"How long have they been in there again?" Alfred asked impatiently to the others, waiting for anything different or out of the ordinary to happen after observing Yao and Ivan in the same spot in the library for a very, very, long time. It was exhausting for him that nothing was really changing during that time and it was practically useless to keep on watching them if nothing peculiar was going to start.
"A couple hours at most, Alfred, and how about you try to stay quiet so we can hear what they're saying? Plus, you should be at least thankful that this is happening, if it weren't for Yao-" Arthur began slightly annoyed, but alas, he could never stop an impatient Alfred at all.
"I know, I know that Artie! But why can't all of this go a bit more quicker? It's like what Eduard said, we don't have so much time on this! And besides, its getting so boring right now, I'm waiting for something big to happen, you know?" Alfred complained, but he was somehow correct. Something has to change or else they may as well run out of time before all the petals on the sunflower wilt away into nothing.
"Things like this take bloody time, you can't just expect them to fall in love like that! Don't you already know that?" Arthur yelled back to Alfred, now growing slightly irritated by Alfred's apparent groaning.
"Well, yeah! But how was I supposed to know it would take that much time to do so?" Alfred sighed in apathy. "Can't we do something to speed things up a bit like-"
"Don't even think about trying that, Alfred," Arthur intervened him at the very thought of his idea. "We shouldn't get ourselves too involved with those two over there, and you out of all people need to close your mouth shut from either of them as much as possible,"
"What do you mean by that? Because of me and my heroic plan, they're both getting along and all of that stuff! I bet you're just mad that I figured out something to help all of us before you did!"
Arthur could not help but feel agitated from his comment. Well, it is true that Alfred was the one to spark up the idea that Yao was fascinated with books of any sort to Ivan, and the fact his plan managed to work somehow, he was still continuing to ponder on how Alfred turned out to be successful for once. So, in a way, Alfred was sort of correct from his previous comment.
"I am not angry in any way! I'm only confused on how this plan of yours, one that actually came straight from you, has brought us even closer to breaking this wretched curse. And, especially since you came up with that plan, its nearly impossible to believe that one of your ideas seemed to benefit everyone here,"
"So..." Alfred started. "What you're saying is that you don't think I should be able to think up of a plan like this?
"Alfred, I've known you for years now, and I at least know much about you that I already understand your train of thought to any sort of problem we have. Usually, most of the ideas that you have came up with have either made our problems worse or as if it was never mentioned in the first place. I guess I am saying that you shouldn't be capable of creating a successful plan,"
"What kinds of plans have I made that has been a failure? There's not one that I, and probably you too, can think of right now!" Alfred protested, but Arthur was a lot more quick-witted when it came to anything like this.
"How about we recall the time when you thought that we can stop Raivis from being frightened of Ivan all the time, but in the end you only made the fellow twice as scared when you almost ended up getting Vash into shooting him somehow,"
"Yeah, but-" Alfred blurted out, but Arthur ignored his little interruption.
"Or how about the time when you decided that it would be a good idea to to get both Sadik and Heracles enraged enough that Sadik nearly lit the entire kitchen on fire in order to burn Heracles into mere ashes,"
"Okay, I did that, but that was only because-" And again, Alfred could not peep a single sentence out of his mouth.
"And I couldn't forget when you said that you can figure out why Berwald calls Tino his 'wife', and after you failed miserably in doing so, even though it was already predicted, you were almost broken in half by Berwald once you aggravated him enough,"
"Alright, I was wondering why he was calling him that, and he can be scarier than Ivan sometimes! Cut me with some shack on that guy, and admit it, some wanted to know as well!"
"I can't argue with you on that..." Arthur admitted (like the others who also wanted to know why Tino was called such a name by Berwald) "...but it was still a terrible idea for you to begin with, you already know enough that you don't want to piss him off,"
"It was worth a try, Artie, and someone was going to ask the question sooner or later anyways," Alfred said frankly.
"This doesn't ignore the fact that you make terrible plans in the first place! Why do you think I doubted you about the plan from earlier?" Arthur said rather bluntly.
"Maybe because you didn't consider about it before I did," Alfred said, still showing ignorance towards Arthur.
At that point Arthur was ready to break Alfred into mere crushed pieces. "You little idiotic arse-"
His words were quickly interrupted by the sound of soft laughter coming nearby from inside the library. They both themselves to the source of noise and moved closer in silence.
"What would Yao be laughing for?" Arthur asked to himself, but he could hear Alfred chuckle in response.
"I don't know, but I'm gonna find out and maybe something awesome will finally happen!" Alfred announced to Arthur, who now stood dumbstruck that Alfred had refused to listen to him about everything they have discussed about for the past few minutes.
"Alfred, you git! Just get back here before they notice you-" By the time he alerted Alfred, he was already more than halfway to where Yao and Ivan were sitting. "-aw, forget it!" Knowing that Alfred was likely to cause ruckus, Arthur decided to follow him before he could cause any destruction.
As they moved quietly towards their destination, Arthur watched Alfred move under the couch where the two were reading peacefully, an easy spot where they could easily eavesdrop on them and hear everything clearly.
"You know Artie, it would've been a lot less complicated if we hid here from the start," Alfred said. "We can probably hear a hundred times better than when we were-"
"Alright that's great Alfred, but would you please shut your mouth so neither of them can hear us from above?" Arthur said pessimistically, and all that came after was utter silence from Alfred. "We'll stay quiet and make sure we don't make a sound, got that?"
"Yep," Alfred obeyed and remained mute for Arthur's sake. They all stayed noiseless for a moment until the objects heard noises from above.
"You really think that he resembles him?" Yao said with a jovial tone in his voice.
"Da, how can it not?" Ivan said sincerely as Yao began to chuckle just a little more. "Who else would it be?"
"Well, I don't think he has that much of an anger issue, but Sadik has a very strong grudge against Heracles," Yao admittedly said. With that, both Alfred and Arthur were silently agreeing with him on his statement. "Do you know why they're always violent against one another, aru?"
"They were always like that ever since I met them. They truly hate and despise each other to the bone," Ivan said candidly as Yao gave off a soft smile. "It almost fills me with pleasure seeing them argue with each other all the time,"
Sounding a little eerie in front of Yao, both Arthur and Alfred mentally face palmed themselves at Ivan unintentionally starling him due to his naturally petrifying essence.
"Uh...that seems...nice..." Yao answered back with his voice filling up with uneasiness from that strange comment. "...but it does look like all of the servants have someone to argue with, aru. They never seem to get along with each other at all,"
"It usually begins with that little Alfred, he always tends to create trouble to everyone with the mischief he causes," Ivan said with a vile tone.
"See?! See what I mean?" Arthur shouted under his breath towards Alfred, who was now vexed by the similar agreement about him with Ivan and Arthur.
"I guess you are correct, aru," Yao continued. "Whenever I notice him anywhere, it appears that he's in some sort of argument with someone, especially when he is near that Arthur guy. So I assume everyone must have some kind of grudge against him, right, aru?"
"Nyet. Fredka is just an idiot,"
"Alright! I'm coming out-" Before Alfred had the chance to storm out of their eavesdropping spot and lash out an entire rant on the Russian, Arthur quickly resisted Alfred from going any further while holding in a slight laugh.
"Well, now what do you think about the notion to hide out here?" Arthur said deviously as he heard Alfred form a small growl in his voice. Although Alfred still had the urge to argue about the previous comments, he remained hushed as they continued to surveil on the pair.
"It does sound like he is a very...irksome person, aru," Yao said, also thinking with the fact that probably everyone, including Ivan himself, was affected by any of the trouble that Alfred creates.
"It's true, but I think we should no longer talk about Fredka anymore, da? The conversation would be a lot more boring if we do," Within that moment it was almost difficult for Arthur to block Alfred from leashing out on Ivan and to subdue his own laughter.
Yao let out a small chuckle at that. "You really do have a strong hatred for him, aru," There was a slight pause and then he began to resume reading with Ivan, and left Arthur and Alfred with really nothing to spy on.
"He is very spot on when it comes to the burning hatred of you, Alfred," Arthur said cunningly as they began moving away slowly from where they were hiding.
"I know you don't really hate me, you just think I'm too childish or something like that right?"
"You mean immature, and yes, that is exactly what you are!"
"So you're saying that it means you don't hate me after all?" Alfred said cheerfully as he waited for a response from Arthur, who was silent with nothing to say to him.
"...don't twist my words up, alright?" he said with a much more annoyed voice than before.
"Whatever you say Artie," Alfred said brightly as he watched Arthur tense up by holding in the grudge not to correct his apparent nickname.
"You know I don't go through these matters this late at night, but with that high of a price you have, it has to be something extremely important for me to come all the way here,"
"It is very important because it's coming from the awesome me of course! And it benefits for both of us anyways so we should just get on with it," Gilbert said restively as he threw a small, worn bag full of golden coins across the table where a person was sitting sternly and conversating privately with the Prussian. "If that's not enough for you, I still have some more..."
"No, just enough," the man said as he fingered through the shiny, gold coins in order to check its authenticity. (Because who would trust Gilbert with money anyways) "So what brings me here tonight, Gil?"
"Well, Lars," Gilbert started. "You're familiar with Yao, right? Well, it turns out that he rejected my proposal and I've been thinking of a plan to get Yao into marrying me,"
"And what does this have to do with me?" Lars replied, doubtful that maybe what Gilbert was coming up with was not the best idea.
"You put people in jail! You're able to put anyone behind bars, correct?" Gilbert was now standing from his chair and shouting directly at Lars with a smirk across his face.
"As long as they did something wrong or inappropriate to the village, then yes," Lars said in agreement. "but what does that have to do with Yao? As far as I know, he hasn't done any sort of act that has disrupted the village,"
"Don't be silly! Of course Yao hasn't done anything, it's what that brother of his will do soon!" he said triumphantly.
"What was his name, Kiku was it? He isn't a criminal to this village, and it is certain that Yao wouldn't be so pleased if you allowed me to put him in a cell. So why do you want to go along with this plan of yours that will most likely end in Yao despising you?"
Gilbert smiled speciously. "Are you familiar with Kiku and the work he does?"
Lars squinted in skepticalness but gave a quick nod. "I do, but I can't exactly put him behind bars for that. Whatever he draws is either for his own pleasure or interest, it's not like he's showing it to the rest of the public,"
"And what if they, oh I don't know, got into the village's hands?" Gilbert said with a devious sneer.
Now Lars had an amenable grin appearing on his face. "Ah, I think I see where you are going with this Gil, such a despicable plan,"
"Yeah, I know, it's an awesome plan, right?"
"Hmph. I guess you are right. So what you want me to do is wait until his artwork is released to the entirety of the public and then let me do the work and arrest him, correct?"
Gilbert nodded. "But here's the catch, you can release him out of the bars on this one condition, and that is if Yao agrees to marry me so his own brother can be free. It's obvious enough that he cares the world for Kiku, so he will do anything to keep him from being put in a cell,"
"Such a brilliant plan even coming from you, so when shall I take my offer?" Lars said, waiting for Gilbert to respond back to him.
"Not just yet, Francis told me that he heard Yao is apparently missing or something like that. He's also been telling me that Kiku, my bruder, and his little Italian friend were captured by some 'beast' in some castle and Yao had taken their place for them,"
"Seems like they just found a bear or some huge animal while they were probably drunk or what not, but if maybe Yao was close to a creature that huge..." Lars stopped as if he were indicating something.
"Nah, he can't be dead, and besides, Francis also said that Kiku was going back to get Yao from wherever he is, so this will serve as the best chance to sneak into their household and find anything useful without them catching us,"
"I now understand why I love working with you, such a wonderful plan, and I love it," Lars said in agreement with Gilbert's incredibly clever plan.
Gilbert put on a sly smile. "Ja, I know, everyone loves the awesome me!"
Great, another two months wasted and now I feel like a jackass for keeping you all waiting for the next chapter.
Reasons for being late on this chapter : Tests. Procrastinating whenever I have the chance to. School and homework getting in the way. Tests. A little bit of Writer's Block for me. Tests. Having to rewrite and erase some parts of this chapter because I was not satisfied even though I'm still not satisfied with it. Tests. Sleep. Tests. Tests. Did I mention tests?
So yeah, tests.
Luckily I finished the flipping chapter for you guys...but the good thing about this is that I already have the next chapter planned through, and it's probably the most romantic scene in the entire movie in my opinion. (Yep, that scene is coming up VERY soon!)
And as for Nars (I used the Netherlands because in The Beautiful World it showed him earning some money straight from Spain to get some weapons...or fish...I don't remember) I didn't make him the asylum keeper because if this was just like the movie, then Kiku, Feli, and Ludwig would also be put in, and I don't think Gil would be happy with that.
And if you are unsure why we're talking about Kiku's artwork here, go back and reread chapter 1 or read hardcore yaoi doujinshis and you'll understand why.
And yes, Alfred does make terrible plans, just reference back to Hetalia:Axis Powers Episode 9 and you'll see why.
For Ivan hating Alfred, that is just a headcanon for myself that America and Russia don't like each other that much/think they are really good rivals for each other.
I personally believe I bullshitted on the first half of this chapter, but I hope to make it up for the dance scene...
Anyways, thank you for the reviews, favorites, and follows this story gotten! i wish I can hug you right now for that!
Just hope that the next update will come soon! :)
Hetalia and Beauty and The Beast does not and will never belong to me.