Alfred sighed, lying in bed and staring at the ceiling. He felt like something was missing, but he couldn't figure out what. He furrowed his eyebrows, trying to think. After a few minutes he gave up and rolled over onto his side and ended up staring at the empty bed next to him. He suddenly shot up, looking horrified. He had finally remembered what was missing! How could he have forgotten about his brother!? Well sure he usually is quiet and doesn't say much in front of others but he still shouldn't have forgotten him! He looked down at the floor with a feeling of guilt. He got up and looked at the calendar, and if he was correct it had only been…

He put his finger on the date his brother left to the date now. Only four days! His brother had only been gone four days and he's already forgotten about him! The older neko sighed, laying his ears back against his head remembering it wasn't the first time. Not many people noticed his brother and he was often overlooked a lot, even by Master Ivan. Still though there was no excuse for him not to remember he was gone. He now was starting to feel really horrible.

"Alfred? Why you look so sad?"

Alfred jumped in surprise, then looked over at the door to see Ivan standing there. It was a rare occasion for Master Ivan to personally come get him. He would normally send Ravis, Eduard, Toris or any of the other servants. "Well 'cause it's been four days since Mattie left, and I can't believe I forgot about him… Again!" He looked down slightly.

Ivan nodded "Da. It has been four days. Don't worry! I'm sure he's fine. Want to talk to him? I have friend over that could help." He smiled as Alfred perked up suddenly.

"Really!? You do? That's grate! Can I talk with him please?" The older neko grins. Ivan chuckled but nodded, smiling at him "Da. Of course!"

Ivan led Alfred down to his meeting room and opened the door to show a griffin lying in the middle of the floor. Alfred blinked "WHOA! What the heck is that thing!?" Al then moved behind Ivan as the griffin looked at him. Ivan just smiled "Arthur! Welcome! I see you're back into your griffin form. This is my little Alfred. He requires help to talk with his brother."

Alfred looked at the griffin as it stood up, suddenly changing into a man with blonde hair, green eyes and really thick eyebrows. He noticed the man did keep the wings, ears and tail. He blinked as Ivan pulled him out from behind him, pushing him forward. He watched the new man cautiously.

The griffin man smiled kindly at Alfred before bowing. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Alfred." Arthur straightened up. "I am Arthur Kirkland. I hear you require my assistance?"

Alfred nodded "Well yeah! I want to talk with my brother! Can you really do that for me?"

Arthur was in surprise at the sudden energy and slight rudeness to his tone. He didn't think he would hear a servant, especially one of Ivan's, have that tone. He raised an eye brow at Ivan, who just gave him a smile. He cleared his throat turning back to Alfred. "Well yes I can make it so you can talk to your brother, Alfred."

A huge grin brightened up Al's face. "Cool! So how are you going to do that? Am I going to ride your back to him or something? Am I going to go on an adventure?" His ears perked up as he kept getting more and more excited. "An adventure would be fun! I could go out and see the world! I could even save people and be a hero!"

Ivan cleared his throat loudly, causing Alfred and even Arthur to jump. He smiled at them once they looked at him. Arthur cleared his throat as well, getting the cat like boy's attention. "Well, uh, that's not exactly what was in mind."

Alfred's ears drooped, disappointed. "Oh."

"Well actually we plan on using magic." Arthur smiled.

Alfred's ears perked up again. "Magic? Really!? You know how to use that!? That's awesome! Dude you have to show me!"

Arthur blinked in surprise yet again at this boy's enthusiasm. "Sure but just so you know, you have only a few hours at the most to talk with him. I do have to get back to my Master."

"Wait you're a servant!? Like me!?" Al asks, shocked.

Arthur nodded "Of course I am. You don't see many lower rank creatures as masters… Especially creatures there's not many of any more…" He sighed running a hand through his hair. Alfred nodded, ears drooping slightly. "Yeah… Well anyways, how am I going to talk with my brother?" He perked up again hopping in place.

Arthur motioned for Alfred to come over to him. Alfred glanced up at Ivan, who just nodded, letting the little cat boy know it was alright to go. Alfred slowly went over by Arthur. "Whoa! Dude, I am taller then you!"

Arthur snorted. "That's irrelevant. Now stay quiet and don't move while I do this."

He put a hand on Alfred's forehead. "Also if you feel sleepy don't worry your supposed to."

Alfred nodded, staying as still as he could and kept his mouth shut tightly. He watched the griffin as he closed his eyes, starting to chant something the neko couldn't understand. He listened to the words soon he could feel his eyes start to get heavy as sleep over came him. He let his eyes close as he drifted off to sleep.

Ivan had walked over to his little cat-like servant and griffin friend the minute he saw Alfred falling asleep. He walked over there just in time to catch him before he could hit the ground. He picked him up bridal-style, making sure his little servant's head was resting against his shoulder. He turned to Arthur and smiled. "Thank you. My little Alfred missed his brother. This will be nice for him, da?"

Arthur nodded in agreement. "Yes it should be, but he sure has grown since the last night I saw him." Ivan nodded glancing at Alfred.

The griffin cleared his throat a bit nervously. "You have kept him here ever since you got him, am I correct?"

Ivan raised an eyebrow. "Da."

Arthur shifted a bit under the king's stare. "Well I would like to suggest that you let him out to explore, maybe take him with you when you have to leave the castle?"

"He has never once said to be wanting to." Ivan wondering why he was suggesting this. He thought his little servant would tell him if he wanted to go with. He had asked, but he had wanted to stay home with his brother. He also did prefer him in the castle where it was safe. There were many dangers outside of the castle. He didn't want his little Alfred to be taken away from him or hurt badly.

Arthur nodded, shifting a bit nervously, hoping not to make Ivan mad. "Yes well that may be true but you saw how excited he got from the thought of going on an 'adventure' right?"

Ivan nodded "Da. I did." He glanced back at Alfred as he spoke "But it safer here."

"Right but just think it over. He may enjoy it. Also if he's with you, you could protect him."

Ivan hesitantly agreed to consider it. He did want Alfred to be happy and not be scared of him, or even hate him like some of the others.

Arthur cleared his throat to get Ivan's attention "Now that this is taken care of, shall we talk about what you really called me here for? You're still having those 'problems' aren't you?"

Ivan nodded, suddenly getting serious. "Da, I am. Let me put him to bed then we shall talk. We have two hours?"

Arthur nodded when Ivan smiled a bit "Good. Now come with me."

Arthur then remembered what he felt when he had used his magic on Alfred. "Oh, also I need to talk with you about Alfred and Matthew. I noticed something during that spell that's quite interesting."

Ivan blinked in response. "Da, let's go." He led Arthur out of the room.

Matthew sighed looking out at sea. He had gotten to know a lot about the crew members in these past four days, especially Lovino. He was surprised he was able to get along with an Incubus. Then again, he wasn't so bad when he wasn't trying to hit on him, though Antonio usually took care of that problem. He found their relationship really amusing and weird.

He also had noticed those two keep a really close eye on him, but he didn't let it bother him. He was disappointed that he didn't really learn too much about his so-called master. He was nice but he always seemed to be busy. That's to be expected… right?

He did find out that Gilbert was pretty much the leader of this small group of pirates so he supposed he would be busy. Though what's mostly been bugging him is that he hasn't seen the vampire captain feed once. He's walked in on Antonio feeding off of Lovino plenty of times as well as doing other… things. He shuddered at the thought. He's learned to knock on their door and wait after the first day. He sighed taking out his locket looking at it.

"Looking at that useless locket again, Matt?"

Matthew sighed and looked up at Lovino who was leaning against the railing of the ship. "I told you it's not useless, Lovi."

Lovino shot him an unamused look out of the corner of his eye. "It's Lovino, not Lovi."

The neko nodded. "Yeah, I know only Antonio is allowed to call you that."

The incubus snorted not saying a word against it. Matthew tucked the locket back into his shirt.

"Though if you two are going to have a little fun together could you please lock the door? No one wants to walk in on that."

Lovino's face turned bright red. "Hey! I told you not to fucking talk about that!"

Matthew chuckled then sighed slightly looking off to the side. "I kind of envy your guys' relationship though…"

"You do?"

"Well yeah, I hoped to be able to be like that with Master Gilbert." He glanced at Lovino who was giving him a shocked and confused look.

Mattie sighed, "Remember what I told you?"

Lovino nodded slowly. "Oh, yeah… That… Your uh…" He lowered his voice. "Heat…"

The blonde-haired neko smiled a bit. "Yeah, that. Well, when someone makes us go into heat, they are usually our mate. We mate for life."

Lovino smirked slightly. "Still, if you ever need some release from your heat you can always come to me~"

Matthew scooted away from him. "No, I'm fine… I'll just continue to ignore it."

The incubus shrugged. "Your loss."

Matthew stood up, ready to go talk with Gilbert, but suddenly swayed and felt very tired. He suddenly opened his eyes and his brother was leaning over him with a big goofy grin on his face. He could also faintly hear Lovino yelling in the background. He sat up rubbing his eyes.

"Al?" He looked around noticing he was laying on his bed in Gilbert's room. "Wait, Al?! What are you-? How are you? What's going on?!"

Alfred chuckled and patted his head. "Don't worry dude. Just a little magic is all, but wow this is one amazing spell. I mean I can actually touch things! But look I look like a- uh… well, a ghost." He gulped a bit standing up.

Matthew looked at Al and noticed he was right. He did look like a ghost. He chuckled at the slightly scared look on his brother's face. "Al you're fine, but why are you here?"

The older neko's ears perked in realization. "Oh right, I just wanted to talk with you! It has been four days! Also we may have some explaining to do!" He rubbed the back of his head.

The younger twin just looked confused then jumped a bit as Gilbert came into the room looking really irritated.

"Alright vhat ze hell is going on! Some one better explain! I'm not in ze mood to be messing around…"

Matthew gulped laying his ears back in shame. "Uh please forgive my brother. It would seem someone used a spell on him so he could talk to me." The younger neko turned to look at his older brother. "Which I don't know how, since no one we know knows magic."

Alfred smiled innocently at his little brother then looked around no longer really interested in the conversation. "Oh it was just a friend of Master Ivan's. Someone named Arthur. Wow, is this really a pirate ship? It's huge!"

He then looked right at Gilbert. "You better not have done anything to my little brother, pirate…" Alfred sneered and put emphasis on the word pirate.

Gilbert rubbed his forehead at the energy and ignorance the older brother of the nekos let off. The pale skinned pirate raised an eyebrow at him. "I haven't done a zhing to him und you need to learn some manners. Zhis is mein ship und you vill follow ze rules vhile you are here. Also Arzhur sent you here? Vow, I'm surprised the spell didn't backfire."

Alfred cheerful facial expression tuned to one of panic. "B-backfire? W-what do you mean?"

Gilbert grinned "I mean anyzhing could have happened to you. You could have landed in the ocean or even lost your-"

"GILBERT!" Matthew cut him off, standing up while giving the pirate a stern look. He may have been his master but he wasn't afraid to stand up against him. He also wasn't going to let him yell at his Alfred. He would do that later. He walked over and stood protectively by his brother.

The pirate vampire blinked looking shocked that his servant actually yelled back at him. He ran his hand through his pale hair, looking at the door frame. He cleared his throat audibly. "Vell, sorry I vas out of line for a bit. Zhat vas very rude of me. Just keep zhings down und ve von't have a problem. Matthew look after your Bruder. Make sure he stays out of trouble vhile he's here. Zhis is an order from your master."

The younger neko nodded. "Oui Gill, I will!"

The two nekos watched Gilbert leave, noticing a shocked Spaniard had been behind him leaving with him. His ears perked up when he heard an exhaling of breath behind him. Mattie turned to face hid brother. "Al that was rude!"

Alfred smiled nervously. He rubbed the back of his head! "Yeah, well sorry, but woah! Dude, you actually yelled back at your master!? Aren't you going to get in trouble for that!?"

The younger brother shrugged. "Oh… Uh, well I don't know. I hope not." He gulped a bit, now worried that he will be scolded later. He tried to push that aside. "Well anyways how long will you be here?"

Al smiled a bit. "Well, only two hours so it's not a lot of time."

Matthew nodded then sighs, sensing a presence. "Lovino, I know your eavesdropping. I can hear you right outside the door."

"Fucking cat ears."

The neko boy looked at his brother once the Italian walked into the room. "Al this is Lovino, and Lovino this is my annoying brother Alfred."

The older neko rolled his eyes "I'm not annoyed also nice to meet cha Lovino. So what are you?"

Lovino snorted, staring at Alfred. "Nice to meet you as well, I guess. Heard a lot about you from your brother here. Also, I'm an Incubus." The spirit watches Alfred with an unamused stare as Alfred smiled back, distaste obviously seen on his face.

Matthew sighed and muttered. "This will be a long two hours…"

sorry for the really late update but updates will be more sporadic now due to some personal problem's. so I will update when I can! hope you are all still enjoying the story and I thank all of you for your support and wonderful comments!