Pain. That was all Arthur felt. Just pain.
"Francis, I know you don't want me to... But... I won't last much longer."
He's been sick for so long, he can't give up now! "Non, non... Angleterre, non..."
Arthur smiled. "I told you, I don't speak French."
Francis smiled back, tears coming to his eyes. "You will learn, mon cher." Francis watched as his eyes closed for the last time. "Je t'aime..."
Francis woke up. Beads of sweat were rolling down his face. "Non... pas encore..."
"Papa? Why are you up so early?" Matthew rose from his position next to Alfred to sit next to the man. "Tout va bien?"
"Oui, it is just that... I remember it. Matthieu, I remember it all."
Matthew laid against Francis's chest. "I know, Francis. I know."
"Are the others still asleep?"
"They are, but you should get some more. You traveled a long way to get here, I'm sure you need it."
"Haven't you been up all night watching him?"
"Yes, but I'm used to it." He smiled. "Aller dormir, je vais bien."
Francis smiled back. He drifted off into a fitful, dreamless sleep.
"Speaking French really does calm him down. Pity I'll never be able to." Arthur had woken up the same time as Francis, but stayed in bed when he heard Matthew comfort him. He's always been easy to talk to.
"Arthur, I- What do you mean?"
"Soon the rest of him will be infected, can't you see? We've been on a timer." The plague had spread to most of Alfred's chest, part of his torso as well. "Don't you know how many states have been infected? There's only one that I doubt will go down, but he'll lose so much of his population."
"You mean Hawaii?" Arthur nodded. "But compared to California and Texas, it won't mean much."
"Matthew, when it reaches California, it'll be too late for anything."
"So lets make sure it doesn't."
"Arthur, I trusted you!"
"I told you, it was for your own good!"
"For my own good? We're standing on opposite sides of the battle field while I'm fighting for my freedom. You might want to rethink that." He leveled his gun while General Washington gave the word of attack. With his troops behid him, Alfred shot.
Every day he saw more and more people moving West. Every day he saw more land being taken from Native Americans- Indians or copper-skins, as people called them. Soon, to rid of them completely, so many of the buffalo were killed; their skulls were placed into a heap that reeked of death. While walking to his home, he saw the body of a child. A child who's name he would never know, a child of a Native American.
For a time, Alfred had been split in half. There was another personification in his place, wishing to be called The Confederacy. "I told you, we can't be a slave nation!"
"Alfred, all men are created equal. Not women, not children. Why should blacks be treated any different than them?"
"I've had the upper hand throughout the entire war." He charged. "Time to finish this."
Alfred looked at his watch. "Its still early, I don't need to get to the meeting just yet." He looked up to see a plane flying overhead and smiled. He saw the twin towers standing higher than anything the eye could see. The plane crashed, the building was coming down before him. "No... No!" He ran towards it. So many innocent people dead or dying... Why? The second plane hit. So many people he knew dead. Gone forever. He moved the rubble in his extraordinary strength only to see that he was too late.
Alfred jolted up, but regretted it as it only caused him more pain. He sighed. "It was... It was only a dream... Oh God..."
"Well, at least you were able to sleep through the night. Francis and I didn't sleep that well, and Matthew didn't sleep at all."
"Did I miss much?"
"No, nothing really."
Francis moved to Alfred's side. "It was a nightmare that woke you, no?"
"It was." He took a deep breath to try to calm himself. "I relived so many things I never wanted to happen again. The revolutionary war, the Indian Removal act, the Civil War, and 9/11... How did that happen?"
"You are in pain, Amérique. You were in pain then, too." Francis looked into the boy's eyes and gave him a soft smile. "You are not the only one with nightmares."
Translations:
Non, non... Angleterre, non... - No, no... England, no...
Mon cher- My dear
Je t'aime- I love you
Non... pas encore... - No... not again
Tout va bien? - Are you okay?
Oui- Yes
Aller dormir, je vais bien- Go to sleep, I'm fine.
Amérique- America
Another chapter done! I understand if all the French got in the way a bit to some of you, but I might as well use it. It does make sense, to me at least, that Francis reverts to his original language when scared, nervous, oraround another French speaker such as Matthew. Anyways... I hope you liked this chapter, with all of its dream sequence flashbacks, and there'll be more to come!
