Yay! My first Hetalia fanfiction and... Alfred is so out of character it hurts T_T I'm so out of touch with my fanfiction side, so excuse me while I find it again (Seriously, I wrote random crack about Twilight for the last two years) I just couldn't leave this idea alone so yeah, I'll probably update every week, but don't hang me if I don't, 'kay? Oh yeah, if you know me as Pancake, I love you \(*0*)/ cause so few do since I retired and just became funny without posting it on the internet ;) There's three OCs I wanna tell you about now to get it over with; Tegan is Wales, Ian is Scotland, Alastar is Ireland. And don't go complaining about their features now cause England/Arthur has blonde hair; not found naturally in England, and green eyes; surprise, surprise, not found in England naturally. =_= I should know I'm half English, half Welsh -u- Also, excuse any language mistakes when it comes to Irish and Scottish Gaelic, the website itself was in Gaelic, because that's so helpful m(_ _)m Luckily I know a bit of Welsh, so that should be alright (damn, I've jinxed it _) When I was looking up names I found out Elizaveta is the Russian version of Isabella, I'm so touched :,)
Rated M – for language, violence, adult themes, mentions of sex (no lemons cause... I can't write 'em _)
P.S. a special mention if you're the first one to realise where I got the name of the village from n_n
-I don't own Hetalia-
Even within living memory, some rural families left small gifts, such as bowls of food or saucers of milk, for the pixies in order to placate them. When shown this respect and attention, pixies would sometimes even help the family by tidying up the household during the night.
Alfred glanced out the window of the cab, he cringed at the endless rows of trees and lush, green grass. He had only been in England for six hours and he already missed the skyscrapers and nosy bustle of New York. No one had warned him he would be going to the countryside part of England! Alfred lent his head against the cool glass; his jetlag was not helping the situation either.
The cab driver gave him a worried glance in the rear view mirror. "You alright, mate?" he asked.
Alfred sat up and smiled winningly. "Yeah, I'm cool." He replied.
Satisfied with his answer the cab driver moved on "We'll be there soon, see that tower." He said, pointing ahead.
Alfred peered out of the window into the dull grey horizon, he spotted the tip of a tower that stuck out above the old oak trees, vines twisted about the roof, Alfred was unsure if the vines were pulling the tower down or holding in up.
"So your Madge's great nephew?" questioned the man.
Alfred rubbed his neck awkwardly, it was not the first time he had been asked that since his arrival this small village, what was it called again; Casterbridge? As soon as he mentioned the address, everybody was his best friend, it seemed no one did not know Aunt Margaret, or as they called her; Madge.
"Yes, I am, but I never met her." Explained Alfred, from what he had heard, when his Grandparents moved to America to start a new life, Aunt Margaret had opted to stay behind; she wanted to keep in touch with her routes. Slowly communication between Alfred's Grandfather and Aunt Margaret decayed until they completely lost touch. That was until Alfred received a letter of inheritance, his Mother encouraged him to take it, saying it was an adventure, Alfred liked the idea of an adventure so he took it, something he now regretted.
"Oh, that's too bad." Commented the cab driver. "She was a lovely lady, bit eccentric though, always talking about mythical creatures; y'know, fairies and the like." The cab veered into a driveway that had two more roads leading off it either side of a massive house.
As Alfred stepped out of the cab, he could not help but gape at the house, house was the wrong word in truth; mansion would be more suiting. With its winding turrets, vines gripping the brickwork and mahogany door, Alfred could have stepped into a Victorian movie.
The driver gave Alfred a pat on the back. "If you have any problems, just go ask Elizaveta." The man gestured down a pebbled path with pink roses growing either side.
Alfred watched silently as the cab driver drove away, with a small sigh he climbed the stone steps to the door and unlocked it with the keys that came with the letter; the effective cause of his being here in the dreary countryside of a dreary country.
The house was surprisingly organised and neat; Alfred had a fixed image of his estranged Aunt being some cat-crazed packrat. Dumping his duffel bag of clothes and necessities in the hallway, Alfred decided to investigate. The overall decor of the house was what Alfred expected of a typical British house with polished wood flooring, dark yet flowery wallpaper and furniture you did not dare sit on for fear of marking it in some way. Cabinets were filled with strange mementos from different decades, Alfred smiled at the old black and white picture of his Grandfather and; he assumed, Aunt Margaret, as children, Alfred realised with a slight amount of pride that he looked identical to his Grandfather; from the bright eyes hid behind spectacles to the spiky hair complete with that little cowlick that would never behave. Aunt Margaret's hair was long and plaited; it was darker than Grandfather's but the lack of colour meant Alfred could not determine if it was ginger or brown. Both children were smiling gleefully and Grandfather was holding a large fishing net in one chubby hand. Alfred placed the picture back in its rightful place and continued to look over the shelves.
There was a few more pictures of Margaret as she grew older; she was a very pretty lady with what Alfred determined was auburn hair and bright blue eyes like his own yet there was no wedding photos or any other man in general. Incessant ringing sounded from the hallway; Alfred bounded into the hall and to where he abandoned his phone, and quickly picked it up.
"Yo!" he answered.
"Hey, Alfred." Replied a quiet voice on the other line. "How's the house?"
Alfred smiled broadly; he would recognise his little cousin Matthew's soft voice anywhere. "It's very... English." He said for lack of a better word.
Matthew chuckled. "I would expect so, how long do you have to stay there?"
Alfred pulled the letter out of his back pocket and scanned it quickly. "Five days, until the lawyer can get to the house."
Matthew sighed. "Are you sure you'll be okay?" he asked worriedly.
Alfred did his best hero laugh. "I'm twenty five; I can take care of myself!"
"Last time you said that, you set fire to the shed." Grumbled Matthew.
"Look, Mattie, I'm hungry so I'm gonna cook myself something." Said Alfred, darting around the subject, he glanced up at the clock; it was already five o'clock.
"Sure, bye Al." Matthew begrudgingly let the subject drop.
"Bye!" chimed Alfred.
After he had hung up, Alfred began searching through the cupboards in the kitchen, luckily for him a lot of tinned goods were still hidden away in the mahogany cupboards. Settling for a bowl of baked beans, not nearly enough to fill his black pit of a stomach, Alfred sat in the ridiculously large Dining Room, there had to be at least ten chairs surrounding the shiny table and even then they were liberally spaced. Alfred felt extremely awkward sitting by himself and finished his food with more haste that usual.
Alfred was glad to find out that Aunt Margaret was up to date with technology and had a dishwasher and a television among other appliances. Alfred was disappointed to find that there were only English channels, though it would not have hard to figure that one out. Not really concentrating on the show he had switched to; something about posh people judging the price of stuff people had pulled out of their attics and declared antiques, Alfred thought about tomorrow, he would definitely have to go food shopping but after that there was nothing much to do, Alfred knew he should have brought video games and a console with him, but he only had his PSP. There were also the movies Alfred had brought; all scary of course, it seemed a good idea at the time but now he was all alone in this massive house he was regretting it.
Time passed slowly as Alfred lolled on the sofa, watching the programs that came on with disinterest, eventually Alfred decided to call it a night and crawl into one of the many guest beds. It was not easy falling asleep; wind rattled the old windows, floor panels creaked with no reason and sheep; sheep of all things, bleated outside. Alfred stuffed his head under a fluffed pillow and forced his mind to shut down, for a few hours his managed to get some dreamless rest with all thoughts and noises blocked by the thick pillow.
From downstairs something fell with a loud bang, Alfred sat bolt upright, images of headless ghosts and demon children flashing through his mind. Slowly he crawled out of bed in only underwear; American flag print obviously, and fumbled for the flashlight he had seen in the drawer. Flicking it on nervously, Alfred tiptoed down the stairs. The crash had dissolved into a snuffling sound, Oh great, thought Alfred. A werewolf in the English countryside.
Alfred jumped round the corner of the kitchen and flashed his flashlight into whatever monster was there. A shocked hiss was let out by the intruder, and wide amber eyes grew wider as the creature stared up at Alfred. Alfred stared back in shock this intruder was less werewolf more cat. A tan and white tabby cat to be exact, with long fur made even longer by the fact that the cat was fluffed up in shock.
Alfred lowered the flashlight. "Sorry, little dude, you made me jump." He explained.
The cat eyed him warily but let its fur lie flat, with a huff; it strode out of the kitchen through a cat flap Alfred had not noticed before. Alfred let out a chuckle, maybe he was half-right about the cat-crazed bit of Aunt Margaret, but beside that there was little he knew of this distant relative.
"Right," declared Alfred. "It's my mission to find out everything about Aunt Madge." He brought his fist up in acceptation to his self-proclaimed challenge.
Since there was little chance of Alfred getting back to sleep with all this unused adrenaline in his body and in seven in the morning already anyways, Alfred decided to make breakfast, he glanced through the cupboards for some type of cereal, even muesli would be alright with Alfred's hunger. Unexpectedly, there was an egg carton and a packet of bacon sitting in the cupboard, all in date Alfred found out after an inspection. Alfred was sure the food was not there last night or else he would have rustled up something good for dinner. If there was a ghost in the house, he certainly was a helpful one.
"Thanks." Said Alfred to the empty room, not wanting to be rude.
After a filling breakfast and a relaxing exploration of the bathroom, Alfred headed to the local supermarket, he was happy to find a courtesy car parked in his drive and keys posted through his letterbox. The car was not as good as his beast back home but it helped him get to the supermarket, stocked all of Alfred's shopping bags; and there was a lot of bags, then got home successfully.
As Alfred piled the shopping out of the car, he noticed a young woman tending to the roses that grew around one of the pathways. She had soft, brown hair hidden by a woven sunhat; even though it was sunny in the slightest, and a curvy though short form.
"Hey," called Alfred to the young woman.
The woman looked up, one gloved hand coming up to keep her fat firmly on her head. "Oh my, you must be Madge's great-nephew!" she exclaimed.
"Ah, yes." Said Alfred, checking off another person who knew Aunt Margaret on his mental checklist.
"Well I'm Elizaveta, but you can call me Liz." Said Liz with a bright smile.
"I'm Alfred." Said Alfred with a smile, it seemed it was getting more comfortable staying in this place.
Liz turned back to her gardening, "You must come and meet my husband sometime." She said absently.
Alfred nodded slightly, then he remembered the challenge he had set himself. "Hey, Liz." Liz looked up questioningly. "Did you know Aunt Margaret well?"
Liz shrugged, "Quite well, yes, why?"
Alfred stepped over, his shopping temporarily forgotten. "Do you think you could tell me about her?" he asked.
Liz straightened up, yet even her full height did not even come near Alfred's shoulders. "Well," she mused, recalling memories "She was very kind, always caring for strays and the like, and she had strong belief in magic."
"Magic?" questioned Alfred, thinking he had misheard.
Liz nodded. "It was more like fairies and elves and pixies, she would always leave a bowl of milk and honey out for them on the windowsill and swore that it was gone in the morning." Liz laughed. "It was probably just her fat cat!"
Alfred laughed, thinking of the cat he had a run in with this morning. "What's the cat's name?" he asked.
Liz thought deeply for a moment. "Merlin, I think."
Alfred resisted the urge to burst not laughing, it would most likely be considered rude to his Aunt. With a small smile Alfred departed from Liz and started to haul shopping into the kitchen, he was glad he had always been stronger than average but liked to keep it up with a run now and again. After the arduous task of bringing everything indoors and putting it in its proper place – during this time, Merlin watched Alfred haughtily from a hallway shelf – Alfred lent on the counter and stared out over the large garden, that was complete with a pond and marble cherub statues that had rotted slightly over time. Deciding it was not too cold outside, Alfred headed into the garden, the grass was neat and orderly like they had been mown only a few days ago and no weeds dared to show their heads. Shimmering fish darted about the small pond and frogs crouched lazily at the edges.
Alfred was not interested in all this, he was more preoccupied with the small door in the fencing at the end of the garden, the door could not have been more than five foot high and a small rusted lock kept it shut. Alfred stared at the door, he would have dismissed it but an idea kept bugging him. If the door is disused why hasn't the vines grown over it? If was a fair thought as the vines had taken over every other wall in the garden expect that little space the door occupied.
Alfred lounged on the couch with Merlin spread on his stomach, snoring softly. The American was also dozing with his glasses askew on his nose, the television droning pleasantly in the background. A peaceful silence had fell over the house; that is until Merlin woke up with a yowl, digging his sharp claws into Alfred's toned stomach. With a yell, Alfred awoke, not remembering where he had fell asleep, he fell off the sofa with a loud thump and a possible cracking of his rear.
Merlin shot off upstairs with more pitiful yowls and trying to persevere through the terrible pain in his back, Alfred ran after him. He followed the yowling which melting into weaker mews until he was standing in front of Aunt Margaret's old bedroom, Alfred thought there was something a bit off about entering a dead lady's bedroom, Merlin's cries were not slowing in the slightest. Swallowing back his reservations, Alfred pushed into the room; it was surprisingly typical for an old Lady's room with a dressing table, flowery bed prints and simple pictures of nature scenes. Alfred drifted over to the dressing table where there stood another black and white photo, again there was Aunt Margaret with her long hair sitting reading a small book aloud, judging by the way her lips were parted. Listening raptly were two other children; both of them looked pretty genderless to Alfred. One had spiky hair and thick, dark eyebrows with the other had black waves that curled at its shoulders and fell into its eyes. Grandfather had no other siblings besides Aunt Margaret, maybe the children were friends, but they seemed too ethereal and were dressed in ruffled shirts and long boots. A ridiculous thought came to Alfred's mind; maybe they were fairies, Alfred scoffed at the idea, he may believe in aliens but fantasy creatures was pushing it, anyways, fairies dressed in frocks and had glittery wings.
Merlin mewed loudly to gain Alfred's attention, the cat was sitting on Aunt Margaret's bed expectantly, a necklace twisted at his paws.
"You shouldn't take stuff like that, little dude." Complained Alfred, wouldn't you get cursed or something?
Merlin only mewed and pushed the necklace towards Alfred, reluctantly he picked it up; it was a simple gold chain with a small bronze key and a miniature ring that would barely fit on the pinkie finger of a newborn baby. As Alfred's fingers brushed the ring, a jolt of pleasure coursed through him, that jolt forced out a small moan, much to Alfred's shock. An immediate blush followed it, that jolt was a onetime thing as when Alfred touched it again nothing happened; it just felt like normal metal. When Alfred held the ring closer, he noticed intricate carving on the outside in a language he did not recognise.
Not wanting to lose the valuable looking object, Alfred slipped it over his neck and let to rest comfortably against his chest. Satisfied, Merlin jumped off the bed and sauntered out of the room, leaving Alfred to wonder what had spooked him in the first place.
As he walked down the hallway, Alfred wondered what the key unlocked, his thoughts zoomed to the small door in the fence outside, which Alfred had figured out only led to the forest that surrounded the house and the others near it. The key looked more like one designed for inside doors but Alfred had yet to discover a locked door in this place. Alfred smiled; he loved mysteries almost as much as he loved adventures.
As Alfred placed dishes into the dishwasher after dinner; a hearty meal of pasta with enough for three large helpings, movement in the garden caught his eye, pausing in his chores, he looked out the window properly. Chewing on the grass outside was a sandy rabbit with floppy ears, Alfred and the rabbit stared evenly at each other for a while before Alfred went back to his tasks.
When he finished clearing the kitchen, Alfred went back to the window to see if the little rabbit was still there and was pleasantly surprised to see it still was munching away steadily at the grass, that little rabbit was most likely the reason the grass was kept so short. The rabbit was like Alfred, it had a bottomless stomach. Merlin jumped up on the windowsill, giving Alfred a heart attack and sending the little rabbit scuttling off into the undergrowth. Merlin looked pointedly at the empty dish on the windowsill. Alfred remembered Liz's words about the milk and honey left for the supposed magical creatures.
"Ha! As if I'd feed a lump o' lard like you." Shouted Alfred as he stuck out his tongue. "I'm helping you, kinda like a hero!"
Merlin gave Alfred a disinterested look as if he was not losing out by Alfred's refusal before leaping off; quite elegantly for a cat of his size, the windowsill and sauntering off down the garden to tease the fish. Alfred shrugged off Merlin's sulking and strode off to the front room. Luckily there was a quite interesting documentary on aliens that kept Alfred absorbed until late, with a sigh, Alfred turned his head to the ceiling as the end credits rolled, if the next three days were going to be like today, Alfred would surely die of boredom before that damned lawyer got here, why did he have to wait five days anyways? To see if he was worthy of the inheritance? Alfred puffed his cheeks out in annoyance, but that annoyance quickly deteriorated into tiredness, the jetlag had not entirely left him. Eyes slipping shut slowly, Alfred fell asleep of the comfy sofa. As Alfred slept voices sounded in his dreams;
"Where is the food?" demanded one person with a clear and cool voice.
"No one has been here for weeks." Consoled the other person with a voice like a slow-flowing stream.
"I see a human now." Pointed out the first person. "Yet there is no food."
"That man is Joshua is he not?" asked the second voice.
"Oh, yes, he is." Said the first voice in a delighted tone. "But then why has he left us no food?"
"He is bigger, maybe he forgot." Reasoned the second voice.
There was a moment of silence. "I miss Madge." Said the first voice quietly. "She gave us food."
"I miss her too." Agreed the second voice.
Alfred sat up with a start, the voices still echoing in his head, with a confused head he turned to the old clock on the fireplace, Alfred had slept the whole night on the sofa and it had done no good for his back. Stifling a groan of pain, Alfred stretched feeling and hearing the bones and muscles in his back pop and click. As he stood, something crackled under his foot, looking down, Alfred saw it was a picture, but unlike the others he had seen this one was in colour, it was of Aunt Margaret's garden during a brighter summer than this one, the flowers kept a spattering of colour against the green of the vines and grass. They were not the only coloured thing, there was the genderless child with the blonde hair sprawled on the ground, it was hard to see the child at first as the grass was partially covering it, a rabbit like the one Alfred had seen was perched on its chest. Now the child was older, Alfred could appreciate its strange, almost sensual beauty. Frowning, Alfred physically beat away his thoughts with one hand, he could not have thoughts like that, that kid was the same age as his Grandfather and probably dead by now.
Picture still clasped in his hand, Alfred headed upstairs to shower, sleeping in the same clothes always made him feel a bit grimy. The hot shower helped relax the painfully tight muscles in Alfred's back; Alfred enjoyed the feeling of the warm water streaming down his sun kissed body. When he finally stepped out of the shower, the room was steamed up considerably. His inner child reared his head when he scrawled 'ALFRED THE HERO!' across the steamed up mirror. With a small chuckle Alfred wiped his big hand over the mirror, clearing all the steam that had collected on it.
Behind him two ice blue eyes stared out of elfin face. With a startled shout Alfred whipped round only to discover no one was there. Not convinced, Alfred peered round the bathroom door and checked his bedroom, Merlin snored peacefully on his bed but no one else was in the room. Alfred dried off and got into a new change of clothes, but he couldn't dismiss the feeling someone was watching him. It was a feeling that followed him all the way downstairs into the kitchen. As he walked by the window, Alfred registered that the rabbit was in the garden again chewing on the grass and now it had an eating partner of a sheep. Wait. Alfred froze and slowly backtracked to the window, he was not going mad, there was definitely a miniature sheep complete with curled horns, grazing in the garden.
Alfred stared at the oblivious sheep, wondering if eleven in the morning was too early to knock at Liz's. He eventually decided that Liz seemed the morning type and headed down the rose framed path. Liz's house was smaller and more cottage like that Aunt Margaret's house. Alfred carefully knocked on the white front door, worried he might awaken those inside. The barking of a dog surprised Alfred, this barking was silenced by a stern 'shush, Vash'. A man in his thirties with swept back black hair and unreadable eyes opened the door. At his side was an excitable grey husky with a mad expression and a lolling tongue; Alfred guessed that was Vash.
The man eyed Alfred. "May I help you?" he asked.
Alfred hoped Liz had mentioned him. "I'm Alfred; I'm Margaret's great nephew."
Realisation painted the man's features. "Oh yes, Liz mentioned you, Please come in, my name is Roderich."
Alfred followed Roderich inside; their house was much brighter and sunnier that Aunt Margaret's house, Vash was at Alfred's side constantly checking him over to see if he was a danger. Their kitchen was very friendly with its pastel colours and cute little figurines of rosy cheeked little fairies and their insect helpers. A small girl with short blonde hair and a red ribbon tied in it was drawing with crayons at the table. Alfred glanced at the drawing while Roderich went to find his wife; Vash stayed at the little's girl's side as her clear guardian, the picture the girl was drawing froze him to the core; it was of the two genderless children, crudely drawn yet still easily recognisable.
The small girl looked up at Alfred with teal coloured eyes. "Hello." She said cautiously.
"Hey." Replied Alfred just as cautiously.
"Oh hello, Alfred, what brings you here?" said Liz as she entered the room. "I see you've met my kis virág; Lily"
"Ah, yeah," Alfred thought how to phrase his question without it sounding strange or stupid. "There's like... a sheep in my garden."
Liz smiled while Roderich let out a small chuckle. "Oh dear, that's quite unfortunate." Said Liz, "Sheep can be quite a problem round here, I'm sure if you just chase it off, it will be okay."
"Oh, alright." Alfred did not expect the problem to be solved so quickly, it now felt awkward coming all this way.
As if she could sense Alfred's feelings, Liz pulled a pie off the counter and onto the table, laughing as Lily, Roderich and Alfred's eyes all lit up. "Maybe you could stay for pie." She offered.
"Maybe." Said Alfred bashfully, even though he was already sitting down.
Liz's pie was certainly delicious and made Alfred feel miles better and fuller than he had been in a while. Yet his thoughts always went back to the picture Lily was drawing, he had heard about children being more sensitive to supernatural events, but unless there was still ghosts of those strange children roaming around; which was a possibility, Lily would have never come into contact with them.
Alfred was glad to find the sheep and rabbit had disappeared from the garden when he got indoors, Merlin meowed in annoyance by an empty food bowl, reminding Alfred of his responsibilities. After he had filled the bowl and Merlin was munching happily, Alfred noticed that there was an empty packet of cookies strewn on the ground, Alfred frowned, he was sure he would remember eating something like that, well he was sure he would remember eating anything, a trail of crumbs lead to Merlin's bowl solved the issue of who eat the cookies but how he got to them was still a mystery.
Alfred decided to explore the garden further. He had only seen the main part of it yesterday. Alfred stepped into the fresh air and breathed deeply, he could not deny the air was much cleaner out here in the countryside. Alfred, with a now satisfied Merlin trailing behind him, ventured into one of the openings in the wall. The opening itself led into a maze made of hedges.
Just wandering around the maze and taking in the cool atmosphere was enough for Alfred at first, but irritation quickly grew at his inability to find the centre. Letting out a growl of frustration at another dead end, Alfred spun on his heels to walk back; standing at the end of the path was the child with black hair and cool eyes. A large cookie in one hand and tell tale crumbs around its mouth, when its eyes met with Alfred's, it let out a startled gasp and darted off. Alfred was not letting the child go, he ran after it with fierce determination, the child was fast but Alfred's longer stride meant he was soon on its tail. As they entered a particular long straight Alfred lunged at it. With a surprised squeak, both the child and Alfred tumbled to the moist ground. Now he had it in his arms, Alfred realised the child was smaller than he first thought, and it had also been knocked out by the force of the tumble.
Ha ha, Vash is nothing like his Husky form -shot- I don't wanna make the characters OOC, you gotta believe me T^T There is so many nods to different things in this, brownie points for those who get them. No Iggy appearance yet =_= but soon, soon, I promise! I want Hungary as my mum, then I could eat pie ^^" The food obsessed voice reminds me of myself, that's depressing... Anyways, please review, 'puppy eyes' - OnO