~Flowers for Joan~ (Hetalia France Fanfiction)

Chapter 3

The guards escorted me to the extravagant throne room standing close to my sides as if they were corralling me.

The King always demanded that the curtains be ironed, and the tile floors waxed and polished every morning before he had arrived. Most of all the isle had to be decorated with a row of fresh blooming roses on each side.

Nothing was finished on time this morning so the King's mood would be dangerously irrational.

They plopped me at his Majesty's feet with only the stairs between us and his majesty glared down upon me and my guilt.

"France! Where have you been? Explain this predicament now".

I spoke with such little sound, "Well... Your majesty there was this-"

"Speak up!!", he demanded.

Taking a deep breath I prepared for the truth to be told unknowing of the possible outcomes, "Sigh~ there was a boy".

"A boy"?

"Yes he lives in the woods and hunts to survive. I do not know his name or his age, but I assure you that his intentions mean his majesty no harm".

A soldier raised his right arm and spoke his mind, "Your majesty if I may, there have been reports of a hunter stealing game in the area".

"Hmm... Then it is decided. Arrest the hunter and he will be sentenced".

"No"!!!

"France"!?

"You can't sentence him he's just a boy! No younger then me! He's only trying to live and he hasn't hurt anyone"!!!

"You are mistaken young master. He is hunting in kingdom territory therefore causing our markets less profit".

"But... He's just a child... He doesn't know any better"!!

"There proving my point more young master. The forest will be harvested for wood and when you find the little bastard you have my permission to execute him".

"You'd destroy an entire forest for this boy!? Will you ever be content your majesty? It's just madness".

"Madness? Haha! I am of the royal family and therefore my word is law because it is God that speaks through my very being"!

"How could you put yourself on the same level of God!? You are no different then anyone else in this world"!!

"I am a King"!!!

"Now I'm through with explaining myself. Take the young master to his room".

"B-but your Majesty"!!?

I had never felt such rage. I was always told I was special, that I would one day be the voice of god, but my word means nothing to the King.

"Your Majesty!! Please"!!!

The soldiers dragged me away from the throne room and the King sat back comfortably in his chair, sipping delicately from his wine glass. He sighed and with a careless tone said, "Good night young master France".

A heat began to boil over to it's breaking point. Part of me wanted to stay silent, but something had awoken within me because of that boy. The people of France are my mine too, not just the Kings, its my right to protect them. I have power and I will use it for justice, for the citizens of France.

At first I lowered my head, but then I began to bite my lip, and clench my fists tightly. I let out a deep breath, filled my lungs with air, and screamed at the top of my lungs, "Your Majesty"!!!!!

My voice was so loud and high that everyone, even the king covered their ears tightly, and the soldiers metal armor rattled enough to give them whiplash. The stain glass windows shattered around me and glistened in the dusk sunlight.

What's happened to me? Have I always been able to yell that loud? I looked up, my body trembled from the shock, but as I gazed ahead to see his Majesty so petty and pitiful trying to hide within his cloak I couldn't help but feel frustrated.

This was my chance. This man has ruled in disgrace for long enough. It's time for the throne of France to be a worthy place to sit upon again by a true King.

As I took a step forward, the glass crunching beneath my feet, his Majesty yelped and buried himself in the pit of his chair. No matter how many cowardly tears he'd shed I did not cease to move forward. I stopped at the foot of the stairs and questioned his Majesty.

"Your Majesty you say that you speak the voice of God and yet without any concern for his subjects and the common folk you would destroy an entire forest and its contents for your self assurance. You'd murder an innocent boy who is only trying to make his way in the world. You do not resemble any of my past Kings"!!

Those magnificent rose bushes bloomed from my every breath, and sunk their roots deep beneath the tiles. Every word I spoke, every sound, made those roses grow stronger as if they answered my anger and bended to my will. They coiled around the columns and slowly wrapped and slithered surrounding his Majesty, and trapping him on his throne.

"P-please don't hurt me... Dear child... Y-young Master..."

"Now I will speak the words of my God".

"D-don't hurt me!! I'm begging you"!!!

"No King of France would have such malicious and selfish intentions. So long as I am standing here next to this throne you will leave that boy alone"!!!

"Ahhhh"!!!

The long vines of the rose bush that coiled around the columns shattered them as easily as if they were mere glass. They uprooted those tiles making the whole castle rumble, and the vines that surrounded his Majesty latched onto the throne with its thorns like steel claws and raised it high above the arch of the stain glass windows. They released him and just before the throne hit the ground they latched onto him again and thrust him into the floor, burying the chair at least a foot into the solid ground.

His Majesty would not stop screaming even though the vines had stopped and he was surprisingly unharmed. My anger had quickly subsided for the moment, but never my disappointment for this sad excuse of a man.

"O-oh dear child of God... grant me mercy for I have sinned...", his Majesty begged, crying and crawling on all fours at my feet. He gripped tightly to my robes and clung to my legs weeping like some petty beggar.

"Please forgive me! Have mercy dear child! I don't want to die"!!

I wanted to spit at him, but doing that would accomplish nothing. I vowed to myself and this country that there wouldn't be any unnecessary slaughter. France will be run by its rightful rulers, whether by the belief God or by me.

~To Be Continued...