The Emperor's New Emperor

Ch. 10: Kindness is a Great Look on Everyone

     Yzma looked at Kronk suspiciously, narrowing her eyes towards him. "I suppose."

     "Hey, look! The royal dresser's here." Kronk said excitedly as he hurried away from Yzma and towards the royal dresser.

     "Kronk... "

     As the royal dresser rolled over to them, Kronk started explaining, "I should tell you right now I'm kind of hard to fit."

     "Kronk..." Yzma tried to stop him.

     "I wear a 66 long and a 31 waist." he continued.

     Yzma ended up kicking the royal dresser off the side of the platform they were on to get Kronk's full attention and some answers. "Kuzco is dead, right? Tell me Kuzco's dead. I need to hear these words."

     "D-do you need to hear all those words exactly?"

     "He's still alive?!"

     "Well, he's not as dead as we would have hoped."

     "Kronk..." Yzma drawled out, face turning a pinkish red and getting redder with each sentence Kronk said.

     "I just thought I'd give you the heads-up... in case Kuzco ever came back."

     "He can't come back."

     "Yeah. That would be kind of awkward-- especially after that lovely eulogy."

     "You think?" Yzma ran up to Kronk and angrily grabbed the front of his shirt to drag him down to her height. "You and I are going out to find him. If he talks, we are through! Now, let's move!"

     "Dad, (Y/N), look out!" Tipo yelled, springing up out of bed.

      "Tipo, what is it?" Chicha asked as she came up the stairs with a candle in her hand.

     "I had a dream that Dad and (Y/N) were tied to a log and was careening out of control down a raging river of death!" Tipo panted and yelled.

     Chicha comforted and calmed him down as she said, "It's ok, it's ok. Tipo, calm down. It was just a dream. Your dad and (Y/N) are fine, they just went back to see the emperor."

     Tipo stopped panting and said, "Oohhh. Like you told Dad to, 'cause you're always right."

     "That's right."

     "Well, in my dream," Chica said as she popped her head down from the top bunk, "(Y/N) had to kiss a llama."

     "Yeah, like he would ever do that." Tipo doubted.

     "He could."

     "Nuh-uh."

     "Yeah-huh."

     "Nuh-uh."

     The two continued arguing back and forth as Chicha lovingly shook her head. "Good night, you two."

     The two paused their bickering to wish her a good night before diving right back to it as Chicha blew out the candle she was holding.

~~~ Back to you three in the jungle ~~~

~~~ 3rd Person POV ~~~

     Pacha was taking care of the fire from the night before when Kuzco approached him, still wearing (Y/N)'s (poncho, coat, etc.) over his shoulders. Pacha glanced at Kuzco before turning back to the fire.

     "Soo..." Kuzco started. "The (hair color) kid is your kid?"

     "He is, he is my eldest." Pacha responded.

     "That's what I thought. He's nice."

     Pacha smiled softly at the dwindling fire, "He sure is."

     "Well, last night, after he gave me his (poncho, coat, thing), I started wondering about... maybe..." Kuzco trailed off as Pacha looked at him expectantly. "Well, I was thinking about maybe... moving my summer home. I mean, there are a lot of other hilltops to choose from and..."

     "Wait," Pacha interrupted. "You're changing your mind?"

     Kuzco stammered as Pacha continued, "Because you know that means you're doing something nice for someone else."

     "No, I know that. I know." Kuzco replied.

     "And you're all right with that?"

     "Yes."

     Pacha looked at him in doubt, leaning forward as he analyzed Kuzco. Kuzco looked back worried and nervous about the look Pacha was giving him.

     "What?" Kuzco eventually asked.

     Pacha raised his hand, still looking at Kuzco in the same way. Kuzco eagerly went to shake his hand, but Pacha pulled his hand back and stated, "Don't shake unless you mean it."

     A lot more hesitant, Kuzco reached out and shook his hand, causing Pacha to happily smile.

     "All right. Let's get (Y/N) and then we can get you back to palace." Pacha said as he put his poncho back on.

"I'll get him so I can give him his (poncho, coat, thing) back."

Kuzco turned to walk to where (Y/N) was, but Pacha stopped him before he got too far.

"Oh, by the way, thank you."

"No... thank you." Kuzco confidently responded before he turned to walk where he saw (Y/N) was. However, Kuzco's confidence quickly disappeared as he saw (Y/N)'s back turned torwards him. Kuzco took a deep breath and started walking forward.

~~~ 1st Person POV ~~~

I sluggishly walked over to the water, falling to my knees to splash water in my face. I sputtered at the coldness of it, but it did the job of waking me up.

"Uh, hey."

I turned to see Kuzco walking up to me with my (poncho, coat, thing) still over his shoulders. I turned away from him, not really wanted to deal with his arrogance this early in the morning. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him take my (poncho, coat, thing) off of him and hold it out to me.

"Thanks," he said, slightly turned away from me.

"Oh, um, no problem." I replied.

We sat there in awkward silence for a little bit before Kuzco spoke up again.

"Feels like wool."

"Yeah."

"Alpaca?"

"Oh, yeah. It is, actually."

"Oh, yeah. I thought so. It's nice."

"Thank you, my mom made it for me." I said as I lovingly look at it, thinking of the time she made it.

"She knits?" Kuzco asked, interrupting my memories.

"Crochets."

"Crochets. Nice."

"Thanks."

There was another small moment of silence as a frog ribbited from across the water.

"So...:" Kuzco interrupted the silence again. "I spoke with your dad and..." he trailed off.

"And?" I prompted.

"And I have decided to build my summer home somewhere else."

I looked at him in shock until he asked, "What?"

"You're being nice and not kicking my entire village out of our homes."

"Well, I mean, I just thought..." Kuzco stopped when he noticed me looking at him. "What?"

"Being kind," I replied, "it suits you." I stood up to put my (poncho, coat, thing) on. "I think you should do it more often." I smiled at him before turning to walk back to Dad.