Mathew…Mathew... Mathew!
It took Alfred a while to remember the name, but eventually he got it. That was his brother! The one that ran away.
"Please do tell me who this Mathew is," Arthur stated, sounding bored behind that man.
The man stood up finally and walked away from Alfred, who sighed with relief. Well, he sighed as best as he could with the gag in his mouth. The man giggled, as if remembering Mathew was funny.
"He was strange, he left his little town before he even turned 17. He said he was older, but I could tell he wasn't. In fact," the man turned to give Alfred a quick look before turning away again, "he looks just like that boy."
Everyone said Mathew and Alfred looked exactly alike in the village. But, Mathew was constantly assuring them that he was 2 years older than Alfred. Was he lying? Why?
"Are you saying they could be twins?" Arthur questioned.
"Da," the man giggled. "And if he's Mathew's twin, he's definitely a Seer."
"There's no way he's a twin," Arthur scoffed as Alfred started looking at the ground. Mathew, his twin? Why would he lie to him like that? "I would have felt that kind of magic on him."
"They have been apart for quite some time. 2 years, da?" the man asked, and Alfred guessed he was talking to him, so he nodded. Magic? What kind of magic came with twins? "And it seems their magic has converted to something else."
Alfred looked up to study his surroundings for the first time. It was another camp, but this one far larger than the last one. There was no fire yet, it was still warm. There were knights everywhere, sitting, standing, walking, it was like they made their own town. Alfred noticed the tree he was tied to was sort of near the outskirts of their little circle camp. And near the middle was what looked like a wooden cage connected to two horses, who seemed to have their own armor on. Arthur was inside the cage, leaning against the far wall from that man.
This was Alfred's first good look at that man. Sure, he had seen his face well enough from him being so close, but that wasn't all. He was rather tall, and his scarf covered up his whole neck. There was a slight wind and the scarf billowed around slightly. He had a completely brown outfit on underneath very scant and very thin armor. The silver metal just covered his knees, elbows, shins, and his chest. And on top of that was a very long, brown jacket. His boots were black with silver lining around the toes.
"And that 'something else' has to do with being a Seer?" Arthur asked, obviously looking like he wasn't believing this.
"Da," the man seemed to be deep in thought. "And if both twins have it, it must be a powerful gift."
Arthur looked like he was about to say something, but there was a loud commotion and yelling coming from in the forest. And then out emerged the Three Musketeers being guided by around 10 knights.
"Get the hell off me!" Gilbert snapped. He looked beyond pissed.
"Ivan," Antonio growled upon seeing that man. "Tell them to let us go."
"Why should I do that comrade?" Ivan giggled as he walked towards the trio. "You let them escape, da?"
"You're working with him?" Arthur scoffed from inside his cage at Antonio.
"Shut up," Antonio snapped at him. "You're not in much room to talk."
"You won't be either, soon," Ivan smiled and Alfred could almost see his evil aura.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Gilbert snapped.
Ivan moved towards Arthur's cage, motioning for the group to follow.
"No," Arthur said. "I am not going to be sharing space with any of them."
"Why not mon cher?" Francis asked after he was shoved into the cage. He quickly wrapped his arm around Arthur's waist and moved him closer to his body.
"Get the hell off me, you perverted frog!" Arthur started screeching, desperately trying to get out of Francis' grasp. Alfred felt that tingle again and Francis was practically thrown against the side of the cage.
"I can assure you that I'm not happy to be in there either," Antonio stated, crossing his arms. He turned his attention to Ivan. "Why are you putting us in here? Aren't we important to finding witches?"
"Not anymore," Ivan seemed to be having fun watching the four fight each other in that cage. "I have him," he pointed towards Alfred, who widened his eyes. What was that? How could he help find witches? He still didn't think they even existed.
"Him?" Gilbert asked, dumbfounded.
"I told you he was worth more than you thought," Arthur said, still glaring at Francis.
"You remember Mathew, da?" Ivan smiled.
"Barely," Antonio sighed.
"Birdy?" Gilbert questioned. Birdy? What kind of life did Mathew live out here?
"Da. That's his twin," Ivan giggled.
"Come to think of it, he does look a lot like Mathieu," Francis muttered.
"But you still allowed us to be free, even when you had Mathew," Antonio glared. "What's different now?"
"This one's older," Ivan stated as he started walking towards Alfred. "His powers are much more potent than Mathew's were, too. I can tell by his eyes."
Ivan knelt down to Alfred's side and looked at him intently.
"Again with the eyes," Antonio sighed. "You're basing him off everything you learned from Mathew."
Ivan ignored him, staring intently at Alfred, who was beginning to shudder. He didn't like all this attention from someone so creepy.
"You would want to work with me, da?" he asked and Alfred's eyes widened. A job? What the hell? Alfred shook his head from side to side furiously, he closed his eyes so that he would stop staring at them. "Why not?" Ivan sounded disappointed. And Alfred glared at him.
Ivan quickly moved his hands behind Alfred's head and Alfred flinched. He roughly untied the gag and pulled it out of Alfred's mouth.
As Alfred moved his mouth around to try to get the feeling of that gag out of his mouth, Ivan spoke. "What do you want?"
"What did you do to Mathew?" Alfred demanded and he coughed. His mouth felt so weird from the gag.
Ivan giggled. "Is that all you want?"
"What did you do to Mathew?" Alfred repeated himself.
"I did nothing to him," Ivan smiled, it seemed like he figured that was enough of an answer.
"What happened to him?" Alfred growled.
"Well," Ivan chuckled, as if remembering this was fun, "I forced him to work with me for a while, until I learned about his lying about his age. Someone so young couldn't work for the crown. I heard he was sent to a dungeon to grow up. Apparently he died."
Alfred's eyes widened from his glare. "You killed him?" Alfred demanded. He was beyond mad at this point, he was seething. He tried to fight against the rope tying him to the tree, but that was in vain.
"I didn't, comrade," Ivan placed a hand in Alfred's hair and began to pet it. Alfred could feel a finger brush against his cowlick, which just so happened to be his sensitive area. He felt his face warm up and he suppressed a groan. Ivan didn't seem to notice, but Alfred couldn't help but tell he was petting him in a way that he would constantly brush his hand against the cowlick. "I just sent him off to die."
"That's the same thing as killing him," Alfred growled, gritting his teeth. He felt that feeling creep down his spine again and Ivan looked away from him and towards the cage. Antonio was gripping the bars of the cage hard, but soon his eyes filled with shock and he looked down at his hands in awe.
"Good luck with that," Arthur sighed, leaning against the opposite side of the cage. "If mine barely works around him, I highly doubt you can even get a spark."
"What are you doing?" Ivan asked innocently, he still kept his hand on top of Alfred's head and stayed crouched down next to Alfred.
"Trying to start a fire," Antonio admitted.
"So you can suppress their powers, too," Ivan turned his attention back to Alfred, but he seemed to be off in his own little world, barely paying him any attention. "So that's what those powers are like matured…"
Alfred took Ivan's lack of attention to his advantage and quickly tilted his head up. Ivan's hand didn't follow the top of his head, just kind of stayed there. So Alfred lifted his head up quickly and bit down on the hand.
"Черт возьми! Получить от меня!" he growled at Alfred, who just bit down harder. Ivan raised his other hand and swatted it against Alfred's face. Alfred's face stung and he sat with his head off to the side for a while, until Ivan grabbed his chin forcefully and made Alfred look into his eyes. Alfred glared at him, but Ivan's eyes remained slightly soft. "You will obey me, balovenʹ." It sounded like a warning, but Alfred had no clue what that last word meant.
"And if I don't," Alfred continued glaring.
"So many things I could do to you," Ivan ran the back of one of his hands down Alfred's cheek. Alfred couldn't help but shudder. "Especially now that I know this," Alfred gasped as Ivan tightly pinched his cowlick between his thumb and forefinger. He began to rub those two fingers together as Alfred felt a feeling he had never felt before pool in the pit of his stomach. Alfred had no idea what this meant. The only other person to touch his cowlick was himself, and he tried to stay away from doing that since it felt so weird.
"You're so funny," Ivan giggled, keeping his tight grip on the cowlick. Alfred's blush got deeper and deeper and then he felt something he really had never known could happen. His cock began to stiffen.
"S-s-stop th-that," Alfred could barely stutter out. The last word turned more into a moan as Ivan started kneading his cowlick again.
"I'll have you know Mathew was the same way," Ivan smirked. "With his cute little curl." He seemed to almost purr at the thought of doing this to Mathew. Did that mean… Alfred closed his eyes tightly, as if that would take the image away.
After what felt like a long while, Ivan released the cowlick and stood up. Immediately, Alfred tucked his legs in to hide a certain something that came from what had just happened. His face didn't seem to cool down and he looked over to the crowd in the cage.
Arthur seemed to be dumbfounded, Gilbert looked about ready to start cracking up, Antonio was just about as shocked as Arthur, and Francis was grinning like an idiot, as if he were turned on by what had just happened.
"Shit," Alfred muttered and tried to hide his face with his knees. Thank god his legs weren't tied up.
"You all should rest, da?" Ivan giggled. "We will start moving tomorrow."
"Alfred," Arthur whispered and Alfred moved his eyes just above his knees so he could see Arthur's face. It seemed like he was almost sorry for Alfred. He then mouthed the word "sorry."
Alfred shakily nodded. He didn't know what to do at this point. With that feeling still in the pit of his stomach and his issue in between his legs… He shifted uncomfortably as much as he could against his tree. What was he going to do now? He knew staying with Arthur would turn out to be a bad idea…
But now he knew what happened to his brother. It was only a rumor Mathew died, right? He might be able to find him, if he really was alive. Mathew had been out in this world longer, and probably knows more about this Seer thing. If he was alive.
Alfred shook away that thought. Mathew was alive. They were apparently twins, right? He should feel it if something happened to his twin, right? He'd only heard rumors about twins, that they're magical, that they have this kind of bond that never breaks.
Magic. Alfred was beginning to think of that word differently now. At first, he thought it was just something that didn't exist. But now…Alfred didn't know. He was giving himself a headache and he wanted to move his hand onto his head to comfort it. But he couldn't, it was tied at his side.
Alfred eventually gave up trying to think and decided to see if he could fall asleep. Dreams came quickly to him, and he dreamed of the day his brother left the village.
"Why do you have to go?" Alfred complained. He was 15, but he still acted like such a child.
"I'm sorry Alfred," Mathew said in his usual soft, whispery voice. He was 17, but he looked younger than Alfred. But he still assured the town that he was 17. "I just have to go."
"Can I go with you?" Alfred asked, his eyes wide with excitement.
"No," Mathew stated protectively. He convinced the rest of the town that he was 17 probably mostly through his maturity. He acted like Alfred's dad when theirs wasn't around.
"Why not?" Alfred whined.
"Because the world is too dangerous for someone your age," Mathew frowned at that. "I'm sorry, but I have to go alone."
"But I want to go with you! It's so boring here!" Alfred complained some more. "And that weird Abigail chick keeps on following me everywhere!"
"You can't tell?" Mathew asked, laughing slightly.
"Tell what?" Alfred asked back.
"Nothing," Mathew sighed, grinning. "Tell ya what, you can follow me to the forest and watch me go."
"I was gonna do that anyway," Alfred said. "What's stopping me from following you?" he asked as he and his brother stepped out of their hut and started moving towards the forest.
"I need you to promise me that you will stay here, okay?" Mathew asked him. "You'll be safe here."
"What do I need to be safe from?" Alfred asked. "I'm strong enough to take down anything that comes in my way!"
"Please promise me," Mathew pleaded as they passed the church.
"Fine, okay," Alfred pouted. He wanted to see what it was like past that forest, see that world all those merchants talked about. "But you have to promise me something in return."
"Like what?" Mathew asked him as they reached the edge of the forest. Alfred sat down on a large boulder and watched as Mathew circled around and stood in front of Alfred.
"That I will see you again," Alfred said, staring right into Mathew's eyes.
"I promise," Mathew said. "You will see me again."
And Alfred watched as his brother weaved through the trees and eventually left his sight, becoming covered in shadows. Alfred felt a tear stream down his cheek.
"Goodbye, brother," he muttered to himself.
Alfred woke up, he was still tied to that tree and he was still in the forest. The only good thing being that his little problem was now no longer a problem.
Alfred looked around, it was night time and everyone else was asleep, except for a few knights keeping guard around the perimeter.
And then Alfred felt something he had not felt in two years. Something wet trickled down his cheek from his eye to his chin, where it fell down into his lap. His brother couldn't be dead, he promised. It didn't matter that he lied to Alfred and the whole village about his age. He promised Alfred he could see him again.
"Brother…" Alfred sighed, looking up to the tops of the trees.
Ta-da~ Sorry the ending is a litte sad, it had to be! Either that or a cliffhanger! Take your pick.
And I swear this is not going to turn into a RussAme story! I promise you that! It might end up being Russia likes him, but America doesn't like him back. But that's it!
And the next chapter mainly focuses on Alfred, but I promise Arthur is going to come back into the story steadily. Promise.
Please review, so that I can update tomorrow for you guys!
And I own nothing...as usual...