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"Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once."

-

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—•—

George gripped the railing in horror as Dream hit the ground, mask shattering into millions of pieces and his blond hair falling against the golden sand.

Time seemed to slow down as horror wracked through his body. He watched as something switched within the Blood God too, as the pink haired gladiator ripped off the boar head which sat atop his own. He then placed it over Dream's head, obscuring the barely-living fighters face from the angry crowd.

"George... you have to announce the winner." Karl mumbled, having walked up to his friend and placing a hand on his shoulder.

George shook his head in disbelief. "But... but Dre—?"

"We can see Dream later, I promise. But quickly, end the fight."

George cleared his throat as Karl stepped back, wiping his eyes quickly before speaking to the crowd in a loud voice. His voice sounded confident and powerful: like an emperor should be.

But deep within, his heart was beating faster and faster, and his stomach twisted in guilt.

"Praise be to the gods, and, to my people, the people of Rome, join me in congratulating our victor... The Blood God of Gaul!" George announced, and the crowd erupted into a chorus of cheers and boos.

This noise allowed George to slip away from the edge of the box, and scamper towards the door.

He didn't take much notice of Kristin and Phil, who were whispering between each other rapidly. Nor did he notice the five boys and Zephyr, exchanging worried looks as the emperor brushed past.

"George!" Karl shouted. "George! Where are you going?"

George turned to him as he reached the door of the box, eyes pricking with sadness. "I'm going to see Dream."

"You can't! You need to grant the Blood God his freedom. He won." Karl said, still clasping Sapnap's hand.

George trembled with unbridled rage. "I have to do no such thing—!"

"Stop it. You are the emperor of the Roman Empire and you have a job to do," Karl challenged George. "If you don't grant the man his freedom, all hell will break loose."

George felt his shoulders sag as Karl's words hit him like a ton of bricks. Then, Zephyr got to her feet, mimicked shortly after by Kristin, Phil and the five boys. Schlatt had disappeared long ago, so George looked between the people with raised brows.

"We'll go help Dream," Zephyr said simply, pointing to where the arena below had been cleaned of blood, and flowers were being tossed in by the crowd. "Just go and do your job."

—•—

The entire crowd watched with bated breath as George entered the arena, where a makeshift stage had been constructed in only a few minutes.

It was wooden, and George's footsteps echoed as he walked across it, followed closely by Karl. The crowd watched in complete silence. Some clutching each other in excitement; others waiting patiently, hands clasped in their laps.

George stopped before a podium which was draped in a similar light blue sheet that had been veiling his royal box.

"People of Rome, I welcome you," George spoke calmly. "The games today have truly been a spectacle of the ages, and in honour of mine, and domine Schlatt's words, the winner of today's final fight will be granted their freedom."

The Gaulish members of the crowd cheered and cried loudly over the Romans as the Blood God, missing his usual boar headdress, was ushered onto the stage by a burly looking guard.

Cautiously, he approached the emperor, and bowed. George kept his face void of any irate emotion as he took a wooden sword from Karl, offering it to the bowing gladiator.

"The Blood God of Gaul, take this rudis in a symbolic gesture of your freedom, for today, you have won your fight, and you have won your freedom."

With pride evident on his face, the pink haired gladiator clasped the wooden sword, taking it from the emperors hands. He then turned to face the crowd, spinning slowly while striking the sky above, pointing his rudis into the heavens.

The crowd burst into sporadic applause, throwing flowers and waving colourful flags in celebration as the Blood God basked in the glory.

George watched this happen, before he became aware of a presence close behind him.

"What are you waiting for?" It was Karl. "Go to him."

George smiled at his friend and, while the crowd admired the newly freed victor of the games, he dashed for the underground. Upon finding his way out of the arena, George stumbled upon a narrow doorway. He descended the stairs beyond and entered the underground of the colosseum.

It was dark and smelt damp, and the emperor shivered as he hurried along the tight corridors. He soon burst into an open area, filled with gladiators of all shapes and sizes.

They all turned to look directly at him as he strode through the room, ignoring their gazes.

"Your majesty?"

George groaned, turning around to find one of the gladiator approaching timidly, as if George was going to strike out at him at any time. The gladiator tipped into a clumsy bow, before scratching the back of his neck nervously.

"Are you looking for Nightmare?"

George bristled. "How did you—? Ugh, no matter. Yes, where is he?"

The gladiator pointed upwards. "While the ceremony was taking place, a bunch of people hurried down here with him and tried to patch him up. It obviously didn't work too well as they were saying something about doctors, and then carried him away again."

George felt his heart sink. "Do you know where they took him?"

The shy gladiator shook his head. "No. They just discussed about how he needed medical attention, so I assume they may have taken him to see an asclepiad."

George withheld a curse as his mind raced. Where could they possibly have taken him? To the hospital? To Kristin and Zephyr's place of work? His home...?

His home.

He had doctors at his home. He had Asclepiads at his home.

[: asclepiad was a title usually borne by various Ancient Greek medical professionals, and the name would have carried into Roman society as well. The word asclepiad comes from Asclepiades, a well-renowned Greek physician.]

George began to slowly back away towards the door. "What is your name?

The shy gladiator beamed proudly. "Sam, The Warden."

"Thank you, Sam. I will be forever grateful." George sprinted out of the room, blue toga flying gracefully as he ascended a new set of stairs, emerging into the walls of the colosseum, where the crowd was slowly beginning to trickle out.

He kept his face down as he pushed through the crowd, breaking out onto the other side, puffing. He scanned the outside, looking for anyway to get to his home.

Across the plaza, he noticed a familiar set of guards atop two large horses, and George bounded over to them with a set face of determination.

"Punz, Ponk!" George exclaimed, reaching the pair who looked down at him worriedly.

Ponk raised an eyebrow. "Your majesty—?"

"There's no time. Quickly, take me home!"

Punz watched on in concern as Ponk leaned over the side of his horse and helped George into his saddle, situating the emperor behind him.

"Where's Karl and the others you came with?" He asked, but George just shook his head.

"Don't worry about them, I need to go. So please..." George's voice broke. "Please take me home."

Ponk looked at Punz, who nodded with furrowed brows. The pair lashed at their horses reins, setting off into the crowd. The sea of people hurried to part for them as the two large horses barged across the plaza.

Emperor George gripped onto the leather of Ponk's armour, head buried into the kind guards back as they began to race through the streets of Rome. The wind whipped at the material of his toga and he squinted his eyes shut.

He needed to get home.

He just hoped he wasn't too late.

—•—

At the imperial villa, getting through the golden gates was no problem. However, upon dismounting from Ponk's horse and leaping up the stairs to his home, he was stopped at the door.

Zephyr stood in the doorway, hands out and grasping the emperors arms as he fought to get passed.

"Zephyr, you don't understand! You need to let me through!" George begged.

"No."

George stopped thrashing. "What?"

"I can't let you in, domine. There are a lot of doctors working on him right now, and your presence is definitely not what they need," Zephyr's voice was calm and smooth. "So please, domine, take a deep breath and stop for a moment."

"Stop?" George scoffed. "You expect me to stop? I need to see Dream."

Zephyr, adamant, shook her head. "George, please. You need to calm down. I understand this must me confusing for you, but you need to listen to me. There are a team of asclepiads working hard to fix Dream and if you just barge into the room, who knows what kind of mess that will cause."

Zephyr spoke calmly, and this seemed to somewhat resonate with the agitated emperor, as he took a deep breath.

"What am I supposed to do?" George asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"You can sit with me, if you want?" Zephyr prompted, easing the emperor away from the door and toward the front steps. She pulled him down to take a seat on the top step.

George didn't even resist the young woman as she pushed him to sit down, taking a seat next to him. She cast him a sidelong look as the pair sat in silence for a moment, before she slipped her arm over his shoulders, pulling him into her.

That's when the tears fell.

"Wanna talk about it?" Zephyr asked as a few hot tears ran down the emperors rosy cheeks.

George wiped his eyes. "Don't get mad."

"Don't get mad? What do you mean?"

George sighed. "Well, I see how much you... like Dream, and here I am crying over him. So, please don't be mad at me when I say that..."

Zephyr raised her brow as George wiped at his teary eyes again. She uttered: "George, why would I be mad that you're worrying about someone you care about?"

"That's the thing... I really do care about him, more than I'd like to admit. I know you really like him—"

"Your highness—"

"But I just have to tell you the truth, because you've been nothing but kind to be these past few weeks that I've come to know you—"

"Domine—"

"I want to tell you... that I like men. And— and I think that, maybe, just maybe, that I may have fallen in love with Dream—"

Zephyr was taken by surprise by this outright confession. "Domine—"

"Please don't be mad at me! I don't even know what's wrong with me!" George ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "I've fallen in love with someone like... like Dream."

"George, shut up for a second!" Zephyr resorted to getting the emperors attention by using his first name. "George, listen to me!"

George bit the inside of his cheek nervously as he looked Zephyr in the eyes as she unwound her arm from his shoulders. He fidgeted with the soft material of his toga as she looked at him in return.

"George," she began. "I don't like Dream."

"What?" George spluttered. "But you're always joking around with him, flirting with him and you literally call him Dreamy."

Zephyr laughed. "George."

"Yeah?"

"I'm a lesbian."

"Oh..." George blinked, before hiding his entire face in his hands.

Zephyr laughed louder from beside him and, when her giggles subsided, she nudged George with her elbow.

"Were you jealous, your highness?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep."

"Alright then..." Zephyr mused. "But, let's rewind back to the part where you just confessed your love for a gladiator."

George blushed furiously beneath his hands. Oh gods...

But before George could literally drown in his own embarrassment, footsteps approaching caused him to look up. Coming up the driveway was a very unexpected visitor.

George got to his feet. "What are you doing here?"

Zephyr got to her feet as well. But, instead of being confused, her eyes lit up with happiness.

She beamed, exclaiming: "Techno!"

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Hey homies, this is an authors note!

This chapter also took me way to long to write omg I need a nap my fingers hurt

This chapters question/statement: favourite minecraft mob?

Until next time,

Blue :)