A/N:

OH MY GOD, GUYS! ;A; I'm so happy.

I got so much positive feedback for last chapter! T~T

Dude. Twelve reviews. In one day. Plus all the others I got! That may not be a lot to some authors, but to me, it's a miracle! ;A; You guys are uh-mazing.

So sorry this took a while! Dx You have to do a lot for a story like this. ;~;

By the way, guys – tell me whenever there are grammar errors or summit, otays? I need to know that stuff.

Oh, and sorry I'm sticking so close to the movie right now. I don't want people getting mad 'cause "it wasn't like that in the movie! D:"

WARNING: Though the plot hasn't developed to that point yet, this will be BL. Yaoi. Gay love. MaleXmale. Don't like, please don't make and ass out of yourself by reading.

DISCLAIMER: Me? Own Hetalia? Or Tangled? PFFT! I laugh at such idiocy!

A gray blur sped out of the window high above the ground, swiftly flying over to a flower pot, where it stilled, blending in with the pot's design(1).

The sparrow huffed, hoping not to be found.

The one human resident of the home suddenly stopped by to throw the window open, leaning his elbows upon the ledge which, only a moment ago, the sparrow had been skimming dangerously close to in his rush. He let out a ridiculously heavy sigh.

"Well, I guess Tony isn't hiding out here…" He rolled his eyes, hearing a tiny, strange, gurgle-like laugh come from his right.

He raised a golden eyebrow, crystalline-blue eyes sparkling behind half-rimmed, rectangular glasses.

Alfred's hand crept above the flower pots that decorated the window sill, trying to be as silent as possible.

"GOT'CHA!" He grabbed the bird around his body, and he cawked in protest.

Tony huffed, something he did often. I can never win.

Only Alfred could hear his voice.

Said boy blinked. "How about twenty-three out of forty-five?"

The bird looked extremely un-amused.

Alfred crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, Mr. No-Fun, what do you wanna to do?"

Tony nudged his head in the direction of the ground, chirping matter-of-factly. Alfred snorted, rolling his eyes at the ridiculous suggestion.

"Yeah, no. Nice try."

The bird, again, looked un-amused.

You want to go outside as much as I do.

Alfred put the bird down, tossing his arms up in exasperation immediately afterwards. "Yeah, well you can fly anywhere, anytime you want. I don't have wings, Tony! Not to mention how upset Mother would be if I went out."

Tony cringed. He had to admit – the woman was a beast when angered.

"Exactly. I like it in here, and so do you."

The gray creature huffed once more.

"Oh, c'mon, Tony! It's not so bad in here~"

With that, Alfred gently took the bird up in his arms, turning back into the tower to find something both of them wanted to do. The blonde sighed, but put on a weak smile.

"Seven A.M., the usual morning line-up…"

His red-eyed companion sighed in his arms.

"Sweep, mop, laundry, dust…"

He did said tasks, in order, one by one, not once looking at the clock.

"Okay, one more sweep." He swept the entirety of the tower with vigor, catching any dust left behind from the feather duster.

He finally decided to look at the time, thinking a whole hour must have passed, at least.

It read seven-fifteen.

He tried not to gawk and got a twitch out of his eye instead. His eyes rolled up in an attempt to meet those of Tony, who was now seated on Alfred's golden head.

"What now?"

The bird, again, huffed, seemingly at a loss. Alfred placed his index finger delicately on his chin, striding over to an average, oak bookcase – the background of which he'd painted himself, with colorful letters –grabbed the first book he saw…

And then, with barely any hesitation, also took the only other two that lived in the bookcase.

He made quick work of those, in what seemed like the blink of an eye but was really about an hour and a half.

Alfred, feeling a prick of frustration begin to gnaw at the edge of his mind, grabbed his painting kit and a ladder, propped said ladder up, climbed it, and began painting a mural – a medium-sized one, considering there was only so much room on the wall with all of his other masterpieces.

Made quick work o' that, too. Hell, even I'm getting annoyed.

He played guitar (which he was rather good at by now), knitted (as manly as possible), and baked (also, with as much manliness as possible).

As he was bringing a fresh apple pie out of the oven (his favorite), he suddenly stopped, glancing to his upper left to see an ugly decoration his mother most likely placed on top of the fireplace.

He scanned it, determining how mad his mother would be if he took it down, if she'd even notice, what he could possibly paint there…

He put the pie on the table along with other various baked goods he'd made previously and broke out his painting kit again.

After painting for a good, long while, he decided he was rather famished and that he couldn't let his baking go to waste.

So he ate practically half the table-full for lunch.

As he hesitantly placed another cookie in his mouth (he was freakin' full), he got another idea of what he could do.

He and Tony did a puzzle together. It was terribly boring, keeping in mind Alfred's squirrel-length attention span.

What they did next was slightly more exhilarating – darts. Yay, sharp objects!

That yielded to be completely un-fun. Especially since Tony nearly got stuck to the dart board, if you catch my drift.

So, he baked again. Lots and lots of chocolate chip, oatmeal, and gingerbread cookies. He was still too full from lunch to eat those and waste more time.

They tried paper mache. Alfred just ended up making some creepy giant-head thing with a screwed-up face. Plus, he got the glue from the paper in his hair. Not fun.

He stooped down to ballet and chess, he was so desperate.

Pottery, ventriloquism, candle-making, maybe stretch some, paint some more of that mural on top of the fireplace that he had come to be proud of…

He re-read the books. Tried to paint the wall – he had been sure there was more room somewhere…

He brushed his hair.

Okay, officially out of things to do here.

"When the Hell will my life begin..?"

Tony made some unintelligible noise, and Alfred glared. "I am not going outside, Tony. That would mean betraying Mother." The boy walked solemnly over to the window, leaning his chin on his propped-up hand, sighing dreamily. "At least I'll have something to look forward to tomorrow."

Tony tilted his head, red eyes curious. Won't looking forward to something just make the day longer?

Alfred resisted knocking the bird off the window sill.

"The lights will float into the sky… just like they do each year. And I'll gaze at them, all the way from here, just like I do each year." He began to sound frustrated, a result from the long day he'd just had. He turned toward the fireplace, the mural he'd painted standing out boldly from the off-white of the inner tower.

He'd painted a dark indigo night sky, big orbs of light – brighter and larger than the stars behind them – starkly contrasting with their background. He'd sketched and painted over hills and trees. Sitting atop one of those trees was a little Alfred, golden hair the color of his painted lights.

"Maybe, now that I'm older, Mother just might let me go."

Meanwhile, back in our kingdom, another blonde with hair not quite as golden as Alfred's was climbing and jumping gracefully across rooftops with his two brothers – Gaelic and Marshall Kirkland(2).

They were thieving again, this time from the King and Queen. But worth it, for the amount of gold they were going to get.

Arthur Kirkland gazed from atop of the royal family's most precious building, enjoying the view of the city.

"You know," he sighed, being overly dramatic. "I could get used to a view like this. Guys, I want a castle."

Gaelic rolled his eyes and strode toward his youngest brother, catching him by the collar.

"We do this job, ya get yer own castle."

The Brit raised his hands up defensively. "Just stating."

Marshall pulled a loose panel from the roof of the large building, Arthur eyeing the patchy satchel that lie on a pedestal inside, surrounded by guards.

Arthur nodded to his brothers.

He, being the smallest and lightest (not that he would admit that. He was forced.), was to be tied by the waist with ropes, and hoisted down to the pedestal, where he would steal the satchel.

But it was what was in the satchel they needed.

They may as well take the bag, just for good measure.

Their plan was carried out without a hitch – until one of the guards sneezed.

Arthur, being the sarcastic jerk he was, felt the need to call the fully-protected and fully-armed man out. "Hay fever?"

The tall man turned to him for a split second. "Yeah." He turned back to his post –

Only to realize he'd just missed something and whip back around.

Unfortunately, Arthur and his brothers had already made their escape.

They were currently running along a bridge that led across to a forest – a forest containing a certain prince's tower.

"Hell! All this action and it's barely eight in the morning! Gentlemen, this is a very big day!"

"This is it. Today is a very big day, Tony," Alfred flashed his famous hundred-watt grin at his gray companion. "I'm finally gonna do it. I'm gonna ask her –"

"Alfred! I'm ho~ome!"

The boy nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Quick, Tony!" He pulled the curtains over the fireplace to cover his new mural. "Hide! She can't see you!"

The bird rolled his eyes, already knowing the intimidating woman couldn't see him. He hid behind the curtain without contradicting his human friend, though; Alfred was bunched up with nerves.

"Welcome home, Mother!"

Natalia appeared from the kitchen, as she always seemed to. But, from what Alfred could tell, there was most definitely not a door in there, and Natalia refused to let him watch her leave.

"Oh, Alfred, my darling," she spread her arms out wide, and Alfred practically galloped into them. "Living in this tower all day every day with barely anything to suit your horrible attention span… I don't know how you do it."

Alfred was a little shocked by her wording, but let out a laugh anyway – even if it sounded more on the nervous side. "I-it's nothing."

Natalia began laughing, loudly. Alfred just stood there, twiddling his thumbs, wondering what was so funny.

The woman pinched the boy's cheek. "Oh, darling, I'm just teasing!" She walked off to the other side of the tower, toward the lone mirror that stood at the wall.

Alfred was un-amused.

"Alright," He sighed. "Well, Mom, as you know, tomorrow is a very big day –"

"Alfred, look in to that mirror. Do you know what I see?"

The blonde looked up to his mother skeptically. "No."

She continued as if he hadn't said anything. "I see a strong, confident, handsome young man standing beside me…"

Alfred felt relief and pride flood through him –

"Ah, a fitting husband." She cackled. "Oh, wait, you're here too."

Alfred' head ducked down, his eyes looking a little stricken.

"I'm just teasing. Stop taking everything so seriously!" He was nudged sharply in the ribs by Natalia's elbow.

She began studying herself in the mirror, her mirth gradually dying down as she scanned her slightly wrinkled face and crinkly hair.

"O-okay… so, Mom, as I was saying, tomorrow is –"

"Alfred, Mother is feeling a little run-down. Would you sing for me, dear? Then we'll talk."

Alfred put on a chipper disposition. "Oh! Of course, Mom!"

He ran off, grabbing his mother's favorite chair from its place by the window and slapping it in the middle of the room. Natalia, who was already making her way over, was snatched by the arm and dragged into the chair, plopping himself Indian-style in front of her and taking her wrinkled hands in his.

"Flower gleam 'n glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine -"

He sang it on super-speed, the words barely intelligible. His palms began glowing a bright gold.

"Wait! Alfred, wait!"

"Heal what has been hurt, change the Fates' design, save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine~!"

The power lasted a split second but, luckily for Natalia, worked. She knew she would have to do it again sooner than usual, thanks to Alfred's haste, but it wasn't like the brat was going anywhere.

"Alfred!" She began to scold.

"So, Mom, earlier I was saying that tomorrow is a really big day and you didn't really respond so, I'm just gonna tell you –" He latched himself to her arm. "It's my birthday!" He grinned his hundred-watt smile. "Tuh-duh!"

Natalia put on a strained smile a held her son's arms, gently – or something like that – pushing him away from her.

"No, no no. Can't be. I distinctly remember – your birthday was last year."

Alfred gave a sort of so-funny-I-forgot-to-laugh chuckle and looked his mother in her midnight-blues.

"That's the funny thing about birthdays – they're kind of an annual thing." Alfred sighed and sat in front of his mother once more, staring at the dark blue bow at the top of her silver hair. "Mother, I'm turning eighteen."

Alfred scanned Natalia's face for any sign of anger before his eyes bored into hers again. He was never a shy person – even when nervous.

"And… what I really want for this birthday –" However, his nerves got to him and he curled a finger into his golden hair. "Actually, what I've wanted for quite a few birthdays –"

"Okay, Alfred, please, stop with the mumbling. You know how feel about the mumbling. Blah, blah blah…" Alfred looked surprised. He hadn't seen any emotion registered on her face! "It's very annoying!"

Alfred, again, looked stricken by his mother's words.

Natalia, seeming to have realized just what she had said, quickly fixed the issue. "Oh, darling, I'm just teasing, you're adorable, I love you so much, darling." She giggled, pinched his cheek, then stood, feeling a little embarrassed about what she'd said. She walked over to a table by the stairs, plucking an apple out of the basket she's brought and placed there.

He heard a small tweet come from his mural and glanced toward Tony.

The bird nudged his beak toward Natalia. Go. Keep trying!

Alfred, puffing his chest up with resolve, suddenly shouted:

"I want to see the floating lights!"

Natalia's eyes visibly widened from halfway across the room. She laughed without amusement. "Uh, what?"

She placed her apple back in the basket, knowing what was coming.

Alfred, being rather tall, pulled himself up onto the mantle of the fireplace, pushing the curtains there away from the painting that wasn't there when Natalia had left this morning.

"Actually, I was hoping you would take me to see the floating lights."

Natalia knew a way to save this, if only some. "Oh. You mean the stars."

Alfred huffed in exasperation. "That's the thing –" He climbed the rafters (like a monkey, Natalia noted) and to a small, circular window – parallel to which was a star map with the tower in the center. "I've charted stars, and they're always constant. But these?" He pointed down to his mural. "They appear on my birthday, Mom, and only on my birthday."

He swung down to the fireplace, leaning his head against the wall with closed eyes and sighing. "And I can't help but feel like they're…" He stared out the now-open window. "Like they're meant for me."

Natalia laughed. "You've always had a thing for astronomy, haven't you, dea –"

"Don't change the subject, Mother." He looked into her eyes with a hard stare. "I need to see them. Not just from my window. In person." He hunched over, looking at his feet. "I have to know what they are."

"You want to go outside?" The silver-haired woman scoffed. "Why, Alfred. Look at you, as fragile as a flower. Still a little sapling, just a sprout. You know why I keep you in this tower."

"Yeah, I know, Mom, but –"

"That's right. To keep you safe and sound." She sighed dramatically. "I guess I always knew this day was coming… that soon you'd want to leave the nest. Soon, but not yet."

"But –"

"Shh. Trust me, dear. Mother knows best."

Alfred blinked, feeling a little skeptical of his mother. How horrible could it possibly be, outside?

"It's a scary world out there," she nodded resolutely. "One way or another, something will go wrong – I swear, darling."

His baby blues rolled, and Natalia caught it. Her eyes narrowed.

"Roughens, thugs, poison ivy, quick sand, cannibals and snakes – the plague!"

Alfred actually felt a little fear bubbling up. But he refused to believe it. "No!"

Natalia suddenly looked ghastly. "Yes!"

"Also, large bugs, men with pointy teeth, and –" She theatrically placed her hand on her forehead, acting devastated, trying to scare her tool. "Stop, no more, you'll just upset me~!"

The golden boy's eyes were wide with fear. Did his mother have to deal with this on a day-to-day basis? Isn't he supposed to be a hero?

"But Mother's right here, Alfred. Mother will protect you." She hugged him tightly to her chest. "Skip the drama, stay with Mama." She giggled at her little rhyme, though Alfred found himself thinking she was insane.

"Mother knows best. On your own, you won't survive."

She unlatched herself from him, scanning him up and down with a thoughtful look. "Sloppy, under-dressed, immature –" She tripped him – "Clumsy!" He glared up at his mother.

You did that on purpose!

"Please! They'll eat you up alive! Gullible, naïve, ditzy and a little bit… vague. Plus, I believe, gettin' kinda chubby," She patted under Alfred's chin, as if pointing out fat. Alfred found it positively rude, all of what she was saying. But especially the chubby part.

"But I'm just saying because I wuv yoo!"

Alfred glared at her sharply, hoping she didn't notice.

"Mother understands~ mother's here to help you! All I have is one request."

Alfred knew, though she could be rude, that his mother was just being over-protective and loved him very much. He sighed and ran into her outstretched arms.

"Alfred." He looked up at Natalia, only to see she had a cold gaze set on him.

"Yeah?"

"Don't ever ask to leave this tower again."

He felt his lip quiver and ducked his head. "Yes, Mom."

She sighed, as if unable to believe his reaction. She gently took his chin and raised his eyes to meet hers.

"I love you very much, dear."

He smiled. "I love you more."

She smiled tenderly back. "I love you most." She kissed his forehead.

"Don't forget it, because you'll regret it. Mother. Knows. Best."

With that, she scampered off into the kitchen.

"I'll see you in a bit, my flower!"

He looked on sadly. "I'll… I'll be here." He frowned, lower lip trembling.

"Always."

A/N:

Yeah, it was boring and poorly written. I know. And I'm so sorry. Dx

1: Yes, the gray sparrow is Alfred's little alien friend, Tony. Y'know, the one who cusses all the time and calls England a f-king limey (FORESHADOWING?)? Anyhoo, he can blend into the scenery, like Pascal. 'Cause he's an alien. Yeah.

2: These two are Scotland and Ireland. I can't believe I named Scotland Gaelic… how cliché. Anyway, thought a thieving trio of brothers would be more interesting than those two big horrible dudes. Gaelic and Marshall are still pretty big and horrible, though.