Arthur had been searching for almost an hour and still, he could not find Alfred. By now, he was getting concerned. It was getting dark and was becoming hard to see much of anything. He was growing more nervous every second. Soon he wouldn't be able to see at all and he would have to stop for the night. 'But what if he's hurt?' He thought.
He was just about to double back and search in some other area when he spotted a path of broken twigs and smashed plants down a hill. His heart began to beat faster and he began his decent down the hill. He had to be careful. Not only was the hill steep, but it was also slippery. When he got to the bottom he took a look around, but he didn't spot the American. He was close to panicking when he heard a groan behind him. Turning quickly he saw Alfred leaning against a tree and unconsious.
A wave of relief shot through the Brit, but then he remembered that he must be hurt. Going over to the child he shook him awake.
"Alfred, wake up."
Alfred slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Arthur. It must've clicked who he was looking at because his eyes filled with tears and he threw his arms around the Briton.
"Shh, Alfred, it's okay." Arthur began to pick up the boy, when he screamed. Placing him back down, he was afraid he did something wrong. "Alfred, what's wrong?"
Alfred grabbed his ankle in pain. Peeling away the boy's fingers, Arthur took a look at it. What he saw was not what he was expecting. It was bent at a weird angle, and when he lifted the ends of the pants up he found that his ankle was swollen and bruised. Carefully he lifted the foot and twisted it slightly, receiving a cringe from Alfred.
"Alfred, I need to place your ankle back in place. It's dislocated, okay."
Not knowing what the Brit was talking about, Alfred nodded his head in mock understanding. Arthur gripped the boys foot and his leg readying himself. With a flick of the wrist, the foot popped back into place. Alfred screamed in pain and Arthur pulled him into a hug.
"Shh, I know it hurt, Alfred, but now it's all better."
After a couple of minutes, Alfred was reduced to silent tears. The Brit picked him up again and carried him back to their camp. On the way their, he felt Alfred shivering. Realizing that it wasn't a warm night, he pulled the American closer to him and went faster. Once back at the camp, he started a fire and laid the boy next to it, covering him with blankets. Finally he was able to sit down as well and once he did, he became aware of how tired he was. He laid down next to Alfred and soon gave into sleep as well.
The next morning Alfred woke up and tried to remember what had happened last night. He attempted to sit up, but found that he was being weighed down. Moving his arms to find out what the oject was, he found that it was an arm. He pushed the arm off of him and stood, almost immediatly falling back to the ground in pain. It was then that he remembered that he had hurt his ankle. He also remembered Arthur finding him and taking him back to the camp. He looked to the side and saw Arthur laying next to him, still sleeping.
He began to shake the man in an attempt to wake him, finding it difficult. Finally he was able to rouse him.
"Hmm, Alfred, is everything alright?" Arthur said concernedly.
Alfred nodded his head.
"How's your ankle?"
The boy lifted the leg to his pants to reveal a still bruised ankle, but it wasn't as swollen. That was good.
"Can you stand?"
Alfred shook his head.
"Okay, well then you stay here and I'll make us some breakfast." Arthur stood and made his way over to the bag holding the left over meat from the deer they hunted yesterday. Bringing it back to the smoldering flames, he set it aside so he could get the fire going again. Once it was going again, he cooked the meat and served it.
"Alfred, I'm sorry about yesterday."
Alfred nodded, letting him know that he wasn't being ignored and that he had been forgiven.
Arthur smiled and turned back to his meal.
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Yes I know this chapter is short, but just bare with me. Anyway, don't forget to review~!