Monarchy of Spades intro
When the clock hands on the enormous clock in the Grand Hall will strike twelve, the future king and queen will be chosen. A spade mark will appear on the chosen person's body, on the left shoulder blade for the Queen and on the chest to mark the heart for the King. History repeats itself and the process shall go on for eternity. This powerful world is divided into four kingdoms. Each kingdom is filled with different folktales, traditions, culture and history. Every kingdom represents one thing. The kingdom of Hearts has Love, the kingdom of Diamonds possesses Fortune, the kingdom of Clubs has Luck and the kingdom of Spades owns the power of Time. This is the world of Cards.
It was the sixteenth King of Spades' sixteenth birthday and they were having a huge party in the palace to celebrate the young boy. The Great Hall was filled with people from all the four countries. Royalties, Earls, Barons and all the kinds of people you could imagine filled the room in every corner. Some people danced together with their partners along to the rhythm of the music while others simple mingled around having a small talk to one another. The King, Alfred Carl Eric John Foster Jones sat on the Grand throne in the middle of the room. He sat on the soft pillow, shifting his position while playing with the hem of his shirt in an attempt on keeping himself entertained. He was not in the mood to dance with yet another fine lady who tried to woo him and he had grown bored of whatever the main entertainment now was. It was a small group of jokers from the outskirts of town trying to prove their talents. They may have been simple jokers but were the finest entertainers you could find in the whole kingdom. Seemingly growing up in the slums actually could do some good to your skills if you had the time and patience. Alfred lazily looked up at the enormous clock on the wall. Three minutes before eight, "Perfect." he quietly said to no one in particular. And just as the word slipped by his lips an old man in costume blew his trumpet and thereby announced that the feast was ready. Alfred had been seated by the very end of the main table with the other Kings and Queens by his side. Alfred had never been the formal type. He would prefer not to sit quietly at a dining table to have a small talk with the person next to him. He would rather spend his time on the training ground in the castle, practicing his fighting skills together with the other soldiers of the castle. All kinds of soldiers were practicing there, from the novices to the ones in the army. But Alfred was turning seventeen now, he almost never had any free time anymore. He was almost always either busy studying (a king had to know his kingdom in every little detail, like the back of his hand) or spending time with the royal council planning out the future for the kingdom. Alfred was soon to be crowned and had to find his future Queen and marry that person before he turned eighteen. He had searched throughout the kingdom for almost six months now, looking for the person with the Queen's mark but to no avail. Alfred was not the person to be worried in the first place but he knew he couldn't love someone he had been force to. He didn't harbour any feelings for a single one of all the ladies he had met. If he were to love someone then it should be his own feelings and not something he was forced to and that wasn't very likely to happen any time soon.
'It is something we both have been destined to do.', Alfred bitterly thought as he sighed and lazily continued eating his dinner pondering about his future Queen.
The evening went on smoothly and Alfred continued to think how their first meeting would turn out like.
Arthur was a mere lawyer's boy. He did not live in the slums and could go to bed with a full stomach every evening. But at the same time he was not one of the finer people either. Not too rich nor too poor. Simply to say he was a mere commoner. He usually liked to spend his time reading old books about faerie tales with princes fighting dragons in castles and ending up saving damsels in distresses. He spent his younger years learning about magic and could often be found in the rose garden spending time with his magical friends practicing. Eventually Arthur became a fine magician and possessed the power of the most outrageous and complex spells. Most of the time he spent alone together with his friends, they were the only few creatures he trusted along with his parents and siblings. However, Arthur had a secret that only his magical friends knew. And it frightened him. He had a mark on his left shoulder in the shape of a Spade symbol. And Arthur knew what it meant. He was to be the next Queen of Spades. If they found him they would take him to the palace and he would be forces into both marrying someone he had never met and also taking the role as future Queen. They would take away his home, his friends and his freedom. Arthur wanted to cry just of the thought. He didn't want to leave all the wonderful things he had. He had read so many books about the role as Queen and knew what was about to come. His dream was to become an author, to be free and create things with his bare imagination, create a whole world by his mere words. Do be able to do what he wanted. But sadly the world wasn't made that way. Every night he would dream about these worlds in his mind and wished to be able to live and share them together with others. And Arthur knew that as Queen he wouldn't have those opportunities. The boy knew that his fate could never be changed and had the knowledge about both of his future and duties. What lied ahead of him had been decided the very same day he had been born, it was always the same. The Queen could never create his own path, he was to follow the one that had been laid out before him. It was a future he could not have the power to control. Following and doing what he was awaited to do. He knew about everything, everything he was to be but at the same time there was a small part of him that held hope for another future of his. A Hope for the fact that maybe he never would be found, and that he could stay in his home and could continue living his life as it was. Maybe he could fulfill his dream and be free to do whatever he wanted. But one day a loud knock could be heard on the front door of his house. He hesitantly walked up to it with disbelief in his eyes. And there stood the royal guards from the palace, tall and proud in their armours.
As soon as they found out Arthur had the birthmark they escorted him out of his small little house. Bringing Arthur with them, and neglecting him the chance to even protest or say something about the whole event. Outside the door stood one of the most magnificent carriages Arthur had ever seen. It was beautiful with big shiny wheels made of the kingdom's best gold and had swirling patterns in soft white and silver shades. The carriage itself was painted in a creamy lavender kind of blue colour which shone brightly in the daylight. White strong horses stood in the front, wearing all kinds of jewellery and accessories. A coachman was sitting in the front, also well-dressed and was ready to take off.
Arthur was truly impressed. Well, he still was against the whole thing about being a rule of the kingdom but still he couldn't ignore the fact that the thing in front of him did not fail to amaze him. Arthur silently stepped in to the carriage and sat down on the soft silk pillows that were laid out on the seats. He rested his arm on the little window frame and silently waited for the journey to begin.
The trip didn't last for long and they arrived at the palace in the end of the afternoon. Wild red and yellow colours panted the sky and the sun was slowly going down at the horizon. Arthur stepped out of the carriage, fixing his composure and drifted his gaze up at the sky. His eyes were dancing over the warm colours, observing as the red, yellow and pink blended nicely creating a cosy atmosphere, making one wish to drift to sleep. A warm breeze flew by and made the strands fly in all directions making his already messy hair even messier. Arthur watched the wind grab some leaves on the ground and making them swirl in the air. His observing however got disturbed as one of the guards grabbed his shoulder and asked him to follow. Arthur got lead into the palace and every little new thing his eyes observed impressed him eve more than the last one. Arthur didn't know for how long they walked maybe a few minutes or so, but to Arthur it seemed like a much, much longer time. He closed his eyes trying to calm down. Why was he nervous? He shouldn't. Arthur had never liked the fact that he was to be a Queen. A Queen's responsibility to take care of a kingdom together with a person he didn't even know. He would have no freedom, like a bird in a cage, forever chained to its own little prison. Arthur had been fighting against his fate and still did. So he shouldn't feel this way, a nervous feeling was just didn't make sense at the moment. Finally they came to the big Grand hall and opened the enormous wooden doors. Arthur took a long breath and finally managed to calm down and regain his calm and controlled composure. But even if he wasn't as nervous as before he started to fix his clothes and combing out his hair. Which was an attempt to try making him look decent and finally he was ready to meet the King. The wide doors opened and Arthur finally had a chance to see the king. He was sitting on the throne, back straight and gaze looking at Arthur, studying his features. Arthur got lead into the room and finally stopped just in front of the King and the Jack by his side. Arthur bowed in front of them waiting for one of them to speak.
"Ah, if I am not wrong it seems like you have found the long awaited Queen." the jack spoke and looked at the guards' captain waiting for him to speak out an answer to the question. "Yes, we have sire. I assure you that he does have the Spade mark of the Queen on his left shoulder." The man answered and bowed for the Jack. "Very well, then." The Jack said and drifted his gaze over to Arthur. "I welcome you, Arthur Kirkland, our next Queen of Spades. I am this kingdoms Jack, Yao Wang. I shall inform the others about your arrival. You will from now on study and take lessons by this land's finest teachers so you will be ready to rule the kingdom when the right time comes." The Jack made a small gesture towards the man sitting on the throne." Together with the King of this kingdom, Alfred Carl Eric John Foster Jones so you two can rule it alongside each other. And as it is now, you shall be crowned together with Alfred and you will marry when the King's eighteenth birthday will take place. And as it is in a short amount of time we will have to start the preparations soon enough. I wish you good luck and hope that you will enjoy your time here together with the rest of us." And with that the Jack ended his little speech and bowed in front of Arthur. Arthur nodded his head and bowed once again in front of the two. "Thank you very much Sire Wang Yao. I assure you that I will do my best to be a fine Queen for this kingdom. However I do have to say that this is not something I wish by myself. It is not in my liking to be Queen over this kingdom at all and I do not think I am capable of loving your King. It is not in my power to love a man I've barely met but since there is nothing I can do against my fate I will accept it the way it is. So I shall take my role as a Queen and the responsibilities but I can never love your King with my heart as the person I am today." And with that single decision Arthur's old life shattered to pieces and anew one was waiting for him.
Author's notes
So I hope that wasn't too bad. It is kind of like a prolouge thingy/intro/opening scene in the Hetalia Cardverse for how Alfred and Arthur met. I appreciate critique but please keep in mind that English isn't my first language. I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading.
-Wenbo