Title: Artificial

Chapter Title: On the Mercy of Hades... 2?

Author: Sandrei

Summary: Someone came to save Hephaistion from the poison that ended his life. Nothing that was written in history ever became the same when Xerxes Kronus Darius returned. Crossover with an AU Harry Potter

AN: First off...hugs and kisses and a million thank you to the people who reviewed the first chapter. Ok, so this chapter will center on Hephaistion's contemplation about everything between Alexander and himself while he lay on his deathbed and that's about it.

AN2: To those who reviewed and said that they can't believe this is a crossover with HP...I'm telling you that HP is a total AU...the characters are there and everything, the houses and all but the concept of a wizarding school is so totally removed...if you noticed in the first chapter...I gave a hint about HP there...think of where was Xerxes all these years...there...I'll shut up now coz I think I gave you enough clues

Disclaimer: Hephaistion, Alexander and all other characters that are familiar to you belongs to WB, Oliver Stone, history and a lot more people, Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, WB and a lot more people. Only Xerxes Kronus and other unfamiliar characters are mine. No illegal manufacturing or distribution is intended therefore no money is being made. This is just a product of a fifteen-year-old girl's imagination.

Read and review pls...thanks...


Previously...

Enough of my ramblings though, I have arrived in the place I once called home. Babylon.

Xerxes Kronus Darius


II. On the Mercy of Hades...

I knew that I was a hated man. That much was expected for loving a king, for loving Alexander the Great but most of all, for being loved by him.

Look at me, speaking as if it is all in the past.

I guess that when I think about it, looking at everything that has happened in my life, from the passionate boy in Pella to the hated general in Babylon, I have come a long way and I have changed.

Hephaistion Amynthor was not the only one who changed though.

Sometimes, when I look at him, I have to hide the shudder that passes my body upon looking at his blank eyes. He has changed so much! Oh, don't get me wrong for I can still see some of my precious Alexander hiding inside the broken king in front of me.

Sometimes, when no one is looking, the familiar glint of that beloved boy peeks from the feared man's eyes. Those are the moment when I find myself turning back to the simple boy in Pella who has just defeated the king's son. Those moments however are too few.

Alexander and I are not the only ones that changed.

Even our love, the love that he said was a gift from his true father Zeus-Amon, changed.

And now, as I lay in my deathbed, I see just how much our love has changed.

Many have always loved Alexander, for many consider him Great.

I remember the words that King Philip spoke to him when we were young after he successfully tamed oxhead, his beloved horse, "Find thyself a greater kingdom my son, for Macedonia is too little for you."

And also Philip's words to his son before his assasination, "People say that Philip is a great general but they say Alexander is simply great!"

Even then, I believed the late king's words for I knew that Alexander would be remembered in history as the greatest king of all.

Like myself, many fell for that greatness in him yet only I got what we all wanted, his love, atleast that was before we arrived in Babylon.

Babylon changed everything between us. It is here where he found that eunuch, Bagoas. It is here where he found his wives, Roxanne and the sweet princess Statira.

Atfirst I held no contempt in his affairs. Afterall, our love was divine and I had the belief that only I have conqured his heart. How utterly foolish I was to not see the signs.

With Roxanne, things were simple for he needed an heir. With Statira, I even learned to like the princess for I knew she holds Alexander in great respect but never in love. Oh yes, I know that she likes me. I saw it in her eyes upon our return from the Hindu Kush. It is I that holds her affection though if the other companions learn of that fact, I do not even want to think of the consequences. Don't get me wrong for if we are talking about the Alexander of old, I can assure you that he would even find the situation amusing. But as I said, Alexander is not the one that I knew of old and with him, nothing is really assured and simple.

Now with Bagoas, our love became complicated.

Before, I brushed off Alexander's longing stares at the boy as lust. But even the blindest of men could not deny the fact that what he felt for the eunuch goes beyond that of lust. It was first considered as affection out of fascination, for even I myself could not deny the fact that the Persian boy is exotically beautiful.

Then that affection shifted into obsession. How do I know? Let's just say that spending cold nights alone in my tent during our campaign in India has opened my eyes.

It hurts to know that another man who holds a part of his heart shares his bed while I lie alone with no warmth but I never realized just how far that obsession for the eunuch got, until now.

I was poisoned lastnight. At the feast celebrated for our safe return in Babylon, pretty useless if you ask me for we have already been at the place for almost three months. That and the fact that Roxanne was the one to convince Alexander to have the feast should have alerted warning bells in my head.

However, I was too deep in wallowing in self-pity to realize that the feast may be a scheme by Roxanne. Afterall, I never thought she never learned to forgive me for giving Alexander the ring from Egypt on their wedding night. Foolish of her! Can't she see that it is no longer I who holds Alexander's heart? It is Bagoas Roxanne! Your one time ally is now your enemy for Alexander's heart!

I know that she never once considered Statira as competition for she knew that Alexander looks at the princess as a sister of sorts. It has always been me whom she hated with a passion. I guess that passion won out and forced her to do what she did last night.

I hold no bitterness for her however. As I lay in my deathbed, on the mercy of Hades for a few more minutes, I listen to the man who used to love me more than life itself mumble useless things while looking at the ports of his beloved city.

Can't you see that I am dying Alexander? Can't you even turn around and lie to me one last time and tell me that you love me? That is a lie that I am willing to bring to Hades with me.

Suddenly, as coldness gripped my heart and as Alexander continues to talk about the future, the doors to my suit burst open and struggling to look at who dared to defy Alexander's wish to leave us alone, I saw Queen Statira enter with the Persian minister and someone is behind them. The companion and Bagoas were not far behind, as well as the doctors, the royal guards and the servants.

I never heard Alexander's scornful remarks towards them because at that very moment my eyes came in contact with the greenest of all emeralds.

Looking at the man's eyes, I somehow knew that Hades would fail in taking me down to the underworld with him.

As I lie here trying to breathe and on the mercy of Hades, I think I may just have found my chance of salvation...both from death and from this life.

And as Statira struggled to speek in Greek, I heard words that baffled all of us Macedons inside the room.

1"Alexander...this is my brother...Xerxes Kronus Darius...Prince of Persia."


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1 I don't know how to deal with Statira's accent in the movie so pls...you can just think of that accent and apply it in this fic...