The castle within a mountain

Alfred's heart was shattered into pieces; to him it seemed to have happened so easily, as if his heart was made of fragile glass that would break at the slightest rough touch. How pathetic it was, to be miserable like this, only because of some rejection. The thing is, it was most likely the love of his life; heck the loving and obsession even started since he was merely a child.

He slowed down. Perhaps he was overreacting. He hardly gave Arthur the chance to communicate with him, like any civilised persons would do. Instead he decided to rush out crying like a girl. Alfred cast a hesitant glance back to the inn that was almost out of sight by now. “I should go back and apologise, shouldn’t I?”

“I’m afraid that you won’t go back to your precious king.”

Alfred spun around, startled by the sudden voice ringing behind him. Staring up he could see a woman floating in the air, seemingly seated on an invisible chair. She was eyeing him with great interest from above. Her hair reached past her shoulder in dark, heavy curls, framing her menacing features. The people around were eager to avoid this potentially dangerous situation and they soon dispersed, making the street nearly empty.

“Who are you?”

The unknown lady chuckled. Her feet touched the ground with a graceful movement. She stepped closer, invading his personal space. Alfred reached for his belt where his weapons were kept ready, but there was no belt.
Right. He ran out of the inn like a crying girl. Thus he had also left his weapons.

“I’m here to pick you up, honey. My boss is really eager to meet you. And since you seem to be free…and without company, I thought you might want to follow me,” she said sweetly.

Alfred frowned in response. “I don’t think I want to.”

“Correction. It’s not an invitation, but a…hmm…an abduction,” another chuckle, and it made him sick.

Without further warning he was touched by the woman and a jolt of pain assaulted his whole body until there was only a numb aching left. He lost all energy in his body, so he sunk down like a lifeless doll right into the arm of that unknown woman.

He awoke several times, and every time he knew less about himself. And every time he found himself surrounded and penetrated by wires and needles. They were buried deep into his skin.

The first time they forced a blue liquid down his throat, his very body and soul protested. After that he fell unconscious and he dreamt of Arthur.

The second time the same was done unto him, he felt his head being rearranged and it was as painful as the day before. He dreamt of Arthur, yet the image was covered by a white fog.

The third time his will power faded and left his body with a single tear escaping the corner of his eye and running down his cold cheek. The name Arthur was whispered, but his sleep was dreamless.

The fourth time, he was drinking it willingly, licking off the mouth of the vial, letting his tongue trail along the cool glass, so that he wouldn’t miss a single drop. His lips formed a small smile.

His superior loved him. He was a man who was always seated behind a green heavy curtain, reading the world map, calculating international relations, or sleeping with nameless women. Though there was nothing he loved more than Alfred. “My angel of destruction,” he would always call him with a fond voice. He told him stories about a prophecy pronouncing that there would be a boy born unto this world, a boy bringing great misfortune, but at the same time he was a blessing, for he would wipe the earth clean with the blood of mankind. That boy, in the words of the astrologers and war tacticians (his superior was technically a war tactician), was the accelerator of the worst case scenario.

To Alfred, all of that was bullshit. He didn’t care.

“Ever heard of war profiteering, Alfred?”

“Yes. Taking profit from warfare.”

“From magical weapon dealings for example, indeed.”

“Are you planning to do something in that direction, sir?”

His superior nodded. “Yes. But for war profiteering, there has to be a war, am I correct Alfred?”

Gaining money through subliminal weapon dealing was something the organisation was keen on, but Alfred had the feeling that his superior was only after the pleasure called bloodshed. Not that Alfred minded.

“Two kingdoms are already on a heated situation, the Rhynland and the Kingdom of the Sun, due to my men’s wonderful pulling of strings. I expect them to try to avoid the outbreak of war. So, I want you to secure the fatality…you’re my bringer of worst case scenario after all. Talk separately to their kings and persuade them.”

“As you wish,” Alfred was about to retreat and do exactly as ordered as he was held back by his superior’s disgusting hand.

“But we’re greedy. Alfred…I heard you were on close terms with the king of Woodland Realm.”

“…I wouldn’t call it close,” Alfred said in a slow tone.

“Don’t be modest. I want him to be involved in the war.”

Something about those words made his blood boil with a strange passion. Arthur involved in the mad game of blood, his body covered with the colour red…it was surely a beautiful sight. He would love to lick off the blood from his skin.

“I will see what I can do about it,” he said with a smile and he bowed.

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The dragon soared above a chain of mountains and slowed down as a green mountain came into their vision; it was hidden behind two higher and even wider mountains. There was a huge entrance to what it seemed a massive cave and Alfred’s dragon glided through the mouth of the cave. They flew further, deeper into the heart of the mountain. A light was slowly brightening the tunnel.

“We’re finally here,” Alfred said and nudged Feliciano’s side.

The dragon flapped its wings several times and suddenly the tunnel ended, revealing a breathtaking view before them. Within the mountain was a castle so huge, it was almost a city of its own. It was white and there were so many sharp towers attached to the castle. Two main wings seemed to be the most prominent parts of the castle beside the round building part that was taking up the space in the centre. The windows were high and slender, the doors wide and massive oak.

They landed on a platform near the main entrance of the castle. “What to do with you, my prince?” He asked with a smirk.

Yes, the plan had to be changed. Speaking to the monarchs separately proved itself to be impossible, so he just had to improvise. Why not take the prince of the kingdom of sun with him and let the Rhynland take the blame? The already tense situation would surely escalate. Leave it to the other members of the organisation to take care of the rest.

Feliciano had spent the whole journey shivering, crying and whining miserably, terrified of what was happening. Besides the fact that he had just being kidnapped - which wasn't something nice, to start with - that flight on Alfred's dragon was making him sick.

Riding on Ludwig's back had thrilled him, given hm a great sense of freedom, made him feel good. This flight, instead... The dragon flew through the wind like a snake, his body moving up and down, completely careless of its two passengers - even though Alfred didn't seem to be bothered.

Feliciano tried to keep his eyes shut closed - the incredible height they were flying at scared him to death, and strong gusts of freezing wind kept slapping him in the face - but he always felt like he was falling off, so he had to open them and look at the dragon to check if he still was on his back, with the only result of being more scared.
He ended up clinging to Alfred for dear life; even though the guy hadn't proven to be his friend, Feliciano still trusted him more than the dragon.

He opened his eyes again as he felt the light disappearing and found that they were flying in what seemed a huge cave. He moaned even louder, where was Alfred going to bring him?!
The the castle appeared, and the sight was so beautiful that even Feliciano stopped whining to just stare at it. The building was majestic, with high and lean towers standing over it. But as the dragon landed in front of the entrance, Feliciano realized there was no point in admiring the architecture. A fortified castle inside a neverending hole, deep in the mountains... he could have been already dead, for as much as the rest of the world knew.

He turned to Alfred, eyes still red with tears. He was pale, still shaking for the cold and the fear, and feeling like he was going to throw up from one moment to another.
He had no idea of what Alfred wanted from him, if he was connected to the warrior that had attacked him back in the forest, some days earlier. He only knew that he didn't want his life to end there, in that unknown and hidden place, far from his land and his friends.

"...p-please, d-don't kill me..." he moaned imploringly, pulling lightly the corner of Alfred's shirt he was holding.

Alfred took the prince by his waist and lifted him off of the dragon's back without much effort. He checked whether everything was still on its right place. Upon listening to Feliciano's plead for his life he couldn't help but chuckle. A heavy chain was being pulled out of Alfred's vest, he twined it around Feliciano's wrist and with a light click it was securely fastened. The other end was fixed around Alfred's wrist. "Don't worry, I won't let you die. You're a very important person after all," he said with a devious smirk. "But don't mind me for this little security measure."

The prince was tugged inside the castle.

It was a surprisingly bright interior with high ceilings and slender pillars all across the halls. They could practically see their own reflections on the polished marble floor. Once they even passed another room which seemed to be darker than the others; the massive doors were slightly opened, revealing different wires installed all over a large bed. A some kind of a laboratory appeared to be set up at one corner of the room; with many blue liquids bottled in small vials.

That was the place where Alfred was kept for what seemed like an eternity. Sometimes he was still sent over there to spend the night and everytime he couldn't remember what happened in there, or for how long he was away. He had a feeling that time was ticking with a different pace in that room.

"I'll take you to your room," he finally said. "And we'll see how to kill some time together, except you want someone else to guard you."

Feliciano sighed as he was dragged inside the castle. He wasn't happy to follow him, but was forced to stay by his side. Furthermore, even if his captivity was hateful, he was too scared to even wonder what could wait for him in the corridors and halls of that castle.

The fact that Alfred had told him that he wasn't going to "let him die" didn't reassure the prince at all. There were many other things that could happen to him in that place, he thought, and as they passed next to the strange room containing the bed and the creepy setup all around, a glance inside there made him believe that he didn't want to know what could wait for him there.

Of course he minded the chain that was tied around his wrist, it wasn't because he was tied to someone else, though - how could he run away from that place, all by his own, anyway? - but because the chain was cruelly heavy, and the cold steel rubbed roughly on his wrist's skin, which was already all red and sore.

"This chain hurts..." he whined from time to time, quietly but in a very miserable voice.

Eyes still teary, he kept turning back to the corridors they walked through, as he hoped to see his friends appearing behind them at any moments. Were they searching for him? M-maybe, they had managed somehow to follow Alfred's dragon and they were coming to rescue him... but nobody was in sight.

He shivered as Alfred mentioned the possibility of "killing time together", but no, Feliciano didn't want someone else to guard him. He had no idea of what creatures that scary castle could host, and although Alfred was still his enemy, at least he was a familiar face. Feliciano still desperately clung to the hope that Alfred was joking, or that, anyway, he didn't really hate him to the point of harming him too much.

Feliciano shook his head. "But the chain is still hurting..." he added promptly, looking down at his wrist miserably. Maybe once inside his... room or whatever it was, he could have it taken away?

He didn't respond to Feliciano's whining and chose to pull him around in silence. They reached a narrow corridor, Alfred sped up until they had come to a halt at the end of the corridor. Magic engulfed the entrance that led to the room at the end of the hallway; the magical flow was only interrupted at Alfred's touch. By doing that, a hole was formed in the middle of the magical barrier and they could pass to enter a small and plain room; it didn't show any signs of protection and appeared to be an ordinary place to sleep.

"This is where we will stay," Alfred finally said. There will be times where his superior would call him out to 'dote' him as it was routine these days. Alfred didn't enjoy these routines. "You better behave, prince. Let's make our time as enjoyable as possible, understood?"
He looked Feliciano in the eyes, searching for a sign that the other was willing to cooperate; he could see fear and that was enough to assure that he wouldn't cause a ruckus against Alfred. Feliciano's wrist was then freed from the constraining chain, the skin where it had been firmly pressed was sore and partially bleeding.

Alfred eyed the wound and decided that it shouldn't be a big deal. His eyes wandered from Feliciano's wrist to the small window, his gaze locking the scenery outside. "Hm...I wonder...will they be able to find you?" He looked back to face the prince. "I mean your friends and lover boy." He smirked.

Feliciano's skin prickled as he felt the strong magic hiding the entrance of the room they were directed to. Feliciano was only enough endowed with magical powers to understand he didn't have a chance against that spell. The only thing that prevented him from crying again was the fact that, at least, the room looked quite normal, without any torture tool or other scary things. There even was a small window, even though he would have preferred to see the sky, outside.

He nodded quickly in response at Alfred's question - then again, what could he possibly do? - and even smiled at him as the blonde finally untied the chain from his wrist. The smile didn't last long, though, as he noticed that the small bruises were bleeding. He had to sit down quickly on the closest bed, the other hand wrapped around his injured wrist. There wasn't enough blood to make him pass out, luckily, but the view surely didn't help his mood nor his still upset stomach.

He mumbled something to himself, as a very fainst flow of magic passed from his fingertips to his sore skin, the scratches recovering quickly. Feliciano sighed in relief, then raised his head as he heard Alfred's words.

For a moment, he looked at him confused - lover boy? He didn't have any lover, what did Alfred mean? Then he recalled the warrior kissing his King, just right before they flew away from the castle, and he looked away in slight embarrassment.

He hoped, strongly wished that his friends would find him. Then again, that castle was hidden in the bottom of a huge cave, which was hidden in the middle of a mountains chain, and Feliciano was held in a room surrounded by magic... he understood the chances his friends could find him were anything but high, if they were searching for him and the troubles in the castle weren't holding them there.
But, but... Ludwig had promised him he was going to protect him no matter what, right?

"Ludwig's coming to find me..." he replied quietly, still looking down. He wondered if he was really important enough to make the Griffin prince leave his castle and the mourning for his dead uncle. But he had prmised, hadn't he? Feliciano wrapped his arms around his knees and rested his chin on them.
"Matthew will come too. And Kind Arthur, I guess."

Alfred looked down at the prince with an unreadable expression. "Yes, he will come. That's for sure..."
Surprisingly, a smile played about his face and he looked almost sorry. It unclear whether he was faking that expression or not. "But please don't hold it against me that I won't make it easy for him."

He sat down on the spot beside Feliciano and crossed his legs casually, a playful smirk on his lips. He let his gaze wander across the entire room and found nothing that piqued his interest, so he leant back and sighed. "Nothing fun in here. Say, what should we do? Play? Talk? I hate talking though, never been good at that." Yes, talking was a waste of time. But that Feliciano guy seemed to like talking. And Alfred didn't want to spend his time with unnecessary torturing.

Despite him being the so-called secret weapon of his boss, he didn't share said man's passion for violence; at least not to such a great extent. Or maybe he was just being in a good mood today.

Feliciano shifted his position, uncomfortable at the sudden closeness with the other man. Anyway, he kept sitting there - the room wasn't big, and there was no way he could get out of there, so there was no point in even getting up from the bed and going elsewhere to sit.

"You mean... you're going to harm them?" he asked worried. He wanted Ludwig and the others to reach him with all his strength, but he understood as well that it was going to be very dangerous for his friends. The reason behind all this, though, was still a complete mystery to him.

"Uhm, you would want to play? What sort of game could we play here?" Feliciano liked playing football, but people usually played that sort of stuff in a garden, certainly not in a room. "Why did you bring me here anyway?" he inquired, slightly more at ease now that Alfred was showing him that he didn't mean to do any harm to him, not right now anyway.

"Someone has to play the villain to make it interesting," he said. Such a contrast to the previous Alfred who was practically allergic towards anything to do with villains and who was a self proclaimed hero.

He rested his ellbow on Feliciano's shoulder and smirked. "Oh the two of us could have a lot of fun together...we just have to be...creative." The sadistic side of him was maliciously thinking of how to 'play' with the prince, he would make sure to let Ludwig know and provoke the griffin's anger. His indifferent side wasn't interested and couldn't see the benefit to such unnecessary actions.

"War is the wish of quite a few people...," he said cryptically. Yes,it wasn't merely a mood swing of his superior, not only his plan of war profiteering. Illegal trade of weaponry was not the only way to take profit out of warfare; quite a few can play that game.

Politicians for example.

The kings might want to maintain peace, but corrupt and ambitious ministers were more than eager to use war as a platform to pull some strings here and there.

Feliciano sartled and moved back as he saw Alfred raising his arm, as he thought that the man was going to hit him. He relaxed only slightly when all the other did was rest it on his shoulder.

"C-creative?" Feliciano realized that the smirk on the man's face had something strange, it was definitely different from the bright smile Alfred had on when they had met for the first time. He looked away, nervously - the room was quite bare, there wasn't anything one could be creative with. Unless Alfred meant something different than "being creative with painting", which was what Feliciano would think of - and that smirk on his face suggested that art wasn't exactly what the blonde had in mind.

"War isn't in my kingdom's plans..." he whined. He still remembered what his mysterious attacker in the forest said before disappearing (*). At this point, Alfred was very likely just another pawn in the hands of whoever was planning this.

"I know I'd be an useless king, but nor me nor Ludwig have any faults in that, it's unfair!" he ranted. True, he already knew that there were factions of nobles at home that wanted more power, but he had never thought that they would reach that point to gain it...

Frozen under Alfred's arm touch, he couldn't do anything but curl up more on himself.
"And I don't think King Arthur wants war either. I thought you were on his side." he muttered, depressed.



[[* -> see this part for reference]]

Alfred was now idly playing with Feliciano's hair, lost in thought. "Unfair...yes, indeed."

"It must be difficult to be innocent like you, having to deal with unfairness all the time. Your kingdom, your Highness, will be absolutely willing to declare war at this point. A few of your court's counsellors had been waiting, baring their teeth in anticipation for the right moment to set the ball rolling. Now that they've received message of your abduction, they will or rather...they want to believe that it was a conspiracy done by Rhynland," he explained.

The prince had asked him whether he wasn't loyal to Arthur, his former king. "It is my wish to involve him in this war. You know, I love him so much, I want to see him fight in all his glory. Don't you think it would be a pretty sight?"

Feliciano looked at Alfred, this time without trying to shift away from him. He generally liked when people stroke his hair, but he still couldn't understand if Alfred was really meaning to put him at ease or if he was just playing around before... something else. Something else Feliciano was trying to avoid thinking of.

Well, he had already figured out that much about his kingdom's court, but if his grandfather the King was still safe and sound and so was his brother, they would know better than lead that war on, once they knew that everything was just an evil trick.

"Ludwig's coming to save me. And once we're out of here we'll let them know that everything was fake." he muttered in response, praying that each word he was saying was the truth. His voice came out way more shaky and faint than what he was planning, though.

He then widened his eyes, almost in disbelief.
"Eeeh? How would I ever wish to see someone I love fighting a war?! He could be injured, he could die..." he swallowed. Alfred hadn't seemed right since the beginning, but Feliciano was starting to think he was insane.
There was no way that everything that involved war or fights could seem "pretty" to Feliciano.

He bit his lower lip, tightening the grip of his fingers on his trousers. What was Alfred planning for Ludwig and the others? At that point, Feliciano doubted the man would show any mercy to them, not even to his brother nor his king.

Alfred rose in an abrupt motion, not looking at the prince. Why was he even bothering to waste his time with this useless conversation that was bound to reach a dead end. But time was a luxury that he was allowed to hold. How fabulous. Why did he even have to stay in here with this annoyingly innocent prince. Surely there were other, more productive things that he could do. And now they were discussing about love. "The person could die, huh? Then what? How would that affect me? How would that affect you? What change will the loss bring?" Those questions were not expressed in a particularly emotional way, nor was it challenging and his eyes were still not resting on Feliciano.

He realised that standing was not more eventful than sitting, so he went back to sit beside Feliciano and then threw himself back against the soft duvet and small piles of pillows. He closed his eyes, waiting for Feliciano to answer.

Feliciano moved back immediately when Alfred suddenly stood up, letting out a faint and scared "I'm sorry", thinking that the man would hit him for some reason - maybe he talked too much, or maybe... but when Alfred spoke, his words were calm, his voice cold but not angry.

Feliciano peeked out from among his fingers - he head promptly covered his head with his arms - to see that the blonde was still standing, but not looking at him.

He shifted aside to let enough room for the other to lay down - and at that point, Feliciano had reached the corner of the bed - and watched as Alfred closed his eyes.
He seemed relaxed, not particularly interested in their conversation, and Feliciano let out a small sigh of relief. He took his time to answer - what was he supposed to answer, anyway? - and took off his backpack, placing it on the ground, finding an excuse for sitting on the edge of the mattress.

"I would be very sad... and very sorry because I wished for that person to be involved." he replied quietly. At least, that was how he would feel if Ludwig or any of the others were harmed trying to rescue him. He bit his lower lip at the thought, and looked out of the window, as he was expecting to see them arriving.

"Sad..." Alfred repeated. His eyes were still closed and he tried to think about what Feliciano had said. Would I be sad? After a while Alfred started to laugh, he covered his eyes with his arm. "That's quite a simple answer, I thought you were going to give me a deep-ass answer."

After his small fit of laughter had died down the room was completely silent. Nothing, only their breathing reached his ears. Alfred felt...boredom. "Hey, you," he said out of the blue, "can you do something to entertain me? I feel bored and boredom makes me irritable - and you don't want to see me aggressive I assume." He didn't even put his hopes high.

"So do something. Pleasure me," he said with a teasing tone.

Feliciano lowered his eyes, not knowing what to reply. He had no idea of what "deep-ass" answer he was supposed to give, actually, since he had no idea of how the other could take what he said. For once, he thought that it was probably better to remain quiet, and so he did.

Then suddenly Alfred asked Feliciano to entertain him. Now, as a prince, Feliciano had always been the one to be entertained, but that was not what worried him about the request. A part from the somewhat naughty tone in the blonde's voice, he had yet to decide if the man was insane or just very weird, so he didn't know how he would react at any kind of entertainment Feliciano would offer.

He looked to Alfred for a short moment, considering how the other was laying down, all relaxed and comfortable, and suddenly got an idea.

"Ah, sure... would you like to listen to some music?" he asked kindly, taking his mandolin out of his backpack and unwrapping it from its cover. "I can play some songs for you~" he said, while he quickly tuned the strings of the instrument, and played a few notes just to try it.

Alfred glanced up to eye the prince who had miraculously fished out a mandolin to play for him. He almost snorted. "Go ahead," he said and slumped back against the creaking bed. He wasn't one for music and he didn't know how playing that instrument could cure his boredom, though he figured it was better than nothing.

Then the prince was playing. The tune was foreign to him and held a kaleidoscope of countless impressions and sentiments that even he couldn't help but find himself to be drawn in...or drown rather. There was something tender and yet forceful in the melody, as an effect he wanted to break off from the musical grasp but then again not. His eyes were already closed to begin with but now he wasn't even able to open them anymore.

Sleep. He needed sleep and the music.

The strong remaining part of him managed to give a mental laugh at how he seemed to be a victim of several druggings and other manipulative methods these days.

Feliciano nodded and as Alfred told him, he went on playing. The melody he played was slow, sweet, but it never stopped. There were no pauses between the notes, and Feliciano's eyes wandered back and forth between the instrument and Alfred's face, humming quietly the same melody he was playing. Spells were effective also through music alone, but adding voice always guaranteed a better effect.

He kept playing the melody over and over, even after Alfred had closed his eyes and his breath had become regular and deep. Normally his sleep spell would already last not even a couple of hours, and since Alfred had turned out to be so weird, he was worried that it might affect him less than normal. He slowed down the music, but the man kept sleeping. The prince sighed in relief, putting the mandolin down, and buried his face in his hands. Not that the situation had become much better for him, now: he was still trapped there, although at least Alfred wasn't going to say scary things or do scary things or.. just be scary for some time. This was already something.

He looked again out of the window. If only they would appear now... but they grayish landscape outside was empty.
He turned to face the door and the spell surrounding it. If only he could break it, or manage to pass through it somehow... he could try to find a way out of the castle and after that... he would surely find Ludwig coming inside the cave to rescue him, right?
He sighed, and concentrated on the magic. As he had already noticed earlier, it was too strong, he could feel the thick texture of the spell - there was no way he could ever even hope to break it and... he raised his head in surprised when he could sense a small spot where the texture seemed loose. His fingers were already prickling with magic as he knelt down to touch it.

Slowly, he worked towards broadening that small hole, often turning back to check if Alfred was still sleeping, scared that he could wake up and find him there, trying to escape, and was on the verge of tears more than once, discouraged by the slowness of the procedure, but his magic managed slowly to work its way through the spell, and when eventually he stood up he had managed to open a passage big enough for him to crawl through it.

Quickly, he took his stuff and, given Alfred one last glance - the man was still sleeping soundly - he made his way out of the room.



But as expected, his situation didn't get any better once he was out of the room. First of all, he couldn't remember at all from where they had come earlier: all the corridors were all the same, huge, empty and dark, and any direction could be the right one.
Feliciano started walking as quickly as possible, trying desperately to remember or recognize a detail that could put him on the right way, but with no success.

He wandered along the corridors for what seemed a lifetime. He never met anyone nor anything, he happened to hear some noises from time to time, and always changed his direction to run away from them.
He ended up almost running, not sure anymore if the noises were real of if they were only inside of his head, that maze of dark crossroads making him sick, and eventually he ended almost crashing against a big wooden door which was open ajar. He peered inside - the room was lightened by a source of light he couldn't identify, and he recognized it as the room with all the scary tools they had seen earlier, as Alfred had taken him inside the castle.
That wasn't the same door of before, though, and Feliciano thought that, if he went across the room, he would end up finding the door they had passed earlier, and maybe get back to where they had come in from and run away... hoping that Alfred's dragon wasn't still there waiting, that is.

Feliciano stepped inside carefully, looking around suspiciously, and immediately regretted having decided to enter that place. He had no idea of what those cables, stills, tools without name were for, but the feeling he got from it was dreadful.
And he soon discovered that all the other doors in the place were locked. Suddenly, he recalled the dream he had made a few nights before - a part from the fact that this wasn't a kitchen, and that Ludwig wasn't close to him. (*)

A tight knot on the mouth of his stomach, Feliciano hid beside a piece of furniture and sat down, curling up, head hidden in his arms. He didn't want to see anything else, he only wanted to disappear from there and forget everything about... everything.
Anyone could come in at anytime, and everything could happen, and why did he choose to leave that room in the first place? Alfred didn't seem to want to harm him at least... maybe he could still run back to the room before the other man woke up, and act as anything had happened... sure, like he was able to find his way back.

He sobbed quietly, wishing that all of this was just a nightmare, and that he could wake up in a tent between Matthew and Ludwig, holding him, just like that one time... He strongly hoped he could feel his arms around him right now, protective and comforting... he was sure he would have been able to stop shivering, if it happened...




(* = there)

Alfred awoke to a throbbing pain in his head, one that one gets after a long sleep; though the brightness of the room indicated that he couldn't have slept for too long. He blinked and sat up with a groan. The dragon ride must have been a bit tiring after all, he thought as he surpressed a yawn. Massaging his temple soothed the pain.

Letting his eyes wander he could see that nothing was out of ordinary.

The thing was, the room was empty. Nobody besides him was there. Feliciano had escaped. He bolted upright with unbelieving wide eyes and cursed loudly. "That little son of a bitch," he hissed.

With a frustrated groan he noted that the magic barrier had somehow been broken, compliments to the idiot who built it. Alfred hoped, he really hoped that he hadn't been asleep for too long and that he would still be able to catch up. He rushed out into the long corridor, his running steps echoed back dissonantly, his eyes were looking, searching. Logically thinking Feliciano would have chosen the same way back. He slowed down as more doors appeared in rows, a feeling told him that the prince was still around here.

"Feliciano!" He shouted. Nothing.

One by one the doors were opened, they revealed various rooms with various contents, one of them was pitch black.
Alfred had reached that one peculiar room. The where he was held captured. He let out a deep sigh, somehow knowing that he would find the runaway inside.

The door opened with a soft creak, a faint greenish light seeped through the gap and a familiar sight greeted him. "Hello, old chamber of hell," he muttered.

"Where are you? Show yourself!" He was angry and was in no mood of the prince's little pathetic games. He would make sure to punish the other man once he got him back.

Feliciano started as he heard hurried steps coming closer from one of the corridors. Before he could even think of somewhere to run to, one of doors opened and Alfred was inside the room.

The prince had to place one hand on his mouth to suffocate an involuntary, faint cry of fear as he heard the anger in Alfred's voice; something told him that if the man caught him again this time he wasn't going to end up with just small bruises on his wrists.

He popped out his head just as much as needed to peer in the room. Alfred was standing on the opposite side of the room, he could spot his legs from under the big table that was placed in the middle. Feliciano slowly crawled outside of his hideaway, careful not to make any noise, hoping that the various pieces of furniture would hide him from the other man's sight; he only needed him to walk further in one direction, to snap and run through the door.

He was furious. "Don't mess with me, I warn you! If you don't show yourself immediately, I will make sure to make you suffer once I find you...," he paused and took deep breath. With much self-restrained he continued through gritted teeth, "come out now and nothing might happen to you."

The heels of his boots clacked dangerously close towards Feliciano's hiding place, though the light was too dim to actually see much. So he settled to just remain still and wait for the prince to come out, for he just knew that he was here. He wouldn't harm that captured man, but a maybe a bit of a punishment could teach the insufferable person a bit of 'hostage manners'.

Feliciano swallowed, eyes widened as he watched Alfred come closer to where he was crouching. Luckily, he stopped before reaching him, and Feliciano crawled away, painfully slow. He was even tempted to just stand up and obey the blond man, but the door was open and he could still reach it and run away...

His plan was to get as far as possible taking advantage of the shelter of the table, but it failed completely as he had to pass between it and a small table on the other side, which was closer to him than what he had thought, not able too see very well in the half-light and the shadows of the room.

He hit it with his shoulder, the table wobbled and the various glass objects that were standing on it clinked wildly, a few of them falling off to the ground. Feliciano squeaked as he felt the glass crash around him, but the moment after he was already up and running towards the door, finding himself once again in one of the horrible empty corridors of the castle.

He was startled by the crashing noise of glass that filled the silence aggressively and before he could even react he saw a shadow jumping out in wild stumblings and it dashed away, out to the corridor. Alfred spun around and chased after the escaping hostage, swearing loudly. He was by far faster of course, but Feliciano had a headstart.

"Stop, you little..."

Then all doors burst open at a time and cloaked soldiers stepped out in ordered formation. Expressionless men surrounded the prince with stoic and almost automatic steps; slowly but effectively.

The commander's men, Alfred thought and slowed his pace. "So they know," he mumbled with eyes that showed his obvious displeasure towards the fact, the fact that the commander had been watching him, them, the whole time. At least the prince was captured again.

He shoved two soldiers aside to enter the circle. A malicious smirk played upon his features. "There's no possibility, your highness. You can't escape from this all-seeing fortress. Why don't we...go back and have a...nice chat?"

Feliciano almost screamed when he saw all the doors suddenly open, and a flood of warriors overflew the long corridor. Realizing that he was running straight towards them, he tried to slow down his dash and turn, but as he looked back he discovered that a wall of men was already obstructing his way back.

Where did those warriors come from? W-weren't they just too many for just him, as harmless as he was? He swallowed, as he heard Alfred's voice. Panting painfully for the run and the fear, he stared with widened eyes as the other approached.

He wildly glanced around to check if there was the faintest possibility to run past the guards, but those soldiers stood silent and immovable as statues, and looking at their expressionless eyes was even more terrible than seeing the wicked smile on Alfred's face.

Feliciano fell on his knees, arms lifted to protect himself from Alfred.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." he moaned "But no... please, I'll do whatever you ask, d-don't harm me, please, please..." he went on, his voice broken.

Alfred wouldn't pay the prince's pathetic pleas any attention. All he did was grab his wrist and pull him away from the circle of soldiers. Oddly enough he was not heading back to the room where they had been before, he took another turn instead.

He dragged the captured prince, this time in a forceful way. They climbed a wide staircase that ended in front of a high wooden portal, it opened once Alfred's foot touched the last step. The room behind the grand doors was in a round form and so much larger than the room where Feliciano had been kept before. It was also not empty but filled with wondrous instruments. Some were bizarre compositions of rotating glass globes and spherically arranged rings.

The windows in the rotunda are higher and wider this time and a paned oculus graced the high dome ceiling, an ominous light seeped through it in an unnatural way. Anybody could feel the magical presence.

The portal closed.

"You know...this place is the most isolated room in the whole castle. Nobody could hear your scream. It will be music to my ears, exclusively for me to behold and hear. Now...what to do with you?" He said with supressed violence in his voice.

He threw the prince to the floor, his fall was cushioned by a pile of oversized pillowed and Alfred stood tall above him, glaring with eyes that showed no mercy.

"You've angered me," he growled. "I have been treating you well, but I won't bother anymore."

Alfred strolled in the direction of a low table, picked up a crystalline bottle with a red substance and a chalice in the other hand. He then returned. Crouched before the trembling Feliciano he poured some of the red liquid into the chalice. He raised it and smirked. "Let's drink to the beauty called insanity!"

He grabbed onto Feliciano's jaw and forced the drink down his throat.

(You can make up the effect of that drink if you want)