Of Heaven And Life

A Happy Ending

"Hope and peace are two essential things people need to live." Arthur said.

"So what happened to the boy's people? Were his people from the same village as yours, or was it passed down from somewhere else?" Zhongnu asks, not understanding the comment about hope and peace. Frankly... ...Zhongnu had hardly known either.

Arthur looked elsewhere in the room. As Zhongnu continued enquiring about the village, he turned to him and spoke. "Kairosclerosis. Please, stop."

"Kairosclerosis? What is that? Is that the name of the village?" Zhongnu asked Arthur, genuinely bewildered. 

"No, it's when you realize that you are currently being happy, and then it slowly dissolves due to that." Arthur spoke.

"I see... are you... happy to be telling me these stories?" Zhongnu asked Arthur, wondering why he could even be happy in the first place.

"I'm happy to spend time with someone that seems to be able to relate" Arthur said as he lied on the bed and looked at the ceiling. "I feel that you're interested in the story, and that you can relate to the boy." 

"On second thought... you're right. I was abandoned once." Zhongnu said, opening up that part of his memory that he dared not tread yet he break down in sobs or a fit of rage. He felt he could trust Arthur enough now... ...perhaps he ought to know.

The word "Abandoned" echoed in Arthur's mind. "You can tell me if you want."

"I wanted to be part of this council... this great group of people, they were friendly with each other, they were rich and happy and joyous. I lived in a shitty, half-built country... and I just wanted to be one of them. I dedicated my existence to serving them and making them happy, but whenever I wished to do that, whenever I wished to be one of them... they refused me." Zhongnu said.

"They refused you..? But why?" Arthur asked.

"I'm not the great man you think I am, Arthur... I don't know, I guess I am just not good enough. But it doesn't matter now... ...they're gone. I didn't want immortality... ...I already have that... I just... I wanted..." A single tear left Zhongnu's eye, running down his cheek and then off the side of his beak. "...to be one of them."

Arthur, seeing the Emperor finally crack, put a wing over his shoulder, coming closer. "There's no need to cry... hold your moon tight, that helps me."

The momentary slip of vulnerability ended as Zhongnu's face hardens again, the tenderness removed. "I strive... I work... I exist so I can one day become good enough." he said to Arthur.

"And how will you know that you're good enough?" Arthur asked, his voice still tender, opening his heart to the Emperor.

The normally formal, stoic, iron willed and terrifying emperor let a tiny touch of his inner side shine through. 

"When I stop hurting."

"Sometimes... to get through pain, you have to endure it. You will get used to it eventually." Arthur said, hugging Zhongnu in his most vulnerable moment.

"I... I just want to stop hurting..." Zhongnu said into Arthur's ear, his voice trembling with sadness.

"Yourself or others..?" Arthur asked tenderly.

"Everything... ...everything hurts." Zhongnu replied, tears flowing freely.

"Focus on those who care about you, rather than the ones that rejected you for so long." Arthur replied as the lonely Emperor cried into his shoulder.

"But... I have nobody..." The great Zhongnu said, looking down momentarily, seeing Arthur still clinging to him. "...Perhaps... I have one person..."