Al was drug into the bed room by the shackle around his neck. He was sobbing and begging for his release. The one who bought him merely snorted and yanked hard at the collar. He tied the American to the bed by his leash. He was left on the bed be the man.
"Get ready, your first night is worth a lot of money." He said darkly as he made his way out of the room.
Al cried, clinging to one of the pillows. He was totally terrified. Suddenly a commotion came from the hall. Loud crashing, gunshots, and muffled screams. Al bit back a scream himself and covered his mouth with a hand, tears flowing down his face.
The door knob was jiggled, but it had been locked. Al moved as far away as he could, the chain didn't allow him to get much farther than off the bed. The door was kicked in. Al choked back a sob. He stared, wide eyed at the man entering the room. He saw the thick black boots, military cargo pants tucked into them. There was blood splattered on both. His eyes went up farther. A tight fitting black long sleeved shirt and leather gloves. He held a pistol. He reluctantly looked at the man's face. He gasped. It was his brother.
"A-Arthu!" he cried out, immediately jumping up and nearly coking himself on the collar. "Arthur, you came!"
"Of course I did, lad. Just hold on a little while more and we'll have you out of here." Arthur said and walked over to the bed, undoing the chain and busting off Al's collar. While Al was sitting on the bed and rubbing his neck Arthur routed through the room to find the boy some proper clothes. He tossed a shirt and some pants at Al.
"Here, this is all I can find that might fit you," he sighed. "First thing when we get home we'll get you a shower and proper clothes."
Al nodded happily and dressed himself, stripping from the bloodied, dirty rags he had been forced to keep on.
They made their way out to Arthur's car through the fire escape. Arthur drove and Al sat next to him, staring out the window. Their drive was mainly silent. Al wasn't ready to talk about what had happened and Arthur didn't want to press. Al suddenly spoke up.
"How did you find me?"
"It was difficult, but I am British. We are very good at finding out information." He said, being vague as ever.
Al decided that this wasn't good enough. "No, how did you do it?"
"Let's just say that nearly everyone involved with this is dead now."
Al still didn't seem satisfied, but wasn't sure if he wanted to press farther.
"What happened to you?" Arthur asked gently.
"I was knocked out, I was beaten," Al said, biting his lip. "It was horrible. They sold me to someone horrible and he was gonna sell me in other ways." He broke down crying. Arthur pulled into the driveway of Al's house.
"We're here. Come on, Al." He said, getting out of the car and going over to Al's side. He helped the American out of the car. He led Al inside. They went to the shower. Arthur helped him in and then sat outside the room while Al washed.
Arthur stood up when he heard the water being shut off. He waited until Al opened the door. Al came out still dripping, a towel loosely thrown around himself. Arthur nearly laughed at the sight. It was something that Al did as a child, get out of the bath and drape a towel over himself, pretending it was a cape and letting himself air dry. Arthur got closet and took the towel from Al, drying him off himself.
"Did the shower make you feel a bit better?" he asked gently.
"A little," Al mumbled and let himself be dried off. When Arthur was done with that, Arthur let Al lean on him as they walked to his room. Al sat on the bed as Arthur dug for some of his clothes. He found the american's favorite, a baggy alien sweater and some fuzzy American themed pants, dark blue with red and white stars all over.
Arthur tossed the clothes over to Al. "Where do you want me to sleep?"
"In here is fine, if you want." Al said, scooting over on the bed awkwardly as he tried to put on pants without getting up.
"Alright. I'll go wash up and then I'll come to bed."
Alfred looked up at him with desperate eyes.
"I promise I'll be back. I'm not going to leave you. I am just a tad filthy right now from rescuing you, so I need to wash up."
Al whimpered discontentedly, but nodded. "Ok, but be back soon."
"Of course," he agreed with a small smile. He left the room and headed to the bathroom.
When he returned into the room Alfred was already asleep. Arthur was relieved. He got himself some fresh clothes, tossing the blood stained ones into the corner. He then settled himself into the bed next to his brother. He fell asleep quickly as Al had, exhausted.
He did not sleep long. Alfred had jolted straight up in the bed and began screaming. Arthur swore. He had nearly bitten his tongue off due to that fright. He was beginning to scold Arthur on autopilot, but he realized two things, first that Alfred was probably having a horrid nightmare, and second that Alfred was not actually awake. He was still sleeping. After he was done screaming, he settled right back down into the bed and didn't make another sound. Arthur sat up, clutching at his chest. His heart was still pounding. He tried to do the breathing exercises that Yao taught him to calm down, but it was in vain. He glanced at the clock and decided that he could start making a healthy breakfast for the two of them now.
He walked down to the kitchen and looked through what Al had for food. He was very shocked to find that there was nothing expired. Everything was fresh. He tried to not think too much of this and set to making food. He made omelets, some hash browns, breakfast tea and coffee, and scones that he crammed full of chocolate and strawberry. He was very proud of the breakfast spread he created and waited for both the scones to be done and for Alfred to get up.
It was nearly perfectly timed. Alfred began stirring just as the oven's timer went off for the scones. The noise, and the scent of strawberries and chocolate, helped to raise him into the waking world. He was slow to crawl out of bed. His joints felt rather stiff from all that had happened to him. He shuttered and put it to the back of his mind, stretching lazily in his room. He finished stretching out and then made his way to the kitchen.
"Arthur, whatever it is you are doing smells great. What are we eating?"
Arthur smiled brightly, "Well I have the table set up and full of food. You go dig in and I'll be in soon with these," he said, motioning towards the sheet with the baked goods on it. Al went to the table and nearly drooled at the sight of the food. Everything looked delicious. He took a bit of everything and devoured it all within minutes.
"Hungrier than I thought," AL muttered to himself, mouth full of hash brown. He swallowed the sweetly salty potato bits and began digging into another omelet. It was gone within a minute. He grabbed some more hash browns and started on drinking the coffee.
Arthur was satisfied with the scones temperature at last and loaded them onto a large plate. He carried them out to the table.
"Oh, my lord you were hungry." He said in a state of shock. There was nearly no food left, and Alfred still looked like a famished dog. He set the plate of scones down and returned to the kitchen.
"I'm going to make us some more food."
Arthur made a few more omelets and another batch of hash browns. It was an easy fix, so he returned to the table just 10 minutes later. He was shocked to see half the scones gone He set the food on the table for Al and took an omelet for himself. He also took some hash browns. He let Al have the rest. It was finished off roughly the same time. There were a few scones left that Arthur decided to wrap and save for later.
With the scones safely stored in the fridge, he returned to the table. Al was gone. Arthur was confused until he heard the TV going. He walked over there and saw Al plopped down on the couch. He looked as though he might fall asleep again. Arthur sat on the couch next to him and watched whatever channel he had flipped to. It was the history channel. It was broadcasting a show on the Civil War. Arthur watched it, fascinated. He wasn't very involved in the Civil War, so he didn't actually know much about it. All he could remember about it was Alfred breaking down in front of him as two different people. It was mildly terrifying to think about. As much as he wanted to watch and learn more about it, he couldn't help but to look away. Al fell asleep as the program went on in the background.
As soon as he was sure that Al was asleep, Arthur changed the channel. He turned it onto what he assumed was Animal Planet. He was about to try and fall asleep himself when Al began screaming again, just like he had last night. Arthur jolted up and started at the American. He was beginning to feel very concerned about this. There might be something seriously wrong with his brother.
He sat and waited for the American to wake up. Al did stir maybe an hour later.
"Alfred, you keep screaming in your sleep. I think there is something wrong." He said once Al pulled himself upright. Al looked confused.
"I do?"
"Yes. I think we need to take you to a doctor."
Al furrowed his brow and seemed to be thinking. "Arthur, it's been just a day since you took me away from that hell. Maybe I just need some time. I really do not want to go in to the doctor."
Arthur wanted to protest, but it was reasonable. I had just been a day. Maybe it would resolve itself after Al was assured that he was actually home. He nodded.
"Alright, Al."
They sat there and watched a movie, something that Al had chosen. Arthur barely paid attention to it. After it was over Al decided that he wanted to eat again.
"Alright, lad. What do you want?"
"Icecream," he muttered.
"I think we can do that," Arthur said softly and hugged Al. "Where would you like to go?"
"McDonalds. I want a milkshake from there. And some fries. And a few burgers."
They went out to the car and decided that it should be Arthur to drive. And so they did. Al was in charge of the radio station. He kept flipping through the stations, but didn't stay on any one for more than a minute. He kept it up until they got there. Arthur parked and they went in. Arthur didn't order anything. They waited for Al's food and then went home, Al still absently flipping through all the radio stations. They pulled back into the driveway and went inside. Al sat on the couch, turned on a movie and ate the all the food he got. Arthur went in and grabbed himself the leftover scones to eat.
Arthur are his scones and then settled in to watch whatever else the American wanted to. Al seemed to be avoiding talking because he knew that they would end up talking about what happened. He just wasn't ready for it yet. Arthur could tell as well, so he didn't try and press for talking. It was late that night, the two of them had washed up and gotten into bed, when Al finally opened up. He felt he was ready to get it off his chest.
"It started with me going to the bar. I was just going out to mingle with my people, have a good time. And I was. I had bought a few rounds of drinks for a group that I had been talking with. And then they bought me a drink. But that drink had something in it. I was so out of it, they drug me out of the bar to some place. I think to an apartment complex. When they drug me there they stripped me and beat me. They chained me up. They beat me and left me chained in the apartment. I don't know how much time passed. I was drugged and beat a whole lot. And then they gave me over to someone else. I was put out on a stage thing. And then I was taken off the stage and given to someone else. And that's the person who chained me into the bed room."
Arthur sat there with Al's head in his lap and his arms wrapped around the boy. It was hard to believe that his little brother could have been put through so much trauma. He hugged him tightly and kissed his forehead.
"You're alright now. I've got you and I won't let anything like that happen to you ever again." He swore to him. Al clung tighter to him and nodded.
"I believe you."
Arthur held him and rocked him slightly in his lap. It was very comforting for both of them.
"Let's go to bed then, right?" Arthur said gently.
Al nodded and let Arthur go. Arthur lay down and the two of them shuffled into a comfortable position. Alfred fell asleep first. Arthur after him. It was a comfortable night for the most part. Alfred didn't scream until the early hours, when Arthur was going to get up anyways to begin cooking them breakfast.
Arthur made some pancakes, sausage, and black beans for breakfast today. Alfred came down near the end of Arthur's cooking, again lured down by the scent.
"Smells great, Art," He said, yawning. He sauntered over to the table and sat himself down heavily. "I slept great last night. I think talking to you really helped me."
"I'm glad to hear it." Arthur smiled happily.
He hugged his little brother and set out the food. Alfred dug right into it. He didn't eat as much as he had the other day. They had a nice meal together. Al ate everything except for the beans. He refused to except beans as a breakfast food. Arthur wanted to argue with him about it, but figured it wasn't the right time. For now he could let it slide and just be there to make Al feel safe.