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fivedayslater) wrote2012-08-02 01:32 am
[Fic] Prince Alfred's Grand Escape
Characters: America, England, random OC, mentions of Canada.
Rating/Warnings: PG, none
Summary: Prince Alfred is going to be stuck in a marriage he never wanted. When he tries to escape, he runs into pirate Captain Kirkland.
“We’re marrying you off to the King of Diamonds,” the Queen of Spades informed her younger son one morning.
The Prince of Spades, Alfred, promptly spat out his oatmeal, “What?”
“The King of Diamonds is looking for a Queen,” his mother explained as she calmly continued eating, “We’ve been looking for ways to strengthen an alliance with them, and this is the perfect opportunity. You’re of marrying age, have been for a few years now and quite frankly you’re not going to do any better.”
Alfred looked down at his food. As the second born child of the King and Queen, his future outlook was not good. His brother, Matthew, older than him by a grand total of five minutes, was the heir to the throne of Spades. Alfred hadn’t seen much of his brother since they were ten, when he was taken away from the world of childhood games and sucked into one of tutors and court etiquette. No one much cared what Alfred got up, that is until he turned fourteen and became of age to marry.
Overnight his every action had become something for his parents to scrutinize and criticize. For the past two years nothing he did was ever good enough for his future spouse, and he was considered a failure and an embarrassment. It had gotten to the point where the King and Queen had hoped they could just marry him off to some rich noble family and get him out of their hair. The prospect of sealing and alliance and getting rid of their nuisance of a son was more than they could hope for.
His parents’ minds were set; there was no use arguing his case. Besides, Alfred thought as he turned back to his oatmeal, maybe being the Queen of Diamonds wouldn’t be so bad. He’d be an important person, with important responsibilities, that would be thrust upon him at the tender age of sixteen. He knew little about Diamonds, so he’d have to learn whatever he could to be an effective Queen. The King, who he’d met on occasion when he visited the palace, would be even more controlling of his life then his parents.
“A delegation from Diamonds will be here tomorrow morning,” the Queen continued, “Make sure you’re presentable when they get here.”
“Yes, Mother,” he said as he took the next bite of food.
Mentally he started preparing for his escape.
-
The only problem with running away from home, other than the escaping the palace part, which he was working on, was that he had nowhere else to go. Alfred had spent his entire life behind the palace walls and knew no one on the outside and almost nothing about what life was like.
Still, his choices were to either stay here and marry the King of Diamonds or try his luck on his own, and the latter option was looking better and better by the hour. And if he was going to be on his own, he was going to need some of his own money, or to be more accurate, his parents’ money. But he was sure they wouldn’t miss it.
That night Alfred snuck down to the Royal Treasure Room intent on raiding it.
He was surprised to find that he wasn’t alone.
Alfred crept through the shadows and passed the palace guards to the treasure room and found the lock already picked. He pushed the door open, barely touching it so it swung silent on its hinges, and found himself staring at the back of man in a red jacket, crouched over some of the shinier jewels in the back of the room.
“Hm,” he picked up a large, blue gem and held it up to the light, “Yes, these are good. These will do just fine.” He pulled a canvas bag out of his pocket and started shoveling gems into it.
When he turned his head Alfred realized he had seen his face before. There was a pirate epidemic, even Alfred, as sheltered as he was aware of it, and the coastal capitol of Spades was a constant victim of piracy. The notorious Captain Kirkland’s face plastered every wall of Spades, including palace ones. The citizens were more familiar with his face than that of their King.
And currently, he was in the Royal Treasure Room, snatching ever blue jewel in sight.
Alfred tried to back out of the room, but knocked over a stack of gold coins with his elbow. Quick as a flash, Captain Kirkland had drawn a hidden knife and held it against Alfred’s throat. Alfred swallowed and tried his very best not to move while Kirkland sized him up.
“You seem familiar,” he said with a raised eyebrow, “Have we met before?”
“Uh, no,” Alfred replied with a laugh, “No, I think I’d of remembered meeting you.”
“Interesting.”
Footsteps sounded outside in the hallway. Kirkland nudged the door shut with his foot and backed Alfred up against the wall until whoever it was passed. When they were gone he stepped back and pulled his knife away. It was still out and pointed at Alfred, but it was no longer against his throat, which was a relief.
“You could have shouted,” He said, “I would have killed you, but you could have alerted the guards. There’s no way I could have made it past all of them. Why didn’t you shout?”
“Death isn’t really high on my list today,” Alfred chuckled, “And seeing as I’m here for the same reason you are, shouting wouldn’t have done me much good.”
“I see,” he sheathed the knife and returned it to an inner pocket as he extended his hand, “Captain Arthur Kirkland, pirate.”
Alfred laughed as he shook his hand, “Nice to meet you, Captain.”
“Arthur’s fine for now,” he said as he retracted his hand, “Do you have a name, Chuckles?”
“You can call me Al. Al Jones.” Rather than run around with the fairly obvious Williams surname, Alfred had taken ‘Jones’ from one of his favorite adventure stories growing up. Hopefully the simple nickname would do.
“Al then,” Arthur turned back to the jewels and began picking up his discarded bags, “What’s your story? Master thief I’m guessing, since you got past palace security. Surprised I’ve never heard of you, then again it’s been a while since I’ve been on land.”
“What?” Alfred stopped fiddling with the gold coin in his hand, “No, nothing of the sort!”
“Disgruntled servant, perhaps? Or one that just fancied a stroll in the treasure room?”
Alfred forced out another laugh, “Yeah, something like that. Got a bit tired of this place and figured I was owed some compensation before I left.”
“The start of a truly noble career, I see,” Arthur smirked, “Got any plans after this, Al the Thief?”
“Nothing grand,” he scratched the back of his neck. Honestly he hadn’t thought past get out of here, “Leave the country, lay low for a bit, whatever I want really,” he laughed again, “After I’m out of here, the world is my oyster.”
“Indeed,” Arthur had the canvas bag slung over his shoulder when he turned to face him, “Have you considered piracy?”
Alfred blinked. He hadn’t, but, “Are you offering?”
“I am,” he held out another empty bag for Alfred, “After an unfortunate turn of events and an attempted mutiny, I find myself down several crewmates.”
Alfred raised an eyebrow, “Several?”
“Well, there’s about three of us left, I suppose,” he shrugged, “I could use fresh blood anyway, and perhaps some of those coins over there,” he shook the bag, “If you’re interested. I wouldn’t want to derail your brilliant and thought out plans.”
Alfred grinned and snatched the bag, “If it can get me away from here and around the world, I’ll take it.”
“Excellent,” Arthur extended his hand again and Alfred shook it eagerly, “Welcome aboard, Mr. Jones.”
“Glad to be aboard, Captain.”
“Get those coins and let’s be on our way,” Arthur nodded.
Alfred gathered as many gold coins as the bag could hold, which turned out to be a decent amount, more than he had planned on taking originally. His new captain seemed satisfied, and together, they both snuck back out of the palace.
And so, Alfred started his new life as a pirate.
-
The kidnapping and disappearance of Prince Alfred of Spades was all anyone in the four kingdoms talked about for several years. There were numerous theories, everything from he was kidnapped by Diamonds to weaken the alliance to there never was a Prince Alfred in the first place.
Eventually the Missing Prince of Spades became something of an urban legend…
Meanwhile, the notorious Captain Kirkland and his first mate Al Jones continued sailing the sea.
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