Title: "Nine full Moons" – Chapter 3: Second Moon and departure.
Author: too_beauty
Feedback: yes, please any kind of them will help me to improve my writing or leave it forever.
Pairing: Alexander & Hephaestion.
Rating: PG.
Category: Historical AU.
Disclaimer: I don't know the people involved; A&H belonged to themselves and to History, if not, Phai would be living in BA…
Warning: this is a MPREG fic, it means it will deal with male pregnancy, if this is not your cup of coffee, don't drink it.
Hephaestion was again ill but this time he was sent to bed by Alexander's doctor.
"I …. don't ….. feel ….. that ……. bad " Hephaestion said shivering.
"If you are well, why are you running a fever?" the doctor asked while LadyLight brought him some cold water and clothes to set on his temples and forehead.
"Keep him cool, better cold if he can manage" he said to the small woman.
"Yes, doctor, anything to eat? With his sickness in the morning he hasn't been eating well."
"More liquids than solid food and by liquid I mean water, General, water and anything else" he advised.
"You know I don't drink too much wine and here my sunshine won't let me drink" Hephaestion said winking his eye to the woman.
"Is your wife here, my lord?" asked the doctor.
"Yes, but she doesn't count, she can't stand ill people so I will look after myself" he answered nearly whispering.
"The king is really worried, General Hephaestion, do you want me to tell him the news or you'd tell him?"
"He is having lunch with me before going to the Games"
"That's fine, but don't get too tired, your breathing is a bit forced as if there is something pushing from the inside" the old man explained.
"I must add, that Ecbatana hasn't suited you well, Sire"
"That's why I want to go on campaign again with my king. The army is marching in two days so I'll do anything to get better" the brunette said with hope in his voice.
"Ummm, I don't think you'll be fit enough for such a long and strenuous march."
"I am not staying here, I am not leaving my king alone" he warned
"We will see, General, we will see" and saying that the good doctor left the room.
"We will see nothing, Stephanos has just prepared my things and I am going, with or without his permission" the General said.
Hephaestion shared his liquid lunch with his king, who was really concerned and didn't want to go to the Games opening.
"Go and come back later to tell me what you had seen" asked Hephaestion and so Alexander left to celebrate the Games before departing to Arabia.
The departure day arrived and Hephaestion was doing any better; Alexander came to see his General who was fixing the straps of his armor.
"What are you doing?" the king asked the man in the chamber.
"I am almost ready, Alex"
"You are not coming, Phai, you are sick and I can't take care of you on the march" the king said.
"I am neither a baby nor a woman, I can take care of myself" an angry brunette replied.
"No, you can't, if you get worse, I can't go back to bring you here"
"I don't have to be taken back anywhere, I am a General and I'd go along with this Army and my men." The brunette was getting rather furious with all this banter.
"You are a sick soldier so just a burden for me." The king replied without thinking.
"A burden? Finally you are speaking up your mind, so this last month was full of lies"
In that moment, Bagoas entered the chamber and announced:
"We are ready to go, my king, and just waiting for you"
"I'm coming, Bagoas."
"Oh! By Zeus's balls, that's the reason, you are taking him with you and you leave me behind, is that the way you feel right now, is this the way to show me how much you love me, is that the way …" but he couldn't finish his sentence, a fit of cough ravished his body and spat some blood on his hand.
"Go, leave me alone and don't dare to look for me when you come back " a furious Hephaestion yelled.
… and the king left his chiliarch and his life behind him.
LadyLight entered the chamber, her eyes were reddish and her pain for his General was so deep that it is was difficult for her to hide. She cleaned her tears with the sleeve of her dress and approached the General, who was still standing in the same place, without moving, and she made him lie down, he immediately curled on his bed, which still had his king's smell on the pillow, and he cried because he was in pain, both physically and emotionally.
Hephaestion spent three more days like that, barely eating or drinking, the small woman couldn't tempt him with any of her sweet treats and the doctor was quite worried because it looked as if the General had lost his will of living.
The fourth day saw a Chiliarch taking full command of his duties; he started to work very early in the morning till the sun set down, burying his pain in scrolls, maps and supplies lists.
The first messenger from Alexander was sent back with the letter to his lover unopened; as well as the second and the third one; Hephaestion didn't even want to know what his ex lover wanted to know; he only answered official papers, which were written by the small woman and only signed by him. He also had prohibited everybody to pass any news about his whereabouts to the king under the threat of death.
His morning sickness was more tolerable these days and his strength was coming back steadily. The doctor was happy about his recovery but he was suspicious and still worried about his mental health.
The young chiliarch was frequently found daydreaming, lost in his thoughts and with his eyes totally bright less but still looking at the same direction where his king might be …
TBC