The England Experiment

Painful memories

Oliver tapped his pen on his desk.

"You aren't getting anywhere."

"I might be, soon..."

"I don't want soon, Oliver, I want now. We don't have time for things to go slowly at this rate."

"I'll try somthing different on him, I have an idea..."

"Good. I trust you won't need, convincing, to do whatever it takes on him?"

"Of course not."

He shuddered at the thought of Luciano's sweet but threatening voice that dripped like poisonous honey.
He sighed, sitting up and reaching forward, his delicate fingers closing around the syringe. He stared at it, infusing a bit of magic into it. The black coloured magic swirled into the clear liquid. His blue eyes were dark with thought.

Whatever it takes, I suppose.

____________________________________

Arthur came down the stairs the following morning, yawning as he walked into the kitchen. He was hardly surprised to see Feleciano sitting at the island, hanging onto Ludwig's arm.

"Ciao, Arthur!" He said, his honey like voice announcing his arrival. His curl bounced when he smiled as the Brit grumbled in response. Arthur flicked his gaze towards the clock on the wall. 10:43. He sighed and sat down, grabbing a mug of coffee.

Another late morning.

It was becoming increasingly frequent for him to sleep in now, unlike his usual scheduled self. To many nights not being able to sleep until 12, only to wake up at 2 am in a cold sweat.

He fumbled with the waistcoat he had left on the floor after drinking some coffee, trying to pull it over his white shirt. Feliciano spoke up after watching him.

"Hey, Arthur~ where did you get those bruises on your chest?" Feliciano's caramel eyes had spotted the ripples of purple bruises underneath the thin-ish material of the crisp white shirt.

"Oh." Arthur said, buttoning up the waistcoat over them. "I get those during the experiments Oliver conducts."

There was a quiet but collective gasp around the room. Gilbert whispered,
"He beats you?"

"No no, its actually my own magic that injures me. It's so that the mental strain isnt too much, whatever pain overflows gives a small backlash on my own body. It's nothing to worry about really." Arthur said nonchalantly, buttering some toast.

Ludwig flicked a concerned gaze to Gilbert. Arthur took a large bite of toast, then placed it back on his plate. He plucked up his coffee mug and stood up, swivling towards the door.

"I'm going to get some work done before I have to go."

Feliciano grabbed forwards and held Arthur's sleeve. "But you hardly ate anything..."

Arthur gave the Italian a small smile. "Its ok I'm not hungry." He tugged his sleeve away and walked to the living room, where the paperwork sat on the desk.

That's becoming a little too frequent too.

__________________________________

It was often like this. Arthur had work imported to the cottage from England every other day. He said he needed to keep busy when Ludwig had suggested he rests. He had said he needed to be distracted. Ludwig had indeed noticed that whenever the Brit just sat down, he would fidget, or get a glazed expression in his eyes; and was surprised how much Arthur could get done when he was focused. Which, when doing paperwork, managed to be all the time.