A Father and a Son

Hector's body hang from a wooden cross as crows had already gathered around it, gnawing at his flesh. His face and chest had already been massacred from being dragged back to camp with the full force of Achilles' spear, which made it impossible to even recognise that it was him at all.

Achilles remained isolated within his tent. He had hoped that this pain, this longing, would have disappeared once he had killed Hector, yet here still it remained. It was all he could think about and he finally came to a conclusion.

He decided that he was going to kill himself. To release his soul from this agony. He wanted to see Patroklos again so badly that he had forgotten that to enter Elysium he'd have to complete a heroic deed and he had yet to capture Troy for the Spartans.

With this fact shrouded amidst his excruciating thoughts, Achilles clasped his spear tightly within his palm, its sharp edge pressed against his neck. But as he was about to end it once and for all, a man entered his tent unannounced.

"You killed my son just so you can also do it to yourself?" The old man spoke, his voice full of spite and melancholia. "Is human life that meaningless to you?!"

Achilles took a good glance at the man and he knew exactly who he was looking at. King Priam was in his tent, the father of Hector. He had somehow managed not to get spotted on his way here.

"Your son got what he deserved. He murderer my soul, my agape." Achilles grumbled, as each word spat out like lava. "I hope the Erinyes are torturing him endlessly in the depths of Tartarus."

"You think my son a monster, but you are the only one here!" Priam was outraged, unable to contain himself from Achilles' insults. "You, Greeks, showed up to our home and declared war upon my homeland, you massacred my people, you butchered my son, and now you want to play victim?!"

"You did this to yourselves. You took Helen from her husband and broke the treaty. If your son wasn't such a moron, maybe all of this would had been avoided." Achilles turned away from the King, as if he had gotten uninterested.

"That, at least we can agree on." The King said abruptly, causing Achilles to turn his attention back on him. "My young one is madly in love he says. So mad that he didn't think his actions would cause a war."

King Priam rubbed his hand across his face and beard and let out an exhausting sigh as he continued, "But Hector was a good man." He stated with undevoted determination. "My son had honor, and he had a big heart. When he killed that boy, he was devastated. He came and cried to me about how young he was -- and HELL! -- so are you! Hector wanted to make it right by you, but he knew you wouldn't change your mind. We all knew, but he was the only one who hoped you would. We told him to not fight you, but he did anyways because it was the only way to stop you from annihilating the city. He sacrificed himself for all of us. For me, for his family, for our people, for his idiotic brother who caused all of this. HE WAS A GOOD MAN, AND YOU TOOK HIM FROM US!!"

Achilles gazed at Priam, unable to think of what to say. What could he even say after all that?

And so King Priam, sniffing and rubbing his tears, resumed, "All I've been witnessing is people killing each other because of love. But that is not what love is, that's not what it ever should be. So I've come to ask you to return my son's body to me. Even in his deformed state, I wish to give a proper burial just like you did with your love one. He deserved that much, and if my blabbering hasn't convince even the tiny bit of humanity that's still left in you to do this, then you will have to kill me as well. I leave the choice up to you."

Achilles was stunned at the King's words. It was as if he had a revelation, and just finally realised that his fury and thirst for vengeance caused so much pain that he was blind to.

Achilles was always fine with killing people, if they were a threat then he'd slaughter them with no second thought. But Patroklos was the one who saw the best in everyone. Even if they had done wrong or caused harm, he'd find a way to make them appear human.

And as Priam explained his side of the story, Achilles finally realised he had turned himself into the very thing he saw others as. In that moment, Achilles remembered Patroklos telling him that even the worst of people deserve a second chance, and so he took it upon himself to atone for what he had done.

"I will return your son's body, King." Achilles approached the King and kneeled before him, grasping his hand and pressing his lips against it. "Please, forgive me for what I've taken from you..."

King Priam gazed at him with a hint of disdain and sorrow, and said, "I will not forgive you. If you want forgiveness, then you must ask it from within yourself and accomplish something good with your life. That's how you'll earn the forgiveness your soul so desperately desires."