The beginning is with a mark

Ch.14: re-union and wars

As Arthur lied on the comfy beds of the hearts Castle, his mind was thinking about Alfred. His room had a small knock when Francis walked in,
"Mon cherie!! Tu est bien! You are well!" He said with a smile as he hugged the Brit but Arthur didn't squirm, he slightly missed the frog face. "I brought you a present! But don't get too over excited okie?" Francis said with a wink and a smile as Alfred walked in. Arthurs face brightened up immediately, running to Alfred he hugged him tightly causing Alfred to Yelp in pain,
"Sorry....Artie...my wound isn't very closed" Alfred said with a quiet tone. Arthur smiled happily and placed kisses on Alfred lips and face.
"You're safe! I'm so bloody happy, you idiot. I was so worried about you and what that bitch could have done-" Arthur began saying as Alfred shut him up with a long kiss.
Francis cheered in the background when he laughed,
"Well mon Cher, I must leave and see my beautiful wife because I also missed her," Francis said as he slowly started leaving the room.
Alfred pulled away slowly from Arthur and smiled, "I missed you so much"
Arthur blushed lightly holding Alfred's hand, "why are you here? You should be resting, don't get witty with me on this, you need to rest. You aren't healed! Besides why didn't you use your power to control her?" Arthur asked him concerned
Alfred sighed, "I cannot show such a strong power to the enemy so quickly, besides I know The Colorless King has proclaimed war on all of us. We are preparing...for the worst" Alfred said as he held on tighter to arthurs hand. Arthur smiled in a saddened manner but only sighed,
'Then I shall fight with you because that is my job as your Queen" Arthur said as he placed another kiss on Alfred's lips.

That night, all Royals of all kingdoms slept well but morning was nothing but chaos. The Aces of all Kingdoms were there. They were dressed in armors and held weapons.
Matthew, Antonio, Ned and Lux, and Mei, stood before their Kings and Queens.
"Mr. Kiku! Urgent news, the southern border has been attacked. They were affected by the fire barriers we have placed with magic but certain soldiers can pass through it without a scratch....it's not as if they were dead but...they just seem abnormally strong" Mei, the Taiwanese Girl said with an urgent voice.
"Alfred, our Western border connected to Hearts is currently,there being attacked. The stone walls won't stand further if they keep firing the canons at our walls" Mathew informed.
" Señor Fransisco, our southern border connected to spades is attacked by some sort of mist....its red....and weird" Antonio said weirded out.
"Queen Elizavéta our borders have not been reached yet but King Ivan isn't pleased with the attacks happening" Ned said as he looked at Elizavéta. She nodded and sighed,
"How is my Jack?" She asked Lux, lux smiled lightly,
"Your husband is in fine conditions, he is safe in the castle walls, My Queen" lux said with a bow.
Arthur was confused immediately, "Elizavéta? What do you mean your Husband is Roderich? Your Jack? Aren't you suppose to marry the King!?" Arthur asked confused. Lily, Francis and Alfred laughed at Arthurs confusion. "Did I say something funny?" Arthur asked them
Elizavéta laughed lightly, "clubs has different rules when it comes to marriage and especially the way our monarchy is chosen" she said. "You see...Roderich was actually the son of the previous King and Queen and it is true that the clock never lets go of the royal bloodline. Roderich wasn't chosen as King but rather Jack and he was pleased by it, he held nothing against the clock for choosing that. Ivan is from a noble family as well as I am. Clubs royals are usually chosen from noble family and The Royal Bloodline. When it came to marriage, I thought I would be forced to marry Ivan but...he held no interest and me...in a romantic way so I spent most of my time with the Jack. As time passed by, it was admitted that I could marry Roderich and most of the people were perfectly fine with that since we liked to helped our citizens through their days with some sort of entertainment to alleviate their days. Ivan...as King holds immense power and likes to isolate himself from us, clubs have closer contact with the Jokers so we hold some power that can see future...unfortunately we can't see our own future as Royals." Elizavéta explained to Arthur. Arthur nodded in understandment.
"So...do all kingdoms have different rules?" Arthur asked.
"Yes and no," Kiku said as he handed Mei a samurai sword and a couple documents. "In Hearts our monarchy is chosen by an election of the people as well as the election of the King and Queen. For examples I belonged to a common Physician family, middle class and the Queen chose me as her successor. I had to be admitted by parliament, then the people, which I had helped through many medical practices" Kiku said with a smile. Ludwig slightly rubbed his head nervously, "marriage between us is...well....uh..." He began saying as his cheeks started turning pink. Kiku chuckled, as feleciano came in happily, "it's not been decided! Ve~!" He yelled out in amusement.
"I don't understand why the previous Jack chose you as the successor of the Jack" Ludwig said with a sigh.
"Ve~ because I'm your happy side! And keep you safe! But also because Grandfather wanted me as your Jack, do you remember? Ve~" Feleciano replied with a smile.
Ludwig sighed as Kiku chuckled once more,
"Mr.Vargas may not seem like the fighter type but when determined...he is quite mean" Kiku said as Alfred laughed.
"That cute thing is mean?" He asked with a laugh.
Kiku laughed and smiled, "you would have to see him in the battlefield...it is like seeing a different person but yet it's still elegantly beautiful to see him be so...dark" Kiku replied as feleciano clung to Kiku.
"You should be glad you don't know his twin brother" Ludwig commented, "his brother is...the opposite from Our Jack"
Alfred laughed loudly, "they would be cute twins! There could never be someone so cute be so deadly except Arthur of course"
Arthur felt his cheeks go warm, "Bloody idiot stop bringing me up on this! I am not cute" Arthur yelled and Alfred teased him further.
Before the teasing could continue a brown haired girl appeared before the Royals and she bowed lightly.
"I'm anneliesse Edeilstein, pleased to meet you, I have heard you are in grave trouble from my previous master" she spoke lightly. A loud Prussian girl appeared behind her, slightly patting her roughly on the back.
"Master? He was our boss! Now, we don't know where we are" the Prussian girl commented loudly.
"Marie! Mind your manners!" Anneliesse commented quietly. Ludwig looked at anneliesse and Marie,
"Elizavéta....anneliesse looks a lot like Roderich.." Ludwig commented as he gazed at the strange girls.
"And Marie looks a lot like...the Joker, Gilbert" lily said as she stood at Francis' side
"Please excuse us for our appearance but we were created for the matter of fighting against Arthur Kirkland. Of course I would not hurt him because I find no joy in causing others pain unless necessary but please take care of us, we really will not fight against you" anneliesse said in an apologetic and informative voice as she lightly bowed to The Royals. Feleciano smiled and hugged anneliesse as she started to blush in surprise, "w-what? Are you doing ? Please un hand me!" She yelled at the Italian man, but he pulled away but had his fingers entwined with hers and his face was inches away,
"Italians like to say hi in different ways~" Vargas said with a smile as he let go of her and went back to Ludwigs side.
Anneliesse's face calmed down and nodded in understandment, "cultural differences are natural"
The Prussians girl smiled and was looking around the castle when she gazed at anneliesse and asked, "where's daniel?"

The attacks had gotten worse on the border walls of the Kingdoms and soldiers were panicking as they saw that their monarchs weren't as alarmed.
Arthur and Alfred recruited their soldiers back in spades and Arthur stood before males and very few females when a soldier shouted out, "and what the hell are you gonna do? Charm the enemy with words!? You are not our Queen, you traitor! Almost tried to kill our King!" The soldier yelled out and more began to follow when Arthur sighed.
He snapped his fingers and the lights turned off and candles appeared out of the nowhere, as a beautiful stars appeared in the ceiling, Arthur was demonstrating his magic.
"I never tried to kill Alfred! Long story short, I have been replicated like all Queens have been but it has a flaw, they are the opposite gender of ourselves. If you saw that Queen, you must have seen it was a woman. Am I correct?" Arthur announced in the crowd when a girl raised her hand
"H-hes right! I saw her and she was very pretty...but she wasn't kind like our Queen" she said timidly.
"Thank you, but I came here to not just ask you to fight at my side, but to protect and defend this kingdom" Arthur said as he gazed into the crowd that looked at his suspiciously.
"How can we bloody trust you?" Another soldier asked out loud. And more proceeded to judge arthur.
"Of course I need your trust if you truly want to win but let me ask you this. Do you want to see your kingdom crumble to the ground? See your family mercilessly killed? do YOU want to see all your life ruined by a man who just wants control!?" Arthur said as he raised his voice with each question. The soldiers murmured in the crowd.
"Of course we don't!" A young tall man yelled out and Arthurs eyes widened when he saw the familiar face.
"B-brother?"
Scott laughed and smiled at his youngest brother, "Artie! I wanted to hear this speech of yours and...tell you....I am planning on joining the military to Protect the kingdom" Scott announced and the commoners gasped at the clubs noble.
"A clubs noble fighting in a spades military?! This is unheard of!" Someone yelled out.
"I may be from clubs but I am half spades! I can enter this military because of a birth right" Scott said as he took out his sword. "Or who dares defy my decision?'
Arthur laughed loudly as he walked to was his brother, and hugged him.
"What about Erin and Dylan?" Arthur asked
"Oh...they're fighting too....Erin went with hearts and Dylan with clubs..mother wasn't happy" Scott said as he looked at the ground sadly.
"W-where's mum?" Arthur asked him
".....s-she's....ill....but she told us to not tell you because she was happy that you had finally found happiness...and she didn't want to bother" Scott began saying but Arthur clenched his fists.
"How could you not tell me she was sick?! She's my mother as well! I deserve to kno-"
"Arthur Kirkland. Shut your bloody trap up. We will discuss this later, I don't care whether your the Queen of this country but remember your my little brother as well, so shut up and we'll talk about this later" Scott said with a tone so strict that caused Arthur to slightly flinch as he nodded.
His soldiers gazed at his in pity and sorrow when a little girl held out a blue Rose of him,
"Y-your Highness....I'm sorry if I am bothering but could you give this to your mommy? B-blue roses are told to be good when a person is sick, my mommy told me so! They help get rid of illnesses with their beauty and magic!" The little girl said with a smile, her gray eyes gazing up at Arthur, Arthur laughed and took the roses.
"Thank you very much, little miss" he said as he kissed her hand, and she blushed lightly as she bowed and ran away.
Scott smiled seeing how his younger brother had matured but stayed the same.

In the spades castle, parliament wanted meeting in which Alfred had attended without Arthur. Arthur spent his time with the military training people who had magic or were normal. Mathias and Mathew helped Arthur with battle strategies as well as earning the trust of the people. Yao spent his time preparing stocks of supplies and trying to keep the economy balanced as well as practicing his fighting skills with Roderich until Ivan finally came by...

Ivan walked into the spades castle, wearing a long clubs cloak, holding a long axe. His typical scarf in place but his eyes were as icy as ever. Arthur greeted the King with a bow when Ivan finally spoke,
"Francis is ill. The red mist has lowered his magic, and his walls are crumbling. Alfred must be feeling ill as well, since his walls are crumbling as well, da?" Ivan said.
Arthur gazed at the Russian confused when he remembered. 'A kings magic flows and keeps their kingdom together'
"Has Francis been attacked repeatedly?" Arthur asked
Ivan slightly smiled, "I'm surprised you haven't heard. The war has finally started."