Elysium (Young!Kyros x Reader)

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by Vizkopa

by Vizkopa

Through the pounding of your heartbeat in your ears, you could hear the roar of the crowd around you. They were calling for blood—your blood. Well, looks like they got it, you thought bitterly as you lay in the dirt. You swallowed hard past the lump in your throat and gripped your sword tightly to your chest. The blood on your hands was making it incredibly difficult to hold, but you held on anyway.

It was not right for a gladiator to die without their sword in hand.

It was done. The debt was paid. You had fought a hundred battles and won your freedom—even if that freedom was not exactly how you had imagined it. A tear slipped down your cheek, obscured by your helmet. You could see the clouds moving lazily across the Dressrosa sky through the slits in the visor. What you wouldn't give to see that sky without the bars, without the shackles that bound you to this place. To see the flower fields again, vibrant against the backdrop of endless blue.

Suddenly, a shape loomed in your vision, dark and blurred at the edges. It wasn't until it spoke, its voice fading in and out, that you realised it was a man.

Kyros.

"This wasn't supposed to happen."

You chuckled, but soon stopped as the pain became too much. "Yeah, well, it happened anyway."

You hissed through your teeth as he pressed his fingers against the wound. They came away drenched in blood and shaking. "It's not that bad."

"Liar."

"I'm so sorry."

You shook your head—with great difficulty as your body felt like it was growing heavier by the second. "It had to come to this. For us both to be free, it had to come to this."

"To die here, in this cage. This is not freedom," he hissed.

You lifted your chin. "Take off my helmet. Please."

He did as you asked, and the second it was free, you sighed deeply at the feeling of the warm breeze on your face.

"There. I can see the sky now."

He looked up briefly, then back to you, eyes brimming with tears. He looked so young, face smeared with dirt and blood. Your blood. You both were so very young. You smiled up at him.

"Congratulations on your one-hundredth victory, Kyros."

"It means nothing to me."

"But you're free."

"It means nothing! I could go on to win a thousand more victories. Two thousand. It wouldn't matter. I don't deserve it."

"And you think I do? Kyros, I got exactly what I deserved."

"Don't say that."

"It's true," you sighed, looking back to the sky. "I do wish I could have at least seen the flower fields one last time." You smiled wistfully, the blackness at the edges of your vision beginning to encroach on the blue expanse.

"You will," Kyros said, his voice hoarse with tears. "In the Fields of Elysium."

"It's a nice thought," you said. "But for now, I think I just want to sleep. I'm so tired."

"Of course," Kyros said. "Rest well, warrior. May we meet again."

You closed your eyes to dreams of sunflower fields and purple skies. To where you were free, at last.

A/N: Reminder that I do not take requests and I do not continue oneshots. Rude, immature or spam comments, or comments asking for updates, will be deleted and you will be muted. No exceptions.