Take To The Crown

a King and his sons.

Ink colored brick walls, grey marble floors and greenery lacing every entrance. Only one light in the walls of the palace was glowing. it was the doing of the Kings sons. There in the kingdom lived a youthful royal, tan horns slightly peaking out of his disheveled golden brunette hair, and a distinct fascination with bees, and a red headed royal, four years older than his eleven year old counterpart, who spent his days practicing his handwriting and skills with the piano in the throne room. And they're Father, King Schlatt, a fierce politician and King, but an alcoholic when it mattered. The sons would often stay up and talk about the happenings of the kingdom or less interesting ones like the weather, the younger hated those. The boy would try his best to break silence, which would often result in him talking while the older, sometimes unwillingly, listened.
The horned boy rolled over to the sight of his brother, hunched over an old ashen mahogany table, papers and books scattered like leafs in fall, four dirty coffee cups and two unwashed small white plates occupied the left side. The teenager was practicing his creative writing. The boy grabbed his attention by crumbling up a discarded practice of poetry and throwing it in his brothers general direction. The red headed teen slowly blinked, he sighed, placing the black ink pen down neatly next to the paper, giving into another bound to be distracting conversation with his brother
"Yes, Tubbo?" the teen sighed. "You've been over there for agess" Tubbo exclaimed, dragging his words out for emphasis. "Ive been practicing for 5 minutes, you're being dramatic." He responded, placing his head in his palm. "5 minutes too many!" Tubbo whined some more. Quietness fell over them, The brunette thought to himself, quickly scrambling to start more conversation. "Lets go play in the garden!" Tubbo said excitedly, jumping up from his previous laying position. "Its far too late to go out Tubbo, i dont want you to get in trouble." Velvet warned, pushing the inked paper to the side momentarily. "Just for 10 minutess!" Tubbo begged some more. Velvet took in the matter at hand, his whiny brother, his tired eyes, his less than perfect poetry, his hand still curved as if he was still holding the same pen, and then dropped his shoulders in defeat. "Okay Tubbo, 10 minutes." The man reluctantly agreed.

They wandered around in the open flower fields, grass and dandelions  reaching their knees, for Tubbo his hips. the moon light guided them. Tubbo did his best to sneak past the guards, though Velvet just took the stone path, and telling the guards that the King would be okay with it, which he most certainly would not. Tubbo quickly knelt down. "Velvet!" He yelled. Velvet flinching at the sudden-ness of his tone. "What?!" Velvet was hurled into a panic, ducking his head down aswell, turning to face his younger brother. "I found a frog!" Tubbo said, lifting the frog up in his palms to show his less than impressed older brother. Velvet let out a sigh, an equal mix of breath he had held and dissapointment. "Tubs, next time you're excited, dont scream at me" Velvet said, trying his best to be patient with him, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Sorry" The boy apologized, handing the aforementioned frog as a peace offering. The red headed prince rolled his eyes, and then smiled, turning his back to Tubbo to wander around the grass aswell. "Has it been 10 minutes yet?" Velvet questioned, checking his wrist as if his watch were there in an attempt to lighten the mood. "No." Tubbo replied quickly, letting the frog down and going back to studying each flower.

20 minutes had passed, they were still roaming the open fields, it being nearly pitch black, far from home by that point. They reached a slight rise in the dirt. "Tubbo, its dark and my legs are tired." Velvet complained, his body continously denied rest in that same night. "I-" Tubbo was cut off by a sound rustling in the grass, followed by metal hitting metal. "down!" Velvet whispered harshly, hiding in the taller parts of the grass and flowers, dropping the previous rocks and random objects that his brother has made him hold, forcefully pulling his brother down with him. A swift sound was made, someone had heard them. "Hello?" Somebody said, a much taller and older woman. She seemed to be approaching where they were hidden. The sound of a sword being forcefully pulled out of the hollster ringed in the shallow air. "Show yourself, i know you're here." The woman warned, her job is to protect the king and his sons, and thats what she'll live by. Velvet raised his arms above the grass in surrender, Tubbo doing the same. "Aha!" She exclaimed, pointing the sword in their direction. Velvet jumped up, arms still in the air. "Dont hurt him, please-." Velvet begged, referring to his brother, who gripped tightly onto Velvets side. She heard the sound of the Kings son, shit. "OH! oh gods i am so sorry!" She said, lowering her sword immediately and bowing in the general direction she heard them from, all she could see was the moon silhouetting them, the light bouncing off of golden pendants, the light bouncing off of the guards armour aswell. "I vow to protect you, i presumed you to be enemies, please forgive me." She said, in fear of upsetting them. Tubbo loosened his grip on his brother, and Velvet lowered his arms in relief. "good God." Velvet let out, holding his chest to feel his heart, one that seemed to be beating far too fast for comfort. "I havent seen you before" Tubbo questioned, still skeptical of the armoured woman. "I just started working yesterday, i get night shift." She affirmed, showing off the kingdom's badge. "Whats your name?" Velvet asked, striking conversation to distract him from the fear he still had. "Puffy, but you can call me Captain." Puffy smiled, offering her hand to shake. Velvet took it, although still very shakey. "Nice to meet you Captain," Velvet let go of the handshake. "But, ive got a favor to ask of you.
dont tell our Father about this." Velvet pleaded. Puffy immediately shook her head. "Of course of course! Im sure your Father wouldnt wanna hear the story of how i almost injured you guys either." The Captain affirmed, panicked on being told on aswell. "No snitching. Deal" Velvet said, a nod confirming. Puffy nodded aswell. With hearts switching back to normal speeds, the night was over.

Morning dawned, rain water boucing off of the dew of the grass, golden tint wrapped the kingdom, a duo talked under an old ash tree in an open field, far from any authority or politics. The ash tree being one of the first thing to ever exist on kingdom grounds. "Velvet?" Tubbo tried to get his attention once more, keeping his hands busy with a single piece of pine, sooned to be carved and slit into a small force of destruction. "Yes, Tubbo?" Velvet responded softly, practicing with a target semi- far from them. Velvet lightly tugged the arrow back, aiming for white. "Do you think Father will be displeased if i dont wanna train? Will it be frowned upon?" The brunnete asked, tilting his head slightly away from his red headed counterpart. "Yes." Velvet responded, releasing the arrow from his index and middle finger, a few inches short from perfect. Tubbo's , unexpecting of Velvets response. Velvet was typically the one to soften the truth, a good and bad quality admittedly. Tubbo was unsure of if it was just his kind nature or a survival tactic, unfortunately he assumed the ladder.  "Oh." Tubbo uttered, more to himself. Velvet stepped back, placing his bow in the soft grass and sitting down beside the younger. "It'll be alright, okay Tubbo?
if you really don't think its your time to train, i can tell Sc-" Velvet cut himself off, his risky label for his Father made him stop himself. "Father." He corrected. "I will tell Father for you, if you need me to" the teen promised, placing a hand on Tubbo's shoulder. "This isnt fair, why does Father expect so much of me, of us?" Tubbo asked, burying his face in his palms, exhaling deeply. "Well Tubbo," Velvet inhaled, leaning back into the ash tree. "Life is far away from fair" he exhaled.
the boy shut his eyes, leaning back aswell. "It never will be." Tubbo confirmed,
They spent the morning under the leafs of the ash tree, sitting in silence.
Tubbo could almost feel a switch in his body, a fading.
Tubbo felt his childhood fade, his less than kind nicknames for his brother, his unsavory jokes that would typically make Velvet swat his arm, his innocence of life.
it escaped from eyes, fading out of his finger tips.

Tubbo was a child, but he knew he would and could never experience the moment ever again.

The boy shut his eyes, a subtle smile edging at the corners of his lips.
"Velvet, dont tell him, okay?" The boy asked. The red head simply nodded.
He'll tell his father one day, but for now, he'll grasp onto the peace he has.