Author's note: Hi! This is the first story I publish, so I'm a little nervous. I've been thinking about this AU for months, but I gained the courage to actually put it into words a week ago. I'd like to thank Lily ( waitineedaname on tumblr) for editing my fanfic, as I'm still learning and I always make mistakes. Thanks a lot!

This story is BelaLiech, but other pairing are included. Even if you don't like one of them, I can assure they won't disturb you since they'll only make a brief appearence. However, these ships are: Gerita, Spamano, Rochu, Pruhun, Usuk.

I hope you enjoy this story. I appreciate every review, because it's my first time publishing a text completely in English and not in my native language. I need some feedback, you know? Also, I'm very proud of this AU, and I hope you'll like it as much as I do.

Enjoy!

Natalya was tired.
She was sitting absently on her high chair, leaning her arms on the counter and slowly swirling an empty glass around her hands. She stopped and looked for a moment at her hand: it was scratched and full of bruises, as usual. She let out a sigh and put her hand against the cold glass again.

That was not the first day she had seen that cop: it was the second, maybe third time that the muscular man tackled them. Natalya doubted he knew their refuge, but he surely had identified their faces.
The others had noticed too. They hadn't talked about it yet, but Natalya reserved total faith to her gang's observing skills. They were the best and toughest gang in all Camden Town, punks said, and Natalya was convinced about that too. Her friends were chosen ones, smart people who promised not to betray each other and not to do anything without the whole group's consent. No quarrels were authorized in the gang. One mistake or one wrong word, and Natalya wouldn't hesitate to kick them out, all of them: Yao, Arthur, Eliza, and the twins.

That new Alfred kid who was recently arrived wasn't in. He just showed up one day, saying he wanted to be in. But he was too naïve for the world they lived in, the girl often thought. Alfred was just a child who wanted to play the "punk", but that's not what they were doing. They were solitary people with various issues who had found each other and sticked together. That's as simple as it was, and at the same time, it was much more complicated.

And this wasn't a game at all, Natalya thought. If they actually had a cop after them, it meant things were getting serious, though she couldn't recall any recent incident with the police. Sure, they weren't in good terms with the authorities, but they had always managed to avoid direct confront with guns or to be tracked by the police. The authorities considered them just a bunch of rebel teenagers: that was their generation, the kids that wandered in the streets these days, and they weren't something new, nor something in any way dangerous for security.

Then what was with this cop all of sudden?

Natalya sighed and looked up to the bottles classified in perfect order in front of her, that harmony created by the bartender. He was a Swissman: he was as precise as a clock and he wouldn't let them stay one minute after the closing time, or wouldn't let them raise their voices over a certain (and very low) limit. Regardless of this, Vash Zwingli always had room in his bar for the guys, and they were grateful for his hospitality. He was a bit of a brawler, but he was kind under the unfriendly attitude, and the usual customers knew that.

Bottles were shining under the warm lights that were placed over Natalya's head, and she could see from here the interior of the bar. On the red couches were her comrades, Arthur drinking alcohol as usual and Alfred near him, not taking his eyes away for a minute. On another bottle she could see Yao, Eliza and the Italian Twins chatting lively, especially Feliciano. She was glad the Bad Touch Trio wasn't there tonight to annoy them, really.

"Would you like anything else to drink, miss?"

Natalya turned fast her head hearing not the bartender's voice, but a sweet and velvety sound coming from behind the counter. Here, a girl was looking at her, with a tiny smile and bright eyes.
Natalya was sure she hadn't seen her before, as she went there almost every evening. She blinked and rapidly motioned her blue eyes from her face to her body, just where her sight was stopped by the counter, and in a second returned to her eyes again.
The girl had two emerald eyes who directed to her with an intelligent and slightly shy gaze.
She had a small, pointy nose, and rosed lips that curved up into a smile. Her skin was light as porcelain, and blond locks fell lightly on her forehead. Everything in her face was tiny, really, apart from those big eyes, limpid and beautiful.
She was dressed in a dark blue dress that carried well her gracious posture; she kept her porcelain hands in her lap, intertwined, showing modesty.

"I think I'll have a scotch, thanks."

The girl bowed a little and skittered to reach Vash, who she exchanged a few words with. The man started walking up to Natalya and took a bottle from the shelters to start pouring her drink.
Natalya cleared her voice.

"Vash, who's the girl?"

"Lili, my sister. " He said while pouring. "Our father just died and she can no longer live alone up in Switzerland. I have her care now."

Natalya took the glass he slid to her in her hand, while looking with the corner of her eye at the girl. She was looking curiously to the people on the couches.

"How old is she?"

"18. She goes to the same school of you, in the last year."

"She's starting tomorrow?"

"Yes."

She continued to stare at her. The moment Lili turned her head and noticed Natalya's gaze, she blushed and quickly looked at her feet.

"I see."

"Natalya."

Vash glared at her.

"One of your gang leans a finger on her, you're all dead."

She sustained the gaze without any fear of the man in front of her.

"I will be the first one to punish one of them if they do."

She was confident in her words, and at the same time, she trusted with all her soul that her friends wouldn't ever act in an unrighteous way.