Hey everyone! :D
Welcome to a more magic themed Hetalia fic! I hope you'll enjoy it but there will be quite a bit of Welsh in it as a warning but I'll try make sure it's understood! :D
And with that, voilà!
Diogelwch (Diog-el-ukh) – Shield me
England
The study of the border house I shared with Wales was quite grand for its style. A stone fireplace was unlit in the far corner of the square room with a neat stack of wood on its right mirroring the iron pokers balanced against the wall. The floor was wooden and the small amount of wallpaper visible from behind the mass of oaken bookshelves was dark green. The walls were packed tight with British literature, though the majority were English, and every so often someone would rise to take one of the old books.
Five countries, including myself, sat around a heavy round table. Various lamps from around the room bathed us all in an amber glow but the large ceiling light remained cold while the sun was still up outside the windows.
I usually had a few informal meetings about myths and all with Romania and Norway but today it had been turned into a pseudo 'Bring your brother to work day'. It was Wales' house as well as mine and he was equally interested in magic so the Welshman had decided to come along with me. Iceland was grumbling in the corner chair and trying to look as uninterested as possible as the rest of us talked. He patted down his silver hair like it was a cap he could pull down over his eyes and ignore us even further. Norway had wanted them to have some fun as teachers but so far Iceland hadn't really done anything. It was a shame because beneath their rather icy outer appearances I could tell that Norway and Iceland really cared for each other.
Romania was making a joke about Hamlet to Norway which resulted in the rare occasion of me holding my tongue; the embarrassment of that night was still burnt clearly into my mind. However, I didn't plan on forgetting it entirely. Wales met my eyes and we exchanged brief glances. I opened my mouth but something stole my attention away before I could speak.
The sound was muted from being rooms away but that fact alone made me realise how loud it must have been in the first place. My light smile dropped into a scowl at the person's gall. I had a doorbell.
"England?" Norway inquired with a sideways glance away from Romania.
I stood up and apologised to the guests around the table. "Hope you don't mind if I just get this," I muttered. I left quickly and helped I could make my absence a minimal problem.
I passed through the long living room and opened the door into the hall. I stopped to listen out but the knocking had stopped by then, escalating my annoyance. Yet I still picked up the rustic-shaped key off its place on the small table and unlocked the front door since I felt obligated to at least check whether there was anything to get bothered about.
I had been expecting to see America or some equally annoying face but instead green eyes met nothing but the view outside. I peeked my head out past the threshold and scrutinised the woods surrounding the isolated home. The air was brisker than an average September the sky being completely overcast and grey was nothing out of the ordinary. The gravelly drive wasn't empty but there wasn't anything beyond Wales' small silver car. We hadn't really expected Iceland so the journey from the airport had been tighter than I would have preferred it to be. The younger country hadn't been happy to say the least.
I resigned and made to close the door. My eyes fell automatically to the floor to check I wouldn't catch my feet but then they caught something a bit different. I stopped and stared. There was a small wooden box open and revealing three peculiar items resting on a thin white sheet.
I stooped down to inspect them and raised a thick eyebrow in curiosity. The items seemed to be amulets and even though the back was made from black metal the cord was made from a coarse rope like a wick. Stranger still, the oval base seemed to be made of wax and scratched onto the smooth surface of each pendant was a word I didn't understand. 'Cannwyll'. I didn't recognise it but I felt that I should have. It was faintly familiar.
I had never seen anything like these before but I certainly wasn't an idiot. I rolled my eyes at the nerve of whoever left this 'gift' on my doorstop. I turned my back on them and headed briskly back to the others. I poked my head into the study.
"R-" I paused after finding the Romanian apparently deep in conversion with my brother so it was Norway instead who caught my eye. His arms were folded and he was twisted on his seat as if he'd just finished saying something to his brother.
I tilted my head in the outside's direction. "Would you mind helping for a second?" Despite his expression he didn't object.
I led him to the hall and he noticed the box immediately. Norway brushed his choppy blonde fringe from his face then moved forwards to inspect the 'gifts' with the same scrutinising expression I'd had.
"So, let's just take these with us all willy-nilly, shall we?" I deadpanned, accompanying the sarcasm with a smirk.
"I'm going to get rid of them. Only an idiot would suggest otherwise," Norway said, the hint of a smirk playing in his voice but not quite on his face.
"Ha ha. Let's just do this."
Norway got back onto his feet and stepped away from the chest while I strode forwards, resulting in the two of us standing side-by-side. I took the star-tipped wand from my trouser pocket and Norway raised his hands in preparation.
I glanced at Norway. "I'll close the chest from here but feel free to do as you wish if something goes awry," I instructed. I turned my head so I was concentrating solely on the obviously magically amulets. I brandished my wand at them.
I flicked it in the chest's direction and expected the wooden lid to snap shut immediately but instead there was no reaction whatsoever. I frowned internally but kept my face clear. I felt the magic but couldn't see a result. Something was wrong.
Levitation was one of the simplest spells; I even do it my sleep, not that it didn't cause certain problems when I did, but nothing happened this time. The amulets didn't move from their bed, similarly to anyone waking up on a Monday morning. I tried to make my failure unknown to my friend and I quickly made another attempt. The wand swished curtly through the air but once again I was met with naught. Well, not exactly.
It was more obvious to me now. I felt the magic. I knew I was doing something but it hadn't manifested in the way I'd intended. It was them. Cannwyll. Cannwyll. I repeated that word in my head over and over, frustrated at my failure. I was knowledgeable about all sorts of magic from across the globe but I couldn't place that word. I racked my mental library furiously.
Slightly dishevelled golden hair danced in front of my forest-green eyes as I thought. I paused. I was indoors, yet I definitely felt a wind circling me. I took a footstep back but felt the air continue spiralling around me regardless. I wasn't sure what to do until it suddenly changed.
A gust of sharp energy slammed into me through my heart and a cry burst involuntarily from my lips. My eyes widened at the unexpected fierceness but my horror escalated when the second bought of air daggers made me realise it was just the beginning.
"England!" Norway moved towards me but stopped in indecision. His eyes darted back and forth from me to the box as my body began to shudder under the attacks. The hand still clutching my wand trembled violently but I found it would not unclench. The pain locked up my movements and rendered me helpless to its cruel whims. I gritted my teeth but a barely stifled cry exploded out as another blast sent it flying into the air.
The Norwegian's violet eyes were wide in panic and his expression flashed in thought before narrowing at the strangeness' source. He tore his focus away from me and held his hands out at the amulets, breathing a final calming breath before setting the air around the box on fire. Blue flames so bright they were almost white manifested and waved in the air, bending in retaliation to the circling magic, before Norway thrust his fists at the box. He harnessed the magic tumbling over itself with the colours of the northern lights and hurled it all at the twisted cause.
The fire shot at the box like a hailstorm of arrowheads. Norway's magic tore at the wooden door frame and shredded the carpet with ease. However, through watering eyes I watched the amulets remain on their bed, completely unaffected.
There was a moment when Norway was still and watched the box in an almost expectant way, until the amulets replied.
The explosion of our combined magic previously stored inside the enchanted wax billowed out from the pendants straight towards the two of us. Cerulean and emerald fire enveloped the hall and consumed us, the heat searing and clawing at any exposed skin. However, my mind collapsed before my body did.
Wales
"And that's why the dragon will always be the best national animal," I concluded proudly.
I had no idea why but Romania was still looking unimpressed even after all my arguments. He crossed his arms and flashed me a smirk. "Not as good as a lynx, Rhys. For one, it's actually native."
"Hey, Dewi is real."
"For you, me, Lukas, and your brothers. He's invisible to the others which means you can't even show him off and I think that's the real point." Romania leant back in his chair. "But it's better than a unicorn, I'll give you that."
I chuckled softly. Scotland was never going to hear the end of that.
Romania turned to Iceland in the corner. "And you, Emil? Are you going to put any defence?"
Iceland averted his violet eyes from the Romanian's red poutily. "I don't want to join in this stupid debate. And the gyrfalcon's obviously better anyway," he muttered afterwards and I smiled sneakily at his response.
"I wonder what Arthur was up to. Do you think it was just a cold caller?" Romania wondered.
"Probably not. Arthur doesn't bother with people like that, and it's a pretty isolated house."
Iceland rolled his eyes with an audible sigh. "I just hope they get back soon. Lukas is my ride home." He paused for a moment. "And what are they doi..."
There was a scream. It was softened by the rooms between its source and us but loud enough for none of us to miss it. I shot out of my seat and my eyes darted to the wall. "Who was that?!"
Romania furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm not sure..."
There was another, even louder scream and it removed any doubt the three of us still had. We all scrambled to exit the study and sprinted through the lounge but I stopped dead in tracks, my eyes startlingly wide.
I threw myself between the other countries and what I saw, acting entirely on instinct as I did so since all my reasoning had been replaced with pure panic. I braced and clenched my eyes shut from the harsh unearthly flames incoming.
The jade-sapphire fire exploded out of the hall and blasted me off my feet. Romania yelped as I crashed back into him and a polite apology sparked in my brain but I had no time to voice it. I opened an uneasy eye after not feeling any of the impact I'd been preparing for.
I watched in shock as the fire whipped away from me. It halted and withdrew like someone retracting a hand. I stared at it incredulously as the walls and floors were revealed to be undamaged. I wondered briefly whether it was just an illusion but when I stepped forwards I was confronting a massive block of heat.
"Urgh." As a Welshman I was not good with heat. Dewi was usually good enough to avoid setting me on fire so it wasn't usually a problem I had to deal with. Iceland then pushed past me, blinking to get used to the drastic change in brightness but looking unaffected by the aftermath of the fire.
Romania and I managed to follow him, albeit with a lot of difficulty, and we found ourselves in a surprisingly normal-looking hall. There were the two exceptions though.
I gasped with my eyes locked on the two blondes standing like statues in the centre. England and Norway's expressions were blank like they were in shock with strange stones hanging from the rough cords around their necks.
I took a step forward, my movements slow in apprehension. "England..?"
The two of them turned to the sound of my voice like magnets to metal. I wanted to back away from their blank eyes but stayed where I was in hope of helping them.
"Arthur? Lukas? What's going on?" I asked.
They didn't respond verbally. England held out his wand like a knight brandishing his sword and green light sparked from his eyes and amulet. My face fell and I automatically yelled the first word that came to my mind.
"Diogelwch!" The spell expanded out and England's own magic twisted to obey my command. The stream forked out like a river and circled around me, creating a shield just as I'd wanted.
"Wales!" Iceland warned but it was too late by that point. England's magic I could affect. Norway's I could not.
It would not be the opening chapter to one of my fics if I left you with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside, would it? ;)
I hope you enjoyed it and I would love if you reviewed, favourited or followed and told me if you liked it or not! :D
