A/N: Hey guys! I was watching TV when I saw an add for collage, then I thought about how when older you lead a more independent life without people to help you! So then I wondered what a world would be like if you were paired with someone to help you get through the world as a pair. Which lead to me wanting to write fanfiction as such, though perhaps a child born of a- okay hold on, why I'm I telling you the story? You can just read it! (P.S.- My lovely Beta Seli-Chan will be writing her messages to you guys in bold while I get the fancy shamncy italics~) (P.S.S. Or P.P.S. I don't really care which- I'm going to try and make this into a one shot but that plan may fail if this becomes too long. If this ends up being multi chaptered then I will try and take your lovely requests you send~! Even if this isn't a multi chaptered thing this will be updated regularly so I will take requests (or try to!) ...anyway I should really stop typing, and I am going to upload this without my Beta going through this first so pardon any errors. Please be sure to review or PM if you want me to add something in. I will listen! Or at least try to as long as it doesn't interfere with my plot or story.) (I also apologize for the characters being out of character. And in case any of you get confused about their names here's the current list of names: Arthur Kirkland - England, Elizaveta Héderváry - Hungary, Gilbert "Awesome" - Prussia, Mr. Germania - Germania, Grandpa - Grandpa Rome, Roderich Edelstein - Austria, Ludwig - Germany, Alfred F. Jones - America, Valshe (Sorry, I realize I changed it.) - Switzerland, Lili - Liechtenstein, W - Wy, Matthew Williams (;~; I nearly forgot him...) - Canada)
Not long ago in a dark and damp underground home, two loving soon to be parents sat with a mid-wife, waiting. They were already refugees from the system, but now their child would be completely free of it. They would ensure that the child doesn't know of the system and the system knows nothing of it. Long moments of pain passed and soon it was over; the couple now looked lovingly into their Child's bright green eyes that seemed full of hope to them, then the child began to cry. The new and exhausted mother took the child from the mid-wife's hands, calmly stroking the child's face, brushing aside her long blonde hair so that she could see her child better.
"Shh, hush my little angel, it will be fine, they won't find you... Even if they do, it'll be too late, they won't be able to fold you into the system, you'll be the start of a revolution my darling, you'll be what this world needs even when all the others are blinded by happy and fake illusions, you will be able to see the truth."
She kissed the child's forehead and the poor tiny baby stopped crying. The father smiled proudly upon his son "What should we name him Brittany?" He asked the mother. Brittany, the mother looked up at the father; Merlin "Named after the king of our nation's past we'll call him Arthur, Arthur Kirkland."
- FIVE YEARS LATER
The Kirkland family lived on a tiny island off the coast of England, it was unknown, unheard of little island that, with Mother Nature's help managed to remain hidden from the rest of the world with fog and tricks of light that no one but a Kirkland could explain.
Arthur was growing quickly and his mother taught him all she could about the unveiled world he had to live with. Brittany taught her son manners and how to be a gentleman, and though she wasn't all that great at cooking she taught him how to cook as well, but most importantly she taught him what the system was. She told him how the system worked. The system consisted of pairs and restraints. The official officers of the system would monitor each birth and would implant a chip into the infant, the chip would instantly block any magic that was in the world and would instantly pair the infant up with another infant who would help them through life.
"So mummy all the people off this island are bad people?" Little Arthur was sitting at the "learning" table outside, listening to his mom's stories.
"Oh heavens no my little darling, there are those so wonderful who are just trapped by bad people." She patted his head.
"That sounds REALLY mean!" He exclaimed, horrified.
The mother merely laughed "It is, but that's why I'm teaching you how to use your magic."
She said, and he nodded "My magic can free them right?" He asked curiously. "
Yes. That's correct."
Arthur pondered this for a moment then asked "How can you use magic mummy?"
She grimaced then asked "You know how your father and I became scientists right?"
He nodded, having heard the story of how they were paired then became scientists together and how they found out about the system because they were the smartest of the smart in the world of science, the leader of the system came to them and offered them jobs, they refused. His parents had ran for it and lived on the low down, never showing their faces. Even his birth was a secret.
"Well shortly after we managed to anger the leader your father and I hastened to remove the chips, they had locating properties. After that we were filled with all the unused magic of the world."
Arthur looked at his mum, intrigued. "Really?"
He asked excitedly, for he loved his magic and what he could do with it. "Yes, so are you ready to begin magic lessons for today?"
Right as Arthur was about to respond they heard a boat horn coming from off the shores, Brittany looked terrified. "M-mum... They won't find us, right? Your magic is hiding us, right?"
Brittany smiled reassuringly. "Of course dear."
Then they heard the men's shouts and his mother froze. "T-they're aboard the island a-aren't they mum?"
Arthur looked terrified as he looked at Brittany. Nodding grimly she ran to the house, lifting her child as she went. "Merlin! Quick, come out here, they've found us!"
She called out inside the house, when there was no response she went inside, what she found there nearly broke her heart. An active bomb lay on the table with a paper next to it saying; "The job paid well sweet heart."
Arthur started sobbing. "Where's daddy?" He wailed.
Brittany stroked his messy blonde hair. "H-He's... Gone."
She looked devastated then she cleared her head. "We have to get to safety, the men who are coming are dangerous and will kill both of us." She said grimly, and she ran for the trap door that lead to the cliffy boat docks.
Arthur was nearly frightened to death as a beep went off close to him. Brittany looked at her wrist and saw a blue glowing dot faintly under her skin.
"That bastard..." She growled, scaring the little Kirkland boy then the same beep came from his own wrist. Arthur could nearly see the fire blazing in her green eyes. Arthur had been set down at this point and clearly didn't like this, he gently tugged at his furious mother's sleeve. "M-mum...?"
Brittany's gaze softened as she looked at her son. "We've been betrayed by papa, sweetheart, here, give me your wrist."
Being the obedient and loving child he was he held out his wrist and the mother took it. "I'm sorry Artie, but this may sting a little." She pulled out a knife from her pocket and stabbed it into his wrist, creating a slit big enough to grab the glowing chip. A searing pain ran through Arthur.
He screamed in pain. When the pain stopped his mother was in front of him holding a bright blue chip and putting the bloody knife back into her pocket. "This is our doom..." She spoke quietly but Arthur could still hear her.
"Doom?" He asked tearfully.
"Yes," She responded seriously
"Now come on, there's no doubt that your father told them of this place, we must get you out of here quickly!" She grabbed his bleeding wrist and lead him down the rocky stairs carved into the cavern.
"O-ow... Wait... Did you say me? You're not coming with me?" The little British child started panicking.
"I can't come with you... They'll find me with this chip," she held up her glowing wrist "But if I go in an opposite direction with both chips then it will appear to seem like I'm escaping with you." Arthur Kirkland shook his head, tears filling his eyes, stopping in his tracks.
"No! I won't! I can't! D-don't leave me mummy..." She took in the sight of the crying child and picked him up so they could continue moving, she patted his head.
"Be brave my little black sheep... You will start the new age. Avenge me, and please give your father what he deserves." She set him inside an mini underwater craft and quickly typed the coordinates to an orphanage she knew was off the grid and by the shore. "Please... Don't forget me."
And with that she closed the door and lowered the craft into the water with the bush of a button. Arthur was full out sobbing now "M-m-mummy... C-come back..."
He put his hand against the glass above him; the only thing separating him and his mum. His eyes widened as he saw her trying to climb into the boat but a man had run ahead all the rest. He raised his gun and took the shot, it didn't miss. Arthur watched in horror as his mother's eyes widened then glazed over as she fell backwards into the water, and sank right to where Arthur's ship was about to launch. The propellers had already started up and Brittany's body started sinking towards them...
Arthur retched as he saw red cover his entire capsule and heard the thunk of the sound of flesh hitting the speeding propellers. After the red had cleared Arthur looked up with tear stained eyes only to lock onto icy blue eyes that held a different fire behind them, not that of passion of anger but cruelty and coldness. Arthur shivered and cried as the man pointed the gun at his ship.
Then the boat took off.
- TEN YEARS LATER
Arthur awoke, sweating and terrified at his nightmare, that same cold gaze he could never forget... Arthur stood up and walked over to the closet, getting dressed. Today would be just another day that a family would come to look at him though at this point Arthur couldn't fathom why they continued to come and try to adopt him. It was only until two more years that he would turn 18 and would be allowed to roam free in the world.
The orphanage didn't make sure to follow system protocol too strictly so his secret was safe though it pained him, and angered him whenever he saw pairs, having remembered his traitor of a father so many years ago.
"They're going to give you up... They're going to betray you. Just run while you can." He thought as he stared at a pair in the orphanage.
Then the door chimed and the orphanage mistress ran to the door, yelling at all her charges to "LOOK SHARP OR SCRAM MIDGETS."
Arthur quickly hastened to the top of the stairs where he would be able to observe the scene, then she put on a kind and caring face and opened the door.
"Hello there, Welcome to Natalya and Brother's Orphanage. So which child are you here for?" She asked politely.
The woman had long brown hair and piercing green eyes as if though inspecting the children meanwhile the white haired and red eyed man was joking with the small child standing next to him. The green eyed woman grimaced at the man, pinched him and he straightened abruptly, then the woman smiled.
"We're here for Arthur Kirkland." Arthur sighed, too many people had come for him, he knew some were from the system and he managed to evade them perfectly well, but upon closer inspection the couple didn't look much older than he was, at least 17 or 20 or somewhere in that range.
"Arthur...?" The mistress Natalya was still smiling but looked confused.
The man nodded and slung his arm over the woman's shoulder "Lizzy here, and I were close acquaintances with his mother."
"Acquaintances...? What were they talking about?" He remained still and continued to watch, waiting for his name to be called.
"Well I see... And what are your names again?"
The woman spoke first "My name is Elizaveta Héderváry."
The man next to Eliza spoke next. "And I am her awesome match Gilbert!"
Natalya glared up at the self proclaimed Gilbert. "A last name would be nice." She said with a monotone voice.
He smirked "Gilbert AWESOME ."
Elizaveta sighed as the Mistress jotted down his name, ignoring the Awesome part.
"Alright, let me call him down here, ARTHUR!"
"And that would be my queue" he thought as he stepped down the stairs, curious about who these people were. He stepped onto the first story floor.
"Yes Mam? I believe I heard you calling."
Natalya nodded "That's correct boy. Now get your arse over to the foyer and draw aside the curtains, I'm going to get the papers and make some tea for our guests."
He nodded and began to do so, knowing it would be pointless to object, despite her and cold exterior Natalya truly did care for the orphans.
The moment Natalya had left Elizaveta jumped onto Arthur and hugged him.
"Arthur! It's been ages!" She exclaimed happily.
The poor startled British lad pulled her off "What on earth are you talking about?" Her smile fell.
"You don't remember me?" Arthur felt guilty though he answered honestly.
"No. I can't remember much of my childhood e-except..." He trailed off cringing in pain at the nightmarish memories.
She smiled sympathetically "Well I used to be your neighbor!"
Arthur instantly shook his head. "That can't be correct, I lived on an island." Elizaveta laughed. "Silly Art, you hadn't always lived there. Once you lived inside a house by the ocean, well more of a cottage thing really, your parents named it after a book you loved as a child; Shell cottage.
I lived in the house across the street!" Fuzzy memories came back to Arthur, but it was only glimpses he couldn't make out anything then he saw her; a girl with flowy light brown hair pinned up with a pink flower and green eyes the color of fresh grass.
"Ah... I think some of it is coming back to me, should I know him?" He asked, pointing towards Gilbert who had distracted himself by tallying off all the awesome things about himself.
Eliza spoke, distaste clear in her voice "Oh, that idiot? No. He's not even my match at all, Roderich is."
Arthur heard Gilbert mumble something along the lines of Prissy pants, and apparently Eliza had as well because she glared "You wanna repeat that louder, bastard?"
Gilbert put on a cocky face again "Anytime babe, I said-" he was interrupted by Elizaveta's boot making contact with his face.
"Owee! Lizzzyyy!" Arthur stood there looking stunned, Gilbert had just dismissed that kick with a whiny tone
"Does this happen often...?" He asked incredulously, hardly daring to believe his eyes.
They answered at the same time "Yes!" "Nah."
They glared at each other. "Alrighty then... Ah, are you two actual here to adopt me? I mean, no offense but Eliza... You're young enough to be my sister."
She laughed as if though Arthur was telling a joke rather than stating a fact. "Adopt you? And take care of you with THIS?" She pointed to Gilbert and laughed.
Then abruptly stopped "No. I would throw him off a cliff." She stated bluntly.
He looked hurt "Hey!" He yelled, she shrugged.
"Anyways, Arthur the reason we're here is to take you to safe refuge and start you and Gil in your new school~!" She smiled brightly.
"What?!" Both boys said at the same time.
She smirked at both then said slyly, "Yep~ the private boys school...~" the way she said this terrified both of them, she said it as though she were scheming something up.
"I'll stay." Arthur said quickly.
"Oh no, you most certainly won't." She said, still smiling.
Before Arthur could get another word out Mistress Natalya came in and spoke brightly. "So have you two made your decision after interviewing Mister Kirkland here?"
Eliza cut Gilbert off before he could screw anything up then spoke "Yes, we've decided he's EXACTLY what our family needs, right..." She gritted her teeth and Gilbert smirked as she finished speaking "Honey?".
He nodded "He's just barely awesome enough for the awesome me."
She glared and he smirked defiantly back.
"Alright then...?" Natalya looked confused but didn't question it. Shaking her head to clear it she pulled out the paper work for adoption. Elizaveta signed the papers and passed the form back to Natalya. "He's ours~."
- THREE DAYS LATER
Arthur felt like this was a dream, everything had happened so quick, and the appearance of his new home only further raised his suspicions that this was a dream, although he supposed he liked. The exterior was much smaller than the large and spacious inside. This was only because the top floor looked like a tiny one floor, one roomed apartment when in actuality there was a trap door that lead to a labyrinth made of every surface being covered with a sleek black material. It had been carved into and where it was carved, the area glowed with a faint light blue.
He loved his tiny room, it was a bit bigger than the one in the orphanage but it was still small in regards to every other room Arthur had seen. Ever since Arthur arrived he had met some lovely people and some not so lovely people who were in the rebellion. Elizaveta and Gilbert turned out to be spies training under a rather tough looking man called Mr. Germania, Arthur knew this was a code name but he had never learnt Mr. Germania's actual name, and he figured he never would.
Roderich was the co-leader, working beside a man they all called Grandpa to keep the place running. Arthur had moved on from the leaders to meet some very nice sweet children, with some not so very nice siblings; there was the small and dainty Lili who if you accidentally touched her then her brother Valshe, an attacker for the rebellion, would on top of you moments later with a shot gun pressed right between your eyes.
Then there had been Matthew, Matthew's brother however was not nice in the way that Valshe had been and wasn't even related to him for they grew up in an orphanage just like Arthur, Alfred was just annoying and seemed to show up at the worst times possible, then would annoy both Matthew and Arthur, making it incapable for either poor individual to get any work done whatsoever. Arthur hadn't liked Alfred at all.
Matthew and Lili were informants who worked behind the scenes not only to gather evidence but also to ensure that missions went well by talking spies or attackers through their mission. Alfred on the other hand was an attacker along with Valshe and Ludwig, the attackers would go on the mission with spies but would serve as back-up. The only missions that were meant for them were raids they had to do on system officers to collect data and information for the informants.
The person who handled and researched all this data and info worked with Matthew and Lili, her code name was W. And that was all anyone called her. She couldn't have been much older than Lili, who was quite young, but she was smarter than all the rebels combined, she also had a spit fire attitude that instantly got Arthur to warm up to her (not to mention her eyebrows being nearly as thick as his). Elizaveta was assigned to leave her spy job for a little while to help Arthur settle in, then she would take him to the school (which he found was necessary, though it wasn't a boys only school as he had been lead to believe.) and continue her spying job while also keeping an eye over Arthur in school.
Arthur had ended up asking her if she could teach him some magic but she sadly shook her head and replied gently "No one can use magic here... No one except you that is."
"So much for that idea..." Arthur made his way to the meeting room and checked his watch. 12:57 AM, he would make it to the first meeting on time, this was looking to be a wonderful day, after all the meeting started at 1:00 PM.
About 20 minutes later Arthur arrived panting and gasping in the doorway, having gotten lost then ended up running.
"I'm...here..." He panted.
Alfred and Gilbert laughed at the flustered Brit but quickly stopped as Eliza pulled out something that looked like a pan? Mr. Germania fixed him with a glare.
"Why are you late?" He asked sternly. "I apologize sir..."
Alfred sniggered at Arthur's manners and CLANG went, not the frying pan but from the empty seat beside Alfred a hockey stick had came from nowhere. Alfred glared at the empty seat.
"I got lost." He finished, wondering who Alfred was glaring at, there was no one there.
W cheered and pumped her fist.
"You got lost in my labyrinth? Yes! Haha! It works!" She was hopping up and down like an adorable little bunny.
"Ms. W. Calm yourself, did you not give Arthur the layout when you were introduced?" She instantly looked guilty at Grandpa's words.
"W-well you see, I wanted to observe with my cameras what would happen if I didn't hand an agent the map of the place..." She said sheepishly and held up a small screen she had been looking at in her lap, it was a live stream from every room in the maze she had created. Arthur's instant liking for the girl had completely vanished.
Mr. Germania, Roderich, Arthur and Eliza glared at her. Everyone else tried to hide a chuckle, except for the empty chair who just stayed quiet, as empty chairs should.
"Haha! Good one W," Grandpa said. "But how about you give him the map now?" She nodded and handed him the map, quivering under his glare.
"Now, we are all gathered here to inform Arthur about the chips and to discuss Elizaveta, Gilbert and Arthur's mission to infiltrate the school where we know the wealthiest of people working under the company called The System have been sending their children. This is to familiarize Arthur with the way we work as well as to get information from these children and expand our data base. So to start with the first agenda, Ms. W if you please, could you step up here and explain how the new chips work?" He said, she nodded and stood from her comfy chair around the grand circular table and walked to the middle of the table and started up a hologram of the chip.
"After The System found out how easy it was for people to remove the chips and manipulate them The System took drastic measurements to ensure total control once more. The new chips like the ones you see here are nearly impossible to hack and do more than just pair you up. They can now kill anyone with the touch of a button, manipulate people's emotions; this is what people call bio hacking, pair people up, block magic and can locate you no matter where you are. All of us here have this chip...except Arthur." Everyone turned to stare at him and he couldn't help but shrink away from the gazes.
"Now, this would typically pose a problem, seeing as our base could be found but as with all technology the chips can be hacked and while took me ages to crack the code, I managed to make the chips work for us instead of against us. The chips will register like any other chip to The System but will give us full control over our emotions, will not kill us, they can't track us but will only see the pre programed routes I set for the chip's internal GPS, the chip still pairs people, I can't stop that, but I can make the other person's chip glitch out so that they need a new name and leave us without a pair. The only thing this chip cannot do is give us magic." She said then bowed and sat down, Grandpa went back to the middle to explain the mission.
"Alright, now everyone who is not an informant or spy can leave." Grandpa said. Alfred, W, Roderich, Ludwig and Valshe got up and Valshe went to his sister's side.
"She's coming with me." He stated plainly.
"I don't trust her alone with any of you." Grandpa nodded knowing how Valshe could be and let him lead her away.
The remaining people were Elizaveta, Gilbert, Grandpa, Mr. Germania, and of course Arthur. Although Arthur could have sworn the light shift a little around in the empty chair.
"Am I hallucinating...? No, I can see magical creatures, perhaps it's a magical creature. Yes that must be it." He thought staring at the empty chair.
"Now then, let's get down to business. Mr. Germania I hand the floor over to you." Grandpa left the room after wishing everyone good luck. Arthur tuned out as he thought about the past previous days, he missed his splendid isolation from the orphanage attic but it was... Nice having friends for once. What would school be like? Natalya home schooled all the orphans there and while she was a good teacher, Arthur felt like a real school would be much different.
"Any questions?" Arthur tuned back in only to hear him ask this question.
"What had they been talking about? Well I suppose that I can just find out from Eliza later." Speaking of her, she raised her hand.
"Yes Elizaveta?" Mr. Germania said. Eliza had that same sly smirk Arthur had seen her with in the orphanage as she asked
"May I bring a camera~?" He nodded
"Of course you may. Photographic evidence is just as useful as any other type of evidence." She nodded happily and went back to taking notes on her sketch pad.
"Alright then, since this is a boarding school I expect all of you to be packed by 10 o' clock sharp. Understood?!" Everyone nodded and made to leave so they could begin packing.
"Hold on a moment." Mr. Germania said. Everyone stopped to pay attention. "You'll be taking one attacker and one informant-" he was cut off by Gilbert who decided to butt in.
"I choose West!" He said. Mr. Germania glared at being interrupted.
"As I was ABOUT to say. The informant and attacker that I will be sending are only being sent because the others are needed on other missions. So Alfred and... A-and... Um that informant that we all know and love so much will be going as well." The empty chair seemed to shift again from the corner of Arthur's vision.
"Excuse me, are you talking about me?" Everyone turned in awe to see a boy sitting in the chair. "...Are you an informant?" Mr. Germania asked.
"Y-yes... My name's Matthew." He said. Mr. Germania nodded
"Yes, you shall be going then, could you go and tell Alfred?" Matthew nodded, picked up his polar bear and left. Arthur spoke up
"I have one question... Was that a polar bear?"