Chapter 12: Love, Blood, and Rhetoric

"You will die."

Faust turned away from his older self, and looked out over Gartlant's capital city. The city was dark and dirty again, as it had been before he'd come to rule. Clouds scudded across the sky, blocking the sun, casting everything into shades of grey. Even knowing this was a dream, Faust frowned. This wasn't how things were supposed to be.

As always, there was another him there in the dream, one that aged as Faust watched until he turned into the old man. As always, the other him had lectured Faust on everything he was doing wrong, told him of the future, and promised that he'd lose the marionettes to gain nothing in return. Then, the older one had told him of the inevitable.

"You will die," he said again.

"Everyone dies," Faust said, doing his best to sound uninterested. "The old man died, eight others before him died, countless men across Terra II have died. What's your point?"

"You will die like all the others before you. Old, alone, and with no one to mourn you. You'll die a lonely death--"

Faust spun on his duplicate, scowling. "You don't know that," he hissed. "Anything could happen. You know what I'm doing, you know what I'm looking for." He huffed, and straightened himself. "I'll save Lorelei and the marionettes. When my time comes, all of Terra II will mourn me."

The older one laughed, loud and clear, filling Faust's ears and making him take a step back. He knew that mocking laugh. It wasn't just the old man. Faust himself had used that laugh when someone told him there was something he couldn't do. He'd laughed just like that when someone tried to tell him that what he wanted wouldn't work.

Faust felt the stone beneath his feet shake. He looked down to see the black stone of Gartlant's palace cracking.

"You're a fool," the other one said. "You think that you know everything, that you can see through every possibility? You think you can succeed where nine of you have failed?"

"They weren't me!" Faust yelled. He took a step forward, and the balcony buckled, sending him stumbling. He barely kept his balance.

"Weren't they?" The older Faust smirked, and Faust knew that superior look too well. "Every single one of you thought you could change the face of Terra II. Every single one of you thought you could make the world turn at your whim, that you could declare changes and simply have them happen. Isn't that what you've been doing?"

Faust opened his mouth, but no words came out. He couldn't deny it. The older one was right.

"History shows . . . what Faust wants is what Faust does. No matter the consequences, Faust is always right. And everyone else be damned."

The stone shook again, and the cracks started to spread. Faust struggled, and nearly fell to his knees. He grabbed the side of the balcony, catching himself, then raised his head and stared the older one in the eye.

"You're wrong," he said. "You're wrong. What I've done here . . . I've done to make Gartlant stronger. I've made Gartlant better. I've - we've - done things to make Gartlant a country we're proud of." He pulled himself up, standing straight. "I have changed the face of Terra II. For the better. Every man who comes to love his marionettes will thank me, and mourn me when I'm gone."

"Ah, yes, marionettes," the other Faust said. If the balcony's shaking bothered him at all, he didn't show it. "Marionettes . . . and love. Do you love yours? Have you told them?"

The stone under Faust's feet gave way. He held to the balcony railing, his feet hanging over darkness. Faust gritted his teeth, and tried to pull himself up. His hands slipped, and he started to fall, then caught himself on a broken edge. The older one stepped over, looking down at him. His boot rested next to Faust's fingers.

"You will die," the older one repeated, "without ever having told your marionettes that you love them. You know why. And whether you're the only one or not, when they're gone, you will mourn them. For the rest of your long, lonely, miserable life."

The stone in Faust's hands crumbled, and he fell into the darkness.

Cold sweat beaded Faust's forehead when he woke up. He took a deep breath, glad he hadn't screamed or gasped or anything that would have awakened the marionettes. Faust wiped off his face, then sighed.

Nearly two weeks without one of those dreams, not since the night in Japoness, and they'd come back with a vengeance. And while the old man's warnings - or the older him's warnings, Faust had to admit - had always been easy to shrug off, ignore, or deny . . . tonight was different. There was no way around it. The dream was right.

Faust rubbed his eyes, letting them adjust to the dim light, and sat up a little. He looked around his large bed. He lay in the center; that was the only way their arrangement could work. Panther lay to his right, between him and the door, as she'd insisted - she wanted to be close but still protecting him, just in case. As usual, she lay sprawled out over her part of the bed, mouth open wide as she snored. Luchs lay to his other side, and Faust was somewhat surprised he hadn't disturbed her; as usual, she was using his stomach as a pillow. She'd gotten into the habit in Japoness and refused to give it up.

As for Tiger, she curled herself across the top part of the bed, close to him in a way that seemed more intimate than the others. He knew she sometimes awoke before he did, as several times, he'd woken up to her stroking her fingers through his hair, or found that she'd knelt behind him and was resting his head on her lap.

A lump formed in Faust's throat. He loved them; he knew that. And if anyone else asked, he wouldn't hesitate to tell the truth. But to tell them . . . that would make their Maiden Circuits grow, possibly more than ever before. And that would only bring everything Ieyasu had told him closer to happening.

Faust closed his eyes and tried hard to get back to sleep.

"You look nervous, Faust-sama," Luchs said, a teasing hint in her voice.

Faust glanced over at her, frowning, then grinned when she gave him one of her innocent looks. "Maybe I am," he said.

"Why's that, Faust-sama?" Tiger asked.

"Don't worry, we won't tell anyone," Panther cracked.

Faust had to chuckle at that. He and the three marionettes were in his limo, heading across the city to one of the prisons. Part of him wished there wasn't any need for more than one prison, but that had been an issue since the beginning. His advisors had said that they didn't know how people would react to the new laws and so forth, so keeping plenty of room in case things went badly was a necessary precaution. Fortunately, things had gone well, and his people had adjusted to the new ways. The jails now were nowhere near full, and most of the crimes were petty ones. Things had been that way for most of his reign, until now.

Earlier that day, Faust had received a report. One of the leaders of the group that had been attacking the food depots and police stations had been caught. Wanting to speak to the man and find out his reasons personally, Faust had insisted upon seeing him as soon as possible. A few hours later, he'd received word that the prisoner was willing to speak.

That phrase alone made Faust uneasy. It rang too strongly of the former Gartlant.

Pushing that thought out of his head, Faust put one hand to his chin for a moment, then turned and faced the marionettes. "No one's challenged anything about my rule since Goddel's attempt at a coup," he said.

"There's a reason for that, Faust-sama," Luchs said. "I looked over the recent opinion polls, and most people are happy to have you as their leader."

Faust paused. "I have opinion polls?"

Luchs nodded, her bangs still hiding her eyes. "It was another one of Murphy's ideas," she said. "He said they have them in New Texas, and President Joy got mad whenever he did poorly in them."

"Serves him right, if what Murphy said about him's true," Panther said, scoffing. "Like we need to deal with a leader who lies."

"We don't know if he's lying," Faust said, frowning. He wondered if that was really what was upsetting Panther, or if she was also thinking about having to go to the Mesopotamia. "Anyway. About the prisoner. Like I said, he's the first one who's put forth any challenge since Goddel. I want to know why."

"I think I see what you mean, Faust-sama," Tiger said, looking thoughtful. "He might have a real reason behind all this." She looked out the window. "I don't know why he'd do that, though, Faust-sama. It's better now than it was when you first started."

And that, Faust thought, was exactly the problem.

The prison building was bleak, as he'd expected, and Faust guessed that was done on purpose. The guards at the door saluted smartly as he approached, and he nodded. Someone in a military-style uniform greeted him with a salute as soon as he stepped inside.

"Fuhrer Faust!" the man barked. "I am Thom, Warden of this prison. It's an honor."

Faust did his best to hide his smile. Some things never got old. "You have the prisoner from the raids?" he asked. Thom nodded. "Take me to him."

The marionettes fanned out around him as they walked; Tiger taking the front, with Luchs and Panther to each side and just behind him. Faust wasn't sure what danger they expected from a prison, but it was best to be sure. Thom led the four of them through unadorned halls and to a door marked 'Questioning.' Faust frowned at the sign, and his scowl deepened once they were inside.

The room was a cold reminder of the way things used to be. Chains and shackles hung from the walls, and old bloodstains marked the floor. A rack for stretching prisoners stood in one corner, and cages too small for a person to stand in hung from the ceiling. In the center of the room, two guards stood to either side of a young man sitting in a chair with his hands cuffed in front of him.

Thom leaned close to Faust. "We don't use the equipment anymore, fuhrer," he whispered. "But the suggestion has been most effective."

Faust nodded, and took a closer look at the prisoner. He could have been anyone. Not far into manhood, with a rebellious look in his eyes, the young man glared up at Faust with a mixture of surprise and contempt. Brown hair hung limp over his forehead, and blood from a cut on his lip had dried halfway down his chin.

"You've been hurt," Faust said.

"Blame your soldiers," the boy said. "I let them take me and they still beat me up."

A scowl grew on Faust's face, and he turned to Luchs. "Is he lying?" he asked, trying not to snarl. He wasn't sure if he wanted it to be a lie or not.

"No, Faust-sama," Luchs said, shaking her head. Her eyes dimmed. "He's telling the truth."

"One of your men did this," Faust said to Thom. It wasn't a question. "Find out who and have them punished. That was an explicit part of my orders for the police force; they are not to harm my people, only subdue."

"Fuhrer - I--" Thom swallowed hard, then saluted. "I will handle it personally," he said.

"Good," Faust said. He motioned to the guards and Thom. "Leave us." Thom gave him a questioning look, but said nothing. Once they were gone, Faust turned back to the young man. "What's your name?"

"Why do you care?" he spat.

"Faust-sama asked you a question," Panther said, leaning in and scowling at the boy. "Answer it."

"You going to torture me if I don't?" the boy said, glaring back at Panther.

The blonde marionette smirked. "I might make you eat Luchs's cooking," she said. "But probably not. Faust-sama's not cruel."

"You're not helping," Luchs said quietly.

"Enough, you two," Faust said, trying hard not to laugh. "Tell me. What's your name?"

"Derek," he said, sounding like it was hard to admit. "What're you going to do to me?"

"Talk to you, for a start," Faust said. "Luchs, you're recording this?" The marionette nodded, and Faust continued. "Now. Derek. You're going to serve time no matter what for what you've done. I'm not here to hurt you, or make you confess something you didn't do. I'm here because I want to know why."

Derek started to lean away, but ran into the chair's back before long. "You want to talk to me?" he asked, sounding like he didn't believe it. "But . . . you're Faust. You do what you want. Why would you listen to me?"

Faust shrugged. That sounded a little too much like what the old one in the dream had said. "You got my attention. You wouldn't be leading people to steal food and attack the police stations if you didn't have some problem."

"He might, but then we could just throw him in a cell and leave him there," Panther said.

Faust made a mental note to have Panther stand guard elsewhere if he ever had to calmly talk to a prisoner again. She'd be best to have for an interrogation, though. He glanced over at Tiger, who said nothing, but just smiled. Faust gave her a small smile in return, then looked back to Derek.

"So," he said. "You've got a private audience. Talk."

"I wouldn't call this private," Derek said, motioning toward the marionettes.

"We go where Faust-sama goes," Tiger said.

Next to him, Panther chuckled. "He couldn't do his job without us."

Faust glowered at her. "Do I have to ask you to wait outside?"

"I wouldn't," Panther said with a shrug.

Derek looked back and forth at the two of them. "So it's true," he said. "You really do treat them like people."

Faust nodded. "You'd heard otherwise?"

"I've heard all kinds of things," Derek said, sounding like he was making a painful admission. "That's how all this got started."

Faust motioned for him to continue.

"There were some guys who had a bunch of grievances to take to you, problems with the way things were going. Stuff about jobs and food, problems with the police, that kind of thing. Someone started saying you wouldn't listen, that anyone who complained to Faust got tossed in jail." He glanced around at the chains hanging from the walls.

"Props," Faust said with a dismissive gesture. "Who said you'd get in trouble if you brought up a problem?"

"I don't know, some old guy," Derek said.

Faust frowned. That figured. Someone old, someone who'd lived through the old man's reign and knew about the Eighth's time as leader, wouldn't expect him to be any different. "So based on this old man's words, you thought it'd be better to get violent?"

Derek lowered his head. "It seemed like a good idea at the time," he said quietly. "But maybe the old man was right. It's not like you're here to do anything about the problems we're having. You don't know what it's like out there."

"Then tell me."

Derek went on for longer than Faust had expected. Things weren't as rosy in the city as he'd expected. True, it was easier to find work now, it was easier to get food, and the police weren't going around beating people up for no reason. But some of the new laws kept things from working as well as they used to, and some only worked on paper. After two years of problems that never got solved and thinking that they'd be jailed for bringing them up, some people had finally decided to take matters into their own hands.

Faust absorbed it all, then leaned back against the door and thought about what could be done. He was just starting to form an idea, based on some of what he'd read about how things worked centuries ago on Earth, when Derek continued.

"The old man always said that the worst of it was seeing you standing up there, spewing out rhetoric, acting like you really cared," he said. "He said that you were just going to go back to how things were, someday. He said that you'd never really let us lead our own lives."

Faust shook his head. It was starting to look like he really never was going to be free of the old man's shadow. "That's not what I want," Faust said. "That's not now things should be."

"Faust-sama," Luchs said. "There's a meeting with your advisors in an hour. We have to finish here soon."

"Thank you," he said, then looked back to Derek. "Have you ever studied history, Derek? Back on Earth, some of the countries had a system I've read about, one that the other Fausts thought was ridiculous. They let their people have some say in how the country was ruled, about what laws were passed, about who ruled them. They called it voting."

Derek gave him a doubtful look. "And you'd let us do that?"

Faust grinned.

It was one thing to get that disbelieving look from a prisoner. It was something else entirely to get it from every single one of his advisors. Faust had a feeling they were all glad that he'd encouraged them to speak their minds, otherwise, they'd all be forcing themselves to smile and nod about something they clearly thought was madness.

"With all respect, fuhrer, I don't see how this is going to work," Hauser said. He looked a lot more sure of himself than usual. "Most people don't know anything about how the country's run, let alone how to run it."

"That, and what's to stop them from rallying behind some popular but foolish idea?" Urmanov, the economist from Romana, cleared his throat and continued. "Consider this, fuhrer. Few people like paying taxes, but as we here know, they're essential for keeping things running. Everything costs money. What's to stop someone from putting forth something to cut taxes and everyone supporting it?"

Faust nodded, but said nothing, letting the debate continue.

"Furthermore," one of the oldest advisors said, "I doubt the people even know what they want. They've been told what they want for so long, getting to help make the laws . . . they wouldn't know what to do."

Faust frowned at that. He'd like to think the people of Gartlant were smarter than that. Then he remembered Murphy talking about how President Joy thought highly of New Texas mostly because he was president, and chided himself.

It was Murphy who spoke next. "This might be too much too soon, fuhrer. If we tell them that they're going to help make the laws, all at once, who knows what they'd do. They might like it, they might not, they might do something we're not expecting. I think we should start smaller."

"I see," Faust said, putting a hand to his chin. "You do have a point. I remember the marionette situation; people didn't take well to them all at once. Perhaps . . . we should start by gathering opinions, polling everyone on upcoming decisions and seeing what they think about possible changes."

"That could work," Urmanov said, "so long as you don't make any guarantees about their opinions actually making the laws." He frowned. "If everyone thinks highly of a foolish change, and it doesn't happen, some people are going to start asking questions."

"But it won't do any good if they don't think their opinions matter," Hauser said, then looked to Faust. "Am I getting that right, fuhrer? You want the people to have some say in how they're ruled."

"That's part of it, yes," Faust said. There was more, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to break that news to them yet.

"Have you thought about how to collect the votes, or opinions, or whatever we end up with?" Murphy asked. "It seems like it'd be pretty easy for people to cheat with the voting or stuff ballot boxes or something like that."

"We could coordinate the marionettes, Faust-sama," Luchs said from his left. Faust glanced over at her, smiling a little. There was always something rewarding about when they spoke up during these meetings, even more when the advisors respected their words. "We could set up something to match names and voices, maybe fingerprints. Then we could see if someone's already voted, or if they're trying something they shouldn't."

"And if they're trying that," Panther added, "then we have the marionettes throw them in jail."

Faust paused. "You mean that literally, don't you?"

"Maybe," Panther said with a grin.

"That would work," Faust said, chuckling. "If the people are more used to marionettes now, they wouldn't be afraid to vote because of them. But you're right," he said, nodding to his advisors. "This is something we should do slowly. What are the next three issues we have to discuss?"

Hauser flipped through his papers for a moment. "Rotation of troops on the borders, funding for the next generation of plasma-dispersal satellites, and regulations for the street markets."

"Street markets?" Faust gave Hauser a curious look, then tried not to smile when the man shrunk back a little. "What street markets?"

"It's something that's started happening recently, fuhrer," Hauser said, sounding a bit nervous. "Enough people have been growing food outside the city that they're bringing it in some days of the week, and setting up stands. Some places even have set days for the markets. But the problem is, they block traffic and there aren't any laws about them."

Faust nodded. "That's a good one to start with," he said, then looked around the table at all his advisors. "A week from now, I want each of you to come up with a list of rules and regulations for these markets. We'll put them out, see what the ones who are actually going to these markets think would work best."

There was a chorus of nods and "yes, fuhrer" all around the table.

They spent the rest of the meeting discussing the troops and satellites, and then Faust dismissed them. Once everyone was gone, he turned to the marionettes. As usual, Panther looked bored, while Luchs's eyes had been flickering as she recorded everything and sent it to a database somewhere in Hess's lab. Tiger, however, was giving Faust a concerned look, and he frowned at her.

"Is there a reason you're doing this now, Faust-sama?" she asked. Luchs and Panther looked from her to him.

Faust sighed. This was why he was glad his advisors hadn't asked too many questions about the 'why' of what he was doing, focusing only on the 'how.' There were things he wasn't yet ready to tell them; however, the marionettes were a different story.

"I knew it," Panther said, a bit of a snarl in her voice. "I knew it wasn't just because of that kid back at the prison. You've been planning this."

"Somewhat," Faust said. "I read about voting years ago, but I didn't think it could work." He looked at them each in turn. "I'm bringing it up now because it's going to have to work.

"There's a reason," he continued, "why I want the people of Gartlant to learn to rule themselves. Part of it is for the same reason I've done everything; I don't want them to be my slaves. Subjects, yes, but that's their choice. But they should have some say in the laws that affect them."

"But that's not the only reason," Tiger said after an uncomfortable pause.

"Is this why you haven't had Hess make another clone?" Luchs asked. Faust looked at her, and she bowed her head a little. "I saw that in his records. You haven't made any plans for an heir."

"How much of Hess's records have you been through?" Faust asked. Luchs just gave him one of her smiles. "Never mind. You're right, that's the rest of it. I want the people to start getting used to ruling themselves, because I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to do this." He sank back into his throne, and sighed again. "I don't know how much longer I'm going to want to do this."

There was a quiet moment, then all three of them were trying to share the throne with him at once. Faust had to laugh at that. They weren't ready to leave him any more than he was ready to lose them. But he meant what he said. Without them at his side, would he even want to rule? Would it be worth it anymore?

There was the sound of footsteps at the door, and a nervous throat-clearing. Faust asked Luchs to move, and then gently pushed her to the side when she wouldn't. Murphy was standing in the doorway, looking like he was trying very hard not to laugh.

"Yes, Murphy?" Faust asked, ducking to one side as Panther and Tiger tried to pull Luchs off of his lap.

"I'm sorry to disturb you four," Murphy said, chuckling. "But I knew you'd want to hear this. My . . . investigations paid off. I've got information about Maiden Circuit work from New Texas."