Arthur was sitting on top of the stairs in entrance hall. He was still wearing his tattered robes that he wore when he was captured. In one hand he was holding steaming cup of tea.
"Why are you sitting here?" a voice behind him asked. Arthur turned around and saw that it was Alfred who approached him.
"And why are you asking?" he asked in return.
"You don't seem like a type to sit on the ground. More like stuffy pillows on a coach type." Alfred smiled at him.
"I like to sit here at times." Alfred sat down next to him. "When you look from here at certain time the light that goes through windows is reflected by every little speck in the air." He gestured ahead himself and true to his words there were rays of light that seemed to dance before their eyes.
"Doesn't this mean that you need to clean this place if you have so much dust in the air," Alfred laughed.
Arthur cocked his head but did not leave his eyes from the scene before him. "I think it looks more like pixie dust," he smiled.
"You're weird old man," Alfred said but not without a trace of fondness in his voice.
"I'm not so old," Arthur snapped. "It's you who's wet behind your ears."
"Oh really?" Alfred mocked Arthur's accent. "You talk like my grandfather or worse, so don't give me this I'm not old talk. I'm almost eighteen years old, the prime of my life, while you talk like you are from another century." He stuck out his tongue at Arthur, whose expression was varying from surprise to outrage.
"Because I am from another century," Arthur hissed. "And I'll have you know that I'm actually 23." His ears began to turn deep shade of red.
This time it was Alfred turn to get surprise. "Seriously?! I thought you were older.
Arthur sighed, calming himself. "And I'd thought you were younger. Obviously we both have deceiving appearances."
"So we're even? You're not going to explode from anger and turn me into ugly small creature with your magic?" Alfred smiled at Arthur, extending his hand.
"Yes Alfred, we're even," Arthur said, shaking offered hand. "And I do not go around throwing spells at every being that angers me." He paused for a second. "Mainly because I would have to turn half of the planet," he said with a smirk.
"You can be scary, you know," Alfred said. "Anyway, I came here to ask you to help Mattie, 'coz he's starting to panic really badly. It's been like fifteen minutes already and he only made his head visible. Which is hilarious, if you asked me, but I've got to get him home with whole body, you know?" he laughed despite his brother's situation.
"If that's what you wanted to ask me, then the answer is still no," Arthur said. "It's not that I can't or don't want to, but it would be better if your brother learn to control his ability. I won't be around you every time he becomes invisible," he looked at him with his sharp gaze, which Alfred thought could slice somebody.
"I get it," he said and they sat a moment in silence. "Can I stay here with you? I don't really want to go back to a panicking Mattie and moping around Gilbert and you seem like a nice company, even if little grumpy one," he smiled and poked Arthur's arm.
"You're an annoying brat, you know?" Arthur leaned to other side, away from Alfred.
"Hey! I thought we discussed this!" Alfred laughed. "So~," he began, what's the deal with you being older than pyramids and not being over thirty?"
"I was born in 18th century, started travelling when I was seventeen and somehow I've ended up in this time."
"And what about your family? Don't you miss them? Why you did not come back to your time instead of this?"
"You ask too many questions at once," Arthur said. "And private ones." He looked at Alfred carefully. "But very well, you are here for some reason I've yet to discover. I can as well answer your question if this will fulfil your greedy questions." He smiled.
"Hey! I'm not greedy!" Alfred protested. "And what do you mean by that? I'm here for a reason? What reason?" he leaned closer to Arthur with rising curiosity.
Arthur looked at the ceiling. "You see, when I created this house, and I use create not build for a reason, I used my magic to every little detail here. That means that every tiling was attached to the roof by magic and the very tilling itself was also created by magic. The same could be said about insides. I won't say it was easy and nice job; it has cost me a vast amount of energy and exhausted me beyond my imagination. But it was worst every minute to create something that I could finally call home. As it turned later, by creating everything from and by magic the manor itself has developed some kind of personality. At times it's manifesting itself by a cup of tea out of nowhere in really cloudy and gloomy morning, just to cheer me up. At other times it may bring some new faces inside, for a purpose I still don't know but I'm assuming is with good intentions to my and Eliza's well-being.
"What are you saying?" Alfred looked shocked. "Nobody brought me here. I've brought Gil, invisible Mattie, and I, here myself."
"And yet you have said earlier that you saw the manor with your own eyes," Arthur responded with calm voice. "Do you want to know why it's so special? I've made all of this invisible to every human being, so that they would leave me alone and did not disturb me. And yet, here you come, claiming to see this manor and causing your friends to see it too. It's either your own power, which I'm afraid is false, as it would mean you're more powerful than I am, or it's the manor's decision to bring you here."
"I don't get it," Alfred said. "Billions of people pass your house every day and none of them got chose. Why me?" he asked.
"First of all, it's definitely not billions. You shouldn't use such an exaggeration easily," Arthur scowled. "And as I've said already, I don't know why you are able to see it. It could be something with your relation to me, it could be something you did yourself. My guess is we will find out if you stay longer. If you, of course, are willing to stay longer," he looked thoughtfully at Alfred.
"I don't know," Alfred said with cocky smile. "I don't know if I can put my brother to such dangerous situations. And you still haven't answered any of my questions."
Arthur snorted. "Oh don't be ridiculous! I doesn't have anything to do with your brother. You're too self-centred and foolish for that."
"And what do you know about that? Bet you were snobbish only child, little lord with rich parents and servants jumping around," Alfred mocked.
"Actually I have, no I had," Arthur corrected himself, "five brothers. Four older ones, so no, I was neither only child nor the oldest one." He looked ahead sadly, avoiding Alfred's stare.
Alfred thought this was one of those times that he should refrain from mocking or laughing at somebody, so he sat quietly for a moment. He thought how he would feel if Mattie was living a century away from him. "Do you miss them?" he asked.
"There are times when I hate the very thought of them and there are times when I wonder what they are doing with their lives," he answered.
Alfred felt this answer was really vague and could not stop himself from prying. "So you don't visit them in time or something?"
Arthur laughed ironically. "Considering we parted in quite terrible manner, when I practically had to flee from my town since they had set against me whole village including local pastor, I don't think I could stop myself from cursing them out. Quite literally, I'm afraid. Although I do miss my younger brother, Peter. He was annoying little brat, a little like you," he smiled sadly at Alfred, "but I was quite fond of him, I must admit."
"Then why don't you go to see him?" Alfred asked. "Or bring him with you?"
"I did, actually. Then I have kind of… lost him." Arthur looked clearly uncomfortable talking about this topic.
"What do you mean? How can you lost someone?" Alfred pried, oblivious to other's discomfort.
Arthur sighed, taking his time in answering a question that were making him uncomfortable. "He came with me, when we left our house. He was so fascinated with magic and everything that came with it that he almost begged me to take him. I was quite vain and greedy for praise at the time so I took him. It was before I've met Elizabeth. We travelled from time to time, not trying to help anyone, just enjoying the world. He wanted to see pyramids – we went to ancient Egypt to see them being built. He wanted to see Rome – we went to time when Nero was reigning. I liked to show-off my abilities and he was a child that wanted to see new things and did not took no for an answer. It was win-win on both sides. And then the pirates happened."
"That red coat in one of your rooms?" Alfred was more and more interested in the story with every word Arthur spilled, especially when it turned out to have a proof laying in one of the rooms he visited before.
"Yes, the same one. It's my coat," Arthur admitted in serious voice.
"Yours? Wow! It's so cool!" Alfred exclaimed with awe.
"It was," Arthur said with small smile and continued his story. "One of those times Peter wanted to see real pirates. Like always, I was eager to prove that I can do anything so I took him to the times historians describe as Golden Age of Piracy. He did not want to just see it, he wanted to experience it, so I found us a captain that was willing to take a little child like him. And that was the moment everything turned wrong," he grimaced.
"I fell in love with that live," Arthur continued. "We sailed together for almost a year. Companionship, sense of adventure, the nature of the sea, bloodshed – I loved it all, and frankly speaking I can say that I was good at it. There, nobody was questioning my abilities. Quite contrary, they were glad they had me on ship, as I was able to do things others had problems with. And there was of course the Kraken thing," he smiled fondly, like he was describing his pet.
Alfred had hard time believing in the story. "I can't imagine you being a pirate, with all these teas and stiffness," he said.
"Stuff it," Arthur snapped. "I was great times and I think I've got carried away with this story."
"No, I'm sorry. I won't say anything more." Alfred made a gesture of zipping imaginary zip on his mouth. "What happened next?"
"I thought you weren't going to say anything." Arthur quirked his eyebrow, but continued. "Like I was saying, the lifestyle that we led was alluring. It came to a point when I took Peter with me and became captain myself. In all these chaos we came to an island when my brother got himself kidnapped by some savages in a jungle. I think I lingered for too long with decision if pay them with gold or kill all of them off, because when we got to their village it turned out that Peter was neither in harm or kept hostage. In fact he was bouncing with happiness with local kids." Arthur smiled sourly. "He absolutely refused to come back with me, threw quite a fit there if I have to say. He screamed at me that I took his childhood and tried to raise him for a murderer."
"And what did you do?" asked Alfred quietly.
"I left."
"But you said he was a little kid!" Alfred protested, outraged by Arthur's behaviour. He did not expect this from the man that was sitting next to him. He seemed more like a mother hen type.
"You forget that I can go back in time to the exact moment I left him." Arthur said bitterly. "I've just needed to cool my head off. Soon after our argument I've decided to do something more helpful with my abilities, hence I've started to find people with magical troubles. Then I met Elizabeth and was busy with her problem for a while. I guess I needed a break from babysitting for a while," he sighed.
Alfred looked carefully at Arthur who turned back to staring ahead. "You still miss him. I would miss Mattie even if he would curse me out in front of savages," he stated.
"Maybe," Arthur said. "Maybe I'll visit him soon."
They sat for a moment in silence, both pondering about their conversation. Alfred has got a feeling it wasn't a common thing for Arthur to speak so openly of his private matters in front of people he barely knew. He knew himself that he was quite popular guy, one that triggered this behaviour in others, to be more open themselves, but he still felt a little special.
Mainly because of that proud feeling he could not restrain himself for prying more. "So what's the business with Lizzy you had to do? I thought you were old friends or something."
Arthur shook his head with disbelief, but it did not stop or hide a little smile that he showed. "We are friends, although at the beginning she was just another person I'd tried to help. But I'm not in a position to tell you that story. I'm afraid you'd need to ask her directly."
Alfred snorted with disappointment and stood up. "Yeah, sure," he faked indifference, shrugging. "I'm going to check if Mattie is finally whole again. You go back to your staring, old man," he teased, turning around and walking away.
A/N:
So many feelings! I think this chapter is a little inconsistent, but I had difficulty with balancing drama in Arthur's dialogue with Alfred's childish behaviour. I had a feeling the would go over the edge if I don't hold them on leash and we would have weeping murderous Arthur and whining for hamburgers Alfred who's not sure about his own sexuality -.- I swear those characters have a life of their own in this story.
Also, if any of you do not like the style/grammar/structure of the things I write - please, tell me that. It really helps to know what exactly I am doing wrong, so I'm counting on you! ^^
Big thanks for Biff3r for pointing out some mistakes in this chapter! I hope it's now more readable for you guys :)
