This is going to be one of my first multi-chapter fics, so if you have any constructive criticism, please leave me a review or a send me a PM. It's very much appreciated. e veb This is based off of the song WORLD'S END UMBRELLA, so if you want to hear it before you read, here's the link- .com/watch?v=GhpMiLBcsm8
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia, nor do I own WORLD'S END UMBRELLA.
WARNING: some swearing, slight CanadaxAmerica
An umbrella covers the world preventing all to beings to see the sun and the sky. No one opposes the umbrella. It's 'law'. But not everyone follows the law.
'You're here.'
'You've arrived.'
'It's not a fairy tale.'
A cool breeze gently caresses my face.
'It's time to open your eyes.'
"But what will I see when I open my eyes?
'Open your eyes…'
As I begin to open my eyes, I feel a push on my side. I groaned. It was just another dream. Another figment of my imagination, which will never be real.
"Open your eyes!" Another shove. "You're going to miss breakfast!" Yet another shove, this one almost pushed me off my bed.
"Ugh! Fine, fine! I'm up, I'm up…" I grumbled angrily as my roommate started to shake me. He must've thought that'd make me get up faster. I glared over at the dirty blonde boy that was shaking me. And, of course, he didn't notice the death look I was giving him. Then again, not many people noticed me. It'd been that way since…forever. Well, forever up until I met Alfred, (who was becoming a real pest by shaking me, I'm already up for crying out loud!) that is. He had came to the orphanage a few months after me. He was eleven while I was ten. The first thing he did, after he registered and was sent to lunch, was picking me out of the crowd of kids and boldly sat next to me.
"Hey my name's Alfred! What's yours?"
"My name's Matthew…"
"Can't hear you! Speak up!" He'd shouted, and soon the whole cafeteria was silent.
"M-my name is Matthew…" I mumbled again, blush had risen to my cheeks at that point. But it only got worse, and I was just getting annoyed and embarrassed. The new kid decided it'd be just brilliant to stand on the table to get his point across.
"I. CAN'T. HEAR. YOU." He bellowed. His voice echoed throughout the room. My only thought was 'Where in God's name are the supervisors?'
Fed up with his yelling, I spoke up for the first time in my life.
"I'm Matthew!" I finally shouted back. After realizing what I'd done, I slouched in my seat while the messy haired kid hopped off the table and patted me on the back.
"Nice to meet you Matthew!"
And we've been best friends ever since.
When Alfred paused in shaking me, I managed to sit up, grab my glasses, and place them on my face.
"Let's go, let's go!" Alfred practically yelled at me. Sighing, I slid out of bed and threw on a plain beige t-shirt, some shorts, and socks. Alfred was at the door, dressed in similar attire, his shirt was blue, and was complaining about me being slow. I paused for a moment and listened. Alfred caught on and went silent.
Plip
Plip
Plip
We sighed and exchanged devastated looks. Every day we wake up, hoping that this interminable nightmare would end. That mom and dad would come back, that the 'rain' would end, that we'd wake up and see the deep blue sky of fairy tales. But none of that will ever happen.
Ever.
As we headed down the hallway to the cafeteria, we debated over Mac 'n' cheese being better than hamburgers, which resulted in Alfred almost punching me in the gut, several times actually. He was the one to get overly defensive on silly stuff. While walking down the hallway, we ran into our teacher, Ms. Brown. She was a kind lady, though a little old to be called a 'Miss' in Alfred's opinion, though she seemed fairly young to me. Well, she didn't have any grey hairs like the other teachers. In fact, her hair was the prettiest brown-blonde mix I'd ever see aside from Momma, which was a close tie with Alfred's, though that's only because I hadn't seen momma in a long time.
"Hello boys, off to breakfast?" she asked, happy to see us up and moving.
"Yes ma'am!" Alfred said with a grin spreading across his face. "It's the most important meal of the day!"
"Of course it is." She chuckled. "How are you doing today, Matthew?" She inquired, smiling at me.
"Very well ma'am, although it'd be nicer without the rain." I said softly. She sighed and looked out a near-by window.
"You kids…really shouldn't think too deeply on that…" She mumbled, as if something were restraining her from speaking her thoughts. Oblivious, Alfred asked, "Well what do you think about the rain?"
Ms. Brown simply sighed again and mumbled, "It's not my place to say anything. Now you two should hurry along to breakfast. We wouldn't want you two to miss the most important meal of the day!" She said with fake enthusiasm and a fake smile to boot.
"Right, come on Al." I said tugging at his arm. We exchanged a quick 'good-bye' with Ms. Brown before we started walking again. Alfred didn't say a single word, nor did he look up from staring at the floor. It was his 'thinking zone', once in it; it's hard to get him out. In fact, it's quite pointless to try, mainly because he'll just ignore you, or, if he really feels like he's being pestered, he'll tell you to shut up or leave the room. I've seen him do it in class. Twice. Once in the cafeteria, I sighed and got into line for food behind Alfred. I watched as Alfred absentmindly picked a bagel-bacon sandwich (he'll be asking for mine later) a small prepackaged bag of dry cereal, a juice box, three cookies (people had stopped telling him he could only have one long ago…) and an apple (he'll want to trade it for more cookies). After picking out a smaller meal, a bag of cereal, an apple, and juice, I followed Alfred to our table. Once we sat down and began eating, Alfred began ranting about what had been on his mind.
"Why do people say stuff like that? 'Oh don't think about it' and 'It's not my place to say' It's annoying! I mean it's your opinion, everyone's got one, so what's the big deal if it's different from others! And how are we supposed to not think about the rain when it never stops? That's just stupid! Hell, the rain wouldn't be here if it weren't for that god-forsaken umbrella!" Alfred spat furiously. It was true, there hadn't been a day that I was breathing in which it hadn't rained. And it was entirely umbrella's fault. The umbrella stretched over the world, and blocked it from the sun, or so we're told. There's people in the town that are elderly and say that they can't remember a time without the umbrella. It scares me a little. How long have we lived like this? How long will it continue? I shivered a bit at the thoughts that had entered my head. Looking over, Alfred continued to rant about the umbrella, when a few heads turned. I realized why.
"Alfred! You know we're not allowed to question the umbrella!" I scolded; the heads that had turned to look at us were now turning back to their food. In a quieter voice, I whispered, "Yes, it really isn't any good, but its law." I hoped no one would get the details of our conspicuous discussion. Alfred snorted. Sadly, he didn't care who heard what he said.
"Isn't 'any good'? Mattie, it's like the devil and he's pulled us all down into hell, and nobody who's entered hell is allowed to go to heaven." Alfred said with a mouthful of cookie.
"Al, please, let's talk about this later." I begged, not wanting to get in trouble. The consequences for bad mouthing the umbrella were, well, really bad, which was an understatement in some cases. Once there was a boy who was kicked out of the orphanage because he spoke against it. I've even heard of people going into exile because they didn't feel the umbrella was 'necessary'. It was all really stupid, but I wouldn't dare say that out loud. So we continued our lunch in silence.
Since it was the weekend, after breakfast we were allowed to either go back to our rooms or go to the game room where we could play on ratty old board games or with battered decks of cards that were usually missing a few spades or diamonds. Then there were the books that practically had no spines and lost a few good pages over the decades. There were also other old toys for younger children like wooden blocks, dolls, and colouring books that were filled in.
People really should donate a bit more often.
We decided to go to the toy room and found some wooden block and built things like a castle, a pirate ship, a house, and even a tower. Alfred had draped a black cloth over it and dubbed it 'The Damn Umbrella'.
"Such a clever name Al. What was the inspiration?" I joked. He rubbed his chin as if he had a goatee and in some terrible accent he said, "I dun know. It came to me in a dream…" We laughed, some supervisors looked at us.
It wasn't every day someone laughed.
Afterwards, Alfred and I decided to go back to our room.
"Hey, do you want to go outside?" Alfred asked once I'd sat down on my bed. I glanced over at the door to make sure no one was listening.
"We're not allowed to go outside." I stated sliding off of my bed. He nodded his head and grabbed a small short-poncho-like coat. I grabbed my own poncho-coat, a small umbrella to keep me dry from the leaks, and a special book my father had left for me. Looking at its familiar cover, I held it close to me. It was a book with a boring brown cover, which was probably a good thing seeing as how its contents would make people instigate me. The book was a fairy tale book, supposedly. The thing inside of it, they just had to be real. The deep blue sky, the shining sun, the green grass, the beautiful flowers; it couldn't be fake. What we're living in should be the fairy tale. No, more like a horror story.
"Come on." Alfred said opening up the window, soon after he slid out.
"Okay." I said before I closed the door and locked it. The supervisors really didn't care if you locked the door, as long as you follow the schedule. Sometimes I think that they'd care less if you ran away or died. One less mouth to feed. With that last thought, I slid out the window, book and umbrella in hand, to the dreary world that we lived in. I'd started sneaking out our ground level window with Alfred since we'd figured out a perfect place to get out. It eventually became a usual thing for us to do. Once out the window, I opened my umbrella and the two of us took a little walk to a small pond located down a hidden trail just a bit behind the orphanage. There was an old weeping willow there that hung its sad droopy branches over an old stone that looked like it'd been used before Alfred and I had discovered it. When we reached the location, I immediately sat down on the bench. It wasn't too wet because of the willow's thick branches covered with leaves. I closed my umbrella and motioned for Alfred to take a seat next to me. When he did, he noticed my book.
"Hey, I've seen that before." Alfred commented, nodding at my book.
"Oh this? My father left it for me." I mumbled running my fingers lightly over the cover, feeling it's age and experiences with every nick and cut.
"You wouldn't mind…"
I looked up at him with curiosity. He looked from my book to me, then back to the book, with curiosity.
"Could I take a look at it?" he mumbled.
"Sure, just, please, be careful."
He nodded his head solemnly and took my book into his hands. I watched as he looked through the pictures, skimming the dark ones, and staring at the vivid pleasant ones.
"What's this?" he asked when he flipped to my favorite page. It was of a deep blue sky with the sun shining boldly in it. There was also a man on the ground, shielding his face from the glorious sunlight.
"That's the sky, the sun, and a man." I replied.
"Why is he blocking the sunlight?" Alfred asked, not looking up from the page. Honestly, I didn't know why he'd be doing such a strange thing, so I shrugged. I envied that man, for he didn't know what it was like to live in a dark, dripping, and dreary world.
"He's lucky." Alfred mumbled. I looked at him with surprise. He continued.
"He gets to see something I've never seen, a lot of people haven't seen, something that'd people would kill to see, and his hiding from it?...What a weirdo…"
I laughed softly Alfred always had put things in ways he found fit. As I leaned my head on his shoulder, I mumbled, "Yeah, he is pretty weird." We were silent as we stared at the page, and listened to the soft pitter patter of the rain in the background. It was nice to enjoy each other's company. Though, I was reminded about dinner by Alfred's loud grumbling stomach. He blushed as I sat up and brushed some invisible dirt off my lap.
"We'd better get going." I mumbled opening my umbrella again. He nodded his head silently and stood. He held onto my book the whole walk home. He finally set it down when we were back in our room. Alfred seemed just as attached to my book as I was. Just how many times had he 'seen' my book? Right before I could question him, there was a knock on the door. Alfred, who'd hidden his coat and boots, opened the door. He faked a yawn.
"Yes ma'am?" Alfred said wearily, he was good at faking the 'just woken up' thing most people would have after a nap.
"Dinner's ready, be down there in a few minutes. I don't want to come down here again." An old lady said sternly to Alfred. He nodded once before closing the door. He then faced me with a twisted face. He looked as though he'd been sucking on a lemon and his eyes were squeezed tightly shut.
In a mocking tone he said, "Dinner's ready, I don't feel like moving my big lazy ass back down this hall when I could be eating some shitty food, mleeh!"
I giggled after throwing my coat next to his.
"C'mon, I'm hungry!" I said with a smile as I slid my hand into his. He flashed me his signature smile and opened the door to go the cafeteria.
We dined on Mac 'n' cheese that night. (Alfred wasn't happy, "They got this but no burgers! What kind of place is this?)
Later at our bed time, Alfred slid into bed with me. We had shared a bed since we became roommates because he had a certain phobia of the dark. 'Heroes aren't afraid of the dark! And I'm the hero!' Right after he said that he squeaked because of a noise outside and jumped into my bed. But that was okay, the bed was warmer in the winter then.
"Hey Mattie?"
"Yeah?" I mumbled half asleep.
"Tomorrow's visiting day."
"I know." Whenever visiting day rolled around, Alfred got really nervous. He didn't want the two of us to be separated, and neither did I. so before someone could ask him his name, Alfred would say "I won't go with you unless you take Matthew too." And he sticks to his word. That's probably the only reason people haven't adopted him. They only want one, strong boy that'll help with work around the house, not some puny little fifteen year old that can barely lift a box full of books.
"We won't get separated, will we?" he whispered.
"Al, with your attitude, I doubt it." I said jokingly. He stared at me with intense eyes.
All joking aside I said, "No, Al, they can't separate us. We won't let them." He looked at me now with a bit more relaxed facial expression.
"Now go to sleep." I mumbled as I closed my eyes.
"Wait Mattie!" He squeaked.
"Hm?"
"Let's go to that place."
"What place?"
"The place in the book."
I stared at him in confusion. He couldn't mean the place in my fairy tale book.
"Al, it's not re-"
"Mat, I know it's real!" He said with determination. Alfred 'knows' a lot of things. Like how to sneak seconds, (we had to clean the chalk board erasers for that) how to pull off not getting in trouble for not having your homework, (okay so the good old 'my dog ate it' doesn't quite exactly work when you don't own a dog) , and the mother of them all, he most defiantly 'knows' how to casually ask a teacher about sexual diseases (the horror on the teachers face was indescribable, and he had to clean toilets for a week). But there times when he had his gut feeling that never lied. It was showing now. I sighed. He held his pinky in my face.
"Pinky promise we'll go there. Together." He whispered.
"Promise. Together." I said interlocking our pinkies together.
"No go to sleep before they hear us." I mumbled closing my eyes. Even thought they were closed. I could still tell Alfred had a huge smile on his face as we drifted off into sleep.
At that time, I didn't think we'd actually go to the place with the sun and the sky. That all our little vows we had made were just childish desires and wishes. Besides, I didn't have the guts to run away from the orphanage, just in fear of the unknown.
But as Alfred says, 'Nothing's impossible!'
And he was right.
Suspenseful ending, no? /bricked/ Anywho, I'll start writing the next chapter when I get a chance~ I'll hopefully have it up by the end of this month~. Please R & R Thank you~!