Arthur stared at the clocks he was just given, both of them resting next to each other on his desk in his room. The Jack Clock had the hour hand moving off in the direction that looked like East, while the other two hands ticked the seconds away. He was probably far away… That would make the search for Jack a little harder… The King Clock was a different story however. The second hand was the one staying relatively still, meaning that the King was close with the other two marking the seconds. The second hand was moving back and forth, like the person was pacing. Considering it was the second hand, the person must have been really close.

Eventually, the second hand stopped, pointing towards Arthur's door. Arthur glanced between the door and the clock for a while and it seemed deathly silent except for the ticking of the clocks. After a long while, the knob to his door started to turn.

And then Alfred came into the room. Arthur quickly looked back down at the clock and back up at Alfred. The second hand was definitely pointing at him.

"Hey, Arthur, I got something to tell you," Alfred said, fumbling with his words awkwardly.

"Yes, well, I have something to tell you, too," Arthur muttered, staring down at the clock.

"Really?" Alfred asked, surprised. "You aren't mad at me for barging into your room and using bad grammar?"

"Well, you could have knocked," Arthur said without much amusement. "And good on you for seeing your mistake, but this has nothing to do with that. I want you to look at these clocks."

"Sure," Alfred said and walked towards the table. Arthur glanced up at him to make sure he was looking at them before looking back down.

"These clocks are not ordinary, obviously," Arthur said. "These are the clocks used to find the royals of Spades. Magic powers them, but, since most people don't believe in magic, they believe that the Parliament or the people chose them to be the best. When the minute and the second hand are moving together to mark the seconds, then the hour hand is basically indicating where they are, following them. The same goes with the other two. If the hour hand is pointing towards them, then they are far away, but if the second hand is following them, then they're close. Are you following me?"

"Yeah."

"Good," Arthur pulled out his own clock from the pocket. "You see, when the designated royal picks up the clock that belongs to them, the hands stop acting weird and immediately go to telling time. Watch." Arthur set the clock down on the table and the hour and minute hands started ticking with the second, but the second hand pointed towards him. When he picked it up, however, the hands went back to their regular spots. "Now, I want you to know that I only got these today, so I had no way of knowing who the clocks would choose."

"Um, okay," Alfred said.

Arthur looked down at the King Clock again, making sure it was on Alfred still. "Also, this clock, that chose me, is in fact the Queen Clock… I 've been hiding it for my pride…This one," he pointed at the clock that was pointing towards Alfred, "is the King Clock."

Alfred stared down at it for a second with wide eyes.

"Dude, it's totally pointing at me," Alfred muttered.

"Exactly," Arthur nodded.

"But…" Alfred started down at it for a while. "But…I can't be a-a King…I'm a…a peasant and stuff…"

"Fate decides it," Arthur stated. "But, the only way to really tell is if you pick it up."

"So…If I'm King…" Alfred muttered, moving his fingers so that they were just about to touch the clock. "How will you tell the people you lied to them?"

"They'll be more distracted by the fact that I'm a male Queen," Arthur sighed. "Please, though. I do need to know if I have a King."

"Right," Alfred rubbed the back of his head with one hand and picked up the clock with the other. But in a way that Arthur couldn't see what it was saying. But Arthur could see through the way Alfred was staring at it exactly what it said. "H-holy shit…"

"My reaction was pretty similar," Arthur chuckled slightly.

"This totally tops what I was going to tell you," Alfred ran a hand through his hair. "H-How are we going to work this out? I don't even know what I'm supposed to do or…anything…"

"You run the country, just as I've been doing for this whole time," Arthur explained. "Except you have my help. And, now that we have the clock, we can find our Jack. With a complete set of royals, we'll be much stronger. And I'm afraid that will be necessary with Clubs, considering how their King has been acting." There was one thing Arthur was leaving out, though, and he felt a little guilty. But he wasn't sure how to tell Alfred about it…The fact that the King and Queen of Spades are destined to fall in love with each other.

"Right…" Alfred carefully set the clock down.

"You know, you're supposed to keep it," Arthur smiled slightly. "By the way, what did you come in here to talk about in the first place? According to the clock, you were pacing in front of the door."

"Oh, right, I-I wanted to tell you something," Alfred said awkwardly. "I've been wanting to tell you for a while, actually…"

Before either of them could say anything more, the door burst open, turning both of the boy's attentions there. 4 men came in, accompanied by some knights.

"Um, hi?" Alfred said, but he was promptly shoved out the way. "Hey!"

Two men came on either side of Arthur, the ones closest to him grabbing his arms and lifting him up from the chair.

"What is the meaning of this?" Arthur demanded, trying in vain to get out of their grasp.

"Queen Arthur Kirkland, you have been diagnosed as insane. You are to be taken into the Spades asylum for treatment," a knight stated bluntly.

Arthur stopped his protests, his eyes going wide. How did they know he was Queen? More importantly, though… "I am not insane!" Arthur spat.

"We have evidence from a King," one of the men holding him stated. "He has seen you, on multiple occasions, talking to thin air as if someone were there."

"Which King?" Arthur asked, already knowing who it was.

"King Ivan of Clubs," a knight informed and the men started dragging Arthur towards the door.

"I am not insane, dammit!" Arthur tried again to struggle out of their grip.

"Arthur!" Alfred yelled, but Arthur saw the door close behind them. "Arthur!"

"You have no right to take me to a…an asylum!" Arthur snapped at them.

"You are unfit to work," one of the men holding him still informed. "You will be stripped of your responsibilities until you are deemed fit again."

"Someone thinking I'm talking to nothing does not mean I am unfit," Arthur argued.

"That one person was a King," the other one on his arms commented. "And not like you were pretending to be."

"Do not worry, as a Royal, you will be given the best treatment we have, to help you get cured quickly," one of the two not holding Arthur's arms said.

"I don't need to be cured of anything!" Arthur snapped.

"Tell that to your 'fairies'," one of them snickered and Arthur glared at him.


"Arthur!" Alfred yelled as he watched Arthur get dragged out of the room. He tried to chase after them, but the door slammed closed in front of him. "Arthur!" Alfred rammed against the door. This couldn't have been happening. Arthur said that he would help him with being King… He couldn't do it alone… Alfred slammed his fist one last time against the door before he went back to the desk.

All Alfred wanted to do in the first place was confess to Arthur how he really felt. How he felt for a while, actually…That he loved him…

Arthur's clock was sitting on the desk with the other two. They were all ticking the seconds together. Alfred's clock had the second hand pointing at him, the Jack Clock had the hour hand pointing off somewhere, and Arthur's clock had the minute hand pointing outside the castle…

The door behind him opened and Alfred turned around, picking up his clock.

"My apologies for that mess…" a knight said.

"You know what this clock is, right?" Alfred walked up to him, showing the clock to the man.

"That would be the…" the knight paused for a second, looking at the clock. "King Clock." And then he knelt down, bowing his head. "My King…"

"Right," Alfred rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "It was the King of Clubs that accused Arthur of insanity, right?"

"Yes, sire," the knight said.

"You can stand, dude," Alfred said. The knight gave him a weird look before standing up. "The other Kings and Queens are still here, right?"

"They leave tomorrow," a knight stated.

"Thanks," Alfred muttered and ran out of the room. He was going to find that King of Clubs if it killed him. What was his name…? Ivan…? By asking a few of the servants he knew, he was able to find out that all the Kings were in the garden. They were supposed to be in front of the maze.

Alfred ran outside of the castle and into the garden. He easily found the maze, with the other three Kings standing in front of the entrance. From what he could remember, the intimidating, tall blonde was the King of Hearts, that douche with the long, blonde, hair was the King of Diamonds, Francis, and then the man with the scarf and white hair was the King of Clubs, Ivan. At least, he hoped so…

Alfred slowed to a walk when he came up to them and stopped when they all turned towards him.

"Who are you?" the King of Hearts asked.

"And where is mon cher, Arthur?" Francis flipped his hair.

"He…can't come," Alfred said slowly.

"And do tell us what has happened to our fellow King, comrade," Ivan smiled creepily.

"You," Alfred growled, glaring at him. Before he could think straight, Alfred stepped towards him, but the King of Hearts stepped in his way.

"There is no need for violence," he stated, massaging the bridge of his nose. "You still haven't answered my question. Who are you?"

"My name is Alfred F. Jones," Alfred stated. "You could say I'm here on behalf of the King."

"One way to say it, da?" Ivan giggled and Alfred felt himself snap.

He side-stepped to get away from the King of Hearts and immediately grabbed onto the collar of Ivan's shirt. They were roughly the same height, so it was slightly awkward. "What the hell gives you the right to claim someone is insane?" Alfred spat at him. "This is the first time I met you and I can tell you are far more insane than Arthur."

"He was talking to thin air," Ivan stated simply, obviously not intimidated. The King of Hearts placed a hand on Alfred's shoulder, but Alfred quickly shrugged it off. "I thought of it as my duty to tell Spades that their Queen was unfit to rule."

"What are you two talking about?" Francis asked worriedly as the King of Hearts finally succeeded in pulling them apart. Ivan was standing quite still, while Alfred was fighting to punch Ivan in the face.

"I saw our comrade having a conversation with nothing," Ivan said calmly. "So I decided it best to get him the proper medical attention to correct his head."

"There is nothing wrong with him!" Alfred snapped.

"Arthur has been sent to an asylum?" Francis asked.

"Da," Ivan smiled. "I think it's the best place for him."

"But that leaves Spades without a ruler again," the King of Hearts shook his head. "That may not have been the best decision, Ivan."

"Perhaps," Ivan smiled slightly. And in the blink of an eye, he disappeared in the maze.

"Come back here!" Alfred yelled, easily shoving the King of Hearts out of his way, and followed him in. Alfred ran at full speed, he was going to make that idiot pay for doing this to Arthur. The second he found him… "Ivan!"

In no time at all, he ran out on the other side of the maze, greeted with the gaze of the three Queens, Ivan standing calmly next to the Queen of Clubs. Alfred glared dangerously at him as Francis and the King of Hearts ran up behind him.

"Who are you?" the Queen of Diamonds asked politely.

"My name is Alfred F. Jones," Alfred didn't break eye contact with Ivan. "King of Spades."


Ooo! So exciting! I've made Alfie a little bit violent there, but don't worry, he gets worse! Um, I don't know what made me think of this, the whole Arthur being insane thing. It just came to me one day. But, hey, it makes for a really good story. I got this one in a little earlier than yesterday, how awesome. Anyway...

Please review! Tell me what you think of this whole asylum thingie!

I don't own Hetalia and I never will