Title: Gone
Author: Baliansword
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Sexual content in this chapter; no sex, just the mere suggestion of sex.
Chapter: 10 of 10, "Returning Home"
Summary: Excerpt –there was no love between them, not now, not so far away from where they had first set eyes upon one another. The love was gone, and all around them knew it, but neither was willing to mention it. The vacancy instead remained between them.
A/N: I'm sorry that this isn't good…I'm not sure where I was going with it an after the long break, well, I don't like it. BUT…thank you for reading it anyway.
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"Hephaestion," Alexander gasped, dropping to his knees before Hephaestion, who upon the departure of the woman and her minions had fallen to the ground. Alexander leaned over him and immediately reached for his throat. There was no sign of the wound that had been there, but instead, there was only the smell of flowers. Hephaestion coughed and his body jerked upward and his own hand flung to Alexander's chest. He shoved him away forcefully and drew in a quick breath of air, feeling as if the jungle was closing in around him. Then, he froze and went still, his breathing no longer labored and the color had begun to come back to his face.
"What did she do to you," Alexander asked, throwing himself over Hephaestion once more, staring down at him again. He brushed the hair away from his face and looked deep into his cerulean eyes, searching for any signs of sickness. He touched his throat again, but there was still only the lingering scent of flowers. Not even a thin scar or the hint of a scab remained.
"I feel better," Hephaestion whispered, sitting up and blinking momentarily. "Everything felt foggy, as if there were clouds, and now…nothing. The burning is gone."
"Then her promise to let us go was true."
"Who," Hephaestion then asked, his brows furrowing together as he thought. Alexander continued to look over his body and then heard what he said. "I remember we were walking through the forest, and then…I was looking up and into your eyes. But I smelled flowers, even when everything was cloudy, I could smell the flowers. What happened? Did you find what the doctors said to, or have I just fallen asleep, or worse, to fever?"
"No," Alexander replied, shaking his head and trying to hold back tears. "No there is no fever. The flowers you smell are the flowers of the gods, those that the physician told us to look for. You're better now, and that is all that matters. "
"Why are you crying?"
"I'm not crying; I just can't stand the scent of the flowers any longer. Come," he said as he looked up at the sunlight and how it had begun to fade against the sky, a sign of the setting sun, "let me help you up, we need to leave by nightfall."
"We are too far in. I don't think that we're going to make it out of the forest by the end of the night, and even if we do, we'll be without shelter and on our way back to the palace without cover," Hephaestion protested. He allowed Alexander to help him up and then began to follow him as Alexander started quickly hacking his way through the forests.
"Are we on a deadline that I'm unaware of?"
"Quickly," the king advised. "Trust me, if you think things were foggy before, they'll only be worse if we don't leave her forest by nightfall."
"Who," Hephaestion asked once more, reaching out and catching a branch before it smacked Alexander across the face. He carefully released it and then looked at Alexander once again. "What did I miss?"
"The flowers that they sent us to find were only hard to find because they belong to some goddess that watches these forests. No one returns because her stakes for the cure are high."
"Are you alright," Hephaestion laughed, raising an eyebrow. He then paused, taking note of the seriousness of Alexander's look. "Truly?"
"We need to remove ourselves before tonight. She said the forests would open to us, but they haven't done so yet. It is this way though, and if we keep a good pace, we'll be out before dark."
"And if we are not?"
"She takes her gift back," he answered, reaching back and running a hand over Hephaestion's cheek. "So we must go, because I will not let you go."
"What price did you have to pay," Hephaestion then asked of him as they continued on their way, the path getting clearer and clearer as they did so. Alexander did not answer at first and Hephaestion thought that perhaps he did not hear him. "Alexander, what price did you need to pay for the cure?"
"None I was not willing to be without."
"What?"
"I'm not entering these forests again. The Empire will not expand in this direction."
"But I thought that you believed this to be the way to the oceans."
"Maybe that is why she protects it then," he responded.
"Then why would you tell her that you would not enter again? Why not strike an accord with her?"
"The accord would have been your life," Alexander offered, stopping and turning to face him. Gently he placed a hand on his cheek and softly kissed his forehead. "I would never trade you. I would give this all away if only to have you for another day."
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Cassander looked at the vial once more. Bagoas stood before him, perfectly fine. The youth shrugged a shoulder and then took another sip of water from the cup that Ptolemy had offered him. So, this could not be the poison then. Unless it only took wrath on some certain individuals, but was such even possible? Cassander doubted it, and he placed the vial back down on the table.
"How does it work?"
"I told you," Bagoas said once more. "Some things cannot be explained."
There was silence then, and one of the guards shouted something out in the hallway. Cassander lifted his eyes, as did Ptolemy. There was more silence and then again he heard the sound of guards shouting something.
"What is that," Cassander asked.
"Alexander and Hephaestion have returned," another guard said, breaking into the room. "Hephaestion, Lords, they say that Hephaestion has been cured!"
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"Just relax," Alexander said, carefully removing the rest of the fabric that covered Hephaestion's body. Hephaestion sunk beneath the cold water and tilted his head back, accepting another of Alexander's soft kisses. The guards had finally let them be, and though Cassander and Ptolemy were still not satisfied with the explanation of how the cure had come to fix Hephaestion almost instantly, they too had gone to their own rooms.
"They're in the other room" Hephaestion whispered, placing his hand on Alexander's and moving it back to his chest. He then looked back up at him, perfectly content, and kissed him softly. It was as if no time had passed between them, but even after their bath they could both still smell the sweet scent of the flowers that lingered against Hephaestion's throat and in his hair.
"They're asleep," Alexander assured him, returning his hand to Hephaestion's thigh. Hephaestion did not mind this, not this time. Instead, he let Alexander's hand linger and he then kissed Alexander deeply on the mouth, making sure to press his tongue against his lower lip, begging for entrance.
"I have to wake up early in the morning," Hephaestion uttered, breaking away from the kiss if only for a moment.
"No," Alexander whispered back, "you will do nothing but remain in my bed for the rest of the week. Do I make myself perfectly clear," he then asked, kissing his dearest friend once more.
"Perfectly," Hephaestion answered, lips trembling. He wouldn't have it any other way.
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A/N: Not my best work, at all, but it now has an ending. I'm thinking of deleting it and calling it bad writer's block. Let me know what you think. br/br However, "Abandon" is going well, as I'm working on the next chapter. It should turn out much better than this did. Thank you for reading. Baliansword