So, how can Alfred talk with Arthur, since he made it impossible to reach him? He'll find a way XD Review please!
Gilbert was driving the sled, which was being pulled by his dogs. He was at the front, while Alfred and Dylan were in the back of the sled. Alfred stared at a moving black tower of some sort that Arthur seemed to be creating. Alfred had to question Arthur in this aspect. Why would he create a big tower for him to live in, if he's planning on running off and hiding? Didn't the castle just make his location more noticeable?
Dylan saw the tower and could only sigh, "idiot."
"It'll be alright once we talk to him and get him to snap out of it," Alfred said. He then started thinking, 'though seriously, what are you thinking, Arthur? Sure, go run and hide, then make a giant ass castle to hide yourself in. Surely, no one would dare to look there first, capture you and imprison you and you call me an idiot?'
"Alright, how do you plan on doing that? Sure, let's waltz in and say, 'hello, my jolly good friend. Say, could you come over back to the Spades Kingdom, so you can change everything back to normal, even though you can't control your powers?'," Dylan said mockingly.
"I have a plan!"
"Oh, I'd like to hear this, oh king," Dylan grinned sarcastically.
"I do!"
"And it is...?"
"Uh... I haven't figured it out yet, but I will have it!"
"And I still wonder how in the world you managed to become King."
"Hey look, maybe I'm making it up as I go, but we're going to help Arthur! If he keeps running off like this, he's going to continually harm more people and lands. He might even kill himself with his own voodoo crystal powers!"
Dylan sighed, rubbing his eyebrows. "I know, but do you really believe you can just easily talk Arthur into bringing our kingdom back to its crystallized form?"
"We won't know until we try," Alfred replied with a bright and confident smile on his face.
"I hope you're right, because at this point, Arthur might destroy all four Kingdoms of the Suits," Gilburt said as Alfred nodded sadly.
The gang eventually made it to Arthur's black crystal tower. Arthur did run off on foot, so he didn't or couldn't run too far and his tower already made his location obvious. Alfred stepped off the sled, then began walking toward the tower before slipping on the black crystal ground, which was glossy and smooth. Gilbert laughed as Dylan slapped the back of his head.
"Ow!" Gilbert responded, rubbing his head.
"Well, this is great, how are we going to walk there, let alone climb all the way up there?" Alfred wondered in annoyance as his eyes gazed from the foot of the tower to the top.
"HEY ARTHUR, GET YOUR BLOODY ARSE DOWN HERE!" Dylan shouted, hands cupping around his mouth.
"Go away!" Arthur's voice echoed from the top.
"ARTHUR, LISTEN, I JUST WANNA TALK! CAN YOU MAKE US A DOOR OR AT LEAST SOME FRICTION!?" Alfred cried out to Arthur, still sitting on his butt.
There was a bit of silence, then in invisible door slid up at the foot of the tower, though there was a black glass wall that remained in front of Arthur. He glared at Alfred as a small hole was created through the glass, so Arthur would be able to hear and talk to his brothers.
"Well, I'm waiting. What is it you want to talk about? Are you going to convince me to return back home or yell at me for lying to you?" Arthur asked, folding his arms with demanding eyes.
"Arthur, Spades is filled with black crystal and it hasn't disappeared, since you left. We need to find a way to undo it and you're the only one that can do that," Alfred said.
"I'm afraid I can't. You're going to have to move the kingdom somewhere else. I don't know how to undo it, Alfred. If I did, it would have already have been done. I'm sorry! You're just going to have to evacuate and move the kingdom!" Arthur cried, about to turn back.
"WAIT!" Alfred cried, running to Arthur before slipping again. "Ouch! Listen, if you don't know how, then let's find out how. There has to be someone that knows about your voodoo powers or whatever. I heard that my blackout from when I was five was from your powers. Maybe that wizard that healed me can help!"
"Alfred, they're not voodoo powers. They're just... I don't know what they are, but I'm too dangerous to be around and I doubt he knows anything! Did you think our parents never tried to find me a teacher!? Why do you think I always locked myself in my room!? Our parents died, because they sailed out to find someone or something that could help me control my powers and died from a hurricane! I don't even know if they found anything!" Arthur shouted as tears began leaking out and Alfred just stared blankly at Arthur. "I'm sorry."
"Then, let's pick up where our parents left off. Isn't that why we're crowned? Let's continue on searching for the answers as King and Que-"
"Alfred, have you lost your godforsaken mind!? I'm not fit to be in any ruler's position! I can't and will not be the ruler of anything! I am staying away from Spades and THAT IS FINAL!" Arthur shouted as he squeezed his eyes shut, hands slamming on the wall he created. He couldn't bare to see Alfred. "Our talk is over."
"ALFRED! BLOODY HELL!" Dylan cried frantically, which made Arthur open his eyes.
"OH MY GOD!" Alfred cried in horror as he watched a patch of black crystal form on his abdomen.
"ALFRED NO! OH GOD! BLOODY HELL NO!" Arthur cried frantically as he lifted the crystal glass wall open and ran to Alfred, placing his hand on the location of the abdomen. "Don't tell me I...! Please stop! Please!" He squeezed his eyes shut, focusing on the black crystal to stop them from spreading. It only slowed down the process. "No! Please no!"
"We need to get Alfred help before it spreads to his vital areas, if it hasn't already!" Dylan cried with a determined facial expression as Arthur looked up at his older brother, then nodded.
"Let's go," Arthur replied.
Arthur sat on the sled next to Alfred to keep the crystals from spreading. He held Alfred tightly, trying his hardest not to cry. He couldn't lose his little brother like this. This was too much for the black crystal prince to handle. Alfred was scared, but also worried for Arthur. He could only place his arm around Arthur to calm him down, to let him know he was still here. It was funny, because Alfred's stomach had been acting strange, but had been so anxious on getting to Arthur that he had not been paying attention to how his body was responding.
"I'm so sorry, Alfred. God, please don't do this to me," Arthur pleaded as Alfred patted his back, his expression looking pathetically sad.
"We're here! I'll go get him," Gilbert said as he was about to get off the sled.
"No, I got this!" A voice was heard nearby.
Everyone turned and saw a man with dark skin, short black hair and some whiskers around his chin. He seemed to be wearing a forest green trench coat of some sort with a hood and a white mask. There was no doubt he was the wizard that helped heal Alfred as a child. He was wearing some shoes with small spikes at the bottom to help him walk on the black crystal ground.
As soon as the wizard approached Alfred, he muttered a spell, and a purple glow surrounded the areas of black crystal. It seemed to have frozen the crystallization process, but didn't completely heal Alfred fully.
"You really did it this time, Arthur. I warned you that something like this would happen, if not treated in less than an hour," the wizard said.
"I didn't know it would do this and let's not forget that you guys never told me what happened when I was five. A bit of my history lesson would've been helpful," Alfred argued.
"We told you that you needed to have it checked!" Dylan shouted.
"You should've had him checked, whether he wanted to or not! You know how Alfred is about being reckless, you bloody arse!" Arthur shouted, punching Dylan in the stomach. "And you can tell that to the rest of you idiots!"
"Let's stop! Arguing isn't going to help solve this!" Alfred cried, then turned to the wizard. "Is there anything that can stop this from spreading?"
"It's already hit some very vital organs. I was able to stop the process for 24 hours, but after that, it will began forming and crystallize you permanently. After that, there's no healing," the wizard said sadly. "I'm sorry."
"No. There has to be a way! Please, tell me what I have to do! I'll do anything! I'll give my life of servitude! Just tell me what I need to do to save Alfred!" Arthur pleaded with the wizard, slowly sinking to his knees.
The wizard sighed, rubbing his eyebrows before replying, "your parents have tried. The place they were going to was their last hope of giving you what you sought for and they paid it with their lives. I warned them that no man has ever returned alive when going to that place. They didn't listen. At this point, Alfred has no time to go on a week long trip there. I'm sorry."
The wizard turned around and began turning back as Arthur stared blankly at the ground, then his hands. They balled into fists before punching against the black crystal ground angrily. The ground began shaking almost like an earthquake. Alfred tripped off the sled and crawled to his brother, hugging him from behind. Arthur's head perked up, then pushed Alfred away from him.
"Leave Alfred! Just go!" Arthur shouted, squeezing his eyes shut.
"Arthur..." Alfred muttered.
"I SAID LEAVE! I'M A MONSTER! I DID THIS TO YOU! YOU DON'T WANT TO BE NEAR ME! JUST LEAVE!" Arthur screamed at the top of his lungs as a black crystal dome formed around him.
"Arthur, stop this! ARTHUR!" Alfred pleaded, banging on the crystal dome. "Stop locking me out!"
Suddenly, the black crystal dome shattered into millions of peaces, each of them glowing purple. Arthur gasped at the pieces of black crystal as he slowly looked up and saw a purple glow around the hand of some sort of mysterious figure in a black cloak. There was a hint of glowing crimson eyes under the black cloak with sleeves that matched the eyes and gloves that matched the cloak.
"I'll help," this mysterious person replied. "I apologize about my old mentor. He's stubborn and has a thing about giving up, but I don't want to leave you guys like this."
"Who are you?" Dylan asked with eyes full of suspicion.
The mysterious figure took off his hood, revealing a headful of strawberry blond and a grin with fangs. He replied, "Vladimir, the vampire sorcerer. I live nearby and happened to overhear the whole thing. I know as much as Wizard Sadik and more."
"Your accent. You're from Clubs," Alfred realized.
"Was. I moved here a long time ago with my brothers. Anyways, we can talk more on the way. We don't have much time," Vladimir said, moving himself onto the sled. "First, let's go to the Kingdom of Clubs. We need to get to the island Sadik was talking about. It's the Crystal Island of Magic. It's said to be where the source of magic lies. We need to get there in less than 24 hours, which is impossible..." A smirk appeared on his lips. "unless you can fly there."
"That's right! The Kingdom of Clubs have incredible flying machines. Maybe flying one of those can get us to the Crystal Island on time!" Arthur realized with gleeful eyes.
"Dude, you're awesome!" Alfred grinned.
"No problem! Besides, I've always wanted to go on a quest. Let's get going! We've got 24 hours!" Vladimir replied excitedly.
Arthur and Alfred returned back to the sled as Gilbert signaled the dogs to move and the dogs ran themselves on their way to the Kingdom of Clubs. They all had an entire day to heal Alfred and there was no time to sit and talk. They had to keep moving. Arthur could only be thankful that there was someone that was willing to help.