To Nelia: I am ever happy to write this quickly… especially chapters like this one below. I've been dreaming about thisscene from the very first chapter I wrote on this story! It's definitely my own fav so far. :) (though I must say I was also grinning happily after writing Alexander's little speech to his father last chap lol)

To annakas: Yes yes, I've written more, I'm doing my best… :)

To mamanchat: You can stop being overly worried now, just read on:)

To Julie: Glad to hear from you, glad you like. ;)

To Lyndsay: Thank you!

To Annie: I don't think he will regret it! Everything better than getting raped, it seems to me… But I fear along with you he'll get in trouble...

To Valo: Yay, that's good news! And I will most certainly go on… you know, everyone kinda says the same, and I'm not even bothered. :P

To lvingphai: It is most sweet of you to be so understanding, thank you! But I had a good night's sleep and happily wrote on today, even if I have a very annoying little itch in my lungs at the moment so I keep coughing. I will definitely take good care of myself though, don't worry, writing is one of the things that keeps me happy. Anyway, thanks, and a big hug back!

Now, on on on you go…

-

It was one of the darkest nights, moon and stars veiled by heavy clouds that had kept the warmth of the day down by the earth. He had no idea where he was heading, just knew that he did not wish to be found. Just needed to be alone and not think, not worry, not remember Philip or Alexander's immensely shocked and sad face. Not now. Just needed to go on walking, running. An ache in his chest unlike any he'd ever known made his mind go blank.

Then his foot hooked behind something and he stumbled to the ground, his face in the dirt but not feeling the pain. Panting, he gathered the blanket around himself once more and sat up. He was naked and outside. What way back was there? To the palace, to the past? There was just intense darkness, and he'd rather die than face the morning.

It could have been five minutes ago, it could have been an hour. It could have been forever. That he seen Alexander's face. That he had been in that room, a room of panic and fear and hazy memories. He needed to… needed to… disappear from this world. Just for now. He crawled beneath the blanket, hiding himself from everything but the sound of his own sped up breathing and the dark emptiness that followed him wherever he would go. Despair tore at his heart, kept his body motionless.

Suddenly he tensed and his heart skipped a beat.

"Hephaistion! Are you there?" A short pause in which there was just the sound of the wind in the trees, then the nervous voice again. "Hephaistion!"

He would rise, he would run towards Alexander who was shining like a divine being, who would hug him and kiss him and speak words of love. Alexander who would understand him, like he always had. Alexander his everything. Everything he had left.

He did not move.

"Hephaistion, answer me!" Alexander sounded different now. Older. Commanding.

He did not move.

A long silence stretched out into the night. With sudden fear he realised that the other might have turned back, left him alone. Given up. That perhaps all was really lost.

But someone still called, a new name. "Patroclos…"

Hephaistion held his breath in surprise. There was no doubt. It was Achilles' voice that asked for him, the great hero who had been left alone in the world after burying his most beloved. He was right there, using Alexander's voice. And he called Patroclos back to him. As one torn soul would call the other…

He had to cough before any sound would leave his throat "Achilles…" He sat up. "Alexander!"

"Hephaistion!" Alexander had been closer then he had realised, led there by the gods or Achilles himself, who was ever pulled towards the other half of his being.

The next moment his body was caught in a strong embrace as Alexander dived down on him, burying his face in his neck. "Phaistion… love, are you alright?"

"Yeah…" Hephaistion's soft voice drifted away as his arms closed around the person holding him.

"You're not hurt?"

"No… no it's fine."

They could not see, just feel. Alexander's mouth against the naked skin of his shoulder, his chiton and the warm body beneath it pressed against his chest. Fingers stroking his back, arms squeezing harder. His sweet and smell ever calming him. For a some minutes they just breathed together, finding peace in each other's presence even with so much between them. Then Alexander hesitantly broke the silence. "I… Phai, I have not been blind the past week, and now this… You need to tell me."

"Yes," Hephaistion agreed quietly, then took a deep breath. Alexander had noticed. And suddenly sounded so much older… "I would have told you sooner but-"

The other leaned back and a searching hand clamped down over his mouth. "Shhhh, it doesn't matter now. Just tell me what happened, everything. All of it. I will not have my father know anything that has to do with you that I don't know."

Hephaistion swallowed, a strange sense of relief coming over him. Soon, Alexander would know everything, and whatever his reaction would be, he would at least not be alone in this anymore. And Alexander still loved him.

He was gently pushed down to the ground and the other crawled beside him, wrapping the blanket tightly around them, and a moment later his arms.

Hephaistion would speak words of love, of the utter gratitude he felt, but he knew he should not just yet. One dark eye looked at him from the blackness of his mind, and a shiver passed down his back.

Alexander's thumb soothed him, making a circling motion at the base of his spine. It was Hephaistion's turn to speak now, his chance to create new light in the darkness.