Edward Crichton - The Last Roman

“What’s happening to him?” Helena asked, bewilderment in her voice.

“We have to go,” I said. “Now.”

“What? Why?” Santino asked, looking from me to Caligula and back and forth.

“Come on!” I almost yelled, grabbing Helena and helping her off the couch. Pulling her close to make a quick getaway, I was about to start announcing politely that we were leaving, but realized everyone’s attention was elsewhere. Only Varus, holding his friend and emperor’s head in his arms, paid us any attention. He looked angry, but he knew as well as I did that fingers might soon be pointed in our direction. His look suggested he felt we were innocent, but I couldn’t be sure. All I knew was that in a place like Rome it was best to avoid getting caught than to stick around with even the slightest bit of suspicion directed towards you.

I nodded to my friend, and hauled Helena out of the room, Santino catching up to help me with her.

Not even to the house gate, realization seemed to dawn on her. “We didn’t actually change anything, did we? What you said before. About fate finding a way to set things straight.”

I thought about it.

It made sense. With Claudius out of the picture, the only logical thing for fate to do was to have Agrippina rule while she waited for Nero to turn fourteen. She had practically ruled alongside Claudius anyway.

I thought about it

No, I couldn’t buy that. I wouldn’t. There was no way some natural force controlled the outcome of all living things. I had free will. I had a choice. I controlled my own fate, and so did Agrippina. We had to stop the madman I knew Nero would become from ever taking the throne. For all I knew, the current situation would make things far worse than I could possibly imagine.

“No,” I said, thinking hard about what to do. “We’re fucking changing things.”

I sifted through every shred of knowledge I had about ancient Rome. There had to be something we could do. Both Caligula and Claudius may be dead, and with it Rome’s chances of a bright future, but there must be someone who can help. I cross referenced as many dates, names and events as I could in my mind to try and find someone.

I could only think of one man. Only one man in the entirety of the Roman Empire could have a positive effect on the course of history. He was the only one because he’d done it before. He’d taken an empire on the brink of collapse and realigned it back towards greatness.

Vespasian.