The Road To Freedom
folder
G through L › Gladiator
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
4
Views:
1,931
Reviews:
2
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
G through L › Gladiator
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
4
Views:
1,931
Reviews:
2
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own the movie that this fanfiction is written for, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
The Road To Freedom
Title: The Road To Freedom
Fandom: Gladiator (movie)/Lord of the Rings
Author: Lynsey
Websites: http://lynsey-schadegg.livejournal.com/ and http://lotr.adult-fanfiction.org/authors.php?no=1296789875 .
Mailing List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Fiction_by_Lynsey/
Beta: Tena
Chapter: 1/?
Pairings: None yet
Rating: PG this chapter, NC-17 overall
Warnings: Slash, AU for both LoTR and Gladiator
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Do not sue, all I got are college loans, and this isn’t helping to pay them off.
Summary: Maximus makes a request of Proximo that changes his life…again.
A/N: This will not follow the movie. I have changed...a lot of stuff. Therefore, the AU warning. Some movie dialogue is still in place, but most of it has been changed to suit my purposes. In fact…the only stuff that is the same is in this chapter.
So many days and nights now he had dwelt in this Gods-forsaken city. The days seemed to blend together in an endless litany of, “Spaniard! Spaniard! Spaniard!” One meal was the same as the last; the faces of those he fought seemed to repeat themselves. All the battles were the alike. Life was a mire of unending sameness for the grieving ex-General made gladiator.
This evening was much like the last until he received a summons that, unbeknownst to him, would change his life for the better. The gladiator easily responded to the request of his owner Proximo, made docile by his inability to care about life after the murder of his wife, child, and beloved leader. The great Maximus Decimus Meridius, leader of Roman armies, confidant and loyal subject of the late Emperor Marcus Aurelius was reduced to the life of a slave, a gladiator. What more was there to do, besides survive from one battle to the next, one day to the next?
Standing in the private rooms of Proximo, Maximus was silent and calm. He seemed lost in his own thoughts, his own grief.
Proximo smiled a private kind of smile and saluted Maximus with the cup of wine he had been drinking.
“What do you want, hmmm?” Proximo queried, thinking the gladiator would want a reward for a job well done. It was common for the most popular of gladiators to demand if not payment, then a compensation for bringing in a large income. Maximus had surely earned some type of recompense for the revenue he brought Proximo’s house.
The slave owner wandered slowly and aimlessly through the room, picking up pieces of this and that while he waited for Maximus to answer. Proximo cocked an eyebrow at the gladiator when he received no response.
“Well?” he asked again. “What do you want?”
Maximus stood silent and unmoving.
“A girl?”
Nothing.
“Gold?”
Nothing.
Proximo smiled a devious smile, “A boy?”
A twitch, barely noticeable. An uncomfortable rustling that caught Proximo’s eye.
“Ah, so that’s it,” Proximo chortled. “All you had to do was ask, Spaniard.”
“Why did you send for me, Proximo?” Maximus grunted angrily, trying to throw Proximo off the current subject.
The slave owner chuckled and continued his pacing. “You’re good, but you’re not that good, Spaniard. You could be magnificent.”
Maximus stared stonily at his master, arms crossed in an unforgiving manner. “I am required to kill so I kill. That is enough.”
“It is enough for this pit of Hell we reside in, but it’s not good enough for Rome.”
Maximus lifted an eyebrow and regarded Proximo with more interest than his usual apathy. “Rome?”
“The new emperor has announced a series of games.” Proximo closed his eyes, envisioning his past. “Have you ever seen the Colosseum, Spaniard?” Not bothering to open his eyes to see Maximus shake his head, Proximo continued, “Fifty-thousand romans watching every movement of your sword, willing you to make the killer blow. The silence before you strike, and the noise afterward rises up like a storm…as if you were the Thunder God himself.”
Maximus became curious, hearing such a description of the Colosseum. “You sound as one who knows from experience. You were a gladiator?”
“Yes,” murmured Proximo, wanting to forget the past, yet reveling in it.
“Then…you were freed,” Maximus prodded, an idea beginning to form.
“Ah, yes. The honorable Marcus Aurelius freed me. He presented me with a wooden sword, a token of my freedom.”
“Aurelius,” whispered the gladiator, eyes gone wistful and cold at the same time. The great, noble, and wise Emperor had fallen at the hands of his treacherous son Commodus, the new leader of the Roman lands. Maximus had nearly been killed by the orders of the same perfidious snake, which had led him to the position he was in now.
“You asked me what I wanted,” Maximus said, his eyes burning. “I want to stand in front of the Emperor as you did…” and spill his murdering innards… Maximus thought to himself.
Proximo’s eyes glittered with excitement. “Learn from me Spaniard. I was the best not because I killed the quickest. No. I was the best because the crowd *loved* me.” Proximo went to the corner of his quarters and pulled a breastplate off a low stone shelf. He tossed the armor to Maximus, who caught it deftly. “Win the crowd, and you win your freedom.”
Maximus nodded, deep in thought. A smile split his face suddenly, and he turned to leave.
“Maximus!” Proximo hailed before the gladiator could leave.
The dark-haired man turned around to regard his master.
Proximo smirked. “I will have your boy sent to your cell.”
Maximus said nothing and glared at the older man for a few moments. He nodded his head sharply once and then stormed from the room, armor still clutched in his hands.
TBC…
Fandom: Gladiator (movie)/Lord of the Rings
Author: Lynsey
Websites: http://lynsey-schadegg.livejournal.com/ and http://lotr.adult-fanfiction.org/authors.php?no=1296789875 .
Mailing List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Fiction_by_Lynsey/
Beta: Tena
Chapter: 1/?
Pairings: None yet
Rating: PG this chapter, NC-17 overall
Warnings: Slash, AU for both LoTR and Gladiator
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Do not sue, all I got are college loans, and this isn’t helping to pay them off.
Summary: Maximus makes a request of Proximo that changes his life…again.
A/N: This will not follow the movie. I have changed...a lot of stuff. Therefore, the AU warning. Some movie dialogue is still in place, but most of it has been changed to suit my purposes. In fact…the only stuff that is the same is in this chapter.
So many days and nights now he had dwelt in this Gods-forsaken city. The days seemed to blend together in an endless litany of, “Spaniard! Spaniard! Spaniard!” One meal was the same as the last; the faces of those he fought seemed to repeat themselves. All the battles were the alike. Life was a mire of unending sameness for the grieving ex-General made gladiator.
This evening was much like the last until he received a summons that, unbeknownst to him, would change his life for the better. The gladiator easily responded to the request of his owner Proximo, made docile by his inability to care about life after the murder of his wife, child, and beloved leader. The great Maximus Decimus Meridius, leader of Roman armies, confidant and loyal subject of the late Emperor Marcus Aurelius was reduced to the life of a slave, a gladiator. What more was there to do, besides survive from one battle to the next, one day to the next?
Standing in the private rooms of Proximo, Maximus was silent and calm. He seemed lost in his own thoughts, his own grief.
Proximo smiled a private kind of smile and saluted Maximus with the cup of wine he had been drinking.
“What do you want, hmmm?” Proximo queried, thinking the gladiator would want a reward for a job well done. It was common for the most popular of gladiators to demand if not payment, then a compensation for bringing in a large income. Maximus had surely earned some type of recompense for the revenue he brought Proximo’s house.
The slave owner wandered slowly and aimlessly through the room, picking up pieces of this and that while he waited for Maximus to answer. Proximo cocked an eyebrow at the gladiator when he received no response.
“Well?” he asked again. “What do you want?”
Maximus stood silent and unmoving.
“A girl?”
Nothing.
“Gold?”
Nothing.
Proximo smiled a devious smile, “A boy?”
A twitch, barely noticeable. An uncomfortable rustling that caught Proximo’s eye.
“Ah, so that’s it,” Proximo chortled. “All you had to do was ask, Spaniard.”
“Why did you send for me, Proximo?” Maximus grunted angrily, trying to throw Proximo off the current subject.
The slave owner chuckled and continued his pacing. “You’re good, but you’re not that good, Spaniard. You could be magnificent.”
Maximus stared stonily at his master, arms crossed in an unforgiving manner. “I am required to kill so I kill. That is enough.”
“It is enough for this pit of Hell we reside in, but it’s not good enough for Rome.”
Maximus lifted an eyebrow and regarded Proximo with more interest than his usual apathy. “Rome?”
“The new emperor has announced a series of games.” Proximo closed his eyes, envisioning his past. “Have you ever seen the Colosseum, Spaniard?” Not bothering to open his eyes to see Maximus shake his head, Proximo continued, “Fifty-thousand romans watching every movement of your sword, willing you to make the killer blow. The silence before you strike, and the noise afterward rises up like a storm…as if you were the Thunder God himself.”
Maximus became curious, hearing such a description of the Colosseum. “You sound as one who knows from experience. You were a gladiator?”
“Yes,” murmured Proximo, wanting to forget the past, yet reveling in it.
“Then…you were freed,” Maximus prodded, an idea beginning to form.
“Ah, yes. The honorable Marcus Aurelius freed me. He presented me with a wooden sword, a token of my freedom.”
“Aurelius,” whispered the gladiator, eyes gone wistful and cold at the same time. The great, noble, and wise Emperor had fallen at the hands of his treacherous son Commodus, the new leader of the Roman lands. Maximus had nearly been killed by the orders of the same perfidious snake, which had led him to the position he was in now.
“You asked me what I wanted,” Maximus said, his eyes burning. “I want to stand in front of the Emperor as you did…” and spill his murdering innards… Maximus thought to himself.
Proximo’s eyes glittered with excitement. “Learn from me Spaniard. I was the best not because I killed the quickest. No. I was the best because the crowd *loved* me.” Proximo went to the corner of his quarters and pulled a breastplate off a low stone shelf. He tossed the armor to Maximus, who caught it deftly. “Win the crowd, and you win your freedom.”
Maximus nodded, deep in thought. A smile split his face suddenly, and he turned to leave.
“Maximus!” Proximo hailed before the gladiator could leave.
The dark-haired man turned around to regard his master.
Proximo smirked. “I will have your boy sent to your cell.”
Maximus said nothing and glared at the older man for a few moments. He nodded his head sharply once and then stormed from the room, armor still clutched in his hands.
TBC…