"Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception."

Matthew and Alfred had to constantly say that they were twins growing up. It used to leave a sour taste in Matthew's mouth whenever he said those two tiny words, especially since he thought it was quite obvious they weren't.

Alfred is loud, brash, and doesn't have a filter. Matthew is quiet, reserved, and prefers to stay out of the spotlight.

Alfred's hair was cut above his neck, and there was one clump of hair that stubbornly disobeyed the laws of gravity and stuck up. Matthew's hair reached down to the middle of his neck, and he had one strand that curled around and almost always hung in his face.

Alfred's eyes are blue. Matthew's eyes were an odd shade of purple.

To Matthew, they were as different as they could be. To the rest of the small town, they were twins (and by this logic, practically the same person), and their parents made sure that that point stayed constant.

He had come up on the Jones' house when he was seven, running away from a drunken mother that weaved horror stories about the woods around their house. Some of what she said was true, like the fact that there are fairies that flit through the trees, their voices as small and meek as their height. What was false were the stories of wolves nearly as tall as their small house, flesh and fur stripped away to show bones that could resist the strength of a sword and were strong enough to snap him in two.

That last part could still be true, and if it is, then he's relieved that he didn't see anything like that while running.

As far as the Jones family is aware, Matthew ran away from home and managed to survive without bringing any food or clean water with him, and it was a miracle that he found their house.

What they don't know is that Matthew met someone while he was running. It's not like he doesn't remember the man—he remembers the man very, very well. It's just…

There's this part of him, way down near the very core of his soul that told him that he shouldn't tell anyone about Gilbert. Even at five years old, Matthew knew that he didn't argue with a gut feeling. It was a gut feeling that drove him to leave his mom, and if this gut feeling drove him to not even whisper a word about Gilbert to his new family, then so be it.

But sometimes, very quietly and sneakily, Matthew would go to the biggest tree that he could see the house from and leave a tiny snack in one of the knots in the trunk. The next night he'd sneak out again and check and the snack would be gone. He didn't know whether Gilbert had found the snack or if a little forest creature had decided that they were blessed with a gift from the goddess, but it was just his way of saying thanks.

Thank you for the food.

Thank you for not abandoning me when I was crying.

Thank you for showing me to my new home.

And a thousand more that Matthew couldn't phrase in words.

He and Alfred are 18 when the marks appear. Their town is so far out that the hunt hadn't been announced yet, and there were no rumors of the Joker coming near their town yet. Either way, they didn't tell their parents.

Occasionally, Alfred and Matthew would go out to the creek in the woods and take a nice swim during the humid summer months. There was a creek not too far from their house, and it helped them stay clean and cool, so their parents didn't really mind so long as they were the only two there.

Alfred raced ahead, as per usual, jumping over any large boulders or overturned tree trunks as Matthew trailed a little bit behind, taking cautious steps and looking around. His brother knew the drill, and Matthew knew that he would start taking off his clothes before he would reach the riverbed.

So Matthew was prepared for Alfred standing with his back facing him completely nude. What he wasn't prepared for was the black mark spreading along his shoulder blades. Matthew gasped, Alfred turning around at the sound only to be turned back to face the creek while Matthew stared at the clearly royal mark.

"What? What is it?" Alfred said, hunching his shoulders inwards. Matthew rolled his eyes and pulled them back until they were straight so he could get a good look at the mark. It showed a Lion lying down, a small Spade etched onto its stomach and a decorative 'K' was held under its paw. Matthew idly traced the edge of its mane, only for Alfred to shudder and lock up.

"Mattie, what's on my back?"

"The mark." Matthew replies, removing his hand and seeing the tension ebb out of his brother's posture. "I think it's the King's mark."

"Did the King die?" Alfred tried to find the mark by bending his elbows over and finding it by running his hands over his back. Maybe he was expecting the marked skin to have a different texture, but the sight of Alfred bending his back and standing on his toes to 'find' the mark was a little bit comedic.

"Maybe he's dying." Matthew says, starting to take off his pants. "Or maybe he is dead. News travels really slowly, y'know."

"Yeah, I know." Alfred turns around, a gigantic grin on his face. "So is it cool looking? Does it look like people would tremble in fear if you described it?"

"No, it's just a bunch of puppies fighting over a bowl of food. I can just barely see the Spade and K." Matthew tosses his pants off to the side and fights to get his shirt off. The sweat on his skin caused the cotton to stick to his skin, and that combined with the fact that he was hitting a late growth spurt, this was a difficult task.

"Whoa, wait wait wait wait! Don't move!" Alfred holds up his arms and Matthew freezes, feeling a hand trace over his chest and an odd feeling of comfort and security flows through his body. "Dude, what the hell."

"Wh-What? What's wrong?" Matthew twists a bit and manages to free his arm from his twisted position and pull of the shirt. Looking down, he feels his heart skip a beat when he sees equally dark skin on his chest. Unlike the story books and his own brother's mark, the picture on Matthew's check showed the letter 'A' floating above a destroyed city, ice rising in rigid spikes through the debris.

"What kind of mark has that?" Alfred asks pointing at the desolation portrayed on his chest.

"I-" Matthew swallows, hesitantly curling into himself in an attempt to hide the destruction showed on his chest. "I don't know."

It's a week later when the Joker arrives, and the city could not have been more under-prepared. Not only was the news of the King's death just now reaching them, there was a really bad rainstorm rolling through the area. Matthew and Alfred stared out one of the windows on the first floor that showed the front yard, betting which raindrops would make it to the bottom first. It was an easy way to pass time and their chores had been mostly completed earlier in the day (mostly referring to the fact that Alfred insisted on not cleaning his room), so they could spare some time for fun.

To be honest, neither of them found much fun in doing this when they were eighteen, but they were so bored that anything could be 'fun' at this point.

"Who's that man out there?" Their mother asks, and the brother's heads snap back to look at the muddy path in front of their house. "He's going to catch his death at this rate."

"Can we let him in?" Alfred's face immediately lit up, hoping that the man would be able to spice up their evening a bit. Seeing his mother nod, the older ran to the door and threw an old jacket over his head before running out into the storm and shouting at the man to hurry up and get inside.

"Thanks." Says the man, brushing off any rain drops that stubbornly clung to his jacket. "Really, thank you, that rain is not going to let up anytime soon."

"It's no problem." Their mother says. "Are you from Hearts?"

"I was. I mainly wander around the Kingdoms now." The man looks around the living room, his eyes landing on Matthew. "Well look at that! It's Vögelchen! I've enjoyed your little treats you been leaving me."

"Um…" Matthew blushed and looked down at his lap. "Thank you."

Their mother cleared her throat, her foot tapping on the wooden floor. "Excuse me, but I would like to know how you know my son."

They talked over dinner, Matthew explaining that, when he had run away from his mom, he and Gilbert had met. Since he was five at the time, Gilbert had hunted and brought him back food and clean water for him to survive. His mother and Alfred were both incredibly thankful for Gilbert's help, but Alfred couldn't help but feel a little bit annoyed at the fact that Matthew had never told him the story.

"So Gilbert, what brings you to our home?" Their mother asks, cutting at the steak that she had cooked.

Gilbert grins. "Nothing too big, just looking for the new King."

Alfred chokes on his food, and his mother drops her knife and fork. "You're the Joker?" Matthew asks, eyes widening behind his glasses.

"Yup. What, are you going to bow down to my awesomeness?"

Alfred and Matthew look at each other from across the table and then look back at Gilbert. "What if we said that we had a mark?" Alfred asks. "Would you have to bow down to us?"

"That depends on whether you're lying or not." Gilbert smirks, leaning back in his chair and chewing at a piece of his steak.

He didn't expect both of the brothers to stand up and take of their shirts. He also didn't expect his gaze to linger more on Matthew's chest than Alfred's shoulders, because he's only looking for the King. The Queen and Jack had already been found, so only one of them should have a mark. But no, both of them had a mark, and the one on Matthew's chest was the one for the Ace.

AKA, the 'Bringers of Destruction.'

"Alfred, Matthew! Why didn't you tell me?" Their mother yells, staring at the two marks on their chests.

Gilbert tuned out the rest of the conversation, wondering what this meant for the Kingdom.

Vögelchen – Birdie/Little Bird (according to google translate)

…You can tell when I started being 'done' with this chapter. Either way, I'm happy with it in the end.

So yeah, I made Alfred and Matthew 'brothers' and not twins in this, and trust me, I normally do think of the two of them as twins when they're human. For this situation, I needed Matthew to have a reason to be in the woods for around a week so he could meet Gilbert.

So, both of their tattoo's meanings!

- Alfred's was kind of hard to pick out, but I decided to stay simple. The Spade is clearly not as large as Arthur's, as it is on the Lion's chest, but the Spade held under its paw is much larger. The symbolism behind this is meant to show that Alfred cares more about the Kingdom of Spades and what he'd do for it than being King. Even if he wasn't destined to have the mark, he would have enrolled in the army to defend the Kingdom. Problem is, this prejudice against the other Kingdoms will make it hard for him to rule fairly with most decisions (like trade or immigration), so the Queen would have to steer him onto the right track with these decisions.

- Matthew's the poor, poor ace, which are only blessed with the mark when destruction or threat of the collapse of the kingdom is imminent. Normally, the Aces have some sort of interaction with a Joker (Red or Black, depends on the Kingdom) before the mark exists, which gets the ball rolling for Matthew to fall in love with Gilbert. The Ace and the A are of about equal size, but scattered around them are the ruins of buildings, a torn flag of Spades blowing in the air, showing the scale of destruction.