Chapter 13

Alfred woke up during in the middle of the night smiling at the fact that Arthur was still safely in his arms. Without his knowing his hold on Arthur tightened, when he realised Alfred loosened enough so that Arthur would be comfortable but not enough for him to be taken away from Alfred.

Alfred had spent the best part of five minutes trying to get back to sleep. But sleep eluded him. Thoughts were running threw his mind. All of them about Arthur.

"Why would someone want to hurt him?"

"Who would want to hurt him?"

"Is it because of his magic?"

"Do they hold a grudge against his family?"

"Or a grudge against people with magic?"

"Do they want to abuse his magic?"

"What if whoever is kidnapping magic users and wants to harm Arthur is the same person?"

"Who would want to hurt him?"

"Why would they want to hurt him?"

"What if they've already tried to?"

"Could it be the same people who tried to take advantage of his magic as a kid?"

"Were they at his coronation?"

"Did they see him use magic?"

"Wait. Arthur said that he was light headed during the evening. Maybe. No it can't be. But what if it was. He did say that there are things that people with magic are weak against. What if whoever it is had something that would make defenceless? They . . . they could've taken him from me."

Alfred's grip on Arthur had tightened at the thought of what could've happened to Arthur.

"I . . . I won't allow it. Who? Who could it be?"

"If they were at the coronation. Then at least that narrows it down to a few hundred."

Alfred climbed out of the bed and quickly grabbed some of his clothes that had been thrown onto the floor. He made sure that Arthur would be safe whilst he left for a few minutes to clear his mind.

After walking around for what felt like ages, Alfred found Yao.

"You awake to Yao?"

"Alfred? Shi I can't sleep. I guess that's the same with you?"

"Kind of." Alfred shrugs his shoulders as he leans against the wall opposite from where Yao was sitting. "I was asleep, but I woke up like five minutes ago, and couldn't get back to sleep afterwards."

"Is Arthur ok aru?"

"Yeah dude, don't worry. I made sure that he would be ok whilst I left to clear my head."

"Penny for your thoughts aru."

Alfred chuckled a little bit before giving his reply to Yao.

"I just keep thinking about who would do something like this."

Silence fell between two.

Yao let out a sigh "Alfred I know you aru. I know that there has to be more than that. Now spit it out."

"I think that there might be a possibility that the person or persons that are taking people with magic could also be the one or ones that could harm Arthur, and . . ."

"And . . .?"

"And I think that they were here during Arthur's coronation." Alfred's face turned serious

"Aiyah. Now I can see why you couldn't sleep aru. What make you think this?"

"Two things actually. First Arthur told me that people with magic are weak against certain things. And secondly Arthur felt light headed during the evening. After he sent his sister home. Someone must have seen him use magic and then targeted him."

"So what you are saying is that both of these situations could be related and that we could be looking for someone that was here roughly two days ago aru."

"In a nutshell, yeah."

"Aiyah, it feels like everything just got more complicated. I can see why you couldn't get back to sleep."

Alfred ran his fingers threw his hair with a sigh.

After a few minutes of awkward silence between the King and Jack; Alfred started to walk away.

"I best go and check on Arthur, make sure that he's ok."

"Sure. Alfred."

Alfred stopped and looked over his shoulder.

"Yeah dude?"

"Tomorrow I'll start looking into the guest list, see if there's anything suspicious about them."

"Can I suggest something?"

"If you are going to suggest that I start with those from Clubs, then you can just go and get some sleep."

Alfred laughed as he walked down the corridor back to his and Arthur's room.

Alfred quietly opened the door to the room, happy to see that Arthur was still asleep in their bed. He slowly crept into the room and carefully lifted the covers. As Alfred climbed into bed Arthur began to stir.

"Hm, Al?" Arthur's eyes fluttered open as he looked towards Alfred.

Alfred placed his hand on Arthur's cheek and let his thumb caress Arthur's face.

"Sorry Artie didn't mean to wake you."

Arthur nuzzled his face into Alfred's hand.

"Did you go somewhere?"

"Only to get a drink."

Arthur scooted closer to Alfred. "For a moment I thought that wasn't you."

Alfred placed an arm around Arthur's body. He started to rub reassuring circles on Arthur's back. "I will always be here for you Arthur."

Arthur pressed his face against Alfred's chest as he fell asleep. It didn't take long for sleep to finally claim Alfred for the night with an arm protectively around his sweet Arthur.

Months had passed since that nerve wracking day for our trio. Yao had yet to find anything suspicious about the guest that attend Arthur's coronation. And that was just from the guests that came from Spades and Diamonds. Arthur was talking to his family on nearly a daily basis to check on them. He was happy to hear that Elizabeth magic was growing stronger and her range of spells was increasing past that of teleportation spells. Alfred however . . . well he was kind of on edge most of the time. But do not doubt Alfred, no one had noticed how on edge he was; especially whenever someone was close to Arthur for him to feel comfortable.

Alfred, Arthur and Yao decided between them what they had found out that day would stay between just the three of them, well five if you want to count Gilbert and Peter.

They did have the unfortunate luck that the number of people disappearing had increased. What was once about two hundred and fifty was now over three hundred and still increasing daily. This was one reason of the reasons that Arthur was talking with his family, just to make sure that it wasn't one of them that had been taken before the nest list arrived.

But spring had now made it back to Spades, the winter had been fairly harsh, but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle. With spring came new life to Spades the plants that had slept through winter bloomed with what looked like new life.

To Arthur spring meant his birthday. Which as you can guess Alfred was more than happy to celebrate. Arthur's birthday celebration had gone with nothing bad happening, not just for Alfred and Arthur but throughout Spades itself.

It had been a couple of weeks since Arthur's birthday and Alfred, Arthur and Yao were preparing for the next meeting of the four suits.

They left early in the morning the day of the meeting.

They sat in the carriage on their way to the designated meeting spot. Arthur and Alfred sat next to each other, Alfred had his arm around Arthur's waist and Arthur had his head resting on Alfred's shoulder.

"So what happens during these meetings?" as Arthur lifted his head slightly

"They're pretty simple. Everything that's happened since the last meeting is discussed. If any of the other suits has had it rough during winter then help is divided between the others. Just the usual boring stuff Arthur."

"It sounds boring, but I'm guessing that it's actually pretty important?"

"It is aru."

"How long does it take to get to the meeting?"

"It shouldn't be too long. Spades is the closest to it. But we will have a break just over half way to let the horses rest and so we can stretch our legs."

Arthur leaned his head back down onto Alfred's shoulder.

"Arthur its ok if you want to get some sleep on the way, Alfred will most likely anytime soon aru."

At this Alfred couldn't help but let out a yawn to prove Yao's point.

"Oh come on Yao *yawn* I'm not that tired."

"Your face says otherwise aru."

With that Alfred and Arthur fell asleep in each other's arms.

When Arthur woke up he found that he was lying on his side and that he was alone in the carriage and that it had stopped. A slight feeling of worry came over him. He got up and looked outside the carriage.

"Alfred?" as he rubs his eyes

Arthur looked around from the entrance of the carriage. Happy to find that Alfred was by the horses

"Oh sorry Arthur. You looked so peaceful; I didn't want to wake you up when we stopped."

Arthur stepped out of the carriage and walked over to Alfred.

"That's ok. How long have we stopped for?"

"No more than a few minutes. I think it'll be another few minutes before we get going again."

"Really. So how far away from the meeting are we at the moment?"

"No more than two hours I would say."Alfred took hold of one of Arthur's hands and brought up to his lips. "But with you by my side Arthur, I'm sure that time will fly."

With that Alfred pressed his lips against the back of Arthur's hand. Arthur couldn't help but smile at the man he loved; as every word that spilled from Alfred's lips when talking to Arthur was filled with love so strong that it could have been mistaken for magic in one of its purest forms.

"Oh my dear sweet Alfred. You know how to make my heart flutter with your words, along with everything else about you."

"I'll take that as another way for you saying 'I love you'?"

"You know me so well Arthur."

"Heh. I love you to Alfred."

"Aiyah, will you two stop being so lovey dovey in front of me?"

"No can do Yao. Cause then we can't be all lovey dovey, unless you don't want to be around us?" Alfred pulled Arthur into a hug, burring his face into the crook of Arthur's neck.

Yao could only sigh as he practically face-palmed at Alfred's response.

And just like Alfred said with the next few minutes they were back in the carriage on the final stretch to the meeting of the four Suits. Within the next hour the meeting hall was in view. Arthur caught sight of it as they passed through the gates, blues, reds, greens and oranges decorated the building; each colour representing one of the four Suits. When the carriage came to a stop the door opened and Alfred was the first out. Yao motioned to Arthur that he was next to exit. And as Arthur was about to step out of the carriage Alfred held out his hand to Arthur, which of course he accepted. Yao was the last to exit. With Alfred, Arthur and Yao now out of the carriage, they started to head towards the entrance of the meeting building; Alfred had offered his arm to Arthur which he accepted, smiling as he looped his arm round Alfred's. The faint sound of their carriage leaving them and heading towards the stables so that the horses could get some well deserved rest could be heard. In the inside of the building was just as grand as the outside. Arthur recognised that some of the decor was definitely from Spades and took a good guess at what was from Diamonds, Hearts and Clubs; the colouring helped as well.

When they reached a set of large doors Arthur looked to Alfred and asked "Is this where the meeting will take place?"

"No this is just a waiting room for all the Royals to wait in before the meeting starts."

The doors opened and as Alfred, Arthur and Yao walked in they saw that they weren't the first to arrive.

"Ludwig. Prompt as ever I see."

"Das ist gut to see you again Alfred."

"Hahaha. So Ludwig how much do you think that Diamonds is not only going to be the last to arrive, but their also going to make us wait and Vash is going to have a scowl on his face that says that he's annoyed with Francis?"

"Oh si~ I definitely agree to that" Feliciano practically jumped out from behind Ludwig who could only nod in agreement to what Alfred had said

"Oh mon ami I am hurt, for you to think so little of moi."

"Oh come on Francis you know that I meant it as joke."

"Oui I know. I am known for being fashionably late."

"Your majesty it's not fashionably late you're just late to any meeting or anything like that in general." The scowl on Vash's face became more prominent with every word.

Laughter broke out between the Royals, starting from Spades, then to Hearts and then to Diamonds. Even Ludwig and Francis joined in on the laughter.

When the laughter died down and they had all regained their breath Arthur spoke.

"So is the only ones that we're waiting to arrive is Clubs?"

"That is right Arthur-san"

"Oh looks like we're the last to arrive da. Isn't this a strange turn of events."

"Sorry if we kept you all waiting there was . . ." Roderich pushed up his glasses "there was some important business that we had to attend to before we departed."

"Zhat's ok we haven't been waiting that long for you to arrive."

"Da that is good. So shall we continue with pleasantries or shall we begin?"

"Well the sooner that we are done is the sooner that moi can get some beauty sleep. Early morning travels is dreadful for my complexion."

As they left the waiting room and headed for the room where the meeting would take place; Arthur couldn't help but feel as if someone was watching him. When he looked around quickly he found that it wasn't Alfred, he was walking with a proud and confident air about him. With not knowing who it could be Arthur tightened his arm around Alfred's as they entered the meeting room.

A/N: first of just let me say that the time skip was necessary to avoid multiple filler chapters.

I am trying to make the chapters longer in length so they might take a little bit longer to be updated. but I promise I will not stop working on it till I have finished it.

we all know that England's birthday is in march which is roughly around spring time. Elizabeth on the other hand . . . well I don't know if the city of London has something like England does, but for the purpose of this fanfic let's just say its during winter, so Lizzy is now 18.

I know I don't say this every time but favs, follows and reviews are amazing.

oh for the next chapter you might want to get your umbrellas ready as a storm might start, haven't fully decided yet though chapter 14 is still in the early works

till next time gxgirl-93 out