"Feli -"

"Yes?" The car swerved left and Ludwig had to cling to his seat to avoid being knocked into Kiku, who was currently staring dead ahead, would probably be turning slightly green if his skin tone allowed it, and had not said a word since vomiting into a bag five minutes earlier.

"Feli -" Ludwig began to say again, but the rest of his sentence was cut off by the sudden screech of breaks and Ludwig swore that if his friend miraculously managed to avoid crashing the car, he would die of a heart attack anyway.

"Ludwig? Is something wrong?"

"Feliciano, can you please -" Wild swerve "- drive a bit - " The friends narrowly avoided collision with the car behind them "- more safely?"

"What's wrong with my driving?" Feliciano asked in that adorable, slightly bewildered voice of his. Ludwig sighed. In any other circumstances, Feliciano was - quite literally - afraid of his own shadow, but put him behind a steering wheel and apparently he became a homicidal maniac with a death wish. Ludwig had never seen this side of his friend before and prayed he would never have to see it again.

"Just pull over."

"What?!" Feliciano yelled frantically, clinging to the steering wheel like a drowning man to a life raft. "I'm sorry, I can't -"

"I said PULL OVER!"

"Ah! All right, all right! Please don't yell at me, it's so scary when you do that..."

And there was Feliciano Vargas in a nutshell. Almost creating about twenty road accidents over the course of one drive, no problem, but raise your voice a little and he would cower as if you were threatening him at gunpoint.

Ludwig let out a sigh of relief as Feliciano managed to find a spot on the side of the road and park there without incident. "Good. Now, give me the keys."

Feliciano gaped at Ludwig for a few moments as if he had spoken in an indecipherable foreign language, mouth opening and closing. "B-but - you can't drive! You and Kiku both got drunk at that party, remember? That's why you asked me to drive you home in the first place!"

"Yes, well, that was before I realised that drunk or not, I'm still a safer driver than you, so hand over the keys."

"I would also prefer for Ludwig to drive," Kiku muttered weakly from the back seat. Ever polite as Kiku was, this was probably the closest he would ever come to calling Feliciano a horrible driver.

"I still don't think this is a very good idea," Feliciano said uncertainly, keys half held out in front of him. Ludwig looked at them for a few moments.

"...Maybe not. But I refuse to get back into the car with you at the wheel."

"This is a very pretty place," Kiku noted quietly, glancing around. At the young Italian's insistence, the three friends had ended up taking the 'scenic route', which just about doubled the length of the trip with several detours through the edge of the countryside. "Maybe we could stop here until Ludwig is sober enough to drive?"

"That seems like a good idea," Ludwig agreed. Kiku was right; it was a nice place, much quieter than the crowded hall they had just left behind. All the noise and drink had been starting to give him a headache anyway. Ludwig wasn't a fan of large crowds and wild parties; that was more his brother's scene. If he were to celebrate, he would rather share a couple of beers with his friends in the privacy of his flat with a few friends (or, more likely before he left for college, with his brother, the only friend he'd really had back then). He'd only come because Feliciano had begged him to, and no-one could resist Feli's patented puppy-dog eyes. Kiku was even less of the partying type than Ludwig, but somehow he'd seemed to have been enjoying himself. The two of them, later to be joined by Feliciano, had found themselves a corner and some drinks and shared each other's company in the friendly silence so common between Ludwig and Kiku. Ludwig hadn't intended to drink much, but Gilbert's voice at the back of his head kept egging him on, so he decided to have another glass, and then another and another until the evening became a haze of alcohol and bad music. Kiku had been much more sensible and drunk less than half as much as Ludwig, but it turned out he couldn't hold his drink at all and so by the end of the night he was at least at drunk as Ludwig.

Ludwig leaned back in the car, smiling. If his brother were here he would tease him for not being 'awesome' enough to drive all the way home, but he didn't want to. If they went home Kiku would probably have to stay the night, but after that he'd be gone again and it would be just him and Feliciano and Feliciano would want to spend the winter break with his twin and the rest of his holiday, and Ludwig would be alone in his flat with nothing to do but study and worry about Gilbert. Gilbert, who hadn't called in weeks and might well be dead in some back alley right now. He had quit hunting and signed up for law school because he didn't want to have to deal with that kind of danger on a daily basis, but staying up every night for hours in his safe, comfortable bed wondering whether Gilbert had finally run into a monster that would prove more than he could handle was hardly much better. Some days, he yearned to pick up the phone and tell Gilbert that he was quitting college because the guilt of leaving his brother to risk his life hunting monsters alone was too much for him, but whenever that would happen Feliciano would come upstairs with a bowl of pasta or a cup of coffee for him and ask him all about his day and share every irrelevant detail of his life with him, and Ludwig would turn away from the phone and curse his own selfishness.

He didn't feel selfish right then, though. Much as he missed and worried about Gilbert, at that moment he was sure nothing could be better than sitting in Feliciano's car gazing out at the fields and stars.

"What are you thinking about, Ludwig?" Feliciano's voice interrupted his musings.

"Just how glad I am that I came here and met the two of you."

"Oh! I'm really glad you did, too. I would have been really lonely here without you and Kiku."

"Really?" That was news to Ludwig. He had always had difficulty opening up and making friends, but the ever-cheerful and bubbly Feliciano seemed to instantly win the heart of anyone he talked to. "You seem to get along with everyone."

"Getting along with is not the same as being friends with." A brief flicker of sadness seemed to pass across Feliciano's face, though it was so out of place that Ludwig wasn't sure if it was real or if he was just projecting his own emotions. "Anyway, I have great news. You'll never guess what happened to me yesterday!"

"What happened?"

Feliciano laughed. "Come on, guess!"

"You met a pretty girl and she was nice to you?" That was usually the kind of 'good news' Feliciano came up with.

"No, though that would have been nice as well. This is better though!"

"All right, just tell me."

Feli grinned. "Do you remember those paintings I sent to a publishing company a month ago? Well, I got an answer. They really liked them! They're thinking of contracting me to do more cover art for them. It's going to be so much fun!"

Ludwig cracked a smile. "That's great, Feli."

"How about you and Kiku? Any plans for the future?"

"That depends on my exam results," Kiku said from the back. "My parents said if they're not satisfied, I'm going to have to go back home."

"Home, like in -"

"Home as in Japan, yes."

"That isn't likely, though, is it?" Ludwig asked. "You're more studious than I am, you've never gotten a poor result for as long as I've known you."

Kiku shrugged. "My family is hard to satisfy. But it's nothing to worry about; I'm going to do my best not to let that happen. I like it here. And you, Ludwig?"

Ludwig looked down awkwardly. "I'm not really sure. I haven't -" He hadn't planned past going to college and breaking away from the Hunter's life, but he wasn't sure how to explain that to his friends. Luckily, he didn't have to, because at that moment his phone rang. "Sorry, I have to get that." He fished the phone out his pocket and held it up to his ear. "Hello, this is Ludwig Beilschmidt from law school, Standford University."

"Hello, Ludwig," a voice replied in a familiar posh, lilting Austrian accent.

"Roderich? Why are you calling me?"

"I just wanted to see how you've been doing." There was a short pause. "And, yes, Erzébet has been pestering me to get in touch. Incidentally, it must be past midnight in America right now. What are you doing up at this hour?"

"I'm on my way home from an end-of-term party. I've been doing fine. How's the music?"

Ludwig could hear the smile in his cousin's voice as he replied. "Wonderful, actually. I have a concert later this month I've been preparing for; I think it could be a breakthrough for my career. I'm feeling very confident about it."

"That's good to hear." Ludwig wished there was something he took as much pride in doing as his cousin did in playing piano. He had never been as dedicated to hunting monsters as his brother, and it wasn't the kind of thing one could boast of over the phone.

"Thank you. Ludwig - how's Gilbert?"

"I can't tell you that."

There was a deep sigh on the other side of the phone. "Tell me if he's alive, at least."

"As of a few weeks ago, yes."

"'As of a few weeks ago'? What does that even - you know what, never mind, I know you won't tell me. Erzébet and I are worried, you know. Until you showed up as a Stanford student, we didn't even know if the two of you were alive. I don't understand this secrecy of yours. I know what Gil's like, and the idiot is more than capable of getting himself neck deep in trouble. I wish you'd tell me that isn't the case."

"I'm sorry, I can't." Ludwig wished he could just hang up. He hated having to evade Roderich's questions, but Gilbert had made it clear that their cousin was not to know what they were up to.

"At least tell me he isn't involved in anything illegal."

Ludwig let out a breathy laugh at that. "Not strictly speaking, no, I wouldn't say so." The police have plenty of reason to be after us both, but that's because we can hardly explain half the things we do to anyone remotely normal.

"... I see." Roderich didn't sound entirely convinced, but he did drop the subject, which Ludwig was grateful for. "Take care, Ludwig."

"I will," Ludwig promised, and the call ended. He looked at his phone for a few seconds, then at his friends who were deep in conversation. As things went, he was probably lucky. Yes, he was very, very lucky to be here, and he wouldn't throw that away for anything in the world, not even for his brother's sake.

Morning rolled in, and Ludwig decided it was probably safe for him to be behind the wheel. He made a point of driving slowly and carefully, in counterpoint to Feliciano's wild style from the night before. He despaired for the state of road safety these days if Feliciano had somehow managed to obtain a driver's licence and, more pressingly, worried that whatever freakish luck had kept him alive in spite of his suicidal driving skills would one day run out.

He passed by Kiku's apartment to drop him off and then headed for the flat he shared with Feliciano. He had been nervous about having a flatmate, initially. He'd often been told he wasn't an easy person to get along with, but while he'd never admit it, he'd been relieved to find out he wouldn't have to live alone. He'd gotten used to having his brother around; being on his own for too long would have felt... uncomfortable. He'd been even more relieved to find out that his room-mate was friendly and willing to get along with anyone, if a bit hapless and always in need of his help. The arrangement they had suited him perfectly.

He was about to unlock the door when Feliciano froze, turning very pale. Ludwig wasn't especially phased; lots of things terrified Feliciano. Still, he hesitated. "Are you okay?"

"L-Ludwig?" Feli's voice came out a pitch above how it usually sounded. "Is that - is that blood on the doorknob?"

Ludwig frowned and looked again at the doorknob. It was, indeed, coated in a sticky red liquid. Some of it was also smeared to on the door, barely there, as if someone had hastily scrubbed it away. His heart sank. He'd left his gun with silver bullets in his room. He was usually careful enough not to go anywhere without it, but he must have forgotten it last night. After all, what kind of person needed to bring a gun to a college party?

"Feliciano, get behind me." Please, let this just be some kind of sick prank a freshman thought it would be funny to pull on us.

"Y-You're not actually going to go in, are you?"

"If you notice anything strange, anything at all - a sound, a smell, lights flickering, anything - get out of there as fast as you can." He had no worries about Feliciano managing that. Feliciano was a very fast runner, at least when he was trying to get away from something. He handed Feliciano his phone. "Then call my brother, Gilbert. Tell him I'm in trouble."

"O-Okay... Ludwig?" Feliciano stooped down to examine something on the ground. "...I think someone spilled salt on the floor."

Ludwig nodded. So, whoever had left the marks on the door had also warded his flat. They had probably been attacked before coming in, then. That should have been a relief - after all, it lessened the likelihood of their being a monster in his apartment - but truth be told it just worried him more. He only knew one hunter who would think to break into his apartment when they were in trouble. "Just follow me and do what I said." He tried the doorknob again and the door swung open. So, his lock must have been picked.

There was more blood on the carpet. This time, it hadn't even been wiped aside, just left to pool. He heard Feliciano gag behind him. Feliciano was not good with blood. Even cartoon violence was often too much for him. "You can wait outside," Ludwig said gently. Feliciano shook his head.

"I don't think we should be going in... but if you're going to, I'm coming with you."

"Okay." Ludwig stepped forwards. "Is anybody here?" No answer. He repeated his question, louder this time. For a second there was no reply, but then he heard a soft cough coming from his room. He and Feliciano exchanged a worried look.

"Should I call 911?"

"Not yet."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm heading in." The blood trail did, indeed, seem to lead to his room. "You can stay here."

"No!" The word came out as almost a squeak, but there was a conviction in it that was rare coming from Feliciano. "I mean, you shouldn't go in alone, what if it's dangerous?"

Ludwig just shook his head. He was beginning to doubt they were in any danger. This didn't have the markings of a monster, just a hurt and desperate hunter breaking into the only place where he thought he might be safe. He paused at the door. He wasn't sure he wanted to go into that room. He'd thought he hated the thought of Gilbert being off God knows where getting into God knows what kind of trouble, but at least that way Ludwig could pretend to believe that he was safe. His hands shook as he pushed the door open.

He wasn't surprised by what he saw, but that didn't make it much easier. Gilbert was curled up on the bed, eyes tightly shut. He was a mess. White hair stained red, skin and clothes both torn. It was the same scene he saw every night in his dreams, except real.

"Gilbert?"

Gilbert's eyes blinked open.

"Gilbert, what the hell happened to you?"

Gilbert's mouth twitched upwards into his characteristic lazy, devil-may-care smile. "Hey, West. What took you?"

So... Yes, I know I have other fanfiction to work on. I am working on them, but I was binge-watching all of Supernatural season ten lately, and this popped into my head and wouldn't let go. I'm not sure how far I'll take it yet, but I have a good few ideas so... we'll see.

This is going to use the plot of Supernatural (well, not entirely, but I'll be taking a lot of key points from there) and the characters of Hetalia, but you don't really need to be familiar with either fandom to understand it, though you might be a bit confused at first if you haven't watched Supernatural. Don't worry, you'll figure it out :).

If you aren't familiar with Hetalia, there's not much you need to know except that I've taken characters from there and put them into the context of Supernatural. In Hetalia these characters represent countries, but for the purpose of this fic they're just (mostly) normal humans. In case you're wondering, though, in the Hetalia fandom Ludwig = Germany, Feliciano= North Italy, Kiku = Japan, Gilbert = Prussia, Roderich = Austria, Erzébet (usually called Elizabeth, but I prefer Erzébet because it's an authentic Hungarian name) = Hungary, Francis = France (I know, shocker, right?) and Antoine = Spain, not that it's really relevant. You could probably figure all that out though by the nationalities I've given them, except maybe for Gilbert.

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