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“King Saparata, we caught an old player harboring new players.”
Saps sighed. He knew this would happen, sooner or later- some of the players in his kingdom may not have fully accepted what needed to be done. He was fine with discontent, but actively harboring new players? That was direct treason to Cindercrest, and needed to be punished. It’s fine, he’ll just have whoever it was executed- if he made an example in front of the kingdom it would surely deter anyone else from doing so.
He’ll have to talk with them to find out their exact motivations first, though. That’d help with coming up with the speech to do at their execution.
“Bring them in,” he called to the soldier that reported the message.
He took a deep breath as a player was hauled into the hall, poising himself to appear threatening, then-
No. Surely not.
The player, struggling against the arms of the soldiers holding him captive, had unkempt hair the same white as Saps, wearing an ever-familiar purple hoodie-
Saps jolted in recognition.
All the fight left Micro when he lay his eyes on Saps. His eyes drifted upwards towards the crown resting on Saps’s head, widening in disbelief? Wariness? Saps couldn’t really tell.
“Hey, Saps-“ Micro was interrupted by one of the guards shoving him.
“You will address him as the King.”
Saps waved a hand to dismiss them. “No- it’s fine. Leave us.”
Seeing the guards hesitate, Saps equipped his armour.
“He has nothing, right? He can’t hurt me.”
Then as the guards left, Saps finally turned his attention to Micro.
He hadn’t expected this, not on so many levels. One, because he never thought he’d see his brother against him.
And two, well. He’d assumed Micro was long dead.
Then again, maybe it wasn’t so surprising. Micro had long run businesses that skirted the edge of the law, but under Cindercrest rule he wouldn’t have to resort to such means.
They could sweep it under the rug easily- then Saps might have part of his family left, still.
“How much are they paying you?” he asked.
Micro looked confused. “What do you mean? Who’s paying me?”
“The new players, Micro! How much are they paying you to hide them?” Saps repeated. “You don’t have to do that anymore. You can come live here at Northern Council, too. You’re family.”
“Oh. Well, uhhh…” Micro rubbed at his head. “They’re not. They’re not paying me.”
Saps must have heard that wrong.
“Excuse me?”
“Yeah, no, I’m not being paid to do this,” Micro repeated. “I just… had space in the shop, right? I was already letting them stay there, and when the soldiers came to round them up I just told them to stay hidden. Didn’t think it’d get busted so quickly.”
No, this can’t be right.
“Why?” Saps asked. He meant it- he couldn’t begin to comprehend why Micro would do this. Help the very people whose arrival caused the death of their friends, and from the fact that Micro’s shop had free rooms, and that no one else was caught alongside him, must’ve meant that he experienced the same.
“Why? Felt like the right thing to do, I guess. Didn’t really want to see anymore death happen.” Micro shrugged.
“The right thing.” Saps echoed, a bitter note to his voice. “The right thing would’ve been to let them die so the kingdom’s resources went to the people who actually deserve them.”
Micro scoffed, and looked at him with an expression Saps had never seen his brother direct at him.
“Oh, right. Can’t forget that you were the one who ordered for the killings to happen in the first place.”
All air of familiarity between them had dissipated, and Micro’s voice seemed to have gained an edge of hostility.
“What happened to you, man?”
Saps couldn’t help but laugh in response- a laugh completely devoid of mirth.
“What happened? What didn’t happen?” As he spoke, his voice increased in volume and hysteria. “My friends are dead, Micro. Thomas and Flux are dead, and it’s all because Parrot let these new players in!”
“So, obviously, the way to solve this is to kill all of them.” Micro replied sarcastically.
“Yes!” Saps exclaimed. “How else would we make sure the resources go to those that deserve them?”
“Those who deserve them. And how do you decide that? By some arbitrary cutoff date?”
“It’s not arbitrary!” Saps retorted defensively. “We had to fight our way through Spawn, through the withers and the griefing, while all of these new players got to spawn inside a castle and just had everything handed to them on a silver platter by Parrot- it’s not right!”
“So your solution is a massacre? Do you even hear yourself?”
Saps rolled his eyes. “None of them deserve to play on this server, anyway. You should understand too, Micro. Aren’t your friends gone because of them, too?”
“Don’t bring them into this.” Micro snapped. “And for the record, no. They lost their lives in the fight against Cindercrest, against your army.”
Devs above, there was no reconciling this, was there? His brother had always been stubborn; it was why he insisted on staying in Capitol City before, and probably why he was still alive, now.
But, still-
“It’s not too late to change your mind. You’re my brother, I can pardon you for this and you can still live here. It doesn’t have to be this way.” Saps said. Offered. (Begged.)
“Oh, I think it does.” Micro replied disdainfully. “You’re nothing like the brother I once knew.”
“This can’t be it.” Saps refused- he couldn’t lose his one remaining family this way, no way-
“You’re right. There’s another reason I hid those players,” Micro admitted. “It was to pay it forward. When you first invited me to Unstable, I only made it out of Spawn because of Parrot and Theobald. So according to you, I’m not even one of the ‘deserving’ players. Ironic, right?”
So this was it? He never really knew his brother, and his brother didn’t recognise him anymore.
“I can’t let you go free.” Saps said, half to himself.
Micro only chuckled in response. “Believe me, I know.”
Saps called for his guards, who came back in to restrain the traitor again.
“What, gonna execute me?” Micro taunted as he was dragged towards the doors.
Saps looked his brother in the eye, a final time. Then to the guard next to him.
“Put him in the prisons.”