Flight... or Fight.

[ariislandsson]

Ari woke up with a shiver. It was the first morning he had awoken cold in a long time. Ari lifted himself from Father's bed, his head heavy. He looked beside him.

The bed was still empty. Father hadn't come home yet.

Ari let himself breathe, his lips parting in silent relief.

Ari climbed from the bed. His head was throbbing. He hadn't drank for the first time in weeks and his body was feeling it. But there was something else that was kept him awake.

The sky ships.

He had heard them last night. The doors were still open to the balcony, so the breeze came in. Ari held his arms as he walked outside. The dew on the concrete had frozen. Winter was on it's way.

Ari felt the ice melt beneath his fingers as he leaned against the balustrade and looked into the sky.

What did the sky ships do? The pirates? Father said they were belligerents. People who disobeyed the order of things. They lived without the ideals and rules of the Navy.

Little did Father know, those very things that he said the pirates were lacking, were the things that Ari himself felt were unnecessary to live.

No obligations. No rules. It was a dream life.

Ari breathed deeply, letting his voice rise to the storming clouds.
“Take me away!”
“To where?”

Ari gasped and turned. Father was in the doorway, making the open pair of doors look so small. He was in his uniform. Ari looked away, feeling a different kind of tremble.

“Who were you talking to?” Father asked, stepping forward, his hands tucked behind his back. The question almost sounded genuinely curious. Ari turned to look at the frosty grounds of the estate.

“I wasn't talking to anyone.” He replied, trying to slow his heartbeat.

“Rather loud for not talking to anyone.” He could hear Father's shoes, making tocs on the concrete as they approached. It was strange that he could feel Father behind him first, before he touched. Father stroked his hand through the long tendrils of Ari's hair, sweeping fingertips along the back of his neck.

“Actually...” Ari could feel those dark eyes gazing at the skin of his neck that was revealed. “I was thinking about taking you on a vacation. And since this seems to be... something you desire...”
Ari tensed, his shoulders rising as he felt Father's knuckle trace along the bones in his neck, pausing at the top of his spine.

“I've missed you. I wish I had time to you show how much.”
Ari looked over his shoulder, his jeweled eyes glinting. The waters in Father's eyes turned to a torrent, raging against themselves. When the tempest was at its peak, he spoke.
“But I don't.”

The battle in his eyes died and Father composed himself. Ari watched as Father folded his arms behind his back, his gloved hands curling on the embroidery at the end of his sleeves.

“The pirates have been on the move.” Bending his head slightly, father pulled out a brass carton for his tobacco. Next was the stiff paper, in which he rolled the tobacco systematically, making sure to spread it evenly.

“Not that you would be interested in such things...”

Ari watched as Father slid the edge along his tongue, sealing the thin roll. Their gaze met. Father smiled and bent down, grasping the back of Ari's head. He kissed his lips, briefly, then drew back.

“Even your lips are cold.” He said, the storming blue of his eyes piercing Ari's. Straightening his posture, he lit the cigarette and took a drag. Just then, above them, the sky started to rumble. Father whirled around, looking up. Ari did too, expecting rain. He gasped as Father snatched his shoulder and drew him close, pressing Ari's cheek to his chest.

Above them, so close that he felt as if he could touch it, was a sky ship. The pointed plank along its belly running through the clouds. It's humming shook the ground. Ari felt father tense as they watched the rudder pierce down over the back of the manor, appearing to be so close that it would scathe the roof.

It's so close! It's so close!

Ari's pulse was racing. His hands were curled so tightly to his chest that his knuckles were white. He didn't notice Father shift and draw his pistol.

Ari jumped when Father fired at the ship, the crack of the gunshot echoing. The barrel smoked, trickling away, as if following the ship into the stratosphere. Father lowered his pistol.

“Sky City must be close.” Father mumured with a growl.
Sky City? What was--

Father was dragging him inside the house, locking the wide doors behind. He shoved Ari down on the bed, continuing toward the door.

“Don't go outside again.” Father shoved his pistol into the holster at his belt. He opened the door, turning on his heel to look at Ari. “I'll be back when I can.”

Ari didn't even watch the door close. As soon as he heard it shut, he leapt up from the bed and hurried outside, sprinting over to the edge of the balcony.

Although the sun was clear in the sky, Ari could no longer see the ship. He strained, gazing as far as he could.
Please.
Ari reached his hand out into the cold, empty air.
Come back.

[ariislandsson]

((Come save me, Tino!))

[Arthur Kirkland]

It was nearly pitch black outside aside from one or two lights still on in the mansion that sprawled before him. Ducking down low in the bushes, Tino watched and waited patiently for signs of movement or life inside. This was what he did - the odd bounty hunting job now that he had Peter to take care of and protect. It was twice as much running and hiding and more need to be unpredictable, but the young boy seemed much happier to be running for his life with someone than starving in that filthy city that Tino had found him in. Right now the boy was back at the motel he'd rented a room out of for the next couple of days, probably lost in dreams and not even aware that his guardian was out dirtying his hands so he could continue to live as peacefully as Tino could allow.

Which brought him to this job. A fairy simple one - break into the house, find some important military documents that belonged to the man who owned the house and drop them off in a secure location to be picked up later. The Finnish man didn't care about who benefited or was hurt because of the stolen information. There weren't any nations around aside from him, so it wasn't like any of his friends were going to be hurt because of it. And even if they were, it was normal. Completely normal for countries to spy on each other.

The only difference was he wasn't doing this for his own people. This was for him and his charge alone.

Crouching lower as the sound of an engine firing from inside the garage in front of him, heart beating faster with anticipation and some small amount of fear, Tino waited in the bushes as a truck pulled out and drove off down the expansive driveway and out onto the road. Even then, the Finnish man did not move from his crouch - more than one operation he'd been in before had been jeopardized by the target returning home because they suddenly realized they'd left something important behind.

But, even after a good twenty minutes passed and Tino's muscled were about to collapse from staying still in the same position, the owner did not return. Gratefully getting out of the crouch he stretched each muscle one at a time, slowly, getting the kinks out before making his way to the nearest window. As he walked along, checking each possible entrance to see if it were unlocked, he was finally forced about the house into the backyard. There was one door unlocked - and in a moments turning in a gloved hand, the Finnish man was inside the house creeping about, looking for an office or anywhere specific that the man might leave his important documents.

[ariislandsson]

For a full day, Ari had been without Father. And a glorious day it had been. Ari had read for the entire day, not even bothering to change from his nightshirt as he sprawled out on the library floor. The books lay around him like exhausted open arms, spent from their pages being read so quickly. Ari himself laid down on the floor in a similar fashion, arms and legs spread eagle. He sighed.

He had read of escapes and adventures all day... but his wanderlust was not soothed. It ached inside his breast, pulling his stomach up into his throat. Ari clutched his loose nightshirt, wondering if he should take some wine from Father's cabinet...

Creak.

Ari's eyes rolled up and he stretched his head back, eyes flitting to the cracked door of the library. He couldn't see anything, and the manor often made sounds.

But... Something felt different.

Ari pushed himself up onto elbows, the tendrils of his long hair wilting over his face. He pushed them back as his body righted.

“Jon?” He called for the butler, but there was no reply. Rising to one knee, Ari scooted forward.

“Is anyone there?” Ari folded his hands against his chest as he walked toward the door. Why was his heart beating so quickly? With a trembling hand, Ari grasped the handle of the door and yanked it open.

There was nothing in the dark hallway, only the echo of his own gasping breaths. Ari sighed, turning his head from one end of the hall, slowly to the other.

“There's nothing here... there's no reason to be--”

[Arthur Kirkland]

Gun held steadily in front of him, Tino took every step with care, trying his damndest to not make a sound. It was inevitable that he did - he was used to sneaking about in the wilds, not through someones house - but he was fairly confident that there was no one waiting around a corner with a knife, listening to him approach.

With the plans of the house that he'd been given for his mission well ingrained in his head, it was a matter of following down a couple of dark hallways to find the man's study. Closing the door behind him, Tino chanced flicking on a lamp as he wasn't about to fill his rifle hands with a flashlight. The dim lighting in the room revealed an expansive room, walled with bookshelves and a large, ornate desk far enough away from the windows for it to be hard for a sniper to shoot the person inside, but close enough that during the day the floor-to-ceiling windows provided more than enough light.

Since the master of the house had been gone for a day and the butler had left in the jeep, Tino knew he had a couple hours alone in the house before anyone came home to chance finding him burgling them. Which meant he had to be fast. Heading straight for the desk, Tino hung his rifle back onto his back and pulled out a much smaller hand gun from his belt. With that, he one handedly started going through the desk drawers methodically.

[ariislandsson]

There was no one in the hallway. There was no one in the end hallway either. But Ari just... couldn't shake the feeling. Perhaps it was because father was away...

He didn't like to think that Father being home was a comfort. And he felt so childish for being afraid now. He was fifteen! Did he really need someone to hold his hand all the time? And adult to tell him what to do? He could hear father now:

Don't be afraid. It's just the manor settling. You're so easily scared... like a little bird. Startled by the rattling of his cage...

Ari clenched his fists angrily. His headache was coming back. He needed alcohol.

Ari turned on his heel and started toward Father's office. He turned the corner and halted. An inconsistent light, that flickered, like it was moving past the door sometimes, came from the crack in the bottom. Ari's heart jumped into his throat.

Had Father returned? And he just didn't realize... No. Someone was inside there...

Ari thought about running. Thought about going to get the head butler. No! I'm not afraid! It's probably just a servant.

Ari tip toed to the door and carefully started to open it, but the damn thing squeaked, protesting. Ari gritted his teeth and stopped when the crack was barely a sliver wide. Damn old house!

[Arthur Kirkland]

Tino foud the papers he was looking for in a small hollowed out compartment hidden in the bottom of one of the desk drawers. It was a quick and easy matter to scan them quickly to make sure they were exactly what he was looking for, fold them up and replace the papers with some blank ones from the pile on the desk and hide the stolen ones in his coat pocket. Hopefully it would take the man a while to realize the papers were gone - long enough for him to get paid and get out of the city before the shit hit the fan. Peter wouldn't have to see any more ugly things in his life if he could help it.

And then the door creaked and there was his gun in his hands before his mind had time to register the noise as a threat. Tensed, he crept towards the door as silent as a thought, fully prepared to gun down the person his imagination screamed was someone coming to take him away or to kill him or to, to - his mind whirred too fast, but no matter the case, it would involve him not being able to care for his charge anymore. And that was something that he was adamantly against.

Flinging the door open, his finger was halfway pressing down on the trigger with the intention to kill when his eyes saw a flash of pale white hair and scared eyes. Familiar eyes. Freezing in surprise, Tino almost did something he'd never done before - drop his gun.

What was... or rather, how was a boy who looked so much like little Iceland doing here. How was another nation - one that had clearly died so many years ago now, yet another one that he couldn't save - here. Alive. Afraid of him with his gun and him nearly killing the boy.

Tino felt so sick with himself.

He'd nearly killed what could be his brother.

"Icel- I mean... whoever you are. What are you doing here?" because as far as his information had gone, there was only a butler living here and the master of the house, and the boy-who-looked-and-felt-like-his-brother was neither.

[ariislandsson]

The door had swung open without Ari's resistant grip. He stood in the space of it, completely frozen still.

H-He-- He has a gun!

Ari's mouth parted and small whine escaped his lips. His body started to quake with fear. What this stranger had said didn't even register-- Ari was too afraid. Even though the gun wasn't pointed at him, Ari couldn't help the irrational flood of tears to his eyes. He blinked them away.

“P-Please...”

Ari started to back away, not daring to draw his hands up, although he wanted to. He wanted to sprint and scream, but he felt as if he did, he would fall.

“Don't-- Don't shoot me. Please don't--”

[Arthur Kirkland]

Numbly, Tino lowered the gun and did what he'd never done in years - he dropped it on the ground. He nearly shot him. The enormity, the shock of it all made his hands shake and his knees quake. Would he have done it? If he hadn't looked hard, would he have shot Iceland? -and could he have done that to the others?-

"It's... it's alright." he stuttered out, taking a step back and trying to seem less threatening than he already obviously was. "It's alright. I won't shoot you. I swear."

And that was a promise he would keep. No matter what. If anything - and he made up his mind as the shock wore off - if anything... he would do anything to keep Iceland safe. Like he should have done back before the young nation died.