Finding Achilles

v. hearts that beat together

The night was too starry for my grim soul.

The premises of Achilles', oh sorry, Alexander's house was silent and gloomy, with swaying trees calling me and thorny bushes poking my legs. It irked my already down self.

The silence was getting on my nerves.

"Damn it!" I kicked a pebble and it rolled endlessly.

I had lost my only chance at making him return. It was not just for my own love that I had come to take him but for the cause of the united Greeks. I had failed the Greeks, myself and even Achilles, for because of my unplanned, reckless methods executed in haste made him nervous and gave him a staggered heart.

Oh bloody Tartarus, engulf me in your claws! Oh Lord Aidoneous, take me to your Hades!

My love for Achilles would keep burning like an eternal flame. Even if he had forgotten me, let me remember him forever.

I should allow him to forget me. He would be pained to know later that I was leaving. He should begin a new life– something far from glory, something far from blood and gore; maybe there he would find peace that even us heroes couldn't claim in battles with gods.

Passing by a pond, I decided to sit and reflect on my thoughts for a while. I had a little to no option left. Maybe I would have to return empty-handed.

I stared at my reflection long enough in the pond, watching the ripples and listening to the calm chiming of the waters. A whirlwind of emotions swirled in my mind and my heart swelled with sadness.

For a moment I mistook the reflection in the pond to be smiling at me, the face of Achilles beaming so bright.

"I am completely lost."

Or not?

An idea struck me.

There might be a way out.

I got up and ran towards the cottage I had rented here. Pushing the door open I was welcomed in the dim messy room where I had been living for the days in Mysia.

I opened a trunk that I had brought with me and rummaged through the contents.

"Where has it gone?"

Many a times while we were younger I had used this object to appear as him. It was our lovely past-time, but now it seemed this was my only saviour.

A golden strand shimmered in the bottommost corner of the trunk.

"Oh, it's here!"

Finally, the flaxen wig was in my hand. I took it and stood in front of the mirror, still and dazed.

Years had passed since I didn't dress up as Achilles. I was so devoted that I wanted to merge with his self– his looks, his heart, his soul.

"Two hearts that beat together."

I wore the wig and adjusted the tresses. For sure, we had the same jawline, the same hooked nose, the same build, though I was a little taller but I think no one would notice it.

"But what about my eyes?"

They weren't as unique as that of Achilles. The rustic blend of colours that God had gifted him wasn't in my grasp ever. He had two worlds in his soul for a pair of eyes. I had only one– a pair of gentle brown mirrors, dignified and often alert. His were melodious and mysterious like nature– like the sky, like Gaia herself.

With a sigh, I fell to the floor.

I had failed the Greeks. I, the beloved companion of Achilles, couldn't bring him back home.

Thud.

I jerked out of my thoughts.

There was a knock at the door.

Keeping the wig away I went and opened the door. As soon as the sky outside came into my view, someone as swift as lightning pushed me back into my cottage and closed the door roughly.

Then two arms wrapped themselves around my body. It was thirsty and desperate, with an urgency very fierce.

I returned the gesture tenderly, not being so passionate and daring. In contrast to his need for conquering me, I released and gave him freedom.

Finally he allowed me to have a breath.

"Achilles."

The name fell like pearl from my lips.

He cupped my face. I stared into his ethereal eyes for a reply.

He parted his lips, and what came out drained my soul of every burden.

"I remember."

----- END -----