I Scored Myself A Mate

Alex opened his eyes freezing. He looked around him confused to find himself in a literally frozen room. The huge bed he was lying was made of ice and he had been wrapped in fuzzy white blankets, while his pillow was from the softest silk. There was a fireplace, looking like it had been forged from a crystal where a strong fire was burning. He frowned at the side and unconsciously tried to bring his legs closer to his chest only to remember that he was injured, badly. His bandages had been changed, this time they were neater and a very pretty smell was emitting from them, like they had been dipped into some kind of medicine. It didn't hurt as much now even though the pain was still very obvious and he guessed that some kind of ointment was numbing his pain. 

The room was beautifully lit in a way that someone could only describe as magical. From the ceiling hanged dozens of stalagmites which gave off a pale white light, twinkling like stars. He was lost looking at them, so pretty they were that he forgot everything that had happened. Probably he hadn't managed to gather his thoughts yet. Disoriented from another dream he didn't notice Theseus standing at a corner of the room, admiring him. If he had he would have been startled for sure considering how creepy it was to be watched while you sleep but the king made his presence known on his own.

"Hey, you're awake" he said, his voice soothing to Alex's ears. The green eyed boy watched him as he approached at sat at the end of the bed, fixing his covers. "You look a little better, now"

"Where am I? Where is Joe?" Alex asked.

"You are in my palace. The wolf pack is here too. We tried to protect the wolves from the hunters by giving them shelter here. Joe is fine too. He is resting in another room. We just asked him a few questions. It was Adam, Luke, Mark and I at that meeting."

"What did you ask him?"

"About the hunters mostly. Where they are hiding. Their base, how many they are."

"Don't hurt his family." Alex said and looked at him with a serious look. He had promised Joe and he should make sure everyone else was going to keep this promise.

"I won't, don't worry. I swear. For me it's enough that you are here" he promised and smiled at him. Alex couldn't help but smile back. He felt relieved, he finally was able to talk to someone who seemed to listen, even if he didn't know that much about him, Theseus seemed okay. At least for now.

"Um, where is Luke?" The green eyed boy asked and Theseus sighed dramatically.

"That hormonal teenager has been kept in the dark about the location of your room. He seemed very eager to scold you and I…well don't like that" he said and winked at him.

"I can't hide forever" 

"I can hide you. Forever. For an eternity if you wish to. Away from everyone that hurts you" he said and took his bandaged hand in his kissing the back of his palm, making the boy lose his breath. The cold he felt had diminished and he could feel the warmth getting to his face. For a second he wished to say yes, he was temped too but he pulled his hand back. He needed to speak to Luke and then search for the one, the voice in his head. He wouldn't reveal that he knew yet. To anyone about who he was. Revealing secrets in this world was like showing all of your weaknesses, he knew that by now.

"I'm sorry." Alex said knowing his gesture would seem rather rude but Theseus just smiled and got up, hiding the sadness in his eyes.

"Sorry about what? Here you are free to do what you want. Any person who can stand these wolves must be really strong. So I have taken a liking to you" he told him and Alex couldn't help but laugh at his words.

Him? Strong? That was hilarious. And it was even more funny hearing it from someone who seemed to be more than a thousand years old and incredibly power since everyone seemed to be terrified of displeasing him or angering him. Even though he had all that power he called Alex strong and his smile was so friendly, so warm, his eyes felt like soft strokes of a feather as they traveled on his face and Alex did not feel the slightest bit terrified, like everyone else did. He felt calm and at peace. So as much as he enjoyed hearing someone tell him, especially Theseus that he was strong he knew it wasn't right. He was helpless always asking for others help. He didn't even know who he truly was so how can a person without an identity be strong. Right now Alex felt like a shadow, a ghost without a past or present. He was lost and that was the biggest proof of how weak his mind and his body was, even his heart since he had decided to give up on his love that was designated to him by fate because it was too painful. The words weak and coward were better adjectives to describe him, he was definitely not strong.

"Why the sad look little human?" Theseus asked him curious as to why he wore such a gloom expression. 

"Thank you for calling me strong. But everybody knows how weak I am."

"Really? I don't know many people that managed to survive what you just went through and from what I have understood your story has many more parts like this. So just the fact that you can still smile, crave for life, this is strength, a strength I wished I had in my long life."

His story, what was his story really? For sure not a comedy or a romance maybe a tragedy? He had shed so many tears through these past weeks. He had wished he was dead even a few hours ago but in its actual presence he shriveled and tried to escape, he didn't want his story to be a tragedy, he wanted more than just a sad ending but with every day that passed it became harder to smile, harder to crave for that life he always wished for. Because with every day a part of him was getting lost.

"My story it's…complicated" Alex mumbled and remembered all these unspeakable moments. All the thought he had and didn't have the courage to utter, every piece of his body that had gotten broken, bruised or burned remembered the anguish and the pain. He had hurt so much, he had mentally died so many times only for him to stand on his feet to have someone slam them with a hammer and bring him down again. Those few times it was because of that voice. That long lost memory of that person, his words, his advice that gave him something to hold on to but still he was so weak that he couldn't picture his face.

"I could listen" Theseus said "if you want to let everything out…and then I would forget it, your every word will be erased from my mind"

Theseus was sitting so carefully, his eyes gentle on him, waiting for him to think, not pressuring him about anything. He had seen him, how he treated others, how his violet eyes turned darker at the presence of everyone else or how his behavior became obnoxious and stuck up. Theseus, he was kind. Alex could see it in his eyes at that moment. He could feel it with every inch of his body that this person in front of him would never hurt him and for the first time in his entire life he felt safe. Could it be because he was an elf? Maybe that familiarity in their species. Maybe his self still asleep could recognize him as one and the same but still he felt that there was something else. 

"Then please listen to me" Alex said and Theseus simply nodded waiting for him to begin. 

He told him everything, from the first moment he saw Luke. No even before that. About his mother, about his father and their little lake house. About his dreams and meeting Mark. How he loved soccer so much and all those thing sometimes made him smile. Theseus was happy to hear his dreams at first, to hear about his friends but then it became darker and darker and with every word that Alex mouth he relived the pain. He told him everything, about the torture about the humiliation, about Luke and how he treated him and Theseus listened, he just paid attention to his every word and simply allowed him to release his sadness. He didn't need any comments or advices, he just wanted someone to nod and showed him that he would listen and Alex couldn't help but cry as he told about how scared he was sometimes. The only thing he didn't reveal was that he partially knew about his past. That was something he needed to figure out on his own, at his own time no matter how much he was being tortured by it. 

It was rare. This moment was a rare occurrence. This person, Theseus was rare. There was no one else like him and as Alex cried and struggled to speak he was there to soothe him, to wait for him to compose his thoughts. He was holding his heart and all his pain in his palms and he treated them like they were precious, not like they were weak and broken.

"…and every day, I wish more and more to simply die but I had so many chances and I couldn't do it. Because I am weak" Alex finished his story with Theseus jumping on him. He had stayed quiet all this time listening carefully but when Alex uttered these words he couldn't stop. He didn't know, he didn't know anything and he couldn't reveal anything. 

He pinned him on the bed, his white hair framing his face and their edges caressing Alex's cheeks. His heart was beating so fast. He wanted to be a calmness for him because he knew that's what he needed, his story proved everything but when he said something like that he couldn't.

"Listen to me, little human." He said but Alex didn't want to look at him, he was afraid he had made a mistake telling him, he would get scolded for being a baby, for whining too much, he would hear that others had it worse. "Alex, look at me, please." Theseus pleaded and Alex even though he tried to resist in the end he gave in. His red and swollen eyes met his. The ice king was melting, something inside him was burning everything.

"You should not give up; you deserve a happy ending. I can see it. I feel it. You are kind, you have a gentle soul, you are everything. No matter what the world throws at you don't leave, please"

Please don't leave me again. Theseus thought and felt his heart break. It was his fault that Alex was going through all of this, he should have found him sooner. Protected him.

Alex didn't know what to say. His lips partially opened he was taking shorts breaths recognizing the pain on Theseus' face. He spoke before he could even think. It was something completely irrelevant but it was the first thought that came to his mind. 

"I can see the sunset in your eyes. The peace and quiet I longed for so long and then a dark endless sky filled with starts." 

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