Chapter 7: Reality

There he was. For a couple of moments, Alfred just stood there, astonished at his brother's sudden appearance. "Matthew! Matthew!" Alfred called, grabbing Matthew's attention. Kiku was messing with his hair, glancing downwards.

Matthew was speaking with someone before they dismissed themselves. Alfred's sibling looked over to who had called his name, blinking in a surprised manner once he noticed who was calling him.

"A-Alfred!" Matthew didn't appear to have any injuries. He quickly got up and scrambled over to Alfred.

It was like Alfred couldn't even control his actions any more. As soon as Matthew came near to him, Alfred immediately hugged him. Tightly.

Matthew hugged him back, not minding how long Alfred held onto him. Once they broke out, Alfred immediately began to speak.

"Thank goodness you're okay! W-where have you been all this time?" Matthew looked down towards Alfred's question. He didn't want to talk about it, which Alfred understood. "…A-and, what about Arthur?" Alfred paused for a moment. He always had a little bit of hope that Arthur was somehow alive.

By the new expression on Matthew's face, it looked like he had expected a question like this. "Sorry, Alfred…"

For a moment the two stood there in silence as Kiku began to chew on one of his nails irritably. Alfred gaped his mouth open, finally being able to say something until Kiku had cut in.

"Excuse me for interrupting you guys, but Alfred and I have some very important things to do. It would be alright if you guys spoke again later, wouldn't it? Let's go, Alfred."

"Wha—"

"Very important things remember? Um, it was nice seeing you Matthew." Almost as if Kiku had gained a lot of strength out of thin air, he suddenly began hauling Alfred out of the Infirmary against his will. Matthew's face was both confused and saddened.

"What the hell!" Alfred growled. He tried pulling away but Kiku held onto his wrist tightly.

"You're right…" once again Kiku sounded like how he did before, "I'm not that good at acting in character are I? That's probably not something the 'original me' would say. I'm such a failure… Do you think your brother could tell? I hope not…"

Alfred fumed angrily. "I-I'm not talking about that! Ugh, just let go!"

"I can't. You're going to leave me by myself."

"…Let. Go!"

Kiku winced at Alfred's harsh words shot towards him. "You're going to cause us attention…I don't want you to be looked badly on…" Kiku sighed. "After we speak, you can go back to your…brother." For some reason Kiku's tone was low when he spat out the word 'brother' like it was some sort of foul profanity.

Before Alfred could say his confused words, Kiku tugged on him once more.

Once Kiku got Alfred outside at some distance, he glanced around making sure no one or thing was around to hear them.

Kiku began to speak so Alfred wouldn't yell at him. "Sorry about that. I um, remembered some things I wanted to tell you… P-please don't be mad."

Alfred huffed. If he didn't oblige with listening to Kiku, he would be out here much longer rather than spending some time with Matthew after so long.

"I'm not mad," Alfred muttered. Now how many times has he said that? "What else do you want to tell me?"

Kiku shuffled his foot slowly. "A person like me doesn't deserve this anyways. I'd like to switch ranks with you, if that's possible. Kiku smiled a little bit as he said this, and soon began to mess with his hair again.

Alfred blinked, shocked. "You're joking, right?" he asked him. But considering how this clone has been acting…

Kiku shook his head. "I want to ask Head Leader but I'm too scared too. Such a failure I am…" It literally looked as if Kiku was going to break out in tears.

Alfred sighed, "Then don't ask," It would be amazing to have such a high rank (and not letting the clone have Kiku's) but Alfred still couldn't trust it however. "Anyways, is there anything else you want to say, or can we go back now? Don't you think it's not that safe just to be standing out here like this?"

"Trust me, nothing will happen. At least I can be right about one thing." Kiku confirmed. "And no, eventually I'll tell Head Leader."

Alfred nodded an 'okay', expecting more rubbish from Kiku.

Kiku stopped fiddling with his hair once he was ready to speak again. "I'd also like to make a deal with you, i-if that's fine with you of course!"

"Matthew!" Alfred quickly rushed over to his brother, sitting next to him. It was a week from when Matthew and Alfred first reunited together, and Alfred was spending as much time with him as he could when other duties (or clones) weren't in the way.

They were sitting at a table in the Diner. Alfred had eaten earlier, so he couldn't get anything else to eat. "So, uh dude," Alfred was always wondering if Matthew was going to join the UR or not once he was offered. It would be cool to fight alongside his brother and all, but Alfred would prefer if he didn't. What if something…bad happened to him?

Matthew blew on his small wooden bowl of stew he had gotten earlier, and looked up at Alfred. "Yeah, Alfred?" Even though he could be clearly heard, Matthew's tone was much softer than Alfred's. Sometimes it was just surprising that the two were siblings.

Alfred looked down for a minute with a sigh, but then got straight to his point. "So, you know about this whole resistance thing, right? Well, what do you think you're going to do?"

At first Matthew had a puzzled expression, like he didn't know what Alfred was talking about. "Oh, well you're in it, so—"

"Yeah, but still! It's not that safe… I mean, I could always visit you and stuff when I have free time like I've been doing! You'll probably make other friends too."

Alfred almost sounded desperate for Matthew to listen to him. He didn't want anyone else to end up just like the real Kiku had. What would Kiku think of this situation anyways? Matthew spoke up to reply to his last comment, but Alfred began to get lost in his own thoughts about everything that has happened.

Most of them were on Kiku. It was hard to tell what went on through Kiku's mind about Alfred. In fact, it was hard to tell a lot of things from him. Alfred was sure Kiku was always annoyed at him. He rarely listened to most orders from Kiku, and yet Kiku was there for him. Perhaps if he wasn't so focused on killing Arthur's clone, Kiku would still be around to this day.

"But you have to promise you'll be alright, okay? If I feel like there's something wrong, I'm joining right away." Suddenly Alfred pulled back to reality, hearing the end to what Matthew was saying.

"Wait, so you're saying you're not going to join?" Alfred questioned.

"That's what I just said… Were you even listening, Alfred?" Matthew stated with a sigh.

"Ha ha, I totally was," Alfred lied, "I was just making sure!" Alfred gave him a wink.

Matthew rolled his eyes, but it wasn't exactly from annoyance. "Sure you were."

"Huh? Did you say something? Wait where'd you go Matt?" Suddenly the two began to joke around.

"How many times have I heard that now?"

"Oh geez! There's a ghost! Matthew help!"

"How could you not see your older brother anyways?"

"What? Dude, you're only older than me by three days!"

"So you can 'see' me!"

It continued like this for awhile until Alfred had to go. He had other things to do. One was finding the clone. After all the times where it would pop out of nowhere and bother Alfred, of course it isn't around when Alfred actually needs it!

"S-sorry I'm late…" After some roaming around, Alfred finally ran into Kiku.

"Shouldn't we go?" Who knows what kind of excuse Kiku could have used to let them be out for a long time, but it would be best to get going.

Like he always does, Kiku began messing around with his hair. "Yeah, we should…"

Finally. Whether this deal was a trick or not, Alfred had to find out about it. It would risky, but he had to.

Whether he was a hero or not, he was going to do it. For the United Resistance and the people with it. For Matthew. For the real Kiku.