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@Kotera
20:14:46 CST Tuesday, 12 August 2102

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"I'm sorry," I said. "I'm sorry you have to go through this."

He smiled. "I am not afraid to die. Haven't you heard? I'm the next Tsar of Great Russia."

His expression was blank, but not numb. I couldn't tell if he was fully aware of what was going on, or if he knew what death truly meant. To him, it would not be merely the Deep Sleep. Before I could say anything, he added: "I am the next Tsar."

"But, Alexei-" he interrupted me once again.

"No, no buts. Don't you understand? I am the next Tsar!"

He groaned in pain as his voice rose in tone. The cold steam of his breath, as if fragments of his very soul were being torn away.

"This land belongs to God. He has entrusted it with me, and only me. I am in His divine grace. And no one can take that away from me." His gaze shifted lazily to the doorway, before once again falling back on me. He whispered, as if his words would get him in trouble with the teacher if one had heard them from under his breath. "Nothing God has given me can be taken away from me. Not by my father; not by you; not by..."

He looked past me, staring at the doorway once again. He nodded his head towards it, weakly, although enough to know it was intentional. "Not by them."

"But Alexei," I tried to explain. "The Collapse. It's inevitable." I struggled to find the words. "There is no place on Earth for you anymore."

"Then I shall rule from the Heavens."

The door slammed open with a kick, and a band of gruff soldiers stormed the chamber. A soldier approached us.

He couldn't bear to look at me; he stared blankly at ruins around us. "They will remember me?"

"They will," I reassured him. "They will never be able to forget."

"And these men," he pointed at the soldier standing over me. "Will they take my empire?"

I thought for a while.

"No," I uttered, without really thinking about the word.

"I would have been a good Tsar."

He was shot twice, and died.