TITLE: Messing with Love – Chapter 4: "The search continued."
AUTHOR: Too_beauty.
PAIRING: Alexander and Hephaestion.
RATING: NC-17
CATEGORY: Historical Alternative Universe.
DISCLAMER: I don't know the people involved; they belong to History and to themselves.
WARNING: Mentions of m/m relationship, physical and mental torture, insulting vocabulary, male rape, angst.
NO BETA so all mistakes are mine.
Sorry for not updating before, FF has been giving me a lot of trouble and RL was a bit too_busy these days, Students can be really demanding sometimes ;)
Thanks for the alerts and comments on this story, which I will be answering back soon.
I am also glad to announce that my Mpreg "Nine Full Moons" is being translated into Russian!
Love, too_beauty
"I want all the available men to join me for a meeting" said Alexander who was organizing another search party.
The first men to arrive were Hephaestion's, no one stood behind, even the youngest soldiers and some of the followers' children wanted to take part in the search. Alexander smiled due to the loyalty to their commander but he could also see that many of them showed deep concern in their eyes. Not only the men were worried but also the women as Hephaestion had always showed them highly respect.
"Alexander, you cannot take all these men, you will leave the palace unguarded, be reasonable!" said Cassander while playing with a dagger.
"I have been reasonable these last five days, Cassander, and my patience is now wearing thin" said the king looking into another pair of blue eyes, which held not even the smallest speck of beauty of his beloved's ones.
"Maybe he has just stained his cloak with some blood of a prey on purpose to punish you and he is hidden somewhere, having fun and waiting for you to go to him" said the companion.
"Don't be stupid Cassander, Hephaestion is not like that, not even being mad he would dare to do something so mean to me or to anyone. But you are right in one thing, I cannot take so many men with me; if his captors are hidden watching our moves, we will alert them" said Alexander.
He turned round and addressed the men gathered in front of the royal stables:
"I can't take you all" He saw some men protesting "I know how much you all want to find your General, so we will split into several groups to cover different territories and three shifts; it is useless if we get tired all together. Moreover, I will have to explain to your dear General why I have been tiring "his" men" joked Alexander trying to raise the men's moral.
Most men dared to smile with their king, sending him comfort through that little gesture.
Never had an Army organized so quickly; Hephaestion's men were so accustomed to his General's neatness and order that, within an hour, five search parties were organized, the first group already lined up at the palace gates, with their horses ready as well as their provision saddle bags and warm clothes, in case the bad weather caught them.
Alexander prepared himself and took Bucephalus out of the stable after petting and promising Auburn that he'd get her master back. The brunette mare neighed as if she understood him and nuzzled his neck.
"Wait for me, Phai, I am on my way to bring you back to me, love" whispered the young king and burnt the liver of a young goat to Zeus, imploring the god to help him find his beloved before it was too late.
The whole group rode back again to the lake in search of new hints but nothing came out. Some men decided to look for animals' dens, traps or holes in the rocky terrain while others followed the lake bank and the waterfall and looked for the birth of the water current.
After long hours of unsuccessful search, a really tired and sad group returned to the palace, in silence, lost in their thoughts and weighing all the possibilities, trying not to think about the worst one.
No light was thrown onto this search and a very sad and hopeless king made his way towards their chamber, where the smell of his beloved was becoming to fade.
"Come back to me Phai, I am nothing without you" whispered the king to the moon, wishing the night star could take his love message to his Phai as well as his kiss. "I love you, My Moon" said the king before falling in a heap outside in the balcony.
Miraculously, Hephaestion was able to see the full moon that same night and he suddenly felt warmth growing in his heart and a phantom kiss caressing his lips.
"I love you too, My Sun" whispered Hephaestion before Morpheus cradled him in his arms.
TBC
Kisses to the Moon belong to a Greek legend and you can find it in "M is for Moon in Mieza" in the alphabet challenge
