To Achieve Immortality

I

The scorching heat of the Mediterranean sun battered mercilessly down; the heat creating a living replica of hell to the living souls unfortunate enough to cross its path.

Unfortunately for Meleas, he happened to be one of them; along with the four hundred thousand odd men marching alongside him.

Many people always stated that the worst point of a war was obviously the war itself; what with the fighting and killing and all.

Obviously these were people who had never fought.

For if they had, they would know the absolute worst point wasn’t the war itself, but the period just before it. That horrific trepidation. That blinding fear. That awful, gut-churning, pure knowledge.Knowledge of what was to come; that today could be your last day, or even worse ... his last day.

Meleas allowed his eyes to glance sharply to his left, to the tall proud figure of what seemed to be the perfect soldier;

Strong.

Courageous.

Beautiful.

Okay, so maybe the last description wasn’t exactly what would be found in any general’s idea of a perfect soldier, but still, it was unerringly accurate when describing the man walking next to him. Meleas had simply to close his eyes to envision the strength in the arms that held him close last night, the softness of those lips; now dry and slightly parched from the blistering heat, and the warmth in the sea-blue eyes that were currently hidden slightly by the sides of the metal helmet.

And almost like magic, the head turned slightly, as if sensing his gaze, and those very same encompassing eyes met his. That same tenderness lingered on, causing Meleas’ heart to almost skip a beat, and a small smile to spread on his face.

I love you.

An echoing grin.

I know. 

The silent conversation was broken by the sounds of laughter in the distance; loud enough to be heard over the ever-familiar metallic sound of armour and swords clinking. Meleas frowned. Who, in the name of Zeus, could be laughing at such a time?

Looking towards the direction the sound had emerged from, Meleas frowned deeper, before turning back to meet his lover’s equally pensive gaze.

“Fresh meat.”

Pathocles grunted in agreement. “Trust those idiot Ithacans to bring fresh meat to a battle like this.”

Meleas’ eyes softened slightly at the thought.

“They won’t last a day.”

**********************************

A.N :Nyaah ..  haven’t written in eons so I’d much appreciate any constructive criticism any of you shiny people may offer. forgive pure shortness, I have an exam tomorrow morning (and of course being an idiot, the night before imp starting a story :p) most likely going to update this weekend. this is not going to be a historical fic, so characters are made up. wars/kings/alliances etc.. are made up too.

(Note: Meleas is not the main char. and nope, neither is Pathocles. main chars coming laaater)

(Note 2: Updated to correct grammatical and spelling mistakes that undoubtedly occur in any hastily written piece of writing done at 11 pm. If there are any other errors please tell me. Thanks to Shades and A.C for being my first two reviewees ! official thankage in next chap J )