Time to see what damage that pistol caused...enjoy!
I don't own Hetalia!
Chapter 11 : Long Live The King!
"Goodbye, Fish Freak!"
Both Alfred and Matthew turned at the sound of Princess Erica and found her pointing a pistol at Arthur who was looking up at her in shock and Matthew beat Alfred to tackling Erica, his training kicking in to defend his fellow royal and Queen. He seized Erica's arm and forced the pistol away from Arthur and into the air and he and the Princess struggled with more strength than anyone would think her body would hold while Alfred stood in front to protect Arthur, should Erica make it past Matthew.
"Let me go, you pretender!" she hissed in Matthew's face. "I'll kill you and that abomination. Alfred was mine until you came!" Matthew did not answer her and continued to struggle with Erica's pistol arm waving about at random and her finger tightened on the trigger.
The pistol fired. It could have gone anywhere, harmlessly into the sky where it could do no harm or through a sail or into wood but it went where it could cause a lot of damage and set off a chain reaction.
The pistol shot flew into the air and ripped into a rope, running through a pulley and holding it up, severing most of the strands and the weight snapped the others, releasing the pulley. Swinging on its rope, the pulley flew down and caught Alfred with a glancing blow on the side of his head, knocking him back and he hit the railing. As he fell over the side, darkness crowded in and he was not even conscious when he hit the water.
"ALFRED!" Matthew cried out, pushing Erica away to try and reach his brother but, with a screech, Arthur used his powerful tail to propel himself over the railing, diving into the water after Alfred who had already disappeared beneath the waves. Arthur hit the water and dove down, looking for his beloved king. The water was darker here and made it harder to see, even for a mer and Arthur strained to see anything in the depths. Then he saw a shadowy figure drifting in the distance and swam down toward it.
Matthew ran to the railing in time to see Arthur's fanfare tail vanish into the water as he dove after Alfred and Matthew was about to dive in after him when a shadow fell over him and he looked round to see another ship pull alongside them and more land-dwellers began to swing across ready for battle. Matthew had seen the Altheian flag flying on the other ship and he knew this was one of his uncle's vessels but the Spadian mers did not know that these were allies and were readying for another battle and Matthew had to stop this. He ran to put himself between the two groups.
"Stop, these are Queen Arthur's people!" he said to the land-dwellers and then turned to the mers. "Squeal click! (Stand down!)." Lars pulled himself forward.
"Ack Ma'ew? (Ace Matthew?)," he said in wonder at Matthew standing in front of him as a land-dweller. "Erk ick eel? (Is that you?)."
"Eck (Yes)," Matthew replied. "Urk erk ick squeal whistle, Squeal click! (These are my uncle's forces, stand down!)" Lars turned and gave the order and the other mers lowered their battle stance but remained wary.
"Matthew, my boy!" Matthew heard his uncle's voice and turned to see the Altheian ship was now fully alongside with planks between the two ships that his uncle and cousin were now traversing. "Thank goodness, you're alright! Where's Alfred and Queen Arthur?" Matthew grabbed his uncle's arm and pulled him to the opposite railing.
"Alfred was knocked into the water!" he exclaimed. "Arthur jumped in after him!" And they both looked down at the water, trying to see any sign of either of them. When Jason went to follow, a flash of white caught his eye and he spotted Princess Erica in her petticoat, trying to sneak away to hide and he ran to intercept her.
"Oh no, you don't!" he said. Erica shrieked and tried to pull away from him as he seized her arm.
"How dare you!" she screamed. "Get your hands off me!" but Jason began dragging her to the railing.
"You're not going anywhere!" he declared. "You've got a lot of explaining to do, Your Highness!" And they reached the railing and Jason looked down to try and spot any sign of his cousin or his beloved but there was nothing but the waves crashing against the side of the ship.
"Where are they?" Matthew whispered.
Yao had stayed in the water with the Black Joker and he was waiting for the signal that said the ship was under Spadian control, waiting to give Arthur the piece of his mind that he had been saving for him, for just disappearing the way that he did.
"Jack Yao!" Peter called out. "Look!" Yao looked at the young Joker, then looked to where Peter was pointing and he spotted Arthur swimming downwards, frantically on the other side of the ship. Yao swam after him with Peter trailing in his wake, his lecture forgotten as Arthur seemed desperate about something, if the way he was swimming was any indication.
As Arthur swam down to save Alfred, it briefly crossed his mind that, if he did nothing and let things be, Alfred would transform and they would have their king but he quickly discarded it. He had given his word that it would be Alfred's choice so he could not, in good conscience, just let Alfred drown so he swam hard, trying to reach Alfred and get him to the surface in time.
Alfred was coming closer but he was not moving. Having felt the effect of land-dweller drowning himself, Arthur was glad Alfred was unconscious so he was not experiencing it as he came within reach and Arthur wrapped his arms around his beloved and began swimming for the surface.
"Arthur!" he heard Yao's voice but he did not stop swimming, although he did look toward the Jack as he swam toward him. "What are you doing, aru?"
"I have to get Alfred to the surface," Arthur replied as he propelled himself and Alfred upward. "He's drowning!"
"Is this the next King of Spades?" Peter asked, swimming up alongside them. He had spotted the close resemblance between the blonde land-dweller and Matthew and a gash in the blonde's head that was leaking blood into the water. Clearly, something bad had happened to the land-dweller. "Arthur, if this is the next king, you have to let him drown."
"NO!" Arthur replied, vehemently. "I promised that it would be Alfred's decision. I can't let it happen like this!" And he flicked his powerful tail toward the surface and the ship.
Gilbert had joined the royal land-dwellers and Matthew at the railing and they had been joined by Lars, Matthias, Lukas and Berwald as they all looked down at the water below, unable to see anything below the murky brine and they were wondering what was going on under the ocean.
"This is too long!" Jason worried as he held on to Princess Erica. If Alfred died, she would be held responsible and the diplomatic relationship between Altheia and Mertoris would plummet. This could lead to war!
"Sir Arthur wouldn't let Alfred drown, would he?" Alex asked Matthew. "We know Alfred needs to drown to become the King of Spades and this is the perfect opportunity to allow that." Matthew shook his head.
"Arthur gave his word," he replied. "If Arthur can get Alfred to the surface in time, that's what he'll do. He promised it would be Alfred's decision."
"Wait!" Matthias called. "I see something!" There were four shapes, heading for the surface and they were coming closer. Then three blonde heads and one brunette broke the surface, one of the blondes was unconscious and missing his glasses.
"ALFRED!" Alex called but there was no reply, no flicker that Alfred even heard him and Alex feared that his nephew was dead. Arthur, who was holding Alfred in the water, turned to look at Alfred and gave him a little shake, clicking at him and trying to wake him up. When that did not work, Arthur began to sing.
Then something beneath Alfred's shirt began glowing.
Arthur pulled Alfred up through the water and they surfaced with a splash with Yao and Peter surfacing beside them and looked up at the ship when he heard King Alex's voice call to Alfred, to see everyone looking down at them. They had made it to the surface and Arthur turned to Alfred who was still unmoving in Arthur's arms. He did not seemed to be breathing and Arthur gave him a shake.
"Alfred," he said, trying to get a reaction from Alfred but he remained unresponsive. Arthur realised that Alfred had been under water too long for him to recover by himself and he needed Arthur's help and Arthur began to sing the healing song. Then the King's mark on Alfred's chest began to glow and Yao realized that Alfred was too far gone to be healed and began pulling Arthur off and away from Alfred.
"It's too late!" he said as Arthur struggled to hold on to Alfred. "He's transforming! You must let go, aru!" Yao managed to get Arthur's arms from around Alfred and pulled him away, just before Alfred's whole body began to glow and sank back beneath the waves.
Alex, Jason, Matthew and Gilbert watched as Arthur was pulled away from Alfred and the glow on Alfred's chest spread to his whole body and disappeared back beneath the waves.
"Why are they letting him go?!" Alex demanded in distress. "Why don't they save him?!" Matthew put his hand on his uncle's shoulder.
"It's too late." he replied. "Alfred's transforming, there's no stopping it now!" Arthur followed Alfred down but they could only see the glow beneath the sea, shimmering under the waves but they could not see anything else. The glow faded and they waited to see if Alfred and Arthur would surface but there was no sign of them.
"Did it fail?" Jason asked, worried. If it failed then that meant Alfred had ….. No! Jason could not think that way.
"Why aren't they coming back up?" Alex demanded. "What's wron..." He was interrupted as something erupted from the water.
A few moments earlier...…
Arthur could not let Alfred go through this alone so he dove down to stay with Alfred as he changed and watched as Alfred's clothes disintegrated, as his glasses would have, had they not fallen off during the fall from the ship. The glowing light grew brighter around his lower body as his legs began to fuse into one and his feet became a long caudal fin that fell down from the main tail in two long sections. Slits opened up in Alfred's neck and became gills and skin grew in between his fingers to form webbed hands. Arthur could not help but gazed at the handsome mer Alfred had become as Alfred finally began to take breaths again and he slowly opened his eyes.
"Alfred!" Arthur called. "Alfred!"
The last thing Alfred remembered was hearing a pistol shot and then a sharp pain in his head, accompanied by a feeling of falling before blackness enclosed him. Now he could see a glow of light through his eyelids and his eyes slid open. He could see Arthur through the glow and he looked like he was calling Alfred's name, although Alfred could not hear him. His body felt strange and light, as if floating and then the glow faded.
"Alfred!" Alfred could hear Arthur now and he was saying his full name properly.
"Artie!" Alfred replied and then he noticed that Arthur's hair was drifting around his head, the strands floating in a strange way and then Alfred noticed that Arthur was upright and he looked down and Arthur was floating, his beautiful tail shifting from side to side and that was when Alfred realised that he was surrounded by water.
Alfred panicked for a moment, his fear of the ocean preventing him from realising that he was breathing in the water and began to thrash his arms in an effort to make it to the surface and Arthur caught his arms and pulled him in for a comforting hug.
"It's alright, Alfred," he crooned to the newly created mer and pulled away. "Look down." Alfred looked down and saw that he no longer had legs but a blue tail that was even longer than Arthur's. He looked at his hands in wonder at the webbing between his fingers and then realised that his eyesight was not blurry but he was not wearing his glasses.
"I'm a merman!" he said in shock. Arthur smiled, moved in to cup Alfred's cheek and he kissed him.
"A very handsome merman," he said, wrapping his arms around his king and intertwined their tails and kissed him again, Arthur's hand over the King's mark on Alfred's chest.
"I can understand you!" Alfred just realised. "How can I understand you?"
"It's part of the transformation," Arthur replied. "How could you lead a mer Kingdom if you couldn't understand Mer?" Arthur continued to hold Alfred.
"I'm sorry, Alfred," he said. "I tried to get you to the surface after you were knocked into the sea and I tried to heal you but it was too lat..." Alfred put a finger on Arthur's lips to silence him.
"It's alright, Artie," he said. "I don't remember drowning so it was probably better this way. I'm not sure I could have managed it any other way so this was probably a blessing and now I get to be with you." Arthur ran one of his hands through Alfred's floating hair.
"My King," he sighed and they kissed again. When they broke the kiss, Arthur rested his forehead against Alfred's shoulder. "They're probably wondering why we haven't surfaced yet. They'll be worrying."
"Then we better put in an appearance," Alfred grinned as he let Arthur go, took his hand and they began to swim to the surface. The movement of his new tail felt a little weird but he soon got the hang of it. Then Alfred stopped and mused for a moment before he grinned at Arthur.
"I think my first appearance as a mer should be special," he said. Arthur had an idea what Alfred had planned.
"You know," he replied. "When I found you, I had no idea you were going to be such a dolphin!"
"Dolphin?" Alfred asked.
"Yes, dolphin," Arthur said. "They're always leaping out of the water and flipping in the air."
"If you mean show-off," Alfred replied. "Then come on, show off with me! We'll be King and Queen Show-off together." Arthur laughed.
"Come on," Alfred coaxed. "Live a little." Arthur gave Alfred a grin as Alfred took his hand and they swam as fast as they could to the surface.
The mers and land-dwellers stared in wonder as two blue tailed mer leapt out of the water and into the air, turning a somersault in the air before falling back down into the water. Alfred and Arthur laughed and hugged beneath the water before rising back to the surface and Yao and Peter swam up to them.
"You pair of dolphins!" Yao scolded before turning to greet Alfred with a bow of his head. "It's wonderful to finally meet you, My King, I am Jack Yao of Spades, aru."
"Nice to meet ya, Yao," Alfred replied. "But I think we need to tie up some loose ends before I actually take the position and my uncle would like to meet with you to discuss diplomatic relations between Spades and Altheia. But first, we have to deal with Princess Erica."
"Alfred!" Alfred looked up at his brother who was looking down at him from the ship with, Alfred noted with surprise, his uncle and cousin. Jason was holding on to Princess Erica's arm as she was staring down at them in shock. The white-haired mer was looking over the rail too and he had been joined by a blonde mer and two land-dwellers that Alfred recognised as Captain Matthias Kohler and his first mate, Lukas Bondevik.
"Alfred, are you alright?" Matthew shouted down to him.
"I'm fine, Mattie," Alfred called back but what came out of his mouth was Ack erk, Ma'e. Fortunately, Matthew and the other mers understood Alfred but, unfortunately, the land-dwellers did not.
"What did he say?" Alex asked, realising now, that Alfred had transformed and could only speak Mer now.
"He said he's fine," Matthew translated. "He can understand us but he can't speak land-dweller any more." Princess Erica shrieked.
"I knew that abomination meant harm to my Alfred!" she declared. "Look at him! That thing has turned Alfred into a freak like him!" Matthew turned on her.
"Arthur did nothing!" he declared. "Alfred has become what he was always meant to be, the King of Spades! And never insult my Queen like that again!"
"Queen?!" Erica said, shocked but Matthew ignored her after that and threw a cargo net down the side of the ship for the mers to come on board.
Alfred gripped the net and began to pull himself out of the water followed by Arthur, Yao and Peter. All four flopped on to the deck with the land-dwellers staring in awe at Alfred's new tail. Yao turned to all the mer warriors on the ship and held up Alfred's hand and saying something in Mer and the warriors gave a loud celebratory cheer.
"Yao just announced Alfred as the new King of Spades," Matthew translated. "We've been waiting for him for a long time."
"So these mers are happy about that," Alex said, not as a question.
"This is nothing compared to how the whole kingdom will react," Matthew grinned. "And I can't wait for the Next Conclave."
It was decided to return to Altheia, to clear everything up, deal with Princess Erica and for diplomatic talks of the future between Spades and Altheia and they were already in sight of land. All the mers went back into the water, including Alfred who wanted to practise swimming with his new tail but Matthew stayed in land-dweller form to act as interpreter between the humans and the mers. Princess Erica had been confined to her cabin and the crew in the crew quarters while half of the crew of the Altheia ship, under the command of First Mate Bondevik, took control of the vessel to sail it back into harbour.
"How are you going to deal with Mertoris over this?" Jason asked his father as he, Alex and Matthew stood at the bow of the ship. "We can't let a kidnapping of an Altheian royal and the attempted murder of a visiting dignitary pass. On the other hand ….."
"Accusing the royal of another kingdom carries its own diplomatic issues," Alex completed. "To say nothing of keeping Queen Arthur and the other mers a secret. It will require some hard thought." They were sailing toward the mouth of the harbour now.
"It seems we've brought a lot of trouble to your door, Uncle," Matthew commented. "I'm sorry."
"Oh, my boy," Alex replied, putting an arm around Matthew and pulling his nephew in for a hug. "This trouble brought you back to us, I don't regret a moment. We'll find a way through this and find a way to explain Princess Erica's action to her brother, King Voss and, somehow deal with this. Then we can work on a treaty with Spades so we can still see you and Alfred."
"We better find that way fast, Dad," Jason said, as the ship made it's way into the dock. "Because we have a visitor."
Then, by the quayside, a ship was in dock. Another royal vessel, flying the Mertorian flag and the colours of the Mertorian royal family.
King Voss had arrived.
Now to untangle this mess...and keep the mers out of it all. King Alex has his work cut out for him.
Till next week...
Hasta la Pasta!