Notes:
This chapter features a little time skip, however the next few chapters are going to reveal some things that’ll hopefully clue you in to what’s going on. I’d loved to hear your theories :) it’ll let me know if I’m hiding my secret well.

The days seem to fly by but that week felt like it lasted a lifetime, not that it bothered Alfred though he only wished it would last longer, as well as the days or rather the time he spent in Arthur’s garden. On every single day of that long week Alfred would spend between one to two hours over in Arthur’s garden and every time he went there he’d wish that time would stand still so he could stay longer. Wether it happened in early the morning or late in the afternoon or even in the middle of the night, wether it happened before he tucked into a delicious meal or a sweet treat, Alfred was always happy to visit.

Arthur had just become another part of his life, it was like his own personal best friend that he didn’t have to share with anyone, and no one knew about him. He was just an interesting person to talk to, and despite his smug attitude and stubborn nature Alfred enjoyed their chats together. Sure they had their fair share of arguments but they always made up, and for some reason Alfred would actually enjoyed that part of their relationship. Arthur would always tell him interesting stories, teach him wonderful things about his plants, and just engage him in intense conversations that even someone like him could enjoy. He would show him plants and flowers he was growing when they were outside in the garden and when they were inside Arthur would either read him stories or try and teach him some skills in embroidery. Alfred would help boost his confidence with inspiring pep talks, tell him jokes that either irritated or got him laughing, and often tease him which eventually resulted in the pair of the teasing each other back and forth. However their time together would always end with the pair of them content with each other’s company.

When he wasn’t visiting Arthur, Alfred worked hard as a King. He kept on top with his work much to Yao’s relief, pushing himself to make the Kingdom run smoother than he ever could before. He went over the plans for the dinner party a few times, talked with his staff to make certain that everyone was happy with what they had to do, and finally decided on a winner regarding the dessert contest. He inspected all the guest rooms and went over the ceremonies that were planned for when they greeted the other Kings and their courts when they arrived. When he wasn’t doing planning out the dinner party, Alfred worked with all of the high ranking officials of his Kingdom, listening to the concerns of his people and working his arse off to get rid of those worries. Everything was going according to plan, with Yao overly satisfied with his work effort and his Kingdom was doing so much better than ever.

As the days passed Alfred would eagerly anticipate his next visit with Arthur, wondering what would occur during his visit. He eventually forgot about his own investigations and no longer took notes, and he didn’t seem to care as to how and why he went to the garden. Alfred found himself living in the moment and it soon came to pass that he found he couldn’t imagine a day without spending it in Arthur’s company.

He only had one complaint; he wanted to meet Arthur for real. It still felt weird to him that he couldn’t even touch him or anything else in his garden, and could only assume it had to do with the fact he was randomly teleported there. He wasn’t certain where Arthur was in the world but he had to be somewhere, maybe on another continent or something as he did mention he lived in an isolated area. He had thought about asking Arthur but he never did, and he wasn’t certain why. Maybe it was out of fear that if he did learn where Arthur was he wouldn’t be able to see him anymore.

Arthur had recently read him a story about a man whose goose laid golden eggs and then he got greedy and he cut open the goose to get more eggs, but there was nothing there and his goose was dead, so no more golden eggs. Arthur explained it was a moral; to be thankful for what you have. He told him many other stories like that but it was that particular one that stuck with Alfred. To him his visits with Arthur were like those golden eggs, so he wondered if he tried to figure out this mystery he’d end up killing the goose and loosing his golden eggs forever? Maybe for now he’d ignore the mystery and be thankful for what he had. It wasn’t as if it was hurting anyone.

The days continued to fly by and until the day arrived when Francis would return and stay until the dinner party. The palace staff were getting ready to welcome him and whilst Alfred waited for his arrival, he and Yao were inspecting the fair that was being set up in one of their large gardens. Stands were set up, vendors were getting their games ready and the rides were being inspected by safety inspectors. It looked like it was all ready to go, and now all it needed were the children to come and play.

“Makes me wish I was a kid again,” sighed Alfred as he gazed up at the Ferris wheel, wondering how fast it would go.

“Since when has that stopped you,” snorted Yao, “I know for certain you’re going to be on these rides more times than the actual children.”

Alfred laughed. “There’s no harm with unleashing your inner child once in a while.”

“Feh, with you that’s like ever other day.”

“Say, do you think they’d let me test out the rides first?”

“I suppose? Why not ask?”

Yao had meant it sarcastically but Alfred bolted off immediately, asking the ride operators if he give their attractions a royal inspection. They agreed with confident smiles, ensuring their King that all the rides had been inspected and were ready to go. So he tried them all out, with Yao begging him not to get sick and vomit as Francis was set to arrive in a couple of hours. He went on the mechanical bull, the carousel, the mini roller coaster, tried to get Yao to come with him on the bumper cars and succeeded much to the Jack’s displeasure, and then finally went on the Ferris wheel.

“You sure you don’t want to come, Yao?” he asked as the operator tightened his restraints.

Yao was still reeling from the bumper cars. “I’m fine,” he gagged, “you have fun.”

“Suit yourself.”

As the Ferris wheel took off and lifted him up towards the heavens, it gave Alfred the opportunity to appreciate the view of his palace and his Kingdom as he got higher, including the vast gardens that surrounded it. He didn’t realise how big the gardens were and he could not help but marvel at how beautiful they were, from where he was he could see all the variety of the plants, the trees and the colours of all the flowers. He doubted Arthur would be able to handle them all. Well maybe he could... or at the very least be stubborn about it, the thought of it made him smirk. At least the children were in for a treat when they rode this.

Lost in his thoughts he didn’t realise the Ferris wheel had stopped moving whilst he was still high up. He looked over to see the operator fumbling with the controls and apologising to Yao, who was suddenly looking irritated.

The Jack looked up at him with a frown. “It got jammed,” he called out, “they’re just trying to fix it.”

Alfred rolled his eyes and huffed. “How long?” he shouted back.

“A few minutes at least. Let’s just hope they get you back down before the Diamond Court arrives.”

With no where to go until it was fixed Alfred leaned back in his seat and sighed. The last thing he wanted was for Francis to see him trapped on a Ferris wheel, he wouldn’t let him live it down and he’d probably tell the other Kings, so he could only sit tight and hope the engineers fixed it quick.

“Just my luck,” he sighed.

“It’s pretty up here, isn’t if Alfred?”

Alfred jerked up upon hearing the gentle voice coming from his left, and looked over to see, much to his shock, the mysterious little girl sitting next to him as if she had always been there. She smiled up at him, her eyes as mesmerising as they were before and was kicking her legs in the air like an ordinary child. “Hello again,” she said innocently.

“How did you get up here?” gasped Alfred, trying not to move too much to shake the seat.

The girl smiled at him and winked. “It’s a secret.”

It had been a while since he saw this strange little girl. The first time was in a scary dream and the second time she appeared in his room to talk to him about Arthur. He thought she was a ghost at first, but he was able to touch her after she made him pinky promise and she felt warm, whilst he was certain that ghosts were meant to be cold. He then started to assume that maybe she was a witch, it didn’t explain how she could appear out of thin air and there was something magical about her. The other interesting thing about her was that she seemed to know Arthur, though Arthur claimed he didn’t know her.

“Are you a witch or something?” blurted Alfred without even thinking.

“Nope,” giggled the girl. “I’m too pretty to be a witch.”

Alfred was now completely stumped. “Well... you can’t be human.”

“What makes you say that?”

He only just realised that the things he had been saying were rather offensive, even if he could be right, so he tried to be more civil. “It’s just you appeared in my dreams, you vanish into thin air, and there’s just something about you that doesn’t seem... human.”

The girl didn’t seem offended, thank god. “I see, it only makes sense. Say, did you enjoy your time with Arthur this morning?”

It did surprise Alfred that she knew that, so much that he didn’t realised she purposely changed the subject. He knew that she was aware he was seeing Arthur but he didn’t think she knew when. He did visit Arthur that morning where they chatted about random things, he cracked a joke about his eyebrows, Arthur criticised his eating habits, and he made his 125th attempt at guessing the name of the special trees, which he failed.

“How did you know I went this morning?” he demanded.

“Can’t tell,” giggled the girl.

Alfred huffed and folded his arms, his desire to seek some answers kicking in. “You know, Arthur claims he doesn’t know you.”

“Well it’s true.”

“So how come you know him?”

“Because I do.”

Alfred ruffled his own hair, wondering what he should ask and if he did ask, would she answer or give him an answer that made sense? “Do... you know where he is?”

“In his garden.”

“I mean-... where is he in the world?”

“Oh,” the girl pondered on that for a moment. “Where he’s always been and that’s all you need to know, right?” What did that even mean? The girl could see he was confused and tried to elaborate. “I know you want to see him and I want you to see him too, but this is the best I can do.”

That made Alfred sit up and he stared at her with wide open eyes. “Wait... just wait a second...” He leaned in close towards the girl and his heart began to thump hard against his chest. “You’re... the one who sends me there?

The girl’s expression didn’t change as she answered him. “Not me exactly... I get help.”

“From who?” Alfred had never felt so eager to learn as much as he could from this girl.

“I... my friends helped me...” The girl suddenly appeared to be sad about something. “I can’t tell you anymore than that.”

“Why not?” Alfred tried not to snap but he was getting tired of getting half answered answers

The girl sighed sadly. “Because if I give you all the answers now, you won’t be able to do it.”

“Do what?”

“What needs to be done.”

Alfred wanted to ask her what that meant, he wanted to ask her why she was doing this, he wanted to ask her what her end goal was. There were so many questions he wanted to ask her... but he couldn’t because he knew she was just going to repeat what she just said. It was like this damn Ferris wheel, he was just going round in circles with her. In defeat he slumped forward and sighed heavily.

“I’m sorry Alfred.” The girl placed her small hand upon Alfred’s, the warmth he felt from it was incredibly soothing. “I promise you’ll have all the answers soon, just please promise me you’ll continue to have fun with Arthur. You make him so happy.”

Alfred stared at her with weary eyes. She sounded as sincere as always but why did she care about Arthur so much? Arthur didn’t even know her and she seemed to be aware of this. “What’s your deal with Arthur? I mean, what do you get out of this?”

The girl closed her eyes and bore a calming smile. “I simply want to grant his wish.”

His wish? That was what she was after? Arthur’s wish? Although it seemed outlandish he couldn’t help but grow more curious about it. “What does he wish for?”

“He doesn’t know his wish,” chuckled the girl, “like most people who don’t know what their own heart desires above all else, Arthur doesn’t even know what he wants most in the world. No one truly knows what their own deepest wish is, but I’ve seen Arthur’s heart and I know what it is.”

“What... is it?”

The girl giggled once again and placed a single finger upon Alfred’s lips. “Now Alfred, it’s not polite to ask what other people’s wishes are, they might not come true.”

That was true, or at least that was what he was raised to believe. Maybe he shouldn’t pry but he couldn’t help but wonder what Arthur desired above all else. If this girl could see what everyone’s deepest wishes, he wondered if she could see his and he wondered what it could be. Right now the only wish he could think of was to get all of his unanswered questions answered, but he doubted that she’d actually grant it.

“I’ll be going shortly,” announced the girl suddenly, shifting about in her seat and yawning a little, “but I will visit again, I promise.”

“Um,” Alfred wanted to know as much as he could from this girl, but his mind suddenly went blank and he couldn’t think of anything. “I... I never got your name!” It was the first thing he could think of. “I think it’s weird that I can only refer to you as the mystery girl.”

“My name?” The girl seemed surprised at first but then she playfully smiled up at him, her eyes filling with mischief. “Guess,” she declared.

“Guess!? Oh come on,” groaned Alfred.

Before he could even think of a name that would even fit the girl’s persona, the Ferris wheel started moving again, jerking a little before Alfred found he was slowly returning to the safety of the ground. He looked over but to his disappointment he found that the girl was gone yet again.

“Enjoy your time up there?” Yao waited for him at the bottom with a subtle smile of relief. As the operators unrestrained their King from the seat, the Jack couldn’t help but notice a change in his mood. He didn’t seem as cheery as he was before. “Did getting stuck up there upset you or something?”

Alfred sighed and shook his head, unsure of what to say. “No, no... sorry I had some time to... think up there.” He couldn’t tell Yao that a little girl suddenly appeared next to him, he’d think he was suffering from altitude sickness or something.

That made Yao smile for some reason. “Ah, you were reflecting on some thoughts?”

“That’s what I just said,” mumbled Alfred, trying to get back into a more cheery mood but he just felt so confused right now. “Anyway, lets get ready to greet Francis and co.”

Yao opened his mouth to say something but didn’t, the Jack assuming that his King has delved into some deep thoughts whilst he was trapped up there, and he probably needed some time to clear his head. After the operators apologised to the pair of them and thank them for their patience, Alfred and Yao headed back to the palace to prepare for Francis’ arrival. Alfred glanced over his shoulder at the Ferris wheel one last time before looking forward.

——————————————

The sun seemed to shining much brighter than before as Alfred stood upon the decorated steps that lead up to his palace. Beside him stood Yao, looking as dignified as always, and all around them were royal guards and the welcoming party, all of them awaiting the arrival of their esteemed guests. They had just received word that the Diamond King’s carriage had just entered the city, meaning that had at least another ten to five minutes before it arrived before them.

It gave Alfred time to reflect on some things, such as what he had learnt from the mysterious girl. She had revealed that she, along with some friends of hers, were the ones who were sending him to Arthur’s garden. Her reason for doing so was to simply grant Arthur’s wish, but why? It couldn’t be that simple. On top of that she continued to withhold information from him, claiming that if she revealed everything, he wouldn’t be able to do what needed to be done. What did that even mean? What was it that needed to be done? Could it have something to do with that door?

In fact another question popped into his mind, a question that he regretted not asking her. How was she doing it? How was she sending him to some part of the world without anyone realising it?

He was knocked out of his thinking when Yao nudged him, the guardsmen standing to attention as a distant sound of hooves began to get louder and louder. The welcoming committee started up the band and the guardsmen readied their routine. Within moments a carriage driven by silver white horses entered the palace’s courtyard, with one lone rider near the front and two other riders on the rear. The carriage was beautifully decorated with orange and silver colours contemplating each other perfectly, it’s base material looked like it was made of raw gems and it sparkled in the sunlight that it nearly blinded Alfred. The symbol of the Diamond Kingdom was placed upon the side of it and it looked like it had been carved out of an actual diamond. Even the reins of the horses looked like they were made out of jewels, and the uniforms of the carriage driver and the Diamond guardsmen looked like it had been made from the finest materials man could make. The Diamond Kingdom was infamous for it’s unending wealth so it made sense that they would go all out with the decor.

It came to a halt right at the base of the steps and the lone rider, who Alfred realised was the Diamond Jack Basch, hopped off his proud steed and walked up to the carriage and opened the it’s door. Within seconds a familiar face stepped out of the carriage, his golden locks shimmered in the sunlight, his blue eyes looked as blue as the sea, his regal clothing almost put Alfred’s own clothing to shame, and his handsome face was making even some of the guardsmen weak in the knees. As always Francis the Diamond King was the centre of attention and he wasn’t even trying.

“Bonjour mon ami,” he cried out, waving up at Alfred with a wink.

As he casually greeted Alfred, Basch held out his hand and another hand from within the carriage took it, and out of the carriage came the Erika the Diamond Queen, still as pretty and gentle as ever. Once the three main Diamond court members were presented they bowed, or curtsied in Erika’s case, and both Alfred and Yao bowed back. Once the pleasantries were out the way, Francis trotted up the steps and embraced Alfred, kissing him on both cheeks.

“It’s nearly been a month but you’ve grown quite a bit,” he chuckled.

“Nice to see you too Francis.” Alfred didn’t mind the way Francis greeted him, he just didn’t enjoy the scruffy sensation of his beard against his cheeks. “How was the trip?”

“A few bumps on the road but nothing we couldn’t handle,” replied the Diamond King with a proud smile.

After greeting the Diamond Queen, and after Yao instructing the servants to carry their luggage, the two Kings walked and talked as they made their way to the room where Francis, Erika and Basch would be staying in.

“You know, the road we take gives us a splendid view of the Forest of Eternity,” stated Francis suddenly. “My poor Queen is actually quite terrified of that place.”

Before Alfred could replied, Erika suddenly cut in. “I’m not terrified of it, it’s just during my conversations with Elizabeta, she told me that the Club Kingdom uses it as a form of capital punishment.”

“Capital punishment?” Alfred wasn’t fond about the whole subject but he was intrigued as to how and why the Club Kingdom used a forest as a form of punishment.

“Oh you know the stories, mon ami. They say the moment you walk into that forest you can never leave.” Francis pushed some of his hair back from his face. “The forest spans so far across the continent that it stretches into each and every kingdom. It barely sits upon the borders of the Diamond Kingdom and it actually takes up a small but significant amount of land in the Heart Kingdom. Since the Club Kingdom is so vast they actually have a large section of it in their territory.”

“So they just send their criminals in there?” Alfred frowned as it didn’t sound that bad of a punishment.

“Qui, and they never come out.” Francis then flashed a wicked smile. “Can you imagine their minds slipping into madness as they desperately try to find a way out? How they must wander around for an eternity until they’re too weak to move? There are even legends of terrifying beasts that lurk within those woods that eat a man whole!”

Erika made a small squeak of fear and Basch glared up at his King. “Could you refrain from scaring the Queen,” he spat viciously.

Francis chuckled and held his hands up in an apologetic manner. “Sorry, sorry, I could not resist. How about we change the topic?”

That was probably for the best as Alfred was also starting to feel a little scared. He had heard tales of the Forest of Eternity before but he wasn’t interested in them so much, but after hearing Francis’ tale he started to feel dread towards it. The idea of being trapped in a place you could never leave was actually a horrific idea, and he knew that Ivan the Club King could be cruel when it came to punishing those who wronged him.

“You know Alfred, there is something different about you,” said Francis out of the blue.

“Me?” What could that be? He had grown a few more centimetres but he didn’t think it was noticeable.

Francis seemed to think so and he was staring at him with intense eyes, as if he was trying to figure it out. “Hmm, not sure what it could be... or maybe I do? Ah well, I’ll figure it out soon.”

Alfred raised a single brow, wondering what Francis was talking about but shrugged it off for now, continuing to escort his guests to their room.