Chapter Text
6:00 am, Beijing, China.
It was a typical day in the big city. People were getting ready for work, cars were speeding through the streets, and birds were singing.
But Romulus could hardly recognize any of these sounds. He had just 'woken' up and didn't know where he was. After two thousand years of nothingness, it takes a bit to process being alive again.
Was he alive? He felt alive, but also very different. Everything was so big and so fast around him. It didn't feel real.
Maybe it wasn’t? After all, why would he be? His empire was gone.
He tried getting up to explore the world around him but quickly realized that his hands had been replaced by paws. Had he been made into an animal?
The Roman warrior looked at his reflection in a nearby puddle and nearly jumped at the sight. His muscular human body had transformed into the one of a fluffy cat with off-white fur and orange stripes.
Great. Not only was he lost and confused, but he was also a cat.
Under any other circumstances, this would’ve been a dream come true, but as of now, it felt like some sick twisted joke. He kept staring at himself in a mix of horror and confusion, waiting for the reflection to change or to go back to being dead. Unfortunately for him, the future had very different plans for him.
"小猫!! what are you doing there?" A male voice said in a concerned tone. The Roman turned around and observed as a man got closer to him. The human was somewhat tall (or at least taller than he ever was) and appeared to be pretty strong, he had long black hair and beautiful brown eyes Romulus was sure he'd seen somewhere else before.
"The middle of the street is no place for a kitty to be, a car could've hit you!!" Said the man before picking him up and bringing him inside the weird metal thing he'd come out of, all while the cat tried remembering who this human reminded him of. It must've been somebody important but definitely not one of his emperors… Could it be?
"Yao?" He asked.
"What?!" Half yelled the man, almost dropping the feline in the process, "I'm going insane…maybe I should take a day off.."
Romulus shook his head "No Yao, it's me, Romulus!! Somebody turned me into a cat!" There was silence after that. Yao carefully put the cat on the passenger seat and closed the car door.
"Do you..have any proof that you're Rome?" No way he was actually asking that to a cat, he felt so silly. Romulus was:
1- Dead
2- Not a cat (physically at least).
The cat thought for a second. "I can name all the emperors of the Roman empire in alphabetical order!.. And I know your name, and your favourite color, is that enough proof?"
"Yeah, only you would say something so childish." The Roman looked offended while Yao giggled at the situation.
He didn't know how to feel, on one hand, the situation was hilarious. Romulus, The Roman Empire, the European's wet dream, had been turned into a kitten unable to do anything. On the other hand, the lover he'd lost two thousand years ago had come back alongside all the memories they had shared together when young, leaving him no time to prepare.
He supposed that laughing at Rome's confused face was the best option.
"What's so funny?" Asked the feline, who found the situation way less humorous. "You! You look so...silly" said Yao, still giggling. Admittedly, Romulus did look quite dumb. After a few more minutes of helpless laughter from the Chinese man, everything went quiet again. What to do now?
The cat looked outside from the window of the car "Where are we?" "China," replied the Chinese man staring at the street in Infront of him. "Beijing, to be exact." "It's changed a lot since I last saw it." "Yeah." "Does Italy also look like this?" "Sort of." The cat loafed up. "I'm not sure I like that.” Most of the trip to Yao's house continued this way. Romulus would ask a question about China, Yao would reply, Romulus would ask about Italy, Yao would reply, Romulus would give his uneducated opinion, repeat.
Truth be told, Yao wasn't particularly paying attention to the conversation, he was more busy thinking about what to do with the old empire. Should he call one of the Italies and explain the situation? Would they even believe him? Should he keep Romulus? Was it immoral to keep your ex-lover as a pet? Well, he definitely couldn't give him to a random stranger! But he probably shouldn't keep something like this a secret from the whole world...
The Roman put his paws on the man's leg with an oddly serious expression."...How are Rajesh and Roshan doing? They're alive right?" The Chinese man met Romulus's gaze. "Yes, they're doing well."
...
"Would you like to see them again?" The cat's eyes lit up. Maybe being alive again won't be too bad.