A sample of letters between Francis, Antonio, and Gilbert.
The '...' are because I did not want to write out the entire letters. So I just wrote out pieces of each of them and the ellipses annotate when there is a lot more that I did not actually write. I hope no one is disappointed with this.
Dear
Dear Gilbert, dear Antonio,
If I could apologize for what I most likely put you through, I would. To possibly come up with words to describe why it was that I took the actions I did, again I would. Yet none of this would matter. What is done is done. This letter I write is hoping to find you well and that you will bother to read all of it before ripping it to shreds.
Arthur and I have made it to Toronto. I think we will actually be staying put here. Our own apartment! In such a large city! While I remember Paris, and how we have gone to the City often enough, it has been so long that I have actually stayed in such a large city it was almost overwhelming at first...
...I have been considering career choices, as I know the three of us were putting off as it seemed so ridiculous at the time to rush on about it. We had all the time in the world then, did we not? If your humour has returned by this point in my letter I think you might find it at least chuckle worthy that I am looking into law, as my mother did. My defense is that Canadian law will be much different than Hearth law. And it is interpretation, interpretation! We interpreted law as we wanted for such a long time and got in trouble for it, I think it is about time I can decide when it really is worthy of a punishment or not and help that along...
...Either I continue to write and write to you both or I send this so you can actually read all of this. I will drop this letter off at the post office tomorrow when I take Arthur to his morning classes.
Respond as you will. I do not expect forgiveness any time soon, but I do hope to hear back from the both of you at least once.
=Francis=
Dear Francis,
I'll have you know Gilbert and I would like to beat you senseless. How dare you leave us like that! Obviously nothing was going through your tiny little mind. If you had taken it more slowly you would have thought twice about it, wouldn't you? You would have realized you can't just run away from everything you son of a bitch.
How are you?
You did not write too much about yourself, simply your surroundings. Where you are and why you left so suddenly is not what I really want to know. Gilbert would be writing right now if he had lasted long enough to read your letter. He'll be back, I know. He can write his own letter if he wants. If possible his temper has gotten worse. Especially if someone mentions you. Did I tell you how much pain you are going to be in when we see you again?
Hearth. I can't say too much has really changed here since you've been gone. I thought it had, but trying to explain has made me realize just how little really has...
...Gilbert has started smoking. I don't know why. I've never heard Ludwig so loud as when he tackles his brother to try and wrest them from our Gilbert's grasp. It's almost funny to watch as Ludwig usually wins. He's much stronger than Gilbert. I don't know quite when that happened. He grew up quite quickly.
Speaking of growing up, if only you could see Lovino! Lovino...
...and Lovino also...
...then we...
...Lovino has also...
...My hand is cramping up, so I think I will wrap this letter up now. A lot more happened in Hearth than I had thought. Surprise, surprise~!
Please do not spend too much time before responding to me, my friend.
~Antonio~
Antonio probably wrote you a thousand pages about Lovino, didn't he?
You deserve not to know any more then that, bastard.
-Gilbert-
Gilbert,
Did you really just send me a letter with two sentences?
=Francis=
Did you just send me one?
-Gilbert-
Six words?
=Francis=
Two.
-Gilbert-
...Francis, may I suggest you be the bigger man here? You are never going to get Gilbert to write anything to you if you continue to be silly about this! As funny as it is, Gilbert won't back off from being stubborn about this. I have to hear him complain about it all the time, when he isn't ranting about it to Elizaveta. Make him feel guilty about it and maybe you can reconcile!...
~Antonio~
...This coming from the man who said he was going to beat me up the next time he saw me? Oh, how classic of you Antonio!...
=Francis=
Dear Gilbert,
Antonio just wrote to me saying that I should be the bigger man and make you feel guilty about not writing anything substantial to me. I just wanted you to know that.
=Francis=
Yo Fran,
Hey, thanks for telling me that. I totally paid him back for that. You would have loved the look on his face. It was still the same clueless expression that it usually is, but I could tell he was bothered. Maybe if the pictures turn up and I find my camera I'll send you some prints.
Antonio has been reading your letters to me. Out loud. Actually, he has been screaming them up at my window in the middle of the night, so it is not like I am missing out on your exploits. Neither is Ludwig, for that matter. He is getting really annoyed at Antonio. I think he'd actually do something about it too, but for the fact little Feli usually manages to keep him calm. The little weirdo shows up at the middle of the night as well to bother my brother, or to sleep with him. As in just sleep, not like how you would, you sick bastard. Not that it makes too much sense anyway. I know it drives Ludwig up the wall. And the old man turns a blind eye to it. Weird, right? I don't think Mister Marcus minds either...
...I still can't believe you convinced Arthur to go with you. Or to let you go with him, or whatever it was that happened. Explain that a little more. It sounds like being out of Hearth does wonders for your relationship, if you are still together...
-Gilbert-
...You really do not want my help in the future, do you?
~Antonio~
...it appears I can only be on good terms with one of you at a time! How delicious is that thought! Very well, I will settle for one out of two as long as I do not permanently loose either. I suppose I deserve the occasional insult, even if I do have Arthur to give them to me and keep me in line.
And I am surprised that is the first mention anyone has given me of little Feliciano. Antonio, you spent so much time gushing on Lovino I almost forgot he had a brother! What he would pay to hear that, hm?...
...I heard from Antonio that you have entered the business of repair, Gilbert. I will admit I must have laughed myself nearly sick when reading that little tidbit. After all, you repairing anything? You spent more time breaking yourself and other things when we were younger, excuse me if I have difficulty imagining something staying whole in your grip...
=Francis=
...It is true, I laughed at him too...
~Antonio~
...You are both asses. Fuck you Francis.
-Gilbert-
Francis,
...Antonio's out of town right now. He went back to Spain. You know how Julia would always return there for a visit? Well, she is not coming back.
She died.
I've never seen Toni so devastated. There is going to be a funeral and everything. I offered to go with, but I guess he wanted to go on his own. What would I do in Madrid anyway? Be confused, probably. It's not like he would be in the mood to translate...
...Just take it easy in your next letter, okay? I don't know if he'll be able to take a joke or not. I'll be a little scared if he doesn't.
-Gilbert-
Francis, I am not even certain if I want to ask if it was you. Probably because I already know. I think you scarred Lovino for life with that box and my trying to reassure him was not making it any better! I don't even want to ask!
~Antonio~
...Also, I had no idea you could buy dildos in bulk. Nor have I ever had to pluralize dildo before. You, my friend, are almost as awesome as me.
-Gilbert-
Mes amis,
Red alert! You need to get back to me about this asap! If you do not, I am going to have to come up with an answer on my own and I am not certain if I can do so and not ruin everything I have worked at for the last two years...
...Arthur wants a child. Children! Us with any living thing? I don't even know where this came from! Certainly he has always been fond of children, I know. Maybe he has been overexposed to them with his teaching training. We are both still trying to establish our careers! There are so many reasons why this is a bad idea and I think I have tried to gloss over each of them at least once. I do not think he is listening to me. Arthur with his mind set on something...!...
...I need something to convince him this is a bad idea. Anything. I am running out of ideas. There is only so much time that "let me think about this" will buy me!
=Francis=
Dear Francis,
Children? I thought you had written the wrong word. That just seems like a strange word to come from you or Arthur in regards to yourselves.
I will not make this long. You do not think he will listen to your concerns about this? Are you an idiot? Just sit down and talk with the man! Even if this is something he really wants, he will likely accept that the both of you are not ready, or even if you are the only one not ready! Honestly my friend, Arthur was never the stupid one. Just say "not yet".
Unless you are wanting to say "never"? Is that it, Francis?
~Antonio~
Francis,
Mention how that will stop the sex. You two always seemed to run on it like it was gasoline.
-Gilbert-
Francis,
Hey, it's been months. Where are you? How did all of that work out? You have Antonio over here thinking Arthur hit you with a chair because you said something really stupid. I told him that's ridiculous, Arthur would more likely strangle you...
-Gilbert-
Francis?...
~Antonio~
...Where does the time go? Marriage is such a difficult arrangement, my dearest friends. But everything is fine. It took me so long to respond because we have moved. I would go through all the details, but I find them rather boring so I will cover just the important bits...
=Francis=
A quick note,
Did anyone loose a bird? Because I swear the parrot which is now trying to get into my house is Pierre. Which would be impossible. Same type, markings, all of it. Even says the same lines we taught him. But I cannot accept this as truth, Hearth is so far away.
=Francis=
...Yes, Pierre went missing last month. As he tended to always come back, I never thought twice about it. He is very good at fending for himself after all!...
~Antonio~
...Pierre's always been one fucking weird bird...
-Gilbert-
"He hasn't replaced us, has he?"
"What?" Antonio asked as he watched Gilbert pace around the room. "Would you sit back down? I can't practice like this!"
"My hair's fine!" Gilbert retorted. "I'll cut it out, I don't need you–"Antonio smiled, standing up and grabbing Gilbert by the wrist, yanking him back into the chair. "Ow!"
"There. Sit," Antonio said. "Now... what were you saying?"
"Francis has not replaced us," Gilbert said sulkily. Antonio blinked a few times, trying to imagine it.
"How is that even possible?"
"As best friends, stupid," Gilbert snorted.
"I don't doubt he has other friends, I wouldn't wish him not to," Antonio said blankly, wondering what was really going through Gilbert's mind because he was not making much sense.
"But ve're his best friends," Gilbert restated. Antonio yanked at the gum in his hair and Gilbert winced. "Vatch it!"
"I am," Antonio responded. "Francis is busy with his life in big cities. He hasn't replaced us~! He just has more things to juggle. Like we do. You're so silly~!"
Gilbert did not respond. Antonio finally got the gum out of his hair.
"He's not telling us someding."
That Antonio could agree with. Years were passing.
"Oh, I was hoping to actually catch you on the phone. I know it's expensive... but letters take so long. I would prefer paying long distance fees than loose track of you–" Click.
"Antonio?"
"Arthur~! It's been a long time, hasn't it?"
"My God, it really has. Francis isn't here right now, he has a job interview."
"Really?"
"Yes, he sent off his letter about it yesterday, I think. I'd say more, but he would probably rather tell you himself."
"It doesn't mean we can't talk!"
"No, of course not. How are you?..."
Dear Erin,
I feel so stupid now not for have kept in touch. My anger, my irritation, my negative feelings toward what Brian and Roy were asking of me, kept telling me... None of that should have kept me from saying something before now. I was so childish to let so much time pass before this.
Now that I am, I do not know what to say. More than anyone I want to ask you to forgive me. You never held me back and I made you suffer just as much as anyone. I cannot even imagine how to make it up to you. Forgiveness seems so far out of the equation by this point.
And Roy was right. By God he was right. Where do I even start to explain this? The beginning? No, there is too much...
{Arthur}
I won't even get into it with you, little brother.
I read the letter, because Erin is incapable of reading it. You know why? Because the bloody git is now an alcoholic. Lives and breathes on the stuff. More so than anyone else I've ever known. Brian and I have tried, tried, to help, but nothing works. Erin just boomerangs back, just does worse without it. We've given up.
section crossed out–Happy now? You put Erin in a depression and now probably have killed–section crossed out
Left Francis, have you? I told you so. He cheated on you? I TOLD YOU SO. Frankly I'm surprised you lasted so long.
Don't even bother keeping in contact. You obviously don't even care about anyone here but Erin and Erin's not writing you anything.
[Roy]
Dear...
If not fo-blurred-ust admit I would murder myself now. How could I have let him go? How could this have happ-blurred-me? I thought I had fixed myse
Page ripped to shreds. Pen tapping against table. Eyes looking over toward sleeping child.
"Je ne suis pas dévasté. Je t'ai toi, mon petit Matthieu. Je suppose nous l'avons bien cherché. Tu es assez pour moi... comment Arthur rirait si il m'entendait dire ça!"
More tears.
Dear Antonio and Gilbert,
Arthur left me today. And I let him go. I guess we just do not work...
"What have I done?"
The letter did not make much sense to Antonio or Gilbert. When Antonio called Francis, the Frenchman's words still did not make much sense. A week later and Francis did not even want to talk about it.
"What do we do?" Antonio asked Gilbert. Gilbert stared at him incredulously.
"The f... Hell if I know, Antonio. Hell. If. I. Know."
Arthur... what did you do? What did you do, Francis?
Two Years Later...
It was a sunny day. The day dared to look like it was supposed to be happy. Arthur did not know why it would have made him feel better if the sky was pouring. Alfred shifted in his arms, but did not wake up. Thank God. Arthur did not know what he would do if Alfred woke up right now. Have to explain all over again why everything they owned was gone? Explaining why people did bad things... it was just so hard.
Biting his lower lip so hard it turned white, Arthur knocked on the door.
Silence.
Why am I here?
The door opened. Arthur felt like such a different person when staring at Roy. Roy, whose eyes went from shock from his presence to shock from Alfred's.
"I need help." His words were shakier than he could ever remember them being. Was Roy going to turn him out now? Arthur would not blame him, he would not, he would not... Please just listen to me before you do, please, please, please give me a chance to talk. I won't care after that, I won't care...
"Ai told ye tha' ye were gonna fall apart."
Arthur sobbed as Roy brought him inside.
"Should we tell him?"
Gilbert looked up from the phone. Antonio was standing near the window, looking at him expectantly. "Tell him... about Arthur?"
Antonio hesitated, then nodded. Gilbert stared back down at the phone
–"don't tell him I'm here." arthur wipes away tears. "don't tell him anything. please gilbert. please. i'll do anything, just don't tell francis i've come back. promise me you won't..."–
"It's not any of his business anymore," Gilbert responded wearily. What did you do to him, my friend? What did you do... Why didn't you tell us you actually did adopt that kid?
With that in mind, he would instead pick up a pen.
Notes:
That went from funny to depressing way too fast.
"Je ne suis pas dévasté. Je t'ai toi, mon petit Matthieu. Je suppose nous l'avons bien cherché. Tu es assez pour moi... comment Arthur rirait si il m'entendait dire ça!" = "I am not devastated. I have you, Matthieu. I suppose we had this coming. You are enough for me... how Arthur would laugh if he heard me say that!"
Some of the translation was my own work and some I had to use a translator to figure out (especially that last sentence). If anyone could correct me, that would be wonderful! And "nous l'avons bien cherché" turned out to be a saying which was the most similar to the English "we had this coming" according to some French person on a forum.
Letters documenting a period of six and a half years, then two years after.
Letters, not e-mails. Because it was during the time when that was actually a common form of keeping in touch. Even if it was not near twenty years before the CoE, Francis is terrible with computers, Gilbert is terrible with the Internet, and Antonio is lazy and has not bothered figuring it out yet.
Marcus does not mind Feliciano sleeping with Ludwig because he would used to do the same thing with Ludo. And Sadiq. And Muhammad. And Yao. And Nefertiti and Helene, though with those two he had a slightly different agenda. And the six would always tend to beat him up after that.
And again... there would be a lot more letters, but I would rather leave this period of time open and not have to think about everything that happened then. I think you got the point I was trying to make... which was that Francis is a great liar and he even gets away with it to his friends about important things. Actually, that was not the main point, but it was probably one of them.
I thought I would like to mention that out of the three Francis is the oldest, then Gilbert, then Antonio. I always place Gilbert's birthday in January because the Kingdom of Prussia was declared by Frederick I on January 18, 1701. Not because I am a Januarier. Not at all. After all, that is not even a word~!
Just to clarify: no, Francis never mentioned they adopted (the situation of which will likely be mentioned in 'All's Fine'), nor told them what had happened that split the both of them up. As you can probably recall in 'Comedy of Errors', neither Arthur nor Francis seemed to care much about it. By that point. Anymore. What time does for/to us all.
I wonder if now people will finally want to read about when Francis got out of jail? That has been one of the options most ignored... Anyway, next chapter will be much more light-hearted. It be the request I got from ' b l u e y 3 0 6 '. Finally I will introduce Taiwan and Singapore into the Hearth cast! The antics of Xiu, Fatimah, Yong Soo, and Maddox when they decide Yao is a funny joke.