Speak Only When Spoken To
Rock sat silently in the chair, staring at the table in front of him. He sat alone, waiting for the arrival of the Duke, who'd made the order to arrest him. Him! His own son!
The door opened, and Rock stood to attention, saluting--as best as anyone who'd been handcuffed was able to--as Duke Red entered the room. He stared at Rock for a moment before sitting and allowing Rock to do the same.
Duke Red had ordered that the guards stay outside the door instead of by his side, so the two were the only people in the room. The lighting was dim, but Rock still knew that the Duke, lounging back in the chair with his legs crossed, was staring daggers as him.
Rock, eager to break the silence, began: "Sir-"
"Speak only when spoken to," Duke Red said sharply. He regarded Rock for a few more slow, silent moments before standing with his back to him. "You've no idea how disappointed I am," he continued, entwining his fingers behind his back. He turned to face Rock at an angle, his glare cutting through the dimness of the lone light above them.
Rock shifted uneasily in his seat. "But, sir-" he started again. In an instant, Duke Red had pulled a knife from his coat pocket and had slammed the tip into the wooden table. Rock stared, wide-eyed, at the Duke, who looked back with an amazing amount of calmness, contrary to the glare he'd been giving only a moment before.
"I don't want to hear your disgusting voice for the remainder of this session. Understand?" Rock nodded. Duke Red unwound his fingers from around the handle of the knife and straightened himself to full height, his hands entwined behind him once more. "Good. Now, look here." He walked to the window and peered out. Rock stood and turned toward the window as well.
"Out there, you see that enormously large gap where there is nothing but miles and miles of sky? That is where my tower, my Ziggurat, once stood. Do you know why it is no longer there? Because I do. My beautiful, wonderful tower is no longer the center of my city because you blew it up." Duke Red turned, sending the back of his hand across Rock's right cheek.
"Rock, Rock, Rock ..." he said softly, looking out the window once more. "You never quite learned what it meant to stay out of my affairs. Always meddling in things, especially my tower and my precious ... precious ..." Red discovered he could not continue, and stayed quiet a moment. "You made me lose her a second time, Rock. A second time ... All your fault." He trailed off for another pause. "Aren't you tired of it always being your fault, Rock? Because I am."
Rock's eyes widened when he realized the Duke was pointing a gun at him. He didn't even have time for it to register in his brain that he had cocked the gun, and then he pulled the trigger ...
Duke Red watched Rock's body fall and slipped the gun back into his coat. He pulled the knife from the table and returned it to its original position in the depths of his coat as well. As he walked down the hall away from the room, his guards following him, he said aloud,
"I didn't like you the first time I set eyes on you. I sure as hell don't like you now."
A/N: Cruel, yes? Sorry for all you Dukie fans, but I love portraying him as the ultimate bad guy. He's just so easy to write with:)