The castle

This idea was starting to seem more and more like a bad one, with Alfred leaving and taking Feliciano with him (really what was he thinking), the blame seemed to be completely falling on him, and he was completely innocent in everything that had just happened, he was actually starting to get annoyed with it all. Though, he thought some explanation of what happened before was deserved.

“ After we left, we were attacked by someone, no idea who he was, he had this strange object with him, and we spent most of the time trying to figure out what it was, but no luck!” At the word ‘this’ he took the glass, sphere object out of his cloak pocket, the golden casing with the intricate, unknown writing on it, was still gleaming. Though it wasn’t warm anymore. “Perhaps, one of you recognize what it might be?”

After that, was the part of the story when the guilt started to build, and his speech started to turn into a jumble of words, where only certain words and sentences were recognized, like ‘Spell gone wrong’ and ‘maybe that kiss shouldn’t have happened’, his face turning red a little at that point. Uncertainty, he hated it “I was an idiot and he every right to be mad at me, but I will put it right … somehow!”

Gilbert groaned as he rolled over and sat himself up slowly. He winced as he pulled his shirt over his shoulder to see the second lump where there should have been only one.

The laugh was rough and cynical, but it still held some humor. “I’m having a fucking good day.” He turned where he was sitting and looked at his brother. “Uh West? Can you pop the shoulder back into place?” He grinned stupidly. “Please?”

Ludwig's frustration was getting to him. The more stalling that took place, the further Alfred got with Feliciano.

With absolutely no idea of where to go, Arthur looked to the other king in thought. He looked frustrated, and dangerously close to doing something stupid. What was the use of doing something unnecessary? Alfred being cause of all his frustration.. Alfred. What made him change so dramatically? Then a thought, an idea of how to find both of them, came to him.

“ I have a rough idea of where we may begin to start. Alfred and I, we found a book that refers to the writing on this thing” He held it up so the writing could be seen clearer, “It mentions that it is believed the people who use this language come from a legendary city within a mountain. Though, it is just that… a legend. No location is known. But I m pretty sure Alfred would have seen this as well, and if the language exists, then the place must also exist as well don’t you think?”

Gilbert fished into his pocket to grab the first thing he found--his flask. Then he bit down on the narrow end as his younger brother popped his shoulder back into place. He groaned loudly as he felt the joint return to normal. He let his jaw go slack for just a moment and the flask fell into his lap.

"Ugh...thanks West." He rotated the shoulder gently then stopped. He could see himself clearly. He was no longer invisible. He glanced down to his finger tips. This must have just happened, because he had been invisible while grabbing for the young prince.

Gilbert shook his head and unscrewed the top of the flask. He took several heavy swallows from the mouth, then closed the metal container and returned it to his inner coat pocket. He sighed as he felt his cheeks warm and his pain recede.

He was so relaxed he barely noticed the new person in the room. Some messenger. How'd he get past the guards? "Hey, how the fuck you get past the guards?" He mumbled too low for most to hear him.

He stood up and walked over to the new male, swiftly grabbing the note from him. "What's this? I've got family liquid." He grumbled as he looked at the words on the page.

[ shit sry guys. *g-modes like a bitch* 8D ]

Sretya whirled around at the smell of another dragon. She raced through the halls following the smell, nearly unseating her rider. The dragon burst into the hall in time to see the other dragon take off. She was completely miffed no, insulted! How could he (is it a he?) not smell her! She was a viable female! Her scales turned a fiery red and she snorted looking around the hall. Most of the humans were accounted for, except for the small one that fed him. Maybe he died. That was a shame.

Sretya focused in on the shattered window. Maybe he went out that way...If she followed him now there maybe she could catch up with him....

[ sorry again ]

He saw Ivan and his dragon heading for the window and thought there was hope finally. She was a dragon, a bright one at that. He quickly changed his form back, frustrated by the slow, bipedal human form, the one that hadn't been quick enough to protect Feliciano.

He turned to his uncle and bowed his head slightly before approaching Ivan's dragon. "Please ... can you lead me to him."

Sretya sniffed the human for a moment before turning her attention back to the window. She supposed he could tag along...

"Ah, yes. She is going to go after him anyvay if I am hearing her correctly...You need to hurry up though. She is not going to wait long...."
Ivan patted his mounts head and sighed. She was such a whore female.

Another appearance, the man from the inn with the dragon. Shame he hadn't been here earlier, he would be much more helpful at that time. It was clear from that moment that he was going to go after Alfred, and Ludwig was going to follow. So the group was going to split up?

"If I may, before you take off!" He said, trying to catch their attention before they disappeared, "Shouldn't there be some form of a plan? Clearly, there are some people here who travel by air and some who can not. I realize you probably don't care but irrational thinking..!" He wanted to find Alfred and Feliciano as well, but irrational thinking would get them no where.

"You can fly with me. We'll make our way there and can talk out strategies along the way. We can't wait here much longer," Ludwig said. He hated the idea of letting the king fly with him. That was where Feliciano should have been, not the king.

"Matthew, Gilbert, can you fly together again?" He hoped his brother was up to it. Otherwise, they might need to leave them behind.

He lowered one of his wings and eyed the king warily. He needed to be on his way and he needed to find Feliciano as quickly as humanly possible.

Gilbert nodded to his brother. "Yeah I can fly the human." He looked sideways at Matthew, then turned his attention back to his brother.

"Uh...Ludwig. I need to speak with you soon." His tone was quiet as he scratched his brother's furred shoulders. "I heard what you called the young prince when he was taken. I--" He winced. "We need to talk about this once we have him back safely, and before you do anything rash."

Arthur returned the wary look, it appeared both of them were uncomfortable with this. But to find Feliciano and Alfred, it was necessary... he would have to walk otherwise and no way was he being left behind to walk to god knows where. He waited while the two brothers exchanged brief words before he approached, he didn't wish to interrupt.

He gave the griffin a stiff nod. "Right, we should leave as soon as possible", he moved to climb on his back. "Let me know if I do anything to agitate you okay?" He wasn't sure how he was supposed to hold on, so just sat awkwardly as they waited for when Matthew and Ludwig's brother were ready to go.

"If this goes as planned, we won't have to do this again hopefully!" He half joked to the griffin king.

Ludwig gave a quick nod to his brother. Though he seriously hoped this wasn't his way of telling him he needed the sex talk. He knew the workings of it, and claiming a mate. He didn't particularly want to go over that with his brother. Especially at the moment.

Ludwig lowered his wing and allowed Arthur to climb on. "Hold onto my neck if you need to. Mind not to pull the feathers. They will pull out, and neither of us want that."

He tried to ignore the bristling within himself as he felt the other man on his back. It didn't feel anything like when Feliciano rode him earlier. That had felt right and wonderful, but this ... it felt wrong and awkward, and he assumed it would have even without his suspicion of the other king.

Ludwig looked to the dragon and waited for her to take off. She was his only hope at this point. His skills at tracking would do no good in the air.

Gilbert was about to offer to fly the king if it made Ludwig more comfortable to fly with Matthew, but he decided his brother would probably be ill at ease with any human but Feliciano right now. He nodded in return to his brother and once more patted his shoulder with affection. He turned and walked far enough from the other griffin so that he could transform into his true form as well with enough room for decent wing span.

Looking back to the blond human he'd flow with previously, he wondered if he could safely carry him. He did a quick check of his body and figured he could unless something highly unexpected occurred. He didn't normally pass out often, so he figured he'd met his quota for the day.

His hands had settled down on the soft feathers, when Ludwig had specifically asked him not to pull them. “Right, no pulling on the feathers. Understood!” What to do if he needed to hold on? Well, he guessed he would decide that if he needed to, how bad could flying be really? For now, his hands settled on his own legs, as watched as Gilbert pat his sibling on the shoulder before turning and walking a good distance away.

He shifted again uncomfortably, why he was feeling such, he wasn’t sure. Maybe because he could feel how awkward Ludwig was, instead Arthur thought of more comforting things like home. Home was always a comforting thought, now memories of being dragged through Rothenburg Town Centre by a hyperactive blonde seemed to slipping is as well.

Shaking his head, he looked over to Ludwig’s brother again, who seemed to be assessing his own wounds. “Is he going to be alright to fly like that?”

Matthew hoped that they’d be able to find Alfred and Feliciano as soon as possible, even though it’d most likely be impossible to pursue and catch up to the dragon. He’d like to think that his brother wouldn’t do anything to hurt Feliciano, but that was too much to ask for. Given recent events, it would be an understatement to say that Alfred wasn’t acting like his usual self.

Then again, it had been ages since he’d last seen him, so for all he knew, the change could have occurred some time before and Matthew just hadn’t noticed. And if so, he should have noticed. But again, there was no use in blaming others now; there were much more important things to worry about—

—like not falling out of the sky. By now, Gilbert looked a little worse for wear and the last thing either of them needed was a repeat of the ending of their first flight. But Matthew figured that the griffin knew his own limitations and if he said he was fine enough, Matthew would take his word for it.

"We can ... stop if we need to, to let him recover." That came out just a bit begrudgingly. He didn't like the idea, but he didn't want to risk his brother as well as Feliciano. The thought of Feliciano possibly suffering right now brought an ache to his chest.

"You will be okay, bruder?" he asked to make sure.

He tried to adjust to Arthur's weight atop him. He could almost feel the other man's awkwardness. "Wrap your arms around my neck or grab the fur. If the feathers pull out, it hurts and offers you no real grip." Amazingly enough, Feliciano had found no trouble with doing that.

He glanced to Ivan and his dragon to see when she would be ready to to lead the way.

Ivan stopped looking through the saddle bags strapped to his dragons flank having pulled out a wicked looking knife. He tossed the one in his sheathe aside replacing it with the new one.

"If you all are ready...." He patted the agitated dragons neck and she snorted spreading her wings for flight. She took off with a beat of her wings, shooting out of the open window. Sretya circled the castle waiting her her humans companions, the other dragons sent fresh in the air.

Gilbert rolled his eyes and stretched out his wings. "I'll make it. We need to hurry to catch up to Feli befor anything may happen to him." He shook his head. The prince clearly couldn't take care of himself and the crazed young human who had taken seemed...rather large.

He looked to Ivan. Not as big as him though. He suspected that the large man could be a real asset in a fist fight.

Gilbert nodded, indicating that he was ready.

Arthur watched as the second dragon flew through the broken window. Finally, they were on their way to find Alfred and Feliciano, to get to the bottom of all this nonsense. To finally get Alfred back to his normal self and finally bury all this talk of war.

With renewed determination, he wrapped his cloak around himself then leaned forward to wrap his arms around the neck of the griffin. Now was not the time to be awkward.

"Ready when you are!"

Ludwig nodded and leaped through the window after Ivan. He had his uncle's permission to go on to find Feliciano, so he did not send a glance back, instead focusing on the weaving body of the dragon ahead of them.

He could feel Arthur's arms around his neck, and he found his body rebelled less at the man's touch than he'd expected it would.

Matthew climbed on Gilbert’s back and focused on remembering what he had done the first time he had flown with him, partly because it would be helpful but also because it kept him from many much more troublesome thoughts he’d rather not entertain.

He’d just settle for telling himself that things would turn out alright, though it was rather vague, and he couldn’t shake the doubt that something would go wrong. There were so many things that could go wrong, after all.

(Completely forgot about this, my bad, I've been a bit spacey lately. After this, I’ll move to the other thread.)

Gilbert took a deep breath in, feeling the young man's legs around his ribs. With a nod, the white brother took off after his younger sibling.

(I'll be en route)