Title: Long Live the King
Fandom: Kings
Pairing: None
Word Count: 959
Rating: PG13
Spoilers: Through Episode 9, disregarding everything afterwards.
It's the day Papa said he'd visit, but instead of black shoes and a smile, it's lilac heels and a woman who holds herself high, looking down her nose at her surroundings.
"So, this," she says, her eyes fixed on the garden that should have bloomed days ago, "this is my husband's 'serenity.'"
The Queen looks just like the pictures in the paper, the clips on the TV, only far more beautiful and terrifying. He finds he can't move from her gaze, can barely put up a fight when the nice lady who's always with Papa picks him up. When the Queen's back is turned, the nice lady hands him a piece of candy.
The Queen stands at his mother's bedside, and he hopes that she's here to help his mother, who collapsed earlier in the day and hadn't moved since.
"The boy is all that's left of Silas," the Queen tells the prone woman, the woman who can't even function around her grief. "He'll be coming with us."
His mother says nothing, does nothing, doesn't even sit up to watch them take Seth away. He screams for her until the nice lady holding him holds his face against her chest, waiting for him to stop. The nice lady is shaking, and it only makes Seth more uneasy.
The palace is just as grand as Papa told him, with big doors and gold and diamonds in the chandeliers. But Papa isn't there, and the nice lady tells him that his Papa has gone away and won't be coming back. He remembers his mother once told him the same thing, but he still came back. So he sits quietly and does as he's told, because that's what brought Papa back that time.
He is dressed in silk and gold, and is sat in a huge chair before a table of men. They all, in turn, say, "Long live the King," and then the audience behind them does the same. They all bow and sit, ignoring him.
He learns his Papa is "gone." He learns a man named Jack, the Prince, is gone as well. He learns he is illegitimate, whatever that means, and shouldn't have been crowned King. As the man who says this is dragged away, he wants to say yes, I don't belong here, take me home, I want my mommy.
He learns a man named David will destroy them all, but he remembers a man named David who smiled and loved his Papa, who his Papa loved. He doesn't understand, so sits and is good and does as he's told.
The Princess is straight out of a fairytale, with soft hair and a pretty smile just for him. She reads books to him at night, telling him that his Papa used to read them to her when she was Seth's age. He tells her that Papa will come back soon, and she starts to cry.
The Queen is cold and doesn't talk to him, and he imagines her to be the evil witch from the books, and David is the knight coming to save him and the Princess.
There are nightmares, and it's always the Queen sitting in the chair in the corner, watching him sleep. She says nothing and doesn't move, but once Seth thought she was crying. But it's all a dream, and in the morning the Princess coddles and kisses him, and he thinks nothing more of it.
Then one night he's woken by gunshots and the splintering of wooden doors. He wakes to the Queen at his bedside, the Princess flying past her onto the bed, grabbing Seth and holding him close. There's a fire outside the window, and the orange light casts shadows over the Queen's face, but gleams off of the knife in her hand.
Someone's banging on the door, trying the door handle. The Queen looks at Seth, he can't see it but he can feel it, and says, "The King must live on."
Then she's out the door and the Princess is screaming, "Mother! Mother!", her screams almost drowning out the gunshots. She never lets go of Seth, even as the doors are swung open and the lights are switched on and several men dressed in black and holding rifles pour into the room, surrounding the bed and allowing two unmasked men to enter behind them.
"David!" the Princess calls out, flinching as if to let go of Seth, but then thinking better of it.
"Michelle," David answers. He looks tired, older, much like Seth's Papa had during his last visit.
"My mother…"
"Got what she asked for," the other man answered, his face hard as stone and his eyes blacker than night.
"I'm sorry, Michelle," David says, taking one step towards them. "I didn't mean-"
"The boy," the other man says, grabbing David by the arm. "You cannot be King while he lives."
"No!" the Princess says, hugging Seth tighter. "You can't!"
"He's only a child," David says.
"Child or no, he is King, and will remain so until his death."
"You can't expect me to-"
The other man grabs David's collar, pulling him close. "I expect you to follow my order. It is I who got you this far, remember that!"
Seth wriggled inside the Princess' grip until he could free his head, crying out to David, "Save me!"
Everyone stopped and stared at the boy-King as he cried again, "Save me!"
David gave one last look at the Gath General before crossing the room to the bed. The Princess moaned, "No," as David forced her arms open, taking the child from her.
Safe in David's arms, Seth said again, "Save me."
David held the boy close, and Seth's Papa used to, and took a deep breath.