Hey! Welcome back for chapter two. I hope you keep enjoying the story and thanks for all the reviews!
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Magic was something that was a vital and huge part of England's life, but he never talked about it to America that much. It wasn't like it was some dark secret that he tried to hide away from his prying eyes (although there were some parts of it that were best kept a secret) it was just that England got tired of arguing it's authenticity with his former colony, who completely refused to believe any part of it. Also, he held that America was just so stupid to understand most parts of it. If the older country ever got roped into a conversation about why he was doing something, or how he accomplished a job so fast, or why he thought magic worked in the first place America would respond to each explanation with a simple "…What?" and either a very confused or ignorant look on his face.
And it did confuse America, to be honest nothing made less sense to him than his former master's occult tenancies. He could figure out almost everything else about him (or at least he though he could) but why such a logical county would cling to such and illogical approach to life was beyond him. This was just the thing though, it wasn't illogical, and for England nothing came more natural. It was the one thing that had been with him his whole life, and in a world that was spinning out of control this was one thing that still made sense.
England and his magic was a mystery to the former colony, and he meant that in the fullest sense, one that he tolerated and even sometimes secretly enjoyed. From the quirky things, like the way he turned his jacket inside out when walking past certain hills. To the annoying way he always checked what stars were in retrograde, or whatever he called it, before planning a special occasion. To the, well, beautiful way he would sometimes sneak out at night and go down to the lake side on a full moon and just stare, like there was some invisible play being acted out just for him. Then he would draw strange symbols in the dirt and walk back towards the house. Once the former colony went out to see what he was doing, and when he reached England's side and kneeled down the older country turned his head around slowly and with tears just barely brimming in his eyes said "I wish you could see what I see, just once."
"England, tell me my fortune!"
"No."
"Why noooot?" America wined and leaned forward on the couch.
"Because why waste my time?"
"Why would it waste your time?"
"Because you don't really believe in them so why bother?"
"Because they're fun!" The former colony said, wrapping his arms around England's middle and looking up smiling. "Pleeeeeease?"
The older country looked down into America's clear blue eyes and sighed "Oh alright, if it will get you to shut the bloody hell up!"
"Yay!" America jumped up and quickly grabbed England's hand to drag him along. "Where are they?"
The older country adjusted his sweater vest angrily and started out of the room, mumbling, "In my office you oversized child."
America groaned at the thought of having to walk all the way to England's 'office'. It wasn't the nice, new, normal one that the island did all of his business in nowadays, it was the old one that hadn't been used or seen by many since the late middle ages and America was never allowed in because, England always said, he would get into too much trouble. Whatever the hell that meant. The two countries meandered through seemingly endless hallways and old rooms that were from so long ago no one had bothered to cover the stonewalls in anything but tapestries. Finally England stopped in front of a door, which at least looked slightly renovated, or al least in better shape than the worn stone around it.
Before going to open it, England turned sharply to face America "Don't touch anything! Understand?"
The younger country rolled his eyes "Ok, I get it. Can we just find the stuff already?"
England sighed and opened the door slowly. Inside was actually a bit of sensory overload, even for the ultra modern America, there was a desk on the far side of the room facing a set of tall windows that over-looked one of England's gardens. Scattered across the desk and on the shelves attached to the stonewalls were oddities of many bygone era's, papers with strange writing on them America could never hope to read, charts predicting the phases of the moon and others the positions of stars. The ceiling was painted with gold leaf, the gothic arches that rose up to meet it were black, and all along the edge of where the walls became ceiling were words inexplicably written in Latin. Everything in the room was accented and trimmed with gothic arches in cold flowery detail. The younger country wandered towards the desk as England sorted through a shelf looking for his cards and talking to himself.
"Aw, Iggy you have a picture of me on your desk!?"
"I told you not to touch anything!" The older country bolted over and slammed the picture onto the desk, his cheeks turning crimson.
"I didn't touch anything! I thought it was cute."
"Well just, shut up and sit down over there." England pointed an angry finger at a table and chair sitting in a darker corner at the far right end of the office, away from light of the window.
"Why are you so upset?" America asked "I told you I thought it was-"
"Shut up!" the former empire turned and yelled at an invisible tormentor "Do I have to deal with you all giggling like that every bloody time he comes over?" He waved a hand at America who stood bewildered at the sight of his former master getting in a fight with the air. England ran an exasperated hand through his hair and walked over to the table, dragging a chair behind him. "How do you want to do this now? Cards or crystal?"
"Cards are fine…" America sat apprehensively at the other end of the small round table and watched as England placed a silk bag on the table and removed the cards from it.
"Ok, shuffle them." He handed the deck to the younger country who began shuffling the cards like in a poker game, splitting them in two before flipping the cards back into each other. He handed them back to England who started laying them out in a bizarre pattern on the tablecloth and then put the deck away to look at what he had just made. He stared for a while, brow furrowed in deep thought before pointing at one card.
"Well it says here that you're about to discover a great truth about a friend who's been keeping something from you…"
"Ooh, what friend?"
England's eyes fell on a red flower in the second card "Um, not sure, but definitely male…"
America narrowed his eyes and said nothing.
"But the next part is what's confusing me," England went on, pointing at a card that held a picture of wolves howling at the moon "Its really veiled, but that tells me there are a lot of unseen forces at work in your life. Things are starting but I can't tell what…"
"Ok then tell me what you can see." America smiled "What does this one say?" he pointed at a card on the side with two people holding a cup.
"It says you're in love." England answered quickly and looked away.
This time it was America who blushed "Aww, you're making that up aren't you iggy?"
"Am I?" England glared back.
"NO! I didn't mean it like that!" America quickly leaned over and kissed the older country on the cheek "So what else do they say?"
England looked back down at the cards and raised a bushy eyebrow "It says you'll be in danger in your distant future."
"How distant?" America said, ignoring the shake in his voice.
"Well I'd say about a month but it could be longer."
"What kind of danger am I in?" the younger country's eyes widened
"Oh bloody hell, you don't even think something's going to happen!"
"Well that's still scary!"
England rolled his eyes and pointed to another card "Look, don't worry. See this card? It means things are going to turn out alright."
America looked timidly at the card England had his finger on, it was bright blue and read "The World" at the bottom. "Iggy why do you have pictures of naked people on these cards? It's gross."
"Oh grow up!"
The older country finished the fortune then packed up the cards and put them away. England looked at his watched and gave a slight jump.
"Good God, I have to meet with that wine freak in an hour!"
"No problem I'll help you get ready!"
"Well come on then I have to go!" England leapt out of his chair and began running out the door before America could even stand up. The younger country started towards the door, one hand outreached, and then heard a loud and angry shout, and felt something slam against his side.
"HEY!"
America spun around, not sure where the noise had come from. He looked out into the hall and called after England but there was no reply and even the sound of his running feet couldn't be heard against the echo-y stones of the castle. So if it wasn't England, who was it? America shook his head and walked out of the office, he was sure he had imagined the noise and the bump too, or that England was getting ahead on his Halloween joke this year. Either way, the former colony put the thought out of his head and set off after England.
England's Cards (in order): Two of swords, The Moon, Two of Cups, The Tower, The World. He's reading from the classic "Rider Waite" deck.
