Disclaimer: I own neither 300 nor the other one ( I won't say with what story the Xover is... you'll see it soon enough g)

A/N: I know it's a bit short, but I just had to stop there... it fitted so well... I try to update soon

Prepare For Glory

1. Glory

„My Queen... my wife... my love…"

Leonidas stares at the distant archers. The sun is rising behind them, submerging everything in brilliant golden light.

Such brilliant light… and it is illuminating such a gruesome sight. The bodies of his loyal men lie around him and the ground is steeped in red blood. So much blood… so much death.

They were lying there because of him, because he had led them here. He had asked them and they had followed him.

He knows that there was no choice for him, that there was no other way to stop Persia's army from crushing Sparta. They all had known that.

And now they are lying here on the blood-soaked ground, dead. They did not surrender, they did not retreat. They chose glory.

Leonidas lifts up his arms to welcome death. A beautiful death. Glory.

His last thought is for his love. He will never see her again, never see her smile again, never touch her again… never see his son again. He closes his eyes in a short prayer for their safety, then he opens them again and stares defiantly towards the Persian archers.

They fire – their arrows block out the sun.

Darkness.