One Offs: Random Rambles of a Crazed Fool

Execution

The guard clamps a heavy hand on a thin shoulder. It shakes under him. Not from fear, he knows. This young man doesn't have fear in his eyes. If anything, his eyes read taunting. He gently ushers the former consort from the side lines to the designated spot, 60 feet from the emperor. It is far enough away a strike could be stopped if someone is to make an attempt on the royal, but it is close enough for both parties to be heard, though most of the talking is done between orator eunuchs.

He applies downward pressure and watches as the embodiment of elegance slides down to their knees. The guard remembers the time when the consort completed such an act on himself as the order of the, then, crowned prince. Not only does a warmth pool in the guard's belly, a deep sadness of what is to come to his former lover and friend..

An eunuch, young in the face and probably just appointed by the head eunuch to the palace belts out, 'Imperial Court is now in session..'

The guard looks down and sees the young man shaking, thinking he's crying. The guard can't tell because strands of moon kissed hair fall, providing a divider between the young man and the rest of the world. He bends down slightly and snaps back up quickly. The guard's face sets in a frown. The prisoner is laughing.. softly.. but laughing nonetheless.

The grand orator finishes listing the charges, half of which the guard knows are made up at the behest of the current empress.

The emperor's normally cold gaze lands on the young man kneeling before him. He is a pitiful sight. His once glossy vibrant skin, soft to the touch, is sickly gray toned. Bruises and scabs tarnish the skin the powerful man knows intimately. The prisoner licks his chapped lips, causing the emperor to catch his breath. His heart will only belong to one person.

He swallows hard, trying to control the sadness and anger in his voice. 'Do you have anything to say for yourself prior to execution?'

His empress looks on from behind a screen placed behind his throne. She urges her husband mentally, knowing he wants to go against order and let that abomination live. She will carry the future of the nation in her belly once the object of her emperor's desires is burned and forgotten.

The prisoner holds a hand out to the guard. It is a pleading, playful glance. One that brightens up the prisoner's face like it used to be. If this is a different circumstance, muses the guard, the prisoner might have jumped in his arms playfully. The guard answers the last request, happy to touch his friend and lover one last time.

Looking toward the emperor with a determined glance, the former consort strips off his top, allowing it to fall on the white sun bleached stone below. His chest is wrapped, not showing the budding bosom growing there. What shocked everyone was the growing life inside.

'Do you see, your highness. I never lied to you about my body. You chose to only listen to those poisoning your ear..' the prisoner laughs.

The emperor stands, ready to revoke his punishment, given his heart carries the future of the kingdom, but a weak hand is held up, halting the emperor to his spot.

'You suffer, you son of a bitch,' the former consort yells. 'I gave up my entire life for you. I could have been happy in that run down house..'

He smiles bitterly and leans heavily into the guard. 'I could have been a wonderful wife and mother.. you ruined me.. RUINED me..' the prisoner laughs with tears running down his dirty face.

'I curse you, Shi'er.. I curse you to have no one to pass on your name, no one to give your legacy to.. Watch your back..'

'ENOUGH!' yells the empress as she steps from behind her curtain. 'This court will not tolerate anymore --'

A loud deafening slap silenced the entire courtyard. Sounds of laughter fill the air.

'You! You will not talk to the real empress like that, do you understand?' his highness utters so coldly the shocked empress stands stock still holding her cheek in her hand. Tears well in her eyes and one rogue one slides down her face. Later she will hate herself for showing the man, she never feared, such weakness, but in this moment, she is scared. She had never seen him stand so tall before. A mountain, an non-bowing mountain.

'It is too late,' the soft voice of the former consort sounds. He's firm but quiet and stands weakly but strong against his former guard. 'But I am glad you have finally found your balls after all this time..'

The emperor takes a step forward only to halt again when his love snatches a dagger from the waist of their friend, pushing the guard aside, who tumbles to the ground in a heap.

'I will not allow my child to grow in this disgusting world. He will have a mark on his back the rest of his life.. Ahh!'

The former consort screams as an arrow pierced right through his shoulder, the arm weilding the weapon. It is his right hand, but the emperor knows his lover and mother of his child is left handed. The dagger drops to the ground and another arrow flies, piercing the man in his low back, close to the hip, and causing him to fall. The emperor screams out order to stop shooting and angrily grabs the empress standing stock still at the sight of it. He tosses her down the steps of the raised platform and runs past her to get to his true love.

The prisoner has managed to grab the dagger again and holds it up. 'Don't move, my Shi'er.'

He stabs himself squarely in the stomach piercing the child within, dragging the dagger across his belly. Another arrow hits the prisoner in the abdomen, hitting the child as well. The emperor makes it to his lover and gathers him in his arms.

'No no no..' the most powerful man cries, never feeling less powerful in his life. 'Someone anyone get the physician here.. NOW! SAVE HIS LIFE NOW!'

Weakly, the former consort pushes his ex-lover away and holds up his bloody hand. Arrows stop flying and he points his glossy eyes toward the guard. His voice is weak and patchy as he speaks, 'Thank you, Gun, for this last wish.. I love..'

'Don't speak, your highness,' hushes the guard. He sneaks his hands between the emperor and the former consort. He kisses the man's forehead. 'I love you, too, Mae..'

The prisoner smiles softly as tears flow from his eyes. Weakly, the boy lifts his hand up to cup the guard's face, but it falls short, dropping with a hard thud to the ground.

The guard places another kiss to the deceased and stands tall in an official filial duty. He removes his sword and his armor, laying it neatly before his highness. 'I will not serve such a master,' he says, voice thick with emotion. 'Accept my retirement, emperor.. let me go, to bury my best friend and lover, or kill me now.'

The emperor, tears rolling down his face mingling with the blood of his shared lover and child, looks at his childhood friend and his heart broke all over again. It matters not that Gun went behind his back to plan this. Mae had warned him previously which was ignored. If Gun leaves, he truly had no one.

The emperor leans over his beloved crying angry, bitter tears of sadness and planting all the kisses he missed while the consort was imprisoned. Eventually the empress sick of watching her husband lose his composer over a simple boy interrupts him. Her eyes widen at the look she receives from him. If it could kill, she would be dead on the very spot.

He gets up slowly, savoring the last touches of the slowly cooling skin of his lover and hands him over to Gun. 'I grant it to you, my friend. I owe you.. him..'

He chokes up and leans to kiss the frail body again, new tears leaving clean tracks down his face. 'Him.. Please.. I will take care of it all. For him and our child.'

'No need, your highness,' replies the guard coldly. 'His highness did not want you involved in his afterlife. Here.'

The guard as a last request hands the emperor a letter. He leaves the emperor kneeling before a blood puddle as he carries the lighter than a feather body out of the courtyard.

The emperor wails as he starts to read the last words of his lover.