A/N: One thing I must warn you, the technology in this whole story is whack, meaning the era of weapons and other utilities have no boundaries. You may see swords, guns, daggers, lasers, and other reinforcements, so please bear with me and accept the weird set of technology I may introduce in the future. Also, THANK YOU for reading this. Knowing that you guys are reading this is making me feel all happy and bubbly inside. I would like to thank "J" for editing this.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.
Kaoru is Hong Kong. Badly written hints of Tibet and Taiwan.
A Royal Wedding
XXX ARTHUR'S POV
The altar wasn't anything special nor extravagant since I did specifically ordered that. However, Francis, being the arse he is, made the rest of the church splattered with flamboyancy. What flashes of decorations I can recount, was the periwinkle sprinkled at the lacy carpet and batches of rainbow colored tulips were everywhere, leaving a strong, mixed aroma of flowers. My nose scrunched up. I never wanted my wedding to be this clamorous. All I ever wanted was a plain, quick wedding. Besides, what is the point of embellishing this rueful marriage? Was there any need for a marriage celebration? This marriage was for the sake of peace and to prove that the Twenty Years War is officially over. Also since this was my idea in the first place, I'll be revered as a legend, a prominent icon known as the hero who ended the war peacefully. I don't need love, nor does my wife have to feel obligated to keep her fidelity to me. My companions are extremely loyal to my reign, so I have no desire to seek a loving wife. Bros before hoes, as the saying goes.
I watched the bright colors with disdain, and I glared at Francis, who was at the opposite side of the church, causing god knows what at my wedding. Whatever did come over me that made me accept this bumbling idiot's offer to manage my wedding? Oh right, it was because his dear sister was leaving him, so I pitied the old frog. I harrumphed at my stupidity. I should just make his sister miserable. I am chivalrous and gentlemanly, but that kind of thing can be thrown right out the window if I catch a look of contempt in his smug face.
The high priest nudged me and furiously whispered, "Your highness."
I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't notice the string of notes echoing in the church, signaling the beginning of the ceremony. I rolled my eyes as the high priest shot me warning glares. As if I want to see her, I thought. I concentrated on the windows, draped with robust, green curtains and exotic plants from the Emerald Kingdom's mystical forest strewn over them. My faerie friends were atop there, waving me congratulations. I mouthed, "Thank you."
Roderich, on cue, played Canon on the organ, and I heard the breath of my people halting as a tall, white figure at the end of the carpet was approaching me. To many, she looked intimidating, manly even, just like the rumors said. However, despite the rumors, her lacy dress and the opaque veil hiding her face made her look elegant and powerful, which was a perfect match for me.
After all, I am quite the looker. So it would only be fitting that my wife be lovely too. But of course, no one is as drop dead gorgeous as I am. With my bright blonde hair, despite its irreversible messiness, and brilliant green eyes, I have stolen many a lady's heart over the course of my young life. My charm, along with my stunning good looks and well-built body are the resources I use to my advantage in order to find pleasurable company in the dark hours of the night. The only really unagreeable feature about me at times, or so I've heard, are my eyebrows; which I don't understand why some people don't like them, they are symbolic of a true gentleman, such as myself. It's the eyebrows and apparently my slightly abnormal height. But it's not my fault, I just happen to be a tad bit shorter than the average resident of the Emerald Kingdom.
The vows and such bore me to death, and I can see my bride struggling to keep awake as the high priest droned on and on about how this union would be smiled upon by God and how we should be faithful to one another. His homily was pale and bland compared to playing chess, which was a clear indicator that this fiasco of a decent wedding, was a complete humdrum.
I should have been more careful of what I wished for, because as soon as I thought that some excitement was desperately needed in this poor excuse of a happy wedding, things got riled up after a blood-curdling scream erupted from the back of the church.
XXX ALFRED'S POV
The source of the scream was from a now dead woman lying on the ground. Blood was seeping from her mortal wound, staining the white carpet with pools of bright scarlet. Panic seized the room, everything suddenly went haywire. And to make matters worse, a group of scary looking people, who were unmistakably from the Jade Palace by reason of their oriental looking clothes, began to terrorize the innocent people who were running desperately for their lives.
Arthur, who was right by my side a minute ago, began to, as if natural instinct and reflex use the closest object (a tall candlestick holder) as a makeshift sword, engaging in blows with a bald man who looked distinctly Buddhist.
I scanned the church looking for a possible escape route, but with all the rushing and fighting bodies in the room, it was dam near impossible to even see the church's back doors. It was then that I saw a few of Arthur's knights. There was a tall blonde man with his hair slicked back, who was masterfully swinging, despite its size and weight, a rather ridiculously large sword. There was another knight who was short and had very distinct jet-black hair; he gave a bone-chilling battle cry as he unsheathed a very long, but very slim and beautiful samurai sword. Another knight was wearing a pure white beret hat on top of his messy dark, blonde hair. He, unlike the other knights, was using long knives and daggers which he obtained from his leather belt at his waist, a belt which seemed to contain an endless supply of sharp weapons. And there was also another knight who was not only exceedingly tall, but also exceedingly engergetic. With light blonde hair that was brushed over to right side, his movements with the remarkably large iron-steel ax were not only skillful but beautiful as well. There was no mistaking the skill and mastery of Arthur's Knights. They plowed through the crowd and clashed swords with the intruders. They were trained killers, and that was no joke.
"Ve~ please follow me! We must run away!"
I turned my head and noticed a young man not too far away from me, with red hair and an almost comical curl protruding out to the left. He was dressed in knightly attire, but wasn't doing any kind of fighting, nor showed any interest in wanting to.
"Please, we must get away!" he shouted again. He was obviously trying to get the attention of the innocent crowd of people, but with all the loud panic in the church, it was hard enough to hear yourself think.
"Ve~ Tino! What should we do? There's too many of them!" The man said nervously. The other man, who was apparently Tino, had a pair of distinct large, childlike velvet eyes, looked too innocent and helpless to do anything. He began to say something; however they were interrupted when a woman in a pink, frilly dress attacked the two.
The high priest, for some unknown reason, managed to escape before me. I knew I had to get out of there fast, or else there would be some serious consequence, so I moved again quickly, hoping that I wasn't too late. But I was only able to get a few feet away, before the woman advanced towards me. The velvet-eyed man and the red-head quickly came to my side and tried to protect me from the lunatic lady. She met them head on.
The woman, who was fighting with the two men, was no ordinary woman. The velvet-eyed man named Tino was quickly taken down; with an effortless movement of her wrist, the woman was able to not only hit said Tino, but was able to properly hit a series of pressure points that made the young man fall unconscious. It was now the young red-head's turn. She gave him an evil grin as she advanced towards us.
The closer she got the more courage the red-head seem to lose.
"Ve~! No, please don't hurt me!" He then swapped places with me, pressing his weeping face to my back, hoping I could shield him. I am stuck in a tight spot since my dress is making me lag behind my movements and my veil is shielding my eyesight. I could have removed it from my face, but before I could move the woman lunged forward towards me with a metal fan. It whisked past my head as I tried to dodge the deadly metal fan, but only ended up tripping backwards and landing unceremoniously on my butt. She's a professional. There's no way I can win against this chick. I heard a flapping noise behind me. I raised my face to see the man violently waving a pole with a white flag, crying, "I surrender!" Hey! That gave me an idea!
Once again, she sprung towards me with the metal fan, but I hurriedly ripped the flagpole from the man's hands and waved the pole to use the white fabric to obscure the woman's vision. While she was distracted, in a swift movement, with the flick of my wrist, I thrust the pole forward, inevitably knocking the wind out of the woman as the pole connected with her neck. I heard a thud, meaning that I had miraculously defeated her.
"Ve~! You did it!"
XXXTHIRD PERSON
After defeating his first attacker, which he found to be quite comical considering he was able to take down his opponent with a mere candlestick, one of his knights ran to his side and gave him his beloved sword-Excalibur.
"My King!" said his trusty knight Ludwig, as he tossed Arthur his precious sword. "Thank you Ludwig," But there was no time to think, for another group of attackers was headed their way.
With a last powerful thrust of his arm Arthur pushed his already bloodstained sword deep into the other man's chest, and defeated the last of his attackers. His sword was covered in so much blood, that it seemed as tough Arthur had dipped it into a bucket of red ink. Blood oozed and dripped from the tip of the sword in an eerie rhythm, as though it was trying to sing a song of death. The blood dripped so that it gave of the impression of a blood-drunk monster, finally quenching its thrust after being satisfied with the killing of five men.
The fighting certainly gave Arthur quite a rush, adrenaline pumped rapidly through his veins; but he couldn't be distracted or rash right now, no. If he wanted to live, even despite have great skills as a swordsmen, he could not allow himself to underestimate the enemy. His hawk-like eyes scanned the chaotic room, over the shouting people and countless bodies lying on the hard stone floor, either dead or alive. The adrenaline began to have some strong effect on Arthur, as his fingers trembled not of fear but because his nerves were itching to get another round with a fighter.
His wish was granted.
"Arthur Kirkland." He could hear the sneer behind him and turned his head quickly to make eye contact with the leader of this band of invaders. He had long bangs which concealed his true face and was garnished in a red robe, which only added to his bloodthirsty and vile appearance.
Arthur acknowledged the man, and soon to be wanted criminal, "Kaoru of the Orchid Flame."
Kaoru readied his stance, commencing the battle to begin; while in contrast Arthur stayed still, strategized in his head what would be the best way for him to raise his defenses, because fighters from the lands of the Jade Palace were notorious for their cunning skills and their extraordinary ability to paralyze anyone.
Five minutes into their intense battle, and already Arthur had a few cuts and scorch marks. For Kaoru was known throughout the lands of all the kingdoms, for his extensive knowledge of both the unique element of gunpowder and how to use said gunpowder for military purposes. During the course of the battle, Kaoru managed hit Arthur with a few light explosives, which he had strategically planted around Arthur. Arthur began to curse as he tried to stay away from another series of small bombs that Kaoru was currently throwing in his general direction. "Damn!"
Well, at least now he knows why Kaoru got the name "Kaoru of the Orchid Flame". He thought it was just a flashy name to emit fear. However, as it turned out, it seems that Kaoru detonated the series of explosions as a last resort. He was now forced to pull out his katana from his sleeve and clashed swords with Arthur.
A few yards away, Ludwig screamed, "You don't know the whereabouts of the princess?"
"Ve~ but Ludwig, she saved me from that psycho woman," Feliciano pointed at an unconscious woman on the ground, "and rushed to aid the others from what I can remember."
"FELICIANO! THE PRINCESS IS MISSING! WHAT DO I DO WITH YOU?" yelled Ludwig in agony.
"Ve~…" cried the young Feliciano helplessly.
Their pointless bickering caught Arthur's attention for a brief second, which caused him to receive a painful gash on his shoulder. It wasn't as if he was mortally wounded to the point that he would bleed to death, but as the fight began to get more and more serious with each swing of their blades, a throbbing pain would stab into his fresh cut every time he moved his shoulder. He winced as the burning feeling on his shoulder began to irritate him once more. Kaoru had the advantage now; he could slay him easily with one slice. Arthur, at this point, was open and vulnerable.
However, what the two men didn't noticed was the presence of an unknown, dark and looming shadow that was right behind Kaoru. Arms wrapped themselves tightly around Kaoru, which caught him by surprise, and began to squeeze at his throat threateningly, pressing down hard on his Adam's apple, with the obvious intent that this enigmatic person was trying to knock him out unconscious. Kaoru struggled violently as Arthur's eyes widened, realizing that it was his wife who recoiled Kaoru away. It was like a showdown as Kaoru's face gradually turned different shades of pink and then purple, his voice was shallow and rapid. Unfortunately, his wife didn't have the strength to hold Kaoru in a headlock for a long period of time and her grip loosened, giving Kaoru the opportunity to elbow his wife out of the way. In a last, defile attempt of rebellion, Kaoru withdrew another dagger from his sleeve and moved about quickly to stab the princess, but Arthur jumped in and was able to block Kaoru's dagger with his sword. With a swift movement of his arm and quick kick to the stomach, Kaoru's dagger clunked onto the stone ground. He lowered his head in both pain and shame of his imminent end. But Arthur just smiled.
"Now then, Ludwig, go ahead and escort this brutish criminal out of my sight."
Ludwig complied with his king.
"Well, well. Now that that nuisance is out of the way," Arthur said off-handedly, "I should thank you for saving me back there, even though we had just barely met."
Alfred jumped a bit, remembering that the veil was the only barrier separating the two from having eye to eye contact with each other. Alfred nervously lowered his head in order to avoid looking at the man, whom he would inevitably have to face, not liking the circumstances of their first actual encounter, not counting the situation about the ring mishap in the hallway. Though his thoughts were interrupted as Arthur's fingers crinkled the veil and lifted it to have his eyes bore onto his future wife. Should he be slightly amused? His wife was the same girl he bumped into moments ago! Laughing a bit to himself as he recounted his comment about her plain clothing in his first impression, he gave a seductive grin to the jittery "girl" before him.
"So I got a fighter for a princess, hmm?"
Then his lips brushed Alfred's forehead, upon which Alfred made a mental note to gag later on.
"Thank you."
"Stupid, stupid, stupid…"
Why did Alfred do that? God knows what is going to happen from now on.
Alfred didn't mean to pry, didn't mean to fight like a beastly warrior and pretty much overpower most of the men. He just sprung into action like all the other men. He smacked his forehead. What will his husband think of him? Alfred stopped and shuddered at the atrocious word. Husband. He bit his lip, pacing the room he was assigned to back and forth, worrying about the biggest obstacle today: the consummation that comes forth after marriage. Francis warned him gravely about this step, but Alfred had disregarded the whole issue until now. The impulse to punch the wall was welcoming, but unlike men, it was abnormal for a supposedly sixteen year old girl to hammer a dent to a wall.
"God, day one and I'm already screwing this wacko princess job. Might as well be hanged right here on the spot!"
After one more round of bashing his pitiful self, there was a soft, rhythmic knocking at the door, distracting his journey around the tortuous labyrinth of worry inside his head. He coughed as he readied himself to raise his voice a pitch.
"You may come in."
Like he had anticipated, Arthur walked in silently, giving Alfred only quick, furtive glances until he settled himself comfortably onto the bed, he probably felt just as apprehensive about this night as he did.
Alfred heaved a sigh, hoping that this one shot-in-the-dark idea would be successful.
"Y-you know, K-king Arthur, maybe we shouldn't d-do this tonight."
Arthur, although head on a pillow and turned to the side, sternly nodded in agreement.
Alfred regained a bit more confidence by that gesture.
"As we all know, our kingdoms have been fighting ever since, before we were even born." This fact was true for both Alfred and Marie. "I don't mean to insult you, but I would rather not do this…Can we at least, like, talk? I'm feeling a bit awkward…"
After a minute or two, Arthur raised his head to meet with Alfred's and spoke.
"Yes, I believe it is true that it would be ridiculous to hurry ourselves to delve into this matter when it's obvious we aren't comfortable with each other. Everything you are saying makes sense. If you want, I can go to one of the guest rooms and-"
"No!" Alfred widened his eyes at his outburst; Arthur the same.
"I-I mean. Doing that will c-cause more complications, right? I'll just sleep on the edge of the bed while you sleep on the other side."
Though Alfred doesn't want to admit it, he doesn't want to sleep alone on his first night in foreign land even though his company would be considered the main cause of his problems. Considering his wife's suggestion, Arthur concurred. And thus off they went to bed, sliding into the beautiful satin blankets and placing themselves in positions they agreed on.
Normally Alfred would toss and turn since he is still disturbed with the fact that he is sleeping with his husband, but it's not much as different to sleeping with his older brother. He almost immediately dozed off into sleep until he remembered he that wanted to interrogate Arthur with a list of questions he had thought of in the back of his head.
"Psst. Arthur, you awake?" Alfred asked drowsily.
"Yes Marie, I'm awake." His voice was firm and unwavering, signaling that either he's been staring at the ceiling contemplating his glory or grimacing at the fact that he's sleeping with the frog's sister instead of one of the other countless women lining up at his door.
"I've been meaning to ask you this…"
"And?"
"Well… Are the rumors true?"
Arthur, unaware of the slander he was receiving outside the castle grounds, replied, "What rumors?"
"Well…you know… the rumors that say that you rape women and abuse them and ruthlessly murder anyone who stands in your path and shows no mercy to your enemies."
Silence.
Then a small snort escaped Arthur, not at all bemused by the gossip spreading around the kingdoms.
People these days view me as a brute? Interesting…
"Arthur?"
"Sorry, sorry. It seems hilarious to me that this is what your people depict me as. On the other hand, my people did depict you accurately enough. You look like a man with that short hair and those broad shoulders."
Arthur didn't catch the trace of mortification in Alfred's eyes.
"Well, to answer your question, I am known as a gentleman, so all those women who I have supposedly 'raped' did give me their consensus. I would always ask for their permission before going straight into intercourse. As for the second part of your question it is explanatory enough considering what happened at the wedding. And regarding my enemies… well, let's just say that I will forever hate your slutty brother to the depths of Hell, but I hold no grudge against you or your people. I am a reasonable man, so I will not blindly massacre millions of people like my father. Concerning your virginity, that is if your perverted brother hasn't taken it already, I wouldn't touch you even if you handed me all of the marvelous treasures of the world."
Arthur paused, while Alfred expected him to continue. Beginning to get cranky, Alfred then asked, "Why not?"
Pausing for effect, Arthur smirked prudishly and said, "You're sixteen, and I'm twenty-two. I'll be about six years older than you. I believe that age gap is too creepy for my taste really. Besides, I prefer older women."
That last comment brought Alfred's mouth curving upwards.
Their bonding time was cut short, however, as a thunderstorm boomed followed by the crackling of lightning. Arthur yelped as Alfred tackled him, shivering and burying his face into Arthur's chest, whimpering like a child. Unlike the Lapiz Kingdom, they would rarely have thunderstorms during this season since it was usually sunny compared the bleak, dreadful weather of the Emerald Kingdom. Alfred did hear of warnings of rainfall but not of lightning and thunderstorms. Evidently, Alfred is terribly afraid of storms.
To Arthur, he didn't mind if Marie was clutching him and invading his personal space, since this was a normal reaction he would get from his younger siblings whenever there was a thunderclap, and like any of his other siblings, he began to pat Arthur's back and hum a soothing tune. Like his past accomplishments with this strategy, Marie slept through the rage of the thunderstorm as Arthur tucked her in. For this would be, Arthur hoped, the last time he will ever be patient and kind to the princess as he planned to disregard her existence tomorrow. The moonlight passing through the glassy windows lulled Arthur to sleep, while Alfred was unaware of what would come to pass the next day.
A/N: Hello here everyone, its "J" here! : ) just wanted to say "hi" and I sincerely hoped that you enjoyed reading this chappie as much as I enjoyed editing it! ^^ We'll get started on the next chappie as soon as possible. But I'm sorry to say that this will probably the quickest update ever! o.0" We apologize in advance! *bows* Tata! ;P
