"We should stop here for the night," Gilbert sighed and stopped walking in the middle of a small clearing. Arthur looked up at the sky again through the trees and noticed that it was starting to turn a shade of purple.

"Fine with me," Alfred said happily and stretched both of his arms above his head, causing Arthur's right arm to go up in the air slightly.

"You know, I've been walking through this forest for about a day now," Arthur scoffed. "And I haven't seen one shred of proof that it's magical."

"You keep saying things like that and it's gonna get angry," Alfred pointed out, smiling.

"It's a forest," Arthur snapped. "Forests do not have feelings." Arthur moved his left foot to take a step forward, but it seemed like the ground suddenly lifted up, causing Arthur to falter backwards. He tried to use his right foot to catch him, but the ground suddenly rose up when he tried to place it on the ground, and Arthur's back slammed onto the ground, the wind knocked out of him.

"You know," Alfred said and Arthur had to blink a few times to get his vision and breathing back. Arthur looked over to his side and saw that Alfred as kneeling next to him, obviously he avoided falling with Arthur. "Someone who could use magic probably would know that anything can have feelings. Even someone like you."

"Shut up," Arthur snapped and sat upright.

"You gonna be nice to it now?" Gilbert laughed and Arthur noticed that he was carrying a pile of wood.

"I would hardly call what you're doing being nice to the forest," Arthur rolled his eyes.

"I asked for permission, dip shit," Gilbert said proudly.

"I have a sinking feeling that you two are insane," Arthur muttered as he stood up. "I don't think a forest can have a mind to have feelings and to give permission to do anything!"

"Explain how you just fell," Alfred stood up, too.

"I tripped," Arthur rationalized.

"Sure you did," Alfred laughed. "This forest actually knows a lot. It knows more than us humans do."

"A forest can't know anything," Arthur rolled his eyes and tried to walk again. But the ground rose up again underneath his feet, tripping him again. This time, however, he managed to tumble, face-first into Alfred's chest.

"You okay there?" Alfred laughed and Arthur shoved himself away.

"I am fine!" Arthur huffed. Rather than trying to walk again, though, Arthur just sat down cross-legged right where he was. Since Alfred was still standing, though, Arthur's right hand was suspended in the air.

"Giving up walking's a nice way out of it, right?" Alfred laughed.

"Oh, shut up," Arthur sighed. "You should sit down soon, before my wrist starts bleeding or something."

"Why should I care if your wrist is bleeding?" Alfred asked, still laughing.

"You already kidnapped me," Arthur glared at him. "So you're already going to prison. If you bring me back damaged, you'll get off even worse."

"Do I look like I'm worried about that?" Alfred raised an eyebrow. "Besides, I'm sure you can handle a small cut on your wrist. Bear in mind that I'm also feeling what you are. We are kinda connected and stuff."

"You will be so dead by the time this is over!" Arthur threatened.

"I would like to see you try to do anything to me," Alfred snorted and started walking, which resulted in him dragging Arthur behind him. Sputtering, Arthur tried to dig his feet into the ground to get them to stop, but Alfred just kept going.

"Why do you insist on being so bloody difficult!" Arthur snapped, standing now and matching Alfred's pace. He noticed that they were just walking around in a circle around the clearing.

"Because you're so caught up in being a stuck up royal that this is the only way you would even consider paying attention to someone like me," Alfred stated.

"I am not a stuck up royal!" Arthur twitched.

"Then why are you complaining about going through the forest?" Alfred demanded. He had stopped walking and now turned around towards Arthur. "You're so freaking irritating! Why can't you shut up for two seconds! If you don't care as much as you say, then stop caring!"

"If I'm so irritating, then you should just let me go!" Arthur yelled. "It's that bloody simple! I don't want to be here, that's why I'm complaining! I don't care what you think, this stupid adventure you're putting me through won't change anything! You won't be getting your independence!"

"I'm just trying to settle this before there's a war!" Alfred yelled. "Because that's what's gonna happen if you don't give us our independence now! I don't want anybody I represent to die because of a war!"

"If you become independent, there's no possible way you can avoid war!" Arthur yelled louder. "If that's what you're worried about, then there is no way that you would be able to sustain your own kingdom! You would make for a horrible king!"

"At least not all I think about is war!" Alfred yelled in return. "You go to war with Joroko all the time! And that's just because you hate their king!"

"That's because he's a bloody idiot!" Arthur snapped, balling his hands into fists. "You'd be just like Antonio, except even he is a little smarter than you!"

"Hey, look, I made a fire," Gilbert came up to them and, wrapping his arms around their shoulders, led them towards the fire he had just made. "Let's all stare at it and be quiet."

"Tyrant," Alfred muttered.

"Wanker," Arthur muttered.


Arthur stared up at the starry sky through the trees and sighed. He couldn't help but wonder if there was anyone who cared enough about him to search. Did they even notice he was missing yet? They probably did, considering the "surprise" Francis told him all about that was supposed to happen at that party. That was today, wasn't it?

It was doubtful anyone would search for him. Better for them, they get to have free claim to all his territories and then he'd have to build his empire back up from scratch… He didn't matter all that much in the first place. A main reason his kingdom and Francis' were combining was for added strength in the first place…

Arthur was pulled out of his thoughts at the sound of Alfred snoring, signaling that he was definitely deep in sleep. Time for Arthur's next plan for escape. He looked around to make sure Gilbert wasn't around. He was apparently in charge of guard duty, but Arthur was pretty sure he would just be sleeping in a tree somewhere.

Arthur slowly sat up, careful not to move the shackles too much. Alfred was sleeping on his back, which made for easy access to that pocket he was storing the key in. It was the right one, if Arthur remembered correctly, meaning he would have to reach across Alfred to get to it.

He tried to reach over, but he couldn't get a good enough angle to reach into the pocket without waking Alfred up. So, taking a deep breath, Arthur moved his left leg so that it was over both of Alfred's, and moved his left hand so that it was on the other side of Alfred's head. He tried to ignore the fact that he was on top of Alfred on all fours and tried to focus on getting that key. Getting to freedom would be a piece of cake.

Before he could move his left hand to try to search the pocket, however, the grass seemed to slip beneath his hands and knees. Causing him to fall right on top of Alfred. To his horror, the snoring stopped.

"Well, hi," Alfred chuckled and Arthur didn't look up, to hide his growing blush. This was just embarrassing. Finally, though, Arthur forced himself off Alfred, rolling to where he was before. "Were you looking for this?" Alfred asked and Arthur watched him pull out the key from his pocket.

"Possibly," Arthur looked away from him.

"Tell ya what, dude," Alfred laughed and Arthur noticed the key fall onto the ground several feet in front of him. "If you can get to the key, then you can go."

"Really?" Arthur sat up and looked over to Alfred.

"Yup!" Alfred nodded, staying lying down.

"No tricks?" Arthur asked.

"None," Alfred smiled. "Just grab the key."

Arthur just looked at Alfred for a second before he looked back at the key. He started crawling for the key, but he stopped, when his right arm wouldn't move anymore. He looked back and saw that Alfred was still just lying on his back, his arm being pulled out by the shackles. Arthur tugged on the arm, but Alfred didn't budge. Arthur stood up and tried to pull again, but he pulled so hard he fell over. He had just been able to pull Alfred so that he was sideways.

"Why do you have to be such a fat arse?" Arthur grumbled as he stood back up.

"Why don't you have any muscle?" Alfred laughed.

Arthur rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the key and tried to see if he could grab onto it with his foot. He stretched out his leg as far as it would go, but the key was still a couple inches away.

"I think being pampered in that castle for your whole life has made you soft," Alfred sighed and walked over to pick up the key.

"You're just so fat, I can't move you," Arthur snapped.

"I doubt you could even do a push up," Alfred stated.

"I could!" Arthur defended himself.

"Do one right now," Alfred raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not going to do a push up in front of you just because you told me to," Arthur huffed.

"That's 'cause you're a wuss," Alfred patted his back.

"Wanker…" Arthur muttered.

"Look, I would fight with you, but I'm tired," Alfred yawned and messed up Arthur's hair.

"Don't do that," Arthur winced and tried to fix his hair.

"It was already messed up in the first place," Alfred chuckled.

"That doesn't mean I like people messing with it," Arthur muttered and followed Alfred back to where they originally slept. Alfred laid down and Arthur just sat beside him. He wasn't tired.

"Hey, Artie, I have a question," Alfred said after a long silence.

"I'll answer it if you call me by my real name," Arthur stated.

"Arthur," Alfred sighed. "Did you mean it when you said I would be a horrible king?"

"Well, from what I've seen so far, you're just some brat who refuses to give up and hates war," Arthur stated. "So, no, you probably wouldn't."

"Really?" Alfred propped himself up on his elbows and looked at Arthur. He looked genuinely hurt.

"What do you care?" Arthur asked. "I figured you thought all kings were tyrants."

"I wouldn't want to be king per se," Alfred muttered, gazing up at the stars. "I thought up this new way for a place to be run, so it wouldn't be a kingdom or an empire or a territory. But it still has a ruler, in essence, I guess. But I figure that probably won't be me…"

Arthur stared at Alfred for a while. He actually felt…bad. Almost like he crushed some kids dreams.

"Mind telling me that new method of ruling?" Arthur asked tentatively and Alfred looked at him like he was crazy.

"Why do you care?" Alfred furrowed his eyebrows.

"Well, I don't," Arthur said quickly, looking down at the ground. "I just…figured it would be a good way for me to get to sleep. A boring fantasy like that…" Arthur really didn't mean that, he didn't know why he didn't, though.

"Well, it's still rough around the edges," Alfred chuckled. "But it gives more power to the people. Gives them a say in everything that goes on. Even their ruler. And…everyone is pretty equal, overall. Even the ruler won't have all the power over everyone else. I…don't quite know what to call it yet though." Arthur marveled at the way Alfred talked about it. He got so into it, it was almost like he got lost in his dream. He was genuinely devoted to this.

"Beautiful," Arthur chuckled quietly.

"Huh?" Alfred turned his head towards him.

"I-I said…wishful thinking," Arthur said quickly. "I doubt anyone would follow something like that. It sounds stupid." Arthur tried not to wince at his words and Alfred's reaction.

"Maybe you're right," Alfred sighed, staring back up at the sky, but he soon closed his eyes. "It's only a dream right now, after all."

Arthur, completely forgetting why he hated this boy, wanted nothing more than to tell him to follow that dream. But he bit his tongue, staring at the ground. He had already promised that independence was impossible, so that would be like giving him false hope…

Right?


Gilbert chuckled from his position in a tree. Before Alfred fell asleep, they could have easily cut each other's heads off. But, now it looked like they were getting along. Or, the closest they would get to that.

Alfred was staring up at the sky and Arthur was sitting next to him impatiently. Gilbert would have never guessed that the two could co-exist this well ever before.

Suddenly, Arthur looked over at Alfred, who had just asked a question. Arthur said something off-handedly, but Alfred looked completely crushed. The two talked for a while and Arthur eventually looked guilty, staring at Alfred as he fell asleep again.

Gilbert was amazed at how the two could go from Arthur falling on top of Alfred to Arthur dragging Alfred to Arthur feeling guilty.

"Kids," Gilbert sighed as he resituated himself in the tree. The fire he made was long gone, but the two seemed fine as they were. However, it didn't look like Arthur was going to fall asleep any time soon. "As long as he's keeping watch…" Gilbert muttered and closed his eyes to get to sleep.


Important step for Arthur and Alfred. This is where they make the transition between arguing and bickering. All because of that touching moment. Aw... So cute. And, the forest knows all, even that Arthur and Alfred are supposed to be together by the end of the story. So, you can think of it as the forest playing matchmaker. Yeah, not much happened in this chapter, to be honest... But, hey, it was fun to write, so that's all that matters, eh?

Oh, and turns out, my update everyday thing didn't last as long as I planned. I'm going camping tomorrow through Sunday, so I won't be able to post until then. But, by then, I will have written a lot of chapters, so writing every day won't be hard at all.

Thank you to everyone that's reviewed so far! I really appreciate! If you haven't reviewed yet, I would love it if you did!

I don't own Hetalia.