The Four Card Kingdoms
Author's Note: Yes, I'm writing for the Cardverse AU. Why? Because I'm sick of seeing USUK everywhere and I'm disappointed with the unoriginality that's implied in the summaries for all the Cardverse-centric fics that I've seen. Seriously, we've been given an entirely new world all our own to create with unique history, system of governments, culture, and economics, and all I find is gloom-and-doom USUK splashed across the dash. The Cardverse fandom (if I can even call it that) has been a very disappointing one to say the least, so I decided that I would try and spruce it up a bit with something different, new, and hopefully refreshing. Also, if I ever decide to write any type of plot-based story set in Cardverse, I will use the contents of THIS story as my base.
Disclaimer: The entire idea of this Cardverse world I have created is mine, though the character concepts are clearly Himaruya-san's.
Joker
Erszébet stood in silence, her expression a conflicted mixture of reproach, anger, and despair. Of all the people that could have- why him?! He knew better! He should have known better! He was a King after all!
"Ah, so this is the little troublemaker who tried to kill me," Ivan said as he knelt down before the captive man, who was being held back by Roderich, and he smiled sadly. "I knew you didn't like me, but what did I ever do to warrant you're trying to kill me, King Gilbert?" he asked, and she'd been in the man's company long enough to know that the King of Clovers was genuinely confused.
Gilbert glared at him, those eyes the same red color as his clothes, and another attempted lunge proved futile against Roderich's grip, which Erszébet had to admit was impressive that he'd managed to hold onto him for so long. She'd rough-housed with Gilbert in her childhood, so she knew how strong he was, and she knew that Roderich couldn't be a pushover if he was the Jack, but she'd had no idea he was that strong!
"Don't you play that whole innocent card with me, King Club," Gilbert growled in his throat. "I don't care that the local authorities claimed that it was a result of an electrical fire; I know it was you who arranged to have that textile mill blow-up! That was the best-producing mill we had in the entire kingdom and it's way too convenient that the mill you were building along that same river just happened to be finished and producing within a day of the incident and that you were able to quickly supply cloth to those in my kingdom near your border for half the price they would have paid if they'd had to purchase it from one of my mills that are farther away from them. You planned for that incident to cripple the textile production in my kingdom!"
Ivan frowned, possibly a bad sign, and stood up tall and towering and frightening, "I never did any such thing, King Gilbert; your accusations are false."
"Bullshit!"
Ivan acted as though he hadn't heard the profanity and continued on with a sigh as if he was remonstrating a slow child, "You really shouldn't have been so hasty in your assumptions, King of Hearts. I had always warned you about picking your fights more carefully. Do you remember the frozen Sipepu Lake, little King? I do. I told you not to try and fight me on the ice because it might crack, but you didn't listen and you fell through. I saved you and reminded you that I had warned you. Why have you always been such a naughty boy who never listens? No matter…" Ivan reached out and grasped Gilbert's white hair in an iron grip and Gilbert failed to suppress a gasp as his hair was pulled at the roots. "A King trying to kill the King of another Kingdom? That's a very bad thing to do," Ivan said, and his voice was subtly-dark and angry. "A very serious international crime. There is only one punishment that will suffice; I think you know which one I mean."
Erszébet was sure her eyes were as wide as Gilbert's and Roderich's. The punish- he didn't mean-!
"Your Majesty, you don't mean the Jo-Crossban!" Roderich exclaimed, which mirrored her thoughts exactly.
Ivan suddenly smiled at the Jack and said, "Of course I do, Jack Roderich! This falls within the standards set by the Crossroads Convention of 1268 over 500 years ago, so I will do just that."
"Yes, but Your Majesty, the Jo-Crossban is one of the most severe provisions of the 1268 Convention! You can't just-!" Roderich protested, but stopped when Ivan fixed him with an irritated look, violet eyes locked onto violet eyes.
"If it were our beloved Queen Erszébet that he'd tried to kill, would you still be so willing to show this mercy, my Jack?"
She saw the slight hesitation flash into Roderich's eyes for a brief second before his expression was strong and stoic against Ivan's irritation and he said, "Yes, my King, because Gilbert, attempted assassin or no, is still a part of my family, and family bonds are still a highly-valued virtue in this kingdom, are they not?"
It was true, though she never would have guessed that on her own if he hadn't told her and had Gilbert confirm it. Roderich may have inherited the position of Jack of Clovers from his mother, but Gilbert was his half-brother through his father, Wilhelm Germania, the patriarch of the House of Rhineland which was a historically-Spadian family or so she'd been told if her boys were to be believed.
The irritation completely disappeared from Ivan's face and he smiled again. "Yes, family bonds are very important, Roderich. I envy you yours. However, I have decided his punishment and it's my prerogative as King to give as has been appropriately detailed within the terms of the Convention." Ivan raised his staff and slammed it into the ground, causing a resounding echo throughout the chamber. "By the authority invested as the King Clovers under the provision of the Crossroads Convention of 1268, Article II, Section I, for attempted assassination of another King, I hereby strip you, King Gilbert, of all your rights and prerogatives as the King of Hearts and Heir to the Rhineland family estates, and banish you from the territories of the four Card Kingdoms. You shall henceforth bear the title of Joker and be accepted nowhere within the realms. If you are found to have taken refuge within any of the four kingdoms, the remedial penalty for breaking the ban is execution. And so your sentence is decreed!" Ivan threw his staff out straight like a sword and the large red jewel at the end shone brightly just before a beam of red and black lightning-like energy shot out and struck Gilbert square on the chest.
Roderich leapt back seconds before impact, and just in time too, because he wouldn't have been able to hold Gilbert without getting hurt in the process. Gilbert screamed in agony as the magic that Ivan so rarely used struck him full force and ensnared him in their angry, crackling energy, and he was quickly down on all fours, aiming for a pseudo-half-fetal position rather than curling up completely in front of his enemies and Erszébet gritted her teeth as she watched her proud friend struggling to contain his convulsions from where he knelt on their floor. That wasn't the only thing that was happening to him though. His clothes were changing around him, losing even the very few fineries of royalty he did wear and the red color of them was turning into pitch black, save a devilish design on the back and left sleeve, while the undershirt became a solid blood red. And that wasn't all either! On both sides of his head, several strands of his white hair clumped together into two tufts and flared out like horns on the sides of his head, and there was only a slight ripping of cloth and another howl of pain before she saw a long black, arrow-headed tail flailing about wildly behind him.
Finally, the angry energy dispersed as well as Gilbert's pain and he collapsed face-first onto the floor, his appearance so drastically changed from before, and Erszébet suddenly realized how frantic her breathing was. She knew of the Jokers, everyone did, but she'd never seen one before now, much less the transformation of a person into one, and to think that it was her best friend of all people. She recalled so vividly in those moments how much she'd feared the stories her uncle had told of the lawless Jokers and how many times he'd barely escaped them with his life. Jokers were always supposed to be the worst types of people imaginable, those that none of the Kingdoms would allow entrance or work or food and they were simply left to die slow, agonizing, lonesome deaths. But now Gilbert was a Joker too. She suddenly felt more sympathy for the Jokers than she ever had in her life.
Gilbert groaned aloud and he slowly managed to push himself up enough that he was sitting on his knees, but still curled up protectively around himself. When he looked up, he saw her first and she felt her heart skip a beat; she'd never seen that expression on his face before: scared and uncertain and searching for something. What would happen to her dear friend Gilbert now?
Out of nowhere, Gilbert flinched suddenly, recoiling away and he glared at her, his teeth bared and his tail twitching angrily. "Don't you dare!" he barked, "Don't look at me like that! Not you too! I don't want your pity!"
Erszébet opened her mouth to protest Gilbert's irrational stupidity at such an accusation, but Ivan cut her off and drowned out her first few words, saying, "You shouldn't talk like that to my Queen, little Joker." A brilliant smile (a sinister one) adorned his face again. "Goodbye!" And with a sharp 90 degree turn of the staff, Gilbert disappeared from the room in a blinding flash of green light and all was quiet. Too quiet. The silence was broken by Ivan. "Well, that was fun, but I guess we should inform the Heart Kingdom that they need to elect a new king since theirs has become a Joker," he said with an air of remorse, "Jack Roderich, if you would be so kind as to have your black eagle send the message, I believe that would ensure the fastest delivery of the news. And we should probably also inform the other two kingdoms of what has transpired here. We don't want to cause a misunderstanding and start a silly little war over this."
"Jas, your Majesty, I shall see to it," Roderich said quietly, but Erszébet could hear the slight quiver in his voice as he spoke, and the fact that he slipped back into the more Northwestern Spadian dialect he'd picked up when living in the old forests with his father (the 'jas' was the biggest giveaway; it sounded like 'yahs' rather than 'yes'). He too was shaken up. She'd been staring at the spot where Gilbert had disappeared so intently that she didn't see Roderich walking until he stood right in front of her, "Erszébet?"
She gave a startled jump back, but didn't get very far because his hands had grasped hers (she wasn't even aware of him doing that). "Oh! Roderich! Yes?"
"Are you alright?"
"What? Yes! Yes, I'm fine! I'm fine! I-!"
"Oh, I'm sorry Queen Erszébet," Ivan said suddenly, sincerely apologetic, as he came to stand next to her. "I forgot that the former King was an old friend of yours. That must have been hard for you."
"Don't talk about him like he's dead!" Erszébet screeched and violently pulled back from him and consequently ended up stepping into Roderich because he still held her hands.
"But as the King of Hearts, he is dead, Queen Erszébet," Ivan said with a concerned frown (she always found it somewhat unnerving that his expressions always matched his actual emotions whenever he was talking to her, when they never matched the rest of the time), "He is a Joker now and the sooner you accept that, the better off you'll be. The Queen of Clovers has more important things to do than worry about some Joker."
She was just about to scream bloody murder at him and probably attempt to kill him herself when Roderich stepped between her and Ivan and said, "Perhaps it is best if we allow the Queen to retire early today. Regardless of who it entails, watching a Joker transformation can be quite a stressful and upsetting event for someone who has never witnessed it before. Also, Erszébet has never seen a Joker before; you know she comes from no noble family, so I'd imagine she's at least a bit shocked by that aspect as well."
"Hmm, that is true, I suppose," Ivan relented, "Very well then. It really is no good to have a Queen who can't function well. You are free to leave off your duties for the rest of the day, Queen Erszébet. Jack Roderich and I will take care of everything else in your absence."
"Th-Thank you… you two…" Erszébet said breathlessly, even though in her heart, she really only meant the gratitude for Roderich.
"I shall escort our Queen to her room," Roderich declared and then added, "It's on the way to my eagle's roosting place anyway, so it shall take no extra time at all. Are you coming, my Queen?"
"Y-Yes, I am," Erszébet said quickly and took Roderich's proffered arm, eager to get as far away from Ivan as fast as possible.
They were silent the entire time they walked together and only when they were just outside of Erszébet's room did Roderich say, "I'm sorry."
"Eh? For what, my Jack?"
"For our King. I should have intervened before he could say those tactless things to you."
"Really, Roderich? You're apologizing for that?" She could almost laugh. "Don't be ridiculous. It's not your fault that Ivan is an only child who doesn't know how to deal with people. And what he said wasn't illogical; it was almost pragmatic even. Logically, as the Queen of Clovers, I shouldn't worry about any of the Jokers, because-"
"Erszébet, stop it," Roderich commanded, stepping out in front of her and gripping her shoulders, and she found herself gazing into those violet eyes that were the same color as Ivan's, but always so much warmer than his could ever be. "Just stop. You and I both know that Gilbert was very important to you, and I can't stand hearing you try to brush him aside like he was no big deal. I am the Jack of Clovers. It is my job to balance out and ease any tensions between the King and Queen in order to promote synergy and effective governance, which is the whole reason the Tripartites of the four Card Kingdoms have been such a success. I've known Ivan for a long time now and I understand him better than anyone else, and as such, I should have been able to divert the situation before it got out of hand like that. If I can't even do that much, what kind of a Jack am I?"
"But Roderich…" Erszébet said softly as she stared up at him. His eyes… Even from behind the glasses, she could see what he was trying so desperately to hide. "If it's up to you to keep things running smoothly between the King and the Queen, then who will you unburden yourself to? I can see it." She reached up and gently plucked his glasses from his face, not taking her green eyes off him for a second, "You're trying to hide it, but I can see it." She experimentally reached back up to his ears and caressed the hair at his temple, feeling the short soft strands slip through her fingers. "His words about Gilbert hurt you too. How incredibly selfless of you, you foolish man. He was your own brother and yet you're more worried about how I'm handling his banishment."
In an act of completely-selfish spontaneity, she grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him, hoping that it would somehow convey even a tiny part of the gratitude and relief that she felt for having such an understanding man like him to be here for her after losing her best friend. When he kissed her back and held her tight against him, she fancied that he felt the same as she did right at that moment. When their lips had nothing more to say, Erszébet gave back Roderich's glasses and he left her just outside her room as he'd promised while he went to go retrieve his eagle to send those three messages. She couldn't blame Ivan, she really couldn't; he may be an adult, but he still didn't really know any better about how to deal with social situations, even though he had made obvious improvement since her very first meeting with him several years ago. Despite that, it didn't stop her from feeling comforted by the fact that she had someone to share in her misery. The fact of the matter was that though, yes, Gilbert was alive and she knew exactly where he was, he was dead for all intents and purposes. Unless she traveled to the Crossroads for an international Convention, whenever the next one was held between the four kingdoms, she would never see him again.
Before I begin the main content of the footnote, I would like to say that these chapters are written in chronological order to avoid any possible confusion since I don't have a timeline worked out yet for when these things all happen (and I still need to draw a map of these kingdoms too). Also, because this is Cardverse AU, some relationships will be altered (like how Russia is an only child; it was much easier to say that than to explain why Ukraine and Belarus were part of the Heart Kingdom while still remaining siblings). I plan to upload the second chapter tomorrow morning if everything goes well since it's already written.
This is my take on how the Jokers come into being, which means that in this verse, there can be more than one Joker. My reasoning behind making the Jokers be criminals in exile is because in all the card games I've played, either we take out the Jokers because we don't need them or getting a Joker always means something bad, hence why I gave the Jokers the negative connotation in my take on this AU. Sealand is a special case, but I'll get to him in the last chapter. Also, I'm pretty sure I made it clear, but just in case… the Kings and Queens are not married! And the power system of the four kingdoms is based on the shared power of three individuals, called the Tripartite that compose of the King, the Queen, and the Jack, that govern the Kingdoms together as one unit and all three members obtain their positions in different ways as I alluded to in this chapter. The whole point of the next three chapters is actually to explain how the three members of the Tripartite come into their respective positions.
And of course, I couldn't keep out the AusHun (don't want to); it's just far too easy and natural to slip it in there. Lol, I think I might have thrown a bit of Frying Pangle shipping hints in there too (which was completely unintentional if I managed that :P)