Epilogue

Seven years. Sadik has counted each day in his lonely agony. Time seems to taunt him as it inconstantly swishes past or hobbles through. The ground crunches beneath his feet as he walks once again on the battlefield… on the graveyard. Visions swim up before him, blurring his eyesight momentarily as he relives every moment, the insanity threatening to claw at him again. He keeps going, and he swears he can still see the fresh bloodstains on the dusty land.

So much destruction. Was it all worth it?

Even after so many years, Sadik still cannot answer that question.

He knows he must return. It would be beyond unfair of him to leave Heracles waiting for him again.

Heracles. A year ago, Heracles had been Sadik's saving grace. Sadik had been on the edge of taking his own life, consequences be damned. But Heracles stepped in with a caustic, albeit whispery remark, and right then, it was enough. Heracles knew, and he understood, and still, he remained at Sadik's side, a fact that the Turk greatly thanked him for.

Heracles himself copes with loss. A few months in, after a few pitchers of wine passed between them both, he finally broke down to Sadik about Gupta, his deceased lover. They are both like weak saplings, unable to stand on their own, but once they support each other, they can get by.

They are both waiting for that day, but until then, living with each other is enough. The comfort of each other's touch is enough to fuel them to get up and live another day. Always enough, but never what they both truly desire.

But in this world, they both suffice.

Sadik still adjusts the white, plaster mask atop the bridge of his nose, irritably pushing it up. The replacement mask he had gotten almost directly after the battle has yet to settle comfortably with him.

It is luxurious, yes, but it is not the mask that he had loved. It is simply an imitation, a ghost of what once was. It is like him and Heracles, replacements, proxies, placed just for the sake of saying there is something there. The enamel mask he had so treasured was long ago lost in the heat of battle, on this very field.

Just like Alexios.

And again, the gnawing heartbreak eats at him. His mask and Alexios are one and the same, and he would forever love them both.

Inimitable.

Irreplaceable.

Lost to him in this lifetime.

He aches once more for that warm embrace, those intoxicating lips. The nostalgia washes over him in an unbearable wave that Sadik sinks to his knees as fresh tears roll down his face.

He loses track of how long he sits there, silently weeping, but the sun has moved to the west of the sky. Suddenly, a cool breeze touches the back of his neck, seeming to loop around him before gradually fading. The scent, a scent he has for so long missed wafts to his nostrils before disappearing.

Alexios' voice resonates within his mind, the words he had last said echoing on and on, each reverberation wrapping like a cocoon around his mangled heart.

"I love you. I'm sorry. I love you. I always will, beyond damnation, beyond death. May I see you again someday, if God is merciful. Someday..." it says, and Sadik feels as if he can reach out and arrest it in his arms, recapture the man he loves and will love for eternity. He will hold to that promise, hold to it with fierceness no one in their right frame of mind can replicate.

Someday.

A pained but affectionate smile creeps onto Sadik's lips as he rises tautly and turns, walking back to where he knows Hera would be waiting.

"Yes. I look forward to when we next meet." he whispers in answer to the invisible voice. "I shall see you in paradise."

Then, unanimously, Sadik and the wind seem to voice the same sentiment.

"I love you."

A/N: And it is done! Finally, after all my struggles with typos, abuse of grammatical errors and the English language in general and my retarded dispositions, I have finished my first ever multichapter story! Thanks to whoever stuck it out 'til the bitter end! You all deserve a medal of some sort!

This has been sad, so sad... But good news! In a few weeks, after writing some one-shots, I plan to write the prequel to this story (upon the persistent requests of dear SPINNY). There I'll flesh out the happenings four months before the battle, where Sadik and Alexios first met, how they progressed, their views on their defiance of their respective religions... oh, I don't know... a few scenes here and there... Welp! That's the most spoilers I can squeeze out!

So thanks to the readers and thanks so much more to those who dropped their awesome reviews that helped me a lot. (/cough/ Hikuo No Kokoro and Captain Awesomesauce /cough/). That's all for now! Goodbye~