Basically a filler chapter. Turned out a lot longer than I thought it would be. Enjoy!~
Gilbert arrived back at his village just in time to see the warriors from another tribe join theirs. He frowned in his place at the sight of his brother Ludwig greeting them. They were preparing to attack the strangers, and in turn they were getting ready to attack Matthew. Elizabeta ran up to him almost out of nowhere, not even hesitating before berating him with questions.
"Gilbert who was that? How could you go with him? He might be dangerous and you just run off with him-"
"Look, Elizabeta and Gilbert, the warriors have arrived. Now we have enough warriors to eliminate those strangers in our land," Roderick appeared almost out of nowhere, cutting off Elizabeta from asking Gilbert anything else. Gilbert shot him a look but didn't say anything.
"Now that we have our allies, we be able to rid ourselves of these horrendous strangers," Ludwig announced to the villagers. Everyone cheered at his words, and the other chief, a man known as Antonio, looked a bit to happy and cheerful, but really it was known by almost everyone that he would kick your ass without a second thought if you crossed him. The only person that was known to get away with telling Antonio off was his darling Lovino, who happened to be Feliciano's brother.
Gilbert ran up to Ludwig before the other could disappear into his tent, leaving his friends in the dust. He caught his brother by the shoulder, making Ludwig stop and turn to him.
"Ludwig we need to talk, now," Gilbert said, still holding Ludwig in place by his shoulder.
"Not now brother. We will talk after I talk to Chief Antonio." Ludwig made to turn away but Gilbert still held him in place.
"You've never listened to me before, listen to me now, please," Gilbert pleaded. Ludwig finally turned to his brother, meeting his eyes and giving him silent permission to continue.
"Do we have to fight them? I mean there has to be another way right?" Gilbert was desperate, anything to stop them from attack where Matthew was. Ludwig was more confused now than he had ever been before.
"You're always itching for a fight though," Ludwig said with caution.
"Play fights, not real ones. You might be starting a war here and that's not what we need right now. Can't you try to talk to them first?" Gilbert let go of his brother, letting Ludwig stand on his own.
"None of them want to talk to us though," Ludwig stated matter of factly.
"If one of them did though, would you listen?" Already Gilbert was thinking of how he could bring Matthew down and create a treaty. Under any other circumstances he would have been on the front line, ready to spill blood.
He couldn't let Matthew get hurt though.
"Ja, sure I guess. Can I go now?" Ludwig bounced impatiently, wanting to go inside and finish business. Gilbert nodded and Ludwig left him standing there.
The sun was just beginning to turn pink by the time that Matthew finally made it back to his camp. Arthur heard him approaching, and when Matthew stepped out into the open Arthur was about to pull the trigger.
"Arthur! It's just me, Matthew remember?" Matthew said as loudly as he could, hands in the air. Arthur slowly lowered his gun.
"Bloody hell next time say something or I will shoot," Arthur growled out. Matthew just smiled. Everyone knew that Arthur was only competent with a bow and arrow, and couldn't fire a shot to save his life.
"Sure Arthur whatever you say," Matthew chuckled and went inside to their camp.
Almost immediately he was bombarded with questions of where he had been and what he was doing all day. He was shocked at the attention, but bought himself some time and thoughts by reaching down and picking up his small bear, who he had finally thought of a name for, Kumajiro though he doubted that he would remember it. Kumajiro growled slightly at the other men, making them back off a bit.
"Where you been Mattie?" Alfred finally asked. Everyone else seemed interested in that answer as well.
"I've been...uh...scouting the land! That's it, scouting out the land," Matthew said proudly, happy at how fast that he had come up with that lie. Arthur looked at him with a bit of suspicion, but didn't call him out.
"Great! Then you'll know where those savages are! We'll need to know where they are if we're going to fight them," Alfred said, and everyone else nodded along with him. Apparently while he was gone, they had all decided that they were going to fight the natives.
"What? You can't fight them!" Matthew said loudly, subconsciously tightening his arms around Kumajiro. They stared at him as if he had grown a second head.
"We shouldn't have to fight them! They can help us survive the winter, help us find food and water and proper shelter." They weren't buying it.
"Matvy, what's gotten into you?" Ivan suddenly asked. Matthew barely spared him a glance.
"I met one of them," he announced proudly. They were going to find out eventually, might as well be now.
"You talked to a savage? How could you?" Alfred looked at Matthew as if he had betrayed him personally.
"He's not a savage! He's nice and knows a lot. So don't talk about him like that!" Matthew said defensively.
"Sounds like Mattieu is in amour~" Francis almost seemed to purr out. Matthew blushed, but tried to keep his face hidden.
"Ha! Nice try Franny but there's no way that Matthew would have fallen in love with a filthy savage," Alfred said more for his benefit than anyone else's.
"I told you not to talk about him like that!" Matthew growled. Kumajiro growled in his arms as well, making his point heard even more. Once again everyone was staring at him.
"They. Are. Savages. They don't want to help us! I bet they just want to kill us. Plus they have our gold!" Alfred was yelling by the end of it, making Matthew more mad than anyone had ever seen him.
"There is no gold here! Alright? There's no gold!" Matthew screamed back.
"Oh ya, I bet your savage friend told you that huh?" Alfred countered.
"Yes, yes he did." Matthew didn't scream that time, but his voice was still rough and full of anger.
"Lies! There has to be gold here. They're all just lying to you Matthew and you love him to much to see it." Alfred's face was red with all the yelling he was doing. Matthew didn't believe it.
"This is their land though!" Matthew tried something new. Maybe now they would listen.
"This is our land! And from now on, anyone who see's a savage and doesn't shoot on sight will be tried for treason, and hanged," Alfred announced. No one dared to refuse him.
"Who died and made you God?" Matthew asked. No one had ever seen the two brother's so mad at each other before. Yet no one took a side with Alfred or Matthew. Alfred didn't answer his brother.
If you're reading this, then you should know what happens next. Stay tuned for the chapter where they meet in the night!