Yao took a sip of his tea whilst trying to process what his King had just told him. It sounded like something a child would come up with, but then again this was Alfred and half the time he acted like an overgrown one. Still the young King did appear to be troubled and it was something he couldn’t ignore.

“Like I said,” sighed Alfred as he leaned back into his chair, “I just randomly end up in this other place where some lonely man lives and no one seems to notice.”

“And this has happened... how many times?” Yao wanted all the facts so he could try and put it all together and make sense of it. “Tell me when and where these trips of yours happen.”

“Three times now,” explained Alfred, “the first happened in my sleep right after the tree ceremony, the second time was when I was doing all that paperwork with the planner, and it happened again whilst we were arguing over the flowers just now.”

Yao gave Alfred a puzzled look. “Are you sure you’re not just dreaming?”

“The same dream three times in a row?” scoffed Alfred, “and it can’t be, the last time it happened I was wide awake.”

“Maybe it’s stress?” suggested Yao with a shrug.

“I don’t know,” huffed Alfred, slapping his hands onto the arms of his chair. “It can’t be an illusion or a dream... it feels too real.”

Yao didn’t seem to have an answer for his King, and this whole thing didn’t make any sense to him. When Alfred called to him for his advice over the flower situation he didn’t disappear from his sight, though he did notice a change in his attitude in that split second. One moment he was understandably stressed and then the next second he looked completely lost before suddenly giving out commands like a proper king. It was almost like he had gotten away to calm himself down, only he didn’t go anywhere.

He wasn’t sure if Alfred was making it up or if it was all in his head due to stress, but Yao found that he just couldn’t make any sense of this tall tale. One didn’t just vanish into a whole other world without anyone noticing. Also this world he described sounded strange, well not overly strange but still. A man who lived by himself with a garden surrounded by a large stone wall? Maybe this was just Alfred’s way of trying to get out of work and he was trying to be creative about it.

“Look, maybe you just need a full day to yourself to get this out of your system,” suggested Yao. “Why not visit the spa? I can book an appointment for you?”

Alfred blew some air passed his closed lips. It sounded like Yao didn’t believe him and he couldn’t exactly blame him, who would believe a story like his. He still couldn’t believe that this was all some illusion, but what was it? His mind playing tricks on him? He had hoped Yao would had some sort of suggestion of what it was, but even he didn’t any idea and assumed it was just something born from stress.

“I know it’s hard to believe Yao, but that place... that person... it just felt real,” sighed Alfred.

“Oh really?” Yao sipped his tea again. “Apparently you can’t touch anything there?”

“Well... yeah,” admitted Alfred.

Yao raised a single eyebrow. “And yet it feels real?”

“Yes,” insisted Alfred, sitting up and placing his clenched hands onto his desk. “It was where I got the idea for the roses.”

“Everyone knows about roses, even you, they just didn’t think of it until you mentioned them,” retorted Yao, looking at Alfred with an unconvinced expression, “you expect me to believe that in that split second you went into another world where some person suggested that to you for a full hour? I was looking at you Alfred and you went no where.”

Alfred slumped forward and sighed. The way Yao phrased it did make it sound like he was just making up an unbelievable story.

“Look, you’re stressed and you haven’t had enough time for yourself,” sighed Yao, “I’ve been pushing you to keep everything up to date and we’ve got a few important events coming up so it’s no wonder you’re like this.” Yao finished his tea and pulled out his notebook. “I’m setting you up at the spa, maybe an acupuncture session will help you relax.”

That made Alfred flinch and lean as far back into his chair as he could. “No, no! Nothing with needles!” he begged, the very idea terrifying him. “I hate needles, you know damn well I hate them!”

“Oh fine,” huffed Yao as he scribbled away, “maybe a deep tissue massage, a sea salt scrub and a soak in medical bath. As long as you come out of it with refreshed mind and body then I’ll be happy. We still got lots of work to do and I need you in top condition.”

Alfred wanted to convince Yao that he wasn’t making it up, but even he knew that was impossible, plus he actually could use a day at the spa for it had been a while since his last visit. Maybe it’ll actually help him get his mind together. Still even he wasn’t sure what was happening to him, he didn’t know if it was all in his head or someone had cast a magic spell over him, but he couldn’t deny that this Arthur he met in that world just felt real to him.

——————————

The Kingdom of Spades has many spas but the one that was used exclusively by the Royal court was supposedly one of the best. Known as the Blue Butterfly, which Alfred thought was a really stupid name that he wouldn’t even name a nightclub, it had serviced members of the Spade Court for centuries. It had treatments that would make even the most stressed out person feel like everything about the world was perfect and getting an appointment there was almost impossible.

It was open to the public as long as you could afford it, but if the King were to visit then it would close its doors until the King left. It was for security reasons but also because the owners of the spa were incredibly snobby, and only cared to keep their high class customer happy, especially royalty. Alfred didn’t mind so much but he always found it weird being the only patron in there.

Nevertheless he arrived in style and they provided an amazing service that was indeed helping him to relax. The spa staff waited on him hand and foot, wanting nothing more but to have their King leave with a smile and a stress free mind. He had a soak in a large hot bath filled with perfumes, had hot stones placed upon his back to ease the tension, his body scrubbed with high quality salts until his skin was ridiculously smooth, got massaged by a few lovely ladies and even had a ice cold soda served to him in a fancy glass.

It was days like this that he truly felt like a King. All the stress he had before seemed to have melted away and he actually found he wasn’t so anxious about the dinner party. He could probably stare up at King Ivan with a huge smile and not be intimidated by him.

Whilst he was waiting for his facial treatment, he was shown around some historical parts of the spa and it did have some interesting history but he really wasn’t into it. Then again he had nothing better to do whilst waiting for his next treatment so he decided to humour the ecstatic owner of the establishment. Wearing nothing but a white cotton dressing gown and slippers Alfred casually followed the owner around one of the upper floors, trying to act interested.

“Our first customer was a King of Spades you know,” gloated the owner, “and we’ve not only serviced members of the Spade court but we’re had the Diamond court and the Heart court all come here. We’ve yet to serve the Club court but you never know.”

“Uh huh,” replied Alfred.

“We even have treatments here that no other spa in the world has, people from all over book years in advance just to get such an exclusive treatment,” bragged the owner.

“No kidding,” yawned Alfred.

“Also this place was a favourite of the last Queen of Spades,” continued the owner, “my great great grandmother told me she came here all the time. In fact she always had this suite reserved just for her. It’s actually really popular and we’ve got bookings for it years in advance. I mean who wouldn’t want to use the room where the last Queen of Spades visited so often. They sometimes like to pretend they’re the Queen when in this room.”

As the owner pointed to a red door with gold etchings, Alfred made a huffy sound. “You tell all your guests that story?”

The owner suddenly appeared apologetic upon noticing his King’s sudden change in attitude. “I did not mean to offend you, your majesty. I know you haven’t been King for long but we citizens are used to the fact there is no Queen. We actually named this suite after the Last Queen in honour of the missing member of the Spade Court.”

The name above the door read, “Maria Somerset,” upon a beautifully decorated plaque. It was a famous name in the Kingdom as it did belong to the last Queen of Spades. It was also a little sad to hear from one of his subjects that they were used to the fact that they had no Queen and yet they just carried on like normal.

“Anyway, your majesty, we are having a new edition added to the beauty parlour that was inspired by the Kingdom of Hearts, if you just follow me.”

As the owner skipped away to continue with the tour, Alfred got a little curious and decided to have a peep inside the exclusive suite. Opening the door he peered in and found a room filled with elegant furniture and the puffiest carpet he had ever seen. He stepped inside and the scent of lavender and honeysuckle filled his nostrils. It wasn’t what he expected nor in his taste but he couldn’t complain if it brought in the crowds.

“Your majesty?” called out the owner.

“Oh I’m just-...” Alfred turned round as he shouted back at the owner but found himself staring at a fire place. “AGAIN!?”

He was back in that room, the lounge part this time.

“Dammit,” he sighed.

Why did he come back here? He wasn’t stressed and despite being relaxed he was wide awake, so why? He rubbed his hands over his face with a tired groan. There were so many questions he wanted to ask but he didn’t know who to ask and he wasn’t even certain he’d get an answer. So far the only one he told was Yao and even he thought it was just a story born from stress inspired illusions.

Oh well, he was here now so might as well make the best of it.

He looked around for where Arthur could be, wondering if he would be happy to see him again or annoyed... judging by what Alfred knew about him so far it was probably both. He walked around the room but didn’t see him. He wasn’t anywhere in the bedroom and the bathroom was empty. Peering out of the window in the lounge he was able get a better view of Arthur’s garden and from this angle it looked even more impressive.

All of the plants and flowers were arranged in carefully planned lanes and circles, forming a large beautiful pattern made up of different colours. It was impressive that with limited space Arthur was able to fill up the garden with such a wide variety of flowers. Alfred also noticed that in all four corners and in the centre of the garden were those special allotments that Arthur had prepared for his top secret plants. In fact he spotted Arthur crouching over one of them whilst writing in a book.

Alfred walked through the door, down the spiral staircase and into the garden, walking over to where Arthur appeared to be talking to himself whilst jotting down notes.

“...so you’ve grown another three centimetres overnight Galahad? That’s unusually fast... then again I have been giving you lot extra attention... I wonder if that’s the reason? Or is it my... hmmmm... but you do look pretty today. Your leaves are almost sprouting and appear to be purple, just like the book stated-...”

“Who’s Galahad?,” asked Alfred suddenly.

Arthur flinched and lost control of his pen, scribbling over his handwriting. Alfred expected to get shouted at but Arthur merely sighed and glared up at him over his shoulder.

“Could you at least announce your arrival in a way that doesn’t make my heart jump up my throat?” he demanded, ripping out the ruined page and scrunching it up.

Honestly Alfred wanted to give him a little scare and he merely smirked at Arthur. “So who’s Galahad?”

Arthur blushed and looked away. “N-no one,” he answered.

“Who were you talking to?” asked Alfred, now getting curious.

“No one,” snapped Arthur, “now leave me alone you idiot!”

Alfred was now very intrigued and he looked at the plant Arthur had been crouching over and back to him. He eventually put two and two together. “You name your plants?”

Arthur’s face turned bright red and stood up, stamping his foot upon the ground. “S-so what if I do?” he blurted out, “They’re my plants so it’s my responsibility to name them!”

“Don’t they already have names though?” pointed out Alfred, “you’re basically giving them two names.”

Arthur’s face was burning red, either from embarrassment or anger but just as he was about to shout at Alfred he looked at him with a bewildered gaze. “Why are you wearing a dressing gown?”

Looking down Alfred went red in the face himself when he realised he was still wearing the spa gear... and nothing else. “I w-was about to take a bath,” he lied, tightening up the belt just to be safe. “I didn’t exactly choose to show up here dressed like this.”

Arthur didn’t seem too impressed with Alfred’s current attire, but he just rolled his eyes and focused his attention on his book. “If you must know then yes, I name my plants. Happy?”

“And you remember all of them?” Alfred looked round and pointed to a random flower. “Who’s that?”

Arthur said nothing at first but as Alfred stared at him with sparkling blue eyes he eventually gave in. “Mary,” answered Arthur.

“And this one?” asked Alfred as he pointed to another.

“Wendy.”

“What about this lot?”

“George, William and Henry.”

“That one?”

“Peter.”

“The one over there?”

“That’s Anne... no wait, that’s Catherine.”

Alfred thought it was adorable that Arthur named all his plants and also thought it was impressive he remembered them all. He then looked at the special plant that Arthur had been crouching over earlier.

“And this one is called... Galahad?”

“Yes,” answered Arthur with a proud smile.

“That’s a funny name,” snorted Alfred.

“Well he’s a special plant so he needs a special name, just like his other siblings.” Arthur then began to walk towards the centre of his garden and Alfred followed. “In that corner is Lancelot, over in that one is Bedivere, over there is Gawain and right here is Guinevere.” Arthur stopped right in front of a small plant poking out of the dirt. “She’s actually growing quite fast this one,” exclaimed Arthur, beaming with pride.

Alfred wasn’t sure if he should be impressed or not, given his lack of knowledge around plants, but he complimented Arthur just the same. “Well it looks like it’s growing really well, you must be happy.”

“Of course I am... though I’m a bit surprised at how fast they’re growing,” confessed Arthur, “they already grew five centimetres in total since I planted them and that’s too fast.”

Again Alfred had no idea. “Is it the fertiliser?” he guessed.

“At first I assumed it was but-“

“KIRKLAND!”

The two men jumped at the loud voice that echoed across the garden and Arthur suddenly closed his eyes and grimaced. “Oh bollocks,” he cursed.

Alfred looked up and saw another man walking towards them. He was dressed in ridiculously fancy clothing that he himself would not be caught dead in and had a horrid pasty face with dark hair. Within his hand he held a beautiful looking cane but with the way he walked it looked like he didn’t even need one. He stomped towards them, not caring if he damaged any of the flowers, his beady eyes focused upon the young men.

At first Alfred was a little hopeful, apart from Arthur he hadn’t met anyone else in this place. Maybe he had some answers as to where they were? He looked like a pompous ass but hopefully he would be civil to speak with.

He approached the newcomer and gave him a smile. “Hey there friend, sorry for the getup but it’s out of my control. I’m Al-...”

The man completely ignored Alfred and walked right through him. The sensation of having someone walk through him felt weird and he couldn’t help but shiver. He turned round to find the man only seemed interested in Arthur.

“What the hell, you jerk,” snapped Alfred.

Once again the man ignored him and focused on Arthur. “Why do you look so miserable? You should be ecstatic that I have graced you with my presence!” barked the man, his voice shrill and annoying.

Arthur looked over the man’s shoulder at Alfred. “Can you... not see him?” he asked, pointing towards Alfred.

“See who?” The man spun round and though he was looking in Alfred’s direction, he wasn’t looking at him. Alfred did wave with both hands but it didn’t seem to catch his attention.

“What are you talking about?” snapped the man, “see who?”

Alfred blinked in surprise. This new person couldn’t see him? Arthur could but this guy couldn’t? Why? What was the difference between this new guy and the man Alfred already knew? It only added to the pile of questions he had about this strange experience he was going through.

The man in question returned his attention to Arthur. “Is this one of your imaginary friends? I’ve heard you been talking to yourself. My word it’s pathetic.”

Wow this guy was rude. Alfred already assumed he was a pompous jerk but the way he spoke to Arthur only proved his assumption correct. For some reason Arthur just stood there and said nothing, allowing the man to talk down at him like he was nothing. Arthur had a somewhat stubborn personality from what he knew about him, so why wasn’t he defending himself?

“It’s embarrassing, I mean the idea that you believe in such idiotic things is both amusing and ludicrous!” The man went on and on, berating Arthur with every insult one could throw at him.

Alfred stepped closer and sneered at him. “Jeez Arthur, what bit this guy on the ass?”

Arthur scowled at him. “Be quiet,” he said with a huff.

“Did you just tell me to be quiet!?” shrieked the man, his face twisting into a shocked and angry expression.

“No, not you,” gasped Arthur. He glared at Alfred and waved his arms at him, trying to tell him to go away.

Alfred thought he should obey Arthur and make himself scarce... but he could not help but smirk mischievously as some ideas began popping into his head. He rubbed his hands together and walked a little closer, causing Arthur to look a little panicked.

“Then who in blazes were you talking to! Your imaginary friends again?” spat the man, glaring daggers at Arthur.

“Yes?” replied Arthur, with a failed attempt at a smile, his eyes darting back between him and Alfred.

Once he was standing next to the rude man, Alfred snickered with glee as he raised his arm and shoved it through the man’s head, giving the illusion that the man had an actual arm stuck in his head. The man kept talking as if nothing was wrong and Alfred couldn’t resist waving his hand.

“Hey Arthur, he’s a little empty headed, ain’t he?” he cackled, pulling his arm back and forth.

Upon doing that Alfred noticed a smirk trying to form on Arthur’s face but he was fighting against it. “Stop it,” he hissed.

“I beg your pardon!?” barked the man.

“N-nothing!” Arthur looked at Alfred desperately but it was clear that he wasn’t going to stop.

Alfred then moved behind the man and started poking his arms through his back, so it appeared that arms were coming out of the man’s chest. He waved them about and made stupid gestures, even making it look like the man was picking his own nose.

That almost made Arthur break into laughter as a small sound escaped his throat, but he held it in as best he could. The smile he was trying to prevent was still trying to form across his face, and he bit down on his own thumb.

“What is wrong with you?” shrieked the man, “have you gone mad?”

“N-nothings wrong,” insisted Arthur, desperately trying to keep his mouth from twisting into a smile.

Alfred gave Arthur a wicked grin and set a challenge for himself; he was going to make Arthur laugh before this guy left. He danced around the man, screamed rude words in his ear, continued to shove his arms through various parts of his body and made ridiculous poses around him. With every silly thing he did drove Arthur closer and closer to laughter, already his body was trembling and he planted a hand across his mouth, uttering small snorts as he tried to contain the uncontrollable giggles.

“Would you cease this behaviour at once!” The man was stomping his foot upon the ground in fit of anger as unbeknownst to him he was being made a fool of.

Arthur didn’t respond out of fear of laughing but Alfred knew he was close, he just had to push him a little further.

“And now for the big finale,” he declared, waggling his eyebrows at Arthur. Arthur shook his head but Alfred responded with nodding.

“I’ve had enough of your ridiculous banter,” shouted the man, “now obey me and stop this at once!”

Alfred then forced himself through the man’s body from behind so that it looked like his own upper body was coming right out of the man’s gut and cried out, “TA DA!”

That did it. Arthur released a loud “pfffft” sound before clutching his own gut and began howling with laughter. Tears streamed down his face and he had to turn away from them both as he laughed and laughed like there was no tomorrow. He gave up on trying to hold it and just let it flowed out, his laughs echoing around the garden.

Seeing Arthur laughing like a madman set Alfred off and he ended up falling on his backside and laughed like crazy. He kicked the ground with his feet and felt like that the laughter would never end. Alfred couldn’t even remember the last time he laughed like that, his sides were starting to hurt but he didn’t care.

However the pompous arse of a man didn’t find it funny and he bellowed our a loud, “ENOUGH!”

Alfred sat up, reaching under his glasses and wiping the tears from his eyes and watched as Arthur forced himself to stop laughing. Even though it looked like he got Arthur in trouble, Alfred believed that it was worth it.

The man literally almost shoved his face into Arthur’s own and hissed vile words at him. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you but if you keep this up I’ll have your privileges revoked! The only reason I came here is because I’m having esteemed guests coming and I need... oh, you know what I need.” The man held out his hand and wiggled his fingers.

Arthur looked at the outreached open hand and sighed, reaching into the pouch wrapped round his waist, pulling out a pair of scissors. Alfred watched in confusion as Arthur pulled a lock of his own hair and cut it off, handing it over to the man. Before Alfred could even wonder what that was all about the man took off, muttering foul words under his breath and eventually disappearing through one of the doors.

“You’re awful, you know that.”

Alfred looked up to see Arthur scowling down at him. Alfred just grinned and jumped up. “Oh come on, you thought it was funny too, right?”

His expression hadn’t changed, though he did raise a single eyebrow. A minute passed before a smirk appeared on his face. “Just don’t do that again, the last thing I need is for him to get angry at me,” he huffed as he walked over to inspect some of the damaged flowers.

Alfred chuckled but looked back towards the door than grouchy man left through. “Who was that jerk anyway? And why did he want your hair?”

“Him?” Arthur rubbed his head as he turned round. “He’s just a-...” Arthur stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Alfred with his eyes wide open. His face turned a very bright shade of pink and he looked away, coughing a little. “Alfred... your, um... your belt is undone.”

At first Alfred didn’t understand what he meant until it dawned on him that he was still wearing a dressing gown. Looking down at himself, Alfred went very red in the face when he realised his belt had indeed come undone and his hidden naked body was not so hidden anymore.

“D-Don’t look, you perv!” he wailed, quickly covering himself up and tightening up his belt.

“I beg your pardon, your majesty?”

After he tightened his belt Alfred looked up to find himself back in the suite back at the spa. Looking over his shoulder he saw the owner standing in the doorway with a very confused expression.

“I didn’t see anything, your majesty,” insisted the owner, rubbing his hands together awkwardly. “Has your belt malfunctioned? Would you like another gown?”

“No, no,” answered Alfred, feeling a little lost at the moment. “We were touring the spa, right? Shall we continue?”

“Of course,” chuckled the owner, relieved that nothing had happened, ushering the King to follow him.

As Alfred left the suite, he rubbed his brow and went into a deep thought. Instead of finding answers he now only had more questions. His sides were still aching from the laughter, his cheeks still burned from embarrassment after his accidental indecent exposure. Whatever these episodes were, they were very real. He had to find out what was going on.

Notes:
In case some of you don’t know, Arthur named his special plants after four knights of the round table and King Arthur’s Queen, Guinevere. No special reason, I just thought they sounded pretty.