"Daughter of a Defier" by LedgerGrl22

Disclaimer: I do not own Gladiator, but I wish I owned Maximus!

Summary: Starts near the beginning of the movie when Maximus learns that all of his family is dead. But is it true? Most of this follows the plot of the movie; except for one thing, Maximus lives! Yay!

Update: If you are confused, I changed my Pen Name to MovieLover06. I originally was LedgerGrl22 when I first began writing this. Anyways, please enjoy.

Chapter 1: Family Departs

As Maximus saw his son and wife's bodies hanging from the roof of the house, he raced up to them and sobbed, as he apologized to them and kissed their burnt feet. As he did, he fainted and fell to the ground. Before he blacked out, he thought, "Where's Emilia?" he thought to himself. Was his only daughter gone too? While he lay there for hours, a caravan of slaves and travelers passed and picked him up and healed his wounds. As Maximus lay on a wagon, he heard a voice calling out to him, "Don't die! You'll meet them again, but not yet!" Maximus began to regain consciousness and felt a flash of pain in his arm, and squinted his eyes, as the sun reached his sight. A figure then blocked the sunlight and spoke, "No, we will clean it wait and see," A little bit later Maximus looked to him again and looked at his wound, "Don't die. They'll feed you to the lions; they are worth more than we are. Better now? Clean, you see?" Maximus groaned and lay back down. The caravan stopped at a training center for future gladiators. Juba then became good friends with Maximus when they were both sold to Proximo, a slave owner. In between training and battles, they would talk about their families and homes, bringing back old memories for Maximus.