Disclaimer: Neither Hetalia nor Supernatural (my inspiration) is property of me.
Woman In White
If there was one thing that totally didn't scare Alfred F Jones, it was creepy, old, abandoned back roads in the middle of dark, foggy nights. Especially when he was driving alone in his car (not even the Hummer, for chrissakes!) after having heard warnings about this road being haunted in the last town he'd stopped for gas. No, Alfred was fine. He was spectacular in fact! He was…really, really close to hyperventilating.
Reminding himself to breathe deep breaths, Alfred fingered the crucifix around his neck, the other hand latched onto the steering wheel in a death grip. He willed himself to calm down, keeping his eyes carefully on the road ahead. He'd heard stories about slashers hiding in the backs of cars, but was refusing to acknowledge that nagging fear. Alfred instead called up thoughts of Arthur, who would be waiting for him at the airport.
Alfred began cussing out British politicians for scheduling meetings that Arthur just couldn't miss so that his flight got in at the darkest part of the night. If they'd just lighten the hell up, maybe Alfred wouldn't be driving through the Virginia woods hoping he wasn't about to encounter some ghost or other creepy thing. The anger helped, but it was still reminding him that omigodtheremightbesomethingoutthere!
Alfred had just managed to settle into pleasant (if not a little dirty) thoughts of just how he'd welcome Arthur back to America when he spotted a figure in white ahead. He held off panic long enough to realize it was a young woman wearing a white dress. Nothing to be afraid of. Alfred nearly laughed at himself for freaking out, thinking it was a ghost.
The girl stepped forward as Alfred slowed the car and pulled off to the roadside. She looked around eighteen or so, maybe a little older. Dark hair hung around her shoulders in contrast to the pure white of the flowing dress she wore. She looked in the window with sad, dark eyes and said nothing.
"Hey!" Alfred smiled brilliantly. "You need a ride somewhere?" he asked, always happy to help someone in need.
"Will you take me home?" The young woman's voice was quiet, almost quieter than Matt, Alfred thought. He nodded obligingly, and leaned over to push open the passenger side door. The girl slid into the car silently, pulling the door closed behind her. Alfred shifted and started off down the road again, feeling infinitely better now that another living soul was in the car with him.
Unable to stand the silence for long, Alfred broke it with a question. "So, where do you live exactly?" He could only hope it wasn't too out of the way, or he might be late picking up Arthur.
"At the end of the road," she answered, turning to face him. Alfred spared her a cursory glance. She was actually really pretty, now that he thought about it. Her eyes were probably about as big and expressive as Arthur's, but nowhere near that gorgeous green color. As he thought about it, the woman brought a hand to the ends of her dress, pulling the fabric up with slow, steady fingers. It reminded Alfred of that time Arthur had donned that Britannia Angel outfit, and he had to focus to keep from inexplicably laughing.
"Do you think I'm pretty?" Alfred's eyes were once again on the road, so he simply nodded, rather than seeing the carefully blank expression on her face.
"Yeah," he answered easily. "I mean, sure. I like your dress." Alfred congratulated himself on remembering how Arthur said it was always good to compliment women's clothes, even if you didn't care much. The girl started to lean closer just as Alfred reached to play with the gold crucifix again. In his infinite lack of observance, Alfred missed how she recoiled at the sight of it.
The turn off toward the main highway was coming up, so Alfred took the left away from it. Sweet! He could already see the shadowy figure of a house in the distance, almost completely obscured by the fog.
"Almost home!" Alfred said brightly, turning to look at his passenger again. She was still watching him. Okay…that was a little weird. The young woman had hiked up her skirts so that they barely covered her thighs and was looking at Alfred almost hungrily. Oh crap, Alfred thought. He'd misread the situation yet again.
"Will you go home with me?" she asked suddenly.
"No." Alfred sounded serious for the first time that night. He could see the house clearly now; a big, old thing that looked about ready to be boarded up. "I'm driving you home, and then I'm leaving." He pulled into the driveway and didn't even bother putting the car in park, waiting for the girl to bail out so he could be on his way.
She looked put-out, almost angry for a second, then switched to sad and what would probably have been seductively pouty to anyone but Alfred. He was just annoyed that she was still in the car. He was gonna be late to the airport now, dammit!
"Please?" The girl put one hand on Alfred's chest, leaning into him. Alfred took a steadying breath before grabbing her wrist (she was weirdly cold…) and lightly pushing her toward the door.
"Look, it's not that you're not pretty and all," Alfred started, trying not to offend her while getting rid of her as quickly as possible. "But I've already got somebody, and I love him a lot, and you're kinda not worth it. Sorry." He scratched at the back of his neck awkwardly, wondering if that was too harsh. "But can you go now? I've kinda…I need to pick him up at the airport and it's still a while away."
The young woman smiled, the expression looking almost ugly, then vanished from the passenger seat. But, wait, that couldn't be. She must have just opened the door and got out really fast, because…yeah, there she was, walking away from Alfred's car.
Shaking off an uneasy feeling, Alfred backed out of the driveway and drove back toward the main road, speeding to make up for his lost time.
-
At the airport, Arthur only yelled at him a little bit for Alfred running up and kissing him like in the movies as soon as his feet left the airport security-ringed ground. Alfred was expecting that anyway. What he didn't expect was that Arthur got his concerned face on as soon as the yelling was done.
"Alfred, where have you been?" Arthur asked, his massive eyebrows scrunched worriedly.
Alfred laughed. "Whattya mean? Right here in Virginia! Where else?" He smiled and looped an arm around Arthur's waist as they made their way to the baggage claim.
"No," Arthur said, frowning still. "I mean just recently. Where have been tonight? And give me specifics. None of this 'oh, here and there'."
"Okay," Alfred said, shrugging. "But just so you know, you're weird." He ignored Arthur's annoyed 'hmph'. "Well, uh, I was hanging out with Matt until I had to come pick your butt up. And then I was driving for a while…I stopped for gas in a couple places. Oh, right! And I gave this chick a lift home, then I showed up here."
One eyebrow rose when Alfred mentioned the girl. "What did this woman look like? Where did you take her?"
"Dude, Iggy, chill." Alfred frowned. Jesus Christ, did he just look like a cheater or what the hell? "Nothing happened. Yeah, she kinda hit on me, but I told her I was involved. And happily so."
Arthur blushed lightly, but Alfred could tell it was one of those happy blushes. "No, I…what I meant. I didn't think...I…I trust you, Alfred. This is completely different. Just describe her please."
Alfred rolled his eyes. What the heck? They could be checking into the nearest hotel by now, and Arthur wanted to waste time talking about some random girl? "Fine. She was about your height, with like...brown, maybe black hair and a white dress." Arthur got slightly pale, but Alfred ignored it. "And she asked me to give her a ride home at the end of the road. Where I, being the great boyfriend I am, told her no, I did not want to go home with her. Can we go now?"
Arthur breathed a loud, relieved-sounding sigh and pulled Alfred's face down to kiss him hard on the mouth.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Alfred exclaimed when Arthur let him go.
"You could have died, you great lummox!" Arthur punched him in the chest, making Alfred flinch more out of surprise than pain. "What were you thinking? Especially on a night like this! Thank Christ you wear that cross all the bloody time…" He continued in a dark mutter, walking toward his luggage that had just showed up. Alfred was now very confused.
"Okay, what?" Alfred stomped over to his British boyfriend, grabbing him by the shoulders to face him. "Why am I getting punched? I did good stuff! I was being heroic and chivalry-ish and stuff!"
"You picked up a Woman in White, Alfred!" Arthur looked seriously afraid for a second, though Alfred couldn't for the life of him figure out why. "She could have taken you away forever! She could've…could've killed you…"
"Arthur, what is a Woman in White? I can hear the caps, so it's gotta be important, right?"
"Are you not listening?" Arthur asked, trying to ward off a headache. "A Woman in White is a spirit, the ghost of a woman whose lover was unfaithful. She waits for men to lure into picking her up. If she finds an unfaithful man, she will take him home and he will never be seen again. Sometimes she won't even prove the infidelity. The only reason you're still safe is that crucifix 'round your neck."
Alfred was quiet for a moment, processing. "And because I love y-HOLY CRAP! There was a ghost in my car?! Oh god, oh god, oh god!" He began properly flipping out, hugging Arthur to him for some sort of protection. "What am I gonna do!?"
"Calm down, first off," Arthur advised from his position crushed against Alfred's chest. When he could breathe right again, he continued. "Obviously, it didn't hurt you. I could sense an aura about you, but it's barely there. She's gone and you're safe. Now you just need to keep your head." It was a near impossible task, but Arthur prayed it might happen nonetheless.
Alfred still looked afraid. "But Iggy! It was in my car! It probably got ghost-ness all over! How'm I gonna sleep tonight? What if it comes back?"
"We'll take a different route tomorrow," Arthur assured him. "And in daylight. As for your car, it should be fine. Auras attach far more easily to living things." Alfred shivered and rubbed at his arms uncomfortably, making Arthur sigh. "I supposed I'll have to keep you distracted to ward off a panic attack, won't I?" He eased Alfred down for a kiss and was pleased to feel the taller blonde relax almost immediately. "Let's be off then. The sooner we leave, the sooner daylight comes."
Alfred nodded and followed Arthur to the car, trusting him to keep any spooks away.
A/N: Abrupt ending is abrupt! Sorry!
Anyway, I watched Supernatural and thought, you know, Alfred is just dumb enough to not realize it's a ghost…hmm… And so this was born. And the 'aura' thing? Um…B.S. Pretty much entirely B.S.