Wow...Been a while since the Fate of Hearts went to the FFML...^_^

I'm glad to be back here...Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer:
Evangelion doesn't belong to me or anyone else on this list. Live with it.
I've borrowed the characters with situations to make a grand story of love
and betrayal and men in skirts...Er...Togas...Live with it.

C&C, as always, is wanted and welcomed;
gargoyle@glasscity.net
gargoyle9@hotmail.com
or
gargoyle4@hotmail.com
Flames will be sacrificed in the name of Caesar!

So...Sit back and enjoy!
Salud!

***

Mauritania looked out the window of her apartment. It had a view
out over the central courtyard of Urba Tertius with a prominent
view of the golden statue of Jupiter in the fountain. She liked that
view. It also let her sneak peaks on her neighbors across the
courtyard without attracting too much attention. If they looked up
and saw her staring at them, she'd simply flash a brilliant smile and
wave at them. They'd be too embarrassed about trying to look into
the apartment of a lady and would give a small wave and scurry
off.

***

The Fate of Hearts
By
Joshua Trujillo

Part XIV - A Little Gained, A Little Lost

***

The morning was turning bright. Summer was coming quickly to
the valley and Mauritania was busy cleaning. Summer would also
see her first-born entering the military in Urba Tertius. She
scowled slightly. She just hoped that he wouldn't come under the
direct command of the City Watch Captain. That shrew rubbed her
the wrong way. Movement in the alleyway across the street caught
her attention and she stopped sweeping. It was a man, grubby in
appearance, who blended in with the background colors. A bum.
Since news got out a couple years ago at how nice a place Urba
Tertius was to live, all manners of people flocked here and the city
grew. Unfortunately, there was also an increase in crime and the
poor.

Mauritania 'tched'. If those types couldn't be useful to themselves
and to society, then they should just as well sell themselves off and
become useful slaves. It worked for her, after all...

***

The woman across the courtyard had spotted him. He stopped and
tried to glance at her without looking. She was a freedwoman. He
could tell that from here. They liked to pretend that they mattered.
They didn't. Nothing mattered except Him. He mattered. The
unwritten one. The one that got away. And he'd followed Him all
the way to this backward city-town. Urba Tertius.

No one could know the man was here. He reached into his robes
and grasped the small item there. He held on and said something
under his breath and a tear came to him. No one could know...The
woman across the courtyard would have to die.

***

The morning streamed out of the forest around him. Aequus
looked down at the small altar and sighed. He feared that
something like this might happen one day; he just hoped that he'd
never live to see it. He also knew that it was bound to happen when
Effero issued his first decree. Aequus grabbed the bridge of his
nose and tried to stuff his headache back down.

"I TOLD you this would happen one day," Effero stamped up from
the small bonfire on the other side of the opening, "But you
wouldn't listen. You most likely encouraged this kind of sick
behavior, didn't you?"

"Effero," Aequus sighed quietly, "This happened because of those
damned decrees you made all those years ago..."

Effero hurffed and stamped back to the smoldering bonfire.
Aequus looked around the small campsite. Someone, the previous
night, had constructed an altar to Diana, or Venus, or one of the
other goddesses of fertility and had sacrificed a rabbit in the fire
beyond. The bunny had a big gash running the length of his little
body and its blood crusted to a dim brown on the altar. There was
another smell in the air, something feint that he could almost
identify. He knew the smell, but he couldn't recognize it. The
rabbit's blood still stunk and some of the larger puddles hadn't
gelled fully. He turned and stared up at the walls beyond the slight
ridge of forest. The guards most certainly had seen something the
previous night. He'd have to talk with Lagena about her guards
reporting things as they should.

The sunlight shone through the higher branches, mottling the
campsite with golden light. The morning had started out on a bad
note, with Effero's chimp Libet bursting in to his room, getting him
out of the pleasant company of one of his slave boys. Aequus
sighed again. The boy was so young and full of energy, he was
loathe to leave his curly blonde mop and bright blue eyes...

Effero had taken over Urba Tertius a number of years ago and
quickly turned the town around to make it a model Roman city.
He'd built walls and strengthened the garrison. He'd even
personally commanded the guards as they staved off a small
invasion from the north. He'd done so much for the town, but he'd
also done so much *to* the town and it seemed to all change
around the time his wife died. Wrecked as they returned from a
diplomatic mission in Judea, she died in his arms and Effero was
never the same again. Aequus paused for a moment. Caeles would
have been alive at the time...So where was he? Perhaps he'd been
left with his pedagogue. That would have been a distinct
possibility because the mission wouldn't have taken long and it
DID require both of his parents...Aequus filed the thought for later.

So there he was. Trapped on a little island. Barely alive and not
hanging on to his sanity very well. There had been a small fishing
village on one end of the island that had taken him in and nursed
him back to health. Effero had made friends there and, a year later,
returned to Rome. Some of the others with whom Aequus
corresponded said that Effero had left something on that little
island. That he'd taken to walking the streets of Rome in the early
hours and that even the known thieves and muggers were afraid of
him. Then there was the correspondence. Effero had never been a
real writer, but after he returned, there were great gouts of mail that
flew from Rome to all parts of the Empire by his hand. It was as if
the person of Effero had been trapped all this time and it took
something like his trip to the island to bring it out. That was almost
ten years ago. 69. Aequus strained against the rough smells as
Effero sifted through the remnants of the bonfire. He'd told Aequus
the name of the island too, but Aequus didn't have the memory he
once had. Malta. Aequus snapped his fingers in recognition and
coughed slightly to cover his smile. Effero never looked up. There
came a heavy panting through the trees beyond the bonfire and a
legionnaire stepped into the clearing.

"Sir," he huffed, "We couldn't find any breaks in the walls, sir! We
suspect that the people that did this fled up across the mountain.
There's a small trail that leads up the mountain, sir!"

Effero looked back at Aequus and shook his head.

"Very good, soldier," Aequus thought for a minute, "Follow the
trail until it breaks to open country. If you haven't found any more
clues beyond that then the person eluded us."

"Yes sir!"

The legionnaire turned and sprang back into the forest like some
damned pixie. Aequus shook his head. It was what you got when
you recruited and hired so young...Effero motioned for Aequus to
follow him as he moved back to the altar. He pointed to a place
near the top and raised an eyebrow. Aequus strained as a new flash
of sunlight tried to chase the fog off the day. And there it was.
Something was missing...

"Missing?" Aequus thought out loud, "Whoever it was took
something with them?"

"Yes," Effero said, "Whoever it was indeed left no clues."

"But you know who it was."

"Yes."

"You're not going to tell me...Why?"

"Because," Effero huffed as he straightened, "I don't have to."

With that, he turned and strode back down the path toward the
Mountainside Gate. Aequus threw up his hands in frustration and
followed his friend back to town. Effero wanted control. It was
something he worked years at through the court in Rome. He'd
taken Urba Tertius under Nero, and was in jeopardy of losing it
after that madman's fall. Fortunately, Effero had built the city
during the time intervening and was now accepted as Governor.
Then the accident when he lost his wife, his further estrangement
from his son, the letters he wrote to the-gods-know-who. Then
came the decrees.

The first one hadn't been bad. It had only banned non-state
religions, which wasn't exactly in keeping with Roman law, but
being a provincial governor had its perks. Then the decrees got
stronger and stronger until the last came down almost three years
ago. No religion was to be practiced in Urba Tertius. There had
been rioting and Aequus had been forced to bring the city under
martial law. It had NOT been a pleasant time. Aequus and his
newly assigned General, Mistura Kalendis, had thoroughly read
through the decrees and had found a loophole. The decrees had
only been against public practices of religion and not really against
the religions themselves. People could quietly practice in their own
homes and that seemed to calm them. After a few weeks, things
got back to normal and to tell the truth, Aequus had never enforced
the decree. He'd never had a real need to. And now this.

And all the madness began with the death of his wife.

***

Caeles swung the sword high and immediately regretted it as
Lagena stepped into his swing. She deflected his swing lazily away
and smacked his stomach hard with the flat of her sword. The air
rushed out of him and Caeles slumped back to his butt. Lagena
wiped the sweat from her forehead and smiled triumphantly over
him.

"If we'd been in a real fight," she snarled, "I would have just spilt
your guts to the ground."

"That's enough Lagena," Mistura said wearily nearby, "He has to
be ready to fight soon."

Caeles coughed as he came to his knees. They'd been sparing since
after breakfast and he wished that he hadn't HAD breakfast. Then
he looked to one side of the practice area where Flustra still sat. He
smiled a goofy smile and got up quickly.

"I'm..." he coughed again, "I'm okay. I can still spar."

Lagena threw up her hands and swore in her native German.

"I can't believe this guy," she shook her head as she walked away,
"Not once did he beat me-"

"Aw stuff it Lagena," Mistura barked, "That's it for now. We aren't
getting anywhere. We'll pick it up again tomorrow..."

It was like the boy wasn't even trying. She threw a glance to her
left. Flustra had held her position there all morning. Something had
happened between the two and now...Well, Mistura didn't really
think that the quiet albino was right for someone like Caeles. She
watched as Caeles stumbled to the grass near Flustra and
collapsed. They exchanged some words, but seemed to simply
enjoy each other's company. Mistura huffed and turned to go.
She'd been that age once, so she doubted that she could fault either
one of them.

She was that age once.

His chances weren't good. Caeles had shown some decent promise
at Fragosus, but it was almost like he stumbled through it. If he had
done his time in the legions, Mistura wouldn't even have thought a
second about letting him command. He was a natural leader,
despite his own misgivings and people looked to him. Fragosus
proved that. But he was inexperienced. And in the mess that was
coming, that could prove to be fatal. There would be some point in
the battles ahead where his instincts kick in and that will be the
point that he either dies or rises above the rest. Mistura smiled
slightly. He wouldn't die. Fragosus. What a mess. She hadn't lost
her temper like that in a good number of years. Ever since she
came to Urba Tertius, really. The last time was off the coast of
Delphos, fighting a large group of Greek separatists. She lost her
temper and the enemy outflanked her ships. She lost almost twenty
to one that day and only survived by running the rest of her ships
to ground and fighting a land battle. She was always better on the
ground. She'd never let anyone know that she wasn't really all that
great of a soldier to begin with; it was just that she won the big
battles. People, more particularly important people, remembered
the big battles and forgot the small ones on which she got whipped.
The troops gave her loyalty, the patricians and nobiles gave her
power and status among the military, and Aequus had given her a
home. Still...

She was that age once.

Libet didn't help either. She had no idea that he was married when
they...She had had no idea. Mistura stopped at a tree on the other
side of the courtyard from the practice field and looked back.
Caeles and Flustra were still there. Sometimes the one-eyed girl
would lean forward and either whisper something to the boy, or
kiss him. He had his head on her lap now. It looked so idyllic. She
used to hold Libet like that...

She was that age once.

***

The broom was light. The handle was made of ash, with good
straw for the bristles. Manto stopped sweeping and looked around.
The bustle of the noonday traffic had died away gradually and she
could tell from the shadows inside the market that she would have
little time left before the dinner crowds began. So many people
with so many different schedules and all of them in a hurry. The
noon crowds actually began about midmorning until midafternoon,
then the dinner crowds until midevening, then late crowds and
hangers-on until all hours of the night. She started sweeping again.
She had dreamt the night before. It had been the first dream she
had remembered in a long time. It was about him. Caeles. She'd
broken his heart and he'd left her to die on a crucifix somewhere in
Rome. She didn't know where, the pain was too great. She awoke
in the wee hours before dawn and had to stop her tears first. She
didn't want to hurt him, but it wouldn't work any other way...It
simply wouldn't *work*.

"Manto."

She turned. It was her father, standing at the doorway with a slight
smirk on his face.

"You're thinking about him again, aren't you?"

Manto blushed and lowered her head.

"There has to be some other way we can do this. You like the boy
anyway, I can tell," he said, "And from what I know, he's really not
a killer..."

"I know father," Manto said softly, "I've thought about many ways-
"

"I can tell."

"Wha'?"

"You've been sweeping that same spot for nearly an hour."

He coughed slightly under the glare that she gave him. He smiled
and folded his arms across his massive chest.

"Manto, go to the boy," he said, "Find out what you can. Your
brother is taking a load of fish to the estate in a little while. Why
don't you go with him?"

Manto tried to hide her smile, but failed. She nodded sharply and
gave her father a quick hug before bolting inside.

***

The ride on the wagon to the estates took an eternity. Her brother
kept looking at her, wondering what had gotten into his scheming
sister. He sighed. He didn't hold with the views of his family in
taking up with his radical uncle. It was just too much and he didn't
like it. It was bad enough that they had come to the one town in the
Empire that had worse rules than Rome. He pulled on the reins and
slowed the cart through the gates. Manto giggled slightly and he
tried to ignore her. As the slaves took the reins to guide the wagon
to the kitchen, Manto hopped off and began to speak to one of
them.

"I have a message for master Caeles Soter," she told the slave.

The slave boy nodded and took off across the courtyard toward the
large mansion. The other slaves began to unload the wagon and
Manto stood by, not wanting to move for fear of missing him. So
many things could go wrong with either plan. And yet, she was
willing to take that chance if it meant that Caeles wouldn't get hurt
in the crossfire. Effero Soter wouldn't likely give up his own son so
easily, so it would indeed be a fight. Her mind wandered far in the
small confines of the courtyard and she barely noticed as someone
came up behind her. She spun as he cleared his throat. And there
he stood. It looked like he just came from the games. She never
noticed that he had muscles before, but indeed he did. Not great,
hulking muscles like those of the gladiators, but lean, fit, beautiful
muscles that shone in the afternoon light. He wore a loose tunic
over those muscles, but couldn't do much to hide them. Manto's
breath caught her in throat and she looked to her feet and blushed.

"I came...Um," why had she come? Oh yeah, "I came here because
I wanted to see you again..."

That wasn't the plan! She laughed nervously and smiled at him. A
smile slowly spread across his face and he chuckled in return.

"Actually," she quickly corrected, "I want to make up for what I
did before. I mean, with your face and everything."

"It's okay," he said slowly, "It just shocked me more than anything
else. I want to apologize for being so forward. When I said I
wanted to draw you, I didn't mean like that...But I can understand
how you'd think that..."

"I'd like to make it up to you anyway," she said, "I was wondering
if you'd like to come over and have dinner in a couple days."

"Sure," Caeles jumped at the chance, "That'd be great! Although..."

She saw his hesitation. What was the cause, though?

"My family?" she ventured.

He nodded slightly.

"I mean, you seem like nice people," he began, "But I don't want
your father to feel obligated to me because of who my father is,
that's all. I'd feel worse than if I'd didn't take your invitation."

She smiled at him, her green eyes sparkling.

"Don't worry about them," she said softly, "My father is taking my
brothers on the annual fishing trip to Raetia this year. He's
entrusted the shop to my care since I'm old enough, but he's
wondered at my safety-"

"Don't worry an instant about that!" Caeles cut in, "I'll have
Lagena assign more guards to the watch near the market. That
should discourage any thieves...And if you're worried about the
night, then I'm sure we have an extra room here..."

"You're too kind," she shyly smiled at her feet, "But I can take care
of myself. I just wondered if I could have the company for
dinner..."

Caeles stammered for a moment and nodded stupidly. The cart
began to pull away and Manto shot a glance at her brother, who
smirked at her from atop the cart. She backed slowly away from
Caeles, trying to keep the cart within reach.

"Good," she said, "In two days. Come after sunset..."

With that, she hopped up on the back of the cart and made her way
forward. She looked back at Caeles and waved. He returned the
wave and watched the cart as they disappeared through the gates.

***

"And do you have a special tunic to wear for such occasions?"

Caeles looked at Flustra. He could never tell whether she was
joking or not.

"I have the same outfit that I wore when I was introduced to
everyone," he looked in his closet, "It's not bad, but I think it's a bit
overmuch for this. I mean, it's just dinner..."

"It's dinner. With a woman. Who is obviously interested in you,"
she said pointedly.

Caeles felt a slight chill run up his spine. He turned and smiled
nervously at her as she sat at his desk.

"If I were a jealous woman," she said softly, "I would wonder why
you had not invited me along."

"Well, because she only invited me..."

"And you made no-" she suddenly stopped.

She looked into space a moment. She sighed and lowered her head.

"I see," she began to sob slightly, "You were only interested in me
to sate your lusts..."

The chill on his spine became an icy wind against his heart. He
strode across the room and knelt in front of her. Caeles took her
hands, which made her stop sobbing. He smiled gently.

"You are the only woman in my heart," he whispered, "I'm just
sorry that I can't court you openly. Because of my father-"

A finger at his lips stopped him.

"Your father is a great man," she sighed, "You must trust him. And
I must trust you."

Her hands came to his cheeks and rested slightly on either side, her
nails digging softly behind his chin. The wind settled to a chill
once more.

"Do you really love me?" she asked as she pressed her nails in
more.

He would have nodded, but thought that he might decapitate
himself.

"Yes, Flustra."

She leaned forward and kissed him deeply and passionately. And,
as much as he really enjoyed the kiss, he also tried to get her to
stop squeezing. It felt like she was breaking his jaw...

***

There was laughing. Lycisca wrinkled her nose. There shouldn't be
any laughing if she's not involved. She had just come from the bath
and, as such, was in a mood to dally with someone. She had a
thought to take in Effero's little boy, but perhaps that was too soon.
Effero had made a mess of the bath though. She smirked. From
what she knew, Caeles was quite tidy in that regard at least.
Aequus would make her take it like one of his slave boys and she
had enough of that from Effero. Libet was still out of the question.
She'd burn down the whole of Urba Tertius before she ever
crawled back to that man. Now, if he were to crawl back to her,
that'd be another thing entirely.

She pulled her robe tighter and found the door from where the
laughter emerged. There was...singing? She peered around the
corner. Mistura slammed a goblet down to the table and Lycisca
jumped back. More drunken singing began again and another voice
came up. Lycisca looked around the corner again. Certus had taken
up her seat again on the other side of the table. Lycisca leaned in to
hear their conversation and raised an eyebrow as Libet's name
came up. She smirked. Apparently he'd been making as many
rounds through the estates as she had. That could be useful. She
knew he had been Certus' husband, but she hadn't known about the
affair with the General. That could be really useful.

Mistura broke down in quiet sobs as her song ended. It was strange
to hear because she did not sound like the strong, all-glory General
Kalendis that Lycisca had come to know and, grudgingly, respect.
This was a woman in pain and though she might have to be taken
care of when Lycisca's own plans came to fruition, for the moment,
she was another woman hurt. And Lycisca's heart jumped.
Apparently, Certus empathized with the woman as well; for
Lycisca could hear her move from her place opposite to sit next to
her General. Soft words came from Certus, trying to comfort and
the sobs slowly died away. Lycisca strained to hear what they'd
said, but still couldn't. Another sound arose and Lycisca dared to
poke her head around the corner again. She almost gasped out loud
as she saw the lips of the General smushed comfortably against the
lips of her aide. Lycisca didn't even know she was *like* that! A
long smile curled at the corners of her own lips as she backed away
from the door.

This could be quite useful, indeed...

***

Certus pushed at Mistura's shoulder and got her to break the kiss. It
wasn't as if she didn't like it, but she liked the lips of a man better.
The fact that her General had called her Libet before slapping it on
suggested that she was indeed, quite drunk. Mistura mumbled
something else and slumped forward, banging her head against the
table. Certus sighed. Drunk. And it wasn't even time for dinner yet.
And how in the world would she drag the General back to her
quarters by herself? She sighed and scratched her head...

***

He had to hand it to Him. The people in His backward city-town
knew how to live and live well they did. They threw out better than
he'd had in a long time. The city collected most trash and burned it
in the outer wall beyond the market. It made for some foul air if
the prevailing winds shifted, but since it was out beyond the
mountain, that rarely happened. The Unwritten One had planned
this necropolis well. And it would doom him. He looked down at
the meat in his hands. It had been, at one time, a bit of dried pork.
Wash it off in the river and it would be again...He spun sharply as
a hand laid itself on his shoulder.

"And who, my scruffy friend, would you be?" the man said, a wry
smile on his lips.

The man was lanky and tall, but there was something else about
him that said that it wouldn't be wise to try to fight. Something...In
the way he held himself...he didn't know...He wasn't dressed as a
guard, but rather in clothes of a local, though the tunic, he noted,
was of rather a higher quality than most locals could afford.

"Do you have a name?" the man asked again, "You certainly don't
look Germanic. Can you talk?"

The beggarman nodded.

"You actually look like someone I know," the man said, "Do you
have relations here? Perhaps someone with which you could stay?"

The beggarman shook his head.

"Well then, you have two choices..." the man thought for a second,
"Rather, three choices. And I'm going to give you just a little bit of
time for you to decide which one you want. Fair enough?"

The beggarman thought a moment and nodded his head. The other
man smiled a lopsided smile and held out his hand.

"You can leave the pork here..."

The beggarman reluctantly nodded and took the man's hand. The
pork, however, he kept.

***

Joshua "Gargoyle" Trujillo
"Stone Cold Protector of the Righteous"
"Owner of The Anime Bar & Grille - The Truth is Right Here!"

Come visit The Anime Bar & Grille!
Now with two locations!
http://www.geocities.com/mythos_9/foh.html
and
http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/museum/1275/foh.html

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