Feliciano stayed quiet as Francis chatted away, only half-listening to the gossip the King had engaged in today. The four Club Royals had gathered in the small parlour area of Arthur's quarters after dinner, drinking a bit of wine as they unwound from the day of socialization. Feliciano and Natalya sat on the two ends of a long couch, while Francis and Arthur both had chairs opposite them towards the door.
It wasn't hard for Feliciano to keep a pleasant, always-smiling straight face when Francis gossiped. As unexpected as it was for Queen Erzsébet and Jack Basch to be lovey-dovey, that part of the gossip chain wasn't his focus. Feliciano was searching for signals that any of the other Royals knew what he and Natalya knew. If any of them had met the Jokers, discovered the missing memories or dreamed strange dreams. He even kept up the cheerful facade with Lovino when they reunited yesterday, since there wasn't any clear sign whether his brother knew anything.
"Erika is taking the news of being an aunt very well," Francis commented, "Very respectful of her, I doubt Basch would show the same courtesy if she and Matthew were to ever have a child."
"You and Antonio would be holding him back so he couldn't kill Matthew," Gilbert chuckled while Francis paused to drink his wine.
The described image entered Feliciano's mind, momentarily threatening to break his composure. If he were to accidentally giggle at Gilbert's remark, Francis would catch him and immediately demand an explanation. That would be a bit hard to do, since Francis clearly doesn't know that Gilbert exists.
It was as he settled his own nerves that Feliciano happened to look over and notice it. Arthur was alert in his chair, looking around the room in confusion.
"Arthur?" Francis asked, having noticed it as well, "Is something the matter?"
"I just heard a voice," Arthur said as he pointed to the corner from the room, "From over there, by the mirror."
As Francis turned to look back at the mirror, Feliciano glanced over and identified it as where Gilbert's voice had just come from. He then glanced at Natalya, who was feigning a look of confusion on her face. When she locked eyes with him, it was clear she caught the same detail as him.
Did Arthur just hear Gilbert?
"There's nobody there, Arthur," Francis shot down as he turned back straight in his chair.
"But I heard them," Arthur insisted, "I could swear it."
"You clearly drank too much tonight," Francis reprimanded, "We should let you get some sleep."
Before Arthur could counter that, a knock at the closed door interrupted them. Francis rose to answer it, shaking his head in ridicule at Arthur as he did so. Once Francis was fully turned away, Natalya swiftly raised her finger to lips and glared at Arthur, silently telling him to shut up. Feliciano could only smirk as Arthur looked over at her in surprise, before the three of them regained their composure in time for Francis to open the door.
"Ah, Alfred," Francis greeted, "Are you looking for Arthur?"
"All four of you, actually," Alfred addressed as he leaned past through the doorway to see them, "There's a bunch of us gathering down in the gardens right now. It's a beautiful evening, the servants are bringing out more drinks. Any of you want to join us?"
"I'd love to join you," Francis accepted, "Arthur should get some rest though. Feliciano, Natalya, are you coming?"
"Perhaps in a bit," Natalya declined, "There's something I still want to talk to Arthur about."
"Go ahead without me," Feliciano concurred, "I'll catch up."
Francis shrugged before walking through the door, closing it behind him as he went with Alfred. They waited a moment, just in case the two Kings suddenly turned around and reopened the door, before Gilbert showed up in the mirror beside the door.
"They're down the first flight of stairs already," Gilbert announced.
Arthur bolted out of his seat at the sound of the Joker's voice and spun around.
"Where the bloody hell is that voice coming from?" Arthur demanded.
"He's in the mirror there," Feliciano pointed out, finally able to smile more broadly.
Arthur finally spun the right way and looked at the mirror, where Peter was now materializing at Gilbert's side.
"Hello Arthur," Peter greeted, "Surely you remember us?"
"Yes, you were in my dream last night," Arthur answered, "Gilbert and Peter, the Deck's two Jokers."
"Correct," Gilbert confirmed.
"But how can you be here?" Arthur challenged, "That was just a dream."
"It wasn't just a dream," Peter divulged, "It was a memory which you have forgotten."
"That still makes no sense," Arthur denied, "I was the Queen of Spades in that dream, but I'm actually the Queen of Clubs."
"No, Arthur, you aren't the Queen of Clubs," Natalya revealed, "We've all forgotten our proper Suits, as well as our memories. Some catastrophic event, which we can't currently remember, scrambled us all up."
"It also trapped the two of us in the mirrors," Peter added, "That's why we have to talk to you in this way."
"So I'm really the Queen of Spades?" Arthur checked.
"You sure are," Feliciano verified, "Natalya's still the Ace of Clubs, but I'm the Jack of Hearts, and Francis is the King of Diamonds."
"How long have you two known about this?" Arthur pried.
"About a month now," Natalya confessed, "I tried to tell you when we received the invitation to come to Oriasa, but you didn't bite then."
"We've noticed a trend in how this works," Gilbert elaborated, "You need to realize you're missing memories before you can see me and Peter in the mirrors, or have any of these dreams that are actual memories."
"If Natalya's prompting last month didn't provoke it, then it must have happened yesterday," Arthur deliberated, "When I broke up that argument between Alfred and Matthew. It felt natural to do so, as if I've done it many times before, but I couldn't recall any instance of doing so."
"That would do it," Peter ratified, "You subconsciously recalled working with them in Spades."
"In my dream, I was hoping that Matthew was succeeding in a battle against Natalya," Arthur realized, "So Spades must have been at war with Clubs and Diamonds after all. Why haven't we heard anything about this while I've been in Nodiff though?"
"We have no idea," Natalya replied, "The best we can do is analyze each dream as they occur, and determine what parts of the puzzle we're looking for."
"As for this new dream, we're not quite sure yet how it fits," Gilbert narrated, "Peter just gave Arthur a tour of the galleries, letting him see all the magical artifacts and weapons our predecessors had confiscated for safe keeping in past centuries."
"That might not be the entire story," Arthur hesitantly corrected, "I stole one."
"You stole one?" Peter repeated.
"I set that curtain on fire as a distraction," Arthur declared, "While you two were occupied, I used magic to shrink one of the urns and stash it in my pocket. I took it back to Spades and locked it up in my office, where it would wait until the dire moment I would need it."
"You stole an urn?" Gilbert reiterated, "Which urn?"
"The one Peter said was particularly dangerous," Arthur confided, "Its magic had a voice to it, and told me it would serve my purposes. However, it required all four kingdoms to be at war before a Royal would be able to cast its magic."
"Wait a second," Feliciano double-checked, "You stole a magical urn that could be used as a weapon in the war?"
"Only as a last resort," Arthur justified, "Things would have to be troubling indeed if Hearts was dragged into it, I merely wanted to secure a Spades victory. The urn's voice warned me there would be a grave cost to pay when it was used, even going as far to repeat it when I woke up."
"When you woke up?" Peter grilled, "Were you just recalling the phrase -"
"I heard it plain as day," Arthur upheld, "There was even a man in the mirror watching me, as if the words were his own."
"What man?" Gilbert inquired, "Who did you see in the mirror?"
"I don't know who he is," Arthur described, "His mouth did not move, but he watched me as if that voice echoing in my head from the urn had once belonged to him. He wore all black with green and grey accents, and he had fair skin, green eyes, and shaggy brown hair."
"It can't be," Natalya exclaimed, "I saw someone just like that in my mirror!"
"You've seen him too, Natalya?" Gilbert interrogated, "When and where?"
"Just yesterday, in my guest quarters," Natalya detailed, "After that spat with my brother, I saw him lurking in the mirror watching me. I nearly threw a dagger at him, thinking he was physically there in the room as an intruder. I then thought he was just another one of you Jokers."
"The two of you might have been first to see him then," Peter informed, "He's shown up in a couple more mirrors already today, we're trying to figure out who he is."
"Arthur said the urn's voice echoed as if it were the man's own voice," Feliciano pointed out, "Is it possible that the urn is connected to him somehow?"
"That might be a lead," Gilbert agreed, "We'll dig into it."