Croatoan [continuation from Part III]
anonymous
April 17 2009, 01:10:57 UTC
Since there are fifteen posts left on Part III, and I don't want to collapse commenting any more than I have, I've decided to finish the fill for this over here. I hope that's all right with you, mods.
Re: Croatoan [68]
anonymous
April 21 2009, 21:45:09 UTC
Alfred freezes as that hand pries his own from the sword, grabs his shoulders, and turns his body around to face him.
Alfred stares down into green eyes and a cocky smile.
“There we go. That’s better.”
“Arthur,” Alfred whispers, treating the name like a porcelain figurine. “But…but I…”
I killed you I ran you through with a fucking sword you should be
Arthur takes one of Alfred’s hands and presses it to his stomach. There’s a cut in his hoodie, but beneath that, Alfred feels warm, whole, dry flesh.
“I’m just fine,” Arthur says with a grin. “And so are you.”
“How…”
“Shh.” Arthur presses a finger to Alfred’s lips. “You told me one night in a field that ‘Everything is going to be all right.’ I believe you, Alfred. I want you to believe yourself
( ... )
Re: Croatoan [69]
anonymous
April 21 2009, 22:27:11 UTC
“Heh…I guess this isn’t so bad,” Arthur murmurs, bowing his head against Alfred’s and closing his eyes. “If I have to die anywhere -” He gulps down a breath; it’s getting hard to breathe, “ - it’s all right if I’m with you.”
Arthur closes his eyes and waits for the world to end.
“Arthur.”
Arthur’s eyes flutter open; he sees a small hand held out to him in the darkness.
“Ariel…?” Arthur asks. But it isn’t, he knows it isn’t. Ariel doesn’t have that feminine a voice, and his hand is much smaller than this one. And his skin might be pale, but he can’t see through it -”
“Arthur, it’s time for us to go home.”
Arthur’s eyes widen; he recognizes the voice. He lifts a trembling hand and stretches it out. The entire figure solidifies for a split second; he sees it for the last few seconds he’s awake.
“Virginia,” he whispers.
Then Arthur blacks out. ___
“Arthur!Kiku shouts, one last time, and then gives into wheezing. He looks around wildly and discovers that he’s in the same area he was before; the area where Arthur and he
( ... )
Re: Croatoan [69]
anonymous
April 21 2009, 22:35:19 UTC
*worships* Oh writer-non. You RULE. You rule like King Arthur who was named for Arthur ruled Arthur. England. I loved that part, by the way, of his being the namesake BUT not the king, and HE didn't throw the sheathe away. And may I say that I love, love, love the image of Alfred all curled up and babbling to Arthur, and that there WERE side-effects, a lasting effect, from his year as Caliban, and Matthew's running to his brother, and OH, writer-non, I love you.
Re: Croatoan [69]
anonymous
April 21 2009, 23:00:33 UTC
The fact that Arthur didn't throw the sheath away saved his life, most likely. Arthurian legend has it that as long as one has the scabbard, their wounds won't bleed, and they'll heal.
Re: Croatoan [70]
anonymous
April 21 2009, 22:59:19 UTC
“…I see.”
“Do you have something you want to say to him?” Arthur takes a seat at the table, taking a sip of his green tea.
“…nothing in particular. I just…wanted to see if he was okay.”
“If you define ‘okay’ as not eating anything, staring vacantly at the ceiling, waking up sobbing in the middle of the night and breaking out into violent and terrified episodes, then he’s just dandy.”
“….”
“…I’m sorry, Kiku. That was rude of me.”
“No, it’s fine. It was a stupid question, anyway. He went through a traumatic experience. I’d be surprised if he reacted any other way, actually.”
“Yeah, but Alfred’s not usually one to take so long to recover.” Arthur props his chin up on his hand and looks at Alfred’s bedroom.
“Physical wounds are one thing; mental and emotional scars take much longer. It’s only been three weeks.”
“Right,” Arthur says, but his fingers scratch against the table.
“…I’m just curious. Do you still have the bag of herbs I gave you?”
“Eh? You mean the one with leaves in it? Yeah, I still have it. Why?”
Re: Croatoan [71]
anonymous
April 21 2009, 23:30:27 UTC
Ariel hesitates a moment, then sighs and gives in.
“You still have that satchel of leaves, right?” Arthur nods. “Those leaves come from the sarpagandha plant. Brew a tea from its leaves, and give it to him to drink.”
Arthur laughs, feeling the tension drain out of him. “Is that all?”
His laugther fades when Ariel shakes his head, looking troubled. “Ariel…?”
“Arthur. You are pure enough to see fairies and unicorns. But that is because you have not yet…known anyone.” Ariel’s eyes lift to look into Arthur’s. “Only maidens can see unicorns.”
Ariel pauses there. It takes a moment for it to sink in.
“You mean…I…no. No“The choice is yours to make,” Ariel says. “To save him, you must tear the bonds that hold him asunder; in doing so, you’ll do that to yourself
( ... )
Re: Croatoan [FINAL+ Writernon's comments]
anonymous
April 22 2009, 00:18:09 UTC
Alfred grins when they part again, and he gets out of bed, walking over to the closet to fetch a robe. “You mind hamburgers for breakfast today?”
“Whatever you want,” Arthur says. “Just for today.”
Alfred pauses, his hands on the tie, and smiles. “All right. I’ll see you in the kitchen.” Alfred walks out, closing the door behind him with a gentle click.
Only then does Arthur curl in on himself and let the happy tears fall.
Alfred. My Alfred is back.
He hears humming in the kitchen and something sizzling, and he lifts his head and smiles.
“You were worth the sacrifice.” ________________
Epilogue May, 2009Alfred walks a little bit behind Arthur, watching him throw stones into the sea
( ... )
Re: Croatoan [FINAL+ Writernon's comments]
anonymous
April 22 2009, 02:39:27 UTC
I've been following this piece since you started it. This is the best work the meme has produced yet. I absolutely adore it. I'm looking forward to seeing you de-anon and continue Kiku's story.
Thank you. Hearing that means a lot to me, because at parts I felt as though I was losing this story, and that people weren't reading it because it was too long, or I was doing something wrong. But I was honestly having too much fun to care, and I wanted to finish this for the OP. I don't write for the comments, though they do help me to gauge where I am; I write because I enjoy telling a story.
I'll look forward to seeing you when I de-anon as well. Thank you for commenting.
Re: Croatoan [FINAL+ Writernon's comments]
anonymous
April 22 2009, 02:44:11 UTC
So much love for this fill <3 Thank you so much for carrying out to the very end and I'll look forward to the continuation of Kiku and Heracles' story!
Re: Croatoan [FINAL+ Writernon's comments]
anonymous
April 22 2009, 03:00:06 UTC
I have to agree with the above--this is the best thing that's come out of this meme. Epic, anon, epic! I couldn't wait to see what you'd pull in next, and it flowed together so well and it was wonderful and ::happy sigh::
I always checked this twice a day since I found it, and there was always something new, which is so awesome I cannot express it without flailing ::flails::
I'm also looking forward to seeing this once you de-anon, and I'm really looking forward to Kiku's story!
I basically write while I have inspiration. If I had stopped for even one day, I don't know if I would have started up again. I'm still working out Kiku's story, actually - all I have is how it begins - I'm still not sure where to go from there.
Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting! I'm glad you enjoyed this. I had great fun writing it.
The original prompt and previous parts are here: http://hetalia-kink.livejournal.com/4567.html?thread=6574551#t6574551.
A-and so that this post isn't entirely a waste, I did a quick sketch of the concept art I had for Alfred as Caliban.
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...the girdle? The sheathe? That's part of Arthurian legend, right?
Eagerly awaiting.
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Alfred stares down into green eyes and a cocky smile.
“There we go. That’s better.”
“Arthur,” Alfred whispers, treating the name like a porcelain figurine. “But…but I…”
I killed you I ran you through with a fucking sword you should be
Arthur takes one of Alfred’s hands and presses it to his stomach. There’s a cut in his hoodie, but beneath that, Alfred feels warm, whole, dry flesh.
“I’m just fine,” Arthur says with a grin. “And so are you.”
“How…”
“Shh.” Arthur presses a finger to Alfred’s lips. “You told me one night in a field that ‘Everything is going to be all right.’ I believe you, Alfred. I want you to believe yourself ( ... )
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Arthur closes his eyes and waits for the world to end.
“Arthur.”
Arthur’s eyes flutter open; he sees a small hand held out to him in the darkness.
“Ariel…?” Arthur asks. But it isn’t, he knows it isn’t. Ariel doesn’t have that feminine a voice, and his hand is much smaller than this one. And his skin might be pale, but he can’t see through it -”
“Arthur, it’s time for us to go home.”
Arthur’s eyes widen; he recognizes the voice. He lifts a trembling hand and stretches it out. The entire figure solidifies for a split second; he sees it for the last few seconds he’s awake.
“Virginia,” he whispers.
Then Arthur blacks out.
___
“Arthur!Kiku shouts, one last time, and then gives into wheezing. He looks around wildly and discovers that he’s in the same area he was before; the area where Arthur and he ( ... )
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I'm very glad that you are enjoying this.
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“Do you have something you want to say to him?” Arthur takes a seat at the table, taking a sip of his green tea.
“…nothing in particular. I just…wanted to see if he was okay.”
“If you define ‘okay’ as not eating anything, staring vacantly at the ceiling, waking up sobbing in the middle of the night and breaking out into violent and terrified episodes, then he’s just dandy.”
“….”
“…I’m sorry, Kiku. That was rude of me.”
“No, it’s fine. It was a stupid question, anyway. He went through a traumatic experience. I’d be surprised if he reacted any other way, actually.”
“Yeah, but Alfred’s not usually one to take so long to recover.” Arthur props his chin up on his hand and looks at Alfred’s bedroom.
“Physical wounds are one thing; mental and emotional scars take much longer. It’s only been three weeks.”
“Right,” Arthur says, but his fingers scratch against the table.
“…I’m just curious. Do you still have the bag of herbs I gave you?”
“Eh? You mean the one with leaves in it? Yeah, I still have it. Why?”
“I ( ... )
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“You still have that satchel of leaves, right?” Arthur nods. “Those leaves come from the sarpagandha plant. Brew a tea from its leaves, and give it to him to drink.”
Arthur laughs, feeling the tension drain out of him. “Is that all?”
His laugther fades when Ariel shakes his head, looking troubled. “Ariel…?”
“Arthur. You are pure enough to see fairies and unicorns. But that is because you have not yet…known anyone.” Ariel’s eyes lift to look into Arthur’s. “Only maidens can see unicorns.”
Ariel pauses there. It takes a moment for it to sink in.
“You mean…I…no. No“The choice is yours to make,” Ariel says. “To save him, you must tear the bonds that hold him asunder; in doing so, you’ll do that to yourself ( ... )
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“Whatever you want,” Arthur says. “Just for today.”
Alfred pauses, his hands on the tie, and smiles. “All right. I’ll see you in the kitchen.” Alfred walks out, closing the door behind him with a gentle click.
Only then does Arthur curl in on himself and let the happy tears fall.
Alfred. My Alfred is back.
He hears humming in the kitchen and something sizzling, and he lifts his head and smiles.
“You were worth the sacrifice.”
________________
Epilogue
May, 2009Alfred walks a little bit behind Arthur, watching him throw stones into the sea ( ... )
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I'll look forward to seeing you when I de-anon as well. Thank you for commenting.
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I always checked this twice a day since I found it, and there was always something new, which is so awesome I cannot express it without flailing ::flails::
I'm also looking forward to seeing this once you de-anon, and I'm really looking forward to Kiku's story!
♥♥♥
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Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting! I'm glad you enjoyed this. I had great fun writing it.
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