Chapter Text
Fire. Sweat poured out of Casey's skin, carrying his life with it. Poisoned bile coated the inside of his mouth and smeared hotly on his cheek.
"My spirit grieves... for the Hotel, for myself, and you," Asterion said.
Clop. Clop. His wide body eclipsed the searing sun. Casey's body burned from the poison regardless.
Asterion continued, "You've already taken everything I could give, and left me with nothing. Nothing left to see, to love, no welcome in communion. Friends, who are my friends?"
Casey's desperate blood pounded in his ears, but Asterion's voice rang clearly. Each word cut deep and refused to be muffled.
Even Asterion's soft breath echoed in Casey's ear. "A man, alas, whose anguish fits his fate. A self-made torture, and without a purpose even mean or crass."
Asterion kneeled next to Casey. His body warmed him even as his shadow cooled him. Casey struggled against the fire to look at him one last time. He had to make him understand.
"I..." Casey croaked. He coughed the bile out of his airway and tried again. "I just wanted... the best for my Hotel..."
I want to do the right thing, Asterion. I'd like to do what is best for the Hotel and for you.
Casey had said that once. When had he lost sight of that?
Asterion was right. It was all pointless. A pointless death. Pointless cruelty... though was purposeful cruelty any better? Casey choked out a strangled laugh... or perhaps a sob.
"What... what the hell have... I been doing...?" Casey asked.
"The Labyrinth has twisted all who've become its Master. Some more than others..." Asterion rumbled, offering an easy excuse.
"It wasn't the Labyrinth," Casey denied. "It... it was me. I did... everything. And..." Sunlight and regret poked fresh tears from Casey's eyes.
"Asterion, I... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..." Casey sobbed.
Asterion's cold expression softened. His hand reached outward.
"Pitiful," Asterion said. "You suffer so, you understand so much. I wish you had never known."
His large warm hand settled on Casey's back. His burning flesh tensed and trembled under his touch until the pressure stilled it.
Burning. His vision unfocused and faded. His raw throat constricted. The tainted bile burned.
It hurt.
Throughout it all, that steady hand on his back. As everything went numb, it remained.
And then it all came back. Casey stumbled and fell into someone's arm. Casey clung to it like a lifeline and gasped in precious oxygen. Tears streamed from his eyes. He coughed phantom bile from his clean, intact throat.
That strong hand held his back steady.
"Hey, hey, you okay?" a stranger asked. Casey struggled to put his feet underneath himself. That steady arm propped him up until Casey found his footing.
Stale, humid air. Dark. The burning sun was gone. Casey blinked the tears away, desperate to see. Stained marble tiles. Flickering fluorescent lights. He looked upward. Black pillars and grotesque statues. A distant radio played a tinny, meandering string piece. Lyre?
Casey disentangled himself from the man's strong arms. The man looked him up and down with a softly worried expression on his handsome face.
"What... what happened?" Casey asked, his throat far more intact than he expected.
"Asthma attack, maybe?" the man guessed with a frown.
"What happened to...?" Casey cut himself off. The man's answer didn't make sense. And this bus station looked very familiar.
Casey swallowed thickly and tried again, "I don't even remember what happened."
"Oh. You were walking this way, and then you... just started choking. I barely caught you before you fell over," the man said.
Casey didn't remember how he got here. How had he survived the poison? He was certain he was dying, and yet...
Recognition clicked. This bus station. He hadn't exactly studied it, but it was the same as he remembered. Casey turned, knowing what he would see behind him.
The cafe.
He was back where this whole mess started. He subtly reached into his jacket pocket and felt the old paper deed within. Casey's hand numbly reached further down to his jeans pocket and pulled out his phone.
He was back in August 24? Time travel? How? Certainly something magical, but...
Casey looked up. The man awaited an answer.
"I'm... thank you, for catching me. I'm okay now. I'll see a doctor when I can," Casey said. The man scanned Casey again but eventually accepted his response and left him alone.
Casey fell onto a bench. Was this a second chance? A monster like him didn't deserve a second chance.
No... it wasn't for him, it was a second chance for Asterion. It was like Nemesis and Dominikos discussed. The new Master of the Labyrinth was supposed to be kind.
It wasn't supposed to be Casey at all! There had been some terrible mistake! Casey jumped to his feet as quickly as he had sat and turned to the cafe.
Closed. Lights out. No, no, no! Casey pulled his bus ticket out of his pocket and examined it against his phone's clock. His bus was in 10 minutes, and it was nonrefundable. And... whoever that old man was, Casey suspected he would never see him again.
And even if he could, Casey couldn't trust him to give the deed to someone good. The last time he tried, he gave it to Casey, of all people!
No, Casey had to find a better Master himself.
Casey glanced at the stranger who had caught him. He was kind enough to catch an ailing stranger, evidently, but who knows how he would handle that kind of power?
Casey didn't know anybody good, only selfish people being decent to fit in to society. Better than him, but not by much.
Or... perhaps Asterion could be freed? Dominikos's plan almost worked. If Casey could find Poseidon's shrine... No, that wouldn't work... or could it?
When the bus arrived, Casey feverishly stepped aboard and went over his options. Doubt and guilt tripped every plan he formed.
Asterion deserved better than to be subjected to Casey's presence, but he also deserved to be freed from the cold room. At the very least, Casey could free him and work from there.
Casey looked up. The bus was driving through desert. Casey knew the Labyrinth when he saw it. Setting his mind to coming here had diverted his bus.
The bus driver didn't seem to notice. He drove the winding road with a sleepy expression. Casey squinted, but the bus driver looked human. The gods were forbidden entry, so he must have been a human caught up in Casey's entry to the Labyrinth. The driver would be fine. He'd escape as easily as he came. There was only one prisoner here.
The bus driver saw nothing weird about stopping in front of the ruined art deco hotel. His eyes lazily followed Casey as he exited the bus with his luggage.
When Casey took four steps on solid ground, the bus closed its doors and drove away.
Casey broke into a jog. He pushed open the doors to the ruined reception and dumped his luggage on the floor. He ran into the lounge, which was dusty and missing Kota's modifications. He slipped into a door in the back and came to the rusted doors to the cold room.
Casey hummed, and the doors popped open. Rot wafted out and coated the insides of his mouth. Then the smell of sewage. Then the scent of an animal.
Casey's eyes adjusted. A blue flame on the opposite wall. Casey swallowed.
"Asterion. Get up," he said. He instantly regretted it. The first thing Casey said to him was a command.
Casey stepped closer. The skeletal frame filtered into focus. Casey had forgotten how bad Asterion had been at first. Half of his face was flayed, or perhaps rotted off. Asterion twitched to life and struggled to his hooves.
Casey licked his lips and regretted it, considering the taste lingering in the air. "We don't have much time. My name is Casey. Say the oath of servitude," Casey said. He paused, then added, "Please."
Asterion looked at him. His one remaining eye narrowed before resetting to tired neutrality before obeying. His voice was raspy but deep.
"By the provisions under the Statute of Joseph the Merciful, the Prisoner Asterion pledges loyalty and servity to the Labyrinth's Master. The Prisoner is made Keeper of the Hotel above the valley, and is bequeathed the power to realize the Master's will. The Master in turn binds the Labyrinth, forbidding its malicious entities from leaving said valley. The realm was engineered to torture the Prisoner, and indeed its mission shall be accomplished. The Prisoner will carry the burden of servitude, but shall not suffer the Labyrinth's wrath within the Hotel's territory. The Prisoner, shielded by his Master's will, is made safe as long as his duty is fulfilled, under the terms of the Statute."
It was longer than Casey remembered.
"Okay, great. Let's go," Casey said.
Asterion's brow furrowed.
"Ah... will Master Casey take Asterion as his servant, under the terms of the Statute?" Asterion asked.
"What? Oh, right. Uh, I accept you," Casey said. The light flickered out. The world shuddered. The light flickered on again. Casey shook it off. "We'll talk more about this later. We need to get you patched up as soon as possible. Let's go."
Asterion averted his eyes.
"Master ought not worry about me. I can make it to the infirmary on my own," Asterion said.
Casey waved him off. "I'm sure you can, but we're on a bit of a time crunch here. And don't call me Master, please. Call me Casey. Hup!" Asterion grunted in surprise as Casey pulled his legs out from under him and picked him up. Slimy ichor and dried blood coated his arms. Casey ignored it and walked towards the infirmary as smoothly as he could. Asterion shuddered in pain and struggled to hide it.
"I know the gist of this place," Casey found himself saying. Asterion looked at him. All at once, Casey decided on a story. "I'm what you might call an interim Master. I won't darken your door for long. Ah, here we go."
Casey kicked open the door to the infirmary. Asterion winced at the jostling. Casey winced sympathetically, brought Asterion to a bed, and sat him on the end. He walked away and tore through the drawers without a word. Eventually he found the wine.
Asterion's eye widened, then narrowed. Casey ignored it. He uncorked the wine with a little difficulty and poured some onto a bit of gauze before handing the bottle to Asterion. He rubbed it into the ichorous bed sores on Asterion's back, and Asterion held the bottle tightly to avoid spilling it with his flinching.
"All right, that should get you started," Casey said. "I'll be right back."
Again, Casey left the room without waiting for Asterion to respond. He jogged to the stairway. He faltered. His chest clenched. Heat rose up his neck and spilled out of his eyes.
Asterion's fear. His confusion. It was so familiar. He had nurtured both, along with his hatred.
What was wrong with him?
Casey blindly stumbled to the stairway and blinked away the tears. This was no time for a breakdown. He'd have all the time for one of those when Asterion was safe from him.
Casey hustled down to the twenty fifth basement and hummed open a door. It took some time to find the full bottle. He held it tightly on his way back to the infirmary.
There was a low tone on the other side. Shuddering and raspy. Casey pushed inside. Asterion was half turned away, head in his hands. He struggled to stifle his sobs and wipe away his tears. Casey came up short.
He deserved comfort, but there was nobody who could give it to him. He didn't deserve to be subjected to Casey's particular brand of comfort. Casey stomped forward to announce his presence. Asterion startled and looked at him.
"Sorry, Asterion," Casey said lamely. He set the wine bottle on the table and walked out again.
Casey picked up his luggage from where he'd dumped it in Reception. He couldn't face the Master's Quarters. He picked a room at random and let himself in. It was dusty and rotted. He cleaned it up as best as he could without Hestia's blessing.
Hestia. The Olympians. Hades.
There were powers in the Labyrinth, but which of them sent him back in time?
Casey produced paper and wrote down the fourteen names in the order he remembered them.
Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Athena, Ares, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, Hestia, Hermes, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Dionysus.
Casey frowned and added three more.
Nemesis, Dike, Themis.
Casey squinted at his list. His gaze lingered on Hephaestus. Wasn't there... something about a time traveling, golden dog? Something to do with baby Zeus. It seemed like a long shot.
That left the last three. Casey didn't know much about them. Goddesses of justice in one way or another. Nemesis punished hubris. Maybe... one of the others sent him back in time so he could make his crimes right? Maybe there was justice in that.
The personification of time was Chronos. Assuming he was a separate being from the Titan of the Harvest, Cronos, he had no connection to any of the seventeen names on his list.
Even if they were the same person, he still wasn't one of the Labyrinth's architects. Maybe... maybe if he broke out of Tartarus? Or was let out? Casey focused on the name Hades.
This was too big for him. All he had was idle speculation. If he found out who or what sent him back in time, would it change anything?
Knock, knock.
Casey fumbled to stuff the paper into his backpack. He kicked it across the room, and it threw up a cloud of dust that highlighted what he had done.
Whatever. He hoped Asterion wouldn't notice. He opened the door to his room as casually as he could.
Asterion was a withered husk. Casey cringed. He was a far cry from his previous wide-framed self. At least he had found his old-timey clothes with the suspenders.
"Heeey, Asterion. How's it... going...?" Casey said, failing to be casual.
"I am recovering. Would you care for some food?" Asterion asked.
Casey didn't deserve food. He couldn't tell Asterion that, though. He looked at Asterion's skeletal frame.
"I'm good. You should eat, though," Casey said.
"The Master eats first, only then may the Keeper feed," Asterion said with an odd look in his eye.
Oh, right. Casey had forgotten about that. How many restrictions were still in place on Asterion?
"I don't want to do things like that, Asterion," Casey said. "There's... argh, I should have made a list. I don't want this dynamic."
He gathered his thoughts, and Asterion filled the silence.
"If I have caused offense—"
"NO!" Casey interrupted. Asterion cringed backwards. "Sorry! I mean, no. You're doing great. I just... Okay, Asterion, your hands will be full fixing up the Hotel, right?"
Asterion didn't respond.
"Okay, well, I don't want you attending to me. I can take care of myself. You should focus on yourself and your duties to the Hotel. Don't let me take up your valuable time."
"...As the Master wills it," Asterion said.
"Please don't call me that," Casey begged. "Actually, when guests arrive, please don't tell them about me. Eventually I'll have to leave, and it's best there's no uncomfortable questions about how and why I was replaced. So- so, no deference, please. Treat me like one of the guests, even in private. Please."
"...You will really leave the Hotel, then?" Asterion asked.
"Yes. I'll... do whatever you need to get it into shape, but then I'll look for the true Master," Casey said. He omitted the part where he'd find Poseidon's shrine first.
"I don't understand," Asterion said, carefully neutral. "You are the true Master of the Labyrinth."
"No, I..." Casey scratched his cheek. How to explain it? "I wasn't supposed to receive the Deed." He patted down his jacket for the deed in question and produced it. "I don't know who was supposed to get it, but it wasn't me."
"How do you know?" Asterion asked.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this!" Dominikos had cried.
"I trust the Fates to choose a kind and virtuous Master. One that Argos can mold into being an exemplar of humanity," his Máma had said.
Tears pricked at the back of his eyes. Casey blinked to get rid of them.
"I don't know all the details. I don't even have a name. Only that it's not me," Casey said. His throat constricted. Get a grip! Damn it! "A-Anyway, I'm sorry for making you look for me," Casey said. "Let's go over what you need, all right?"
"As you say," Asterion said.
Casey backed up and invited Asterion into his room with a vague gesture.
"Feel free to sit if you like. It's dusty, though," Casey said. Asterion remained standing. "Actually, you have my permission to do whatever you want without my express permission." The lights flickered as his edict took effect. "And I do mean whatever and whenever. Eat when you like, say whatever you like without being prompted. Hire anyone you want. Do whatever you want to the interior and exterior. Write any contracts you want, too. Don't bother me if you can do it yourself, because I'm a lazy piece of shit, and you know how to run your hotel far better than I ever could."
Asterion had listened to Casey's list with growing surprise. Finally, he fell backwards onto the bed, which ejected a plume of dust.
"Sorry if this is a bit much," Casey said. "I know it's not how things usually go. I don't want to mess things up before I pass the Hotel on. Is there anything I'm forgetting? Any restrictions you're under that would prevent you from running your hotel? I, uh, lift them, if there are any." Casey gestured as if casting a spell, but there were no flickering lights.
"None as such," Asterion rasped. "However, we are missing something required for the Hotel's operation."
"The Mirror of Hestia, right? I think I know where it is, but I won't be able to get it until tomorrow, at least," Casey said.
"You know much," Asterion said.
"I was given a rundown when I got the deed from that old man," Casey lied. No hesitation. How had he ever tricked himself into thinking he was a good person?
He killed the thought before he spiraled in front of Asterion.
"If we must wait until tomorrow, then may I suggest retiring to the Master's Quarters?" Asterion asked.
Casey bit his lip. "I... I don't think I should. I'll take this room, I think. Go ahead and take the Master's Quarters for yourself. They and whatever are inside them are yours." Casey made another spellcasting gesture which he knew was unnecessary.
"If you'll forgive my impertinence, this is all very improper," Asterion said. He watched Casey's reaction closely.
"I know. I'm sorry. Don't worry. I'll be gone before you know it," Casey said. He struggled to smile and failed.
"Very well," Asterion eventually said.
"I guess I've taken up enough of your time. You haven't eaten, right?" Casey said. It was a struggle to dismiss Asterion without commanding him to go away. Luckily, Asterion got the message.
"That is correct. I will see you tomorrow... Casey," Asterion said, stumbling over using his name. Casey forced a smile of approval, and Asterion walked out, closing the door behind him. Casey waited until his hoofsteps faded completely before he allowed his tears to spill.
Asterion hummed open a door to the Master's Quarters. He had already explored them when he retrieved his clothes. He walked to the kitchen. An empty wine bottle sat by the sink where Clément must have dumped it. Casey must have taken the other wine bottle from the 25th floor. How did he know where to look? Even Clément didn't know that Asterion had stashed it there.
Surely Casey hadn't gotten the deed from Clément, then. He didn't act like a Master, either. Casey was undoubtedly human, but Asterion saw the glimmer of a hidden agenda in his eyes.
He'd have to keep an eye on him.
Asterion summoned paper, string, and a steel plate that crashed loudly when he dropped it. He strung them together and wrote a contract that would tear itself in half when Casey left his room. He hung the makeshift alarm by his bed and went to sleep.
Casey woke up before the sun rose and crept down the stairs. All the way to the bottom, where the Hotel turned into caves. He walked out into the valley.
Argos wasn't here yet. Casey occupied himself by putting names to the twelve statues. He named most of them, but the statues of Apollo and Dionysus looked similar enough that he could only guess which was which.
"Incredible indeed! Not only has a new Master arrived, but he waits to greet me!" called a familiar voice. Casey hadn't heard him approach. He turned to see Argos coiled around the statue of Athena.
Casey stood by Argos at the lip of a pit. He pretended to push Asterion in it but instead pushed his mass into Argos. Argos fell into the pit.
Screams. Crunch. Snap. Squelsh. The Effigy of Infamy tore him apart.
Casey peered over the edge, mildly surprised at how more effective this was.
"...ster? Master! Are you all right?" Argos's voice filtered in.
"Argos," Casey croaked. Argos's worried expression evaporated in an instant.
"Such a reaction to my form! I know I am a fine specimen. Have I caught the Master's attention?" Argos joked.
"It's not me," Casey said.
"Excuse me?" Argos said, his smile fading by a shade.
"I'm not the one you're looking for. It's not me," Casey said.
Argos floundered. Casey had gone off-script. If Casey was in better form, he'd take advantage, but seeing Argos alive had put him on the wrong foot.
"I'm afraid I don't understand," Argos said. "You are the new Master of the Labyrinth. The Master's identity is always known to the Argoi. Your gods-given duty is to punish the minotaur. I am here to assist you."
"I'm not a good person," Casey blurted. "Something went wrong. The deed was supposed to go to a good person, but it went to me instead."
Argos didn't miss a beat this time.
"Goodness doesn't factor into it. Only whether you can perform your duties. And isn't service to the gods the true virtue?" Argos said. Casey hesitated. Argos was too deep into his role to talk about this. Even if he wasn't, Argos had poisoned him last time. Rightfully so, but still, he couldn't be Casey's ally in this. Casey couldn't look him in the eye.
"To that end, we should get started immediately!" Argos pressed on. "Allow me two minutes with the prisoner, and I will consider giving you the Mirror of Hestia. I swear no harm will come to him."
"That's not happening. Let's move this along. What's your other offer?" Casey said. Argos acted offended, but the buzzing in Casey's head drowned him out until Argos produced the contract.
Casey looked at it without reading it.
"Why do you delay, Master? It is a most fair contract," Argos said. His voice jarred Casey out of his stupor. Finally his eyes read the words.
"Three problems," Casey said. He listed them off with his fingers. "I don't want you harming the Hotel's guests. Second, this section here allows you into the Hotel to 'inspect' it. Third, if one of us breaks the contract, it punishes the person who upheld it."
"The contracts are self-enforcing, good Master! There's no need to worry about me acting against you, nor would I ever have any desire to! My role is as your most loyal servant!" Argos said. Phantom bile burned Casey's throat. Images of Argos's carcass flashed across his eyes.
"...simple revision keep me out of the Hotel. Finely spotted, Master." Argos's voice faded in. He was working through Casey's complaints backwards. "Finally, I would never violate the sacred laws of hospitality by harming your guests! You wound me, Master!"
"If you have no intention of harming the guests, then you should have no problem agreeing to it in a contract," Casey said.
"Indeed not! If the guests are similarly forbidden from harming me," Argos said with a smirk. "Involving absent parties will make for a very complicated contract. You can simply take me at my word that I have no intention of harming your guests."
Casey's head felt clouded. He didn't have it in him to argue that part. He had to pick his battles.
"Forget it, then. Just remove the part that allows you into the Hotel, and split it up so we're not punished if the other breaks contract," Casey said. There was a bit more back and forth, but Casey wrote up a new contract on the spot using Argos's contract as a framework, and Argos conceded that it was reasonable.
"I look forward to matching wits with you in the future, Master!" Argos said.
Casey shook his head. "I won't be here long. You'll get the one you're looking for before you know it."
Argos just smiled and slithered away.
Casey gathered the bronze mirrors in his arms and carried them to the lounge. Asterion was already there, behind the bar. His eye flicked to the mirrors Casey held.
"Here you go, Asterion," Casey said. Asterion held out his arms to receive them. Casey turned away and walked without a destination in mind.
"Wait, Master," Asterion said.
"Don't call me that, please," Casey said more flatly than he intended.
"...Casey," Asterion choked out. "Won't you join me by the hearth?"
He was just lonely. It would be predatory to accept. 60 years alone, and he wanted to talk to someone. Asterion was so happy last time, and it clouded his judgement until it was too late. Casey couldn't be his friend. Tears trickled down his cheeks, but Casey was thankfully already turned away. He took a deep breath before answering as steadily as he could.
"I'm so sorry, Asterion," he began. His voice would crack if he explained himself. "You'll have proper guests in no time."
Asterion didn't respond right away. Casey walked away.
The oppressive weight on his chest lifted. The heat of the stale air turned comfortable. The fog in his head thinned. Asterion must have lit the hearth and invoked Hestia's blessing.
Right. Now that the hearth was lit, the Hotel would repair itself. Maybe if he helped it along, it would make a better first impression on the first guests. He hummed himself some blue janitor's overalls and got started straight away.
A hearth was colder without someone to share it with. Still, Asterion lingered, soaking up as much comfort as he could from it.
He had lived a nightmare for 60 years. It was hard to believe it was over, but the warmth of Hestia's blessing was impossible to deny. He was free, and now the Hotel was coming back to life. It wouldn't be long before the first guests arrived.
Casey wanted nothing to do with the Hotel. That was fine. If what Casey said about being a bad person was true, then he would be glad to have him neglect the Hotel rather than harm it. There had usually been other employees to take some of the load, but Asterion could do everything himself until he made new hires.
It would be interesting to make those hires himself. He'd never been given such sweeping freedoms before. He couldn't tell whether to hold himself back so as to not overstep or to use them to their fullest to avoid Casey accusing him of shirking his duties and getting involved.
He'd start with the necessities and go from there.