AN; Thank you to all the nice reviews~! It was enough to make me continue doing this, even though this is kind of...aggravating. This particular one took me four attempts...ugh. But, here it is~! Bad chapter is bad.
And obviously, even though I have the speech all written in English, they would have been speaking in Chinese...one dialect or the other.
This one...it took a lot longer to get the plot for, because I'm not very knowledgeable on this particular event...so if there is anything noticeably wrong, please let me know!!
Yao sat up in the hospital bed painfully when he heard the approaching footsteps. They were light and childish, rushing to get to the room. He glanced over at the door as it slid open and Puyi, the little emperor, walked over. "Zhōng guó…"
China smiled over, taking the small boys hand gently in his own. The little emperor was only six, and judging from the look in his eyes, he was afraid. "Are you alright…?" Puyi asked politely, not meeting the nations gaze with his own. He was one of the few people who knew that truth about Yao, what he really was. A soft smile set on his lips, and he nodded, "Of course I'm alright…the question is…are you?"
Yao was not alright, not in the least. The stress of the revolution was pushing down on him, at times making it hard to breathe…but he couldn't show a scared little boy that. The little boy looked up at Yao, meeting his eyes, "I'm scared. And…emperors are not supposed to be scared."
"Who told you that?" Yao asked, pulling little Puyi up to sit with him on the hospital bed. "Everyone. Everyone tells me that…" Yao frowned, holding the child close to him and sighing, "You have to be scared sometimes…it's only human…"
A shock ran through Yao's body, and he released his grip on the child for a moment. Puyi looked up at him, confused. The ever strong nation, sitting there weakly and clutching his stomach in pain. It was truly…frightening. Tears came to the emperors eyes, and he clutched him tightly.
Yao nuzzled against him once the pain had resided, and murmured soft comforts into the boys' ear. "I remember…when you first came to the Forbidden City, little emperor…you didn't understand at all. Overnight, you were told to be a God…"
Puyi remembered, and also remembered how the one man who didn't bow before him when he walked was Yao. How, when he realized he had the power, he tried to have Yao beaten for it. And he remembered how foolish he felt when he found that Yao was actually China.
"Everything will be alright…I promise you. China cannot die. The world cannot survive without us." Puyi climbed down off the bed, nodding slightly. His wet nurse came in, and bowed to Yao. He smiled lightly, but turned his attention back to Puyi for a moment, "No matter what happens, you will always be our little emperor."
"I accept the terms." Puyi said softly, after much persuasion from the ministers.
"Thank you, sir."
The ink came down upon the papers, and the imperial family was no more. Yao had managed to get out of the hospital to see it, and smiled lightly. He was weak. His country was weak. But they would find their strength again. 268 years of government were gone, but they would rise. They would only become stronger…
But it wouldn't come easily.