Prince of Pride (Hetalia USUK)

Chapter Seven - I'm Getting Mixed Signals

Arthur Kirkland sat on the balcony, looking out at the morning sunrise. It was raining, the smell of the rain mixing with the smell of tea.
Arthur turned around to see Alfred, standing behind him with a cup of tea and a cup of coffee for himself.

"Hey, you okay?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Arthur took the tea from Alfred and took a sip. "Thanks."
"I don't know. You just seemed... Sad."
Arthur chuckled. "I'm not. I'm just... Thinking."
"Thinking about what?"
"What the bloody hell happened last night."

Alfred was quiet for a minute.
"Are you regretting what you did?"

Arthur looked at him, looked into his deep blue eyes. "I don't know. God, I don't know."
Alfred quivered, almost as if he was going to leap at Arthur any second.
Arthur looked at his tea, almost as if he was looking to it for guidance. Tea fixed everything, didn't it?

"I'm sorry." Alfred said.
"For what?"
"I don't know. I'm just sorry."

The two boys sat on the balcony and drank their beverages. Once again, they sat, not saying a word.

~~~~~Timeskip~~~~~

The king and queen, it turned out, had left for a vacation. Alfred seemed to be highly doubtful of this. "They're not vacationing. They've never relaxed in their entire lives. I guarantee they're out scouting for a bride for Mattie."
"But isn't Mattie too young to get married-" Arthur stammered.
"But he's not too young to be betrothed. I think they believe that I probably would have gone through with the marriage if I had known the girl for long enough, and they don't want to screw up again."
Alfred sighed.
"What if they disown me after they ensure Mattie will be able to have an heir? After all, my father thinks the prosperity of the kingdom comes from having a heir, because when you die you know your kingdom won't run into ruin without a king. At worst, it will run into ruin with a corrupt king and eventually tumble because of the problems with the social structure-"

"Oi! Calm down, Alfred. You're digging yourself into a pit of anxiety." Arthur told him. "You're really this worried about having an heir? In this day and age, you can always adopt if it comes down to it."
"It doesn't work like that. In order to be able to rule a kingdom, you must have the so-called 'blue blood', which I think is not only obnoxious with the 'Oh I'm better than you because I was born this way', but also downright stupid. Basically, you need at least one royal blood-parent to qualify as royalty. Stupid." Alfred scoffed.

"You always seemed so happy-go-lucky. Now you just seem... Scarred." Arthur said softly.
Alfred chuckled. "I am."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I can't tell you." Alfred said, and with that, he dropped the subject.

~~~~~Timeskip~~~~~

Alfred snuck off to the tracks later that afternoon, looking for peace and quiet. A place where he didn't have to worry.
He sat by the cliff, looking out on the lake.

"Alfred!" Arthur's voice called out.
Arthur emerged from the thick forest, obviously tired from running.
"My god Artie, can't you just leave me alone for a minute?"
"I'm sorry Alfred. I just was worri- Um... I didn't know where you'd gone."
"Well, now you know I'm here. Okay?" Alfred's tone was sharp and agitated. Arthur flinched.
"Alfred, did I do something wrong?" Arthur's forest green eyes flickered with worry.
"No. Yes. Ugh." Alfred grabbed at his hair. "It's hard to explain."
"Al... If I did something wrong, please tell me what I did. I can fix it."

Arthur stepped towards Alfred, and gently grabbed his wrist. Alfred's eyes widened in pure terror as he jerked away.

"Are you okay, Alfred?"
"No. No, I'm not okay."
"What's wrong?"
"I can't tell you!" He basically screamed. This is when Arthur realized for the first time, the scars on Alfred's wrists. They were delicate, thin white lines on the undersides of both wrists, cuts made by something sharp, like a knife.

"Alfred. There's nothing I won't understand. Please tell me what's wrong."
Alfred said nothing, but turned his back to Arthur.
Arthur sighed. "Please Al. Talk to me."
After ten minutes, Arthur reluctantly gave up and walked back across the train tracks. Just as he was, his foot got stuck under a broken plank of wood that jarred out and cut into his leg. He cried out in pain and surprise.

"Arthur?"
"Alfred! I can't move, my foot's stuck under this bloody piece of wood!" Just then, to Arthur's alarm, the sound of a train whistle could be heard in the distance.
"Oh my god, no."
Arthur struggled to get his leg free, panic increasing every second. "Alfred!" He screamed. Everything was blurry and he was starting to lose consciousness from blood loss.

I'm going to die here. I'll never see any of my brothers ever again, I'll never see Alfred again...

Just as the train tore around the corner, Arthur felt something slam into his body, breaking his leg free of the wood and picking him up bridal style. In his blurry haze, he could see Alfred's blue eyes and somewhat messy wheat coloured hair, as he faded out of consciousness and passed out in the prince's arms.