He was alone.
Arthur stood from the cushioned area. His knees rattled as his muscles stretched. A soreness scratched his throat. Candles and lanterns were dying out through the hall. The moon bathed the room through the window, gracing only the silhouette of the pointed arches around the glass. The king slumped through the hall in a drunken haze, eyelids heavy and body sluggish, weighing down on himself with each step. Amid his intoxicated, near-delusional state, Arthur nearly lost his balance. He crawled along scattered furniture and the castle walls.
"Scarlett…" he muttered as he peered towards the window, barely able to keep his eyes open. "Have I done what's right? Am I still the man you fell in love with? The man who could do no wrong?" His words were half-gargled as he spoke. Arthur gazed at the moon with blank fascination in his eyes, almost as if he was void of thought until he started speaking again. "I hope you're smiling up there; just don't cry when you see the wedding…" Arthur nearly lost balance again and, without any clear knowledge of his surroundings, draped himself over another one of the hall's tables, drifting in and out of consciousness until, finally, everything faded to black.
It was a stiff, cold, disturbing darkness overtaking his senses. He was aware of the shadows yet void of escape. Arthur's body trembled from the cold, yet his mind still refused to unchain him from sleep. Everything seemed endless, lost, conflicting, or confining. He could see nothing, yet still he felt the presence of nightmares lurking in his subconscious, piercing him with stares through the shroud of black.
He turned away from it all and tried to shake himself away from each terrible vision until an unmistakable pair of green eyes with a warm glow lured his attention. Arthur's consciousness was slowly pulled away from dark anxiety and into the comforting green hue.
Scarlett? Is that you?
Through the shadows, dark hair and a pale complexion were revealed. Next came a frame of broad shoulders and a slightly crooked nose. It was his son. Arthur felt himself smile as warmth overtook his surroundings. He embraced Snow, held him close, and rubbed a hand over the back of his head. Tears began to fall from his eyes and stain his cheeks.
My son. I don't want to lose you, too. I don't want to see you go like this. I can't give you to Ali. Would you forgive me? Could you forgive your old man for being a selfish ruler and a terrible father like this?
Snow looked at him with a blank expression on his face. He said nothing. Then the green glow of his eyes began to dim, and a terrible sudden icy sting pierced into him.
Arthur's senses sparked and then ignited into a fierce icy-blaze. His nightmares sprang to life in a panic. Cold hissed as it melted, sizzled, and spat across him. His head was ringing, his voice screaming and shouting until finally, his reflexes took over, smacking the side of his head and clasping over his ear, finally wide awake.
Disoriented, Arthur tried to climb to his feet, only to fall to the floor again. His head struck the cold stone in agonizing pain. As he opened his eyes, he spied a figure retreating away, towards the light of the corridor at the hall's exit. "STOP!" he wailed. The king pulled himself once more to his feet, glancing at his hand for a moment, stained dark vermillion as he began coughing sporadically. "STOP! SCOUNDREL! MONSTER!" Still, his head was screaming, his ear blazing and leaking blood as he cupped his hand over it. Each step made his body grow heavier until he could once again no longer stand, spitting and coughing as he collapsed. "D-DON'T LET HIM G-get away…" Arthur could feel himself growing weak, everything giving out on him. Breathing began short, rapid, and worrisome. Every part of his body pulsed as if it might explode. Beads of sweat collected on his forehead and dripped down the side of his cheek.
"Snow...Ophelia...Huran…S-Scarlett..." he stopped moving as he realized what fate had decided for him. Yet still, Arthur refused to give in. "I'm sorry. Everyone… forgive me." His brain was processing too much at once, visions of what was to be celebrated without him, a happy future for the two children he'd left behind. Life's events played back, decades of laughs, debates, rage, and love being relived in seconds.
His first light
His first love
His first child
Rock and rubble - destruction he hailed as a celebration
His greatest loss
Sands carried on the winds across a vast ocean of heat
Another love, and another child...
Tears spilled as he clawed at the cold ground with what little strength he had left. Arthur's body began to fail him. Quickly, his muscles were left heavy. His head began to feel foggy. Soon, it was too great a task to keep his eyes open. Darkness began to swallow him. He coughed.
"Snow...this is your home. Take care of it…"