Gridgor's Passing

Chapter 3--Pain


In just the days that passed, Theron lay there in the King's bed, breaking down into tears or sleeping for hours on end. Hezekiah, when he had time to himself, would come to check on him and made sure he ate or got a bath.

To the limp body that was the mage, it felt like he was floating by this unknown body that made sure that the daily rituals were performed. One day he found himself sitting on the balcony with a cup of tea, a cold breeze snapping out of it, freezing enough to put the fear of death into him that he actually bolted back indoors.

Rushing past Hezekiah down the hall, he just wanted to be somewhere dark. Somewhere dark and quiet. As he ran down the halls, the maids and soldiers stared at him. At one point, he thought that he heard Ludwig's or Mamoru's voice call out to him, stopping briefly but then continuing on.

"Stop!"A voice called out to him, making him fall forward. Theron stared blankly, blinking and seeing Hezekiah in front of him.

"Hez…kiah…?"Theron mumbled, freezing up again when he felt something cold brush against his skin. He turned to bolt the other way, the King grabbing him and holding onto him front behind.

"Hey! Hey! Theron, relax!"Hezekiah called out, Theron trying to scramble out of his arms. "HEY!"

The lord Mage felt such a hard slap to his cheek that it shocked his entire body. He froze in the mid-fall, blinking and slowly bringing a hand up to touch the painful red mark on his face. Hezekiah panted, his hand falling to Theron's shoulder to bring him to attention.

"You have to snap out of this! It's hurting everyone to see you like this and you're hurting yourself…I don't know what's going on through your head but it needs to come out to the open. Please…Just tell me what I can do!"Hezekiah begged, his hands sliding though what was left of Theron's cropped hair. The mage in front of him stared.

"Can you bring him back?"Theron said flatly. "Can you? I miss him so much…I want to see him again. I never got to say Good-bye…I said I would visit him again and I never did…And I miss him…Bring him back…"

"Theron…I can't…"Hezekiah said, looking at him with shock. What was the matter with him? The complete zombie-like behavior was enough but now he was just talking nonsense. Gridgor was dead. There was nothing anyone could do and not even Reyah could make the Amestrian man return.

"Then you can't do anything…"Theron said, quirking a brief smile before giving the King a brief shove, walking past him.

Hezekiah stood there unbelieving that this was really the mage he had come to love and cherish. Looking over his shoulder, Theron was halfway down the hall, wobbling and swaying.

It couldn't go on like this. He was going to hurt someone or seriously hurt himself if something wasn't done. Hezekiah turned back down to toward the grand meeting room where he knew the current high mage was still sitting. When he found him, Hezekiah forced him from his seat.

"I need you to do something before he hurts himself."The King ordered.

The high mage blinked, staring at the King. "W-Who..sire?"Orolo asked. He was a young mage but wise beyond his years. His hair was a deep raven color like Ludwig's that cascaded down his back. A victim of the war, he'd lost an eye and wore an eye patch to cover it up but that didn't keep him from excelling diligently in his studies afterwards and he kept to his fair bodied theme with pale blues, grays and white.

"Your Master, the previous high mage. I'm asking if there is anything that you can do so he won't hurt himself or someone else. Please…Do something."Hezekiah said, his teal eyes begging to the High mage to try.

Orolo stared but stacked his papers, rising to his feet. "I'll do what I must."he said confidently.

"Thank you. He's trying to get to the temple, I'm sure of it. Let's hurry."Hezekiah said, starting to head out of the room. They were corrupt in their assumptions. Theron stood at the top of the stairs that lead to the next floor. In a rush, the King ran, pulling the mage by the back of his robes and into his arms.

Theron struggled, thrashing and trying to shove Hezekiah off of him. "No! I want to go! Leggo!"He howled, thrashing his legs out at Orolo, who was trying to reach out for him.

"Master! Please, stand still!"Orolo begged, getting a painful boot to the stomach from Theron's bare foot.

"ROT IN THE HELLS!"Theron screamed, several soldiers coming down the halls. They helped Hezekiah hold the mage still until Orolo could compose himself and reach out for Theron's head.

"Not until you find yourself."Orolo said, placing his hands on the side of Theron's head, his thumbs brushing to his eyes. They glowed briefly, the Lord mage collapsing backwards onto the soldiers who helped to lay him down on the floor. Hezekiah was in awe at the mage's gifts but he had to know.

"What did you do to him?"Hezekiah questioned, putting his knees under Theron's head, brushing the mage's hair back. It looked as if he had just made him sleep.

"I have sealed his violent, harmful thoughts away. It will put him in a much calmer state for a while until he can come out of this…Sire…I can honestly say that it will be much harder than a simple mental wall to come out of this plight…loss is one of the hardest things to deal with. A little glimpse into his mind showed me that he cannot handle it well."Orolo explained, kneeling down and pressing the back of his hand to Theron's cheek.

"Well is an understatement."Hezekiah said, adjusting so he could lift the mage off of the floor to take him back to the bedroom.

"Indeed…"Orolo agreed.

Hezekiah and Orolo walked down the halls once more, the High Mage diverging back to the meeting hall while the King went to return Theron back to bed. Sliding him under the covers and tucking him in, he placed a cold cloth on his forehead.

"Love…I wish you could just tell me what's going on in that pretty head of yours…"Hezekiah sighed, brushing the back of his hand against his cheek.

Theron stirred, lulling his head a little but remaining asleep. The King rose, leaning up and placing a kiss on his sleepy lips. By nightfall when he returned, Theron was wide awake, taking in the first full meal he had eaten in a week. Seeing him was a surprise but it was a relief. He was beginning to look healthy again.

"Hello Hezzy."Theron said with a smile, turning back to his dessert. "The palace chef recommended this for when you have a bad day. I don't feel like I've had a bad day though…More of a good night."

Okay. That was just slightly off. "How are you feeling?"Hezekiah asked, joining him at the table.

"Better than ever, why?"He chimed sweetly.

The King smiled, bringing his hand to Theron's chin, wiping away a little bit of chocolate frosting. "No reason."He said, bringing the finger to his lips and licking off the chocolate. "I love you."

"Awww, I love you too!"Theron said, getting up and hugging the King tightly. "You should get some of this cake too! I can feel it, you had a bad day love."

"…Huh?"The Grayharte male questioned.

"I can feel it! You need a big, huge piece of cake…And maybe a little Theron-loving frosting later?"Theron laughed flirtatiously.

This was…completely unlike him. Normally he was grumpy, irritable, not so much cuddly and never this…feminine. It disturbed him slightly. "Sure…Cake…Right…"Hezekiah said lowly. Theron smiled, slinking out of Hezekiah's arms to the little bell on the nightstand. With a little ring, he summoned a maid and ordered another piece of cake.

The cake came. Hezekiah sat at the table while Theron watched him eat it, his legs drawn up on the chair. For some reason now, it felt like what Orolo had done was wrong. Theron could have snapped out of it on his own but when? When he finished, the mage pulled him over to the bed but just lay on top of him, looking at him giddily. Was this truly the same Theron who nearly de-balled Orolo?

"What's the matter Hezzy-poo?"Theron asked, batting his lashes.

Hezzy-poo? "Nothing." Hezekiah responded.

"Awww…Alright."Theron said, settling down and purring delightfully as the King pet his hair. They were both soon asleep but during the night, Hezekiah felt a hard hit on the side of his head. Sitting up immediately, he saw Theron thrashing around, crying and arching. Moving over, he pinned him down.

"Theron! Theron wake up!"Hezekiah called, the mage opening his eyes and smiling up at him like nothing had happened.

"Is it morning already?"Theron yawned, looking toward the window. "No…Why are you up, darling?"

"You smacked me on the side of the head in your sleep. Didn't you feel it at all?"Hezekiah asked, Theron looking confused, shaking his head.

"No, not at all…Are you alright?"Theron asked, reaching up and touching the side of his head.

"Fine…Fine…Go back to sleep."Hezekiah said as he moved back, settling himself right behind Theron but with his arm over his so if he thrashed again, there would be less of a chance that he would get smacked again. He managed to sleep peacefully through the night behind held so close.


By morning, Hezekiah had gotten enough sleep but when he woke up, there was an odd difference in the scenery. It was still his room but at the table was Theron…in a maid's uniform.

"What in the…Theron, what are you doing?"Hezekiah questioned.

"I just thought that it was so cute! It fits me really well too. Oh, the maids didn't mind, I gave them a good sporting laugh."Theron said, getting up and twirling around. The King's eye twitched. It never twitched.

"Take off the dress, get back in your robes…and lay down again."Hezekiah said, getting up slowly. "I'm going to get Orolo…and he's going to fix this."

"Orolo? Oh he joined in the fun too! Oro, come play!"The mage said giddily. Orolo peeked from the bathroom, red as a strawberry and dressed in a maid's uniform as well.

"H…Hello Your Majesty. He found me in the hall.."Oro said modestly, flushing.

"What the hell is going on with him?"The King demanded, pointing to Theron who was playing with a lifted feather duster around the room.

"Well…It seems to me, he's conjured up some alternate emotion to combat the violence and sadness. Apparently, its his feminine side. I believe I can fix it if you can get him to sit still."Orolo said as he slipped out of the bathroom, trying to get as close to Theron as possible. "Maaster, can we play…um…over by the bed?"

"Oh! Do you want to play house? We can make the bed."Theron said, skipping over to the bed but stopping when Hezekiah was still there. "Move please, we have to make the bed…Unless you want to play doctor~"He chimed, flirtatiously lifting the skirt just slightly.

"Oh, I'll play doctor with you…but I want to be the doctor. Will you sit on the bed and let me check you up?"Hezekiah said, acting coy and sexy. Theron blushed, nodding and sitting on the bed.

Orolo managed to get close enough with Hezekiah's help to touch Theron's head again, the same glow causing the Master mage to faint onto the bed. "Thank the Goddess…"He breathed, running his fingers through his hair.

"May I…"Orolo said, fidgeting in the uniform.

"Go right ahead. I'll take care of him."Hezekiah said with a wave of his hand. Orolo gratefully bowed and left the room immediately to go find his robes. The King looked back to the unconscious mage, beginning the workings of getting the maid uniform off and into one of his night shirts since the robes were nowhere in sight.

When the Lord mage was back in bed, fast asleep, Hezekiah dressed himself without the assistance of a page boy and went to the first of many gatherings through the day.

Theron slept for several hours, waking and staring at the curtains that Hezekiah had closed around the bed, he crawled out from behind them, looking around cautiously. What had happened? First he remembered walking down the halls, then wearing a dress and now this? Everything seemed to have a dead calm about it. Stepping his foot down on the cold floor, he shivered a bit and went to see where his clothes had gone. A maid saw him up and around, smiling and bowing.

"Shall I retrieve your clothes sir?"She asked, Theron tilting his head.

"Y-yes…If you could."He said softly, his eyes still wandering suspiciously around the room. In his head, he couldn't figure out just what was going on. Time seemed to be jumping all over the place and he couldn't remember the past couple of days. Sinking to the floor, he set his hands to the sides of his head, pressing on his temples.

Where was everybody?