Alexander's Lover [Alexander the Great + Hephaestion | mxm]

Epilogue

Alexander last saw him on his bed in Ecbatana. The king was stricken with fear and anguish. His lover was only thirty-two, still young and so beautiful. But no longer healthy. It made no sense.

"I'll feel better. Soon I'll be up," Hephaestion promised weakly. His voice was but a raspy whisper. 

The cause of his ailment was a mystery, and it weighed heavy on Alexander's mind.

Alexander's eyes flashed, his hand seizing Hephaestion's in an iron hold.

"We leave for Arabia in the spring. I can't leave without you!" His wrist trembled with the force of his grip.

Hephaestion chuckled breathily.

"Arabia..." his eyes stared off, faraway but not vacant. They were brimming with affection for his king, his companion since youth. "You used to dress me up like a sheik and wave your wooden scimitar..."

"You were the only one who'd never let me win." Tears brimmed in Alexander's eyes. His knuckles whitened, lip trembling. "The only one who's ever been honest with me. You saved me from myself."

His voice dropped to a shallow whisper. "Please don't leave me, Hephaestion..."

Hephaestion chuckled softly, regarding his dearest friend appraisingly.

"I remember the young man who wanted to be Achilles, and then outdid him..."

Alexander was swift to append: "And you Patroclus. And then what happened? That was a myth only young men believe!"

"But how beautiful a myth it was..." Hephaestion whispered dreamily. 

Alexander looked on, seized by gut-wrenching pangs of grief. "How we reach, we fall!" He bemoaned. "Oh, Hephaestion!"

Hephaestion used precious strength to grip Alexander's hand, which still weilded the ring he had given him on his wedding night. It shone as dazzlingly bright as it had on that night.

Hephaestion would have wept if his body were not so sapped of strength, so wrought with pain. 

"I worry for you without me," he managed.

Alexander's eyes filled to bursting. Fearless warrior that he was, he was not immune to the plight of the human heart.

"I am nothing without you!" He hissed, his steadfast determination not failing him, even now. "I'll fight, Hephaestion! We will die together!"

We will, Alexander's resolved in that moment. We will die together. Just like we did everything else in life. He had no intention of living after Hephaestion died.

As though in a trance, he rose to his feet. The king crossed over to the window and surveyed the breathtaking view. His conquest, his success, his victory, his kingdom, all of it.