Aeneas yawned as the ship flew silently over the wine-dark waters.  He hadn't been getting too much sleep recently for...various reasons.  He would never have thought, a week ago, coming as a suppliant to King Evander, practically begging for allies, that he would now be returning with his treasured son – a youth with a heart of gold and a body like mortal sin.

He glanced over at the young man lying asleep on the bench near him, his chest rising and falling in rhythm with the waves, and longed to plant a trail of kisses all the way down...but then who was he to wake someone whose eyelashes grazed their cheekbones?  That kind of thing just wasn't done.  Besides it would be just the finishing touch to push Achates over the edge.  Poor man had taken to drinking unwatered milk since he had found out about Pallas.  Come to think of it, Gyas was looking rather mutinous as well, and he really wasn't to be trusted onboard a ship.

Instead, Aeneas consented himself to studying Pallas' new baldric, which was lying next to that hideous shield Venus had given him ("Its very rare dear, made by naked Cyclopes you know."  "Err...thank you mother.").  The gold baldric, an eighteenth birthday gift, was engraved with a group of young men massacring each other, presumably to increase the young prince's confidence in the coming war.  In the very centre, a young man faltered, dying, trying desperately to pull a spear out of his breast as a taller man stood over him, incensed with lust for battle and laughing cruelly. 

Aeneas looked away quickly, his eyes stinging, and stalked away from his usual spot on the bow, muttering curses under his breath.  What on earth would he do if he lost him?  He clenched his fists and mentally slapped himself.

            "Shit Aeneas.  Stop acting like a stupid lovesick little girl.  You can't let one man come between you and your destiny.  This is foreordained by the bloody Gods. Pallas can take care of himself."

It was true.  Aeneas had watched Pallas practising many times with the crew, and he definitely knew how to handle a sword.  But he was only just a man, and Turnus...well he had seen Turnus in action and he was not a force to be reckoned with. 

He closed his eyes and wished, wished circumstances were different, wished he wasn't leading Pallas into a hopeless battle beside him.  But things weren't different, this was his role in life, and Man was not supposed to go against Fate.  Destiny was stronger than Love.  These things had been proved a thousand times before.  He was Aeneas, the hero, the survivor, the leader of the Trojan people, who would bring them to a new life in a prosperous land and would father a line of great men.  He had seen all the signs.  He couldn't go against all the God's wills.  He couldn't defy his mother and father.  He had a duty to uphold, dammit.  He wouldn't let Juno win.  There was no way he could let her get what she wanted if it meant leaving Lavinia to Turnus.  And he couldn't leave his son alone as the new and beloved king of a city that the Italians would never let him keep unless Turnus got what he wanted which was what had already been promised to Aeneas and...wait a minute...

"FINE!" he yelled at the sky, "FINE! YOU WIN! ARE YOU LISTENING JUNO? YOU BLOODY WIN!! YOU CAN KEEP YOUR IDIOT LATINS. I GIVE UP!"

A pair of strong arms caught him about the waist and Pallas kissed him on the cheek.  Evidently, he had been awoken by Aeneas' enthusiastic little epiphany.

            "What you shouting about?"

            "Um. I've been thinking. About the war and all, and I-"

            "No."

Aeneas stepped back, a little confused.

            "What?

            "No. I'm not backing out.  I know it's a war.  I know it's dangerous.  I know either one of us could die, but I'm prepared to die for you.  I love you."

Aeneas heart leapt and he put a hand on Pallas' shoulder.

            "Are you nervous?"

            "No.  Well maybe a little." Pallas' brave face was beginning to slip as he looked away from Aeneas. "We aren't going to win, are we."

To Pallas' surprise, the Trojan laughed and pulled him in for a passionate kiss.

            "We already have Pallas." He grinned and rested his head on the boy's shoulder.  "Now, I know a great place on the West coast of Greece."

And with a swing of the tiller, they left the rest of the fleet and set sail for Actium.

~FIN~