He's Hurting Me
Based on the song "He's Hurting Me" and the characters from Hetalia
(A.N. Just a quick (and slightly rushed) story on the human!verse Hetalia with Italy Veneziano, Germany, Nyotalia!Veneziano, and Italy Romano. I'll try to get back to Past Enemies soon to those who follow it, and to those who don't, enjoy!)
WARNING: mention of rape, abusive relationship, character death, bisexual, homosexual, and heterosexual relations (NO SEX IN THIS STORY, JUST SADNESS)
On April 19, fishermen made a disturbing discovery off Lake Constantine's pier. More information on page 5.
"What the hell happened to you?"
Feliciano wasn't new to bad relationships. In fact, he was to be truthful with himself, bad relationships were all he really ever had. He would like to say that it wasn't his fault that every guy he picked up happened to be an ass, but it was obvious to himself and everyone else that he was attracted to the bad boys. The boys who yelled a little too loud in public and the boys who had no qualms with pressing themselves onto uncomfortable strangers.
But when Feliciano met Ludwig, he thought that he had finally fallen in love with a true gentleman.
Ludwig had seemed a good man. Caring. Gentle. Compassionate. The type of guy a girl's parents prayed for.
And, in truth, he was all that and so much more.
But just as he was caring, he was distant. Just as he was gentle, he was harsh. And just as he was compassionate, he was cruel. Such intricacies were the paradoxical nature of human beings.
Which brings us back to the issue at hand.
"Oh god, Feli," familiar hands touched his face. They were slightly bigger than his own, something that was to be expected of an older brother, but they felt so small compared to the hands that had been on him last.
"Just-shit, just hold on a sec. I'm gonna go get a rag. Don't move."
The hands move away, leaving Feliciano alone again. How long had he played there? Hours? It seemed so long ago since Ludwig had left him there like that.
-Break-
"I was only talking to her! Why do you have to be so overbearing all the time?" It was the wrong thing to say, and Feliciano knew it, but the words seemed to have been sitting on his tongue for far too long, and in retribution of having been restrained, they tumbled out of their own free will; damned the consequence.
It left a victorious burn in the back of his throat; a faint taste of satisfaction as fear crept up his back like a chill and consumed him until his throat grew taunt and just breathing pulled painfully at the walls of his esophagus.
Feliciano knew he shouldn't have opened his mouth. He knew what would happen. That is why when those hands wrapped around his throat, when his head slammed painfully against the ground, when blood filled his mouth, when his pants were torn open, when a mouth bite forcefully at his own...he did not resist.
Feliciano knew he shouldn't have said it, so this was his own fault.
-Break-
"Dammit, Feli, why the fuck don't you just leave him?" A warm cloth and gentle hands worked at the dried blood. Feliciano leaned against the bed, not attempting to help his brother clean his face and staring despondently at the wall.
"Feli, look at me." The soft scrubbing stilled and Feliciano contemplated just ignoring the other briefly before letting out a huff of breath and looking back at his brother.
"Well? Why the hell do you stay with him? He's even more of a piece of shit than your last boy toy, and that's saying something. I think there's something seriously wrong with the dude."
Feliciano had to bite his tongue to stop from snapping out at the older man.
"Ludwig is nowhere near as bad as Francis, Lovino. He loves me and I love hi-" Feliciano was cut off by his brothers hands wrapped around his arms and his face a mere inches from Feliciano's own.
"Nowhere near as ba-?! Feli, he RAPED you. Don't you realize just how bad that is? Feli, I don't want to see you hurt again. I can tell you love him, I do. I can see that you love him as much as you loved-"
"I'm not like you, Lovino. I'm not as strong, or even as prideful as you are. I know this is bad, but...he needs me."
Lovino's hands gripped tighter before releasing Feliciano completely.
"Please understand, brother. I-"
Lovino pressed the cloth back on his brother's face and started to wipe the blood off again.
Feliciano slowly sunk back against the bed and stared unseeingly at the wall in front of him in the silence that enveloped the room.
-Break-
"I'm sorry! I don't know what you want from me! I didn't do anything; why don't you trust me? I swear I'm not lying." Feliciano's voice came out quieter than it was meant to; the words caught in his throat with each gasping breath as sobs were fought and unsuccessfully repressed.
It wasn't the first time Ludwig's temper and paranoia had gotten the best of him.
In fact, it happened more often than not.
Feliciano had learned that no matter how much he denied infidelity, Ludwig wouldn't listen. He knew it was a futile fight, but it was one that had to be fought.
Ludwig wasn't a bad man.
He just...
-Break-
Alice was rushing.
It probably wasn't the best idea, but she was running late. Well, late in her eyes at least; which may or may not be 45 minutes early.
But, she was too excited to care.
It was the most important day of her life and she'd be damned if she wasn't prepared.
"Shit." Alice slowed her car down and stared blankly at the sign in the middle of the road. She was starting to get annoyed and a bit disillusioned with her dream winter wedding.
Yes, the snow was beautiful and made for gorgeous wedding photos, but she could already tell the difficulty it created in traveling was going to make a disaster of her ceremony.
How the hell was she going to get to her wedding on time if she had to travel all the way back up the road and take the longer, more crowded route?
Alice gripped the wheel of her car and gritted her teeth.
Her eyes flickered to the unblocked expanse of ice that bordered the road.
-Break-
Ludwig waited.
He waited after the first hour, and the second, and the fourth. And he waited after the guest started the trickle out with pitying glances and whispered words.
Ludwig waited after the first day, the first month, and the first year.
He waited for Alice Vargas to come back to him, to at least tell him why she left.
But she never did.
-Break-
When Ludwig met Feliciano Vargas, he could definitely see his Alice in her twin.
It was 2 years after Alice had run away that Ludwig met her estranged family. Well, her brothers at least.
This included her twin brother; a guy who was nothing like the confident, self-assured Alice who had parted ways with her family to seek her own life as far and as separated from her past as possible; but of a more feeble and weak demeanor.
Despite their near polar-opposite personalities, Ludwig found himself infatuated by the slightly older man.
Feliciano was a soft sorted person, but he had a way of slipping past ones defenses, a way of making one crave to be around him.
But sometimes, Ludwig would catch a glimpse of Alice in him. Just a hint; a taste.
He could see the family resemblance in his hair, his eyes, his smile. They had the same laugh and carefree attitude.
But Feliciano was not Alice.
Soon enough, Ludwig began to hate the reminder of his runaway bride.
He hated the thought that Feliciano, too, might one day leave him behind as his twin did.
He tried to suppress these thoughts at first, but after a while, they began to bubble at the surface until all he could think about was Feliciano betraying him.
Ludwig loved the older man, but the fear of a repeated rejection made him volatile and paranoid.
When he first raised his hand against Feliciano, he had been mortified. But soon it had become a way of controlling his lover, a way of ensuring that he didn't stray from him.
Ludwig recognized he was a monster. But he couldn't lose another love.
-Break-
Page 5
Fishermen found the wrecked car of one Alice Vargas, a missing bride who disappeared 4 years ago on the day of her wedding.
It is believed she took a detour across the lake to the church on her way to her ceremony. The ice broke, taking the young bride and car under its surface...
-Break-
Ludwig sat in the kitchen staring at the paper in front of him.
He felt his heart constrict for more than one reason. His bride had not abandoned him at the altar. His past love was dead. But worst of all...Feliciano had paid the price.
THE END