Chapter 11. Smile Like You Mean It.
"We have another one," Gilbert sighed heavily from the window. Matthew, who had been sitting cross-legged on the bed, thinking, perked up and glanced at him in interest. He had been brainstorming a proper way out of this situation. Emil and Lukas had already been in their room, asking them about Alfred, most likely to match up answers. Matthew came up with the first things that came logically to mind, as he hoped Alfred had done, talking about military and basic protection. He was sure he and Alfred could come up with matching answers, as long as nothing weird happened. Sadly, it looked like something bad was already happening.
"What?" Matthew asked curiously, not standing up as Gilbert glared out of the window. They had to be careful about what they said while they were in there. Before, there had been no guards on their door. Now, they had apparently thought better of it and there was one man outside of their door.
"Yong Soo," Gilbert muttered. "Why? What the fuck is he doing here?"
"Yong Soo?" Matthew asked, carefully standing up. Sure enough, he saw the man walking happily to their hotel. How many people were staying here? They never even thought about going to Eltrack, but they would have figured that if Yao wanted to know what was going on, he would go himself, not send in his advisor. Obviously, he wasn't suspicious of Yong Soo if he allowed the man to come here alone. "Maybe Yao heard about what happened but he didn't want to risk coming himself, just in case the rumors were true."
"What rumors?" Gilbert asked. "They obviously don't want to make this an international incident. There's been no news anywhere, I've been checking, don't worry. He might have heard just like Feliks."
"Why would he be here?" Matthew muttered. "It just doesn't make sense. Yao doesn't really have anything to do with us or what we're doing."
"Maybe he's talking to us on behalf of Yao?" Gilbert muttered. "Or just because he wants to talk to us himself."
"If he's the one talking to us, that's a problem," Matthew grumbled. "There are too many variables right now. If Alfred would just come back, everything would be so much easier."
"If you ask me, we shouldn't have been sent on this mission anyway," Gilbert scoffed.
"I'm not going to question the king's reasons," Matthew said simply. It didn't matter why the king sent them on this mission, all that mattered was that he did. He had his own reasons and Matthew wasn't one to question him at all.
"Of course not," Gilbert sighed and Matthew raised an eyebrow curiously. He heard the footsteps down the hallway and his attention diverted to the door. It could be Yong Soo, but he doubted it, based on the sound of the footsteps. They stopped in front of the door and Gilbert's attention moved to the door as well. "Think it's Yong Soo?"
"Doubt it," Matthew muttered and the door opened, revealing Alfred, acting like he was being sheepish due to Matthias and Feliks being behind him. Matthew felt a huge wave of relief wash over him.
"Hey," Alfred chuckled slightly, his hands in his pockets.
"You're an idiot," Matthew shook his head, but he couldn't stop the small smile on his face. He'd been too far away from his brother too much lately.
"Oh, whoa, you totally do have an albino with you!" Feliks chimed happily and Gilbert seemed a little surprised by the sudden attention. Alfred swiftly apologized again to Matthias before quickly going to stand beside Matthew. "That's, like, so totally cool, dudes!"
"Yeah, I'm pretty awesome, I know," Gilbert smirked at the sudden attention, from a king no less. Matthew rolled his eyes at him.
"So this means that we are clear of suspicion?" Matthew asked carefully.
"Yeah, Alfred was a soldier," Matthias shrugged. "It was reflex, no big deal. I don't really care that much anyway. No harm done, right?"
"Yeah, but we gotta go back to our country," Alfred sighed sadly. "I totally messed up guys, sorry."
"It's, like, totally lame that my advisors barred you guys from coming," Feliks groaned. "We could've had so much wicked cool fun!"
"You guys can stay for one more day," Matthias said simply. "You don't get to see much out of your own country, anyway, so this might be a good chance, right?" Alfred, Matthew, and Gilbert let out a small chorus of laughs, but Matthew was a little on edge. Why let them stay another day for the mere purpose of letting them see the country? That was slightly suspicious, but he couldn't let himself be known.
"It's, like, totally a bummer that you guys can't come over to my place," Feliks scoffed, flipping his hair over his shoulder. "It would be so sick, you guys could see my ponies and shit."
"Sorry we have to miss it," Alfred nodded his head sadly, but it looked like Gilbert was fighting back some of his own laughter. "I don't think it would be a good idea with the current circumstances. Maybe we can arrange something in the future."
"Totally!" Feliks said happily. "Oh, dudes, I heard Yong Soo was here, I gotta check it with him real quick, be back laters!" With that, he left the room, leaving the three assassins to be left in confusion. Matthew had never really spoken to Feliks before, he had mostly heard of some of the conversation from Ivan, who didn't like the man very much.
"I'm gonna make sure he doesn't break something," Matthias said. "Feel free to go out whenever you want." He rubbed the back of his head. "I hope you don't mind, really, but you've gotta let our guards check you over for weapons every time before you leave."
"It's no problem, I think you got most of mine, anyway," Alfred shrugged.
"Right," Matthias laughed, a little uneasily, glancing obviously at Alfred's arm. He left the room, closing the door solidly behind him and Alfred slumped onto the nearest bed.
"I'm sorry," Alfred muttered, running a hand through his hair. "I fucked up."
"Yeah, you did," Gilbert nodded and Matthew hit him sharply with his elbow.
"I nearly did the same thing, it's fine," Matthew sighed. "Right now, we have to focus on what our original mission was. We have to find out if they really are teaming up with the revolutionaries. So far, their behavior is only slightly questionable."
"Them wanting us to stay for another day to just look around is slightly suspicious," Alfred muttered, glancing up at Matthew. "It's extremely similar to what Arthur and his group attempted with me, if what I'm guessing is correct. They have us see a 'better' life, outside of the king's country, and attempt to change our minds and see what they want us to see."
"Did you find anything out about Feliks?" Gilbert asked. "He seems like the kind of person that doesn't keep a secret well."
"He knew I was suspected as an assassin," Alfred said. "Which is suspicious in itself. Couple that with the fact that Yong Soo is here and I think we have a small problem. It seems, at the very least, the leaders of the three countries are communicating without keeping the king in the loop. If Ivan knew, we would know by now."
"I would say our best bet would be to take Matthias' advice and look around," Matthew offered. "It seems he wasn't lying when he said that suspicion was off of us, at least for the time being. Everything else is just simple precaution. If we look around their capital, we might be able to find something. If there are enough people with revolutionary ideals, we might be able to come back to the king with information."
"We should split up," Alfred nodded, standing up as well. That was good, it seemed his confidence was a least slightly back up. Surely, it would go down when he had to report to the king, but Matthew wasn't going to focus on that right now. "That way we can get as much information as possible. I'll take the area near that forest, it's pretty large and I suspect someone could possibly be hiding there. Matthew, you can look around the outskirts of the town and Gilbert can look in the most populated areas, around this hotel and the train station."
"Yes, sir," Gilbert half-heartedly saluted him and Alfred nodded, looking at him for a little bit longer than necessary. Alfred was suspicious of him…but why? Matthew hadn't heard anything important.
Alfred sighed heavily from where he stood. He was being as casual as possible, leaning against a simple wall while he watched the people of the city move around on their usual lives. It was…annoying. The people here reminded him of the town that Arthur had shown him. They were relaxed, they spent more time than they should have on just talking or having fun. And this city was laid out far differently than anything Alfred had seen before in any city in his country. The buildings were well-spaced out and there was a lot of open space for people to just sit around and talk with their friends. It was very weird.
Sadly, the weirdest part about it was the fact that Alfred was almost…jealous. But he couldn't be. His king had his reasons for every decision he made in their country. There was a reason why it was laid out differently. But the people in this country seemed so much more happy and more free to make decisions. Alfred shook his head furiously. This was just Arthur's opinions in his head talking to him. Alfred couldn't think like that, that would be on par with betraying the king. He had to stay focused, he had to complete this mission and then go back home. He wouldn't leave his country unless the king told him to do so again. It was as simple as that.
"Ah, there you are!" Alfred blinked at the slightly familiar voice. He had maybe heard it once in his life before. He glanced over at the source and winced when he saw Yong Soo happily walking over to him, a mass amount of attention following him. He didn't even have a guard on him, but Alfred could see that he had a few knives hidden on his person meant for throwing, just in case. He wasn't being stealthy at all.
"Im Yong Soo," Alfred nodded to him, standing upright. He wasn't a leader of a country, but he was standing in for one, as far as he could tell. Yao must have sent him there for a reason, whatever that may have been. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I have something important to tell you!" Yong Soo said and his demeanor reminded Alfred slightly of Feliciano. He kept up this really bright and happy façade, even while talking of important things. But Alfred was willing to bet that it wasn't really a façade. "You can give a message to your king, correct?"
"Yes," Alfred nodded simply.
"Perfect!" Yong Soo nodded happily. "You can tell king Ivan that I accept his deal. I already have information for him, if you are willing to carry that to him as well."
"Are you sure I should listen to information like this?" Alfred asked carefully. He didn't know of any deal, but he did know of Yong Soo's disloyalty to Yao and that Ivan was attempting to win him over. If they had succeeded, perhaps Alfred could bring good news to the king. That was a relief.
"If king Ivan sent you, I'm sure he has the utmost trust in you," Yong Soo nodded happily. "I know that Yao is aligned with revolutionaries from your country that intend to overthrow him. I can't give a lot of other information, though. I would need a little more time to find out who else is aligned with them."
"That's perfect!" Alfred couldn't stop himself from smiling. This was too perfect! He resisted the urge to hug the stranger in front of him, though he had no doubt that the man would hug him right back. "You have no idea how perfect this is right now, thank you!"
"Of course!" Yong Soo chimed. "I'm more than happy to the bearer of good news! I still can't forgive Yao for how he ruthlessly conquered the territory my country used to be. Your king promised me that I would be able to get that territory back so everyone there can get a better life!"
Alfred smiled slightly. Right, the king was a good man. This was just reassurance of that. The people may not have been happy, but that was just the temporary price to pay for everything to get better in the future. Of course. Everything was just fine, there was absolutely no reason to question the king.
"Thank you, I will be sure to tell the king of your commitment," Alfred nodded, still smiling brightly. He didn't care anymore that he had dropped his mask. They finally had good news to bring back to the king. This venture wasn't a complete loss, after all. What a relief.
"No problem!" Yong Soo nodded. "Now, I should get back. Yao only sent me to check in on the matter of a possible assassin, but I don't believe that you could be one! Goodbye!"
Alfred nodded to the man as he jogged off. Who knew how long he was looking for him. No doubt, he had discussed with Matthias and Feliks about the incident, but he didn't seem worried at all. This was good. They now had their own spy watching out for the revolutionaries. Alfred looked back at the bustling, happy town around him. He was sure, under the king's leadership, that his own country would bloom like this as well.
He walked forward, just to see if he could find anything else and bring even better news to Ivan. As he started walking, however, a ball rolled and lightly hit his leg before stopping. Alfred looked down at it before looking at where it came from. A group of small boys ran towards him, some of them seeming shy but one coming forward proudly.
"Hey, mister, sorry about that," the boy said with courage Alfred hadn't seen in any little boy in his home country. "Could we have our ball back?"
"No problem," Alfred smirked before kicking the ball up high and doing a quick trick with it, juggling it between his elbows before head-butting it to the kid. "Need another player?"
The kid's eyes grew bright and huge in surprise before he eagerly allowed Alfred to join their game. It was exactly like the one he had played in the town Arthur had shown him.
Just so you guys know, like, half of this chapter was written out while my friend was reading the My Immortal fanfic out loud at school. Just in case some of this is horrible, that's why. Also, I'm not extremely well versed in Korea, so I'm sorry if he was terribly OOC, but I'm going off of a lot of other FanFics I've read with him in it. And it's not like I can reference how things originated in Korea in this fic and also, this is serious talk, so no boobs. Lol. Anywho…Things happened, it doesn't seem like a lot, but a lot happened. Very psychological for Alfred here.
Anyway, please review and look forward to what happens next chapter! ;)