Words: 2764

Hey, sorry for the delay in posting. I moved into my college dorm on Saturday and class starts on Wednesday, so my schedule's a bit frantic right now. I'm also gonna post the next chapter in a few minutes.

In this chapter, Arthur isn't as happy as he thinks he should be, and Alfred meets Clubs for the first time.

"We'll send 500 troops to the Hearts border. Spread them out among the border towns."

"But Your Majesty, they've made no official declarations. Their border is unguarded. If send troops, we'll be the aggressor," Arthur argued. Henry's nostrils flared, angry at having been challenged.

"I didn't ask for your opinion, Queen." He turned back to the advisors. "Send 500 troops. Immediately." Despite knowing he was in dangerous territory, Arthur spoke up again.

"Sire, if I may. I could travel to Hearts to discuss the issue." Henry glared at him contemptuously.

"I haven't the time to travel for such frivolous matters," he said. Obviously they're not frivolous if you're willing to send troops, Arthur thought.

"I understand. I was offering to travel to Hearts alone."

"Alone!? Are you insane? You're the Queen; you have no power over these issues. They'll never take you seriously." Arthur knew he should back of, quit while he was behind, because Henry already looked furious that he was being questioned by his Queen in front of all of his advisors.

"They will if you send a letter. You can make me a temporary diplomat," he suggested almost desperately.

Henry snorted. "A diplomat? Don't be stupid, Queen. You're to stay here."

"But-"

"Shut up." Arthur recognized the look in Henry's eyes and felt a shiver go down his spine. "Go to the bedroom. I'll deal with you later," he said, turning back to the advisors. "Send 500 troops. Tell me the moment anything changes. This meeting is dismissed."

Weeks passed peacefully. The King and Queen grew steadily closer. They spent their free time wandering the garden, or chatting over tea, or playing board games that Alfred had found in an old closet when exploring. Everything they spoke of was light, meaningless, but it was conversation nonetheless. They didn't discuss their pasts or their families or anything, but still. It was a tentative friendship, but it was definitely something.

Alfred had come to generally enjoy being King. The heroism wasn't as direct as in the military, and it definitely didn't have as much action, but the King felt like he was able to really make a difference in his Kingdom in some aspects. And while he didn't have as many friends as he'd had in school and the military, he did have Arthur. It felt like a pretty sweet deal, all things considered.

For Arthur, life was… good. It was an uncomfortable feeling, contentment. Even before being crowned Queen, Arthur had always been driven by indignant anger and righteous rage, spurred on by a need to prove himself. Now, with the King listening to and respecting his opinions (and the nobles subsequently being forced to in order to remain on the King's good side), Arthur felt almost… happy. There were still many problems, of course, but they now felt even less intrusive than the problems most noble omegas dealt with. He was even (reluctantly) starting to warm up to King Alfred, trying to ignore the gnawing doubt in the back of his mind, eating at him.

For Arthur, life was fairly good. Except for one minor problem: the nightmares.

"What are you doing here?"

"Wh-Henry?"

"You're not supposed to be in this meeting! Get out!"

"What are you- where's Alfred?"

"Alfred? What sort of nonsense are you going on about?"

"King Alfred? Where is-" SMACK. Arthur's head spun to the right and he lost his balance, collapsing. He held his cheek, trying to ignore the pain in his neck.

"How dare you!? I am the only King you will ever address!"

The hallway shifted. Now Arthur was kneeling on the bed, still holding his cheek. The King stood at the edge of the bed.

"Alfred?"

"Were you expecting someone else? And it's King Alfred to you."

Arthur stared, heart pounding in terror and ice filling his stomach. The man in front of him looked and sounded exactly like Alfred, with none of the cheerfulness and lightheartedness he had grown used to.

"Turn around," the King said.

"What?" Arthur asked, breathless and horrified.

"I said turn around!" The King grabbed Arthur by the wrist, pulling his hand from his cheek and forcibly turning him.

"What are you doing!?"

"Shut up!"

Suddenly, Arthur couldn't speak. He opened his mouth and no words came out. He buried his face in the blankets and tried to scream, but he made no sound. Pain stabbed through him, enveloping him. His struggles only angered the King.

"Stop! Stop!" He screamed into the pillow, or was it only in his head? The pain didn't stop. It never did.

"I can't breathe," he wheezed, gasping for another breath. The King's weight was on him, he couldn't move, couldn't do anything, the pressure was killing him, he was-

Arthur's eyes flew open as he gasped for air.

He lay still for a few moments, waiting for the panic that seized him to pass.

The nightmares hadn't started until Alfred became King, simply because Arthur was usually too exhausted to dream before. But over the last month the nightmares had gotten worse and happened more frequently.

At first, they had just been memories. Bad memories, of all the times King Henry had hurt and demeaned him, made him feel trapped and worthless. Then they had gotten worse; dreams where Henry wasn't dead, when he was still King while Arthur remembered Alfred. Those had hurt terribly, to be given a taste of happiness only to have it wrenched away.

This was the first dream like this. Perhaps surprisingly, Alfred had never actually been in his dreams. And he had most certainly never attacked or hurt Arthur.

The Queen swallowed down the bile in his throat, tremors finally ceasing. He was covered in dry sweat, and his sheets were a mess. He felt like shit.

By now he was having nightmares almost every night. It was affecting his sleep, making him even more irritable and absentminded than usual, and it was making it difficult for him to concentrate on work.

Arthur hated it. He had no reason to be unhappy; not now. Everything was finally starting to go right for him and his own mind was trying to mess him up. He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. He needed to get back to sleep. He needed to look presentable for the meeting with Clubs tomorrow.

The meeting with the Royal Clubs began just like the meeting with the Royal Diamonds had.

"King Ivan is unbalanced," Arthur said, pausing to allow Alfred to take down the notes. "He will be very friendly. Extremely friendly. Unnervingly friendly."

"Calm down, he's not that bad," Yao grumbled. "Just be polite and try not to get on his bad side."

"Now, the Queen is a beta and the Jack is an omega-"

"What?" Alfred asked startled. Arthur frowned.

"Didn't you know that?" he asked.

"Uh… maybe? I thought the Queen was always an omega."

Arthur's frown became a scowl. "Typically, yes. But Elizaveta has the Queen mark and Roderich has the Jack mark."

"It shows," Yao said. "Queen Elizaveta is the only one that gets things done. Jack Roderich is just a pain."

Arthur's eyes flashed dangerously, but he didn't argue with the Jack. "The Queen and the Jack have a bit of a… complicated relationship, so watch out for that."

Alfred nodded, putting his notes away as the carriage rolled up. Out stepped the tallest alpha Alfred had ever seen in his life.

King Ivan was wearing a long coat, a scarf, and a fur hat. He smiled serenely as he noticed the Spades King and began to idly make his way over. Upon reaching the King, and without saying a word, he leaned in to kiss him on the cheek.

Alfred recoiled in shock. "What are you doing!?"

Ivan blinked slowly and innocently. "I am greeting you," he said simply.

"You just tried to kiss me!"

"Da. It is my greeting."

"Who greets people by kissing them?" Alfred asked shakily.

"It is tradition," Ivan said with a bemused smile. They both ignored the slightly horrified looks Arthur and Yao were giving them. The Clubs Queen and Jack didn't seem to notice the commotion.

"That's kind of a messed up tradition." Alfred wasn't sure what it was but something about this alpha was irritating him. Maybe it was the way he had so easily managed to irritate Alfred while remaining calm himself. "You're really weird, you know that?"

Ivan's smile became a bit wider and a bit more menacing, eyes narrowing. "How do you greet people then, Alfred?"

Alfred's own eyes narrowed, recognizing the slight of not calling him King Alfred. He matched Ivan's smile. "I shake their hands."

"Then we shall shake, da?"

Ivan and Alfred shook hands, their arms trembling from the exertion of squeezing too hard, trying to get the other to wince. They held onto each other's arms, eyes locked in a staring contest, for several long moments before Yao cleared his throat.

"King Alfred, I would like to introduce you to Queen Elizaveta," he said pointedly. Alfred and Ivan dropped their hands at the same time, both smiling as though nothing were wrong.

"It's an honour to meet you, Queen Elizaveta," he said, perfectly politely, as he bowed slightly. Bowing was the traditional greeting of Royals, after all.

Arthur kept his mouth shut as Ivan and Alfred discussed the economy. It was like nothing he'd ever seen before.

"But I thought you preferred equality, Alfred," Ivan said innocently.

"I like equal opportunity, yeah," Alfred agreed amicably. "That way everyone gets what they earn."

"Hm, but then what about those that cannot work? Do they deserve to starve?"

"That's what welfare is for. And anyway, those are special cases."

"But welfare is the same thing, is it not? We decide what the people get. Everyone gets what they need."

"Yeah, that's great in theory. It doesn't work out so well when the King keeps all the resources for him and his friends and lets the people starve." The tension in the room grew steadily, the ice in each King's words growing with every sentence.

"What would you know about suffering, young King? You inherited a prosperous Kingdom."

"My Kingdom is prosperous because I don't regulate every aspect of my people's lives. They have freedom."

"They are driven by greed. Your people care nothing for their fellow men." Arthur saw Alfred's grip tighten on his papers in anger. It did not do well to insult the King's subjects.

"You care nothing for your people," he countered. "All you do is oppress them." Arthur could swear there was an aura of evil rolling off King Ivan in waves.

The two were locked in another staring contest. The remaining Royals in the room glanced at each other nervously. For a moment, they all seriously considered the possibility that they would be going to war.

Arthur felt sick. He looked at Alfred's face and saw an alpha. A domineering, terrifying alpha who was used to getting his way and would crush anyone who dared oppose him. An alpha that would (and could) easily start a war to just prove a point, and send thousands of people off to their deaths for that point. "Were you expecting someone else? And it's King Alfred to you." It was everything he'd been expecting and waiting for, since the day he learned Alfred was King. I can't breathe.

He hated being proven right.

This time it was Elizaveta who cleared her throat, standing up. "If you two are going to spend the rest of the day in a dick-measuring contest, then I'm gonna go."

Alfred and Ivan both looked at her, startled. Then, Ivan giggled.

"I think we are done here, da?" he said. Alfred smiled brightly, a sick, twisted mockery of the smile Arthur usually saw.

"Looks like it! Too bad we couldn't reach an agreement, but I guess it's time for you to leave!"

"But what about dinner?" Yao asked worriedly. The Royal Clubs were supposed to stay for another hour and a half.

"Oh, that won't be necessary," Ivan said merrily. "I would not like to eat food bought by dirty money."

"That's alright," Alfred said, still smiling, "I'm sure they have enough of their people's food to eat at their place."

Arthur stood stiffly in the shadows while Yao and Alfred argued. Yao was extremely unhappy by the way the meeting went, and Alfred blamed Ivan entirely. The King still reeked of alpha pheromones. Aggressive, impulsive, dangerous alpha, Arthur's mind supplied helpfully. He had been proven right. He felt betrayed.

With the immediate danger out of the way, Arthur had slipped back into his numb, dreamlike state of dissociation. He wanted nothing more than for the day to end so that he could go back to bed and pretend this was just a nightmare.

He had no such luck.

Arthur stayed silent as he and Alfred walked in the direction of their chambers, Alfred ranting the whole way. It took five minutes of Alfred's angry chatter before he noticed that Arthur wasn't responding.

"What's with you?" he asked tiredly. Arthur didn't respond, didn't even look at him. It wasn't a conscious decision; it felt like something inside of Arthur was breaking, finally bursting, and he could do nothing but wait for it to happen.

"Arthur?" Alfred looked at him, slowing down. "Are you ignoring me?" Arthur continued staring at the ground a few metres ahead. Alfred got annoyed.

"Is this about the meeting? Come on, that Ivan guy was a total creep." Arthur still said nothing. By then, they had stopped walking.

"Hello? Arthur?" Alfred waved his hands in front of the Queen's face. "Are you seriously ignoring me? And you call me childish-"

"I'm not ignoring you," Arthur said quietly and emotionlessly, still staring blankly at the ground. "I just don't wish to talk to you right now."

"Why?" Alfred asked, confused by this response. Arthur didn't even seem angry. "Is it about that thing with Ivan?"

"Yes," Arthur said simply.

"But he was wrong!" Alfred argued petulantly.

"You were both wrong," Arthur said, a spark of… something finally bubbling up in him. "You could've started a war."

"I wasn't gonna start a war!"

"But you could have." And I wouldn't have been able to do anything about it.

"So what? I wasn't going to. And even if I did, he would've deserved it. His people don't deserve to be treated like that!"

"Don't pretend to care about his people," Arthur said slowly, voice shaking with emotion.

"Excuse me!?"

"Don't pretend that was anything other than you and Ivan trying to prove which one of you was the stronger alpha."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious!" Arthur snapped, finally staring Alfred in the eye with a burning rage. "You were completely out of control! Are you insane? Is this all just a game to you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You! You stupid- How dare you? Do you have any idea how freaked out Yao was?" How freaked out I was?

"That was Ivan's fault!"

"It wasn't Ivan's fault! It's your fault! You're an alpha! I should've never expected anything better from an aggressive, volatile, cruel alpha!"

"I'm not cruel!" Alfred protested, shock written across his face. "I'm a hero! I'm-" He was cut off by Arthur laughing, nearly hysterical.

"You're an alpha!"

"So what!?"

"So… I hate you!"

"What!?"

"I should've known! I should've… This was a bad idea. You're selfish and stupid. You're an awful King!" Arthur didn't even care about what he was saying anymore. He just wanted Alfred to hurt, hurt like he'd been hurt, hurt like an over-privileged alpha had never hurt in his life. He felt betrayed. He felt vindicated.

"I- How dare you!?" Alfred screamed, verging on tears. "How dare… I thought we were friends!"

"Friends! Grow up, Alfred! You're a King. Friendship doesn't exist in this castle. Affection dies in these walls. I don't know what you think you've been doing since you became King, but it has to stop. We aren't friends. We can't be friends," he said, voice bordering on pleading. Arthur remembered his first impression of Alfred: that of an enthusiastic young man whose passion and joy for life had not been entirely drained. But the castle killed all hope and joy eventually. Arthur knew. He had seen it happen to himself. He had felt himself die slowly.

Alfred made some incomprehensible noises of shock and hurt. Friendship doesn't exist in this castle. He was alone.

"Fine," he said, voice shaking. "I get it."

Without another word, the King turned and walked down the hallway, entering his chambers and slamming the door shut.

A/N: Eh, I'm not sure I really like how this chapter and the next are turning out. I'm not very good at the whole explicit emotions thing. Also, sorry if Arthur seemed kind of out of character here. His reaction was a bit extreme, but it was one of those straw-that-broke-the-camel's back type of scenarios. Just, tons of pent up frustration. Seriously. So much frustration.

I'm also hoping I didn't make Ivan seem like too much of a bad guy. I tried to explain the differences in his and Alfred's opinions (which ended up turning into a capitalism vs communism argument), but it's still kind of hard for me to not write him as evil when he's technically the antagonist, just because one of the protagonists doesn't like him. I hope I did okay with that. (Also, Yao was definitely holding his tongue during that conversation. He and Alfred get into arguments about the economy a lot.)

And in the next chapter, we find out that Alfred isn't as happy as he'd like to believe.