08 – That Fighting Spirit
The lady in
front of the Joker stood up, wiping the dirt off her outfit. Antonio rushed
over to her with a dagger in his hand, pointing it at the Joker, his hand
trembling only slightly as his green eyes looked over the said man. “Jasmine,
get away from here and leave me to deal with this,” he said lowly to her. The
woman scoffed, raising the rake she had dropped beforehand. “I’m serious; it’s
dangerous to be in front of such a creature.”
“I’m not a
weakling, Antonio.” She replied, meeting the Joker’s obsidian eyes. Averting
her attention to the person, she asked, “What are you doing here in Tréboles?” the
creature merely gave Jasmine a half-smile, brushing his blonde hair out of his
eyes.
“You’re not
going anywhere near Spades, or any of the other kingdoms!” snapped Antonio.
“And you’re not going to do anything in here, Peter. It’s best that you step
out of my kingdom or worse things will happen.” Lifting his hands in the air,
Peter stepped back, still wearing the half revealed smile on his fair face. His
horns twitched lightly, tail active and seemingly playful as he stepped back
step by step.
“What if I leave
your place and go back to mine, hm?” Jasmine didn’t bat an eyelash, still
aiming the rake at Peter. “You’ve changed, Jasmine.”
“Just get out of
the damn place, Peter.” She snapped. The blonde blinked slowly and turned
around, running off. Away from the tomatoes and the kingdom he went, into the
dark forest and not looking back. Jasmine slowly put the rake down and Antonio
tucked the dagger back into his pocket, frowning still.
“I expected him
to put up a fight,” he admitted. She merely shook her head. An angry growl came
from behind them, and they looked back. Lovino was coming towards them, furious;
with a wailing Feliciano behind him, waving his white flag as if there was no
tomorrow. The older of the Vargas twins started punching Antonio and screaming
his lungs out, yelling things about him letting the Joker escape and being
careless as usual.
Jasmine frowned
and tied her hair up once more, and Feliciano hid behind her, making a soft
‘ve~’ sound as he watched Antonio try to console Lovino and fail at the same
time.
“Lovino, let’s
just go back inside,” he tried. The elder twin scowled at Antonio and stomped
on his foot, walking off with his arms folded over his chest after. The King
howled in pain and clutched at his injured toe, pouting and hopping after
Lovino.
“Remind me again why I’m a citizen of this kingdom,” Jasmine sighed.
Feliciano giggled, and they both went back to the castle.
“Ludwig.” Said
blonde turned around, seeing Arthur standing by him. The King sighed, running a
hand through his hair. “The meeting with Ivan. We need to know what it’s
about.” The man gave Arthur a look, gently patting the head of his black horse.
“The Flush,
obviously.” Arthur stepped forward, looking a little hesitant. Ludwig frowned.
Arthur was never like this. As irritable and quick-tempered the man could be he
had to admit that the King of Spades was unusually calm as well whenever he
needed to be. “Obviously, there’s something on your mind.”
Arthur gave a
small, pained smile. “You’ve noticed. Come with me. I…need your opinion on this
matter, Ludwig. Before I tell the other Kings of this. Francis would make a
scene and Antonio would just jab at the holes of this…plan.”
Ludwig could
only nod, and they walked, his horse following faithfully.
“Well, what is it? Spit it out.”
A man with
light-colored hair merely smiled, fixing the papers and putting them to his
left. In front of him stood three males, much younger, arranged from shortest
to tallest. The shortest one had fluffy blonde hair and quivered in his
anxiety. The one in the middle had shoulder-length, wavy brown hair that framed
his face. The oldest one seemed the calmest, arms folded over his chest. A
darker blonde was the color of his bowl-cut styled hair, with large glasses
framing his eyes.
The tallest one
broke the silence.
“The owl has
been sent.”
“Good,” replied
the one sitting down, his voice slightly muffled due to the thick scarf around
his neck, a portion of it covering his mouth as well. “I hope Ludwig received
it.”
“W-We’ll alert
you when a r-reply has come,” the shortest one answered, trying to smile.
However, it looked like a pained grimace.
“I would like
that, Ravis.”
“If that’s all,
then we shall leave you be, Ivan, sir.” A cold aura seemed to surround the
room, and Ivan’s expression darkened, though a smile still rested on his face.
“Oh? Don’t you
want to stay? I’m sure Eduard has things to do, yes, but you three are my
favorite companions in this desolate place.” A shiver ran down Eduard’s spine. “How
about you, Toris? It would be nice to have some company, for once...”
“N-No, I-Ivan,
sir – we’ll leave you be with Yekaterina and Natalia –”
At the mention of ‘Natalia’, Ivan paled, giving time for the three
men to scurry out in fear. The door slammed, and Ravis made a small whining
noise. Toris sighed, and Eduard dusted the dirt off his suit. “I wish Ivan
would stop doing that…”
Secretly, they agreed with the shortest young man.
“That is a
foolish and degrading plan!” snapped Ludwig. Arthur cringed and ran a hand
through his hair, silently agreeing with the other blonde. “I am not a fan of
such games, Arthur. Surely there is something better you can think of aside
from…aside from…” Ludwig seemed to run out of words.
“I can’t. There
is no possible solution. Also, with little time left, what else can we do?” Arthur
took a deep breath before continuing. “I want to retain my throne. I can’t let
someone else have it and wreck all the progress and power Spades has gotten so
far, in my four year rule.”
“What about me?
I’ve been King for a long time. Gilbert is dedicated to his role. I have no interest in
letting go of my land just because of a lacking in the requirements of that
man.” He sucked in a breath. “I am a man of fairness and righteousness. I
cannot do this.”
“It’s your
choice, then. I shall tell Antonio and Francis nonetheless. A majority vote is
needed, or else we will have no plan at all.”
“It’s not very
right.”
“I know that. I
will regret this.”
“Then why bother
doing something you’ll just regret later on?”
Arthur was silent.
“It’s for the better of my beloved land, Ludwig.”
Antonio walked
around his study, pondering about the events of the day. The Joker incident was
indeed suspicious, and the jolly man couldn’t help but exhibit paranoia. He was
nervous, and he had a good reason for it. Being a King for only a year, talks
of the Flush already set him on edge, more so than the other Kings of
Cardverse.
“Antonio?” he
spun around, seeing Jasmine there with a tray consisting of fruit. He smiled
only slightly as he watched her set the tray down on his table and he picked up
an apple and took a large bite. Her eyes watched him in uncertainty. “You seem
rather down. I’ve noticed it ever since you got back from the Spades…did
something happen?”
“It’s nothing
you should worry of, dear Jasmine. King talk and such – you know how busy I am,
don’t you?” the lady nodded, but kept her eyes on him. “…did Feliciano and
Lovino notice?”
“They’re not
stupid. They know something is going on around here, and that’s not a good
indicator of things that would eventually come.” He sighed, chewing slowly, and
took another bite. “…you’ve been skipping out on meals as well.”
“I’m sorry, my
friend. Perhaps…perhaps I running for this position was a mistake. Lovino was
right – I should have let Morgens handle this…Bella was telling me to think
more, but I wanted the best for this place…” Jasmine tsked.
“You can be such
a humble man, Antonio.”
“Thank you.”
“That wasn’t a
compliment. You’re humble to the point of degrading yourself.” He cringed, and
her eyes softened at the sight. “You need to step up your game. Be like Lovino,
but not as harsh or brutal.”
“Ah, but I
can’t!” Antonio let out a groan. “I can’t be as rough as my little Knight…no
matter how much I try. Its human nature for me to be this kind – or at least,
part of my own nature…you understand me, do you, Jasmine?”
“Not really.” He
frowned. “I’m…trying to, at least.”
“Well, take it
this way.” He put the apple back down on the tray. “It’s my spirit that
makes me like this. It makes me who I am – the happy man who rules over Tréboles
with a smile on his face!” Antonio gazed off, thoughtful. “It makes the people
like me. It makes Lovino put up with me. It makes the ladies flock to me –”
He stopped.
“…Antonio?”
“The ladies…” he
turned to Jasmine with a large grin. “Set up an owl. I need to talk to Arthur
as soon as possible.”
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