Work Text:
Alfred flew around the scene, trying to account for as many victims as he could. Some survived the ordeal, while others were not so lucky. But none of the people he saw were the one person he was personally looking for. As far as he knew, they could be dying or already dead.
No one had suspected or expected that a villain would target the PNN headquarters. The journalists in there were only doing their job. Then something exploded just outside, blowing out part of the building. Enough of the building was destroyed for the rest of the structure to collapse.
Now, Alfred ignored everything happening in the background as he focused on digging through the rubble. He used his super strength to move pieces of brick with ease, all the while looking for any sign that his lover may still be alive.
“Please be alive. Please be alive. Please be alive.”
He knew that the sight of Star-Bangled Eagle searching through debris with his bare hands would cause the entire city to gossip. But he did not care. Arthur was his number one priority.
His digging sped up at the sight of a pant leg. It somehow got faster when he saw the very familiar sweater vest.
“No….no no no no.”
Arthur was unconscious when Alfred finally uncovered him. It was frightening how much blood was near or on Arthur’s head. Instinctively, Alfred put two fingers on Arthur’s neck, searching for a pulse. There was none. Alfred fell to his knees in shock.
“He can’t…he absolutely…should…not be…dead.”
In denial, he checked for a pulse a second time. But Arthur’s heart beat no more. With tears in his eyes, Alfred looked up at the sky and screamed.
~~~
Alfred shot up in bed. His eyes were wide with fear and filled with tears. He sat in bed, panting as he tried to get himself fully back to reality. He faintly remembered the breathing exercises Matthew told him about.
1. 2. 3.
Alfred took a deep breath and held it.
1. 2. 3.
The breath was released in one slow exhale.
1. 2. 3.
It took a few cycles, but Alfred was able to get his breathing under control. The adrenaline rush from such an awakening also faded away. Finally, he was able to recognize that he was in his bedroom, safe and sound.
Although next came the icky feeling as he realized that his sheets were drenched in sweat again. Ew. Alfred tossed those on the floor. They would go into the laundry when it was morning, since it was still the middle of the night. Speaking of the time, he glanced over at the clock. It told him that it was only 2-something in the morning. He hadn’t bothered looking at the minutes portion after seeing the hour.
Fuck. It’s too early to be dealing with this.
Ideally, Alfred should not have to deal with nightmares at all. But it was one of the costs of being one of, if not the, major hero in the city of Persona. Having a romantic relationship in his personal life unfortunately gave Alfred’s brain more materials to generate the nightmares with. He remembered when the nightmares were about losing Matthew. Now some were about losing Arthur. Hell, others were about losing both of them.
Alfred laid back down. He had a feeling that he would not be able to go back to sleep. It was hit or miss whether he did. And if he did, there was a chance for him to spiral into another nightmare. Even with the optimistic thoughts that Arthur and Matthew were safe, it was still difficult for Alfred to fall asleep.
At some point, Alfred fell back asleep without realizing it. The next thing he knew, he was rudely awakened by his alarm clock blaring noise into his ears. Alfred sat up briefly to turn it off, then fell back on the bed. He rubbed at his eyes in an attempt to get the gunk out of them. He felt exhausted, and the temptation to call out of work to sleep for the day sounded incredibly appealing.
But there was the risk of nightmares, which he had been lucky to avoid after the one from last night. Also, he had soldiered through the exhaustion before, so he knew that he could do it again. Plus, it was never known whether Star-Bangled Eagle would be needed to stop a villain doing some evil scheme within Persona. There was no way he could have the hero be missing in action during a time of need. With the obligation to live through another day, Alfred finally got himself out of bed.
Groggily, Alfred dragged himself into the shower. It helped him wake up a little bit, but he still felt overwhelming tired. Then he spent two minutes getting dressed. He threw on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, not bothering to fix up his looks further. Not like it mattered, since he could possibly not leave the house today (as Alfred, the civilian, anyway).
His hunger couldn’t even motivate Alfred to get to the kitchen faster. By the time he got there, Matthew was already rinsing out his bowl.
“Morning, Al.” Matthew put the bowl he was rinsing into the dishwasher. He paused when he got a look at Alfred. “You look awful.”
“Thanks.” Alfred deadpanned as he picked out his cereal. He noticed a bowl already on the counter for him. He poured himself some Cheerios.
“Another nightmare?”
“Yeah.” Alfred knew that Matthew knew. He got the gallon of milk out of the fridge.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“Just another one about Arthur again.” Alfred cursed as he poured a little too much milk into the bowl. He grabbed a paper towel to clean up the excess milk that landed on the counter.
“Ah.” The answer gave Matthew all the necessary information. “One of those ones.”
“One of those indeed.” Alfred sat at the table to eat his breakfast.
“Are you sure that you want to work today?” Matthew’s voice was filled with concern. “You look like you want to sleep more than anything.”
Sometimes Alfred hated how accurate his brother was when it came to reading him. “I’ll be fine. Even if I do take a day off, I may not be able to rest the full day.”
Matthew understood what Alfred was illuding to. “You could get lucky?”
“As I said, I’ll be fine.” Alfred only ate half of his cereal. Then he threw away the rest. “I’ll see if Kiku will want to hop on a call to chat. That’ll help me wake up more.”
“If you say so.” Matthew was hesitant to leave Alfred. “Just don’t forget that taking a half day is also an option. You said Mei is understanding when it comes to this type of stuff.”
Alfred didn’t respond while he cleaned up. He heard Matthew leave the kitchen towards the direction of his office. He sighed, which turned into a yawn. Welp, it was time for Alfred to go to his own office to begin the work day.
~~~
It was not on Alfred’s bingo card for the day to fall asleep at his desk. He was zonked out too. His keyboard was pushed halfway off of his desk; his mouse vanished somewhere, probably on the floor; and his headphones were crooked on his head. Alfred slept hunched over in his chair with his head on top of his arms.
Matthew came into the office with a look of panic on his face. “Alfred! A villain is causing trouble at Hat Mayhem!”
“Huh?! What?!” Alfred shot up from his desk. A sticky note was stuck to his cheek.
“A villain is attacking Hat Mayhem. And they’re challenging Star-Bangled Eagle specifically.” Matthew said. He tried to not sound as panicked, but it didn’t work out like he hoped.
“Hat Mayhem?! Why?!” Alfred asked, exasperated. There was no reason for a villain to do something at Hat Mayhem out of all places. It was a miniature amusement park with families as the target demographic.
“I don’t know. Ask Hologram.” Matthew shrugged. “Although, today is the adult’s night special at Hat Mayhem, so you shouldn’t have to worry about children.”
“At least the children are safe.” The sticky note that was on Alfred’s cheek fell to the floor. Alfred rushed to get changed into his hero suit, which was a light blue jumpsuit decorated with white stars. He put on his boots and bracelets, which were both white, along with his red eye mask. It took him no time at all with his super speed. As a precaution, Alfred grabbed his gun and its holster. He was flying across the city of Persona within the minute. Although he still felt tired despite the improv nap. Alfred rubbed his eyes to wake himself up more.
Hat Mayhem was located near the southeastern border of the city. The travel time allowed Alfred to strategize the upcoming fight. The Hologram was a dangerous villain, able to create holograms that mimicked various weaponry. Essentially, Hologram was a walking armory. Alfred knew that he had to be careful; the weapon holograms themselves can cause comparable damage to the human body as their real-life counterparts. A holographic bullet to the head could very well kill someone, even if the holographic bullet disappeared after slowing down to a velocity of zero; whereas a regular bullet would get stuck in the victim’s skull.
“If any hostages are involved, things could get ugly.” Alfred muttered to himself. His brain of all times chose to remind him right then and there of the nightmare that he had last night. Then, there was the incident that happened three months ago with Arthur and Le Maître de Marionnettiste. Alfred cursed. He should have asked Matthew whether Arthur was at the scene reporting the incident. He did not need to see The Hologram holding a holographic gun towards Arthur’s head. It would make a scene too similar to some of Alfred’s previous nightmares. Alfred was not prepared for one of the nightmares to become reality.
Then there was no more time to think, as Alfred arrived at Hat Mayhem. He hovered above the amusement park, searching around for Hologram. “Alright, Hologram! You called for me, here I am!” Initially, there was no response. Suddenly, something flew by Alfred’s ear, making him jump in alarm. He looked in the direction where the object came from.
“I was wondering if you were going to not show up, as you took your time getting here despite having super speed as your Power.” The Hologram held a hologram of a pistol, which was pointed at Alfred. His suit was entirely black, with the exception of blue lines all over his body, which were the same color as the holograms. “But it is known that Star-Bangled Eagle always shows up in time of need.”
“Why are you here? Hat Mayhem has done nothing to you.”
“That’s really none of your business. There’s too much fun happening here anyway.” Hologram fired another shot at Alfred, this one not intended to be a warning shot.
This time, Alfred was prepared for the bullet, and he swiftly dodged it. He used his speed to try to stay out of Hologram’s line of sight. You can’t shoot at a target that is not visible, after all.
Unfortunately, Hologram was very good at tracking Alfred’s location. He knew that Alfred would need to get close in order to do anything. So, every time that Alfred tried to get close, Hologram would fire his weapon at the hero’s direction, forcing him back. He moved backwards to keep the distance between himself and Star-Bangled Eagle too large for melee attacks.
Alfred wondered if he would have to bring out his own gun in order to win this fight. The weight of the holster on his hip reminded him that the option was always available. However, he really did not want to bring out the gun. Occasionally, he still had nightmares about the last time he shot his gun in the fight with Metal Gear.
Every once in a while, Alfred checked on how things were going for the civilians on the ground. It would be bad news if additional villains showed up and tried to do anything involving the townsfolk. It had happened before, which was why Alfred was forced to split his attention between The Hologram and the innocents.
Although what was weird is that he had not spotted the PNN van that he knew would be parked somewhere. He also could not spot the news crew anywhere. Matthew usually got his villain activity information from PNN broadcasts. It would have made Alfred feel better if he could spot the news crew at the bare minimum. He needed to know if his boyfriend had a chance of being in danger again.
The sound of another gunshot brought Alfred’s attention back to Hologram. He flew upwards in an attempt to get a good angle that would allow for him to get close to the villain. A hologram of a gun appeared in front of Alfred with its barrel pointed directly at his chest. Alfred was forced to dive to the side to avoid getting shot.
The sudden change in direction at the speed Alfred was flying in resulted in the hero feeling a hint of nausea. Alfred held a hand to his mouth. This was new, and not good. He never had gotten sick from performing such maneuvers. In addition, the tiredness that had faded away upon arriving at Hat Mayhem began to creep back in.
Alfred only happened to look over to his right at the same time as another holographic gun appeared. He was slower in reacting to the weapon’s appearance, and it costed him. Alfred felt a stinging sensation on his side. Then another one on his bicep. In both locations, he felt himself starting to bleed. The bracelets on Alfred’s wrists did their magic, easing the pain away.
“You know, I wasn’t expecting the fabled Star-Bangled Eagle to be this pathetic.” Hologram taunted as he spawned more holographic guns. “I thought it would take longer for me to hit you, and that you would have gotten a hit on me sooner, considering that your speed is your greatest strength. But if you want to surrender right now, I’ll let you go and get back to my own plans.”
In response, Alfred snapped his head towards Hologram. No, he could not surrender, regardless of how exhausted he was. He was Star-Bangled Eagle! He was one of, if not the most, important heroes in the city of Persona! Alfred felt obligated to win the fight, even if the price was high.
With a burst of adrenaline from his anger, Alfred charged straight at Hologram. He ignored the holographic guns pointed at him, taking additional injuries. A holographic bullet went through his thigh, while another one struck his collar bone.
Hologram was taken off guard by Alfred’s blatant disregard for dodging his bullets. He froze up in a moment of fear, which allowed for Alfred to strike him in the face with an uppercut. Hologram’s head was thrown back from the force.
Finally, Alfred was able to do some real damage to Hologram. All of the pent-up frustration, stress, and anxiety was let out as Alfred hammered on the villain. In a close fight such as this one, Hologram didn’t stand a chance.
Alfred was only stopped by a burst of pain from his hip. He looked down to see a holographic knife stuck in his body. Then it faded away, letting the wound bleed out. The bracelets went to work on this wound too, removing most of the pain.
“Had to get one last shot.” Hologram grunted as he was restrained.
Fuck you, Hologram. Alfred had a strong grip on Hologram’s arms, keeping them behind the villain’s back. He flew both of them down towards the group of police cars parked at the perimeter of the park.
“Here you go!” Alfred put on a cheery façade. “Another villain stopped in their tracks.”
“Thank you, Eagle.” The senior officer did not seem to be too pleased with Alfred. But he took Hologram and handcuffed the villain.
“Eagle, are you okay?” A younger officer who was nearby asked Alfred, obviously noticing the blood.
“I’m fine! It’s not my blood.” Alfred lied. It shamed him how easily the lie came out. But there was no need to get the public worried or spreading rumors about his health.
Before anyone else could ask questions, Alfred flew away. He flew at a slower speed than usual. The bracelets were taking up a lot of energy from his Powers. He could also start feeling the painful effects of his wounds.
Can I even make it back to my apartment at this rate?
At first, it seemed like Alfred would make it back. But then he had to rest on the roof of a nearby building. It worried him that he could be stranded somewhere. He could become a sitting duck for a villain that was passing by. Alfred took a look at the surrounding buildings, trying to gauge where he was at. The sight of PNN headquarters gave Alfred hope; he was really close to Arthur’s apartment building. He should be able to rest there and change clothes.
Alfred scrambled to get his phone out. He speed-dialed Arthur’s number in hope that his lover would pick up the phone.
Please pick up, Arthur. It’s an emergency!
Luckily for Alfred, Arthur answered after three rings.
“Alfred, love, how are you doing?”
“Not good.” Alfred noticed just how much his hip was bleeding. He put his free hand on the wound. “I don’t think I can make it back to my apartment. But I’m close to yours, since I can see the PNN building where I’m at.”
“Get to the balcony of my flat and let yourself in. There’s a key in the flowerpot.” There was shuffling noises in the background. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Thank you.” Alfred grunted in pain as he flew back into the air. He flew towards the PNN building to help himself find his way to Arthur’s apartment building. He mentally followed the route that he knew Arthur took during his commute to work and back.
Soon enough, Arthur’s building came into view. Alfred could not have felt more relieved as he landed on the balcony. He didn’t question why there was a key in the flowerpot, but he was thankful that it was there. When he entered the apartment, Alfred was greeted by Watson. The cat meowed at him, wondering why Alfred was there, but not Arthur.
“Hey, Watson. Sorry, but I can’t pet you right now.”
Alfred navigated towards the bathroom. A wave of fatigue hit him, forcing him to sit on the toilet lid. He did not know how long he sat there, but eventually he tried to get his hero suit off. The eye mask came off easy, and was discarded. Same with his boots and holster. Alfred looked at the bracelets on his wrists. He knew that he would feel intense pain all over his body as soon as they were off; but the bracelets had to come off. Mentally, Alfred counted to three. Then he took off both bracelets at the same time. He cried out as the pain from his wounds came back in full force. The sensation made Alfred hunch over. He made no effort to remove the rest of his hero suit.
“Oh god, what happened to you?!”
Alfred was brought out of his pain-filled haze upon hearing Arthur’s voice. He could only watch as his lover kneeled in front of him, taking note of his condition.
“Bloody hell.” Arthur had a frightened expression on his face. “We need to get the suit off so that your wounds can be cleaned.”
The process of getting his suit off was a blur to Alfred. He vaguely registered Arthur’s commands of where to move his limbs. Once the blood-stained suit was off, he sat back down on the toilet, only in his underwear. Alfred watched as Arthur opened up the medicine cabinet for the first-aid kit. While he searched for it, Arthur took out his phone and tapped on the screen. It was only when the phone was put on speaker and the dial tone can be heard was when Alfred realized that Arthur was calling someone. But Alfred couldn’t care in that moment. The pain was making it hard to think of anything else.
“Hey, Arthur. How’s it going?”
“Matthew, do you know if the medical center that Alfred goes to has ambulances?” Arthur tried not to sound frantic. “Alfred is badly hurt, and I don’t think I can get him there on my own without risking the possibility of making things worse.”
“Shit! I should have known something was up when Al hadn’t returned yet.” Meanwhile, Matthew sounded terrified. “Yeah, they do. I’ll call the clinic and have them send someone over. Is Alfred at your apartment?”
“He is.” Arthur took a bottle of rubbing alcohol and poured some on a cotton ball. “I’m going to clean his wounds.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll meet up with you later at the medical center.” Matthew hung up.
“This will burn.” Arthur warned Alfred before dabbing the cotton ball against Alfred’s thigh.
During the phone call with Matthew, Alfred had almost fallen asleep. He was woken up again when he felt the cotton ball make contact with his wound. It did, indeed, burn. Alfred hissed in pain.
Arthur worked quickly to clean the wound and have it bandaged. After all, there were multiple other wounds bleeding out at the same time.
“I’ll need you to stay awake for me, Al.” Arthur prepared a new cotton ball to clean the next wound. “You can’t go to sleep on me yet.”
Alfred’s eyes watered as the wound on his hip got cleaned next. “I-I don’t think I’ll fall asleep any time soon now.”
The two stayed silent aside from Alfred’s occasional pained noises, and Arthur’s words of encouragement in response. Arthur fell into a rhythm that consisted of preparing cotton balls, cleaning the wound, and wrapping the wound in bandages. Alfred sat there, wallowing in pain and misery in the meantime.
Faint knocking made Arthur pause in cleaning the current wound. “That must be the medical help. I’ll be right back, love.”
Alfred sighed, happy to get a break as he toughed out the stinging sensation from the latest cotton ball. At this point, he felt more sore than anything. His body felt incredibly heavy. Sleep sounded fantastic right now.
Multiple footsteps approached Alfred, who was still sitting on the toilet lid. He felt himself get manhandled as he started to drift off. Words were being spoken to him, but he couldn’t understand a thing. Then he blacked out.
~~~
Alfred felt himself get weaker by the second. The bracelets were going into overdrive to keep the pain at bay, but they were sucking up Alfred’s remaining energy. He would give practically anything to be sleeping in his bed right now. Then he was punched in the face by his attacker. The force of the hit knocked Alfred on his back.
“Come on, now.” The unknown villain appeared in Alfred’s sight once more. “This is the Star-Bangled Eagle? Knocked down by only a couple of hits? That’s not what I would expect from a top-class hero!”
Alfred knew that he had to get up. However, his body refused to move. He knew that he would not have enough energy left from his Powers to continue fighting. He closed his eyes, wanting nothing more than to sleep.
“Who said you could rest? Get up and fight me like a true hero! Or were you a phony this whole time?”
Phony boloney. Alfred couldn’t help but agree with that statement. He was a phony, after all. Couldn’t win a fight against an amateur villain.
“Well then, since you want to rest so badly, I’ll go on ahead and kill you right where you are. Then you’ll be able to rest for eternity!”
Alfred didn’t dare open his eyes. He accepted his fate of death. Eternal rest sounded like the best thing on the planet.
The final blow never came. Alfred became confused, wondering what was going on.
“You need to rest, Alfred.” Instead of the villain whom Alfred was fighting, Arthur’s voice spoke to him.
Alfred tried to open his eyes. He was only able to open them slightly, but it was enough to make out a familiar blurry image of his lover. He tried to speak, but no words came out.
“Ssshhhh.” Arthur ran his hand through Alfred’s hair. “Sleep, love. You can rest here. Sleep for all the time that you need.”
A bed was suddenly under Alfred. He spontaneously had his clothes changed from his hero suit to a pair of pajamas. He closed his eyes again, feeling safe under Arthur’s care.
“There we go. See you when you wake up.”
~~~
Alfred slowly opened his eyes as he regained consciousness. Although he had to immediately shut them again as the room was very bright. He tried to move his arm, only to feel the limb ache. He grunted in pain.
“Easy now. Try not to move.”
“Art…?” Alfred focused on getting his eyes adjusted to the bright room. After about a minute, Alfred was able to see his surroundings. His brain registered that he was in some sort of bed. He also appeared to be in a type of hospital room. He recognized it as one of the patient rooms in Dr. Michelle’s medical center.
Great, I’m injured again while being Star-Bangled Eagle.
The memories of past events came back to Alfred. He looked over to his left to find Arthur sitting in a chair by his bedside. A quick glance downwards showed one of Arthur’s hands on top of Alfred’s.
“Welcome back.” Arthur smiled softly. “How are you feeling?”
How did he feel? Alfred took a bit to find the appropriate words to describe his condition. “I’m alive, I’m just not well.” Which was true, as Alfred still felt horrible. His entire body ached, and he could feel the tightly wrapped bandages around his wounds. “I wanna sit up.”
“Here.” Arthur held a button down on the side of the hospital bed. The back end rose up slowly to get Alfred sitting in a comfortable position. “Better?”
“Yes, thank you.”
A nurse poked her head inside the room. “Oh, you’re awake.” She immediately noticed Alfred sitting up in bed. “I thought I heard multiple voices in here. I’ll inform Dr. Michelle that you’ve woken up.”
“Thank you.” Arthur watched the nurse leave to retrieve the doctor. When she was out of sight, he turned his attention back on Alfred. “You had it bad this time, Al.”
“How bad was it?” Alfred needed to know.
“In addition to all of the wounds sustained from the fight, you needed a blood transfusion.” Arthur looked to be holding back tears.
Alfred’s eyes widened in shock. His injuries never have gotten that extreme before. Then he was overwhelmed by the feeling of guilt. He was in this situation because of his carelessness. Because of his exhaustion. Because of his neglect for his own health. He had scared Arthur with his near-death experience (and Matthew too, as he would find out later). “I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.” Arthur had both of his hands on Alfred’s now.
Alfred shook his head. Arthur didn’t know how badly he had pushed aside his own health. How all of this could have been prevented if he focused on taking care of himself first. If he had taken Matthew’s concern more seriously.
Sadness and concern filled Arthur’s eyes. “We’ll talk about what happened later, alright? Let’s have Dr. Michelle examine you, and then you can get more rest. Sound good?”
“Yeah.” Alfred’s heart bloomed with love for Arthur’s caring side.
Dr. Michelle came into the room. She took her time looking over each of Alfred’s wounds, making sure that none of them showed signs of infection. She had a long discussion with Arthur about Alfred’s condition, and what the next steps were in regards for treatment. There were attempts to get Alfred involved, but Alfred was too out of it to give meaningful responses.
It was only Alfred and Arthur in the room again after Dr. Michelle left.
“Go back to sleep, love.” Arthur played with Alfred’s hair in a way that he knew made Alfred sleepy. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”
For the first time in a while, Alfred felt like he truly could rest. No nightmares came while he slept.