The sky slowly turned a tangerine orange as dusk began to set in over the kingdom...The orange rays of sunlight reflecting beautifully off of the white mists that coated the city of Mobotropolis...The air was crisp, cold and still...A beautiful silence hung in the air too...With the smell of the city masked by the much more pleasant aroma of fresh evening air...It was a relaxing ambience...One that deeply contrasted to the brutal crime that had just happened earlier in the day in Castle Acorn's courtyard.

However, despite the barbarity and almost callous cruelty of the way in which Sir Graham Douglas had been slain... Sir Leoncour wasn't punished for it, not truly; All that had happened was a very stern warning from Lord Prower on not engaging in such animalistic brutality during their visit to the castle and reserving it for bandits and criminals...So in a way...Leoncour had done his duty...At least Miles thought so.

At present, he was sitting down in the library alongside his new friends Holly and Samuel as well as Cream, who had a mix of both horror and relief when she had heard of Douglas's demise at the hands of Prower's attack dog...She had cried happy and frightened tears at the news and had rushed off to tell her mother before her return...Miles was just happy to see that she was okay though...

As for Holly and Sam? Despite their noble backgrounds and their...Less than stellar father figure...They had nothing but sympathy and respect for Cream and were naturally disgusted at all of the utterly terrible things that the boar had done to her while he was alive...Even Holly, the gentle natured and sympathetic sibling had begun to feel rage eat away at her heart like maggots to a corpse. She eve understood as to why Miles had acted so...Coldly in reaction to Douglas's death.

However,...With the crackle of the warm fire of the torches and hearth of the library...All that violence felt so long ago it was like another lifetime...Especially when the little quartet had spent the last few hours reading less...Bleak and harrowing real life stories and instead exchanged fantastical tales; Tales of the deepest and darkest dungeons, the hottest and deadliest dragons fire and the most luxurious and mystical treasures...Of nymphs and dryads in the woods and giant krakens and leviathans under the sea...Whatever they could tell stories about they would.

"Jeez...Those poor sailors, I don't reckon it'd be a lot of fun being turned into a bunch of pigs." Miles said, a smile wide on his face as Holly came to the end of one story she had been telling.

"Agreed...That Circe lady sounds like a real piece of work..." Cream said in response a bit more disturbed by the tale than her furrier friend.

Holly however smiled in return and said plainly to the two children,

"Well, I'm glad you to liked that story...It was always one of my favourites when I was a little girl...I remember that my mother would tell stories to me and Sam every night before she blew our candles out...It still saddens me knowing what happened to her..." She said, although...Her voice grew softer and more melancholic at the mention of her long dead mother...Her eyes going slightly glassy as she looked back into the stretches of time for the meekest slivers of memory she had of Rosemary Prower.

"Yeah...I miss the sense of warmth and safety we used to feel around her...No longer though..." Samuel said in response to his sister...A small but sad smile spread across his face...A smile that was filled with long repressed pain and sorrow...

"I'm...Sorry for your loss...Both of you, I'm pretty sure everyone in Castle Acorn knows the story of what happened...She deserved a better death and so did her child...Two lives were robbed that night." Miles said, wishing to pay respects to the former matriarch of house Prower.

"Indeed...When father told us of the news...I... I don't even know how to describe what i felt with words it just felt so...Wrong...Like there was this horrible black hand gripping around my heart and squeezing it tight...And while the pain has definitely lessened over the years...It still deeply depresses me to think about it...Especially about what it did to father..." Holly murmured.

"Yeah...When he told us that we were going to have a new sibling...It was like a blinding; overwhelming beam of light and joy had hit us...The inverse happened when we told neither mother or who would have been our brother survive... And as for father? It seemed like what happened that terrible night encased his heart in stone; before he was a happy, kind and joyful man who loved to laugh and mess around with us...But after, he turned cold...Oh so cold.

You see Miles...Our father, Lord Amadeus...He is a good father but...Not in the way you really need...He's good for giving you information and teaching you how to become a productive member of society but...He isn't the kind of man you go to for comfort of emotional matters...He's not sentimental or really empathetic to anyone, he's the walking equivalent of a bull in a china shop...The person he was before mother died and the person he became after...It's like night and day." Samuel responded sadly twiddling his thumbs...

Miles and Cream looked to each other, looking for advice on what they could say in order to bring the two some kind of reassurance...Yet their efforts were in vain...Instead, they were interrupted by the door to the library opening. In came through an older looking rabbit with the same complexion of fur colour as Cream, she was dressed in a rather simple, short sleeved grey dress and brown apron that was covered in a practical layer of flour so thick it could serve as armour, the white dusty material also coated her lower arms up to just below the elbow.

She was a rather gaunt, sickly-looking woman too...Her face rather pale, her fur unkempt and messy, her hazel eyes sunken, surrounded by dark circles and with crow's feet stretching out to the sides...However, what concerned Miles the most was the rather visible welts and bruises on her upper arms and her face...A couple of them looking rather raw and recent...Perhaps they were from Douglas that morning; Miles hoped that was the case...But nonetheless, despite her rather measly condition Ms Vanilla smiled at the four and announced to them in a rather hoarse and rough sounding voice,

"Excuse me M'Lord and Lady Prower...But we will be eating rather shortly so I would recommend heading down to the banquet hall."

Thankfully, the allure of food was enough to snap the two siblings out of their sad stupor and at once they rose to their feet...Their spirits lightened and small smiles beginning to emerge on their faces,

"Thank you, Miss, we'll be sure to head down to the banquet hall in a minute." Holly said, a bit of her normal, merry self-returning.

...

The quartet walked down the hallways of the castle as they exited the library, each one's mouth-watering at the fought of the food that'll be served at the feast...It was certainly a very exciting prospect for them all after the day they had experienced...

They chatted and laughed and joked amongst themselves as they went, seemingly unaware of the world around them and they were happy to be so; Miles was happy to be around more people he could look up to learn from on his journey to becoming a knight, Cream was happy because of the fact that the Prower children didn't share their father's cold heart and didn't treat her like something one accidentally stepped in and Holly and Sam were happy that they were able to be around people that allowed them to feel like normal kids again instead of their relations Sally and Elias who...While very nice and likeable in their own right, their bonds made them feel more like adults in children's bodies...It was a nice feeling for both parties...

"And then Sir Sonic came along and asked me if he could help me with anything! I can't tell you how I felt when I heard him speak, I felt like a deer surrounded by a pack of ravenous wolves!" Miles laughed; explaining his tale of being found by Sir Sonic.

"Hahah! Really? I would have thought that someone like you would have run away immediately rather than say in that Pavillion, I know I would have legged it." Sam responded.

"Oh, I did run away...I nearly got away too, I don't mean to brag but it took Sonic, Shadow, Amy and Knuckles a rather long time to get me...It was a good chase and I'm happy that I was able to show them my potential as a squire...Chaos knows where I'd be if I never did."

"Well...We're very thankful for it Miles, you're a good friend...Be sure to write to us when we leave for home. It's always nice to have more friends from far away." Holly warmly responded to the fox...

"Awww, that's really ni-OH CHAOS!" he boy exclaimed as he lost his footing and fell headfirst onto the cold stone floor of the hallway...An audible thud and yelp of pain being heard as Miles's snout collided with the floor...The fox slowly rose to his feet once more...Groaning with pain as blood spurted from his nose like a crimson fountain...

"Oh my god! Miles are you okay?!" Cream asked frantically, checking to see if he was alright and wincing slightly when she saw just how bloody his face had become due to the injury.

"Yeah...Yeah...Just stings a little that's all, you guys go ahead and I'll meet you in the hallway; I need to go and clean myself up after that...I don't want to show up and have people seeing me like this...I'll see you guys in a bit." He groaned painfully, pinching his nose and tilting his head up to slow the rather substantial blood flow.

Each of them shot worried looks amongst themselves, however before they could even turn back to speak with Miles, the younger fox was already walking off in a different direction in order to look for a bathroom in order to clean his face up and so...Seeing as their friend didn't want to be disturbed...They continued on their journey to the Banquet Hall.

...

It took quite a bit of time for Miles to wash all of the blood out of his nose...And although some of it had dripped down onto his clothes, there wasn't enough for it to be noticeable...Only a couple of dried drops on his already black gambeson...

He threw the last bloody cloth in the small bin next to the door and dried his face with the small, white, fluffy hand towel that rested on the brass railing on the wall and looking into the mirror in front of him...Yeah...He looked presentable now, and good thing too! The banquet was probably in full swing by now and he didn't want to miss out on Ms Vanilla's excellent cooking tonight...

And so, with a bit more of a spring in his step he left the bathroom and began to walk down the hallways of the castle, the distant sounds of the feast downstairs coinciding with the cool evening breeze that wafted through the halls...However, there also seemed to be another noise reverberating off of the walls...It sounded like...shouting and it wasn't just one voice, it was multiple going back and forth in an intense argument that Miles couldn't quite make out...He wasn't exactly sure why he did so...But he moved in the direction of the noise, hearing it grow ever louder and louder until he saw where the argument was coming from...

It seemed to be a small room on the right-hand side of the corridor...A glowing orange light emanating from it while the shadows of men were cast up on the walls as they yelled back and forth at each other...However, what concerned Miles was the owners of the aforementioned voices...For it wasn't just some mere domestic dispute or drunken argument...The voices he could hear were recognisable and amongst them he heard not only Archbishop Starline and Baron Robotnik...But also Lord Amadeus Prower...And the things he could hear them say...was shocking...

"This is absurd Ivo! I agreed to help depose him, not kill him!" The Lord of Blackwater keep bellowed in a fiery anger that sent cold, deathly chills running up his spine and embedding into his very bones...

"Oh Amadeus, isn't killing just one method of deposition? Don't be such a prude and lend us your aid! You made an oath to assist us in our plan to install a better system of government, and we expect you to obey it!" He heard Baron Robotnik respond in a sneering yet still firm and angry tone...One that practically dripped with venom, malevolence and every kind of evil in the world.

However, the subject they seemed to be discussing...Well...Shouting over interested him far more, after all...Talking of deposing someone in a castle did not usually bode well, but who were they planning on removing from power? Some corrupt and incompetent oaf of a noble? If that was the case then why didn't Lord Amadeus just unsheathe his sword and skewer the portentous oaf like a kebab?

Feeling his inquisitive nature override his common sense and sense of self-preservation once again...He slowly snuck up to the slightly opened iron framed oak door and peered inside...

The room that the trio were standing in was rather luxury and pleasant...With an oaken table with kegs carved to resemble a lion's paws, beautiful red silken curtains, a bearskin rug on the floor and all the other commodities to be expected in a lounge... However, standing in the middle of the room was the trio, each of them with bitter, hateful expressions plastered onto their faces...

"I will only obey if Nigel doesn't die! He may be an incompetent oaf but he is still my friend and I will not allow you to murder him in cold blood!" Amadeus growled, flashing his white teeth which were as sharp as the most well-crafted of blades...

"Oh really? Getting sentimental now are we Amadeus? Just because we are willing t take more...Extreme methods on making sure that Nigel is deposed does not mean that your hands are clean either! And saying otherwise would not only make you a liar, but a hypocrite as well!"

Miles watched intently as he saw the Lord's face fall for a split second, his eyes brimming with what looked like long repressed...pain and regret? It was not too dissimilar to the look that the Lord had shot at him in the Hallway earlier that very day...It was so...unnerving to see such things from a man who was often described as having a heart of ice...However as quickly as that look had appeared, it evaporated within milliseconds and was subsided by an angry scowl,

"How dare you! I will not have my wife's death be so openly mocked; I was not the one who killed her! I was innocent in that endeavour!"

"And so was your son, he never asked to be born the way he was...But that didn't stop you from doing what you did...Did its Amadeus?" Starline responded, his voice far less emotional...Yet in some way, it felt even more vicious and evil in its tone...

"I did what I had to! The boy was an abomination, having such deformities would have only brought him pain and misery in life...I didn't take any relish in doing it...But what I did was a kindness to the child."

"By leaving him to die on Metropolis's streets? That is meant to be a kindness?"

"Yes! You would have done the same, a boy like that...It would have brought shame to house Prower and like I said, would only have granted him a life's worth of pain, misery and bullying. Children are cruel Ivo, you of all people should know that since you are acting like one!"

"That may be the case but it matters not...You still left your child to die on the Streets, a newborn baby no less...And though you may tell yourself that you spared the brat of a rough life...It didn't work Amadeus...Did it?"

Amadeus's face went as pale as stone...And he gave a stunned expression for a split second and Miles could feel discomfort rise in his chest as he watched the Lord visibly shudder as he was hit by the retort like a lance through the chest.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about..." He spluttered, trying desperately to hide his shattered composure.

"Oh, but I think you do my dear friend...The boy is very much alive and you know it...Both me and Ivo saw your face this morning...How does it feel? Knowing that all that preaching of 'doing the right thing' and 'providing mercy for the child' was all for naught?"

"Shut up..."

"Or what Amadeus? You're going to murder two members of the high council? What sort of example would that set for your children? Especially your youngest..."

Miles's eyes widened all of a sudden as he saw Amadeus unsheathe his sword in a split second and press it's pointed tip at Robotnik's bloated torso: Piercing ever so gently into the cloth of his garments.

"Enough Ivo! You will cease these mind games at once...Lest I water the ground with your blood!"

However, Robotnik's face did not show fear in any way at all, worse still he gave a look of bored indulgence...The fat baron even sighed,

"What would your wife say Amadeus? Killing an unarmed man in his own quarters? Do you even have any of that 'Familial honour' left?"

Miles saw Amadeus's face twist in emotional pain, his hands beginning to shake slightly as the tip of the sword pressed harder against Robotnik's chest...All the while Starline and Robotnik smirked,

"Nobody has to know of the sin you committed Amadeus...All you have to do is help us dispose of King Nigel and then you can scurry back to Blackwater Keep and carry on pretending your little brat is still dead...Not one person will even have an inkling of knowledge of what REALLY happened that night...Now...Lower the blade...Or by Chaos I will make sure that you will never be able to sleep with both eyes closed every again."

Miles watched as Lord Amadeus looked down at his blade, then back up into Robotnik's small, evil filled eyes and with a low sigh of anger...He pulled the tip of his blade away and slid his sword back into its sheath...Starline gave a warm chuckle as he watched the affair and, in a joking but condescending tone he sneered,

"Good boy Amadeus...Now you're finally starting to see reason instead of sticking to your usual big-headed self...Now, the plan will be enacted tonight...With or without you and we expect you to be present...You can send your children away for this but you have to stay Amadeus...You promised."

Amadeus growled at the Platypus but he relented eventually and murmured,

"Fine...I'll assemble the coaches for my children...Good evening gentlemen."

Before he began to walk towards the door...Miles began to panic as he was about to be caught spying on a secret plot to murder king Nigel and Lord Amadeus ...Was walking in his direction, his mind like an overheated engine he did the only thing he could reasonably think would work and flung himself down onto the ground and let out an exaggerated yelp of pain...All the while the door opened and Lord Amadeus spotted him there sprawled out on the floor.