In Paradisum -- Patrochilles THE SONG OF ACHILLES

Chapter 10

He interweaved his fingers into mine. He looked up solemnly.
"Patroclus."
"Yes, Achilles?"
"Do you wish for me to drink from the River Mnemosyne?"
"Oh." I paused to think. "I am rather apprehensive."
"Why? Would you not regain the man you loved?"
"Achilles, I love you. If you were to regain all of your memories, all that would change is that perhaps you would love me more. I hesitate because I fear that you do not wish to regain your memories. Our lifetime contained so much sadness and hardship. I admit, I was crestfallen to discover that you had lost your memory. It felt to me that you had thrown away our story. But I have grown to understand that those memories may have been burdens for you. And I would not want to subject you to something that would only burden you only to appease my selfish desire for your unconditional love."
"So what you are saying is that you wish for that decision to fall upon my shoulders?"
"Precisely."
"Well that is rather difficult. I know of the stories through what you have told me, but indeed, memory is much more potent. I do not know whether I can handle it." I tightened my grip on his hands. "But I will not know unless I try. And that is something that we can face together." He said with a smile. My eyes widened.
"You wish to-"
"Yes."
"Oh Achilles!" I exclaimed tears streaming down my face. I held him in my embrace tight. "I love you so much, do not forget that."
We walked towards the rivers. Both streamed in opposite directions, but just by appearance we could tell which was Mnemosyne. It glimmered in the sunlight, its waters a soft turquoise-green. We sat beside it and I cupped some of its waters in my hand. I ushered Achilles to come forward and he took my hand. Gently he took a sip and I watched as his face morphed. He looked back at me and all I could see in his eyes was love and repentence. His body shaked as he sobbed and he pulled me into his frame.
"Patroclus, Patroclus, Patroclus," he murmured over and over into my shoulder.
"It's okay, Achilles," I said, choking on tears of my own.
He held my face and crashed his lips onto mine. He tasted of plums and salt as his tears dripped into his mouth. For an unsurmisable amount of time, we kissed. As if we would never see each other again, we kissed. With the passion of a man without water for weeks at the precipice of an oasis, we kissed. As if our life depended on it, we kissed.
At last when we stopped for air, Achilles took my body and laid me down in his lap, my head on his legs. He combed my hair with his fingers and bent to press his lips on every part of my face. He started at my forehead, then at my eyes, and with time he'd peppered my face with kisses all the way down to my chin. I giggled underneath my breath. When he was through, he cradled my face in his arms.
"I thought I would never see you again."
"Your mother saved me, who would have thought."
"I am so happy you are here."
"I am too."
"I am so sorry for what I did in the mortal realm. I killed you. Hector did not, I did. I do not deserve to be here for what I have done. I do not deserve your love. I certainly did not deserve your treatment as I lost my memory."
"You are forgiven, Achilles. All is forgiven. Do not torture yourself any longer. How could I not forgive you? It is not as if I could function without you. You have become the air that I breathe, Achilles."
"I concur, Patroclus."
We stayed in our embrace for a little while longer, enjoying each other's warmth.
"Patroclus, I heard you have been missing me in another certain regard," Achilles said with a smirk. My face reddened. "I have been as well. In fact I yearn to-" I interrupt him, getting up to pull his face to mine. We kissed and we kissed and as I adjusted my seating arrangement so that I could sit on his lap in a way so that even slight movement would serve to be pleasureable, we kissed.
"I think we should continue this in the cottage," I whispered in an unintentionally sultry voice into his ear.
"I concur," he whispered, making sure to nip at my ear in the process. He lifted me up bridal style, and true to form, he raced to the cottage. Nine seconds, just as he would have at home.

Even though Achilles and I had our happily ever after in the Elysian Fields, I still enjoyed human culture as time progressed. Classical music around the world had always intrigued me. Gabriel Fauré, a french composer, had crafted a Requiem, a mass for the dead. This requiem, particularly its final movement, had always struck me as beautiful and moving.

In Paradisum

In Paradise...