King Arthur Alternate Ending

“What do you say to a game or two of old maid?” Arthur looked up from the screws and cogs he had been playing with, and nodded toward the man descending down the stairs.
“You can’t lock yourself down here forever, it must not be healthy with only the dust for company” Alfred said as he sat down on the wooden floor in front of Arthur. He picked up a pack of cards on the ground and began to clumsily shuffle the cards. Silence was the only thing that greeted his ears, enveloping . He took out the queen of clovers—he always took out the queen of clovers so that the queen would be all alone—
Alone.
I am so sorry…please. Please! Forgive me!
So that it would be the old maid. Old, worn-out,fatigued. Eyes aged with centuries. Wilting like rose dying

in moth eaten clothes surround by the dust of a history that was long forgotten.

Right, Arthur didn’t talk to him at least not anymore. He didn’t mind of course he got used to it after a while. Anyways it was for the best…he could hear his own thoughts once again.
Arthur picked up a card that had fallen on the dusty wooden floor and handed it to Alfred.
“Thanks” Alfred took the card and began shuffling the cards once more. Arthur watched him silently and the blonde began to shift uncomfortably under his gaze.
“Would you like me to call the maid to bring some tea?” Alfred asked nervously.
Arthur titled his head, but didn’t reply. “You know that hot beverage that you drank the other day and really liked” Alfred pantomimed drinking tea, making sipping noises and pursing his lips in thin air. Arthur stared at him blankly.
Alfred sighed dropping his invisible teacup, “I guess not.”
“Coffee, then?” Alfred asked. He watched as Arthur lost interest in his screws and busied himself with organizing the cards in a neat pile. Which Alfred had thrown on the ground carelessly when he was miming drinking tea.
“No? Alright how about we get back to our game” Alfred grabbed the cards off the floor and proceeded to shuffle them again. Alfred dealt the cards and picked up his pile from the floor making sure to keep it hidden from Arthur. Arthur, on the other hand was bleeding his cards everywhere that Alfred could practically see half his cards. He smiled gently at Arthur like a mother would to a child bewildered with a new toy. Poor thing.
It’s your fault!
It didn’t matter anyways they never finished their game of cards. Even back then…
A few times they came close, but Alfred always found a new excuse to leave and thus adding another unfinished game to the collection. It was just a way to pass the time anyway—a distraction. They always started a new game each time, with no one winning the previous round. The new game would always be Old Maid. They never played anything else. The blue-eyed male scanned the cards in his hand for any pairs then discarded them. He placed them in a neat row in front of his folded legs on the wooden floor, each two pairs on top of each other.
He watched as Arthur copied his actions and started at him intently as if to say “what’s next” even though he played this game a million time.

(“Not so fast git, where do you think you are going?” Arthur demanded as he caught Alfred slowly moving away from the table. He frowned deeply, his face adopting that typical scowl. “Arthur, I really have to go get some things from the market” He was going to lose he knew that, he could never win this stupid game. He however, refused to admit that out loud by continuing the game. He beat Arthur at everything else and he didn’t want acknowledge that Arthur was better than him in anything. Alfred Jones never loses! From the glare that Arthur gave him, Alfred knew that he knew that he had the unmatched queen. They both had four cards left so it wasn’t that hard to figure out. Arthur was sick of Alfred coming up with an excuse to leave before the game is finished because he didn’t want to let Arthur know that he lost to him. Alfred slo)
It was funny really. In fact, it was so hilarious that Alfred couldn’t help but let out an airy laugh. Back then, Arthur would chase him around with a heavy leather book if he dared skip out on a card game with him. Really, he hit him with damn book for any reason whatsoever. He unconsciously rubbed the back of his head. He swore he could still feel a bump there. Damn,

Arthur.
He winced as he remembered the times that Arthur would scold him for just about anything. (“You are an idiot, I told not to leave the boiler running overnight. Now the engine is completely fried!) In his defense, the engine was an old Savery edition: a classic really and quiet rare. But it lacked the proper mechanism to run a complex machine like the one he and Arthur were trying to build. Besides there was a problem with one of the pumps and the cold water tank has sprung a leak.
But, of course Arthur would have none of that. He chased around the garden with book for an hour straight, his face red with anger (all he was missing was steam to blow out of his ear. Alfred made the mistake of telling him that they should use him as an engine for the machine) who knew he could run that fast. If it wasn’t for his stamina and the garden statues (which he used as protective barrier between him and the raging furry that is Arthur Kirkland), he would have been caught. He laughed as he thought of the look on Arthur’s face each time he popped out from a different side from behind the maiden Persephone’s resin gown.
“Come here you stupid git, so I can throttle you!” he roared as he once again failed to catch Alfred when he ran to the other backside of the statue and Arthur ran to that side from the front once more. They ran around the statue for a bit until Alfred stopped and said, “Iggy, Iggy. Wait! Wait, listen!” Alfred held up his hand in front of him to stop Arthur from advancing further. The emerald- eyed boy paused, panting hard his cheeks were still puffed from anger, and his face was red and sweaty from running. Alfred panted heavily and took a deep breath. He felt sweat roll down his cheeks as the hot summer sun roasted his red face. “I am really, really sorry! Will you please forgive me?” he begged. “NO!” Arthur shouted as he threw his book at Alfred. Alfred barely missed the book being aimed for his head letting out an unmanly shriek in the process. Arthur groaned when he saw that his book missed Alfred and was now a long distance away from him. A safe distance, Alfred thought. Arthur however was quick to turn his attention back to Alfred- the source of pain and misery in his life. The Blue-eyed boy took one look at the book, then at Arthur and then took off running. Arthur gave the chase, forgetting his book entirely. After a while though, Arthur grew tired, his movement slowing as he bent over grasping for air, “Come back here you little…” Arthur collapsed on the freshly cut grass, clutching the grass blades tearing on by one as he tried to crawl after Alfred who was slowing his pace. He groaned, giving up and rolling on his back looking up at the blue sky as he tried to catch his breath. He closed his eyes to rest for a bit and feel the sun on his face. He breathed deeply as he listened to nature’s sweet melodies. Ah, how peaceful. “HA! HA! HA!” Arthur’s eyes snapped open and he silently cursed at the sky.

He began to talk about his day animatedly, his hands flying wildly in the air dropping a few cards here and there. His voice rose excitedly when he talked about his newest invention. Arthur continued to stare at him with disinterest and Alfred huffed, a little annoyed.
“Hey, Arthur why do you always ignore me?” his hands shook as he placed two threes down: one spades and one clovers. Arthur remained silent scowling at his five diamond card as he placed it down with a five of hearts.
Alfred breathed in deeply, “I mean I- it does not really bother me or anything. It’s just that … well sometimes I think you hate me.”