Author PenName: Dysis Nyx

Author's Note: Well there it is. The final moments of the story. I have enjoyed writing it and it feels good to be done with it finally. Thank you for reading.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the "Troy" characters.

Blackness surrounded his closed lids as Achilles awoke to birds chirping and a gentle breeze blowing across his face. Warm bread and the sea greeted his nostrils as he breathed deep.

He opened his eyes to a small cottage fit for a king. It was small and modest, yet opulent and comfortable. Where was he? Was this Tartarus?

He had died.

There was no mistaking all he had felt. The pain, the dark, the abyss. All of it was so real. Those final moments with Patroclus. His goodbye to his one true love.

He had said goodbye what kind of sick jest of the gods was this? He was not supposed to survive.

Achilles swung his legs over the side of the bed. He was dressed, but was not wearing his armor. He was wearing casual clothes of the softest material. Someone must have brought him here.

Whoever it was was going to pay for cursing him to live. He stalked about the cottage looking for some clues, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Finally, Achilles approached the door. The wooden hinges creaked as he threw it open. As he was about to walk out he realized, his ankle was neither stiff nor in pain. Was he dead or was whoever saved him truly a skilled healer.

He looked up to greet the outside world before him.

His blinked against the sun as they fought to adjust clouds lazily rolled across the sky and Achilles greeted a sight of dreams before him. As far as the eye could see fields of lavender stretched endlessly from every direction. Rolling hills of purple and green greeted his every turn.

There was only one break from it. A single, tall, wide, and dreamy willow tree grew stretching its billowy and weeping branches for all to see. Achilles stopped dead as a figure leaned haplessly under the tree.

From this distance there was no telling who it was, but the body language spoke volumes. At once his feet started slowly as if still in a dream.

He was so tentative, so dazed. His pace grew with every step towards this mysterious figure. His heart hammered in his chest and he could taste the hope rising from the pits of his stomach.

The pace increased as his heart hammered on. Soon he was at a full run till he stopped dead in his tracks before the great willow. His hands, cleaned of all blood, pushed aside some of the overhanging branches and he stepped below the tree.

The figure turned from its post and gave a large white toothed grin, "I thought you would never wake up, Achilles."

Achilles swallowed hard, "Patroclus…"

The lad threw himself into Achilles' embrace and they held on tighter than Achilles had ever imagined. These were the arms, this was the scent, this was the right body holding him. Achilles smiled as for the first time in a long time, he held his Patroclus.

He pulled him back only long enough to grab the sides of his face and give him a real kiss. Not a kiss with a false body or when hidden behind closed doors in the hush of night, but a kiss the lad deserved.

There foreheads touched as they panted for breath. Achilles stroked his hair and smiled with the joy he felt. It was a pure joy and a joy he never thought he would be allowed.

But the moment passed as he pulled back to ask, "I take it we are dead and I have been blessed to spend my eternity with you in the Elysian Fields?"

Patroclus shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine. Dead or alive. I woke up with you so nothing else matters."

Achilles playfully nudged him and ruffled his hair before holding him in a side embrace by the shoulders, "We have questions we need to find out. I would for one like to know if I am alive or not."

Patroclus smiled, "Can that not wait for tomorrow?" he pulled out two wooden swords from the corner of the tree, "I thought we could just enjoy the day today."

For the first time in his life, Achilles was willing to let all the responsibility, all the stoicism, all the legend of Achilles just fade away for a day.

Today was about this. It was about what lay here and now. Leave tomorrow for the bigger questions. Today was about Patroclus.

He grabbed the practice sword and teased, "I will not go easy on you, cousin."

Patroclus smiled from ear to ear with his eyes glowing, "I would not have it any other way, Achilles."

The End