Rome, Roman Empire- 18 B.C.E
The first rays of sunlight spread from the Alban hills and into the empty streets of Rome. The usually crowded alleyways of the city were quiet as four strangers moved in the shadows.
"Come on, faster." Hissed the beautiful blonde woman as she took a left turn on a crossroad. "I am supposed to be on the palace before the sun rises, so they won't suspect anything."
"Blondie is right. Haircut and I have to be in position too." Agreed a broad shouldered man with a gruff voice.
The overall silence was broken by the sound of metal dropping on the marble pavement and they all turned to look at the source of the noise.
"Sorry, I couldn't fit it in my belt." Ray Palmer apologized and the others just sighed and kept walking; by now used to the man's clumsiness.
They finally reached the palace, the first site upon entering the Palatine Hill. It stood glowing under the early morning light; a palace fitted for an emperor.
The truly magnificent construction made the strangers pause for a little and admire it; the architecture, the statues, the vibrant colors. Well of course the estate seemed majestic even after thousands of eons, but it did not compare to the glory of seeing every statue and pillar to the slightest detail.
Out of almost every place they had visited, this one had them at loss of words; rose, copper and cyan mixed with the beautiful simplicity of the pearl white and the antithesis of the vibrant grass and the pale blue sky.
"Show time." Mick announced and pulled out his sword.
"Wait." Leonard raised his palm to pause his partner and then turned to Sara. "Do me a favor and be careful in there assassin, okay?"
She smiled softly and took his hand in hers.
"I will be. And you need to stay out of trouble. Sword-fighting is mostly within my area of expertise."
"Okay, can we start before I slash my wrist with this sword?" Mick complained and the lovers moved a step away from each other.
"Go ahead." Leonard prompted them, as Ray and Mick moved closer to Sara and restrained her hands behind her back. Mick had his sword close to the small of her back; but not close enough to actually hurt her.
Leonard stayed a few steps behind as the three others walked closer to the entrance; all according to Rip's absurd plan. It was simple, really; maybe a little too simple to get past the emperor's numerous guards.
Sara, Mick and Ray would walk up the hill at dawn and Leonard would be a little further behind; much like he was right at that moment, and when the first guards would spot them approaching…
"Halt!" A male voice echoed and suddenly three guards appeared in front of them with their swords raised threateningly. "What are you seeking at the emperor's palace at that hour?"
"This man found this woman wandering on the streets late. As guards here, we retrieved her and brought her back."
The plan was basically just that: two guards were approached by a man who had found a servant woman in the streets late at night and they returned her.
Their goal was to gain access to Augustus' palace and find the item that made the city seem like it didn't exist for almost forty years. As much as Gideon tried, she could obtain no information whatsoever regarding any of those four decades.
"His Highness has been worrying very much about your absence."
The three men exchanged confused and troubled looks, just like they did ever time a mission was about to go south. But how could they probably know Sara, and why would the emperor himself be worried about her?
Sara looked at Mick; distressed.
"And why would his Highness be worried for servant like her?" Ray questioned, seeing that something was going to go incredibly wrong.
"This woman is no servant, and you were foolish to believe so." Spat one of the guards, as if they had personally offended him. "She is Lucia the Elder, only daughter of Emperor Augustus."
Sara stood there frozen. That could explain many things. First and foremost, why the unstableness in the timeline was created the moment the Waverider arrived to inspect the timeline's state in Rome.
The fact that Sara was in the same era as her doppelganger or possibly a past life, could be the only problem.
Now that their original plan went to hell once again, it was time to improvise.
Sara took a step forward and released herself from Mick's hold on her wrists easily.
"Remove your hands off of me." Sara instructed and looked at the men with fake-disgust. "You have no right to much the daughter of the Emperor. Guards lead me to my chambers and tell my father to thank those men for returning me. I had been terribly lost."
"At your command your highness!" the soldiers answered and one of them moved to stand next to her. He moved over and let Sara walk first, who turned back and gave Leonard a small smile before walking away.
She followed the guard through the narrow hallways of the palace, until she reached the princess' chambers. And they really fit for a princess.
Beautiful candle-lights spread their glow in the spacious room and heaps of sunlight coursed through the non-existent windows and balcony doors. A beautiful bed stood in the middle of the room, tempting Sara to abate her exhaustion in the comfortable piece of furniture. And in the other end of the room, water flowed in a small creek and freshened up the whole bedroom.
Two women stood by the bed, in stolas; dresses much like hers, which reached the floor and was worn by servant women.
Once they spotted Sara walking inside, they moved closer to her and observed her.
"Miss, you must bathe and change immediately." The shorter made announced. "You ought to attend the gladiatorial games in the Colosseum."
This was not part of the plan. She just had to confirm that her presence there was the only problem and to do that Leonard had to give her the temporal anomaly tracking device. So now she was basically wasting her time.
Leonard had no idea how he went from a simple mission; to standing in front of the throne of Rome's emperor.
"I shall express my gratitude to you for finding and bringing my beloved daughter back to safety."
"I don't think that this is necessary your highness."
"Nonsense!" Barked the intimidating man. "Guards, lead this man to the Colloseum. Today he is fighting for my daughter's hand in marriage and his life in the arena."
"What do you mean by Leonard is fighting in the arena in today's games?" Sara questioned worried; pacing back and forth in the chambers.
"We mean that the emperor thought that the best way to thank the man, who brought his daughter back, was to throw him in an arena with a couple of lions and the best gladiator in Rome." Mick explained to the panicking woman. "All of course for the prize of your hand in marriage."
"I have to attend the games, after all." Sara sighed. "I have to take the device from Leonard and I can only do that if he is not being digested in a lion's stomach."
"It's okay, Sara, Snart is a really tough guy." Ray said and put a hand on his friend's shoulder sympathetically.
"He might be tough, but he can't actually fight without his cold gun." Mick added and Ray glared at him.
A couple of hours later and once the parade was finished, Sara was leaded to the Imperial box; the lowest level of the Colloseum, with Mick and Ray by her side, to watch the games that would begin shortly.
They were all anxious. And of course, Sara most out of everyone. Her eyes were searching worriedly the whole stadium and were now fixed on the gladiator's entrance.
She had tried talking Augustus out of this, but she came to learn that when an emperor makes up his mind, there is nothing anyone can do to change it.
The sound of the Gate of Life opening turned all heads to the east side of the arena.
"Ave imperator morrituri te salutant." They all yelled towards the emperor. "We who about to die salute you."
She spotted only unknown faces and she only searched for him. But he was nowhere to be seen.
Sara's mind was elsewhere during the whole games, she knew that Mick and Ray felt the exact same way. They stood next to her protectively almost, even though they knew that she could perfectly handle herself if needed.
They all froze as he entered the arena; alone, dressed in a gladiator's armor with a spear and a shield in hand. He walked through the fresh blood that stained the dirt and she could see that he is scared. He is about to fight with an actual barbarian and a tiger on top of that.
The tiger was released first, pacing quickly around him.
"You who are about to fight, you shall be given my daughter's hand in marriage if you are to survive." Echoed the voice of the emperor towards him and the other man who had just entered the arena.
Leonard's eyes followed the source of the voice and they landed on her.
The sun showered Sara with his light and showed just how radiant she really was. Her hair, half-up and half-down, curls brushing the pale skin of her exposed neck and back. The white paleness of the dress, made her really look like a princess, only to Leonard she looked like she was a living goddess on earth.
His eyes locked with hers and she smiled.
During that distraction, one of the two beasts managed to rush at him and the last thing Leonard heard was Sara's scream, before he felt a deep pain in his arm.
Three scratches layed there; blood flowing from the torn skin.
Sara had brought her hand to cover her mouth as she tried to stand up, but was quickly put back down by the two larger men.
"Let him." Mick mumbled to her. "Rip told us not to intervene until it's a matter of life and death."
"It's not going to be a matter of anything, if he's going to be eaten in five minutes!" Hissed Sara, but suddenly no one seemed to pay attention to her.
All eyes were following the man who now expertly stood up and dropped the spear; replacing it with the sword of one of the fallen before him.
His opponent, except of course the Bengal tiger, was a 6'5 man who looked even more terrifying than the animal.
He ran towards Leonard with his sword outstretched and the crook managed to avoid a couple of his hits and actually kick him in the knee once.
His window was slowly closing, because no matter how hard he fought; he could never compete with the best gladiator in all Rome.
Swords clashed together and tiger took hits at both men.
Bruised, bloody and sweaty they kept on fighting, until the tiger tried to hit Leonard again, and as he avoided, the opponent found his chance and buried the knife in Leonard's leg.
He growled in pain as another hatch opened and yet another tiger came at them. It landed on the wounded Leonard; whose blood was now running from his mouth and with his body slowly giving up.
He thought of Sara; her golden hair, her ashen skin, her beautiful smile, everything that made him fall in love with her; those bright blue eyes… that were staring right at him.
Sara jumped from the imperial box; landing on the dirt and staining her dress-she didn't care though. She grabbed a sword and ran towards Leonard, hoping that she wasn't too late.
"Sorry I'm late, honey." She told him sweetly and buried the sword in the beast several times.
She kicked it off of Leonard and stood up too, turning to the other gladiator.
"Take care of the other one!" She shouted as she rushed to the other man; kicking him on the chest and throwing him down.
"Bitch!" He cursed and got right back up. He tried, honestly, and he was pretty good, but nothing against two times in the League.
He layed on the floor motionless in a pool of his own blood as Sara tossed her sword away.
"Need some help old man?" She teased Leonard, who was limping towards her.
"I think I can manage." He answered with a smirk.
They heard the guards coming towards them in the distance and they knew that they didn't have much time.
"Mick! Ray!" Snart yelled and almost magically, the two men appeared.
"Spoke to Rip! He says to get the hell outta here!" Mick barked, as they began running towards one of the exits; the men helping Leonard.
"Couldn't have figured it out myself." Joked Sara as they rushed through the underground tunnels and finally saw a light.
When they finally returned to the Waverider, bruised and victorious; Leonard, after a visit in the medbay, found Sara sleeping in their bed with only one of his shirts on and slipped next to her.
"So how did it feel being a gladiator for a day?" She asked him softly.
"Pretty good, if you omit the part where I was almost eaten by a tiger and cut in pieces by another; real, gladiator." Leonard answered and Sara smiled on his chest. "How was it being a princess?"
"I didn't like it that much." Sara responded with a shrug. "Wasn't that fun without you. You would have loved the bed. Len, can I ask you a favor?"
"Sure."
"Next time, please don't manage to get yourself locked in an arena with two tigers and a gladiator."
"I make no promises."