A/N: Hello to whoever reads this! :D This is going (or at least claiming) to be a series of one-shots. How the heck did I write such a story, I don't even know... XD But, actually, forever alone-ness is not that bad when you share it with someone! XD
OrdinaryXtreme helped me writing this, so I need to say thank you to her :D Cookie anyone? :3 Iggy made them! (Okay, calm down, I was just joking XD)
Chapter I: The Fail at the Prom
Ludwig sighed heavily. The room was that crowded that you couldn't even breathe. Everyone was wearing fancy clothes, which he kinda disliked. The boys had sparkling tuxedos and weird hairstyles, while the girls looked like some dolls with those bright colored dresses.
His idiot Italian friend, Feliciano, liked flirting and dancing with girls. He was actually the only reason Ludwig was there for. He would normally stay at home and read a book or do something useful, but he had to take care of Feliciano, who surely knows how to get into trouble.
He took a sip of beer and continued scanning the crowd from his lonely table in the corner of the room.
Almost everyone seemed to be with someone. Lovino, Feliciano's brother, was flirting with Bella, a Belgian girl, much to Antonio's annoyance. Francis was surrounded by lots of girls; the annoying Austrian who broke Ludwig's mother's cup, Roderich, was with Elizabeta and the hyperactive Alfred was chatting with Lili Zwingli. Oh, his annoying elder brother, Gilbert, was there, too, but he seemed to be focused on his awesomeness rather than on hooking up with someone.
Suddenly, Ludwig felt a vague tremble at his legs, and the next second, his table was heavily shaking. The German boy frowned in confusion and looked under the tablecloth. His heart skipped a beat when noticing a familiar figure there. But after he realized who that person was, he lightly smacked his forehead in annoyance.
Ivan Braginski.
Ludwig presumed that he was hiding away from his freaky little sister, Natalya. And Ludwig was right. He spotted Natalya madly searching in the whole room for her big brother.
But Ludwig didn't want to get involved in his family problems, so he just moved to another table.
Most of the tables were empty, because everyone was crowding on the dance floor, but there were some exceptions as well. A few tables away from his, there was that British 'gentleman', Arthur, drinking tea and watching the crowd just like Ludwig was.
That guy had been always intriguing him, with his black magic and imaginary friends. No one could actually understand him, except for that Norwegian guy in his magic club, who claimed to have abilities of talking with mythological creatures or something like that. But that guy was weird, too...
The clock was showing about the middle of the night.
A furious yell stole his attention abruptly.
"Hey, you! Hands off my sister!"
Ludwig secretly smirked at seeing so much stupidity around him. He was, in fact, somehow happy that someone came to destroy these guys' good disposition. It was Lili's elder brother, Vash Zwingli, that blonde freak who always carries a gun with him and never agrees with anyone.
He was addressing to Alfred, the American guy who dared talking with Lili. Vash pointed his gun towards the Alfred.
The crowd suddenly stopped partying and everyone looked at Vash. Most of them were terrified or scared.
Alfred just showed his goofy smile and saluted, raising one hand, "Oh, hey, dude!"
"Do you think I'm joking?" Vash yelled, holding the gun tightly in his hands.
"Okay, calm down, dude!" Alfred said as he slowly retreated. Vash's threatening gaze followed him as Alfred walked away and lost himself in the crowd.
"Did that guy do anything to you, Lili?" the really 'caring' elder brother asked.
Ludwig didn't bother listening to the conversation anymore so he just looked once again at Arthur. He was surprised when he found the British man returning his gaze. Ludwig quickly looked away.
The noisy Vash was the next second sitting down at the same table with him.
"That annoying American!" he mumbled under his breath as he unconsciously slammed the table. He allowed himself to drink from Ludwig's beer. The German felt slightly annoyed, but didn't protest – he was too tired of arguing with Vash.
"Hm... Hello."
The blondes looked up to see Arthur standing in front of their table. "Do you mind me sitting here, with you?" the British man asked.
"Vhatever," Ludwig muttered, looking away with boredom.
Vash kept quiet.
Arthur took a seat between Vash and Ludwig, and said, using that typical British accent of his, "This prom is annoying."
The other blondes didn't answer.
"Aren't you going to agree with me?" Arthur protested, annoyed.
"Vell, veren't you supposed to be zhe gentlemann zhat dances with vomen and treats zhem nicely?" Ludwig commented indifferently, burying his check into his palm. He studied Arthur's clothes and hair - both were carefully cleaned and arranged in a gentlemanly way.
"Do you want to say that I'm not a gentleman?!" Arthur yelled angrily.
Ludwig stole a glance at the British man. He surely wanted to reply to that certain question, but didn't do it.
Arthur then sighed heavily, his anger fading away and turning into indifference. "Waiter! I want something some rum, please!"
Meanwhile, Vash allowed himself to take another sip of Ludwig's beer. The German clenched his teeth in annoyance, but didn't say a word.
Later...
"Ahhh, I swear that I've been trying to be good with the little Alfred! And why the hell won't he appreciate this? I've been better than Francis will ever be... And still! Still he treats me like s**t..."
Arthur put his head on the table and slammed it lightly. The guy had been drinking and drinking without stopping.
Vash was slightly dizzy, but Ludwig wasn't drunk yet. He realized that he had to watch for Gilbert as well as for Feliciano.
"Uhmmm... Uhmm... Excuse me," a low, almost indistinguishable voice mumbled.
The trio looked up to see none other than Alfred, the hyperactive American guy Arthur was babbling about. Well, he was acting really timidly, his ahoge was curlier than usual, his glasses were missing and he had a bear with him, but what was the difference, in fact? He looked like an Alfred who hasn't eaten burgers for the whole day.
"Oh, you," Arthur stated indifferently, looking away. "What on Earth do you want?"
"Uhmm... I was wondering if you know where my brother is..."
"Your brother?! What brother?!" Arthur asked on a worried tone. "Holy crap, I didn't know you have a brother!"
But then something startled him even more. He spotted the same figure of Alfred at the bar, taking a drink. Arthur gently rubbed his eyes and gazed at the mysterious guy looking like Alfred. "What the hell... Am I hallucinating?"
He pointed his index finger at the first Alfred (the one next to him). "If you are here... then who is that guy at the bar?"
Then, all of sudden, he got angry. "I'm going to show him what happens when you look like Alfred!" He stood up and walked towards that guy at the bar, straightening his back and showing a lot of dignity. "Hey, you! Yes, you! How dare you look like Alfred?! Do you think you're great? Let me tell you a thing! You're just an annoying wannabe! Who do you think you are? I am the one who raised Alfred and I won't allow anyone to look like him!"
He yanked the wannabe Alfred by his collar and began shaking him violently.
"Hey, calm down, dude! I am Alfred."
Arthur frowned in confusion. "But... if you're Alfred... then... who is that guy?" He pointed towards the other Alfred.
Silence between these two for a moment. The British man suddenly widened his eyes, revealing a shocked expression.
"Oh my god... Is that your lost twin brother?!" He brought him closer by his shirt. "You didn't tell me you have a twin brother!"
Alfred scratched the back of his head, sweat dropping. "That's Matthew, dude... My brother..."
Back at the table of 'forever alone-ness', the other Alfred, who in the end was proven to be Matthew, was crying. "Why does everyone keep mistaking me for him? We're so different! Ahhhhhh... I'll show him who Matthew truly is! I've been raised up in the best conditions! My grandma taught me the spirit of a true warrior!"
Vash slammed the table in annoyance. "Can you please stop complaining now?"
Meanwhile, Arthur returned to the group, mistaking the table for the chair, and sitting down directly next to Ludwig's beer. "This is too much already... Two Alfreds... God..."
"Can you please sit down on a chair?" Vash demanded, which did nothing but exacerbated Arthur's misery and frustration.
"Whatever! A gentleman like me has better things to do than being you two!"
"Ahem," Mathew coughed annoyed, but no one noticed him.
Ludwig and Vash threw piercings but still indifferent looks to the British man. "Like?" both said in unison.
"Like... um... hm... ehh... erm... ehhhh..."
"Yeah, that's what I thought, too," Vash sighed as he allowed himself to take another sip of Ludwig's beer. Ludwig began to get really angry now. An irk formed on his forehead. It was like someone was trying to take his potatoes away. With a swift slam on the table, he stood up.
"I'm done vith zhis 'prom' or vhatever."
"Yeah, that's the spirit, Louis!" the British man encouraged, gesticulating in the air with pathos, "Gentlemen should never accept misery! Long life the Queen!"
"Cookie?" a sweet voice interrupted.
A Chinese man holding out a plate with fortune cookies was standing in front of them. Ludwig gave him a faint embarrassed smile and timidly took one. "Danke schön."
"Shall I also bring some tea? It looks like the relationships aren't really peaceful here, aru!" the Chinese man continued, giving them a wink.
"Who are you anyway?" Arthur asked, crossing his arms apathetically.
"I'm the cook, of course! You can call me Yao, aru!"
The trio gave bored glances to Yao, blinking from time to time. The atmosphere was silent for some moments. Yao was the first to shatter the embarrassing air between them:
"Why don't you go find some nice ladies, aru? There's plenty of them here, aru!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Wanna dance, Cumacheero?"
"... Who are you?"
"Darn it."
Silence.
"Hey, who wants to try talking like that guy, Alfred?" Vash suggested.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I totally agree! Long life the Queen! I suggest Alfred's clone to start first!" Arthur gave his accept triumphantly. He pulled Ludwig with him and forced him to sit down next to him and Matthew.
"I'm not Alfred's clone!" Matthew protested with tears in his eyes.
"Hm... If I think again, you seem too like a crybaby to be Alfred's clone," Arthur commented, bringing his index finger at his chin. The verdict soon came: "Yeah, you're just a f***ing wannabe."
"I'm not a wannabe!" Matthew cried.
"Wannabe?" Yao asked confusedly. "What is the meaning of this word filled with so much luminosity and intelligence, aru?"
But the question didn't receive an answer.
"Okay, whatever! I'll be first!" Vash decided. He cleared his throat and spoke, with a typical American accent: "Dude, that food I ate yesterday was awesomeeeeee!"
But he didn't speak for long, 'cause Ludwig cut his sentence, "Mein Gott, you're not doing it right! You sound like mein brother doing zhat thing!"
Everyone fized their eyes on Ludwig, all having a surprised look. "That thing?"
Ludwig sighed in annoyance, explaining, "No, not zhat thing! Zhe other thing."
"The other thing?" everyone questioned again, on the same tone of their voices. Ludwig slapped his forehead.
"Ahh, forget about it!"
"Anyway, you should take a fortune cookie, aru! They're homemade!" Yao suggested, a sweet smile appearing on his lips.
"Ehh... Vell... Let's see vhat zhe fortune says."
Ludwig began reading from the small piece of paper hidden inside the cookie: "A lovely Volkswagen flies away as soon as your attention drifts as well away."
Silence for a brief moment. "Zhis ist stupid," the German concluded. The atmosphere was really hot, so he took off his jacket. He gently placed it on one of the unoccupied chairs. "Volkswagens don't fly."
"But fortunes always become true, aru!" Yao protested.
"Ja, ja, vhatever."
"Hm," Vash muttered, "My fortune says: Glorious days of fire fade away, just like Chinese tea does this way. What is this supposed to mean?! It makes no sense."
Of course, no one bothered to give a cookie to Matthew, so he had to take one by himself. The boy quietly read his fortune: "The slimy Aurora now lies inside your stomach - its will is to get out, running up towards your mouth. What? I don't understand!"
"Vhat does your fortune say, Arthur?" Ludwig asked, looking for the Brit. But he was nowhere. "Arthur? Hm... That's veird... I swear he vas here a moment ago..."
"Hey, I can't find my gun!" Vash exclaimed desperately, madly looking around for the named arm. "My gun disappeared!"
"Mein Gott! My keys! The keys of my Volkswagen!" the voice of the German accompanied. "Someone stole zhem!"
This question soon came in their minds: Who on Earth could do this?
And it was no trouble to find the answer.
"ARTHUR!"
"Oh, come on, how is this thing supposed to work?" Arthur wondered, trying to make Ludwig's Volkswagen work. He hiccuped a few times, then let his head rest on the wheel. "If Alfred was there, he would probably tell me how this sh*t works..."
Without noticing, he touched the horn with his forehead, producing a loud, prolong and disturbing sound, but it didn't seem to affect him in any way. "And I swear I didn't have bad intentions...! I just wanted to be a good friend... Poor Alfred... I didn't even know that he had a brother..."
Some hot tears formed in his eyes.
"HEY, YOU, STEP OUT OF THE CAR!"
Ludwig ad Vash finally showed up, accompanied by Yao and Matthew. But Arthur couldn't hear a thing - the windows of the car were all closed and the horn was screaming like hell.
Ludwig knocked in the window of the car. "Get out, Arthur! Get out!"
Arthur noticed him and showed some confused, innocent eyes. He still couldn't hear a thing. "Louis? Is that you?"
He opened the window of the car, but it was no help - the sound of the horn was too loud. Ludwig yanked the door of the car, but sadly, it was locked.
"I can't hear you, Louis!" Arthur explained, "What are you saying?"
"GET OUT OF MY CAR!" Ludwig shouted at the top of his lungs, but, still, the drunk British man couldn't hear him.
"What?"
"GET OUT OF ZHE CAR!"
"What? Please be more explicit! I can't hear a thing!"
"I SAID GET OUT OF ZHE CAR! AND STOP ZHAT HORN!"
"Oh? What? You want me to start the car? Fine, sure thing," Arthur yelled back as he tried to make the car work. Suddenly, everyone heard the sound of the living motor, and Ludwig's Volkswagen let itself driven by Arthur. Where? Well, that would be one good question to ask.
"Damn!"
"I told you fortunes always become true, aru!" Yao added.
"Oh, shit!" Vash exclaimed. "The fortune..."
"Hey, I've got an idea! You can take my brother's car to follow Arthur!" Matthew suggested timidly. Ludwig's ear was the only one to hear that not-so-wise suggestion.
"Hm... Really?"
"For God's sake, that British guy is crazy!" Vash stated, clearly annoyed by the whole situation. Ludwig was driving like mad, trying to catch the speed with Arthur, while Vash was sitting next to him. Matthew and Yao were in the back. Actually, Matthew wasn't feeling alright. His fortune became true as well - he had been vomiting the whole time.
"I do not think this is alright, aru!" Yao said. "We are supposed to be at the prom, aru! Oh, no, it is soup time now! There is no one at the restaurant to serve the soup, aru!"
"I'm not alright," Matthew muttered. His face got really pale, then it turned red all of sudden, then changed to yellow, then to green and after all it turned white again. "You've driving too fast..."
"Can't you drive faster?" Vash demanded angrily. "We're never going to catch him!"
"I vould drive faster, but we've already reached the maximum of speed allowed," the German explained patiently. "So I can't drive faster, unless I vant a fine, vhich I don't."
"Ahh, Jesus, let me drive!"
And, in a second, Vash was sitting in driver's chair, instead of Ludwig. The car began slipping on the road as Vash accelerated without a single thing to be afraid of.
"Vhat do you think you're doing?! Are you even allowed to drive?" the German argued, trying to get back at the wheel.
"Not really," the other blonde (not including Matthew, of course) replied, keeping his hands tightly on the wheel. "But be sure that I'm really good at driving."
An abrupt curve followed. Honestly, Vash had some problems to take it. The car spun, shook and flew in the air, but in the end landed safely.
"Are you crazy?! You can't drive like zhis!"
"Ah, shut up, Louis. We're almost there," Vash tried to calm down the spirit of the meticulous German. He accelerated once again, trying to reach the Brit's car which was about 10 meters away. "C'mon, son of a bitch..."
Some more seconds passed, and they were now 5 meters away from Ludwig's stolen Volkswagen.
That, until...
They just stopped.
"F**k, we're out of fuel," Vash stated.
"Really?" Matthew mumbled, his face getting brighter all of sudden. A tired smile painted his lips.
"Oh, great," Ludwig remark followed ironically.
"This means that we cannot go back to the restaurant for the soup, aru?!"
Vash got out of the car and scanned the street. The Brit was nowhere, just like the Volkswagen and the gun. "Damn it!" Then some curses in both French and German escaped his lips. He sat down on the sidewalk, in front of a trash can, burying his face into his palms.
Ludwig sat down next to Vash, and so did Yao, while Matthew went to finish vomiting behind a tree.
"I think he stole zhe keys vhen I let my jacket unsupervised."
"I think my revolver can't wait to start kissing that guy."
"I think it is desert time already, aru..."
"I think the whole Aurora is out by now."
Everything was silent afterwards; all you could hear were the sounds of some cars passing by. Other than this, the night was completely silent. Matthew came next to Ludwig, and the group sat like that for like ten minutes, not saying anything.
Then cold raindrops began falling over everything.
"We should go inside the car!" Matthew suggested. "We could catch a cold!"
No one listened to him. Like some brave men they were, everyone remained in the rain, waiting for something to happen. Seeing that they give no sign of life, Matthew decided to remain with the group.
"Do you think we're safe by now, Mr. Braginski?"
"I don't know! But I'm really scared, Toris!"
Ludwig frowned in confusion and looked around him, trying to find out where those whispers came from. Nothing special could be distinguished in the darkness and rain. He stood up and checked the surroundings.
"Hm..."
The trash can stole his attention. With determined steps, he walked towards it. The specific smell of trash cans came to his nose when he opened it, but it wasn't just that.
His eyes noticed the same thing he had noticed before, when he was drinking beer at the prom. But this time it was different.
"GO AWAY!" he heard some voices screaming from the inside.
The German pulled out a human being, a guy-looking girl. Or... a girly looking boy? Anyway, he (or she) was completely freaked out, his (or her) body was shaking and he (or she) had trash everywhere on his body, including a banana on his (her) head.
But that wasn't all. The German pulled out by the cloth one more person. Ivan Braginski, as usual. In fact, who else could be hiding in such embarrassing places?
"Don't kill me, please, miss Natalya!" the girly looking boy screamed, eyes tightly closed.
"GO AWAY!" Ivan Braginski's yearns followed.
But instead of knives and murders, they were surprised to feel themselves falling on the ground. The girly looking boy opened one green eye. Not seeing the worst nightmare there, he fully opened his eyes and then encouraged Ivan to do the same.
"Oh, thank you so much for saving us!"
The German just ignored the 'thank you's. He ran his hand through his wet, blonde locks, trying to fix the way they were staying.
"How money do you guys have? We should at least find a bar to drink something and dry our clothes." Vash asked, standing up. "I've got twenty bucks."
"Hm... I think I've got fifty," Ludwig answered.
"I've got ten," Matthew followed.
"Well... I got some money as well... But I do not really know how much."
"Whatever. Let's go get a drink."
It seemed a wise idea at that time. Of course, when saying 'drink' Yao thought of tea and Matthew of maple syrup.
But, nah. Nah. No chance.
"You know, Louis, I've always known that your hair looks nice when it's wet. But how do you make it look so weird when it's washed, combed and fixed? You look like those guys in the Nazi movies. You know, with the blonde locks combed backwards and perfect blue eyes and really white skin and..."
"You're drunk, Vash," Ludwig tried to calm him down, placing one hand on his shoulder. Vash gave him a glance with only one eye, and then laughed dumbly, but didn't answer.
"Desert time passed a long time ago, aru," Yao complained silently, taking a sip of his glass. Honestly, he had no idea what was there, but he supposed it was tea.
"M-My brother... will kill m-me... if h-he gets t-to know t-that w-we left his car there..."
"Don't worry, kid," Vash calmly guaranteed, "He owes me the world after touching my sister, Lili."
And that was the moment of awakening.
"Lili!" the really 'caring' elder brother realized all of sudden, "I let Lili alone with that guy!"
Ludwig was the next to smack his forehead. "And I forgot about Feliciano! Zhere's no one to take Feliciano home and he has probably lost all of his money by now!"
Little did Ludwig care about how was Gilbert going to make it home that night. The main problem remained Feliciano. Definitely.
But, with not much money in his pocket, and no fuel in the car, there wasn't much to do.
"How do we get back to the prom now, that we have no car and no money to pay for a taxi?" Vash asked.
"Zhen we should go by feet," Ludwig suggested. He paid for his alcohol, just like everyone did, so he didn't have much in his wallet now.
"But it is raining, aru!" the Chinese man stated, not so happy about it. "And we are already soaking wet, aru!"
"If you know something better zhan going by feet, zhen please say - I'm listening to you," the German retorted, being the first to leave the bar. The group followed him, including the Chinese man.
"C'mon, it can't be too far. Ve should be zhere in 30 minutes."
"Ehh, only if the prom is not over already, aru..." Yao cried, "I think it is already three in the morning, aru!"
"If your wonderful brother does anything to my sister, I swear I'll kill you both," Vash addressed to Matthew. Firstly, Matthew felt really happy that someone talked to him, but changed his mind when seeing Vash's scary glare fixing him. He began shaking and even let out a terrified 'ah'. "Now, shall we walk a bit faster?"
"Sure thing!" Ludwig approved, beginning to run.
"Wait for me, aru!"
"Run, run, Cumacheero!" (The bear didn't even run, 'cause Matthew was holding it, but whatever.)
Just then, in that perfect darkness, a light showed up. Then another light cut through the curtain of obscurity and rain. The group distinguished a car on the dusty road. But not any kind of car.
A lovely Volkswagen.
"Arthur?!"
The Volkswagen stopped in front of them, and one door opened. A foot stepped out. And here is our beloved British man. "Hey, guys, what are you doing here, in the pouring rain?" he asked on a confused tone.
Vash yanked him by his gentlemanly shirt. Some really ugly curses in both French and German came then. Matthew put his hands over his bear's ears, because both knew French really well. Yao understood a few things in French as well, because he used to cook together with that French guy, Francis, and each time something went wrong, a bad French word popped up. And Ludwig was 100% German-made.
So the only one who couldn't understand a thing was Arthur. Some words without any meaning were suddenly addressed to him.
"What?" he asked, dumbfound.
"Stop arguing vith him, Vash! Let's just proceed to zhe prom! We'll give him vhat he deserves later, be sure of zhis!" Ludwig said wisely, going inside the car. But he couldn't help himself. "Vhere are mein keys, you f***ing dirty Brit?"
"Oh, the keys!"
Arthur fumbled into his pockets, and then revealed the keys of the Volkswagen. Well, I gotta admit, for the sake of not telling lies, yeah, the key ring had some teeth marks. Luckily, the German didn't notice - he was too busy checking if his beloved car was alright.
"And my gun?" Vash demanded.
"Oh, the gun... Well, the gun... Um... The gun..."
Arthur nervously scratched the back of his head.
"What did you do with my gun?!"
"Well, let me explain..."
"Zhe gun is here!" Ludwig announced, holding out Vash's gun. "Now come inside zhe car!"
Vash threw one last angry stare at Arthur, then let him go and entered the car. Soon Ludwig drove away through the rain. Too bad that they forgot to take Arthur. Okay, maybe 'forgot' isn't the best word.
"Hey, wait! Wait for me!" Arthur cried, waving his arms desperately as watching the Volkswagen walking away. "You forgot about me! Guys! Oh, darn it."
Arthur spotted a vague green light above his head. And another one. And, again, another.
"Pixies!"
A gentle smile painted his lips. More than this, he felt a slight nudge at his leg. Looking down, his smile got even brighter. An unicorn, some elves and other mystical creatures.
"You've come so far to see me? You know, I've always known that you're my only friends! Shall we go home now? I'm really hungry..."
And that was the story of a totally failed prom, which, even so, ended in a nice way.
Moral: Even if you can't fit in, you can always have fun in your own way.
A/N: Yeah, this is horribly long for a story about forever alone-ness XD Anyone bothered to read this until the end? Oh, I gotta say thank you, sir/lady. An extra cookie for you. :D