A/N: What's this? A chapter in the middle of the week? Horary for a lack of schedule! :D I wanted to get this out last weekend, but a pack of wild Zombie Velociraptors were running rampant through the streets, and I had to go and fight them off with my trusty chainsaw. You know how it is.
…
Okay, I had a lot of homework, but the other excuse was more exciting, and everyone uses the homework excuse, amirite? Buy hey; I got this one out just in time for Thanksgiving! Or should I say the beginning of the Christmas season? Anyway, to all of the American readers, May your Thanksgiving be filled with delicious stuffing, and may all of your wishbone wishes come true! (~OAO)~ And for everyone else, to compensate for not getting a long weekend to eat until you explode, this chapter is dedicated to YOU! :D Enjo-…
… I feel like I'm forgetting-OHMYGODIALMOSTFORGOT!
P.S.! This is Amazing and Awesome and asdjkfqu… Ehem, Well. I got fan art. (BTW, Amelia F. Jones, I still want to see yours. :I I didn't forget.) But, not ONLY did I get a TO A "T" character design of Artie's Joker ensemble, which I want all of you to go stare at in wonder (The link is on my profile page), but the FAAAABULOUS person who drew it is turning The Joker, into a doujinshi.
You heard right.
This story will soon be in manga form. Now, I would like anyone who finds this abso-freakin-loutly amazing, to go and fangirl over WaterzDragon on deviantart. Drop her a comment, PESTER HER INTO POSTING ALFRED'S DESIGN AND THE FIRST PAGE. (I know your reading this. You're welcome for all that spam Waterz.) She's amazing, super nice, and an AMAZINGLYAWESOME artist, no lie. NOW GO MY PRETTIES! FLYYYYY! /end rant
start chapter/
.::.
It took me a few moments to respond. Anatolia looked nervous.
"A-Arthur? Hey, you alright?" She asked timidly.
"-sane…" I mumbled.
"What did you-"
"Is everyone around me insane?" I exploded, Anatolia shrunk in on herself. I forgot that she was terrified of people yelling at her.
"I-I'm not lying… All of this is real Artie… Please, just… Let me explain…" She begged, never unfolding from ball she had curled into. I sighed and began to rub circles on her back; it was the only way to get her to come out from that position.
"Alright," a soft sigh escaped my lips, "What is all this 'Kingsland' nonsense about?" Anatolia uncurled and smiled at me.
"Well, Kingsland is on a whole otherworldly plane from the Mortallands, that's this world. It came about around, oh… I believe it was in the 1500's here in the Mortallands, well, that's when the kings took their queens and such. But, anyway, in Kingsland, there are twelve divisions, one for each 'card face' and one for the four kings."
"Who are the card faces?" I interrupted her speech in favor of a new question.
"The card Faces are the guards of Kingsland. Each is assigned a number based on their strength. Some numbers and divisions were assigned two guards, I don't really know why."
"And I am one of these… Card Faces?" I asked
"I suppose. I mean, you do have a card, but you are slightly more important than the others. Being the original Joker, you were kind of like a protégé to the kings. They raised you to be a weapon essentially. If something went wrong, you could solve it," She explained, beginning to swing again.
"What's the deal with these Kings anyway? Based on the way you and that Alfred person talk about them, they don't seem very nice," I began to swing myself.
"Well, that's a pretty good assumption. They were okay to be around for the first couple hundred years, but then around 1800, give or take a few years, something in the Kings cracked. All of a sudden they gained a powerful hatred of humans from this world. I'm a little foggy as to why because I haven't been back in such a long time and I get memory lapses sometimes, but I do know that people couldn't come to and from Kingsland safely anymore,"
"People were allowed to go there before?" I asked as we began to swing higher.
"Yea, the Kings often opened up things called Poolways that allowed people to come and go. But then, after the Kings changed, they closed all of the ones that were accessible from here, so no mortal could go… uninvited…" she explained, her voice faltering slightly as she slowed her swing.
"What do you mean 'uninvited'?" Anatolia skidded to a stop, her choppy white bangs covering her face.
"They… They took people." I stopped alongside her, "They would send someone out… a-and that person would have to find someone to be the newest 'Player'… The players… They would have to fight the Card faces… A-and if they beat them they got their cards to use for summoning… The winners, they got promised fabulous riches and the ability to go home… B-but… they had to beat the kings to win…" I got off of my swing and kneeled in front of her. Her skin was pulled tightly across her knuckles, turning them white, as she gripped the chains of the swing, her body shaking slightly. I placed a hand on her knee.
"Ant, what's wrong? What happened if they lost?" my eyes widened as she looked up at me. She was crying, large wet tears ran down from her misty green eyes. Anatolia never cried. Not even when her first dog died.
"They were killed. No one ever won. No one got to go home. If you were brought there, it was a death sentence… I-I was always the one who had to bring people there, it was my job. I brought them there and explained things before sending them to their deaths," a strangled sob escaped from her lips.
"I basically killed people Artie…" she whispered, ashamed of what she believed she had done.
"You didn't kill anyone Ant; it's not your fault. Please, tell me why there are two Jokers," I asked the first thing that came into my mind to distract her. Crying really didn't suit her at all. She wiped her eyes and hiccupped before responding.
"Well, w-when I sent you out of Kingsland; the Kings needed someone to take your place. So they got the first person they could find. It just so happened to be a nineteen year old American boy by the name of Alfred F. Jones. I trained him for a short period of time before I came here to join you. The kings didn't even care that I was gone," she smiled at me. "I was such a ninja about the whole thing," I smiled, but slapped her upside the head softly.
"You're an idiot," she laughed for a moment before remembering something.
"Speaking of idiots, I'm never going to hear the end of it if you don't let that one out. Just hold the card and say Joker. It's not as cool as what you have to say to send a card face back, but it works," I looked at her quizzically, but got Alfred's card no less.
The picture had changed once again. This time Alfred was leaning against the border around his frame, looking positively bored. I shot a look at Anatolia.
"He's... Impatient. I'd let him out now." She responded, gesturing to the card. I sighed.
"Joker, uh, would you mind please coming out?" I chanced a look at Anatolia, only to find that she was looking at me questioningly.
"Ever the British gentleman, aren't we?"
"Oy, you could use some manner-" A bright flash of light exploded from the card, and a sudden extra weight latched onto me.
"Yay! You let me out! I knew you could do it eyebrows!" the American idiot cheered, hugging me with a freakish strength, successfully cutting off any hope of blood flow or oxygen.
"Let. Me. Go. You git!" I gasped, trying to break free of the vice grip that Alfred passed off for a hug. Thankfully Anatolia pried him off of me.
"Don't do that. Normally, people like breathing." Alfred just glared at the smaller girl.
"Whatever Ant. Hey, Artie, did she explain everything already?" the cloaked man asked, leaning on one of the poles that held up the swing set.
"Mostly, though I don't really understand why I'm the only hope for the card faces. Or whatever you mentioned." Anatolia and Alfred looked at each other before Anatolia began to speak.
"Well, you see, when I said the Kings took their Queens, I literally meant took them. Everyone in Kingsland aside from the Kings was actually from the Mortallands. All of the card faces, the Queens, even you, everyone was from this world originally. The Kings took them from times and places where they wouldn't be missed, orphanages, large families with too many mouths to feed, the works. The kids they took were from all around the world too, Japan, Italy, Germany, excreta excreta. " she explained sheepishly, glancing between Alfred and myself. I ran a hand through my sandy blonde hair, messing it up further.
"… Holy shit. So, I was kidnapped? What about my parents?" I asked, suddenly curious.
"Well, I'm positive they're dead now." Anatolia responded, straight-faced.
"What? Why?"
"Well, you got taken around…" she mumbled the last part. Alfred and I looked at each other, neither of us knowing what she had said.
"Around what?" Anatolia took a deep breath before answering.
"Fifteen ten…"
"Excuse me?" I deadpanned.
"You were taken around fifteen ten. You are technically six hundred years old… Does it help if I say you look good for your age?" my reaction was perfectly reasonable.
"EXCUSE ME? I CAN NOT BE SIX HUNDRED YEARS OLD, I'M SEVENTEEN!" I screeched, jumping up. Alfred was dying.
"Hahahahaha! Old man!" He exclaimed between fits of hearty laughter, tears forming in his eyes. I glared at him.
"Shut. Up. You are still technically older than me!" I yelled, pointing an accusatory finger at him. He smirked, his laughing having died down.
"Yea, but I'm not six hundred. I'm like twenty six and I haven't aged a day past nineteen. So ha, old man." I gaped openly.
"What? What does he mean he hasn't aged?" I asked, turning to Anatolia. This whole situation kept getting stranger and less believable.
"Well, Time works differently in Kingsland. Sixty Mortallandian years is the equivalent to one Kingslandian year, but time moves faster. It's hard to explain, but basically you age one year for every sixty Mortallandian years when you are in Kingsland, but if you spend three hundred and sixty five days in Kingsland, it's like a month or two here. It's complicated and weird." Anatolia explained.
"My head hurts…" I mumbled, trying to remember everything.
"Well, that's not the end of it old man. We need your help," Alfred chimed in, his laughter having stopped completely. I sighed and looked up at him.
"The Kings need to be stopped, and the only ones who can stop them are us. We've spent the longest amount of time in here on Earth; we know the difference between a game and murder. We know what they're doing is wrong. I've tried to persuade some of the other card faces to help stop them, but they don't see anything wrong with it. It's what they've grown up with. It's all they know. Arthur, please, will you help me stop them?" Alfred begged, his blue eyes pleading with my emerald ones. I opened my mouth to answer but Anatolia cut me off.
"No, I brought him out to get him away from all of that. I'm not letting him go back. Never again. I explained it, and that's all he needs to know." She hissed, stepping in front of me.
"It's not your call Ant! I know you're protective of him, but I also know you don't approve of what's happening either. You want this to stop, you've told me so. Also, you didn't tell him everything, I know you didn't. You just can't face your own demons, can you? You thought bring him here would change everything, but it didn't, and it's killing you. Isn't it?" Alfred snapped back at her. She cringed at the man's accusing words.
"I knew letting you out was a bad idea. I knew you would ruin everything! I can't believe I was that stupid! This is why I kept your card under lock and key, but no. You just had to find a way out of my protection! Everything was just fine befo-"
"Will you both shut up?" The bickering pair whipped around, their eyes wide, "You are both absolute idiots! Alfred, I don't know who you are, but you have no right to accuse Anatolia of not repeating things she probably doesn't want to remember," Alfred looked down, ashamed, while Ant smirked.
"See, Arthur totally likes me be-"
"I never said you were any less of a git. You cannot decide what I can and cannot do. Now, explain what me helping entails," Anatolia looked dejected, while Alfred flashed a megawatt grin.
"Well, we would need to go into Kingsland through our cards, which double as Poolways, challenge all of the card faces to duels, and we would need to win all of them. Once we have beaten everyone and obtained their cards, we have to go to the Kingsland Spire, aka the home and division of the Kings, the Queens, and the Queen's guards the Jacks. We have to face the Queens first, which basically means fighting the Jacks. Once we've beaten them, it's a straight shot to the Kings. Comprende?" I nodded, thinking to myself.
If all of this was actually real, and that assumption got more evidence the more times I looked at Alfred and his strange outfit, then the morally correct thing to do would be to go and fight. But what if we lost? That was an option I didn't really want to think about very hard. But still, I wanted to know more. Everything I had known ever since I was young could be wrong, and if it was I wanted to know why. Why Anatolia had kept this from me for so long, why she had brought us here, what my life was like in that world, everything was being questioned in my head. Going to this, Kingsland could either shed light on these questions, or open a floodgate to all new questions.
The benefits of going were beginning to outweigh the risks. My mind had been made up.
"When do we leave?"
A/N: /end chapter/ :D … what? It's longer! Like a couple hundred words longer! I'm proud. :3 Now, I'm gunna go eat some turkey!
Drop a review with what YOU'RE thankful for! I'm thankful for my fabulous, kind, and supportive readers who have stuck with me even with my freakish updating patterns, rambling author's notes, and the occasional crappily written chapter, friends, family, and vacation! Now it's your turn, even if you aren't American, I bet there's still stuff you're thankful for! (/O7O)/
Thanks for reading!