Back with Chapter 2. Thank you Pineappledanish, Iron Rose Writer, Anamikamazumdar1996, ButterfliesInTheSkies, Shadow Fairy Princess, Exca314, Madameppink and Itshappyprincess for following and/or favouriting this and a special shoutout to Strawberry r Kitty for the review. You guys rock! I think that's everyone, enjoy!

Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya and Frozen belongs to Disney!

Chapter 2 : A Life Changing Event

Four years later …..

The palace was quiet as everyone had settled down for the night with the exception of the night guards who watched over the royal family while they slept but soon they heard the patter of young feet as an excited eight year old blonde boy with a cow-lick ran down the corridor in his nightshirt, towards Prince Arthur's room, a common occurrence where Prince Alfred was concerned and they had long since stopped trying to send him back to his room because it never worked. He would just leave again and find another route to the future queen's bedroom.

Arthur was awakened when his door flew open and banged against the wall but he pretended to still be asleep.

"Artie, are you awake?"

"No!"

"Then why are you answering me?"

"I'm talking in my sleep."

"Come on, Artie," Alfred whined. "Get up and play with me!"

"Stop calling me, Artie, Alfred," Arthur replied. "And go back to bed!"

"I can't," Alfred replied, jumping on the bed and landing on Arthur. "The moon's bright and keeping the sky wake so I'm awake. How can I sleep when I'm awake?"

"Why don't you play with Matthew?"

"I think he was talking in his sleep," Alfred replied. "He said something about hitting me with a thing called a hockey-stick if I didn't go away."

"If I threaten to hit you with something, will you go away?" Alfred pouted.

"Come on, Artie, please!" Arthur just snuggled down into the covers and Alfred pouted harder and then smiled. He bent down to Arthur's ear and whispered, "Do you want to build a snowman?"

The magic words!

Arthur's eyes came open. He loved using his powers, loved setting them free as keeping them under control was sometimes a strain and Alfred loved to see it, loved playing in the snow he created. Matthew loved it too, just not in the middle of the night.

Alfred bounced up and down excitedly as Arthur got up and pulled on his dressing gown and they ran to the biggest room in the palace. They stood in the middle of the Ballroom Room and Alfred bounced up and down with excitement.

"DO THE MAGIC!" he cried. "DO THE MAGIC!" Arthur smiled and put his hands together. He concentrated on the moisture particles in the air, freezing them and pulling them together to form a snowflake, by far his easiest trick but it never failed to thrill Alfred. Then Arthur threw it into the air where it exploded and rained snowflakes down on everything. Alfred giggled and laughed and Arthur laughed with him.

"Ready?" he asked Alfred and Alfred nodded, excitedly. Arthur lifted his dressing gown and stamped his right foot on the floor. Ice formed and spread to every corner of the room and partly up the walls. The eight year old gave a cry of excitement and began to skate on it while Arthur created more snow for them to play with.

"Alfred!" he called and moved his hands. Snow began to whirl and stick together until they formed a shape of what looked like a rabbit with wings. Arthur crouched down by the rabbit and said in a high voice, "Hello, Alfred! My name's Flying Snow Bunny and I like warm hugs!" Alfred laughed and hugged the snow rabbit, Arthur's magic fortunately keeping it from being crushed.

"I love you, Flying Snow Bunny!" he giggled. They played for a hour, Alfred getting more and more excited and he began jumping from the piles of snow that Arthur created.

"Higher!" he demanded and Arthur made a bigger pile and Alfred jumped to it.

"Higher!" he cried again and jumped to the even bigger pile of snow, calling for a higher pile and began to jump faster and faster and Arthur struggled to keep up.

"Slow down, Alfred!" he begged but Alfred just jumped again and Arthur only just managed to make another pile of snow to stop him hitting the ground.

"Again!" Alfred called and jumped. Arthur desperately tried to created more snow but then his foot slipped on the ice and he fell backwards, the ice magic he had just cast slamming into Alfred's head and he fell unconscious to the floor.

Arthur pulled himself on to his knees and looked over at the unmoving boy then he scrambled over to him. Alfred was pale and, when Arthur touched him, cold so Arthur gave him a little shake.

"Alfred?" he said in a frightened voice but Alfred did not respond so Arthur put his arm around his shoulders and picked him up. "Please, Alfred, wake up!" Alfred eyes remained closed and, before Arthur's eyes, Alfred's hair began to lose its blonde colour and turn white. Arthur began to cry.

"PLEASE!" he shouted. "ANYBODY! PLEASE HELP!" The sound of footsteps came from outside the door and two guards in the blue Spades regalia burst in. The sight of the ice and snow in the Ballroom Room did not surprise them, Prince Arthur turning the Ballroom into a skating rink for Prince Alfred was such a regular event but the sight of the future queen holding the future king and crying brought them up short.

"Fetch the Royal Family," one said to his colleague and his colleague departed while the remaining guard went over to the two children to see what he could do. The first thing he realised was the Prince Alfred was ice-cold so he removed his cloak and wrapped it around the boy in an effort to try and keep him warm. It did not help that Prince Arthur was upset and causing the temperature in the room to drop further as everyone knew that the future queen had trouble controlling his power when his emotions were overwrought.

"Please, Your Highness," the guard begged. "I need you to calm down and control your powers. Prince Alfred is cold so we need to keep him warm. I know you're frightened but it's making everything colder so please try! Prince Alfred will be fine, I'm sure!" The guard was not trained to comfort children but he did his best, holding the unconscious Alfred in one arm and wrapped the other around Arthur, hugging the ten year old.

More footsteps could be heard running outside and the royal family dressed in sleepwear and dressing gowns ran in, followed by the other guard. King Henry knelt beside them and took Alfred from the guard while Elizabeth swept Arthur into her arms.

"Arthur, what have you done?" Henry did not mean to sound so stern but this was bad, very bad! If Alfred were to die they would have to wait another four years for a new heir to the Spades King's crown but there was also the fact that all the royal children were as dear to him as if they were his own.

"I didn't mean to!" Arthur cried and heavy snow began to fall from the ceiling and more ice formed under Arthur's feet. Elizabeth hugged Arthur tighter.

"We know, sweetheart," she reassured the upset child. Richard knelt beside Henry and Alfred, putting his hand to the boy's forehead where ice crystals were beginning to form. He could feel how the low temperature of the boy and it was dropping even further.

"He's getting colder," he said.

"We must do something," Edward replied. "But I don't what?"

"I do!" They all looked up to see a eleven year old boy dressed in red and black but what caught their attention was the white hair, red eyes and the trademark forked tail of the Joker. Very little was known about the Jokers except that this particular Joker was Gilbert, the older brother of Ludwig Beilschmidt, the future King of Hearts. The appearance of a Joker could mean mischief or assistance so, whenever they showed up, they were greeted with respectful apprehension.

"Please, Your Excellency," Henry begged. "If there's any way to save him, please tell us!"

"Of course the Awesome Me will help!" Gilbert replied and he knelt down beside Alfred and put his hand on his forehead and it glowed. "That will hold it off for a while but we must be quick! All of you and the boy get changed! We have a trip ahead of us because I'm taking you to someone who can save the future King of Spades!"


Five horses galloped through the night with King Henry carrying the unconscious Alfred and Arthur rode with Queen Elizabeth, her horse leaving a trail of ice behind it with Edward and Richard following. Gilbert galloped ahead, leading the others to a unknowing destination. They travelled for three miles and then Gilbert lead them into a clearing full of rocks, stopped and everyone dismounted. For a moment, they looked round but nothing seemed to happen.

"Why are we here, Joker?" Henry asked.

"Yo, come out, Nordic Trolls!" Gil called out. "You're being unawesome when we're in need of your awesome skills." At first nothing happened but then the rocks began shaking and then changing form and became people dressed in rough clothing who surrounded the royal family, looking at the two children with curiosity. Then they moved aside, showing five larger rocks that began shaking and then they transformed. They were also dressed in rough clothing but they were more colourful, denoting them as a higher rank and all of them were blonde and male. The tallest of them had the sternest blue eyes any of them had ever seen and stood beside him was a light blonde with unusual amethyst eyes and a warmer expression. Gilbert introduced them as Berwald of the Iron Clan and Tino of the Sea Clan. Then there was a wilder looking individual, Matthias of the Fire Clan, a little shorter than Berwald, with blue eyes and hair that stuck up in spikes in every direction and then there was a platinum blonde with violet eyes who was the shortest out of the five called Emil of the Ice Clan. But it became apparent that the last remaining man who was mid-height to the other four was the one who seemed to be in charge. One side of his hair was held back with a cross barrette and a curl seemed to float at the side of his head, independent of the rest of his hair and he had the most expressionless blue eyes any of the royal family had ever seen. This was Lukas of the Earth Clan and, as the one with the most powerful magic, High Chieftain of the Five Clans.

He immediately went to Arthur and took the ten year old's hand in his and gazed into the boy's eyes.

"Ice magic," he stated. "Cursed or born?" It was an important question to ask as cursed meant the powers were added or attached while born meant they were a part of the person's soul which meant different approaches when dealing with their magic.

"He was born with them," Henry replied. "Please, can you help Alfred? We can't lose the future King of Spades!" Lukas put his hand on Alfred's head and closed his eyes. He could feel Gilbert's magic slowing the encroaching ice that was creeping through the child but Lukas would have to work quickly.

"It was a good thing the ice magic went into the head," Lukas commented. "The heart is almost impossible to change but the head can be fooled." The others gathered round and each placed a hand on Alfred and the other on Lukas who's own hand on the forehead began to glow. The ice began to retreat and Alfred's hair began to turn back to blonde again.

"What's happening?" Henry asked and Tino turned toward him.

"We're forcing the magic to reverse as much as we can," he explained. "We can't completely remove it, only Prince Arthur can do that and, right now he doesn't know how. And we're removing all memories of the future Queen's magic," he explained. The snow began falling as Arthur whimpered.

"He won't remember I have powers?" he wept. Matthias gave the ten year old a sympathetic look.

"It's for the best," he said. "He'll remember all the fun you guys had but he'll think it all happened in Winter, not that you made all the snow. We can force the magic back and seal it away but if he remembers, it will overrun him again. I'm sorry, kid." The glow stopped and Alfred had regained colour and breathed easier. His cow-lick remained white but he was alive and the Spades royal family heaved a sigh of relief. Lukas broken away from the group and approached Arthur again and took his hands again. He concentrated again and then looked at the current royals.

"His powers will only increase as he grows," Lukas warned and he looked Arthur in the eyes. "There is great beauty in your magic, Your Highness but also great danger! Your feelings affect your powers and fear can cause them to rage out of control and cause great harm."

"I can help Arthur control them," Elizabeth promised. "and eventually, he'll learn how to remove the magic from Alfred. I'll find the method and teach it to him." Emil shook his head.

"There is no set way of doing that," he replied. "If there were, I would remove it right now. The method differs for each person so the future Queen must find the way himself."

"It would be wiser for no one to know about Prince Arthur's powers," Lukas advised. "If people know of this incident, they may fear the future Queen, making him afraid and his abilities harder to control. To say nothing of the danger of Prince Alfred relearning of Prince Arthur's powers."

"That's a problem," Edward replied. "The entire palace knows about Arthur's ice magic, to say nothing of the family members they might have told. Only outside the kingdom are his abilities unknown."

"I can help with that," Tino replied. "I need a hair from all of you, including Prince Arthur." Each of the royals pulled a hair from their heads and Elizabeth gently eased one from Arthur while Tino took out a crystal and, one by one, took each hair and placed them on the crystal which absorbed them. He then handed the crystal to the King.

"When you go back to the palace," he advised. "Go to the highest tower and throw this into the air. With the exception of all of you, it will remove the memories of Prince Arthur's magic from everyone who knows about them. Only you will know as well as his birth family as the crystal will recognise them as such through Prince Arthur's hair."

"They have to be told what happened then so they don't reveal it to anyone," Richard replied and turned to the king. "We'll have to downsize the staff and keep people away from the palace as much as possible. The less people around to find out about Arthur the better, at least until he can control his powers better."

"What about the other kingdoms?" Henry mused.

"We don't need to keep the other suits out of the kingdom," Edward said. "Just out of the palace. We can greet our fellow royals at the summer palace, claiming that the Spades Palace has been damaged and under repair or under renovation or something."

"And what if they comment on Arthur's absence?" Elizabeth pointed out. It was common practice for the children of the royal suits to interact to build relationships with each other and keep the kingdoms in harmony.

"We say that Arthur has frail health and is too ill to be with us," Richard suggested. "Some child illness that he'll eventually grow out of but a reason for him not to make an appearance."

"This could work," Henry agreed and knelt down beside Arthur. "Arthur, your powers must remain a secret, even from Alfred, Matthew and Yao. You understand." Arthur gave a sniff and nodded while Elizabeth also knelt down and hugged him.

"It will be all right, Arthur," she reassured. "You'll see." Henry stood up and collected the sleeping Alfred from the Trolls.

"Thank you," he said to them and turned to Gilbert. "And thank you as well, Joker." Gilbert waved it off.

"Don't thank us yet," he said, enigmatically. "This has a long way to go before it's over."


They made their way home and, when they got there it was an hour before dawn. The king took Alfred to his room and deposited the sleeping child in his bed. Then they all went to the highest tower of the palace. Arthur watched as the King took the crystal from his pocket and threw it into the sky then the crystal began to float in mid-air. Rays of light shone from the crystal and they ran over the palace, shining even through the roofs and walls, touching every inhabitant and changing the memories of each person they touch. One by one, everybody forgot that Arthur could make ice and snow. The rays shone down into the town by the palace and throughout the kingdom, seeking out those who worked in the palace but did not live there and those they had told and relieved them of their memories of Arthur's abilities too. Soon, aside from Arthur, the royal family and Arthur's birth family, no one in the kingdom remembered Arthur's ice magic. As far as anyone else was concerned, Arthur was just a normal boy who would one day be Queen.


Alfred woke the next day later than usual, stretched and clambered out of bed to the wash-bowl to wash his face. He struggled with the heavy jug of warm water that his maid had put there while he slept and got as much on the dressing table as he did in the bowl. After he put the jug down he dropped the wash cloth into the bowl, squeezed out the excess water and looked in the mirror as he began washing his face.

He stopped as he spotted his hair. His cowlick stood up in front like usual, nothing strange about that but the colour was.

The cowlick was pure white!

Alfred dropped the wash cloth back into the bowl and gave the cowlick a poke. It moved and bounced back into place and Alfred touched it. It felt like hair but it was white!, in stark contrast to the colour of the rest of his hair.

Alfred ran out of his room to find Arthur to show him.


Alfred did not know what had happened. He went looking for Arthur to show him his cowlick and he spotted Arthur standing in the doorway to his room. Their eyes met and Alfred could see sadness and ….fear...in Arthur's green depths. Then Arthur went back into his room and shut the door. Alfred ran up to it and turned the handle but the door would not open. Arthur had locked it! Arthur never locked his door to Alfred.

"Arthur?" he said, questioningly as he knocked on the door. There was no answer so he knock again. "Arthur, are you all right? You're not ill, are you?"

Arthur sat on the other side of the door with his back against it. When he had seen Alfred in the hallway outside, his eyes had immediately gone to the white cowlick, standing up the colour of snow like it was condemning him and his mind turned to what had almost happened. He was dangerous to Alfred.

He was dangerous to all of them!

Alfred continued to knock and Arthur tried to ignore him but Alfred was insistent until Arthur could not take it any more.

"Go away, Alfred!"

Outside the door, Alfred could not believe Arthur had said that to him. Maybe Arthur was sick or maybe he was upset about something. It still hurt Alfred that Arthur was so stern with him but he decided to give Arthur the benefit of the doubt and went to his adoptive royal father and mother.


"Alfred, it might be best if you left Arthur alone for a while," Elizabeth told him when he went to see them about Arthur's strange behaviour and his own cowlick, although they assured him that the change in colour to Alfred's hair was nothing to worry about, concentrating instead on the situation with Arthur. "Arthur is finding some of his royal training difficult and he needs to concentrate on that for a while. When he's done with that, maybe he can play with you again." Alfred pouted and gave his puppy dog look.

"Now then, young man," Henry scolded. "You have your own Kingly studies to do and it's time you got to them. No time for play, right now so get changed, follow Arthur's example and get to work. Go to your room and I'll join you in a moment." Alfred pouted even harder but did as he was told. When he was gone, Henry sighed.

"I'll have to keep him occupied and keep him away from Arthur until he gets his powers under control," he said. "How is Arthur?"

"Scared," Elizabeth replied, worriedly. "He's terrified of using his powers in case he hurts someone else. I don't know what to do to convince him to practice. Only when he's upset do his powers manifest but that's only because he can't control them."

"Let's go and talk to him," he said and they went along to Arthur's room. They knew it was locked but they had a master key and they let themselves into his room. What they found there worried them.

The walls were encased in ice and frost obscured the window. Ice crystals coated every surface and Arthur was huddled in a corner where the ice was thickest and tears were crawling down his face and freezing. When Alfred had finally left, Arthur emotions had blazed and his powers flared out of control, worse then before and scared Arthur which, of course, made them worse.

"I can't control it!" he wailed. "I've tried but they won't stop!"

"It's because you're upset," Elizabeth replied and went to give the distraught boy a comforting hug but Arthur pulled away, sharply.

"NO!" he shouted and then settled into a quieter voice. "Please don't. I don't want to hurt you." Henry looked around desperately for a solution. He had an idea and went to one of the drawers, pulling it opening and breaking the ice that covered it. He took out a pair of Arthur's blue gloves that he wore for court and gave them to him.

"Put those on," he said. "They'll help." Arthur took them, being careful not to touch King Henry's bare skin.

"It's your emotions that make your power go out of control," Elizabeth told him. "So conceal it, don't feel it. Practice and soon you'll be able to control your abilities without fear of harming anyone. I have faith in you." She went to ruffle his hair but Arthur ducked away from her hand and she sighed.

She only hoped she could help Arthur get beyond his fear. For both his and Alfred's sake!


"Why does Arthur never come out of his room now?" Matthew asked as Richard was training him in the use of weapons so Matthew could act as protector to the others when they ascended to the throne. They were using wooden swords with blunted edges to avoid accidents and Matthew was quite proficient for his age and Edward was proud of him.

But since the incident, Matthew had been somewhat lonely. Alfred spent a lot of his free time trying to get Arthur to open his door to come and play but the door remained locked and the only ones who could enter were the current royal family and the Ace. Richard's heart went out to the boy when he saw Arthur's ice-covered room and Queen Elizabeth was at her wits end to help him as Arthur concentrated more on holding his powers back which she believed would be ultimately harmful.

"Arthur is very busy with his studies," he replied. "He's struggling with some things but we hope he'll get the hang of it soon and he can spend more time with you, Alfred and Yao." Matthew did not really buy the explanation but he knew he was not going to get anything else so he left the matter for now, much to the relief of the current Ace.


Edward also had to deal with Yao who, being studious himself, just nodded in approval of Arthur applying himself to his studies although he did question why Arthur was never seen outside of his room.

"He should have some time to himself," the teenager said. "It's good that he takes his studies seriously but even I take time to relax sometimes. Perhaps I should invited him to take tea, aru?" Edward had to do something.

"Arthur doesn't study all the time," he said. "But he's getting tired a lot so he needs to rest so it's best not to disturb him, all right?" Yao gave Edward a considering look but drop the issue. For now.


It began snowing and Alfred got excited about it as he remembered fun days in the snow with Arthur, Matthew and sometimes Yao if he was not studying so if anything could get Arthur out of his room, it was snow.

He ran down the corridor to Arthur's room and knock on the door.

"Arthur!" he called. "Arthur, it's snowing! Do you wanna go build a snowman?"

Inside the room, Arthur sat on his bed, hugging himself as he remembered all the times he created a winter wonderland for the other boys, creating flying snow bunnies and piles of snow for snowball fights, coating the ballroom floor with ice so they could ice-skate. Happy memories!

"Come on, Artie," Alfred plead. "You haven't been out of your room in weeks, let's go play!"

Then the memory of that fateful night intruded and snow began to fall in Arthur's room.

"Please, Artie," Alfred continued. "You don't come to see me any more and I don't know why. Come on! Come build a snowman with me!" Arthur closed his eyes tight to hold back to tears.

"Go away, Alfred!"

Alfred's face fell. That's all Arthur said to him now through the door and he wondered what he had done to make Arthur not like him any more. They used to be the best of friends but now Arthur did not even want to look at him. What had he done wrong?

"Okay," he said with a tear in his eye. "Bye!" And he sadly walked away from Arthur's door.

Inside the room, the snow fell harder as Arthur hugged his knees into his chest. He wanted to play with Alfred, wanted it more than anything but he could not risk hurting Alfred again.

He could not risk hurting anyone again.


"Oi, Bunny!" came the familiar voice of his brother outside Arthur's door. "You in there! We've come to visit you. Mum's got some news!" Arthur crept over to the door, opened the door a crack and peered out. It was his older brother, Allistor and Alice as his father and the other brothers were needed to work the farm. Allistor's hair was redder than ever and Alice gave her youngest son a smile.

"Aren't you going to let us in, Arthur?" she asked, softly. "I thought I taught you better manners than that." Arthur said nothing but opened the door wider and Allistor and Alice stepped inside.

Alice had been told of the accident and how it had affected Arthur but it did not prepare her for what she saw in Arthur's room. Everything was frost-encrusted with icicles hanging from bookshelves and the overhead part of Arthur's four-poster bed. Snow drifts collected in the corners and frost decorated the windows. Arthur ran to get his gloves from his dresser, hurriedly pulling them on and Alice's heart broken at the sight of her younger son's plight.

"Oh Arthur!" she sobbed and moved to hug him but Arthur shot back in horror.

"Please, Mum," he begged and stared at the ground, unable to look at his mother's hurt expression at her affection being rejected. "Don't!" That broke Alice's heart further. When did Arthur last accept a hug from anyone? When did he last have physical human contact?

"Arthur, you can't continue like this?" she told him. "Queen Elizabeth told me it's harmful and I need you to be strong now, you see ….." She paused and took a deep breath.

"You're going to be a big brother!" Arthur looked up at his mother in surprise.

"Aye," Allistor confirmed. "You'll no longer be the baby of the family so you need to grow a pair and man up. The wee sprog's going to need his big brother, the future Queen of Spades."

"What if I hurt them?" Arthur cried. "Like I hurt Alfred?" Alice tried to touch Arthur's cheek but he pulled away again.

"Arthur, that was an accident." she told him. "Next time, you'll be more careful."

"I'm being careful now."

"No!" Alice replied. "You're hiding and you can't do that forever, my son. You'll see."


Years past and the boys grew older. Arthur now had a new brother called Peter whom he had never seen as he was too afraid that, like Alfred, he would harm his little brother or worse. When Peter was four, he developed a sign and the family who had produced the next queen, had produced the next Black Joker which began to keep Gilbert busy training his counterpart.

Yao was now twenty-four, Arthur was eighteen and Alfred and Matthew were sixteen but Alfred, Matthew and Yao rarely saw Arthur, except for maybe a glimpse at the window outside. Arthur would watch them from the window, playing when they were children and training as they got older. He looked down from his window as the King trained Alfred in the use of swords because, although it was part of the Ace's duties to protect the Royal Family, the King was required to know how to fight too, should the Ace be defeated and Arthur watched as Alfred went through the moves the King had taught him. Then the King seemed to decide that they should rest and Alfred stretched, looked around and gazed up at Arthur's window.

Alfred had always been a cute little boy and he was growing into a handsome young man, his training giving him a well-toned physique. He wore glasses now and his eyes were as blue as ever but the white, wild lock was like a punishment every time Arthur saw him from his window. Arthur put his hand to his window as if trying to reach out and touch the handsome young man who would one day be his King and his heart warmed. He did not notice the snow and ice in his room begin to melt as he gazed at the one who made his heart beat fast and he visualised walks on moon-lit nights with Alfred, secret glances across a crowded room, sweet kisses in the snow …..

Alfred lying cold and lifeless on the Ballroom floor, his hair turning white.

The window frosted over and the melted snow froze. Arthur pulled his hand away from the window and went back to his self-imposed isolation. What right did he have to even entertain any thought of such a life with Alfred after what he did to him.

He did not deserve such a happy ending.


King Henry called a break from the training and Alfred stretched his tired muscles, his eyes wandering around and over the castle. As he gazed up at one of the windows, he saw someone dressed in blue stood at it, staring back down at him. He realised that it was the window to Arthur's room as his future queen continued to stare in his direction. He remembered Arthur's bright green eyes and wondered if he still had those big eyebrows. He was small, slender, beautiful and Alfred could see that he had his hand on the window and Alfred wanted to reach out and touch it. But suddenly, a guilty, pain-filled expression crossed Arthur's face, the window seemed to mist up or something and Arthur moved away from it.

Alfred felt like, somehow, the sun had gone out of the day and he wanted Arthur to return to the window but the window remained empty.


Matthew's life had been somewhat lonely. Yao, being the eldest, was always studying and when Alfred was not studying, he was always trying to reach Arthur who remained resolutely behind his door. Matthew had his Ace studies and training to do but when he had free time, he rarely had anyone to spend it with. He would pretend the portraits were living people and talk to them when no one was around, he did not want people thinking he was crazy and he would watch the hands of the large grandfather clock crawl around in a circle on the clock face. Then he got Kumajirou, a gift from the King of Diamonds for his fifteenth birthday when he had noticed that the young prince was somewhat isolated and alone and gave Matthew a pet white bear so the boy would have some company.

It made Matthew's days less lonely but he still missed his brother and wondered why Arthur was never seen much any more. Matthew was not the only one who was wondering. Everybody wondered about the absent future queen and rumours abound. That Prince Arthur was deformed and did not want people to see him, that he was mentally unstable and the Spadian Royals were keeping him away from everyone to prevent them from finding out, that Arthur had a fear of wide open spaces.

None of them came close to the truth.


Two Years later …..

"Must you leave?" Arthur asked when King Henry, Queen Elizabeth and Ace Richard came to tell him they would be away for a month on a diplomatic trip to the Kingdom of Hearts to discuss a treaty between the two kingdoms.

"Arthur, it's just for a month," Elizabeth reassured him. While Arthur remained isolated from the rest of the occupants of the castle, he still had contact with the current royals and he did not want to be apart from them. "Don't worry, you'll be fine and we'll be back before you know it."

From his room, he watched the King, Queen and Ace board the ship that would take them to the Kingdom of Hearts and he watched the ship sail away from the Spadian shores.

"Everything will be all right," he muttered. "They'll be back in a month, it will be just fine!"


A month later, a ship returned but it was a Hearts ship. The Spadian vessel had floundered off the coast of Hearts and the bodies of most of the passengers and crew, the King, Queen and Ace among them, were swept ashore. The other passengers and crew were buried on Hearts soil but the Royal Family had to be buried in Spades as tradition dictated so they were placed in coffins filled with wine to preserve the bodies for burial in their home kingdom.

Alfred, dressed in the darkest blue, normally preserved for the mourning period in Spades, wandered down to Arthur's room. Arthur had not attended the funeral and Alfred wanted to know why! They might not have been biological relatives but they had been family. Alfred and Matthew still had their father but they still grieve for the second family that they had lost so suddenly. Why was Arthur not grieving with them? He knocked on Arthur's door.

"Artie," he called. "Are you in there?" There was no answer but Alfred heard a faint sigh so Arthur had to be near the door.

"People have been asking about you," Alfred said. "They're wondering why you didn't come to the funeral." No reply.

"Please, Artie," Alfred sat down with his back to Arthur's door, tears crawling down his face. "Please come out! You, me, Mattie and Yao are all each other has now, apart from Jack Edward. What are we going to do now?" Still no answer from beyond the door. With no reply, Alfred continued to weep, unaware that, on the other side of the door, Arthur was doing the same in a room encased in ice. That was why he had not attended the funeral. His feelings were out of control, therefore so were his powers. For the second time, his life had changed beyond all recognition but this time he had no one to help him.

On each side of the door, two blondes, one blue-eyed and the other green-eyed, wept for the ones they had lost.

I can't remember if the Troll Leader in Frozen said what the consequences would be if Anna remembered about Elsa's powers so I put one in my story and, in the days of wooden sailing ships, if anyone died in another country and were shipped back to be buried in their own, they were preserved in barrels of vinegar or wine but, since this is the Spadian Royal Family, I felt that the Hearts Royals would think that coffins of wine would be more respectful.

Poor Arthur is now terrified of his powers and poor Alfred is wondering what he did to make Arthur not want to be around him any more. Matthew is lonely and even Yao thinks that something is wrong. Gilbert will pop up again as well as Emil so watch out for them.

I have a dilemma! I don't know who to choose for the Prince Hans character and if anyone has any ideas, I would be grateful. Russia, Hungary, Austria, Belarus, Germany, Italy, Japan, Romano, France, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Spain are all out because they're all Royals but if you can think of anyone else, I would appreciate the suggestions.

Thank you!

Hasta la Pasta!