Kill Them All…

(Starting from Spartacus' confrontation with Batiatus)

"Apologies, Dominus…there's something…. I crave more than sleep…"

A solitary centurion stands at the tiny window, looking at the Champion of Capua ravenously attacking the slave woman he requested. After a few minutes of watching them paw on each other, he finds something else to tarry with.

Inside, the champions pushes her against the wall, their mouths and lips dancing a dangerous battle. The slave woman holds on tight, enjoying the attention that she was denied these many months...

Mira had been sent to him as a test of his mettle…his sexual mettle. The Domina was afraid that he would not be able to perform as to task when he was summoned. The noble woman Licinia, cousin to Marcus Carrasus had originally asked for such favors, but in a twist of fate the Domina, Lucretia, used this as a chance to subject Ilythia to her form of revenge, by having her hated enemy fuck her until she couldn't stand straight…then give false rectitude by telling Licinia that Spartacus would be with her in a moment, after he was finished with Ilythia. When Spartacus realized who it was he had been with, he tried to strangle her…until the guards came to pull him off.

All of this over the fact that the gladiator Ilythia had wanted to purchase for sexual favors was her favorite, Crixus.

No one knew what the outcome would be from that mishap…no one could imagine that this would lead to a series of events that opened the eyes of the gladiator to the injustice that took place daily in the Ludus of Batiatus…or even to this moment. The Thracian knew that Mira bore some affection for him…had for some length of time now. Each time the Domina sent her, each time he turned her away…she knew there was more to this man than met the eye.

As they continue the act for the sake of the watching guard, Mira can remember how she had explained that sending her back during the night would cause her grief…how the Domina would beat her for not insisting that he perform. He gave pity and allowed her to sleep on the floor. She pressed again as to why he would not take her, as to what she could do for the Champion of Capua …and there began a relationship that would benefit him more than it did herself.

Mira closes her eyes, throwing her head back as she enjoys every kiss and touch, knowing that it is an act, but accepting it for what it worth…for now. She opens her eyes to see that the guard has gotten bored with the sights he was made aware of and turned away. She pulls back to look into his eyes, "You ask the impossible..."

"The gates of the villa must stand open before I make a move on Batiatus," he returns.

A sorrowful look crosses her face, as a shadow of hurt enters her eyes as she looks away from him, "You would have me risk all…and for what? So that Spartacus may have his revenge?"

The Thracian is taken aback, his expression showing that he is finally seeing her for the first time…finally understanding the sacrifices that she has been making for his cause, "their cause" he silently corrects himself. Another revelation slides itself deep enough as if to pierce his very soul, "Those words I said weeks ago…those uncaring words I said hastily and thoughtlessly has wounded her deeply…" he remembers.

His heart rebels at the thought, a heart that hasn't had any communion with his soul for longer than he cares to remember…it aches at the knowledge of causing this woman pain. This woman has fascinated him from the start, though he has done everything to discourage her; even from himself. "How do I appeal to her tender heart that those words I said that night…those words that caused her to storm from my cell and elicited the verbal lashing she delivered the next day; have fired such a need in me to see her and all safe and free from this fucking villa? How do I apologize for letting Sura's murder by Batiatus make me blind to the plight of them all…and in seeking my vengeance…not because I was uncaring, but because my wife was killed for him to continue to use me for gold and ambition. How can I tell her that I'm only trying to put to seal the gaping wound deep inside me? "

With those thoughts running through his mind he gently caresses her cheek, and says…

"No… so that his heart might find a measure of peace."

Mira can't take it anymore…she has been holding back her feelings for far too long, now she has to make herself known to him, to see if she has just the slightest bit of a chance…to win just a small niche within his heart to call her own…with such a task at hand, this may be the only chance she has of experiencing the one element that has always been lacking in her life of loneliness as a slave…true love.

"Was she such a woman…your wife?" she asks low and soft, each word stabbing her in the heart to say, but she has to know about this specter that she is bound to battle…a battle for the heart of this gladiator…her gladiator, her Spartacus….

He smiles ruefully, and says bitterly…"She was the sun…never to rise again."

Such words…how can I compete with such a memory of this woman he loved? Mira looks at him as tears form in her eyes caused by frustration and painful longing. Thinking of how to put to words of what she feels without angering him or have him shun her once again, she thinks... "I have put up with his surly attitude and even his oftentimes cruel words at my own expense…all because he has need of me, though he would rather cut off his arm than let it be known. I can't just stand by while he goes it alone and feels such pain. Yet, I know he feels things deeply… I know he can love and care for another…you can't feel that kind of sorrow if his heart was completely shut away."

She finally finds the words she hopes will comfort, and not embitter this one gladiator she would love to call her very own…even if that meant, just this once in her life, to feel something that beautiful and lasting…

"Heavy thing… to be denied its warmth…"she says low and soft…

Spartacus looks at Mira with a profound look of comfort of her words, showing her empathizing with his loss, and understanding his feelings of unrequited feelings. He felt a shock of tender feelings flow through his hardened heart for her. She looks up at him knowing all the while that she could never deny him anything he would ask of her she says, "I will see the gates opened…" but before he can say any more or move away from her, she cuts him off, "…but I will have exchange." A puzzled look crosses his features as he can't possibly imagine the barter she is would attempt to make of him. Tears begin to form as she rushes into her speech…

"This is my price…to feel you inside me. To know a pale shadow of the love that you felt for her..."

Spartacus is struck dumb…after all this time of pushing her away, of letting her know that this one deed, is the one thing that he could never ask of her… she begs it of him, using the one thing that he can never forget…the memory of his Sura and their love…

How can I deny her this? I have asked her to risk herself too many times for my behalf, even for Varro…it is not too much, is it?

His mind wars within him, when Sura told him that he would never love another, she had been right. He refused to let anything distract him from the task of finding her and setting her free, then to have that choice stolen away by Batiatus…the fucking whoreson! He grits his teeth at the mere thought of his benefactor, yet just one of his enemies of the worst kind…Glaber being the one that started this descent into hell!

But standing in front of him is another matter all together. They had been playing this game of for a while now, using the time to speak of whatever tasks he has set for her, but now she asks for payment of many services already rendered…and in giving that to her, he must surrender a piece of himself to her. This would be no regular fucking, not a means to relieve ones' self, but a true coming together of two souls made whole, something that he would have died to give his wife just once more…but…

"If we should fail or I should die before they are safe…it means her death, and she knows this, yet she honors me by saying yes of what I ask of her…"

He gazes deep into her eyes as a tear falls. He gently wipes it away…his decision made. He smiles as he brings both hands up to cradle her face, her tears falling freely now. Mira blinks…she had known the uncertainty of her request, but his expression… His hands lower to her neck, gently detaching the thin sheath from around her neck…letting it fall around her hips. Spartacus takes her face again as his lips lower to her own…she holds her breath as his lips move gently across hers. Her mind ceases to function, as she hesitantly brings her hands up to hold on to his strong arms, afraid it is but a dream. He pulls back to look at her once more before kissing her again and her heart thrills at his touch, the simple kiss made more so just because it is his. Spartacus's hands caress her creamy skin, like water coursing down a small stream, slow but steady…as he divests her of her garment. Willingly, she allows him to lead her to the small cot in the corner of the cell as he slowly lowers them both to rest gently upon it. Mira luxuriates in the feel of his powerful body covering hers…a safe haven in this storm of oppression, fear and murder. The thought of their death if they should fail in this plot never far from the minds for either of them…her choice made reality palatable. Such a heady thought that; to choose the man she would have, to feel the whole kaleidoscope of feelings that would encompass that very choice. It makes her heart staccato a beat…she feels as if it would have it burst from her chest in its excitement.

Each kiss, each caress belies the genteelness of the man, not the fiercesome warrior that brings the mob of Rome to its collective feet in the arena. The very man she has watched countless times as he held in check the tempered steel of his lethal demeanor, while sparring with the other gladiators here in the yard. She remembers a night…where she smiled with selfish pride while she watched his graceful movements as he fought Varro during that party many weeks ago. The feral grace of it was like watching a dance, deadly but beautiful in the fluidity of their effortless steps and shared respect. When Numerius ordered him to kill Varro, she could see his horror…his desire to deny the act, and then she saw with her own eyes how he had to be drug from the party with the very same look of shock…coming to grips with the duties of being a slave. Mira had come to him that night…finding him torn between the sorrow and anger, his hands bleeding from where he had punched them into the mud covered walls. He had not known why she was there…only knew that this one time, he would not send her away. She had come instinctively…knowing that he needed her, taking the initiative.

It was the first time she had ever done so, of her own free will.

That was a first independent experience for the both of them…using this time to give and receive comfort from the shared heartache within this sphere of harrowing ordeals they call slavery. The beautiful slave has watched this man for many, many weeks now…has wanted this very moment to happen since she was first sent to him. She holds him tighter…

…hoping this doesn't turn into a mirage of her wanting.

The initial fear that he would stop slowly starts to fade, and the powerful feeling that she has been seeking is within her grasp finally…

The Thracian closes his eyes, trying to concentrate on giving Mira what she has asked for, but his mind rebels, screaming, This is not who you want! This is not Sura!

Try as he may, that thought does not leave him, making this even harder than it has to be. The voice gets louder as he continues to block it out, but then the tone changes…the sound musical to his ears…

Somehow, he's back in time…back when nothing mattered in this world but the love he has for his beautiful wife, Sura. Lying on the sleep furs, he watches as she walks around the hut, gloriously naked, as she put together a small meal. Being in a small village, there isn't much food to go around, but they make do.

"Get up, slugabed…half the day has gone!" she says. He stares at her with a salacious leer, and as she walks back towards him, he grips her wrist to pull her to him. "'Twere not for you…this wouldn't be so comfortable a position to be in."

She laughs…oh, how he misses that laugh… "Husband, the days are not quite as long as they once were…we must not tarry any longer with performing our tasks." But as she says this, she snuggles down closer to him, enjoying his warm feel…

The sun...he remembers.

"What troubles you?" she asks as she rubs her hand across his chest. He lays his arm over his head as the other cradles her closer to his side. "Nothing you need worry about…"

"Your mind is elsewhere…please speak of it," she urges. He sighs…he can deny her nothing.

"I fear it will not always be like this, I fear that we are just in a moment in time that can disappear at any given whim…"

"The gods would not do such a thing…" she starts, but is cut off.

"I don't believe in the gods…"

Sura sits up, "And that is where you are wrong…it was the gods that brought us together and it will be the gods that keep us as such." Her husband just looks at her with that same skeptical glare in his eyes, but she continues to appeal to him. Taking his face in her hands, she gives him her most serious glance. "You have lived your life based on what fate can bring to you, but has it occurred to you that the gods control fate? I know you cannot abide by it, so I will tell you this…decide your own fate, forge your own path. Do not let anything stop you…"

Sura then lies completely on top of him, his hands roaming where they will, "If by some cruel twist of fate, luck does not shine upon us, remember this… to never give up…never give in. Learn to live and love again…"

"Never!" he says.

Sura smiles again, "You will never love like you love me exactly, but you have the ability to do so once again…"

"Speak not such words again!" he hisses and Sura stops, still wanting to get him to understand, "It will be alright…I will understand…"

"Again, speak not such thoughts!"

She sighs as she rests against him…my stubborn warrior…

He has always refused to accept not being able to hold her again, refused to believe that the gods can be that cruel, but as fate would have it…as well as Batiatus, he would never see his sun again. His body seizes as his mind continues to war with himself…I cannot do this!

Then he looks down in Mira's face and sees that sweet trusting face that has continually remained faithful to only him, even without such cause she has done so. He has played with her emotions; surely…no one would risk such threat to one's self, without feeling something for the person asking of it. He should do this for that reason…yet…

That isn't what she asked for is it…

She wants to feel a small integral part of what he has bestowed upon his wife; even in death he has feelings for her. She wants to feel…love…

No, not just love…my love; she wants to feel my love …he thinks.

How can I deny her this? Isn't this part of what I want to achieve…the right for all to be free and live their lives as they so wish? Isn't this of her free will? Isn't she here by my asking?

Right now, they are still under orders, still under said boot…but the plan is in motion to destroy the House of Batiatus…and she is the key to unlocking its success.

It seems as if they had been staring at each other for eons, but it had been but a few moments. The vision he had seems like it took place just yesterday, not years in the past as it was. Strengthening his resolve, he bends once again to taste those soft lips, not Sura's…but they do hold their own sweetness, like Friesian wine. Mira fights the fear within her, not wanting to jeopardize any part of this joining she wants so badly. Her hands stroke his muscled body, moving enticingly slow up his back and into his hair.

There truly is no one like him…the Champion of Capua, the Slayer of Theokoles, the Bringer of Rain…"Her gladiator…her Spartacus, this is mine alone"…she thinks deucedly.

Even Spartacus has let loose of the uncertainty and feeling of betrayal that has been gripping his very soul from the very onset of this journey. Mira stares back at him, and then when she is finally able to will herself back from his sensual assault she gifts him with a small smile. The gesture is contagious…and he smiles back. "She really is something rare…someone with the steeled will like…" he thinks but pauses as the name Sura comes to his thoughts again. "She has strength in her spirit, but a loving warmth in her heart," then he lowers his mouth to hers in a loving kiss, showing he has made some head way in this quest of rediscovered territory…his heart…

It's not hard not to feel triumphant at the change in the atmosphere…Mira can sense when he starts to let his guard down, letting her seep in through the barriers he built around himself. Nothing is hurried or rough in the taking, his hands move with a purpose…a sensual purpose down her body.

His body moves over hers like a predatory cat; smooth, slinky, powerful, as enticing to her as the animal stalking its prey. Mira moans as she can feel her breasts rub against his hardened, velvet covered muscular chest, sending lightning streaks throughout her body. He doesn't move in between her legs as yet, wanting to draw this out as much as possible for her to show her his wish to fulfill hers.

Mira…

"This could be the last time for both of us…" he thinks.

Her hands wander down his haunches, caressing the powerful muscles there…listening to his strangled groan in the process. It thrills her, urging her to explore every dip and curve of this man, turning it into a burning want that inflames her soul. Her desire flaring now, she artfully moves her hands up to remove his cingulum and balteus…leaving the subligaculum for now. He pauses in his assault, but only for a moment to smile wickedly down at her. The smile promises this will be her undoing and prepares her for an assault she has no knowledge of…increasing the needs within her to bonfire proportions in her blood. Mira almost wishes for him to speak, to say her name in passion even…but deep down she knows that this has got to be the hardest thing he has ever had to overcome just to show her this much…and this alone endears him to her even more.

Spartacus lets his lips move down her neck and to her breasts, teasing each rosy peak to harden with arousal. She squirms, not able to take the exquisite abuse. Spartacus smiles with the knowledge that his touch and kisses alone can make her, this abused sex slave, pant in wanting. It arouses him even more to see her pulse pound through her veins, making her heart beat so hard it almost shows on the outside of her chest for all to see. He bends his head to let his tongue gently swirl around first the one, then moves on to the next…his hands entangling with hers to hold them by her head. Her hands moving restlessly over him, drives him mad with wanting…with the length of time it has been since his last tumble, he would hate to find his release before she did. The beautiful slave arches her back, driving her nipple even further into his mouth and he feasts greedily. An agonized moan escapes her…her legs fall open willingly as her body surges against his…allowing his groin to press against hers. In her mind, they are not in a cell for gladiators…they are in a home, happy and free…loving each other as if they were meant to…

But she knows it's just a dream…a wish…a plea to the Gods…

Her mouth falls open with no sound leaving it, her eyes close in spite of her wish of leaving them open to see his every move. His mouth moves lower still…kissing and licking her navel, teasing her with a hot trail of wetness that moves ever lower, leaving a burning trail of fire in its wake…

Her back comes completely off the bed as he kisses lightly just above her mons as he weaves a sensual spell over her…his skilled weapon tracing intricate circles and patterns as it heads ever lower to its inevitable destination. Her legs fall completely open now, to allow him entrance to that hot, needy cave that is begging for his attention. Spartacus releases one hand to aid him in his sensual torture while Mira tries to grip on to something, anything to anchor herself against this erotic storm. He uses his finger to outline her lower lips, to trace the sweet orchid pinkness hiding on the inside of her flowered petals. He does not see the joy written on her face, but he can sense it as he concentrates on the task at hand…realizing that it has become more than that for him now. What started out as a task with no feelings involved…has turned into a need…a want…and he realizes he has been denying himself of this for a long while now…of her…

The Thracian inserts one finger into her heated core and she bucks her hips…he smiles as he knows the next few moments is going to have her unravel in front of his eyes… he kisses her hidden pearl and she nearly shrieks as he redoubles his well planned attack of her senses. He combines both tongue and hand, letting his finger thrust gently back and forth as he takes that small nubbin of nerves into his mouth to suck hard.

Mira comes undone…

Her back arches once again as a ringing scream of pure joy is wrenched from the depth of her very core, but Spartacus will not give quarter. His lips gently pull on her small tender bud as his finger moves faster. Wanting a more extreme reaction, he inserts another finger and feels her body clench tightly around him. Mira finds herself moving back up to that glorious peak again…her body arching at the intense feelings he has so expertly evoked. She can see nothing but the blinding light of the ecstasy he has weaved for her…it overwhelms everything…her mind…her body… everything. He feverishly works to make sure that she is properly ravished and to fill the aching need within him to see her so, as her smoky flavor has completely seduced him and his senses. The light rushes towards her and she can't help but let it over take her…striking as she shatters into a billion little sparkling pieces…her scream echoing off the mud walls. He moves back up her body to kiss her, as if to swallow the sound of her cry. She can taste her nectar on his tongue, as he wanted her to. While her breathing is still short and clipped, her limbs heavy like lead, she watches as he stands to divest himself of his subligaculum. As she had seen once before while he was painted like the golden Adonis...he is truly a god among all the men I've seen…she muses; his straining shaft pulsates with a trip-hammer beat, that has her heart beating to the same tempo. He watches her look her fill, thinking quietly to himself…she really is quite beautiful…she isn't Sura but she is beautiful in her own way.

As that thought runs its way throughout his body, it makes his cock nod in answer and he gives Mira a quirky little grin, embarrassed of his body's mindset. Mira gives him a blissful little grin of her own and quickly sits up…her need to lay her hands on him compelling her to do so. She takes his manhood within her hands, marveling in its size and velvety texture. She spreads the dewy drops of his essence over the smooth shaft…staring at it and him in awe of his beauty. Spartacus makes a herculean effort to keep his clenched fists to his sides; he knows not if it's because he has a need to push her away or to pull her nearer, as both hold a certain appeal to him. But, he lets her have her way only to see what next she would do…he can bear the torture of her warm, lightly callused hands on him a little longer. Mira's mind gets lost in her adventure…being a sex slave, you are not allowed the luxury of taking your time and thoroughly enjoying the passion of the partner you're with. But this…this is a new experience for her and she will have it slow…

…to savor every moment she has with this man…her Spartacus.

She hesitantly leaves that part of his body to glide her hands over the whole length and breadth of this formidable man, a man who has paid her glorious homage just minutes ago. Mira wonders about some of the scars that pucker his smooth golden skin, but that need she will forego as she doesn't want to break this spell she finds herself in. She gently, lovingly bestows small kisses along each and every one, wanting to absorb the pain into herself.

To mar a man such as he for wrath or gain should be a crime onto the Gods…she thinks quietly to herself. Spartacus feels each kiss like a healer's balm as he closes his eyes, trying to withstand the gracious compassion Mira is showing him…and each time she does, his icy heart melts just a bit more to let her in. Mira finishes placing her special balm on the star shaped scar on his shoulder to look at him with tender empathy; her hands slither up and over him to gently pull his mouth down to give him a soul shattering kiss. Spartacus is almost past his threshold of willpower… the need to push her to the cot and have his way with her is tremendous; the vexatious want is but a sliver away. But he keeps his hands fisted, so as not to do what his body wills and give in...not just yet. Mira senses his willpower waning, and gives him another sweet kiss before slithering down along his hard front to kneel at his feet and take up his velvet covered steel once again within her hands to pay him the homage he has done for her. But a rancorous thought worms itself into his head…the only one that has pleased him like this was Sura and there is a small part of him that wants to keep it that way. He takes hold of her head before she pulls him into her waiting mouth…causing her to look up at him. Her eyes pleading her wants," Please, let me pleasure you, Champion of Capua?"

Again, how can he say no? Does he even want to?

His grip relaxes as she brings him completely into her awaiting cavern. She joyfully sucks, skillfully massaging his sac as she pushes her lips and tongue back and forth on the exquisite length of him. Tasting the warm saltiness of him spurs her on as his hips involuntarily move with her…the feeling is almost more than he can bear. She eagerly speeds up, alternating between the massaging and the stroking until she can feel his manhood jump in reflex and pent up passion…

He's almost there…

She works harder, her strokes becoming longer as her mouth works to savor the great champion…he can't hold on much longer. With a mighty shout he releases within her and she eagerly accepts his gift. Almost near exhaustion, he steps back, but the look in her eye has him rethinking his options. It is almost a matter of pride to let his passion flag before hers, so he pushes her back against the rough blanket and mounts her. A quiet look of understanding passes between the both of them as he positions himself between her thighs and slowly enters her. Mira gasps once more…the feeling of his thick cock robbing her of all thought and reason. His movements are strong and skilled, yet are so exciting in the way he moves with such intense slowness. Mira grips onto his broad shoulders as he buries his face into her neck, her willing pants giving him the small bit of strength to continue…until his mind begins another war…he tries to ignore it…

But, the thought creeps in…I have never betrayed Sura…

She is dead and gone taken by fate…there is no betrayal!

THERE IS! Do the gods continue to punish me for leaving her? For trusting those fucking Romans instead of caring only for what I have! Do they punish me for trusting that greedy bastard Batiatus…believing that he would let her live here with me?

There is no answer for him, and he begins to slow his stroke. Mira can feel him pulling away from her and this moment…she tries to convince him to stay with her by murmuring loving words into his ear, but he withdraws even further inside himself…

Husband…you must yet live…live and find love for me, beloved… the voice tells him.

Sura…there is none without you!

With or without me there is always life… love can always be found, if you but look for it…you must forge your own destiny…do not ever give in! I have foretold your destiny long ago…you have always been destined for great and unfortunate things. The Gods had given me visions and commanded me to warn you of such, as I did; it was my folly to not take heed of it…my murder was to set you on your rightful path…the gods have foreseen it. I am but part of your life, it is up to you to discover the rest of your destiny, my beloved. You do a great injustice to this woman...Mira, by warring with yourself over our love and in the sharing of it.

The voice pauses, as if to gather thought…this is my wish, beloved…share what we had…share yourself and your love. There is but eternity for us…

I will love you forever…is his last thought to the fading image.

He pulls back to look into Mira's eyes, as if to apologize for leaving her far behind, silently pleading with her to understand his journey inward. She looks into his eyes, watching the dark shadows leave them and she gifts him with a warm, sympathetic smile. Spartacus smiles back, marveling that he can still please this woman who has patiently waited for him to battle his demons…just for her. With the renewed vigor of an unburdened heart and mercifully quiet soul…he thrusts forcefully back into Mira's warmth, causing her to swoon with the depths he is reaching within her. As his strokes begin to speed up, the clap of skin against skin is a seductive friction which pulls them both into its wake. Mira wraps her legs around his waist, pushing herself up to meet each powerful downward stroke, riding the waves of rhapsody he is building within her. As their heartbeats become frenzied; the penetration becomes heated as their combined sounds of euphoria foretell their approaching ecstasy. He pulls out to gently force her to her hands and knees…forcefully entering her from behind. Mira yelps as the initial penetration takes her by surprise; that one sound made Spartacus pause his fervor, to once again start with the slow torture of her body and mind…making Mira almost beg for the harder attention.

Spartacus closes his eyes and almost tries to imagine his beloved Sura, but knowing that would be doing a great injustice to Mira, he pushes those thoughts from his mind. He looks down at Mira's smooth, tapered back that ends in that perfectly round globes of her firm ass…once again caught marveling at her gracious, tolerance of him and his moods. He grasps her hips as he pistons into her…the clapping of her soft thighs against his own is an erotic sound that drives their passion to heights even he has never experienced before. The beautiful slave can feel herself about to finish, so she tries to stop him…needing their completion to be something that she can witness with her own two eyes. She pulls herself off, flipping to her back, her eyes begging him to continue soothing the needs and wants her body is clamoring for. He looks down into those soulful eyes, and with a smile of triumph and newfound affection…he does…

Thrusting back into her, he prods the very depths of her, leaning his head down to take one of her luscious nipples into his mouth as he strives to bring them both to a height of pleasure neither one has ever felt before, or again. Another small voice tries to tell him that this should only be for Sura, but he can only meet her in the afterlife…for now, he will share this with Mira. Mira…his beautiful, warmhearted, strong willed and unwanted slave…that someone that will move heaven to earth if he but asks of it. With that thought present in mind he redoubles his efforts to bring them both to their well deserved elation and complete this journey of discovery.

The peak races forward and she clamors for it, needing it as if it were her last lifeline thrown in stormy waters. Spartacus drives harder, stronger…his lips a torture against her puckered skin. Her nails rake his back, as her legs grip him tighter, pulling him ever further into her. Their joined sounds of bliss become ragged breaths, as their hearts and souls find one another, to a point where neither of them knew where the one began and the other ended…

Her eyes fly open as she explodes into a cascade of shooting stars; a curdled scream is ripped from her, as the release sends her into the blackness of the cosmos. The gladiator follows with a roar, spilling everything within him into her…into her safe keeping. He collapses against her, breathing as heavily as she…keeping his eyes closed while he still tries to swallow the newly kindled emotions Mira has wrought within his heart and the acceptance of the wishes of his lost love.

Completely exhausted but feeling the contentedness that comes only when one is well sated or loved, he gently moves her so that she may lie down next to him on the all too small cot. Knowing her presence will be short-lived within this cell; he leans over and kisses her softly on her mouth as he gently enfolds her in his arms to rest, while they wait for the guard to escort her to her room. Mira kisses him back with a sweetness Spartacus still has a hard time accepting. A tiny smile plays across her lips as she soon falls asleep with him listening to her quiet breathing. The gladiator smiles gently as he traces his hands absently upon her soft skin…staring into the dark, looking at nothing…thinking of the day ahead of them, when they would all be free or all die trying….

Gods or no gods