An Empire…

Part 4

It had almost been 90 years since he had, had his first taste of an invasion… Albion duly noted. And he couldn't help but feel like he had been abandoned for no reason whatsoever, that the strange woman Cambria… just didn't like him, and had bewitched his family into agreeing with her… and she had kept her son, his brother, from them all this time.

He was curious. What did Cymru look like? Was he older? Was he younger? Did he have the same red hair as his brothers, or the blonde hair that he had? He assumed he had red hair like his brothers… though for all he knew his brother could have black hair, Picts did. All he knew was that the boy had green eyes… but he remembers what Alba said: they couldn't count on the fact that only their family had green eyes… The green eyes that kept them individual, that indentified them… some other Nation could have the same eyes… and that fact made him feel ill.

He had to wonder if he'd even meet Cymru… his Mother didn't like him, and they'd left him. And he was on his own… Actually that wasn't true, because he was actually running from the 13 year old girl who was trying to hold him still so she could attack him with hugs and kisses.

"Albion!" She whined. "I only want to give you my thanks!"

"I don't need your thanks!" He cried out running towards the girl's Father, in the hopes he'd fend the girl off.

"Albion!" she groaned. "Get back here!"

"No!" He screamed, "You'll try plaiting my hair again! And it's not long enough for that!"

"Boudicca, what are you doing to our Nation?" Her Father finally intervened, picking up his daughter and lifting the laughing girl onto his shoulders.

"Trying to thank him!" She giggled, trying to get her Father's arms off so she could jump down and continue chasing Albion.

"Plaiting my hair isn't thanking!" Albion glared at up at the laughing girl.

"I was going to put flowers in your hair silly!" She laughed back, grinning at her Nation, who was about to retort, only to be cut off by her Father.

"And why are you even thanking our Nation, Boudicca?" Her Father questions, voice jolly and filled with good nature.

"Well, obviously because Uncle Antedios gave me permission to marry Prasutagus! And he's our Nation so he had to play a part in everything!" She cheered and her Father laughed, taking Albion's hand and taking them both back to the village.

When his family had left him they had given him to an old couple from the Iceni tribe, he explained to them both who he was and that he wouldn't grow up until his people were united and he was loved by his people, and his land started growing. The Iceni tribe took him under their wing and promised to protect him and at least the piece of land their tribe looked after. They wouldn't let any other country conquer him- they promised.

And for the first time in Albion's life he felt his peoples love, the love of his country and he was happy for it, so happy. And though it wasn't much he had grown a bit, about a centimetre and even though it was only a little bit it couldn't ruin the fact that he had still grown, and it felt as though he had taken that extra step forward, and that step was making him stronger.

His Fae had learnt who he was by now, and had decided to stick around, much to the enjoyment of the Iceni tribe, who adored the Fae as much as Albion did. His Mother's unicorn watches over him, she hasn't quite decided if Albion should have her protection yet, but she watches, and she hasn't left him, not yet…

But, Albion decides though he would like to have her stay, he'd rather she was free and do what she likes. But, while she's there he'll take comfort in the fact that something that belongs to his Mother is close by and very much alive. And that gives him courage… just like the fact his people love him and he feels so thankful.

And it's that evening when Albion's finally given in to Boudicca's demands, and she's threading flowers through his hair, that he feels it. That familiar pain that he hasn't felt for almost 90 years. He shots away from Boudicca, his eyes are large and he's breathing raggedly. Boudicca's beside him. Questioning what's wrong, she's shaking him. And just before he falls forward he manages to mutter those cursed words to Boudicca.

"I'm being invaded…"

Oh-Rome-Why-Torment-Albion-He's-So-Tiny-And-Papa-Celt's-Not-Around-To-Save-Him-Anymore!

By the time he's fully conscious again Boudicca's managed to carry him back to their village, and the tribe's king, Antedios, is talking to his people. They're concerned for him.

The Fae are flying around, explaining what their brethren from the south have told them, telling them of the whispers and screams that are flying their way on the winds. His Mother's unicorn is standing guard nearby; it seems that she's decided to give him her protection for the time being.

"Albion!" Boudicca cries, rushing over to him, and wrapping her arms around his neck tightly, and she's sniffling.

Antedios approaches him. His eyes are guarded but behind them there's concern swimming freely, and it makes Albion glad to have the man as his King… even if it's only over the land that the tribe rule over, he's glad nonetheless.

"The Fae tell us, that the men in the white robes and armour are heading towards us. They've taken Cantiaci easily and they're going through Trinovantes." He explains and they both know that the Iceni's land will be next if they continue heading in the direction they are.

"I feel sorry from my brothers in Trinovantes…" He hears the Fae mumble between their selves. "They've been having problems with that tribe to the west, those annoying Catuvellauni, and now they have those strange robed people cutting them down…"

He hears murmurs of agreement from his Fae and his people alike.

Antedios leans down to looks into Albion's eyes and Albion looks back. He's confused, not all of his people even know of this invasion yet, yet here he is feeling the pain and suffering of it and all his people are just as confused and they don't know whether to give in to these invaders, to ally their selves with them or to fight them off.

"Albion… this is your land and your country: what will you have us do?" And Albion doesn't know what to tell him, he's never been given the choice, and… and everyone's confused and people are dying, and his leg is in pain, and it's spreading further than the last time the man invaded and it's hurting so much more, and he can feel those invaders getting close to Iceni and he has to wonder… does the man know he's here already?

"I… I don't want you or your people to get hurt…" He finally mutters and he feels Boudicca's arms tighten around his self and Antedios nod.

And the man's up. He's giving out commands, he's telling his people to remain calm. He and some other nobles shall talk to the strange robed men. They shall try and remain neutral… they shall try and keep Albion safe… at least on their land!

And-I'm-Finally-Using-Historical-Character's-And-Their-Tribe-Is-So-Bloody-Confusing-Because-The-Celtic-People-Aren't-Given-Proper-Family-Lines-And-Dates-In-History-Books-And-Such!

She ran over to him, her arms are wrapped around him in a tight hug.

"Albion!" She's crying, tears are running down her face, and she's so happy that even though Albion's feeling the pain and aches as more of the tribes across him are being invaded, he's smiling and laughing with her.

"I'm married!" She cheers, and she's so joyous, and Albion nods back, and she's kissing his cheeks and cutting off his air supply as she hugs him.

Her husband Prasutagus and her cousin Scavo are shaking their heads at her actions, though Scavo's grinning and Prasutagus is laughing.

"People are going to start thinking you're married to him and not me if you continue that!" He yells over at Boudicca, who quickly picks up Albion (who's trying to get away from her now) and runs over to her family.

"Can't we take him in as our first child?" She's grinning at Prasutagus as she hears Albion complain and whine- he's older than her!

"Of course you could, but I don't think he's going to get any taller!" Her cousin laughs, at the glare Albion is sending him.

"Where's Antedios?" Boudicca finally questions, when she notices her Uncle isn't around and now both men are looking awkward and Albion stops struggling and goes quiet, before Scavo sighs.

"Pa couldn't make it…" he reluctantly says. "The tribes to the West are now being taken over… and they aren't thrilled with the fact that we've managed to keep our independence. Pa's trying to talk some sense into them, but… well… only time can tell."

Albion can tell it isn't going well, and it probably won't end any better. He has a deeper insight than the others here, but he isn't going to tell them that. He's not going to ruin Boudicca's wedding.

"But…" Scavo grins at Boudicca and throws something into her hands that makes her squeal. "He did send his blessing and a gift."

She's squealing and throws a hug around everyone, Albion caught between it all. In her hand a small coin, with the letters ECEN engraved on it.

"It's the new one, after all the fuss the other nobles made about Pa putting his name on the coin," Scavo rolls his eyes and Boudicca's running off, Albion still in her arms as she goes to look for her Father to show him and probably shower him with affection. And Albion can't help but feel slight sorry for Prasutagus whose wife is running all over the place after they had literally just gotten married.

Oh!-Their-Names-Are-A-Torture-To-Keep-Writing!

Boudicca's glare could freeze even the strongest of creatures. She's pregnant and she's holding Albion behind her. Prasutagus is standing in front of her, trying to calm down the strange people in robes that Albion's learnt through the others they've destroyed that they're called Romans.

Antedios is dead. Or at least that's what the Romans tell them. Boudicca's Father and Scavo are shocked, disgusted and they go forward and attack. They're killed with a quick blow, and their heads fall to the ground, and Albion feels like he should be shocked, should probably be screaming, but he's felt it through so many of his people. He knows what it feels like to have your neck sliced open, he knows what it feels to have limbs pulls apart…

"Please, leave my wife alone…" Prasutagus begs, and his wife glare intensifies, she doesn't want her husband to beg. "She's pregnant!" And her eyes soften slightly; she silently agrees that fighting right now… would be stupid.

And Albion agrees, he doesn't want to see Boudicca get hurt, he wants to see what her child looks like, to see what his 'sibling' (as she insisted he call her child) would look like. And then he feels those familiar feet walking closer and he clings onto Boudicca and she has her hand running through his hair, she's trying to comfort him, but she doesn't know what is coming.

And then he enters and Albion witnesses the man who's the first to invade him for the first time, and he feels shivers causing his whole body to shake; he's terrified and he wants to turn around and bolt. The man is as tall as Papa Celt. He has dark brown hair that seems to twist and turn in random places, and he has dark eyes, so dark that Albion's sure the man doesn't have any emotion hiding behind them- they're like rocks... mud… the Earth beneath them. And the man's wearing armour and robes and… Albion feels so small, so weak- he NEEDS to escape.

"Britannia," the man smiles at Albion, and he's confused, why's the man calling him that?

Boudicca's grip on Albion gets tighter and she's trying to hide Albion even further behind herself, but the Roman's seen him now, and he's grinning and it's like he has Albion cornered and Albion can't help but agree that the man has.

"Britannia," the man nods to his self as he says the name again, and the he smirks as he adds those accursed words. "You're mine now."

God-Grammar-Checkers-Fail-Don't-you-Agree?-Why-Would-I-Want-To-Put-You're-Mining-Now?

"Mum!" Cymru yelled running towards Cambria, who's standing on the border, there are many of the Roman scum in front of her.

"Darling…" She purposely doesn't use his name in front of the filth; they don't deserve to know the name of her son.

"There's power behind a name." She continues. "Don't let those you don't trust find your name out. If you see your brothers tell them the same as well."

"Mum…" He's sounding uncertain, and Cambria understands why, he doesn't even understand half of what's going on right now.

"Remember I said that the Roman Bastard was after your brother, and I convinced everyone to leave him alone so we wouldn't have to suffer with him?" She doesn't wait for him to say yes, she knows he knows, because he's always questioning why she persuaded them all to leave his brother alone.

"Well I hoped the man would leave us all alone when he got his hands on what he wanted… I forgot how greedy humankind truly is…" She's laughing, but Cymru can hear the tears in her voice.

"It's ironic…" She manages to mutter. "Now… that I think about it… there's a higher chance that we would've all been safe if we had kept together…" He sees the tears rolling down her face this time.

"If you see your brother from the east… tell him I'm sorry for making everyone abandon him… I bet he feels as though we all hate him…"

"You can tell him!" Cymru yells; he feels his own tears slowly fall down his face. "You can tell him when we see him next!"

He hears her laugh at that.

"Darling… I don't think I'm going to see him again…" She looks back over her shoulder, and Cymru sees the tears leaving tracks along her cheeks and he sees the green in her eyes fading… and he knows she's dying. And his tears start up stronger than before.

"Darling… Run. Protect our land… protect our people!" And Cymru's staggering back as she turns back to the Romans. "Run! They can't get you the further you go! Run! Our people need someone to represent them… to love them… to look out for them!"

And Cymru's gone, running until he can't hear the harsh voices that the Roman's have. Until he hears his people and it calms him enough to calm down and run towards one of the villages, and as he's telling the people what's happening, he screams.

He falls to the ground. Eyes large, breathing deeply and tears are falling from his eyes. He feels his people, he feels the Romans crossing his border, not caring that they were defiling another's land.

And it's become his land… and he knows his Mum's dead, and the tears fall faster and harder. And it's his land now… his Mum's lands his, and it hurts to know he's taken it from her, that's he's being invaded, and that if he was stronger, older and calmer, he may have been able to save her…

In 47AD two more countries were at the mercy of the Roman Empire…

Aw-Wales-It's-Not-Your-Fault-You-Panicked-Doesn't-Mean-It's-Your-Fault-She's-Dead!

A/N: And another Chapter has ended. And you get another update today because I'm ill, I'm enjoying writing this story so much, I don't want to do my homework, I want to get to the England's pirate days, and him meeting Portugal (the crusade moments), and lots and lots of other fun moments, like when the first Shakespeare showing and such things like that .Though Rome's going to have a few fun moments too!

And more history notes (oh God there's probably a lot because of all the historical figures):

-Iceni was the tribe that was where modern day Norfolk is today, and they were greatly wealthy and a rather strong tribe compared to some of the others around.

-So Boudicca (there's a few different ways to spell it though) she's going to start a rebellion in a few years after this event, so I thought it'd be nice to have her know England when she was growing up. Also, there are no exact dates for everything about her so a bunch of this is guess work that I would think works into the timeline about right. (Oh and getting married at 13 was fine back then they did have shorter life spans than we do after all)! And she's said to be from a noble family in their tribe but they didn't say which one so I made her related to their King.

-Antedios was the tribal King of Iceni when the invasion started and he tried to keep neutral, and the Roman Empire allowed him to be, but of course other tribes didn't like the fact they were allowed to be independent and kicked up a fuss so the Romans decided to do something about it, which is when Antedios died and was never heard of again.

-Scavo isn't referred to a lot but he was apparently meant to take up the throne after Antedios, which theorizes that he's his child, though there aren't any stories about him only some coins found that prove his existence.

-Then Prasutagus who is mainly famous for being Boudicca's husband, and I won't give too much information about him right now because he plays a large part in the next chapter (though not too large).

-There were mentions of other tribes too, but they don't really play a part in the story too much right now, other than the fact they're to the South and West of Iceni and are at fault for the invasion towards Iceni, though the Roman's probably would've invaded them eventually.

-The richer tribes made coins long before the Roman Invasion and Iceni is one such tribe, usually its initials or the names of nobles, and when Antedios was King he put his own name and the other nobles kicked up a fuss about it so he changed it too ECEN, which is what Boudicca is getting excited about.

-The Romans started invading Iceni 47AD (though the Roman conquering Britain started in 43AD), which is when Rome also crossed the border into Wales (they don't get far into Wales yet, but they're trying) and Wales does help out involuntary with the rebellion that Boudicca's going to start in a decade, so we need Wales to have a bit in this chapter (it was also to keep you guessing about what's happening to Albion but, you totally didn't hear that from me).

And that my duckies… I mean lovely readers is chapter 4. The first part of Rome's conquering of Britain... did it seem a little choppy? I kept skipping between mains parts of the whole Iceni moments, because I didn't want to drag it on for too long… so I hope it didn't seem too choppy…

And God the research behind Boudicca was awful to go through, because it's the Romans who are writing about everything, so they obviously don't know when the woman is born or how all the tribes ruling goes along, I mean they don't even consider Cantiaci a tribe (that's the one that's where Dover is now) they consider the first tribe they come across as the Trinovantes (which is in-between the Cantiaci and the Iceni). So yeah there are little gaps and not every single fact is out there, so I'm having fun with my artistic license and playing around with them.

And it's so fun writing this story whilst listening to Viva la Vida (by Cold Play for those who don't know)of course I think the song doesn't quite fit what's going on at the moment, maybe a few years on it'll work completely!

And… I think I have all I have needed to say this chapter… Maybe…

Well, until the next chapter (that I'll probably update tomorrow it's getting late now!) wait for the other half of Rome's conquering… meaning Alba and Picts will be in the story again!