"It's here..." Alfred's voice is quite. Fear seeping into his words as his blue eyes stare at the bush in front of them.
Arthur gave the boy's smaller hand a gentle squeeze, a reminder that he was there and he wouldn't let anything harm him.
Given the way the leaves had shook in the growth, he half expected whatever was hiding behind it to lunge at them, attacking like a predator.
Instead, an inky creature stepped out from the shadows. The full moon illuminated them just enough to see it's form, and it's horrifying red eyes blistering in the night.
Arthur snapped his fingers quick, mutter a small spell, creating a small green flame in his free hand to offer some light.
Several feet away, the black creature remained just as dark as the sky, but it's figure was now visible. Only slightly more, but enough to see it's mouth with sharp teeth lined up in its jaw. They're stark white, contrasting up against its form. Upon being shown in light it snarled, letting out a guttural groan. Shrinking back a few steps as the green in Arthur's hand brightened further.
Alfred had cling to Arthur's leg, the thing before them being something of nightmares.
In a moment, pulling out from the bushes was long tendrils that seemed connected to its form, and wrapped inside these limbs, as of shadowy extensions of itself, was the bird.
It twitched, and twitched in the grasp of it unable to make a sound.
Even it could, the sounds that this... thing was making covered any other sounds around them. While it wasn't loud, they were incomprehensible, unintelligible in any capacity.
The mass in front of them was ever changing, still yet moving, huge but small, eyes that were red that somehow weren't eyes because the longer you stared the more devoid of life they became.
It was horrifying, and it's unknowingness seeped into their brains as something of only nightmares itself.
The longer Alfred stared, he could feel the phantom pains from his dreams the night before sink into his flesh. The warmth of fresh blood on his skin, the way it ran down like thick water. He wasn't sure if it was real though, and he was too afraid to look. Only able to stare at the beast that is everything, and nothing.
For what felt like hours, was only moments he realizes as soon as a soft pressure is put against the top of his head.
He can move, he remembers, looking up to see the determined face of his older brother, Arthur.
I'm holding on tight, he thinks to himself as the sleeping pants the other was wearing was tight within the grip of his small hands.
Without letting go, still maintaining a small hold of the fabric, he lets his hands relax. A different kind of warmth washes over him now, one that he could compare to warm summer mornings.
The first hug after apart for so long, a chocolate cookie fresh out of the oven, seeing the first flower of spring bloom, a baby laughing for the first time.
The warmth that can only be compatible to the simple joys and comforts of life that can seem so mundane, but filled with so much good.
He realizes that there is a green glow coming from the hand above him. It was a spell, without needing to say it Alfred understands that Arthur cast a protection spell on his mind to keep himself safe from whatever stood before them.
"Be happy Alfred, don't allow it to get into your mind. Think of good things."
Alfred nods, taking a deep breath as he lets himself think of the things he loves.
Apple pie, baseball, the beach, Space.
The feeling pushes out the dread and fear from before. An air of confidence rushes through him, and he knows what he needs to do.
Stepping forward, he looks back at Arthur for a second, with a smile trying to show he knew what he was going to do.
England wavers for a second, debating within that moment whether he should let him continue forward or not. But he understands what should be done, and he has faith in the boy. If he didn't have faith, how could he trust him with the fate of the world? It was that resolve, that with a quick nod, America moved forward again.
As he inched closer towards the snarling thing in front of him only a few paces away,
Dogs, open fields, lemonade on a hot day, summer nights.
The bird is more clear to him, standing nearly face to face with the beats before him. He can only find himself smiling softly though as he presses on.
His friends, Lithuania, Japan, Russia...
Could he consider Russia a friend? The two of them have been on their weird in and out for a while, and with the amount they argue.
He could sense it before he could feel it, the negativity rushing into his mind making him freeze with fear.
No, don't think about that.
Him and Ivan are friends, despite everything they do have each other's backs no matter what they spit at each other to get a reaction somehow. They care about each other. They're friends.
That negativity seeps away, as his fingers pass through the shadowed mass. It felt like nothing, but some how dense and thick. Like he was slipping into a pool of jello.
His family.
He sinks further in, reaching trying to grasp the bird that trembled in the cage of nothingness.
England, Canada, France.
He can feel the gentle feathers now, tainted by the cruelness and fear brought upon it.
Arthur, Matthew, Francis.
Now wrapped in his arms, he pulls and separates himself from it. Free from the pitch darkness, untouched like it was nothing.
The bird nestling into him as if he was his mother, safe from harm now.
The creature looks angry now, ready to attack him. Before Alfred could react though, a glowing circle appears around it. For the first time, it looked like it was afraid of something, like they were the ones to be afraid.
The neon green glow was strange around it, for the creature casted no shadows or light didn't appear on its form. But Alfred could see the runes surrounding it, as it tried to move it was only shocked as the light grew brighter making an inescapable prison.
Leaves beneath feet crunched behind him, as arthur now came forward stepping besides him. Emerald eyes as focused as ever, as he murmured a spell. It's words fell naturally from his lips, like he when he would recite him children's stories as a colony.
As he stood before it, his hand went above it, palm down. Slowly, he began to push down against it, a second ring with its imagery somehow both familiar and unfamiliar appeared. Arthur began to press the thing together, bringing the two glowing visages together.
Then, like it never existed to begin with, it was gone.
The darkness that had been on the bird, was now gone as he casted away that darkness using his own gold magic.
It chirped and it's call echoed through the starry night as it flew in the air, now glowing in the form that Alfred remembered from all that time ago.
It glides through the air, just before hitting Alfred in the chest. But not with force, not with the intent to harm, instead he passes into him and Alfred feel's that warmth he's become familiar with.
"Alfred... are you-"
"Yeah, I'm okay." He presses his hands against his chest. The dreariness beginning to wash over him, suddenly feeling so tired. Before falling asleep, letting his heavy eyelids close...
He smiles.
Hellooo, I've had this barely started and working on it in pieces since like?? October??? But finally decided to go through and finish this chapter! I did not proof it though so that's on me guys sorry for any mistakes im just going for it and posting this
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Rising Fascination
FanficAlfred always had magic inside him, it was apparent for a long time. He had a close connection with animals, he felt things differently than most. He was different. But when when England began to leave more and more, his magic faded away. That's w...
