"Good Aden." Mal praises pushing him back with her blade. "Again." She orders. The young warrior slashes at her with great speed and accuracy, especially for such a young boy, but Mal was far more experienced: she deflected Aden's attacks easily, plus this was sparring, easy going training that probably wouldn't result in a severed limb - probably .
Things had started to shift in Mal's life: she was a gladiator, who was now learning to read and write and who also got to leave the pit so long as she was accompanied by Evie - which really wasn't bad company at all. The other gladiators were jealous - of course they were - until Mal brought back wine one night and they'd loved her for an entire week. The only problem was that this week two gladiators were going to be pitted against each other and Mal had it on good authority that she would be one of those gladiators.
Mal was so caught up in her thoughts that she let her guard slip for a moment and Aden takes that opportunity to lunge forward and cut Mal's arm slightly. Mal jolts out of her thoughts at the sudden burst of pain and stares down at her arm for a moment before staring at Aden. He looked incredibly proud, puffing his chest out, with a grin across his face, and Mal felt proud of him herself, sure, he had attacked her when she had been distracted but, he saw her weakness and used it against her.
She tosses her sword down in the sand, the wound on her arm was only minor, a scratch, if that, and she steps towards Aden. "Is that how you want to play it?" Mal asks and Aden drops his sword backing up from his mentor with his hands raised. Mal pounces on him, and tackles him to the ground playfully, she then proceeds to tickle the young boy at his sides causing him to laugh uncontrollably. Mal grins down at him as she continues tickling him. "Did you really think you could best me that easily?" She teases. Other training gladiators were watching the scene with a sad fondness as Mal teases the young boy.
They had become close, Mal trained Aden and even looked after him ensuring he was well fed and well rested. Aden was young, younger than what Mal had been when she had woken up chained to a wall, a sold slave who had had to fight and survive to even become the gladiator she was now. Aden had fought and, by some miracle, he had been spared by the emperor to serve Rome as a gladiator and Mal wasn't sure if that was any better. Sometimes she thinks maybe it would have been easier to die in the slave fights than to get here: fighting for your life practically every day.
Mal had dreams still, she'd been fighting to become a Rudiarius - a free gladiator who had fulfilled their duties. Mal had won plenty of fights but, apparently, none of them had been distinguishing enough. The only way a gladiator could retire was when the emperor decided they had proved their right to be free - which basically meant killed as many people as they could. Mal had heard that the past emperor had allowed gladiators to retire after their fifth game but that rule was no longer true leaving Mal to have to fight over and over again without an end in sight. How many fights could someone win? Eventually Mal's luck would run out.
Aden wriggles out of Mal's grasp, laughing hysterically, and Mal grins at him ready to pounce back on him when a voice stops her. "I see you're training hard." Mal spins around to see Evie with her eyebrows raised and a wide smile on her face.
"Mea domina." Mal bows her head slightly and Aden follows her example. Evie chuckles and shakes her head at the brunette.
"Aden, it's good to see you, you're growing everyday." Evie smiles brightly at Aden - in that way that only Evie can smile - and Mal finds her heart rate quickening at the sight.
"Mal says I'll be a warrior in no time." He says proudly and Mal ruffles his hair causing him to push her away playfully. Evie watches the incredibly endearing scene with a fond smile on her face but it quickly fades when she remembers why she had come to see Mal.
"Why don't you go train with Jay?" Mal suggests. Aden scrunches his nose up at that suggestion and Mal rolls her eyes. "Fine, go train with Carlos, but if he kills you I won't be held responsible." Mal says and Aden smiles wide before running off to go find Carlos. Mal gives Evie a look, walking towards her sword that she had left on the ground. "Is there something I can do for you my lady?" Mal asks raising her eyebrows.
"It's about your fight tomorrow." Evie confesses. "Mal, you can't fight." Mal frowns pulling her sword from the sand before slipping it into her scabbard. Evie looks around before leading Mal over to one of the arches of the Coliseum, where they had kissed before, and then turns to give Mal a worried look. "Emperor Thelonious has requested Roan to fight you." Mal's frown deepens. That was worrying. Roan was a retired gladiator, and for some years now, he was one of the best, admittedly, he might even be just that little bit better than Mal. He'd earned his freedom, so why would he ever want to return to the arena? "Mal, you can't fight Roan, he'll kill you." Mal scoffs at that accusation and plays with the hilt of her sword that was attached to her side.
"I can't exactly opt out of a fight Evie." Mal points out. "I have to fight, otherwise I definitely die." Evie sighs knowing that that was true but she still wished she could take Mal out of the arena - especially if Roan was going to be in that very same arena. "Plus, I'm sure I can beat him." Mal shrugs. She'd heard stories, sure, but she'd never actually seen Roan fight - he couldn't be that good, could he?
"Mal, you've never seen Roan fight." Evie says in disbelief. "In one of his fights he killed five gladiators before the first one touched the ground, he's killed more men and women than any other gladiator, he's merciless, he'll kill you!" Evie was panicking, Mal could see that, she had to do something to calm her, so she steps closer and places a hand affectionately on her cheek.
"Evie," Mal says lowly and Evie shivers at the way that she says her name. "I'm a strong fighter, I can beat Roan."
"Ma-" Evie tries.
" Shh." Mal soothes and, if Evie had been any other noblewoman other than, well, Evie, then Mal would've probably had her head cut off for having spoken over someone of a higher class than herself. Evie falls silent, her brown eyes narrowing at Mal who continues to stroke her cheek gently. Mal was good, Evie knew that, but Roan was older, stronger, faster and, ultimately, more experienced. Mal didn't stand a chance yet Evie knew that Mal couldn't not fight either.
Shouting from within the the arena catches the pair's attention and Mal's head snaps to the side to see the gladiators returning to the pit. She turns her attention back to Evie and kisses her gently on the forehead. "I will fight Evie." She says leaving no room for disagreement - it's not like Evie could disagree anyway.
"Fine," Evie sighs. "there's something I have to tell you. I need your help."
"Tell me." Mal says without hesitation - if Evie needed help then Mal was at her service. Evie smiles and kisses Mal softly on the cheek.
"After you win." Evie states and Mal smiles slightly warming Evie's heart.
"Of course mea domina." Mal bows her head and Evie swats at her head playfully to get her to stop. Mal chuckles at the beauty who grabs her sword from her sheath. Evie points the blade at Mal and the brunette holds her hands up in mock surrender.
"Silence." Evie says holding her arm straight and staring Mal in the eyes.
"A noblewoman, such as yourself, should not hold such an offence weapon my lady." Mal says sliding her hand delicately down the blade and to Evie's hand. Evie allows Mal to take back her sword without protest - it was actually frowned upon for a noblewoman, such as herself, to train with a weapon unless she was apart of the guard. "Hm." Mal doesn't stop at the sword, her hand runs along Evie's arm and she steps behind her, wrapping her arms around Evie and moving her hair to one side to bury her head in the crook of Evie's neck. "Beautiful." Mal whispers and Evie smiles shivering at the sound of Mal's voice in her ear.
"Aren't you charming?" Evie asks lightly and Mal presses her lips to the girl's neck.
"Beauty should be appreciated." Mal replies. "When I first laid eyes on you I thought Apollo had blessed you with the sun in your hair and a radiant smile to brighten even the pit, I thought Venus had blessed you with beauty and grace beyond belief, I thought that the gods had sent you, put the sky in your eyes, as well as the stars, and blessed your lips to be as soft as a feather." Mal continues her arms embracing Evie from behind. Evie arches into Mal, enjoying being close to the gladiator, and enjoying the shudder that ran down her spine from her words. "I thought that you must have half God blood in your veins to be so beautiful and I thought that I had been blessed to have even been allowed to look at you." Evie turns around and pushes Mal against the wall narrowing her eyes.
"Why does this sound like a goodbye?" Evie asks and Mal grins - she actually grins - and shakes her head.
"Accept that I find you beautiful and nothing else." Mal says and Evie shakes her head in disbelief. She pauses for a moment, staring hard at the purple haired girl, and Mal stays in place, Evie gripping the front of her tunic in her fist, while she allows her eyes to wander down the beauty's body.
"We're equals." Evie states and Mal's eyebrows shoot up in surprise and her eyes lock with Evie's. "I don't care that you're a slave, a gladiator, whatever, you and me, we're the same, no titles, just two women… who happen to enjoy each other's company."
"I happen to enjoy your company very much." Mal replies with a smirk. Evie rolls her eyes and releases Mal's tunic from her grip.
"Don't talk to me until you win your fight." Evie says turning her back on Mal.
"For you I'd do anything." Mal chimes kissing Evie on the cheek quickly before jogging back out to the arena. Evie sighs, she had a bad feeling in her gut about that fight, she needed Mal for more than just being her lover. She needed her.
/
Mal was strapping on her shin guard in the pit. Today she was wearing a tunic, shin guards, sandals, armour on one arm, while the other carried a shield, and she was armed with her silver gladius. She had been allowed a helmet but refused, she felt much better with her hair flowing free in its tangled braids, and, plus, it was just less sweatier and easier to breathe without the helmet. Carlos comes over to her while she pulls her shield onto her arm. "Good luck commander." Carlos says. "After this you'll probably be out of here." He comments and Mal looks at her.
"I will find a way to get you out of here." Mal vows and Carlos shakes his head.
"No need, I'll earn my way out." He says and Mal chuckles shaking her head. Carlos was one of the most skilled, fearless, vicious, fighters Mal knew - and Mal knew herself. "Hey," Carlos stands upright when he sees that Mal was about to reach for her sword. "be careful, okay?"
"You sound like Evie." Mal muses and Carlos gives her a hard stare.
"You're far too cocky Mal, Roan is a bad dude." The spiky haired boy stresses.
"Yes, okay." Mal admits. "I'll be careful." Mal was careful to not make any promises, because you never really knew, but Carlos was being serious and that was not as common as one might think. Carlos holds his hand out and Mal grips his forearm tightly shaking it in a strong warrior way.
"May the gods be with you." Carlos murmurs and Mal ducks her head slightly. Outside the gate the sound of the crowd cheering and hollering could be heard - clearly they were impatient to begin the battle. Mal releases Carlos' arm and reaches for her blade carrying it as she steps towards the gate. She throws one more glance over her shoulder to see Aden staring at her, wide eyed, Jay beside him, while Carlos stood off to one side. Mal hears a shout announcing that Roan had exited his gate and Mal takes a deep breath steadying her nerves - despite fighting many battles, the nerves still somehow managed to creep up on Mal. The crowd erupts into cheers as Roan does his bigoting to warm them up. The bets on this fight would be high and, with both of them being well known gladiators within Rome, it was likely a huge turnout. The gate begins rising and Mal takes one final deep breath before walking forward.
The first thing she notices, weirdly enough, is the sound of the sand crunching underneath her sandals, then there's a shout, someone announcing her name, and the crowd erupts into ear blistering cheers - even louder than what it had been for Roan. The man was wearing similar clothing to that of Mal, brandished in scars and wearing your typical gladiator armour. He looked leaner, and more muscular than what people had described him to be, his hair was quite long and absent of a helmet, he had no shield, he was armed with a sword alone, and Mal tosses her own shield down in the sand. Mal was right about the event being popular, she'd never seen the Coliseum so packed to the brim, it sparked an adrenaline rush and Mal's heart began to beat out of her chest.
Mal scans the crowd for Evie, for light brown eyes, or blue hair, and she finds her in the last place she expected to see her. Sitting beside the emperor, who was on his throne, was his son, Mal knew him as Chad and her blade had taken away his hand, he sat impossibly straight beside his father. On the other side of the emperor was a woman with brown hair and brown eyes though she bore a slight resemblance to a certain beauty who was sitting beside the woman. Mal's eyes connect with Evie's and the girl smiles reassuringly though Mal could see her nerves.
Over the past few weeks Mal had been Evie's secret pet, in a way, she was teaching Mal how to read and write, they'd have long debates about certain topics and Mal learned that Evie preferred to draw than write, she said it expressed how she felt more than words ever could, and Evie found that there was something really beautiful in that and, okay, maybe they'd had a few kisses here and there but nothing beyond that.
Mal watches as Roan begins to circle, twirling his blade and eyeing Mal up. Mal's eyes leave Evie's and the girl lets out a breath of worry. She looks at her mother who was too busy watching the fight to see the plead in her eyes to stop it. She turns back to see Mal copying Roan's moves.
He was taunting her and, under the thrum of the crowd's excitement, Mal was finding it hard not to react - someone was going to make the first move but it was not going to be herself. Finally, it's Roan who lunges forward first but Mal easily sidesteps and moves out of his way slashing her sword across his back as she does so. Roan groans in pain and stays still for a moment, staring up at the emperor's box, before whirling around. Mal doesn't let him recover and goes at him, attacking him one after another, but Roan blocks each one with a loud clash each time.
The pair charge at the same time and meet in the middle, both pressing against one another, no one wanting to back down. "You're too weak." He grunts applying more pressure. Mal hated to admit it but he wasn't technically wrong. He was a man after all, she'd need to use her agility and skill to counteract Roan's brute strength. Roan was stronger so it was no surprise really when he started pushing Mal down, causing her to stumble and grit her teeth in protest, before glancing at the blade. Fuck it. Mal grabs hold of the blade feeling it pierce her skin and warm blood to pool on her palm and run down her arm. The crowd cry out, seeing the blood drip onto the sand, and, although Mal had cut Roan's back, he hadn't spilt any blood on the sand, making Mal's the first blood to be shed.
She ignores the stabbing pain and pushes him back, with more leverage this time, and he stumbles backwards for a moment and the crowd cheer seeing that Mal had regained some of her advantage. He doesn't give her much chance to recover and he's swinging at her once again to which Mal blocks each attack. She was holding her own, the fight wasn't going as well as she might have hoped but, at least she wasn't dead - yet .
He sweeps her feet out from under her and Mal lands face up in the sand before scrambling to her knees in a second but Roan's already there. He drives his blade down and Mal barely has enough time to block it with her own. Roan delivers a hard punch to Mal's jaw, he then kicks her in the ribs and she falls to the ground winded. Her blade slips out of her hand at some point and she lies in the sand as Roan delivers blow after blow with his foot. Mal was pretty sure she had about five broken ribs by the time that he was through with kicking her but no way was she giving up that easily. Roan's biggest weakness was his pride, his hubris, so, as he turns to the crowd, patting his chest, Mal pulls herself up and grabs her blade. She attacks him from the back, slamming the hilt of her sword on his head, he stumbles and Mal uses that moment to slash at him some more opening up wounds and causing him to bleed. Roan scrambles for his own sword and picks it up in time to deflect Mal's lunge. He slashes at Mal, cutting her in multiple places and making her more bloody than she already was. "How about we make this interesting?" He asks with a smirk. Mal raises her eyebrows. Interesting? Her whole right side burned every time she took a breath, if that wasn't interesting enough for herself then what exactly did Roan have planned? He throws his blade down and gestures for Mal to do the same. She hesitates, knowing this could easily be a trap, but eventually follows his example.
Evie tenses, seeing Mal throw down her weapon so willingly, hand to hand combat wasn't uncommon, more so with the slave fights, but Evie didn't like the glisten in Roan's eye - she didn't trust him.
Mal charges at him, and tackles him by the waist, falling on top of him in the sand. Roan grunts as Mal's hands find his neck and she begins strangling him. He lets out a strangled cry and Mal presses her hands harder into his throat gritting her teeth with the power she exerted. Then she feels a fist come up and punch her right in her burning ribs and Mal's falling off of him with a loud cry. Roan rolls on top of Mal and begins hitting Mal over and over again until her face is bloody and Mal's vision was beginning to blacken. Roan picks her up, lifting her up off the ground, and throws her back down again. She lands in the sand with a thud and Mal closes her eyes gripping at the sand. "Get knocked down, get back up." She mutters. Mal springs to her feet, renewed with determination, but when she turns to face Roan he's behind her and he's driving his sword through her side.
Mal's eyes widen, her breath hitches, the crowd around her fall silent in utter shock. Mal looks down at the sword embedded in her flesh and lets out a breathy moan of pain before looking up to meet Roan's dark eyes. He lied. He tricked her. He said no weapons and now she's been stabbed. Where was his code? Gladiators were supposed to have a code but, then again, he isn't a gladiator anymore. Mal falls backwards, slipping off the blade and landing on her back, in the sand, in a daze. She knew what was coming next, she'd imagined it would've come a lot sooner than now, but that didn't make her any more ready for it.
Roan throws his blade down and grabs Mal by the back of her tunic. He begins dragging her across the sand and Mal stares straight ahead unable to truly understand what was happening. She had blood everywhere, her nose, her mouth, numerous cuts, the huge wound in her side, her broken ribs, the sand, this was how and when Mal died.
Roan stops walking and brings Mal to her knees. She feels the cool metal of silver touch the skin on her neck and she keeps her head bowed to ground not wanting to know when she would die. The crowd burst out into yelling and screaming and Mal's ears stop ringing long enough for her to make out the steady stream of " Live, Live, Live. " that they were chanting.
Evie's eyes were wide with horror, seeing Mal bloody and beaten was not a welcomed sight and she felt her stomach churn at seeing such a thing. "Thelonious." Evie says and the emperor turns his head to look at her - her mother also looks at her strangely curious as to what Evie had to say. "Let her live." Evie says and the emperor frowns.
"Let her live?" He asks. "She took my son's hand." Evie internally groans, what a stupid excuse as to execute someone.
"She has worth Jaha." Evie protests and Jaha frowns.
"I know you seem to have a soft spot for the gladiator, Evie, but look at her, she's injured and won't be able to fight for weeks." He points out. Evie chances a look at Mal to see her bloody form and the girl grimaces from just that brief look.
"Give her to me." Evie decides and then she pulls out the card that she had been hoping to avoid. "Ever since my father's accident ," Evie hisses the word but Jaha doesn't seem to notice. "I've been so lonely. I know that you and my father were close and he wouldn't want me to be lonely… especially if you could solve it." That shut Jaha up. Evie felt almost sick at herself for even mentioning her father around Jaha, he wasn't worthy, it was his fault that her father had been killed.
"Father," Chad says from the other side of Jaha. "grant Evie this wish, it does not matter that she took my hand, that was my fault, really ." Chad says and Evie smiles at him and he returns it. Jaha lets out a huff, and Evie almost thought he looked like a pouting child, before he stood up from his throne and came front and centre of attention.
Mal was wondering what the hell was taking so long. She was also wondering what Evie was doing - if she was looking away or staring straight ahead. She hears the roaring of the crowd and waits for death, expects it even, but, instead, the blade is taken away from Mal's neck and she's dropped in the sand. Unable to summon the strength to move, two members of the guard come out and grab Mal from under the shoulders, dragging her across the sand and back to gods know where. Mal's eyes flutter closed, she wasn't sure what was happening, or why she wasn't dead, but she supposed she should be relieved.
Mal's taken to some kind of room, and dumped on a couch covered in furs, and left there in silence. Mal shifts, sitting back against the arm of the couch, she presses her hand to her side and groans. Not a moment later the doors open and Evie enters followed by her soldiers who lay what she needed to heal Mal on the ground. The guards are gone almost a second later leaving them alone.
Evie drops beside Mal and cuts away the material of her tunic immediately - the wound where Roan's blade had entered Mal was her highest priority. Mal closes her eyes, feeling exhausted and tired, and then an intense stinging to her side causes her eyes to snap open, she lets out a sharp breath, sparking pain in her chest, and she jolts up and right back down again when she feels her chest burn in protest. Mal turns her head to the side to see the wound on her side stuffed with lint, soaked in vinegar, with a sponge over the top where Evie's hands pressed down on the wound in the hopes of stopping the bleeding. Mal grunts and Evie looks up to meet Mal's green eyes that were dimmer than usual. Evie's brown eyes were sparkling either with worry or sadness - Mal couldn't really tell.
Evie stays like that, applying pressure to the wound, until she deemed the bleeding to be less of a problem. Luckily, Roan hadn't hit any major arteries, that Evie could see, or any major organs that would cause Mal to internally bleed - she was lucky. "I'm sorry." Mal mutters and Evie frowns cleaning the wound with water to remove the excess blood and debris. "I thought I could beat him." Mal continues her head rolling to one side. Evie cups Mal's chin and forces the gladiator to open her eyes.
"You're going to be okay, you have the best healer in Rome, remember?" Evie smiles and Mal nods her head. "I need you to stay with me, I'll give you something for the pain later."
"Pain is good." Mal replies as Evie readies a needle to stitch the wound. "Means I'm alive?"
"Yes Mal, you're alive." Evie replies with a fond smile. The girl was obviously a little delirious from the pain she felt and the beating she had just taken. Evie cleans the wound one last time before wrapping it in a linen bandage. She then cleans the small wounds on Mal's body that she had sustained and Evie's hands halt at her chest. She runs her hands over the brunette's sides stopping when she hears Mal's sharp intake of breath. She does it again feeling the slim gladiator's ribs underneath her fingers. "Looks like you have a few fractured ribs." Evie comments. "I can't do anything about that other than give you pain relief." Mal shakes her head and Evie removes her hands from beneath her tunic. "I don't think any have broken off which is good." Evie says grabbing a cloth that was wet.
"Hurts to breathe." Mal murmurs as Evie starts dabbing at her face, cleaning the blood away that was there along with her war paint and dirt. Mal's skin was feverish but, with the pain she was so obviously in, that wasn't unusual so Evie wasn't too worried.
"You need to breathe properly." Evie orders and Mal nods her head in understanding. "Would this be a bad time to tell you that I bought you?" Evie asks quietly. Mal hums in question closing her eyes as the young healer tended to her wounds. "Jaha has formally retired your services in the arena. I bought you to work for me."
"Work for you?" Mal asks curiously raising her eyebrow.
"Bodyguard maybe? I haven't figured out the specifics yet." Evie admits. "I just couldn't watch you die, I couldn't sit there and see Roan cut your head off." Mal smiles softly her hands finding Evie's waist to pull her closer to her.
"You saved me." Mal muses.
"Can you walk?" Evie asks. "You're to be presented your rudis to symbolise your freedom." Evie explains and Mal nods. Evie helps her stand, with a lot of difficulty, Mal groaning and grunting as she does so, she leans heavily against Evie, leaning into her side, burying her head into her neck. Evie raises her eyebrows when Mal rounds on her falling into her chest in an embrace. Evie holds her tightly feeling her heart break, it's not everyday a gladiator looks for comfort in a hug, so Evie just held her. After a long moment, Mal pulls back from the embrace and Evie helps support her as they walk out of the room and back towards the arena.
/
Mal pushes off of Evie when they near the entrance to the arena. Evie had given Mal a new tunic, since her last one had been torn, for her to look presentable. "Thelonious will present you with your sword." Evie informs her. "Just, try to be grateful, and bow to your emperor, I understand you might feel a little agitated by that idea… gods know I do." Mal raises an eyebrow at that comment but Evie just shakes her head dismissively. Mal straightens herself up, putting on a brave face, she was nervous about what the crowd's reaction to her was going to be. She'd been beaten by Roan, sure, Mal had won many fights, and killed more people than she could count on her two hands, but she'd been bested, it was strange that she was being awarded her freedom, and that meant the crowd, and the people of Rome, might just hate her for it. "Don't worry," Evie says as though she can read Mal's mind. "they scream for death after every fight Mal and yet they screamed for you to live ." Evie reassures. "The people of Rome love you." She adds.
The doors open and harsh sunlight floods into the room. Mal straightens her back, so it's almost painful, puffs her chest out slightly, wincing from the strain it put on her ribs, and lifts her chin slightly. Evie stares in amazement, seeing Mal go from a broken girl to a gladiator just like that was a peculiar sight - although the tough gladiator act wasn't that bad to look at. Mal steps forward onto the sand ignoring the stab of pain every time she took another step forward. Standing in the centre of the arena was Thelonious with his Royal guards, the crowd explode into cheers and Mal uses their energy to fuel her steps. Evie watches after her, this was Mal's moment and all the blue haired girl could do was stand and watch.
Mal strides up to the emperor, and stares him hard in the eyes for a long second, before dropping to her knee. She bows her head respectfully and the crowd clap, whistle and cheer at the sight. Emperor Jaha gestures for the rudis from one of the nearby guards. "Maleficent," Jaha's voice booms through the arena silencing the crowd. "you have proved your worth as a young warrior of Rome." Mal lifts her head slightly to look up at her emperor. Mal should feel honoured, she should feel gratitude, she should feel something, but all she can think about was what exactly Jaha had done to Evie. It was his fault that Mal had even had to become a gladiator, why should she thank the man for releasing her when he put her in there in the first place? Plus, had Evie not been there then, it was likely he would have had Mal executed by Roan's hand. "You may rise." He says. Mal pushes herself up, her body screaming in protest, her side especially, she was in pain but her face didn't let that show - not even in the slightest. "I present to you, your rudis. This blade is to symbolise your service to Rome and your freedom." He explains. "Should you choose to come back to the arena, at any time, you may leave and live like a Roman citizen because of this rudis." He continues and Mal listens to him. He holds the sword out to Mal and the brunette hesitates before taking the wooden blade from him. It wasn't much, just your everyday wooden sword, it was relatively light, it couldn't do much damage, really, but if it meant that Mal wouldn't have to sleep in the pit anymore then it was Mal's new favourite thing.
The crowd breaks out into cheers again and Mal looks up to stare at them. They really did love her. Mal hadn't believed what Evie had said but she supposed being a fearless gladiator, and bringing some of the bloodiest battles for five years, would earn her at least a little recognition. Mal bows again to the emperor and he turns his back on Mal first, a custom that she knew she couldn't break, despite her being awarded her freedom, she was still lower class and turning your back on the emperor was cause for execution. Mal turns, once he's out of sight, and she stumbles her way back to Evie - almost collapsing on her way. Evie catches her when she reaches the doors, they're closed and the sound of the crowd dies dramatically. Evie holds her supportively and Mal gives her a thankful look. "Let's get you home." Evie says. Home. Mal's never really had one of those.
