Alfred woke up again, startled by the sounds of everyone else waking up. He could still feel the remnants of that tear on his face so he quickly tried to rub it off with his shoulder. He couldn't show Ivan that he was crying.

"Ah, you're finally awake," Ivan giggled and Alfred could feel himself twitch. He was really annoying.

"Yeah, I am," Alfred stated.

"Ready to move?"

"No," Alfred stated.

"Aw, don't be like that, balovenʹ," Ivan knelt down about a foot in front of Alfred.

"What the hell does that even mean?" Alfred glared at him.

"Still sore from yesterday, da?" Ivan asked, tilting his head.

"Shut the hell up," Alfred growled, but couldn't help but notice that his face was heating up dramatically.

"But you're my balovenʹ," Ivan smirked.

"I am not your anything," Alfred glared at him.

"Really now?" Ivan leaned forward, placing one hand beside Alfred and moving the other towards the top of Alfred's head. Alfred braced himself for what he knew was about to happen.

He felt his cowlick being pressed and that feeling proceeded down his stomach and he closed his eyes tightly.

"S-stop that," Alfred muttered.

"And if I don't?" Ivan giggled and Alfred knew he meant to quote him.

"I-I-I'll bite y-your hand a-again," Alfred tried to threaten, but it came out as more of a whine.

"Will you now?" Ivan asked and Alfred just knew that he was grinning. Before Alfred knew it, something grabbed onto the collar of his shirt and lifted him up. He opened his eyes wide and looked back to his tree where he was just previously tied up. Ivan must have distracted him while his rope was untied. Thank God he had let go of the cowlick.

"The hell?" Alfred muttered before looking back at Ivan.

"You are much taller than I expected," Ivan giggled, he was keeping Alfred close to him, but not close enough that they were touching.

"As are you," Alfred said. He was considered fairly tall in his village, but he still had to look up to see Ivan's face.

"I will give you a choice, balovenʹ," Ivan smiled. "You can either ride with me on my horse, or-"

"I'll take the other option," Alfred said. Anything would be better than being forced to cling onto him to prevent himself from falling off an animal he had never ridden.

"Fine then, you're walking," Ivan's smile never fell.

"I'm doing what?" Alfred asked. Ivan led him over to the cage, which Alfred just noticed had wheels. Horses were being hooked up to it, Alfred noticed as he was led behind the cage. Before he could do anything, Alfred could feel cold metal clamped around his wrists.

He tried to move his arms towards him, but they didn't get very far. After Ivan moved away from Alfred's line of sight, he noticed the metal clamped around his wrists was connected to the cage by a chain. It wasn't very long, he could trail behind the cage by about 3 feet.

"Really?" Alfred struggled against the chain as he heard Gilbert cackling from the cage.

"Kseksekseksekse! He treats you like his toy!" Gilbert looked like he was about ready to fall over laughing. "That's hilarious!"

"Shut up!" Alfred snapped at him.

"So does that cowlick really turn you on?" Francis came over to where Gilbert was.

"A-apparently," Alfred blushed.

"Quit bugging him, you two," Arthur sighed. "He's been through enough."

"I'm curious to see how it works," Francis grinned and Alfred backed away as much as the chains would allow.

"Touch me and see what happens," Alfred warned. Soon, the cage lurched forwards on its wheels, led by the horses. This caused Alfred to trip forwards and nearly slam his face into the cage. Luckily, he caught himself quickly and took a few steps backwards to regain his distance. The cage was moving at such a pace that Alfred had to fast walk so that his arms didn't fall off. He kept on tripping over himself trying to figure out the right pace.

"Having troubles?" Gilbert chuckled.

"Be quiet," Alfred muttered as he finally got the pace right.

"Yeah, that's the good thing about being in here," Gilbert sighed, pulling his hands behind him. "We don't have to walk for this whole trip."

"Would you like to?" Alfred asked. "'Cause I could arrange with Ivan…"

"Shut up," Gilbert said quickly.

"Aw, you don't like him?" Alfred mocked him. "That's a shame." He kicked a rock.

"Would you two quit bickering," Antonio sighed. "It's getting very annoying."

"You're just boring," Gilbert said, sitting down with his back to Alfred. "What stick is up your ass now?"

"In case you didn't notice, we are kind of on our way to die right now," Antonio snapped.

"Think about it this way," Gilbert said. "You're getting a free ride to the palace! Seems pretty awesome to me!"

"A free ride to the palace, where we are going to die!" Antonio snapped.

"No one said you were going to die!" said that cheerful voice that could only belong to Ivan. He rode on his black horse right next to them. "You may prove useful in the future."

"Yeah, like when I die!" Alfred mocked Ivan's cheerful voice. "Then you'll be ever so useful!"

"That's not going to happen anytime soon, Alfred," Arthur sighed.

"So your name is Alfred?" Ivan looked back at Alfred.

"Well, it's not balovenʹ," Alfred said.

"But I like balovenʹ better," Ivan grinned, almost like hearing Alfred speak his weird language made him happy.

"What the hell does that even mean?" Alfred complained.

"Something along the lines of a pet, I think," Gilbert sighed.

"What?" Alfred stopped, but that only got him yanked forward again and this time he really ran into the cage. "I am no one's pet!" he argued as he got back into the cage's pace.

"It doesn't just mean pet," Ivan giggled. "It could also translate to English as darling."

"Ew," Alfred twisted his face in disgust. "Now I really hate that name."

"That only makes me want to say it more, da?" Ivan smiled in his direction and Alfred shuddered. "You really should have taken my first offer. That way we could move faster and be at the palace sooner."

"You could always stuff me in that cage," Alfred offered.

"How far away is the palace from here?" Gilbert asked.

"I don't know," Ivan giggled happily.

Alfred felt that feeling creep up his spine and Ivan was staring at him, looking at his eyes. "About a day's trip at this pace," Arthur said.

"You read my mind, da?" Ivan asked him.

"How the hell can you tell that by looking at my freaking eyes!" Alfred whined. "What the hell happens to them? Do they freaking glow or something?"

"Non," Francis piped up. "Not from what I can tell."

"Then what do they do?" Alfred asked.

"I don't know…" Antonio thought out loud. "It's hard to explain, but something definitely happens. It would be hard for someone to see if they weren't looking for it. It's almost like they're about to change color or something."

"They almost change to violet," Ivan hummed happily. "Mathew's eyes were already violet, and they almost turned blue."

"Can you tell me any more about this Mathew character?" Arthur asked and Alfred looked down at the ground.

"Balovenʹ can tell you, da?" Ivan giggled.

"I told you not to call me that," Alfred muttered half heartedly.

"What's wrong, dude?" Gilbert asked mockingly. "Talking about your twin a sore subject or something?"

"Yeah," Alfred continued looking down, he could feel a tear pooling up in his right eye and he refused to look up.

"He was quiet," Ivan stated.

"You could easily overlook him," Gilbert continued for him. "Birdy wasn't really one for standing out. And he looked so weak, like he couldn't even take a hit or take care of himself that well. Apparently when Ivan took him up, he was near starving. You could easily count his ribs through his shirt."

"If he's Alfred's twin, he came from the same village," Arthur spoke, mainly to himself. "How could he have survived the forest? I could barely make it through there on my own."

"He wasn't on his own when I found him," Ivan said. "When I found him he had a bear. A miniature white bear. It seemed to protect the kid."

"He went everywhere with that bear," Francis laughed. "He treated it like a teddy bear. What was its name again? Kuma…Kumagichi?"

"I heard him call it Kumakijirou," Gilbert said.

"I thought it was Kumachichi," Antonio said.

"Kumajirou," Alfred said. "He always wanted a pet and he said he would name it Kumajirou. But he would keep on mixing up the name the more he said it, because it was so hard for him to remember."

"And you remembered the name?" Ivan questioned.

"Well, yeah. He's my brother. And he listened to me talking about that if I were to get one I would name it Tony. So it's fair."

"I don't quite follow your logic," Francis said.

"But that's sweet," Arthur said.

Suddenly, Alfred felt searing pain all across his back. It was like he was just whipped, but he knew nothing had hit him. He cried out in pain and dropped to the ground, which resulted in him being dragged. He felt an instant pounding in his head and he tried to pull his hands in towards his head, but they were being dragged far ahead of him. He heard Ivan barking orders to someone and he felt more pain across his back, this time much harder.

This had happened before, back in the village. It was a normal occurrence for Alfred, but rarely anyone was around when it happened. It felt like torture and his head was always pounding for a while afterwards. But the occurrences in the past were nothing like this. This one was much stronger and the whips across his back stung like they were really there, but he knew they weren't.

Eventually, the cage stopped moving, enabling Alfred to press his hands to his head and curl up into a ball. He cried out again as the whip hit him in the chest.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Alfred cried out, but those weren't his words. His head throbbed more and more and he was struck again by the whip. He could have sworn he felt blood trickle down his chest and his back, but he knew it wasn't. He tried to reassure himself he wasn't really being hit, but it felt so real...

Alfred blinked and for a second, he wasn't in the forest anymore. He was in a dark chamber, surrounded by gray stones. His arms and legs were restrained and there was a man, holding a brown, leather whip. He raised it and, as it snapped, Alfred shut his eyes tight. He cried out again and dared to open his eyes. He was back in the forest and he heard worried voices around him.

Another hit and he cried out again.

"Please stop!" Alfred cried out, those were still not his words. He had no control over his body, like he couldn't move and he closed his eyes tightly.

"Alfred!"

"Alfred! Are you alright?"

"Can you hear me?"

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!" Alfred cried out again, he couldn't stop the tears streaming from his eyes. Those were his.

"Alfred, control yourself!"

Another hit and he could hear the snap yet again.

"Alfred, listen to me!"

"Please," Alfred muttered. "Please stop this." He was past sobbing now. He couldn't feel anything but the pain in those several whips. He yelped out again as he heard the snap and felt the hard impact.

"You liar." Snap. "You are weak." Snap. "You should wish you were dead." Snap. "Pathetic." Snap!

Alfred passed out. The very last words he heard were, "I'm sorry." He wasn't sure who said it, but he was pretty sure it was him.

"I'm sorry, brother."

And so here is this... Don't really know what to say about it, but it makes more sense in the next couple chapters!

And we've learned more about Mathew in this chapter! So sweet how Alfred remembered that name for so long... Sigh...

Now, I need your help with something, my very kind readers. Originally, I had planned this story where Alfred and Arthur have a platonic relationship. But now I'm starting to think that I should change that...So, I have a question for all of you. Should they be together in the end, like in love? Or should they stay platonic? This may not affect the next chapter, but it will majorly affect the story in the long run. So please help!

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