A/N: After reading the script for 3x10 and understanding that Gannicus expected death, but fully intended to wait for her in the afterlife, this idea just took root.
Enjoy
The legends spoke truthfully of death. Gannicus was greeted, nay, welcomed upon the shores by most beloved friend. Oenamaus, his face serene, his presence of great comfort when inflicted pain and grievous heartbreak did fierce battle with other emotions. He had not imagined such a death to be noble, and yet when blessed with visions of former glory, he stood grateful to the gods.
"Welcome brother. Welcome." Oenamaus stretched out hand as heart ceased, body now an empty vessel to the virile man it once hosted.
While physical manifestation of who he once was remained behind, his soul had stepped from his lifeless form and reached for his friend. Their embrace had brought his earthy yearnings full circle. Long had he wanted to see his brother again. And finally, in death, he appeared. The relief he felt was palpable. To finally be relieved of burden, to finally understand complete and utter forgiveness for all he had done.
When around him everything turned to light, when pain no longer infused mind and body, Gannicus looked beyond Oenamaus and saw the smiling face of Melitta. It was then that tears burned the back of his throat. She stood as lovely, more so, than she had ever been in life. Gone was the blood he had seen when last he laid eyes upon her. She stood alive, vital, as if heart yet beat within breast.
Gannicus looked to Oenamaus and his friend nodded, providing unspoken permission. She stepped forward and he embraced her, tightly, their arms wrapping around one another in silent comfort, forgiveness, acceptance, abiding friendship and the deepest love.
"Apologies," he whispered. He felt her embrace tighten, her soft laughter upon his ears.
"It is the past, dear Gannicus. We now await your future." She gestured below.
In the distance, separated by cloud and death's certain veil, Gannicus saw Sibyl kneeling beside Spartacus, the rebel leader soon to join their ranks after earthly life was spent. Tears raced down her cheeks, pain wracking her frame, yet she stood strong and true. Within his own breast, he felt her agony as if it were his own, longing to reach out and touch that which now stood beyond grasp.
"It was belief that the afterlife was absent pain." He paused. "And deepest longing."
"It is," Oenamaus said moving beside him, his arms drawing Melitta near. "Once rejoined with purist heart."
Gannicus observed tender look shared by his friends, their love as powerful as remembered. He reminded self that sacrifice was made so Sibyl may live a full life. Notion did little to make separation easier or provide comfort.
"Come," said Melitta, her hand outstretched. "There are others who would greet you as friend and brother."
Gannicus looked one last time, words of love upon mind. And then he turned, ready to wait until she may yet again be within his arms.
Twelve years. Twelve long years he had waited for her. While company was not a thing lacking upon the shores of forever, having heart still roaming among the living made waiting for the day of reunion a hard thing to bare.
Though he did not wish her life spent, he felt the yearning within his breast at being forced to exist without her – even if his existence was within the veil no mortal yet living was able to ascertain.
Paradise was wrought with pleasures and the warm comfort of friends. They shared laughter and joy which almost, but not quite filled void within him. Early on, Melitta had cautioned against spending days watching and obsessing over Sibyl's earthbound journey. It had taken almost three years to realise wisdom of her words.
To see her struggle, to feel keenly her yearning for him, it pierced soul and made solitary existence a hard thing to tolerate. He watched with pride as she made attempt at new life, eventually able to give voice to laughter and delight. When witnessing such moments, his own yearning lessoned, assured that mortal life still held value.
"She stands a different woman to the ones I recall you took great interest in," Melitta offered upon a day.
He smiled. "She stood as unexpected surprise. I made attempt to resist, but she would have none of it."
"It lifted heart to see you happy in final days. Oenamaus stood proud, Gannicus."
"It was all I ever strove for in life," he said in earnest. "To offer deed that might atone for all I had done in life to hurt him. And you."
She laid a hand upon his shoulder. "It was borne from circumstance we held no control over. Would we have had choice, things would have been different."
Gannicus nodded, his eyes returning to Sibyl as she sat in the sunshine, Laeta beside her. Both women laughed as Agron told amusing tale. His heart lifted. It was time to allow her opportunity to live without shadow.
"It is time?" Melitta asked, reading expression with insight. It was the thing she held in common with his woman.
He nodded. "I would have her live as full a life as possible. Though I wish she stood beside me as Oenamaus stands with you, it is not yet her time. I will wait with little patience, but full acceptance."
It was a strange occurrence, Sibyl thought, that here, at the end of a life, she would stand excited to cross the veil and stand upon the shores of the afterlife. She had lived life without him as best she could – to honour him, to honour his request at living free, to honour herself and be happy. But a life without his arms was a life only half lived. While joy was an emotion that returned in time, the smallest corner of heart always yearned to have him share in joyous moment.
She had never found love again, such a thing not even to be considered. But she had lain with others, finding a measure of comfort in darkest moments. Yet there stood an emptiness in intimacy without love, that could never be filled. A void left where heart once beat, when Gannicus had been removed from this life.
The winter months had been hard, illness spreading within their community with rabid force. Those who stood younger, had constitution that aided in fighting disease. While she had seemed to improve, she now knew it was but temporary reprieve.
Beside her, Laeta's eyes stood rimmed red from tears shed. Sibyl took a breath, her chest rattling with effort. "Do not spill tears, my dearest sister. My time in this life has come to an end."
"Do not speak as such. You may yet live."
"I have lived. For as long as I was able. But I stand tired of trying to be happy. Of trying to find joy when always there has been a piece of my soul absent." She saw the truth of her words reflected in her friend's eyes.
Laeta grasped her hand, knowing her final moments drew near. Beside her stood Agron and Nasir, both with their heads bowed in deepest sorrow. They had stood as family. The loss of any member was heavy burden.
Sibyl felt tears pool in her eyes as a light began to appear in the distance. His face, his glorious face appeared, then his hand, his entire body. And he stood as magnificent as she remembered. Many times had she battled with fading memory, but here, as if separation had never occurred, he waited for her, he reached for her, his smile as joyous as the one within her heart.
"He waits for me," she whispered as the tears fell from lashes and disappeared into her hair.
"Then go to him," Laeta whispered in return, placing a kiss upon her forehead. "Go to him and find life again."
This time, he was the one sent forth to welcome beloved home. She reached for him, as he reached for her, each absent words when arms finally embraced bodies they had spent years longing for. She wept as he did, unable to do anything other than hold tightly.
When finally arms were able to relax, Gannicus reverently swept the hair back from her face, the dark braid across her shoulder. He would look upon her, gaze into her eyes; trace the curve of her cheekbone, the arch of her brow. She was beautiful. And she was finally his in death.
"I thought this moment would never come," she whispered. "I prayed for it. And yet we stood separated for too long."
He gave no response, pulling her towards him and placing his lips to hers. Everything that had ever been out of place, righted itself. Life as they now experienced it, snapped into sharp focus, purpose finally revealed. The joy absent for so long spread swiftly, as though chased upon the wings of stiff winds. Their soul's entwined, its very existence a consequence of its relation with the other.
"It is gone," he whispered against her lips. "The pain, the yearning. It has gone."
"Forever. We are now at peace."
Her arms wound around his neck, her hands finding sanctuary in the depths of his hair.
Around them, others came to offer their welcome. Spartacus stood in attendance, a smile she had not witnessed in life upon his face, his arms around a woman who could only be his wife, Sura. Sibyl could not believe the peace in the aura of the man who once stood as tense as a tiger about to pounce upon prey.
Naevia, no trace of the pain that always seemed to haunt her, stood beside her heart, Crixus. The Gaul nodded a greeting to her, offering Gannicus a wink that spoke of shared understanding.
A man with blonde curls stood beside Spartacus, a dark haired woman at his side. "Varro and Aurelia," whispered Gannicus, his hand slipping into hers and pulling her forward.
A couple stepped forward to greet them. The man, dark and muscled, the warmth of his smile a contradiction to his imposing stature. At his side was a woman with olive skin, dark hair and eyes that radiated kindness.
"Oenamaus, Melitta," Gannicus said. "This is Sibyl."
Understanding dawned. Sibyl looked to Gannicus, his own eyes warm and proud to make introduction. Here stood his closest friends.
"I have heard much of you both," she said. "I am honoured."
"As we have of you," said Melitta. "Welcome."
"My brother has bent thought and will to nothing save the day you were destined to join him," said Oenamaus.
"A thing I too have longed for."
Gannicus and Sibyl locked gazes and everyone else faded from presence. His arms found her, their lips touched.
"I love you. It feels as though I have waited more than one lifetime to confess it." He placed his forehead against hers, his arms locking at the small of her back.
"My heart has always been yours," she returned, her face lifting to meet his descending lips.
Finally their lives began the way it should have so many years ago. They were together. This time, absent pain and suffering. Free, they had forever to live and love upon the shores of paradise.