Chapter 25: New Me

His eyes felt heavy. More heavy than they had in a long time. But it was a familiar weight, similar to previous times he had been in a coma and was waking up again. But he wasn't as confused or frantic. This was more gradual. He tried to move, but he felt like he was underwater. Nothing responded. Only his eyes would move, quickly under their tightly shut eyelids, trying to process what was happening.

His sense of hearing filtered in first, processing the sounds of people shuffling and talking loudly, but that was so far away. Maybe in the room next door. Across the hall? It was hard to tell. Smell and feel came back together, and his senses were overwhelmed by the strong scent of smoke and metal. The combination caused him to stop breathing for a beat. He felt something silky and soft around him, conflicting with the horrid smell. He was forced to breathe when he needed to again, but was not happy about it.

After a few more seconds, he was able to move. Slowly, he forced his eyelids open. The room was dark, with no light source, but he could still see clearly. There was probably a window somewhere. He was in a bed, a very fancy one at that, covered in red satin. He raised a hand and felt the sheet, carefully, as if afraid of tearing it. He peeled the sheets off of himself and saw his body was covered in only pants of the same material and colour covering his body. He sat up and turned, and touched his feet to the cool stone the room seemed to be made of. The room was small for a room, and just barely fit the queen bed, wooden wardrobe, and bookshelf. There was hardly room to stand without being pushed against something, so he just scooted across the bed towards the wardrobe to find some actual clothing.

While he looked across the rows of black and gold suits and casual clothing, he noted that there was a fine layer of dust covering everything. The room itself seemed hardly used, even though obviously being the room of someone important. He fished out a pair of black sweat pants and a gold tank top, and turned to dress himself.

Everything came crashing back to him in an instant of chaos. Images and memories that didn't make sense when they just passed by his eyes but triggered more reactions in his brain than he knew to do with. He felt the clothes slip from his grasp and fell face first into the bed, overwhelmed.

Matthew Williams had perfect control over his body once again, and he didn't know why.

Alfred started to panic. He hadn't seen his brother in the throng of nations, and when he would ask, the others would look at him in pity and guilt. They never responded. The one time Alfred had tried asking Kiku, the poor boy had dropped his bag. Then scrambled to collect everything that had fallen out of it in a flurry of excuses and apologies, and ran to the other side of the group as quickly as he could. He couldn't find Arthur or Francis to ask, but that was just as well. Not even Peter would answer him. A this point, Alfred was shocked he wasn't beating the truth out of someone.

He was beginning to fear the worst. But there was one person left, one person he was sure would be straight with him and either confirm or make his fears disappear. He hobbled his way over to them, having no trouble spotting their shock of white hair out of the crowd. Gilbert frowned slightly when he saw Alfred approaching, but didn't turn away or run like some of the other nations had. Instead, he turned to face him, a grim determination settling on his face. He stopped walking and waited for Alfred to catch up.

"Hey."

Gilbert nodded, then waved for him to follow. Alfred pressed his lips together, but complied. Gilbert lead him some ways from the group, but not far enough that they couldn't see them. Just far enough for the others to not be able to ease drop. Alfred waited for Gilbert to talk, since the albino probably knew what he wanted.

"You sure you want to hear this?"

The question just worsened Alfred's fear. He hoped to god he wasn't right, that his brother was okay. But he knew. He knew.

Gilbert took a deep breath, taking Alfred's silence as a yes. He let the breath out, slumping with it. He didn't want to talk about this, to say what happened, to relive it. But it was Mattie's brother. He deserved to know. But first, he needed to know how much he needed to talk about.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Matthew sat on the bed, holding his head in his hands, taking deep breaths. He could feel it. He could feel the thing writhing in his subconscious, amused by it's hosts troubled mind. Matthew was still in the satin pants, the clothes discarded where he dropped them. The demon twisted and nudged at his mind, almost affectionately, and Matthew tried not to throw up.

Matthew shook himself and grabbed the clothes back up, changing quickly. He had to do something about this. While he still had control over his own body, which the gentle stirring in his mind reminded him even that could be gone at any moment, he might be able to find out what he could do to get the King out of his head. Matthew scrambled over to the foot of the bed and to the door, which opened easily. He stepped out, prepared for the onslaught of Nightmares he had heard from inside the bedroom.

There was no one. Not a single Nightmare in sight. Matthew went pale, looking around the dimly lit hallway. He was sure he had heard others here. Maybe they were in the rooms around him? There was a chuckle in the back of his mind, which Matthew ignored to the best of his abilities. He opened and closed a few doors near the room he came out of. There was no one else even remotely close to his area. There was another chuckle, and Matthew felt the presence twist a tendril around some part of his brain and yanked. Matthew felt something in his brain snap, and he could hear it again. The conversations that were too far away to make out the exact words but close enough to separate one tone from the other. Matthew's hands flew to his ears and pressed. The voices became quieter. Good, he wasn't going insane. That was nice to know.

He glanced around and took his hands off of his ears. The conversations were still there. Matthew could live with that. Now he just needed to find the library or something and he'd be fine.

Matthew's legs started walking without his permission. He gritted his teeth and decided he had absolutely no choice in the matter. He could struggle, but he'd been doing that for so long, it felt like years. And when he decided to stop struggling, he'd been giving semi-control. It was best to just go along with it. The King seemed to agree with this logic, and quickened his walking.

Matthew didn't run into any Nightmares on his long walk, which he found slightly alarming since he could still hear them, but didn't put too much thought into it. Matthew turned a corner and was in a kitchen of some sort. It was shockingly modern, and not at all subtle. The walls went from stone to jagged wall to white tile. There was no dust or dirt anywhere, giving Matthew the impression that it was brand new. Which it probably was, seeing as Nightmares don't need to eat. Matthew shrugged and started to fix himself a small meal.

Once he was seated and eating, he thought up a few questions that the King might answer for him. Why he was giving Matthew control, what the hell was going on with the continuous voices, why he could see perfectly when there were absolutely no lights down here, and many others. There was a kind of grumble in his mind, and Matthew winced from a sudden head ache. He took back all of the questions and his head cleared once again. The King purred like a cat, an oddly comforting noise, and wrapped around the same part of his mind again. There was another snap. Matthew dropped his sandwich.

It was like something straight out of a video game. The walls, floors, tables, everything faded until there were just the outlines of each object left. Matthew could see everything everywhere, which made him realize as he looked around, that this place was so much bigger than he could have ever imagined. And the section he was in must have been some kind of private, highest-access only place, since the nearest thing was a couple kilometres away. Matthew wondered how the hell the King got around anywhere so quickly.

He also realized, since the King was still in his mind, Matthew was able to piggy-back his abilities. At least, the ones the King allowed him to use. Matthew was disgusted by the rush of excitement that filled him at that thought, so much so that his sandwich almost came back up.

His vision returned to normal, albeit with the consequence of dizziness, which didn't help his stomach any. Matthew pushed himself up, abandoning the sandwich, and started walking away. He didn't know where to, he just needed to be not here.

Alfred stared over Gilbert's shoulder, unable to look at him even if he was leading the way. He was processing, pulling out torture methods in the back of his mind that might be able to help with all the loose anger he was radiating. Gilbert had been smart in shutting up as soon as he told Alfred what had happened, but the American just needed someone or something to take it out on.

When they had caught up to the rest, the other nations had given him glances, but never talked to him. They knew what he was like when mad. They didn't want to be caught in Alfred's bad habit of taking out his emotions on whatever even breathed in his direction. Of course, a few could see he was also extremely hurt, but most of them didn't want the blunt of Alfred's anger.

Most of them.

Kiku, as soon as he saw that Alfred was back, slowly made his way through the crowd over to them. Once he was at Alfred's side, he didn't talk, just slipped his own hand into Alfred's as a weak apology for not telling him when he was meant to. Alfred physically relaxed a bit, and gave Kiku's hand a light squeeze back, sending forgiveness.

He wasn't mad at anyone here for not telling him. He was slightly irritated at them, but knew it was probably hard for them as well. His anger was directed at the Nightmares, the ones who actually took his brother from him. He wanted to stomp over to their base and slaughter them, make them pay. He wanted to see the bastard that decided to wear his brother's body, to see the monster that would tear such an innocent person away from him. He would get to release his anger, just not now.

Matthew wanted to be back in his own mind. He wanted to be back in that field of flowers and trees, the one he couldn't escape from, because at least there he was comfortable and safe. Out here, he was discovering a whole new world he didn't know how to control. He couldn't contact his family, he couldn't escape this place, hell he couldn't even find his way back to the room he woke up in. He felt trapped, in this place, in his body, but free to do what he wished. He felt so small and fragile, and all at the same time so large and powerful. It was all so overwhelming, and without thinking he retreated into his memories which just stirred up unwanted emotions that were painful and sad and even the good ones were tainted and he missed his brother and Francis and Arthur and oh god Gilbert was never going to forgive him for this and everything made his heart ache and his eyes leak and god fucking damn it why wasn't he dead.

The King, who stirred uncomfortably when Matthew started to panic, took control of their body. Matthew could still feel and see and smell and hear, but the King was just moving them around. The King made them face a wall and walk into it, and they disappeared into the shadows. Matthew had the feeling of weightlessness and being pulled in every direction, and went to gasp, but there was no air where they were. Matthew ended up choking slightly on nothing, and the King took another step quickly. They came out somewhere so bright the King hissed slightly when they first came out and shielded their eyes. Matthew backed up the motion, forcing their eyes adjust to the new lighting by staring at the ground and blinking quickly. Eventually, when the King seemed comfortable, he took away his hands and Matthew looked up.

They were in a garden. It was similar to the one in their head, but smaller and without the large expanse of nothingness. The roof was a sky light, and Matthew could see the azure sky shining down. He walked a bit into the room, dazed. He knelt and ripped a bit of grass out of the ground. The grass did in fact rip. Matthew felt slightly bad for doing so after, but it was to confirm that this was a real place and not just some mind trick the King was pulling. He walked over to one of the tree's and placed a hand on the bark, feeling over it's rough texture. He felt some of the tension drain from his body as he did so, and placed his back to the bark. He slid down the tree trunk, which didn't hurt as much as he would have expected, but he was grateful for the pain. It reminded him that he was alive and semi-well. Matthew fiddled the grass between his fingers, took deep breaths, and came down from his panic attack. Even when most of his worries floated away, Matthew kept brushing his hands through the grass, working to keep himself calm.

Their mouth twitched up at the King's amusement. "Well kid, that was quite to bundle of worries you had going on there."

Matthew was momentarily started by the voice that came from his lips, which sounded much deeper and clearer than his own soft, breezy one. He tensed automatically, blinked a few times, then relaxed a bit. The King was just using their vocals to talk. There wasn't much harm in that.

"Yeah, well, your entire existence in my head is hard to handle."

The King chuckled slightly. "Yes, I know. But you haven't gone insane, so your doing much better than any of my previous hosts."

"...Thank you?"

"You're welcome."

Matthew kept weaving one hand through the grass, while the King used the other to brush hair out of their face. It just flopped back. The King ran their entire hand through their hair, forcing it to sweep back more than forward, and it stayed that time. Their hand flopped back to the grass, and Matthew resumed in using both hands to feel the ground. He flexed their toes a bit as well.

"It's actually quite surprising how well you're taking this." The King hummed after a while of silence.

"You call this taking it well?" Matthew quirked one of their brows.

"It's better than most of what I've seen."

"And that would be?"

"Let's just say humans make stupid decisions when they find out their possessed." There was a pause. "Well, one of them had taken it extremely well, but they kept calling me 'My Lord' so..."

Matthew snorted. "Of course. Why not."

There was another long, comfortable silence. Matthew decided that whatever garden he was in was made of magic that relaxed you, since there was no way he would be this calm talking to the demon possessing him. And he found he didn't mind much. He also decided he'd just stay here for however long it took him to find a way to get the King out of him.

Speaking of which...

"Hey... do you know-"

"Don't even think abou-"

"You don't even know what I was go-"

"I do and I'm telling you that it's not pos-"

"How do you-"

"I just-"

"B-"

Their words slowly became a jumbled mess of sounds and letters and noises they shouldn't be able to make. Matthew and the King both shut up, paused, and then the King took the initiative.

"Few humans knew about me, and fewer came out of those experiences alive. There was only a couple of records about me, but none of them were ever useful to humans, so I left them be. I've managed to keep my existence quiet for a long time, so no ones found a way of getting me out without killing the host. Even if there was a recorded way of getting me out, I would have destroyed it long ago. Believe me when I say you're stuck with me."

Matthew chewed on their lips a bit after the King's monologue. "But what if you missed something? What if it's hidden?"

"Kid, my Nightmares all know to get rid of any information about me they find. There's nothing."

"How do I know you're not lying?" Matthew snapped, annoyed.

The loud burst of laughter started Matthew. "Oh, you'd know."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you'd- actually, this'll be easier to show you. Here, I'll just lie now. I'm a big, fluffy pink elephant hell bent on shining rainbows and glitter on the world and making it a better place."

The startled laugh was Matthew's this time. "Oh come on, that's-"

He cut himself off, jerking their head back a bit. There was a sense of wrongness running through his entire being, mostly in Matthew's portion of their mind. It was uncomfortable. Matthew squirmed a bit.

"See? I physically cannot lie to you. You'd know. It would take me a lot of concentration to pull off a convincing lie, and even then, you'd probably still get this feeling. Our minds are literally merged, which means any reaction I have to lying, you have tenfold, and vice versa."

Matthew made their face scrunch up. "Does that apply to everything?"

"Dunno. I don't think so. I'm not too keen on finding out."

Matthew had to agree. The King shuffled their body into a more comfortable position as Matthew contemplated this new information. He was still calm, though. This garden had to be magic. The King rested their hands in their lap, and Matthew didn't bother moving them, but kept moving their toes in the grass lightly. Matthew felt the King poke at his portion of their brain and frowned. The King backed off slightly, both taking the hint and from something else. Matthew tilted their head.

"Proverbs."

That made no sense what so ever. Matthew furrowed their brows.

Proverbs." The King said again, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, then elaborated. "You keep using 'their', 'them' and such when referencing this body and our minds."

Matthew's part of their mind, upon realizing the King was right, decided that was the absolute perfect time to shut down completely, drawing Matthew's entire presence back into their mind with it. The King was startled by the sudden complete control he had again.

"Hello?"

No reply.

"Shutting me out, huh?"

No reply.

"It's all right. I can wait." He stretched, placed their hands behind his head, and closed his eyes. "I have all the time in the world."

A/N: So I am slowly loving the King more and more. That's a thing.

Thank you all so much for being patient with me while I try and work out what I want to go on! Again, I have the basic outline, not the details. Plus school is slowly getting more and more stressful. So thanks again to all who have read this, followed, favourited, and commented. You are all beautiful people~~!

Until next time~.