Chapter 9
Dirigible
Alfred bounced on his heels, waiting for the Prince and their special date after winning the games. A soft but cold wind blew against his face while he stood on the green meadow behind the palace and the garden. A dirigible floated above the greenery just mere feet, a metal bronze pod longer than three cars hung on an even longer and larger red balloon. As much as Alfred was excited to fly on a dirigible for the first time, he couldn't stop thinking about a plan to get the Prince's hair. This date could be his only chance to get close to him and he was nervous about it.
After some minutes the Prince came, driven in a car. When he stepped out with his chaperone, Alfred put on his best smile but that wasn't too difficult in Arthur's presence.
"You're in a good mood," Arthur noted.
"Of course I am. I can spend the day with you." And get his hair to join a cult, Alfred added in his head.
The Captain of the ship came to them and introduced himself. Alfred thought his long mustache going upwards at the tip was hilarious but even with his hilarious mustache and his shorter statue, he looked very much posh in his dark blue military uniform and his hat. He introduced his co-pilot Carlos, a dark skinned man with long braided hair and a more round body who looked funny at Alfred and nudged the Captain who brushed him off and introduced the third pilot who had catched Alfred's attention when they came.
"And that is our apprentice and military student, Matthew Williams," the Captain introduced him.
Carlos chuckled and took Matthew under his arm. "I told you they look alike," he told the Captain who rolled his eyes. "I've seen sir Taylor in the newspaper and thought how incredibly similar they looked. I needed them to meet."
Alfred stared at the look alike in front of him. Matthew had the same eye color and the same hair color, only a bit shorter. Matthew looked as young as him and stood as tall as him. "You look like me," Alfred said, baffled.
"Stand here." Carlos pushed Matthew beside Alfred and chuckled while Matthew smiled at Alfred with a small and shy smile.
"This is frightening," Arthur said. "You might be related."
Alfred looked him up and down and noticed the number 8 on his neck and thought how amazing it would be if they were related in some way, it would make his problems disappear. "How old are you?"
"I'm 19." A rather small voice escaped from him and Alfred wanted to scream he's 19 too but Alan isn't 19 he's 25.
"Have you always been a CN8?"
"I do. My family has always been in the upper class living in Tholus, and yours?"
"Mine has always been... on level 5." There it goes, his hope of having a rich cousin. His family has always lived in the subcity of Rovice and there was no way one of his ancestors was able to travel to another town, and he doubted that Matthew's rich family would have met his.
"You might not be related but you're each other's doppelganger," Arthur said. "Also, looking closely, one can see some differences between the two of you."
"Your noses are different," Carlos said and before he could say another difference, the Captain told them they should catch a good time to depart as long as the wind isn't too strong.
They were led onto the dirigible which had three levels, they stayed on the second one in a room laid out with a carpet, fancy tables, chairs and a lot of plants and flowers. The windows were large and stretched from the bottom to the top of the level. Everything looked relatively new and they sat on a bench beside the window looking out when the dirigible started its motor and flew upwards.
It was a strange feeling to fly upwards and it felt as if he was losing his balance although he was seated. This reminded him of the high skywalks in the subcity but it was different than just standing on a bridge which was connected to two buildings who stood strongly on the ground. This was flying and they didn't touch the ground at all. It was amazing to look down and watch the buildings and the people get smaller like toys, while he was high above reaching the clouds.
The bench faced the window with a gap between for legs and Alfred looked over at Arthur and his hair. It was combed back as always and a short red top hat was on his head which matched his suit. There was no hair laying around his shoulders neither on his ruffled sleeves that came out of his suit or on the white bow around his neck. No hair on his brown striped trousers or brown knee high boots. He sat there perfectly neat and clean with golden rings and earrings like a well kept doll. He couldn't say that about himself with his brown coat, vest and trousers, a simple red shirt and a white tie.
It never bothered him to look filthy or bad with his torn clothes but he started to understand how much a person can change just by getting new and better clothing. He felt it inside him too, when he first put on the fancy banquet suit. It wasn't him and it wasn't Alan, it was someone completely new who stood in the palace, a person inside him he never got to know before.
Arthur noticed him staring. "Are you impressed by the view?" he asked to get Alfred to stare at the window instead.
Alfred didn't notice that he stared and blinked when Arthur asked him. "Oh, um.. I guess I am. You are quite pretty."
"I meant the landscape," Arthur said.
"Oh!" Alfred chuckled awkwardly and rubbed his copper arm and looked out of the window. In the corner of his eye he saw the chaperone shaking her head. "Yeah, that's pretty too."
"Do you want some sweets?" Arthur asked and gestured to the servant who put out some biscuits and mini cakes with tea on a table, and Alfred nodded.
They sat and drank while talking and looking out of the window with a view on the mountains, and Alfred understood why it was a special date. It was longer and more exciting to get to know each other above the ground. But after a while, the room got darker, rain droplets ran down the windows and the view of the mountains vanished. Co-pilot Carlos came to them and told them there's a storm cloud ahead but they don't need to worry and they'll try to get out of it, but something inside Alfred told him that this might not be true and a worrying feeling settled in his stomach.
"Are you nervous about the storm?" Arthur asked who noticed the concerned face of Alfred's.
"Hm?" Alfred's thoughts were with the ship and how safe it was during a storm. The buildings in his town would sway and shake when a storm would hit them and they were big, bigger than a small ship in the sky.
"These are professional military pilots. I promise you, we're in good hands, Alan," Arthur said.
The ship shook when the wind picked up and blew through the pipes of the dirigible. Light flashed outside followed by a loud thunder, and Alfred could swear the lighting was close to them. "What if we get hit?"
"It's a new model, the lightning gets redirected and no one will be harmed," Arthur explained. "I'm positive we'll be out of the storm cloud very soon."
Just when Alfred wanted to sit back trying to relax another lightning flashed but this time, through the dirigible shaking the pod and scaring everyone inside. The lights went off and it was silent for a second until Alfred let out a big breath and chuckled. "That was terrifying."
"I agree." Arthur joined Alfred in his nervous chuckle. "See, it didn't harm anyone."
Alfred loosened his tie and nodded, leaning against the chair. It was dark but there was enough light from outside to notice Arthur going from looking tense to him relaxing a little more as well. But their relieved state was shattered once more when Carlos and another worker walked past them. They didn't say anything but Alfred's bad feeling worsened. "I think something happened."
"Why do you think that? They probably want to turn on the lights again." Arthur tried to convince Alfred or probably himself.
Both were silent and both noticed the dirigible going down. "Is that normal?"
Arthur shook his head and both stood up and went to the Captain's pit with the chaperone following them there. To their surprise, the Captain's pit was in chaos unlike their pod. The Captain screamed something into a speaking processor while little lights were blinking around the control station. Strong rainfall fell against the window blocking the view, making them fall into a gray abyss. Matthew sat at the side pulling on levers, not paying attention to the newcomers in the small room.
"What happened?" Arthur asked and the Captain turned around to them in surprise.
"Your Highness! The roof broke down. The lightning was too strong."
"That's not too bad is it? It's only the roof, not the balloon."
The Captain put on a grimace. "The roof connected to the balloon is broken. We're falling!"
"Are we going to die?" Alfred asked and normally it'd be something negative but in his situation he'd take the death by crashing rather than execution although he'd like to live a little longer.
Arthur put his hand on his arm. "No, we're not. Right, Captain?"
The Captain pulled a triangle speaker attached to a thick metal cord down and asked his crew about the situation while lightning and thunder rumbled alongside another.
"The lightning broke the pumping maschine and it's pumping into the wrong direction. We'll try to fix it but we don't know how long we can withstand the gas. Mr. Hein is already laying flat." Carlos reported.
The Captain put the speaker away and yelled for Matthew to go higher and use the automatics. Alfred watched Matthew panic and try his best to find the right lever when suddenly another lightning struck right into the pit, shaking them and making the control lights blink even faster. With the strike, the inside of the roof broke down and massive gears and pipes fell down, one of them hit the Captain unconscious.
The chaperone ran out yelling, she'll get help but the moment she stepped out, the door behind her closed. Alfred tried to open it with all his strength but it wouldn't budge.
"This is a safety protocol," Matthew said from his place. "The door will open when we'll land."
"Or crash, that's more likely," Alfred said and stumbled when the dirigible leaned more forward with its pit to the ground.
Matthew swiftly moved to the Captain's chair and took a hold on the control stick trying to control the dirigible and make them fly upwards. But all he could do was to direct the dirigible to the right, making Arthur stumble over the pipes on the floor and fall against Alfred. Alfred tried to hold on to one of the four chairs in the room and Arthur who lost his hat and was pulling him down.
"Sorry," Matthew apologized rather quietly.
Arthur stood up and stepped away from Alfred only for Matthew to steer the dirigible to the left with a strong ruckus making Arthur stumble to the wall while Alfred fell to the floor.
"Do you even know how to fly it?" Arthur asked, irritated.
"No. They haven't teached me yet." Matthew trembled with his hands, his eyes fixated on the clouds outside waiting to see the ground.
"Me neither but it can't be different than an airship," Arthur muttered and looked around at the blinking lights and display panel while trying to hold on to the wall and balance his weight without falling forward.
When he found what he needed, he let go of the wall and stumbled past Alfred, who partially kneeled on the floor and held onto a chair. Arthur's target was a black button on the round ceiling. With one swift move he leaned on a chair and got on his toes to reach the button and pushed it.
The dirigible rumbled and shook while the button lit up and Matthew gasped. "The emergency wings!"
"Don't pull the control stick yet," Arthur said and Matthew let it go. The rain was heavy and the clouds parted when they fell right through them. The ship rumbled one moment more and Arthur held his hand up until the dirigible stopped opening the wings. "Now, pull!"
Matthew pulled the control stick to himself and the pit straightened up, bringing the ship back to a horizontal position. A laugh of relief escaped Alfred and he stood up. "We're flying again!"
"No, we're still falling," Arthur said and broke Alfred's hope. "Just slower."
A voice sounded from the speaker calling for Matthew and he pulled it down to him. "Matthew, I heard the Captain is hurt!"
"He is but I think he's alive." The Captain's head hung forward and shook when another lightning and thunder passed them.
"You made a good choice by opening the wings!" Carlos said and coughed.
"It wasn't me. It was the Prince."
"Oh. Good job Your Highness! We should turn back, we have a good chance of landing safely."
Arthur pulled the speaker from Matthew. "We're still falling. The wings won't bring us back safely, we have to land somewhere else."
"We don't have much time. The gas is spreading and we need you to be safe, we can't risk to land now. We don't know where we are. Matthew will bring you back!" Carlos coughed again and sounded worse than before.
"Do you think that's a good idea?" Matthew asked.
"They'll die if exposed too long to the gas." Alfred and Matthew looked both at Arthur for a solution. "Prince Arthur, what should we do?"
Panic flashed over Arthur's face for a second and the pressure of responsibility dawned on him.
In this moment Alfred understood what a King's and a Queen's responsibility was. Taking decisions no matter how hard they are, having to decide who's life is more worth saving. Not only on this airship but at wars and in the change of laws. Some people will have a good life thanks to the King and the others will suffer, all because the King decided who was worth saving - themselves or others.
"We're going to crash land," Arthur spoke and Carlos wanted to speak against it but Arthur turned the speaker off and let go of it, letting it jump back to its previous place. "We have to come out of the clouds and decide where to land, quickly."
Confidence replaced the panicked face of the Prince and a 'wow' slipped from Alfred's lips ever so quietly but loud enough for Arthur to acknowledge it. He didn't expect that change and he felt surprisingly attracted to it. He never saw an omega taking charge especially for something dangerous as crash landing and looking good while doing it. It was a different side to the Prince, not only the distant and calm one but a confident action taking one.
The clouds got thinner and thinner until they were able to make out the ground and realized they were too close to the mountains. In the distance Arthur noticed a flat mountain rise and he told Matthew to land on it, only to realize they're not gonna make it. The dirigible sank too low and would hit against the mountain side instead.
Arthur stepped back a little and looked around again. "The dirigible has a pumping mechanism, right?"
Matthew nodded and Arthur gazed over the floor until he found a lever with a door and told Alfred to help him push the gears and pipes away and lift it. They lifted it and exposed a hole and an under room where the machine worked.
"The machine is still rotating and if we'd get it to explode it'll give us more height."
"You want us to explode?" Alfred asked, shocked.
"I do." Arthur looked at him seriously. "I'll go inside."
Alfred held him back. "No, you don't. I'll do that."
"Alan, I don't know if this plan will work, I can't risk your life."
"I'm good with mechanics and you know it. If something goes wrong, well, it's just me who died." Alfred shrugged, pulled off his coat and jumped into the hole. It was only waist deep and he was about to squat when Arthur held him back when he spoke up.
"I don't think people who love you would agree with you."
Alfred just smiled at him and squatted down. He started crawling until he found the pumping machine. It stood in the floor and Alfred only made out the upper half while the other half was under the floor he laid on. It was tight but it was enough to work with. He opened a raft beside a pipe that was connected to the pumping machine and pulled out wires to attach them somewhere else until the pumping machine stopped and started to shake. He quickly crawled back out of the hole and jumped back to Arthur and Matthew, and closed the door just in time for the pumping machine to explode.
The dirigible jumped upwards at a high speed and Alfred held Arthur beside him. For a second they felt triumphed only for the ship to start falling again.
"We'll make it to the mountain but you have to hold on tight," Matthew said and the flat mountain with its forest came closer very fast.
Arthur jumped forwards and pushed a button on the ceiling again. Black window shields rolled down just in time when the dirigible hit the forest and the branches crashed through the window. One of the branches hit Arthur's hand making him cry out in pain and stumble backwards. Alfred rushed to him and covered his head, and quickly crouched down when the dirigible hit the ground.
-
The dirigible steamed between the trees while Matthew helped Carlos to get out of the ship to the others. Those who were awake helped others to get out of the dirigible and nurse them.
Alfred and Arthur sat on a fallen wet tree not too far away and the alpha held his hand and bound a bandage over it carefully.
There was worry in Arthur's eyes and Alfred held his hand gently with both of his when he was done. "Your Highness, do you feel unwell?"
"That's all my fault," he whispered.
"What do you mean? You saved us." Alfred leaned more forward, his legs steady on both sides of the tree.
"The radio signal is gone, we can't communicate with anyone."
"Unless Matthew finds a way to repair it."
Arthur shook his head. "I wanted to fly the dirigible today although the Captain had warned me about the storm clouds. Everyone could've died because of me and my decision."
"You can't control what's going to happen, my Prince," Alfred began and grazed with his thumb over his hand. "Mistakes can happen to all of us, we're just humans."
A breathy laugh escaped from Arthur and he pulled his hand away. "I can't afford to be just a human, Alan. I am the future Queen, people expect a lot from me and mistakes like that hurt my reputation even more and I... my reputation is already low enough."
"Why is it low? Because you're kind to others and give them second chances or because you've saved their lives?"
"Kind? Most people say I look rather mean."
Alfred chuckled. "You might look mean but on the inside you're kind. I don't know you for long but I see there's kindness in you that most people probably don't see. Today you have proven once more that you have it. You could've saved your own life by flying back but you told Matthew to crash and saved the others from the gas leak." Leaves and a thin branch hung in Arthur's hair and Alfred brushed over it to get them out. "I think you're amazing and you made the right decision, anyone who says something different is stupid. Queen or no Queen, you're still a human and so much more." Those words flowed out of Alfred without stopping and thinking and once more he was met with the forest in Arthur's eyes.
He pulled his hand back and grinned at him. Arthur looked down at his hands and brushed over the bandage avoiding Alfred's gaze.
Looking around the forest, he noticed how tall and cursive the trees were. Moss grew at every place and it smelled of mushrooms after the rain. "That's a beautiful forest."
"People say flat mountains were once trees and houses for fairies," Arthur said, featuring his knowledge of fairytales.
"You fit right in." Alfred grinned at him and got a small smile from Arthur.
"Me?"
"You look like a fairy." Alfred said and wasn't sure if the Prince's face got red or had been red from reflecting his suit.
Matthew ran up to them and told them the radio is repaired and soon the rescue will come. Arthur thanked him before Matthew went away to Carlos again.
"He's handsome isn't he," Alfred said and winked at Arthur who rolled his eyes while smiling.
-
It was a long wait for the rescue team but they got all safe back to the palace and Alfred finally came back to his room. Toris awaited him with a tray of sweets due to his long and dangerous day and Alfred laid on his comfort sofa and ate them.
He remembered Arthur and his confidence in the dirigible, his worries and his face. He remembered his soft hair and Alfred's eyes shot open and he sat up when it dawned on him that he had the perfect chance to get his hair but missed it. He was so close to Arthur, so close. How could he forget about this one crucial thing he needed but also, how could he remember when Arthur had looked at him with those forest green eyes.