End of the school year stuff is killing me. There's just so much to do ;A; But anyway, here's the next chapter. You get to meet another character and there's Elfin Beer! Can you taste the goodness?
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine.
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By now Francis had this magical land of Arthur's figured out. With the way things were going he had an idea of how things worked around here. So he wasn't all that surprised when arriving at Lovino and Feliciano's house, the elf that answered the door had a big smile, slightly curly brown hair, and held a tomato in his hand.
"Feli! Lovi! I thought you two left."
Feliciano threw himself into the elf's open arms. "Antonio~! We're sorry! We shouldn't have gone out alone because this scary bandit tried to take me and big brother away! But these friendly guys saved us and now we're going to make them dinner!"
"Bandit? Friendly guys? Dinner?" Antonio repeated, hugging the dwarf back.
"H-hey! Don't just jump up and hug him, dammit!" Lovino said, glaring at his younger brother.
Putting Feliciano down, Antonio held his arms out for the other dwarf. "Aw, do you want a hug too, Lovi?"
"No!" Lovino turned his reddening face away. "I was afraid that he'd squish the tomato, that's all."
Antonio stared at him for a moment before breaking out into a grin. "Cute! So cute!" he gushed, pressing the tomato against Lovino's face. "You look just like a tomato!"
"S-shut up, you bastard!" Lovino shouted, shoving Antonio's hand away. "Stop saying that!"
"Ahem." Arthur cleared his throat. Lovino and Antonio stopped what they were doing and looked at him.
"Oh, it's the king." Antonio said, surprised. "When did you get here?"
Arthur replied with an icy tone in his voice, "We've been standing here the entire time."
"…oh, I see."
There was a tension in the air when Arthur and Antonio stopped talking. The centaurs had shifted their gazes away from the two, Lovino munched on the tomato with his back to them, and Francis looked from Arthur to Antonio, wondering what was up. Feliciano seemed to be the only one who didn't notice the tension between the two.
"Ve~ you're a king?" he asked, breaking the silence. "Uwaa, really? That's why you have all these big and scary looking guys with you! Lovi, a king saved us!"
"Wait," Antonio said, "Feliciano, they saved you two from the bandit?"
Feliciano nodded enthusiastically. "He came swooping in on his unicorn and saved us!"
Antonio looked to Arthur. "Well, since you did save them, the least I could do is invite you in for dinner."
"You think? Bloody git…" Arthur huffed as he hopped off of Kiku. Antonio moved aside for them to pass, the unicorn bowing to him before following his master inside.
The centaurs trooped inside after him, Feliciano walking alongside Ludwig. "I don't think we have any wurst or potatoes, but I know Antonio has beer in the cupboards!" he said.
"Oi, potato bastard!" Lovino called angrily after them. "Stay away from my brother!"
"Hey, Elizaveta," Francis tapped the fawn on her shoulder. "I've got a question."
She turned around and eyed him suspiciously. "The king warned me that you would try to get me alone sometime. Well I'm telling you now that if you try anything on me I'll kick your ass so hard your grandkids will feel it."
"No, no, ma chére," Francis said, "I was just going to ask about the tenseness in the air between Arthur and Antonio."
The threatening glint in Elizaveta's eye disappeared. "The elves and fairies have a troublesome past. They didn't get along, what with the fairies always invading. It's a lot better now but there's still that tension between the two creatures."
"Ah, I see," Francis replied. He held his arm out to Elizaveta but she ignored him and walked into the house. Not feeling the least bit upset at the rejection, he followed her.
"I'm not used to cooking for so many people, but I hope you like the food!" Antonio said beaming at his guests. They were all seated at the large dining table with plates heaping with pasta and tomato sauce in front of them. Lovino and Feliciano were already half-way done while the centaurs ate slowly, as they always did in the presence of their King. .
"So, Elizaveta," Antonio said to the fawn. "It's good to see you after all these years! How's Roderich doing?"
"Oh, he's fine. You know him, efficient when it comes to his job but on the piano every chance he gets." Elizaveta giggled. "It's almost impossible to drag him off of it."
Antonio laughed with her. "Good ol' Roderich. Never changes. Why isn't he with you on this stroll through the forest?"
"It's not just a stroll through the forest." Elizaveta replied. "We're on a rescue mission."
"Rescue mission?" Antonio set down his fork. "Who needs rescuing?"
Before Elizaveta could open her mouth Arthur answered for her. "Prince Peter has been kidnapped by the Evil Warlock. We're on our way to get him back."
"The Evil Warlock has Prince Peter?" Antonio repeated, shocked.
"Ve, Prince Peter? Isn't he the guy who always visits Raivis, the elf that always shakes?" Feliciano stopped eating long enough to ask.
Antonio nodded. "Why would he take the Prince?"
"We don't know." Ludwig replied. "But we will do whatever it takes to get him back."
"Actually, I may have an idea."
All heads turned to Arthur. He looked at them with a weary face. "I found a piece of paper under his pillow. The bottom was torn off but from what I could gather from the beginning…you know what, I have it with me." Reaching into the folds of his toga he produced the piece of paper. He handed it to Elizaveta who read aloud from it.
"So the Prince was eavesdropping on their conversation." She said.
Arthur nodded. "And they had hooded cloaks, just like the man that took him away had on."
"And so whoever took the Prince obviously didn't want that information to be leaked out." Kiku said.
"There's only one person who would have his men wear hooded cloaks on a sunny spring day." Ludwig said what was on everyone's mind. "The Evil Warlock."
Antonio sighed and shook his head. "I can't believe he'd do such a thing. Back then, I would never have thought…"
"Sounds like you knew him." Ludwig said with a touch of suspicion in his voice.
"Yes, I knew him." Antonio replied. "We were friends, but that was a long time ago. Back before he became what he is now."
There was a gloomy silence for a while before Antonio stood up abruptly. "Hey, being sad won't solve anything! We need a pick me up!" He went to the kitchen and came back with two bottles in hand.
"Is that…beer?" Ludwig asked, staring at the bottles.
"Yup!" Antonio grinned. "Just what we need!" He uncorked a bottle and poured the light green drink into a glass.
"Well, on couldn't hurt." Ludwig said, grabbing the glass and downing it.
Antonio offered a glass to the King. "Oh, no thank you."
"C'mon, just a glass." Antonio pressed.
"No, I couldn't. It wouldn't be dignified."
"It's Elfin Beer, the best there is." Antonio gave the glass a little shake.
Arthur looked at the beer for a moment before caving in. "Well, I suppose one glass couldn't hurt…"
One hour and several glasses of beer later, the centaurs were laughing at a knock-knock joke, Antonio was cradling a basket of tomatoes as though it were a baby, Ludwig was drinking his twelfth beer while staring blankly at a wall, Kiku was mumbling about "elves and their strange drinks and customs", and Lovino and Feliciano were singing Mary Had a Little Lamb all while Elizaveta had her camera out and was clicking away.
"Ve~! Big brother, big brother! Let's boil hot water! For PASTAAAA!"
"Tomatoes are the way to go! The delicious tomato! Buono tomato!"
Francis, who was pretty good at holding his liquor, smiled fondly at the two. "Aren't you guys too young to be drinking alcohol?"
Lovino flared up. "You jackass! I'm twenty-two!"
"You don't look twenty-two. Too short, trés petit."
"That's because I'm a dwarf, stupid!" Lovino glared at the blond.
"Twenty-two? Hmm, they may be small but they're so cute!" Francis murmured to himself. "Hey, twenty-two means that I won't get sued for harassing a minor!"
Francis had the dwarf in a tight hug in a matter of seconds. He pressed his cheek to his and said, "So cute! Lovino, you are so cute! Just like the one back home!"
"W-what are you doing, you asshole? What one back home?" Lovino spluttered, trying to escape Francis' grip.
"Ohoho~ never you mind that, Lovi!" Francis cooed. He gave Lovino's butt a pinch and the dwarf shrieked.
"C-CHIGI! Y-y-you…BASTARD!" With strength he didn't know he had, Lovino escaped Francis' embrace and head butted the Frenchman in the stomach. Francis staggered back and fell over, landing on someone lying on the ground.
"Just like Lovino back home." Francis muttered, rubbing his sore belly. "Oops, sorry, mon ami." He lifted himself up and saw he had landed on Arthur. The Fairy King was completely smashed, having passed out on the ground with a glass still in hand.
"Ngh…stupid America…only I can ride Kiku…" he mumbled.
"Ah, good ol' drunk Arthur. Never could hold his liquor." Francis chuckled softly before promptly passing out.
[End Chapter 11]
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Did you catch the vague historical reference? And the song titles? It's almost pathetic how much fun I had writing those in. And yes, the twins are of legal drinking age. You didn't think I'd have kids drinking alcohol, did you?
Tell me your thoughts! Your reviews make my day~
