Chapter 10. Resistance.
"He's been arrested," Arthur muttered, shaking his head. He ran a hand through his hair as he sat in a chair, safely in a building in a part of the capital that kept them extremely well hidden.
"Yup!" Feliciano's voice chimed in his headpiece. It was astounding that Francis had managed to get their technology to have such a wide range, but he had something else to worry about. He had sent Feliciano to keep track of Alfred, just to see if there was any chance of him changing his mind after being with them, even for just a short amount of time. Feliciano was good with his spying and it did help that they had their original spy to inform them of this…odd mission. Arthur had no idea what Ivan was thinking, sending assassins as diplomats to another country, but they had to go along with it as best as they could.
The revolutionary army was already attempting to create an alliance with the surrounding countries, focusing on Merkatus first due to their favorable government. They hadn't figured for the king to notice their tracks this soon, but that just meant they had to be more careful than usual. If those three found anything suspicious, everything would be over. They couldn't afford a loss like that. Thankfully, it seemed Alfred was helping them in their mission to keep their interactions a secret.
"Thank you, Feli," Arthur sighed heavily, turning around to face the others in the group, all of whom were anxiously anticipating the news. There was an extremely high possibility that Feli could be in serious danger. "Keep up your work."
"Of course," Feliciano chimed and the line went dead. They couldn't exactly talk a lot, risking the possibility that they could be noticed. They were in no position to survive any sort of attack placed on them, especially since they were taking the risk of staying in the capital for the time being.
"He's fine," Arthur sighed and Lovino, Ludwig, and Antonio visibly relaxed. Francis made it seem as though he hadn't been stressed out before hand, but he was obvious as well. "Alfred was just arrested for pulling a gun on Matthias, that idiot."
"What the fuck should we care about him?" Lovino snapped. "It's enough we're sending Feliciano to watch him because you think he's changed."
"It's not like we're getting him out of anything," Arthur snapped. "And Feliciano is just observing. He's already come in contact with Alfred and talked him out of a confrontation. We should be fine, as long as Alfred doesn't give away Feliciano's cover. For now, there's nothing to worry about. He'll keep watch for us in case Alfred's brother and the albino find anything, though I doubt they will. It looks like this mission for them is simply for the sake of saving face for Ivan. If it weren't for our spy, that would be all we think it is."
"You have to give him some credit," Francis shrugged. "He is still able to give us information after this long and with no suspicion."
"I wouldn't say no suspicion," Arthur muttered. "Feliciano's noticed a few things in following them the past few days. Alfred has his attention locked on him."
"What do we do now?" Ludwig asked.
"Nothing," Arthur said. "We have no orders from higher up at this point, other than to continue our work with this group. If Alfred doesn't show any signs of changing his mind, we can focus on an easier target, like the woman or her boyfriend."
"And if Feliciano gets hurt during this?" Lovino asked harshly.
"I take full responsibility," Arthur said. "It's not likely, but if a single scratch were to get on him, take your anger out on me."
"Are you quite sure that's a good-" Francis tried to interject.
"I'm used to it," Arthur stopped him and Lovino nodded, a little hesitantly. "Any other questions?" No one answered." Good. Antonio, keep up your watch, we have to make sure none of the soldiers find us suspicious. If all goes well, Feliciano can return here after this mission and we can move somewhere more comfortable."
Antonio nodded at the order and set to work. Lovino stalked off, intent on getting away from Ludwig, who simply sat on the couch, deep in thought, most likely about the fate of Feliciano. Francis, however, nodded his head towards the kitchen, intent on talking with Arthur. He followed the man. No one was relaxed as they had been in the last town. They had to be on high alert at all times.
"I fear you're getting a little too attached to Alfred," Francis sighed heavily, speaking quietly so Ludwig couldn't pick up their conversation.
"We need to keep our attention on him, in any case," Arthur said. "I have no doubt he's already told Ivan about every single one of us. If we aren't careful, we could die because of this slip up."
"Ah, so you feel nothing towards the man?" Francis raised an eyebrow.
"I find him interesting, that is all," Arthur sighed. "I don't care what you're implying, Francis, we need to be careful."
"I agree your focus on him is warranted," Francis put his hands up in surrender. "However, I did notice the concern in your voice as Feliciano gave you information."
"Because he's an idiot," Arthur scoffed. "He pulled a gun on a leader of a country. It wasn't concern, I just simply couldn't believe it. Have you had enough trying to find love where there isn't? I can see exactly what you're doing."
"I am doing nothing," Francis smirked, just slightly. Just a twitch in the corner of his lip. Arthur narrowed his eyes at him. "And I would place more thought into allowing Lovino to let his anger out on you."
"It won't matter, in any case," Arthur sighed. "Feliciano will return, safe and sound. There will be no anger for him to let out on me. I doubt he can do worse than what I've experienced in the past, anyway. Are we finished? I have work to do, concerning finding another place for us to stay."
"Go ahead," Francis sighed, motioning for Arthur to go on.
Arthur shook his head. Francis only wanted to talk to him to see Arthur's reaction, that was all. Arthur knew from when they had originally taken Alfred that Francis had, evidently, seen some kind of connection. One Arthur had yet to even glimpse at. In any case, it was as simple as squashing Francis' fantasies and they could resume work as usual.
"You're brother's a fucking idiot," Gilbert scoffed, continuing to pace in front of Matthew, who was sitting still on his bed. After Alfred had been detained, they were left under "house arrest", as it were, in the hotel that they were staying at. Gilbert had elected to stay with Matthew, who was trying to think of some way out of this. It didn't look like Alfred had been killed, he was just arrested. They used a tranquilizer unlike anything Matthew had seen before. Matthew supposed that was to ensure that Alfred didn't try anything during arrest. Now, however, was an entirely different mess. If they made a single mistake, that would mean they would be arrested and the mission would be a failure. He couldn't fail the king. That wasn't an option. They had to be careful.
"It was reflex," Matthew muttered. "I nearly did it, too, but Alfred was just faster."
"You two need to learn to relax," Gilbert groaned. "It was going fine, we could have made it back to the capital in just a few days! Now we're fucked. We're so fucking fucked!"
"We'll think of something," Matthew sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It's not uncommon for diplomats to carry weapons, even in this country. We can just say that Alfred is paranoid, that will be fine."
"Yeah, and how are we going to explain his arms and legs to them?" Gilbert asked. "They're going to notice that in his arrest. They're kind of obvious if you're looking. It's not normal for your prosthetics to have fucking swords."
"We'll think of something," Matthew repeated himself. This was horrible. He couldn't believe this could have gone so wrong in such a short amount of time. It didn't even take a second for them to mess up. But he couldn't blame Alfred. Matthew had nearly done the same thing. He had a gun, safety off, ready to point it. It was reflex, it had been ingrained in both of them since they were little kids.
"I'm sorry, Birdie," Gilbert grumbled, turning his attention to the window. "I'm just stressed out." He stopped in front of the window, staring out of it in half-interest. Then, he stiffened suddenly and Matthew immediately turned his attention to him. "Shit. Why is he here?"
"Who?" Matthew was immediately on his feet and stood at the window. Walking out of a car and towards the hotel was none other than Feliks, the king of Prulamuck. He flipped his hair happily at the people that took pictures of him and talked to him. "Shit." He could only think of one reason why the man was here; he had heard of Alfred's detainment. They were to go to Feliks' country next, but now that it was heard of that Alfred had pointed a gun at a leader of a country… "We need to change our plan."
"To what?" Gilbert scoffed. "We're basically detained, just like Alfred! How the hell are we supposed to continue with the mission like that?"
"We have to," Matthew muttered. "It's not impossible, we can figure something out. Our goal isn't diplomatic relations, it's to see if they're in league with revolutionaries. We can do that through conversation. Depending on how it goes, we will most likely be sent back home. As long as we complete what we set out to do, that will be enough." He sighed sadly when he thought about how he had failed Ivan. He had no doubt that Alfred would feel the same. Gilbert had been with the group for the least amount of time, so he probably didn't feel the same. The king had done everything for them and they fail him? Not acceptable.
"Not everything is about the mission," Gilbert muttered. "You should think about your safety first. The king even seems to think so, based on what happened with Alfred disappearing."
"You don't understand," Matthew shook his head, watching as Feliks entered the hotel. He stepped from Gilbert to slump onto the bed again. "Our safety doesn't matter."
"Why not?" Gilbert asked. "Aren't you guys human?"
"I've never considered myself one," Matthew muttered.
Alfred knew he had to be careful when he felt his consciousness slowly return to him. He clearly remembered exactly what he had done to get himself arrested. He didn't open his eyes at first, rather he focused on making it appear as though he was unused to this kind of treatment, like it was difficult for him to regain consciousness, even if no one was there. He was a diplomat, not an assassin. And who knew what position his brother was in right now because of him…He just had to be careful from here on out.
Once he finally opened his eyes, he was surprised by the room he as in. It appeared to be more of a medical facility than any sort of detainment room. He had no idea how long he had been under. In any case, he looked around a little more in investigation. He tested just to make sure his hands and feet could move, since he couldn't feel if they were there or not. He made sure he was slow to sit up, though he found that no one was in the room with him as of yet. There were a few monitors that he was hooked up to and it took a lot of patience to not rip them out of him. Based on everything around it, Alfred knew that, at the very least, they were aware of his prosthetics. And most likely the secret they hid.
The door finally opened and Alfred pretended to jump and the sudden movement. He made eye contact with Matthias, oddly enough. He hadn't expected the person he pulled a gun on to be is first visitor, but this country apparently did things very, very different.
"You know, I gotta say, I give you props for the quick draw," Matthias joked lightly as he entered the room and the door closed behind him. No guards. Interesting. Alfred chuckled lightly, rubbing the back of his head delicately. "Where'd you learn how to do that?" So he was the one interrogating Alfred, checking to see if there was anything suspicious. Alfred had no doubt that they had already asked Matthew and Gilbert questions and Alfred would have to create the same answers as them.
"I was in the military for a little while," Alfred shrugged easily. This seemed like the easiest lie to come up with. "It kinda becomes reflex after a while of other people with guns. You just have to learn how to be faster. I am sorry about that."
"It's fine, no one got hurt in the end, right?" Matthias laughed, keeping up the light-hearted air. He wasn't exactly one to be serious, Alfred figured. He was similar to Gilbert in that aspect. "You've got some pretty awesome prosthetics, though. What happened, if you don't mind me asking."
That was an easy question to answer, all Alfred needed was the truth there. "Counter revolutionaries back from when the king took power. They thought it would be funny to mess up a baby for life."
"And the swords you've got hidden?" Matthias asked. "They're pretty awesome, don't get me wrong, but they're not exactly normal, at least not here."
"I'm a diplomat going to another country," Alfred shrugged. "I know from the military how stressful it can be and you gotta know how to protect yourself, right? It's not like anyone can tell, right? You only figured it out after you hooked me up to machines." Alfred laughed and Matthias laughed as well, but Alfred could tell by looking at his eyes that he was a little intimidated. He was a little scared. Alfred may not have guns on him anymore, but he still had the prosthetics. It was an incredibly complicated and painful procedure to change them and so this country had no way of ensuring Alfred had different prosthetics.
"Fair enough," Matthias shrugged. He leaned heavily against the nearest wall. "Well, I'm sorry to say this, I really am. As much as I'm chill with you staying, a bunch of people, and a few of my colleagues, believe that we should end this exchange for now. We're still peaceful with your country and all, but we're all a little shaken up. No one in this country wants to see a leader fall, you know?"
"I understand," Alfred shrugged easily. He had no room to move around and look to see if they were in league with revolutionaries. He had to hope that Matthew and Gilbert were able to see anything. They couldn't come back from this mission with failure. That wasn't an option.
Matthias opened his mouth to say something in response, but the door opened and this time Alfred was surprised. Feliks was on the other end of the door this time and Alfred blinked in shock while Matthias really jumped slightly to the side. Feliks looked the same as ever, eternally relaxed, but obviously shy in front of strangers if you looked at the subtle signs. His long blonde hair was obviously taken very good care of and his green eyes glinted happily. He was dressed incredibly pompously, and it was obvious that he had been told to take off his crown, as he often was when he went to different countries.
"Like, holy shit, I found you!" Feliks announced proudly and Alfred sighed. He was the one person he wasn't looking forward to coming in contact with. He was unpredictable at best and hard to get proper information about. Alfred still sometimes wondered how his country stayed in one piece. "Awesome, I thought I'd be looking forever."
"Feliks!" Matthias snapped at him while Alfred looked on cautiously. Matthias' entire demeanor changed just with the entrance of the man. He was on guard now, like he was afraid of something. Alfred watched carefully. "I told you to wait back at the hotel!"
"Yeah, but that was totally boring. But seeing a possible assassin? Wicked!" Feliks laughed heartily and Alfred blinked at him. He really didn't keep secrets well at all.
"He's not an assassin," Matthias sighed and Alfred could tell by the tone of his voice he didn't think he was lying. Perfect. Alfred was cleared of suspicion, at least from Matthias.
"Whatever you say," Feliks shrugged and then turned his attention to Alfred. "I'm, like, totally psyched for you to come stay at my place! You and your buddies, it'll be so, incredibly fun, yo!"
"Yeah," Alfred said carefully. He didn't know how to properly deal with someone like him. He had to wonder how Ivan had managed to have conversations with him in the past at parties.
"At least calm down a little," Matthias rolled his eyes. "He's used to his own country, not yours."
"Uck, yeah, your country's so bland and boring!" Feliks groaned. "But whatever, you'll see the total awesomeness of mine in no time at all!"
Alfred blinked in surprise. So Feliks knew he had pulled a gun on Matthias and yet he wasn't even afraid of him. This would be very interesting indeed.
So now we get to see Feliks, who I love writing, by the way. He's so much fun, I just never include him in my plots. But he's here now! And we'll have to see how Alfred, Matthew, and Gilbert make their way out of this situation. And don't forget about poor little Feliciano and how he's pretty much stuck in hiding for the time being. I'm very excited for what's going to come up soon, so you should be too!
Please review!