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"Hope is the pillar that holds up the world. Hope is the dream of a waking man."

-

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—•—

"Emperor."

The man bowed to George respectfully as the emperor, still confused, examined the man with narrowed eyes.

"Who are you?" George asked as the man stood straight, exiting the bow with a small smile.

"Forgive me, domine, for coming to you at this time," the man began. "But I must put forth an offer."

"Tell me who you are firstly," George folded his arms across his chest. "Or you'll be escorted from the premises."

The man raised his hands to his chest, a sign of innocence, and not of wrongdoing. He cleared his throat, addressing the emperor with a slightly lower tone: "My name is Schlatt, domine. I own the largest, most successful ludus in all of Rome."

George raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"I wish to make you an offer regarding your need for a personal bodyguard."

"I... I have already been assigned a bodyguard," George told the man. "The winner of today's final games—"

"—I understand, domine, as Nightmare fights under my authority and under my ludus. I believe that he should be the one to guard you." Schlatt interrupted hurriedly.

George opened his mouth, then closed it with a "humph". He looked the tall man before him up and down, assessing the situation with his arms still firmly folded against his chest.

Schlatt swallowed thickly under the scrutiny of the emperor; the light from the moon flooding the parlour with iridescent, ivory light.

"First of all, Schlatt, don't interrupt your emperor," George hissed, unimpressed. "Second of all..."

The emperor paused, rolling his eyes to himself as the words sat pointed, poised on his tongue, reading to let fly from the confines of his jaws.

"Second of all... you believe that Nightmare should be the one to guard me?"

Schlatt nodded, scratching nervously at the back of his neck, eyes lowered. "He can be quite protective and— and he is extremely loyal."

"Protective and loyal?" George uttered, leaning against the doorway of the parlour. "If I wanted a guard who is protective and loyal, I would buy myself a dog."

Schlatt bristled at this. "Domine, I ensure you that Nightmare would be a better bodyguard than The Blood God. You've seen him in the arena, even before you were emperor. You know that he is worth so much more— he is a much better fighter than what you saw in the arena today."

George's eyebrows quirked as he stuck his bottom lip out in calculative thought. He skimmed his eyes around the moonlit parlour as Schlatt stood there awkwardly, wringing his hands.

Feeling heavy under the silence, Schlatt made one last effort, saying: "He's made to fight. He could do it with his eyes closed."

George smirked. "Could he now?"

—•—

"You want me to what?"

"I want you to do a practise fight... blindfolded."

"Yeah, no. That's not happening."

"I didn't say it was a fucking option."

Dream groaned, hunching over to pinch the bridge of his nose, elbows resting on his knees. His feet were planted on the cool, dirty floor of his cell and his backside was against the cold stone of his so called 'bed'.

Schlatt tossed Dream a training sword and it landed with a clatter at the gladiators feet. Dream picked it up, wobbling to his feet, left arm freshly stitched.

"Why? What is the point of this?" Dream asked, annoyed, flipping the training sword in his skilled hand.

"I just want to see how you'll do if the situation ever arises where you cannot use your eyes," Schlatt replied quickly. "You need to learn to rely on your other senses."

Dream shook his head, reaching for his mask, which sat beside his bed. "Okay, that's understandable, but do we have to do it in the middle of the night?"

Schlatt nodded vigorously, taking the gladiator by the shoulder and leading him down the corridor. "We're doing this right now."

Dream huffed, holding onto his mask and the training sword as Schlatt ushered him up the steps and into the same room as before; where he would wait for the large door to open, and he would enter the arena.

"Who am I fighting?" Dream asked as Schlatt produced a thick strip of cloth.

"Eh, I'll probably send Sapnap in," Schlatt said, reaching to tie the strip of cloth around Dream's eyes. "I don't want either of you getting seriously hurt."

Dream chuckle lowly as Schlatt tightened the knot on the back of the blindfold, before helping the gladiator buckle up the mask.

"Alright, how many fingers am I holding up?"

Dream laughed, saying: "I bet you're flipping me off right now, aren't you?"

Schlatt grumbled. "Fuck you. Can you see anything?"

Dream shook his head. His vision was totally blocked out, eyes forced closed by the heavy weight of the blindfold pressing against his eyelids. Even when he did try to open his eyes, the strip of cloth around his eyes obscured anything, and the darkness of the night also kept the gladiators consciousness in the shadows.

"Good." Schlatt slapped Dream, now ready to fight as Nightmare, on the back.

Nightmare bit back a curse as the man slapped right over top of his lashing wounds.

"Let your other senses help you," Schlatt said, before walking out of the room. "Good luck!"

"Who else is watching?" Nightmare called after Schlatt.

Schlatt cackled. "Just me, big man."

Nightmare wasn't quite reassured by the ludus owners words and maniacal cackle, but he did not have time to dwell on it. The large door before him opened, which Nightmare knew, as a cold gust of wind swept across his bare skin, small droplets of rain sprinkling over his muscles.

Nightmare took a few tentative steps forward, feeling the freezing sand beneath his feet and thinning droplets of rain hitting his head. The door closed noisily behind him as he took a few more steps into the arena, attempting to map his basically nonexistent surroundings in his head.

"You know the drill, boys," Schlatt called from the stand. "Fight!"

"You really can't see a thing, can you?" Came Sapnap's voice, which seemed to be only a few metres in front of him.

Nightmare slashed at the air with his training sword, feeling it connect with something hard.

"Ow! Dude, what the hell? You just smacked me in the face!" Sapnap cried as Nightmare responded with a grin behind his mask.

"Less talking, cowboy. Let's see if I can beat you without my eyes." Nightmare took another swipe, which Sapnap dodged.

The wind and the rain messed with the masked gladiator's senses, but he tuned his ears to his surroundings. A shift in the sand to his left made Nightmare spin in that direction, lunging forward and thrusting the wooden sword outwards.

It hit something.

"Holy shit—!"

Nightmare lunged again, moving his sword in three fluid motions, each striking against his target. Sapnap cursed again under the relentless barrage of hits. He squirmed out of the way, just as the training sword brushed past his cheek.

"How are you so good at this?" He asked the masked gladiator, who spun around, searching for his voice.

Sapnap bit his tongue, creeping across the rain-soaked sand, up to Nightmare's right side, before slapping his training sword against the masked gladiator's shoulder flimsily. Sapnap then kicked Nightmare in the ribs, pushing him into the sand.

Nightmare laughed. "Is that the best you've got?"

Sapnap approached the gladiator on the floor, but was surprised as Nightmare flailed his legs, kicking Sapnap right where no man wished to be kicked.

"AHH FUCK!" Sapnap shouted in pain, missing the fact that Nightmare had sprung to his feet like a spritely, energetic child.

Sensing Sapnap's pained presence, Nightmare swung his training sword a few times for good measure, slamming the wooden blade into the wounded gladiator's back, forcing him to sink to his knees, bringing his hands up to shield the blows.

"Dre— Shit! I yield, I yield!" Sapnap called into the darkness, voice carried with the wind and rain.

Victorious, Nightmare cocked his head back and laughed into the sky, tiny splashes of water hitting the smooth surface of his mask, gently washing away the dried blood and dirt.

"Don't laugh, jerk." Sapnap whimpered from his place on the ground as Nightmare reached beneath his mask, yanking the bit of cloth away from his eyes.

He offered Sapnap a hand. The dark-haired gladiator scowled, but grasped the hand offered to him, pulling himself off of the ground.

Both men were damp, covered in sand that stuck to their moistened skin like thousands of particles of glitter. Nightmare brushed sand from his opponents hair, the latter grimacing and pushing him away.

Nightmare looked at Sapnap pointedly through the slits in his mask, winding the strip of cloth like a bandage around his hand. "Are you mad at me for winning?"

Sapnap glowered at the taller gladiator. "I'm not mad that you won. I'm mad that you embarrassed me in front of him."

Nightmare rolled his eyes, back still to Schlatt, facing the shorter gladiator with a bemused demeanour. "In front of who? Schlatt? Oh, come on now. He watches us all the time—!"

"Not Schlatt, you idiot," Sapnap sighed as Nightmare suddenly heard two pairs of hands clapping. "Him."

Nightmare whipped around, gripping tightly on his wooden training sword, eyes landing on Schlatt.

"Thank you, Nightmare," Schlatt clapped. "Once again, you did not disappoint!"

Through the steadily ceasing rain, the usually composed Nightmare allowed his mouth to drop open in surprise. Thank god for the mask, for he knew he would look like a complete and utter fool.

Clapping slowly, with an almost vulpine smile creeping across his face, the emperor watched Nightmare from beside Schlatt.

Next to Nightmare, Sapnap hurried to bow, greeting the emperor appropriately. Nightmare, much slower than the other gladiator, grit his teeth and formed a begrudging bow.

All of that, Dream thought, was in front of the emperor.

Great.

Just great.

—•—

"It seems like you were right, Schlatt," George chuckled, watching Sapnap and Nightmare trudged back underground. "He really can do it with his eyes closed."

Schlatt grinned. "I told you. He's the best gladiator in all of Italia."

George watched the pair of gladiators disappear with a admiration in his dark eyes.

Schlatt took the silence as an opportunity to speak. "So?"

George looked at Schlatt. "So...?"

"Are you going to take me up on my offer?"

George thought for a moment, before smiling coyly. "Fine, Schlatt. I'll take you up on your offer."

Schlatt took the emperors hand, shaking it gently, before placing a small kiss on large gold ring on George's finger. "You won't regret your decision, domine."

"I sure hope not," George retracted his hand, running his eyes along the large expanse of the dark arena. "I sure hope not."

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Hey homies, this is an authors note!

HERE WE GO GUYS YAY!

This is gonna be fun >:)

Imma start asking you guys questions each chapter. So, what's your zodiac sign? (I'm a gemini :D)

Until next time,

Blue :)