Well, I did think up a new idea for a story. Actually, I've sort of had this idea before, but I'm very excited about doing it now! So, without further ado, here's a story!
I don't own Hetalia! end /AN/
Alfred had always known he was not normal. In fact, it had been clear to him from a young age.
He pulled on Matthew's arm, trying to get him to walk with him. He wanted to go to the mini-rollercoaster, and not on the sheep ride Matthew was interested in. "Matt! That one's a baby ride! I wanna go on something cool!"
"No, mama said I got to choose, Al! I wanna go on the sheep ride, so just stop pulling on me!" Matthew was surprisingly angry for his usual passive self. Apparently, he was very set on riding on the mechanical sheep. Alfred was as hard-headed as he was blonde, however, and he would not let it go.
"We're going on the roller coaster!" he shouted, yanking harder on Matthew's arm, beginning to drag him along. Matthew tried to resist, squeaking in pain. "Ow, ow! Al, not so hard, not so hard! It hurts! Al!"
"Shut up, Matthew!" Alfred had snapped childishly, giving a sharp yank. However, this was met with a scream, and Matthew fell to his knees, wailing rather as though Alfred had seriously hurt him. It made Alfred stop what he was doing, immediately concerned instead of selfish.
"Oh, oh my gosh, don't tell Mama!" he implored, trying to shush Matthew before his mother noticed. However, she did notice pretty quickly, and was at Matthew's side in an instant. "Matthew, honey, what's wrong?"
"Alfred hurt my arm!" Matthew cried, not bothering to scrub away the tears streaming down his face. Their mother gently examined his arm. Then her eyes widened in shock. "Matthew... Your arm is swelling up! What was Alfred doing?"
He had broken his brother's arm, as they discovered when they took Matthew to the hospital. His mother had reprimanded him for using so much force against his brother, when the doctor had explained how forceful he would have had to have been to break an arm.
But Alfred knew he had not been trying very hard. He knew that Matthew's arm had broken easily. He knew, and he remembered his special abilities, planning for the future, when he knew he would be a superhero. For that was his destiny, which he always remembered when he read his comic books. He would be like Superman.
It had been an embarassing incident when Francis had first discovered he had powers. He had been unaware of a surprise party, and he'd been startled into revealing it.
It was a fairly dark evening, due to it being late fall, as he got out of his father's car. His father had wished him a happy birthday, and then he'd driven off. Francis was glum. Today was his birthday, but nothing had happened. His mother had said nothing on her way out the door, his friends seemed determine to forget, even when he oh so casually reminded them, and there had been no present from his grandpapa and grandmama.
It had been a pretty bad day, for a birthday.
His hand gripped the cold doorknob, and he was disappointed to see there were no lights on. That could very well mean his mother had left him to fend for himself this evening, and she'd gone out with her girlfriends. He twisted the door knob, opening it slowly.
As he opened the door, the lights went on and people were yelling "Happy Birthday, Francis!" So naturally, he was startled out of his socks. And every other article of clothing, he realised, when he felt the cold breeze on his bare skin. There was stunned silence, before he grinned sheepishly.
"Just thought I'd wear my birthday suit..." he joked, glad he wasn't one of those poor people ashamed of his body. He could see his cousin Belle turn bright red and look away. She might not forgive him for this one, but it was not as though he was able to help it. It seemed his clothes had just... disintegrated.
After that, Francis had experimented with his ability, learning over time to disintegrate just the thing in his palm, or just the thing he was touching with his foot. It fascinated him, to watch things just turn into dust before his eyes. His mother always wondered how on earth he got his room so dusty, though...
Ivan remembered the day with deep regret. Why did it have to be him? He would have gladly given up his ability, in order to escape his current existence. He would have given anything.
He sat back in his seat, grinning with happiness. His little sister, Natalya, clung to his arm, while Katya pointed out cows they were passing. Their parents were in the front seats of the car, his father driving as his mother was studying the map. "Igor, dear, I believe we need to turn at the next intersection."
Ivan loved his mother's voice. It was a little deep, and so rich, like dark chocolate. His father's voice was big and strong, a little gravelly undertone to it. His sisters sounded a lot a like, one like beautiful yellow birds, and the other like soft butter.
"I understand, Annushka," his father replied, the folds around his eyes becoming more pronounced as he smiled. Then Ivan's mother twisted around in her seat to face the three children in the back seat. "Only a little longer, and we will see your Aunt Inga, Uncle Isaak and Borislav and Darya. Won't you be happy to see your dear cousins?"
There was a strong affirmative from the back, as all three children cheered. They were certainly getting tired of the interior of the car, and had gotten to the point where they would occasionally pinch each other just to liven up the journey.
Then the unthinkable had happened. Ivan had barely had time to blink, before his mother screamed, his father cursed, and their car hit a semi head on. There was a great crunching of metal, unlike any sound Ivan had ever heard, and it took a while for it to stop. When it did, he found himself utterly trapped, unable to move. "Mama? Papa? Katya? Natalya!" Natalya's cold, lifeless hand rested on his shoulder. But she did not respond to his cries, and Ivan realised he was covered in something, something red, and wet. Ivan threw back his head as best as he could, screaming, "MAMA!"
The rescue workers had called it a miracle, but Ivan knew what it really was. It was a curse from God, forcing him to live without his family - His gruff Papa, his loving Mama, beloved Katya and sweet Natalya. God had seen his life as too good for a freak like him, and He had taken it away.
Arthur had been seeing things for as long as he could remember. There had been rarely a day in his life when he wasn't visited by Flying Green Mint Bunny, or Alice the Tree Fairy. He knew he was special, or else why would Tinkerbell herself visit him?
For he'd been visited many times, and it had never confused him. It was simply how things were; the fairies and other such animals simply liked him better than the other humans. They didn't like his elder brothers, who scoffed at the idea of a fairy. Until he'd shown them, of course.
Then their mouths had fallen open farther than Arthur had thought possible. He'd been only four, but at his request, the fairies (because he really was generally a favorite) had shown themselves willingly. His brothers had never teased him about it again.
The thing about fairies, was they didn't seem to know a lot about general things, at least no more than Arthur knew. However, they knew the human heart, and they knew all about magic, so Arthur was always very well informed on such subjects.
His mother, as soon as he became too old for imaginary friends, had taken him to a psychologist, fretting over his fairy friends. The psychologist had been confused by him, because he seemed quite rational, and in fact quite normal, but he reported seeing creatures that certainly did not exist.
He'd put him on a drug for schizophrenia, but it had not helped, only making him rather drowsy. They tried other drugs, but he continued to see things.
Electric shock therapy had done nothing, nor had homeopathic remedies. His mother was at her wits' end.
Yao had, to put it plainly, been scared out of his wits when it first happened.
Yao yawned, coming awake reluctantly. It was a Saturday morning, and he really enjoyed sleeping in on these sorts of days. He smiled sleepily as he thought of the time he was going to spend with his friends today, hanging out at the library for a reading marathon. It was part of the library's attempts to procure more young readers, and he suspected they were really only attracting the kids who went there anyway.
He wasn't sure which books he would read, but he did enjoy Harry Potter, so he might read through those again. Yao stretched, pushing off his comforter and putting his feet on the floor. Yes, today would be a good day, even if his siblings, Hong and Shun, would probably pester him at breakfast.
Yao dressed quietly and without incident, wearing a t-shirt and jeans, along with a pair of sneakers. He gave his hair a quick brushing, and then went to open the door to his room. However, the knob turned on its own, and he had a brief moment where he thought it was one of his brothers, coming to wake him up.
When the door opened, however, it was an entirely different thing. Yao's eyes widened with shock, and his mouth opened and closed like a fish's, before finally he drew in a deep breath and screamed as loud as he could.
The thing across from him screamed identically, pulling its arms around itself protectively. Yao's eyes took in the impossible stranger. He had long dark hair he wore in a ponytail; he was slight, and his height; he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, rather similiar to his own; and in his hand was a backpack, the exact one Yao had planned on taking back his overdue library books in. In short, the stranger was an identical copy of himself, down to the fingernails.
Before Yao had a chance to question it, the thing disappeared, leaving behind it the heap of Yao's clothes. Yao could only stare dumbly. What kind of a freak accident had that been, exactly?
It was a question that had been soon answered, with himself duplicating while conscious and discovering his ability. He'd put it to use, doing his homework twice as fast, but he made sure that no one ever found out. He couldn't bear to have his parents think of him as a freak.
/AN/ Alright, what did you think? I was considering turning this into a series, but I'm not entirely sure.