Hello guys, this is a short little fic featuring the pairing Rochu written by AriaYuuki. I am actually inspired to write this story in celebration of the mid-autumn festival folktales and thinks this festival actually suit China a lot so I decided to come up with it. Hope you all enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.
Because of her swallowing the medicine that granted her immortality, she was forced to leave her husband to live in the moon for the rest of her life.
Yao finds himself standing in the midst of a bare land. He scans his vision in the surrounding, no one is on his sight.
This land is not like any desert, dry and dull but glowed in eternal white hazy hue. The mystical light covers the land, every single blemishes are being well cover up. There is a howl of the wind, coming from far away, the land he once belonged to.
Yao shivers a bit and tries to pull his fine, silk clothes tighter to keep him warm. He longs to be back to the place where he belongs but there is no way he could return. He is now all alone, in the moon, being immortal for eternally.
He once admired the moon, he thinks the moon is beautiful and there are always wonderful tales of the moon but those are just none other than imagination. He now realises that there is pain behind the beauty.
He is just an ornament, just to add a final touch to for the moon. Despite people admire the moon's beauty, there's no way he would ever enjoy it because the beauty doesn't exist in this place.
There is no way life could exist in the moon, everything is as quiet as death. Yao wandered on the barren land, searching if he could find anything he may need. Just then, he caught a little rabbit not too far away. The rabbit spots Yao and quickly sprints off.
"Hey, wait aru!" He called out and gives chase until the rabbit actually leads him to a forest, in a moon. Much to his amazement, how can trees and living beings live in the moon?
"Where have you been, Mei?" He heard another voice. "You know how worry I am searching for you." He saw another rabbit with bushy eyebrows approaching the rabbit.
"Guess what, I found a human in the moon." The little pink rabbit called Mei smirked at her companion and gestures towards Yao.
"You two actually live here, aru?" Yao asked them.
The rabbit with bushy eyebrows quirked his brows before taking a few steps closer to Yao. "Do you speak Chinese?" The rabbit asked him.
"How do you know?" Yao gasped in surprise and asks in his mother tongue.
"Then we are the same." Mei walked up next to the rabbit. "We are from the same country as you're from."
Yao's face gaped open at what the little rabbits had said. Are they being transported to the moon as well?
"Mei, we are not from the Earth but here." The rabbit with thick bushy eyebrow quickly said and turns to Yao with an apology look. "Dui Bu Qi, my sister Mei can be a little mischievous sometimes so please don't take it to your heart. Anyway, my name is Jia Long."
"But why do you two speak Chinese?" Yao inquired.
"We learnt that language by chances when Arthur took us to the Earth one day." That rabbit known as Jia Long said.
"Earth is a really beautiful place." Mei said with admiration. "I remember eating a lot of delicious food and seeing so many beautiful things there."
"We should take you to see Arthur." Jia Long said as he leads them into the forest.
"Where have you two been? Don't you two ever dare to slack off." There is a huge tree with a hollow on its bark in the middle of the forest. A green rabbit storms out from the tree and gives Mei and Jia Long a good lecture. "Have the two of you gone out to play again? Don't forget we still have to make medicine for his majesty." He scolded them and ushers them back to their work. Somehow, Yao feels a little sympathy for the two little rabbits having to work.
The green rabbit scans his green eyes on Yao before greeting him. "Sorry for the trouble, but what takes you, human from the Earth to the moon?" He asked in a thick English accent. Yao mentally sighs in relieve because he was forced to marry an Englishman and having to learn to speak that language so it isn't much of a problem for him. Albeit reluctant, he told his story to this Arthur rabbit.
"Are humans that foolish?" Arthur said as if he is insulting Yao. "Humans are forbidden to eat the Elixir of life. What's so nice about being immortal? It only makes your life worthless."
"I didn't mean it, ahen. I was literally forced to do so since someone is trying to get it into their hands." Yao explained.
"Things that had happen will never go back." Arthur sighed. "I guess you will have to spend the rest of your lifetime here." He said.
Yao has nothing to say but accepts what is offered to him. He doesn't want to go back and live with that husband of his who married him for pleasure. Even though the moon is not any good place to live like the Earth, it's the only place he now belongs. From now onwards, he lives with the three moon rabbits, helping them grinding the Elixir of Life.
As a punishment for committing an unforgivable crime, he was forced to stay in the moon. With the condition that he chop of the sacred Laurel tree in the moon, only he can return back to the world where he belongs.
Ivan grumbled as he lifted the axe to chop the huge Laurel tree that stood almost as tall as a five storey building above the moon surface. At first, he thought that this job was just a piece of cake but things never go what he had expected. How many days has he been living in the moon? He has lost count of it. He misses his family and friends but doubts that they still exist in the world.
With a heavy thud, he laid a huge cut on the tree trunk. But just as he is going to continue cutting it, the tree bark regenerates itself, not even a scratch is left on it. Ivan is furious but there is no way he could vent his anger as nothing can help him resolve his misery. He continues to cut the tree all day long and the trees rejuvenates seconds after the bark was cut open, the process repeats and repeats and repeats…
Yao groans tiredly from his seat. He has lost count how many days he had worked along with the moon rabbit grinding medicine but Arthur still demands that they continue grinding. "Just how much Elixir should we need, aru?" He grumbles as he continues his work.
"Actually, we have to do this for our entire lifetime." Mei explained. "Because the rocks and soil of the moon is actually the ingredients for the medicine. The gods need these Elixirs because it grants them immortality and therefore, is able to reign the world a prosperous one."
"But you don't receive anything in return." Yao said, almost shouted back.
"This is our fate." Mei sighed and says in Mandarin.
Just then, Arthur returns with a bag of Elixir that has been grinded into powder. "We have ran out of ingredients." He mumbled. "Can you three go out to get some more?" He asked Yao and the two moon rabbits.
Yao practically jumps from his squatting position, after what it seems like years of work, he is finally allowed to go out for a walk. Mei and Jia Long follow him out to the forest, saying they also need to stalk some food and herb to make the Elixir.
"When will this thing end?" Ivan yelled at the top of his voice as he throws his axe aside, already tired of this. Why don't he just use the axe and chopped his head off? He'd rather died here than continuing to suffer an endless punishment. But he just shakes the idea off, maybe the god will revive him from death and let him go through another punishment.
"Aiyah, look out, aru!" He suddenly heard a person's voice. He lifts his head up just in time to catch a man who is falling of the huge Laurel tree.
"Are you alright?" He asked that man.
"Mei shi, Mei shi, xie xie." He somehow manages to have a good look on the man's face. His heart almost skips a beat at the sight of the oriental beauty. He could hardly believe the person before him is a man, what with the long, silky black hair being tied back in a ponytail flowing in the wind and beautiful creamy porcelain skin, the robes made of silk gives his look a perfect final touch.
"Erm… Let me go please…" Yao pleaded the man who caught him. Ivan snaps out from his trance immediately let the Chinese man down. "Sorry." He said with an apologetic smile.
Then that hits Yao thought that he actually sees another man in the moon, much to his surprise. He turned his back to face the foreigner who saved him. "Are you from the Earth as well, aru?"
Ivan feels a little weird at the Asian man's accent. Not only that, he voice and slang are sweet like his honey brown eyes. That only gives Ivan the initiative to know this Asian man even more.
"Da, but was forced to live here for certain reason." He smiled a childish smile at the petite man.
Yao backs away when he was intimidated by the tall man. This man is about a head taller than him. But then at the same time, he realised how handsome this man is with the beautiful shades of violet orbs and mop of light platinum blonde hair. He feels a bit sorry for him to live in the moon. At the thought of this, he could feel his face is coloured pink.
That was their first meeting. Since then onwards, they would meet secretly under the huge Laurel tree that shaded them from anyone's attention. Yao seems to find liking on Ivan. Unlike his husband, his husband had never treasured him after the marriage and he somehow heard that that man has another affair with another person. He sympathises Ivan, for him actually being an innocent having to bear the burden for eternal. Ivan thinks that Yao is beautiful, compared to any other women he had met before. They are happy to finally have a companion to listen to their unheard stories and their feelings.
"Yao, I heard that you have found a companion?" Mei asked Yao one night when the four of them sit together on the bare land gazing onto the moon. "Who's that?" She asked him with a gleeful smile.
"Don't tell me it was THAT person!" Arthur makes a rough guess with a scowl on his face.
"Then who else would it be, ahen?" Yao retorted back. "Besides, he's not a bad person. I actually enjoyed being around him a lot. He's nice and cute." Yao smiled a little dreamily at the thought of Ivan's childish grin. "Besides, his purple eyes remind me of the beautiful silk colour in my hometown.
"Don't you know?" Arthur asked back. "He was punished for committing an unforgivable sin on Earth."
"But isn't that thing a little too much? I think he should be release from the chains and live a new life already." Mei suggested.
"Mei, you can't tell whether that person was guilty or not." Jia Long said. "It's up to the emperor himself to decide whether he should be severed from this judgement."
"Why would you say so?" Mei rolled her eyes at Jia Long.
"Everyone believes that the gods are the ones who made the fairest judgement." Arthur snapped in.
"But is it fair to punish an innocence to live in misery forever?" Yao once again retorted back. "If a god is fair in its judgement, then why am I supposed to suffer living in the moon?"
"It's because you ate the Elixir!" Arthur said, his voice firm and clear.
"Then who's the one who forced me to swallow it, ahen?" Yao crossed his arms before his chest.
"Even if we support your relationship with Ivan, there's no way god would approve it because no one should love a prisoner."
"Why? Everyone deserved to be loved, don't they? Can't I just have a chance to love and be loved back?"
"I don't have a say in this." Arthur huffed. "I'm not supposed to be in charge of whatever affairs you're in. All I offer is just some advice." He stands up and ready to return back to the tree hollow. "If you really wish to be with Ivan, you have to talk to the emperor directly so that your voice can be heard."
The trio watch Arthur runs back into the forest. "Don't be upset. He has been through a lot as well." Mei tries to comfort Yao.
"What do you mean? He never know anything about the human world, do he?"
Jia Long shook his head. "Actually he was once a rabbit who lived on Earth…" He told Yao about Arthur's story.
A rabbit escaping from scars of the past. Because it felt itself being betrayed, it detested the human world. Yet, it was unwilling to let go the past, so it took residence on Earth so that it could see the beautiful imperfections of the world. It created a world of mad imagination, lost in the realms of delusion. Should reality hit into it or its world will crumble of madness.
"What should we do then, aru?" Yao asked them as the three think hard to come up with a plan. "We can't just let things go the way they wish, can we?"
"But there's no way you could persuade a god that easy." Jia Long explained.
"Then are the two of you going to stuck like this forever?" Yao asked back. "You all don't belong to here as well. You need to convince Arthur so that you all could return back and live on Earth and stop grinding medicine for the gods."
From what Jia Long said, Arthur was actually being punished for running away from Earth. He was imprisoned in the moon to grind medicine for his entire lifetime. Jia Long and Mei were created by his magic skill, so do the forest because he yearned for companion but not a human. They know that if Arthur just continues like this, he will lose in his delusion and he will lose everything, including Jia Long and Mei.
"But what else can we do?" Jia Long asked, desperate for a solution.
"Deng, I have an idea." Mei suddenly chirped in. "Jia Long, do you remember that delicious cake we have when Arthur brought us to Earth?"
"You mean that cake that shaped like a moon with Chinese cravings on it?"
"That's called the mooncake, isn't it, aru?" Yao perked up on mentioning the Chinese delicacies. "Long time ago, when two countries were in war. One of the countries hid messages about military secrets and strategies inside the mooncakes so that it could be sent without suspicion to the military base camp. That's how they managed to win the war."
"That's it. So why don't we send a message to the emperor and request him to stop all these silly nonsense." Mei suggested.
"Do you think that the gods will just accept it easily? It's hard for them to persuade someone else." Jia Long interrupted.
"But that's the only way we can do." Mei insisted. "Are you just going to let fate go on its way and crush us?"
"But how are we going to make the mooncakes, aru?" Yao asked. "How are we going to send the message?"
"Don't forget, this is actually Arthur' sacred place. It won't hurt if we are to produce some ingredients and moreover, we can use the Elixir powder to make them as well to show our respect to them." Mei suggested. "And we can send our gifts like how we used to send the Elixir to the gods."
And so, the ordeal is set. They manage to get Arthur's help into this after much persuasion. They work day and night, getting the mooncakes done. During these time, Yao would sneak out at night to meet Ivan, telling all his plan to save all of them. Ivan, touched with Yao's determination, gives him his full support.
"I will always be there to support you no matter where you are and what plans you had." Ivan said to him.
"But, I'm just afraid…" Yao said, his voice shaking a little. "What if our plan fail and we all face our own doom?" He asked as tears come to his eyes. Ivan just pulled him into a hug, chasing away all his fears.
"Yao, will you still love me on our next life?" Ivan asked as he wipes away the tears stain on Yao's face. Yao sniffles and nods his head. Ivan smiles at him a genuine smile and gently plants a kiss on his forehead. "No matter what, I will still love you until the end of my life, like the moon awaiting to be reunited with the sun."
"Even though we are forced to separate, aru?"
"Your heart belongs to me, so does mine. You will remain in my heart until the day when I could finally reach you, I will embrace you and protect you until the end. No one can stands in our way." Ivan said, as Yao meets his violet eyes. "Ever since I met you, you gave me the will to live again. I realise that you are something important to me that I must not let go. Even if we may not be together in this lifetime, please wait for me. I will come back for you, no matter how many years have passed, I will not forget you."
That night, the two of them cuddle together and sleep in each other embrace, too afraid to lose each other. A significant smile forms on their face, knowing that this may be the last night they spend their time as lovers together.
Ivan disappears the day after that lovely night they spent together. Yao searches up and down and all over the place but finds no traces of him. When he runs to the Laurel tree where he usually meets Ivan, he finds nothing but a note attaches at the bottom of the tree, saying that what Ivan wishes has been granted. Mei tells him that probably the gods had already heard their wishes.
Life without Ivan is boring, especially for Yao who is living in the moon. Every day he would wait under the Laurel tree in hopes of meeting Ivan again. Days passes like years for Yao, Ivan has yet to appear and nothing happens to him.
"Hey Yao, do you want to eat something?" Arthur finds him sitting under the Laurel tree waiting for Ivan and tries to invite him back for some snack but Yao just declines it. Arthur sighs and sits next to Yao, gazing onto the cloudless, dull sky.
"You know, I was once like you, stubborn and rebellious." Arthur said.
"What do you mean?" Yao asked, uninterested.
"I was once loved by someone, but then that person abandoned me and left me devastated. I was too stubborn to admit it, not to say letting it go. That's why I came to the moon in hope that I could watch over the person whom I love from the distance away." Arthur smiled a gentle smile at the thought of that. "But everything has its ending. The longer I lived here, I realised that I no longer have any feelings for him and I should actually let it go."
"Not everything is easy to let go, ahen." Yao huffed.
"Yes, but someday we have to give up this life we have and lead another new one. Just like Ivan, he'd probably have a new life, waiting for that someone he loves to return." Arthur said as he gazed at the Earth. "Someday, we will return back to where we are and we will find something with important meaning to us. That way, we finally learnt to appreciate what we have." He said before turning back.
"There's always something new if we let it go…" Yao mumbled to himself as he gazes at the Earth.
"Anyway, there's a message from his majesty." Arthur stopped to break to him the news. "Our wish has been taken into consideration. If permission is granted, we would be given another chance to return back to Earth."
Yao immediately lit up at what Arthur said and quickly looked back to the Earth. He wonders how Ivan is doing. Is he living a peaceful life on Earth? Or maybe he's still waiting for him to return to his side? He gives one of his last prayers to Ivan before heading back.
What has he been wishing for during this lifetime? For him to be finally free of torture? A place and person where he could truly belong and find his happiness? He knows he is selfish but if the gods are willing to listen him, he'd wish that they would grant him his one last final wish before the end of this life. He gives the view outside one last gaze before closing his eyes falling asleep.
Yao wakes up abruptly to the strong light rays shining into his golden brown eyes. He groans and tries to shield the light rays from entering his eyes while looking around himself.
"Little one, you're awake. Are you alright?" He heard a child's voice. The accent is somewhat a little unfamiliar but he could understand otherwise. He blinks the sleep away and finds himself gazing into a pair of familiar purple eyes.
In fluid motion, Yao immediately sits up and looks around himself, finding himself surrounded by beautiful green trees and flowers and lively sounds made by the people not too far away from him. "Where am I?" He asked the kid, who has platinum blonde hair. What has happened just now? He can't remember anything.
"You must be new here. I have never seen you before." The kid flashed a childish grin at him. "My name is Ivan, what's yours?" He stretched out his hand to Yao.
"M-My name is Yao, aru." Yao responded and takes the kid's hand. The moment their skin made contact, there is a jolt and the memories suddenly return in a toll.
"Y-Yao?" Ivan was somehow stunned a little at what Yao had mentioned. "You had finally returned." The kid exclaimed, hugging his petite small frame into embrace.
Tears welled up in Yao's eyes as his eyes reflected Ivan's look in it, mesmerizing it. "Y-You… You remember me?" He can't believe that his wish actually come true.
"I will never forget you no matter how many times has pass." Ivan said taking hold of his hand. "Now we're together, inseparable. I will love you as always, even death won't stop us from being together."
"I missed you, aru…" Yao mumbled softly under his breath. Even though they were now living as children, as long as they get to be together, it will be the best thing in their life, no matter what, when and where, like the Sun and the Moon finally reunited together. And henceforth, they continued to cherish their life together.
From a far, three rabbits watched the two kids playing in the field, smiling at the sight that all their dreams had come true. They lifted their gaze towards the night sky where the full moon shone hazy hue to the Earth. Once again, the world has become beautiful with the full moon.
Hi everyone, I'm back with a short story here but I guess it is just as crappy as always. I should have written more Rochu moment but it ended up that I wrote something else but hope you all will still enjoy it. Moreover, I suck in writing short fic so please criticise me if I made any mistakes.
I managed to come up with this story during Mid-Autumn Eve and decided to write as a dedication to Yao. For some facts, Mid-Autumn festival has other names as well.
Moon Festival: It's because it's a full moon night and people gaze and worship the moon.
Mooncake festival: Since mooncakes have become one of the food for this festival.
Lantern Festival: Because lanterns are hung on Mid-Autumn night.
Reunion Festival: A round moon symbolises people being together. And during this season, women of China would visit their family before returning to celebrate the festival with her husband.
Children Festival: This is celebrated in Vietnam because it's the day for children.
Harvest Moon and Chinese Thanksgiving Festival: As in celebrating the month of harvest
Moon worship has become one of the tradition during Mid-Autumn festival. This is to commemorate the moon goddess, Chang E. Her husband, Hou Yi shot down nine suns out of ten. The goddess gave him the Elixir of Life as thanking for his heroic deed. Hou Yi let Chang E keep the Elixir but then his apprentice intended to steal the Elixir. So when Hou Yi went out hunting on the lunar fifteen of August, his apprentice forced Chang E to hand out the Elixir. Chang E, not willing to do so, swallowed the medicine and she became a goddess and took residence in the Moon because she do not want to leave Hou Yi. After Hou Yi knew about this, he displayed the food Chang E liked and gave sacrifices to his wife.
Another alternative version of the story mentions of Hou Yi being the polar opposite. After Hou Yi heroic deeds, he was crowned as king and became greedy of power. He intended to be immortal so that he could rule the country forever. Chang E, not going to let more people suffer and decided to steal the Elixir. Hou Yi gave chase but Chang E had swallowed the Elixir and flew off to the moon. Hou Yi died of anger. People prayed for Chang E because the day she flew to the moon was lunar fifteen of August.
In this story, Ivan played the role as Wu Gang. He did an unforgivable sin on Earth so the gods punish him to cut down a huge tree on the moon. But whenever Wu Gang cut it, the tree will grow back, making it impossible for him to chop of the tree. Wu Gang's wife felt guilty about her husband, so she sent the two youngest children out of her three children to accompany their father in the moon. That's how they became the moon rabbits that grind the Elixir of immortality in the moon.
And most of all, does any one of you like mooncakes? In ancient time during the Ming revolution, mooncakes were used as a medium to secretly distributed letters to overthrow the Mongolian rulers of China in the Yuan Dynasty. But to smuggle the mooncakes and messages to the military, Zhu Yuan Zhang and Liu Bo Wen spread the deadly plague and the only cure to it was by eating mooncakes that will revive and give special power to the user. This therefore allows them to send the message without suspicion and allowed them to win the war. Another way of sending message is to print puzzles or mosaic on the surface of the mooncake. In order to encrypt the message, the four mooncakes in the box must be cut into four piece. The 16 pieces of mooncake will then be put together to form the secret message. The mooncakes have to be eaten so that no one will find out the secret message.
Another thing I would like to share is about the Mongolians' tradition of mooncakes. Because of Mongolia losing in the war, mooncakes mean bad luck for them. Therefore, Mid-Autumn festival was not celebrated in Mongolia and they only eat mooncakes if bad things happen to them.
Thank you for reading. Please favourite and leave a review if you like it. Also, if you're a FrUK fan, then I suggest you reading my first fanfic, The Prince and The Frog. If I can finish the new chapter as soon as possible, I will probably post it on Thursday or Sunday depends on the progress. That's all for now and wish you all belated Mid-Autumn Festival.