He'll be a problem, won't he?

Arthur's eyes rested on Lovino. Alfred's hand gave Arthur's hand a squeeze-no doubt an attempt to put Arthur at ease while simultaneously asking him to enter the conversation.

As the monarchs and Ace Natalya exchanged words, Lovino could only watch Arthur in brazen confusion. Those were distinctly Antonio's and Matthew's energies—among other things—resting within Arthur. He tore his gaze away from Arthur, and his mildly panicked eyes zipped between Natalya and the other monarchs. "But—Natalya, look!" He pulled her hand and set his sights on Arthur.

Natalya frowned, and she decided to humor Lovino in their frenzied states. She looked Arthur over from where she stood. "... I never pictured you as a snob, Lovi," she murmured. "Looks like he's been through swamps and deserts to get here. Like a—" She cleared her throat to cut off any rude comment she would've allowed to slip out. "Queen Arthur just needs a change of clothes," Natalya spoke up. "Won't it be better for him to be dressed properly for any…?" Her diplomacy died down as she'd reached her limit for public speaking.

Francis stood. "Good idea," he spoke with a sigh. By now, the sanctity of a kings' meeting was a distant dream. "We would not want the Jokers to see you in those clothes. They would never let you hear the end of it." He paused when he didn't hear any acknowledgement from Arthur. With a lifted eyebrow, his gaze traveled over to the Spades monarchs in the doorway. "Arthur?"

From what I remember, the Hearts Ace has an innate ability to see auras—or whatever it is. Energy or souls, maybe.

Something like that. Why else would Ace Lovino be looking at me as if I carried…

Ah! Severed heads! Look at how pale he is; that's gotta be it.

Arthur coughed and turned away from the group. His grip on Alfred's hand tightened, and Alfred's words of startled comfort were distant but slowly breaking through Arthur's mental fog. "I'm sorry," Arthur spoke up and righted his posture. He had to carry himself like a Spades Queen after all. "I'm tired from my journey. I traveled quickly and lightly. With the...the…social climate, I didn't want to give anyone the opportunity to start something."

Bold words for a man who's stolen so much more than any common paw—

"That is!" Arthur's shout reverberated much louder than he had intended, causing select others to flinch. What could he say that didn't immediately label him as an impulsive time bomb? "I." Why was everyone else here? Could they sense the danger in the air? "I have. News. New developments. Too sensitive to carry in a letter or with any common messenger." Why else would the Aces be here if not for the danger the Jokers weaved into Cards?

"Arthur," Francis's voice cut through Arthur's thoughts long enough to keep his attention. "What news do you bring? If it's as important and secretive as dropping everything to travel on your own, then we should hear it immediately."

Arthur remained silent as his gaze passed between everyone except for Alfred. There was no excuse not to share anything with everyone in the room. Should he say he found Matthew? Should he say he missed Alfred? No! Selfish! No, no. Something… Something related to the upcoming War—the one that won't happen because he'll hold enough power to command the Jokers to destroy the tradition. After a moment, he finally found the words and spoke with a renewed calm, "I...have a plan. We all know that our world is heading into that direction again, and I think I won't be alone in wishing for it to be put off for as long as possible. Hence, the kings' meeting I invited everyone to. Thank you, by the way, King Francis and Queen Lilli, for understanding and for being flexible."

Francis nodded with a slightly forced smile.

Lilli didn't.

At the silence, Arthur continued to lead the attention. "The news I have can wait until after I've…" He looked down at his common clothes. "Until after I've put on something which better reflects my status. I'll share it and my plan with all of you then." He nodded, punctuating his public speech.

"Then we shall wait to summon the Jokers until it needs to be done," Ivan sighed and shrugged off the utter awkwardness of the whole discussion. "Ace Lovino, you can feel if Ace Matthew and Ace Antonio are gone, yes?" With a shaky nod from Lovino, Ivan continued, "Then we can wait until you're ready, Queen Arthur. We'll meet again in the throne room in one hour."

Although no one said it, the collective tension seemed to have been alleviated with enough people taking charge in leading the discussion. Lilli watched Arthur shoo Alfred along out of the throne room as the Aces, Ivan, and Ludwig took their leave—the kings seemingly far more composed than the Aces.

Francis's sigh broke the silence which had followed the guests' exits. "Never a dull moment." He let out a soft laugh. "I would give away all the excitement in my life for a dull moment." His gaze drifted over to Lilli, and he flinched at her scowl. It was directed at the door, not at him, but the rarely-made expression still cut deeply and suddenly. "L-Lilli?"

Lilli lifted her head to look towards Francis, her scowl softening into a frustrated frown.

For a moment, the pit of his stomach stopped sinking, and Francis was able to take a breath again. "You're...very put out by Arthur's assuming attitude?"

Lilli's thoughtful eyes remained focused on Francis's nervous smile. "He's not here." She leaned back in her throne, and the air of frustration around her gave way to despair. "Arthur wasn't here. He stood there. Quiet. Nervous. Thinking. Thinking so hard that he couldn't hear or react to what we—or even Alfred—were saying. He's obsessed with whatever's taking his attention."

Francis watched Lilli with sympathy. "... I believe that is what 'obsessed' means."

Lilli crossed her arms and sunk further in her throne, her knees bent and jutting from the seat and her head dug into the chair back's base. "He's a Queen. He shouldn't be obsessed with anything. Putting all of your attention in one area makes for an imbalanced mind, and imbalanced person, and an imbalanced kingdom. And that leads to chaos." She swung her arms out as she aired her frustrations. "What happened to the Arthur who'd ask me to dance at parties, gossip, and talk about great books with me?!"

"You two gossiped?"

Lilli sat up at the edge of her throne and sent Francis a frown. "It's as if he loses consciousness every five seconds and has to be started up again."

"Lilli," Francis cooed and rested a hand on her throne's arm, "I can see it, too. It may be a case of Arthur getting over his hardship from traveling all alone. Alfred just ushered him into the castle only now. He must be exhausted. I am sure that Arthur will return to normal after he has a rest."

Lilli stared off at the floor as a fear welled up within her. "... Or maybe he's losing himself." She rested her hand on her dagger. "Maybe it's the Spades darkness."

"... Maybe."

Natalya yanked Lovino into a guest room and slammed the door closed behind them. With the click of the lock, Natalya turned and stared Lovino down with a frustrated frown. "Lovi," she hissed, "what's the idea? You went dead silent in there as soon as you saw Arthur." She pulled Lovi further into the room and sat him down in a desk chair. "Tell me," she whispered, "what did you see?"

With a gulp, Lovino met Natalya's eyes. "I saw…" His head shook lightly as he tried to figure out how he could've possibly seen what he did. "I saw Toni and Mattie. But… Arthur was there—not Toni and Mattie. And...I saw Arthur, too… And I saw more."

After a chilling pause, Natalya grabbed a chair, dragged it over, and sat opposite of Lovino. Their knees touched, and she cradled Lovino's hands in hers. "Lovi, you have to tell me everything you know. Everything you remember." Her voice was gentle—gentle and urgent.

Lovino nodded, and his eyes fell closed. He took in a breath.

Natalya counted for him, "One… Two… Three… Four…"

Lovino held his breath.

"One… Two… Three… Four…"

Lovino released his breath.

"One… Two… Three… Four…"

The two repeated the exercise for a few rounds before Lovino spoke up. "Okay," he murmured and thought back on the moment. "Arthur was there. Mattie was there. Toni was there. A…" His face contorted into a frustrated frown. "...Another energy was there, too. Warm. Inky. An abyss...so black—like it was sucking the light out of the...space around it."

"You didn't recognize it?"

Lovino shook his head. "It didn't look like their energies. It didn't look quite like any energy I've read before. I don't know—I don't know what it was. All four of the energies were just swirling around in his chest—except… Well… The fourth one was at his hip." Lovino pulled away one hand to pat it against his own hip to illustrate his point.

"...That doesn't make any sense." Natalya stared down at Lovino's hands. "How can Arthur carry four energies? And they all still exist, so Mattie and Toni are alive…"

"...but so's that fourth one…"

Arthur tugged on the dress shirt as Alfred laid on their guest bed. "Okay, so you have big news and a big plan. Last I checked, you thought the best thing to do was play nice with the other kings in Diamonds. And now you got some big plan I didn't know anything about?"

"It had to be a secret, Al," Arthur murmured as he fastened the shirt buttons and went right to work yanking up the trousers. "And I didn't figure it all out until after you left. New things happened that made me think that approaching this in a different way would be better. You'll find out everything I'm thinking when we meet again in an hour." He fastened his belt.

Yes, but he'll be a problem.

Alfred?

Ace Lovino will be a problem. He was the only one petrified when he saw me. He knows everything.

Arthur paled and whispered, "No way. How?"

"Arthur," Alfred groaned. "Arthuuuuuur, listen!"

Arthur turned his gaze to Alfred. His fingers which were resting on his fastened belt lifted off it before grabbing at his provided embroidered coat. "I'm listening."

"Liar."

Arthur gave Alfred a pained smile. "Sorry. What did you say, Al?"

Alfred sighed heavily. "I said that I want to know what you're thinking now so that we can tell them together. And so that I can talk you out of anything too reckless."

Arthur pulled on his coat and smoothed out any wrinkles before taking a seat beside Alfred on the guest bed. "It'll work better if you hear it at the same time as everyone else. If you're against something I say, I want you to call it out in the moment or turn it into a better idea. It'll make you look more level-headed to the other monarchs."

Alfred held Arthur's hand, still pouty from being accidentally ignored. "I don't like you dragging your own reputation through the mud in order to make me look good."

"Relax," Arthur cooed and rubbed a circle into Alfred's hand with his thumb. "That's only if I happen to say something bad. My plan will solve everything. If it doesn't end Wars once and for all, then it'll just make them rarer. I need you to trust me, okay?"

After a pause, Alfred nodded. He sat up and rested his upper body against Arthur's. "We're going to get through this. We're going to make the most of it. Together."

Arthur squeezed Alfred's hand and pressed his lips to Alfred's jaw before echoing Alfred's promise: "Together."