((Happy NaNoWriMo/Halloween, everyone! Here's the first chapter of a story I've been planning for a long time now. I'm quite excited for this, and I hope everyone enjoys it. It was originally intended to be a crackish story making fun of magical girl anime, but as I thought more about it, it gradually became pretty serious. It'll still have a lot of general magical girl trope mockery, as evidenced by this chapter. I wrote this first chapter in the course of about 3 hours, and I'm pulling an all-nighter, so don't be surprised if I update again. I wasn't planning on going all night originally, but I figured since it was already 1 AM and the Hetalia Halloween event starts at 6, I might as well make some use of the 5 hours I would normally spend trying to fall asleep.
Since this is for NaNoWriMo, after all, it's all unedited. I apologize for any cringe-worthy moments, and I'll probably edit it after November. Probably. Maybe.))
Feliciano Vargas lay sprawled out in bed, his auburn hair spilling onto the pillow. He had been in the midst of a rather pleasant dream when his phone buzzed, indicating a text alert. However, Feliciano was a heavy sleeper, so he ignored it.
Then it buzzed again.
And again.
And again.
Sighing, Feliciano sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily. He clumsily unlocked his phone and read his texts.
7:13, Ludwig
Where are you? It's past 7:00. Get up.
7:19, Ludwig
Wake up. You're going to make us both late.
7:26, Ludwig
If you aren't up by 7:30 I'm going to leave without you.
7:34, Ludwig
FELICIANO I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DON'T WAKE UP RIGHT NOW I WILL COME TO YOUR HOUSE AND WAKE YOU UP MYSELF AND YOU WILL NOT ENJOY IT.
Glancing at his alarm clock, Feliciano realized that it was almost 7:45, well past the time he was usually supposed to meet his best friend, Ludwig, at the corner so they could walk to school. Actually, at this rate, it was past time for school to start anyway.
"Oh no! I'm going to be late! Ludwig's gonna be so mad!" Feliciano exclaimed, throwing the covers off and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He promptly fell onto the floor, with his phone following shortly behind.
Whimpering slightly, Feliciano pushed himself to his feet and stumbled over to the dresser, pulling out some random clothes and throwing them on. He then ran to the kitchen, shoved some bread in the toaster, and ran to the bathroom. After sloppily brushing his teeth, or at least making some sort of effort to, he ran back to the kitchen and grabbed his bag, slinging it over one shoulder. He caught the toast as it popped out and shoved it in his mouth, running clumsily out the door in a panic without even bothering to lock it.
Feliciano ran down the street, quickly chewing the unbuttered toast and struggling to get his bag closed. He barely avoided getting hit by a car, having not bothered to cross the street. As he ran down the sidewalk, he didn't even notice where he was going until he found himself colliding with an unexpected obstacle. Feliciano fell over backwards, landing on his butt and spilling his books everywhere.
"Ah! I-I'm sorry, I didn't see you there, please don't kill me!" Feliciano exclaimed, scrambling to collect his books.
"No, don't worry about it," said an accented voice. Feliciano looked up to see a handsome young man with messy blonde hair and bushy eyebrows meet his eyes, collecting Feliciano's books and offering him an apologetic smile.
"Oh, um, thank you," Feliciano replied, standing up. "I'm Feli-" he began, but when he looked up, the man was gone. Feliciano blinked confusedly.
"That was strange… I could have sworn he was here just a second ago," he mumbled to himself, frowning. He thought about the mysterious stranger for a moment, before the familiar buzzing of his phone brought him out of his trance.
"Ah, that's right! I have to go before Ludwig murders me!" Feliciano exclaimed, beginning to run again.
Ludwig sat in class, trying to pay attention to what the teacher was saying. He was in a bad mood, and there was one thing he couldn't get off his mind: Once again, Feliciano was late. His idiotic best friend whom he almost always walked to school with had apparently forgotten to wake up that morning, and still hadn't shown up. Now, if he was 5 or even 10 minutes late, that would be one thing; But it had been almost 45 minutes, and if there was one thing Ludwig hated, it was extreme lateness.
Just as he was beginning to consider ditching class in order to go strangle his friend, the door was thrown open.
"Here I am! Sorry I'm late, everyone!" Feliciano exclaimed, standing in the doorway trying to catch his breath. His hair was a mess, his shirt was on backwards, his face was covered in what appeared to be toast crumbs, his hands were scraped up, and his bag was falling off his arm.
The teacher, who was rather used to Feliciano's strange behavior, merely sighed. "Just go sit down, Vargas."
"I'm sorry," Feliciano repeated, hurrying to his seat. He waved to his friends Ludwig and Kiku. Kiku frowned slightly, concerned about his friend's appearance, while Ludwig gave him a we'll-discuss-this-later look that clearly meant he was going to kill Feliciano.
"Dude, what the heck? You're like, an hour late," came the intelligent observation of Alfred F. Jones, the class's resident loud, obnoxious moron. He was soon elbowed by his twin brother Matthew, who shushed him.
"No talking in class, Alfred," the teacher said, confirming Matthew's warning. Alfred rolled his eyes and pouted slightly, leaning back in his seat and putting his feet up on the desk.
From that point on, the day went by quickly. Class was eventually dismissed for lunch, and Feliciano joined Ludwig and Kiku at their usual table. Feliciano was cheerful as usual, but Ludwig was not, and decided to skip right to the point.
"You were late," he said plainly, glaring at Feliciano. Feliciano shrunk back slightly.
"I forgot to get up," he explained, smiling sheepishly.
"I texted you FOUR TIMES," Ludwig pointed out, looming intimidatingly over the small Italian. Feliciano whimpered and hid behind Kiku slightly.
"L-Ludwig-san, please do not be so hard on Feli-kun. I am sure he had a good reason," Kiku said awkwardly, attempting to diffuse the tension. He then turned to Feliciano. "Are you alright? You appeared rather distressed this morning," he observed, concerned.
"Ah, yeah," Feliciano replied, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "See, I had to run really fast to get to school on time or else I would be really late and then I'd get in trouble, but then I crashed into this guy in the middle of the sidewalk, and then I fell and spilled alllllll my books so I had to pick them up, and then I looked up and the person was GONE!" Feliciano explained excitedly, barely pausing for breath.
Ludwig rolled his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. He probably just left before you noticed."
"No, really!" Feliciano insisted. "I saw him, and then I looked down, and when I looked up he had disappeared! Like poof!"
"Did it really go poof?" Kiku inquired curiously. Ludwig facepalmed.
"Well no, but if he really did disappear, I bet it would be like poof," Feliciano mused.
"What's this about stuff going poof? Do you guys need a hero to find your stuff for you?" Alfred asked, hopping onto the table and sitting on top of it (Much to Ludwig's annoyance).
"Feliciano-kun claims to have seen a man disappear," Kiku replied, nodding politely to Alfred.
"Woah, dude! That's weird!" Alfred exclaimed.
"I wonder if it was a ghost," Matthew added quietly, appearing mysteriously behind his brother, although nobody seemed to notice this.
"Don't be ridiculous," Ludwig argued. "Things such as ghosts don't exist."
"Well then where'd that guy go?" Feliciano asked.
"I told you, he probably just left while you weren't looking," Ludwig replied.
"No way! He couldn't have left that quickly!"
"I'm telling you, it's gotta be a ghost," Alfred insisted.
"QUIET DOWN ARU!" Kiku's cousin Yao, a senior, shouted from across the room.
"Ah, sorry about that," Matthew replied, smiling apologetically.
"I believe it is time to get back to class," Kiku pointed out.
"Ja, I think you're right," Ludwig agreed. "After all, we wouldn't want to be LATE," he added, giving Feliciano a look.
"I already said I'm sorry!" Feliciano shouted, putting his hands up in surrender.
Ludwig sighed. "Whatever. Let's just get to class."
"I'll race ya!" Alfred announced, dashing off down the hallway.
"Alfred, no!" Matthew protested, but it was too late. He was gone. Matthew sighed in exasperation. "I really wish he would stop doing that…"
As usual, Feliciano had gone over to Ludwig's house after school, which wasn't really a big deal since they happened to live next door to each other.
"Ludwiggggg, this homework is so boringgggg," Feliciano whined, rolling over and placing his head in his friend's lap, directly on top of his textbook. Ludwig growled slightly and attempted to push him away.
"We have to finish it, this is due Wednesday," he pointed out, blushing ever-so-slightly.
"Yeah, but it's so boring… Can't we at least take a break?" Feliciano complained.
"No."
"Pleeeeease?" Feliciano asked, giving Ludwig a hopeful puppy face. Ludwig sighed; There was simply no way he could say no to that face.
"Fine, we can take a break," he said reluctantly, closing his textbook.
"Yay!" Feliciano exclaimed happily, jumping up and reaching for the TV remote. He switched the TV on and flipped through the channels, stopping at what appeared to be an episode of a magical girl anime.
"Wow, so cool!" he announced, watching with interest. "Wouldn't it be cool if we could be like her, Ludwig? Wouldn't it?"
"Not really," Ludwig replied. "That's a huge responsibility. She could easily be killed at any moment, and god knows how she manages to get any sleep. Not to mention that skirt is way too short," Ludwig observed.
"You're no fun," Feliciano said, pouting. Ludwig simply shrugged.
"I just think these shows are a bit unrealistic, that's all," he explained.
"Yo! The Awesome Me is home!" Ludwig's brother Gilbert shouted, walking into the living room.
"Welcome back," Ludwig replied.
"Ve! Hi Gilbert!" Feliciano said, waving.
"Hey Feli! I heard about your little adventure this morning," Gilbert replied, grinning amusedly.
"What? How'd you know about that?" Feliciano asked.
"Well, Yao overheard you guys talking about it, and he told that guy Ivan, who told Lovino, who bitched about it to Antonio, who told me," Gilbert explained.
Ludwig rolled his eyes. "You and your gossip…"
Choosing to ignore his little brother's comment, Gilbert flopped down on the couch next to him.
"Whatcha watchin'?" he asked curiously.
"Some ridiculously girly anime," Ludwig replied, shrugging. "I'm not really watching it, but Feliciano seems to like it."
"It's really cool! The girl in the show is amazing!" Feliciano said excitedly.
"Woah, she kinda looks like Basch," Gilbert observed. "Except, you know, less pissy and with more boobs."
Ludwig facepalmed.
A few minutes later, there came a loud, angry knock at the door.
"West, someone's knocking," Gilbert stated, glued to the TV.
"I know."
"So go get it," Gilbert told him. Ludwig scowled at his lazy brother and went to answer the door.
Standing angrily by the front door was a boy who looked similar to Feliciano, with redder hair and a permanent aura of asshole-ness.
"There you are, potato bastard," he mumbled, glaring at Ludwig. "Where the hell is my brother? It's almost dinner time."
"Ja, I'll go get him," Ludwig said, sighing. Why couldn't Feliciano's brother be more like him?
"Feli, Lovino's here," Ludwig announced, turning the TV off.
"Hey! I was watching that!" Gilbert shouted.
"Aww, I wanted to find out what happens," Feliciano mumbled, frowning sadly.
"I'm sure it's on the internet somewhere if you're really that concerned," Ludwig pointed out.
"Yeah, I guess so. Bye Ludwig!" Feliciano said, giving his friend a goodbye hug.
"See you tomorrow," Ludwig replied.
"Bye," Gilbert added, waving while still not looking away from the TV.
Feliciano bounced down the hall to the doorway, where he found his brother looking pissed as usual.
"Ve, sorry I took so long," Feliciano said casually. "There was a really cool anime on TV! You should have seen it!"
"Whatever, I don't want to hear your crappy excuses," Lovino snapped. "Let's just go home. I'm fucking starving."
That night as Feliciano lay in bed, his thoughts drifted to the anime he had been watching earlier. The heroine's graceful moves, her powerful attacks, her cute outfit, the way she always stood up for what was right… It seemed so cool to him. A little scary, perhaps, yet wonderful. At the same time, there was another thing his thoughts often returned to: The mysterious stranger from that morning. Who was he? Where did he come from? Where did he go? Try as he might to ignore these questions, there was a distinct nagging in the back of his mind, a part of him that just refused to forget that strange incident.
Eventually, however, Feliciano was able to drift off into a deep, peaceful sleep.
…For a while.
At approximately 2 AM, Feliciano was awoken by a bright light and the smell of burnt food. He sleepily sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"Lovino? Is that you?" he mumbled tiredly, glancing around the room.
"Oh, shit," came the reply. Though it was certainly a phrase worthy of his brother, the voice was definitely not him. Feliciano blinked the sleep out of his eyes and looked to see a man standing in front of his bed, with messy blonde hair, deep green eyes, large eyebrows, feathery white wings, and what appeared to be a halo.
"Ve… Are you an angel?" Feliciano asked, a sense of child-like wonder in his voice.
"What? No, I am not!" the mysterious figure snapped.
"But you have angel wings," Feliciano pointed out, "And a halo."
"Look, Guardians were around long before- Oh, screw it. Listen, you're Italian, right?" the not-angel demanded.
"Um, yeah, but why-"
Before Feliciano could finish, the strange man placed his hand on Feliciano's forehead, closing his eyes. He inhaled deeply, and his halo began to glow brighter. Mysterious wind and colorful uplighting came out of nowhere, and Feliciano felt a strange tingling sensation, as if something inside him was changing somehow.
Slowly the light began to disappear, the wind died down, and the not-angel released his breath, letting his hand fall to his side.
"What was that?" Feliciano whispered, slightly stunned.
"I can't explain now," the not-angel said hastily. "Go back to sleep. I was never here, alright?"
"But-"
"I said go to sleep," the not-angel repeated, smacking Feliciano on the head with a star-shaped wand.
"Ok, buona notte," Feliciano mumbled, falling over and instantly falling asleep.
Checking once to make sure his spell had worked, the not-angel was satisfied and climbed out the window.
"Ow, ow! You're stepping on my hand!" someone shrieked next to him.
"Shut up, do you want to wake up the whole damn neighborhood?" the not-angel whispered sharply, moving his foot.
"The least you could do is say sorry," the other person insisted, crossing his arms haughtily. It was a fairly young man, with wavy blonde hair and stubble. "Anyway, are you done?"
"With him, anyway," the not-angel replied.
"Good, I'm hungry," the other man announced.
"Why the hell should I care?"
"Because we're friends and friends care about each other," the blonde said matter-of-factly.
"We are not friends," the not-angel insisted.
"Whatever you say… Anyway, can't we go to KFC or something?"
"Don't be ridiculous. We've still got plenty of work to do and I won't be able to change out of this form for another 10 hours, at least," the not-angel explained.
"So then I'll go get the food, you wait, and we can eat in the car," the other man suggested.
"No."
"Please?"
"I said no."
"But I'm hungry. Aren't you hungry? Come on, you have to be hungry after such a huge spell!"
"No means no!"
"Fine…" the man sighed reluctantly. "On to the next target, then?"
"Geez, you make it sound like we're robbing people," the not-angel mumbled.
"Well technically we ARE breaking and entering," the other man pointed out.
"Yes, but it's for a good cause! Now let's go," the not-angel insisted.
"Alright then."