right i know i said that this one was going to be the coronation but the chapter's already very long and it's 2am + i'm on the brink of passing out lol.
i know the plot for the next section, so things are definitely going to be moving on!
as always, i do not own the selection nor hetalia. these belong to kiera cass and himaruya hidekaz respectively.
"Good morning, Sir Arthur," was the first thing Arthur heard that morning instead of Kiku's teasing cajoling for him to wake up. "It's eight o'clock now…"
"Unf?" Arthur mumbled, rubbing on his eyes tiredly. At least he didn't feel like the dead because he didn't stay up too late last night compared to the others where he talked with Kiku. But he didn't talk with Kiku last night because-
"The coronation," he gulped, pressing a closed fist to his mouth. "Have I missed it?"
"No, Sir Arthur," the maid insisted, looking a little confused. "The ceremony is at noon, but we've elected to do a drill for preparation for the rebel forces. Queen Kiku has requested your presence down in the gallery on the second floor of the south wing. Please, let me lead you there."
That's terribly specific, Arthur wondered to himself, as he quickly got dressed in a simple jacket that was a neutral beige colour. Perhaps they have a secret door back there?
The whole palace seemed to be alive with something that was a mix between apprehension and excitement, and he could hear snatches of conversation as they made their way briskly down the hallways.
"Who are these people? Trying to ruin a coronation," two servants hissed to each other. "I know. By the Fates, who knows when we'll have another one like this. A Queen, no less!"
"The Elite from the Spades Kingdom said something about talking with them," another huffed, adjusting her shoulder pads. "As if words won't make them stop invading the palace. It's too hopeless…"
"You don't say, Andrea," the brown haired butler said next to her. "I mean, it does make sense on paper, but then with their numbers I doubt that we'll have a moment to shout a truce before those tyrants run us through with an axe or whatever they use in battles nowadays."
"Ugh, and I was going to be standing guard today, near the new queen at the ceremony," she replied grumpily. "He's so handsome, don't you think?"
"I already have a family of three…" came the exasperated reply. "And a new queen needs more than beauty to be good at their role."
"Fates, you must be fun at parties." she huffed as Arthur and the maid moved on.
"Why can't they just repeal the stupid First Law?" A child asked, holding a small serving plate and skipping alongside a butler. "Uncle, you've gotta tell me."
"Everyone in Cards has to share magic, as your father's told you," the butler replied, bending down to pat her head. "Those Joker people need much more compared to us normal folk. Remember?"
"Something about jeans," the little girl piped up. "Mama told me that too! They were like sponges, right?"
"…Along the lines of that, Mae," he replied. "But yes, genes. Whereas normal people who weren't born with a skill for magic, the Jokers needed more to stay alive. Even later, when the Jokers started turning people to take them as apprentices when the Fates started accepting them, this power kept on going."
"One more thing about them though, Uncle – wasn't there something odd abo't their skin?" she said.
"It's their skin," the butler answered her. "They're usually pretty pale. It's their sort of magic that does it to them. But yes, the reason we can't is because the Primary Suits need that power to defend us from the other countries. That's why we can't have them out and about in our magic rich lands, because they would soak it all up again."
"Is that why we made the Drift?" she asked.
The Drift? Arthur asked himself mentally, taking a moment to pause. He remembered it as being the only place where the people of the Jokers were exiled after they were discovered to all keep abnormal amounts of magic in their bodies, weakening the countries as a whole.
The year before the mass exile was when the then Queen of Diamonds passed away, as a recessive defect found most commonly in Diamonds had been found in her genetic makeup that needed a certain amount of magic in her body to sustain her life, much more than most – but the rare mutation was caused by her half-Joker mother. The reason why it had been most prominent in Diamonds was because of the high population of the Joker people – unlike the other four kingdoms, they were considered wild cards and to not belong nor relate to a fixed kingdom. After a wild drought in the summer devastated their neighbours, the Hearts, many fled to Diamonds, increasing the burden on the country, a symptom that ultimately proved fatal to the queen as the amount of magical energy needed to sustain her life was simply not enough.
Her brother the King, stricken with grief, started a law to banish all people who carried even a single gene in their blood that would cause this mutation into a distant island where their magical energy would operate separately to the large continent of Cards, as he did not want what he thought as a 'faulty' group of people to settle anywhere as justice. The reasons why it passed were lost to history, but it was named the First Law and it wasn't until the two Jokers were birthed due to a point in time, decades later after the Queen of Diamonds' passing, where a war raged across the continent between Diamonds and Hearts.
It first started over a simple territory disagreement over a port very close to both their borders, and then escalated when Diamonds sent forces to attack the area. Hearts retaliated quickly, and they fought for eight months before Clubs fought with Diamonds. Spades, already hateful of their northernmost neighbours, immediately came to Hearts's aid, establishing the modern alliances within Cards. For seven years, the war raged on.
Desperate and ravaged by cold, Clubs formulated a plan to bring a mediator back to the shores of Cards in the form of a refugee from the Drift, as it was called the place of the Jokers' exile. The refugee became the First Joker and from then on, he operated alone with the peacekeeping of Cards until he took on a companion, a young mage with a talent of leadership – the first to be changed instead of being born as one. This was what spurred the tradition of having only two recognized Jokers in the land at all times; without recognition of magic anyone in Cards had their powers locked away.
"Yes, little one," her uncle said softly. "That's why we can't just recognize them. We would all collapse."
"Thank you very much," Kiku said cordially to the maid as soon as the two of them entered the gallery. "Please, find your group immediately as it is twenty minutes past eight and we are due at nine, miss."
"Noted, Your Highness," she said quickly, dipping her head once and crossing her feet into a little curtsey before scampering outside the room.
"Good morning, Arthur," Kiku smiled. "I hope you did manage to catch breakfast?"
"Not really, no. I was just late last night thinking about things." Arthur admitted awkwardly. "But why aren't we going to a safe room if there's going to be a rebel attack?"
"…well, first of all, this gallery is one of my favourite places in the palace, and the second is that Ace Lovino and I are going to attempt to kick start a discussion with a rebel group." Kiku said levelly.
"Really?" Arthur said, but looked doubtful. "But from what I've heard while coming up, there are doubts about the plan. Conceived by a person that only has ties to royalty through his best friend."
"And the Prince, soon to be King of Spades, is deeply in love with you," Kiku countered. "But that does not matter when it comes to ideals. Perhaps bizarre ideas are needed for a stalemate that we do not want to see end in violence."
"There won't be anyone else coming…right?" Arthur said. He did not want to admit it out of fear of stepping out of line, but he was concerned for the Jack and his unborn child.
"Some guards, but that is all," Kiku reassured. "Hera – I mean, everyone else is secure for now. I hope this will work…"
"You don't have to be ashamed of worrying about him." Arthur said, his eyes flicking back from a painting of a dock and a lone boat to Kiku's tight eyes, furrowed eyebrows and pursued lips – too carefully composed. "It's natural. So, should we meet Ace Lovino back in the foyer again?"
He gave a little, knowing chuckle, and let his feet glide over the red carpet. Kiku tapped the floor with his sandalwood shoes three times, and a little pop appeared underneath the carpet, two metres from where Arthur was standing under the painting.
"Of course not, Art – like the people we are, we will travel in style."
All right, Arthur thought to himself as he sidestepped yet another cobweb, this is a relatively safe staircase. Stylish…I don't think so.
But it was always humbling to see how Kiku operated here as if he had been in the castle the whole life – how he never hesitated when turning over a dubious corner whereas Arthur looked back and forth at every twisted way, how he lifted his robes and edged across a stone while Arthur clumsily tried to imitate his movements even though he was wearing slightly more appropriate shoes for dungeon crawling.
Perhaps it could have been his slightly more prestigious start in life, but he had definitely come a long way from the magic potent roommate Arthur had always known as a best friend.
However, just as Kiku had said – that didn't mean everything had to change. Underneath all the layers of refinery and poise that Kiku now exhibited a little more than he had used to, he was still himself, and Arthur didn't have to worry about the Queen of Hearts and losing his friendship.
"Is everything still all right back there? You have gone very quiet…" A little too late, Arthur realized that Kiku had come to a complete stop and only their breaths were echoing off the walls of the secret passageway. "If you are not comfortable with this, I can always let you go back upstairs and let me and Ace Lovino to handle it…"
"No, no!" Arthur said quickly, placing a hand on Kiku's shoulder to show that he was still following him. "This was my idea, and you know that I'll take responsibility for it."
"Well, all right," Kiku said as he kept on going, but a small burst of warmth erupted in his chest.
After he and Arthur were separated for the first time since they were assigned to be roommates, Kiku had been thinking of his friend as regularly as he knew his other friend did. Was Arthur OK in this new, unfamiliar environment? Since he knew that it was all up to the prince to choose the princess and would be queen, he knew that the process could stretch out for months longer than Hearts's Fates would even dare to wait for so long.
But as soon as Kiku - and his fellow Chosen, naturally – continued to watch the Deciding over in Spades, he could see Arthur. First it was a small interview talking about how he felt – the embarrassed smile and side glances during the interview, as well as a silence that had been most of his character in the earliest days since they had known each other, revealed to Kiku that he was feeling a little insecure, and that did cause some concern.
Kiku tried not to mention it too much in their correspondence, but he did have his doubt until they met at the meeting on the summer solstice. At first, he was greatly relieved that Arthur seemed to have settled down somewhat with his new friends, but as soon as Arthur elaborated on his relatively complicated relationship with the prince, all those disconcerting feelings flooded back…
He had always had the fear of not being able to fit back into his old life – as a queen, things would change very quickly indeed. Kiku had initially resigned himself to losing Heracles, but confronted with the possibility of not being able to salvage Arthur and Matthew's, to a lesser extent, friendship would be a difficult blow. He had privately wondered whether he could cope, but now Arthur felt and sounded all very comfortable in his proximity to the crown, Kiku allowed himself to let most of his formality drop when it was just the two of them together, like old times.
Although, he did find it funny to see Arthur so jittery around Felci and Ludwig as his current self was so at ease with them – but Kiku remembered that his past self would have been exactly the same so he never fully teased Arthur on this, even though he was tempted to right after their first meals together.
"Kiku?" Arthur's curious voice broke him out of his reverie, and he whirled behind, green eyes meeting brown. "I think we've walked left for a bit longer than what I would consider normal."
Kiku blanched, and he paused for a moment before skimming his slender fingers against the left wall of the muggy tunnel. The air was different here – but not the grassy, earthier smell that he was looking for. He closed his eyes.
At this rate, Lovino would be alone…
"Art, I need a little space," he said, his voice echoing in the dim light. "I will search for a mass of magical energy, that way we can find Ace Lovino. Er, ten steps please?"
"Ten steps?" Arthur said, hands sketching alongside the stone as he carefully made his retreat. "Kiku, how will you-"
It quickly turned out that Kiku was not almost-Queen in all but name.
With a call that was both high pitched yet minute, something akin to a series of tiny bells knocking against each other, Kiku's shut eyes opened for a heartbeat, searching and curious. Not the right…he retreated a little, catching on a higher magical signature, but that was only a clump of the servants – probably the kitchen. Taking a sharp turn right from there, he felt Feliciano's presence pulsating and warm. Surely in the best safe room they had to offer, in the north wing.
The meeting room's on the northwest, he told his conjured magic in his head, the mess of energy soaking it up. Go!
When Kiku's feet seemed to start moving by themselves, Arthur followed cautiously, doing his best to maintain the prescribed distance. His best friend was acting so…off, as if there was something else past his own brain that was guiding him. Kiku's feet shuffled around uncertainly at moments, but at others he was pacing quickly, fixated at a set point like one who had just found a bounty of treasure.
"Kiku?" Arthur asked as they turned to the right again, following a two sided fork in the path. His best friend was still going swiftly. "What's going on-"
"Arthur!" Kiku cried, whipping around – confused once more. "Oh, thank the Fates. I worried that I was going too fast. I believe we're here now. I shall go up first in case of any trouble up there. But there is no commotion…"
"How did you do that?" Arthur blurted, his mind swimming with questions, but Kiku only smiled.
"I will tell you later, my friend, I promise on the Fates," he replied. "But for now, we have lives to change."
One rung after the other, Arthur felt his way up to air as a click of a hatchet revealed the face of Ace Lovino.
"Thank the Fates you two arrived when you did," the Ace said the moment Arthur got both of his feet out of the door. "I was about to shove the carpet back on top."
"I got a little caught in thought," Kiku said, but the two of them shared a laugh as they took a seat around the large oak meeting table. "But Lovino, how is the situation?"
"Tiring, as usual," he grounded out. "They seem to be traveling in a pack, from the number you ran out last night. So maybe they're sending them in fleets? Sir Arthur, what do you think?"
"What do I-" Arthur stammered, then quickly pulled out his shirt that surely looked like a right disaster after the fiasco in the tunnels. "Oh, um, Your Highness, I don't have a specific idea in mind. It was just...the idea of communicating with the rebels."
"…Right." Lovino said, then edged out of his chair. "And I'm not inclined to believe that your head is a hell of an empty space. It's not happening, kid. Use that head and give us something."
"Think back to the holding facilities," Kiku mouthed (at least, that was what it looked like to Arthur. But it did make sense – they had a few tactical based lessons in their holding facilities, but it was so long ago…)
But this was what made a queen. Battles had to be won, and it was their job to find tactics, to find the way to win them. Now, something about them being in a group…
"It means that they will be smaller, right?" Arthur said, seemingly to himself, then his eyes shot to Ace Lovino's, a hybrid of chocolate and amber meeting jade. "The groups will be smaller than any of your men combined. So – essentially, we basically make them in a position where they can't refuse."
"Surround them? Ambush them when they come within proximity of the palace?" Lovino said thoughtfully. "Hm. Perhaps, though combat would make us look bad."
"We might not need to, Lovino." Kiku spoke up. "We could surround them, disarm them and bring them in. Ludwig and I will do it-"
"Kiku, you have a coronation tonight," Lovino said, and let the smallest of smiles drift onto his face. "As your last duty before becoming queen, I request that you take Sir Arthur here to Felci and stay there with them. I need both of them to be in a safe condition. Do you understand me?"
Kiku faltered a little, but nodded at this request, thinly veiled as a command.
"There is one thing I must ask of you – please see if there is any way to record or tape the room where you are having the meeting. The both – we all deserve to know."
Lovino's expression was bemused as he walked back to the table, kicking over the carpet as he went past.
"Consider it done, kid."
I want to help too, Arthur thought internally, but let himself be led back to safety, away from any sort of action. The feeling of not being wanted left a hollow feeling in his chest the whole journey to the safe room.
zzzz
also thank you to em, one who speaks in youtube urls, for betaing this for me lol
replies
gatita - yaoi - ahah thank you! this was completely from scratch so i'm happy it went along better.
CFAA - he's not gone just yet! even though a lot of this is about arthur he's still there.
pastaaddict - you're right in a sense - you have to be careful whose toes you step on.
vivadragnire - discord's basically a large chat group - we can talk about fic related shenanigans and other things there.
russia says hello - i mean, even in the canon verse they're super formal towards each other even though they're canonly friends, so i wanted to bring that side of them to this verse as well. and muahaha.
livandra - yes they are! nearing the end now :0
hearthorse11 - mhmm - it's on my profile if you're interested dear!
n kukuri chan - i hope this chapter really clears up some misconception! my worldbuilding really needs work oTL. but then they would seek to use lovino much more as a barganing chip than care about his actual feelings - i usually see lovino with antonio lots and i thought it would be a good change for lovino to not be romantically attached, at least for now, as i think it does suit his more independent character (in contrast to feliciano). but yeah, the thing w/ ludwig is alfred probably put him up to it! germany and america really have an unspoken bond in their characters that i love spoiling; whereas arthur and kiku love to be formal ludwig is secretly relieved he can 'let his hair loose' with alfred, so i think their friendships kind of function as foils for each other?
and there's no reason to be embarrassed? everyone's messages (longer the better LMFAO) always make my day.
reviews, favourites and follows are what will keep me writing, so please go ahead and leave them!