The Etude Drabbles

by Erlkonig

A series of drabbles themed around Chopin's Etudes. My first drabbles! They will be imperfect (not exactly 100 words) but I'll keep it between 100 and 150, not counting notes and comments. Major key etudes will be in Kai's POV and minor keys in Shuhei's. Slice-of-life. [Kai Ichinose x Shuhei Amamiya]

12. Op 10, No 12 in c minor (Revolutionary)

Etude Op. 10, No. 12 in c minor ("Revolutionary")

Shuhei touched the gray stone depicting the fallen building, dwarfing the bronze soldiers. "You are a brave people," he told the silent soldiers. "You rebelled against a larger and stronger occupying force, knowing your chances were slim."

Across the square, Kai nodded, silhouetted against the pale blue column. "Just as they did a hundred years earlier, in Chopin's time. They suffered terribly, yet it did not stop them from rising again."

Shuhei peered at the statues, memorizing their faces. "Each grain of each column could represent a person killed, and still there'd be more. They laid down their lives for the little chance they had." He bowed his head reverently. "They must have loved their homeland above all."

- O -

Author's notes: This etude is so drenched in history and suffering that I couldn't desecrate it by writing about anything else. However I did make it about two separate uprisings - I couldn't find a monument or museum dedicated to the November Uprising (1830-1831) against Russian rule. The gray stone, soldiers, and blue columns are from the Warsaw Uprising Monument, dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising (1944) against Nazi occupation. The fighting spirit is the same. Often, our history books depict Poland as a victim, quickly invaded and occupied. I think that Chopin would have liked for us to think of the Poles as brave fighters who took a stand against impossible odds.