Hello everybody! After a longer period of time, now, here is the third chapter of this story. As the title suggests, yes, it's going to be about Kuzco. I couldn't leave him out of the picture, now, could I? Anyway, you can read the chapter after I've replied to the reviews from last chapter:

OddDangerSpiritualCyberLover17: Here's the next chapter.

Mustang52: Yeah, it sort of is. Most of them also tie in with what is mentioned in 'Warriors' or what could be relevant in next installments. And there's not only going to be prequel material, but also sequel material set right after Warriors. Thanks for reviewing!

Enjoy!

-Writer207

Kuzco had fought harder than he ever had before in his entire life, including his skirmishes with Yzma. What was he fighting for, then? Something the leaders of other nations had already agreed on: Kuzco could keep his empire, so it would not become part of Auradon. It lay on the border with Auradon, to the left of an ocean and south of Olympus and the borderlands. Only later in his life, he started appreciating the position of his empire, thinking about the economic advantages. He maintained good financial relationships with Auradon and other nations, and his empire became a big player when they started to export gold. Not bad for a twenty-year-old, the emperor often thought to himself.

Those financial relationships enabled him to hear stories about the things that were going on in Auradon. It started as mere rumors, which did not even reach him, but were spread among the merchants. When the villains hit the mainland, the news finally reached Kuzco as well. He continued to trade, telling the merchants to report back to him directly. And so, he learned that the villains had left the Isle and had come to the mainland, ready to take their revenge.

Kuzco did not care as much in the beginning. After all, they weren't out to get him, right? But then he remembered: Yzma lived there as well. She got off the Isle. She would come to see him.

So Kuzco prepared himself, not telling anyone how much he actually thought about what was to come. People thought he carelessly let it come to him. They feared Kuzco would only act when it was too late. The only ones who knew what he was planning, was Pacha and his family. He had them prepare for what was to come, going as far as telling them they could better move out of the castle to a village on the Auradonian border, just in case. Of course, they did not just leave him alone and stayed right where they were.

And then, the day came that Yzma arrived at the palace.

Kuzco sat on his throne, waiting. It had always bored him and he normally didn't have the patience to do, but today it was different. Maybe that was what mortal danger did to something as boring as having to wait anxiously. He held one key, one master key to open and close all doors, in his hand. He played with it, all the while wondering when Pacha would arrive. With Yzma nearing, the need to push this key into his Pacha's hands only grew.

He released a breath when the door finally opened and Pacha walked in. He had a backpack on his back, having packed everything they needed. Personal belongings, food, water. Everything they needed to sustain themselves while they were on the run from Yzma.

For one second, the emperor glanced at the door to his right. The door through which Pacha would leave the palace. It connected the throne room to the kitchen and from there, Pacha knew the way outside. If everything went according to plan, Chicha and the children were already waiting there.

"I've got everything," Pacha announced, taking the emperor out of his thoughts. Kuzco nodded.

"And your family?"

"Is waiting outside." Kuzco nodded once again. Okay, that good. so he was all set to leave. Then what was he waiting for? "C'mon, let's go."

Kuzco looked at the man. He knew this was coming, Pacha inviting him to leave the palace and flee with them to Auradon. He wanted to say yes. He wanted to jump up from his throne and follow him to Auradon. He wanted to run from Yzma, scared as he was because he didn't want his life to end. And yet, he suppressed the urge to do all of those things.

"Oh," Kuzco said. "I can't go yet."

"What?" Pacha asked. He was smart: Kuzco told them to prepare, but the emperor himself hadn't prepared a single thing. "Why not?"

Because I've still got to take care of things. "I'll have to pick up some stuff in my bedroom." Almost all of his belongings were located in his chambers, yes, though not everything lay in his bedroom. He felt bad for lying to Pacha, but it was for his own good. How else could the emperor convince Pacha to leave now?

"Then we'll stop there on our way out," Pacha said. Kuzco shook his head. No, no, no! You don't get it, get out of here! Pacha, is this the best time to act like a stubborn dad?

"That's not necessary," he said, surprising himself as to how calm he managed to sound. "Go ahead. Here, use these—" he tossed the master key at Pacha "-and lock all the doors behind you. The key will fit."

Pacha's slow reaction made Kuzco even more anxious. What was he still waiting for? If he didn't leave soon, Kuzco feared that he would just blurt out what he was going to do and if that happened, Pacha probably would not think about abandoning his friend anymore.

"What about you?" Pacha eventually asked him. Kuzco shrugged, as to tell him it wasn't such a big deal. He also shrugged to hide his own nervousness as well, but Pacha did not need to know that.

"There's a secret passage to my room," the emperor said. "You go ahead. We'll meet at the border of Auradon in Calrow in two days' time." He knew Calrow existed – probably the only name of a city in his empire he knew. That was where they would meet up if they got separated while running away. That was where Pacha and family would go.

"But—"

"Don't wait up," Kuzco said quickly, "C'mon, then, go!" Even then, Pacha still hesitated.

"You'll be safe, right?" Kuzco nodded.

"I'm right behind you. See you in Calrow." Finally, the man was convinced that Kuzco would follow and he left the throne room via the door to the kitchen. Kuzco followed him with his gaze, not standing up from his throne. After Pacha had gone through the door, there was a click, as the door was locked. Only after hearing that click, Kuzco relaxed.

There was no secret passage. Even though the concept was awesome, there was none.

For a moment, he doubted. He wanted to run, to flee, to get away before Yzma reached the throne room. He still had time, since she had to go against lots and lots of guards before even reaching the young emperor. More than enough time to change his mind again and prolong his life by some more weeks.

But he stayed. Yzma wanted his head on a plate, that much he was certain of. Even though the woman hadn't been successful in the past, he doubted she would continue the streak. Besides, she wanted him, not necessarily the family he made. If he stalled his personal villainess long enough, they would have enough time to leave and hopefully start a new, safer life in Auradon. Although there were villains there, there were none who would know them.

So he stayed. He placed his arms on the arms of his throne and grasped it tightly. He braced himself and waited for Yzma's arrival.

Two minutes passed. He tapped his fingers without rhythm. Four minutes passed. Still, no sound of Yzma approaching or guards screaming bloody murder. Another half a minute passed. The emperor sighed.

He was bored.

Whenever he had imagined this day, Yzma always reached him quickly. he never thought that she may take her time or would be held up for long. And even if stalling her was part of the plan, the waiting – during which he had nothing to do, except to rehearse his lines – was killing him. not only was he bored, but his anxiousness grew. He also was becoming rather impatient with his former advisor, often calling her out in his mind to hurry up, often retracting that statement and hoping she would show up late.

Then he heard the sound. Kuzco couldn't pinpoint when exactly it had started, but the noise was growing. It was indistinguishable at first, but the louder it became, the clearer he could distinguish sounds in the noise. Is guards – who else could it be – were screaming, shouting, though not all of them in pain. Soon, animals noises mixed with the shouting as the human shield between him and Yzma crumbled. She was approaching, now quicker than he first thought that midday.

The emperor straightened his back when he thought she had reached the guards who stood in front of the throne room. When she entered, she would be pissed and may not even take the chance to monologue. So Kuzco had to keep her going, keep her talking. This time, she did not have any servant to slow her down, either, no idiot that restrained her. He could only buy his surrogate family a few minutes, but it was better than nothing. Sooner than he wanted, she could be sitting on his throne.

He clenched the arms of the throne, angered at the thought of Yzma at the throne and terrified of the way she may have to take it. She's not sitting here, he reassured himself. Not while I'm alive.

Okay, that last part did not really help to calm him down, but it was all he could come up with. There was nothing else he could think of. The door swung open and there she was. A maniacal smile lay on her ugly face, her eyes fixated on the emperor. Blood dripped from the knife she held in her hand. The island hadn't changed her, Kuzco noticed. She was still thin and ugly with those almost-visible bones and that gray skin.

"Yzma." After one year of not having seen each other, they finally stood eye to eye again, at about fifteen yards from one another. Kuzco tried not to make his fear to apparent, but he couldn't quite cover it up when talking.

"Kuzco!" she exclaimed, "It's a pleasure to see you again." She did not have to pretend to be glad. He was certain she dreamed of this moment since she was sentenced to live on the Isle of the Lost.

Kuzco gulped. "Really? Because I thought you'd never want to come near me again." Okay, that sounded good, sounded not-scared. Keep this up and you might fool her. He never wanted to see her again and hated it that he did not get his way this time. The barrier was supposed to be unbreakable, so how in the world did they get off the Isle? He'd ask if he dared.

"Wrong!" Yzma shouted. The word echoed through the room before she continued. "You see, there's something I –"

"No." Yzma stopped talking, glared at him. She squinted her eyes at him and he trembled. It was only a slight trembling, but he sure hoped Yzma wouldn't notice.

"What?"

Kuzco took one good look at the woman. Since when did she frighten him as much as today? Since she has that bloody knife in her hand and since I might be next on the list.

"No," the emperor responded in a childish manner. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No!" She was boiling, balled her hands. She may be angered, but it helped Kuzco. He somehow convinced himself he had the situation under control from there on.

"You don't even know what I want!"

"Even so, no!" Kuzco shook his head. "Whatever it is, you're not getting it."

"Then I'll have to take it." She pointed with the knife at Kuzco. Even from that distance, the blood stains were visible. His breathing accelerated, going faster than before, and he managed to just keep it together, fiercely hoping Yzma did not notice. Play it cool, Kuzco. You've got this.

His grip on the arm of his throne tightened. "You can't because I am the emperor and I command you to stand down." For a few seconds, all they could hear was the silence. It was followed by Yzma's grinning and, eventually, laughing as if he'd told a good joke.

"I don't listen to you," she said. Kuzco shrugged. Play it cool, play it cool, play it cool…

"See, that's your problem," he leaned a bit closer, "If you'd just accepted that—"

"No!" Yzma yelled. Even though he was terrified, he glared at her. How dare she interrupt him? It seemed such a small issue to worry about, especially since bigger threats needed his attention more urgently. Even so, he had every right to worry about his authority. He still was the emperor. "Stop stalling!"

"Stalling?" He tried to sound genuinely surprised, all the while panicking because, oh shit, she knew what he was up to. "I'm not stalling, you're stalling!" She was right, though. The longer he stalled, the more time Pacha had to leave the castle and get him and his family out of danger's way. If that meant angering Yzma more and more with every word that left his mouth, it would be worth it. Knowing her, she would first enjoy the first moments of her life without the emperor on the throne before going after the people he could call his friends, if that was her plan at all.

"Don't you turn this around!" Not much after she said this, her eyes lit up in realization. Sweat dripped from Kuzco's brow. It was too late to run now. Maybe he also shouldn't have made his previous statement in such a dramatic manner. She walked some feet closer and Kuzco straightened his back again. He'd do anything to still look like he was powerful, to seem to be in control of the situation, even though the opposite was true.

"What are you so afraid of?" Oh shit, she knows! "Dying? Pain? Because I can assure you, I can make it as long and painful as possible." Surprisingly, he feared not only both, but also what she may do if she found his surrogate family. How uncharacteristic of him, caring about others when he was the one who stared in the face of death. He did not like it, though it was the least he could do for the ones that took him in when nobody else would.

"Then do it." The words escaped his mouth before he could think it through, before he found anything else to say. He not only surprised Yzma but also himself. And to his great shock, he continued the rhetoric like that. "What's the matter, Yzma? Are you afraid to kill me? I mean, you've had so many chances at so many times, and each time you failed. Or maybe you didn't, not really. Did you delay something you didn't wanna do in the first place?"

Big mistake. Yzma turned red, fuming with anger. She clenched the knife so tightly her knuckles turned white and became even more visible. "What!?" She yelled, and Kuzco took that as his cue to brace himself. "That's it!"

She did not hesitate and ran towards him. Kuzco held onto the throne, his knuckles almost as white Yzma's. Kuzco shut his eyes, crouched and waited for the impact, praying to any and all gods to 'please, let me live, I'm too young to die!'.

Nothing happened. The emperor hesitantly opened one eye. He immediately wished he hadn't. The blade was mere inches away from his face, Yzma's unstable hand making it tremble, so it looked like it moved closer to him. Yzma herself was smiling widely in an evil manner – an ugly way of smiling, in Kuzco's opinion. Genuine smiles were much better. It did not take him long to realize Yzma rendered this train of thought irrelevant, as her wicked grin also was a genuine one.

"Any last words?" Kuzco lifted his head and straightened his back – only cowards hunched down in the face of danger. He spat in her face, catching her off-guard.

"Go find yourself another throne," Kuzco said. "This one's mine." Good luck, Pacha, you'll need it.

Yzma wiped the saliva off of her face and then planted the knife into Kuzco's heart. She immediately pulled it out and laughed. The day she had been looking forward to since his birth had finally come: Kuzco was no more.

After this murderous spree and turning several people into different kinds of animals, she needed to sit down. She still was a rather old woman, after all. On what better seat to do so, than the throne?

Unfortunately, even in death, Kuzco refused to get off of his throne. He was still in it, his corpse slumping in the most important chair of the empire. Yzma pulled the body off of the throne and dragged him away from it before sitting down. The seat was still warm.

This was it. This was exactly what she had imagined when she was locked up on the Isle. Sitting on the throne, a dead emperor at her feet. The only person missing from the scene was Kronk. The Auradonian authorities had decided he didn't fit on the Isle, as he never intentionally hurt or harmed anyone. They unanimously decided Yzma's influence made him behave in an evil way from time to time and they allowed him to live on the mainland, in

Of course, she had to think about securing her position. Her reputation alone was enough, but she was old and may have to go to Hades sooner than she wanted. She needed a successor. She recently heard the news that Kronk had fathered a son a couple of months ago. As far as she knew, he had not yet fled his house. He still lived at the same place. That would make her plans all the easier. She already picked a name for the boy: Zevon. A name worthy of a successor.

Yes. She'd take care of that later. But first, Yzma enjoyed her victory.