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Warning: This story, in no way, is meant to be pro-fascist/anti-democratic. This is in response to a deep philosophical question that has me thinking on societies and the people who lead them. If you want to create a mountain out of a molehill, reread the beginning of this warning VERY carefully and/or keep your fingers from typing when you read this.

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There the Exarch laid. Staring up at the sky with a single dead eye.

Ekon tried to scream, only to have the sound dulled. He ran forwards, kneeling next to the corpse of his father and embraced it, not caring about the blood that stained his shirt and fur.

He heard whispers in the air around him, but they were indistinguishable at best.

He heard footsteps from behind him, along with the feeling of being stared at and hunted down. He heard a bang and a massive influx of pain shot up through his back. He fell forwards onto his father, still embracing it.

It was then that the whispers became distinguishable.

"But promise me this, Ekon. Remain the pillar of strength that you always have been to your peers. Become a better leader than myself."

Ekon's eyes fluttered shut.

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He snapped awake, staring at the roof of his room. Slowly, he sat upright, sighing all the way. His mother's necklace rested against his bare chest.

Six years.

For six years, he's had this dream from the moment he and his father were separated. For one year after that day, he screamed himself awake in the middle of the night. For the next year, he still woke up in the middle of the night, but not screaming, but softly crying instead. And for the last four years, he's able to make it through the night, and not cry afterwards.

Barely anyone can understand his pain.

No amount of time can heal the trauma that scars his mind.

His tail wrapped itself around his waist, his only friend at the crack of dawn.

He didn't know how long he sat there for, but long enough for the sun to light up the room fully. He finally stood from his bed at that time, walking to the main room of the house. The Armed Forces escort that led him away from his father was there, cooking whatever she could with the things they had.

She became Ekon's mother figure when they had to settle here, despite being a Red Fox.

That also meant she had to not be in the Armed Forces anymore, not that it meant anything nowadays.

The Armed Forces has basically become a glorified police service. "Peacekeepers," as they would call themselves.

Basically police with fancier equipment.

The King of Eswesh was kind enough to give a sizeable plot of land for the Skeyrusan refugees to settle on. However, that was as far as his generosity gave, in his own words. They had to build their own houses and cultivate their own farms.

Just a mini-Skeyrus without the power that kept it all together.

They had an Exarch, but the refugees were unhappy with him. He simply lacked the drive and charm of the last one. And what made it worse for the refugees was that this new Exarch wanted to change their system to something against their written code of governance.

Just such a fur that Ekon wants to be replaced.

They ate a bowl of tasteless soup for breakfast before finally going their separate ways for the day.

Ekon went back into his room and got his work clothes on. As a member of the National Fascist Party, he had to. It looked similar to his father's clothes, except for one difference, and that was the single blue stripe that was sewn on to the jacket.

The single blue stripe from the hem to his left collarbone denoted his rank as Ensign.

It's also unfortunate that the uniform for the Party always reminded him of his father.

Ekon walked out of the house and towards the meeting building of the Party, just another ramshackle house on a much larger scale. Doesn't meet the grandeur that a parliamentary building should have. And it's shameful, to say the least. But, along the way, he helped diffuse tense situations between the refugees without a show of gratuitous power, only using just enough to make them go their separate ways.

When he finally got in, he took his spot at the table, although it was as far back from the Exarch's seat as possible.

Must be something about him or something. None of the other Ensigns had this kind of treatment.

Although it was better than the first year of his work. He had to stand completely still for the entirety of meetings, and that could last for hours on end.

In thirty minutes, the room was filled with members of the Party, all taking their respective places, the more important members getting seats closer and closer to the Exarch's. Finally, after every member has taken their place, the Exarch came in.

And what a smug asshole he was.

A lion, his head held a bit too high and his chest pushed a bit too far out. Exarchs from ages past never had this kind of issue, from what the history books told them. But this one was a bit more than that, and the other Exarchs were bordering on smug.

He thought he can change the very way their governance worked, keeping the most loyal members on under-the-table payrolls to have their loyalty. Ekon knew of this due to a friend of his, who is in the Skeyrusan "Armed Forces" who witnessed just such a transaction occur.

But today was the day that he would be called out.

Ekon paid attention to what the Exarch had to say, what others had to say and what was going to happen to get their home region back from the Democratic Alliance. And when the Exarch wanted objections......

That was when Ekon struck.

He stood, paws clasped behind his back. He held his head up to the standard, staring down the Exarch, who seems to be unhappy with him. Ekon looked around the room, everyone staring at him.

"Yes, Exarch, I do have an objection. Why would you have the Curators on under-the-table payrolls just to support you in breaking the Skeyrusan Code of Governance?" He asked.

It was there that the entire mood within the room changed and swirled. The Curators, the four furs that sat two on either side of the Exarch, and the Exarch himself were furious, but the rest of the Party members were shocked at the accusation and what actions he wants to do to their society, which has worked for millennia. The Exarch was gripping the table hard, his claws digging in to the cheap wood they had to use, but his face was calm.

Ekon inwardly smirked but kept his outward face calm, knowing that his course in politics was well worth it.

"Why so angry, Exarch? Is it because I'm right? Is it because I had a friend who witnessed just such a transaction occur in the dead of night?" He continued, pressing just the right amount of buttons and asking just the right questions.

"You have NO idea of what you're talking about, Ensign!" One of the Curators yelled.

That signalled their downfall.

It was right there that the rest of the Party rallied against the Exarch and the Curators, calling for them to step down from their positions, while the five rallied for Ekon to be thrown out of the Party for life.

Ekon raised one of his paws and the room went silent, wielding the room with an expert touch. Must've inherited it from his father.

"I ask for a vote to be called. Either for me to leave the Party, or for the Curators and Exarch to leave the Party. No payrolls, no tricks. Honest votes only." Ekon proposed.

The vast majority of the Party accepted the proposition, and the Exarch called the meeting to be adjourned. The Exarch and the Curators stormed out of the room, while the rest took their time filing out, all of them congratulating Ekon for his courage to stand against them.

He had no idea that this revitalised the Party.

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That night:

Ekon sat in his friend's home opposite the fireplace, the rest of the house lit by candles as that is what they have to use.

How far the mighty have fallen.

He was still wearing the Party's uniform, although the jacket was now unbuttoned and showed the grey shirt underneath.

His friend came out of her room, her nightgown flowing behind her. She was a Siamese cat, like himself, except she hid a secret that only her family, herself and Ekon knew about beneath the dress.

She took another chair and sat down beside Ekon, also facing towards the fireplace.

"You've gone out and exposed them, have you?" She asked, looking at Ekon.

"Yes, I have, Belendin." Ekon answered.

Belendin took Ekon's paw, shaking it like a young girl would.

"Tell me about what happened in there." She requested, a sparkle in her eyes reminiscent of their last schooling years.

Ekon smiled at the memory, and retold all of the events that happened in there, right up until his leaving.

In the end, Belendin smiled at the turn of events.

"If the Exarch gets voted out, there'll be celebrations in the streets."

"And all brought about by me, because I cannot allow them to break the Code."

"You always held power like a good fur would a gun. Only when you needed to, and to great effect. That's the reason why so many of our peers liked you so. The power went to the Exarch's head, thinking that he could do anything without any consequences befalling him."

"I made a promise to my father. I won't break it for the world."

Belendin began to stroke the fur on Ekon's hand, calming him down from his small anger episode. Ekon looked from the fireplace to Belendin's face, seeing the beauty as the light from the flames danced across her fur. Her eyes, which were copper, reflected the light in such a way that it shone without tears.

A sight to see.

He leant in towards Belendin, who leant in as well. Their lips met, and they kissed in the light of the fire.

For all this time, Belendin was Ekon's light in the perpetual darkness of his life.

They spent the night in the same bed...... and no funny business was done.