Thistles and Thorns: Chapter One
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia, and I never claimed I did.
(New edited version.)
"Oh, Alice poppet, do you have your suitcase with those cute little stuffed animals in them as well?" Alice fumed, it wasn't that she wanted to take the stupid things with her to the boarding school! It's just that, well, how did she know her mother would take care of them properly. She wouldn't dare leave the things that had been so dear to her in her childhood; the things that were her only friends, with that suspicious mother of hers! No, she would take them with her… just hide them so those wankers at boarding school didn't make fun of her!
"Yes mum." Alice then proceeded to give an exasperated sigh. She walked into her small bedroom and looked out of the equally small single window facing the gray London backstreet. A tear rolled down her cheek as she realized she would be spending the rest of her high school years and some of her years in University away from all that she had ever known. Away from the small flat she had watched her father walk away from when she was 6, never to return to it. The flat she'd left from for her first day of school. The flat where she'd gotten her first kiss. The flat where she had done… other things. She shook her head and pulled the curtains shut.
There was a sense of melancholy in the air as she walked away from the window and out of her room, forcefully slamming the door in silent hysteria, tears streaming down her face once more. Why was she reacting like this? This was an amazing opportunity! Almost everyone who got into this particular boarding school went on to be amazing things like ambassadors! Besides, she'd always said how much she wanted to leave this depressing, gray place. A cruel, unforgiving, completely boring place where she had seen it rain so many times, had cried on so many occasions.
'One last cry before I leave won't make much difference.' She thought bitterly as she walked through the narrow hallways with the low ceilings she'd grown so accustomed to. She spotted her luggage in the hallway and hauled it through the kitchen and into the connecting front area of the house.
As soon as Alice's mother saw her she went into hysterics. Alice soon felt herself in a bone-crushing hug and she tried to push her mother away but that just made her mother hold onto her tighter.
"NO! No No No No No No! My baby, please don't go!" Alice finally found enough strength to push her mother off of her.
"Mum, enough. We both know this is what's best. Act like the grown and strong woman you are!"
Her mother sniffled, giving her a teary eyed gaze. "R-right then, don't want to be late to the train station now d-do we?" She sniffled again loudly, giving her daughter a weak smile. It was apparent she was still upset.
Alice gave her mom a soft smile. Some things would never change, no matter how much change went on around them. She was glad her mother was one of those things. Never having a lot of stability in her life, she knew she had the most dependable mother in the world.
"Right. Let's go then." They both grabbed as many of Alice's bags as they could and walked out into the mildly chilly London air. They drove off to the train station in silence (other than the occasional sniffle).
"Alice dear! You forgot your satchel! WAIT, STOP THE TRAIN!" Alice's mother ran beside the train frantically while Alice reached out of the doorway to catch the satchel her mother was trying to throw her way. Alice finally caught the satchel and pulled it with her onto the train car. Her mother slowed her running and smiled at Alice, waving and mouthing a silent 'I love you, dear' to her daughter as she was carried away on the fast moving train.
Alice carried her heavy luggage through the narrow hallways until she reached her designated train car. She thought it odd that the curtains were drawn but shrugged it off and pushed the door open, only to immediately regret it. As soon as she stepped inside of the train car and the door was closed she felt a hand come up to her mouth and cover it tightly while the other hand wrapped itself around her waist in a death grip, trapping her arms at her side.
She kicked and screamed but the person behind her was obviously stronger and her screams came out so muffled from the black-gloved hand that no one could have heard her struggles anyways.
"Ohonhonhonhonhon. Feisty, Mon Cher? Zhat iz 'ow I like eet." FRENCH. Wait, … and a girl?! Are all the French perverted?!
An idea suddenly struck Alice and she stopped struggling abruptly. The French girl laughed and moved the hand that was previously on Alice's waist a little lower freeing her arm. As soon as her arm was freed it struck the unsuspecting Frenchwoman in her right breast extremely hard. The woman toppled over in pain and a muttered an "ow".
Alice started feeling slightly (slightly) guilty.
'Damn my conscience.'
The girl stared up at Alice sadly, propping herself onto her elbows.
"Excuse me miss. Are you alright? I'm terribly sorry I did that." Alice said, offering the girl no older than her a hand to help her up.
The girl flinched back and looked at Alice with an overly dramatic face. She then proceeded to put one hand to her forehead and fall back over while saying,
"Mon dieu, I think I can zee 'he light! Papa, I'm coming home to you!" She said as dramatically as possible before letting her head fall to the floor and her hand slip from her forehead.
"Wanker." Alice murmured before stepping over the Frenchwoman eliciting an 'ow' from her and walking over to a seat at the window.
She looked out at the British countryside and sighed. Only another hour and she would be at her destination.
"Where are you 'eading to, Mon Cher?" She heard right beside her ear. She instinctively threw her fist back into the other girls' face injuring her yet again. The French girl yelped and fell backwards, this time not faking it.
"Oh! I'm so sorry! Are you alright?!" Alice asked watching as her cabin mate moved her hands from her face to reveal a bloody nose. Her eyes widened and she tore a piece of the fabric from her apron before pushing it to the others nose.
"Keep your head tilted upwards and press down hard on either side." Alice said to the girl, who just nodded in response.
About 15 minutes later the nosebleed had stopped and the French girl she had punched was sitting quietly staring at the floor, signs that she had been crying still evident on her face.
Alice sighed quietly and moved over to sit beside her, causing the poor girl to flinch (again). She gave the girl a small smile and rubbed her back to comfort her.
"I'm sorry. I really did not mean to hit you… that time." The girl nodded and looked up at Alice, her fantastically blue eyes glassy.
"I'm 'orry as well. I should not 'ave been that close to your face." The girl looked down again.
Alice sighed and gave a weak smile. "I overreacted as it is. Now, I think you asked me a question? I'm going to a boarding school in Scotland. Where are you going?" Alice felt weird being so friendly with someone she had just met …and hit in the face.
The French girls' eyes lit up and she looked at Alice in excitement.
"So am I! 'Ow funny!" The girl said, for the first time not sounding like she'd rape Alice, but sounding friendly.
"It is, isn't it?" Alice said, not really thinking it's that funny but trying to be nice.
The girls chatted semi-awkwardly, forgetting about the previous happenings between them until they heard the conductor call that they'd reached Alice's destination. Needless to say she was shocked when the French girl she'd apparently befriended stood also.
They shared a slightly surprised look before the French girl, who she now knew as Francine, gave a high pitched squeal and jumped on her in a giant hug that brought both to the carpeted floor of the train car.
Alice pushed her off softly and muttered a half-hearted 'stupid, smelly frog' at the girl before getting to her feet and pulling Francine up with her.
"If we don't get off the train soon they'll forget about us and go to the next destination! Come on." Alice picked up her luggage and started walking out of the door, Francine right behind her.
They walked off the train, surprised to find that there were at least 30 other teens around their age standing around.
The teens already standing there looked them over with disinterest, most turning around except for an obnoxiously dressed boy with white hair and what appeared to be red contacts staring at Francine. He winked at Francine then proceeded to emit a laugh that was even more obnoxious than his clothing.
Alice looked over to Francine and upon seeing the blush on her new "friends" face, rolled her eyes and took Francine by the arm, guiding her into the crowd of teenagers.
When they settled into the crowd two younger looking adults walked over and stood in front of them. They were dressed in expensive looking clothing and looked very official… and intimidating. There was a man, blonde hair slicked back stylishly with glasses –clearly just there for decoration- perched on the arch of his nose. He looked over the glasses with the most intimidating and blue eyes Alice had ever seen. A few of the students flinched under his gaze and a few others fidgeted. None dared to look directly at his face.
The other adult was a beautiful woman with long, thick light brown hair that cascaded down her shoulders. She wore flowers near her fringe on the right side of her head that just added to the warm, friendly image of the woman. Her forest green eyes sparkled as she gave everyone a smile. All of the teenagers there seemed to be more comfortable in her presence than the intimidating man's. That changed quickly. The woman walked up to them slowly,
"Alright everyone one! Girls on the left, Boys on the right! MOVE!" The woman yelled authoritatively and it startled everyone so much they listened and sorted themselves out.
The man just sighed in exasperation and whispered something to the woman which made her scowl slightly.
"Fine, I will act 'nicer'." She told the man begrudgingly before turning to the children once more.
"I'm sorry, it has been brought to my attention that I may have startled some of you." The woman said, a sarcastic tone in her voice. "My name is Elizaveta and this is Ludwig, we are two teachers at Thistle and Thorn Boarding School and we have come to take you there, so everyone get your luggage so we can go." She said sharply before turning on her heel and walking away, not waiting for the students to grab their luggage.
The man sighed, "Will the boys please follow me? Girls, go with Ms. Elizaveta." Ludwig followed silently after Elizaveta.
'Well, this is going delightfully so far.' Alice thought grimly, trying to catch up with what was supposedly one of her new teachers.
Please read this A/N and then you don't have to read another one this long ever again, I promise.
A/N: I feel like I'm moving too fast with what's going on in this chapter, but I hate descriptive chapters. While I find them boring though, they have to be done. I'll try to make something exciting happen in every chapter, but that isn't always possible.
I am really enjoying writing this so far which is nice since I usually get bored of anything I write. I hope you get some enjoyment out of reading it as well. I would appreciate reviews on my story just to tell me how I'm doing (can be positive or negative). Please try to keep anything that is negativity in the zone of constructive criticism though. I want to improve so that if you do think it's awful I know how I can improve it, just being rude about it is mean and will make me feel absolutely terrible.
I'm relatively new to so I'll try my best to keep the fan fiction up to the websites' standard of writing. I'd like for it to be pointed out if there are any typos. I hate when I'm reading a story and see a lot of typos.
By the way, I apologize for any inaccuracies with my story so far, I'm American and while I have visited the UK several times I'm still not overly educated about certain things. If I do get anything wrong that even mildly offends or bothers you, please feel free to tell me and I'll change it.
This is a gender bend/Nyotalia fic (for the most part), there are a few characters that will be staying guys. Most of them will actually, and if not, their male counterparts will show up at one point or another. It is also a Scotland/England fic. It saddens me how little anyone writes about this couple so I've taken it upon myself to write about them.
I will be starting the rating off at T but it will go to an M rather quickly knowing myself and how perverse I am.
This A/N is very long, so I'll shut up.
-TKND
((Additional information: I've decided I'm going to update this story every Friday.))
