Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal
Title: Missed Payoff
Characters: OC, Emperor, Alit
Word Count: 500||Status: One-shot
Genre: Drama||Rated: PG-13
Challenges: Diversity Writing Challenge, section A68, write about an unnamed character; Zexal Flash Bingo, prompt #192, poison; Collect the Barian Emperors, Alit
Summary: He's trained and paid and waited for this night, the night he will kill the Emperor. But killing an Emperor is harder than it looks, especially when the Emperor has a gladiator who loves him.

He'd saved for three years to purchase enough of this poison to make it worth using. He wanted to kill the Emperor for that reason alone. How dare he just keep on living?

But that wouldn't be a problem much longer. During those three years he'd practiced whenever he could spare the time until he could hit his target with bow or throwing knife. The best way to kill someone, he'd decided, was to do it himself, and to do it from a distance. No one would suspect him and they would be far too busy trying to save the Emperor to find him.

Not that they would save him. Not only could he hit his target almost anywhere he chose, but the poison would see to it that even if the wound wasn't fatal, the Emperor would still die. He'd thought all of this through carefully.

He settled into his chosen vantage point and made his preparations. He settled his bow and arrows into place and waited for his target's arrival. Every night around this time the Emperor walked in the garden, often accompanied by his favored gladiator.

Walking wasn't all they did, but he intended to strike before they could get started on that. Tonight would be a night of endings and beginnings. The end of this Emperor's reign and the beginning of his.

Movement on the far side of the pool alerted him to the arrival of the Emperor. He'd come here enough that he didn't need torches or lanterns to mark his target. He set his arrow to the string and waited until the Emperor strolled to just the right place.

The gladiator didn't seem to be there tonight. Good enough; perhaps he could even frame the fool for what he was about to do. He held his breath, aimed…

"Hey! Sorry I'm late!" The gladiator's voice brought the Emperor's head around and he missed the step that would have brought him into perfect range. He could still be hit and it would still do all the damage necessary, but with the gladiator there, there were more chances that proper medical care could be brought in time, unless he attained a perfect kill with one hit.

He would have to try. The chances wouldn't be as good as they were tonight for weeks to come. He took aim once more and shot, certain of his aim.

The gladiator wrapped his arms around the emperor and pulled him close, apparently for a quick embrace at first, but then he pulled him into the deepest shadows, where the archer couldn't see him.

"Guards! There's someone with a bow up there! I think he just tried to kill the Emperor!"

He hated that gladiator. He couldn't tell if he'd hit the Emperor at all and now wasn't the time to go and check. He abandoned his bow and quiver and headed for the nearest exit. There would be another time.

And next time, he'd aim for the gladiator, too.

The End

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