Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. It belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya and any and all other respective owners.
Long ago, the House of Carriedo and the House of Edelstein formed an alliance, merging their two fiefdoms. Lord Ferdinand offered the heir to his house, Antonio, to marry the firstborn daughter of the House of Edelstein, Vanessa. The wedding was to be a grand affair. Vanessa wanted it to be outside, and so it was; Vanessa wanted it to be at night, and so it was; Vanessa wanted it to be on Midsummer, and so it was.
The sole person who spoke out against this was Erik, Vanessa's younger brother and the middle son in the family. He was not to inherit anything but a small tract of land on the outskirts of the House of Edelstein's feudal area and an unused summer home. He was quite outspoken and superstitious, and most people assumed him crazy because he often consulted the local greenwitches before making important decisions.
He insisted that doing the wedding outside on Midsummer's Night was not wise, as Midsummer's Night was when the faeries emerged from their hidden world and danced the night away, becoming drunk on elderberry wine and showing themselves off to the world. He warned that they tended to snatch any humans who dared look at them, if only for a moment, because faeries see a human glance as an offence punishable by an eternity of servitude. If any human sees their ethereal beauty, they will not survive to tell the tale; they will enjoy that one night with the faeries and then be taken away with them to act as their slave.
"Any person who has wandered into the forest on Midsummer's Night has not ever returned," he said, almost in fear, as if he had seen the misdeeds of the faeries first-hand, "and it is ill-advised to go. Only Hell awaits you."
Not one of the members of either family listened to him, as he was viewed as insane, and so each person entered the forest at sundown, carrying lavish gifts for the bride and groom to be. There were precious metals and expensive jewels, some sown into tiaras or goblets; there were spices and perfumes from far away lands; there were the finest silks and the softest weaves. The wedding was held under a clump of rowan trees, because the birds gathered in their branches and Vanessa was quite partial to nature. A long table and chairs for it were arranged, lanterns were strung from the branches of the surrounding trees, and finally, the altar was situated on a mound.
Both families gathered in the forest for the event, though Erik stayed at the Edelstein estate, for his sense of foreboding never faded. The priest stood behind the altar and read passages from the Bible, blessing the marriage. As the sun began to set behind him, he pronounced Antonio and Vanessa husband and wife. In the golden glow of the dying light, they kissed and their families cried and cheered.
The huge Midsummer moon rose behind the crowd, almost orange in colour, and the muggy air seemed to begin shimmering. The lanterns were lit, creating a surreal glimmer, but no stars poked out from behind the clouds. It was hot - too hot, but no one minded. The gifts that were brought for the newlywed couple were passed on to them and piled up on a table for transport back to the manor that Vanessa and Antonio would be living in. The guests danced and sang and ate and drank, and everyone there ridiculed Erik and his superstitious beliefs, saying that he spent too much time immersing himself in folklore as a child.
Until a man arrived, a man with ethereal beauty - and a man that no one knew. He appeared to glow, if only a little, and carried himself with a grace no human could achieve. Indeed, it was a faerie, a malicious one who spoke for the rest of his kind.
"This is our land," he stated, voice commanding through its calm. "This is the sacred land of the faeries. You have defiled it by dancing upon its soil, tainted its air with your human breath, dirtied it with your rituals. You must all suffer the consequences."
Lord Ferdinand scoffed. "Ha! Who are you? There is no way that you are a faerie! Faeries are not real; they are just stories made by midwives to soothe children."
The faerie glared at him with such ice in his gaze that the lord froze.
"I am a faerie. If you need any more proof, please do ask," he sneered, and all eyes went to the lord of the House of Carriedo, frozen in ice from a mere glance of the stranger. "You may refer to me as Lukas. My real name would give you a power that humans should not wield.
"The Faerie Queen demands that you spend eternity shackled to her, as recompense for not only using our land, but gazing upon a faerie."
He searched the crowd, and each person he looked at glanced away or closed their eyes, for they could not gaze upon his beauty directly for too long. Lukas' eyes settled on the pile of fine gifts on the table and the corners of his lips turned up in the beginnings of a sadistic smile; you see, faeries are very greedy creatures and will do anything to get their hands on some gold.
"However, she would be willing to let it slide if each of you offered your wealth, your jewels and your gifts to her," he reasoned, head tilted in a feline kind of way.
The guests were speechless. Finally, Vanessa spoke, high and shrill with fear.
"We will not give anything to you! We owe you nothing! Leave us alone, foul beast!"
Lukas tsked and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, every flame was snuffed out, and the guests at the wedding began to scream.
"A shame," he sighed, sounding genuinely disappointed. "Your bloodlines deserve to end anyways, I suppose, if you refuse a faerie, an immortal being with ancient magick."
Dark figures emerged from the trees, and one by one, the guests were stolen into the forest under a Midsummer Night's moon. Each person was taken until it was only Vanessa and Antonio left. Antonio was on his knees, his rosary clutched in his hands with the cross pressed to his lips, and Vanessa stood trembling in fear, unable to believe what was happening.
Lukas frowned down at Antonio and strode past him to Vanessa. He raised an eyebrow at her, as her face was drained of all colour and her eyes were dull. That was the only display of amusement he allowed to slip past his mask of boredom.
"Is there anyone else?" Lukas demanded.
She blinked slowly at him. "Pardon me?"
"Is there anyone else in your filthy excuse for a House?"
Slowly, Vanessa nodded. "Yes."
Then she hesitated to continue, guilty that she was about to sell out her only remaining brother.
Lukas tapped his foot on the ground impatiently. "Well?"
She kept her mouth shut, eyes steeling over with protectiveness for her brother, for the future of the House of Edelstein and now, too, the House of Carriedo. Lukas, who did not mind dealing out sentences, drew a dagger from its sheath on his belt, the metal of the blade gleaming in the strange light of the Midsummer moon. Without a second thought, he levelled it with her neck, pressing it into her skin just hard enough that it drew blood. She went rigid.
"Come on, Lady Vanessa, I haven't got all day." Lukas rolled his eyes.
Antonio watched with eyes wide with terror. The rosary had tumbled from his fingers, and as Lukas pressed the blade further into her neck, he jumped up in a frenzy.
"Vanessa! Please, please just tell him! Maybe they will give us nicer treatment! This is not worth your life! Please! You are too important to me to die!" he begged.
Lukas turned to him with a tiny smile, and then back to Vanessa.
"Listen to your husband," he smirked. "I won't kill whoever it is you are trying to protect. I give you my word."
"Somehow I doubt your word is to be trusted-"
"Vanessa," Antonio cut her off in a sharp warning that was so rare for him. "Please. We have to trust him. You can't" - he glanced down at the place where the dagger dug into her flesh - "die."
She gulped and looked up, gazing over Lukas' shoulder because she dare not meet his eyes.
"My brother believed this to be a bad idea, because it is Midsummer's Night that the faeries enter the human realm to dance and sing under the stars," Vanessa began. "He stayed at our manor and refused to attend."
Lukas removed the dagger from her neck. "An intelligent human? What a surprise! But has long as he is related to you, Lady Vanessa, he deserves to be cursed for your sins."
Antonio smiled at her reassuringly, hugging Vanessa to him. She looked down at her feet, shoulders beginning to shake with silent sobs.
"I'm sorry, Erik," she whispered. Lukas heard.
He grinned like a cat that had just caught a mouse.
"Erik? Erik Edelstein? What an awful name!" he proclaimed. "No matter. Thank you, Vanessa! I am terribly glad you decided to share that information with me! Otherwise, I would have had to cut off your head, and that would be messy for both of us. Not to mention humans get so emotional over such matters."
Antonio and Vanessa looked up at him, horrified. Lukas pretended he did not notice.
"I will honour my promise to you, Vanessa, and I will not kill your brother. However, you never said anything about his children, or his children's children," he mocked. "My Queen will have fun choosing how to curse them. Goodbye, Lord Antonio Fernández Carriedo and Lady Vanessa Edelstein...or is it Carriedo now? Whatever, I do not understand human customs. It was jolly meeting you both. Congratulations on the marriage."
Lukas faded into the trees and went to join the party the faeries were holding, and Vanessa and Antonio were snatched away by unfamiliar hands and never seen or heard from again.
The Faerie Queen, Natalya, cursed Erik for the sins of his relatives, as their eternal slavery was not enough; the House of Edelstein should be wiped from the face of the Earth in order to repay the faeries. She decided that, though Erik himself would not be harmed because the faeries are people of their word, sometime in the future, her kind would replace a noble child with a changeling who would grow up in the court of the House of Edelstein. The child would learn human customs and live with them until they begin to kill each of the members of the House of Edelstein, ending it forever. On their twentieth birthday, the changeling is to return to the forest, to the spot where it all began, and present proof of the family's demise. They will be accepted into faerie society as a hero if they succeed.
"The only way to stop the changeling is to carve out its heart with a knife made of iron," Queen Natalya proclaimed. "However, I doubt anyone could best a faerie, with its superhuman speed, strength, senses and its control of magick."
The House of Edelstein forgot about the curse, until a man showed up in the court generations later and told them to watch for the changeling. Suddenly, Lord Roderich, who did not take his training with a sword very seriously, must have someone find it and kill it before it finds and kills him.
I will try to upload a new chapter as often as possible, but no promises that it will be consistent. I procrastinate a lot and probably shouldn't be trusted with multichapters.
Also, in case anyone was wondering: Lord Fernández is 2P! Spain, Vanessa is 2P! Nyo! Austria, and Erik is 2P! Austria.
Huge thanks to my friend for making me write this. I never would have without her pestering me to write a multichapter!
Thanks for reading! Reviews are very much appreciated! :D