Amebel Their red string of fate
There is a Chinese legend about a red string that connects those that are destined to be soulmates by their little finger. This string can extend for miles, and will never age allowing it to span decades until the lovers find each other. And while this string may stretch, or tangle it will never break…
At least, that's how the legends go. But people who can see into the futures of people know that that's not exactly true. While the red string does exist, it is not unbreakable as the legend might suggest. The string can be broken just like any other string, but only by death. When fate snips a person's life string they snip them free of their lover, letting the lover fall away from their deceased love one.
Now, if only he could tie the string together again.
One year later
Natalia opens her eyes slowly, squinting at the harsh light above her. She felt like she was coming out of a very deep sleep, a coma almost, like nothing she had ever felt before when waking up. Her mind was hazy but a few flash backs kept on assaulting her memories; they felt like shocks to her groggy brain. There was Alfred with a top hat, mechanical air balloons in the sky and a ticking heart within her.
She must be going mad.
Despite the madness from her memories the sounds around her were reassuring, they were the sounds of her brother and even some other countries. In all it sounded like normal fighting at the world conference, she must have fallen asleep at a meeting. Except that didn't answer why she was on her back, with a pillow under her head, and fresh flowers on her chest, almost as if she were dead.
Natalia sits up wanting some answers and instantly the sound stopped. It was as quiet as the grave.
"She's….She's awake… It WORKED! FINALLY!"
Natalia barely had a second to react before her sister enveloped her in a bone crushing hug, and started sobbing. This was not unusual for her, just a bit annoying since she didn't know why she was crying, or what she was trying to say since she was speaking rapidly, too fast to be able to make anything out.
"Youweredeadandnowyourebackohiamsohappy!"
"What are you talking about? Where is Alfred? Why are you crying?"
Her sister finally released her and now Natalia could get a full view of the people surrounding her. There was Russia, Francis, Arthur but Alfred was nowhere to be seen. Natalia looked at her brother who seemed to be avoiding her eyes as she regarded them all. It would make no sense for them to be around her, she did not have any business with any of these nations except for her siblings. And there was something else…
It hit her like a fist…. Or rather, a pipe.
The memories of his pipe hitting her and making her blood spill. She remembered the feeling of it, and how the last thing she saw was Alfred's face. But….If she died how was she here? She was killed by another nation….
She needed answers.
"I said WHERE IS ALFRED? WHAT IS GOING ON?"
Her sudden shouting seemed to spur the other nations into action and finally Arthur stepped forward while the others, especially Russia, hung back.
"Alfred is still….Dead…"
Natalia listens to Arthur explain what happened after she had died as she stared him down with a cold glare, as if that would change the facts, or make Alfred suddenly appear.
"That isn't possible…Alfred cannot be dead…He would never kill himself!"
Alfred's bright shining face appeared in her mind and she couldn't believe that someone with as much ignorant happiness could ever do something like this. She had to see for herself.
"Take me to him."
"Are you sure? It's not-"
"You heard me."
"Ok."
With that she was reluctantly led to another room by an only slightly calm Arthur. At least Alfred's brother seemed to be intimidated by her even if he was not. The others trailed behind her not speaking a word as they walked on solemnly.
The walls were white and the air smelled like the hospital making her crinkle her nose in contempt. Before she had thought that they were at her own house but now she could see that they were in an abandoned hospital, probably somewhere tucked away in the middle of nowhere. As they entered Alice could see Alfred as he lay in a suit that Arthur probably insisted upon, but she knew that he would hate.
Natalia paces over and feels for a pulse on his neck but his skin was icy cold. His face was peaceful but devoid of the ignorant happiness that she was familiar with and the suit was not something that he would ever wear. This couldn't be Alfred…This could not be her stupid American husband.
"Alfred you idi-… Alfred get up now."
Nothing happened.
"Alfred get up!"
Still the air was silent and he still held that stupid peaceful look on his face. How dare he….How dare he look so calm!
"ALFRED GET UP YOU IDIOT! GET UP! DON'T …DON'T DO THIS TO ME!"
Natalia knew that the nations where shocked by her outburst of emotions but she didn't care what they thought. Not when Alfred was on the table, not getting up, he was supposed to get up! Natalia took him by the shoulders and was about to shake him when Russia walked over and stopped her.
"That won't help."
Natalia turns on him with a cold look in her eyes. Her cool and calm mask had finally crumbled away as she showed all of her true and raw emotions.
"You...You killed him didn't you!? DIDN'T YOU? YOU'RE LYING TO ME BECAUSE ALFRED WOULD NEVER…HE ISNT WEAK! HE'S HAPPY! YOU MUST HAVE KILLED HIM! I HATE YOU"
Russia shakes his head solemnly as he tears up a bit.
"No I did not... I never meant for this…For any of this to happen."
Natalia looks down at Alfred and forced the tears from forming. She refused to cry for him. She refused to mourn for Alfred.
He was not dead. It was that simple. She could not cry for a man who was not dead.
"How did you get me back?"
One year ago
One minute after the fall of America
Arthurs POV
"How?"
Arthur chewed on his lip trying to think of a way to solve this. He had no clue of what to do, for once in his impossibly long life he did not know what to do. There were many vague ways to raise the dead, but all ended up with zombies or had ingredients that were impossible to find. That is if the spell would even work at all, which was extremely unlikely. This was not something that he could do right now, but he at least knew a way to give them some time.
"I don't know how to bring them to life but I know how to preserve their bodies. This spell will keep their bodies in a state of suspension and their minds will go to another world. But I have to work quickly before they enter into the world of the dead."
France looked over at him confused, again. He should just wear a shirt that says "I don't understand".
"They will go to another world?"
"Another dimension. They can live in that world until we find a way to bring them back to our world."
"And how will we get them back?"
Arthur turned to Russia as he looked at him with concern and fear in his purple eyes. This was a stock difference to the harsh red that used to occupy them.
"I don't know as I said before. That's what this spell is for."
Russia nods distantly and looked at his sister's body that was being sheltered by Alfred's.
"Let's do this quickly. Save her…. Save them."
Arthur nods and with the others help he got the lovers untangled and Arthur was able to start the spell. To do such a large and difficult spell required much of his energy and concentration and he didn't even get to see if his spell worked before his vision faded to black.
Present day
Natalia's POV
"Then it was not a dream... I was in another world with strange air blimps."
Arthur nods seemingly very interested all of a sudden.
"So you did go to another world! What happened there? Was Alfred there?"
Natalia frowns, this was all distracting from the real problem but she explained to them the story of her life in that strange world.
"So you died, but Alfred died first… If dying…"
Arthur began to pace quickly which Natalia found irritating. He muttered something about himself being a butler, but then moved on to the bigger issue on hand.
"I've got it! When you died in that world you were released to come back to ours. Since your soul did not have enough time to go to the world of the dead, you're welcome by the way, you were sent to this other world along with Alfred….But if Alfred died first…"
Arthurs pace quickens and Natalia wanted nothing more than to kick him, just to make him stop that infuriating pacing.
"Yes! That's it!"
Arthur suddenly whirled on them looking like he had discovered the meaning of life, which if it meant saving Alfred, then it was to her. And besides, he had finally quit his pacing.
"Alfred was not sent back to this world with you. He must have gotten lost along the way and was hurled into another dimension. You see your soul couldn't go to the world of the dead since I put that preservation spell on your body, so it was just a matter of sending it to another dimension. You were just lucky and got ours on the first try."
"How many of these…Dimensions… Are there?"
"I don't know… It could be as little as three, or it could be millions."
"Then how do we get him back?"
Arthur did some more of his infuriating pacing before Francis spoke up.
"Yao told me about this red string once… Perhaps we could use fate to bring him back?"
Arthur raised his eyebrows and turned to the Frenchman.
"What do you mean by fate?"
Francis sighs and walks over to Natalia, as if he couldn't explain from further away.
"Natalia try to wake him up by kissing him."
Natalia raised an eyebrow along with Arthur. Surely there was not another person who foolishly believed in fairytales as well. She had almost believed in things like that and then look at what happened. Francis noticed her distrustful look and sighs softly.
"That spell that Arthur used is not unlike those of fairytales where the princess falls into a deep coma, only to be awoken by true loves kiss. Perhaps by true loves kiss this red string of fate pulls the person under the spell back to our world… Think of it as if it were a lifeline."
Natalia looked at Alfred's sleeping face and imagines his reaction to being called a princess. She needed to see that. She needed him awake with her. And if what they had all said was true, then perhaps….Natalia was careful to shut down this hopeful thinking. She had been hopeful before, and the same things always happened. This "true loves kiss" was not a guarantee. It was only a small foolish hope.
But never the less, Natalia nodded her agreement. She was willing to try anything, even if she did not think that it would work. There was no harm in trying after all.
"Fine."
Natalia turned to Alfred and kneeled down beside him. She stared into his peaceful face and noticed that his glasses were pushed up, the way that he hated them to be set. Natalia slowly pushes down his glasses before leaning over and kissing his cold lips gently.
"Wake up you idiot."
For ten agonizing seconds nothing happened.
Then color started to seep onto Alfred's face. What had been little to none shallow breathing evened out into normal small breaths.
And then he opened his eyes.
Alfred blue eyes seemed to flicker with light as they traveled around the room until he found her face.
"Hey…You…said…I…wasn't…an idiot…"
Natalia looked down at him and didn't speak, too busy kissing him again, not caring who was watching. When she finally released him Alfred sat up with her and loosened his tie, looking a bit dazed and love-struck.
"Please tell me I wasn't the only one who dreamed of giant air blimps…And cats…."
"No. You are not."
"Good…"
After letting the lovers have their moment the other nations surrounded Alfred and all hugged both of them. Natalia just let it happen, it was too much effort to resist, but Alfred still seemed stunned beyond words. Almost.
"Uh…Ok…Why is Arthur hugging me? I mean… I get Francis hugging me but..."
"Oh bloody shut it Alfred."
Alfred shrugs as he was finally let go by all of them. His face was slowly growing grimmer and grimmer and Natalia could only assume that his buried memories were rising back to the surface.
"I killed…Russia you… Natalia you were…What happened? And why was I in a dress? Also….Does this make me a princess? I mean you woke me up with a kiss…."
A rushed explanation was given by Francis as Natalia sat beside Alfred and held his arm in a tight grip, as if afraid to ever let go again, however as for the dress they let that one go none of them really knew how to respond to that odd question. Alfred for his part slowly rubbed her petit hand with his thumb to ease her nerves. She had done a good job of hiding them but he somehow knew anyway.
"Ok... So I died…And I was in… Wonderland! That's it! Oh man that explains so much! Wait how's Matthew?"
Yekaternia steps forward, having finally calmed down.
"He woke up far before any of you did; he had to go to check on his bear today…. But he has been here most of the time! He slept for a few months but then woke up, and after that he had spent most of days here in Russia to help. He will be upset to know that you awoke before he got back"
At this Alfred turned to Russia who suddenly seemed very interested in the wooden floors below him.
"What about you…Why are you helping me to wake up? I thought you hated me."
Natalia grip tightens protectively as her big brother lifted his head heavily.
"The cold war is over."
Before Alfred could ask any questions Russia pulled out a newspaper from his coat pocket that was dated only a few weeks after their deaths. The headline read in large red letters "COLD WAR OVER".
"After I killed my sister and you died as well I was snapped out of it. I realized what my leaders had been doing to me and my people. So I called the "war" off.
Alfred and Natalia read the paper before looking up at him. For one moment Alfred didn't say anything. Finally his face broke out into a small smile, the first seen in over a year.
"So I'm officially allowed to marry your sis?"
"…..Yes. Though that is up to her really."
Alfred shrugs and smiles just a bit more as he turned to Natalia.
"You want to have a real wedding?"
Alfred POV
Of course he didn't take no as an answer. His angel deserves a real wedding, with a real dress and a real cake. And besides, it didn't take much work to convince her, which was practically a yes in her strange language. Once again Matthew was trying to tame his unruly hair, but this time he was joined by Arthur who kept on telling him to stand up straight and to fix things on his suit, mostly his tie. Russia appeared in the doorway, dressed in a suit as well; ready to give away his sister since there was a lack of a father.
"Alfred do not be late for my sister's wedding."
"AHHHH I'm coming as soon as I can get Arthur to stop choking me with this tie!"
"Well it's not my fault that you won't adjust it properly!"
Alfred was finally free from the comb and Arthur's obsessiveness for properness as he went to take his spot at the front of the aisle. It took him a bit to get there; his shaky legs were a bit hard to walk on… Not that he was nervous of course, the hero never got nervous…
Alfred finally peered out at the crowd of nations and smiles; waving to a few while he fiddled with his tie that was practically choking him to death. His "awesome trio" friends waved back and made whooping noises, relieved to see him alive and marrying the girl of his dreams.
When Prussia wasn't whooping with Denmark he was trying to talk to Hungary while at the same time avoiding Austria's music sheets that he sent hurling towards him. As Alfred was chuckling at Prussia getting wacked by Hungary's frying pan (who knows where she hid that thing), Matthew came and stood beside him along with Arthur, Lithuania, and Francis. They were all his best man, even though it wasn't "proper" to have more than one. But hey, it was his wedding, and he had just come back from the dead. He was used to breaking a few rules.
The wedding song played on the piano and Alfred's attention was wrenched towards the large oak doors at the end of the church. The flower girls Liechtenstein and Wy walked down the aisle before the brides march was played and the nations that were sitting now stood for the bride.
Alfred's breath was stolen as his angel descended down the aisle. The makeshift wedding dress had been traded for a real sleeveless one that had a long train and was fringed with lace. Her hair was swept up in a bun with flowers tucked in here and there, all covered by a lacy vale. Russia led her down the aisle while Yekaternia helped her with the dress's train as maid of honor.
Natalia finally stood in front of Alfred, and when he looked into her eyes he couldn't help but to tear up a bit. She was so beautiful; she seemed to shine with the radiance of the moon.
"You're crying."
"I know. I love you Nat."
Natalia looks into his eyes as the ceremony started and Alfred heard the words that he loved to hear the most.
"I love you too."