Since Dylan is going to bring his brother with him, I thought I could bring Alfred with me.
"This is not fair! Why am I stuck with this old fart?" I pouted. I knew he gave me a cold shoulder but I wanted to be with my brother, not with him. He looks so...I glanced quickly with corner of my eyes. Those silk hair, those azure eyes inside those board glasses, sun kissed skins, the definition of perf...No! He is an old fart.
"You are so aggravating as well." He backfired. "And by the way, I have a name as well." He glared at me. I knew he hated every single second with me but we had no choice. Dylan and Mathew had decided to stick together and tagged me with this old man. Old? Not exactly. Even though I hated every second with him, I adored the every chirp of the birds, the swirling cold wind from the North, every step of the crunchy leaves. Nature was paradise to me.
The orange sun lay down towards the west, bringing the sun down on this side and up through the land of Pacific Ocean. I stomped my legs heavily on every little steps I took. I was devastated. The heat and the distance we had walked was not the best concoction. Was my brother serious about the camping? At first, no but now, yes. He was dead serious. Looking up, I could faintly see their backs blending on the shadows of the trees. Was it me who was walking slowly or were they sprinting up? I didn't know.
"Can you walk faster so we can catch up with them?" Alfred asked.
"Don't you think I'm trying?" I knew that if he wanted, he could abandon me easily in this intimidating forest and sprint away but he didn't. Why? He had every right to leave me behind from the actions I took before but why didn't he? I guess he knew I was tired. All my energy had drained and I had no stamina left in my body. My entire body had started to feel heavy, as if I was carrying arrays of rocks on my legs.
Everything started to feel hazy. I could feel the fluid inside my body evaporating and the ground revolving around me. "Alf...red" I called feebly. Without any second being spared, I could see the darkness covering my eyes.
Alfred.
I could hear birds chirping and feel the warmth of the morning lights...morning light? This warm sunlight. This smell. This scent. I huddled and embraced the object, giving me more warmth. I could feel my cheek warming up but I didn't care. This smell. It feels like I'm so used to it but it still so different and strange. I opened my eyes, just to find a huge leather jacket covering my top half of the body. I looked up just to see a figure moving. Who was he? I didn't know. What was he doing here? I didn't know. But why does he look so familiar? I narrowed my eyes on confusion and covered my face entirely with the jacket. I didn't know. But...why does he shine like Belenus* himself? I glazed inside. So familiar yet so peculiar.
'You can be Belenus, the god of sun and I can be Nantosuelta*, god of nature.'
My eyes widen. What was that? Did someone just speak to me? Did I just hear someone talk? I looked around but no one other person was to be found. Maybe it was just my imagination.
I just glared at the figure as I placed my hand in top of my beating heart. Why does this beat so much? Why can't I control my own beat? Why is it so loud? My heart beated like the cuckoo Swiss clock. Why does he make this heart beat so fast?
"Have you packed everything Dylan?" I called out from distance.
"Just leave the backpacks for a minute Arthur, I want you to meet someone." Dylan called as I checked my backpack for the last time to make sure all the essentials were packed. I turned around then all of a sudden, it was slow. That moment. That exact moment felt so slow. The time I saw him for the first time. It felt like everything froze for me, it was only him and me and nothing on this world. Slowly my feet moved without my own conscience or will. Who was he? I had to know. Why are my legs are walking on their own will?
"He is my little adorable brother. " I could hear them talk. I could hear their laughter in the thin air but why were my eyes so concerned and concentrated on him and just him? I wanted this moment to stop. To freeze for eternity. Why? I had yet to know but it felt so perfect. This man, this blue eyes, this sun kissed skin, this laughter, why does he look so familiar? It feels like I have known him from a really long time. As I stood in front of him, my legs paused on their own will.
"Are you alright? " Mathew called out. With those world, my world snapped as if I came back to this world again. As if I was dragged to this world again from a fantasy. From a knot I was released into a straight thread, I felt the release. I quickly glanced at Mathew and nodded. "Okay." He confirmed. "Arthur this is Alfred and Alfred this is Arthur"
Alfred
"Hi" He called.
"Hi" My lips froze. I could hear him chattering and saying something but all I could do was drown in his blue eyes and try to swim the infinet water to find land.
Who are you?
"Arthur" Dylan called out my name, snapping me again back to reality. "Since we will be going in these woods, we will have to stay in pairs." I nodded. "Okay then, I will be with Mathew and you can be with Alfred."
"Bu…"
"No buts." I did not hinder back. I had no energy to. I just wanted to drown in this water that has started to flood through my veins. I wanted to observe this water and drown myself into this water.
"You awake?" My eyes moved towards the voice it came from. Those eyes again.
'You can be Belenus, the god of sun and I can be Nantosuelta, god of nature.'
I sat up and noticed that I was laying on top of layers of leaves as it crunched in every move. The arrays of wood in the middle between him and me had also burnt out, leaving only ashes and burnt black texture to wood left behind and there he sat there, looking inside his backpack. The only thing that was between us was burnt down and anything that was left was the darkness, all pitch black core of the wood with no life.
"I got something for you to eat since I believe you would be starving from the exhausting walk yesterday and you haven't eaten anything." He grabbed some of the plain crackers from his bag. Plain crackers were not the best tasting food and they were a really good source of energy and stability. "But before that, drink some water. Your body is dehydrated and you haven't drank any form of liquid." He took out his metal canteen bottle filled with pure water. "And I got some Chamomile* boiled water, which has now cooled down, to stop you from fainting again in this woods. I won't be able to carry you again with all these heavy bags" He bought all the things with him as I stayed there in silence, without saying a word.
Like a good person as I am, obviously, I drank all the water in one go, without leaving any drop behind. I looked around the surrounding I was in. It was peaceful, so elegant. The sun penetrated between the gaps of the leaves and twigs of the trees, making its way down in the ground. I took a small sip of the Chamomile water till I realised that we were stuck in a middle of a forest, without the knowledge where Dylan or Mathew's location.
"Where are we and where are others?" I demanded. I didn't wanted to stick with this man, alone, in this woods. I don't know what this man was capable of!
"Hmm…" He looked around the surrounding as if he could see a virtual map that I couldn't see. "I'm not sure. It has been so long I have been here. And about Mathew and Dylan, they were so busy talking with each other, they didn't notice our disappearance or my scream for help." His voice sounded tedious. Such disappointment...wait, he has been here before? Maybe he might know his way is we walk a bit.
"Do you know where exactly my brother was planning to camp?" I asked, hoping to get a positive answer.
"Not really" He answered. "They didn't say anything about where exactly so I guess it will be our luck if we find them" He glanced upon me. "Anyway, drink that first then only we will start finding them."
This was not a camping. This was trekking!
Thinking back to the decision I took, I could have agreed with my brother and not come with him. I sighed for my own stupidity. Staying home would have been a better choice than being stuck with this person, Alfred. I sighed again. Wait a minute...Is this the 'Alfred' I have been looking for, Alfred Fucking Johns or a different Alfred? I accelerated to ask this guys full name, not acknowledged that Alfred had stopped. I stumped back on the heavy shoulders of the man before me.
"Owww." I rubbed my nose slowly. "Why did you stop all of a sudden." I looked above those broad shoulders. His strong hands grabbing every nerves of my arm tightly, like a lion dose to its prey.
"Wh...who are you?" I glared upon those azure eyes. The pain fainted as again I drowned into those eyes. Those eyes that stomps my heart when I first saw them. So natural and so pure. Those eyes, it felt so familiar as if I know them. "Have we met before?" He asked again.
"What?" I inquired sharply. I wanted to stop but those eyes. "This is the first I have seen you and get your hand off me." I shook my arm but his grip became tighter. Did he felt the same as I did? The same familiarity but still so foreign.
"But why does it feel like I know you from somewhere?"
"I don't' know!" I couldn't help but my body heated like the sun. Why does my heart and body react like this with him? I barely know him yet this body reacts so viciously with his touch. "I..It hurts Alfr..ed." His fist loosen up, letting me go as he apologised inside his breathe.
For the love of god, this was the fourth time we face a dead end. I rolled my eyes. I thought he knew where he was going since he has already been here! It was getting late and I was hungry and still not being able to find my goddamn brother who was with the bloody Canadian didn't help.
"Bloody hell, you can't do anything properly." I rolled my eyes. "We are not trying to find an ant here, we are trying to find two grown up adults here and you even said you have been here before!" I pouted. I knew I was breaking his nerves every second with my trashy comments but he was getting in my nerves as well with his misdirection.
"Well, at least I am trying to remember, unlike you who doesn't even know anything!" He screamed back.
"I know everything you git!"
"Well if you know everything, why don't you go and find them on your own way and I will find them on my own you narcissistic person!" In shock my jaw dropped but I claimed back.
"Fine then. You go on your own way and I will go on my own!" With those words, I furiously walked towards the opposite direction, using my five senses. I knew I would find them easily because...I stopped. I have no clue where I am going. Great, now I don't know where I am heading, that git really did leave me and it's bloody dark!
I stumbled every step, feared if I do walk over a snake and they would try to bite me. Barely being able to see anything, I stood there in the fresh Northern air, looking up in the skies with stars, just waiting for some enlightenment or death. Maybe I was to die young in this dark, in a forest because of my own arrogance?
'You have to go there.'
Who is this? I looked back. This voice.
'You have to go there.'
I looked around. A womans voice? Is this my mind? My conscience? I followed my sixth sense as my footstep took its own lead through the bushes and trees as if it already knew this place. As if I have been here before already.
The light blew immensely as if the sun is playing hide and seek on the woods. I followed the light slowly, just to find a huge tree in front of me. Very old. Very decrepit. The pulp had worn out as the green fungus marinated the stalk. The light disappeared as if the ideal reason was to attract me there. As if it fulfilled its purpose.
"No one will come between us. Okay? No person, situation or anything can tear us apart."
The sudden current urged through my nerves. These words. This tree. This adversity. It's so familiar but why can't I still figure out? I carefully placed my hand into this tree. I could feel something being carved into the tree as if like a picture or a word. I tried to brush down the pulp with my hand and the green fungus.
Tip. Tip
Water leaked from my eyes like the droplets of rains. These tears. Why is it falling on its own will from these carvings? Why is there so much sadness and sorrows within me that's bulking my heart all of a sudden?
"Arthur!" I let go of the tree trunk with the sudden call. "You're he-" I looked upon the familiar voice, just see him frozen. Frozen like the ice statue as if he'd just seen a ghost.
I was glad. I was happy. Happy to see someone, doesn't matter whom but someone. I was glad to see someone. I ran towards him and embraced into a big hug. This place. This situation. It feels like I am reliving this again but right now, nothing mattered. I just wanted to be someone in this dark forest and get far away from this tree that gives me the chill.
-Flashback. Alfred's POV-
"Wait Alice! I didn't mean to say that." I called, as she walked faster and faster, douching the woods in the way. I didn't mean anything in that way. I had to make sure this misunderstanding was cleared. "Alice!" I called again.
"Go away. You can go and stay with that Sofia bitch with her big boobs. I don't care." She stumbled but continued walking. I admired her little jealousy. The way she wanted only her space in my heart but it was true. She was the only person inside my heart. Only person who had captivated my heart so much from the first day.
"It was just a joke. God Alice! Can't I just joke?" I laughed. She stopped and faced towards me. Her ebullient eyes turned tedious and covered in shattered tears. I smiled slyly and walked towards her, making the distance between us indefinite, breaking every border. "I was just joking about her. You know me, I am always joking"
"Do you think the same about our relationship as well, Alfred? Do you take it as a joke as well?" Her voice trembled. It was only matter of minutes till the tears she had compressed in her eyes to fall.
I smiled.
"Relationships are not made to be broken Alice. It is made to build stronger than steel, deeper than the ocean and more than grains of sand and droplet of water combined in this universe. Once I hold someone's hand, I don't leave them." I held my out. "Think carefully when you give me your hand Alice." I could see her perplexed expression as she bewildered. Slowly and gently, she held my hand, not sure to believe me or not. I smiled cunningly as I pulled her for an embrace. "No one will come between us. Okay? No person, situation or anything can tear us apart. I promise you, you will never shed a drop of tear with me."
-End of Flashback-
He stayed quiet. Too quiet. I asked him what was wrong but he was too reticent. I looked upon him but the shock and the anguish that was covering his face was immense. Was it because of me? Or was it something else? I couldn't ask. I kept quiet as I held tightly on him. Why was it that all of a sudden, this man create such aura that I feel like I was dragged from my own death bed?
"There they are!" A familiar voice called. I could feel his grip loosening up as we walked towards the light more and more, eventually letting me go.
"Arthur!" Dylan embraced me like he'd have seen my after so many years or even centuries. "Where did you go? I was so scared. What if anything happened to you? What would I say to Alistair or mother? He would kill me in that exact place if I told him I lost you or something happened to you. Don't you ever leave my side again!" I quickly get myself out from the tangled attachment that my brother created. I was not a kid and I would not be be treated as a kid! I am bloody university student.
"Dylan, calm down. I am not a kid anymore, I can look after myself perfectly. Even if I'd get lost, I would know how to survive and this is just a small forest." Small forest my ass. I rolled my eyes, looking towards Alfred.
"But..."
"It's all done and anyway I had Alfred with me. He helped me alot. I chuckled but all I saw was melancholy air surrounding him. Embracing him like a mother and a son. "Alf-" I called but he bit me off.
"I'm going to place my tent and sleep here."
"But you haven't eaten anything."
"I'm not hungry."
"Bu-" I cried out again but Dylan stopped me. "Fine, I'm not hungry either. I'm going to sleep as well!"
"This cannot be happening." The man just stood there and stared at the convulse and rattling salvation beads on top of the mahogany oak table. "No this can't be!" One by one he took some steps back in awe.
"What did you thought? You could easily block his past so her soul would forget everything?" The voice echoed throughout every corner of the trembling church. He looked back. Horror painted its way to the priest face; body starting to tremble. He was here. The King, the god of Underworld was here. Arwan was here. Arwan grinned, showing his sharp fangs.
"Why are you here?" The priest demanded. Even though he was a priest and religious himself, he never knew Celtic gods actually existed. He always thought it was only fairy tale story that was written in books. "Is it already my time?" The frightened man started to pale out. If this was his time then it was too early. He had so many things to do. He had so many things to teach his juniors.
"No." Arwan laughed out loud. "But soon." He paused. The priest gulped. Arwan noticed the salvation beads shaking miraculously. "She wants to wake up." The Priest stomped forward for defence but lay back after getting a cold glare from the god. "It isn't much long till she wakes up again.'
"No!" The priest defended. "You can see the upcoming future. It will only create adversity for him" Arwin smiled again with the blood thirsting grin. He knew the consequences. He knew but he also knew that her memories would be restored again. It was only matter of time.
"The prediction you have in your mind is not wrong. It has never been wrong before as well. Even you know you are just prolonging and nothing else."
"But…"
"It was you who decided to seal her memories when Arthur was young so he can have a normal childhood, Alfred could move on with his life, she stayed quiet but now, it is her decision to wake up." He glared at the priest. "And no one can stop her."
"But what about Alfred? What about his fiancé and the child who is inside Kiku? What if Arthur finds out the main reason of his death was not..."
Arwan knew what the priest had in his mind but he also knew that the future that is forecasting is bound to happen. "You have already predicted what will happen next, I will leave this for you to watch." He interrupted. He quickly swayed his hand on top of the salvation beads as it slowed down and gradually stopped. "This salvation beads…" The priest quickly looked at the table where the salvation beads laid. "...you can't alter the future so keep an eye on these." Arwan swift his long pitch black cape. "The day this disappear, that will be the day she will wake up." With a stump on the floor with his wooden stick, he vanish into the thin air.
"No." The priest whispered. I cannot let this happen. The air was still stick as if the god of the underworld was still here.
"Don't mess with your dear niece's soul since she won't be merciful to anyone who comes in her way. She is not here to tie down old family relationship." The voice occurred from thin air. After that, the thick air disappeared. He was gone.
"Dylan come here! There is a river down here." I called up my brother but his attention was towards that stupid, annoying Canadian. How dare he take my brothers full attention! "Dy-" I noticed that it was only us three and not Alfred. Where was he?
No POV
"I couldn't make you happy, I couldn't hold on to you. All I did was drag you to your death. I don't know if you'd ever forgive me." Alfred rubbed his hand gently on the carvings. "Even after 18 years, I couldn't forget about you. You made me promise to forget about you but you also promised you'd be back so where are you Alice?" Alfred screamed from top of his lungs. "I can't pretend to forget about you anymore." The air of melancholy surrounded him.
-Flashback. Alfred's POV-
"Don't ever joke about liking someone with me!" I could hear sniffs and feel the warm water pouring from those eyes as her voice shook feebly.
"I promise you, you will never shed a drop of tear with me. I will never joke you with being or liking someone other than you." I rubbed the tears that still lingered in her eyes. "You will never be feeling desolated again." She sniffed for the last time as she freed herself from the embrace. "Alice?"
She bought a sharp rock, which she used to carve on the tree. She still had those red sore eyes but she continued craving. As the final piece was made, I could see what she'd had done.
'Alfred & Alice'
"Alice what is this?" I asked.
"If we ever were to come here again and get lost, let's find this tree where you have promised me." She approached towards me. "Alfred Johns, you can be Belenus, the god of sun and I can be Nantosuelta, god of earth. Without you, I wouldn't be able to live or survive."
-End of Flashback-
"You said I could be the sun and you'd be the nature." Alfred's voice shook. "Tell me Alice, what's the point of this sun if there is nothing to look forward to?" His knees collapsed. Deepen within the hysteria sorrows and compressed emotion, after a long time, Alfred finally shed his emotion in diamond forms. Little by little the diamond formed, moulding the soil beneath. There was no noise but a sobbing adult in the middle of a forest. "I'm lost without you so come here and find me Alice." His voice lost in his heavy breath. "Come and find me."
A hand came through, marking its territory on top of the American's shoulder. Alfred could feel the familiarity of the touch. The same touch he has been eager for 18 years. The same touch he was so devastated for. He grabbed hold of the hand. With a quick smile he turned over but it soon faded away. The hand that gripped let go.
"What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same old fart. What are you doing here?" Arthur noticed the diamonds jewels flowing through his chin. "Are you crying? "
"Wha-" Without leaving any words to come out, Arthur rubbed Alfred's cheek. "What are you doing? "
"I don't know who you are; I would careless who you are but since you saved me from the darkness yesterday, I want to help you get out from this darkness by cleaning this precious diamonds from this healthy skin for an old man." Arthur continued rubbing the tears. Alfred perplexed from this confusion as he stayed still. Alfred confused himself on why wasn't he mad? Why is he still so calm in this embarrassing situation? What was in Arthur that made him not lose him temper? "Don't worry, I won't ask you why you are crying or tell anyone that you were crying." With those words, Alfred embraced Arthur. Whom Alfred is so anguish for is so close yet so far away.
Thumb Thumb
The warm fuzzy feeling inside Arthur's heart grew louder and faster as each pace of heartbeat grew. What was this sensation? Was it his soul or was it his body that was feeling this? Arthur narrowed his eyes, grasping into the shoulder into an embrace.
/ Note
Chamomile = Chamomile tea can be used as a medicine for dehydration
Belenus* = Celtic god of sun
Nantosuelta = Celtic god of nature/earth
Please leave some comments. Fish needs water to survive. Anyway for my next chapter I want to do love songs so does anyone know traditional Italian wedding? If you do then please PM me. Anyway, enjoy