Of Spades and Jokers

Ch.2

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.


"Honestly, I can't believe you."

Arthur had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at this comment. This was how Yao would start his 'you should stay in the castle' speech. Arthur had heard the speech a thousand times before so he knew practically every word that was going to be said.

"You're the Queen of Spade and you should be acting like it." Yao said.

The second that Yao uttered those words Arthur started to tune him out. Yao would just be going into a huge speech about how Arthur had duties to perform, the city was too dangerous to have a royalty wondering around by themselves, and he should know better than to act like this. Yao sort of had a point with the whole danger thing, but Arthur was rather good at using magic and he knew how to use it in a fight. Also, if push came to shove Arthur knew how to fist fight and he could handle himself in a brawl. Growing up with three older brothers made him learn how to fight if nothing else.

However, as for the whole 'duties as Queen' thing Arthur always had to stop himself from asking 'what duties?' Yao's duty was to handle all internal affairs and finances of the kingdom. The King, Alfred F. Jones dealt with external affairs, the military, and he was the one who dealt with the council. Arthur was in charge of the Navy, but during times of peace he wasn't really needed. As of right now there was no war happening, and there was no sign of any war happening anytime soon.

All of the kingdoms where getting along alright and there were no major complaints. The only thing of real note was the fact that Ivan the King of Clubs and Alfred disliked each other. However, when it came to the two kings their little fights they were less 'bring out the cavalry' and more about 'let's see who can annoy the other person the most'. As for the Navy itself Arthur always made sure they got the most up to date technology needed and he dealt with the occasional complaint that was important enough that Arthur had to deal with it, but complaints like that only happened once in a blue moon.

The only other duty Arthur really had was that he would also go over any plans and documents that dealt with the kingdom or came from the daily council meetings, but he was the last person to do so. Alfred was the one who went over them first, or he was the one who came up with some of the new ideas that came out of the council meetings. Yao would check them over first and get rid of any of the ridicules ideas that Alfred would come up. One good example would be when Alfred came up with the idea to use magic and create a giant hero to protect the Spade kingdom. Yao rejected the idea the second he read the words 'giant hero'. Once Yao got rid of the more childish ideas he'd send them off to Arthur. Arthur would read though them and sign the things he was OK with.

Problem was, most of the things he got were good and didn't need his impute at all. Every once in awhile Arthur would catch a crazy idea or plan that somehow made its way past Yao, but that didn't happen very often. Really all Arthur was really needed for was to sign his name at the bottom of the paper. Although to be honest his signature really wasn't needed on the paper. As long as it got two out of three signatures on it the document was good to go.

Honestly, the Queen was really just a figurehead during times of peace. He actually wished he had more to do, but all of the work for the kingdom was really handled by the Jack and King. Although, now that he was thinking about the king Arthur couldn't help but look over at Alfred. Alfred was standing behind Yao watching everything with a slight smile. Alfred was enjoying this it was not every day that he got to see Arthur get scolded. Arthur would be more annoyed about this if it was not for the fact that Alfred got scolded by Yao and Arthur on a daily bases so he would get to see Alfred in this situation soon enough. Arthur looked away from Alfred and started to pay attention to what Yao was saying.

"I'm going to be assigning some guards to be your escorts for awhile." Yao said.

This was Arthur's unofficial punishment, and he knew it. Arthur didn't like it, but he just had to deal with it. It's also something that he has dealt with before so when he heard the punishment he just sighed and asked "How long?"

"Two months." Yao answered.

Arthur just sighed and shook his head. Usually he was only stuck with his unwanted escorts of a month so this two month thing was new. Arthur didn't like it, but there was not much that he could do about it.

"Fine." Arthur said.

Yao just nodded his head and started to walk toward the door.

"The guards are waiting outside for you." Yao said. "They will escort you back to your room."

With that said Yao opened the door and left the room. Once the door had slammed shut Alfred just chuckled.

"Wow, I think this is your worse punishment yet." Alfred said.

Arthur just glared the blue eyed king and crossed his arms.

"I don't need you to tell me that, git." Arthur grumbled.

Arthur shook his head before he asked "Don't you have something better to do?"

Alfred just hummed a little before he said "I probably do, but it's not every day that I get to see Yao yell at you."

"Get out of here already." Arthur hissed out as he glared at Alfred.

Alfred just laughed that obnoxious laugh of his before he turned around and walked toward the door.

"See you later Iggy!" Alfred called out.

"My name is not Iggy!" Arthur shouted.

Alfred just laughed again as he slammed the door shut behind him. Arthur sighed and shook his head as crossed his arms. Honestly, getting mad at Alfred was just a waste of energy. The boy was completely immune to his glares, and any time he started yelling at Alfred it would just go through one ear and out the other. Arthur waited a few minutes in the room before he finally walked over to the door and opened it. He wanted to make sure that eh wouldn't run into Alfred as he was escorted back to his room. When he opened the door he was met with the sight of two guards standing there.

"My queen we were asked to escort you to your room." One of the guards said.

"Let's go then." Arthur said with a sigh.

The guards took their places at Arthur's side and lead them down the hall. As they walked Arthur could not help, but think about the Joker boy that he had saved earlier that day. It was downright depressing to see that no one would rescue the child, and he was happy that he was able to save the boy. He understood that Jokers where considered to be evil creatures who caused harm wherever they went, but the child seemed pretty harmless. Although, Arthur really didn't know what to think about the white haired Joker that he had seen today. He also seriously had to wonder what the red eyed Joker's relation with the child was. Was he is brother? His friend? Arthur didn't know what it could be, but the child seemed to be fine with him and if the man hadn't grabbed the boy when he did Arthur didn't doubt for one second that the crowed would have just chucked the boy back into the sea.

'Although he seemed so mysterious, and he was pretty handsome.' Arthur thought absentmindedly.

When he realized what he had just thought he started to blush a little before he shook his head.

"My queen, are you alright?" One of the guards asked when he noticed that Arthur was blushing rather badly.

"I'm fine you don't have to worry about me." Arthur said.

The guard still looked concerned, but he didn't say anything else. Eventually they reached Arthur's room and Arthur opened his door and stepped into his room. "We will be outside guarding your room." One of the guards said.

'What you really mean is that you are going to stand right outside my door and make sure I don't escape.' Arthur thought, but he didn't say this out loud.

He just nodded his head and closed the door. Arthur looked out at his balcony only to see that it was already night time and the moon was high up in the sky. He wasn't sure of the exact time, but he honestly didn't care. Arthur changed into his pajamas and climbed onto his bed. It was a long day, and he needed to sleep. It took awhile, but eventually Arthur fell asleep…


"He's already asleep."

Arthur frowned slightly when he heard this. Someone with a very loud mouth was currently talking way louder then was truly necessary and had woke him up.

"Well, it is midnight after all." A new voice said at a much quitter tone.

"Well, he should wake up we need to talk to him." The loudmouth said.

Arthur just groaned before he grumbled out "Will you shut up already?"

The loud man just snorted before he asked "Do you say that to everyone who tries to wake you up?"

Arthur snapped his eyes open and quickly sat up all ready to shout at the loud man, but he quickly fell silent when he saw who was talking. Standing before his bed were two very familiar Jokers. The child was holding onto the bedpost and he was giving Arthur and apologetic smile. Meanwhile the man was standing tall with a large smirk plastered onto his face. Arthur just started at them, and they stared right back. As Arthur stared at them questions started to pop up in Arthur's mind. How did they get in here? Why are they here? How can the guards not hear the man's loud talking? Eventually he finally settled on a question and asked it out loud.

"Who are you?" Arthur asked.

The red eyed man just crossed his arms and said "I am the awesome Gilbert, and you should be honored to be in my presence."

Arthur just frowned and crossed his arms as he stared at the white haired Joker. Any thoughts that Arthur had about Gilbert being mysterious and cool just got flung right out the window….


Info Time

Spade Queen's duty: I'm not really sure what the Spade Queen's duties usually consist of, but in general I always assumed that the jobs where spread out evenly among the King, Queen, and Jack. However, in this story the Queen has less power than the King or Jack. He really doesn't get much of a say in what happens in the kingdom, and he can't even offer up suggestions or ideas to help the kingdom. The fact that the King and Jack are evenly powered and Arthur barely has any use as a Queen serves as something that really bothers him.

Anyway, I'll try and get the next chapter out as soon as possible so please review and don't flame.