Lovino didn't pay attention to his fellow Heart Royals as they sat in the parlour between his quarters and Alfred's on the top floor. While they chatted away about this morning's meeting with Diamonds, his mind was thoroughly elsewhere.
It would only take an idiot not to notice the odd pairings that meshed well during the meeting. Erzsébet was getting along very well with Ivan, while Alfred and Yao were on the same page about several items. Although Lovino couldn't attest to how Basch and Antonio interacted with each other, he did notice how natural it felt to be in the same meeting room as Kiku once again.
He's been working hard the past month to get someone on his side about all this, but has had no luck at all. Every time he raised the topic of the missing memories and dreams, Alfred managed to distract himself and run off on a different tangent, losing interest in the topic at hand. There has been no open opportunity to bring it up with Erzsébet and Basch, it was astoundingly difficult to divert a conversation with them.
He knew this week's reunion with the other three Suits should be his chance to talk to the other Royals, Gilbert and Peter were encouraging him to try to tell someone else about it. There was still time, they only arrived yesterday and would be here all week, but Lovino had no clue where or with who to start. Even seeing Feliciano again yesterday was awkward as hell, they were both fumbling through words as they caught up on things.
"Lovino, are you even listening?"
Lovino snapped to attention at Basch's voice, and realized the other three were all staring at him.
"No, sorry," Lovino confessed, "What did you say?"
"I was asking if anyone else noticed Antonio's demeanour" Basch repeated, "He seemed a lot more reserved and serious than I remember him being before."
"I thought you said you didn't remember our last visit with Diamonds," Lovino checked.
"Why should that matter?" Basch dismissed, "I might not recall the last meetings with the other Royals, but I can account for Antonio's character to say the least."
"And how exactly do you know that for sure?" Lovino pushed.
"Lovino, what in the Deck are you talking about?" Erzsébet countered, "We've already brought the other twelve Royals to Oriasa for a reunion, so that we can rekindle our friendships and relations. Why are you still asking about previous meetings?"
"Do you not find it strange that we can't remember the previous meetings?" Lovino pressed, "Don't deny it, Erzsei, I heard you all stuttering briefly as you failed to remember past talking points with Diamonds today. Does that not concern you at all?"
"It does not concern me," Erzsébet shot down, "Not nearly as much as your bizarre comments at the moment."
"How about the fact that I couldn't remember the last time I saw Feliciano?" Lovino insisted, "Or how about Alfred with Matthew, or Basch with Erika?"
"Your family issues are not my problem," Erzsébet stated, "Whatever your deal is, Lovino, figure it out for yourself."
Before Lovino could counter, Erzsébet rose from her seat and marched out of the parlour, ending her part of the discussion right then and there. After an awkward moment of silence, Basch rose as well, sparing a glance at Lovino as if he wanted to ask more, and shook his head as he followed Erzsébet out.
Lovino leaned back in his chair and sighed, raising a hand to his forehead to give it a quick rub. That attempt to talk about everything had blown up in his face. Although Basch seemed a bit curious about it, Erzsébet had no interest.
He lowered his hand, and realized he wasn't alone in the room just yet. Alfred was still in his chair, leaning back into his own chair and watching him curiously.
"Go on, leave me too," Lovino allowed, "I'm just losing my mind here, nothing to see."
"You're not getting rid of me that fast," Alfred refused, crossing his arms over his chest, "Not until you explain what the big deal is."
"You really want to know?" Lovino made sure.
"Of course," Alfred promised, "It's not every day you pick an argument with Erzsébet and Basch like that."
"And are you going to listen this time?" Lovino verified, "No interruptions or distractions?"
"You tried to tell me before?" Alfred asked.
"Multiple times, you fool," Lovino scolded as he leaned forward, "Every time I mention how you can't remember the last time you saw Matthew, you go off on a fucking tangent!"
"No need to be an ass about it," Alfred yielded, waving his hands in the air in surrender, "Fine, I'm listening now, what am I overlooking here?"
"Do you remember how you and your brother became separated in the first place?" Lovino quizzed, "How he became Ace of Spades, and you became King of Hearts?"
Alfred leaned forward onto his elbows, and paused to consider the question. Lovino sat back and watched as a look of shock and confusion took over Alfred's face.
"Why can't I remember that?" Alfred uttered, "Lovino, do you remember me becoming the King of Hearts?"
"No, Alfred, I don't," Lovino revealed, "I can't remember how the four of us came to be together in Hearts. I can't remember Feliciano becoming Jack of Clubs. It's part of a larger mystery that I am trying to sort out."
"A mystery?" Alfred caught on, "Sounds interesting, what do you know so far?"
"These missing memories are accompanied by strange dreams," Lovino elaborated, "In my dreams, I'm still the Ace of Hearts, but with me here are Ludwig, Kiku and Feliciano. Basch is in Diamonds, Erzsébet is in Hearts, and you're in-"
"Spades. I'm in Spades with Mattie, Arthur and Yao."
Lovino's eyebrows shot up as Alfred finished the sentence with more detail than expected.
"How the fuck did you know that?" Lovino demanded as he leaned forward.
"About a month ago, I had a weird dream where I was the King of Spades," Alfred specified, "We were at war with Clubs, and the four of us were talking strategy. You don't happen to know about a Joker named Peter, do you?"
"There's our cue!"
Alfred bolted upright in his seat to look at the mirror on the wall where Peter showed up and spoke from, prompting a chuckle from Lovino.
"Wait, you're real?" Alfred blurted, "Why are you in the mirror?"
"We're trapped in this limbo until you sort out the mystery," Peter described as Gilbert appears with him, "This is Gilbert, the other Joker, you might not have dreamed of him yet."
"Sure took you a long time to let Lovino finish talking," Gilbert remarked.
"Sorry about that," Alfred continued, "In this dream I had, Peter showed up with the war declaration from Diamonds, as well as a letter for Matthew from Erika. It seemed that Basch was somehow convinced to let Francis declare war on us."
"Let me bring you up to speed then," Lovino took over as he leaned back in his chair once again, "These strange dreams actually happened, they are key memories that we have forgotten. This war between Spades and Clubs somehow led to a crazy turn of fate where all our Suits got scrambled. You really are the King of Spades, but you wound up here instead. As we recover more memories, we'll figure out what this catastrophic event was that shuffled everyone around."
"A catastrophic event?" Alfred mused, "There were three kingdoms at war, and you were trying to keep Hearts out of it as much as possible. Did you end up getting involved after all?"
"We don't know yet," Lovino answered, "As far as I have seen in my dreams, we've managed to stay neutral."
"We fear that might not be for long though," Peter clarified, "At some point, the tables will turn and we'll remember what happened next."
"What's the deal right now then?" Alfred inquired, "Is there anyone else helping Lovino and the two of you figure this all out?"
"We're keeping tabs on all sixteen of you," Gilbert disclosed, "Individual conversations are still being kept private, we'd rather you all talk to each other and figure things out together. Lovino's spent the past month trying to make you aware of it all."
"We can only be seen by those who have realized they're missing memories," Peter added on, "It seems that, in your case, you were aware enough to have a dream but not enough to realize what it was."
As Peter spoke, Lovino noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, and focused on the corner of the room. The reflection in the mirror on the far wall had someone in it, but it was not one of the two Jokers. This fellow had shaggy brown hair and green eyes, and was dressed in black with green and grey accents.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Lovino called out, prompting the others to look as well.
"Gilbert, that's him!" Peter identified.
The man in the mirror glanced over at the other mirror where Gilbert and Peter were, before black mist took over and obscured his presence. Moments later, the black mist cleared away to reveal the room's reflection once again, the man having vanished.
"Who the fuck was that?" Lovino asked, "How did he appear in the mirror like you two do?"
"We don't know who he is yet," Gilbert explained, "We only just learned this morning that he's also floating around in the mirrors, even though the two of us are alone in our limbo. Yet another piece of the puzzle for us to investigate."