Hello again everybody.
i just wanted to remind you all that I am writing as Arthur and Francis while Yamiyo. Darknight is writing as Alfred and Matthew.
Thank you to everyone who favored and followed this story. It makes Yamiyo and me very happy. we hope you enjoy Chapter 2.
Neither of us owns Hetalia.
Arthur quietly snuck down to the stables. He knew he was running a little late to meet Alfred, but he had to make sure that no one knew he was leaving again. It would only be bothersome for him. Although, he knew that the other knights would just think of him as being anti social for going out again so soon.
Arthur saddled Rhubarb and double checked to make sure he had everything. Once he was sure everything was there, Arthur prepared to mount his horse.
"And where are you heading of to, mon ami?"
Arthur did a startled jump upon hearing the voice and quickly backed away from Rhubarb. He turned around to find his best friend (and worst enemy) Francis leaning against one of the pillars of the stable.
"I'm going out to get more ingredients for my potions, frog!… Not that it's any of your business." Arthur said pointedly.
"Really?" Francis raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "I thought you had done that yesterday."
"W-well I did!" Arthur stuttered. "But I had to leave early because of the storm. So I didn't have time to finish." Arthur mounted his horse quickly before he could be asked anymore questions. "Now if you'll excuse me, I would like to get there before noon so I can make it back in time for dinner."
Francis didn't lose his look of suspicion, but moved out of his way. "Alright, but don't make a habit out of leaving the town so often. Your duty is to these people."
Arthur couldn't look at his friend's face as he rode off.
Your duty is to these people.
Was it wrong for Arthur to be using his time helping a dragon instead of his own people?
Alfred had been long awake, unable to sleep at all over the night. He was too excited for the magic lessons he was supposed to be having and had waited for the sun to hit that certain spot in the sky before striding to the mouth of his cave and checking to see if anyone was there to watch him leave. Matthew hadn't stayed long and left soon after their short squabble, insisting that Alfred was "an idiot that needed to learn a lesson". He didn't mind since Mattie never meant what he said and apologized in a short time anyways.
After making sure that no other dragon was out to catch him, he stretched his wings and took off into the air with a shout of joy before spiraling higher and higher until he was hidden in the clouds. How he would like to show this sight to the knight. The clouds reminded him of the ocean today and he longed to take Arthur onto his back and show him this skysea.
He quickly arrived at his destination set by Arthur and landed softly with a thump by the abandoned building. He shifted into his human form, figuring that Arthur would probably be happier to see him in a relatable form.
Arthur arrived at the old training facility several minutes late. The building looked a bit worn but to Arthur it looked just as grand as he remembered it. Arthur adored this building for sentimental reasons.
Arthur dismounted Rhubarb and called out for Alfred. "Alfred are you here? Sorry I'm late, I had to shake off a nosy frog back in town."
Alfred immediately perked up at the sound of Arthur's voice and took off running in the direction it was coming from. When he spotted the blonde, he pounced on him with a hug, grinning as he did. "Yay! Artie you're here! I'm glad! I was totally excited about today and couldn't sleep but don't worry, I won't fall asleep on ya when you're teaching me stuff! You didn't have any trouble getting here right? Right? Nobody gave you trouble? Cuz sometimes people are nosey and you have to get em to go away but then they don't want to and-" He paused and blushed bashfully. "Sorry. I'm rambling..."
Arthur was not expecting to see Alfred already in his human form and he especially wasn't expecting to be glomped by said dragon. He felt himself grow redder and redder as Alfred continued to ramble and cling to him. Arthur's heart began to throb in a somewhat pleasant way and made him feel confused. He broke free of Alfred's grip causing the dragon to stop his rambling.
"Uh no, it's quite alright." Arthur answered rather embarrassingly. "One of the other knights stopped me on my way out. He seemed a bit suspicious but I'm sure I threw him off. Thank you for your concern… Now! How about we start our lesson?"
"He?" Alfred chirped in confusion. "Who's he?" His eyes narrowed and he frowned, blue eyes becoming cold, almost reptilian. "He wasn't bad to you was he? He didn't try and hurt you?"
Arthur was startled by Alfred's sudden change in attitude. "Oh no he wasn't bad to me… well at least not today he wasn't. His name is Francis. I guess to me he is sort of a frienemy. Some days he is actually a pleasant bloke and we enjoy each others company but most days he and the other knights like to make fun of me." Arthur explained.
Alfred didn't reply for a moment and seemed to be miffed, as if the unknown knight had offended him in some way. He shifted from foot to foot uneasily and looked away. It didn't sit well with him about the fact that his friend was being insulted and made fun of.
"They shouldn't be making fun of you," he mumbled irritably.
"I-It's not like I can't handle it." Arthur stuttered. "I'm a knight and I learn to not let such trivial things bother me." He didn't expect Alfred to react this way. No one else ever cared if he was picked on. So why was a Dragon, a creature that was supposed to hate him, showing genuine concern for him?
Alfred's mood changed abruptly again and he smiled brightly. "Well, I can always beat them up for ya if you ever need me to. No one is gonna mess with my friends while I'm around." He started to bounce on his feet excitedly and pointed at the seemingly empty building. "So can we go in and start now? Pretty please?"
"I highly doubt that you can take on a whole army of knights." Arthur said critically, but couldn't stop a small smile from appearing on his face at Alfred's childish behavior. "Now, I thought it would be best to start with some simple potions. There's an old potion room here with all the supplies we will need."
Arthur began to walk into the building and motioned for Alfred to follow him.
"Sure I can! Cuz I'm super strong! And I'm a dragon! And I can breathe fire! So I can totally take on an army! Easy!" Alfred boasted, following behind Arthur. "It'd be like knocking down some pebbles or something like that."
Arthur rolled his eyes. This dragon obviously had a big ego to think he can take on a whole army of trained knights. Knights that he himself taught the most advanced spells… Alfred wouldn't really attempt to take them on for Arthur's sake, right?
When they entered the room, Alfred gasped and started searching all over the room, analyzing all the items on the shelves; the books, ingredients, powders and such. His eyes sparkled with curiosity and he stared at them all with amazement. "Wow! There's so much stuff here! I didn't think that potions required so much stuff!" He sniffed a jar of herbs and promptly sneezed, a small bout of flame and smoke coming out as well. He rubbed his nose smiled weakly at Arthur. "Sorry. I can still breathe fire in this form too. We might need to dust this place, just so I don't set it on fire..."
Seeing Alfred's reaction to the potion room brought another smile to Arthur's face. It reminded him of when his father first brought him here.
Arthur picked up a feather duster from the corner of the room and mumbled an incantation under his breath. The feather duster came to life and flew out of his hand to begin dusting the room.
"There. Now we can get started on your potions lesson while that makes sure you don't burn the place down."
"Uwah! You can use magic for stuff like that too? So cooool!" Alfred exclaimed, watching the duster as it scurried to and fro across the room. He apparently got too close to it when it started dusting his face, causing him to jolt back with a yelp and fell onto his bottom with a thud. "Ouch!"
He smiled awkwardly at Arthur and scratched his head. "Heheh...oops...I didn't think that would happen." He stood up and stepped back to Arthur, looking apologetic for interrupting the time to be studying. "Sorry. I'll behave now. You can start."
Arthur tried to look upset with Alfred, but only succeeded in pursing his lips. It was hard to keep a straight face when the other had feathers sticking out of his mussed up hair.
"I made that spell up myself." Arthur said while he picked a couple of the feathers out of Alfred's hair. "I used to be too busy to do my chores so I would use magic to get them done. Now I just use them out of laziness." Arthur turned to the bookshelves and pulled out an old potions book.
"You know how to make your own spells too! That's so awesome Artie!" Alfred gasped excitedly, shaking his head to get the remainder of feathers out of his hair (or at least to try to). "We can't use magic like that, except usually to blow things up or something, which can be handy when you're trapped somewhere, but otherwise it's really kind of useless, ya know? It's not like everyone just goes around blowing things up for fun or anything like that...so..."
He eyed the book in Arthur's hands and grinned. "Oooooh! So what are we gonna start with? Something awesome?"
"Calm down. You are just a beginner so we are going to start with something simple and easy." Arthur flipped through the beginners book until he found the page he was looking for. "Here we go. You can start off making a Hiccup Solution."
Alfred pursed his lips and sighed. "Hiccup solution? That sounds so boring! There's a lot of plants that can get rid of that without making a potion." Deciding that he should obey anyways (mostly since he didn't want to be told that the lessons would be canceled if he didn't do as he was told), he tried to peer over Arthur's shoulder to look at the words on the page. "So...what do you think we start with then?"
"Oh belt up." Arthur smacked Alfred's shoulder, although it was done playfully. The pout on his face was very familiar to Arthur. He had the same expression on his face when he learned he wasn't going to be making anything 'awesome' for his first potion. "Don't give me that look. This was the first potion I ever learnt to brew. It allows you to become familiar with cutting herbs and putting the right amount of ingredients into a potion... Now go grab a jar of horned slugs."
Alfred stuck his tongue out at Arthur but went and did as he was told anyways. He looked through the shelves and quickly grabbed the jar before setting it in front of them. "These things smell awful! I don't understand how these things can be used to make potions. So gross!" He wrinkled his nose with disgust. "It might not be as bad to you, but your senses are duller than a dragon's." He glared at the slugs with disdain and scoffed. "I couldn't stand to harvest these things. They look slimey."
"You think they stink now just wait until you have to harvest their organs." Arthur said with a smirk as he set a bowl in front of Alfred.
"Awwwww! Are you kidding me?! We have to get their organs?!" Alfred whined, sounding horrified. "That's super gross! Don't we have gloves at least? Cuz if we have to do it bare-handed, I'm gonna barf. That's just gross. Ewewewewewewewewewewew. They smell so baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!"
"You were the one who wanted to learn how to brew potions. And you can use gloves if you want to, but I never use them. They tend to be bothersome and restrictive when you try to work with harder potions." Arthur advised. He started to read the instructions from the book. "Once you've finished with the slugs you can begin slicing the valerian roots into 3 centimeter pieces."
Alfred groaned and shuffled his feet nervously. He didn't want to touch the slugs. They were disgusting and smelled just as horrible as they looked. But he didn't want to look bad in front of Arthur either. They were just slugs...right? "W-which organs are we supposed to be taking anyways...?" he asked, trying not to lose what he'd eaten earlier when he grabbed a slug from the jar. "And how many are we using?"
"Take out two slugs. Make an incision on their bellies and pull out the spleen, liver and intestines. Also be careful not to burst he bladder otherwise it will contaminate the rest of the organs." Arthur was busy reading the book so he didn't notice Alfred's pale expression. "Oh, and don't forget to scrape the horns off. You'll need to crush those and sprinkle them into the mixture."
Alfred gave a weak groan and took a knife from the table before carefully slicing the slug's belly open, gagging when the disgusting smell intensified. "Oh god..." He stared at the tiny organs in the body and immediately was lost. Again. Which organ was which? He had a feeling that the squiggly looking things were the intestines. But then again...was that the liver? "Uh...Artie? Which is which? I-I'm lost here..."
Arthur finally looked up from the book and saw the confused look on the dragon's face.
"Oh sorry, here." Arthur grabbed a book from the shelf and placed it in front of Alfred. The page showed a neat diagram of the slug. "See your going to want to find a large red ball shaped organ, that will be the liver, those squiggly ones there are the intestines, and this long pulsing green one is the spleen." Arthur, with practiced ease, stuck his fingers in the slug and opened the incision a bit wider to point out the needed organs.
"O-oh...okay..." Alfred replied with a grimace, not enjoying the site of the organs of the slug. He imitated what Arthur did and carefully pulled the small organs out before cutting the horns off of the head. "Ewwww...they're so slimy..." he mumbled, wishing they were just working with plants. He pulled out another slug and did the same, trying not to gag again at the smell.
"Of course they're slimy. They're slugs." Arthur remarked, feeling slightly amused by Alfred's reaction to the slugs. "You're a dragon. I'm sure you've dealt with more disgusting things than a couple of slugs." Once Alfred had finished he passed him the valerians. "Here. And remember, 3 centimeter pieces. Enough to fill 1/3 of the bowl."
"No, actually, I haven't!" Alfred whined, practically flinging the leftover slug bodies away from him. As far away from him as possible. "I can handle meat, but slugs are just disgusting!" He wiped his hands off on a random piece of cloth that he found and set to cutting the valerians, making sure to follow the instructions given to him. "Alright. I've got it."
"Hold on just a tick." Arthur stopped Alfred from cutting. "You have to make sure the pieces are completely even with each other." Arthur placed his hands on Alfred's and guided him in cutting the roots at equal lengths. "Precision is always key in potion making."
Alfred halted his movements, face flushing red when his hands were gripped and guided. His heart paced quickly and he started to squirm nervously in his place. "O-okay, I'll be more careful th-then."
He felt a million thoughts race through his mind when Arthur was so close. Was that parchment he smelled? And tea. He wasn't fond of tea but it smelled good on hi-
He shook his head quickly, trying to dash the thoughts from his mind. Silly thoughts can go away.
Arthur let Alfred take over the cutting but he didn't remove his hands, just incase he needed to guide Alfred again. He wasn't keeping them there because Alfred's hands felt nice and warm against Arthur's cool ones or because it he felt comfortable being so close to the young dragon. No, that wasn't the reason at all!
"Perfect." Arthur said once Alfred was finished. He reluctantly removed his hands to grab a cauldron from one of the shelves. "Now you will need to boil some water and then add the ingredients you prepared."
Alfred nodded and did as he was told, feeling relieved yet highly disappointed when their hands were no longer touching. Why had Arthur kept his hands on his own for that long anyways? He wasn't sure. Maybe he was just paranoid about him screwing up. He hadn't done anything bad worth noting so far, but... Was Arthur really that wary about what he was doing?
He grabbed a bucket and took it out of the building to look for water, deep in thought as he walked away. There was a lake over nearby, he knew that... He took off at a run, the wooden bucket dangling from his hand and promptly fell into a river, having not noticed that the ground cut off shortly from where he was.
Well...he found the water at least.
He stood up and squeezed the water from his now-wet clothing, knowing that Arthur was going to be questioning him about it when he got back. He grabbed the bucket and made sure it was filled with water before looking up at the ledge he'd fallen from with a frown. That wasn't going to be easy to get back up to unless...
His two blue and white wings stretched out and flapped, lifting him back to where he'd fallen. He settled himself to the ground before letting them hide themselves again. He then headed back to the building, still soaking wet.
"Ah...I'm back with the water," he called to Arthur, smiling awkwardly when he came in soaking wet. "I kinda fell in the river..."
Before Arthur got a chance to tell him about the indoor well, Alfred had bolted out of the room in search for water. Maybe he ran out so fast because Arthur made him uncomfortable.
The young knight began to feel sick at the thought. He didn't want to scare off his new friend with his straight forward actions. But he couldn't help it. Arthur never felt this comfortable around anyone before.
Arthur turned when he heard a sloshing sound behind him. Alfred was standing in the doorway completely drenched with a bucket of water in his hand. Arthur made a 'pft' sound when he tried to stifle a laugh at the sheepish expression on Alfred's face.
"You left before I could tell you that there's an indoor well in the other room. It was built so students wouldn't slip and fall into the river."
"W-well you didn't stop me either!" Alfred retorted with pursed lips before grinning again. "But I still got the water here anyways!" He had the expression if a child expecting praise after accomplishing some "great feat".
Arthur walked over to Alfred and took the bucket. He set it on the table before turning back to the dragon to place his hands on the dragon's chest. After muttering a few words heat grew from the knights hands and spread throughout the dragons clothes making them dry once again.
Alfred blushed slightly at the context to his chest and gasped with surprise when the water evaporated and his clothes were dry again. "Ah! Awesome!" He grinned cheerfully. "I didn't know you could do stuff like that either. Thanks!"
It took Arthur all if his will power to not let his hands linger on Alfred's chest. The dragon was well built and his scent reminded Arthur of a warm bonfire. It was a sweet, doughy odor tinged with charcoal. Arthur quickly turned away so Alfred couldn't see his blushing face.
"O-of course we can use magic to do that. It comes in handy when we get caught in a storm and need to warm ourselves.…" Arthur stuttered. He willed his blush away before returning his attention to the potion. "After you add the ingredients to the boiling water, keep adding Bulbadox Powder into the pot until it turns into an aubergine color."
"Awber-whatta?" Alfred asked, looking at Arthur in confusion as he held the ingredients in his hands. He cocked his head and stared at the water as he tossed some of the ingredients in. "What's that awber...awber-something something?"
"It's a brownish-purple color. Like the vegetable aubergine. I believe some people refer to it as 'eggplant'." Arthur answered.
Alfred cocked his head back and hummed. "Ok then. I don't like those, I think. I'd rather just eat meat. Tastes better." He started to mix in the powder, watching as the color started to slowly change gradually to the color he was supposed to look for. "This color right?"
Arthur looked over Alfred's shoulder to view the mixture. "Excellent. Now all you need to do is add some peppermint for flavor and you're done."
"Peppermint always smells good. We use it when we feel sick since mint makes stomachs feel better." Alfred commented, licking his lips. "Doesn't taste too bad either, compared to other things we've used to try and feel better." He looked at Arthur and held out a hand. "You've got the mint right?"
"Really? What sort of remedies do dragons use?" Arthur inquired as he passed Alfred the jar of peppermint leaves. "And don't eat any of those. They're for the potions." He added when he saw the dragon lick his lips.
"Well, we don't use all the same things as why you guys do cuz it's often poisonous to you." Alfred explained. "But mint is a commonly used one. So is worm's seed. And yellow dock. But like hemlock is poisonous to you, but it helps our digestive systems develop an immunity to poisons."
"You eat hemlock?!" Arthur exclaimed in shock. "How can you possibly eat that?! Wouldn't that make you horribly ill?"
"Nah. Like I said, it's relatively harmless to us." Alfred continued to explain. "Our organs are more developed than yours. They can make use of poisons and use them to help us become immune to all sorts of poisons and stuff. We might get a stomach ache at most if we eat too much. But we won't die. Tastes awful though."
"I'm sure it does." Arthur said with a grimace. Arthur retrieved a ladle to scoop up the mixture. The potion was thick and bubbly. He could also see some if the slugs innards along with the roots had floated to the top.
With the ladle, Arthur scooped up the mixture and brought it o his lips to taste.
Alfred grimaced as Arthur scooped some of the solution and tasted it. He could only imagine it as something awful, seeing as the ingredients consisted of the body parts of SLUGS. "How can you bring yourself to taste that? I feel bad for whoever had the misfortune of getting the hiccups and having to taste that crap."
Arthur savored the potion. It tasted exactly how it was supposed to. "The peppermint dilutes the taste of slug intestines." Arthur said licking his lips. "You did a wonderful job making the potion."
Alfred beamed at the praise, looking like a child that had just been congratulated for doing some great thing. "Really? Awesome!" He jumped up from where he was and hugged Arthur to his chest. "It has to be cuz you're an awesome teacher!"
Arthur burrowed his head into Alfred's shoulder. He didn't know why he was blushing so much today but he didn't want the young dragon to see.
"N-nonsense! You p-pick up pretty fast for a beginner." Arthur stuttered. Being in Alfred's arms made him feel very anxious. He hoped the dragon couldn't hear his pounding heart.
Alfred (as oblivious as he was) ruffled Arthur's hair, wondering why he was hiding his face so much in the short period of time. "Hey, you okay Artie? You're not feeling sick are ya? Cuz I don't think I know anything to really help ya."
"I'm perfectly fine!" Arthur said (perhaps a little too loudly). He pushed Alfred away trying to regain his composure. "There are probably some Wrackspurts flying around! They tend to make people feel a bit loopy." Arthur lied. He knew there where no such things as Wrackspurts but he didn't know any other excuse to use. Darn that Lovegood family and their odd make believe creatures.
Alfred being Alfred didn't catch the lie and cocked his head curiously. "Wrackspurts? Never heard of em. I've seen a bunch of creatures, but not that one. What are they exactly?"
"Oh they uh… fly into your ear and make your mind all fuzzy." Arthur laughed nervously. Well at least Alfred didn't notice what a terrible liar he was.
"Ehhh? I've never heard of those. I wonder if they're what had to do with that time I kept forgetting things. That would explain a lot." Alfred commented obliviously. "Do they do that to everyone?"
"P-p-possibly?" Arthur was wondering why on earth he was still going with this outrageous lie. But then again it was better than Alfred thinking he was some sort of madman for acting the way he had been all day. What with all the blushing and stuttering and bold gestures. "They sure are pesky creatures and are nearly impossible to see!" Arthur began to pretend he was swatting away invisible moths. "Perhaps we should end our lesson here for today. It's getting late and hopefully all the Wrackspurts will be gone by the time we start our next lesson."
Alfred nodded again, feeling rather unsure about the way Arthur was acting. Almost as if he were lying or hiding something. But he was sure he wasn't. He wouldn't lie right?
"Oh. Okay then. They'll probably just cause problems anyways. We might forget stuff while we're working and blow something up...or something like that." He smiled brightly, hopefully. "When's the next time we're gonna meet up? Tomorrow? Or are you gonna be busy with your knight stuffs?"
Up until that moment, Arthur had forgotten about the conversation he had with Francis in the morning. If he met with Alfred again tomorrow he would be putting his people's needs aside… but Alfred's face looked so hopeful. Those lovely sky blue eyes looked bright with anticipation. How could Arthur say no?
"I will have enough time for my duties afterwards. We can have our lesson at the same time tomorrow."
Alfred jumped up and down with excitement. "Awesome! I can't wait! It'll be more awesome than curing hiccups right?"
"Yes, I think you've proven that you can handle something a bit more complex." Arthur answered with a smile. He couldn't remember the last time he smiled so much in one day. "And I promise no slugs… maybe just a dung beetle or two."
"Well, beetles aren't slimey at least." Alfred mumbled, shuddering at the thought of touching the slugs and the smell they had. "Slugs are just gross!"
"You'll get used to it." Arthur laughed. He led Alfred out of the building to where Rhubarb was waiting. The knight didn't immediately mount his horse like he usually did when leaving someone's presence. He turned to look at Alfred. "Have a good evening, Alfred. I'll see you tomorrow."
Alfred smiled brightly (as he was known to do) and nodded. "You too, Artie. Make sure that horse of yours doesn't get you into any trouble." He placed a hand on Arthur's shoulder and squeezed it rather tightly. "And let me know if I need to punish anyone who dares to make fun of you or hurt you." He said the last part with a smile and gentle tone, but there was a possessive and overprotective undertone to it.
Arthur felt a tingle run down his spine at Alfred's tone. The knight didn't allow himself time to ponder over whether the feeling was unpleasant or not. He took Alfred's hand off his shoulder and gave it a light squeeze before mounting Rhubarb. "Don't you worry about me. I can take care of myself. Just stay focused for your lessons." Arthur, not waiting to hear Alfred's reply, clicked the reigns and began riding back to the town.
Alfred watched, feeling slightly dejected at the sudden absence of the knight. He wondered if he'd startled him, and began to mentally berate himself over it. Dragons were possessive and he couldn't help but show that trait when it came down to it. He sighed and looked at the sky, watching as the sun began to lower itself. He probably had to get home before it got too dark. Not that he really had anything to worry about. Most of the monsters around the area were terrified of dragons or their flames. He shifted back to his true form of blue and white scales, and then took off for his home.
Hooray for Harry Potter reference! Did anyone catch that?
Anyways, thanks again for reading. Please leave a review I let us know what you think. n_n
Also, don't forget to check out Yamiyo. Darknight's other stories. The link to her FF is on my profile.