Bonne Journée!
That is French for good day!
((I don't actually take French but I think it is a beautiful language))
Sp, in honour of the new hetalia episode, which was so freaking awesome, I have decided to update!
I feel drowsy, so I am sorry about the quality of this chapter :/
It's probably the weather or something.
Curse you autumn!
Since this chapter is quite long, I will stop boring you with my nonsense and present Chapter 4 of Shuffle!
Warnings: Some language.
Disclaimer: I will never own Hetalia or Cardverse.
~Shuffle 04~
"Did you see that?" a faint and shrill voice whispered.
"They fell from the sky!" a deeper voice shouted.
I rubbed my heavy eyelids, forcing my green irises open. I was lying sprawled out on a cobblestone floor in the middle of a magnificent foyer. The stone walls towered at least ten meters in the air, holding white window frames and breathtaking paintings of pompously dressed royals. Cascading down from the ornate painted ceiling were electric blue banners with a large purple spade in the middle, the same design as the carpet that suppressed our fall. Surrounding the three of us were heavily armored guards, from what looked like the twelfth century, poking at us with large sticks.
Being the energetic American he was, Alfred stood up and smiled at them. "Sup?"
The soldiers raised their eyebrows at him, confused with his vocabulary.
"What he meant to say was pleasure to meet you," I interrupted. I glared at him with dark forest green eyes, making sure he would not say anything else idiotic.
"And who exactly are you?" a blonde soldier with a peculiar accent and spiked up hair asked. The man was clad in the most armor, seeing as he was in a silver, or possibly tin, full armor suit. His cerulean eyes matched the spade shaped emblem he wore above his right breast.
"I'm Alfred F. Jones, of course!" Alfred introduced. "And that is Artie and Yao."
"Don't get me into this, aru!" Yao mumbled angrily.
I scowled. "My name is Arthur, by the way."
A man with faint blonde hair and piercing blue eyes asked in an odd accent "do you think they may be-"
"Only Ace Tino can test that," the first solider explained.
"Ace!? Like a playing card?" Alfred asked.
I rolled my eyes at his stupidity.
"Not really…" a new voice said in a pleasant tone.
Almost immediately, the soldiers fell to the ground in respect for the young Ace. Tino was short, for an alleged Ace, towering a mere 1.6m. His outfit was similar to the other soldiers and the only reason you could recognize his position was a small spade shaped tattoo below his left eye.
"So, you want to see if you are the true royalty of Spades?"
"Uh…I guess…? This guy said I was King and whatnot and then brought us to this world through some portally things," Alfred said unsurely and scratched the back of his sandy blonde hair.
"I can tell you, earnestly; that I give the same test every day and not one has passed. It will not take more of a moments time, I assure you. And if you fail, you can be on your merry way, no charges pressed."
"And exactly what are these tests," I asked skeptically, my jade eyes narrowed dangerously small.
"Don't encourage them," Yao muttered.
"Nothing too drastic. Well…it seems you are dressed the part," the Ace said scanning us three. "Now let us see if you can pass the tests. Follow me," Tino said gesturing for us to follow him out of the foyer and into a small, rectangular courtyard. In the middle was a large weeping willow tree with peculiar shaped leaves. They almost looked like golden clocks ticking…
"This is the Spades tree," the Ace explained. "Only a royal could pluck a clock from the tree."
"I got this one!" Alfred exclaimed bounding up to the tree. The American stared at the clock curiously, his head cocked to the right similar to a look of a confused puppy. He extended his burly hand and grasped a clock from its vine. Before his sapphire eyes, the clock vanished into black dust. "Huh?"
"Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that only a Queen can perform this task."
"I guess that is me," I sighed and walked up to the tree. Dangling in between my eyes was a small clock ticking perfectly. Wait, trees cannot hold clocks. This was impossible, as if I was trapped in the Lewis Carroll novel Through the Looking Glass.
I gently outstretched my hand to the golden spade shaped clock. This isn't real, I told myself repeatedly. With a firm grip around the all-too-real clock, I plucked it from its roots. The clock began ticking to the rhythm of my heart.
The Ace's eyes widened and he bowed politely. "My dear, you are our Queen."
"Isn't that a girl's position!?" I huffed.
Tino shook his head. "Not in our kingdom. Gender does not correlate with positions so long as the King and Queen are wed."
"Wed!?" we asked in unison. Marry Alfred? There was no way he would want to marry someone like me anyways, even if we were forced…
"That will come at a later date. First we need to find our King," he explained taking a platinum bow out of his sheath and placing it in Alfred's hands.
"Oh, I know this! We have to shoot them with one of those bow things!" Alfred said immaturely.
I rolled my eyes. "Let the Ace explain," I gritted.
"As I was saying, these bows are quite special. They are intertwined with a powerful form of untamed magic."
"Easy enough," Alfred scoffed. "So…where are our bows?"
He chuckled. "Bows? I do not think you understand this test. You must get them to hit that banner hanging out of the window, without a bow. That is how our King is tested."
"This is ridiculous!" Alfred shouted in frustration. "Of course you have no royalty, this task is impossible."
"Ah, but you will have the souls of the pass royals within you. They can help."
"What does that even mean, aru!?" Yao shouted.
"Just do this!" the Ace commanded steadfastly.
Just as the Ace had instructed, Alfred's bow magically shot out of his fingertips and landed erect which created a small hole right through the middle of the spade design in the banner.
The Ace's blue eyes blinked twice quite impressed. "My, my," Tino said quite startled. He knelt down onto one knee. "Your highness, it is an honor to serve you."
"Uh…cool?" Alfred asked unsurely.
"What about me, aru?" Yao asked tapping his black loafers impatiently on the grass.
"Ah, a Jack does not need these frivolous tests and rather needs to take a proper examination. Matthew!" he called to a servant.
"Yes?" Matthew asked after saluting the Ace. Matthew had wavy wheat color hair that outlined his thin jaw. A pair of circular shaped spectacles encompassed his violet irises. He had a small frame, similar to that of Tino's, more evident by his lack of armor. Instead, the young man wore a high collared blue button down shirt tucked into dark purple trousers tied together with a checkered scarf of purple and blue.
"Take these two royals to their chambers while I give this man the Jack examination."
The servant saluted. "Yes, sir,"
Tino gesturing for the Chinese man to follow him.
"This is going to be a long day, aru," he mumbled obliging with the soldier.
Matthew turned to the two of us and asked "would you like a tour around the castle?"
"Oh my god, you look just like me!" Alfred exclaimed embracing Matthew in a tight squeeze.
"Please…you…are…crushing…me," Matthew gasped as his face turned to an ashen white.
Alfred, immediately, removed his arms from around Matthew. "Sorry," he said sheepishly.
Matthew dusted off his clothes. "It is quite alright, Alfred," he stated eloquently.
"Wait! How did you know my name?"
"You're my brother, how else?"
"Brothers!? I've always wanted a brother!"
"Enough of this, can we just go to our chambers," I said impatiently.
"Cool a castle!"
"Yes, quite. I did not catch your name, your majesty."
"That's Artie," Alfred said answering for me.
I sighed. "I am Arthur Kirkland," I explained and mimicked a proper bow. "He can be a bit…overwhelming."
"Hey," the King-to-be said with a pout.
The servant chuckled and led us back inside the awe-inspiring palace. "I am Matthew, the King's loyal servant."
"Can you explain what you meant with wed?" I asked not wanting this matter to waver as we ascending a grand staircase.
"Oh, it is just political," Matthew said with a wave of the hand. "However, it is a known fact that all Queens and Kings of Spades are in love."
"We certainly do not love each other!" I exclaimed trying to hide the heat that burned my cheeks.
The servant shrugged. "Whatever your say, your majesty." Matthew stopped in front of a large pair of oak double doors and smiled. "Now here are your chambers."
Behind the door was a large, cobblestone walled room complete with a main bedroom, two studies, a library and a bathroom. Towards the edge of the room was a large balcony that overlooked the quite waves of the ocean veiled by satin purple curtains. Hanging low from the ceiling was a candle lit chandelier made from sapphires. It was a quite spacious living space, indeed; with only one problem…
"There is only one bed," I noted. Placed in the middle of the main chamber was a king sized canopy bed complete with silk cerulean sheets and pillows woven from feathers.
"Yes, well…" Matthew started.
"It's like a sleepover every night, right Artie!?"
"So long as you stay to your own side, I-I guess," I muttered and remembered the countless times Alfred stayed over, uninvited of course, my flat.
"Yeah Artie!" Alfred said embracing me tightly.
"Your highness, I do not want to ruin such a perfect moment, but Alfred is needed for a meeting with the council," Tino explained peaking his head through the doorway.
"Ah, yes," Alfred said squeezing my white gloved hand. "It will only be a short time, yes?"
"Okay," I said a bit saddened.
"There is a library attached to this room which I strongly suggest you begin reading," Matthew explained in a feeble attempt to lighten the mood.
"I guess that is fine," I muttered.
"Excellent, now come along, Alfred."
"See ya, Artie!"
Just as Matthew explained, the library was quite grand. Books organized by color filled the tall, mahogany bookshelves. Everything from history texts to map scrolls was achieved in this library.
My vision particularly fell upon a misplaced unbound book. "A history of the Queen, huh?" I asked picking up the unbound pages of a book.
My eyes scanned over foreign words of an arbitrary page that seemed to rhyme and the words rolled off my tongue.
Before my eyes was a chartreuse glow which manifested a rose, just as the picture illustrated.
"Ah," I yelped in terror and slammed the book closed.
This is all just a dream. You will wake up eventually. I repeated to myself. Magic doesn't exist.
"What cha reading?" an all too perky voice asked.
"Ah!" I shouted and quickly shielding the black bound book behind my back. I stood up from the plush royal blue arm chair and stammered "uh…nothing, Alfred."
"Oh, I was kinda worried when you didn't come down for dinner," Alfred admitted sheepishly.
"It is past dinner time?" I asked not exactly sure how much time has passed. Now that I thought about it, the sun was beginning to set in the amethyst colored sky.
Alfred nodded. "I brought you a snack, though!" He held out a small tray with frosted confections sitting in a circular shape. "They were pretty good, if you ask me."
I shrugged and reached for one of my confections and placed it into my mouth. An explosion of raspberry crème exploded into my mouth to counteract the flaky outside. Alfred was correct, the confection was rather delicious.
I swallowed. "Thank you Alfred."
"So…" Alfred began awkwardly. "What were you doing all day?"
"I could ask you the very same question," I retorted icily. Alfred would think I was crazy if I told him that I could perform magic. It was best to leave the dimwitted American to his own interpretation.
"Oh, I went over plans about the coronation. Ya know…what to wear and what to say."
"And when is this planned for?" I asked to prevent him from asking about my evening.
"Tomorrow."
"T-Tomorrow!?" I sputtered.
He nodded. "So we better get some sleep, right?"
"But I-I don't know what to do!" I exclaimed.
"Don't worry. I know you will know what to say," Alfred said. He brushed aside my wiry blonde bangs and planted a small peck on my forehead. "Goodnight, Queen Arthur."
TBC?
A/N: Wow. What a long chapter.
Although, I am not surprised because it is Spades :( I'M SORRY I JUST LOVE USUK AND CARDVERSE SO MUCH I COULDN'T STOP!
BTW it is Arthur's POV! (I love writing his perspective)
Sorry the ending is so abrupt, I would've rambled for another 2,000 words if I didn't stop it there :( Don't worry, you'll see their coronation ;)
I feel bad for Yao because I kinda just threw him in there and then that was the end. OI!
By the way, the soldiers (and Ace) were the Nordics. Although, only Finland, Denmark and Iceland were mentioned~
This was sort of a filler fluffy chapter, but very important!
My reviewer responses:
Yanelle: I don't know why I did it that way. *shrugs* Honestly it was completely random! There really isn't going to be an order after next chapter...
SaySaeri: I am a bit worried RoChu won't work either. *sighs*
Guest: You'll just have to wait and see who it is ;)
Stine chan USA: You should definitely read more! THEY ARE SO AWESOME~
CartoonCouples101: I hope you don't mind that I used your idea~ It really was a great one! Yeah, I guess that really didn't make sense, but with all of the shit going on I guess Hearts and Clubs would be lucky to have anyone as their ruler, regardless if it is legit or not. Also, Spades is the most conservative and oldest of the kingdoms, hence why they care so much about their royals.
detima1: *hugs* Yes Franada! Yea...I need to learn how to write her POV :(
rexlover180: That will be explained at a later date ;) And it's okay. It is a bit confusing now but I hope that this will help!
Ipomoea Alba: I am a PruHun fan too, but it does not really work in this situation, although it is subtly hinted. And I will never forget Peter. He will appear in all due time~
Now that replying is over...please vote for which Disney movie I should take inspiration from for an APH fic. Poll closes September 30th 2012, which is coming up!
Also, I would really appreciate it if you left a review to let me know how I am doing or any suggestions :)
Next chapter=Diamonds
Adieu.
