(no subject)

[bringer_of_rain]

It is not the road of the arena. It does not tremble underfoot, there are no pillars to shake, no editor to grant award. Neither is the battlefield - he is accompanied by no brave companion, possessed of no noble cause. There is nothing glorious or memorable about this, nothing about which he can be proud.

More than anything, it reminds him of the pits. Brutal, raucous, dark, and he can practically hear the ring of coin as it changes hands. There will be no death and he fights for no master but himself; at the end of the night he will receive his own payment. But he takes no satisfaction in that.

The feel of his body moving, responding. The force of blows and the ensuing pain. These things, while there is no satisfaction, provide a twisted kind of comfort. Tonight, regardless of his payment, he will sleep well.

He feels his opponent's septum crunch under his fist and knows that it's over before the man even falls. He stands under the hot lights, his head tilted back, listening to the crowd. There might be no death here, but underneath everything it's still death that they all want.

So he barely acknowledges the crowd as he leaves the arena, palming sweat and blood away from his face. in a brief moment of quiet and solitude in the room he and the others had been given to prepare in, he leans forward and peers into a dirty mirror, examining the superficial wounds on his face.

This can't be all that he is, at the end of everything.

But he has lost everything else.

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[bringer_of_rain]

Before, her pleasure had been a concern of his, even if only in relation to what was required of him. Now he has no reason whatsoever to care, and yet he does, in ways that twist at him and make him feel almost sick. As he thrusts hard into her, fucking her against the wall, he wants her to feel it, and not all of what he wants her to feel is pain.

As if he has something to prove to her. Or to himself.

The fight has intensified everything in him, sending heat through to every sensation, and he knows he won't last long. He doesn't want to. When this is over, he can try to forget.

Even though he knows a vain struggle when he sees one.

[without_hesitation]

She muffles her cry against his shoulder, finding the place where muscle slopes into his neck and biting down hard, though not hard enough to leave a mark. There is pleasure coiling in her already, sending warmth through her body even in the cool air and she presses fingers of one hand through his hair, holding onto him, riding every thrust of his hips.

"Spartacus."

She says it only because she knows it is not his name. Because she knows the power it held over the people of Rome, the fear they felt every time someone spoke it in hushed tones. It holds no power over her, not here in Darrow, and her hips arch toward him as she gasps the name again.

[bringer_of_rain]

He wants to silence her. He wants to steal her words from her, take whatever he can in this moment, so he closes his mouth over hers once more, his teeth against her lips as he impales her body again and again.

He had forgotten how good she felt. He had not wanted to remember.

He won't say her name. But he hisses something enraged and wordless as the pleasure builds to an apex, one hand tangled in the fall of her hair and pulling at her.

[without_hesitation]

Any other words are lost to his mouth, turning into harsh gasps as he drives her back against the wall. It's less a fight than she thought it might be, not a battle so much as a simple entanglement and she doesn't fight against him, instead arching and moving with him. Though it is not a surprise, she's reminded again that, even now, with anger behind each thrust, their bodies move well together.

Breath catches in her chest as she tilts her hips, creating friction, finding exactly what she needs from him and taking it.

[bringer_of_rain]

He doesn't remember coming inside her, before. On the few times he's allowed himself to dwell on those memories, it's struck him as strange that he remembers so much about that night - the pleasure and the way he had been pulled in and lost within it and the horror that had come after - and yet he doesn't remember the moments of his own climax.

Will he remember this later? He has no idea. There is no desire in him to do so. But thought is beyond him. He breathes in hard, rough groans, the movement of his hips stuttering, and with a sound like a wounded animal he releases into her, grateful in that moment for nothing but the fact that his own mind has ceased to function.

[without_hesitation]

Nails drag across skin as she pulls him closer to her without thought and she can feel as he buries himself inside her, his hips losing their rhythm and she presses hard to him as pleasure that's been building finally breaks apart and rips through her. And it is pleasure, as it's been with every movement, behind every bit of pain. Her head falls back against the wall behind her, lips parts as she gasps and muscles tighten with every shudder that courses through her.

There has been no interruption this time, no laughter, no mocking voices. No reason to pull free and rush to defend herself. Instead she feels herself relaxing bit by bit, her breath returning to her.

[bringer_of_rain]

He's lost in what might be bliss, if only because it's a blankness in which, for the briefest of moments, he forgets everything. He feels no warm glow, none of the softness that comes after love.

He feels empty.

With a soft grunt, he pulls out of her, stepping clumsily back and fumbling at his pants. This means nothing. It was bodies and flesh, nothing more.

[without_hesitation]

It surprises her little that he pulls away from her within a moment and as he makes adjustments, she smooths the front of her gown, letting it fall to her feet once more. Another smile curves her lips, more amused than any of the others, and she feels as though she has won some battle that has been ongoing for longer than either of them know.

"Still champion, then," she says as she pushes away from the wall and brushes past him on her way out of the alley.