Chapter Text
A citizen of Pompeii, she called herself. Yet he always took her to be part of the Roman world, the same world that had swallowed up his childhood, his family, his happiness, his growing up and becoming a man who would have a place in the hearts of the people around him.
He is a gladiator. There is no death or deed that could erase the abhorrent shame of killing the enslaved for the viewing pleasure of the free.
"Look at me."
You love me. I dare believe you do love me.
"Just me."
And may your love restore me to the man I would have been had there been no Roman Empire.
Only for a moment, let me believe that life was worth living.