They rested for a while. Not knowing whether it was night or day, Alfred fell asleep. Arthur said he would keep watch. They hadn't moved since they had collapsed from exhaustion. Alfred trusted Arthur to keep his word, and he slept.

Alfred dreamt of Abigail, for some reason he didn't know. He dreamt of her messing up the kitchen with some new concoction she had come up with. And then failing at cleaning up her mess. She recruited a reluctant Alfred to help her. Fun.

This was the day she repeatedly tried to kiss him. When Alfred knelt down in an attempt to try to help her pick things up from the ground, she leaned towards him, her eyes closed. Alfred, not being one for sensing the mood, stood up and watched her fall.

"Um…are you okay?" was all he could ask her, rubbing the back of his head.

It happened again when Abigail forced Alfred to help her stir her black stew. She kept a hold of the spoon, though, demanding Alfred taught her how to do it right. Alfred didn't know how to do it, so he clumsily grabbed her hand and tried to stir in circles. In all honesty, the position looked romantic. He had his arm around her, embracing her from behind like it was a hug, and her eyes were closed and she was smiling. Her hand wasn't doing a thing. And then she turned around to try to see if she could steal her kiss from Alfred. But he took her sudden shift away as an okay to move to her side, officially taking the spoon from her. She fell again.

And Alfred asked once more, "Are you okay?"

She tried again when they ate. She was constantly moving her chair closer to Alfred's until they were touching. She didn't touch her food, she was nervous. Alfred didn't touch his food, he didn't want to be poisoned. They were alone in Alfred's home, the scene only lit by two candles on the table. It was dark outside and Alfred wondered what his parents were doing, staring in through the window, no doubt. Eventually, she muttered something that Alfred couldn't hear and she placed her hands on his. She looked up at Alfred and smiled.

She leaned in towards him, and Alfred leaned back. He had no idea what she was doing. She closed her eyes and leaned more towards him. Alfred leaned back even further. Abigail leaned forward even more and this time when Alfred tried to pull away, he fell onto the floor, Abigail right on top of him.

"Um, are you okay?" Alfred asked after catching his breath.

"Dammit!" Abigail all but screamed, scrambling off him. "Can't you see it?"

"See what?" Alfred asked, he was still on the floor.

Alfred woke up to the dark forest, he had no idea how long he was out, but he knew it must have been a while when he saw Arthur sleeping. Alfred sat himself up more and leaned against his tree. He looked left and right, but both directions looked exactly the same. Same trees, same bushes, same winding paths. It was so confusing! Alfred had no idea how Arthur got through here.

"Arthur," Alfred crawled over to his sleeping companion and tentatively poked him in the temple. "Arthur…"

Arthur groaned and squinted his eyes open. Upon seeing Alfred, his eyes shot open and he sat upright.

"I fell asleep?" he demanded.

"Yeah, sorry I slept for so long," Alfred chuckled.

"How-how long was I asleep?" Arthur asked.

"I have no idea, I just woke up," Alfred muttered.

"Great," Arthur stood up.

"So…how do we get out of here. You've been here before, right?"

"Yes," Arthur sighed. "And it's gonna take a while. This forest is huge, there's no way to navigate it simply."

"Come on!" Alfred looked up at the leaves. "There's gotta be some way to get through here faster!"

"Maybe there is," Arthur followed Alfred's eyes. "Do you know if you can climb a tree?"

"Never tried," Alfred said.

"Well, let's see if you can," Arthur said as Alfred stood up. He turned towards the tree he was resting against. "This one looks good enough," he turned back towards Alfred. "If you can get to the top of the trees, maybe you could look over the forest and find a quick way through."

"And why can't you do this, smart one?" Alfred asked.

"I'm-uh-not the strongest person in the world," Arthur blushed.

"Can't lift your own weight?" Alfred chuckled and turned his attention to the tree. He found a branch just above his head and grabbed onto it. "Here goes nothing…"

Alfred was surprisingly good at climbing a tree. He made it halfway in no time. The branches were very stable and could hold more than his own weight. And he was a lot more nimble than he ever thought he was. This was what he got for staying in that stupid town for so long. Wasted talent…

It only started getting hard when the branches started getting smaller and thinner. He had to move his feet carefully, spreading his weight evenly. And had to make sure not to lift up too much weight when moving up a level. And then there were the leaves that kept on poking him in the eye. It only got worse the higher he got on the tree.

Luckily, these trees weren't giants, they were actually fairly small. So, after carefully placing his feet one last time between a forked branch, Alfred poked his head above the tree line.

As it turned out, it was around the middle of the day, the sun was right above Alfred's head. Alfred looked around for a little bit, having trouble taking in how big this forest actually was, it branched on for what seemed like forever in most directions. But, to Alfred's left, the forest opened up to what looked like a town. There were many house like buildings and people who looked like ants from this far away were walking to and fro.

"Found our path!" Alfred said, crouching down so his head was back in the forest to look back at Arthur.

"Good, now be careful coming back down," Arthur warned, but Alfred wasn't really paying attention.

Alfred's eyes had problems adjusting to the dark of the forest, so nothing looked really the same as when he was climbing up. Alfred tried to place his foot somewhere, but it turned out that a branch wasn't there, so he slipped.

Instinctively, Alfred grabbed onto a branch above his head and he hung there for a little bit.

"Alfred?" Arthur called up, his voice thick with worry. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Alfred grunted as he swung his legs to connect with a branch below him. "Slipped."

"Please be careful," Arthur sighed. "A fall from up there could kill you."

"Thanks for that vote of confidence," Alfred said as he missed his legs and continued hanging by his arms. He heard a crack above him, saying that the branch won't be able to hold him for too much longer. "Really helps the cause."

Alfred removed his left hand from the branch and reached it back to a different branch to try to even out his weight. He then positioned his left foot onto a branch just behind him. It was not a comfortable position.

"That doesn't look quite right," Arthur commented.

"I'm sure it doesn't," Alfred growled as he began to move his right foot, but the branch his right hand was still on completely snapped off. All of Alfred's weight went behind him and his foot slipped off the branch. All of the sudden weight on the branch his left hand was on caused that one to snap, too. And Alfred started to fall down backwards. Branches snapped around him and he felt like yelling, but before he could start, he felt an impact of something catching him. And then he felt an overwhelming tingling feeling shooting up his back.

He looked around and found himself in the struggling arms of Arthur, who looked about ready to pass out form all the weight he was holding.

"Dear God, you're fat," Arthur muttered.

The feeling that shot up Alfred's back gave him a massive headache. And then he felt nauseated. It wasn't shock from the fall, he knew that. It was like the feeling he felt back in his town, but 100 times stronger.

"I'm gonna puke," Alfred muttered as he made himself tumble out of Arthur's arms. The minute he fell onto his knees on the ground, though, the feeling was gone. He stretched his arms out in front of him to help catch himself, and they were almost shaking.

"A-Alfred, are you okay?" Arthur knelt down in front of him.

"I-I think I'm fine," Alfred muttered. "Must have been from the fall," he lied.

"Right," Arthur obviously didn't believe him.

"We're going that way," Alfred pointed to beyond the tree, where he saw that town. "It doesn't look very far away from here."

"Okay," Arthur whispered. "Need help getting up?" he held out a hand for Alfred, but he shook his head.

"I'm fine," Alfred got up. He didn't want to touch Arthur again, just in case he felt that feeling again. Did this happen last time he touched him? He couldn't remember with the heat of the moment… "Let's go."

"If you say so," Arthur said.

Alfred led the way, trying to stay in a straight line as Arthur followed him through the forest. They walked in silence and it seemed to Alfred that it took forever for them to get anywhere. They're surroundings never seemed to change, this forest was never-ending.

And now he was starting to get hungry.

Eventually, the forest seemed to start to thin out and Alfred could see the sun through the trees. It was beginning to set. Eventually, Alfred could see the town and everyone was starting to go into their homes for the night.

"I think we should spend the night in the forest," Arthur spoke up nervously.

"Hm? Why?" Alfred turned around and leaned against a tree. "Scared of the town?"

"I've been here before," Arthur awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "And it didn't turn out well…"

"So does every town you go to think you're a witch?" Alfred raised an eyebrow.

"No," Arthur shook his head. "Some say that I'm a wizard, but that rarely happens. Witch just kind of happens a lot."

"So you're just a bad luck magnet," Alfred chuckled.

"I wouldn't consider it bad luck," Arthur laughed. "As long as I can get away, nothing bad happens."

"So, let me get this straight. If any of them see you, they're gonna start freaking out and screaming? And then they're gonna try to kill you?"

"Yeah, again," Arthur now leaned against a tree, too.

"Again?" Alfred laughed. "How many times have people tried to kill you?"

"A lot," Arthur sighed.

"Yeah," Alfred said. "We can stay here over night."

"Thank you," Arthur said.

"Want me to get wood for a fire? So we don't get cold?" Alfred offered.

"No, I think that may make them notice us and I don't want to start a forest fire," Arthur sighed as he went to sit down at the base of the tree.

"And you intend on using your cloak to keep warm?" Alfred chuckled as he, too, sat down.

"No, I have an idea on how to keep warm," Arthur muttered and looked uneasy.

Alfred notice him move his hand just barely and he could feel that feeling tingle down his back. Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as last time. All of a sudden, the area around them got slightly warmer.

"Okay, how'd you do that?" Alfred raised an eyebrow.

"Do what?" Arthur asked innocently.

"You moved your hand and it got warmer," Alfred said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. My idea was just to imagine it being warmer. It always works for me," Arthur shrugged as he situated himself against the tree.

"Whatever," Alfred gave up. "You should sleep some, you seem tired. I bet I can keep watch better than you did."

"I will try not to take offense to that," Arthur muttered as he closed his eyes. He could trust Alfred enough to keep watch, right?

Alfred watched Arthur doze off and made sure the guy was asleep before he got up and started pacing. He couldn't help but wonder, what was going to happen to him now? He didn't know anything about the outside world, he didn't know any real laws, just the ones his village set up. He didn't know how to hunt that well, and he couldn't cook to save his life. The only thing he was worth was maybe his strength.

He wouldn't be able to make it on his own and staying with Arthur seemed very dangerous, to be honest. If what he was saying was right, many people had tried to kill him many times. Sure, he seemed he might know his way around, but what would that help if they would be chased from town after town with torches and pitchforks?

On top of all this, Alfred was hungry. Scratch that, he was far from hungry. He would be willing to eat anything right now. He would have snatched leaves from the trees but he had no way of knowing if it would hurt him or not.

Alfred yawned. He couldn't be tired all ready! And he had promised Arthur he would keep watch. Well…what would there be to watch here? This forest was uninhabited, right? And the rest of the town would be asleep for a while…

Alfred eventually gave way to his cunning intellect and went back over to his tree. He got situated really quick and yawned one last time. The last thing he noticed when he started dozing off was that it was starting to get cold again. And the feeling in his spine was starting to lessen.

Alfred could feel something was wrong. He wasn't dreaming, and he woke up without opening his eyes. He felt like there was someone staring at him, so he figured it must have been Arthur disapproving at his dozing off.

However, Alfred was caught off guard when he opened his eyes. He found ruby red eyes staring right into his.

"Jesus Christ!" Alfred recoiled, standing up and leaning against his tree.

The man with the red eyes in front of him, who also happened to have white hair, began laughing to the point where he looked like he was about to fall over. It wasn't much of a laugh, though. It sounding kind of like "ksekseksekse!"

"Ha! Dude, that was awesome!" the albino held his stomach. He sounded slightly…German.

"Who the hell are you?" Alfred demanded.

"I'd say you aren't in much of a position to say that, but I'll tell ya 'cause I'm awesome," the albino grinned, flashing a smile as white as his hair. Alfred had a bad feeling about this guy. "My name is Gilbert, pleasure to meet you."

"Right, okay," Alfred looked beyond Gilbert to where Arthur was resting. He wasn't there. "Where did you take my friend," it was less of a question and more like a demand to take him to Arthur.

"We moved him," Gilbert looked at his nails. "In case you didn't know, he's very special, so he shouldn't just be laying here with only you to protect him."

"Wait, wait, wait," Alfred closed his eyes. "Who's 'we?' And what do you mean by moved? And are you saying I can't protect Arthur‽"

"Look, I'm not here to answer all of your stupid questions," Gilbert crossed his arms impatiently. Alfred finally paid attention to his outfit. His shirt had white puffy sleeves and the rest of it was black. His pants looked like black leather, as did his boots. He had a sword sheathed at his side, and his hand looked poised to pull it out. "Just follow me. I can't believe the awesome me got stuck with the stupid job of getting you."

"Really?" Alfred asked. "You're calling me stupid? If Arthur is just that special, then you should thank me for saving him from dying back at my village!"

"You know his first name?" Gilbert questioned.

"Um, yeah, pretty sure," Alfred grinned at Gilbert's shocked expression.

"You're coming with me," Gilbert gripped Alfred's wrist with an iron grip and started dragging him into the forest.

"Aw, come on! I just came from there! I don't wanna come back!" Alfred complained, trying to writhe out of Gilbert's grip. A wave of nausea came over Alfred once again.

"Shut up, do you want that town back there to know we're here?" Gilbert snapped and Alfred gritted his teeth.

"So, what do you mean by moved?" Alfred asked, quieter this time.

"He was too close to the town. They had already called some knights from the last time Kirkland was there. They came pretty close to finding you two, luckily Kirkland did a good job hiding you two. Don't know how he could, considering he was asleep, but that's Kirkland for you."

"Why are you calling him Kirkland?" Alfred asked, feeling dizzy and weak. That feeling made him want to just drop and curl into a ball.

"That's what everyone calls him. Rarely anyone knows his first name."

"Uh-hu," Alfred used his hand not being gripped by Gilbert to hold his head. "Shit…" he felt horrible and started stumbling around the forest. He tripped over roots and slammed his head against branches.

"Are you okay?" Gilbert asked after a while, stopping for Alfred to catch his breath.

Alfred shook his head. "I'm gonna puke," he muttered and Gilbert immediately let go of his hand. Alfred knelt down and closed his eyes. It was almost like Gilbert letting go of him made him feel all better. "The hell…?"

"You okay now?" Gilbert asked.

"This happened before, too," Alfred was mainly talking to himself, Gilbert was just there to listen. "When he caught me I felt like shit. But right when he let me go, I felt fine."

"So that means you're fine?" Gilbert asked.

"Yeah, just don't touch me," Alfred nodded and began following Gilbert through the forest again. "So, where is this 'we' you were talking about?"

"Not too much farther," Gilbert said.

Alfred already started to feel warm, they must have had a fire going. The heat got more and more intense as they got further into the darkness. And then there was an orange light in the distance that confirmed Alfred's suspicions. He hadn't noticed it until now, but he was freezing. He felt like running towards that light, but he had a feeling Gilbert would slit his throat if he did anything too fast.

Alfred followed Gilbert until they found a makeshift clearing in the forest. It was maybe a hundred feet in diameter and in the shape of a circle. There were random stumps everywhere telling Alfred that this clearing wasn't natural. In the dead center of it was a fire as tall as him. How had he not seen that sooner? When Alfred looked around even more, he spotted two other people, dressed the same as Gilbert. One had chocolate brown hair, though, and green eyes. The other had long, flowing blonde hair and sea-blue eyes.

"The awesome me had brought the twerp!" he announced loudly to the two.

"Good job, Gilbert," the man with brown hair spoke, he had some type of Spanish accent. He had a black on with a gold feather sticking out of it. It was obvious he was the leader of this group. The man turned his attention to Alfred.

"So, you are traveling with Kirkland?" he asked seemingly impatiently.

"Um, yeah," Alfred said, slightly irritated. He tried looking beyond the Spaniard to find Arthur, but he stayed planted in his way. "Who are you?"

"Tell me what your name is," the man seemed to completely ignore anything Alfred had just said.

"Alfred," Alfred twitched. This guy was annoying him.

"So, how close exactly are you to Kirkland?" the man placed a hand on Alfred's shoulder and that feeling coursed through him once again. He almost fell over immediately, it was all he could do stand up and not puke his guts out.

"Not very," Alfred muttered out and closed his eyes tight. Why did this keep happening to him?

"Ah, I see," the Spaniard spoke, but Alfred didn't hear. He took this chance to look around the clearing for Arthur, but he found it incredibly hard to concentrate considering the circumstances. He thought he could see a figure leaning against a tree, the blonde haired one guarding him.

The Spaniard spoke again, it sounded like a question Alfred didn't hear.

"What?" Alfred squinted, his legs felt like jelly and he was getting a massive headache.

"You are an idiota, aren't you?" the man chuckled. "I will say this so you can understand," he then got really close to Alfred's ear, as if he believed he was hard of hearing or something. "You seem close enough to him to earn at least a little money. So we're gonna keep you."

"Wh-what?" Alfred asked and would have shoved this man away, but he had no strength. So he just kind of stood there, groggy. He noticed Gilbert pull out his sword.

"Gilbert," the man stepped away from Alfred, just long enough for Alfred to see what was going on. Gilbert smashed the hilt of his sword against Alfred's head.

The world went black.

And so here is chapter 3. I plan on having more action as this story goes on! And I got this idea of having the Bad Touch Trio be kind of like the 3 Musketeers, but a little different version. You'll find out in the next chapter.

Please review, so I can continue and this can start to get really interesting!

And I own nothing...as usual...