Regrets
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.
Chapter 11: At Best
*Spades Castle*
The weeks that passed were gathering attention by members of the court, but they knew better than to raise their concerns for the Queen aloud. It was rumored that past queens developed a similar mentality of needing to talk or do things while their Kings were away for long periods of time. This was the first they'd seen their Queen act anything remotely unlike himself, spending longer hours indoor, speaking with Jack Yao and the foreign diplomats from Diamonds who he had suddenly announced would be staying in their kingdom for an indefinite amount of time despite past tensions between their kingdoms. There were a great many changes taking place in too short a time.
In fact, the Queen's hours were spent researching through journals and old texts of histories of the kingdoms locked away in the royal libraries used rarely by any of the predecessors in the Spadian history. Arthur spoke, planned, and constantly worked with the ill-fit group to get everything they would need, going so far as to review members of the royal courts to determine who could be trusted to be put on the council. It was a difficult and thankless task, but it was better than presenting the idea without any idea at all. So far they'd even managed to figure out who were descendants or at reincarnations of those from the last council, including themselves which partially explained why they were drawn together, in various ways of course.
"Are you sure about this Arthur?" Matthew asked. It was the third time in the last hour, Arthur was certain he was only asking out of worry, but his patience was wearing thin.
"Yes I'm sure Matthew. None of this should have happened at all if it weren't for the fact that the majority of the bloody nobles are cowards and leave their problems for the monarchy to solve. I swear if I…" Arthur was fuming, but he had to be in control. Taking a deep calming breath he said, "It needs to be done. If we force the meeting so that we have the royals here when Clubs king is captured we can also propose Alfred's idea before them so that we may agree on council positions, meetings and what not. This will be Alfred's legacy. It's what he left behind."
Matthew smiled. "I'll go send out the messengers then."
Arthur nodded and watched as Matthew turned around and left the room.
Unnoticed by the pair of them a figure watched from the shadows, a smirk crossing his face. "All according to plan."
He glanced around and placed a book, the journal and findings of one Arthur J. Kirkland ruler of the old country of England, on the desk in the pile of books to be read by the queen. With a snap of his fingers the figure vanished into the shadows.
*With Alfred somewhere in the Outlands*
Time marched on, dragging and relentless in its passage as they counted the days until it was all over using their time to find things to help them win the war, not just battles. The biggest improvement came when they met up with Tony's regiment. Tony gave them newer weapons to work with, better than swords and arrows he gave them technology, communications and more. It was just what they needed.
Of course there were a number of mishaps with finding other magic users, but once they found out why, well, they were all too happy to go along with the plan and actually train in the abilities they had spent so long hiding.
"Alfred!"
Al looked up from the paperwork he was going through. He had it spread around through the higher ranks that Matthias had 'taken over' command as General of the army so that he could maintain the ability to keep up with all the war strategies and reports that filtered through the camp that now had scattered warriors training with the newer weapons and magic tactics. He grinned as he looked up at one of his oldest friends since his move to Spadian territory. "Hey Tony! What's up bro?"
Tony grinned, his eyes alight with an unholy glee Alfred had only seen when it came to pranking people on levels of epic proportion or kicking someone's ass. "I finally finished that weapon you had me customize for you based on what we uncovered all those years ago!"
Alfred's jaw dropped. Old weapons from before had been lost, their somewhat fortunate stumble upon an old hidden underground base beneath what appeared to use to be a house belonging to one of the members of the original council, well those weapons had been intriguing and just what had gotten Tony into the idea of creating weapons and using technology to make it better. Sure there was magic and all those ways of communication or making magic weapons that project energy, but a weapon based off what had nearly destroyed the world and led to their current state…that was a weapon of destruction.
"How? When?" Alfred asked excitedly.
Tony smirked. Tossing the pistols over to Al, Alfred looked them over and could barely see the modifications. They were reloadable, fairly light weight, but only held a limited amount of ammunition to discharge at the enemy. They would be trusty and reliable to hit targets from a distance, and cause bodily damage that could cause enough pain to keep an enemy down unlike arrows. He still had his sword, but Tony was currently working on modifying that too, and if it was anything like these babies that were dug out of that underground bunker from who knows how long ago, it would be epic.
"Just finished them last night. I managed to keep working on them while you were sent off to the front lines, before I got drafted. Managed to keep working on them just in case, since you can't keep out of trouble that is," Tony said with a grin, making the others who had entered just a few moments before laugh.
"I knew I couldn't be the only one who thought that," Lukas commented.
Alfred pouted. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, but notice this time it wasn't even my fault and the other times we were helping people."
Matthias coughed. "I'm not sure they considered it helping."
Tino chuckled a bit while Berwald watched them all passively. "Alright, kids settle down. No need to act like inexperienced children. There'll be plenty of time for that after the war."
"You're not that much older than us Tino," Alfred protested lightheartedly, his own lips twitching in a smile as the others gave their own vocal protests. It was amusing to see Lukas give out an emotion other than annoyance or neutrality.
The arguments were petty, barely worth fighting over, but it was a small form of stress relief in the calm before the storm that was sure to follow. This was them working together to make things the absolute best, the best of the kingdoms calling in favors and fighting together to prevent the usurping of their lifestyles at the hands of the Club kingdom. The best of the best working together and though Alfred had no idea what would happen now that the Jokers and Mages had joined the fight, he was certain things would work themselves out. They could do no more than try, but even still they would try to the best of their abilities, and that alone was a confidence that maybe everyone would make it out okay. That maybe the group they have and the small comforts they took would allow them to survive as they always have, together.
*Joker Kingdom – The Grey Lands*
"What do you think you're doing?!" Gilbert shouted, more than a little cross. "You will destroy everything! The balance of the kingdoms is precariously close to the edge of a cliff and you will drive it over!"
Peter snorted, but the man before them spat at their feet in disgust. "I'm not doing anything a Joker is not within their rights to do. I merely offered information that would reveal more than the two of you want the kingdoms to know. What has been foretold will come to pass, whether at my hands or that of another! The sooner the better and I will take vengeance for what was done to those of us who refused to pledge!"
Peter eyed the man distastefully, before commenting. "Say what you will, but vengeance will not be what you wish it. All you have done is rend the world apart and start something that we will not be able to stop. What life we had before does not exist in this place and you would do well to remember that you were to blame for everything that fell apart the first time. Are you so certain you'll survive a second?"
Those parting words shot at the man held by chains made Peter feel tired. Vindictive and yet so weary of all that had come to pass, the long years away from his family and those he cared for, all that had led to what the world was now, all for one man who held no regard for the rules of balance. Peter had retained his youth, but in him he held the knowledge of a man who lived many lifetimes.
"Was that necessary?" Gilbert asked, leaving behind the only renegade Joker they had managed to capture in the act, whose hysterical laughter echoed down the hall and sent shivers up their spines, forcing them to return to the room only to find it empty.
Peter stared morosely at the scene before him. "It was. The fate of the world clings to but a fragile hope that we can undo what happened. We will need all the magic, old and new, and all those present from the initial contact for even the smallest hope to reverse this and not allow it all to pass. The only thing I wonder is if the happiness they have grasped will still be in their reach or if by undoing this everything will come undone in its entirety."
Gilbert ruffled Peter's hair, not deterred by the huff of annoyance. "That's what we have to believe in magic for…so that everything will work itself out."
"I hope you're right," Peter muttered, looking out the window. The forest was dark in the Grey Lands, protecting them and the old ways, preserving those who could remember in a frozen state, unchanging, unmoving, to keep the balance of the world. The hazy moon made quite a sight, but as he looked upon the world they were part of now, he didn't know which was better. The old, which had been wrought with problems, blame, and met with cynical thoughts from people who barely tolerated each other's existence, or the new, which held little memory of the old and was wrought with its own problems but held a faint promise of happiness if things were to work out. Such a fragile balance, tipping one way and another, but that thin line was breaking and soon there would not be a choice.
A/N: So…This kind of just magically appeared in my head, yes it's shorter than the other chapters, but this will move the plotline along faster and get the next few chapters out sooner. There's like five chapters left give or take a few.
