"Arthur," something was shaking Arthur's shoulder. Arthur glanced up, finding himself fallen asleep at the desk once again. And Alfred was waking him up. Again.

"Sorry," Arthur muttered, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He could see Ella laying on top of Alfred's head, sighing dreamily.

"Dude, this is, like, the sixth time I've had to wake you up," Alfred laughed.

"Then this must be the tenth time I've told you not to punctuate with the word like," Arthur sighed and Ella snickered.

"And you only had one paper left this time," Alfred said, reaching over to pick up the paper.

"God, I don't even feel like reading that one," Arthur leaned back in his chair. "I'm exhausted."

"Well, I read through this one for you," Alfred smiled. "Tell you if it's worth your time."

"Whatever floats your boat," Arthur sighed.

"Nope," Alfred said after a while, tossing it with the growing pile of papers laying behind Arthur's desk.

"I guess I will just take your word for it, then," Arthur shook his head, chuckling slightly.

"Dude, have you even been outside since you've been found by the clocks?" Alfred laughed.

"Don't call me dude," Arthur stated. "And, no, I don't think I've even left my room. If I have, I can't remember it."

"You should get out more," Alfred leaned against his desk. "Go to parties and stuff."

"Oh, shit," Arthur stood up.

"What?" Alfred looked at him, lost.

"Francis' party," Arthur muttered. "I forgot…" Arthur glanced down at his clock. The party had already started, about a half an hour ago. "The damn frog's never going to let me live this down…"

"Ah, shit, I have to work that party…" Alfred muttered. "Gotta go," he called back as he left the room, slamming the door shut.

"I have to get ready," Arthur muttered and ran to his dresser. Now that he thought about it, because of his work he hadn't quite changed his clothes. He had bathed, of course, but other than that…

"So, you're actually going to go?" Ella asked as Arthur pulled out some of his best clothes.

"Well, I promised him," Arthur muttered as he started taking off his shirt.

"Then I'll go put on my best dress," Ella said excitedly. "There's bound to be some sexy fairies there."

"Whatever you say…" Arthur rolled his eyes as he started putting on his white undershirt.

Eventually, when Arthur did make it to the ballroom of the castle, his entrance didn't draw any attention to himself, which was good. He messed with his outfit, fixing wrinkles that weren't really there. As a new royal of Spades, he was given a few new outfits and this was one of them.

It had a light purple vest over the white undershirt, green trousers, and a long, purple coat. And then there was the matching top hat that was oddly small, so it rested precariously on the right side of his head. He felt idiotic wearing something like it, but it was the color of Spades, so he really had no choice in it.

"There you are, mon cher," Francis' voice said behind him and Arthur felt hands creep at his sides. He stiffened for a bit, realized it was Francis, and quickly shoved the hands away, turning around. "I have been waiting for you."

"Of course you would be," Arthur rolled his eyes, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Well, the party is for you," Francis winked. "I have some people to introduce you to."

Before Arthur could even reply, Francis grabbed hold of his wrist and pulled him towards the middle of the hall. Normally, there would be dancing going on in this area, but it was too early in the night to start that yet. It was then that Arthur focused on Francis' outfit. Naturally, it was overly fancy, and the color of Diamonds; orange.

They were coming up to a group of people, all in highly decorated outfits. He did notice, however, that they were all wearing the designated colors of each suit. There was a cute young lady wearing orange, same as Francis, who was being over protected by a young man wearing orange. There was a creepy man in green standing next to a beautiful woman in a green dress, who was standing awfully close to another man dressed in green. And then there were three men in red, one of them clinging to a very tall man, and the last just standing there awkwardly. Just about as awkward as Arthur was feeling seeing all these new faces.

"My fellow royalty," Francis said loudly enough so that the whole group turned towards them, "may I introduce the new King of Spades, Arthur Kirkland."

"H-Hello," Arthur barely managed out. All of those eyes on him made him feel uncomfortable. And he could see Ella flying away at the sight of a handsome looking fairy in the corner. Just great. Now he was all alone.

"Veee~ It's so nice to meet you~!" the man in red who was clinging to the tall one said excitedly. "I'm Jack Feliciano! But you can call me Feli, okay~?"

"I am Ludwig," the taller man in red stated calmly, but he was extremely serious. "King of Hearts."

"And I am Kiku, Queen of Hearts," the quiet one in red muttered. Arthur gave him a longer look, so there really were male Queens after all…

"Hello, my name is Lilli," the girl in orange said kindly. "Queen of Diamonds."

"And I am her brother, Jack of Diamonds," the protective one in orange said.

"I am Roderich, Jack of Clubs," the not creepy man in green said simply.

"My name is Elizaveta," the girl in green said happily. "I am Queen of Clubs, it's very nice to meet you!"

"And I am Ivan," the creepy man in green smiled. "King of Clubs."

Arthur blinked a few times, trying to make sure he remembered all of the names. He had heard them all before, sure, but matching them to a face was a little difficult. And then there was the King of Clubs, whose smile sent a shiver down Arthur's spine. There was something about this man that Arthur didn't trust.

"A pleasure to meet you all," Arthur nodded towards them, recovering slightly from the initial shock.

"Mon cher has been a friend of mine for ages," Francis drawled, looping an arm around Arthur's shoulders.

"Yes," Arthur replied. "Ever since I asked you to dance because I thought you were a girl." At that, the good natured people in the group started laughing, but Francis glared slightly at him.

"And yet I was not the one dancing like a girl," Francis winked and Arthur rolled his eyes.

"If you excuse me," Arthur moved out from under Francis' arm. "I should probably talk with some of the other guests."

"Fine, fine," Francis sighed.

"Nice meeting you!" Feliciano and Elizaveta chimed together. Arthur nodded politely back at them and then turned back to the party. It seemed as though all the guests were all staring at the large group of Royals, and even at Arthur as he trudged to the outskirts.

Before long, though, another arm slung itself over his shoulders and led him towards a corner of the room, to the outskirts of the party. Arthur glanced at the mystery man, expecting Francis again, but was instead met with red eyes that nearly made him jump out of his skin.

"Wh-who are you?" Arthur stuttered as they stopped in the corner.

"Oh, great, you can see me," the man with red eyes smiled and Arthur noticed that he had bright white hair. "Knew I made the right choice, man! No way you could've been King!"

"What?" Arthur asked, taken aback. "Y-You know about-"

"I only know because I'm supposed to," the man rolled his eyes. "The name's Gilbert, I'm a Joker."

"A-A Joker?" Arthur felt his jaw drop. "I thought you were myths."

"We're only myths because a few people can see us," Gilbert rolled his eyes. "I'm just so awesome, no one can even process that I'm around them. But that's not the point. I needed to talk with you about something."

"Wh-what?" Arthur asked.

"As a Joker, I know anything and everything," Gilbert stated. "Now, with that, I know how to change what may happen if it's what's best for Deck, got that? So I'm going to help you here. And, trust me, this will make for a better Deck."

"But…how can I trust that you're a Joker?" Arthur asked cautiously.

"Other than the fact that you can see me and no one can?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow. Then he let out a deep sigh. "Just don't draw attention to yourself."

"What do you m-" Arthur was cut off when Gilbert disappeared from his line of sight in a puff of smoke. Arthur felt someone poke his shoulder. He turned around and saw Gilbert hanging upside-down in mid-air. He was even sporting black devil horns and a tail.

"Now will you listen to me?" Gilbert shifted so that he was lying on his stomach, still in mid-air, and crossed his ankles behind himself.

"Yeah, sure," Arthur muttered.

"You can trust two people in this world," Gilbert said, putting on a serious face. "Your King and Jack, understand? You can't trust anything anyone else says, got it?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Arthur asked, completely clueless.

"It means don't even listen to anyone else," Gilbert stated. "Whatever anyone tells you, don't listen, got it? And especially avoid that dick, Ivan."

"Why?" Arthur asked.

"I can't tell you why," Gilbert rolled his eyes. "Just trust me. Don't even talk to him, he knows how to twist your words. And I'm doing this all for the sake of Deck, okay? Not just you. Even though you're pretty damn important."

"I am?" Arthur asked.

"Gotta go," Gilbert righted himself on his feet and stared at the dance floor, which apparently they had recently started dancing. He could see a little kid messing with people, but no one was looking at him. "My partner's making mayhem."

"Wait, he's a Joker, too?" Arthur looked harder at the boy.

"You bet," Gilbert winked. "Remember what I said and don't forget it until you die, got it?"

"Right," Arthur nodded and Gilbert ran off into the dance floor, picking up the little kid, and disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Arthur started walking back into the party, but he was quickly met with violet eyes, making him emit a squeak and step back slightly.

"I-Ivan?" Arthur muttered, holding onto his chest to make sure his heart was beating right.

"Hello, comrade," Ivan smiled.

"H-Hello," Arthur said cautiously.

"I could not help but notice you talking to thin air," Ivan tilted his head and Arthur felt his face heat up. It was already embarrassing when Francis walked in on him talking to his fairies, but now Ivan knew? "Should I be worried?"

"Not at all," Arthur smiled calmly. "Just talking to myself to calm my nerves. This is my first party as King, after all."

"I see," Ivan's smile didn't falter. They stared at each other awkwardly for a while, until a woman with platinum blonde hair came up to him and latched onto his arm. Immediately, Ivan flinched and Arthur smile grew a little wider.

"Dance with me, brother!" the woman begged and Ivan's expression quickly exchanged to terror as he tried to pull away from the woman.

"Family problems?" Arthur asked, smiling. And he even laughed as he watched Ivan get pulled away by the woman, who was supposedly his sister.

Arthur knew that everyone was technically allies right now. Every suit was at peace, but Arthur was starting to feel on edge around Ivan now because of what that Joker said…

Arthur sighed as he made his way to the food table. He was just about to pick something up when he felt someone grab his wrists.


Hehe, sorry about the cliffhanger, it's just that this chapter would have gone on forever, if I continued it. Anyway, this is a fun, little party. And I like to think that the Jokers like to go to parties just for the purpose of messing with people. They just get to be helpful on some random occasions. We also got to meet all of the Royals very quickly. Sadly, most of them don't get a big part, but I can tell you that a few do get a nice role.

Anyway, today is 9/11, and as I'm American, I went through a moment of silence at school today. Thought, it really only lasted about 10 seconds and then we just went on with our day as usual. A bit of a dissapointment, if you ask me...

But, moving on, please review and tell me what you think of this so far! I'd really like to know!

I don't own Hetalia and I never will.