If this is terrible, it's because it was about eleven when I finished so...
Chapter 1
10 years ago
"c'mon, it's not that hard to catch up!" A small girl giggled, her eyes lighting up as her smile widened creating small dimples in her cheeks. As the small boy caught up with her his face twitched into a small grin as he focused on his friends face. He liked it very much. Her eyes seemed to change colour depending on which direction you faced, and her hair was the same colour as the sun on the hottest days. It was a rarity to see people with this colour hair back home so, he would often make the girl sit down to let him touch it. It was soft, and extremely thick which made Rome want to bury his face into her locks just so he could feel it tickle his face, and he could breath in that smell she always had. It smelt of apples, and firewood and sometimes tiny berries that they'd find in the woods.
Rome was taken aback all of a sudden, when he felt a great weight on his back and "watch out!" was yelled at him as he fell on the floor in a great heap along with the reckless oaf who'd clambered on him. He turned his head to see a boy with long blonde hair stare back at him laughing at what just happened. Germania on the other hand, had terrible smelling hair in Rome's opinion. He heard small giggle from his left as he turned to face Gaul who was in fits of giggles after what just happened. Grinning, she offered out a hand to Rome as Germania stood up and dusted himself off. "oh, Rome you are silly sometimes! You were just stood there with your mouth open and didn't even see Germania sneak up behind you!" she said, giggling some more. "yeah you should watch out more! Else you're gonna get-"
"Germania tea time!"
All at once, the trio turned to face where a small silhouette of a woman stood at the bottom of the hill. The blonde boy rolled his eyes and scratched the back of his neck, "I...gotta go you guys...so...um...Don't have too much fun without me!" he yelled. Gaul and Rome waved him off before Gaul grabbed Rome's hand, making him turn to face the blonde nation. A shade of pink had crossed her face as she slowly reached out and grabbed his other hand. "I-I'd better get going to. Mummy made plans to meet with Iberia and I CAN'T miss that, see? You understand, right? We can meet up tomorrow if you like?" Ida smiled, a couple of strands of hair falling on her face. Just as he was about to turn away and leave he felt a tug on his arm before something soft and slightly wet touch his cheek. Romulus's heart felt like it'd grown wings and was fluttering around his ribcage and his stomach felt like it'd evaporated into nothing and only left a couple of butterflies instead. He watched as a wave of blonde hair ran past him, her hand waving as she ran. Even though he wanted to wave goodbye, he couldn't. He was still in shock. She'd kissed him. Sure it was on the cheek and as just a small peck, but Germania never got that did he? Rome grinned, as he walked back to his house still in a ditzy daydream about Gaul preferring him over Germania.
And who knows, maybe one day it'll be more than just a peck on the cheek. One day, she might be his. Forever
10 years later
For Gaul though, today wasn't exactly like the day she'd kissed his cheek. She'd been running for a while now and was feeling kind of out of breath. Not to mention the fact that Francis had awoken and was trying to nuzzle against her breast to feed. His little hands balled into fists as he soon got frustrated at the fact he was not able to reach the meal he wanted. It pained her to see her little boy like this but, she had to keep moving. Rome's guards were catching up, and fast. This wasn't how she planned on spending her time to see her childhood friend.
When she first entered, he jumped to his feet , accidently knocking two of the women on his arm to the floor in glee, one of which she recognised to be a Greek girl who she'd seen about, and had wanted to talk to, but never seemed to know how to start a conversation with her. With a wide grin on his face Rome offered a seat to her at a large banquet table. Gaul looked down at the sleeping child and planted a small kiss on his head before covering him up with the rest of the blanket. She would've left her baby at home with Iberia, but, she had her own son to deal with. France opened his mouth a little and made a sound that only she could probably hear, which made her giggle. The way he knitted his eyebrows together reminded her very much so of his father but his eyes were from her side. They were a royal blue, the shade as her mothers in some ways and he seemed to have the same regal look as well. His expressions would range from screaming, angry tantrum that seemed to last longer than a lot of other kids. Or at least, longer than Iberia and Scandinavia's. Gaul sat herself opposite Rome at the table who seemed to have a buffet ready 24/7. "Hey, could w get some wine in here, y'know for our guest?" Rome said, and as if on cue, a woman appeared with a jug of wine. Gaul was dumbfounded. To her, this woman was the height of beauty. Short raven coloured hair with small beads at he end, golden skin, and eyes that shone like jewels. The woman went over to Rome and poured him a glass, as he bragged about his recent achievements in conquest, but all the while the deeply tanned woman kept her cat-like eyes focused on Gaul. She seemed to look almost, sympathetic. She found out why when the woman came to fill her glass but while doing so, whispered "You might want to watch the child. Rome is unlikely to be happy when he finds out." in her ear before slipping away again to the other room. Gaul looked across at Rome who was still going on about how much has changed and who everyone was. About a half an our later she'd found out the two women were Ancient Greece and Egypt, and Rome had gone through about two glasses of wine, and most of the food.
He'd then proceeded to walk up and wrap her in a tight embrace telling her how 'She really did look amazing' and that she 'should've come sooner to see him' as he placed small butterfly kisses going down from her cheek to her jawline and then on to her neck. Gaul on the other hand was trying to edge Francis, who was still in a basket by her side, slowly more and more out of view. While she was distracted by her son, she didn't think to check on what Rome was doing until she felt something nuzzle against her cleavage. At first she was shocked at Rome, but then pushed him away in disgust. "What? What did I do wrong? Is it too weird, is that it?" he said a small look of concern crossing his face. It was then she took a step or so back, gulping. "N-no i-it's not that it's just-"
"I'm not your type? Too forward?"
"It's none of those things it's just-" what she was about to say was cut off by a small wail coming from her basket. France. Of course he'd pick now to wake up and be hungry. Romulus looked down at the basket, curious to what could've piped up. Gaul had started to back away but before she could, he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in so close that she had to move the basket to side. That's when he grabbed it. Most women would've screamed, but Ida saw no point. He would've found out anyway. Curious, Rome peered into the basket and peeled away the small blanket. Inside of course, was the boy. His hands were clenching and un-clenching from fists as he wailed out for his meal. Slowly, Rome lifted the boy out who opened his eyes to see if it was his mum, only to receive the shock of his life when he saw a man scowling at him he didn't recognise, wasn't the usual man who had blonde hair and, more importantly, wasn't his food source. Francis kicked off again as Romulus turned to face the boys mother. "Who's kid is this?" Rome asked in a voice that sounded like he was trying to keep his anger hidden. Gaul reached out to try and grab her son back but Rome pushed her away again. "Please Romulus, give my baby back I swear, you just need to let it-"
"Answer my question."
"No, it doesn't matter, I just need my-"
"ANSWER ME!" Rome yelled, making France scream even louder and Gaul feel herself on the brink of tears. Did it really need to be like this? Was it really that bad she had a child? What would he say if he DID know the truth? She hadn't expected the night to go like that. Or for him to react in such an immature way. She gulped, "G-Germania's. I-it's his but I swear we haven't carried anything on, it was just one or two nights and we had no idea you'd be back, and we assumed you'd found a girlfriend, o-or something seeing as you hadn't been back since you were sixteen and-" she stopped mid-sentence as Rome placed the small boy back in his basket before grabbing her neck and moving her to thud against the nearest wall. "now you listen to me. When I let go, you'll take that thing and I'll give you exactly 20 minutes to run as fast as you can away before I send a group of my men after you. If they catch you, you stay here, but if they don't, then you're free. But don't expect me to not visit you..." he whispered just before biting at her earlobe and throwing her to the floor where she scrambled up grabbed her son, and ran like hell.
Francis carried on wailing as tears streamed down Ida's face as she carried on as fast as she could. In all honesty, she didn't know how much longer she'd last. She could see the end up ahead. Just a few more paces and she'd be there! The gates up ahead looked to be her saviour. No way the Romans would be allowed in. A few minutes later she'd entered and Gaul could no longer hear the sounds of men chasing her as she fell to the floor with knowing she was safe. Crying in relief was for later now, she had a child to feed. Gaul unhooked a strap, letting a wailing Francis attach himself to her bosom. She stroked his head and smiled at the small noises the boy was making. "There, see? No need for tears! All is well and safe no harm will come to you while I'm here. Promise." She cooed, hoping that her words soothed the boy. She was going to protect this boy. No matter what cost, no matter what losses, her Francis was not going to fall into the hands of someone of bad influence. Ever.
Yay! chapter 1! I'm hopefully going to do Caledonia and his family next (which will include Britannia, Scotland, Ireland and baby Wales and maybe a mention of England)
