"Sometimes I wish you were never born!"
"Yeah, well I wish you weren't my brother! I hate it here! I hate you!"
Arthur was left staring at the poster plastered door that had just been slammed in his face. He remained there for some time, just staring at it as his anger slowly subsided and turned into guilt. Ever since the twenty year old had taken his younger brother in all they did was fight. There was hardly any reason to them anymore, they were just senseless arguments about the most minute things, though they usually didn't escalate to this level. The longer he stood staring at the superheroes covering the ten year olds door the worse he felt. Though he felt the need to apologize to him, Arthur figured Alfred needed sometime to calm down before any real discussions could happen so, with a sigh, the young man made his way to the living room to sit and wait.
Meanwhile in his room, Alfred collapsed onto his bed, hot tears spilling from his eyes. What he had said hadn't been entirely false. Though he didn't necessarily hate his brother he did hate living with him. Their parents were, and still are, going through a nasty divorce and thought it best to keep the boy out of it. With the stress of his parents relationship crumbling before his eyes just about anything set the ten year old off. Usually by the time he cooled down Alfred, much like his brother, regretted what was said and realized just how stupid the fight was. This one though was different. No matter how mad he'd been the blond had never declared that he hated his brother nor had the other said he wished the younger hadn't been born. In all honesty that statement, the look Arthur held in his emerald eyes as he spoke the words, and even his tone of voice wouldn't leave the young boys mind.
"Maybe he would be better off without me," Alfred muttered to himself, taking off his glasses to dry his eyes. "I wish I could just escape from all of this." He sadly looked down at his hands as he spoke this, his brother's words playing through his mind once again. Hours passed but Alfred remained in his room. He couldn't go out to face his brother nor did he want to. Instead he simply sat on his bed and tried to keep his mind focused on other things.
As the time went on Arthur eventually drifted into a deep sleep, something that was rather unusual for him. Though he was passed out on the couch no sound could have woken woken him from his slumber. This is why he did not hear the front door unlock, nor the footsteps that passed him and made their way towards the boy's room.
As Alfred silently lay in his bed his thoughts once again went back to the last words of the fight. Every time he thought of what his brother had said he could feel a sharp pain in his chest and tears would once again fill his eyes. It was at this moment though that he heard humming coming from behind his door. The boy slowly sat up and turned towards the door. Alfred silently listened to the song being hummed, a small smile appearing on his face as he did. Soon the humming changed to singing.
"Come little children, I'll take thee away,
Into a land of enchantment.
Come little children, The time's come to play,
Here in my garden of shadows."
The boy simply stared at the door for a moment, letting the singer's beautiful voice sink in. Her tone was soft and warm, holding no edge to it. It was as if the voice was begging Alfred to continue to listen, to come to it; which is exactly what he did. He slowly slid off the bed and made his way towards the door. Just as the blond pulled it open the woman behind the voice started the next verse.
"Follow sweet children, I'll show thee the way,
Through all the pain and the sorrows.
Weep not poor children, For life is this way,
Murdering beauty and passions."
The woman singing held just as much beauty as her voice. Dark brown hair was held back in a loose bun, bangs perfectly framing her face, and violet eyes that seemed to glow stared down at the child. A dark purple cloak hung around her shoulders, stopping just at the waist of her lavender dress. The longer Alfred listened and stared at the woman before him, the more his thoughts seemed to slip from his mind. It was a pleasant feeling, especially after the events of the night. The smile on his face grew slightly and the light in his eyes slowly started to fade. As the singer finished out the verse she turned and began to slowly walk down the hall. Alfred stared at the space she had once occupied for a moment before following behind her as she continued.
"Hush now dear children, It must be this way,
To weary of life and deceptions.
Rest now my children, For soon we'll away,
Into the calm and the quiet."
The two made their way down the hall, towards the front door. Her singing was soft and sweet, feeling familiar despite the fact he had never heard it before. Soon the pair was out the door, leaving it wide open behind them, and continued down the dimly lit street. The usually lively street seemed abandoned at this hour, in fact the whole town felt deserted. The woman was leading the two towards the park, not that the boy would have noticed. Alfred could hardly keep a thought in his head, let alone notice where they were going. The only true thought that stayed in the young boy's head was the wish to follow the owner of that voice no matter where it went. He stared ahead with glazed over eyes and a small, almost sleepy smile was on face. Once they reached the center of the park the woman finally finished her song.
"Come little children, I'll take thee away,
Into a land of enchantment.
Come little children, The time's come to play,
Here in my garden of shadows."
As she concluded she turned and faced the entranced child. With a warm smile on her face she beckoned the blond closer. Alfred silently complied, walking until he was directly in front of her. Just as she sang the last line of the song the brown haired woman gently pulled the boy close.
Alfred practically melted into the hug the moment the singer's arms went around him. She was so very warm and smelt sweet, almost like roses. He suddenly became extremely aware of how tired he was and felt his eye lids start to droop. Despite his fatigue he fought to keep them open. The woman noticed this and chuckled. "Its okay Alfred, you can sleep," she said softly, kissing the top of his head. Just like that the blond's eyes closed and he fell into a deep, dreamlessa sleep. His slumber was so deep that he could not feel wind pick up around him and the ground leave his feet, nor did he feel his glasses slip off his face.
Hours later Arthur awoke and slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Yawning he shivered wondering how it had gotten so cold. "I thought I left the heat on..." he muttered to himself, looking around the room. When his eyes landed on an open front door his brain, still waking up, didn't quite register what that meant. After a moment though emerald eyes widen in realization and the blond ran towards his brother's room.
"Alfred!" Arthur shouted as he burst into the room. The door had also been wide open and inside the young boy's room was exactly as it should have been except for one thing - Alfred was no where in sight. Wasting no time he started tearing the room apart in search of his brother. When that led no where the blond tore out of the room and began searching the rest of the small condo he called home. By the end of his search the normally tidy house looked like a tornado had gone through it.
Fear and panic took a full hold of Arthur as he rushed out the front door and down the street that was just beginning to come back to life. Still he ran yelling his brother's name every so often, hoping he'd get a response from the boy. He continued with this until he reached the nearby park, where his legs gave out from under him. Kneeling the damp grass the blond let the tears he'd been holding back spill out. He was out of breath, exhausted from running, had a voice sore from yelling, but mostly he felt deep guilt, regret, and sadness. The last thing he ever said to Alfred was I wish you were never born, the last thing the siblings did was fight and the last he saw of his brother were angry, tear filled eyes as a door was slammed in his face. Arthur simply knelt there and wailed, not caring who saw or heard, not even caring that his throat was already raw. To put it simply the elder didn't care anymore. He had one person to look after, one person to care for and now... now he was gone. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry Alfred." Arthur said with a voice hoarse yelling.
Arthur stayed there letting his emotions overcome him as the cold dawn turned into a cool morning. As the blond began to compose himself the early morning rays glistened off the dew in the grass. He stared at it for a moment, numb and exhausted, when a flash of light a few feet away caught his eye. He stared at the spot, wondering what caused the unnatural light. With a mixture of curiosity and something else that the young man just couldn't place he slowly rose and approached the source of the light. An audible gasp escaped him as Arthur saw the cause, a pair red rimmed glass, the same pair Alfred wore. He bent down and gently picked them up, a feeling of dread welling up inside him.
Why did they have to fight? Why couldn't his brother still be here?
"Alfred... I'm so sorry."
A/N: This is an old fic I didn't really plan on uploading but figured, what the hell. I'm not really sure I want to continue it or really where it's going but we'll see what happens. Hope you enjoyed it.