A/N: okay i finally decided to update... almost a year later. i wasn't feeling this story but i felt bad because a lot of people liked it. so i'll do my best to finish it! even though it's a mess now that i look at it.
understand that it's been a year, so sorry if the mood suddenly changed! also it's been a year since i've written anything other than essays so i'm a little sloppy

i'd like to take the time to thank my wonderful beta ZemyxDexion! without them this would be a mess tbh

Of course, escape would not be so easy. They still haven't bothered to cut the rope loose or take off the shackles on Alfred's wrist. It's been days since the last time he could move his arms around freely and they felt extremely stiff at his sides like wooden boards. He really wanted to stretch, even for a little bit, to crack his aching bones.

But as he expected, they wouldn't untie him.

With a shove, Alfred was pushed onto the deck of ship by a nameless pirate. He blinked his eyes rapidly as his eyes adjusted to the sunlight. Crisp afternoon air filled his senses, along with the sight of the clear azure sky. If anything good came out of his situation, it was getting out of the stifling prison to fill his lungs with fresh sea salt air. Through squinting eyes, he took in his surroundings and saw most, if not all, of the eyebrow pirates huddled around each other, conversing amongst one another and readying their weapons.

In mere hours they had reached the island where the supposed treasure was located. The ship was carefully docked near a pier that seemed to be unused for ages. Just outside the ship, Alfred saw the massive amounts of foliage and great rocky mountains as far as his eye could see. Needless to say, the island was bigger than he expected. It wasn't anything like he saw on the less than detailed map last night. But then again, he thought to himself, he wasn't much of a map reader.

The sound of heavy boots pounding the floor brought Alfred back to reality, and he was once again filled with dread. The moment Captain Kirkland stepped onto the deck, his crewmembers instantly quieted and gave their undivided attention to him.

His piercing green eye scanned them over and assessed them, all while his face was void of expression. After a brief moment of silence that seemed like an eternity to Alfred, Captain Kirkland nodded. "Alright ye' scurvy dogs, let's get started then. Jack's group with me; the rest of you gather as much provisions as you can. We need to last until we arrive at Port Royal. Got it?"

"Aye, Captain!" The pirates shouted in unison before dispersing.

Alfred vaguely wondered what a 'Port Royal' was before Captain Kirkland stared at him and said, "You're coming with me."

"Well, obviously," was his response as he rolled his eyes.

The captain quickly made a gesture to reach for his cutlass before Matthew appeared beside him (how does he do that? Alfred wondered) and said hurriedly, "Just after we cross the bridge, Captain! Until then you have to—"

Not bothering listening to the rest of the sentence, the captain clicked his teeth and walked away without another glance at either of them. Matthew tugged harshly on the ropes that bounded Alfred's arms together and jostled him. "Didn't I tell you not to provoke the Captain?"

"Wha—I didn't do anything! Arthur seriously has a short-temper!" Alfred said with disbelief in his voice.

The other boy groaned and pulled on the rope. "…It's about time we head on land."

Without much of a choice, Alfred followed him sluggishly to the narrow wooden plank. Below, he could see Captain Kirkland gazing at the forest while the small portion of the crew loitered around. Looking at the forest as he made his way down, it was even bigger than Alfred anticipated. The plant life towered over him like an unkempt overgrown garden belonging to a giant. Back home, the plants were not as nearly as big— they were carefully trimmed. He would have taken the time to take in the beautiful scenery if it weren't for the mess he was in.

Alfred thought he could make a run for it, right now, shackles and all. He could take out Matthew and maybe outrun the rest of those filthy bastards. However, he immediately noticed that the plan was not foolproof. If he managed to do that, where would he run to? There were possibly many places to hide, sure, but they would find him eventually. Or… what if they gave up on looking for him? How would he escape off the island if they left him? He was good as dead! Those pirates were his only way in and out the island. In the end, he had no choice but to stick with them— he was forced to cooperate. Alfred sighed softly, dismissing the plan from his mind.

Matthew stated his arrival with the prisoner once they touched the aged dock, and Captain Kirkland looked at them from the corner of his eye.

"We're ready, Captain," Matthew announced, "I have the treasure map with me." He then pulled on the rope and Alfred lurched forward. After mumbling under his breath, the prisoner looked away and puffed his cheeks out like a spoiled child.

Wordlessly, Captain Kirkland strode into the forest, and the small group followed.

It was much too quiet for Alfred's liking as they made their way to the treasure within the lively forest. He huffed and puffed, and moaned and groaned. He started to drag his feet on the moist grass and dirt, and Matthew had to constantly lug him along. He constantly asked Matthew to slow down so he can check out the colorful bird that perched above them (he could never get a good look because the bird would fly away from Alfred's loud voice), or the lizard-like animal that slithered by, but the other young man kept on moving. For a treasure island, it wasn't eventful. Others would have found that relieving, but Alfred F. Jones wanted an adventure! Not a peaceful walk through the forest. He could have done that at home with less ropes and shackles.

He sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time in the twenty minutes they began to walk, and Matthew glanced at him with annoyance on his face as he kept walking.

"What?"

Alfred looked away, "Nothing."

"…It must be something. You've been sighing the whole time."

"Well, you would too if you're being held captive." He paused. "Man, I'm starving. Would you have to have anything on you, Mattie?"

"No," Matthew said, looking ahead. He chose to ignore the pet name.

"Can we stop and get some berries or something? Look, there's a bush right now!"

"No."

"What about this tree right here? There's some food up there, I think. It's pretty tall but I can climb it!"

"No."

"I'm going to starve to death at this rate!"

Alfred groaned once again, and one of the pirates who accompanied them clicked his teeth in irritation. "Would someone shut this brat up already?"

Another pirate spoke up. "Mate, I've been wantin' to stab 'im since he got off da damn ship."

The rest of them agreed, and then gleefully occupied their time talking about the ways they would torture and kill their prisoner (they made sure Alfred was in earshot too). It was not a conversation Alfred wanted to listen to, so he did his best to ignore it by taking in fascination of the wildlife in the forest.

Thankfully, unfortunately, it was not long until they reached the bridge that Alfred was to walk across. The other side of the land looked distant from where he stood, but he would only gaze upon it for a short time.

The captain suddenly marched over to Alfred, yanked the ropes callously, and brought him to the edge of the cliff. He kicked the back of Alfred's knee and made him kneel to the ground, hard. A fistful of his golden hair was grabbed and his head was pressed down to the open gap of land.

Grunting at the pain, the young man reluctantly gazed at the area below him, and saw nothing but solid ground with a few boulders scattered in the area. It was a great distance from the cliff. It was not something he could easily recover from if he did manage to fall.

Captain Kirkland was squatted next to him. He was silent throughout whole trip, but now he venomously murmured two words to Alfred. His breath was hot in the other's ear, and he sneered as he whispered, "Don't fall." With that, he stood and took Alfred with him with the tug of his blond hair. He shoved him to his first mate. "Matthew."

"Aye, Captain." Matthew pulled out his sword from its sheath and quickly cut the ropes that held onto Alfred.

Too busy relentlessly glaring at Captain Kirkland, Alfred did not notice the ropes falling unceremoniously to the ground until Matthew took out a rusty key from one of his pockets and unlocked the shackles. "What—" Quickly, he rubbed his wrists that felt terribly raw and stretched his arms in what seemed like ages. He looked at Matthew, "What…?" He trailed off, beginning to massage his wrists again.

"You can't cross a bridge like that while being restrained, can you?"

"I guess…" He trailed off in thought, and realized he did not get a good look at the bridge itself because Captain Kirkland took the liberty of showing what would happen if he did manage to fall. Damn, he wanted to kick that pirate's ass. He put that thought behind him for now, and focused on the bridge.

Or at least, what was left of one.

The bridge was being held on by the thinnest of ropes that looked worn and shabby. Among that was the dirtied wood that served as a walkway, but they were so few in-between that looked like he had to hop his way to the other side. The overpass swayed ever so gently with just a calm breeze of the wind. It did not look sturdy at all, and it seemed just putting weight on it would make the bridge collapse onto the ground.

He was going to turn around, but the instant the thought popped into his head, he felt dull metal on his back. Much to Alfred's chagrin, Captain Kirkland trained a pistol on his back. "Don't even think about turning around," he said strongly.

"I wasn't going to!" Alfred lied.

The pirate dug his pistol onto Alfred back. "Walk." He paused before he added, "And don't bother thinking about running away. I'll shoot both of your legs."

"Don't worry, I already ran that scenario in my head and it wasn't a good idea," He deadpanned.

"Hmph, you're not as dim as you seem. Now, get moving," he said as he pressed the weapon further onto Alfred's back.

"I'm going, I'm going…" Alfred looked at the unsteady bridge before gulping loudly. He was not afraid of the height (in fact, he always dreamed of flying in the skies), but the fall… the fall would surely injure him, if not kill him instantly. It's going to be a lot more than just bruises and broken bones.

He breathed in deeply and exhaled loudly. He softly took hold of the thin ropes on both sides… and took his first step. And then another. The wood underneath his feet creaked with each movement and the walkway seemed to go lower with his weight. It was not easy to hold his body steady on the wavering bridge. Each time he had to hop onto the next plank of wood, the bridge violently rocked. He bit his lip in concentration, and threatened to draw blood whenever he felt like he was going to plummet to the ground.

Alfred looked up and saw he was already halfway across. He felt little relief but his heart continued to pulse loudly in his ears. It was just a few more steps to the other side before he felt something strange underneath his shoe. He paused and looked down at the plank. "This wood…" He pushed his foot in deeper and stopped immediately when he heard a faint snap. "It's… bending inward?"

"Oi!" Captain Kirkland shouted, "What in the blooming hell are you standing around for? You're not thinking about running away are you?"

Alfred cringed and mumbled darkly, "Didn't I just say I wasn't going to run away?" He glanced down again at the piece of wood and considered telling them, but he promptly decided against it. The thought of any of those pirates, mostly Arthur, especially Arthur, falling from the bridge with sheer shock on his face gave Alfred great joy. He was laughing to himself before a bullet suddenly wheezed passed his ear. He jumped and the entire bridge shook dangerously, which only worsened the fast beating of his heart.

Alfred spun his head around to see the pirate captain promptly reloading his pistol. "W-What the hell!"

"Next time I won't miss. Keep walking."

Alfred bit his lip to prevent himself from shouting back at his kidnapper and returned to concentrating on getting to the other side, which was not very far. He As he gained confidence, he began to stride across the wooden panels more purposefully, but not too much to hop gleefully off the bridge and laugh all the way (as he did a few times in his youth, and the result was a broken arm; this would result to a broken body). Using his feet, he felt around carefully for any unsteady movements the wooden planks would make. It seemed that luck was on his side. With the last few steps, his feet touched ground. Alfred was happy to stand to steady land, to say the least.

Alfred wiped the sweat off his brow and sighed in relief, "Thank God." The feeling of adrenaline left his body and calmness washed over him. Well, now is the time to feel cocky, he thought. He crossed that damned bridge and reached the other side alive and well, and only this fact could only piss off the pirates. Feeling entirely smug, he turned around to the other side of land, and flashed a thumbs-up and a natural radiating smile. His mood definitely went up when he saw that Captain Kirkland was taken back and became flustered and the pirates that accompanied him clicked their tongues angrily. There's nothing like pissing off your kidnapper.

There was also nothing like waiting for one of those bastard fall from the bridge. He was glad he didn't tell the eyebrow pirates about the unsteady wood that would surely break sooner or later. The young man sat close to the bridge and rested his head on his hand, carefully hiding away the excitement of what was going to take place. All he has to do and sit and wait. He was never good at waiting and hiding his emotions, but this time, he had to try. Hard.

Much to his disappointment, Captain Kirkland did not cross the bridge after him; it was one of the nameless pirates. The pirate started off slow, but quickly gained speed as he made it halfway across. When he was close to getting off, Alfred leaned in slightly to watch the pirate step on that curtain plank of wood. When he did…

Nothing happened.

The pirate kept making his way to the other side, and did not notice the difference from the other wooden planks. Alfred clicked his teeth and sighed noisily.

"An' wot are ye sighin' for, git?" The pirate asked him as he made it, safely, to Alfred's side.

Alfred looked away. "I was really hoping you would fall."

He ignored the pirate's retort as he quickly looked back to see Captain Kirkland make his way fairly quickly across the bridge, very quickly, faster than he and the pirate was. Alfred's attempt to be indifferent melted away, and he bit his bottom lip to suppress a smirk. Yes, he thought, yes! It has to break in when Arthur steps on it. The captain was wearing so much gold, so many accessories, and his great hat, coat, baggy pants, and heavy boots had to weigh a lot. Alfred could see it in his mind's eye; the look Arthur will get when falls through the bridge, the look when he lands and breaks his leg, the look when he lies on the floor, attempting to glare daggers at Alfred, and Alfred will be there to point and laugh and tell him he's gotten his just desserts, and justice will always be served. He opened his eyes—

Only to see Captain Kirkland stomping towards him, his too green eye glaring and his face contorted into a snarl. He grabbed Alfred by the shirt and scowled, "I am growing impatient with you, you know that?" He threw his prisoner on the ground and placed his foot on Alfred's chest. Much to Alfred's surprise and discomfort, it was not heavy enough to constrict his breathing, but it was still hard enough to cause him pain.

"Ow ow ow ow! Arthur, get off— ow!" But with the sound of his name, the pirate captain scowled even deeper and applied more pressure.

"I," Captain Kirkland began slowly, "Am going to cut off your fingers if you make that ridiculous gesture to me ever again. And stop calling me that."

He grunted before he answered. "O-Okay, I won't, only because I kinda need my fingers… And I'm not going to call you anything else other than… your name." Alfred though to say 'Arthur', but thought better of it. Anymore pressure to his chest and he wouldn't be able to breathe. "We talked about this on your ship a couple of days ago!"

Even with a boot on his chest, Alfred still continued to talk, to defy him with that obnoxious voice of his, which irritated the captain even more. "I'm starting to wonder you're worth the treasure," Captain Kirkland grumbled as he lifted his foot off of Alfred's chest.

The young man sat up and massaged his chest, glaring at the pirate captain. "Well, you can always just take me back home if I'm too much for you to handle."

Captain Kirkland folded his arms as he watched his crew walking cautiously on the bridge, "Hmph, if I ever get tired of you, I would just kill you, lad. You're only breathing because I want that treasure. Other than that, you are of no use to me alive."

Alfred's retort was a silent one, as he only glared harder at the captain, who paid him no attention. Now in a sour mood, he resumed his position by the bridge, with his head being held up by his arm, watching the rest of the eyebrow pirates cross the bridge. Through his bickering with Arthur, all of them were on his side, wiping their dirt covered faces with their grimy sleeves and arms.

All of them, except one.

Matthew.

Alfred saw him, slowly and carefully crossing. Matthew bit his lip and held onto the thin ropes as if they were his lifeline. Maybe unlike the other pirates, Matthew was more careful, Alfred thought. Or maybe he was just simply afraid of slipping and falling, who knew. He watched as the young pirate looked down and carefully placed one foot in front of another.

Alfred was never the one for patience, and he wasn't going to start be patient now. He sighed and stared at Matthew with a bored look on his face. It seemed like minutes instead of seconds past when Matthew was now more than halfway across the bridge, and now only a few feet away from land. "You're so slow, Mattie! Hurry up! Just jump the rest or something!"

Matthew stopped and darkly mumbled something under his breath before looking up to the group ahead of him. But before he could get a sound out of his mouth…

A certain worn wooden plank underneath him collapsed.

Within the second, Alfred's heart jumped against his ribcage and his blues eyes widened. "Mattie!" Alfred shouted, unthinkingly leaping over to the bridge and caught Matthew's arm before it disappeared from his view. Matthew noiselessly dangled under the bridge, staring wide-eyed at ground far below him before he glanced at Alfred, panic written all over his features. "Are you okay? Actually, don't answer that," Alfred said, almost breathless as he smiled faintly. The smile faded quickly as a realization popped into his mind…

Alfred felt Captain Kirkland beside him, and the other man wordlessly reached his hand out for his crewmate. He turned and saw the pirate's features, and although it displayed indifference, there was the slightest bit of relief... At least, he thought it did (as reading faces was never his strong point). Matthew reached up for his captain with his other hand. Both Alfred and Captain Kirkland pulled him up and dragged him onto land. Once there, the captain had let go of Matthew's arm, and let him collapse on top of Alfred.

The nameless pirates crowded around Matthew and Alfred, all at once asking if Matthew was alright. Captain Kirkland stood aloof before he stalked closer, and at once the group ceased their chattering.

"Are you alright, Matthew?" He inquired, his tone flat as usual.

"Y-Yeah," Matthew responded, sitting up from Alfred's body with a tinge of red on his cheeks. "Thanks for saving me Captain, and," he turned to Alfred, "Thank you, too."

"Uh… sure, no problem," Alfred said distractedly as he also sat up.

There was a quick silence before Captain Kirkland sighed.

"…Alright, let's keep going. According to the map, the treasure isn't far from here." With that, he and the nameless pirates walked further into another dense forest, paying to mind to the two who were left on the ground, one staring at the other and the other staring at nothing.

"Alfred?" Matthew tilted his neck slightly. "Um… hey…"

"I," Alfred began when the other young man trailed off, "I just saved you, right?"

Matthew cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah… thanks."

Alfred shook his head as if he was in denial. "What the hell…?" He mumbled and frowned to himself. His head was reeling as he took it all in. He hated these guys. They were all lowlifes, they murder, steal processions and land, and they did not care about the consequences for others. No pirate was an exception for his hate, none of them. And if anything, being with this crew proved him right. And yet, he did something he never thought he would do in his entire lifetime.

He saved a pirate.

He was mad at himself. And he was so confused.

Alfred looked up at Matthew, who was also confused. He asked, "Why did I save you? I don't like you. You're a filthy pirate… but I went out of my way to save you…" He looked down at himself and these thoughts continued to roll around in his head. He saved a pirate, one of his kidnappers no less! He deserved to fall, no matter how soft spoken he was.

Maybe… maybe it was on impulse? Maybe the adrenaline gotten to him, and went to save Matthew before thinking about anything else. But even then, he could have realized what he was doing, as he did, and simply could have dropped Matthew. So why… So why didn't he?

The other man blinked his violet eyes, "Why? What kind of question…" he trailed off but began again, "Alfred, I know you're confused right now, and to tell you the truth, you're confusing me, but we need to catch up with the Captain and the others... Alfred…?"

Alfred sighed heavily, "Alright…" He decided to put those thoughts in the back of his head and lock them up in his own treasure chest for now. He stood and Matthew followed suit, walking through the trail Captain Kirkland walked through earlier.

The two boys caught up with their group, who paid them little mind, as they continued through the lively, cluttered forest. Alfred was lagging behind the group, strangely quiet for once, not sighing nor groaning. He kept his lips shut, and rubbed his chin in thought, paying no attention to his surroundings.

He saved one of his captures. Why? Could it be that he just wanted to, that there's just no reason? His father's words echoed in his head, 'there's always a reason for something'. Yes, he would lecture Alfred about that whenever he caused trouble around the office when he was young. His father would ask, 'why did you do it,' and Alfred would answer, 'I dunno'. There was a reason, of course— there's always a reason for everything…

He rattled his head, stop thinking, stop thinking, he would repeat in mantra mentally. As much as he wanted to stop thinking about it, the more he kept thinking about it. He hated thinking. He would much rather charge into a situation and think about it later… which happened a few moments ago and now he's in this situation, thinking about what he just did when he wasn't thinking and need to stop thinking about thinking—

Alfred abruptly bumped into a pirate's burly back and snapped out of his thoughts. He paid no mind to the pirate who was muttering colorful sailor words and walked out from behind the broad-shouldered man to see why they stopped. "What happened?" A certain smell crept up his nose and his face contorted into a grimace. "What is that smell? Ugh!"

"…Someone already activated all of the traps," Captain Kirkland muttered to himself, indirectly answering Alfred's question. He stared down at all of the traps; a tree log dangled on rope, usually hidden, was seen in plain sight (built by the land's natives no doubt), poison darts and spears were laid on the ground and the stench in the air… it smelled like corpses, although none were seen. These things were of little importance to him though; he only cared about the treasure that was not much further inside. "Shit, did someone get here before me?"

"Captain," Matthew exclaimed as he pointed ahead of him, "there's a treasure chest…!" And there was. A single aged chest was placed on an alter made on grimy stones, bathing in the sunlight like a lone light peaking though the clouds.

The captain smirked, "Heh, right you are." He spun on his heel to see Alfred pinching his nose to block the disgusting odor. He rolled his eye and grabbed his prisoner by the arm. "Go get the treasure chest and bring it back to me."

"Who else am I going to bring it back to?" Alfred spoke nasally.

The pirate captain ignored his comeback and roughly shoved him towards the lonely treasure chest. "Don't open it."

Alfred didn't respond as he walked up to the altar slowly, carefully treading his way there. The traps were activated, sure, but he didn't know if they all were. He'll be damned if he's shot and killed with a single poison dart. It was a really unawesome way to leave the world—

He reached the treasure chest and stood in the single stream of light, glowering at the ancient, dirtied box. He would have to let go of his nose to carry this stupid thing. "It better be worth it," he said to himself and let go of his nose. The smell blasted through his noise, and seemed to reek worse than it did before. In a swift motion, he grabbed the chest (it was lighter, much lighter than it looked), and jogged back to the group. He placed it down in front of Captain Kirkland with a soft thud, and sighed briefly. "There."

The group of pirates surrounded the chest, their faces beaming with excitement and anticipation. Captain Kirkland however, was not. He glared suspiciously at the box before looking to Alfred. "…This box," he paused, "was it heavy?"

Alfred shook his head. "Nope. I expected a bunch gold to be a lot heavier than—"

No sooner than the words came out of his mouth, Captain Kirkland flipped open the box in a rage and froze when he gazed upon its contents. The other pirates stopped moving and gave each other knowing looks when they saw what was inside.

Alfred, confused, took a closer peak inside, to see a note and a beautiful red rose.

"Ah," Matthew gasped, "That's…"

Seeing as the pirate captain was not going to snap out of his shock, Alfred reached in and took the piece of parchment out of the chest. On it was very elegant, graceful handwriting written with the finest ink.

"Read it."

"Huh?" Alfred looked at Captain Kirkland, who continued to stare into the treasure chest that only contained the rose.

"Read. It," he repeated threateningly.

The young man raised an eyebrow before he sighed and read:

"Angleterre,

So sorry I had to leave before you arrived. Do not worry; the treasure is safe with me.

But I am not such a cruel man to leave you with nothing. Take this, your favorite flower, as an apology.

Je t'aime,

-Francis Bonnefoy"

so to answer some questions, the pairings are:
england x america
england x france, spain, and prussia because he's a slut
some america x canada is you squint really hard

and someone asked who old is america... well he's whatever age you want him to be.