Title: Left
Author: Phaelas
Rating: G
Pairing: Alexander/Hephaistion
Author's notes: I was in a dark mood, and a dark scene drifted into my head.
The man stumbled over to the bed, seemingly exhausted, and let himself fall on it face down. His shoulders slumped as the air floated out of his lungs in a long sigh, and he turned his head to the side. His dark eyes were dull, tears threatening to fall but didn't – he would not let them. A familiar voice outside.
"Let me in."
"He gave orders to let no one disturb him."
"Do you know who you are talking to? You have as much right to deny me access to this room as you have to deny the king himself. Let me in."
No guard could oppose words spoken in such truth and strength.
A second man entered the dimly-lit room, and his gaze rested on the motionless form on the bed. "Alexander…" Hurried footsteps carried him further into the room.
The blond man gave no reaction as Hephaistion knelt into his view, no reaction as clouded blue eyes examined his face. "Alexander!"
A hand reached out to touch the side of his face, and with a jerk Alexander rolled on his back. His voice sounded tired. "Their power has left me, Hephaistion. The Gods have left me."
The other man didn't move, his voice hesitating only the faintest bit when he spoke. "Of course they haven't."
"Yes they have." The words were sharp, and Hephaistion cringed almost imperceptibly.
Alexander's breathing was laboured. "On the moment the spear from my hand pierced his body, I felt it. They left me. Can you not see it?" He turned his head and their eyes met. "Can you not feel it?"
The dark-haired man sucked in a breath, and he slowly lifted himself and seated himself on the edge of the bed. "No," he responded with a calm voice. "The Gods would not leave you for doing what was right."
The dark eyes slowly became distressed as they looked upon the man towering over him.
Hephaistion tried his best to hide a growing uneasiness. "Alexander,-"
"No. No, Hephaistion, I see it now." Alexander reached up with his hand and slowly rubbed his forehead, breath slipping away. "You have not been touched by them, have you? Perhaps that is the reason for this punishment, believing that they shared their power with another as well…"
The other man's face paled, but still showed no sign of emotion. "You are upset-"
"It's too late. You to sit on my bed as if everything is the same… you were never an equal." Alexander's face dulled, eyes unseeing, his words soft and not directed at the stiffened form sitting beside him. "You are part of the legend only because I let you. You're not real. It was no divine power that made you this blinded in your faith. You don't feel it. It hasn't left you, because it was never there. I understand it now. You can't save me. Go away."
Hephaistion's mouth opened and closed, and for a moment his breathing stopped. "I never-"
"You couldn't know," Alexander cut him off. "My own dreams, my longing for a myth that I could create myself…" Finally his eyes returned to the ones that looked down on him with anguish that could no longer be hidden. "You are part of it only because I wanted you to be, Hephaistion. But this myth is my own. Go. Go now."
Alexander didn't see how Hephaistion straightened his back after he got up, how the one who he had once called 'Alexander' as well, left the room with eyes as unseeing as his own.
Hephaistion felt it now. The Gods had left them both.
