15. Duty
It was his duty, they'd told him. Protect the Empire. Keep him from harm, keep him safe and happy. Keeping him happy was the easy part (the man was terminally cheerful, he was discovering).
But things changed. Staring at his Empire, he saw the disease that slowly wormed its way through his body and mind. It was a disease he'd mercifully avoided, had kept from becoming contaminated with the madness, lethargy, malaise that seemed to plague his Empire. Golden eyes began to cloud, become murky, and as his Empire began to sink under his own weight, he realised what he had to do.
'It's just duty. Keep him happy.' A too-light body did not fight as he pulled the Empire away from the balcony, laying him down and whispering nonsense words in his own tongue. The Empire did not protest as he pulled the dagger from that wretched robe, that utterly incomprehensible thing. The Empire only sighed as it slid into his chest.
"It was my duty," Germania murmured to deaf ears before striding from the room.
(Hoooooooly shit that was depressing.)
But things changed. Staring at his Empire, he saw the disease that slowly wormed its way through his body and mind. It was a disease he'd mercifully avoided, had kept from becoming contaminated with the madness, lethargy, malaise that seemed to plague his Empire. Golden eyes began to cloud, become murky, and as his Empire began to sink under his own weight, he realised what he had to do.
'It's just duty. Keep him happy.' A too-light body did not fight as he pulled the Empire away from the balcony, laying him down and whispering nonsense words in his own tongue. The Empire did not protest as he pulled the dagger from that wretched robe, that utterly incomprehensible thing. The Empire only sighed as it slid into his chest.
"It was my duty," Germania murmured to deaf ears before striding from the room.
(Hoooooooly shit that was depressing.)