A/N So, I recently watched Gladiator and fell in love all over again. It's such an AMAZING STORY (Most regrettably I don't own it. Sob.)! I had the idea for this fic because well I wanted more Maximus and Lucilla but there doesn't seem to be much fanfic for them out there so I just decided to write my own! This can be read as a oneshot but I am going to continue with it. I have the next chapter, all I have to do is get it out of my notebook and onto my Doc Manager but I'm going on vacation in a few days so don't expect it till some time in late July or early August. Anyhoo read this, excuse typeo's and lemmie know what ya think! (A little secret: Reviews will make me post faster!)
Lucilla felt as if she would surely die from lack of breath. Her brother and the love of her life were going to fight to the death before her eyes and her heart felt ready to burst. All the blood drained rapidly from her face as the platfrom ascended from below the floor of the arena. The soldiers formed a ring around the two opponents. Her eyes darted to, and fixed upon, Maximus. Instantly she could tell something wasn't right. He favored his right side and slightly bent as if in great pain. The roars of the crowd were deafening. Commodous pranced around goading them to an even higher pitch of frenzied excitement. Finally the two locked eyes and began circling. Lucilla's horrified gaze did not leave Maximus even for a second and the buzz of the crowd faded from her ears completely. All she seemed to hear was the clashing of swords and the banging of her own heart so loud she wanted to cover her ears to block it out. But of course she knew that would do her no good. Maximus and Commodous moved through an intricate dance, one gaining one moment the other the next. They were dead even for what seemed and eternity. But then Oh! Maximus seemed to be taking control. Now he decidedly was! In no time at all he had unsworded Commodous. Her brother shouted for a sword from one of the guards. The tension that followed was palpable. No one did, no one would. The rage in Commodous's eyes filled Lucilla with yet greater terror. Then Maximus, refusing a hollow and unjust victory, dropped his weapon. Lucilla wanted to scream as the men met a second time, this time at much closer quarters. As they grappled she felt a kind of disbelief rush in annd break over her like waves. Her brother and her father's favorite general (once Oh so long ago!) throwing blows, on the floor of the Colosseum in front of a crowd of jeering Plebeians? This could not be happening! And when Commodous produced a Stiletto and there was a sickening moment of nothing but Maximus' sheer will for revenge preventing the dreadful blade from cutting his throat, it was as if not she but another beheld the awful scene. She was only vaguely aware of the sickening feeling of her gut wrenching and wishing she could wake up as she watched Maximus's strength finally win out and the blade jam haltingly the emperor's throat. His bloody corpse fell into the dust at Maximus's feet and she felt neither relief nor sadness nor anger nor any other emotion. She felt nothing. This had not really happened. Maximus walked a few steps like a man in a trance, holding his hand out as if reaching for something distant and unattainable. Quintice called to him but he did not reply. Eventually he caught Maxiumus's attention with a softer tone. As badly as she wanted to though, Lucilla could not hear what he said in reply. With unbelieving eyes she watched as Maximus collapsed onto the sand a few seconds later. Breathless, bottomless silence threatened to engulf everything. Finally she was recalled from her unbelieving dream-like state and reality crashed harshly upon her. Her heart burst the same moment it did. All the emotions that had been pent up within her her entire life spilled forth. Her spirit cried to her numb body, "Go to him! There may yet be time!" She ran with the last of her ebbing strength from the Grandstand, through the gate, and across the sand. Sinking to her knees beside his broken body she noted with pain the blood oozing from his side. His eyes were distant and filled with pain and she could tell he was already halfway in Elysium.
"Maximus!" Softly, she attempted to recall his attention one last time. When his eyes locked with hers they gained a look of recognition and then Oh! they told her things he could have never said with words. They spoke forgiveness for the times she had wronged him. They spoke regret for the times he had hurt her. They spoke thanks for the times she had aided him. But most of all and above everything else-Oh dare she presume it?!-They spoke love. Her own eyes betrayed her and overflowed with years of unexpressed love which spilled down her cheeks in liquid form.
"Lucius is safe," He had given her one last gift, for which she would be forever grateful. A pang of guilt struck her consumed her as she realized she was keeping him from Elysium. With everything left in her she choked,
"Go to them." She nodded and she felt her spirit die as his left his body. Oh how she longed to go with him! He went limp and she murmured,
"You're home." The Colosseum crashed to the ground around her, Rome fell, the world burned and still none of it mattered. The only thing that mattered was him and she clung to his lifeless form as if her life depend on him. Indeed she had depended on him. But now he was gone. Finally, with grim resolve, she rose to her feet and faced the assembled crowd. Their shocked faces made her hatred boil to the forefront. "Is Rome worth the life of one good man?' She called vindictively. "We believed it once, make us believe it again!" No one seemed to remember that he had been her father's general, Maximus Decimus Meridius. No one seemed to care. "He was a soldier of Rome! Honor him."