[Sweehearts Week Day 2] Fic and Art

[nihon-love.livejournal.com]

Title: Arthur's Clock
Genre: Fantasy/Romance/Drama
Word Count: 3382
Rating/Warnings: K for boyxboy
Summary: Cardverse AU, based on a fairytale by Zachris Topelius. As long as future Queen of Spades, Arthur Kirkland, would have his Spade clock, he would have all the wonderful qualities he had been blessed with, but thanks to a curse he would also be selfish, stuck-up and fickle.

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Once upon a time, in the land of Spades, there lived the noble family of Kirkland. Although Lord and Lady Kirkland were happy together as well as both kind and generous people, there was a shadow in their lives. They had yet to have a child together.

However, one night, when Lady Kirkland was praying by the window of her bedroom to the Gods of Cards again for a baby of her own, the window blew open with a sudden strong wind. When the Lady looked up, she saw a man floating in the air right outside the room and in front of her eyes. It was difficult to say how old the man was, for although his face was youthful in the moonlight, his hair was white as snow and his eyes as mysterious as they were mischievous. However, if it hadn't been for those features, it would've been hard to see the man in the darkness for the clothes he wore were very dark in colour. The Lady wondered about the man until she saw his dark tail and horns among his white hair. This man was a Joker!

“Hail, Lady Kirkland, full of grace!” The Joker spoke, eyes glinting in the mild light and his teeth flashing white as he grinned. “I've always wanted to say that. Anyway, I'm here to tell you that your prayer has been heard and your wish will be granted! Within a year from now, you will give birth to a baby boy who will one day grow up to be the Queen of Spades!”

The Lady of the House gasped and tears filled her eyes. Not only would she her long-longed wish, but the honour of one day being the mother of a royal! She knew the Jokers had a way of knowing who would be the next royal, so she didn’t doubt the man's words, only thanking him from the bottom of her heart.

“Don't sweat it m'lady. I shall return when the child is born to bring him his royal symbol. See you then!” Those were the last words the Joker spoke to Lady Kirkland before vanishing.

The Joker was right, of course. The spring following his converstation with her, Lady Kirkland gave birth to a healthy, small boy. The Kirklands named him Arthur. The royals from every country in Cards came to the Kirkland mansion to celebrate the birth of the future queen, as the Jokers hadn't failed to notify everyone who would one day be involved with the child. They all brought something as gifts; the kings for the parents and the queens for their future colleague. However the gifts most appreciated were given by the Jacks, who had the extraordinary power to bless a royal with lovely qualities that would benefit not only the land of the royal themselves but also the other lands. These qualities would be attached to one single object the royal would always carry with them. For Little Lord Arthur that was the present the Joker bringing the message of his birth had given, the symbol of his status as the future queen; the Spade clock.

“I give him strength, both mental and physical, so he can protect this kingdom with his everything.” Said the Jack of Diamonds as he put his hand on the clock.

“Veh~ I give him beauty and charm, so he will be loved and admired by his subjects!” Said the Jack of Hearts.

“I give him musical talent, a beautiful voice and a way with instruments, so he can please his guests.” Said the Jack of Clubs.

“And I give him wisdom, so he'll learn everything he needs to know to rule this kingdom and support his king.” Said the Jack of Spades, Yao, who would one day live and work very closely with the little boy he was blessing just like he had worked with the current king and queen, since the royals didn't always change at the same time.

Time was a funny thing in Cards altogether, but nowhere as much as in Spades. The current Jack didn't look a day over twenty, but the word went that he had worked as a Jack for several centuries already, and no one honestly knew how old he was exactly. Something similar could be said about the future King of Spades, the child of the current king, who was already a decade old, but didn't appear much older than tiny Arthur sleeping in his crib.

After the Jacks had all given their gifts to the future queen, the Joker took the blessed clock into his hands and approached the newborn. As he walked, he kept murmuring a spell under his breath. Gilbert – for that was the Joker's name – didn't really want to do this to the kind Kirkland couple, but he couldn't go against the Gods' will. There was always a prophecy concerning every royal's life. In little Arthur's case, the prophecy was that he would either bring Spades to its highest glory, of destroy it completely. And unless he managed to break the curse Gilbert was setting on him, he wasn't suitable as a queen and would lose his title as such. No matter what, the Gods had said, Spades wouldn't die at one mere human's hands.

So as Gilbert set the Spades clock around Arthur's neck with the golden chain attached to it, he knew that as long as Arthur would wear the clock, he would have all the wonderful qualities the Jacks had given him, but thanks to Gilbert's curse he would also be selfish, stuck-up and fickle. His heart would become like the clock around his neck – cold and still, until someone would make it warm and tick.

And so, as years slowly progressed, Arthur grew up from a baby to a young boy, soon starting to show all the blessings the Jacks had given him. He was very smart and learnt everything taught to him in a record time. He could charm anyone with his polite demeanour and beautiful voice. He wasn't the most attractive person in Spades, but everyone had to agree there was just something about him. Something that drew them into him and made them find his looks pleasant instead of average, from his porcelain skin to his shaggy hair to his alluring green eyes. And despite his small size, there were few people who could beat Arthur in battle.

The curse, however, didn't take root immediately. As a child, Arthur was geniunelty polite and charming; all in all lovely in his innocence. He spent all summers and winters in the Spade Palace, getting to know his future king and jack. Although he appreciated Yao as his teacher and tutor, it was Prince Alfred with whom he bonded extremely deep. A few years after Arthur's birth, even the young prince had finally begun to grow. There were rumours that his “Time” has simply been waiting for his pair, his companion, his queen, to be born.

Arthur and Alfred played, studied, ate and even slept together. It was rare to see the two of them apart, and with the prince, Arthur was truly happy. Whenever he wasn't with Alfred, his heart always felt heavy and it was like something dark was trying to creep over to him. He never noticed, however, how the clock he always wore around his neck would always tick when he was with his friend, but would stop ticking if he didn't hear from Alfred for about a week whenever they had to be apart.

Eventually, however, life caught up with the two boys and they had to be pulled apart. Up until that point they had been able to study mostly the same things, but from now on they needed to focus on their respective areas of ruling – Alfred with economy and trade and Arthur with diplomatics and culture. The boys were thought to be dangerously distracting to each other in this respect, so all the visits were brought to end and the letters the boys tried sending to each other were hidden from them and burnt. Gilbert, who had been watching all this happen from afar, could only sigh. Alas, but no one could avoid fate.

And so it happened, that without his childhood friend, that dark something managed to creep up to and catch up with Arthur. Without Alfred, who had always been honest enough to tell him when he thought he was doing something wrong, Arthur was only surrounded by the praise of his teachers, servants and parents, and with time all the compliments slowly started to get to him and into his head. Since so many people were always telling him how great he was, what reason would he have not to believe them? And so, slowly his childish innocence faded away and was replaced by selfish insensitivity and belief that no one could ever do anything better than himself. This of course soon led to that Arthur was never really happy, and even though his looks drew people into him, there was never any geniune affection from those people. They sucked up to him because they found it useful for them – this included, of course, the royals from other countries, who wanted to get along with the fertile Spades – but Arthur's vicious nature prevented him from making any real friends. Little by little, he even forgot about Alfred who had once meant so much to him.

Surrounded by all these people who really meant nothing to him, Arthur often sought for solitude. Around his sixteenth year, he found his sanctuary in the forests near to his home. There was a clearing where the sun, or alternatively the moon and stars, always seemed to shine. There was a lovely pond there with crystal clear water that was so clean that it actually tasted a bit sweet if you drank it. That's where Arthur went every time he felt like could take no more of his tedious life filled with books and unsatisfaction and dishonest people.

This was one of those days. Arthur rode through the forest, down the path he knew very well by now. Reaching the pond, Arthur stepped down from his stallion, allowing both himself and the animal a drink from the sweet, clear water. But as Arthur drank from his hands, his eyes caught his reflection on the surface. He truly was a lovely, charming youth. Wanting to get a better look, he leaned forward a bit more, but it still wasn't enough. He leaned forward even more. And then more. And then more. But now Arthur was so far down that he lost his balance and fell into the pond.

Now, although Arthur couldn't swim, the pond was shallow enough for him not to drown, so under normal circumstances this would've been fine. But it was just then that Fate decided that it was about time to see whether this young man was truly worthy of the title of the Queen of Spades, and the fall made Arthur lose the clock-pendant he always wore. With it, all the qualities he had been blessed with also disappeared, but so did also his cold, unmoving heart. For the first time in years, his real, warm heart beat under his chest, pumping warmth into him and making him kind. However, since he had lost all else, what emerged from the pond didn't look like Arthur at all. His hair had grown into ugly, messy locks tangling and twisting all over the place as well as covering most of his face. His eyebrows grew in size and his face itself seemed to have gained wrinkles and looked dirty. The green eyes that were normally so bright green now looked muddy and blank. Even Arthur's clothes had changed from the rich blue and violet Spade silks and velvets to a ragged cloak, shirt and pants full of patches. And since he had also lost all his smarts and wisdom, he could no longer remember anything. Not who he was, why he was here or where he should be. Even his horse, not recognising him, ran away in fright at the sight of him.

Seeing no reason to stay in the forest, but mind absolutely blank, Arthur who couldn't even remember his own name, began walking. He wandered around in the forest for a few days, surviving with berries, herbs and fish, but never complaining like he normally would've done. Even though he knew nothing no more, his heart felt surprisingly light and...happy. He appreciated things in a whole new way now, often stopping simply to listen to birds sing or watch a caterpillar crawl across a leaf.

On the night of his third night in the forest, Arthur came across a small house in another clearing. Exhausted from walking and hunger and not really thinking, he went to lay on its frontstep, falling asleep right there.

The next morning, he woke up to someone beating him with a broom. He looked up and saw an elderly woman in simple clothes, yelling at him for sleeping on her frontstep. Arthur apologised franctically in his now raspy voice and tried to escape, but as he began to run, the woman grabbed his arm and told him to clean her house for having slept there without permission. Arthur didn't quite understand why this was such a big deal, but right now he couldn't understand much of anything, so he merely did as told.

Around midday, Arthur was about finished, but the elderly woman told him to peel the potatoes instead of allowing him to leave. She herself cut vegetables as Arthur washed and peeled the potatoes, and when he was finished, the woman put all the ingredients into a cauldron on fire and made soup. Arthur wasn't given any more tasks, but since he had nowhere else to go, he just sat by the wall in the woman's tiny house. The woman said nothing to that, so he didn't feel like he needed to leave. And when the soup was done, he was invited to eat, though he had to wash the dishes afterwards.

And so, somehow like this, Arthur ended up staying with the elderly woman. Since he had no name to give to her, she didn't give him hers either. She lived in solitude because she didn't like being around people, but during the day she went to work at the city. Arthur was left alone in the house, and in return for living there and eating the meals his new landlady cooked, he took care of the house.

Of course, all over the kingdom everyone was worried because the future queen had disappeared. Every house and every place was checked in Spades, but no one could find the lovely royal-to-be. They even came to Arthur's new house once, but no one was able to associate the ugly, humble and quiet boy with the lovely, charming and arrogant young lord.

As much as people looked for Arthur himself, they also looked for the clock. Arthur's parents had been able to guess Arthur might have lost it since no one could find him. Eventually they had to send a word to Prince Alfred, as everyone hoped he might be able to locate either Arthur or his clock, being his so called “pair”. Alfred, who had been on his way to see his dear childhood companion anyway, having finally found out why he hadn't received any letters from him over the years, of course agreed, being extremely worried since his friend had gone missing. He knew people spoke of Arthur like he was a bad person these days, but Alfred just couldn't believe it. He would always think of Arthur as his kind-hearted friend.

Arthur wasn't the only one who had grown over the years into a charming young man. Alfred, who had once been an awkward and clumsy child, was now a young man in the prime of his life, and quite lovely-looking with his bright blue eyes, honeyblonde hair and strong body. And, on whatever instinct, Alfred actually managed to find Arthur's sanctuary spot in the forest, and even locate the clock at the bottom of the pond. In his hands it slowly gained warmth and slowly began to tick.

Alfred took the clock over to Arthur's parents. All across the land, an order that every man had to come to the Kirkland mansion to try the clock on was given. The clock was designed and enchanted so that its chain would only go over the head of its rigthful owner, so for days and days, all men in the country came and tried to put the clock on, but no one succeeded.

Eventually, the order reached even Arthur's household, and even though neither he nor his landlady believed him to be the beautiful, much-talked-about lordling, an order was an order. When they arrived at the mansion, everyone looked at them with frowns, observing this ugly young man and his grumpy-looking companion. Sure, the boy was the same age as Lord Arthur had been, but in Spades it didn't really matter. Who knew at what age the lordling could've ended up when he lost his clock.

Arthur came in front of Prince Alfred, kneeling in front of him quietly, although for some reason his heart felt surprisingly warm when he looked at him. It was like he had walked into a sequence from a very pleasant dream he had long since forgotten. Alfred raised an eyebrow at the other young man, but regardless put the chain over his head. What shocked everyone was that it actually went over his head, falling on his chest.

Right that moment, Arthur stood up, again in his high-class clothes and beauty, all his memories returned to him, but...there was something different about him. His face was beautiful again, but the bigger eyebrows remained. His posture wasn't as rigid as it had once been. But most of all, his heart wasn't heavy or cold anymore as he looked at his dearly departed childhood friend. His heart still felt light and warm, just like it had been when he didn't remember. The clock around his neck ticked fiercely in tune with his heartbeat as heat grew on his cheeks when he looked at Alfred.

“...Alfie?” He whispered softly, as if he couldn't believe the boy really was there, in front of him. As if sensing his thoughts, Alfred stepped forward to embrace him and welcome him home, as did Arthur's parents.

The old woman smiled to herself, turning to leave, but Arthur stopped her with his voice, again clear and lovely instead of cracking and quiet. He thanked the woman sincerely for her hospitability and promised he would see that she was taken care of from now on.

From his hiding place deep in the shadows, Gilbert smiled to himself. Apparently little Arthur had managed to break the curse after all. That finished his duty here, for now.

After this incident, everyone started to agree that Prince Alfred was too good an influence to Lord Arthur to keep them apart, not that the two young men would've let anyone do that anymore anyway. Since Arthur was old enough now anyway, he moved with Alfred to the Palace to slowly get used to his life in the court. The two boys rekindled their old friendship which grew even deeped than it had been. From then on Arthur always tried his best to be humble and good, for Alfred and for their kingdom. The two eventually took over as King and Queen, but unlike many other royals, they decided to take their relationship further than just friends or companions. Over the years their frienship had turned into love, and on the day of their coronation, the two were also wed in matrimony. Together King Alfred, Queen Arthur and Jack Yao all ruled for many years, turning into one of the most beloved Royal Trios in Spades ever. When they finally passed on, hundreds of years later, Queen Arthur was always remebered in court for his old saying:

“More valuable than gold is a kind, humble heart.”

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I love Zachris Topelius' stories ^^.

Title: Amoomerica and Engmaiden
Rating/Warnings: K for Hetalia Moomins
A/N: I love Hetalia, I love the Moomins, and this idea amused me far too much to pass up. Done with pencils.

http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/n285/nihon_love/?action=view&current=Muumi001.jpg (Just the link for now, the picture doesn't seem to work)

This is actually the first time of drawing Moomins for me. Huh.

Käy Muumilaaksoon~