Summary: Feliciano, prince of Prucaryn, believes that everything King Roderich Edelstein does is for the good of his kingdom. Lovino, the eldest child who gave up the crown, looks upon Edelstein's decisions with disgust, believing that the man was shaken and disturbed by the death of his Queen, Elizabeta. Edelstein locks Feliciano in, not allowing him to go outside the castle walls. But when Feliciano ventures out one day, a German commoner makes him think that his brother's words were true. It also plants ideas of rebellion in his mind...

Chapter One

Prince Feliciano Vargas rested his head in his hand, staring out the wide window of his bedchamber. Rain was pouring down from the gray sky in buckets, splashing harshly down on the flooding grass. He could hardly even see the grass, were he to look out the window; his chamber was at one of the highest levels of the castle. All he could see was a wide expanse of grass, where his archery and painting classes were held, and if he squinted, the castle walls could barely be spotted.

"Prince Vargas," a voice came from his doorway. Immediately, like a reaction, Feliciano set a vague smile on his face as he turned. It was the expression Feliks had taught him, for when he met with commoners.

"Oh, Sir Kirkland," he said, dropping the forced expression in favor of a more relaxed, welcoming one. "It's only you."

"Yes, Your Highness. It's time for your embroidery lesson," Arthur Kirkland reminded him, holding up the basket of embroidery items.

Feliciano sighed; embroidery was boring to him, but his father demanded he know it. "Your mother would have wanted it," were his exact words. The Italian boy knew that his father dearly loved his mother, but he didn't see why his father couldn't let her go. Queen Elizabeta Héderváry had passed away shortly after Feliciano's birth, and that had been nineteen years ago.

"Yes Sir Kirkland," Feliciano said, accepting the needle, threads, and frame.

Arthur had been teaching him for years now, whether it be needlepoint now, or how to read when he was a child. He was a wonderful teacher, and Feliciano had always been intrigued by his British accent. But he had grown accustomed to all the accents; in the castle of Prucaryn, there were people from every country in Europe. Literally. Some were cooks, who Feliciano rarely saw, others cleaned the castle, and still others were his mentors in a myriad of different skills. The positive side of being immersed in all those different nationalities was that Feliciano had a native speaker to teach him the different languages.

"Prince Feliciano, you're using the continental stitch; you're supposed to use the half cross stitch," Arthur reminded him, jolting Feliciano out of his thoughts. The young prince looked down at his work and grinned humorlessly, rolling his eyes.

"So I am, Sir Kirkland. I'm sorry," he apologized, picking at the few stitched he had done wrong with perfectly rounded fingernails.

"It's fine, Your Highness," Arthur said patiently. "You don't have to be perfect from the beginning."

"But it isn't the beginning; you have been teaching this to me for half a year now," Feliciano commented, restarting the stitches.

"Well, you do have all your other classes," Arthur said fairly.

"I should be able to balance them," Feliciano said, "at least, according to my father."

A visible flinch passed over Arthur, and Feliciano could see a fleeting flash of annoyance at King Edelstein before the Englishman replaced it with his usual impassiveness. "Yes, well, sometimes a teenager should be given allowances."

Feliciano secretly agreed with this; he had quite a few classes, sometimes it did get quite overwhelming. There was needlepoint with Arthur; music classes with Antonio; and a great deal many other classes taught by a multitude of people whom Feliciano tried to remember the names of. On top of that, he had Feliks telling him what to wear and how to act 'royal' all the time. The only person Feliciano was truly closest to was his older brother, Lovino. But Lovino wasn't around much, as he had rejected the title of prince, passing it off to Feliciano. Feliciano didn't mind the responsibilities, but he did wish he could see his brother more often.

"Your Highness?" Arthur asked. "Perhaps we should cut this lesson short for today; you don't seem to be able to keep your head out of the clouds today."

"But my father-" Feliciano started, but Arthur held up his hand and shook his head.

"Don't worry about King Edelstein; I'll take care of it. He'll never know, and it's only this once," Arthur promised, beginning to put away the needles carefully, so as not to stab himself as Feliciano had when he was beginning the sessions.

Feliciano smiled a true smile that time. "Thank you, Sir Kirkland," he said gratefully. He usually had nearly endless patience for needlepoint - Arthur was patient with him, and was nice to talk to - but he couldn't help but let his thoughts wander today.

"Good day, Prince Vargas," Arthur said, bowing before he left the room. Feliciano nodded once, as was expected of him. After Arthur left, he sighed and went to his window seat, settling himself against the cold stone and looking out at the rain. Once again, though, his quiet time was interrupted by someone knocking at his door, the noise resounding through the room.

"Come in," Feliciano called, righting himself into a more 'respectable' position; he could almost hear Feliks chastising him if he were to be caught in such bad posture. Feliciano's expression split into a joyful beam that would have earned him a slap on the wrist should Feliks see him as he recognized his favorite person entering the room.

"Lovino!" he shouted happily as he ran to his brother and threw his arms around him.

"Feliciano, it's wonderful to see you, too," Lovino said, chuckling as he hugged his brother back. Releasing him, Feliciano was still smiling excitedly; Lovino was not only the one person he could tell everything to, but he was also the only person who didn't treat Feliciano as a royal. Sure, Lovino could have his temperamental moments, and he was sometimes quick to anger, but Feliciano was still happy to see him whenever he could.

"Welcome back, brother! What brings you back here?" Feliciano asked, cocking his head to the side.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot stay long," Lovino said ruefully. "I wish I could; I only stopped by to check in with you. How are you, what have you been doing?"

"I'm fine, I suppose. To tell the truth, I'm getting bored," Feliciano admitted. "I just finished a needlepoint session with Sir Kirkland."

Lovino grimaced. "Man, I'm glad it's you and not me, kid; I don't think I could make it through a needlepoint class alive. I'm guessing Father still hasn't let you leave the grounds yet?"

Feliciano shook his head. "No, he hasn't. I wish I could, though."

"Kid, you should just bust outta here sometime," Lovino suggested. "I can't believe you're nineteen years old and you've never been past the castle wall."

"Oh no, Lovi, I couldn't leave; unlike you, I cannot pass off my duties to anyone else," Feliciano said teasingly. "In any case, I ... I like it here."

"Father really can be so dense sometimes," Lovino muttered. "Thinking a man can rule without a queen. Pray tell, if his plan works and you never see a woman and never take a wife, who's going to be King after you? By that time, Father will be in the ground, so he won't have to worry about it, I guess."

For once, Feliciano didn't have anything to say. Their father had truly been altered by their mother's death; so much that he believed that his sons should never take wives. He told them it was to protect them from heartbreak. That reminded him...

"Lovi, how did you get in here? Didn't Father ban you from the grounds? Did he change his mind?" Feliciano asked, offering his brother a seat. He could see the relief in Lovino's eyes as his brother eyed his now-natural perfect posture, hands clasped in his lap, back straight.

"No, father doesn't know I'm here," Lovino admitted. "That Gilbert man snuck me in; you know how he'll agree to anything if it pertains to trouble, so it was easy to convince him to help."

Feliciano sighed, but couldn't bring himself to feel anger for their newest helper. Gilbert had been working in the castle for about a year or two, and had always gotten into trouble. The only reason that King Edelstein hadn't banished him was that Feliciano wouldn't allow it. He knew it was unfair, but he had played on his mother's maternal personality to tell Roderich that, 'Elizabeta would never make a teenage boy go out of work and go hungry'. And it was true, so Roderich grudgingly let Gilbert stay.

"Oh Sir Beilschmidt," Feliciano said fondly. "He really can't stay away from anything dangerous. So is he going to help you sneak out?"

"Yeah, he promised to," Lovino agreed. "So that's why I can't stay long. I just wanted to check up on my kid brother."

"Thanks Lovi," Feliciano said. "I'm doing fine, really. So is everyone else."

Lovino snorted in disgust, glaring out the window. "This is no way to run a kingdom," he muttered. "You haven't been outside, so you don't know. But people out there starve. People are murdered, and nobody cares enough to do anything about it. If they're not working for King Roderich Edelstein, they've got to fend for themselves, and if anything happens to them, too fucking bad."

"Lovino, please calm down," Feliciano asked. "I'm sure it's not all that bad; you're only speaking from what you've seen. I'm sure that there are poor places like that, but there are everywhere, even in Exctalii."

Exctalii was the other, rivaling kingdom, ruled by King Braginski. Feliciano's history teacher – and Finnish teacher – Sir Väinämöinen, had taught him about it when he was a child. Braginski had ruled in what used to be known as Asia for as long as Roderich had ruled Prucaryn. King Braginski was, if possible, an even more unfair ruler than Feliciano's father. He ruled over not only the former Asia, but Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltics as well; all the Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians were under his reign. The Italian didn't know much else about it, other than Braginski had a violent streak a mile long, and a taste for blood. Thinking about him made Feliciano appreciate Roderich when nothing else could.

"No Feliciano, I can't calm down!" the older brother said, and Feliciano had to hush him lest someone find out he was there against their father's will. "People are dying in the filthy streets in Prucaryn, and it's everywhere! I can't do anything about it!"

"If this is true," Feliciano said, not believing it; he knew Roderich could be a tad unfair, but he could never picture him letting an entire kingdom starve and die off. "Why don't you do anything about it?"

"Me?" Lovino laughed grimly. "I'm related to the King. That's it. I have no power, no extensive contacts, and no force at all. But you do."

Feliciano was silent for a moment, wide-eyed. "Lovi…are you seriously suggesting that I lead a revolution?" he breathed, slightly horrified.

"Revolution? Maybe later. But now, what you need to do is find a bunch of other people who feel the same way I do," Lovino said, gaining enthusiasm as he went on. "You've gotta find 'em, rally 'em together, tell 'em that it doesn't have to be every man for himself. Arm 'em, educate 'em, and then, dear brother, comes the Revolution."

For once, Feliciano was completely speechless. There he was, prince of Prucaryn, and there was his brother, speaking of…of…

"Lovino…what you are speaking of is treason," Feliciano whispered. "I…I couldn't…I won't…"

Feliciano's brother put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Hey, hey, 's okay," he murmured. "I'm sorry, I should've known you wouldn't go for this idea. You're…"

Feliciano looked up at his brother. "I'm what?" he asked, a little angrily.

"You're just you," Lovino stated, rising from his seat. "Anyway, Feli, it was good seeing you again and I hope to visit again soon."

"You're leaving already?" Feliciano asked, jumping up. No matter if his brother did want him to commit treason, he was still his brother. And in any case, Feliciano doubted that Lovino really meant it; he could just get a little hotheaded at times, that was all. Caught up in his anger at their father for making him have to sneak in like a burglar to visit his own brother probably did it.

"Gilbert's at the door," Lovino said, gesturing. At his words, the albino slipped inside, grinning sheepishly.

"How'd you know I was there?" he demanded, cocking his head to the side, making silvery hair drape down over ruby-red eyes.

"You're not exactly subtle," Lovino claimed only slightly scathingly, "no matter how awesome you claim to be."

"And that, young one, is very, very awesome," Gilbert stated. "Now c'mon, King Edelstein won't like it if he catches either of us, and I gotta sneak you outta here ASAP."

Lovino gave his younger brother a brief, one-armed hug. "Don't worry about what I said, really. It's not for you, I get it. See you later, Feli."

"Goodbye Lovi," Feliciano said, "be careful, okay?"

Lovino gave a smirk that almost rivaled Gilbert's as he followed the albino out the door. "Always am."

Once Feliciano was alone in his room again, he heard the emptiness swirl around him like a choking fog. He crossed to the window again, and saw that the rain had stopped, the sun breaking through the clouds. Now that there was no storm in the way, the young Italian could see the castle wall in the distance.

No matter what he said to anyone else, Feliciano felt it very unfair that he had been kept inside the castle walls for his nineteen years of life. He'd always had a yen for adventure, and would pester the castle workers to tell him what it was like. When he was younger, he would help them with chores while listening to their stories; that is, until his father caught him.

"You are a prince now, Feliciano," Roderich had said after pulling him away from Sir Karpusi after he had been caught assisting Heracles grooming the wild cats that somehow managed to get inside the castle walls.

"But father, I—" Feliciano started.

"No Feliciano. You are a prince, and princes don't help the workers. That's their job. Your job is to go to your acting lesson with Sir Adnan," Roderich had ordered him.

From then on, Feliciano had tried to obey his father's wishes, but the fact was that he just did not want to be confined like he was. The eager Italian looked out at the castle wall and remembered what Lovino had said.

'You're nineteen years old and never been outside the castle wall.'

He had never been one to put off experiences, and he decided that someday soon, maybe even that week, he was going to escape. Of course, he would return, but not before he saw some of this World that he had heard so much about.

A/N: Yes yes, I know that I need to be working on my other fics, but this idea came to me today and I just could not put it away! So I wrote this. Please tell me what you think!