Hello there, this is my first Austria x Hungary x Prussia fic, it's going to be a three chapter series, so let me know what you think in the reviews!
Quick reference (just in case):
Hungary- Elizabeta
Prussia- Gilbert
Austria- Roderich
x
1: Prince Charming and the Big Bad Wolf
Have you ever been in love?
Most people might never have guessed it, but Elizabeta was just in love with love.
She believed that it was the one true power. That it consumed you and controlled your soul- a greater power than any god or army could brag.
She knew this because she was, in fact, in love. And had been so ever since she was seven years old.
When she was seven, she had been a scrappy tomboy with wild hair adorned with twigs. But even she had got into some impossible fights.
That day the neighborhood bullies had chased her across the fields of the countryside farm where she lived. She had shot through the orchards, almost toppling a boy who sat swinging his feet on the fence.
"Whoa! Hey!" He yelled, but Elizabeta was too scared to stop. "Hey!" She heard him yell again, but it wasn't directed at her. "These guys are chasing some kid!"
They had almost caught up to her, she tried to swerve, but they caught her arm.
A split second later with a pounding of footsteps, someone tackled the bully holding her arm in a blur of speed. "TAKE THAT, STUPID!"
Elizabeta fell back onto her butt in the dust and a second boy immediately rushed to her side.
"Are you alright?"
Elizabeta looked up into a pair of dark violet eyes and there. That was it.
That was the moment.
"H-hi." She stared, unable to compose herself.
She may have been a tomboy, but even she often read those fairytales. The ones with the princes. Princes exactly like the boy before her. The perfectly wavy brown hair, the mauve eyes, the serious yet compassionate expression. He was what she had always envisioned.
There was a shout and they both looked up as the last of the bullies practically did a somersault as he tumbled over himself. Barely able to run, they scrambled away.
"Yeah!" The boy who had tackled them yelled. "And think TWICE next time before you MESS with the GREAT AND POWERFUL- ta da!" He held up his hands and Elizabeta cringed.
Did he just add his own 'ta-da'?
"GILBERT BEILSCHMIDT! HAHAHA!"
Elizabeta wrinkled her nose.
There were the princes of the world and then there were the beasts that the princes saved young maidens from.
The one was the beast. Tangled silver-grey hair, glittering crimson eyes and a wolfish grin. He had a trace of blood below his eye and two purpling bruises from where he had scrapped with the bullies, but he showed no sign of pain. His clothes, unlike the princely boy's, were muddied and tattered.
"Yo, kid!" The beast waved. "You okay?"
"Fine!" Elizabeta glared in his direction. Why did he have to be here to spoil her meeting with Prince Charming?
"Why were they chasing you?" The prince asked.
"I…I guess I kind of picked a fight with them."
"You're too small for that, stupid!" The beast stuck out his tongue. "Stick to playing in the sand box!"
"Shut up!" Elizabeta snapped, then glanced at the prince, hoping she still seemed genteel.
"Well, they're gone now." The prince sighed and held out a hand. "I'm Roderich Edelstein. This is my…father's friend's son, Gilbert."
"Ya can call me a 'friend' ya know!" Gilbert snapped.
"Um," Elizabeta was a bit embarrassed to introduce herself. Her father was a well-known businessman in the area and people usually treated her differently after learning who she was. "It's…Eli."
"Eli?" Roderich cocked his head.
"Cool," Gilbert put his hands on his hips. "I was about to go deep-sea fishing in the lake. You can join me."
"How can you go 'deep-sea' fishing in a lake?"
"You become awesome like me!"
Ugh. I hate this kind of guy.
"I have a book to read." Roderich sniffed.
"Oh, what about?" Elizabeta tried to turn back to him.
"Hey, Eli! You said I was first!" Gilbert protested.
"I never said that."
"But I am, right?"
"Why?"
"Because I'm so awesome."
"I honestly don't understand you."
And somehow that summer passed with the three being inseparable.
They would play together every day out in the fields. Roderich would read Elizabeta poetry, help her with her arithmetic studies and tell her about the far off places he wished to travel one day, meanwhile that crazy kid, Gilbert, constantly double dared her to do things and taught her how to swim and climb trees.
In the evenings they'd go back to Roderich's house and he'd play his piano for them with the porch doors open and the wind chimes softly clinking.
Roderich was introverted, quiet, bookish and it took a lot for Elizabeta to draw him out of his shell, but she was determined to.
Gilbert needed no such help. He was a born leader, full of wild tales and crazy ideas and child-like arrogance. Forever muddy or bleeding or bruised, he was the bane of Elizabeta's existence. But she couldn't even count the vast amount of times he protected her.
He was the shield of the group. He stood at the bottom of the trees to break Elizabeta's fall, he was bitten by a dog a few times, covering Elizabeta after they had been stealing eggs from a local farm, he gave Elizabeta a piggy-back ride down the mountain when she was too scared to make it, even though his hands were already torn up and bleeding.
Once, on a cold winter night, he had dared Elizabeta to jump into the lake.
She crawled up on land, shivering. Gilbert had begun to mock her until he realized her teeth were chattering. He had pulled off his jacket and threw it at her.
"Won't you be cold now?" Elizabeta frowned.
"Ha!" Gilbert had folded his arms. "As IF! You are addressing the great Gilbert Beilschmidt. I don't feel the cold! I'm INVINCIBLE!"
"Your lips are turning blue."
x
Throughout the summer, there had been many projects and adventures the three had engaged in, but none mattered so much to Elizabeta as the Black Eagle.
She had seen it on her first day in the countryside. She had heard something outside her window at night and had been awestruck by the great, feathered shadow in the sky, almost blocking out the glow of the moon.
Apparently, it was one-of-a-kind and lived at the top of the aptly named 'Eagle Mountain', which was the most difficult mountain to attempt to climb anywhere in this part of the country.
"We should try to climb it before the summer ends!" Elizabeta proposed one day in the fields.
"Yeah!" Gilbert jumped up, "And I'll lead the way!"
"You've already failed to climb it twice." Roderich reminded him, not looking up from his book.
"Shut up!" Gilbert snapped. "Th-that wasn't 'cos of me! There were…giant…mountain…seagulls! Yeah! And they had the head of bears and the tails of lions and spat blue fire-!"
"Do you ever even listen to the crap you say?"
"What do you think, Roderich?" Elizabeta asked, hopefully.
Roderich shut his book with a snap. "No." He said finally. "Too dangerous. And in aid of what exactly?"
"Oh…right." Elizabeta said, slumping back down on the grass again. "It's just…" She glanced at him. I wanted a memory to commemorate our time together. It's been so fun, but…in the autumn we're going to have to move back to the city. I wanted like…like…a feather from the legendary Black Eagle. Something like that, you know? Just to remember it all by…"
Roderich looked up and gave her a sideways glance. "Is that really what you want?"
Elizabeta nodded. "It sure is."
She noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that Gilbert was staring at her strangely, but she paid it no attention.
Her prince would definitely get her that feather.
A prince would never fail to risk his neck for love.
x
On Elizabeta's last night in the countryside, she awoke to a knock at her bedroom window, followed by another.
She wriggled over and peered outside.
A faint figure was standing in the garden below, throwing pebbles at the glass.
Elizabeta's stomach twisted with excitement.
She didn't bother to grab her dressing gown, she ran downstairs in her shorts and t-shirt to the door and flung it open.
"Roderich!" She stepped onto the path.
The figure emerged from the darkness and she sighed. "Oh. It's you, Gilbert."
"What kind of a greeting's that, huh?!"
Elizabeta's eyes narrowed as she stared at him. "You're a mess." She remarked. "Even more than usual."
Gilbert started and looked down at himself like he'd never seen his own frame before. He was dusty from head to toe, hair more disheveled than ever, sweat on the collar of his shirt which had half the buttons ripped off. His hands were a complete mess, bloodied and torn.
Elizabeta cringed. "Did your father cane you again?"
She got annoyed with Gilbert, but she really couldn't stand the way his father treated him.
"You should wash before you go home- that's why he beat you the other day, right?"
Gilbert blinked at her, as if uncomprehending.
"Did he get mad when you got home today?"
"Huh?" Gilbert stared at his hands too, as if suddenly realizing their condition. "Oh…yeah, yeah. That's it."
Something was different about him.
He wasn't as…lively as usual.
In fact, he seemed a little…nervous.
Petrified, even.
"Gilbert?" Elizabeta moved closer. "What is it? What's up?"
"I…!" Gilbert practically leaped to attention. His face was crimson and his ears were burning. "I mean…I got…er…Roderich…Roderich wanted me to give you this."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a large black feather.
Elizabeta blinked. "That's…that's not the…?!"
"Yeah. It's the Black Eagle feather you wanted."
Elizabeta squealed and took it, marveling at its sleek, ebony colour. It was undoubtedly the Black Eagle's feather.
"You mean Roderich went all the way to the top of the mountain to get this for me?"
Gilbert looked at the ground, blushing. "Er, yeah."
But when he looked up and saw Elizabeta's shining face, he grinned. "You like it?"
"Of course!" Elizabeta beamed up at him and for a second Gilbert blushed dark red, speechless. Quickly, he was back on his feet again.
"W-well, yeah!" He looked away, hands on his hips. "You better be happy! I came ALL the way here to give it to you, so yeah! Express delivery from the GREAT GILBERT-!"
"-Beilschmidt. Yes. I get it."
Gilbert kept looking away. "S-so…you really like it?"
"Yes, of course I do!"
"So…you won't forget anything now." Gilbert turned back slowly, his eyes alight. "The…the adventures and the orchard and the egg stealing and the lake and all that?"
Elizabeta shook her head. "Never."
Gilbert's face broke into a smile. "Great! I mean…well, how could you forget? I was here after all!"
Elizabeta rolled her eyes. "Right."
Gilbert wiped some of the mud from his face. "I guess you've been kind of fun to have around. Kind of like…my little brother! Yeah. A brother." He looked back at her. "I'm moving back to the city for a while, so I guess we won't see each other. Become…become an awesome man, okay?"
Getting pink in the face again, Gilbert turned and raced out of the garden.
As the first morning birds began to chirp around her, Elizabeta stood there, holding her feather.
Ah. She thought. Now I get it. He thinks I'm a boy, doesn't he?