Title: "Olympias' Request"

Author: Baliansword

A/N: Once again, thanks for the reviews. Also – I warn everyone again – Bagoas will not be highly favored in this story like he is in others. I like him, don't get me wrong, but he has to be hated in the context of this story. Try to find it in your hearts not to send me nasty reviews! –Baliansword

Alexander entered the room without knocking. It was rather bold of him, if Hephaestion had anything to say about it. Instead of fighting though he sat up, pulling the sheet around his bare chest, and decided to be civilized. Alexander approached the bed and sat down on the little space he found at Hephaestion's side. He then lay back, putting his head against Hephaestion's chest.

"She comes tomorrow," he said. The wine could be smelled as he spoke. Hephaestion tried to ignore it. He would rather have him here, drunk, then not have him at all.

"She does," agreed Hephaestion. "I wouldn't worry about it though. She loves you greatly Alexander."

"Does she," Alexander said as he closed his eyes. "She never showed it. She tries to take everything from me Hephaestion, and perhaps she did. She tried to take you from me – and I think she might have succeeded."

Hephaestion looked away, "I love you still Alexander. No one could ever take that from you. My love is freely given."

Alexander took Hephaestion's hand and kissed it. He then lost all thought as he began to sleep. Hephaestion glanced at Alexander. He slept half on the bed, but his lower half was still on the floor. Hephaestion moved so that he was able to take both of Alexander's shoulders and pulled him onto the bed. He then pulled the blanket over him.

Hephaestion watched him sleep for a moment. He then left the room quietly. There was something that he could no longer get passed Alexander with. He could not force Alexander to want him, could not sway him away from Bagoas, and could not stand to be around him when he was drunk. Sadly, he found that he hated Alexander when he was drunk.

"It is late," the Persian said as he approached Hephaestion in the hall. "You look tense."

"Shut up," Hephaestion snapped quickly. "You are the reason that I feel this way!"

There was something in the way that Bagoas looked at him that unnerved him. He lunged forward in a furry of fists and punched the eunuch square in the jaw. The boy fell and Hephaestion instantly felt terrible. It was not his fault, not really, nor was it Alexander's. It was the fault of the gods, and of fate, and of his own inferiority.

"Hephaestion," called out a voice before he could do anything else to the boy. A hand was placed on his shoulder and Hephaestion found himself being turned around. For the first time he realized that he too might have had too much wine during the feasting of the night.

"Come," Cassander said as he slid an arm around Hephaestion's waist. "You can sleep in my room for the night."

"I don't need your pity," Hephaestion disagreed. He pushed away from him. He did not fall, but the world was still spinning. After catching his balance, which was largely due to Cassander, he coughed. "I don't feel well."

"You rarely ever drink," Cassander said as he shoved him into his own room and pulled the door closed behind them. "Tonight I think you made up for all the times in your life that you declined wine."

"Am I that bad," Hephaestion asked as he slid down on Cassander's bed. He closed his eyes. How he hated himself at this moment. He was becoming the thing that he hated Alexander for. Next, he thought to himself, I will have a Persian whore.

"I will not lie. You are very unattractive at the moment."

"Oh," Hephaestion said as he rolled onto his side. "I will just sleep it off. Alexander does it well enough."

"Your hate for him breaks you," Cassander said as he pulled the blankets back. "I never thought that I would say this, but I feel your pain Hephaestion, and I want to help you."

"How can you?"

"I have my ways," he answered even though Hephaestion had meant it rhetorically. "We don't need to discuss it now. We can discuss it when Olympias arrives tomorrow morning. You will have to be there, so you should sleep now. You're eyes look terrible as it is. I am not sure what you will look like in the morning."

Hephaestion was asleep before Cassander said the last few words. Cassander went to his desk and sat down. He began to write the details of the day. Occasionally he would look up and make sure Hephaestion was still breathing. He did not know why, but he worried greatly for him. Alexander was killing him – and he didn't even know it.

Perhaps that was what annoyed him the most. That Alexander did not know and did not care. It would be one thing if Alexander would just tell Hephaestion that what they had was gone. Like a candle, the flame had gone out. However that was not even the case.

Alexander thought that Hephaestion would always be there for him. He also seemed to think that Hephaestion had no feelings and did not care that Alexander had chosen to take on Bagoas as a lover. In doing so he had pushed Hephaestion to the side. Did he mean to, perhaps not, but that was surely what had happened. Hephaestion had left Alexander's bed, then slowly his company, and now they seemed like they were fighting each other- one from Persia the other from Macedonia.

Was it a bad analogy, probably, but that was how Cassander saw it. There was a soft moan as Hephaestion rolled onto his stomach. Cassander only laughed quietly to himself. He then went back to his thoughts, which he had begun to write down on paper. Some day maybe all would need to know from an outside perspective how things were going.

Hephaestion was not like most men. He was fragile in a sense, for he could not get over Alexander. If he could he would be as he was, as Cassander chose to remember him, not as he was now. He was dying. His soul, his heart, his pain wound in both, was tearing him apart from the inside out. Even his cerulean eyes no longer seemed to be as blue. They seemed to be fading, just like Hephaestion seemed to be. It pained Cassander greatly.

What was Alexander thinking? Was he foolish enough to detach himself from Hephaestion? Hephaestion loved him like no other could love. He was willing to die for him, willing to kill for him, and was willing to be put on the sidelines for him. What did Alexander think he was doing, taking the Persian boy for himself, when he had Hephaestion?

Cassander sat back and stared at Hephaestion, watching the rise and fall of his muscled chest. Did Alexander simply not know the consequences of his actions? Cassander knew that it was not his place. He knew that he did not want to feel for Hephaestion – because it was so easy to pretend to hate him –but he did. Cassander had decided just then, in that moment, that in the morning he would speak with Alexander.

Then, he would speak with Olympias. And some how, by the gods, he would find a way to make things right between Hephaestion and Alexander. He would do what he wished someone would do for him. He would make any sacrifice needed to give Hephaestion back his happiness.