Hey hey! Chapter 3. Thank you for all your kind reviews. Guess what? I have a plot! It's a small one, but at least I have one, right? Hehe. Enjoy!
Chapter Three – Finding Peace
After the family had eaten Patroclus could feel the full weight of the exhaustion surfacing. He hadn't had a proper sleep in twenty-four hours and the emotional turmoil had taken its toil on him. He sat with his legs crossed on the floor as Thetis and Achilles told many funny and adventurous stories. The boy's eyes kept sliding shut and his chin was bouncing off his breast bone. Achilles could see he wasn't listening anymore and stopped the tale in mid-sentence.
"That's when I decided to marry my mother here and we lived happily ever after." Achilles grinned as he noticed Patroclus trying to resist sleeping.
"That's such a nice story Achilles." Patroclus muttered, completely unaware of the content. Achilles and his mother shared an amused look and the young man pushed himself off his seat to stand.
"Come on, my little cousin let's get you to bed."
Patroclus forced his eyes wide and sat up straighter.
"No, no. I'm capable of staying up longer."
"Your little tired face begs to differ, child." Thetis smiled. "I've prepared a place to rest in Achilles' room. You'll need to share for now."
"I'm fine. I'm not even that tired." Patroclus yawned and Achilles laughed. He gave the teenager a sceptical look. Then he grabbed the boy and slung him over is shoulder.
"Put me down! Achilles!" Patroclus yelped and thumped his older cousin's back.
"Where would the fun be in that?"
"Thank the gods I never gave birth to another. You are cruel Achilles." Thetis chuckled.
"Patroclus can fill the role of a younger sibling." The young man explained and stalked out of the room.
"I order you to put me down a once. I'm not a baby!"
"Yes you are." He stated simply and then threw the boy onto a bed of furs. He groaned and glared up at Achilles.
"You are cruel." He growled.
"I'm a monster." The warrior grinned, hands on hips.
The moonlight streamed through the window and highlighted both young men. The humour died instantaneously. Silence grew stronger. Achilles cleared his throat and dropped to his knees in front of Patroclus.
"I'll be right outside. Try and get some sleep, child. Tomorrow will feel just a little better than today, I promise."
"It's the first time I've ever slept away from my house without them." He choked out. Hadn't he cried enough? Hadn't he been through enough pain?
"Shh, Patroclus. Just close your eyes and sleep."
The teenager turned on his side and curled into a ball gripping the soft fur in his hand. He closed his eyes like he had been told, but sleep didn't come. Nausea, heart ache and tears raked through his body and from underneath his eyelids the water droplets pushed their way to roll down his cheeks. He clutched the fur and pretended it was his father's winter coat or the soft cover of his parents' bed.
"Ma'ma." He whimpered. Please don't be dead. Please let this be some terrible nightmare. Please don't leave me alone. The air in his lungs felt like it was pushing up through his throat, but he could not release it. He felt a pain deep within himself. A longing for a limb that was no longer there, longing for purpose that had no need to be fulfilled.
"No…..Please…" He pleaded to the moon, to Artemis. He was grateful to Thetis and Achilles for occupying his thoughts and giving him reason to laugh, but then suddenly he was overcome with guilt. Here he was laughing and being distracted when his parents were stuck deep within the Underworld and their killer was still walking the land. Patroclus bit down on his lip till he felt a warm metallic taste on his tongue. He couldn't give way to the anger when his sorrow was still too intense. The time would come when he would avenge his parents' death.
"I miss you." He whispered to the night sky and then relinquished his hold on his pain and surrendered to the darkness.
Achilles stood in the doorway watching his cousin's hand cling tightly to the fur he lay on. Is heart was swollen with love and worry for the boy. He listened to the sad little whimpers and gasps of air as Patroclus tried desperately not to cry. He turned away from the grieving child and stepped outside to be embraced in a fresh night breeze. His jaw clenched and he cursed the gods bitterly. Picking up a bow and a collection of arrows he stormed off into the field that spread out for miles behind his home. The long grass tickled his ankles and insects hovered above flowers, their wings humming and slicing the silence. The man reached his usual spot and drew his arrow across the string. Pulling it taunt and feeling his arm muscles quiver he released it and watched it sail like a shooting star to stab its way into the bark of a tree one hundred feet away. He drew another, and fired it fast to line up perfectly with the other. He fired another and another until his arm ached and the bark from the tree fell in chunks to the ground below. Then he kicked the earth repeatedly in a burst of rage and remorse, sending up puffs of sand and dust.
"He's just a child." He groaned and sank to his knees deeply upset and unsettled. Then the fire and strength that shaped Achilles scorched through him and his warrior beliefs rose once more to fill his head with revenge. He would kill those that had endured this pain on his cousin. He swore to the gods that this would not be allowed to happen again. He would protect this child with every ounce of power he held within him and one day he would make those responsible for the death of his family pay by his hands. He was the Greatest Warrior to date and he knew his destiny was mapped out for him to become even more powerful and skilled. The arrogance that he knew maybe his downfall one day, quelled his need for revenge and assured him that their time would come when they would beg for mercy at his hands. And with that he picked up his bow and walked home with a new sense of peace in his heart. If only he could convince Patroclus to find that same peace.