Title: Amor vincit omnia
Summary: AU. When Gregorius, a Servant for an influential Senator, is thrown into the life of Nikolai, the greatest gladiator in Rome, their lives and the Roman society around them are cast into turmoil. Nick/Greg slash.
Warnings: Suggestions of dub-con
Disclaimer: CSI is not mine, neither are the chapter titles
Chapter 7/10
Chapter VII: Are You Not Entertained?
Greg stood in the shadows of the veranda, waiting for his victim to pass. A figure entered the courtyard and made their way to the entrance beside Greg's hiding place.
Greg stepped out from behind a pillar and grabbed Nik by the arm, pulling him back into the shadows. He pushed Nik to the wall and pounced on his mouth. The kiss was deep and urgent, tongues swirling together and teeth nipping at lips.
They broke apart with the need for oxygen, panting as they rested their foreheads against each other.
"You're late." Greg said between breaths, "I had to wait far too long to do that."
"Worth it?" Nik asked, his cheeks dimpling with a smile.
"So worth it."
"Speaking of late, your mother will be sending a search party out for us."
Greg rolled his eyes. "I think I preferred it when you were terrified of her, than this buddy, buddy act you've got going on now."
Nik grabbed his hand and walked them into the kitchen together, hands grasped tightly as one.
Truthfully, he was more than happy Nik and Mari were getting on better than ever. They were both such a big part of his life that it would be unbearable if they didn't like each other. His only problem now was curtailing Mari's penchant for liking Nik too much, at least Nik didn't take her flirting seriously.
Mari was waiting for them inside. She gave them both a quick hug and set food on the table before them.
"Did you see Alberto today Nik?" She asked.
"Yes, I'm as good as new."
"Yes you are." Nik laughed as Greg squeezed his bicep.
"Like mother, like son." Nik pointed out.
Mari smiled proudly. "My boy has all his mother's best features."
"He said I could go back to full training today so that I'm ready for the tournament." Nik continued on, Greg was glad that Nik knew his mother well enough to know she would get back to how he was healing sooner or later, so he might as well get it over with now.
"Good." Greg had lost his playful tone and was completely serious. Nik's chance at freedom meant a lot for Nik, how many sacrifices he'd had to make for it, but he couldn't hide the fact it scared him. He worried what the future held for them, he knew Nik would win, he couldn't contemplate otherwise, but what would happen to them after he was free, he didn't know.
All he knew was that Nik sat in Greg's mother's kitchen with his hand in Greg's, smiling happily. For this moment in time, that was all he needed.
…
Atwatus had barged into his cell at daybreak. Today was the tournament, his fight for freedom and he'd known this conversation was coming; he just wanted to get it over and done with.
"Rise and shine, Nikolai! Today is your day."
It creeped Nik out when Atwatus was overly friendly, it was so obviously fake, and so obviously manipulative.
"Good morning, Sir." He said respectfully.
"I have an opportunity for you." Atwatus said, over the top and far too cheery for Nik to take it seriously. "A position on my personal guard has become available, it is yours if you want it."
When Nik didn't immediately jump to accept, Atwatus continued. "I can offer you lifetime employment, and residence, plus all the visits from any of my slaves you want."
Atwatus didn't get it, and he never would.
"I'm grateful for the offer, sir, and everything you've done for me, but I have already accepted a position elsewhere." Nik attempted to sound regretful.
"Very well." Atwatus' friendly demeanour was gone and he pursed his lips. "You have until you win to change your mind." Atwatus ultimated as he left.
Great, Nik knew the offer was coming, and he knew what it meant by turning it down. He didn't have an option though, even if he didn't know of Atwatus' treacherousy he couldn't have continued living under the employment of Atwatus, nothing would have changed, he would still have been a slave in Atwatus' eyes, still under his control.
…
Nik ran out into the arena, his focus and concentration drowned out the roar of the crowd.
He'd picked up his swords from Roberto and chosen an additional shield, which he strapped loosely to his back. He would not get the chance to change weapons between fights, so he opted to add the opposite of his trusted swords, he'd need other options to compete in all the rounds.
His opponent had already been announced and was awaiting him, a criminal whose punishment had sentenced him to a life as a gladiator. Named Crainius.
They saluted the Emperor and swung into action.
Crainius was small and Nik was far superior in strength, but he was quick and knew how to read Nik's movement, as if he'd studied Nik's fighting technique. Nik knew attempting the 'lai' would be foolish, Crainius would be expecting it and recognise the build up. It was time to try something new.
Nik put one sword in its sheath and pulled the shield over from his back. Time to bring his extra weapon into play. He'd never fought with a shield before, intimidation of his opponents through his prowess was a powerful tool and a form of protection lessened that image in the eyes of his combatant, perception was everything when it came to creating a persona in the arena. A shield, however, was as good a weapon as it was protection and anything could be lethal in the hands of a man who knew what he was doing.
Crainius lunged at him, striking him hard on the shield. The small man smiled manically and leapt into another attack. Nik managed to deflect it with only a scratch to his cheek. Crainius became relentless in his attacks, finally breaking through Nick's defences and knocking him off balance, he hit the floor hard.
Crainius smugly waited for Nik to stand, he was getting cocky.
Nik raised his shield up and hid his sword behind it in a defensive position. Crainius assumed Nik was preparing to defend another assault from him and lunged forward.
Nik, however, had no such intention. He quickly adjusted the shield and threw the heavy metal at Crainius' legs.
Crainius was bowled over and in such shock that he never registered Nik's sword striking in for a kill shot until it was too late.
…
As Nik walked off the arena he looked up to the seats in the Gods and saw Greg smiling at him in the distance. He was sat in the area designated for servants, with Mari, Archie and Rilei. He resisted the urge to wave like a lovestruck child. He chuckled when Mari slapped her hand over Greg's rising arm.
He stayed with his eyes locked on Greg until he reached the entrance to the hypogeum and made his way beneath the arena floor.
Wricardo and a group of Atwatus' gladiators were waiting for him.
"How'd you fair?" Wricardo asked.
"A few scratches, nothing I can't handle." Nik shrugged.
"You ready?"
"Yep, let's go."
Nik had been the final competitor to take part in the first round, which meant he was the first in the second. Unlike the first round, a one on one with a non-competitor of the contest, the second round was a group battle. Nik had to lead his fellow gladiators against a trained troupe of disgraced Legionnaires.
He led the small group to the centre of the arena, where they saluted the Emperor. Nick kept his head down as he composed himself, working in a group worried him, not just because he couldn't control the actions of others, but he was in charge and he knew it was more than likely some of his group wouldn't make it out alive, the weight of their deaths would never leave him completely.
He didn't attempt to look for Greg, knowing it would only serve to distract him.
"Work in pairs. Talk to each other, if anybody gets into trouble, shout for help and you'll be backed up. Ready?"
The group nodded affirmative. They paired off and awaited their opponents.
Nik stood beside Wricardo; confident they could match anything thrown at them.
The Legionnaires came at them from all sides.
"The big guy?" Wricardo asked which one they should target first.
"Definitely." Nik said with a grin, he always liked the tactic of taking out the strongest opponent first.
'The big guy', as Wricardo had accurately dubbed him, ran at them, his bulging biceps rippling as he moved. The gap closed between.
Nik and Wricardo sprang through the air simultaneously. Wricardo struck high to 'the big guy's' left, aiming for the neck. While Wricardo's attack was blocked, Nik hacked at his right leg. 'The big guy' fell to the ground, unceremoniously, blood spurting from his sworn off limb. Wricardo swiftly stuck at sword in his chest.
"That was easy." Wricardo commented.
"Too easy." Nik agreed.
Before the two had the chance to reassess their situation a thick net was thrown over them. Nik lost his bearings, the sudden impact that had enveloped him left him disorientated. The weight of the net rooted him to the floor and the thick weave acted like a dense fog to distort his vision.
He hacked wildly at the net to free himself, but a piercing pain to his thigh drew his attention to a Legionnaire by his side. The Legionnaire attempted to ram his sword through Nik, Nik blocked and spun around to swing his sword at the Legionnaire, only to get it caught in the net. He frantically wrestled to free his sword and kicked at the Legionnaire to keep him at bay.
Nik's arm slipped through the net, sword gripped tightly in his hand. With the constriction of the net gone from that arm he thrust the sword into the Legionnaire's gut and looked away as he fell to the ground.
Nik slipped his other arm through another weave and had the freedom to move again, quickly taking out another attacker.
"Wricardo," he shouted, "put your arms through the weave."
Wricardo saw what Nik had done and followed suit. They took down Legionnaire after Legionnaire until none were left.
Their companions helped them to disentangle from the net, while the crowd cheered their victory.
Nik let out a heavy breath when he saw his men were all still alive, wounded, but alive.
Nik looked for Greg as they trudged out of the arena, the sand dusting up into the air from his steps. He could see Mari, Archie and Rilei, sat together, but no Greg. Mari looked scared, and not for Nik. Nik could see even from this distance that her hands were clenched tightly together and her back straight. She pointed further down into the crowd. Nik followed her indication and saw Greg. He was sat in the Senators block, flanked at one side by a guard and the other by Atwatus, with a hand on his knee.
Atwatus waved and Nik wanted nothing more than to wipe that smile off his face with his own bare hands. He unsheathed his sword to throw it at the Senator but Wricardo held him back and dragged him into the hypogeum.
"I take it that's Greg." Wricardo said rhetorically as they walked through the underground maze.
Nik could barely breathe, the stench of the hypogeum having a claustrophobic effect on him he'd never felt before.
"Nik, sit down and calm down." Wricardo ordered, Nik sat. "Look at me and breath."
Nik tried to slow his breathing and concentrate on taking a breath in and letting it out.
"Do you think Atwatus is going to kill him?"
Nik nodded, still not capable of words.
"Why?"
"So that…" Nik took a deep breath, "I don't take the position on the Emperor's guard… and stay with him."
"And Greg being dead would achieve this for him?" Wricardo asked, his voice smooth and controlled.
Nik shook his head, "The threat of it would."
"Exactly. So he's not going to kill him is he?"
Nik's breathing came much easier at the realisation that Wricardo was right.
"No. If he killed him he'd have nothing to control me with. Even if I take the position with the Emperor, Atwatus believes he'll be Emperor himself so he'd still need to control me, and if he kills Greg he knows I wouldn't stop until Atwatus was dead."
Nik stood up and began pacing. "This changes nothing."
"Except getting you angry." Wricardo pointed out.
Nik nodded, his eyes blazing with fire.
…
Nik had tried to calm down, but after several failed attempts he'd decided he could use the pent up rage to his advantage. The extra aggression would come in useful.
The final round was here; only himself and another gladiator had survived the first two rounds, so it would be a straight, one on one, fight to victory.
Nik had avoided looking for Greg; he needed his aggression directed at his opponent and not redirecting at Atwatus again.
His opponent was introduced, Gordonus was a relative unknown compared to Nik. His name and status had risen quickly due to his unusual style; he fought with a haphazard ferocity, as though he wanted revenge on the world. Nik didn't know much of his technique so his only choice was to concentrate on his own moves and be prepared for the unexpected.
There was a lengthy introduction to the fight, building the anticipation in the crowd. Nik just wanted to get on with it; he was hot, air steaming off his skin and anger raging through his veins. The tension throbbed in his head and he almost didn't notice that the speech was over and it was time to fight.
Gordonus charged at Nik, raining down blow after blow. Nik parried and blocked as well as he ever had, the occasional strike making it past his defences but doing little damage. Nik turned his parries and blocks into hits of his own, using the defence to weaken his opponent wherever possible, but Gordonus was relentless; he gave Nik no time to form an attack of his own. His blows were uneven and unpractised, giving Nik little opportunity to pick up patterns and predict the next hit. Nik's stamina was holding up, but his leg was getting weak from where it had been struck earlier. One final blow caused Nik's leg to give way and his knee fell to the ground. Gordonus pounced on him, pushing him back. He'd thrown his weapons to the side and attacked Nik's neck with his bare hands.
Nik wheezed as he tried to breath through the constricting pain. His neck felt like it was imploding, a flame of white pain searing through his veins as he gasped for air. His throat burned with the need for oxygen, worsening in each passing moment. His arms had turned to dead weight, fingers losing their grip on his swords as they tingled and lost all feeling.
He wanted to scream but didn't have the breath to do so.
As the air drew out of him he pictured Greg, lying innocently in his arms, pale skin soft under his touch. No. Greg was in danger, Atwatus' hand on his knee, a guard at his side, and a knife to his gut… Nik couldn't let that happen.
Nik threw his leg up into Gordonus' back, pushing the gladiator off his throat. He sucked in raged breaths as feeling returned to his arms. He grabbed his swords and launched himself to his feet, swinging the swords at Gordonus' legs as he rose. Gordonus jumped in the air. Nik pulled the swords up and crossed them over, whipping the blades back across Gordonus' neck. Gordonus' head fell to the ground.
Nik stumbled back and thanked the Gods that the movements of the 'lai' were so ingrained into his body he didn't have to think it through. The only thought he was capable of at the moment was Greg.
The crowd roared his name and cheered with delight as the Emperor walked towards him.
Nik took a quick glance to Greg and clenched his fists to hold himself still at the sight of the guard's sword at Greg's throat.
The Emperor embraced Nik.
"Congratulations Nikolai, I never doubted you. I hope you accept your position on my guard with honour."
"I do Your Highness, it is a great honour."
Nikolai grasped Emperor Domitian's wrist to seal the deal, inside his heart dropped at the thought of what was happening to Greg while he couldn't look.
The Emperor finally let go and moved his attention elsewhere. Nik tried to appear cheerful but his lungs were failing him again. He watched Greg be dragged from his seat and out of the amphitheatre.
TBC…