A/N: I think it's necessary to explain this would make a lot more sense if you've read Oscar Wilde's (very short) The Happy Prince. I put a link on my profile so you can access the original. Please read it if you can, because it will piece it all together much more clearly if you do.
The Happy Prince
There once was a city called No. 6. It was surrounded by a great, impenetrable wall. There were those who lived within the wall, and those who lived outside of it. The many people who lived within the wall were all mostly quite happy. Children went to school, jobs were plentiful, there were no diseases, the elderly were taken care of, and there was lots of food to go around.
But outside of the wall, people lived in misery. They had to fight each other for food, they suffered through the winters, for they had only rags for clothes, and the best way to make a living meant they must turn to crime.
In the center of the majestic city that was No. 6, as an artistic feature within their large recreatonal park, a tall pillar had been erected as a monument. Upon that tall pillar was a statue of a young boy. The people of this fine city referred to him as the Happy Prince. He was a source of great pride for them. In place of eyes, there were sapphires. Where his heart would be, there was a beautiful, sparkling ruby. The statue represented the great city's wealth and prosperity.
It had become a symbol of everything No. 6 embodied.
"Would you look at that? How can they flaunt such valuable things right in front of us?" cried a tiny grey mouse as he sat atop a junk yard that overlooked No. 6. "And what a tacky thing it is anyway! Those people have such terrible taste!"
The mouse twitched its nose in aversion, for he was one of the unlucky ones to live on the other side of the wall. In truth, the mouse had very good reasons to be angry at the city and the people who lived within it. He had once lived in the nearby forest with his family, but for No. 6, vermin were disgusting and dirty creatures! All of his brethren were trapped, their tails cut off, and their necks snapped. By some miracle, he was the only one able to run away.
Now he was forced to live in what they called the West Block. He stole bread crumbs when he was hungry. For shelter, he burrowed underground. Though he was alone, he was not lonely. He did not want for friends. His friends were his books. Through them, he could be whatever he wanted and travel anywhere. He could forget about just how miserable it was to exist in this world.
To see that statue only made his ire grow. With his last breath, he hoped one day it would topple. It was an eyesore.
Tomorrow he would sneak in - as not even the wall could keep out such a small, resourceful mouse - and destroy it.
It was daybreak, and the sun caused the sapphires and ruby to glint so brilliantly that those early risers jogging through the park were forced to stop and stare up in awe at their beloved prince. What they did not realize, though, was that the statue was very much alive! He had once been a young boy! A hero who had saved the city! Many had forgotten his name, but they still held him dear to their hearts! But the statue did not require them to remember him, nor did he want their praise. He had come to learn a lot sitting atop this pillar that allowed him to gaze out beyond the wall.
Unlike the people on the ground, who could not see, the prince was able to see what went on in the West Block. As a boy, he had not known such troubles could exist for humans! Often, he wept at what he saw. There was hunger, death, murder, and disease! How very different from the life of those who lived within the wall! How cruel that they were separated and lived such different lives! But, he was a statue and could not move. He was too high up for anyone to hear him if he spoke. It was as if he were being punished for his ignorance as a boy, a time when he thought only of how beautiful his city to be! To sit here and know that he could not help them as they suffered! How cruel! Why did it have to be this way? Wasn't there anything to be done?
At dusk, the grey mouse finally arrived at the base of the pillar on which stood the statue. There were pinprick-sized holes which he could use to climb. It felt like a long time had elapsed, but he eventually made it to the statue. He stood between its feet and glared into its youthful face, hating everything it stood for! He would destroy it today! He would knock it off the pillar and let it fall to the ground, where it would shatter into a million pieces! The pride of the city would be lost, all at the whim of the tiniest of creatures.
However, just when he was about ready to get on with his plan, a large drop of water landed right on his head! He shook it off, glancing at the sky for rain.
"How strange," said the mouse, stroking its chin with a paw. "It is raining, but where are the clouds?"
"Who are you?" asked the statue.
"Who am I?" the mouse asked, bristling and bearing its teeth. "Who are you to ask me that?"
"I'm Shion."
"Shion. Hm. Like the flower?"
"Yes, yes! I was named it by my mother, for she loved flowers so much!"
"I don't need your life story!" squeaked the mouse. "Just stop what you're doing! You're drenching me with your tears! And not that I care, but why are you crying?"
"Oh, it's so awful, little mouse! I've been placed up here on this pedestal! I can see all that's happening in the West Block, but I am a statue and cannot move to help them! I am too high off ground to speak to the people who pass me in the park! Won't you help me?"
"Help you?" The mouse laughed maliciously. It rolled over and over and nearly fell off the edge of the statue from laughing so much.
"But why is that so funny?" asked Shion, looking utterly perplexed by the mouse's behavior.
"Because I've come here to do the very opposite! Help you? I came here to destroy you! I see you every day from that hill!" He pointed with his paw at the junk yard. "You have those jewels in your eyes and in your chest for all of the West Block to see! All that wealth just out of their reach! How vindictive you are to rub salt in their already festering wounds!"
"Me? Cruel?" Shion began to cry again. Fat drops splashed down onto the mouse as if he had been hit by a typhoon.
"I told you to cut that out! What are you crying for? After all, you get to sit up here and do as you please! The center of the city! How all of No. 6 admires you! You represent their wealth! And yet you cry? Yes, well it's all nice to pity the people in West Block, but you're just a statue! You can't do anything from in here!"
Shion continued to weep bitterly. He tried to speak, but his words were muffled by the sounds of his sobbing.
"Fine," said the mouse. "I see that you suffer, too. In your own way. I am tired from traveling here, and one front leg was hurt after I got chased by a cat! If you stop crying and just let me sleep underneath you for shelter tonight, perhaps I will change my mind and not destroy you."
Shion smiled at the little mouse. "Yes, do please stay. I would very much love the company. While you sleep, I will think of a way to help the people outside of the wall!"
The mouse snorted, but it was too tired to argue.
In the morning, the mouse awoke. He stretched and yawned with great aplomb.
"I have an idea," said Shion, having noticed the mouse was now up. "There are a brother and sister out there! Karan and Rico. I see from here that they are very thin, indeed. Their mother watches them as they play, but all she can do is weep! I've seen how often she is able to go to the market! It is so very rare that she brings back anything more than bread."
"And?" scoffed the mouse. "That's nothing new! People starve there all the time."
"But they don't have to," said Shion, his voice so filled with anguish that the little mouse's ears perked.
"What would you do then?" he asked.
Shion smiled sadly. "If you wouldn't mind. If it wouldn't be too much of a bother, do take one of these sapphires and bring it to the family! They can sell it, and then they won't have to know what it is to starve."
"Are you... kidding me?" The mouse was at a loss for words. He did not understand why this statue would give its own eyes for strangers.
"Please do this," begged Shion. "I want to help these people, and I cannot move from here. This is all I can do, but I want to do it! Please, mouse, won't you help me?"
"I don't see why I should," said the mouse. He sniffed at the air in a haughty fashion. "We're enemies, you and I."
"We are not. I have nothing against you, mouse."
"But I have plenty against you!" he yelled. "But I am not so cold-hearted. An eye for an eye, eh? I will do as you say."
"And then please come back!" pleaded Shion. "I know it is asking a lot, but I have other jewels left to give! You are so small, I know, and unable to carry much! But, please, do come back if you can! I know we can help more people."
"Tch." He crawled up the statue and stood on Shion's shoulder as he worked to remove the sapphire. "It may be a while, but I will be back. I keep my promises."
"Be safe," said the statue. "But wait, before you go, won't you tell me your name?"
"My name?" The mouse smirked. "Why, it's Nezumi. Of course."
"Nezumi?" repeated Shion. "No, what is your real name?"
"Ah that," said the mouse rather coyly. "That I will never reveal!"
With that, he snatched the sapphire and speedily crawled his way down to the ground. The statue watched him as he ran through the park, in the direction of the wall.
By the time Nezumi reached the family, he was very tired. The sapphire was heavy. He barely avoided the cat they kept in their shack of a home, but he did manage to drag the jewel on top of their rickety old table. There he left it for the mother to find in the morning.
Though Nezumi had said he kept his promises, when he returned to his usual underground haunt, he was unsure as to why he had helped the statue. He had gone there to destroy it after all, but Shion had been so sincerely aggrieved by what he saw! How was it possible for someone from that parasite city to feel sympathy? But the statue had cried real tears! Nezumi had felt them on his own fur! Somehow he had ended up doing Shion's bidding. What was the point of helping one family when so many others were out there starving? He brooded over it for a few days, skulking around his books but not receiving the solace he usually did from them. On the fourth day, he set off toward No. 6 once more.
The trek to No. 6 was very long for Nezumi. He had not eaten much lately, and the weather was getting much colder. Before he could even speak with the statue, he crawled onto Shion's shoulder and fell asleep. Many hours had passed when Nezumi awoke.
"You're awake," said Shion.
"Nothing gets passed you, does it?" Nezumi yawned. "I brought them the sapphire. The mother was surprised. She thought one of the kids had stolen it! But when they promised they hadn't, she cried that it was 'a miracle'!" He did his best to impersonate her voice.
"That's very good. It's important to have hope."
"Hope?" Nezumi laughed. "It wasn't a miracle. It was the product of a delusional and idealistic - and not to mention masochistic - statue asking for its own eye to be plucked out!"
"I don't mind," said the statue. "So long as they are able to have many nights without knowing hunger pangs, without crying for want of food! It is well worth it, little mouse."
"You're weird."
"Am I?"
"You are. So what's next? Do I take your other eye and make you blind?"
"I want to be able to see for a while, at least until the end so that I might know who suffers. Take my heart."
"The ruby?" croaked Nezumi. "But what will happen if your heart is taken, won't you die?"
"I am only a statue, Nezumi. And this is only a jewel. My heart is deeper within me. I will feel it still, I'm sure, even when the ruby is gone. It beat so very fast when I saw that you had returned! I saw you bring the sapphire to that family! I cannot thank you enough."
Nezumi felt his chubby cheeks go pink at this praise. "You're making too much of it. I did nothing but run there."
"But now I see a young man, a struggling musician who plays his violin on the corner of a street! He plays such beautiful music, to be sure! But no one spares him any money for the pleasure he must bring them! He seems as though soon he will give up playing. Won't you take this jewel to him?"
Nezumi sighed and gave a slight bow of his head. "If you please, I shall take the ruby right away."
"But won't you stay the night?" asked Shion, his voice full of worry for the mouse. "You've traveled so far. You look very tired. I will keep you warm while you sleep, so that you might have strength for when you set off tomorrow."
"Very well. I am rather tired."
"Tell me Nezumi. What is the outside world like? I've always lived within these walls and can only see as far as the horizon! But there must be so much more to the world!"
"There is," he said. "So much. I have seen a lot over the years. I've wandered. Shall I tell you a story or two before bed?"
"Yes, please!" Shion cried happily. "I want to hear about the world you've seen very much!"
The mouse chuckled, somehow touched by Shion's sincere enthusiasm. He told Shion of all his great travels, of the people and animals he'd met along the way. Sometimes his stories blended with those he'd read in books, but he didn't think Shion would know the difference. The statue seemed happy so long as Nezumi kept talking. How lonely must the statue have been while up here for so long! He told stories until he grew too tired to tell more and then fell asleep.
When he woke in the morning, as he reached for the ruby that was Shion's heart, Nezumi's tiny paw hesitated. He looked into the statue's sleeping face. Was it right for Shion to sacrifice pieces of himself for others he did not know? Was Shion as bad as the rest of No. 6?
Nezumi shook his head, which made his whiskers wiggle. "I'll come back," he whispered. "I know you have more you want to give, but I won't let you give everything."
With that, he took out the ruby and darted off toward the wall and on toward the West Block.
It was another long journey back, but Nezumi scurried through the streets of the market, narrowly avoiding being stepped on or eaten by a group of prowling dogs. He found the musician, his violin case open in the hopes that someone would throw him a few coins so that he might eat. Yet, it was empty. As Nezumi ran by, he dropped the ruby into the case. He wasn't so very far away when he heard the musician cry out in joy and gratitude for whomever had finally acknowledged his music.
To think it had come at the price of Shion's heart!
"No, that's not right," said Nezumi to himself. "Shion is only a statue! And I needn't bother destroying him as he is slowly destroying himself! And he still has that other sapphire! I shall go back, for surely he wants to help more people. In that way, we're both accomplishing our goals! If he's too idiotic to understand what he's giving up, then that's his own fault!"
This is what Nezumi told himself as he went underground and made himself comfortable under one of his favorite books. "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't," he whispered into the darkness.
He waited only two days this time before he returned to No. 6. As he crawled onto Shion's shoulder, the statue seemed very happy to see him again. Nezumi tried to ignore the feeling it gave him that his company should be so looked forward to, but, after all, why shouldn't it be?
"I was afraid you might not come back," said Shion, sounding very upset. "You did not say you would this time, and I was afraid I'd never see you again!"
"I prefer to be unpredictable," said Nezumi as he ran his paw through his fur to smooth it out. It was a very cold and wet day. Mud clung to his tiny paws. He had to spend a considerable amount of time cleaning himself as Shion chattered away about anything and everything he'd seen since Nezumi was last here. He talked so much and for so long, that when Nezumi fell asleep, Shion was still talking. When Nezumi awoke, Shion had yet to shut up. He tried plugging his ears, but that didn't help. He continuously asked Nezumi questions, too - about where he came from, what he liked to do for fun, what he liked to eat, what he dreamt about!
It was too much for Nezumi!
"I can't take this anymore," he cried after having spent several days at Shion's side. "Tell me what you wish me to do next, and I will do it!"
"Oh." Shion frowned pensively. "There is a priest running a church at the far end of the West Block. The church is so run down and in such a terrible area that he receives so few parishioners! But he does such good work! When he goes out, he begs at the stalls in the market for food so that he might give it to the few families who attend his church! I have heard his sermons, I'm sure of it! He speaks so loudly and is so confident in what he preaches! He has given me hope in times that I've thought there was none! Won't you please bring him the other sapphire?"
"But, you'll be blind!" cried Nezumi. "You're annoying as hell with all your chatter and your questions, but what will you do if you can't see? There will be no sunsets, no sunrises! You won't be able to see me climbing up the pillar to visit you! How will you know if someone comes here to do you harm? You won't even see it coming! This is so stupid! You've done enough, so just stop!"
Shion smiled. "Oh, Nezumi. You've become such a good friend to me. I wish we'd met a long time ago, when I was real and not this useless statue!"
"You're not as useless as you think," Nezumi grumbled. "Masochistic, obviously. But not useless."
"I only wish you'd answer the questions I ask about you - your past, everything about you! I wish I knew more. I want to know more! I don't even know your real name!"
Nezumi crawled onto Shion's shoulder. "Perhaps next time," he said. "Next time I come back, I may tell you my name. Just... stop giving so much of yourself. There won't be anything left!"
Tears started to sting his eyes as Nezumi clutched at the sapphire and stole it away. With that, Shion had gone blind. Nezumi ran fast, toward the shabby old church in the West Block, all while the tears rolled from his eyes and matted up in his grey fur.
The weather had become quite cold. So much so that it had taken him longer than usual to get back to the West Block. He had dropped off the sapphire in the rickety old alms box near the altar. He was so hungry! There was a mousetrap behind one of the pews. The little crumble of cheese seemed so tempting. Usually a trap would be nothing to him, but he was so worn out and cold that when he tripped it, his paw got caught. The pain was so awful, he lost consciousness.
When he awoke, it was to find a young girl staring down at him with big brown eyes. Gently, she pet his tiny head. She'd removed him from the trap. Before him, she set a few crumbs of bread and offered a dish of water. He eyed her wearily, but then she smiled at him. It reminded him of Shion.
Shion. How he wanted to see him again! His smile! To hear his voice! Nezumi would even put up with his insistent questions. He said he'd tell him his name!
He knew he had lost a fair amount of blood due to his injury, but the crumbs and the water did much to strengthen him. As soon as he finished, he dashed away, without looking back at the curious girl in the ugly old sweater.
It was snowing when Nezumi made it back to the statue. It was very difficult for him, and he had to drag his way up to Shion. He didn't think he had the ability to make it to the statue's shoulder.
"Nezumi? Is that you?"
"No, it's Santa Claus," he replied, breathless.
"You sound awful! What's wrong? I can't see you!"
"And who's fault is that?" Nezumi was panting now.
"You're worrying me. What's wrong! Tell me! Nezumi!"
Nezumi sighed. "It's nothing. I just need to sleep." His eyelids grew heavy. The paw that had been caught in the trap hurt so much he could barely stand at all. The winter chill was biting at him. His fur wasn't enough to keep him warm, and he'd grown so skinny after having run back and forth for weeks without having had much to eat.
"No, no. Stay up! Don't fall asleep. We can talk and tell stories until it's tomorrow! Nezumi, please! Tell me what's happened."
"Ah," he whispered hoarsely. "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time; and all our yesterdays have lighted fools. The way to dusty death. Out, out brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow!"
"What... is that?" asked Shion.
"It's Shakespeare, idiot. Macbeth. Haven't you read it before?"
"No. We weren't allowed to read the classics when I was alive! But it sounds... so beautiful. And so sad."
"Well, death is both, I suppose."
"Death?" asked Shion.
"I'm dying, Shion. Isn't that obvious? All that damn running around you made me do! And to think I was worried about you losing your sight, losing your heart! Giving it up so easily for those people... and all these assholes in No. 6, they have no idea what you've given up or what you've done! They all walk by you so ignorant of everything around them!" A coughing fit made him pause; it racked his tiny body. "How miserable is this? A silly dramatic death scene! I should've been an actor in a play! But what a lousy end I'm met with! Dying at the feet of the statue I once loathed!"
"No, no, Nezumi, don't die! You can't! Y-your name! You promised!"
Nezumi laughed. "Next time we meet. Next time. I promise to tell you."
"Next time?" Shion asked.
"In the afterlife. Assuming there is one. If we meet again there, then I'll tell you."
"I know you're weak," Shion begged. "But as I can't see you, please, please, can you get onto my shoulder!"
"Are you kidding? What for?"
Shion began to sob, brokenly calling Nezumi's name over and over again. "But life has no meaning without you! I want to stay by your side forever!"
He had no idea how he was able to, but since it was the only way he could get Shion to shut up and let him maybe die in peace, Nezumi somehow managed to plod his way up to Shion's shoulder. His whiskers tickled Shion's chin.
"I'm here. Now what?"
Shion bit his bottom lip. "You must kiss me on the lips, for I love you!"
Nezumi paused at the request, and then, slowly, he smiled. "I think that's a simple enough wish for me to grant." He kissed Shion tenderly on the lips. "Good night, sweet prince," he said. "Let's hope that it's not a flight of devils that wing me to my rest. For it will most definitely be angels in your case, and one day I hope we can meet again."
"We must," Shion said through his sobbing, "You promised! You promised to tell me your name should we meet again."
"I did, indeed. And I always keep my promises... Shion."
At that moment, Nezumi's eyes closed and his tiny, broken body tumbled to Shion's feet, and a curious crack sounded inside the statue as if something had broken.
Shion's true heart had been torn in two.
It was the next day that the Mayor of No. 6 and a man in a white lab coat were walking through the park and noticed the state of the city's beloved statue.
"How appalling," said the man in the coat. "The statue no longer has the ruby in its chest, or the sapphires in its eyes! All that's left is that ugly mark that wraps around the body. It should be against regulations to have something so ugly sitting here at the center of the park for everyone to see! Take it down!"
The Mayor gave a sigh of resignation. He didn't want to argue with the other man. "Ah, and see, there's a dead mouse at its feet! Disgusting! This city will not tolerate vermin!"
Consequentially, the statue was torn down and taken away to where all the rubbish goes. The dead mouse happened to be tossed out in the same pile of trash. It was carried away to the sewage plant and eventually dumped out into the West Block unbeknownst to the inhabitants of No. 6.
Finally, Shion was able to travel beyond the wall.
"We're home," he whispered to Nezumi. "We're home, and I'm so very happy."
a/n: Ial11 has created a clip for this story, which can be found at:
http : / / ial11 . deviantart . com / gallery / # / d4eyfq7