Hephaestion overheard Craterus whispering loudly to his friends and knew he was meant to hear what the conversation contained.
"Whore... Doesn't know how to sleep without his ass in the air..." to which his friends gave a collective hum of agreement.
Hephaestion smirked and turned to his attacker. Going up to him, he said sweetly, "Joy to you, Craterus," Craterus simply snarled in return, and didn't hesistate to say to Hephaestion what he really thought of him. Hephaestion only laughed lightly at the insult, "For you to say that in your own right, my good man, you and I would have had to slept together, and I would never do such a thing."
"You would have to leave your sweet Alexander to do so, because I do not share well, Hephaestion."
"What Alexander does when I am not with him is his own business. I will still hold him in my heart even if he had a thousand wives or boys."
"That mouse of a Persian queen hasn't even bore him a son yet. Our Macedonian women would've been heavy with child by now if he had chosen one of them. But he is too enamored with the Barbarians, the rat," Craterus spat viciously.
"Be careful of how you speak, Craterus, this is treason," Hephaestion's voice became hard with warning.
"You all are rats, and by association, he is a rat as well."
"Why you traitor! How dare you!" with that, Hephaestion's sword was bare, and his body was naturally taking a fighting stance; body turned to the side and crouched slightly with one leg in front and one in back before he raised his dark, angry eyes to Craterus in warning. He failed to notice Ptolemy rushing off to tell Alexander of the situation or Cleitus moving up behind him to pull the two angry men apart.
He only took note of Craterus' fist flying at him, and dropped his sword to the floor just in time to ineffectively block the blow by catching the man's fist in both his hands, but not before it hit Hephaestion under the chin with enough force to cause his head to rock back. It took him a moment to get back his bearings, but once he did, he dug his heels into the floor and-
"What in the names of all the gods is going on here?!" All activity in the room stopped as Alexander's shout rang out, Hephaestion and Craterus still locked together, Hephaestion's hands tearing at Craterus' arm while Craterus' arm was pressed over Hephaestion's throat in an attempt to choke him. Alexander stared at them both a moment before talking to Cleitus and Ptolemy who stood behind him, "Separate them."
It was quickly done, and Ptolemy caught and supported Hephaestion as his friend coughed and gasped air back into his lungs. Craterus, while they were both soldiers, was much bigger than Hephaestion and had used that advantage to try to crush Hephaestion's windpipe.
"I will NOT tolerate fighting among my men! You both are banished to your rooms until I can figure out what to do with you," Alexander's eyes snapped and spit fire in his rage as he screamed, red in the face.
"A-Al-lexander..." Hephaestion coughed harshly as he tried to explain, still wrapped in Ptolemy's arms.
"Not a word. I thought petty fighting below you, General," Alexander walked over to the two Companions, "Apparently I was wrong."
"I was-" he tried to speak, his voice still choked and raw-sounding.
"It does not matter what in the gods' names you were doing! You disobeyed the rules you helped to set in place. You must not be Alexander then. You are just Hephaestion," he scoffed, his voice low and dangerous, "You are nothing without me. General," he addressed Ptolemy, "escort him to his rooms, and see to it that he remains there."
Ptolemy bowed slightly before beginning to lead Hephaestion away, ignoring Hephaestion's look of utter betrayal for the moment, "Yes, my King..."
They made it to Hephaestion's rooms and Ptolemy was able to shut the door before the blue-eyed man flew into a rage that rivaled Alexander's just a few minutes before.
"How dare he?! I am nothing without him? He is nothing without me! That- That- IDIOT!"
"Hephaestion, he was probably scared and worried-"
Hephaestion whirled to face his friend, "No! He didn't even look at me with concern. He didn't even see the situation for what it was. Instead, his anger went to his head and he took it out on me! Did he not see the pain I was in?! I can barely talk even now! And then there's you and Cleitus. You heard what Craterus said. Why did you not tell Alexander what happened?"
"It all happened so fast-"
"He was commiting treason by saying what he did, and yet I was the only one in the entire room to try and do something about it! Some loyal men you are..." tired now, he turned toward his bed and went to it, sitting down on it exhaustedly and putting his face in his hands.
Ptolemy, knowing that his friend and comrade was only saying these things out of tiredness and grief, walked to the bed and sat down as gently as he could, taking his upset comrade into his chest and holding him there.
Now unable to hide his sorrow any longer, Hephaestion sobbed into Ptolemy's chest. Alexander had said he was nothing without him. Was it really true? Had Alexander given him everything that made him a good person? Was he no more to Alexander than a slave to be used and abused and then thrown out, or worse?
That last thought made more tears flow down his cheeks and he clutched at Ptolemy's tunic, receiving a shush from Ptolemy as well as a hand petting his hair.
"He will know his mistake tomorrow, and I know he will do everything in his power to make it right," Ptolemy soothed, speaking of Alexander.
By now, Hephaestion's tears had all but cooled on his cheeks, and his sobs had died out, so he was sure to hear the slightly older general's reassurances. However, he did not know if he should believe them.