Prologue
Prologue
22 July 1832
Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria
Napoléon François Charles Joseph Bonaparte, Duke of Reichstadt, heir to Napoléon I, King of Rome, lay on his deathbed. The sickness had come upon him rapidly, filling his lungs with fluid and turning his brain near to mush. The doctors had no treatments left for him, no last minute efforts to save the young prince's life. He was as near to dead as one can possibly be without being classified fully as such. There was no hope left for the doctors, for the priests, for the young man's family. The last of his last rites were being read, to commit him to Heaven and the hands of God...
"Per istam sanctan unctionem et suam piissimam misericordiam, indulgeat tibi Dominus quidqu-"
The young prince's eyes opened with a fury. He jumped up to a sitting position. He looked the shocked priest in the eye.
"I have seen Him, Father. I have seen Him."
The priest ran to find help.
"Quickly, quickly, find a doctor! Franz is awakened!"
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Napoleon II stood in his room with the doctor, his mother, and his personal attendant Karl - staring at the last portrait of his father in the whole of Vienna while they discussed meaningless things behind him.
"Franz, the doctor needs to examine you- you shouldn't... Doctor. What happened?" demanded the Duchess of Parma, as Napoleon remained still.
"I cannot be certain until I have examined him completely, but it is most certainly an act of God Himself, my lady." stated the feeble old doctor.
-
"Karl." snapped Napoleon.
"Yes my lord?"
"I should like a new uniform. You will speak to the stewardess for me."
"Yes my lord of course my lord. It is to be something special my lord? Perhaps you could discuss wi-"
"I have it just in my mind Karl." He pointed to the portrait of his father. "That."
He turned his focus to the bicorne on the mantel below his father's portrait.
"Franz! Please we must have you examined, you are still dangerously weak, it cannot be s-"
"Mother, I can no longer sit here trapped. The sickness was a blessing. I am not weak, nor shall I ever be. I am more alive than you could possibly know." said Napoleon, not turning his attention away from the mantel.
The room was silent for some time.
----
The Duchess of Parma tried once more to persuade her son.
"Franz-"
"I am not Franz. Franz is dead. Forgotten forever and you should do well to remember it. As should all the world." He stepped closer to the mantel. "I have sat here idly, trapped in my grandfather's home while my father's legacy lies crumbled. Forgotten." His very presence grew before the people of the room, trapping them dumbfounded into a trance. "The Emperor's heir will sit no longer. The impossibility of my return to my people. There is no such thing. Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools. I am Franz no longer. I am Napoleon II, Emperor of the French."
He seized the bicorne from the mantel.
22 July 1832
Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria
Napoléon François Charles Joseph Bonaparte, Duke of Reichstadt, heir to Napoléon I, King of Rome, lay on his deathbed. The sickness had come upon him rapidly, filling his lungs with fluid and turning his brain near to mush. The doctors had no treatments left for him, no last minute efforts to save the young prince's life. He was as near to dead as one can possibly be without being classified fully as such. There was no hope left for the doctors, for the priests, for the young man's family. The last of his last rites were being read, to commit him to Heaven and the hands of God...
"Per istam sanctan unctionem et suam piissimam misericordiam, indulgeat tibi Dominus quidqu-"
The young prince's eyes opened with a fury. He jumped up to a sitting position. He looked the shocked priest in the eye.
"I have seen Him, Father. I have seen Him."
The priest ran to find help.
"Quickly, quickly, find a doctor! Franz is awakened!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Napoleon II stood in his room with the doctor, his mother, and his personal attendant Karl - staring at the last portrait of his father in the whole of Vienna while they discussed meaningless things behind him.
"Franz, the doctor needs to examine you- you shouldn't... Doctor. What happened?" demanded the Duchess of Parma, as Napoleon remained still.
"I cannot be certain until I have examined him completely, but it is most certainly an act of God Himself, my lady." stated the feeble old doctor.
-
"Karl." snapped Napoleon.
"Yes my lord?"
"I should like a new uniform. You will speak to the stewardess for me."
"Yes my lord of course my lord. It is to be something special my lord? Perhaps you could discuss wi-"
"I have it just in my mind Karl." He pointed to the portrait of his father. "That."
He turned his focus to the bicorne on the mantel below his father's portrait.
"Franz! Please we must have you examined, you are still dangerously weak, it cannot be s-"
"Mother, I can no longer sit here trapped. The sickness was a blessing. I am not weak, nor shall I ever be. I am more alive than you could possibly know." said Napoleon, not turning his attention away from the mantel.
The room was silent for some time.
----
The Duchess of Parma tried once more to persuade her son.
"Franz-"
"I am not Franz. Franz is dead. Forgotten forever and you should do well to remember it. As should all the world." He stepped closer to the mantel. "I have sat here idly, trapped in my grandfather's home while my father's legacy lies crumbled. Forgotten." His very presence grew before the people of the room, trapping them dumbfounded into a trance. "The Emperor's heir will sit no longer. The impossibility of my return to my people. There is no such thing. Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools. I am Franz no longer. I am Napoleon II, Emperor of the French."
He seized the bicorne from the mantel.
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