A/N: So, here's yet another chapter for you to, hopefully, enjoy :) I have to say though, after this chapter there will only be two more and then an epilogue, which is kinda sad, because this is my first fanfic and it's almost at an end! Oh, and enjoy Sebastian in this one, and if you're wondering where Niff are for the majority of it, don't worry, they'll have their moment very soon.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed :) We made it over 60 reviews, which is wonderful!

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.

"We've got to do something!" Sebastian cried, "Wes is in danger!"

"Seb, we can't just rush over there now," Hunter said, "You heard what your father said, he's got people all over the place watching out for him. We need to do this with the least attention possible."

"You mean disguises?" Sebastian looked rather excited at the prospect.

"Well, something like that," Hunter replied, wondering why the other boy was suddenly so enthusiastic.

"Come on then," Sebastian grabbed Hunter's hand and practically hauled him off towards his rooms.

Twenty minutes later, Hunter was standing outside the closed door of Sebastian's bedroom, while the other boy was sorting out his disguise.

"It's taking you an awfully long time," Hunter called, knocking on the door, "What are you putting on?"

"One minute!" Sebastian called back, his voice sounding muffled.

True to his word, a minute later, the door was flung open, and Hunter was speechless.

"Sebastian…when I said disguise I meant put on some clothing that didn't scream upper class," he faltered, "I wasn't exactly expecting you to go all out on this."

Sebastian grinned and spun around.

"How do I look?" he asked, grinning like an idiot.

"Er, different?" Hunter tried, earning a frown from the other boy.

"Is that all?"

"What am I supposed to say," Hunter asked, "You're wearing a dress, Sebastian!"

"It's called a disguise!" Sebastian said indignantly, "The point is that no one recognises you."

"I'm more concerned about the fact that you already had a dress in there," Hunter said, grinning as Sebastian blushed, "And that it actually fits you."

"Shut it," the other boy hissed, refusing to talk about it anymore. "Now, we'd better hurry before the soldiers get to Wes first."

"Alright," Hunter said, "But do you have anything else in that room that I should know about?" The way he said it made it sound slightly suggestive, and Sebastian blushed yet again.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, heading towards the door.

Hunter laughed as he watched the other boy get embarrassed.

"You weren't like this when you were talking about what Nick and Jeff had been doing," he pointed out, as Sebastian tried to ignore him and hurried from the room. "Hey, Sebastian, wait for me!" he called, earning himself a strange look from a nearby slave, who could only see a figure in a dress. "I mean, where has Sebastian gone?" Hunter corrected himself, and started looking around wildly.

He waited until the slave had rounded the corner, and then he ran after Sebastian.

"Did you seriously just yell at me?" Sebastian asked, looking highly unimpressed.

"I didn't think," Hunter defended himself, "I'm sorry."

"I think it's probably best if we don't speak for a bit," Sebastian said, watching as Hunter frowned.

"If you just want to ignore me, then why am I going with you?" he asked, as Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"I'm not ignoring you," he said, "But I don't exactly sound like a woman, and so it's better if I just don't talk, so that I won't draw attention to myself."

"Because you're obviously not doing that anyway," Hunter muttered, earning himself a smack on the arm. "You're not a very well mannered young lady either, are you?" He laughed at his own joke, while Sebastian just glared at him.

"I'm pretty sure it's polite for the gentleman to offer the lady their arm," he retorted.

Hunter continued to laugh, but offered his arm to Sebastian nevertheless.

"Would you care to walk with me, Sebastina?" he asked with a mischievous grin, purposely altering the other boy's name.

"Call me Sebastina one more time, and I will slap you so hard that you'll…"

His sentence was lost in Hunter's laughter.

"I can't believe I was laughing about this earlier," Hunter muttered, as he and Sebastian made their way through the overcrowded back alleys in the Subura. "Wes, his father and David are all in grave danger, and I was laughing at you in a dress."

"Well, I'm glad you've come to your senses now," Sebastian said dryly, as they had to avoid yet another beggar, who tried to launch himself at them.

They were nearing Wes' hiding place now, but neither of them had ever been there that late at night before, and it appeared that the darker side of the city was all out in force. Sebastian was glad it was just him and Hunter there, if Nick and Jeff had come with them, the other boys would mostly have been mortified with the types of characters they'd already come across. Being dressed as a woman wasn't helping Sebastian in any way either.

Soon, they were standing in front of the door to the hiding place, and Hunter quickly knocked; three short knocks and then two longer ones to signal that it was one of the Warblers.

Cautiously, the door opened, and Wes peered out.

"Sorry, I think you've got the wrong…wait, Sebastian?" he said, looking curiously at his friend. "Why are you wearing a dress?"

"It's a long story," Hunter cut in, "We need to speak to you urgently."

Wes sensed that something was desperately wrong, so he opened the door and ushered the other boys inside. They found Wes' father and David inside, already seated on their two threadbare couches.

"What's wrong?" David asked, immediately noticing the looks of worry on their faces. "And why is Sebastian in a dress?"

"It's a disguise," Sebastian said hurriedly, "But that isn't the point, the point is that you all need to leave here as soon as possible."

"Why?" Wes' father asked, still not looking as though he fully understood.

"My father has told the Emperor to send soldiers here immediately, they intend to arrive under the cover of darkness," Sebastian explained, "Somehow he found out about this place."

"Alright, we'd better start packing," Wes' father clapped his hands together, and David disappeared into an adjoining room to start gathering their belongings.

"Where can we go?" Wes asked, "We have no other plans for hiding."

There was a pause as they all tried to think of somewhere.

"I know a small place," Sebastian said suddenly, "It's been empty for years, and I remember finding it once when I was younger. It's completely out of the way of the main streets, and is down another alley in the outer Subura."

"We'll go there then," Wes' father decided, as David re-emerged carrying bags with their belongings in, and began to head towards the front door.

"Wait, we can't leave by the front entrance," Hunter said suddenly, "Apparently Sebastian's father has people on the lookout, if they see you leaving, they'll just follow. Is there a back door?"

Wes shook his head.

"There's only the window at the back," he said, "But we might all fit through that if we tried."

"We'll have to use that then," Hunter decided, leading the entire operation as though it were a military exercise.

"I'll go first," David offered, "And then someone can pass out the bags to me."

"Alright," Hunter said, as he and Sebastian gave David a helping hand up to the window, and then there was a muffled thud as he landed on the other side. "All okay?" Hunter checked, as he began to lift up the first bag.

"All good," David's hushed voice floated in through the window, "It's not too much of a drop. Have you got the first bag there?"

"Yes, it's just being passed out now, can you see it?"

"I've got it."

"Good, here's the second."

"Anymore?"

"No, that's it. We're sending Wes' father over now."

As Hunter's voice disappeared, the figure of Wes' father filled the window and, within seconds, had joined David on the ground in the alleyway. Next, came Wes, who managed to make jumping out of a small window look remarkably graceful.

The same, however, could not be said for Sebastian, who went to climb out next.

"Why did you make me wear a dress?" his indignant voice could be heard clearly.

"I didn't, you chose the dress," Hunter sighed heavily, "Now get on with it."

"Do you know how difficult it is to do this in a dress?"

"No, I don't, but I do know that if you don't hurry up, I will not hesitate to just push you."

"Alright, I'm going," Sebastian huffed, clearly not wanting to be pushed, as he quickly launched himself out of the window and landed on the cobbles as silently as possible. Hunter followed shortly after, years of military training meant that he made light work of the short jump from the window to the street, and he landed with barely any noise at all.

"So, Seb, which way?" he asked, once they were all ready to depart.

"This way, I think," he said, sounding a little uncertain, "It'd be easy with a light."

"We're supposed to be doing this as unnoticeably as possible, Seb," Wes pointed, "We can't afford to give you a lamp."

"We don't need one," David said suddenly, glancing behind him, and therefore causing everyone to do the same. On the horizon was the glowing silhouette of a small band of soldiers, their presence heralded by the bright flaming torches they were carrying. "We've got enough light from them."

"We have to keep moving," Wes' father said, "They'll be upon us soon enough if we don't head off now."

"Alright," Sebastian said finally, taking over the leadership from Hunter, "We need to take the second alley on the right."

"Seb," Wes hissed suddenly, as they trudged up the slope towards their destination.

"What?"

"We're trying to be undiscovered, would you mind just leading the way and not giving a full commentary?"

Sebastian huffed in annoyance.

"Fine."

Wes nodded, and then allowed Sebastian to continue leading them again.

They found the alley he wanted, and quickly headed down it. It was even murkier than the last, and dipped steeply at one end, so that they stumbled on the cobbles in the darkness. At one point, Hunter thought they'd lost Sebastian when he quickly headed up another alley, but before long, they were just a few streets away from their destination.

"It's just up that hill," Sebastian said, pointing up to where the houses and blocks of flats sat in crooked rows across the hillside, the alleys and streets leading up to it were twisted and steep; a thoroughly unappealing landscape.

They came to the end of one alleyway, and it meant that they'd now have to continue for the next part of their journey out on the main street. Carefully, Hunter peered around the sharp corner, gauging the road ahead for any signs of movement. Within seconds, he'd withdrawn and flattened himself against the alleyway wall, motioning for the others to do the same.

"What's wrong?" Sebastian hissed.

"Street watchman," Hunter hissed back, "Fortunately, the rest of the street is completely dark, so while Sebastian and I distract him, the rest of you need to sneak past without him seeing you, and head to the next alley."

"Alright," Wes nodded, as he, his father and David readied themselves to move.

"How are we going to distract him?" Sebastian asked.

Hunter smiled knowingly.

"Just follow my lead," he said, "And keep your head down, you may be wearing a dress, but you don't look very feminine."

Sebastian looked mildly offended at how little faith the other boy had in his disguise, but he allowed Hunter to wrap an arm around him and guide him out into the open.

They made it a few yards, before the light of the watchman's lamp was thrust in front of their faces; they were lucky it was a cheap and poorly made lamp, and the light was not thrown far enough into the street for their friends to be illuminated.

"Who goes there?" the watchman demanded, as Hunter raised his eyes to meet the other man's.

"I'm escorting this young lady," he lied smoothly, his confident tone daring the watchman to doubt him, "She wishes to go to the Quirinal Hill, and didn't want to cross the Subura alone."

"A lot of unsavoury characters around here, ain't there?" the watchman nodded gruffly, "A lady shouldn't be out this time of night."

"Well, she wouldn't be if she didn't have to," Hunter replied, "But she received word from her brother that her father was ill, and the messenger left before she could go with him. She's headed to his house now."

"Ah, right," the watchman nodded again, "But be careful, won't you? There's them fugitives around here somewhere."

It was Hunter's turn to nod, and he maintained the solemn expression on his face.

"Of course," he said, "I promised this lady I'd see her home safe, and I intend to make good on that promise."

The watchman lowered the lamp from face height, and bade them pass.

Once they were out of both earshot and sight of the watchman, they crossed over to the alley where the others were waiting for them.

"Let's go," Sebastian said, assuming the lead again, as he took them up a few more winding alleys; the increasing gradient indicating that they were getting closer to their destination.

Finally, they found themselves standing outside a rundown one storey building, which looked marginally out of place in between the blocks of flats all around it.

"Here we are," Sebastian said, approaching the door purposefully and giving it a quick shove so that it opened, before ducking inside.

Wes' father entered next, with his son and David following him, and Hunter bringing up the rear.

Inside the building smelt like damp and the furniture looked a little worse for wear, but Wes decided that with a quick clean, it would become reasonably inhabitable.

"Well, we'd better be getting back," Hunter said, "Before someone notices our absence, most probably Nick or Jeff."

David laughed.

"I doubt they'll be spending the night wondering about your whereabouts," he said, as Sebastian smirked at his suggestion.

"Leave the two boys alone," Wes' father chided them, "I think they make a wonderful pair. Thank you for your help, boys." He smiled at Sebastian and Hunter, who both nodded, and then hurried out of the door.

"We'd better take a different way back," Sebastian said, "In case we come across that watchman again, I don't fancy explaining why you haven't delivered me to the Quirinal Hill as you promised."

Hunter grinned.

"I can take you there if you really want," he said, as Sebastian smacked his arm.

"No, I want to go home," the other boy said, "There are better things I could be doing at this time of night, than walking through alleys in the city." He winked at Hunter. "Like spending time with this really wonderful soldier I know."

Hunter smiled and wrapped an arm around Sebastian's waist.

"Oh, and do I know this soldier?" he asked.

"Probably," Sebastian said, leaning into Hunter's side, "I think you'd like him."

Hunter didn't reply, he just laughed.

They walked in silence for a while, before Hunter spoke again.

"Sebastian."

"Yes?"

"This feels really weird with you dressed as a woman."

They saw Wes' old hiding place before they actually reached the building itself; the light from the soldier's torches set the sky ablaze with a fierce, burning brightness.

Sebastian shivered unconsciously.

"I'm so glad we didn't leave it any later to warn them," he remarked, as they crossed into another alley to avoid the soldiers.

Hunter murmured his agreement; the thought of having not made it to Wes' house on time made his blood run cold. But the frustrated shouts of the soldiers as they discovered the house was empty did make him smirk a little.

"They're not here!" the annoyed voice of the centurion rang out into the cold night, " Move out, men! They're not here, somebody must have tipped them off! Move out!"

There was a large clatter as men in armour retreated from the house, and began to return to the barracks at a steady marching pace.

"We'd better hurry," Hunter hissed quickly, "It's already early morning, and when your father and the Emperor hear of this news, there'll be a huge fallout."

Sebastian nodded.

"I'm hoping to avoid my father for a little while," he said, "Just until this blows over, or something else takes its place."

And little did Sebastian know it, but another occurrence was just about to change everything completely.

Jeff was pacing in his and Nick's shared room, feeling slightly hurt and a little disappointed. Nick had left an hour or two ago, claiming to have been summoned by his father for a meeting or something as equally boring and political as that, and had told Jeff that he'd meet him back in their room. Except Jeff had got bored and had gone to see if he could find Sebastian or Hunter, only to discover that Hunter was involved in a training exercise, and that Sebastian wasn't anywhere to be found. It was only after enquiring about Sebastian's whereabouts, did a slave girl inform Jeff that he'd just left the palace with Nick in tow. Therefore, Jeff was left feeling rather annoyed that Nick had lied to him, as well as worried about where Sebastian had taken him.

Horrible possibilities started to run through his head. What if Nick had a secret meeting with someone without him? What if Nick had found someone else?

That was the thought that concerned Jeff the most; the idea that Nick had found someone better than him. He'd tried to convince himself that Nick would never do something like that to him. He trusted Nick not to do something like that, but he couldn't escape the dreadful worry in the back of his mind.

He'd just forced himself to sit down on the nearest bed and stop pacing, when the door opened and Nick entered the room.

The first thing Nick noticed was the rather disheartened expression on the blonde boy's face, and in his rush to comfort him and find out what was wrong, he forgot to lock the door behind him.

"Jeffy, what's the matter?" he asked, sitting down on the bed and wrapping an arm around the other boy's waist.

At first, Jeff just shook his head, and then he eventually looked up into Nick's eyes.

"Why did you lie to me?" he asked, watching as Nick's expression went from concerned to confused, "You said you were meeting your father, but in reality, you went somewhere with Sebastian."

Slowly, Nick understood, and he smiled.

"I lied because I wanted to surprise you," he said, raising his hand and unfurling it to reveal a plain gold ring. "I was buying this for you; I wanted to make our betrothal completely and properly official."

Jeff's eyes were now wide with delight, and if he smiled any more than he was, he was in danger of splitting his face in two.

"This is really happening, isn't it?" he asked softly.

Nick nodded.

"Yes, it is," he said, "And I also bought you a chain to put the ring on, because as much as I want you to wear it so that everybody knows you're mine, I don't think it would go down very well with some people." Jeff made a face as he thought of Nick's parents in particular. "However, I did want to do this, before you take it off and put it on the chain," Nick continued, taking Jeff's hand and slipping the ring onto his finger. "There, perfect fit."

"It's beautiful, Nicky!" Jeff cried, throwing his arms around the other boy's neck, "I love it, thank you! And I love you as well!"

"I love you too, Jeff," Nick laughed, wrapping his arms around the blonde's waist, and pulling him closer.

"But wait," Jeff leaned back, "I need to get you a ring as well."

Nick smiled and leaned in to give Jeff a quick kiss.

"I proposed, therefore I give you the ring," he said, "Now, here's the chain." He handed over the thin metal chain, and Jeff regarded it almost sadly.

"I know it's for the best," he said, "But I don't really want to take it off." Nick smiled, and squeezed his hand reassuringly as he slipped the ring off his finger and onto the chain instead, before fastening it around his neck.

"One day, that ring will stand for marriage and not just a betrothal," Nick said, kissing Jeff lightly, "And that day can't come soon enough."

Jeff responded by pulling Nick back in for another kiss, and then tangling his hands in the other boy's hair. Nick slowly pushed Jeff backwards so that he was lying down on the bed, continuing to kiss the other boy as he did so. Nick shifted so that he could attach his lips to Jeff's neck, spurred on by the fact that Jeff was suddenly struggling to say anything coherent.

Unfortunately for both boys, Nick managed to elicit a loud moan from Jeff, which completely muffled the sound of the door being roughly thrown open.

"I love you," Nick said, as he detached himself from Jeff's neck to speak for a second.

"I love you too," Jeff replied, pulling Nick down by the back of his neck so that he could kiss him again, effectively drowning out the sound of footsteps as someone entered their room.

They were unaware of the danger they were in, before it was too late.

"Nicholas! What is going on here?"

A/N: I apologise for yet another cliffhanger, but I do have the next few chapters already written, so the update should be soon (there's a small chance that it'll be Wednesday morning, if not, it'll be Thursday instead)!

Historical Points:

1. The Romans did actually use betrothal/engagement rings, but they were more likely to be to show off the wealth of a family than actually for symbol of love and commitment.

Thank you for reading, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought. Or to ask a question about the story or the history behind it.