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"All men's souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine."

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[Memories are in italics!]

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One week later, George was feeling much better. He wasn't bed ridden anymore, and was able to get up and move around his villa as he had pined for over the past few days.

His body was still a canvas of his torturers art: brushed with multicoloured bruises and scars of all different shapes and sizes. His ribs in particular were still contaminated with violence, and they ached and pained upon each movement, but it was bearable.

Now, perched in his garden with the glowing presence of the midday sun, George popped a grape into his mouth.

Karl sat across from him, studying the emperor thoughtfully. George noticed this and, upon finishing chewing, asked: "What's the matter?"

"Spill."

"Spill what?"

Karl sent George a challenging look. "Why are you acting like this?"

"Like what?"

"Like a lovesick teenager who's afraid to go any further because they're petrified of their own feelings."

"That is," George began. "Oddly specific."

Karl pointed at George threateningly and this made George laugh, before clearing his throat and looking pensively around the garden.

Nightmare was once again stood guard by the door to the villa, one hand on his sword and the other resting by his side with a thumb tucked into his leather belt.

"I may be getting myself into another scandal."

Karl blew a raspberry. "That's exactly what I told you not to do."

"I know."

"So what scandal are you getting yourself into?"

"I..." George leaned closer to Karl, whispering. "I think I'm falling for a faceless gladiator."

Karl bit back a laugh. "Are you kidding me? What happened to the 'I don't care about him, and I never will. He is nothing to me' attitude, huh?"

George flushed. "I... I didn't actually mean that."

Karl crossed his arms over his chest. "Mhm."

"Don't 'mhm' me, Karl. I don't actually mean that. I guess I was just trying to convince myself because I'm really confused right now."

Karl pursed his lips. "Right, okay."

George raised a brow. "What? You're hiding something from me. What is it?"

Karl looked around, humming awkwardly, as if to diffuse some kind of tension. "Nothing, nothing."

"Karl."

"Okay, I'll tell you, but don't freak out."

"I won't freak out."

"You will."

George groaned. "Karl! Just tell me, for goodness sake."

Karl sighed. "Alright, well, this may be a bad time to tell you that, uh, Nightmare heard you."

"...heard me? Heard me say what?"

Karl scratched the back of his neck nervously. "You know... the whole 'I don't care about him, and I never will. He is nothing—"

"Are you fucking serious?" George clapped his hands over his mouth. "He heard that?"

Karl nodded.

George sighed. "Well... I suppose that's a good thing."

"What?!" Karl exclaimed suddenly.

George nodded, face grim. "Yes. That way, he will know that I don't, uh, care for him and he will do his job right."

Karl looked at George as though he had killed his puppy. He couldn't believe that his best friend was saying this kind of stuff.

"George?"

"Yes?"

"You're such an idiot."

"Karl!" George gasped and Karl got to his feet, brushing down the front of his toga.

Immediately, Sapnap was at Karl's side, offering the young man protection. George didn't challenge the fact that Karl just suddenly... had a gladiator bodyguard as well.

George got to his feet, indicating that he was also ready to leave, but Dream approached much slower than Sapnap, perhaps waiting to see if anything would change.

"Stop being a fool, George," Karl said seriously, with a tone of steely determination. "Face up to your responsibilities or I will do it for you."

Now, Dream had fully arrived in the garden below, standing adjacent to the emperor, and nodding to Sapnap in quiet understanding.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning, domine." Karl said the last part almost sarcastically as he curtsied mockingly and ascended the steps to the villa, disappearing inside with Sapnap in tow.

George pinched the bridge of his nose before sinking back into his chair. Dream took a step back to lean himself on a neighbouring tree, arms folded across his chest.

The blond gladiator examined George behind the safety of his mask. The emperor seemed tired, and his shoulders sagged as if a tonne of responsibilities were weighing him down. Dream couldn't help but think about the conversation he had with Karl a few nights ago, and how much his feelings were betraying him.

A few nights ago...

The emperor slept soundly in the room behind him as Dream stood watch outside the door. His eyelids were heavy with sleep, and his eyes stung. He tried poorly to blink away the tiredness, and so far, he was only just managing.

When he felt himself about to succumb to slumber, light footsteps lurched him awake. Immediately, he livened, unsheathing his deadly blade and holding it out, watching the sharpened metal glint in the moonlight.

He peered down the hallway, lit only by the celestial rays of the moon, with narrowed and calculating eyes. Soon enough, a shadowed figure stepped from beyond the darkness, and his presence caused Dream to sigh almost disappointingly as the figure approached.

"Wow, don't look so happy to see me," Karl mused, walking up to Dream. "How are you, Nightmare?"

"I'm well, thank you, domine." Dream bowed, after putting away his sword.

"Why are you standing outside his door?" Karl asked. "You can go to sleep. There are guards patrolling everywhere now."

Dream shrugged. "It's my job to protect him."

Karl clicked his tongue. "True, but not at night. You deserve rest. Come on, I'll put you into bed."

Dream snorted at this. "Put me into bed? What, are you going to read me a bedtime story too?"

Despite his sarcasm, Dream didn't resist when Karl led him into his lowly lit bedroom. He flopped down onto the bed as Karl watched from the doorway, leaning with his shoulder against the frame and his arms crossed over his chest.

"What?" Dream finally asked upon noticing the mans stoic expression.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing. Just thinking."

"Want to talk about it?" Dream tested his luck and Karl laughed, shaking his head, but not in the way of saying no.

"I can see why he admires you so much." Karl said, and Dream sat up.

"Who? Emperor George?"

Karl nodded. "He is very fond of you, you know. And, I know I shouldn't really be telling you this, but you're a good guy, Nightmare."

"Call me Dream," Dream said. "But, Karl, what you're saying is not true at all."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I heard him."

"Heard him?"

Dream sighed, continuing sheepishly. "You know... that whole 'I don't care about him, and I never will. He is nothing to me' conversation you had with him."

Karl's mouth fell into a subtle 'o' shape as he listened to Dream, before he closed his mouth and walked further into the room, plonking himself to sit next to Dream on the edge of the bed.

"Night— Dream, right. George literally has the emotional range of a teaspoon when it comes to his... feelings," Karl said. "And, if I'm being honest with you, as his best friend, I could tell that he didn't mean that."

Dream scoffed. "Yeah, I don't think so."

"I'm telling the truth. I think he's just so worked up about his mother, and her need for him to get a wife and produce an heir, that his feelings are confusing him. You see, Dream, you now know that he doesn't want a wife because he doesn't like women. He is afraid of what will happen to him because of it," Karl paused for dramatic effect. "And now that he has this... this spark of a feeling for a man— better yet, a man of extremely low social status—"

Dream coughed out a chuckle.

"—he is scared. And as his best friend, I know this, because I know him, I know George. And look, I don't know if you're into the whole... same gender... but either way, I want my friend to be happy, and it seems that you, Dream, make him really happy."

Dream pondered these words for a moment. "So... what you're saying is that George likes... me?"

"Well, he certainly finds you nice to look at."

"He hasn't seen my face."

"True, but you're hot, I can tell." Karl joked and elbowed Dream good-heartedly in the side.

The gladiator smiled at this, a weight lifting from his conscience like a bird taking flight. He looked down at Karl, who was looking up at him expectantly.

"Thank you, Karl. I hope he finds his way around whatever he's going through." Dream said thoughtfully.

Karl nodded. "I hope so too."

Dream blinked from his moment of unconventional reminiscence. He immediately focused back in on George... or where George was meant to be sitting.

The chair was empty, causing a flair of panic to burst inside of the gladiator. He flung himself off of the tree, ripping his sword free from its scabbard, frantically scanning in search of the missing emperor.

"You okay?" Came George's voice, and Dream turned to the side to find George seated on his usual bench, surrounded by lavender and the fresh smell of honey.

Dream sucked in a jagged breath. "Don't do that."

"Don't do what?" George laughed. "You were off with the fairies, so I went to bathe in the sunshine."

He pat the empty space beside him. "Come sit."

But Dream was still riled up. "Don't do that again, do you understand me?"

George nodded. "I understand. Dream, it's okay. I'm okay. Just come sit down, please."

The gladiator did as he was told, moving across the immaculately trimmed lawn to take a seat beside the emperor on the smooth marble bench. The sun was warmer here, soaking the pair in its heat, forcing Dream to forget all about the rainy weather of the past several days.

"I used to sit here all the time when my parents were inside," George suddenly admitted after a minute of silence. "My father would be tending to his imperial duties, and my mother would be doing gods know what, and I'd be here."

"By yourself?" Dream asked and George shrugged.

"Sometimes. I wasn't allowed to go anywhere else, nor was I able to make friends outside of the villa, so most of the time I was here by myself," George said. "Until I met Karl, anyway."

Dream watched a bee float lazily before his face, as if drunk on nectar and sunshine. It buzzed past and, after it did, he turned to George again, finding the emperor watching that same bee that had just gone past.

"When did you meet Karl?"

"His mother was my mother's private maid, so to speak. He would come into work with her and, well, he would follow me around... which, looking back on it, was a good thing. I'd never had any friends, so he was my first one."

George finished his sentence with a small smile splaying on his lips, and a peaceful glint in his eye, as though he was remembered the fondness of his childhood.

"He was like the brother I never had. While my father was out pillaging villages and murdering innocent tribespeople, and my mother was off getting drunk and fucking around with some of Rome's most wealthy aristocrats, me and Karl would be in the garden, basking in the glorious weather and the purity of our childhood."

Dream coughed, having choked on his saliva at George's harsh words. He hadn't expected the emperor of the Roman Empire to say that.

Suddenly, as if broken from a trance, George shot to his feet. Dream scrambled to keep up with him as he began walking across the garden and back towards the villa.

"That's enough sunshine for one day." George said with a flick of his hand.

"Uh, domine?" Dream bounded up the villa stairs in one leap. "Are you in a hurry to go somewhere?"

"Hmm? Oh, no. I just want to go inside." George said, walking through the doors of the villa and down the long hall.

Upon entering his bedroom, George stopped short. Dream almost collided with the emperors back, but managed to stop himself quickly. George paled suddenly, letting out a horrific gasp that urged Dream to scan the room with protective haste, getting out his weapon.

George took a frightened step back, bumping into Dream's chest, and pointed at his balcony.

Teeth gritted, Dream sighed in annoyance. "What the hell are you guys doing here?"

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Hey homies, this is an authors note!

ugh I love karl

This chapters question/statement: tell me your best pick-up line and I'll rate it

Until next time,

Blue :)