Disclaimer - I do not own Hetalia. Hetalia is the property of Hidekaz Himayura and everything written here is completely and utterly fictional.

This is a story that is little known except maybe by those who were directly involved.

We are all familiar with the popular Japanese animation series "Hetalia." It is a series that has many fans around the world, many people have heard of it, and it has a substantial following, people write fanfics and make videos, and even do some cosplay, all indulging in the fantasy. The characters are representations of nations, and any treaties, alliances and such are represented as human relationships, which excites not only the imagination of its fans but other areas too. Mr Himayura the show's creator is nothing short of a genius for coming up with the idea and designing the characters and the concepts. However, this little story begins with a young man living in France who was a self-employed artist and hired by Mr Himayura to help design some of the characters for Hetalia. You ask anyone if this is true and of course they will deny it. To cut a long story short he happened to be a friend of a friend, and both he and my friend have since passed away. Before he died, my friend, who incidentally was named Arthur Kirkland, and no, he's not the character, he was a real-life person, that I knew quite well, he related to me exactly what happened, and I must say I found it difficult to believe myself, as I am sure anyone reading this will.

His friend Francis Bonnefoy was also a real-life person and he and Arthur had an interesting relationship. Arthur told me that it was a lifelong friendship, but it was so much more and far deeper than either of them could have been able to express at the time. I recall as he sat there talking to me about the whole thing that he spoke so fondly of Francis, the look of love that was unmistakable in his eyes. I know he was crying inside when he told me about him.

Francis worked from home in Paris. He was 26 years old, with long neck length blonde hair which he kept tied in a little ponytail with a blue ribbon, and according to Arthur he had big blue eyes, and wore blue a lot to match them. He and Arthur spent all of their spare time together, and would go out often, as they both enjoyed a good night out and a drink. After a while Francis landed a contract working for a Japanese animation company and he spent a lot more time indoors. Arthur had to go back to England to work in his TV production company and for a while they lost touch, but after a few months they finally got in touch again, but during those six months something was happening with Francis that Arthur didn't know about. Francis being the way he was, didn't want to tell him the truth but after six months of hardly any contact Arthur met Francis in a restaurant in Paris and was struck by how gaunt the young man looked. He told he me he'd suspected at that point that things were bad, really bad… he told me about that night, how he had booked a table for them but when Francis showed up he was ten minutes late and Arthur could see that he looked tired. Arthur didn't say anything out of politeness, but he could see that he wasn't in good shape at all. Francis didn't go into the problem, but he also didn't want to eat much or go out afterwards. So, after sharing a small meal and catching up, they went back to Francis' modern apartment in the city centre. Arthur told me about his apartment, that it was spacious and modern with a couple of red sofa's and white walls, and in the window was Francis' workstation with all the things he was working on and his easel and equipment. As he tells me they sat and listened to some 80s music and talked about the past, music like "Take on me" by AHA which both of them loved.

"This song…" Arthur said and laughed as he drank a glass of wine "It was always the video that got me." He said "When the girl actually transcends reality by going into the comic book, because a hot guy winks at her from its pages." He chuckled.

Francis smiled and agreed with him about that. "Oui that was always something I thought was very romantic." He said. "It is a pity that it cannot happen in real life." he said sadly "The world of animation is in my opinion, so much better than reality." he uttered and laughed, but that laugh seemed to turn to sadness and he looked very distant. Arthur tried to ask him what was wrong but somehow he couldn't find the words. Instead he started to talk about Francis' job, helping design characters for a new Japanese animation for Mr Himayura, who as it happens had asked him to design a couple of characters in particular, for England and France. Arthur went over to his desk to have a look at some of his drawings that were lying around.

Francis seemed a little agitated when he went over there and stood up, looking very nervous as Arthur picked up a picture and looked at it.

"This er.. character… seems very familiar.." he uttered, looking at it and then back to Francis.

"Actually, I based the character for England on you… but I haven't got round to designing the character for France yet…" he said nervously.

"You… you based England on me?" Arthur gasped and then chuckled. "Well I am honoured… and you even included my eyebrows…" he said and paused and then chuckled. "It's very good… he's quite handsome I think!" he said admiring the picture of him. This particular design was of him as a Pirate and in the background was his ship, The Bloody Rose.

"Thank you… I mean… I was only following Mr Himayura's ideas really but it seemed you would be perfect for the character as you are English and you like your tea and… well.. you're just everything Mr Himayura wants in the character.. " Francis continued nervously. Arthur didn't realise it at the time but there was a reason why he was so nervous.

Soon however it was time for Arthur to go home as he had to work on some projects early the next day and he left him around about 11pm.

Arthur then leaned forward to me and spoke quietly. "I'm no expert…" he said "But Francis, when he created a character, he would speak to it, like it was a real person." he said to me, and then explained he'd seen him do it a number of times. He also explained that he had found a number of diaries left by Francis before he died and had been compelled to read them.

After some encouragement Arthur was persuaded to tell me what was in those diaries and I am quite unsure what to think about it.

It was true that Francis liked to talk to his characters and according to his diaries, the character for Arthur Kirkland was very special, based on him, his real life English friend. He would sit there for hours drawing and although Arthur had no idea of this, he would tell his character how much he loved him. I could picture him sitting there at his desk designing him.

"You are so handsome Monsieur…" he would utter softly as he drew his eyes, and he would make them as deep and sensitive as he possibly could, not forgetting the eyebrows, which to him were a distinguishing feature, but reminded him of the real Arthur.

"I love you so much.." he would continue, "I've always loved you.."

Arthur didn't realise till he'd read the diaries afterwards, that those words may not just have been for the character.

Anyway as time went on, it became clear that Francis wasn't well at all, and one Saturday when he and Arthur were out shopping in Paris he collapsed in the street and was unconscious for a long time. It was so bad that he had to go hospital and whilst he was in there, the doctors did certain tests and a biopsy, as well as a brain scan. Arthur told me how worried he was for him and that he had been anxiously awaiting the results of the scan and the biopsy. He felt relieved when a few weeks later, Francis rang him to say that the scan was clear and there was no problem, and that it must have been an infection that had caused him to faint. However things were not as straightforward as they should have been. Arthur realised later after reading his diaries but at the time Francis was experiencing some strange hallucinations. His diary was of course written in his native language of French but I translated enough to read he following:-

"Monday

I was sitting at my desk drawing today and I had the strangest sensation that I was being watched, and by the characters I was drawing . I tell the England character how I really feel, all the things I wish I could say to Arthur, my best friend in all the world, but today, it was as though he was looking right at me, and I even thought I saw him move…" he wrote "I am sure that Mr Himayura will like the character I made, and I shall suggest that he calls him Arthur Kirkland as I do… for he is so lifelike."

"Wednesday

I can't believe my eyes, and yet it is so real, the characters in the comic book were moving… I just cannot believe it.."

I questioned my friend Arthur about this and he told me the most unusual thing, that Francis believed that Hetalia was like a separate and alternative universe from the world we lived in and he seemed fascinated by it. What I'm about to tell you now is my assertion of what actually happened, from what Arthur told me, and from what I could glean from Francis' diaries.

It was a dark night, and cold as it was the middle of January, and Francis Bonnefoy was sitting at his desk nursing a terrible headache. He had just got off the phone with Arthur Kirkland and had tried to reassure him that the biopsy and brain scan he'd had were clear, but they weren't clear. He was suffering from a very advanced brain tumour that was pressing on his frontal lobe and there was nothing anyone could do about it. The doctors had given him perhaps weeks to live but he couldn't bring himself to tell anyone that. He had opted to stay at home and try to work, not telling a soul, not his employers or his best friend, exactly what was wrong.

One night after Arthur had left him, Francis was so ill that he fell against the door of his apartment and struggled to get to the sofa where he could lie down. He had a view of the portrait he'd been drawing of Arthur Kirkland as a Pirate and though he was in so much pain he felt compelled to look at it. Pirate England seemed to look back, and in fact Francis saw him move, and more than that he raised his hand and beckoned him over. As he got up and moved towards his workstation and Pirate Arthur, it was like his headache seemed to vanish, and Pirate England winked at him and beckoned him over. Francis watched wide eyed as the Pirate's hand seemed to come out of the paper and reach out to him.

At first the Frenchman was overwhelmed and in fact a bit afraid of this, but as he looked at him the Pirate smiled at him and somehow he felt like he could trust him, and so he took his hand, and Francis found himself being pulled inside …inside somewhere else, somewhere beautiful and colourful… and the drawing was no longer just a drawing.

To be continued…

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This is a collab/RP written by Copperbell111 and Raindropsonmyteacup We hope you like it.