This chapter was an assignment for science class, where the story had to be about exploring a glacier. It kind of turned into this. Of course I turned the lame, eighth grade science appropriate paper in with most of this awesome Hetalia-ness cut out of it. There will be more chapters of this and my Civil War story coming out soon. Some of these characters are people I know (you know who you are). And the so called next generation can still date the original countries. (If China is 4,000 years older than America and they can be together, the next generation can mingle with eachother).
"Today I have a special assignment for a select few who wish for a little more... adventure in their mundane lives." Mr. Netz, our wonderful science teacher announces to the class. "Seven of you will get the chance of a lifetime. You will be able to go up into Alaska to explore a colossal glacier that is near the Bearing Strait. The journey will last three days."
A large portion of students seemed ecstatic about this until a tall, looming figure with muted blond hair and piercing, violet eyes walks into the room. He looks a few years older than me, and I know he is Russia from seeing him in the world conferences. The whole class becomes silent. "This is Mr. Ivan Braginski. He will be taking you on this amazing trek. Stand up if you want to accompany him." Mr. Netz says, Ivan just standing there, without a word. Everybody seemed to be creeped out by this man because no one stood up. Without hesitation, I get out of my chair. Everybody stares at me. "What may your name be?" asked Ivan in a heavy Russian accent. He should know who I am by now, I'm the daughter of the Awesome Prussia for crying out loud! Well, I do get my looks from my mother Elizabeta, other than my blood-red eves.
"Gwendolyn." I reply, trying to mask the usual cockiness in my tone. It's funny that my name is of British decent; my mother let Arthur chose my name because the British always have the best names.
"Brave girl." he said with a small, sinister grin. "Who else will join? Don't be scared, I won't bite." Again, with that smile. Abby stands, dragging Hailey with her. "We volunteer!" she shouts, in a slight British accent. She is Arthur's adopted child, and their personalities are almost identical, even down to flying mint bunny. Hailey is the blood related daughter of Scottland, who was never a big fan of England. Somehow, the two of them became best friends.
After Abby pulls her up to volunteer, Hailey just goes with it. Soon after, Amanda, Brooke, and Mackenzie stand up, leaving one spot open. "You boys are all wimps!" I mock. This generation of males are all ugly deadbeats that let the girls do all the work. Just then, Colin rises from his seat and starts to speak.
"I'm gonna do it because Austin (the-not-so-little brother of Sweden) is so tall, that he'll be mistaken as a yeti and get creamed by the Bigfoot basketball team. He's also fat enough to create a kettle and fall in. These lovely ladies here need a HERO, like me!" The class groans at his remark, but Ivan's smile gets a bit wider. Obviously you can tell he is raised by Alfred. No matter how many times I kill him, he always seems to come back, always yelling about how heroes never die.
This is my team: Mackenzie, the pasta lover (no, she has never met Italy. That is a later chapter); Hailey and Abby, the best friends; Amanda and Brooke, partners in crime (Amanda hailing from Finland and Brooke as the half sister of Belarus) Colin, the "Hero"; and myself, the Girl with the Iron Cross. We are now on a helicopter on our way to Alaska. I glance out of the window to see no mountains in sight. So much for seeing a valley glacier. We pass by an unusually large snowfield when Ivan opens the hatch. "Are you coming?" he asks us. We nervously grab our parachutes (we were never told we had to jump out of a helicopter in the first place) and I notice that Ivan isn't wearing one. Before I could stop him, he jumped out of the plane screaming "VODKAAAAAAAAAAAA!" He fell around the accumulation zone of the glacier, so there might be enough snow there to break his fall.
The helicopter approaches the snow line of the glacier, so we decide to jump out as soon as possible, before we end up falling in the heap of debris at the end of the terminus. The rest of the group jumps out of the helicopter, one by one (I end up pushing Colin out of course) until I am the last member of the group to jump. I've went skydiving only once during training, but never before over an ice sheet. It makes it all the more dangerous. I make sure I have all my gear, and that the iron cross is tucked tightly into my shirt before I jump out of the helicopter.
I land near the lateral moraine, to find my group gathering together. We all must try to find Ivan. Before we can take action, we see the man walking towards us, unharmed and smiling. Ivan is officially insane. Everybody is stunned at his feat, but I know that nobody knows snow like Ivan. We don't try to ask how Ivan survived. Instead, we set up camp in silence. Colin stands by a large crevasse, ranting about how heroic he is. I throw a Dummkopf rock at him, which collides with his head. He falls into the crevasse. Everybody stops what they're doing to rush to his aid, but it's too late. If he fell down even halfway the length of the zone of fracture, he would be automatically dead. I turn to Ivan who is giving me that evil grin again. This isn't the first time I've accidentally killed someone, (I'm a wanted criminal in Switzerland.) or have purposely killed Colin (I'm serious, ive probably killed him three times in the past week). Mackenzie was screaming down the crevasse. "THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU TRY TO KILL ME, FOOL! Kenzie has an on and off potty mouth. I swear, she's going to be the Unification of Italy when she is older.
That night, Brooke and Amanda came to me with a plan to rid us of Ivan. I reluctantly agreed to this, conjuring a plan to eliminate this man. Then we can all go home and blame it on some crazy glacier accident. We agreed to commence this plan in the morning. As I drift off that night, I sense that something's wrong, but I shrug it off and go to sleep.
They're missing. Amanda and Brooke are nowhere to be found anywhere within a five mile radius of the camp. We search by a nearby icefall, which looks like a waterfall that was frozen in time. The striation of the rock walls nearby remind me of the scratches of a great beast in a fit of anger. As we approach a cliff, we see that it looks a bit unstable. Ivan watched us from afar, his usual creepy smile mounted on his face. All of a sudden a large, white beast appears out of nowhere and starts to attack Hailey and Abby. I grab my saber (not to be confused with lightsaber) and I run up to kill it, but Abby is already throwing her knifes at the yeti. Hailey takes out her mace and starts to clobber the monster at the same time. Mackenzie sits back and eats a bowl of pasta. The beast falls to the ground. I run up to it a and finish the job, driving my sword into it's back. We are about to leave when the ice we were standing on starts to break off. Mackenzie and I are able to get off of the calving iceberg, but Abby and Hailey started to drift off the coast towards Russia. Abby yelled random lines from Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, as Hailey opened up her 'Hunger Games' book, for this was going to be a long ride for the both of them.
Mack, Ivan, and I watched the duo until they were out of our sight. By this time it was the end of the second night, and Mackenzie and I were the only two people left in the group. Back at the camp, Ivan approaches me. "Good job today, Gvendolin. You seem like a very brave warrior." he says calmly, staring at the iron cross I am wearing. He must know a lot about me, since I became the first female to earn a cross. "You should become one with Russia, beautiful podsolnechnik. If you do so, i will make you your own nation, maybe give you that piece of land i own that used to be a part of what was called Prussia." My heart skipped a beat. Was he going to make me a nation? And in the land of my father?
"I've had my eyes on you moya lyubovʹ. You are full of courage and beauty. I love you. Please, be my printsessa." I am still flabbergasted at what he had just said. He must be drunk. Almost as if on queue, Ivan pulls out a flask and finishes the contents. He's so drunk. All of a sudden, I get that trademark grin from him again. He pulls me into a deep, heavy kiss, one I could only imagine from a man like him. I can taste the vodka on my tongue, my throat burning, the energy growing higher and higher between the two of us. If I can become my own nation, AND be with this interesting Russian man, I could be very happy indeed. I should ask my father first though; he knows Ivan better than I do. I break the kiss, heavy in his arms. "What do you say?" Ivan asks soft and sweet. "I must get my father's permission before anything is decided." I grab his hand, our fingers intertwining as we stood. It was only the two of us, placed in this freezing cold night together. I'm extremely confused and nervous about this because I was told never to trust anything about Ivan.
"Ivan, what ever happened to Brooke and Amanda?" I ask, curious.
"That is something that you will find out in a matter of time."
A few days later, I decide to approach my father about this proposition Ivan had given me. "Dad? Im in a bit of a situation and I need some advice.
"Of course! Anything for the future Prussian Empire!" he said loudly.
"Ivan offered me the old , Prussian land that he owns and a bit of the surrounding area." The albino's smile started to fade at what I had just said. "He said that he was in love with me, but I'm not sure if I can trust him. He was also very drunk. He said that all I have to do is become one with him."
"What did you tell him?" he asked with a questionable look upon his face.
"I said that the decision rests on my awesome father."
"Smart girl. We've raised you well. I will talk to Ivan about this affair during the next world meeting. I'll try not to beat him up. Now get to your training dear." Gilbert says, giving me a kiss on the forehead before he walks out of the room.
I arrive at the next world meeting (I take care of Hungarian matters just so I can attend the meetings). When I walk in, Ivan is sitting in his chair. He looked at me and smiled, not in that sinister grin, but a smile of happiness. My father approaches him and starts to talk to him in his cocky German accent. I sit down in my seat next to Roderich. He's been teaching me piano lessons lately and I love playing and writing music on my baby grand almost as much as fighting in battles.
The meeting starts, as my godfather, Arthur, stands up to give his speech.
"As you may know, Gwendolyn is the proud daughter of Gilbert and Elizabeta. You should also know that I am her godfather.(Francis grumbles at this) That being said, I have shockingly gained information about the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The two countries are completely independent from everything around them, but are weak and dying as we speak. If Gwendolyn can take the capitol of each of these countries, she will become the Czechoslovakian Empire and an official nation." Did I just hear what I thought I've heard? My possibility to have a nation, let alone an empire, seemed rather bleak until now.
"What do you say to this challenge, Gwen?" the Englishman asks.
"Bitva začíná." I say.
Russian:
Gvendolin- Gwendolyn
podsolnechnik- sunflower
moya lyubovʹ- my love
printsessa- princess
German:
dummkopf- idiot
Czech:
Bitva začíná- let the battle begin