12/8/2011

Wow, this is amazing, I never thought that people would like this so much. Thank you guys for reading this! Any questions just review or send me a message, I promise I will reply.

So much detail! There's a ton of information in this chapter, so I hope you guys don't mind long paragraphs.

I do not own Hetalia.

-o0o-

No-Man's-Land

Alfred was good at many things. One of the few things he truly enjoyed doing though was riding horses, and his favorite was a beautiful Dapple grey filly that he had helped raise when he had started working at the stables. Alfred had named the horse Artemis after the old legends, and for his 13th birthday, Alfred's boss, who loved Alfred like a son, gave Artemis to him for free. Alfred was allowed to keep her in the stables with the rest of the horses, and she would be taken care of in every way, with no expense on Alfred's part other than he had to continue working there. But Alfred didn't mind, why would he? He had the best job in the entire Kingdom, and he most defiantly had the greatest, fastest, most loyal horse of all four Suits!

After Kiku left the stables, Alfred immediately ran over to Artemis and grabbed the nearest reins and saddle he could find. Hastily, he strapped the buckles around her stomach and lifted the headpiece into her mouth. Artemis whinnied slightly at the roughness that Alfred was preparing her, but he ignored her, quickly shoving on boots and grabbing his jacket.

"Roger, I'm going out!" he yelled, not bothering to see if the boy had heard or not before he climbed onto Artemis and steered her out of the stable.

Alfred's boss might have come to regret his decision to give the teenager Artemis as time passed. Artemis was a gorgeous horse, lustrous grey in color with dark black dots speckled across her broad back and her long legs. Outside when the weather was nice, her coat would shine silver from the sun's rays, and at night, she glowed in the moonlight. At the same time, she easily blended in with stone buildings and the dark trunks of trees if needed. When she ran, she was as quick and graceful; one of the fastest horses in the Royal Stable, if not the fastest. Alfred had trained his horse well, and by now the two were attuned to each other in movements and personality; Alfred would rarely use any other horse, and Artemis was stubborn when it came to allowing other Hearts citizens to ride her.

Right now they were flying across the Hearts Castle grounds, running at such a speed that from far away, Artemis was nothing more than a grey smudge against the background. Alfred leaned low on his horse's back, pressing his face into her soft main and narrowing his eyes against the wind. Thank god Artemis was used to running for long distances on end, or else this would be a difficult journey; Alfred's destination was so far away from the Castle that he just might end up staying out all night. He didn't really mind though, it was worth it. He needed to retrieve something before he left with Kiku for the Gathering, and it was not an option to leave it behind for such a long period of time.

Artemis finally reached the boarder of the Hearts Kingdom just as the moon was starting to rise in the starry night sky. Alfred pulled on her reins as they approached a tiny stream, forcing the energetic horse to stop. In the small amount of time Artemis rested, Alfred jumped off her back and rubbed her neck in slow, comforting circles. He stared across the stream of water at a wall of dense, thick trees. On the other side of the stream was No-Man's-Land; an uncharitable plot of land that separated the Kingdoms and was home of the mysterious Jokers, Prussia and Sealand. Alfred often wondered how the two lived there since the geography of No-Man's-Land was constantly changing; a person could go to bed surrounded by a forest to wake up the next day and find themselves at the base of a mountain. Of course, the borders of No-Man's-Land never changed, just its physical features. It was rumored that magical creatures of all kinds lived hidden inside of the territory, but very few were brave enough to venture into the strange land to see if this was true or not. Alfred, on the other hand, was the opposite; he was one of the dumb people to actually explore No-Man's-Land and to keep coming back time after time.

After Artemis had rested enough, Alfred led her forward on foot by guiding her with the reins. They weaved in and out of trees for a while before the trunks started to thin out, and eventually a small opening appeared. Alfred visibly relaxed at the sight, and sighed, relieved. It was correct that No-Man's-Land was easy to get lost in, but this was never true for Alfred. This spot always appeared sooner or later after he passed the border, even though he had only started to make these pilgrimages a few months ago. They stepped through the breach and a clearing was revealed, a patch of dark green grass surrounding a beautiful, quiet waterfall. The scene was bathed in a strange blue glow from a light layer of mist that covered the landscape, giving the place a mysterious feel to it. The waterfall flowed into a pond, and glowing balls of light no larger than a fireflies floated freely in the air on the edges of the water.

As soon as he appeared, the balls of light headed towards Alfred and his horse. Alfred knew that they were fairies* from previous visits, and saw their tiny fragile bodies define as they drew closer. The fairies loved Alfred for some reason unknown to him; they were always interested in playing with his gold hair and touching his red Hearts clothing. Sometimes they even dared to perch on his nose and stare into his eyes, or sit in his hand to feel the calluses and curves of his palm. Often they tried talking to him, but their alien language was impossible to understand; they were not speaking any version of German, Japanese, Italian or Hoppípollan** that he knew.

"Hi, guys," Alfred said as the fairies gathered around him. The fairies attempted to speak to him, using gestures and body movement, but to no avail. Instead they pulled on his clothes, trying to drag him towards the water.

"Okay, okay, I get it. Jeesh, calm down." He rolled his eyes. "Artemis, eat whatever you want." He called back to the horse but she ignored him, already indulging on the fresh blades of grass.

As he reached the edge of the pond, he knelt down on the grass and leaned over to stare into its depth. The fairies flew around him nervously when he started to roll up his sleeves, a determined expression on his face. Cautiously he dipped his arm into the water, not in the least bit surprised that its temperature was warm. His arm was in elbow deep when a smile lit up his face. With a triumphant shout, Alfred lurched out of the water and landed flat on his back in the damp grass. Breathing heavily, he turned his head to stare at the small, gold object that he had pulled from the water's depths.

It was a pocket watch. Not a very big one- right now, at least it wasn't- but large enough to cover the entire palm of his hand. The clock was made entirely of gold, though at the moment it hardly weighed anything, and had tiny sapphire jewels implanted in the black arrows that pointed to the time. The numbers looked as if they had been etched onto the clock's face with a fine point pen, long, curly, and with distinct style. A thin but strong chain was connected at its tip, snaking its way around Alfred's clasped hand and coiling on the ground behind him. The shape of the frame of the clock was the most interesting part to Alfred; it looked almost like a teardrop, but instead of smoothly curving at the bottom, there was an indent, making it come across like an upside down heart. Alfred knew this symbol all too well; he had seen it almost every day of his life. It was a spade, from the Spades Kingdom.

This was a Spades clock.

The fairies anxiously flew around Alfred, worried that he had somehow hurt himself. One of them gently touched his cheek, and her cold hand instantly jerked him out of his thoughts. He slowly sat up, bringing the Spades clock closer to his eyes to examine it for the millionth time. This strange watch never failed to amaze Alfred, even though he had found it nearly six months ago on his first trip to No-Man's-Land. It was in this very clearing that he had discovered the strange treasure, and he had kept it here ever since for protection and fear of losing or someone stealing it.

Spades clocks were powerful objects to their Kingdom, just like clovers were to Clubs, and diamonds were to Diamonds. Alfred never really understood how this was true, but he had heard rumors that Spades clocks could be used as potential weapons. Alfred was not a Spade; he was a Heart. There was no way that the pocket watch could ever work for him like it probably would for whomever it belonged too.

But, still.

Strange things happened to Alfred whenever he was with the Spades pocket watch. For one thing, the clock had the ability to change its size and weight. At first, Alfred could not figure out why this was; he spent hours trying to take it apart to no avail. Nothing he did could harm it in any way, shape or form. It was only until about two weeks after he first saw the clock when the first visions came.

The watch had been really tiny that day, no bigger than a bug and so weightless that it almost felt like it wasn't there at all. Alfred had been swinging the clock back and forth in a hypnotizing way from its chain when it had started to glow. In the beginning it was a comforting soft blue hue, but then it turned into blinding white light, impossible to look without spots forming across Alfred's vision. Alfred had been scared out of his wits, and had attempted to stop the light by covering the face of the clock with his hand.

That was when everything got weird. The forest scenery around him changed, morphing into an old village street with bustling carts and groups of running children running everywhere. Alfred recognized the market place; this was where he had first met Kiku.

He watched, shocked as his own memory play out in front of him. There was his 5 year old self, playing tag with the other children and finding a quiet Japanese boy hiding in a corner all by himself. Alfred re-lived himself trying to convince Kiku to come play with other kids, and he laughed at himself at the stubbornness in which little Alfred refused to leave Kiku alone. The vision ended as quickly as it had come, disappearing the moment little Alfred and little Kiku became friends, bringing the older Alfred back to the lonely forest clearing, thoroughly shocked.

The clock didn't stop there; Alfred continued to be magically transported back in time, to the birthday when Artemis had become his, to the moment he had punched that Braginski jerk, to the time when he had first seen the clock. He even experienced events that he had never been a part of, like seeing how and when Kiku was chosen as the next Queen of Hearts. Whenever this happened, the pocket watch was small and completely lightweight, but it always turned back to its normal size after the vision was done. So, what happened when the clock was bigger, and heavier? Alfred wondered.

Alfred got his answer three months later. The clock had been bigger than his hand and so heavy that he could barely lift it off the ground. When the light appeared and he touched the clock's hands, he saw himself, Kiku, Ludwig and Feliciano on a picnic outside eating pasta, wurst and other wonderful foods. Alfred had no recollection of this memory, strangely enough. A few days later, Alfred was invited to lunch with the Royals. The vision from the clock was playing out right in front of him, so that meant that the clock could not only transport him to the past, but also bring him to the future, to see events that had not occurred yet.***

Alfred fingered the beautiful gold pocket watch in his hands, turning it from side to side. The clock looked about normal size, so it probably wouldn't bring him any visions today. Still, he wasn't about to leave it here for a week while he went off with Kiku. Someone could find it and take it away, and as highly unlikely as that was, he wasn't comfortable leaving it here. He sighed tiredly, hoping that the clock would be easy to hide once he brought it back with him; he had not show nor told anyone else about his trips to the mysterious waterfall, and he wasn't planning on it either. He had a strange feeling that the Royal Deck would confiscate it from him if they ever found it.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here." said an unexpected voice from behind Alfred's back.

Alfred whirled around, hiding the clock behind him as he turned to see a tall, white haired teenager standing a little distance off, leaning on a tree. The stranger smirked, his red eyes shining out of the shadows.

"Hello, Wild." He greeted in German.

-o0o-

"Has fortune dealt you some bad cards? Then let wisdom make you a good gamester."
Francis Quarles

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Translations according to Google:

(Greek) Artemis- goddess of the moon and the hunt

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Background Information:

*Fairies are actually rarely seen in any of the 4 Kingdoms, though they can be spotted in the Spades Kingdom from time to time. Not many people live to see fairies because they do not like being around "civilized" areas, such as towns, villages, markets, or the Castles. For most of the time they stay in No-Man's-Land, away from humans. They tend to gravitate towards magical places, objects, and humans, which is the only reason they ever leave No-Man's-Land.

**All of the people in the Hearts Kingdom speak Japanese, German and Italian. Each Kingdom has at least more than two official languages according to their rulers, and everyone everywhere speaks Hoppípollan, the universal language of their world.

***For clarification, the Spades pocket watch allows Alfred to see the past when it is small and lightweight; when the clock is bigger and heavier, Alfred can see the future. This is because the past is easier to recall than it is to bring out visions of events of the future. People are constantly remembering memories and events, so it takes the clock less energy to store and show them to Alfred. Predictions on the other hand are difficult to define and can always change, therefore the clock needs to use more of its magical powers. Predictions take up more "storage room" inside of the clock, forcing it to become bigger and heavier when this happens.