DECIMUS MERIDIUS

The direct continuation of "Hopeless"

By Stacey and Jo

Stacey writing: Terry, Dee, Biebe, Amber, Alex, Gayle

Jo writing: Maximus, Caroline, Bud, Cort, Lachlan, Hope, Sid

He rose slowly through layers of black into grey, peeling them back from him with the hands of his will alone. Was this the slave wagon to Zucchabar?  Eyes half open, he tipped his  head, looking for Juba. No, there was a wall there. He was not in the desert. Where then? His mind roamed, searching for some last memory before the darkness had come. He was not in the desert because he was in Rome. Yes, Rome. Clearly now he remembered the fight with Tigris, remembered seeing Cicero in the crowd awaiting him outside the great arena as he was being returned to the gladiator compound.  A pouch.  Cicero had pressed his leather pouch into his palm. He'd taken it back to his quarters, had sat at a table by candlelight, opening it with fingers trembling from being too long curved around the hilt of his sword, fingers too eager to hold once  again...  what?  The amber candlelight turned suddenly blue in his mind, a wall of blue that blocked something. No! He needed what was in the pouch! At last the blue faded and he held the single icon.  At last he could see the carven face clearly.  Caroline, his beloved! Cicero had known what beholding her image would mean to him. Eyes open a mere slit, he floated now in the knowledge of where he was, that her face had been returned to him.

Not far to his right, another, not fully conscious, rested in his rising memory, the awareness of his last sight before the black had taken him.  Caroline.  Cicero had restored to him his pouch after the Tigris fight. Good, loyal Cicero, who had taken it into his care back there in Germania, had kept it all this while despite not thinking he'd ever see his General again. In his half-wakened mind, he held the icon of his Caroline, feeling his love for her surge through him, helping him rouse and leave the darkness behind.  Juba.  Juba would be nearby, be able to explain to him what had happened to him.

Caroline held her breath.  They were coming around, both of them. Which was her Maximus? Which had come out of the fog and into her heart?  She had spent such short moments with him back in the film before the other, the one who belonged in that version of the movie, had opened her door. She yearned for him, for more of his lips on hers, to hear more of his dear, familiar words in her ears. "Wake, my darling," she whispered, looking from one to the other, "wake and let me know which is you."

Several long minutes passed as they both hovered there, not fully returned to consciousness. "Maximus?" she said more loudly.

Two heads turned toward her, two voices replied in eager disbelief, "Caroline?"

Bud checked the 'fridge. Six eggs, a quart of fairly old milk,  even older sharp cheese with a bit of mold, some baloney getting a bit hard around its edges, and half a head of lettuce. Going back into the living room, he paused near the couch where Terry lay.

"How's he doing, Dee?" he asked, not wanting to do a grocery run till he knew Terry had revived.

"I think he may be starting to come around," she said, her brow creased in worry. "He stirred

a moment ago, and he's been moaning off and on." She held onto Terry's hand, stroking the back of it lightly with her fingertips.

"You need a fresh wet towel?" Bud asked. "I seem to have gotten quite good in their transport."

"Thanks, Bud, that'd be great," Dee told him. 

"And the plate number of that Mack truck that hit me," Terry suddenly spoke up, his voice quite

 hoarse, his eyes wincing in pain. 

"Terry, I'm so glad you're okay!" Dee exclaimed, a smile spreading across her face.

"Not sure how okay I am," he told her, his hand reaching out for his bandaged head, "but at 

least I'm alive." He attempted to sit up, let out a loud groan and fell back on the couch. "Bud, 

what’s the situation? Did everyone make it out? Have we gotten the problem with the 2 

Maximuses under control now? The one warped back to where he belongs?"

"Under control?" Bud sighed. He'd been sighing a lot lately, as well as bringing wet towels, and 

picking people up off floors, and checking on consciousness levels, not to mention trying to keep 

Ross from flipping out. "No, Terry, nothing is under control."  This was Terry. He didn't need 

to soften it up before feeding it to him. "Everybody's back ok. Well, if you're ok, that is?" He 

peered closely at Terry. "Cort threw up and is sleeping now. Last I checked both Generals were 

still out of it, so nothing's new there. But, get this. It took Hope 20 minutes to get you and John. 

Sid did something. Don't know what yet, but he must've known you and John were trapped in 

the cave-in, wanted you left there longer."

"For Fuck's sake," Terry spat, closing his eyes tightly, trying to get his anger for the nanotech 

under control. "I knew something like this was bound to happen. It's never just that easy, is it?!" 

he sighed, "All right, well, as soon as Maximus is awake, have Hope warp the other one back 

into the film... if there's anything left of it, that is."

"And if there isn't, Terry?" Dee asked, biting her lip, as she wondered what in the hell they'd do 

with two Roman Generals here. It was awkward enough at times with all the others looking so 

similar, but Maximus... no, this was almost too much for her mind to handle right now.

"We'll go down that road when we come to it, Nolia."

Caroline's head whipped from man to man. She hadn't expected both of them to say her name, 

especially not with such feeling. "Maximus?" she tried again. "My Maximus?"

Both smiled, eyes glowing.

"Now wait a minute!" she gasped. "One of you doesn't know me all that well. Ok, which one of 

you thought the toilet was the wash basin, eh? Come on now, fess up!"  She waited. 

Both men propped up a bit on opposite elbows, looking at her, then looking in amazement past 

her to the other. 

"By the gods!" the one on the bed exploded. "What is going on here?"

"Who is that?" the one on the cot said, trying to sit up too quickly and finding his head swimming

so that he lost his focus.

"Are you all right, Maximus?" Caroline asked, leaning toward him, concerned over his obvious 

dizziness.

"I shall be fine, my lady, as soon as...his...presence is explained to me."

"Oh, dear. You must be FilmMaximus," she sighed, knowing her Maximus would be well aware 

of the identity of the other. She turned more toward the bed. "Maximus, darling. It's going to be 

all right now. Sid warped both you and FilmMaximus several times and you know how that 

affects the system. But Hope had to warp back to the safe house with both of you since we 

couldn't tell which of you was which."

He half sat on the bed, looking at her as though she were speaking some barbarian tongue. 

Perhaps he was not fully awake? That must be it. He rubbed his hands over his face, trying to 

rouse himself further, then looked across the room again. It was like looking into highly-polished 

silver. He was staring back at himself. 

In his silence, and with the look on his face, Caroline became terribly worried. "What's the 

matter, darling? Did the warp affect you more this time?"

He fixed his gaze on Caroline. He loved her. He knew that much, but she was saying such strange 

things. "Warp?" he repeated.  

John had managed to fall asleep, Amber lying beside him in the bed, their arms wrapped around 

one another as they slept. He was still in a lot of pain, though not as much as when he first came 

to after being warped back to the safe house. When he was able to sit up and walk around on his 

own, he'd insisted that Amber drive him home. All he wanted to do was take a nice hot shower, 

have a bite to eat, then sleep. He made it as far as the shower, but the meal would have to wait 

until morning.

As he slept, he kept dreaming about the tunnel cave-in, seeing Sid's laughing face looming over 

them as they lay buried within the rubble. In the nanotech's outstretched arms, Amber stood 

twisting and crying and trying desperately to get away. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't 

get out from under the fallen rocks and debris. He turned and twisted in sheets as he slept, 

letting out several loud moans over the course of the night, waking Amber. She wrapped her 

arms tightly around his, holding him close, until he finally settled a bit into a deep, quiet slumber.

"Are you going home?" Hope asked Lachlan. Since Cort was sleeping deeply, the two of them 

had gone out the kitchen door and were sitting on the railing of the tiny porch.

"It seems like a lifetime since I've been there. I'm not even sure it will feel like home any more, 

not since you."

"Have I changed things so much...Lachlan?"

He smiled widely. She'd managed his name. "Thank you," he whispered.

"For changing things?"

"For that, yes, but also for calling me Lachlan."

"I wish I could say it like a Scot. It sounds very fancy that way."

"Saying it any way is apples by me, Luv."

"But you called me Luv."

"That's the, um, Oztrailyan in me, I guess," he chuckled. "But I won't if you don't want me to."

"I kind of like it," she grinned. "And I still think you are a bit odd."

"That I am!" he smiled. "And you are definitely my, um, a luv."

"Am I not your Luv, Lachlan?"

"Would you like that?"

She leaned close to him, puckering her lips a bit, waiting.

He took that as a 'yes' and kissed her. 

Alex sat watching the news on TV. There was still some chatter on there about NanoCorp and 

the explosion, though most of the talk and speculation all ended with "under investigation" and 

"the CEO cannot be reached". He flipped through the channels, trying to find something else on 

that didn't involve half the people in the house with him. Finally giving up, he turned it off and 

set the remote aside, letting out a sigh. He once again thought about Gayle, wondered what she 

was up to and whether or not Bud or Terry would mind if he went to see her. He pulled out his 

cell phone, looked at Bud. "I gotta get outta here, Bud, before I go completely stir crazy.  Any 

chance now that things are, well, on the mend... I may have a bit of time to myself?"

"I shouldn't have to say this, Ross, but I am anyway 'cause, yeah, I'm lettin' you out, but just for 

a bit. Don't go letting the reporter in you take the reins. You're part of this, part of us. I want to 

be able to trust you, know you won't betray us. You can see I've got enough here to deal with 

without adding that. Right? Don't want to have to warn you that if you pull any crap and start 

leaving any glass slippers on any stairs, your godmother all dressed in blue can come with her 

magic wand and warp you back to our chimney. You haven't gotten to try that mode of transport 

yet. Don't think you'd like it all that much. So," he grinned, "be good."

Alex was already up, sprinting for the door when Bud gave him the okay. "Thanks, Bud," he 

called back, as he hurried out before Bud had the chance to change his mind. "You won't regret 

this... don't... um... wait up!" And with that said, he dashed out the door and down the street, 

straight towards Gayle's downtown loft. He'd left his car... somewhere... he recalled, only 

vaguely, a few days earlier, when Terry had first brought him to the safe house. Surely by now, 

though, it must have been towed away. Shit. He didn't chance going back in to ask Bud for a car, 

so he was footing it all the way. Figured he'd show up at Gayle's door, surprise her. He just 

hoped she was as happy to see him as he was her. Took him a shorter while to get there than 

he'd expected. Once outside her building, he stopped, checked his appearance in a mirrored 

glass pane. His hair was a bit in disarray. Running a hand through it a couple times, he grinned 

at his reflection, then made a bee-line for her door.

Gayle had spent the past few days searching the want-ads. Rent was coming due and her bank 

account was nearly drained. She thought about giving up, going back home to live with her 

parents out west, but decided she'd give it one last go. That idea lasted about half a day, and 

completely discouraged, she began repacking what little belongings she had unpacked a few 

short weeks earlier.  

She was just taping up the box that held the last of her dishes, when she was suddenly startled 

by a knock on her door. Wondering who could possibly be stopping by to see her, she paused, 

then looked through the peephole. "Ross," she sighed - A smile spread across her face when she 

saw him standing there, and she quickly unlocked the door and flung it open.

"Hi. doll-face," he grinned, stubbing out his cigarette. "Miss me?"

"Don't do that, Maximus!" Caroline said rather sharply. "I don't think I can handle humor 

right now. Yes, did the warp bother you more this time...that's what I asked. Did it?"

"I do feel as you say...bothered, Caroline, but what is a warp?" He looked at her sincerely 

confused.

She was beginning to doubt this one was her Maximus after all, so she looked back at the one 

on the cot, now fully sitting up, his legs on the floor. "Did we meet in my foggy forest?" She 

decided to be blunt.

"Foggy forest? You mean Germania? Caroline, why would you have been at the battlefront?"

"WHERE did we meet? Tell me where you first saw me." Of course he'd have no memory of the 

fog. 

"We met...we met...." He frowned. He couldn't come up with where they'd met. "I've always...

I...." No, how could that slip from him? He loved this woman. His whole being yearned toward 

her. He must remember the beginning. He must!

She saw he couldn't manage a reply. "My art studio or at the bars of the gladiator training pen. 

One or the other. Your choice."

He closed his eyes, trying to force an image to rise. None would. "I...I seem to have...forgotten." 

He looked stricken.

She looked back at the one on the bed. "Same question, mister. Art studio, gladiator bars, 

which?" 

He'd been thinking all the while she was speaking to...to...whoever that was across this chamber. 

"I do not know," he said quietly.

She stood, her heart beginning to pound. "Look here, you two, ONE of you has GOT to know the 

answer to that!! Dammit! One of you simply has to." She looked between them again. "Please. 

One of you...please?"

"Who is he?" the one on the cot asked.

"He's you, dammit! You KNOW he's you! Whichever one you are, I've been saying that over 

and over and over!"

"Where is this place?" the one on the bed asked.

"This place? Maximus, this is where you came from to get me out of Gladiator. You know, the 

DVD? Sid took me there to keep us apart." She looked wearily back at the cot. "Or to keep...us...

apart."

"Why would this Sid wish to do that? Is he an agent of Commodus?" The bed-sat one was 

speaking again.

"How can you both know who I am but not know who you are?" She almost moaned the question.

"I am Maximus Decimus Meridius," the one on the cot said stiffly, with no idea why that should 

be in doubt.

The one on the bed narrowed his eyes. "That cannot be."

"Listen, guys. BOTH of you are Maximus Decimus Meridius and at least one of you knows well 

and good how that can be!"

"How can that be?" they both asked quickly and at the same moment.

"STOP THAT!"

They both sat slightly back, not understanding why she was yelling. "You," she turned to the 

one on the bed, "what's the very last thing you remember before waking up where you are now?"

"In my quarters. Cicero had just returned my pouch and I'd taken out my icon of you."

"And you?" She looked toward the cot.

"The pouch is mine, Caroline. You know that. I have always carried your icon in it except for 

when encamped and then it graces my altar. I had just removed it from the pouch and kissed its 

lovely head when everything went dark. All I can presume is that Commodus sent someone 

who...."

"No, Commodus sent no one." She kept looking back and forth, beginning to feel like she were 

at a tennis match. Her neck was getting tired, her brain tireder. "This is true, for both of you? 

You remember getting the pouch, nothing after?"

They both nodded and she felt tears sting her eyes. "Oh, God! I can't do this again!"  She got up 

and ran out of the room, sobbing, colliding with Bud somewhere near the kitchen. 

Before Alex even got all the way through Gayle's front door, her lips had met his, and she drew 

him close in her embrace. When she finally did release him, he stood back, staring into her eyes...

a wide grin slowly replacing the surprised expression he wore a moment earlier when she'd 

kissed him. "I'd say that answered my question," he told her, still trying to catch his breath.

"Anyone ever tell you, you talk too much, Ross?" she asked, closing the door behind him and 

pulling him into her lips once more.

This time, he was ready, and as their lips pressed gently against each other, he scooped her up 

into his arms, carrying her off towards the bedroom. Setting her gently down on the bed, his lips 

released hers and he pulled back, standing in front of her, gazing into her gorgeous big brown 

eyes. 

"Gayle," he sort of half-moaned, "It's... um... it's been a while, since I've been with...," he started,

his mind a swirl of excuses as to why getting involved with her like this right now, with all that 

was happening in his life, wasn't such a good idea. His body, however, was betraying him, and 

he finally just gave in to his urges.

"Shhh... Alex," Gayle told him reassuringly, "it's okay... it's... been a while for me, too," she 

confessed. "We can take this slow, if you li..." Before she could even finish her sentence, his 

clothes were lying on the floor and his mouth had once again found hers. His body leaned over 

her as his hands moved nimbly about her body, removing clothing and caressing her soft, bare 

skin. Their passion was urgent, yet gentle all the same, and release came quite rapidly for them 

both. Afterwards, Alex held her in his arms, stroking her long, auburn hair, trying to figure 

out how he was going to explain his crazy, fucked-up life to her and not send her running in the 

other direction.

Caroline smacked into Bud so hard, so blindly, that she almost fell. Quickly he grabbed her 

shoulders, keeping her upright. "Caroline! Are you all right? Has something happened with the 

Generals?"

She wrapped her arms around him, holding on for dear life. He was startled, amazed, and stood 

there with his arms out from his sides, wondering what to do. Finally he let them close around 

her. She was obviously seeking a harbor for some reason. "What is it? What's wrong?"

She lifted a tear-streaked face. "Everything, Bud, simply everything. I'm right back at square 

one with him and I just don't know if I can go through with all that again."

"Square one? What do you mean, Caroline? Has Maximus forgotten who you are?" God, what 

had Sid done to him now?

Pressing her lips whitely together, she stepped back, swaying slightly so that he kept a grip on 

one of her upper arms. "That might be simpler, Bud. I don't know what's happened, but they're 

both the same."

"Yes, they certainly do look the same," Bud agreed.

"That's not what I mean. Their minds have been messed with." Fresh tears welled up. "Both of 

them, the last thing they both remember is opening the pouch with the icons after the Tigris 

fight."

"Your Maximus? He...he's forgotten everything that's happened to him since he was retrieved 

from the movie?" He couldn't believe it. 

"Everything, Bud, well, he seems to know he loves me. Both of them think they love me, but 

neither of them have any idea where or when they met me. This is too much, Bud! I can't...."

"Hold on a minute, Caroline, let me get this straight. You're saying both of them think they are 

FilmMaximus, that they don't know a thing about the real world, yet they both know...you?"

She nodded miserably. "Sid's done something. He wanted to keep me apart from Maximus and 

now he's done this, whatever this is. I've lost him, Bud, I've lost my Maximus!" She started to 

sag under the weight of her grief, and he lifted her, carrying her to the recliner. 

"Sit here a moment," he said, trying not to think about how good it felt to have a woman in his 

arms again. Damn! Now was no time to go wallow in his aloneness. There was much to be done. 

"I'll go talk to them. Be back in a minute. You rest."

Bud paused at the doorway to the bedroom. Both men sat on the edges of their respective beds, 

staring across the room at each other. Bud cleared his throat and both heads turned in his 

direction, both sets of eyes widening in surprise.

"Glad to see you're up, Generals," he said, feeling somehow awkward with identical eyes, 

identical expressions, focused in his direction. "I understand we have a bit of confusion on our 

hands."

"Who are you?" both asked at once.

Bud shook his head. No wonder Caroline was overwhelmed. "White, Bud White," he smiled, 

adding, "a friend of Caroline's."

"Do I know you?" the one on the bed asked.

"One of you knows me, the other does not. What I'd like to determine is which that is."

"I do not know you," the one on the cot said seriously.

"Nor do I," echoed the one on the bed.

"Oh, God!" Bud sighed. Maximus was not known for his great humor. He'd never think it was 

funny to pull somebody's leg on such a great matter. Both of these men meant what they said. 

Shit! 

"What do you mean one of us knows you, Bud White?" bedMaximus asked.

Bud was aware Caroline had come up behind him, needing to be a part of this. Looking at them 

both, she felt a giant, hollow ache inside herself. Was it all gone, all of it? Gone forever? All the 

memories she'd made with him? With...one of them. But her Maximus was there, in this room. 

Somehow she'd discover which he was. Even if he didn't remember, she wanted the one she'd 

found in her woods. 

She walked to the chair, pulling it back so she could see both of them without turning her head. 

Bud remained standing in the doorway, waiting to help where he could, to offer her support. 

"You know the gateway to Elysium," she began. "I know you do because I know you've seen it." 

She had their complete attention. "Beyond that gateway lies the home that you knew in Spain, 

only changed, made perfect." They nodded. "There is, however, another sort of gateway, one 

not made of stone or of wood, but of light itself, and when you pass through it, you are not in 

Elysium, but in... in... some other place. In... this... place."

"I am not dead, then?" cotMaximus asked.

"No, both of you are very alive."

"How, Caroline, how can there be two of me? I am...lost."

She sucked in a deep breath. "Where, where you, um, originated, um, there is a...a...story, a tale, 

a...a saga, being told and you are the main man. The story is about you." She looked from one to 

the other so they'd both know they were included in that. “The story starts in Germania right 

before the final battle with the Marcomani."

BedMaximus smiled. "My story, Caroline, began long before that."

"I know, I know," she sighed, "but there...there...is a way...here, in this place, for your story to...

to...be viewed by, um, others."

"Others?" they both said.

"Yes, many, many others. It's, um, sort of like your whole story was happening in the great arena

and everybody could sit in the stands and...and...watch. Only bigger. Much, much bigger." 

She tipped her head, looking back at Bud. "You're doin' great, kid. Keep going."

"Commodus has a model of the arena in the palace. It has little figures in it that he can pick up 

and set somewhere else. I know neither of you has seen this, but I hope you understand the 

concept." They nodded again. 

"Well," she continued, "one of you was living the story when someone named Sid picked you up 

and set you in some other place. The story never ends. It is told over and over and over and when 

it began to be told again, and the one who was, um, removed was still gone, then another took 

his place. That other is just as much the General, just as much the slave, just as much the 

gladiator as the first one." She chewed her lip a bit. 

"And...and...the one who was taken out, who went through the gateway of light, came to where I 

live on...on this side of the light. And...and I took care of him and we...we...loved one another. 

Then this Sid decided he didn't want us to be together and he... he took me back through the 

gateway, back into the story that was being told in the arena, back where the other General now 

was." Oh, God, did all this sound as feeble to them as it did to her? "And I met this other one 

there, but the first one was looking for me, found a way to come back through the gateway 

himself to bring me where I belong. Only...only Sid came through the gateway again and he...he 

took both of you out of the arena, the one who knew nothing but the arena, and the one who 

knew both the arena and...and...this place. Only Sid did something to both of you...made you 

forget...and now there is no way to tell which of you is, um, which."

Bud squeezed her shoulder. "Good job!" He truly thought it a most excellent explanation.

The sound of his voice brought their attention back to him. "And him," bedMaximus asked, 

"how is he here?"

"I have my own story, Generals," Bud smiled, "and I, too, came through the, um, gate of light to 

this place. There are more who have done so. You will meet us all."

CotMaximus looked at Caroline. "I am trying to understand what you have said, Caroline, but 

it seems a tale told by a nurse to a child to entertain him."

"Yet you are here, Maximus, and you do not know where 'here' is, and before you you see your 

identical self."

"How is this story...seen?" bedMaximus asked.

"We could show them some of their DVD," Bud suggested. 

"But if they get up, I'll lose track of who was on the cot and who on the bed," she protested, 

wanting for some reason to keep that straight. 

"Just a sec," Bud said, going to a desk in the living room and returning with a Sharpie. "Here," 

he stepped up to the one on the cot and made his left cheek mole black with the marker. "Now 

you can tell, but it's not terribly obvious. That work for you?"

CotMaximus touched his cheek, looking at Bud curiously. 

"I can't keep calling them both Maximus," she said. "Neither will know whom I'm addressing."

Bud smiled again, pointing to cotMaximus. "Meet Decimus." Then he pointed at the bed, adding, 

"And there sits Meridius. For the time being, anyway." He looked at the two men. "That ok by 

you?"

They both looked at Caroline, who groaned and in a very ladylike manner firmly said, "Shit!" 

ON TO PART 2

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