A Wicked Affair [America] [Flashback]

Arthur was seasoned in frequent and brutal war at this point in history. Presently, he was in the middle of dealing with the crisis of the Napoleonic wars in Europe. The end result accumulated in the thorough and savage way that Arthur was currently dealing with Francis. In part, also extracting his vengeance on him for inserting himself in his and Alfred's affairs. At this rate, he predicted that his war with Francis and his nasty little dictator would end within a year or two from now. Of course, this was the time that America had decided to stir and give him some measure of trouble from across the Atlantic. Arthur had rather begrudgingly paused his fight with Francis to take the next ship out to America in order to deal with this ridiculous little conflict as well. It was a nuisance. And annoyance remained at the forefront of his emotions throughout the entire voyage, throughout the fighting at sea, and when he finally did set foot on American soil.

It was much later in the conflict when Arthur found himself on the streets of Washington. The capitol was in a state of chaos, fires burning out of control on all sides, bathing the night sky overhead in a garish orange. Soldiers from both sides clashed and Arthur could hear the sound of guns firing and smashing swords below the steady roar of the flames.

He saw Alfred not long into the fighting. Noticed him across the fray. This was the first time in many years since the Jay Treaty in London that America had formed with England about a decade earlier that he had laid eyes on Alfred. Arthur’s face in that moment had been tense, unreadable, and flecked with American blood. The distraction of seeing Alfred made one of the nearby soldiers feel brave enough to charge at Arthur. Catching the motion in the corner of his eye, Arthur’s steel flashed through the air to cut at the man’s torso, opening him up in a spray of blood. Arthur stepped smoothly to the side as the soldier’s body fell, jerking to the ground. His intense, green stare remained fixed on Alfred, blood and sweat dripping from his face. ”I was curious when you’d finally show up. I was just thinking about you,” Arthur finally spoke over the fray, when they were close enough.

Arthur had advanced on Alfred, his eyes still fixed on the other man, cutting down another soldier who ran to challenge him. He twirled easily to avoid the blood that showered on his coat instead, the red material fanning with the motion. ”It’s quite irritating, really,” he would go on, continuing to speak without skipping a beat. ”I’ll be in the middle of cutting through soldiers, through scores of men, and all I manage to think about during that time was you. It would be about mundane things from the past. I’d wonder if you’re eating properly, or if you were getting enough sleep. I would find myself worrying that you might get yourself hurt playing in the forest. I’d always imagine such ridiculous scenarios. Mainly, I’d wonder about what you were doing right at that moment. If you were—“ Arthur paused as a bullet grazed his arm.

Turning to the soldier that had fired the offending shot, Arthur drove his sword through the man with frightening force. It went so far into the man’s body that when Arthur tried to pull it back, it met with resistance from the muscle tissue. He had to put his boot against the man’s chest to push him back while he yanked at his weapon so that it would wretch loose. Arthur wet his lips, tongue swiping out quickly. Some of the blood on his face was drawn into his mouth with the motion, but it didn’t register in his manner as he continued from where he'd been interrupted, ”—If you were happy. If you were smiling like you always did. If you were thinking of me like I was thinking of you.”

Arthur stopped before Alfred in that moment, taking measure of him. ”Once again, I find myself in the midst of battle and my thoughts turn to you.” Arthur spoke thoughtfully, but with measure, control, and purpose. ”Everything that I set out to do here has been accomplished. I have driven your soldiers back from Canada and secured his peace. I have destroyed your capitol, just as you’ve destroyed Canada’s, to teach your people what it means to lose something so precious. Our forces have been warring back and forth without considerable gains or losses to either side. We are at something of a draw.”

Arthur had lowered his sword at this point, his words continuing as his eyes remained on Alfred’s. ”We have been fighting endlessly for nearly a decade. And while I wouldn’t hesitate to take up my sword against France again… which is probably what I’ll do when I return to the war in Europe…” The green gaze intently studied Alfred’s face. ”You, though. I am tired of fighting you. Try as I might, I don’t have the spirit for it any longer. What would you say to us finally putting an end to all this? We will withdraw and cease attacking your ships at sea. You will leave Canada alone. It would be an easy compromise.” In that moment, Arthur had been sincere in his offer of peace. He could feel in his bones that his men were tired of fighting with America. He wouldn’t interfere with Alfred’s affairs while the British Empire would remain focused on his own agenda against the world.

And so, set the stage for proper negotiations between the two of them. Months later, they were together again in a much different manner.

The official treaty was set to be signed and discussed in Ghent in the Netherlands for Alfred and his delegates. It was a neutral location for the both of them and Arthur offered no objection to the request. Arthur never did hold any love for these formalities between nations and government officials. The proceedings were always dry and long. They were currently cramped in a small room that they had arranged to meet for the treaty discussions. The room grew steadily dark as time wore on, which was eventually negated with candles and lanterns being lit.

Throughout the discussions, Arthur’s gaze drifted occasionally across the opposite side of the table where Alfred sat. Most of the time; however, he did avoid eye contact as much as possible, even when they had politely shaken hands during the introductions at the very beginning of the meeting. Arthur was reading over the treaty, meticulously dissecting every passage once it had been written. He had expected that he would be more involved in the process than Alfred was, perhaps because this felt more like an average day of work for him whenever he had to meet with European nations to treaty the official end of a war. For Alfred, this was only the second time that he would’ve done something like this. Both times, with England, of course.

It ended up taking several hours of bickering back and forth between their delegates over the details. While it wasn’t as impassioned as it had been back in 1783, neither side was willing to relent on issues of importance. Arthur kept his attention discreetly on Alfred and waited for the moments when his attention was either wandering from the meeting or he was completely allowing his own delegates to take control of the terms. Arthur used these moments to insert his own personal conditions and arrangements to be honored at the conclusion of the treaty. He noticed the exhausted looks on the American official’s faces as they noted these additions into the treaty. At one point, one of the delegates asked Alfred if he had any particular requests and if the terms posed by Arthur were agreeable to him.

The rest of the meeting went without much incident as the English and American officials hammered out the rest of the treaty without further interruption or additions. When the copies were slid forward, everyone signed them, including Arthur and Alfred. This signaled the end of a very long process.

Arthur kept to his seat, surveying as everyone shook their hands and started to gather their things to leave. He caught the murmured words of one of Alfred’s officials telling the boy ‘good luck’ with his ‘arrangements with Admiral Kirkland,’ likely cluing Alfred in that there was something to the agreement that was officiated that Alfred probably had little recollection of prior to them signing the binding document. The door had been shut firmly as soon as all the men filed out. Leaving just the two of them.

Arthur laced his fingers together below his chin, green eyes finally sliding over to properly fix on Alfred. ”You know, I always could tell the exact moment whenever you stopped paying attention, if your curious over this arrangement,” he murmured pleasantly. Arthur plucked up his copy of the treaty, gleaning over the fresh ink. ”Not only did you verbally agree to my terms, you also signed your name to them as well. If you have any thoughts of going against them now, that would be a breach of contract, Alfred. And I doubt your officials would appreciate knowing that you invalidated all their hard work today.”

He paused, keeping his wryly amused and intent gaze fixed on Alfred, waiting for his reaction and for the likely inquiry regarding what exactly Alfred had just signed himself into.