Behind Closet Doors (A Rome-ance)

Chapter 11: No One Actually Says That

              Brutus woke up the next morning in a daze. He momentarily forgot what happened the previous night. He remembered when he woke up on the couch and turned to see Cassius lying on the ground, dead. Brutus remembered killing Cassius and immediately passing out afterward. He felt disgusting. Not only had he killed a man-which stood against everything he believed in-the blood on his nose had dried on his face. Killing Caesar was noble. At least he thought it was noble in the moment. Killing Cassius was an act of rage. Pure rage. He hated himself for that. Still, even though Cassius was dead, he was angry at him. He talked him into killing Caesar. Act against his morals. Now he knew the truth. He was a pawn in Cassius' plan all along. Caesar's death wasn't noble. It was cowardly. It was an act of people who were scared to face the future and what might happen. Brutus suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He ran to the bathroom and threw up. He then cleaned himself off.

It took him thirty minutes to get all the blood off his face. Then Brutus had to face Cassius' body. He figured he had already broken all of his other morals. He might as well break more.

Brutus ended up burning Cassius's body. Whatever was left over was buried in the backyard. Brutus was the ruler. He figured he would never get caught.

Antony was confused. He was sure Brutus would lose it after finding out Cassius manipulated him. He assumed Brutus would kill Cassius and leave the country. While he hadn't heard from Cassius in a while, Brutus was definitely still here, and still the ruler of New Rome. He had to find a way to get rid of Brutus. He just had to think of how. He knew the best course of action would be to snoop around the house a little more. The only problem was, it didn't seem like Brutus ever left the house. Antony thought he would just hang around the house to see if Brutus did anything suspicious.

It wasn't until one day-by sheer luck- Antony was next to an open window, and heard Brutus mourning Caesar. There was something off about it. Brutus was saying stuff about Caesar that he didn't know about. Stuff so personal, Caesar would have never mentioned it to anyone. That's when it hit him. They must've been lovers. First, Antony was shocked. He couldn't believe Brutus would be willing to kill his boyfriend. Second, he didn't even know Caesar was into guys. He was married to Calphurnia. He figured Caesar was always full of surprises. The thing was, them being lovers actually made sense. Brutus was always around. Caesar got weirdly happy around Brutus or when he was about to see him. Antony should have connected the dots sooner. Except that wasn't the point. The point was, Antony now knew how to destroy Brutus.

Brutus was alone at his (Cassius' old) house one night, just reading a book. Suddenly, he heard a bang outside. He looked out his window to find there was nothing outside. When he turned around, he saw a sort of hologram of Caesar. It surprised him. That wasn't how he looked before when he imagined him. Unless...

"Whoever you are," Brutus called out. "I know you're trying to mess with me. It's not working."

Brutus looked out the window again to see Antony trying to run away.

"Antony!" He yelled.

Antony stopped and slowly turned around.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Brutus asked.

"I'm walking," He replied, stupidly.

"Get over here," Brutus yelled. When Antony came over, he pulled him in through the window. "Now, what the fuck is this," He asked, pointing at the hologram of Caesar.

Antony sighed, and clicked a button on a remote to turn it off. "There's a projector outside."

"What was your plan?"

"Nothing, I was just joking around," He replied.

Brutus shoved him into the wall, "Don't lie to me!"

Antony cringed and rubbed his back, "I was trying to get in your head. I know about you and Caesar."

Brutus looked at him, confused, "How?"

"I heard you talking to him the other day," Antony admitted.

Brutus' eyes widened when he realized what Antony was talking about. How could he be so stupid to let himself get found out like that. He knew he had been off the past few days. He didn't think he'd be so off that he let Antony know about his relationship with Caesar.
"So, what? You thought you'd spook me, then what? Scare me into giving you my title as Head of State?"

Antony paused before saying, "Sort of."

Brutus laughed bitterly, "God, un-fucking-believable!"

"I would've been a better leader than you," Antony snapped.

"I'd like to see you try!"

"You're doing the exact same thing Caesar did. You act the same way he did. Like you're above all of us. You tried to change the country, but you didn't change shit!"

"And you think you'd be better? You're nothing more than an inconsiderate, twenty-something, playboy, partier. You can't take anything seriously!"

Antony snapped and punched Brutus. Brutus doubles back, shocked that Antony would attack him. Antony ran up to him and picked him up to throw him on the floor.

Brutus groaned as he hit the ground. Antony kneeled on his stomach and started punching him. Brutus, put his hands up to defend himself. He was able to get one good punch at Antony's jaw to push him off. Brutus stood up, and kicked Antony in the gut. Antony grabbed Brutus' leg and pulled it out from under him. Brutus fell as Antony stood up. Brutus kicked Antony back and was able to stand up.

Brutus shoved Antony back, and he retreated deeper in the house. Brutus ran after him and grabbed him to shove him into the wall. Antony fell on top of Cassius' old fencing equipment. He rummaged around the bag to get Cassius' sword.

Brutus swore for pushing Antony into the fencing equipment. He ran over to his fencing stuff, to grab his sword.

Antony pointed his sword at Brutus, "En guard."

Brutus rolled his eyes, "No one actually says that."

Antony didn't respond, he just lunged at Brutus with the sword. Brutus parried and swung at Antony's ribs, which he blocked.

It was weird for Brutus to fence without his uniform on. He didn't have the protection of his gear. Brutus knew he could get seriously hurt in this fight.

Still, they continued to fence. However, Antony was getting tired, and Brutus could tell. He knew if he just stuck it out a little longer, he would win.

Antony wasn't willing to give up yet. He had to win this fight. In a last desperate move, Antony lunged at Brutus.

Brutus, scared by Antony's sudden movement, brought his sword up. Antony couldn't stop his momentum and ran into Brutus' sword.

Brutus looked, in shock, at the blood running down his sword. He looked up at Antony who had a cut on his neck and blood was running down his torso. Antony stepped away and fell down, dead.

Brutus looked at Antony who lay dead on the ground. He was filled with relief for a moment. That was, until he felt a stinging sensation on his side. He looked down to find his shirt covered with blood. The blood was coming from a stab wound in his side.

So, Antony did get him. Brutus grabbed his side and fell over, adrenaline running through his veins. He turned onto his side and started coughing up blood. He knew this was the end. Brutus didn't die nobally. That was the thing he was focused on. He spent his whole life trying to do good just for it all to turn to shit in the end.

Brutus heard a voice in his head. "Don't beat yourself up about it." The voice belonged to Caesar. "You tried your best. No one's perfect. You can finally rest now."

And rest is exactly what Brutus did.