Chapter 1. Paralyzer.
The wall had always been there. To Ivan, it was their saving grace, it was what protected them. And he knew that well, he was the only one still alive to have seen over the wall, seen the outside world no one else was allowed to see. Ivan had been told by his father (who was finally dead) that it had been up for the past 400 years. Nothing disturbed this peace that lasted and it was Ivan's job now, as the new lord of the town, to protect it.
There was a festival held every year in town to celebrate the wall. The lord never went to such frivolous things, Ivan's father had told him, but what was to stop him now? Only General Winter advised against it, but Ivan had already learned to ignore him if he wanted to. Without the knowledge of the servants, Ivan used simple spells (which General Winter also protested against) to turn his hair and eyes brown. He wore a thick, black cloak to hide most of his body and to help blend in. That, and he could hide the family heirloom he was always forced to carry this way. Ivan's father had always insisted that nobility couldn't be near the townspeople, that they were far too important. Even Ivan's sisters, who lacked magic and were all but ignored by their father, never left the manor. But Ivan was curious. He didn't know many people and he thought that, perhaps, getting to know some townspeople during the festival would be a good chance to make friends.
It was a great idea in theory. However, once he was at the festival, among all of the happy people, he discovered how hard it truly was. He knew no one, none of the songs, none of the jokes, none of the dances. Ivan sighed heavily as he leaned against the nearest building. All of these houses were small and it took a moment for him to understand their living quarters.
He watched as some townspeople danced to music from a band that was very skilled, though far too filthy to ever be allowed in the manor. He smiled slightly at the display, but the frown returned to his face when he noticed once again that everyone was keeping away from him. He knew the reason, sure enough. General Winter had this habit of using ice magic without his own control. As Ivan was forced to carry around the vessel of the spirit at all times, he had sadly grown used to the permanent cold around him that used to surround his father. No one else was trained to be comfortable in the cold, though.
"Just as I figured this would end," General Winter made his opinion known yet again and Ivan chose to ignore him yet again. Still, he was right. After all, what else was Ivan expecting to happen? Some random person would burst through the crowd and want to be his friend? Ivan wasn't even confident enough to try talking to someone.
Just as Ivan was about to move on, however, a new dancer joined the others and Ivan froze in his place. This new man was…breathtaking, to say the least. Everyone else in the crowd cheered unanimously at his appearance and the man grew a wicked smirk as he started to expertly move to the music, twirling around mesmerizingly and clapping his hands to the rhythm. His golden blonde hair weaved around his face with him, bouncing and showcasing his blue eyes that would put the clearest eyes to shame. Even that odd single strand of hair that stuck up wasn't distracting from his beautiful dance. The man went over to various parts of the crowd and dragged multiple onlookers into the dance, teaching them the steps quickly and they learned mostly off of his charisma. With the addition of this new man, the music grew louder, the crowd grew, and everyone seemed to become far more joyful all at once. With the growth of the crowd, more people inched towards Ivan.
"You will need to kill that man immediately," General Winter said coldly and Ivan jumped slightly. The air grew slightly colder and Ivan shivered slightly. He looked back to the man, who was smiling and dancing with all of the others.
"What?" Ivan whispered to the spirit, blushing slightly when he saw a person nearby look at him oddly.
"Of course you don't understand," General Winter scoffed. "Just know that the man you seem so taken with is something vile and must be eliminated without delay. Kill him now."
"Why?" Ivan asked the spirit simply. His father knew all of the "secret", as he referred to the story the spirit had to tell of four and twenty five years ago, and ensured that he kept it safe. Only one man alive could know the story and the spirit did not trust Ivan enough to tell him. So far, the spirit only seemed to want to control Ivan, wrap him around his finger like he had Ivan's father.
"Don't ask questions. You can use that fowl magic you are so fond of, just kill him quickly."
"No," Ivan said and General Winter growled. And then the man was in front of Ivan, smiling brightly. Ivan had no words to come out of his mouth with the man so close to him, but then the man acted again to surprise Ivan. He looked at him in the eyes and General Winter said something, but Ivan didn't hear him. Blood was rushing in his ears and he honestly couldn't explain why.
"Hey come on, dude, don't hug the wall," the man laughed, his voice melodious and beautiful. He managed to get a grip on Ivan's arm, pulling him into the open area where the others were dancing. Ivan was so startled and so unused to talking, as well as tongue tied from the man in front of him, that any words he attempted to say came out as a jumbled mess.
"Very educated," General Winter scoffed.
"I don't know how to dance," Ivan finally managed out and the man simply smiled at him. It was odd to talk to someone so informally for once in his life, but it was a welcome change.
"The steps are easy," the man laughed and easily stepped into rhythm with all of the others, though a simpler version. He released Ivan, though the lord didn't have much option to run away, in the middle of the crowd. Ivan observed the way their legs and arms moved so naturally and immediately assumed it was too complicated for him to understand. But the man quickly pulled Ivan again, into the dance and Ivan stumbled at first, but eventually got the rhythm and was able to dance, at least a little, with all of the others. And he had fun.
The man disappeared to recruit more people, but Ivan found his wide smile infectious. He laughed with the others for once and he found himself genuinely sad when the music ended for the musicians to prepare for the magic display later that night. Despite not talking to any of the townspeople, Ivan still felt like he was at least making some friends. And then the man disappeared into the crowd and all of the people he passed smiled and said something positive to him. Ivan was curious about this man, but he was sure he couldn't follow him in a crowd like that. Some kind of vendor came through, offering free food that everyone else around Ivan seemed to love.
Alfred took a deep breath before slowly moving his hand out in front of himself. Another addition of the complex magic set-up he was making appeared and Alfred smirked. This thing was gonna be his best work of art yet. He couldn't wait for everyone else to see it, they'd love it so much more than last year! He was so pumped, he couldn't wait. And having the dance right before that moment made it all the better. He loved dancing and getting everyone else hyped up. Even that really cold guy that looked really awkward got happy when he was dancing and that was definitely more than enough to make Alfred happy.
With another deep breath, Alfred made another addition appear and he nodded at it. It was all set up on the floor as a sort of maze. The magic was shimmering in all different colors and shapes, none larger than his head, but completely full with pure magic. Alfred smirked. Oh, hell yeah, this was gonna be so freaking cool! Once it all fired off, it would look so cool in the sky, like real explosions of color and everything. Alfred remembered figuring this kind of thing out as a kid, accidentally firing off multiple colors into the sky and watching them explode. Everyone else thought it was cool and he made set ups every year for the festival thing, and they got better every time. No one else could do this with their magic, the few people in the town that could use magic and weren't royal mages in the first place.
Everyone thought that Alfred was special because he could use so much magic, but Alfred never really considered it much of a feat. Apparently, no matter what Alfred did with his magic, it as considered amazing, a spectacle for the eyes to behold. Everyone thought that he should try everything he could to improve, study his brains out and become a mage at the manor. In reality, though, Alfred didn't care about that. His magic was just a cool part of his life. All he really wanted to do, his one goal in life, was to get to that stupid wall and see what's over it.
He didn't believe the bullshit everyone else was spouting about the wall protecting them from the outside world. He'd gotten in plenty of trouble trying to find a way to climb that wall, stopped by the stupid soldiers all the damn time. He even got a little prison time for it once, but that stupid Lord Braginski never even glanced at him. He'd even tried a lot of ways to use his magic, but that wall had some kind of barrier on it and that really pissed him off. He'd never known anyone with his level of magic, not even the current mages at the manor, and it made him curious about who put up that wall and the magic they had.
For the time being, though, he focused on what he enjoyed. He didn't care that this festival was about celebrating the wall that kept him prisoner. All that mattered was that he was using magic for the enjoyment of others. It made him happy. So he set up another addition and nodded in approval at where he put it. He knew exactly what he wanted it to look like in his head, it was just putting it down that was the hard part. But he was doing a pretty kick-ass job of it, if he did say so himself.
"That's very interesting, what are you doing?" A voice suddenly asked behind Alfred and he jumped (though he would never admit it) and turned around. That definitely wasn't a voice he recognized, which was odd since he knew nearly everyone in town. Besides, everyone should be enjoying the food of the festival all of the women put together. But when he turned around, he saw that it was the really cold guy, who was still looking awkward as hell, but was trying to act cool. Alfred was slightly suspicious, naturally. Sure, the man's aura was actually quite peaceful, a light violet that shimmered pleasantly, almost reaching out for others. But there was…something else. A pitch black aura that seemed to almost suffocate the man, and Alfred was put on edge just by looking at it. It was like it wanted to kill him.
"Oh, come on, you know," Alfred offered a smile. He couldn't make assumptions. It didn't seem like the man himself wanted to harm Alfred, his aura was more peaceful than even Matthew's, and the aura seemed…mostly contained. Besides, Alfred was never one to feel awkward, no matter the situation. "Unless you've been living under a rock or something." With a wave of his hand, he added another part of the puzzle. It was almost done, and just in time for sunset, too.
"It appears I have," the man sighed and Alfred noticed as the man tilted his head that there was magic in him. That was also another unique skill he had, but he'd only told his brother about that one. He could see magic, it was kind of hard to explain, but he could see it shimmer and he liked it. Nothing compared to the beauty he could see in the magic or people using it. Seeing auras as well was unique, but anyone could do that, Alfred was the only one that did it involuntarily, though. And, yes, this man did have magic, but so did that mysterious black aura, he could guess. It was far too powerful to not have magic. This man was hiding something under that large cloak that hid most of his appearance, but Alfred was never one to pry…too much. Besides, he didn't want to make enemies the day of the festival.
"It's kind of a magic set up, I guess," Alfred shrugged, carefully turning his back to the man. He put down another part. He knew that man wouldn't see as much as Alfred did, but it still looked pretty cool to onlookers before it blew up in the sky. "Just wait until the sun goes down, that's when the show really starts! It'll look so freaking cool!"
"This has been all of your magic alone?" the man asked, stepping forward and staring at the display with interest. Alfred shivered at the cold around him, but ignored it easily enough.
"Yup!" Alfred said proudly, crossing his arms over his chest. And he wasn't even tired yet! He had so much magic energy in him, he didn't think he'd ever run out! "I'm pretty awesome, but if you didn't even know that, what kind of rock have you been living under?"
"My father just didn't want me going out much," the man muttered and Alfred raised an eyebrow. Now that he was talking more, Alfred could hear the slight accent of a more rich person. So that meant this guy was from the houses near the manor. Whatever, Alfred wasn't about to put anything against this guy just because of where he came from. It wasn't like he was Lord Braginski or anything. He did talk very awkwardly, like wasn't used to casual conversation.
"Yeah, well, stick around and you'll see something really cool," Alfred grew a wicked smirk before placing down the last thing he needed. He moved around a few things here and there for last minute adjustments and the sun set over the wall, his signal to get his ass in gear. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes and moving his hand forward, palm down. This would take a lot of focus, considering how huge it was this time around.
He quickly moved his hand up and the first part of the set up rocketed upwards, others following after it. They shot to the sky and exploded, showing off their shimmering colors and making all kinds of shapes. Alfred could already hear the people in the town cheering and applauding. Alfred laughed and put his hand down after it came to the point where he couldn't stop it even if he tried. They were all connected and rocketed to the sky one after the other. He glanced back at the man, who stared in awe at the display. His hood fell, but he didn't seem to mind, and Alfred had a chance to get a good look at his face. He wasn't bad looking and Alfred shrugged. That black aura that he had sensed earlier, though, became much more prominent. It was definitely like something was trying to kill him.
Finally, the last one shot up and the finale Alfred planned finally ended. The applause and cheering increased even more and Alfred bowed to the only person nearby with a wide smile on his face. He would just act nice and pretend the aura wasn't dangerous until it proved that it was. Then he'd retaliate with everything he had.
"Incredible, am I right?" Alfred laughed.
"That is amazing," the man muttered with a soft smile. "How much magic do you have?"
"I dunno," Alfred shrugged. "I've never used it all at once before, so it's anyone's guess, really."
"So this is what I have been missing," the man smiling slightly before muttering something under his breath. Alfred didn't even notice the cold anymore, that dark aura was almost suffocating him and the man. He fought the need to run. The aura was controlled and, as far as the man was concerned, there was no imminent danger. The man meant no harm.
"The party's just started, dude," Alfred laughed and gathered up all of his courage to hold onto the man's arm and pull him back to the crowd. Alfred was almost afraid for a second that the aura would attack him, but the man kept it under control. Alfred laughed again. There would be even more dancing and food and games well into the night. This would be the best festival ever.
Yay! New story! This one's been on my mind for a while! Like, to the point where it's evolved into this huge, massive jumble of plot bunnies that I can't wait to unleash onto you guys! This'll have a relatively small cast of characters in comparison to the stuff I've written before and, if you can't tell yet, it's a RusAme. I know, my usual's PruCan, but I'm gonna step out of my box a little. There arne't very many side pairings, except maybe FrUK if you squint later.
Anyway, updating schedule will be like my last story, "Newsworthy". I'll update only on the weekends because school sucks, but I'll post two to three chapters every weekend. Sound like a deal?
Also, I just discovered that we have the option on here to edit pictures for cover images outside of editing we can do outside of the site and so I played with that for maybe half an hour...Hehehe.
Anyway, please review! Tell me what you think so far! I've started off with Ivan a lot differently than I usually do, but I like it, you tell me your opinions. There's so many secrets I've already mentions and a whole bunch I haven't even gotten to yet and it's a very exciting time for me!
And I do not and never will own any of the various forms of Hetalia.