Forgotten; Worshipped (Imported from Ao3)

10

The king's entourage was closing in and Hercules could spot Alexander half a mile behind it, stumbling on his wobbly legs, being carefully watched by James in case he got the idea of attacking them again. Hercules was angry, furious and did not dare to show any of these emotions for fear of upsetting Aaron even more who was slowly accepting the fact that he would never be free in his entire life. Trapped forever in a golden cage, the key so close, yet just barely out of his reach, taunting him, mocking him, each time he reached for it. He had stopped reaching for it years ago. And yet... Now he had tried to reach for it again, it had looked so much closer. The key had looked so much closer, so close that he could potentially reach it, but his arms were still too short to reach it. And he could yell and scream in frustration and hate. He wanted to scream and destroy something near him, but he had not the energy to scream and was too tired to destroy. He was so, so tired.

Hercules ran a hand over his back soothingly and Aaron sighed into his chest. Aaron's thoughts began disregarding his former plans for the future and began to adapt to the current outlook on the situation. His thoughts began building a future in his head from unseen blueprints. A future depicting him at the side of a cruel king, at his complete mercy. He would have to be careful of everything he said. He knew the king wouldn't harm him in any way, shape or form, and he would not dare to speak against Aaron for fear of having angered a god, which Aaron wasn't. But he knew also that whatever he said could get him trapped in a room alone, with no windows and no sound and no books and no proper bed and- he cut off his thoughts before they wandered to his first years in the palace, where that had been used to punish him with whenever he disobeyed either the king's orders or made the servants' jobs anything but easy. He had soon learned all the unspoken rules and orders and went out of his way never to get in the way of the servants. That was the reason why the only places one would ever find him were his room, the garden in the evening or in the great hall for visiting nobles or to eat. He did not dare go to the library or wander the halls for that matter.

Aaron turned around to the window, still tightly spun in Hercules' warm embrace. He stilled completely when he couldn't find the entourage anywhere, but heard the groans of the pain of the servants which had been let go just before the palace along with the guards. Panic rose inside of him. This was the first time in years he would see the king again and he had desperately hoped that the last time he had seen him would have been the last time he'd ever see him again in his entire life, but it seemed he was entirely wrong in hoping so and he silently cursed himself for his foolishness. He clung to Hercules' chest who gladly returned the affection and held Aaron ever closer. Aaron could faintly hear the sound of shoes clicking on the floor and he knew immediately it was the king approaching his chambers, for the servants would otherwise not approach him at this time of day.

"What do we do, what do we do?" Aaron panicked and Hercules looked at Thomas, who would still need two hours to break the spell and destroy the walls. Thomas was still in that concentrated and somewhat angry stance, glowing ever brighter by the minute.

"Thomas, make yourself invisible!" Hercules told him and Thomas nodded briefly, spreading his arms wider and Hercules knew he was invisible to the human eye now. He turned towards the door, the footsteps ever closer now, and turned to Aaron and looked him deeply in the eyes with a flush of red on his cheeks.

"You have to distract him. Keep him from making you leave while the spell is unbroken. If you leave this palace through the front door there is nothing we can do any more from keeping him from taking you from us. I'll still be with you through all of this, but I'll make myself invisible, so don't worry," Hercules spoke quickly but as calming as possible as he stroked Aaron's cheeks, which then flushed red as well as Aaron smiled up at him.