Mal hated the rich ones. There was always one. Mal never understood why someone would willingly want to become a gladiator, it was stupid, it was illogical, and those rich idiots, who paid for the best kind of training and their expert diets, were the worst kind of gladiators out there.
Mal was born and bred for fighting, she had wielded a sword before she had learnt to walk, hell, Mal was adamant she used to be a hell of a kicker in her mother's womb. Mal couldn't write, she couldn't read, she'd been a slave her entire life, sold to fight by her previous owner, and destined to die young. The only thing was that Mal didn't die. She was still young, sure, but twenty two years was a fine age for what she did. She trained hard and she never fought and lost: she survived. Maybe the Gods watched over her.
Typically she wore a loincloth, covering the important parts of herself, no helmet was worn by female gladiators when pitted against another female, but when Mal fought men, she was allowed a helmet. She carried a shield on one arm, armour on her unshielded arm and each of her legs. Gladiators were not permitted a chest plate unless the emperor wanted a bloody battle - he'd be kind enough to give them chest plates to prolong their battle and make it more entertaining.
The rich ones though, they got the whole armour ordeal. Mal had exposed flesh here and there while her opponent was wearing more armour and a tunic to cover his body even more - yet another reason why she hated rich men.
Mal twirls her sword lazily, almost effortlessly, she was sick of him dancing around her. The crowd was yelling insults clearly boring of their match. It was full today, thousands of people were in the stands, and even the emperor himself had come to watch the match.
The man lunges forward surprising Mal enough for him to actually hit her. He manages to slice across her stomach slightly before she steps back. Mal hits her sword against her shield. It's go time. She lunges forward with the ferocity that only a born gladiator could process and the man barely has enough time to block her attacks with his sword. The crowd erupt in cheers when they hear the clashing of swords and Mal lets out a low growl. She twists her sword around his, causing his wrist to twist from the action, and Mal uses that pain he clearly felt to whack the blade from his grasp. It falls in the sand with a satisfying thud and she throws down her shield on the ground and replaces it with the blade.
She was double armed now and her opponent had nothing. He backs off quickly, Mal looked damn scary wielding two swords in her gladiator get up. She backs him into a corner, forcing him to do something, he swings at her face with his fist and Mal slices his hand clean off. The crowd cheers yet again and Mal watches as the man screams and lands on his knees. She rips his helmet off of his face and pauses at the look of absolute terror in his eyes. Mal was known for being ruthless though.
She grabs him by his hair and pulls him, dragging him by his hair and causing another scream to explode from his lips. She stops in front of the emperor, and dumps his body on the ground in the sand, delivering a hard kick to his ribs with a satisfying crack - like she said, she was pretty sure she was one hell of a kicker in her mother's womb. Even with his breastplate on it was clear that Mal had done some kind of damage.
She doesn't let him recover from that blow and she grabs him by his hair again bringing him to his knees and holding his head up. She positions her gladius at his neck and then looks up at the emperor expectantly. The crowd was going wild, waving their thumbs around and yelling "Death." and "Kill him!" at Mal. The man cradles his severed hand to his chest, his nose was bleeding, he was dirty and bruised and Mal wanted to kill him, it would certainly save him a lot of torture, losing a hand was like losing an essential part of your body - especially for a warrior.
Mal stares hard at the emperor through her helmet and she sees the subtle shake of his head and his thumb was nowhere to be seen. Mal grunts, clearly this guy was important to the emperor in some kind of way, usually he let Mal kill every one of her opponents. She cracks him over the head again, knocking him out, and removes her helmet tossing it into the sand beside her. She tosses her swords along with it and the crowd cheers in celebration of their victor. They chant her name over and over again and Mal gives the emperor one final stare before walking away and back to the pit.
Her fellow gladiators cheer as she enters and Mal grins as she revives claps on the back in congratulations. Despite the fact that they constantly fight each other, they were all brothers and sisters in here. Mal tended to distance herself, becoming attached to a fellow gladiator was dangerous, and maybe stupid, but a few had managed to get under her skin: Carlos DeVille one of those people.
Mal presses her hand to her wound and winces - he'd gotten her good deep enough to bleed but not as serious as it could have been. She removes her armour first, leaving her in only the loincloth that covered her lower half and her upper half of her body, she then slumps down against the hard wall and lets exhaustion seep into her bones.
That's when the door to the pit opens, flooding the room with light, legionaries hold the door open standing on guard as a young woman enters the pit. Mal's stomach flips at the sight of her, she was certain that she was Venus, or that she had been blessed by Venus herself, because her beauty knew no bounds. Her hair was blue, like the clear ocean found by the countryside of Rome, and her eyes were light brown as the beautiful horses on the farms - they sparked, like the water that filtered into Rome through the beautifully constructed aqueducts - she was wearing a toga, clearly she was of some kind of social status.
Her piercing brown eyes find Mal's green ones and the beautiful woman proceeds towards the young gladiator silently. The other gladiators were back to their everyday business now, ignoring the presence of the woman, but Mal was transfixed on this ethereal woman. Surely she was a goddess and, if she were not, surely she had some kind of godly blood - Mal had heard of those demigods: brave fighters and strong willed and beautiful just like this woman.
She stops in front of Mal and Mal watches silently as more soldiers place ingredients down beside the woman. "The emperor sent me to tend to your wound." She says and Mal sits up suddenly feeling very exposed. "I'm the best healer in Rome." She assures as though Mal wouldn't believe her if she hadn't. The beauty crouches in front of Mal and examines the wound closely. "Hm." She hums examining the wound. "I'll need to clean it." She says and Mal was still speechless. "I'd like to use vinegar but I can use wine if you would like? It's not as painful." She explains. Mal almost wanted to scoff, had she not understood how disrespectful that would be she might have, instead she raises her eyebrows.
"I'm sure I can handle it." Mal replies and the blue haired's lips quirk up at the corners in amusement.
"She speaks." She muses soaking some linen cloth in what Mal supposed was vinegar. She leaves them to soak as she uses a cloth and water to remove any derbies and dry blood from her wound. "That boy that you fought was the emperor's son." She continues and Mal's eyes widen slightly. The girl chuckles at Mal's surprise and places her rag in the water that one of the soldiers had placed down before. "Don't worry, we all told him not to fight, especially you, but it was his own stubbornness that got his hand taken from him."
"Should you not be helping him?" Mal asks and the girl shakes her head.
"I may be the finest healer in Rome but apparently women aren't as respected as our men counterparts." She smiles softly and Mal nods in understanding. "Plus Thelonious believes my services were more suited for you." Mal found that strange but by the sounds of things this mystery woman was close with the emperor and perhaps his son - she wonders how she knows them, if she's as well off as Mal thinks she might be. "This is going to hurt." She warns bringing the soaked linen up to Mal's wound. Mal tenses in anticipation as the tan girl places the cloth over her wound.
Mal lets out a grunt, and a rumble of swears, before saying "Son of hydra." which coaxes a giggle from the girl in front of her. Mal could hear her wound sizzle as the vinegar did its work.
"You're brave warrior." The healer compliments beginning to soak more linen in vinegar. She removes the linen in her wound after a moment and examines it once more. "A few stitches should hold this in place, then I'll wrap it in linen, again, soaked in vinegar, to be sure to avoid infection." She informs Mal.
"Galen would be jealous of your healing abilities." Mal says her voice strained and hoarse. The blue haired girl smiles brightly at her though she was frowning ever so slightly. She gestures a guard over and orders them to go fetch her some water. She begins stitching the wound, and Mal counts five in total, before she's wrapping another soaked linen bandage around the wound and smiling at her work.
The soldier returns with water and hands it to Evie who gives it to Mal. Mal sips quietly on her water as the girl watches her. Mal had fought many battles for many audiences but nothing has unnerved her like the girl's brown eyes on her did. For the first time in a long time, Mal was nervous. She felt a fluttering in her stomach that she hadn't felt in a really, really, long time. "Evie." The woman says with a small smirk. "My name is Evie." She answers seeing the confused look on Mal's face.
"Maleficent." Mal replies. "But most just call me Mal."
"A pretty name for a pretty face." She comments and Mal feels herself blushing. The brown eyed girl hands her a tunic which Mal takes gratefully.
"So I'm curious, how did you end up here?" She asks and Mal looks at her. She looked genuinely interested as though she actually wanted to know.
"I was sold by my previous master." Mal answers. "I had to train hard to survive."
"Well the emperor is certainly find of you." Evie says peaking Mal's interest. "You have the most kills under your belt, you fight like no one I've ever seen."
"I do what I have to do." Mal replies and the girl pauses staring at the pale gladiator in front of her. It could be assumed that she had no family, making friends as a gladiator was rare, it was lonely life, and Evie felt her heart swell at the thought of this beautiful, beautiful, woman feeling lonely. She was beautiful, her green eyes burned with a kind of emotion that Evie couldn't place, the woman was slim, which was good because that made her agile and nimble when she fought, her talents in welding a sword were exceptional and her smile was rare - that much Evie could tell.
"I suppose you do." Evie nods as the soldiers begin taking the equipment, that Evie had used to heal the warrior, away. She reaches up, in an almost bold gesture, and cups the woman's cheeks with her hands, staring into the woman's bright forest green eyes. "Perhaps we will see each other again." Evie says running her thumb over the smooth skin of Mal's cheek. Her tone is suggestive and, if the rise of her eyebrows doesn't say it all, Mal would take that as the beauty being interested.
"Maybe we will." Mal murmurs and she would kiss the healer were she not surrounded by her fellow gladiators, if the soldiers by the door were not waiting for Evie, she would kiss her, until her lungs ached for air, if she had time.
Evie stands up and dusts herself down, readjusting her toga, before giving Mal one final smile and walking out the door. Mal breathes a sigh and makes a silent wish to the Gods that she would see the girl again.
/
The next time Mal saw Evie it was under the bright warm sun of Rome. She was training idly, by herself, swinging her sword and practicing her technique. It wasn't uncommon that sometimes people would watch the gladiators train, it was all they pretty much did to keep themselves busy, and staying in the pit all day sometimes made you go insane, but they were slaves after all - they were not permitted to leave the Coliseum without strict permission.
A new arrival had come only the previous day, a young boy, who couldn't be older than thirteen, he had dark hair and light brown eyes and he reminded Mal of Evie. He was young, and wiry, but he was inexperienced and basically a child. Mal had taken him under her wing, training him to become a fighter like herself, but now she was training herself while Aden relaxed in the pit.
Mal didn't notice Evie until she heard an amused and soft voice ask her a question. "Do gladiators ever fall in love?" A voice asks to which Mal immediately recognises. She turns around, her arm falling but still holding the sword in her palm. Mal raises her eyebrows, throwing the sword down so that it stuck out of the ground - ready for when she may need it again.
"That's like asking do humans fall in love." Mal points out and the girl smiles - her smile was as bright as the sun that even Apollo would be jealous.
"Have you ever been in love?" She asks teasingly and Mal looks around for a moment. She sighs and takes a step closer to Evie.
"Once." She admits and Evie's eyebrows shoot up. "Her name was Audrey."
"Was?" Evie asks hesitantly and Mal nods her head.
"When the barbarians attacked our village, she was killed, her head was cut off." Mal explains.
"That was before you were a gladiator?" Evie asks and Mal nods her head.
"Back when I was just a slave and I didn't fight for my life everyday." Mal says a little bitterly and Evie bites her lip.
"I'm sorry." Evie apologises and Mal shrugs.
"I tried to fight back, I disobeyed my master's orders, that's how I ended up here." Mal says. "I tried to save my love and it got her killed in a more brutal way then what they were probably planning on doing to her in the first place." Evie steps forward, so there was only a few inches between them, and Mal takes a deep breath in. The blue haired girl takes her hand and leads her towards one of the arches of the Coliseum hiding them from the sight of anyone.
Mal takes the hint and, as soon as she's out of sight, her hands are on Evie's waist and she's kissing her softly on the lips. The beauty's hands tangle in the purple haired girl's loose braids and Mal presses herself closer to Evie. The kiss was gentle, at first, as they each got acquainted to one another's lips. Evie's back was against the stone wall of the Coliseum but she pushed back against Mal with equal force. Mal deepens the kiss, brushing her nose tentatively over the girl's who lets out a small satisfied sigh. Evie nips at Mal's bottom lip smiling when she hears Mal moan slightly at the gesture.
Mal wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, exploring one another's mouths, hands wandering here and there, until Evie pulls away with a small chuckle. "Do you think if the other gladiators knew you kissed like that they'd be so scared of you?" Evie asks her finger trailing down Mal's chest.
"Definitely." Mal replies reconnecting their lips but Evie stops her again.
"You're a little eager." Evie comments. "I'm sure you can wait for that." Evie raises her eyebrows and Mal nods kissing Evie gently on the forehead.
"Come see me fight tomorrow." Mal says continuing her kisses down Evie's temple to her cheek and to her jaw. Evie leans back against the wall, for support, and nods her head sighing in content.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world." She replies and Mal's lips find their way to the beauty's neck. Evie allows herself to get lost in the kiss for a moment, until she feels Evie's teeth grazing over her skin, she hits Mal lightly on the shoulder and the brunette smirks against her skin. She pulls back and gently brushes a strand of blue hair from Evie's face.
"Don't lose." Evie states and Mal's eyes soften. She couldn't promise anything, the emperor had his way of surprising the gladiators, but she understood Evie's worry, it was only natural, and even after knowing her for only a small amount of time Mal felt the connection between them - she felt drawn to a Evie in a way she hadn't felt drawn to someone in a long time.
Mal kisses her on the nose and offers her a tiny smile - that was the first time Evie had seen her smile. "If you are there then I will try my very best." She replies. Shouting from inside the arena catches Mal's attention - it was the guards calling them back in from their training. "Farewell Evie." She says backing up slightly. She gives her one last lingering look before she jogs off back towards the arena.
"Farewell Mal." Evie whispers back.
/
Exiting the pit and entering the arena sparked an excitement deep in Evie like no other. The sun was high in the sky and burning with intensity. Today they had been given breastplates, leather, so not as strong as they could be but more armour than usual, telling Mal that today was going to be a long fight. A group of gladiators had been chosen and Mal had assumed that they would be fighting one another but, as each one exited the gates, she started to think that maybe that wasn't the case.
They meet up in the middle, the crowd cheering the loudest when they see Mal swirling her blades, she'd been allowed two blades today which was rare but Mal fought better with two swords. Scattered around the arena were numerous weapons and trinkets that could be used for many different purposes.
Mal stops in the centre beside her fellow gladiators and lifts her helmet to look at them curiously. Armed in a tunic, leather breastplate, steel arm guards, shin guards, sandals and a helmet, meant something big was happening - not to mention the chains on the ground. "What's going on?" Mal recognised that voice as Jay, Carlos' secret boyfriend, both of them had been sold into slavery and wound up fighting in the arena.
"I heard it's a centurion fight." The boy beside her lifts his helmet but Mal already knew who it was.
"Carlos?" Lexa asks. This wasn't good. She didn't want to have to fight her friend, she certainly didn't want to kill his boyfriend in front of him either. The other gladiators start murmuring, panicking, and Mal clangs her swords together to silence them.
Centurion fights were rare. Every so often the emperor decided he wanted to show off how experienced his army was and he'd organise a centurion fight in the arena. There was usually only two centurions, the most elite and experienced soldiers in the Roman army, they were accompanied by auxiliaries, non Roman citizens who fought for the Roman army but were not as trained in handling as many weapons as that of a legionary soldier.
"What's the plan commander?" Carlos asks nudging her. Mal had earned that nickname from the last centurion fight after she'd led the attack and saved the majority of the gladiators that fought that day. That's the way it was, the Roman army versus, arguably, the most fearsome warriors in the whole of the Roman Empire.
Mal doesn't even have a chance to answer when the sound of one of the gates being pulled up echos through the arena. All heads snap to the sound when the sound of hooves thundering on the sand catches their attention. Mal's eyes deviate for a second and she sees her Evie standing in the crowd her face a picture of horror.
These battles tended to get bloody but Mal trusted that, with teamwork, they could beat the centurions. "Now we fight." Mal says turning to Carlos. She pulls her helmet from her face - she hated wearing that thing anyway - and looks around the Coliseum grounds. "Javelin, now." Mal orders and Carlos takes off. "Engage the carriage." Mal orders two other gladiators and they nod banging their swords against their shields. "When Carlos comes back here, you take that javelin, and you hit it right into that bastard's wheel, do you understand?" Mal asks Jay and he nods his head not even questioning her.
"What are you going to do?" He asks and Mal smirks twirling her blades almost like a mad woman.
"I'm going to keep the auxiliaries busy." She informs him. The centurions were rounding the arena, poking and throwing things at the gladiators that Mal had told to attack the carriage, while the Jay and Carlos worked on finding the right angle of throwing the javelin to hit the carriage's wheel, that left Mal with a whole group of auxiliaries just itching to kill the most favoured gladiator in Rome.
She cuts the first one down with ease, he was far too cocky, he left all his defenses open and if you run towards Mal then she will cut you down without hesitation. The crowd let out a pained sound as they watch the soldier land face down in the sand, blood spilling onto the sand and staining Mal's shiny blade. Two more soldiers run up to her but they slow their step when they get in reaching distance being more defensive than the last man.
Both swing at Mal, and she uses both her blades to deflect both attacks, she elbows one harshly on the head, causing him to whimper and back off, which gives her time to focus on one soldier at a time. She slashes at the other soldier's leg, watching as he bled from the wound, she then deflects his sword and hits him on the head, harshly, with the hilt of her other sword. The guy stumbles back and Mal slashes his chest, twice, once with each blade, cutting through the leather armour there easily, she sweeps his feet out from under him and brings her blade down with a battle cry sealing his fate.
"By the Gods," the other soldier murmurs. "please." He holds his hands up earning him boos from the crowd. "I have a family, I can't die, please, I don't want to die." He pleads. Mal turns on him, her armour splashed in blood from her last victim, the crowd are cheering "Kill! Kill! Kill!" over and over again, somewhere else in the arena there's a crashing sound.
"I'm sorry," Mal says. "may you find peace in the afterlife." Mal plunges her sword into his chest and then pulls it right back out again. The man stares at her, his eyes wide, blood spills from his mouth and his chest, and Mal stares at him, emotionless, as he drops to his knees and then falls in the sand. The crowd cheers and Mal looks at them to see a certain beauty who looked pale.
"Mal!" Mal whirls when she hears her name being called. "We could really use your help over here!" That was Carlos - who was being quickly advanced on by a centurion. Mal notices the gaping holes in the ground and her eyes widen when she sees the two new additions to the fight: two tigers - beautiful beasts but were probably going to be the death of somebody.
Mal picks up a nearby net, left there undoubtedly for the gladiators to use in their battle, she abandons one of her swords, choosing to go for a shield instead. She sprints towards Mal and tosses the netting so that it lands on the centurion. He flails around for a second and Jay tosses a piece of rope to Carlos and the two pull it tight so that the centurion walks into it and trips.
Mal leaps forward and kicks him backwards his head landing right in reach of one of the tigers. The centurion didn't even have a chance to know why he had been left because one second he's staring at the sky and the next there's teeth clamping down on his face. He lets out a bloodcurdling scream and even Mal has to look away from the gore that presumes but if the crowds horrified sounds was anything to go by: it was not a pretty sight.
The last centurion bangs his sword against his shield and more auxiliary soldiers flood out from the gate. Mal looks at the carriage that had toppled over and that still had a spear protruding from between the wooden spirals of its wheel. The horses were running wild and Mal made a reckless and, arguably, stupid decision to try and slow one down. She holds her hands out and tries to calm the horse. "Whoah, whoah, whoah." Mal says soothingly and the horse skids to a stop in front of her clearly skittish and anxious. Mal runs her hand along its neck and purrs into its ear the tigers, no doubly, making it more nervous than it already was. "It's me and you bud." Mal says climbing up onto the horse. She grabs its reins and pets its mane one last time before accepting a javelin from Jay as she rode past slowly.
Jay throws one, hitting an auxiliary square in the chest, killing him instantly, while Carlos occupied the centurion. Mal rode her horse past the auxiliary soldiers, spearing one with her javelin as she does so. She then uses her blade to quickly cut down the rest with great speed and her advantage of being on a horse.
"No!" Mal hears Jay's shout of horror and she turns to face them. Without even thinking about it she rides full speed ahead at the centurion. He had his blade raised, ready to slash Carlos down, but he was definitely surprised when a horse went crashing into him. It only stuns him for a second but in that second Mal's off her horse and kicking his helmet from his head.
Mal was covered in blood, her face was smothered in war paint and her green eyes were on fire as she sent her fist flying into his jaw. The centurion lands in a heap in the sand, a grin and a kind of laugh escaping him after he spits out blood and probably a tooth. Mal stabs him in the foot, and then the other foot, and grabs him by his hair. No way anymore auxiliary soldiers were going to come now. No way.
Mal had him right where she wanted him. Jay was tending to Carlos, making sure she was okay, while Mal dragged the centurion through the centre of the two tigers - that were snapping at her but unable to reach her due to the chains that were attached to them - by the hair. She stops in front of the emperor, presenting the last centurion, on his knees, at at her mercy. "Do you really want to be like this?" The centurion groans feeling the cool metal of Mal's blade meet his neck. "As the cold, merciless, gladiator?" He asks and Mal stares stoically ahead as the emperor steps forward leaning against the stone railing in front of him.
The crowd wanted death, they were cheering for the centurion's death, and, really, if a centurion couldn't beat a gladiator what hope did he have of beating people in war? The emperor holds his thumb out in the middle and the crowd quiets, silently waiting for his decision, in one motion his thumb tilts down and Mal pulls her blade back. "We are what we are." Mal says before swinging her hand towards his neck with a loud battle cry and cutting it clean off.
/
Mal was cleaning her blades when the doors to the pit opened. The gladiators go silent as Evie enters and Mal was seriously starting to wonder who her connections were. She gestures for Mal to follow her and Mal stands following her without a word.
They stop outside, in the cool night air, and Evie gestures to the guards. "Leave us." She orders. The guards hesitate, eyeing Mal wearily, before doing as Evie had instructed. Evie waits until they disappear before pulling Mal's face very close to her own. She inspects it, and the rest of Mal's body, but finds no sign of any injuries on her - at least not serious ones. Mal stays silent, waiting for Evie to say something - anything. "You're okay." She breathes and Mal raises an eyebrow.
"Did you doubt me?" Mal asks. Evie ignores her question and swallows thickly - nervously.
"That man, whom you killed, he begged you to spare him." Evie says and Mal frowns. "Couldn't you have?" Mal didn't understand the questions, well, she did, she just couldn't understand why Evie would ask that question.
"No." Mal answers emotionless. "I'm a gladiator Evie, I fight, I kill and I repeat, it's what to do." She reminds her. "If I had spared him the second I turned my back he would have drove his blade right through it." Mal sounded so sure because she was - there was no way that soldier would have let her live. "I lost two gladiators today but three lived. Do you know how often gladiators win against centurions? Not often."
"So you're okay with it? Just killing people?" Evie asks staring into the girl's green eyes. Mal didn't have an answer for her, she was hardened to killing now, it was just something she did, taking a life had been hard at first but when you do it on a daily basis it doesn't have that much of an effect on you anymore. Mal shakes her head, feeling exasperated with the brown eyed girl.
"You watch the games, are you okay with the killing?" Mal asks. She used to be. Evie used to enjoy the games, even when her mother wouldn't let her watch she still managed to sneak off and watch them anyway, she loved watching them, there was just a kind of thrill you couldn't get anywhere else, but that was before she met Mal, before she learned how softly she kissed, and before she learned that the green eyed girl was more than just a killing machine, before she knew that gladiators were people.
"That's different." Evie protests. Okay, so maybe she was being a hypocrite but she didn't care - she didn't want Mal to just be numb, to have no feelings. Mal's eyes narrow and Evie knows that she sees right through her. "The emperor is my friend, his son is my best friend, and my mother is high ranking in the government." Evie confesses and Mal's eyes widen. The purple haired girl drops to her knees and Evie sighs pulling Mal back up before she can say what Evie was sure she was about to say. "None of that please." She says dismissively. She may be a noblewoman but she'd rather not have Mal kneeling at her feet - not like that anyway. "I'm telling you this because I want you to understand that I care about you Mal, I started caring about you the second I patched up your wound."
"You… you shouldn't… I'm a gladiator, Evie, this will never end well." Mal stumbles over her words still stunned by the girl's confession of her social status.
"Humour me." Evie says with a smile and Mal frowns before the familiar feeling of Evie's lips envelope her own in a searing kiss. Mal groans, from the feeling, and lets her hands land on Evie's waist, pulling her close and deepening the kiss instinctively. Evie brings hand up to snake around Mal's neck while her other one rests lightly on her cheek. There had been this spark from when they had first met, Mal had put it down to want, or lust, but now she was thinking that maybe it was something more - maybe she felt something deeper than just want for the beauty.
The kiss lasts several minutes, and Mal begins to wonder if Evie's guards were ever going to return, when the girl pulls away. She holds up a piece of paper and Mal looks at it curiously - it's awfully embarrassing that Mal couldn't read. She stares at the paper and nods but Evie instantly picks up that there's a problem. "You can read right?" She asks and Mal sighs shaking her head. "Oh." Evie falls silent at that revelation.
"I was never taught how to… or how to write." Mal admits and Evie found that almost sad - Mal seemed like the type of girl who would really enjoy literature.
"Well maybe I can teach you?" Evie suggests wiggling her eyebrows. Mal raises her eyebrows in confusion and Evie smirks. She clears her throat and begins reading out the letter. "I, Emperor Jaha, allow Maleficent Bertha, Rome's finest gladiator, to leave the pit with Evie whenever she so desires the gladiator. She is permitted to always be with Evie during this time whenever she is absent from the pit." Mal frowns at her in disbelief and Evie grins shoving the letter back to wherever she had had it before.
"You bought me?" Mal asks suspiciously.
"Not exactly. Jaha told me that I couldn't take you out of the games completely, because you're the best of the best, but I could take you out of the pit whenever." She explains and Mal still didn't believe what she was hearing.
"How exactly did you get this to work?" Mal asks.
"He owed me some favours." Evie shrugs and takes Mal's hand. "Now come on, I have something other than a dark pit filled with people to show you." Evie tugs on her arm and Mal follows after her in shock. She was a gladiator, who was allowed to roam freely, so long as she was with Evie? That was insane, that was ridiculous, that couldn't be true, and yet here was, strolling down the street, clutching Evie's hand. Mal was looking forward to whatever happened in the future and Evie made a vow to try and save Mal from the life of a gladiator.