Chapter 1: Fake

"Uh, Mr. Jo— Alfred?"

Alfred mumbled something, and then peeped open one eye. "It's morning already?" he yawned. Kiku nodded.

He sighed, rising to his feet. He's been with the UR for almost a full year, and he still couldn't get used waking up so early.

Plus, most of the jobs he was assigned to were mostly just cooking all day, and helping out with injured people. If he was lucky, Kiku would sometimes give him some combat training (as if he needed it, he thought.)

"It's three fifty-five AM right now. It's best if we go while it's dark out, since it is your first time after all." Kiku explained. Wait, go out? If it was what he thought it was…

"Holy crap, do you mean go outside? Like above here and all?" his rowdy voice grew by each word.

"Yes, Head Leader agreed that you could finally come up with me."

Alfred clenched his fists together as tightly as he could, filled with pure excitement. This was finally his chance to search for Arthur and Matthew after so long! He knew that they were still alive; nothing could bring those two down! If he could, he would even give Head Leader a 'bro hug' and tell him or her thank you. Except, he wasn't allowed to see Head Leader, and Kiku wouldn't tell him anything about the leader of this whole rebellion.

"Yes! Let's go!" he exclaimed with a heavy grin.

Kiku gave him a small frown, and shook his head. "You didn't let me finish speaking. Yes, you have the opportunity to come above, but only for gathering food." Kiku already knew Alfred's intention at this news. The teen probably wanted to do what he usually did, fighting off AMOs, and helping as many people as possible.

"Whaaaat?!" Alfred spat, fuming. Even how surprising it could sound, he was sick of all this food shit.

"I'm sorry," Kiku exhaled in a solicitous tone. "But I do promise you, gathering food is very helpful! And erm… Heroes help people, am I right?" he tried to comfort.

Kiku was right. As a competent hero, he would still be a lot of help by just having some food to alleviate possible people starving. "Alright," he gave in, "Let's go."

The air was chilly. Alfred shivered, his grip tightly on the pistol he brought. Kiku warned him he should bring something just in case if there were any wild AMOs roaming around.

Kiku trusted him enough to leave him at his own. While he was supposed to be gathering food, Kiku would be getting a supply of water. 'I should be near if something happens, alright? If you go over there,' Kiku said, pointing southwest, 'there should just be flat ground with dirt, rocks, etcetera.' He then gave Alfred a card-like device, with a simple round red button in the middle. 'When you're over there, just press this button. The holograph of dirt should dissolve, revealing crops we began to grow. If you press the button again, the holograph will reappear.'

Alfred repeated what Kiku told him in his mind, so he wouldn't forget. And hey, maybe if he finished this early, he could go exploring off on his own. It wouldn't hurt, would it? Of course not!

He found this dirt place Kiku told him about, and pressed the button. The earth in front of him began to turn a pale blue. At least he thought it was blue, since it was still pretty dark out. Just like the Japanese teen had said, the earth that was once there faded away. Now the terrain seemed rough, and a little hard. "Cool!" Alfred whispered to himself in awe.

He crouched down, feeling for any crops. His hand collided into something, and by the silhouette that he could see, it looked like a carrot.

'Finally.' Alfred thought when he actually felt something. He was about to try to pull it out, until he heard footsteps behind him.

"Alfred!" the voice exclaimed. That happy voice definitely wasn't Kiku's. It… It was…

"A-Arthur? Is that you?" he questioned, trying to get a good look at the person talking to him.

"Of course it's me! Who else would it be?" Arthur growled at him, sounding annoyed. Even if it seemed like for a moment, it looked like the Brit's emerald eyes glowed at him... As if he was scanning him.

Alfred thought he was lucky that it was dark out, since Arthur probably wouldn't see his tears of glee. "I-I knew you would be okay! Where's Mattie? Is he safe?"

Arthur nodded, "Yes, why wouldn't he? You need to stop worrying so much!" Arthur snapped. Alfred's boyfriend seemed kind of off, but then again, he almost haven't seen him in a year! "S-Sorry, bro…" he apologized awkwardly.

"You sound upset," Arthur observed. "Hug?" He said, raising an arm out for Alfred to hug him.

Alfred immediately accepted Arthur's offer for a hug. He walked up to him quickly, being embraced by only one arm. He didn't care. He was happy to be around Arthur once again.

His head was turned from Arthur's, allowing Arthur to give out a maniacal psychotic grin. He slowly reached into his pocket with his free hand, trying to make sure Alfred wouldn't notice. What he pulled out was a knife. "Alfred dear? Close your eyes." he whispered in a subduing tone.

"Why?" Alfred asked him. Arthur put the blade behind his back when Alfred looked at him with a confused expression. "Because I have a surprise for you. Close your eyes, I'm sure you'll love it!"

Alfred did as he was told, wondering what it was, or how he would get it since Arthur was still pretty much holding onto him. It even felt like he was squeezing him!

Arthur slowly moved the knife to Alfred's neck, right around the area of his throat.

"Get away from him!"

Alfred heard a shot of a gun, and Arthur letting go of him. He opened his eyes, just barely being able to see what was going on. Kiku stood a few feet in front of him, his hands shaking with a gun in his hands. Two buckets were on the ground, and the ground itself looked soaked with water. Arthur was lying there, with a hole in his head. His body began to shake and spasm, and it looked like he would stand up any moment. Alfred didn't notice the blade near Arthur's collapsed body.

"Arthur!" Alfred exclaimed, about to try to help him.

"No!" Kiku snapped, running at him. He never heard Kiku sound so harsh before!

"G-get away from me! You shot him!"

"That's no human! It'll kill you!" Kiku dropped the gun, and grabbed Alfred's wrists. He forcefully hauled him, fighting against Alfred's restraints to go back and help Arthur. Alfred never knew Kiku was this strong, as he always seemed frail!

It was awful getting him back down the hole, but Kiku managed to achieve it. Alfred looked furious, like he would strangle Kiku at any moment. "You fucking bastard! Why did you shoot him? H-He's probably dead now because of you!"

Kiku looked to the side, not liking Alfred's insults towards him. "Remember that story I told you long ago with my brother Yao?" Kiku croaked out. His voice became shaky.

"Arthur's his name right? I-I'm sorry, but he's already dead. The Arthur you saw was a fake… A clone. He was probably killed long ago…"

Alfred began to tune out what Kiku was saying. No! He couldn't believe that Arthur was dead. He didn't want to believe he was dead!

"… and I was afraid if I was going to shoot you too, but when I saw it put that knife at your throat, that was the only thing I had left to do. "

Arthur was going to kill him? "S-sorry, I-I shouldn't have snapped at you like that," Alfred whispered. He wanted to burst out into tears in front of Kiku, but he held it in. He didn't want to seem like a complete baby to Kiku. His eyes glistened from the salty water forming in his blue eyes.

"It's okay, I understand." Kiku nodded. Finding out the death of someone you cared about never had a good reaction. "You should relax for awhile, I'll go get more water and I'll also get the fo—"

"No." Alfred cut in. "I'm not going to fail something as simple as getting food!" Kiku was slightly surprised by Alfred's random burst of anger.

"And I'll make sure that thing posing as Arthur is gone for good!"

A/N: It's out! Next chapter I plan on explaining some things.

HollyKagamine14: Thank you! Here it is (: