A/N – The first of many non-lemon one-shots and drabbles! It's cliché, but I put a lot of thought and effort into it, so I hope you like what I've come up with! Also, thank DoubleyHaruhi69 for convincing me to upload! :D
~~~(Phantom Thief 1812_START)~~~
He was perhaps the best criminal in the country. The world even had it not been for a certain black-clad cat in Paris. He could escape any trap by any policeman, scientist, or private-eye. He could mingle into a crowd in less than a second. He could even mask his voice if he wanted to.
His name was Matthew Williams and everyone would know it.
~()~
The night was cold and unforgiving. But he was prepared for it. His red pullover was enough, but he also adorned a pale scarf he got at Walmart. He stole it.
He was about to rob Le's Jewelry like he'd planned, but the weather seemed against the idea (because usually the weather was all for his nightly activities). But Matthew was determined. He needed to pay rent.
~()~
That was the first week he'd ever stole anything, and the thrill then was enough to keep him going for years. For the rest of his life. Though it wasn't like he had a choice now.
Matthew waited patiently in line at the Walmart store, the same one he'd robbed that very night.
~()~
Matthew entered the building from the ceiling. He cut carefully into the thick material with a saw of some sort (he'd forgotten the name, but the man said it'd work) to make a hole he could slip through. He jumped inside and held that position carefully before standing upright with ease. The security lasers were as clear as day to him, like a gift. He stepped over them, ducked, kept watch of his scarf and arms. He moved fluidly, but his heart was racing. He wasn't quite used to this yet, but that was the best part. That was the thrill.
When he arrived at the displays he smiled at his own reflection rather than at the masses of diamonds. He was going to rob this place.
~()~
"Sir, is that one of ours?" Matthew looked at the lady handling his items. She was pointing to his scarf.
He smiled. "No, I don't think so. My grandmother made it for me."
Just then, the manager jumped into the conversation. "But it looks awfully similar, eh, Nancy?"
Matthew frowned. "B-But my grandmother knit it for me, for my birthday. It couldn't be yours, sir. She wouldn't lie to me."
"Well, I just don't know!" responded the manager defiantly, "It looks exactly like it. Why don't you ask your grandmother again?"
"B-But she's dead!"
"Hey," called a man two places behind Matthew. "Who do you think you are accusing this guy?"
"He's no thief!" supplemented his wife beside him.
"Mattie wouldn't hurt a fly!"
"He's a good boy! Don't think unkindly towards him!"
The manager had had enough by then and decided to simply mumble an apology to everyone but Matthew and leave things at that. Everyone else apologized in his stead though and the lady had his groceries bagged in half the time. He smiled at them and apologized back for all the trouble.
What fools…
~()~
Matthew grabbed the diamonds and pearls with his bare hands, shoveling them into an indistinct carry-on. He wouldn't be surprised to find blood on the display box. He thought his heart was about to explode any second, it was beating so hard.
He heard a car turn the corner and panicked. He danced through the field of lasers and left the same way he came with adrenaline-fueled acrobatic genius. He brought himself as close to the roof of the store as possible and shut his eyes tight. A few seconds passed and he decided to open them again. The car was about to turn the other corner; he recognized it to be his brother's.
"Heheh."
Matthew was laughing loudly to himself, in his head. He might as well have been caught if it had only been his brother! he kept repeating.
He did it! He robbed a jewelry store! He robbed them blind!
The smile on Matthew's face could compare to nothing else as he jumped off the roof and tread through town.
He did it. And he got away scot-free.
~()~
He decided to visit Le's Jewelry again on a whim. He came from the ceiling, and it was just like before. There were more lasers, granted, but they never touched him. He moved with his hands in his pockets and his scarf fastened tightly around his neck, his hood hiding his identity. His heart was quiet tonight; thrill was replaced with nostalgia. He eyed the display boxes and gave himself a small, miniscule grin.
He was a better thief now.
Using gloved hands, he placed each pricey accessory into his backpack; he took extra care of the pearls knowing - now - that they'd break easily if he simply threw them into the bag. His smirk never faded as he familiarly picked up each piece and placed it into his backpack. He even brought one up above his head to see it shine in the moonlight.
He left the way he came using acrobatics honed over the years to move with such speed and stealth, but as he jumped down from the building, the unpredictable happened.
"YOU!" shouted a voice that seemed to echo only in Matthew's mind. There in the street was his brother, Alfred, pointing a gun at his head.
Matthew stared for a while before flashing that confident grin Alfred's way, making him tense. Alfred's partner Carlos waited for their next move inside of his police car parked a few meters away.
"What is it…Alfred?" Just the uttering of his name seemed to awaken ferociousness in the other; his hands started to tremble with the gun.
"Why…," Alfred swallowed, "Why did you do it?"
Matthew glanced behind him. "Oh? You mean this store? I was just bo-"
"No!" Alfred took a moment to make his breathing regular again. There was only a meter or so distance between the two, even less from the gun to Matthew's face. "Why did you become a criminal?"
Matthew looked at him through his bangs to tell him this: "I didn't have a choice."
"You damn well knew you had a choice, and so did I!"
"I hardly consider begging the police department to live in their building qualifies as a choice."
Matthew lifted his hands and Alfred tensed with his gun again. He hated that. Matthew only motioned to remove his hood to reveal his face. Alfred should have already known by the special curl that stuck out of his golden locks, but the other brother wanted to give Alfred's poorly concealed police partner the evidence as well.
"Here's a question for you then: Why did you become a police officer?"
Carlos looked back and forth between the brothers, Alfred and Matthew. The resemblance was impeccable, uncanny even.
Alfred didn't answer. He remembered the day so well.
As he parked his car at the corner of the street and glanced back at a figure jumping off of the jewelry store's roof, he knew he should have stopped him then. He should have taken him by the shoulders and shook him as hard as he could. Should have told him what an idiot he was for doing such a thing. But he let him go.
"Why didn't you join me?"
"Because I wanted justice."
Matthew burst out laughing, holding his stomach, about to topple over at the idea of it all.
"Justice? JUSTICE? Ha! There is no such thing!"
"Yes, there is-"
"You golden boy-"
"Stop it."
"If there was justice in the world, then mom wouldn't have died alone!"
"You shut up! There was nothing we could do!"
"There was plenty. I saw the culprit, you know." Alfred cringed. "I saw the person who did it, but a tiny little detail and they don't even bother!"
He thought there were tears in his eyes, but if so they must've already evaporated with his heated rage.
"The system works, Mattie. You have to trust that."
He saw that grin again, but it seemed to spread wider than his face could permit. He'd seen it on murderers, rapists, but on his little brother? It didn't fit, and it was unsettling.
"Now that you're working against this system…what are you going to do?"
He didn't answer.
"Where will you go?"
No response.
"How will you live?"
Nothing.
"What…," he paused, "…What about punishment?"
"What about it?" he scoffed.
Matthew lifted his glasses, pressing a well-hidden switch on it. The store erupted with smoke on all sides and Alfred had no choice but to retreat…this time.
When the smoke had cleared, the criminal, as well as his brother, were long gone.
~~~(Phantom Thief 1812_END)~~~
Title – Phantom Theif 1812
Started – 12-23-10, Thurs (9PM)
Finished – 12-25-10, Sat (9PM)
Characters – Canada, America
Genre - CRIME
Rating – T
Summary/BackCover - Francoise Bonnefoy was murdered late at night and Matthew, Arthur and Francoise's younger son, happened to see someone suspicious. A liable culprit was captured but, due to a certain inconsistency, could not be charged guilty and was set free. Arthur, unable to support his two children, was separated from them. Alfred, the elder of the two siblings, was adopted at first sight by a policeman and grew to become a top marksman and fighter of crime. Matthew ran away eighteen hours following Alfred's departure and has not seen his brother since.
From that day forward, he has become the world's most renowned thief.
A/N - *breathe* I had a lot more planned with this whole idea but I basically just wanted to have Canada in this badarse AU story, okay? XD Other than writing a few other snippets and references here and there in my other stories, I won't touch on this story again (unless extremely requested) so it's fair game for anyone that wants this plot. :D
"Ahhhh…Waking up next to a redhead, a brunette, and a blonde. Just another morning in the life of Matthew Williams." I also wanted to do that. XD
RequestQuiz – If you can tell me what French thief I was referring to at the beginning OR the two reasons why I titled this drabble/one-shot the way I did, you can request a genre-to-plot for one of the future chapters. ;D
~TMRomance
PS – By the way, review please! :D
PSS – Also by the way, I found out that it's actually supposed to be PPS, or PPPS. Like, post-post-post-post-post-post…
PPS – I'm an idiot.
