"Excuse me, Alfred?" Arthur glanced around the room childishly, his eyes bouncing from one wall to the next, from the floor to the ceiling, all over the place.
Alfred looked up from the last few words he was writing down for the day, raising an eyebrow when he saw Arthur's look, letting out a laugh before he spoke, "Geeze, Artie! What's up with that look?"
Looking back with a flustered expression Arthur jumped and started floating slightly, "There's nothing up with my expression!"
"Right." Alfred laughed it off, "So wha'd ya' want?" He placed the note cards with different apparent 'spells' by the corner of the wall so Arthur could look at them while he was away, beginning to pick up the books as well.
Arthur coughed before speaking, "Well, I was, um… Ehem, as you know I don't have any visits from anyone else but you, and I was just… Uh… This is a little odd to ask but, would you possibly mind if you stayed around here for the night?" Arthur looked away at this, "See, I haven't had company during the night since I died, and well… It would be nice to have someone stay with me for a change."
Alfred stared at him for a few seconds before he giggled then a huge grin set upon his face, "What, Artie? You want a sleep over?"
Arthur rubbed the back of his head, coughing a bit, "Well, I assume that's what everyone is calling that now, so yes? Like I said, it would just be a nice change for me… This house is absolutely empty at night."
"Haha! I would assume so!" Alfred stood up and pulled his bag up over his shoulder, "But, Artie, I can't do that. First of all, if I was caught down here at night if someone possibly came down here, I would get in so much trouble. I shouldn't even be here now. Second, I'm actually busy tonight. You know, party at someone's house?" He grinned at this, "Actually it's Gil's little brothers birthday party, so I kinda have to go or else Gil will throw a fit…"
"Oh…" Was all Arthur could say, he felt so embarrassed now that he had just made a fool of himself asking something like that. What was he thinking?
"So yeah." Alfred turned and headed of to the basement doors, "Sorry Artie. Um… I'll see you in the next few days though, 'kay?" He looked at Arthur one last time, waiting for a response.
"Uh, right. Goodbye."
Arthur watched as Alfred left yet again. Gosh darn it, why did he hate Alfred leaving so much? Its not like he hadn't be alone for the past two hundred thirty years. Maybe it was the fact that now there was someone that he had become friends with, even though he wouldn't ever admit that to Alfred. The only thing he absolutely wished for now was that Alfred wouldn't leave him after he got him out of this house. He didn't want to be alone again…
Later that night, Alfred made his way to Gilbert's house where the party was to take place, it had been the house Gilbert grew up in and that the rest of his family was living still. Of course Gilbert stayed in the apartment with Alfred, he had wanted to get away from home to badly to keep living with his family. The party was just a house party, nothing to major, nothing to formal. Alfred wore just his normal, everyday blue jeans but his shirt was a little nicer than normal. Why dress up for an informal party? Or at least he didn't think it would be formal.
As he entered the house the sound of music bounced off the walls and began to echo in his ears, the smell of fresh grilled food crawling on his tongue. Dude, was that making him hungry. Good thing he hadn't eaten before he came. Then again… He might just end up eating them out of house and home now with how much of a bottomless pit he was.
"Al!" Gilbert almost tackled Alfred as he flung his arm around his shoulder, "You're here! Great timing! We're almost done setting up!"
"Oh? I'm not late then?" Alfred asked, a little shocked.
"Not at all! Ludwig is still setting out the food, and Feliciano and Kiku are helping him in the back."
"Ohhhhhh… I thought I was late by the sounds of that music!" Alfred laughed, walking into the house and kicking off his shoes.
"The music is just Antonio messing with the stereo."
"Duh! I knew that. Antonio, he's a bit of an idiot sometimes."
"And you aren't?" Gilbert grinned.
Alfred turned around and hit Gilbert on the back of the head playfully, "Shut up, and you aren't either?"
"Pft. Okay. Fine. We're all idiots, but I'm an awesome idiot!" Gilbert ended triumphantly.
"U-huh. Totally."
"Oh, hello there Alfred." A voice said from the kitchen, Alfred and Gilbert both turning to face the deeper voiced male.
"Hey there, birthday guy!" Alfred grinned, striding off to the kitchen, "What's been up, Ludwig?"
"Well, this party?" He replied, an eyebrow raised.
"Heheh, yeah, but anything else? Like anything exciting?" Alfred looked up at the slightly taller man, still grinning.
Ludwig shifted a bit, looking up and then turning to grab some chips that were in the pantry, "Oh come on Luddy!" Gilbert shouted, throwing his arm around Ludwig's neck, pulling him down and harshly ruffling his hair, "Be more sociable! It's your birthday party!"
Ludwig pushed Gilbert off him and sighed, "Well, Feliciano has been slacking off on the soccer team recently so I've been training him. Kiku's also been helping with that. And you? Since you asked about me it might as well be just as fair to ask you the same."
"Yeah!" Gilbert shouted, leaning over the counter and poking Alfred's forehead, "You haven't been hanging around as much recently. What's up?"
"H-huh?" Alfred stuttered, a confused smile on his face, "N-nothing! I've just been studying out more is all!"
"Is that what all those weird looking books you bring home are for?" Gilbert asked a little confused, "I swear those aren't for studying…"
Alfred gave a slight pouting face, "Well, if you really want to know… I.. um… I am… Well…"
"Gilbert! Where are those Spanish CD's I brought over?" A Spanish accented voice shouted from the stairs, interrupting the conversation.
"Whaaaaat?" Gilbert shouted back, "I don't have any Spanish CD's! If anything I have my own awesome music!" He started to run off toward the stairs which then lead to his room, "Besides, why would I want your crap music, Antonio?"
Alfred and Ludwig stared at the stairs for a few seconds, then Alfred let out a relieved sigh, Feliciano soon running in and grabbing hold of Ludwig's arm.
"Ludwig! Ludwig!" He shouted in a panicked voice, trying to pull the much larger man to the sliding door the rested at the back of the kitchen, "Kiku's trying to rearrange the food! I don't want him to mess anything up! Please stop him! I won't have enough room for the pasta!"
The small Italian boy continued to pull at Ludwig's arm until he followed, "Alright… Alfred, you don't have to do anything but enjoy the party okay? Don't bother helping set up or cleaning up."
"Uh, okay. Thanks." Alfred said cheerfully, more so relived that his conversation with the two brothers was interrupted.
In a few minutes more people started to appear and Alfred began to enjoy himself. Half the people here Alfred didn't even know, but he swore he had seen a few of them around before. Did Gilbert know them? Gilbert probably did invite his own guests.
After a while Alfred decided he would take his leave, deciding it was probably best to go since he was a minor and didn't feel the need to get drunk and have something bad happen. He had heard to many stories about the things that could happen after parties with drinking. Making a quick attempt at a goodbye to a to-drunk-to-realize-what-was-happening Gilbert, Alfred made his way out the door, the sight of a girl collapsed on the sidewalk catching his attention. Her long, blond pigtails hung in her face, tangled up by all the excitement of the night and her glasses almost fell of her face.
"My God…" Alfred said, staring a few seconds before running over to her, noticing a beer in her hand from the party.
He lifted her halfway into his arms, enough to where she was sitting up rather than collapsed, "Hey, are you alright?"
"Wha' d'ya.. Wa't?" She said, raising a hand and pushing Alfred's face away, "Le'd go 'f me… Hic."
She was obviously to drunk to tell what was going on, and obviously to drunk for Alfred to let her go on her own. Making an almost impossible decision, Alfred decided to take her back to his apartment and let her rest there, seeing as how he really couldn't do much else because she didn't have any form of identification with her. He set her in his car and took off, not really finding it exactly 'right' to take her with him, but what other choice did he have?
When he got back to his room he carried her in, noticing that she had finally passed out completely. He gave her his bed and set off to his closet, getting at least a decent change of clothes for her the next morning when she awoke, probably with a huge hangover too. How in the world did she manage to get so drunk off of just beer? Unless she had shots of other things at the party. Alfred set the clothes down on the nightstand next to his bed, hoping she would notice them in the morning. He also set up a sign on the bathroom door which said 'Bathroom' so when she had to… Well, get rid of all that alcohol she could do so without having to ask him first.
After Alfred had decided he had done everything he had to, he set off to go to sleep in Gilberts bed in the other room, figuring Gilbert would spend the rest of the night at the party, besides, he couldn't just sleep in the same bed as that girl. That would look horrible! What would she think they had done in the morning? No, he wasn't going to do that.
In the morning when the girl awoke, she took a long, sleepy look around the strange room, noticing the unfamiliar queen size bed and jolted up right, letting out a long scream.
"Oh God! What did I do? What did I do?" She panicked, suddenly freezing as she noticed the clothes she was wearing. The same thing from the day before.
She sighed, calming down but suddenly jolting back up again. Hangover. After a a while in the bathroom, that she thankfully found due to the sign Alfred had put up, then came back out, feeling better of course, she noticed a note on the door she assume lead out of the apartment.
'Hey there! It was probably really odd for you to wake up in a strange room, and a strange bed… But I found you on the sidewalk last night and didn't know what else I could do but bring you back to my apartment. I know I don't even know you but I felt I shouldn't have left you on the sidewalk like that. I left some of my clothes out for you to change into just until you get yours washed, the laundry room is right at the end of the hall to the left. To the right is the front door. You can leave whenever you like. Oh and you can use the shower and anything in it if you feel the need. Have a good day! : )'
After reading through the note she decided to take his offer and threw her clothes into the washer, taking a quick shower and using the clothes he offered as she waited around for hers to finish washing. While waiting she took a look through the spell books Alfred had bought or rented to help Arthur, which he had left out on his desk. She seemed greatly interested in them, almost as if she understood it.
"Whoo! Well that was a heck load of studying… I'm never doing that again…"
The sudden voice from the front door made the girl jump as she finished changing, quickly putting her shirt on before the male walked in on her thinking she was gone. Oh, why did she sleep so late? Now she had to meet some strange guy! Just as soon as she quickly finished fixing her shirt Alfred opened the door to his room where she was, almost running into her since she was standing so close. He froze, unexpecting the short female to still be there.
"Whoa… H-hey there! I wasn't thinking you'd still be here!" Alfred smiled down at her, moving out of the way and throwing his bag down beside his desk, she just watched him slowly, "Uh, yeah. Sorry for the awkwardness of this whole day so far. Its probably been pretty whack to you, huh? Oh, my names Alfred by the way if you wanted to know." He turned around and smiled.
"Oh." She said, looking back at the door, "Well, I was about to go, but since you're here I can at least thank you for helping me last night, Alfred." She nodded and looked back to him, "Yes, thank you."
Alfred blinked a few times before his eyes got really wide, "Your accent!" He said excitedly, "You're English?"
She stared back at him, "Y-yes? Why?"
"Oh… No reason… I just love the accent, and I'm English myself, or, more really English blood. American if you go by birth place!" He grinned, looking back at his desk noticing the spell books had been tampered with, "Did you look through these?"
"Yes." She said a little hesitantly, not sure if she should ask him more questions, but then again he was asking her tons! "Where did you get those? Do you study magic?"
"Huh? Oh! Um…" He tried to come up with good reasoning for having the books, "I… kinda. Ish."
"Well, those books are pretty good spell books!" She smiled, "Would you mind if I came back and bought some of them from you?"
He stared at her for a moment, soon shaking off the shock and laughing, "Sure! I don't mind. I'm not really using them anymore. But, um… Can I get your name?" He blushed a little, starting to take a liking to the strange girl he found on the street.
"Alice Kirkland." She said, nodding.
"Kirkland?" Alfred's eyes grew wide, "Like, Colonel Arthur Kirkland, Kirkland?"
"Arthur?" She took a moment to process it, "Oh! Yes! Arthur Kirkland, that man who served in the Revolutionary war? I always tend to forget his name, but yes, I am related."
"Related… How?" Alfred questioned, positive Arthur never had children considering he went to war before he finished school, which would have been when he married, plus he would have probably told him by now if he did, "He didn't have any kids did he?"
"Oh, no, he didn't, but his younger brother did. He would be like a great Uncle." She paused, "Great, great, great, great… Uncle!"
"Seven greats." Alfred laughed.
"Oh? Seven? I never knew that."
"Well somewhere around seven. For me its seven but depended on how many people have lived since then it could be somewhere from nine to six."
She took a moment to process this, "Either you're good at math, or you must like your history a lot."
Alfred grinned, "History buff."
"Makes since. Oh, so when do you want me to come over and get those books and how much would you like for them?"
"Oh! Right!" Alfred turned around and stared at the books on his desk, "Hem… Probably Tuesday at like… Four. As for how much… Um… Three for forty?"
"Forty? You got yourself a deal there~!" She giggled, "I'll be here Tuesday then!" She smiled at him and let herself out of the apartment.
The basement doors creaked open, Alfred letting himself inside the house only to find Arthur sprawled out on the floor, snoring softly. He walked up to the transparent figure on the floor and shivered a bit before he yelled.
"Artie! Get up!" Arthur didn't move, "Artie! Come on bud get up!" This time he shifted slightly, "Artie…" Alfred growled, soon bending down and getting right next to Arthur's ear, "Artie wake up!"
Arthur moaned and rolled over, then the thought of trying to kick him passed through Alfred's mind. Alfred brought his foot up and attempted to kick Arthur in the head as hard as he could, and as soon as his foot reached Arthur's head it passed right through causing Alfred to lose his balance. He fell to the floor, hard, and practically landed where Arthur was sleeping, scaring the hell out of him and letting a scream escape his throat as he scrambled to stand up. The attempt to make it to his feet as fast as he wanted failed as he ended up falling back on his butt just a few inches from where he was originally. Thankfully he wasn't practically sitting on Arthur anymore, who had actually woken from the shock of having someone pass through him like that.
'Mental note to self: Don't kick a ghost.' Alfred thought, sighing.
"What the bloody hell was that about, Alfred?" Arthur shouted, sitting up and glaring at the American who had just violated him as much as a ghost could be violated.
Alfred let out an embarrassed laugh, "S-Sorry! I didn't mean to land on you like that."
"What were you trying to do in the first place?" Arthur growled, forcing himself up off the ground.
"Um… Kick you?" Alfred said innocently, glancing up at the ghost who floated above him.
Arthur raised one of his large eyebrows, "Are you serious?"
"Y-yeah." Alfred stood up himself and dusted off his clothes, "B-but, anyways, how are things here? Did you come up with anything from those spells you've been making me write down?"
"Oh, yes actually!" Arthur cheered, grinning wildly, "Would you mind saying a few?"
"W-what?" Alfred gasped, spinning around and looking him straight in the eyes, "You want me to say a spell? Are you kidding me?"
"No, I'm not kidding you. I really want you to say them. I can not say them myself, they won't work like that."
Alfred sighed, "Fine. What do you want?"
Arthur smiled and pointed to the note cards, "Pick them up so you can write on them some more."
"Right…" Alfred sighed, heading off to do as he said, bring back the note cards and plopping himself down in the middle of the basement floor and digging through his bag for a pen, "What do you want me to write?"
Arthur shared a few ways the spells could go in order, making him write word one before the other or one after the other. In time there was a whole card full of different ways the spells could be said, Arthur just had to pick the right one or else something bad could happen. Or, maybe not. Maybe it just wouldn't work. Whatever the case may be, Arthur had to choose carefully, and find some way to fix anything the went wrong, if something went wrong, which there was a high possibility of.
Beginning to narrow down the selection, Arthur sat for a few minutes pondering which one he should choose over all the rest. After some time though his decision had been made.
"Say that one." He said, pointing to one of the choices he had left on the note card, having had Alfred scribble out the rest, or more like put x's next to the ones he didn't want, "I'll stand, or float, whatever I feel like doing, over there while you say it, understood?"
Alfred stared at the note card for a moment, then lifted his eyes to the ghost, "How do I pronounce it?"
Arthur blinked a few times before answering, "Just like its written. If you want you can say it with an English accent just to be sure you say it exactly right." He finished sarcastically.
"Uh, no thanks!" Alfred grinned, laughing it off, "I'm sure you don't want me butchering your language more by attempting to sound like you."
Arthur laughed, then took his place in the middle of the room. Alfred said a few words that were neither English or any other language in which he had heard before, and right as he finished speaking a light lit up the room, but as soon as it came it was gone as though a flash of lightning had hit. Shaking off the shock of the sudden light, Alfred regained his sight, and from what he saw, nothing was different at all. Nothing. Arthur on the other hand glanced around the room, probably wondering if he had succeeded in picking the right spell.
"Did it work?" Alfred asked, slowly walking up to the floating man and looked around him, trying to see if anything was different.
"Not sure." Arthur responded finally after a few seconds, "Let's see."
He walked up to one of the basement walls that separated him from the rest of the world and placed his hand on it. Taking a deep breath, Arthur closed his eyes for a few seconds and then opened them once more, beginning to place more pressure on his hand as he had done to pass through the other walls of the house. Slowly, but surely, his hand began passing through the wall, a slight smile falling onto his face, and the farther his hand phased through, the bigger his smile became, soon turning into a grin that he didn't even notice he had.
After a few more seconds Arthur's whole arm was through the wall, and now he began slowly phasing his body through it as well. Alfred watched, a smile of his own reaching his lips as he watched Arthur finally get out of the two hundred year old prison he had been in. Within only about twenty or so seconds Arthur was completely through the wall and now out in the world he so longed to see.
Unlike how Alfred usually was to see these things ghosts do, for once he wasn't scared at all. Not scared at all, but glad.
Yes. He was glad.
Well, half of this chapter was more of Alfred's personal life rather than his ghost issue, but hey, we got some Fem!England! I hope she's in character... Though, I don't want her to be all 'Tsundere! Tsundere!', I don't see her that way.
Anyways, reviews are always lovely! I love knowing what you guy's think of my fanfics. Also, any critiques are welcome to, just not mean ones. Those just make me sad...