done with amazement. "I'd heard you guys were strong, but that's crazy! Way to go there!" he said with a grin, slapping Henry's back in a show of support, who smiled sheepishly.
The woman stared at him with shock. "You're one of them!" she shouted with anger and fear, making Henry's good mood vanish instantly in hurt and shock. "One of those monsters! Stay away from me!" she flung the water from the bottle in his face, the Spartan gasping in shock and disbelief as he sputtered and wiped the water from his face.
"I just saved you from being trapped, Lady!" he retorted, unable to believe how the human was treating him after having freeing her so that they could help her out of the vehicle instead of waiting for the jaws to arrive.
"I don't care what you did you godless freak! Get away from me!" the woman bellowed hatefully.
Henry became angry. "I HAVE a god, Lady! His name is Apollo!" Henry retorted sourly.
"Some god! One who tells you to murder helpless animals and turn confused men against their own kind just so you can breed more degenerate monsters!"
"Now you wait a damned minute!" Henry shouted back furiously. "No Spartan would ever force a man into making him gestant! It doesn't work that way, you ignorant cow!" he snapped, feeling his temper rising more and more.
Craig came running over. "Henry! What's going on here?"
"This stupid bitch is spewing uneducated, bullshit hate-speech! That's what!" Henry shouted.
"You shut your fucking mouth you monster!" the woman screamed in rage.
"Hey! Hey! Henry, get a hold of yourself!" Craig ordered. "You know you need to watch your temper!" the human hissed quietly. "Look," he said slightly louder as he saw his fellow paramedic beginning to steady his nerves with closed eyes and slowing his breathing, "Let's switch patients. I'll take the bitch queen here and you take the man from the car, okay?" he finished in a mutter.
Henry nodded grimly and walked away. "AND STAY GONE YOU MUTANT BASTARD!!!" the woman screamed, making Henry's temper spike again as his grip on the plastic handle of his emergency kit tightened until the handle cracked loudly in his grip. He stopped instantly, not wanting to wreck his equipment and stomped away, unable to resist shooting her the finger as he went.
"Ungrateful cunt!" he grumbled under his breath as he walked over to the man, who sat there, nursing a cut on his forehead. "Hello, Sir. Can I be of help?" he asked calmly.
"Yes," the middle-aged Hispanic man said, wincing. "Stupid bitch was too busy playing with her phone to watch where she was going and acts like it's -my- fault we crashed! She could've killed us!" Henry knelt down and examined the cut on the man's forehead, seeing that Craig had already cleansed it and put binders over the wound to hold it together as well as to prevent it from widening further. "Do you have any other injuries?" he asked.
"My right knee hurts and I can't stand on it," the man said with concern. Henry went to work on examining the area carefully, asking occasional questions. Fortunately, the joint was merely bruised and nothing was broken, much to the human's relief. "I saw what you did there, getting her out like that. More than she deserves, if you ask me. You're a Spartan, huh?" the man asked with a look of interest.
"Yes... Is that a problem?" he asked calmly.
"Not with me, it's not. I've met Spartans before. You guys seem okay... The getting pregnant part is really strange, but not a crime the way people like her say it is," the man said bitterly, watching as Craig and the techs pulled the vehemently protesting woman from the remains of her van, with her shouting profanities at their clumsiness.
"If only there were more people who felt the way you do, instead of being like her," Henry said sadly.
"If it makes you feel any better, I'm planning on suing the bitch. All they have to do is check her phone record to see that she was using it when the accident happened, which is illegal," the man said with a set jaw.
"You know," Henry said, starting to smile slowly. "That does kind of make me feel better!"
Together, the human and Spartan chuckled as their spirits rose somewhat...
John sat in the playground area of the apartment complex one weekend day with Glenn, spending time together out in the sun. Glenn was eight months old now and was growing fast. John smiled at his son as a human couple passed by, staring at the pair of them with uncomfortable looks on their faces. He frowned at them when he saw how uncomfortable and nervous they were. "Oh for crying out loud," he said to them with annoyance. "It's not contagious or anything!"
"Oh really?" the man asked sarcastically. ""Then how is it that you were human when you first moved in with that guy?"
John sighed with disgust. "My husband's name is Henry and as for my having been born human, my transition to Spartan was a -personal- choice."
The humans mulled that over, eyeing the scar across his throat. "Then why do you look like someone tried to slit your throat?" the woman asked weakly.
"I did it myself," John answered honestly, making the humans stare at him in horror.
"Why?" the woman asked in shock.
John looked downward. "I... Was having a difficult time in being happy with myself. Lord Apollo took pity on me. He brought me back and made me into a Spartan so that I could feel more confident about myself."
"Wait..." the man said, growing pale. "You committed suicide?"
"Yeah," John said, petting Glenn's head gently as the boy looked around at his surroundings with interest.
"Why?" the woman asked, feeling a mixture of shock and pity.
"Because I was jealous of my husband and our son... And I started to realize I was taking it out on them without meaning to. I didn't want to keep hurting them like that. They deserve better than that."
"Yeah," the man said, looking uncomfortable, "but still..."
"I never said I was the smartest person out there... I had to learn the hard way."
"I guess," the guy said uncomfortably.
The gal recovered from that first and leaned down to smile at Glenn, who stared at her with open-mouthed interest. "Look at you, Little Guy. You're so adorable! It's hard to believe you came out of a man, huh?"
John sighed mentally, then remembered that he would've felt the same way back before he had met Henry and let the comment pass.
"So are you able to get pregnant now too?" the man asked John apprehensively.
"Yes, I'm completely Spartan now," he answered. "But we call it gestant, rather than pregnant."
"What's the difference?" the man asked curiously.
"We form an artificial temporary womb over our stomaches while the child grows and it falls away after the baby is born."
"And are you going to have a baby?" the woman asked.
John nodded. "Henry and I have already decided that next Emergence I'll carry our second son."
"Well," the guy said with a shrug. "You're technically still a guy, so it should be easy as pie for you."
John and the woman stared at him like he was stupid. "You don't have the slightest clue, do you?" she asked him dryly.
"What?" he said in his own defense.
The gal rolled her eyes and took his arm in hers. "Let's go have a little chat, shall we? See you later," she said to John as she led the human man away, with John chuckling as he imagined how the talk between the two humans was likely to play out...
Giorgos entered the bedroom to find Steven sitting up in bed, shirtless and nursing Thomas. He faltered at that for a moment, then forced himself to relax. Steven couldn't help but to notice his husband's reaction and looked at him with a trace of sadness. "Does this really bother you?" he asked quietly.
Giorgos saw the sorrow on his husband's face and moved to comfort him. He leaned down and kissed Steven's forehead gently, then looked into his eyes. "It is... Difficult to adjust to, is all. I do not mean to offend you. I am still new to this and it is not easy to adjust to the differences between us. But that does not mean I wish you to hide your nature from me. The more I see of this the easier it will become to accept. I am not repulsed, only... Jarred, I suppose. To see a man doing such a thing is very unusual for me, but I must learn to be comfortable with such occurrences. When we have more children, it will be easier. Who knows? Perhaps four or more children later I will not even notice," he teased, then faltered at the look of sadness on the Spartan's face. "What is wrong?"
"Giorgos," Steven said gently. "I can have one more child, maybe two, but that will be it. If you want lots of children, I can't fulfill that wish. Spartans can have three children at most, usually, maybe four if one of the gestations turns out to be twins. But if that's the case... Giorgos, remember what we talked about. If I do end up having twin sons, they'll be bonded to each other the same way Marcus and Jason are."
Giorgos sighed and sat down on the bed gently so as not to disturb his baby's feeding. "I know," he said heavily.
"Are you still bothered by my brothers?" Steven asked, looking at him with concern.
"I try not to be. I know they cannot help it," Giorgos said with a tired sigh. "I try not to be bothered, but I have been raised to believe that family being intimate is wrong. I know they will have healthy babies," he said with an uplifted hand of placation, stopping Steven from retorting as the man frowned. "But... It is not easy for me to change the beliefs that I was raised to follow for ones that are opposite. I have become familiar with your brothers. Jason and Marcus are good men and I can see that they will be good and loving fathers." He sighed slowly. "I am truly sorry I cannot be more comfortable with this as easily as you wish me to be, but I -am- trying."
"That's good," Steven said with a gentle smile. "I know all of this is hard for you to accept. I've dealt with it my entire life and am used to it. I can't imagine life being any different. I've known about my brothers all my life too, so it's easy to accept them as a bonded pair. I've never known them any other way."
"Whereas I was raised to believe that only women could give birth and nurse, as well as that relatives should never be intimate with each other. To be among those for whom the opposite is true has been very difficult to adjust to." Giorgos looked bothered with himself at that.
"Well, you're doing rather well at it," Steven said kindly. He felt Thomas pull away and looked around, then sighed, seeing what he wanted out of reach. "Hand me the burp towel, will you?" he said, pointing at the dresser. Giorgos got up carefully and brought it to him. Steven leaned the baby over his shoulder and patted his back gently until Thomas belched loudly, making his fathers smile with humor, then Thomas yawned hugely. "Okay big guy. Time for a nap, huh?"
They took Thomas over to his crib and laid him gently on his back, then watched as he fell asleep moments after he had settled into place. They smiled down at him for some time. "He is so adorable," Giorgos said quietly as he gazed lovingly down at their child.
They left the bedroom so as not to wake the boy, putting the baby monitor near him, taking the receiver with them and then they moved to the living room for some peace after Steven had washed his chest to remove the baby's saliva and the last traces of lactation from himself. He put on a t-shirt before joining his partner and husband on the couch, where they cuddled and enjoyed some quiet alone time together. They leaned against one another, their heads resting against the others and stroking each other's arms softly.
They remained silent for some time until Giorgos spoke. "I am sorry I am having difficulty accepting you and your family. I know that in time I will be comfortable with how things are. You are good people and I am happy to be a part of your family. I know that one day I will no longer have difficulty. Time is all I ask for."
"I know and I'll try to be patient. You're a good and kind man, but learning to accept all of our differences is a lot to deal with. Take all the time you need. Thomas and I are here for you."
They sat together in silence for awhile longer until the human broke it once again. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking about my brothers. Of the four of us who are bonded, my bond seems to be the least strenuous of them. The twins have such a battle before them, what with what will happen once the nature of their bond becomes public knowledge. It's going to be so hard on them... Then there's Henry. You know he never wanted to be bonded in the first place?"
Giorgos was startled by that. "But he and John are so happy together! Why would he wish to avoid such joy?"
Steven sighed sadly. "He finally told me the reason a few months ago... Our Dad Daniel was suicidal when he thought that he would be forced to live without his partner. Both when Dad Sam initially rejected the bond and when he was going to die from the brain tumor. Dad Daniel lost the will to live, even when he had Henry, he wanted to be dead, rather than be alone. Henry was afraid of being like that himself, so he hated the very notion of being in a partner bond."
"What changed his mind?" Giorgos asked.
"John did. Having a partner who was so in need of someone to love him, someone who wanted him, that Henry felt that he had to be strong for the sake of the man he loved. John needed that strength in order to have a reason to live. But still... Even that wasn't enough for him. No matter how much love and support he had, he still couldn't be truly happy. In the end, he ended up dying anyways. But I think he died the right way, as odd as that sounds. He was meant to die, but not to escape his own pain. He died in order to avoid causing more pain to those he loved. That death, especially when he did so by dedicating it to Lord Apollo, seemed to heal him in the way that Lord Joshua couldn't. While he no longer had attacks or was suicidal, it's clear that John was still unable to believe in himself or find himself worthy of his new life. I guess Lord Apollo saw that John could never be happy living as a human, so He transformed him into a Spartan after He brought him back to life. He even adopted John, giving him the loving parent he never got to have, the same way as with Dad Sam."
"John does seem much more self-confident than he was before," Giorgos said thoughtfully. "He is still a quiet man, but not one who seems ready to flee at the first harsh word or deed as before. He seems to be much more comfortable with himself... Braver than when he was human. I see it in the way he carries himself, as well as in his eyes. The fear and doubt I always saw there is gone now. I am happy for him."
"Hopefully their lives will be a lot less eventful now... Makes our own bond seem rather tame, huh?"
"Yes," Giorgos chuckled. "A quiet life is good. Mama and Papa make life too energetic as it is!"
"I'm glad they love Thomas so much."
"As am I. I am surprised they took to him so well... I had thought they would be nervous, but my parents have been amazingly open-minded. I am relieved at that and love to see smiles on their faces whenever we bring Thomas over."
Steven sighed with a smile at that. "I just hope that Fred, Ash and Will's bonds aren't as stressful as those of my brothers. I want them to be happy without worry, you know."
"Apollo seems very wise. I know He will guide them through any difficulties they encounter."
Steven was happy to hear that and couldn't resist smiling. He had been shocked at first when Giorgos had decided to become a worshipper of Apollo a week after that fateful first worship service over a year ago now... But the Grecian's religious doubts and uncertainty had vanished. He had found the god that he could be comfortable worshipping.
Steven found himself considering becoming intimate with his man, but he was so tired. Giorgos seemed to feel the same way, for after a few minutes, he began to snore gently. Content, Steven dozed off as well in the arms of his husband...