Nasir had never really trusted men with blue eyes, a feeling that had developed in his increasing years of slavery as he was passed from Dominus to Dominus. However, he did not always possess such a feeling, in fact if you had asked his twelve year old self what he thought of blue eyes, he would describe them to be one of the most beautiful things in the world. That all changed when one day, Roman soldiers ambushed his home, a small farm in the middle of the country side of Syria.
The day started off beautifully, the sun was shinning, the usually hysteric goats were calm, and the air smelled of spring and the flowers of lemon trees. It was a day that would have been described as perfect, a day where fights were forgotten and friendships were made. Nasir awoke as he usually did, with the break of dawn and the rooster's call, and he was out on the fields before the first rays of sunlight touched the crops. Living on a farm required Nasir to take his chores seriously, even as a twelve year old he had major responsibilities around the farm that were not too physical yet they required concentration and experience. By seven o'clock Nasir had completed his chores and was breakfasting with his family, which consisted of his mother, father, and an older brother, a brother he loved dearly. At the tender age of twelve, Nasir had no one he looked up to more than his older brother, with his strong build and gentle yet fearless manner, he was a role model and represented everything that Nasir hoped to grow up and become.
The day was uneventful as his family preferred to take advantage of the beautiful weather to relax and perform activities that were considered a waste of precious time on a normal working day. Nasir and his brother had decided to venture into the wheat fields and catch mice, a game that they both enjoyed as it required both agility and a silent pace, the winner was the one who caught the most mice and the loser would be forced to obey any request that the winner asked of him. Hours passed and Nasir was on his way back to find his brother, tightly clutching his bag of mice, confident that he would win the day's match, but he was disappointed once he found that his brother had caught twice as many mice as he had, and with the day almost gone, they set the mice free and headed back to the farm until Nasir's brother spotted suspicious looking grey smoke rising from the direction of their home. Nasir had never recalled running that fast in all his twelve years of life, and he remembered that the only thing that had stopped him was his brother's strong arms pushing him backwards. In front of them was their small farm engulfed in flames and their mother crying heavily right before a soldier severed her head. He remembered the shouts of the other soldiers who had spotted them, he remembered his brother taking his hand, he remember them flying into the fields with the sounds of shouts and slurs trailing behind them. He remembered thinking that he was safe and that he at least had his brother with him and that together they would escape and avenge his family, he remembered his brother grabbing him by the shoulders with tears in his eyes, he remembered that feeling of dread that overcame him, the feeling that everything that he treasured was about to be ripped from his heart.
"Nasir. Nasir I need you listen to me. I have one request to ask of you Nasir, and as you know that request is not to go unheeded. I need you to go."
Nasir remembered shaking his head, remembered his own eyes filling up with tears as he clutched his brother tightly and refused to let go.
"Go! Go before they find you! Go and never turn back! I will not have our whole family dead, you are our only hope Nasir. Do not come looking for me, I need you alive little brother. I need you to avenge us. So if you hold me dear to your heart, go! If the gods favor us I will find you one day, and if not, know that you are the best brother a man could have ever asked for and I love you dearly"
And so he did, and with great hesitance, Nasir let go of his brother's arms and ran deeper into the fields, not stooping to catch his breath. Sometime along the way Nasir decided that he would go back despite his brother's insistence, for he refused to give up on the hope that his brother was still alive, but for now, all he did was run. A day had passed before Nasir ventured into his home, tired and weakened by his occasional pangs of hunger, and the sight that greeted him was enough to break him down into tears. On the porch lay his mother's headless body, a sight that crushed Nasir's heart, and as he opened the door of his farm house, he found his father's body pinned to the walls, crucified and naked. The only person that Nasir could not find was his brother, which gave him feelings of hope until he stumbled upon a body that was so badly burnt that it was almost unrecognizable, but Nasir recognized the body, as the man bore a bracelet of bronze, a bracelet that his brother wore all the time as it was a gift from his lover, a girl he had fancied since the age of thirteen.
Nasir slept that night alongside the body of his brother and dreamt sweet dreams of mice chasing and family gatherings, dreams that were interrupted by spreading pain from Nasir's side. He opened his eyes alarmingly only to be met with a kick to his face and shouts of laughter.
"What have we got here?"
"A bloody fool that's what!"
"I say we skin him alive to show him how much of a fool he is"
"I say we burn him alive since he likes the smell of scorching flesh so much!"
More laughter. More pain.
"Wait!"
Silence. Nasir clutched to his sides and groaned softly until rough hands forced his face upwards and Nasir found himself looking at the cold blue eyes of a Roman man dressed in armor that signified that he was higher rank, a general perhaps.
"The boy's got a pretty face. Chain him up, he'll be a gift to Aelius"
And those blue eyes were the last things he saw before blacking out, the last things he saw before he would wake up in a foreign house far far away from Syria. Blue eyes became a symbol for Nasir, a symbol of hatred and massacre, and those very blue eyes were the start of many to come, and the start of the hatred and sadness that would stay with Nasir for many more years to come. He did not remember when he vowed to himself to never let the Romans take away his true identity, did not remember when he started to call himself Tiberius, but he remembered one thing, that the memory of his family belonged to himself only and that his brother would never be known to anyone but himself. As Nasir was passed from Dominus to Dominus, they all shared one similar attribute, blue eyes. The Dominus who raped him, the one that beat him, the one that paid no attention to him, the one who treated him like a puppet and not a human being, and the one that hated them. He never trusted any of them, and somewhere deep inside his kind heart, he hated them.
It was natural that when Spartacus first invaded his Dominus' house, he did not trust him any less than any other Dominus. His blue eyes sparked the hate that lived deep in Nasir's heart and blinded him from trust and clear judgement, and when he was given the chance, his immediate instinct was to kill him, and so when Nasir found himself attracted to Agron, he usual distrust towards men with blue eyes and his growing admiration clashed, and that puzzled Nasir.
After Nasir had nearly attempted to kill Spartacus, no one in the camp dared to approach him in fear that it would send Spartacus a message that they supported what Nasir had attempted to do, and so when Agron approached him with a cup of wine, suspicion over came Nasir, and he expected the offer to be followed by harsh words or an obscene comment similar to what Chandara had encountered earlier. However, when Agron spoke no cruel words exited his mouth, only questions of curiosity and words that were intended to bring Nasir to his senses and support Spartacus.
After that encounter, Nasir had only grown closer to Agron. When Spartacus wasn't training Nasir himself he handed him over to Agron to train him instead, and that usually resulted in playful banters and humorous exchanges in between the clashes of swords and by the end of training they were seen smiling and laughing at each other. Nasir's hatred of blue eyes was slowly growing out of his heart and was replaced with the warm tingling sensation that was linked to admiration, and when he thought of blue eyes he no longer thought of that general who had taken him away from his home, but of Agron. Agron with his sweet smiles and contagious laughter. In fact, when Nasir had revealed his true name to the rebels, he locked eyes with Agron first, in need for his reassurance and approval, searching for a sign that told him that Agron didn't hate him and think of him as a disgusting traitor.
It wasn't long before the two started to exchange more affectionate gestures, lingering hands resting on sides, the cupping of cheeks, and when Agron first moved to kiss Nasir, he was expecting memories of all the kisses he was forced to endure as a body slave to arise and leave him feeling violated, but all he felt was warmth, and as Nasir wrapped his arms around Agron's neck to pull him closer, he recalled thinking that it had been a long time since he had felt such happiness.