I Scored Myself A Mate

They had run far away. Alias could feel Mark grasping his hand, tightly as if he was afraid he would leave, disappear again. He was panting and by the time they reached Alexander he was bowed, trying to calm his breathing. They hadn't returned to the clearing, his best friend had led him elsewhere, somewhere the voices couldn't reach him. 

Allias was still confused. He looked around him, trying to figure out where he was but the place didn't seem familiar. The three of them were quiet, only Mark's ratchet breathing was heard and Allias focused on that, staring at his best friend and he breathed in heavily one last time before he returned back to normal. 

"What happened?" Allias asked but again there were no words.. Mark locked eyes with him, dissatisfied and approached him. His footsteps loud. He raised his arm and slapped him. Allias felt a sting where his palm landed and with the corner of his eye he noticed Alexander flinch, surprised. 

"Are you completely insane? What were you doing back there? I woke up and you were nowhere to be found. We got lured into the forest without realizing it and you, and you simply turned into thin air, I was so scared you fucking jerk!" Mark shouted at him. 

"You didn't hear it?" Allias asked and his friend blinked, not understanding what he was talking about. Allias meant the voices, those horrifying whispers that lured him away and tricked him. As it seemed he was the only one that had heard them. 

"The voices. There were whispers. They led me away, somehow they tricked me. They heard what I told you, about my regrets and my fears and used it against me, then they told me I could fix it, I had no idea that I was going to hurt myself. All I was seeing was the war, the moment I died. They were telling me to let Theseus die but I couldn't, I tried to save him but I was frozen, then you came and pulled me out." Allias explained and Mark sighed loudly. He messed up his fuzzy, front he humidity hair as he was thinking. Somehow they had reached the Sinn Forest. They were in it right now. Had they calculated the distance wrong? Did someone try to do this to them? None of them knew and at this point it didn't matter. 

"We need to stick together." Mark said with a strict tone. "There is no time for resting, we need to get out of this place." he stated and Alexander nodded eagerly. He had gotten so scared. For some reason he had believed that if something bad was going to happen Allias would protect him but the king was the only one to get lured by the voices so easily, had he been chosen because he was the weakest? There was no way, Alexander scolded himself and followed the two men. 

"Mark, they took me. They managed to trick me." Allias mumbled, quiet because he didn't want Alexander to hear. They were walking deeper into the forest hoping to find the exit. Mark had called Arpaia, he instructed her to fly above the trees, find a path and lead them out. 

"Don't think too much about it. There is no specific reason." The red haired told him. He knew what Allias was thinking. 

"We both know that is not true. They took me because I was the weakest. Mentally I was an easy prey." he told his best friend. Mark stopped walking and turned towards him. He seemed angry, his eyes focused on the king as he spoke. 

"So what? So what Allias? We all have times when we feel low. You need to stop trying to be perfect all the time. Maybe your mentality would get fixed that way. No one has to be perfect."

"A king must be perfect." 

"Who told you that? Did your mother tell you? Your people? Theseus or is it something you have stuck in your head because you feel shitty about yourself?" Mark asked him aggressively. He pointed at him with his finger, pushing him slightly on the shoulder. 

"I...Mark, I am trying" he said, his face facing the ground.

"Stop trying then, for fucks sake Allias just stop. Live your life, be yourself and stop thinking who is and who isn't strong or how perfect you need to be. You have nothing to live up to except your own happiness. I miss seeing you smile, a true smile. The one that made me want to be your friend." he told him with a saddened expression and Allias nodded. 

"You're right...Maybe I…" Allias didn't manage to finish his sentence though. A loud scream echoed into the forest and their heads snapped towards the source. It was coming from behind them, they realized. 

Someone was missing, Alexander was gone. 

"I swear I am going to burn this fucking forest to the ground when we are out." Mark swore as he started running. He was heading towards where he heard the scream, a loud sound following, like a huge brunch breaking and half of a tree almost landed on him. 

Allias rushed towards him, grabbing him from his waist and pulling him back with ease. 

"See? You're strong" Mark told him and the king shook his head, even though he had a faint smile on his face. 

"Come on, something tells me Alexander is shitting his pants right now." Allias told him as he hopped over the huge log that had been dropped in front of them. 

It felt rough underneath Allias' palm, the little pieces of wood piercing his skin but he ignored it as he heard a second scream. Now that he was focused he could clearly recognize it as Alexander's voice. He frowned, worried until he heard Mark talk to him from his side. 

"I save you, you save me and together we save the kid" he joked and Allias laughed. 

"Sure." he agreed. 

...

Hello! Please leave a nice comment telling me how you find the story so far. Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed and please do vote The tears of a prince if you're able to. Have a nice day!

I wanted Allias and Mark to have some friendship time. I miss their old adventures kind of.