Author's Note: Thank you all for reviewing and sorry for the long wait! I saw the movie Alexander three times and every time I couldn't believe how Hephaestion died! I don't actually know if those events portrayed in the movie were right, but I thought that probably know one really knows what happened once those doors closed behind Alexander… So I took the liberty to write down how I thought Hephaestion's death might have happened. Of course this is all purely fictional and yes, I do know that I'm probably wrong and someone out there figured out what happened in Heph's last moments, but what the hell. I like my ending better. Well, here is chapter two, only one more to go.

Accepting

Chapter Two

Alexander stared up at the ceiling with his red-rimmed, sightless eyes. He couldn't remember when he had gone blind, but he knew it was when he had first become truly ill. He could hardly breathe and his spit dribbled down his chin unbecomingly. He would have wiped it away with his hand if only he could move that much without hurting so desperately.

His dry, clammy fingers lay on top of his chest, one hand over the other. He still had the ring Hephaestion had given him so long ago. He felt its smooth surface and could still see the dark stone glimmering from the slowly setting sun, showing its true glory. But Alexander felt that in Hephaestion's death the stone had lost some of its luster. It just didn't shine as beautifully without having the presence of the blue-eyed man around to complement its' meaning. The sun was a blazing star in the sky and gave life to all, but it was nothing without its' other half, its' moon. For the sun shone with all its might, but it was just another star among millions even though it might be the brightest of all. No, without the moon by its' side the sun wouldn't hold any importance at all; it would just be another nameless star in a sea of countless galaxies.

Alexander closed his heavy eyelids. He coughed harshly for a moment, sending a stabbing pain throughout his head and side. His breaths came quicker as his brow furrowed in pain. The burning ache in his body had gotten worse over the past few days. He knew his time had come, but he could only smile slightly with his chapped lips, as painful as it was to do so now. He would soon be with Hephaestion… That was what kept him from being scared. The knowledge that he would finally be whole again, would finally be able to be with his love again, put his anxious heart at ease.

He would miss the birth of his son, he knew. But he also knew that Roxanne would take care of the boy and that he would be all right. Roxanne was a strong woman and he realized that she would fight to the very end to protect their progeny. It bothered him greatly though to never know him. He had fallen in lust with Roxanne and had taken his fill after a time, but he still loved his unborn son deeply if not his wife.

He quaked harshly with another deep coughing fit, remembering when Hephaestion had convulsed with hackling coughs in his last days. The moment though, when he was almost able to finally sleep, to finally be rid of all the questions and images of his lover's last moments in his head, Ptolemy said the same thing he had for the past hour. Alexander was beginning to think it was the only thing he could say anymore. But that's all that anyone ever cared about any longer… Who would take over in his place?

Alexander hated the question more than anything now. His generals were fighting over his body already and he wasn't even dead in the wind yet. He couldn't believe, didn't want to believe how his men could betray him in his last moments just so. But he assumed when it came to men, land, greed, and power it was always an excellent idea to be on top of all four. Men wanted to be rich and powerful and nothing could quench their thirst for it. So he decided he could forgive them if only for that fact. He too could understand the beautiful siren's song of power and riches, but he had always had Hephaestion to bring his head back down to earth sans the last few agonizing months without him. But that would all be changing soon enough. He would be with Hephaestion in due time.

He felt small, cool tears start to escape below his eyelids. He desperately wanted to die as soon as he could. Alexander knew it was an incredibly weak thought to want to die in such a state. He could only imagine how it was for Hephaestion to slowly waste away in his bedchambers after the other man had died. Now Alexander's own fate was to become emaciated without being able to even protest it. He could hardly speak anymore because of his swollen esophagus. He thought that he would have died because of the limited amount of air getting to his lungs, but obviously the gods had other plans for him. They would keep him away from Hephaestion another day, another night, just like they had the past few months before.

It was getting colder though and the foggy light in his peripheral vision was starting to fade for the first time since he lost his sight. He wanted to smile in desperate hope that it would all be over soon enough, but stilled himself. He knew that wishing for things got a body nowhere fast. So Alexander waited, breathing in short, gasping breathes accompanied by the occasional spittle.

He didn't seem to hear anything anymore as the minutes passed him by unnoticed. He didn't have much use for time anymore; it didn't matter to be able to know if it were sundown or sunrise, mention of both proceedings only brought depression. He couldn't see the glorious events any longer so he rationalized that he need not be told when they happened. He was content to stay in a blissful night until his end came. Reminders of anything were always hard for him to accept. But Alexander supposed accepting would always be the hardest thing any one person could do, no matter the situation that called for it.

He felt a cool touch on his arm. The lengthy fingers traveled down and to the ring that was snug around his ring finger. Alexander panicked as he felt the ring being removed and grasped onto the bejeweled metal as tightly as he possibly could. He didn't know what was happening around him, but he knew he couldn't lose his ring. It would guide him to Hephaestion in his death. The precious metal meant the world to him and was his only remaining connection to his other half.

Alexander felt the tears well up and spill down his checks, retracing the already dried tear paths. He tried to shake his head, but the pain of the movement stopped him so quickly that he couldn't breath. In his struggle for the precious, invaluable air the ring was pulled off and his arm was placed at his side. He felt liquid fill in his lungs and he gurgled with his shallow gasps until he was cast into a dark, inevitable limbo.