Twilight's Last Gleaming - Chapter 7

Hello everyone! This chapter is SO exciting for me to finally be able to write! I have been looking forwards to it! Hope you all enjoy it! Also, I really just want to thank everyone who is reading this right now. Whether you are a new reader or whether you started reading Twilight's Last Gleaming as soon as it came out, thank you! Your favorites, your follows, and your comments make my day! :) Also, they make me want to keep writing.

Arthur froze in place as the words "It's Alfred sir, he's been injured!" echoed in his head. His mouth was gaping in shock, but he couldn't say a word. His mind raced. This has gone much too far, he thought. Arthur realized that hatred could be a dangerous thing. Of course originally he felt sad about Alfred's independence, but the sadness had turned into anger, and then hatred. And in my hatred, just look at what I've done, he thought. Look what we've both done, we've led so many men to their deaths, and now Alfred has been injured because of the war. This needs to end. I can't keep letting my emotions take control like this. Arthur looked back at the boy after a couple of minutes.

"What is your name boy?"

"Quincy."

"Thank you for telling me Quincy."

"Of course general Arthur sir.", said the boy. "I just thought you might want to know since it gives us an advantage."

It isn't a good thing actually, Arthur thought. His men were unaware that he actually had a bit of a soft spot for the other man. He would never let them know though. It wasn't like Arthur to expose his feelings to others.

"General, shall we head back now?", asked Richard, looking rather dirty and with his shirt all torn up. His brown, curly hair stuck to his tanned skin with sweat. Arthur looked around, and saw that the Americans and French were already re-grouping and gathering up their dead and wounded. Alfred will be one of them now, Alfred thought, his heart feeling heavy.

"Yes, we shall head back now."

One hour later, Arthur was dashing through the woods with Marzipan on his own top-secret mission. Arthur was going to visit Alfred at the American army camp. He had arrived back to his room, gotten cleaned up and then gotten dressed. Arthur realized that he needed a disguise since people at the camp were bound to recognize him. He had put on his black cloak, with the hood up, as well as an eye patch, just in case someone saw his face underneath of the hood. Then once it was dark, he snuck off into the stables, and rode silently off into the night on Marzipan. If he was going to visit the enemy, he needed to be quiet about it. Arthur needed to stop this war, so he wanted to visit Alfred and come to an agreement with him. Then when the negotiations were over, he would leave. Hopefully it would go well, but Arthur was worried that Alfred might be so angry or so badly injured that he wouldn't want to talk. Arthur looked all around into the woods as he held onto the reins with one hand and held onto a lantern with the other. The woods were dead silent tonight, and very misty. The mist surrounded the pine trees, and sometimes Arthur had trouble seeing them. The trees only appeared out of the mist at the very last minute. At least Arthur had his lantern, because the lantern helped slightly with visibility. Arthur rode through the woods for hours, until the mist started to clear, and finally a clearing emerged in the distance. The clearing was the American army camp. Arthur was relieved to see no fires burning. Most likely everyone was asleep by now. However, there were clouds of smoke billowing up into the sky, slowly concealing the stars and the moon. It would seem that the American troops had extinguished their fires fairly recently. As he trotted out into the clearing on Marzipan, the cluster of brown fabric tents got closer and closer. Arthur realized, while looking at the field full of hundreds of tents, that he had no idea where Alfred was. Arthur slowly and carefully trotted through rows and rows of tents. What am I even doing? He wondered. I could probably get lost in here. Finally, after what seemed like an hour of wandering through hundreds of identical tents, he saw a tent that was larger than all of the others, with an American flag flying in front of it on a pole. Arthur assumed that that was Alfred's tent since Alfred was the general after all. As quietly as possible, Arthur slid out of the saddle, while still holding the lantern. He winced as his feet hit the ground with a thump and the lantern clattered. Now where do I tie up Marzipan so that it won't look suspicious? He wondered. He looked around for a while, then noticed a group of horses belonging to the Americans tied up, amongst a small grove of trees. Arthur tied a rope around Marzipan's neck and led her to the grove. Once Marzipan was tied up, he walked back to the tent. He paused for a moment before gingerly lifting the fabric door flap. He held the lantern up to peer inside. There, laying sprawled out on bearskins, fast asleep, was Alfred. His face was facing Arthur. Arthur's breath hitched in his throat. Alfred looked so peaceful, so serene. His face was like that of an angel, and his dark blonde hair fell messily, but perfectly, on his forehead. Arthur mentally slapped himself. You idiot, you're here to negotiate, he reminded himself. Or am I? Arthur stuck his head into the tent, then slowly started walking forward. He tiptoed over to Alfred's sleeping form, and laid the lantern and his eye patch down on the bedside table, which was covered in medicine bottles and bandages. He pushed his hood off of his head. Arthur looked over Alfred, who was lying in nothing but his bloomers, most likely because it was a hot, summer night. His skin was tan from the sun, and smooth. Arthur blushed when he noticed that Alfred had developed more defined muscles sometime during the war, most likely during training, and he wondered if coming here was a bad idea. Then his gaze went to Arthur's left leg. The upper half, from the groin to the knee was wrapped in bandages. Arthur's blush slowly faded, and was replaced by a concerned frown. Suddenly, Alfred mumbled. Arthur's head snapped around to see that Alfred's eyes were fluttering open. One eye opened slowly, then the other. They fixated on Arthur's eyes. Then suddenly Alfred shot up out of bed, his mouth hanging open in shock as he sat up and stared at Arthur.

"Arthur?!" What the heck?!"

"Sshhh oh god please be quiet", Arthur whispered as he held his head in his hands nervously. Alfred was not good at being quiet.

"Why the heck are you here?", Alfred whispered.

"I wanted to negotiate with you. I think that this war needs to end. I am willing to make some compromises."

Alfred looked suspiciously at Arthur, his blue eyes narrowing in thought.

"I'm unarmed."

"That's not what I'm worried about, but ok that's good to know."

"What are you worried about?"

Alfred was silent. He looked down at the furry bearskin blankets as he sat there in his bloomers.

"Is this a bad time to talk Alfred?"

Alfred looked back up at Arthur briefly before looking back down and sighing.

"I think it's just a bad idea for us to talk in general."

"Why because someone might wake up and shoot me?", Arthur asked with a smirk. "Listen, I know you Americans keep your muskets in bed with you, but I can take care of myself, I'm a general."

"You really don't get it."

Arthur looked sadly at Alfred, not knowing what to say at first. "I want to understand."

"There's a reason why I've been avoiding you all these years. You're too controlling, and our friendship became toxic. But...when I see you I...well it makes me want to not let go. We have so many good memories, and I always think that maybe it could be like that again. But you just got more and more controlling. So I distanced myself." Alfred paused for a moment, still looking down at his blanket, then added "I want to feel respected and I really don't. I feel like you just think I'm some sort of property that you can control, that you own. And that's not a healthy friendship. Neither person should have more power than the other. You had so much power. You controlled our taxes even. Eventually...I fought back because I got really angry."

Arthur looked at Alfred with his green eyes wide. Alfred looked up finally, to meet Arthur's eyes. To Arthur's surprise, they were filled with tears, threatening to spill out at any minute. So all of this time...Alfred was just as hurt as I was. He really does care about me. Arthur found himself welling up with tears too, and he tried to hold back by squeezing his eyes shut but before he knew it he felt a tear rolling down his cheek. I've hurt him just as much as he's hurt me, Arthur realized.

"A-are you crying?" Asked Alfred in a shaky voice.

"N-no! No of course not git!"

"You can't fool me." Alfred was quiet then asked, "Can I hug you?"

Arthur was taken aback. His brows furrowed in confusion.

"Pardon me, what did you say?"

"I asked if I could hug you. Although as you can see, I can't really stand up right now so you'll have to sit next to me on the bed."

Arthur stared at Alfred's blue eyes and blushed. Alfred gave a weak smile as a tear rolled down his face. It was just like Alfred to try to be cheery, even when things were rough.

Arthur nodded, and sat next to Alfred on the bed. Alfred quickly wrapped his arms around Arthur without any warning, making Alfred's eyes get wide again. Arthur slowly brought his arms up to hug Alfred, who was crying hard. Arthur felt Alfred's tears on his shoulder as he hugged the taller man. I never expected this to get emotional, he thought. I expected the atmosphere to be tense or awkward.

Arthur spoke up. "I wasn't aware of how you felt. I was...clueless. I'm sorry Alfred. You know, I see now after your recent battles with me that you are just as strong of a country as I am, if not stronger. You don't need me to badger you and try to "help" you."

Alfred squeezed Arthur tightly around his middle, and said "thank you" around sniffles.

"Alfred look at me."

Alfred raised his head up and removed his arms from around Arthur. His eyes were pink and tear-stained as they looked down at Arthur's sad green eyes, which were also a bit pink.

"I want you to feel respected."

Alfred smiled and hugged Arthur again.

"Thank you so much Arthur."

"Let's forget all about this, ok?" Said Arthur.

"What? You mean the fact that I'm hugging you and you're actually hugging me back?"

Arthur chuckled and swatted Alfred's head lightly. "No you silly git. Let's bury the hatchet and end the war by signing a treaty. But not until your leg is better. What happened to it by the way?"

Alfred leaned back again and stopped hugging Arthur. "Ok, that sounds like a good idea. And yeah, I got hit by a bullet in the leg. It was removed though so I bet I'll be better in no time!"

Arthur smiled at Alfred's chipper attitude.

"You know, I think I should leave before I get discovered."

Alfred's face fell but he responded by saying "ok, have a safe trip."

"Thanks, I will."