Ch6: Shadow Games (Part 2)

(AN: Sorry I have been writing a Marvel Fan Fiction, which is why this was so slow sorry. Short since it is finishing up the last chapter.)

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Julius quickly went to go find Ovidius, the sun was still up so the man was still out and about he was just going to follow him until he went back to the Villa now. Along the way the smells of the city was able to help him calm down his raging boner which hadn't left him since he kissed Ilithyia.

Just thinking of her long golden hair and those cute pouty full lips made him close to being hard again, he had to take a deep breath to get himself back to normal though. He swore that the girl was going to be the death of him one day, he was hoping now that he had a little more access out the Ludus to sneak and see her when free.

He could also simply wait and see if his Domina was feeling generous enough and instead of tricking her to sleep with Spartacus, that she would let them have sex.

Putting those thoughts to the back of his head he came back to himself seeing Ovidius, he was currently on his way home at the moment and the sun was setting so the time was right. They both walked the path back to the Villa, strangely the man had no one following him at the moment not a single guard was with him.

Julius shook his head seeing that he just walked inside without even checking things out, the place was dark and quiet there was obviously something going on here at the moment. Since it wasn't his problem he just did as he was suppose to and followed the man into the Villa, he had to fight the urge not to whistle as he walked behind him.

Finally after not getting an answer from his wife after calling three times Ovidius sensed something wrong, it must have been his self-entitlement that led him to believe he was always safe. That or being the cousin of the magistrate just went to the guys head and he was to use to being feared by anyone not believing they would harm him.

"I owe you a debt, Ovidius. I've come to repay." Batiatus said while holding the little boy in his arms with a dagger in his other hand looking up at the man, smiled looking at Julius.

"Please. The boy is unstained." Ovidius pleaded realizing that he was dealing with a crazy man who card not of his status and went and killed his wife and everyone in the Villa.

"No child is unstained by the deeds of his father." He said continuing on wanting to show Ovidius he had no fear, and that he was even willing to kill a child.

Julius just tuned it out he heard the conversation before and knew that Ovidius would rat Solonius out in a heartbeat, especially when he said he wouldn't kill the boy. It gave him hope, which he shouldn't have held.

While lost in thought he noticed that a lot of names ended in 'us' it was a random thought that popped into his head at that moment, but to get away from the conversation he went with it. Well not all ended with 'us' but there was a big chance of it being inside a mans name from what he was picking up.

Julius didn't come back until they were wrapping up their little conversation, he caught his Dominus looking him in the eye as they finished the conversation.

"...Gratitude for your honesty, Ovidius." Batiatus said while nodding his head slightly, he was already forming plans in his head about what he needed to do next.

"You're not going to kill me, then?" Ovidius looked hopeful while watching his boy.

"No. My slave is going to kill you. Burn this fucking place to the ground. But first...Take care of the child." He said while throwing the boy to the ground and started to walk away, Barca slowly came out the shadows grabbing the boy.

Julius didn't hesitate to stab the man through the chest before he could move to his boy, he then went to stab him twenty more times before stopping. Looking up he saw Barca standing there still holding the still alive child, he already knew he wouldn't be able to kill him.

Even Julius wasn't heartless enough to kill a boy for his fathers mistakes, "The boy is still alive?"

Barca's face was stoic but there was steel in his voice when he spoke, "I will not kill a boy for something he did not contribute to. Dominus might have marked him for death but it will not be by my sword that he will die, I won't allow him to die without being able to defend himself."

Julius looked at him before nodding, glad that Ashur was sent back early so they didn't need to worry about his ears overhearing what they were talking about at the moment. "Well then we need a plan. I won't be killing a child either, do you have an idea?"

Barca looked him in the eye for a moment before nodding, "Yes there is one man I can trust with this, we need to get moving soon though. It will be best to do this with the cover of the night while we still have it."

Nodding he followed the man as they spilled oil on the ground, Julius wasn't stupid and took some parts from a body making it look like a child's. When Barca asked and he explained he went to helping him, he didn't think that far ahead just in case their Dominus asked about it.

(AN: Didn't want the boy to die so I changed it. We all know he lied to Pietros.)

After starting the fire from the oil they left, when they were in the center of the market that is when they saw guards rushing to where they were leaving from. Barca led him to a house that was in a higher district but it was still hidden in the back, they knocked on the door which was opened by a slightly chubby man.

Julius stood to the side while Barca talked to him, it took a lot of coin, well for a slave at least, before the man agreed to get the kid out of Capua and somewhere safe. After helping pay they both walked back in silence but Julius was happy for what he did, he had been killing a lot lately and was glad he could do something good.

He didn't want to believe all he was good for now was killing.

"Ahh, I should warn you. Ashur will know of this and will try and tell Pietros about it to put a strain in your relationship, you can tell him the truth but be cautious. It will no doubt cause the Dominus to catch wind of it, you should tell him to lie or it will lead to both our deaths." Julius said as they got closer to the Ludus.

Yes he didn't want Barca to die but he was now also at risk since he was apart of it, he would rather not have someone trying to kill him because of Barca trying to calm his boyfriend.

Good thing Barca seemed to understand, "Yeah I will make sure of it."

With that done they finally made it back, they told their Dominus it was done before going back to their cells everyone was already asleep when they got there. Julius just remembered at that moment that he was going to need to fight tomorrow and moaned, he hasn't trained all week since he was busy doing this for his Dominus.

Plus he was a little distracted by Ilithyia, thankfully he was a master in all weapons.

________________________

Hours later, the roar of the crowd was heard over almost all of Capua, the heat from the sun was killing them all but still they sat there enjoying their time watching men die. The Games today everyone knew was a tribute to the gods to allow rain, they were praying and hoping with more bloodshed that it would cause a downpour.

They were also anticipating seeing the Shadow himself Theokoles his name whispered and chanted even if he hasn't appeared yet.

Julius stood practicing with Aurelius as they were already chained at the ankle, they were working on their movement more together so that they didn't tangle up. Luckily since they were as close as brothers then it wasn't that hard for them to be in sync to accomplish this feet, some gladiators near them watched while nodding.

"That's good, I am glad to see that your time away has not dampened you skill any. Wouldn't want to die because you have gotten rusty on me." Aurelius said while admiring his weapon it was another that was silver but blended in was the Hulk metal he had.

"Of course, I do not wish to die so soon. Fuck these games, I would rather train and enjoy this 'wonderful' heat then to listen to these people cheer for me to kill someone else." Julius said while moving towards the gate to look out, their match was two away and he wanted to be ready.

Aurelius had no choice but to follow while nodding, "Thanks for the new weapon by the way, I know it was a lie to Dominus that you used your own coin for it."

"I don't know what you mean." Julius said not bother to explain, his eyes were already on his girl wondering what she was thinking at the moment. Their eyes caught when she felt him, she knew instinctively to look over at him.

______*Ilithyia Third Person POV*__________

The little bottle in her hands did her wonder as she sat watching the fights, Lucretia tried to offer her some but she was out of water making it where Solonius had to offer it. She declined though gesturing for her maid slave to hand her the bottle, all of them knew it was something precious to her so they kept it as safe as possible.

"So who do you wish to win the two vs twenty later." Solonius asked Calavius with a smile that just screamed he was sucking up to the man.

She had seen the same one on Lucretia's face many times, she wasn't stupid and knew the woman wanted her favor to get close to her husband and father but it would never be that easy. If she wanted favor from her now then she best hope that nothing happens to Julius, if something did then they would be way out of favor.

"Isn't it obvious, there is no way that the two of them could take on twenty strong gladiators they will be dead before the excitement can truly build." Numerius, the son of Calavius said with joy in his voice that he couldn't contain.

She couldn't help but to scoff though hearing that, her man wouldn't die so easily as they hoped she knew that he would fair better then any man that fought today. She was certain that if he was the one taking on Theokoles then it would be truly a worthy fight, but she would be sad to see that the Thracian was able to survive the fight if he was to join them.

Obviously they heard her scoff but because of who she was they didn't say anything to her and went back to talking, she saw Lucretia give her a look but just raised a brow. After hearing about her own fun she has had with other men she didn't have a place to judge, she was also sure she knew who the man was.

She could see the looks and concern the woman showed for Crixus, it fell further into place when she remembered the conversation she had the night of their showing.

Smirking she looked back to the arena when she heard that it was time for Julius to fight, even if she knew that he would be fine her heart did tighten when she thought of the fight. Gripping her cup a little tighter she watched him with wide eyes ignoring everyone else that was near her.

________*Julius Third Person POV*______

Walking out chained to Aurelius he didn't do his usual things, instead he kept staring at Ilithyia who he could see was slightly worried even if she was trying to hide it. He smirked and winked at her getting a smile, it seemed to calm her down enough seeing him confident for the fight.

Aurelius elbowed him though a second later, "Make faces at your woman later, for now focus on the men who aim for our heads. I don't want to die because your cock was controlling you."

"Ha, let's just hope one doesn't take your head. I would hate to fight while dragging a dead body." Julius said turning back to him and laughing.

Soon they both calmed down though as the gated opened releasing the twenty men they would fight, Julius honestly didn't know who would think of such a stupid handicap. Looking over to Aurelius they nodded at each other before the fight started.

Like they planned both of them went after the closest person, since there were two Julius let Aurelius handle them while he watched their backs. Seeing the other eighteen coming near him he laughed nervously, actually seeing this many people wanting to kill him, it was a little scary.

He had to take deep breaths to calm himself down as they moved closer to him, he was finally back in order when Aurelius was standing next to him. With a quick glance he saw the man had just a small cut on the arm but other then that he was fine.

Nodding they rushed into the fray, they didn't want to give the others time to calculate a way to kill them, Julius had to tilt to dodge a spear that went for his head. The man who threw it was behind the others so they couldn't kill him right away, instead they face three men with swords and shields.

Using his sword he slashed at the net that was thrown and was able to cut a hole big enough he didn't need to worry about being caught. Aurelius was already fighting the three men, Julius joined in cutting people from the back while they regrouped.

With a slash he took two heads from them and left the third guy for Aurelius while moving towards the two empty handed people. Since someone already threw the spear he was moving to get it, this made Julius go after him he was just in reach for Julius to attack him.

The crowds roar fueled them on as they all fought it out, twenty minutes later Julius had a cut across his chest while Aurelius has one on his leg. There was only one person left, they could see the fear in his eyes as the two of them panted.

Blood and sweat flowed down Julius chest as he stood there, he wasn't paying attention to the man who was missing a hand and looking at them. Instead he was looking to Ilithyia who was smiling brightly, he caught her looking worried once or twice but she seemed better now.

He winked at her before looking back at the last man, Aurelius was already moving over to the man so he started to walk over too. They both put their swords on the mans shoulders lining it up with his neck, without hesitation they both sent their swords through his neck.

"YEAH!!!!" the crowd yelled seeing the mans head fly and blood sprout from his neck.

Julius raised his sword along with Aurelius, he circled the crowd while grinning until he looked at Ilithyia who was giggling and smiling at him. He really hoped that he would be sent out the Ludus soon so that he could go see her in private again.

He watched her as they were brought out of the arena, neither looked away from each other smiling as he went under. It wasn't until he got there that he looked away since he needed to see the medic, his cut wasn't to deep but he still wanted it to be bandaged up.

"So it seems we live to fight another day." Julius said while smiling at Aurelius who was tired leaning against the wall.

"Thankfully, I would be pissed if I were to die here and not see the Greek homeland again." Aurelius said opening his eyes and looking at him.

Julius looked at him and asked something that he never did before, "Aurelius, do you have a family waiting for you back home?"

"HAHAHA!!! You finally ask after all this time, well yes I do. A beautiful wife and a little girl are waiting for me back there, and I do plan to make it back to them." He said with conviction after calming down from his laughing.

Julius stood there a moment not knowing what to say, it was true he had been so caught up with the show and Ilithyia he didn't even know about this. He had seen Aurelius fucking prostitutes so he just assumed the man was single and blowing off steam by doing that.

Looking at the man he sighed, it seemed he needed to learn more about his friend after all, Julius was brought back when he heard gasp from the other Gladiators. Looking to the arena he saw the Spartacus was the only one standing while fighting Theokoles, the clouds above the arena promised rain the moment he killed the man.

He watched as he picked up the two swords claiming the Shadow's head, the legend was officially broken and soon a new one was going to be sprouting out around Rome. All talking about the Rain bringer and new Champion of Capua, Spartacus!