#fs fic

You curse the emperor with every step you take up the hill to the palace. Choosing to ignore the burning in your lungs from the steepness of the walk in order to keep your fast pace.

“Who does he think he is? Ungrateful, privileged,” you trail off as you see the gates of the palace approaching. Everyone in the village knew of the kind of behavior that could be expected of the younger Emperor, but you had never had to deal with it first hand. 

Taking a deep breath, you walk towards to two guards standing watch at the gates. Showing them the letter you carried you explained, “I have a meeting with the Emperor.” They spare each other a glance before nodding you in. You hesitate just slightly, not expecting it to be this easy to walk in. You catch sight of another guard by the doors of the palace and make your way over to him. Before you could speak he opens motions for the large palace doors to be opened, “Follow me.” The deepness of his voice causes you to become nervous, finally realizing the situation. 

You were going to meet the Emperor for the first time, he was the all-mighty ruler. You may have had your annoyances with him, but the reality that he could do whatever he wanted to you if you angered him lingered heavily in your brain now. 

Following the guard down mazes of hallways, you look at the decor around you to distract yourself. Never in your life had you seen anything so extravagant. Gold detailing filled the place from top to bottom in endless depictions of the sun. There was nothing even close to this in the village where all the people lived, and though amazed, your annoyance grew even worse as the apparent money spent on the palace. 

The guard finally stops in front of two large doors, unsure of what to do, you stand there until given instruction. Just moments later you jump with a start as the doors open, looking on with horror as an elderly man is escorted out by guards. “You’re up.”  Gulping you walk slowly through the doors. Only the sound of your footsteps could be heard, echoing in the emptiness as the only piece of furniture is the large gold throne in the front of the room.  Your eyes stay focused on the ground as your afraid to look at him. Was there a proper way to greet him? You’re not sure, you’ve never even seen him before as he is not one to interact with the villagers. 

Finally you let your eyes slowly wander to the Emperor, he sits with a bored expression on his face. Head resting against his fist, elbow on the armrest. You knew he was a young Emperor, around your age, since the death of his parents, but looking at him now he seems too young to be ruling an Empire.  Perhaps that’s why he’s so bad at it. 

“Well?” he finally speaks and you find your annoyance growing in your chest once again.   

“I received this letter this morning, regarding purchasing my land.” You state, holding up the letter you found nailed to your door when you woke up. He seems to recall it as he perks up at the mention, sitting up straight, a small smile coming to his face.  “Yes, I will pay you 100 gold coins.” He motions for the guards, maybe to get the money but you have no interest. 

“No,” you simply state, heart thudding in your chest as you take in the amount of armed guards in the room. There’s a silence that follows, the Emperor obviously shocked at the reluctance. He finally throws his hands up, shaking his head, “What would you require then, 400?”

“It is not a question of gold,” you will your voice to stay firm, “I have no desire to sell my land, no matter the price.”

He blinks slowly at you, “I don’t recall the letter asking for your permission.” He was right. The letter was not an offer, but a demand. Either way, you had to fight it. 

“I am the village’s only healer, my home is where I do my work. If you take it from me there goes my home as well as the only place where I can help people.” He huffs, rolling his eyes at you, “With the gold I give you, you can buy a new home. You could even buy a home and a seperate place for your work. Therefore you should be thanking me.”

You become flustered, face burning red, “My land is more than that.” Taking a quick breath to keep you from stumbling, you continue, “All on the land of my home is fields full of growing plants that I use for my work. As I mentioned, I am a healer and I use all of these to make medicine for my patients. Without my land I can’t do as such.” 

Maybe you were expecting to strike some sort of cord within the Emperor, but you watched as he merely shut his eyes and took a deep breath. “Let me show you what I am planning to do with your land,” he snaps and a person comes wheeling out a 3D diagram with what you assume was your land.  The Emperor motions you to come forward so you do, slowly, looking at the 3D model. Your eyebrows furrow, “A community pool?” you question him and he laughs, “Community? No, this pool is for me. I had all the land surveyed and I noticed the land you own is obviously the best spot for me pool. It gets the most sunlight since it is slightly west of the mountains unlike the rest of the town.”

You want to argue with him, of course you know this, how else would you be able to grow all of your medical herbs and plants. But instead you merely stand your ground, “I’m sorry, but I will not sell my land, even if it is the perfect spot for your pool.” The Emperor is quick to glare at you, “500 gold coins is for your final answer, take that or else I’ll-” The young ruler is unable to finish the threat as a woman moves forward to interrupt him, “Now Haechan, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.” You look at the older woman, slightly doing a double take at her farfetched eye makeup. 

Watching on as the Emperor groans, leaning back in his throne you look confused. “Yzma,” he speaks, “We already talked about how much I needed this land for the pool.” She gives a condescending smile to the boy, “I understand, but let’s not scare the girl off,” she turns to smile at you, “The Emperor offers you 500 gold coins for your land, I hope you understand how great that offer is. Now take the night to think it over, yeah? Come back here tomorrow afternoon.” 

You want to argue that no matter the amount of time you will not accept any offer, but you worry about the unfinished threat from the Emperor earlier. So instead you nod, bowing at the Emperor before taking your leave. 

That night you wander through the fields beside your house, using the light from the moon to help you harvest the peppermint leaves. You’ve spent the day tending to your patients; stitching an arm up, helping a young girl with a fever, and even delivering a baby. It was a busy day that left you little to no time for think about your encounter with the Emperor.

But now in the quietness, you can’t help but stress.  You were supposed to return tomorrow with your answer, however you had a feeling it was either agree or they force you out one way or another. Sure with the great amount of money they offered you could relocate, but no place could replace the vast fields of plants and herbs that you used daily or the sentimental value. Even if you were to replant some, your supply would drop drastically. Especially seeing as the Emperor planned to totally demolish the land. 

You tredge to the stream, kneeling to pick some chamomile when you notice something floating from the corner of your eye. Turning your full attention to it, you let out a gasp, standing and tumbling across the water to where it washed ashore. 

Gulping as you come closer, you notice you were right. It was a human floating in the water. Using all your strength to pull them fully on dry land, you move to flip them over. 

“Oh no,” you cry out as you see the face of the young Emperor. You quickly check his pulse, relieved that it was still there but you quickly began pushing down on his chest. Who knew how long he was in the water and how much got into his lungs. “C’mon.” You groan continuing your pulses before leaning to breathe into his mouth, hand covering his nose.  

Finally as you pull away for the second time, he jerks coughing, water spilling over his lips. He breathes heavily as you move him to his side but does not fully regain consciousness. Now you must figure out how to drag him back to your house to tend to him there.

The birds chirp in the morning light as you sip your tea, walking back into your house from collecting the newspaper. 

‘EMPEROR MISSING’ it reads in large print and you sigh closing the door behind you. Walking to where the young emperor sits in your bed barely noticing your presence he’s so busy eating his breakfast. 

He had woken up about an hour ago confused and hungry, but thankfully no sign of memory loss. “Everyone is looking for you.” You say walking beside him and handing him the newspaper. He looks up at you, mouth full of food before grabbing the paper. “Yzma to act as Empress until further notice...” Haechan reads before scoffing. “She’s not even of royal blood, I’ll be back in an hours time.” He states before returning to his food, clearly having no concept of how far the palace was from the town.

“Who is this Yzma anyways?” You ask moving to clear the kitchen. “My advisor.” Haechan states with a full mouth causing you to grimace. “She served on the council for my father so when my parents passed they assigned her to be my advisor until I came of age. But she does all the hard work so I keep her around even now.”

You stay silent, pursing your lips. “Well, that was delicious. I’ll be off to the palace now.” He places his dishes on the nightstand before standing. You rush beside him, unsure of his condition. “You’re just going to go back?” You look at him like he’s crazy but he gives you the same look back. “Of course I am. What else am I to do? Surely not stay here in town.”

Rolling your eyes you ignore the comment. “I mean is it safe? Clearly someone intended to kill you back at the palace and you don’t even know who.” Haechan blinks slowly, as if it just dawned on him how he ended up here in the first place.

“You really think someone did this on purpose?” He says and you raise your eyebrows. “I treated your wound. Someone obviously hit you in the back of the head before dumping you in the stream to die.” 

He scratches his cheek and you can’t tell if he’s thinking or zoning out. “You’re sure you don’t remember anything?” You ask him again and he nods. “Like I said I was in my room about to get into bed and that’s the last I remember.”

You hum, “Someone must’ve snuck into your room. So either your guards failed you, or it was an inside job.” 

“Nonsense, I have the best guards in the world.”

“And yet here you are.” You snap becoming frustrated, you wanted him to be safe but he was making it difficult. “Well what do you suggest I do?” He throws his hands up. “Is there someone in the palace you trust the most? Maybe we can get you to them and tell them what happened.” You try.

“It has to be Yzma.” He says, “She’s been with me since I was a kid, since my parents passed.” You nod, “Okay, perfect. We’ll find a way to get you to her without anyone else seeing so she can help figure out who did this.”

Haechan nods, licking his lips in determination. “Right, okay. How do we sneak in though if there are guards everywhere?” You take a moment to think. When you walked to the top of the hill yesterday the whole trail was covered with guards. But you remember as a child taking a trip with your grandfather. “We’ll go the back way. There’s a secret trail on the back of the hill we can take. It just might take longer.”

“How long exactly?” He asks with a frown. “A day.”

“What?!” He sounds esaperated, “You wanted me to spend a night outside?” You roll your eyes at him, “You have a head injury, you can’t push yourself that hard. We need to take our time.” He runs his hands over his face before sighing, “Alright, fine. But we need to leave as soon as possible.”

Sighing as you tie your bag up you look at Haechan who looks unamused from where he sits. “Alright, we can head out.” He rolls his eyes, “About time.” You send him a glare as you place the bag on your back, “We have to be prepared, it’s a long journey. We need food, something for shelter, your medicine..” You trail trying to make your point. 

You follow the emperor outside, closing your door behind you, placing the note you wrote on your door. It was the only way to let anyone know you’d be out for the day. 

Quietly he lets you take the lead and you head further into the lush jungle and towards a tiny trail that rarely sees anyone but animals. You both trek quietly until the boy finally speaks, “Why do you think someone wanted me dead?”

Blinking harshly as you continue your pace, you don’t look back at him. “Well you’re the emperor, they could want power. Or maybe you did something to make them angry.” You say knowing a lot of town people don’t exactly agree with the reckless ruling and spending of the young ruler. 

“Nonsense.” He says loudly, “There’s no one who would disagree with me. Except you of course.”

You stop abruptly turning to face him and he nearly stumbles into you, “Excuse me?” 

Haechan frowns at you, “Yeah, you won’t willingly give me your land.” You shake your head, “You don’t realize how important my land is.” He merely rolls his eyes so you speak again, “I can’t be the only one who disagrees with you.” You know it’s true, you hear what the people say around town. 

“You are. Except two others who I had to have imprisoned but everyone else knows my power and it’s something you should learn too.” You raise your eyebrows and he continues and starts to walk in front of you down the trail, “I am of royal blood, descended from the sun god himself. I was made to rule over this land, over these people. What I say goes and what I say is correct. There is no other way.”

Your cheeks burn with anger and your mind flashes of what would have been if you left him in the stream last night. But you take a deep breath before continuing on the trail. 

“Then why do you think someone tried to kill you?” You ask and you see him shrug in front of you. “Don’t know. Can’t think of any reason why.”

It’s been a long day of travel with Haechan, from the humidity and steep hills to Haechans constant whining and insisting on stopping and snacking. 

Now the sun was nearly setting but you were more worried about the rumbling of thunder and the dark clouds that were rolling in at an alarming pace. After a particularly close strike of lightning, you look around before dropping your bag to the floor. “We need to set up shelter here.”

The emperor frowns looking around, “You said we would be there in a day. Can’t we keep going?” He looks up, the top of the hill where the palace was at didn’t seem too far. 

You don’t even spare him a glace, working on getting one of the tarps out of your bag instead. “No.” You say bluntly, “It’s going to rain- to storm. We need shelter, it’s not safe to keep going now.”

The wind starts to pick up making it more difficult for you to move the tarp the way you want it. You spot a tree branch that nearly reaches the side of the hill where a small ledge pokes out. It seems like the best placement, so you drag it over and start to throw it over the branch. 

“I’m not staying here.” Haechan speaks up over the wind and thunder, “I’ll walk the rest of the way myself if I have to.” 

“Don’t be stupid!” You call out, blinking as it starts to drizzle. “Bring me some rocks, big ones. We can place them on the ridge to keep the tarp in place.” You grab some string from your bag tying down the edge to the branch. 

“Don’t forget who you speak to!” Haechan shouts and you pause to look at him, raining now falling harder. “I am the emperor! I will not take orders from someone like you! If I say we keep going, we keep going!” 

You pull the knot tightly, letting the branch snap back up, ignoring Haechan as well as the annoyance growing in your chest. Instead you move to gather rocks, grabbing as much as you can before moving to the tarp again. 

“Listen to me!” Haechan shouts again, moving closer, “Why do you insist on disobeying everything I say!” His voice is dark, seeming truly angry now causing you to look at him. “Leave all this, we are going! Now!” 

Another clap of thunder rings out and you break. “Look around, we are not going anywhere! You’ll die before you even get to the palace. Stop acting like an incompetent leader and grab the damn rocks!” You scream over the rain. 

He freezes staring at you as the rain grows harder. Without another word he grabs the rocks and silently helps you place them on the ridge, keeping the tarp in place. 

You both move under the shelter and you pull out a blanket from the bag placing it on the ground and you both sit. The rain and wind continue to roar loudly and you take a small towel you packed. “Let me see your head, I need to reapply your medicine.” You speak. 

He hesitates but moves, allowing you to dry and apply the salve to his wound. Once done you both sit quietly again until Haechan finally speaks up. “I’m not as stupid as they say I am you know.”

You keep your gaze on the thread of the blanket you’ve been messing with, suddenly feeling guilty. “I didn’t-” You start but he interrupts. 

 “A little naive, yes. But you have to realize they only tell me what they want me to hear. I’m not allowed to leave the palace.”

You turn to look at him surprised by this, “Why?”

“I’m the only living heir to the throne, the last blood connected to the sun god. Since the accident with my parents they needed to keep me safe. At least until I have an heir of my own. The blood line could end with me.”  

You pause, listening to the rain as you take in your words.  You’ve never thought, you you doubt the people in town did either, that Haechan staying cooped up in the palace was anything but his choice. 

“Do the people really hate me that much?” He asks and you can hear the sadness radiating from his voice. “They don’t hate you, it’s just...” You stop yourself trying to think of the right words to say. “They’re frustrated Haechan. We see the amount of money being spent on the palace but most of town is struggling to pay for necessities. They just don’t feel like they’re being heard.” 

Explaining it as gently as you can, you hope he sees where you’re coming from. Minutes pass of silence, nothing but the rain hitting the tarp could be heard. But the emperor finally speaks again. “I didn’t know people were struggling. They don’t inform me about anything. Yzma says I don’t need to worry about that stuff.”

“Whenever I asked to build something in the palace, they would do it without a question. I guess I just thought if there was a problem with the spending they would have suggested I don’t. I’ve never been told no.” He rants running his hand over his face. “And anytime someone from town would come to see me, they would introduce them in a way that made it seem they were only out for trouble. Like it was weird for them to even be visiting me. I never once considered they really needed my help. Maybe I really am incompetent.” 

He sighs and you frown. “We didn’t know, Haechan. No one knows that they made you stay away from the town, we all just figured you thought you were too good for us.” His lips form a pout. 

“But I’m sure we can fix that, you can send an announcement to the people and tell them the truth. They’ll surely understand then.” You try to brighten his mood. Suddenly you feel bad for the young emperor who was forced to stay in the palace, not knowing an ounce of truth about his empire in hopes of keeping him safe to continue the bloodline. Perhaps he is misunderstood afterall. 

“Maybe you can help me!” Haechan suddenly says brightly, turning to face you. “You probably know the towns people better than anyone else. You can let me know what I can do to fix it!” You look at him hesitantly, “Maybe.” You simply say. 

The rain continues for the next couple of hours as you and Haechan lay side by side on the blanket. The temperature as dropped dramatically and you both wordless moved as close as possible to each other to find a source of warmth. 

“I hate the rain.” Haechan suddenly says and you try to find his gaze in the dark. “Why?”

“It was raining when I found out about my parents accident.” He says nonchalauntly causing you to gulp. You vaguely remember the incident, both you and the emperor were merely kids then. But you remember the whole town mourning when they announced the emperor and empress has died an accident after visiting the town over. 

“I’m sorry,” You say, “Were you close to them?”

“Very much so. I loved them and they loved me. It was the last time I probably felt love. Before I was pushed onto the throne as a child who only wanted his parents back.” 

You can imagine a young Haechan sitting in the cold throne room, struggling to understand what was happening. Your stomach turned at the thought and you let yourself reach down to hold his hand giving it a squeeze.  He doesn’t pull away. 

“Are you close to your family?” He asks.

Swallowing, you answer slowly. “My mother died giving birth to me and my father died a couple years after your parents. He got a sickness from one of his patients and never recovered.”

You think you see him turn to look at you but you can’t quite tell in the dark. “I’m sorry.” He says. 

“It’s okay. I was raised by my grandparents. They taught me all about healing and medicine to continue the practice. Unfortunately they both passed a couple of years ago, but they were quite old.”

You feel Haechan squeeze your hand that still rests in his. 

“Perhaps we understand each other more than we think.” He says and you both fall asleep to the sound of rain, hands remaining intertwined. 

The morning air is crisp but the sky is blue as you and Haechan pack up the shelter you created for the night. Unlike before, he willing helps you fold the tarp and blanket before placing them into your bag. 

As you both continue on the trail Haechan talks excitedly about a newspaper he plans on printing. One that would inform the town people of the misunderstanding between them. Of how he had ideas to create a new budget for everyone to use. 

The palace was now in view but you both stopped to quickly eat before making it up the last of the hill. 

“I don’t think I ever told you thank you.” Haechan looks at you, “For saving my life, for bringing me back. For telling me the truth.” 

You smile genuinely at him. “Of course. Thank you for listening.” You say back and he smiles too. “Hopefully with Yzma’s help I can quickly figure out who did this to me and why they did it.” Nodding along you start to worry that bringing him back here would only put him in more danger. 

But Haechan doesn’t seems to worried as he goes back to rambling about his future plans. “And of course I’ll see you again when I come to properly buy your land. I’ll actually have the right paperwork.”

Your stomach drops and you look to see if he was joking, “What?” You say and stand to your feet, “You seriously still want to buy my land, after everything?” 

He frowns at you, “No, no. You see it won’t be just a pool for me anymore. It’ll be for the community. They’ll see how I can change and spend for them too.” He nods optimistically at you. 

Furrowing your eyebrows you feel your face start to burn, “I can’t believe you’re still trying to buy my land after everything that’s happened! I told you I need my land Haechan. It has everything I need for healing, it’s been in my family for generations, it’s the only thing I have left of them! You can’t just take it from me!” You confess feeling tears starting to burn your eyes. 

Haechan blinks at you but there’s no time to argue as a group of palace guards come from around the corner. “There!” A lady, Yzma, as you recognize her shouts. “There is the emperor! Take that girl quickly into custody.”

You look at her in shock, “Me?” you ask confused as she makes her way to Haechan and the guards walk towards you. 

“Didn’t you hear her!” She says, “She refuses to sell the emperor her land and has taken him in retaliation!” 

“No!” You panic as the guards roughly grab you, “That’s not it! Haechan!” You shout trying to look at him as they pull you away but you only see a lost look on his face.

Haechan sits in the large dining room eating a warm meal, only Yzma across from him and some guards posted on the door. 

“Thanks for taking over while I was gone.” He says simply, staring at his food. She gives him a familiar smile, “It was my pleasure.” 

There’s silence again and Haechan thinks of you. He doesn’t believe you were the one who did this of course, but Yzma refused to release you, saying it wasn’t safe. Haechan insisted on starting an investigation after telling her someone dumped him in a stream but she claimed there was no reason to with you locked up. 

Haechan has full power over her as emperor but there was something about her that made her hard to say no to. She has been telling him what to do since his parents passed. 

“I’m not that hungry, I’ll head to my room now.” He announces standing from his chair. She nods not looking up at him, “Of course, I’ll send the healer in to look at your head injury.”   

Haechan freezes in his place. 

When telling her the story of what happened, he merely said he was dumped in the stream. He didn’t once mention the injury on his head.

His stomach fills with dread as he realizes the betrayal. Memories flashing of when he found comfort in the woman when he was a young boy, crying over the death of his parents. Yet after it all, it was she who tried to kill him. All for some power. 

“It was you.”

“Thank you! Please enjoy the festivities!” Haechan shouts over the crowd as they cheer for him. You smile, clapping along with the crowd as you stand beside the emperor. 

The town was holding a celebration for your healing center, as Haechan has invested in digging waterways in order for easier managing of your crops. Now you didn’t have to do as much work to maintain the fields. 

It was one of many steps Haechan as taken in healing his relationship with his people and showing them what he was really capable of.  They all adored this new and improved leader and looked up to him and all he’s done. 

“Congratulations.” He speaks turning to you with a smug smile. “I know you really just want me to congratulate you.” You tease him and he shrugs, “It would be appreciated.” 

You laugh softly, stepping closer, leaning to placing a lingering kiss to the corner of his lips. You pull away noticing the reddening of his cheeks as you whisper in his ear, “Congratulations Haechan, and thank you.”

“I don’t know why you’re so shy, we’ve kissed before you know.” You state and he only turns further red. “What? No we haven’t! When?” He’s flustered and confused as you laugh.

“When I saved you of course, I had to give you mouth to mouth to get you breathing again.”

His mouth opens and closes as he thinks. “That-that doesn’t count.” He whines which only causes you to laugh loudly. Continuing to giggle as he grabs your hand to pull you closer, placing his hand gently on your cheek in order to pull you in for a proper first kiss.