At last! My first story is up and running. I didn't want to post anything until I had a full story ready (as I have a habit of starting and not finishing) and I'll post each chapter as I tweak them. Enjoy!

Characters

King Stephen - King Romulus – Roman Empire

King Hubert - King Wolfgang – Germania

OC for now - Prince Lovino – South Italy

Princess Aurora - Prince Feliciano – North Italy

Prince Philip - Prince Ludwig – Germany

OC for now - Prince Gilbert – Prussia

The Three Good Fairies - The Fae – Arthur, Lukas, Vladimir – England, Norway, Romania

Maleficent - Natayla – Belarus

OC for now - King Ivan – Russia

OC for now - Katyusha - Ukraine

(OC for now because I'm planning to do more tales that will link with this one in which these characters will feature if this story is well-received and I don't want to spoil the surprises. Some will be Disney and some from my own imagination (God help you!))

I do not own Hetalia. I do not own Sleeping Beauty. I only own my writing talent. (Or lack thereof, you decide)

CHAPTER 1 : BLESSINGS AND CURSES

Once upon a time in the Kingdom of Italy lived King Romulus of the House of Vargas and his Queen and for many years they wanted a child and finally their dream was came true. A son was born and they named him Lovino.

Their joy was short lived. Two days after they celebrated his birth he disappeared.

Many attempts were made to find him but he was not found. The kingdom grieved for the missing prince but while Lovino was still being sought, joy returned to the kingdom with the birth of a second son whom they named Feliciano.

It meant happy and he was named for the happiness he brought back into their lives.

There was a great celebration and Romulus invited his friend, King Wolfgang of Germania and Regent of the Kingdom of Prussia, and his young son Prince Ludwig and stepson, Prince Gilbert of Prussia, of the House of Bielschmidt. These two kings had wished for their kingdoms to unite for a long time and so on this day Prince Feliciano was promised in marriage to Prince Ludwig when they came of age.

Ludwig looked down at his future spouse. The blonde, blue-eyed three year old was not impressed by the auburn-haired baby with the funny left hand curl. Lugwig's six year old albino half brother, Gilbert stood nearby, snickering at Ludwig's fate when he came of age.

Also invited to the celebration were the three Fae, Arthur of the Kirkland Clan, Lukas of the Bondevik Tribe and Vladimir of the Drakulya Line in the hope that they would bless the infant prince. Arthur had messy blonde hair, huge eyebrows and the greenest eyes in creation. Lukas was also blonde but a lighter shade, one side of which was held back by a cross barrette and a curl that seemed to float independently at the side of his head with blue eyes that displayed no emotion but you could get lost in if you stare into them and Vladimir was a strawberry blonde with red eyes and what appeared to be fangs which he was hiding right now from the royal family for fear of scaring them. All had wings the colour of their eyes and dressed in the same hues.

They flew to the cradle where the little prince slept and gazed at the newest Italian royal. Arthur, despite his rather cynical nature, was a softy for children. They brought out his paternal side. Lukas was not so fond of children but thought Feliciano was 'cute' and Vladimir cooed over the infant prince.

Having paid their respects to the child they flew to the thrones to stand before the King and Queen and bowed.

"Your Majesties!"

"Each of us will give one gift to the child," Arthur said with a British accent. He approached the cradle and raised his ward.

"Sweet prince," he chanted. "My gift will be the gift of beauty." He spun his wand in the air which created a glittery spiral in the air which floated into the cradle and covered the prince in little lights which were absorbed into his skin. Arthur stepped away and Lukas took his place.

"Den lille prinsen min gave vil være gave sangen (Little prince, my gift will be the gift of song)," Lukas chanted in his native Norwegian, and traced a musical symbol in the air and the glittering sign floated into the cradle and was absorbed like before.

Vladimir stepped up and raised his wand and began in Romanian, "Prinț mic, darul meu va fi ….." (Tiny prince, my gift will be ….)

Suddenly there was a fierce wind that blew out many of the candles in the throne room and ruffled the clothing of the many guests who ran from the centre of the room as a large flume of fire shot from the floor. As the fire died away a woman was left in its wake. She had long silvery white hair and blue eyes that flashed purple and she wore a dark blue robe. She carried a staff with a crystal globe set in the top in one hand and four knives between the fingers of the other. A dark aura surrounded her. A crow flew around her head and landed on the globe.

"Natalya!" Arthur gasped.

"What's she doing here?" Vladimir's voice held a note of contempt. Lukas shushed him.

The Dark Sorceress was a legend in magical circles. It was rumoured she had made the Ice King, Ivan of the Russias, disappear for refusing her offer of marriage. The fact he was her brother was not a good enough reason for her. Their older sister, Katyusha, Witch of the Fields, had vanished before Ivan. It was believed Natalya did not want competition for his affections. No one knew for certain if the rumours were true. It was only known that Ivan and Katyusha had not be seen since.

She had also been invited to the celebration of Lovino's birth. There had been trouble when Natalya felt slighted over her seating, believing she had not been placed according to her importance. Many suspected her as responsible for Lovino's disappearance but no magic had been detected in the room where he vanished from and he had not been found at Natalya's castle in the forbidden mountains, many leagues distant. There was no proof but for this reason, no invitation had been sent for this celebration.

Dangerous decision!

Natalya looked over the royal family, remembering when she had been a part of one. Until her older sister had garnered all her brother's affection.

"Natalya," Katyusha denied. "That's ridiculous. My affection for Ivan is as his sister. To love him any other way is unnatural. I know that and so should you."

"You want to take him from me. He is mine and I won't let you have him. We will become one and you won't stop us."

"Vy z hluzdu! (You are insane!)" the Ukrainian princess gasped. "I don't want him, not like that and he won't marry you, Natalya. He thinks it's unnatural to marry your own sibling as well."

"Because you poisoned his mind against me. Well, not any more." Natalya pointed her staff at Katyusha and there was a flash of light.

Natalya stared at the little group with a stab of jealously at the sweet family picture they presented.

"Well, King Romulus," Natalya said, deceptively calm in a Belarusian accent. "This is quite an assembly. Royalty, nobility, the gentry and …." Her eyes stopped the sight of the Fae, "How quaint! Even the rabble!"

Vladimir tried to fly at Natalya in rage but Arthur and Lukas grabbed his robe and held him back.

"I felt quite upset at not receiving an invitation," she continued, stroking her pet with the knuckles of her knife hand. The crow was strange. It was a rich brown rather than black and had brown eyes the colour of warm caramel. A feather stuck out on the right side of his head in a curl.

"You weren't wanted," Vladimir said under his breath. But Natalya heard him.

"Not wante ..!" she sounded surprised and then with narrow eyes continued. "Oh dear! What an awkward situation! Well, in that case I better be on my way." Natalya turned away but knew it would not be left at that.

"Then... you're not offended, your excellency?" the Queen asked, tentatively, using the title all magic welders are entitled to in order to try and soothe ruffled feathers.

"No, your Majesty," the Dark Sorceress replied with poisonous sugar in her tone. "In fact to show there are no hard feelings, I'LL bestow a gift on the child."

The Fae crowded protectively around the cradle. Natalya did not grant gifts, she cast curses. Natalya swung her staff in a wide arc.

"Listen, all of you!" she demanded. "Prince Feliciano will grow to be a beautiful boy and loved by everyone he meets. BUT!" The crow flew off the crystal globe as she she swept her hand and knives over it and shadowy images were projected into the minds of everyone present.

"Before the sun sets on his sixteenth birthday, he will prick his finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel, (the shadows pulled together to form a spinning wheel) and DIE!" (the shadows broke apart and reformed, showing a body lying in state)

As the shadows cleared from everyone's mind, the Queen ran to the cradle, plucked Feliciano from it and held him close as he began to cry. Natalya laughed, cruelly.

"ARREST HER!" Romulus ordered, angrily, his Italian blood boiling that anyone would threaten his son. Guards ran to obey their king but Natalya threw her knives at them, making them duck and banged her staff on the floor.

"Stay back, idiots!" Flames shot up around Natalya and engulfed her and her crow flew into the flames and the fire vanished taking both mistress and pet with it leaving behind Natalya's mocking laughter.

Silence hung around the throne room broken only by the Queen softly crying, hugging her son. The three Fae looked at each other as they try to decide what to do. Romulus embraced his wife and infant son. The sight broke Arthur's heart.

"Don't despair, Your Majesty," he said, softly. "Vladimir hasn't given his gift yet."

"He can undo this curse, Si (Yes) ?" he asked, hopefully. But his hopes were dashed. Vladimir held up his hands and shook his head.

"I'm afraid not, Sire!" he replied, emphatically. Arthur came to his side, "Natayla's too powerful." Lukas pushed Vladimir forward.

"But he can help." He pushed him a little further in front. "Just give your best shot."

Vladimir sighed and thought hard about what he could do to offset the curse and knew there was only way he could, raised his wand and chanted the spell so all could understand.

"Tiny prince, If through this wicked witch's trick, your finger should a spindle prick.

A ray of hope there still may be in this, the gift I give to thee.

Not in death but just in sleep, the fateful prophecy you'll keep.

And from this slumber you shall wake, when true love's kiss the spell shall break."

"True love conquers all," Arthur murmured, a closet romantic, as a swirl of magic erupted from Vladimir's wand and covered the baby.

"That's all I can do," he said, regretfully. King Romulus knew it was better than the alternative but was still afraid for his child. He had lost one son. It would not happen again. He ordered all spinning wheels burnt and forbade all ownership of them on pain of death.

It would be in vain!

There we go, Chapter 1. I changed the relationship of Romulus and Wolfgang from grandfathers to fathers because it would have been too hard to explain what happened to Feliciano and Ludwig's parents. Gilbert and Ludwig's mother was married to Wolfgang's cousin who died when Gilbert was very young and she then married Wolfgang and had Ludwig, making them half-brothers. I did this to explain why Gilbert was heir to his own throne. I decided to do the translations where the characters speak their own language so there would be no need to look back. I used Google Translate as I'm not multilingual (I'm barely monolingual) I hope you like and review my first fan fic. Please be kind.