A/N: Bringing an old work from a forum where I originally posted it to Fanfiction, I did this for a BelaMerica challenge on the forum and was kinda the only entry. *shrug* oh well, at least I had fun writing it. I vaguely had the idea of taking this idea and making it into another crack pairing (Because BelaCanada would be creepy and also cute xD) but that's still up in the air, personally.
Title: My Hero (unfortunately)
Genre: IDEK... Friendship...Romance. Something like that. Yeah. Friendship/Romance. Fromance. France om.
France: *om*
Characters: America/Alfred F. Jones and Belarus/Natalia Arlovskaya. Mentions of Russia/Ivan Braginski, Germany/Ludwig Beilschmidt, England/Arthur Kirkland, France/Francis Bonnefoy, and Canada/Matthew Williams. Three 'human' characters who will likely never reappear again.
Pairing: Kinda America/Belarus (Which is actually a cute pairing)
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia - Axis Powers, which is owned by Hidekaz Himaruya.
Word Count: (word count tool online says 2026)
My Hero (unfortunately)
It was cold.
She was shivering, and she didn't know where she was. All she knew was what she was doing. She had to do it for him. Her beloved brother.
He had told her that if she walked to the North Pole and back for him, he would agree to the marriage. It had been one of the moments where his eyes had flashed in that deliciously insane way and she couldn't resist it. She had to do it. It would guarantee their future together.
She didn't think he thought she would actually do it, because he seemed rather surprised when she left. She had held onto the compass until she couldn't feel her fingers, had walked until she couldn't feel her feet, had stared ahead until everything blurred into white.
And now, when the compass twirled and the snow blurred her footprints, she stood and wondered which way she was supposed to walk to get back.
The snow seeped into her already soaking coat and overcoat and sweater and dress, chilling her to the bone and leaving her shivering and staring around in different directions, wondering which way she had come. She bit her lip, which sent a jolt of pain through her face, and let out a cry, stumbling forward in whatever direction she could.
She had to get out of here. She had to get back to her brother.
It was cold.
She had been walking for so long that she couldn't feel the movement anymore, and she couldn't feel the presence of her beautiful Vanya anywhere. She turned a bit, looking around, and set off in another direction so that the compass read southwest. Eventually she had to come to a town or something, right? Then she could find out where she was.
The snow eventually did give way to mountains and rivers, one of which she stumbled along until it felt like she would collapse. When she sighted something in the distance, she let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't a big city or even a small town, but it would do well to tell her where she was.
Her legs gave out and she fell in the snow, coughing and shivering. She tried to get up, but found she couldn't. Nothing would move when she told it to. She noticed briefly that her fingertips, curled around the compass, had turned blue without her realizing.
She let out a loud sob, one that carried on the wind and seemed to echo around her. "Brother! I failed! I'm sorry! Now... now we'll never get married..." another sob, this one a more broken sob.
She wasn't sure how long she laid there, crying and watching more and more of her hands turn blue with the cold. But then, then when she paused to suck in a breath, then she heard it. The crunch of snow being stepped on, someone was walking toward her!
"Oh god!"
Oh no. No. She recognized that voice all too well.
"A-A-A-A-Am-me-mer-r-r-ri-rica!" she stammered weakly around clattering teeth, tears still running down her cheeks. Oh this was perfect. Seen in the worst state of being ever by the enemy of her brother. And any enemy of her brother was an enemy of her.
"God, Belarus..." the snow crunched as he knelt down beside her, eyes sincerely worried in a serious expression few saw on the usually goofy man's face, "What are you doing all the way out here in Alaska? Out in the middle of fucking nowhere for Pete's sake! I mean, I have to have hiked three miles from Fort Yukon!"
"A-A-Al-la-las-ka?" she shivered viciously, and he sighed, "B-B-But n-no! I-I-I ha-ha-have t-t-to g-get t-t-to Russia! M-M-Marriage!"
"You're not going anywhere until we take care of you, Belarus." and he was slipping his arms under her, carrying her bridal style back toward the Fort. She blinked in confusion, still shivering uncontrollably, and stammered, "Wh-Why a-ar-are yo-you d-d-doing th-this?"
"Because. Despite who you're obsessed with, a hero like me can't leave a beautiful damsel in distress." and he was smiling, but for once it wasn't that idiot, cocky smile that everyone always saw. It was... almost sweet, the way he was smiling at her.
But no. She couldn't think such treacherous thoughts! He was the enemy of her brother! Her enemy by transition! She was supposed to hate him on principle!
"W-Why-Why do-don't y-y-you h-ha-ha-hate me?" she whispered, tears flowing in embarrassment down her face.
"Because..." America was still smiling and carrying her, held close to his body to warm her up. "You need my help right now."
They were silent for the rest of the walk back.
When they reached the fort, America called out to someone - "Hey! Innea! Heat up some water and try to find a change of clothes! My friend Natalia has some pretty bad frostbite!"
Friend?
"On it Alfred!" a darker skinned girl with glasses and a large fuzzy poncho grinned and darted into a room.
Natalia continued shivering in Alfred's - America's arms, and looked around her. "Matua!" America called again, "See if we've got any extra bandages and shit!"
"Right!" another, a male with dark brown hair and smirking chocolate eyes, but a sincere smile, ran to check another room. America grinned down at her as he carried her into an empty room himself, putting her down on the bed and beginning to unbutton her overcoat.
"Wh-What-What a-are y-y-you d-d-doing?" Natalia shrieked.
"We've got to get you out of these soaked clothes, Belarus. I swear I won't do anything. It'd be totally unheroic if I did." America chuckled as his gloved hands quickly unbuttoned her overcoat, then the coat under it, and he helped her sit up so he could pull them off. Then he hooked his hands under her sweater and eased it up, over her head.
"Innea! Where's that water and change of clothes?" he called out of the room as he folded the sweater beside Natalia, before smiling softly at her, "Innea will help you out of that dress and all. She's trustworthy, don't worry."
Natalia was staring at him, biting her quivering and shivering lip; while she certainly trusted any female more than she trusted America, she still was wasting time!
"I-I ha-have to g-get b-b-back t-to R-Ru-Russia!" she said softly, looking at her hands.
"Hey, no worries, I'll take you back as soon as your frostbite is treated. Promise." America grinned, and this time it was that dopey grin that everyone always saw. Natalia almost couldn't help but smile unsurely back.
"Got it!" Innea appeared at the doorway, a big bowl of slightly steaming water in her hands and a change of clothes draped over one arm, "I expect you'll want to know when I'm treating her? Dearie, your hands are blue! Now get out of here Alfred this is a lady's room! Oh we'll have to work on these immediately..." she was alternating between fussing over Natalia in a very motherly way and shoving America very ungracefully from the room.
Natalia couldn't help a small chuckle at the sight of America, the great hero America nearly falling on his face as the bustling woman pushed him out of the room. She stood with help and let the woman pull her dress off, shivering and covering herself up while the woman unfolded the pants and undergarments she had brought.
Innea noticed the look of distaste at the pants. "Come on, dearie, these will keep your legs a lot warmer than that dress would have..." she eased Natalia into them, then the undershirt and shirt, then helped her put on a sweater. "Your overcoat might be salvageable..." she noted softly while Natalia curled up in the big furry blanket on the bed, trying to warm up. "But... I'm afraid this undercoat is fairly ruined."
The man from before - Matua? - appeared at the door and handed Innea the bandages and first aid kit he had found. America peered in a moment later, "Is it safe for me to come in or will I be faced with knives and dogs?"
Innea chuckled, "Oh, you know my huskies love you."
"They have a funny way of showing it!" America grumbled and sat down beside Natalia, "Come on, we really should treat this..." he gently grabbed Natalia's hand and guided it to the water, despite her death glare, and grinned slightly as the skin turned pinkish again.
"That's a good sign..." he mumbled, "Mattie taught me how to recognize these things..." he pulled her hand from the water and handed it to Matua, who began wrapping it delicately in bandages. America grabbed her other hand and repeated the process.
Once her hands were bandaged, fuzzy gloves were slipped on them and then over the gloves, mittens. Natalia blinked.
"Trust us, you'll thank us later for all the double layering, dearie." Innea chuckled, "Alfred, her undercoat is ruined..."
"That's a shame..." America sighed, before grinning and pulling off his trademark bomber jacket, and draping it over Natalia's shoulders.
"I don't want this!" she growled, shrugging it off.
"It'll keep you a lot warmer than this flimsy thing." Matua chuckled, holding up what used to be her undercoat, "Really, we've all tried it. That bomber jacket is like a fire, it warms you from the inside out."
"It's because it's on the awesome me all the time." America grinned a cocky smile, and the two humans chuckled at the apparent joke. Natalia frowned as the jacket was practically forced on her, then as she was helped back into her drying overcoat. With all the layering, she felt like she may actually be warm again.
"Okay! I'll go get the copter ready, so we can take you back to your brother!" America grinned, dashing out of the room.
"Before you go, dearie, you should probably eat something..." Innea murmured as Natalia's stomach growled. Matua grinned, "I'll go get some soup. That should help a lot."
"Not that crappy canned soup, you imbecile." Innea chuckled fondly, and Matua shook his head, "Nah, Nikki was making some really delish smelling soup last I checked. Fresh ingredients too!"
Natalia wrapped her arms around herself, vaguely aware of the weight of the bomber jacket over the sweater. She looked down at the mittens and the gloves biting her lip, and let them lead her into the kitchen.
These people were... nice. But they were Americans! Capitalist pigs!
She sat with them, silently, and ate her soup while they chatted idly and laughed with each other. And as she ate, she noticed America standing in a shadowed doorway, smiling at his people as though he were proud to call them his. And perhaps he was... Natalia realized with a jolt that she had never seen that kind of pride in her beloved brother's face. He was not proud of his people.
Here was America, helping her despite how he was in an economic slump, helping her despite her ties to Russia, helping her merely because she needed help, and still proud of how happy his people still could be. And there was her beloved brother, who would probably be hiding when she got back, who probably wouldn't keep his agreement.
She looked down at her soup. You don't know that, Belaruska. For all you know, he's waiting with open arms.
But she knew it was a feeble hope. She stood and walked over to America, who ruffled her hair almost affectionately as he asked, "Ready to go?"
She nodded softly, following him to the helicopter. They didn't speak all the way back to Russia, where he dropped her off a bit out of sight of Russia's mansion and made a gesture like he was tipping his hat, grinning down at her. The chopper blades started up, and he took off, glancing back a few times as she turned and walked toward her brother's house.
As little as I like to admit it... you were my hero in this adventure, America. I have to give you that... if you hadn't helped me, I would never have gotten back here.
So thank you, you hero-delusional capitalist pig.
AN: Be sure to give your opinions on this (did I do things good, or was this a little piece of sh*t that should never have existed?), your thoughts on my insanity (Belarus/Canada being the main focus of that topic), or just a review saying "Hey, I read this, and I liked/disliked it for these reasons... (insert reasons here)"
Whatever you do...
REVIEW
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(good things come in threes, non?)
