Story Title: Lovers of the Divine Lion

Chapter Title: Perfection Stained

Summary: When Bagoas is kidnapped and raped, an unlikely rescuer turns into an even more unlikely friend.

A/N: So this is the rewritten version of the original Lovers of the Divine Lion that I posted. I've made numerous changes, the most notable in the dialogue. As for my character inspirations, Bagoas is based more on the Mary Renault version of the character while Hephaestion is based primarily on Oliver Stone's interpretation of the man. However, this doesn't mean I haven't thrown in my own interpretive flavor.

Warnings: Well, this story is primarily centered on Bagoas and him recovering from being raped, so that will be mentioned quite a bit. Also there's the whole boyXboy homosexuality thing, but I'm not sure how a person can be homophobic and an Alexander fan at the same time, so…

Disclaimer: I do not own either the books or the movie created by the people mentioned in the above A/N.

Bagoas gasped and then bit his tongue to withhold a scream as pain seared up his spine. The men around him laughed as their comrade pounded into his slim, graceful body, stealing that which belonged only to the Great King. He wanted to fight back, to slaughter these cruel, insolent Macedonians who scorned his people and took for granted the kindnesses Alexander had bestowed upon them. But there were too many for one untrained youth to take on alone, and their constant, restless shifting made it impossible to keep track of them all from his current position face down on the ground. He could no more escape from the situation than he could fight them off.

Bagoas had been on his way back from the bazaar when the group of young soldiers had assailed him and dragged him to a seclude copse of evergreen trees outside of town. The eunuch had immediately recognized several of them as loyal men serving under the command of a few of the most stubborn of the Macedonians who scorned his people and rebelled against adopting any Persian customs. He had known that this gang's intentions boded ill for him from the first, but he had not dared to believe that they would even consider doing this to him, being as close to the Great King as he was.

Bagoas tried his best to keep silent during the ordeal, not wanting to give these insolent whelps the satisfaction of hearing him scream or call for help. No one would hear his cries anyway. The young soldiers had chosen this grove of trees specifically for its distance from the populated regions of the small, fortified city. They talked and laughed as they took turns violating him, speaking in their unrefined Macedonian language that hardly resembled the beautiful Greek Alexander uttered so eloquently when at dinners or meetings.

Bagoas struggled to blank out his senses from recognizing anything going on around him, but the harder he tried, the more pronounced the pains in his body seemed to become. Blood slipped along his back and torso from numerous bite marks and gouges from fingernails. A few of the men had taken their small eating knives to his soft skin and carved their marks, though few knew how to read or write proper Greek letters. The gang had beaten him before starting their other fun, and a numbness in his left arm suggested to Bagoas that his shoulder had been dislocated during the rough scuffling. As a new man began moving behind the eunuch for his turn with him, the young Persian decided with a rather detached mind that he would rather go through the cruelness of his castration again than suffer this. At least the process of gelding a boy went by with relative quickness compared to the brutality of a gang rape.

After what seemed like hours, the soldiers were finally sated and tired. They left Bagoas abandoned in the shadows of the evergreens as the sun began to sink low on the horizon. The eunuch tried to move, to rise to his feet so he could stumble back to his room within the king house in the city, but his body refused to obey him. He struggled to right his torn robes and trousers, thinking that at least when someone discovered his lifeless body he would be able to retain a miniscule shred of his dignity. With the night chill descending over the lands, Bagoas finally allowed himself to slip into blessed unconsciousness, mourning the thought that he would never wake again to see his beloved king's beautiful face.

When awareness eventually returned to Bagoas, he found no comfort in it. His body was stiff with cold and painfully sore from the brutal rape. A cool dampness between his thighs let him know he had continued to bleed out for most of the night, and he was lucky death had not claimed him yet. With great effort the youth tried to flex his muscles but found he could move even less now than when the soldiers had left him. Trickles of warmth alerted Bagoas to the fact that he had reopened several of his wounds in the process of trying to rise.

The Persian eunuch glanced about him as best he could, trying to determine what exactly had roused him from unconsciousness. Morning had come to the grove, but the sun had barely begun to burn away the night chill. It could not have been the dawn by itself that had pulled him out of the darkness. Bagoas held his rasping breath in order to listen for anything that moved beyond his line of sight. The impatient stamping of a horse barely reached him from where the beast stood beyond the edge of the trees. Closer to his position, he heard a brittle branch snap under the weight of someone's footstep. He tried to turn his head in the direction of the sound, half fearing one of his assailants had returned for another round with him, but once again, his body was too pained to obey his mind's command.

A breath sounded from behind him, resembling something of a strangled gasp. Then Bagoas felt a woolen cloak being draped over him. It possessed a familiar scent he couldn't quite place along with a weaker smell that could only belong to Alexander. For a moment it brought him comfort, until the eunuch's rescuer turned him over to lift him from the ground.

With a harsh cry that was half pain and half fear, Bagoas found himself face to face with Hephaestion, his greatest rival in the battle for Alexander's love. How many times had he wished death upon this handsome general? How often had he longed to kill him? Bagoas couldn't even begin to count, and he was positive that Hephaestion had similar thoughts in regards to him. Suddenly, Bagoas felt sure he was staring into the face of his executioner, not his rescuer. It would be easy for Hephaestion to get away with murdering him considering the state of his broken body. Who would be able to accuse the general of inflicting the fatal wound to him when so many others had already been mete out upon his flesh?

But then the eunuch actually looked at Hephaestion's face, and he was surprised at what he found there. Instead of hatred or contempt, Bagoas only saw a deep concern coupled with a tightly-checked grief. The general seemed to be on the brink of tears and anger, but he held in his emotions for now, knowing they would distract him from action. Hephaestion gathered the eunuch's battered body against his broad, powerful chest and pulled the warm woolen cloak more securely about his small form.

"Who did this to you, Bagoas?" the general's voice caressed his ears and soothed his fears. The eunuch struggled to rasp out his answer, but Hephaestion halted his words, realizing the youth was badly dehydrated.

"No, Bagoas, never mind for now. Let us tend to your body first, and then you can tell Alexander and me who did this to you."

"No!" the young Persian rasped, cringing and groaning as a wave of pain washed over his suddenly-tense body. "Don't let him see me like this! He'll send me away if he does!"

Bagoas remembered his time in service to Darius, and how the Persian king had rejected anything that he determined to have even the smallest flaw. The youth had always taken great care to avoid injuries that could leave marks on his body, fearing the late king would dismiss him. Bagoas did not want Alexander to see him battered as he was, thinking that the Macedonian king would decide to send him away because of it. How would he survive separated from Alexander? He would rather die than become a common prostitute on the streets of some city. And without Alexander's affections, Bagoas knew his life would be rendered meaningless; he would have no reason to live.

"Relax, Bagoas. Alexander won't send you away because of this. You have nothing to worry about, little one," Hephaestion stroked the dark, silken hair with gentle fingers, seeing the fear playing across the eunuch's face .He wanted, needed to alleviate it. It took some long moments before Bagoas calmed down again. "If it will make you feel better, I'll take you to my rooms and tend to you there. But truly, you have nothing to fear, Bagoas. Do you not realize how important you are to both Alexander and me?"

Bagoas shook his head but did not protest again. The pain and stiffness in his body made itself known once more now that the adrenaline of his panic had left him. Hephaestion climbed to his feet with care, making sure not to jostle the eunuch as he carried him back to his waiting horse. The general quickly recognized that the young Persian would not be able to ride even the short distance into the city due to the severity and placement of his wounds. Without a second thought, Hephaestion began walking towards the king house, deciding it would be easiest to carry Bagoas to his rooms himself.

As he walked, the general informed Bagoas that Alexander had become deeply concerned when he failed to show up at dinner or the king's chambers the previous night. The Macedonian ruler had cut the evening drinking short and had begun searching for the eunuch in the dark of midnight, but the deep shadows and moonless sky had rendered all efforts futile. The king had begun again in the grey half-light of false dawn that morning and was only-the-gods-knew-where at the moment, still searching for his little, Persian lover. Bagoas was surprised that Alexander would be out there himself searching for him.

Upon arriving at his rooms, Hephaestion barked orders to prepare a bath to his servants as he gently settled Bagoas on a couch. The eunuch batted at the man's hands when he tried to help the youth out of his torn and soiled clothing, causing Hephaestion to sit back on his heels with a huff.

"Bagoas, you can barely move. You need a doctor to examine you, and a bath will help you warm up after being outside all night. You're still shivering with cold," the general managed to keep his voice soft and soothing, although he could feel his temper rising as the extent of Bagoas's injuries became clearer to him. "Please, let me help you undress."

"No," the eunuch rasped, shoving Hephaestion's hands away for a second time. "And no doctors."

"Bagoas, it's not an option. Your wounds need tending, and I don't have the necessary knowledge to deal with this type of thing," the general pleaded as he took hold of the youth's frigid hands. He stared deeply into the dark eyes of the Persian, willing him to cooperate.

"You think your army doctors will understand this any better? I'm not a soldier, Hephaestion, and these aren't battle wounds!" Bagoas's strained voice hissed in anger as unbidden tears slipped down his bruised face.

"I know, Bagoas. Only the gods know how much I know this," the general kissed the cold fingers held between his hands, trying to warm them with his breath. "But please, you need medical care. Bagoas!"

The eunuch refused to meet the man's eyes for an endless, agonizing moment. Hephaestion feared that the youth would reject his help again, but finally Bagoas looked at him and nodded. With more care than he would show even to a newborn babe, Hephaestion gently eased away the tattered robes and trousers. The man couldn't hold back his sob when he finally saw exactly what had happened to the poor youth. Bagoas tensed when the general gathered his injured form into his arms again, but the eunuch soon found himself nuzzling into the man's warm, protective body, finally realizing just how cold and frightened he truly was.

Once Hephaestion gained control over his tears, he cautiously stood up, lifting Bagoas from the couch. By this time, the servants had finished preparing the bath, and Hephaestion dismissed them. The man carried the youth into the next room and placed the eunuch in the warm waters of the tub with utmost care. He helped Bagoas to wash his battered body, and upon discovering his dislocated shoulder, Hephaestion carefully maneuvered the Persian's arm until the joint was once again properly set together. Bagoas found himself surprised at how easily and gently the man had managed to reset his shoulder, but the other shrugged off his questions about it, saying it was something he learned growing up with a reckless and adventurous Alexander.

As Bagoas finished his bath, he wished he could get Hephaestion to keep talking about his youth with Alexander, or any other topic would be welcomed as well. He needed something to distract his mind from the soreness that clung to his body like a wet garment and the memories of the previous day. But the general wouldn't allow it.

"Bagoas, I'm going to send for a doctor now," Hephaestion had waited to get the Persian settled in his bed before bringing up the topic again.

"No, none of your stupid army doctors," Bagoas's voice was stronger since the general had given him some drinking water while he let his body soak in the heat of the bath, but that didn't mean he was going to win this argument.

"You need to be examined," Hephaestion's tone made it clear that there was no way he would back down from the issue. "Unless you have someone in mind, it will have to be one of the army doctors."

Hephaestion felt surprised at the hint of hope and relief he saw in the eunuch's eyes.

"This city is the home of a Persian satrap," Bagoas whispered, "a satrap who is known for keeping a rather extensive harem. His chief eunuch will know of someone better suited for tending me than one of your army doctors."

Giving a nod, Hephaestion left the bedroom long enough to summon a servant to find the satrap and his eunuch. He also sent a second servant to locate Alexander and inform him that Bagoas had been found. The general then reentered the room and sat down in a chair next to where the young Persian was curled up in his bed.

"You could have said something sooner," Hephaestion reached over to run his fingers soothingly through Bagoas's silken hair. "Did you honestly think I would have insisted one of our doctors examine you if there is someone better suited for the task?"

"I'm sorry, Hephaestion," exhaustion thickened the youth's whispered apology.

"Don't apologize. You have done nothing to be sorry about, little one," the general sighed as tears threatened his eyes again. "Sleep now. You need it."

End A/N: I hope you've enjoyed reading the rewritten version of Lovers of the Divine Lion. I would appreciate any reviews, even the negative ones! And comments from individuals who have read both versions of the story would be particularly helpful.

Thanks! ~ Stony Knight