Hey! It's been a while! Sorry I haven't updated this story in a while, and I hope to update more quickly over the weekend, but I have been super busy at school, and with homework ^_^; don't kill me! I want to thank you all again for all the favourites, reviews and watches on my stories, and I honestly get a high from checking my emails and seeing a review! Without further ado, I shall let you continue reading the story ^_^.
I decided that, having already had quite a busy day, despite it being only 11:20AM, I would take a nap as I was exhausted, and Francis liked to spend lots of time with Seychelles. I flopped onto the bed, in rather an un-gentlemanly manner, leaving my suit on, because I would need it later to give the correct impression to the headmaster when I would have to explain my predicament to him. I had a strange dream as I slept.
I'm walking through a forest; it's dark and misty, but some areas are bathed in a strange, somewhat ethereal light. I see a small child. They look as if their body is made entirely of porcelain, but it's still moving freely somehow. It looks up, and runs away. I chase after it, wondering what it was doing in the forest, and what it really was. Before I realize it, I'm standing in a clearing. The light is shining down on me, but I can no longer see the child. I decide to run through the forest, always picking to go towards the light, hoping to catch a glimpse of the child.
After what could have been hours, or minutes, I come to another clearing, and the ghostly child is in a tree. Before I even have time to react, it jumps. I lunge forward to catch it, but it falls through my arms and shatters on the floor. I pick up a segment of its face, and stroke over the matte surface. Suddenly, the whole forest is filled with the same light. I look around me, and see that the trees themselves are shattering in place. I am standing, still bathed in light, but surrounded by shards of porcelain and white.
"Angleterre?" I heard a voice that roused me from my dream "I'm back, wake up." I blinked my eyes open slowly, seeing his face over mine.
"Hm?" I ask, looking at the clock to check the time. "14:45PM. what is it, Francis?" I ask, seeing his expression looking worried.
"I thought you were having a nightmare, you were crying out!" he said, obviously distressed by my lack of reaction.
"Nightmare… I guess it was weird, but it was completely fine at the time." I said, wondering why I had cried out "Anyway," I continued, brushing off the topic "I have to speak to out head master, and arrange a meeting." I sat up and swung my legs off of the bed. I stood up, stretching and raising my arms above my head. I felt a pair of warm arms wind around my waist and pull me back down, to sit on the Frenchman's lap.
"Do it tomorrow…" he whined into my ear "Spend some time with moi." He said, starting to pepper kisses down my neck, before starting to suck on it.
"Francis…" I said trying to stay motivated to plan the meeting instead of giving into my urges "I need to do this today…" I said, letting a small moan out. I hadn't meant to let it out, but it only spurred him continue further. I felt his hands moving down towards my trousers, and it took a lot of strength for me to get off of his lap and straighten my suit. I straightened the tie in the mirror, and noticed something on my neck. I shot Francis a look that said "I'm trying to be taken seriously, you half-wit!" I let out a sigh and smoothed out my suit again "I'll be back later." I told him as I closed the door after myself.
I walked purposefully towards the office block, which was a ten minute walk from the senior dorms. I liked the way my shoes made distinct sounds on the floor, adding to my sense of purpose and seriousness. It wasn't helped by the snickering from other students who had either seen, or heard about the incident of my being carried. I tried not to let it bother me, and I hoped that no-one would notice the purple mark on my neck, left by Francis.
When I arrived at the office, I knocked politely on the door and waited to be invited into the office. After a few moments, she called me in. She was a formidable woman, but she was reasonable and liked me for some reason; I was just hoping that she still would after I gave her the news "Arthur, this is an unexpected pleasure." She said, gesturing for me so sit in the chair opposite her "I'm assuming this isn't just a social visit?" she said, with a stern tone that was laced with policy.
"You would be assuming correctly, Sir." I replied, formally. I felt awkward calling her sir, but she insisted on it, and would be very insulted if you didn't. I learnt my lesson the first time I spoke with her "I have a few matters that I would very much like to discuss with you." I said, trying to break the ice a little, as I never was good with social interactions.
"What would these matters be, might I ask?"
"Well, Sir, Due to unforeseen circumstances, I have become pregnant, and I have no intent of aborting. My boss is less than pleased about this, but I am also to marry the father, Francis Bonnefoy. Because of this though, my empire is being dissolved. I can keep any countries that want to stay with me, except my brothers who have no choice in the matter." I said, without giving her time to reply before finishing the speech.
She said nothing for a moment, but stared at me with shocked eyes. A minute passed, and she finally said something "I see. I will see to it that you are supported in all the ways we can help you, so that it can be dealt with as smoothly as possible." She said shortly "Can I assume that you need permission to hold a large scale meeting?" she asked, with the same tone.
"Yes, Sir." I replied, relieved that she was not having me be expelled, or punished at all.
"I will send the receptionist to deliver notes to all of them, the meeting room is free now, so you ought to prepare yourself there, while you wait." She added.
"Thank you." I said quickly, relieved of her support.
"I'm not heartless, Kirkland." She told me, as I left the room.
Yemen, Anguilla, Gambia, Canada, Fiji, British Antarctic Territory, Myanmar, Cameroon, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, Sri Lanka , Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados , British Virgin Islands, Guyana, Cayman Islands, Brunei , New Zealand, Australia, Ghana, Falkland Islands, China, Iraq, Gibraltar, Montserrat, St. Helena, and Dependencies Pitcairn Islands South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaya, Maldive Islands, Malta, Mauritius, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda ,Trinidad, Jordan, Sudan, South Africa, Singapore, Sierra Leone, Qatar, Israel, East Malaysia, India, Hong Kong, St Lucia, and Seychelles all needed places at the table, as well as my brothers. I needed to tell 49 countries that I was letting them go and 3 that I had no choice but to keep them.
For the first time in my life, I was nervous. I had held this kind of meeting a few times before, but I never had to give news like I was going to have to give them. I started to quickly write notes, scrawling them onto a piece of paper for myself, so that I had a basis of what I was going to say. The notes consisted of:
Due to certain circumstances, I am going to dissolve the empire. Anyone who wants to stay may do so, but you are all free the leave me… (Except brothers) I am with child. The child belongs to France.
After waiting for a whole hour, they started to file in, taking up seats around the table; all of them looking as confused as each other. I tried to ignore the snickers I heard from a few of them, and the hushed whispers about my neck. I was going to kill Francis when I got back. I would make sure that he wouldn't be able to walk for a week.
"Welcome," I started, greeting them all, and remaining composed and expressionless "I have gathered you all here to announce a change that will affect you all." The room descended into heated conversation. I sighed, running a hand through my tousled hair "Would you all listen to me!" I bellowed, leaving the room in a shocked silence. I'd had enough of the pressure, the expectations, the fear of the future, and the complications I was going to have to deal with "I'm dissolving the empire. You can all leave me and become independent nations. You can also choose to stay, and as for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, you have no choice but to do so. These are words from my boss." The room was speechless. No-one had anything to say, so I continued "You all know of my relationship with France," This earned more than a few whoops and whistles, which I tried to ignore the best I could, but I could still feel my face heat up "Somehow, I have managed to become pregnant with his child, and my boss has informed me that I must let you go because of this. If you don't believe me, I implore you to speak with the school nurse, or even our head teacher. I have every intention of marrying France, and keeping the child. Because of this, my boss wants for me to dissolve the empire." I finished, sitting back down. All eyes were fixed on me.
"You mean that everyone else get to leave, but Me, Seamus and Dylan are stuck with you?" asked Alistair, angrily.
"Yes, and when in a meeting, you will call them by their correct names." I added, embarrassed by his lack of formality.
"What if we don't want to leave?" I heard a small voice from across the room; the voice belonged to Gibraltar.
"Then you don't have to." I told her, smiling that someone liked me. "For those who are interested, I will be creating a commonwealth which you have a choice to become a part of or leave. It will mean that although you may have your own laws, government and control over your country, you will also have my Queen as your head of state, and will be able to trade more easily between yourselves." I added, hoping that people would want to become a part of it. I turned to write on the board:
British Territory:
And informed them that if they wanted to stay under my power, they should write their names down on the paper, and there would be a sign up sheet for the commonwealth outside the school office. I was happy to see that at least a few nations put their names down, to stay as my territory. The list consisted of: Anguilla, British Antarctic Territory, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, British Indian Ocean Territory, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, St. Helena, Pitcairn Islands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands. The list consisted of 13 countries, and although they weren't many, I was glad that some decided that they wanted to stay. I informed them that being a part of my territory meant that they would be included in the commonwealth immediately and wouldn't need to sign up.
"Does anyone have any further points to make, other than the ones previously mentioned?" I asked, formally, hoping that the room would stay silent. I saw a few raised hands, so I let them speak.
"So," began the Australian "Apart from better trade, and your monarchy, what do we gain from being in the Commonwealth?" he asked, smugly.
"Well, the queen will make frequent visits to all of your countries, which is good for tourism if nothing else. I was also thinking of organizing games, to be hosted in a different part of the Commonwealth each time, as well as Commonwealth day which would happen on the second Monday of every March." I informed him.
"What sort of games?" I heard India enquire.
"Sports." I replied shortly.
"And if we don't join?" I heard South Africa ask.
"Then, you don't join. You will be an independent nation with no ties to me at all." I told him "Has anyone else got anything to add?" I asked, again hoping for silence. This time there were no hands raised "Then I conclude this meeting. Feel free to leave at any time." I told them, exiting the room. I sighed deeply, letting my head droop a little. It was finally sorted out. I'd done it.
"Hey! Arthur!" I heard a familiar voice behind me "Are you really… y'know… up the duff?" I heard the Australian ask, sounding amused.
"Yes." I told him shortly, not wanting to make too much conversation with him, hating how vulgar he could be at times "Feel free to sign up for the Commonwealth." I added before walking ahead of him, and making my way back to my room.
When I walked in, I saw Francis lying on the bed frowning at one of my books "What's wrong?" I asked, noting his apparent frustration, and his eyebrows becoming knitted together "You actually look like you're thinking." I told him, laughing a little and sitting beside him.
"This book doesn't make any sense!" he said snappily, holding it up at me.
"What do you mean? That book makes perfect sense. I told him, taking 'Pride and Prejudice' from his hands and sitting beside him "What is there to not understand?" I asked defensively.
"The English!" He replied, sounding rather spiky indeed "The grammar doesn't make sense and the words are weird too! Is chuse, the same as choose?" he asked.
"That's because it's old, and chuse is choose, yes." I told him "Do you want me to translate it for you?" I asked.
"Maybe a little…" he said, sounding a little ashamed that I could translate something he couldn't, which made him more like Alfred, whom he didn't detest, but he didn't want to be the same as either.
"Ok, Here goes. C'est une vérité universellement reconnue, qu'un seul homme en possession d'une bonne fortune, doivent être dans le besoin d'une femme." I began.
Apart from my occasional mispronunciations, he was completely silent, and didn't speak a word until I finished volume one and put the book down "très bien, voulez-vous le lire pour moi demain?" he asked.
"English." I reminded him. It seemed like a silly thing for me to have said, having spoken French for so long when I was reading the book, but as much as I liked the language, not that I told him, I wasn't fond of having whole conversations in it, as his English kept getting worse every time I let it happen.
"Fine… Very good, would you read it for me again tomorrow?" he said, in a way that said "I want to speak my own language!"
"I can if you want me to." I said with a smile "Now, I'm exhausted. I'm going to sleep now. I don't think I have ever had a longer day than today…" I said, pulling off my clothes.
"To think, you're carrying our child!" he said excitedly, wrapping his arms around me from behind, and resting his hands on my stomach. I was yet to show, but there was a definite change in the area. It had been a month and a half, and the muscles on my stomach were fading, and it was becoming ever so slightly more pushed out. It wouldn't be noticeable if you didn't know, and wasn't looking closely, but I could tell and so could Francis "I can't wait until I can feel It kicking! You're going to be so beautiful!" he exclaimed, kissing my back.
"Piss off…" I said, swatting him away and putting my pyjamas on; trying not to blush at the thought of walking around school with a pregnant belly. I really didn't like the idea of losing my body, but I already was, and I didn't like how it felt under my hands. I would love the child, and that was certain, but I was dreading the later months to come. And with that, I went to bed, with Francis holding on to me, like the radiator he was.
Yay! Another Chapter! I probably missed out some countries somewhere in the empire, but the important thing to remember is that there were a lot of countries in it… My apologies if my French is not very good, but was using Google translate…
Question time!
How do you think Australia should be involved in the story (I'm thinking about giving him a bigger part ^_^)
How will the rest of the world react, considering he told over 50 people, and one of them would probably say something… at least?
Why is pride and Prejudice so hard to read? (Seriously, I'm studying it at school, and it's one of the most difficult things to read… ever, and I'm studying German…)
Your thoughts on what might happen next?