"Scourge?" A small blue hedgehog asked as he walked into the older ones room

"what do you want now Sonic?" A green hedgehog rolled his eyes

"do you want to play?" Sonic asked

"i'm busy right now and when are you going to stop being so childish? Can't you see i'm trying to keep the kingdom in order?" Scourge stated as he looked at his younger brother

Who was only looking away

"i-i just thought" "thought what?" "it doesn't matter..." "we if it doesn't leave me alone and go annoy someone else" Scourge said as he turned back to the papers in front of him, not noticing the tears falling from his brothers eyes before he walked away

~~*~~

the two brothers sat either side of the table leaving the head chairs empty as to where their parents once sat, the servants placed their food in front of them, it was deathly silent during the meal, neither of them finishing their meals

"tomorrow a neighbouring king will be arriving and i need you to behave and not embarrass me" Scourge said as he drank from his goblet 

"yes Scourge" Sonic mumbled quietly as he knew his brother had forgotten once again about the event that was meant to transpire tomorrow "may i be dismissed from the table?" he asked as Scourge nodded

he stood and walked out the room and up the grand stairs, leaving his brother in the dim candle light of the banquet room

~~*~~

"your majesty King Arthur is here" one of the knights said as said king walked in with his legendary knights of the round table

"King Arthur" Scourge bowed his head

"Prince Scourge" Arthur greeted

"It's King now" Scourge corrected 

"...I see, but how long?" Arthur stated

"they died four years ago" Scourge answered

"...you have my deepest regards, Collins might not have been a smart leader, but he was a brave King" Arthur bowed hi head, while Scourge nodded

"where's your brother?" Lancelot asked 

"the young prince hasn't come out of his room yet" One of the maids replied

"why?" Scourge asked

"he said he didn't want to come out for awhile, the reason was unclear" the maid frowned, Scourge only sighed and nodded in dismissal 

"is everything all right?" Arthur questioned

"of course" Scourge answered

"this place feels empty..." Gawain said to Lancelot, who nodded in agreement

~~*~~

Scourge walked to his brother's room once King Arthur and his knights left, annoyed that his brother had no showed himself at all, but also worried that something was wrong

he stopped in front of the door and knocked, not getting an answer, he sighed in annoyance and walked in, to find his brother asleep at his desk, surrounded by books from the library 

'was he in here all day reading?.....' Scourge frowned as he thought to himself as he went to his brother and placed him into his bed before tidying the desk covered in books and left the room 

still unaware of the mistake he had made

~~*~~

it had been quiet the last few months in the castle, Scourge was busier than he was before and spending less and less time around his brother, who was spending more and more time in his room alone

but he had taken on the habit to do things the maids normally did for him, which confused everyone in the castle, but his brother did not know

~~*~~

"why don't you go play with the visiting prince?" the princes Guard suggested, Sonic only shook his head as he continued to read the book in his hands

"Scourge said he didn't want me being childish...." he mumbled, making the guard frown, but not question it, seeing the light fading from the princes eyes as he continued to read the book

but the guard knew there were unspoken words and knew the child felt hurt

~~*~~

"Your majesty?" 

"what is it?" Scourge sighed as he looked at the maid that had walked in with a frown on her face

"it's about your brother sire....." Scourge's attention was on her 

"what about my brother?" Scourge couldn't hide the worry that laced his voice

"he's grown ill within the last few months...he said you knew already, but he's gotten worse" the maid said and Scourge's blood ran cold at those words

'what? but he never said he was sick' he thought as he stood and walked past the maid and towards his brother's room, as he entered he was greeted with coughing from the small blue hedgehog

Scourge frowned as he sat on the end of the bed as his brother was hunched over as he sat up in his bed as  he continued to cough

"Blue?" Scourge's frown deepened as his brother looked up as his eyes were a dull green and his fur paler than he had remembered 

tears fell from Sonic eyes from when he was coughing and now because his older brother was here seeing him like this

"shh" Scourge mumbled as he hugged his crying brother "it's going to be ok" 

"i-i" Sonic sniffled as he shivered in Scourge's arms

Scourge knew what was going to happen, and he just felt numb as he held his brother

"i'm sorry' Scourge mumbled "for everything...", but he got no reply as he looked at his brother and saw he had fallen asleep and frown  

~~*~~

Scourge stared at the freshly dug in grave as he felt broken in side as rain pored

"your majesty..." one of the knights that made sure no one attacked the king mumbled

"yes?" Scourge asked

"we should get back into the castle...."

"oh...." Scourge mumbled as he turned and walked towards the castle and walked past all the knights, guards and servants and to his study where he locked the door as tears fell, he walked to his desk and grabbed a piece of parchment and a feather quill and began to write

when he finished he unlocked the door and gave it to one of the servants 

"send this to King Arthur please...." Scourge mumbled the them, they nodded and walked away with it

Scourge just went back inside the room and looked through every draw, bookshelf, nook and cranny, until he found what he was looking for

a small blade lay in his hand as tears fell

"I'm sorry" was all he said before sliding it across his neck and his vision faded to darkness

~~*~~

"i knew i shouldn't have left after what happened" Arthur frowned as he looked at the letter once again

'Dear Arthur, i give you full control over my kingdom, i can't do this any more, it's my fault my brother is gone, i should have paid more attention to him, but instead i forgot that he was still a child, i forgot his birthday on a number of occasions, i should had comforted him after our parents death, but i locked myself away instead, i have so many regrets....I'm sorry but this is the last time you'll hear from me... -STH'

"so he abandoned his kingdom" Lancelot stated, Arthur shook his head as he stood

"i don't know, but we should go and check on his kingdom" Arthur said as he stood and walked out the room with his knight following

~~*~~

once they arrived after weeks of riding, they were greeted with the kingdom filled with misery, the castle gates were decorated with flowers and jewels, the guards and knights on duty were slouching as Arthur and his knights followed along

Lancelot cleared his throat a they approached, they straitened their backs as they saw the foreign king and knights arrive 

"what happened?" Arthur asked

"...after the kings brother died, he...ended his own life..." a white polar bare replied solemnly 

Arthur and the others with him were struck by shock

"i see...i received this letter a few days before i left to come here..." Arthur handed the knight the letter

"i see...so he left the king of Camelot our home" the bear stated

"i have no intent of running this kingdom, i'd rather leave it to it's people to decide the next ruler, i only came to understand this, but seems i was too late to" Arthur said "but i'd like to see where their buried please" Arthur frowned

"of course"

~~*~~

Arthur looked at the graves of the royal family of Darkwood and bowed his head in respect as he then turned and left, one by one his knights each paid their respects 

by sunset they set off to return to Camelot

Thank you for reading

Dream7896