All provinces, except Alberta and Ontario, used were created by ctcSherry; the voices are from their respective voice actors/actresses and appear on YouTube in "Canada Eh?" videos.
The characters of Alberta and Ontario I use in this fic [physical appearance and personalities] are by Nanihoo and are used with permission! Thanks!
All of the province's reactions and modes of thought are fictional and any relation to any actual province is entirely coincidental. Sort of. :D
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Ontario has been acting up lately and all the provinces are fed up with his antics. Alberta decides that big brother needs a lesson in humility and hatches a plan to get even on Halloween night at the very spooky Frank Slide site.
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My first ever fic starring with the provinces of Canada and with appearances by Matthew! This is for the October assignment in the "IAMMATTHEWIAN" club on dA and the first chapter of three. It's not scary, really, just silly and ridiculously funny. :D
I took the art designs for the provinces that were created by ctcSherry and their way of thought down to a sound bite from voice actor/actress auditions-the voices that were chosen to represent the characters-on the "Canada, Eh!" vids on YouTube [which are side splittingly hilarious!] and a LOT of poetic license taken by me! There are many interpretations; this is mine. :) Also, the designation of "older/middle/younger brother/sister" comes from the date when each province came into Confederation. Since this also set in Canada and is, in essence, a Canada-centric fic, I'm using the appropriate Canadian spellings of words. :)
Thanks to my readers and all those who have favourited, reviewed, story alerted, favourite author or author alerted me. I appreciate it more than I can say! :)
Special thanks to my beloved husband, DezoPenguin, for all his help, support, advice, nagging (when necessary) and encouragement! I appreciate it more than I can say! Love you!
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This fic is dedicated to Nanihoo, with grateful thanks! Hope you enjoy this and thank you very much for allowing me to use your Alberta and Ontario characters! Much appreciated! :)
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Any and all comments will be appreciated and are enthusiastically welcomed! :)
Hetalia Axis Powers, Teen, AU
Also posted to dA.
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October 29th
Backyard of Matthew's Residence
10 P.M.
He watched them from his place in the shadows, his heart racing with excitement as he watched them play. A wolfish grin spread out over his face; they had no idea that he was even here watching them and that was all to the good. After all, what Halloween prank ever goes off smoothly when the ones who are to be pranked know that its coming? Surprise, he had discovered, was the best offence!
The young girl and boy, accompanied by their loyal canine companion, played happily in the sandbox, trilling gaily as the young boy, Newfoundland, was particularly successful in making one of the best sand castles that his female companion, Nunavut, found particularly impressive. All the while the children were blissfully unaware that he was even there, watching them silently from his shadowy corner.
This is what he lived for every Halloween: the opportunity to play his annual prank on his brothers and sisters. Truthfully, he enjoyed it much more than his victims did and he didn't know that at least two of them, Alberta and Manitoba, were actively plotting their revenge. He did know, however, that neither of them had appreciated his last prank and, until this one, he had considered to be his best ever!
He preened as he remembered the set-up: Alberta had gotten in a shipment of cattle and, instead of going to the ranch as they normally did, he'd managed to circumvent them to the Vancouver Aquarium in Vancouver, British Columbia. Alberta nearly had heart failure when her cattle shipment failed to arrive and watching her scramble about, tearing at her hair and melting down was the best entertainment he'd had in over one hundred years!
Of course, when Dad found out about it, as he always did although he wasn't exactly sure how, he wasn't at all amused over his cleverness; in fact, Dad had made him confess to Alberta what he'd done and apologize to his sister, much to his chagrin. He hadn't wanted to since he really wasn't at all sorry he'd done it-he felt that she deserved it for putting that itching powder in his bath salts three weeks earlier-but, when Dad gave him that look, he hastened to apologize.
To add insult to injury, as far as he was concerned, Dad had also made him accompany Alberta to go and pick up her cattle; after he was able to sit down again a week or so later, he discovered that riding a horse for a thousand miles or so driving cattle really/i wasn't his idea of fun.
"Can't you two even try to get along?" Matthew, his Dad, had asked them both, exasperation evident in his tone as he stood there looking at them, his arms crossed over his chest, his violet eyes narrowed into narrow slits that seemed to be enhanced by his glasses which were perched on the bridge of his nose. "Honestly, you'd think that the two of you just came out of the Stone Age!"
Alberta couldn't help herself; a nervous titter escaped her before she had a chance to stop it, quailing under the hard look that Matthew gave her. Her brother looked smug; for once, the favoured child was in the doghouse! And he had been the one to put her there!
It's about time I finally got one up on her!
Matthew, who'd noticed the smug expression plastering itself all over his eldest son's face, turned his baleful look from Alberta to Ontario who looked defiant for a few minutes before he lowered his head, shuffling his feet nervously, his hands clutched together behind his back. "And you, Ontario! For heaven's sake, you're the oldest; you should know better!" Matthew continued on it that vein for some time, his anger growing with each passing moment. He stopped for a few minutes, taking many deep breaths as he tried to get himself under some kind of conscious control before he continued.
Ontario gulped; he'd never seen his Dad this angry before and, at that moment, he knew that he'd crossed a line with this prank. When Ontario dared to sneak a peek at Alberta, the answering tight and angry expression on his younger sister's face told him that she agreed one hundred percent with that sentiment, her crossed arms over her chest which definitely boded trouble for him later. His younger sister wasn't known for letting slights lie; she got even in very creative and unique ways...
Ontario was afraid of Alberta. With good reason. She, besides British Columbia, was a wild one who had her own ways and own ideas about things and how they should be done. He'd tried, on many an occasion, to try to get her to see sense and give up some of her wilder behaviours but it was like speaking to a proverbial stone wall; she refused to listen.
Typical sisterly conduct, he thought to himself with disgust as he continued to watch Newfoundland, Nunavut and Labrador play, she always was a wild one! He snorted. No matter how many times I tried to teach her some manners, she always, always ignored it and did it her way! Otherwise known as the wrong way! You'd think that she would be grateful to have an older brother looking out for her!
He shook his head, rolling his eyes up at the sky, his mouth twisted in a sour grimace and sighing deeply. She never appreciates my efforts and always tells me to-what was the phrase she used again...? Oh yes. "Stuff it!"- whenever I try to help her improve herself! And Dad tells me to try and get along with her? He should be telling her to try and get along with me! It's not my fault that she has no fashion sense, any notion of common courtesy and definitely no love for order! Sisters are such a pain!
At that moment, Nunavut lifted her head slightly at the muffled sound she heard coming from the dark corner, her dark, perplexed eyes looking around the backyard with confusion, peering hard into the darkness. Ontario flattened himself against the back wall, melting into the shadows, his heart beating wildly and cursing softly.
He shouldn't have snorted like he did; he had forgotten just how the sound carried here which was why Dad liked the kids to play here when they were in the outdoors; it was much easier to keep an eye on them this way rather than having them out of sight and, presumably, getting into trouble when Dad's back was turned.
He admitted that this wasn't an entirely fair observation; Nunavut was a good kid and kept to herself for the most part although, for some reason he couldn't entirely fathom, she liked hanging out with Newfoundland who could be a handful more often than not.
Newfoundland looked up from the moat he was making for his sand castle, his blue eyes looking at his sister quizzically, his hands spattered with wet mud.
"What's wrong, Noonie?" he asked, his tone concerned from the very puzzled look on her face.
"I... I thought that I heard something," she replied, her high childish voice trilling out sweetly, tinged with bewilderment, looking around her uncertainly.
"Where?"
Nunavut pointed to the dark corner.
"Over there."
Newfoundland cocked his head, listening hard but he could hear nothing in the darkness except the soft trilling of the grasshoppers.
"I don't hear anything," he replied after a few moment's silence, his brow creased in concentration. He turned to his canine companion who stood stock still in the darkness. "Did you see anything?"
Nunavut shook her head. "I don't see anything." She cocked her head slightly to the right, listening hard. "I don't hear anything, either."
Newfoundland was silent for a few moments before he nodded, his hands already beginning to work the wet sand between his fingers once more before he had been interrupted.
"I wouldn't worry about it, Noonie," he said reasonably, packing the wet sand into the sand pail that sat next to him, "it was probably just a passing bird or something. Besides-" he added, pointing to the snoozing male Labrador Retriever sleeping next to him-"if there had been something there, Labby would have let us know."
"Probably," Nunavut agreed, digging in the sand once more and, before long, both children were hard at work again, their scare forgotten.
The dog, who up until this moment had been quietly napping, lifted his head and rose stiffly to his feet and stretching. He whined softly, scratching the ground with his paw before wandering over to Nunavut and sitting down beside her, scratching his ear with his hind foot before curling into a ball.
Shrugging, both Nunavut and Newfoundland went back to their play, Ontario breathing a huge sigh of relief. That had been too close; he needed to remain perfectly still if he was going to pull this off. He waited awhile longer, the children unaware of his presence as they continued to add to the sandcastle, Labrador sitting beside them, keeping an eye on both the surroundings and the kids.
Ontario took another look at his watch. It was now 10 P.M. And time for him to put his prank into action. He figured that the children had relaxed long enough to put all thoughts of that odd noise out of their minds which meant that his appearance would be quite a surprise to both of them. He giggled softly to himself; he couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces when he popped out at them!
He took the gargoyle mask from out of his pocket and put it over his head, pulling it down snugly over his neck. He checked his watch one more time before taking a deep breath and jumping out of the shadows, yelling and making weird, gargling noises.
The result was even better than he could have hoped for. Both Nunavut and Newfoundland leaped up from the ground, their eyes wide with fear as they clung together, screaming at the top of their lungs. Labrador was barking crazily and racing around in circles, torn between a desire to protect the kids and bite the intruder on one hand and to run away on the other. In the end, all three chose to run, scrambling comically up from the ground and tearing off toward the house, stumbling and falling a few times in their mad flight.
Once the kids were out of sight and their screams were fading into the night, Ontario sauntered over to the side of the house, pleased as punch with the way the prank had gone off. He imagined that Dad wouldn't be too happy when he learned of this newest escapade but, at this point in time, he really didn't care. He'd pulled off the prank perfectly; everything had gone according to plan without the slightest hitch.
Ontario, he said to himself, a wide smirk on his face as he pulled off his mask, you are, without a doubt, a genius!
He whistled a merry tune as he walked into the house from the back door entrance, a wide grin plastered over his face. He couldn't wait to see the kids' faces when he walked in the house and hear the story of a thing that had jumped out at them from the darkness.
He'd certainly made his pre-Halloween much more interesting!
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October 29th
10:30 P.M.
Living room
Nunavut and Newfoundland raced into the living room, screaming hysterically, followed closely by Labrador who was whining and barking in tandem, putting up an unholy din as they tumbled in through the arch that separated the living room from the kitchen area.
Alberta was sitting in the overstuffed chair in the corner by the window reading a book when all hell broke loose. Startled, she jumped up, tossing the book aside, her heart literally in her throat as she saw the kids come tumbling in, screaming at the tops of their lungs, their eyes wide with fear.
They raced toward her and she opened up her arms and scooped them up, holding them close to her while she trilled soft words of comfort. That they had one heck of a scare was obvious; what had caused it was something else all together. She noted, with some interest, that Labrador was just as scared as the children, the dog whining and woofing as he rubbed his side against her leg, his eyes rolling with fear.
What on earth happened here? she thought, biting her lip as she continued to comfort the badly scared children and dog. What did they see that scared them so badly?
She held them for some time before she put them down and, wrapping one arm around the kids while putting her free hand on Labrador's back, giving him soft, gentle strokes from neck to tail and back. It took awhile but she finally got the kids, and dog, calmed down. She waited a few minutes more before she spoke.
"Are you all right?" she asked the children and both Nunavut and Newfoundland nodded uncertainly, still clinging to her although they were much calmer than they had been when they'd first raced into the living room. "Can you tell me what happened?"
Nunavut nodded shakily while Newfoundland still looked like he was in a state of shock.
"We... we were playing in the sandbox," she began, her voice trembling a little as she recounted their tale, "and we were building a sandcastle. Newfoundland was making... making the-the m-moat when I heard a w-w-weird noise!"
"Where did it come from, Noonie?" Alberta asked gently, holding the child close to her chest.
"W-what...?"
"I mean, what direction did it come from?" To Nunavut's stare of incomprehension, she added quickly, "Did it come from the house or from the street outside? Was it close to the sandbox or was it further away?"
Nunavut's face brightened a little as she understood the question Alberta was asking.
"It... it came from the side of the house overlooking the backyard w-where the sandbox i-is," she replied, biting her lip.
Alberta nodded; she knew which side of the house the girl was talking about. The children often played there under Dad's watchful eye and it was conveniently located so that they were never out of sight as long as they were in the sandbox and swing set. She also knew that it was a place where, at night, was mostly hidden in shadow. The perfect place to hide if you were trying to scare a couple of kids...
And I know just who would do something like that, she thought savagely, gritting her teeth. Damn Ontario's hide! What the hell was he trying to prove scaring them like that? She grunted in disgust. He's got some nerve! And to little kids, no less!
"Abby?" she heard a soft voice break in and she looked down to see both Nunavut and Newfoundland looking at her, each sporting identical puzzled looks on their faces. "Are you-you.. o-o-okay? You have such an... odd... expression on y-y-y-y-your f-face..."
Alberta smiled, setting the two children at ease once more.
"I was just thinking, Noonie," she replied airily, nuzzling Nunavut's cheek with the tip of her nose which made the small child giggle in delight, relaxing her even further. "That's all." She smiled again. "You know, I was just thinking that a snack would be perfect right now, say, my special chocolate cherry sundae. Would you like that?"
"Yes!" both children answered in unison, their faces glowing with undisguised happiness.
Alberta put the children on the ground and stood up, stretching slightly as she did so. She looked down at them and extended both of her hands, Nunavut and Newfoundland each taking one in their own.
"Come on," she said brightly as she started walking toward the kitchen, "let's make those sundaes."
The children's crows of delight echoed throughout the house as they made their way toward the kitchen. Alberta looked toward the window and thought she saw a pair of eyes glowering at her from the dark corner; she blinked once, trying to get a better look but, when she looked in that direction again, there wasn't anything there.
She wondered briefly if she'd imagined that pair of baleful eyes but then shrugged; it didn't concern her one way or the other but she couldn't help casting another furtive glance at the corner again just to make sure what she thought she had seen had actually been there.
She got out the ingredients for the sundae, put them on the floating island in the kitchen and helped both Nunavut and Newfoundland up into the bar stools that were at the breakfast nook in the kitchen. She loved this part of the house; she could cook to her heart's delight and watch the beautiful scenery unfolding through the big picture window over the sink.
The children crowed as they watched her make the sundaes, practically snatching the dessert spoons she held out to them and dug in enthusiastically when she put the treat down before them. She didn't have time to put a bib on either of them but seeing them so happy after their nasty scare erased an annoyance this would normally have caused, watching them with undisguised amusement as they devoured the ice cream treat with enjoyment.
Alberta's expression softened as she watched them eat, a soft, proud smile on her face. Even though she and her youngest siblings didn't always get along, they were her blood and bone, too, and she wouldn't stand for anyone deliberately scaring them. In her mind, it was cruel and mean and she knew, without a doubt, just who the perpetrator of this particular prank was... her big brother, Ontario.
Her eyes narrowed. You've gone way too far this time, brother, she thought, getting up from the breakfast nook and retrieving a damp cloth from the kitchen to wipe the children's chocolate smeared faces. Scaring little kids like that is really low, even for you!
She greeted her brother stiffly when he sauntered into the kitchen, the last remnants of the sundaes little spots of chocolate sauce on the sides of the sundae dishes, washing the faces of Nunavut and Newfoundland with gentle strokes. She smiled at them as they bounced off of the bar stools, bounded over to her and jumped into her arms, each of them planting chocolate ice cream kisses on her cheeks before they disappeared into the living room to play with their building blocks.
Ontario watched them leave and Alberta didn't miss that smug, satisfied look that had plastered itself all over his face. She knew that look well; she'd seen it on his face when she found out that her cattle shipment had been inexplicably rerouted to Vancouver, British Columbia and watched the resulting firestorm with undisguised glee.
Yes, my dear brother, you've gone too far this time... and I have the perfect way of getting even with you. She glanced out of the corner of her eye as Ontario went to the cupboard, opened it, took out a mug and opened the refrigerator door, rooting around inside until he found the carton of orange juice.
She watched as he took the carton out of the fridge, twisted off the cap and put it on the counter top and poured himself a glass, putting the cap back on the carton and putting it back. He picked up the glass, brought it to his lips and took a large swallow; a puzzled look came over his face in mid-swallow as he became aware that Alberta was watching him and he nearly choked trying to swallow over the lump in his throat. Besides, I still owe you one for the cattle fiasco even though watching you having to ride a horse for a thousand miles behind ten thousand head of cattle was pretty satisfying, I must admit. Still, you deserve a little payback for this latest scam and I have the perfect way of doing it.
"What?" he asked testily, grabbing a napkin from the napkin holder to blot up the orange juice that had spilled on his vest. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
She smiled wolfishly at her brother who looked startled and then uneasy.
"Nothing," she replied jauntily, smiling her most dazzling smile at her brother. "I'm in a good mood, that's all."
Ontario opened his mouth as if he were about to say something but thought better of it, snapping his mouth shut as he quickly exited the kitchen, throwing a nervous glance over his shoulder at her as he did so.
Yes, dear brother, you're about to get a little of what you dish out... and I can't wait to see the look on your face when this all comes together!
Alberta whistled a happy tune as she cleaned up the breakfast nook, thoughts of sweet, sweet revenge dancing in her head. She'd see to it that Ontario would be taught a lesson that he'd never forget... and she knew just which of her siblings she could go to for help. The thought of what she was planning put a spring in her step and a song in her all this time, her big brother was going to get exactly what he deserved!
With a final look at the kitchen, she tossed the soiled cloth into the hamper by the sink, noting with satisfaction that the marble top table fairly gleamed in the dim, overhead light. She prided herself on being a master of the culinary arts and there was nothing she enjoyed more, besides being out on the range with her cattle, than cooking and baking.
Alberta smiled again, a wide grin spreading over her face.
Revenge is indeed sweet and I can't wait to see the look on his face when we pull this prank on him! She giggled as she walked toward the door, flipping the electrical switch off and plunging the breakfast nook into darkness as she exited the kitchen, closing the door firmly behind her as she left. He's going to be so surprised!