AN: This fic is a crossover between a fic written by KoHachiProductions, Is It You?, and a fic written by xXCrimsonBlueXx, The Apprentice Project.
Things will be vaguely explained throughout the xover, so it can be read on its own for your confusion and enjoyment.
We're mainly doing this for our own enjoyment.
We're a little bit insane.
Disclaimer: We don't own Hetalia, but our wildest dreams indicate otherwise~
Enjoy~
Gilbert sat up slowly, letting out a long yawn and stretching his arms as he did so. It had been a rather strange night, and his head was full of dreams that slipped away every time he tried to hold onto a memory from them.
Not that nonsensical dreams really mattered, he figured, opening his red eyes and glancing around. Strange, Gilbert thought, he didn't remember having fallen asleep here, but it certainly wouldn't have been the first time he had done such a thing—that is, falling asleep somewhere, only to wake up the next day with hardly the slightest clue as to how he had gotten to such a place. He laughed softly to himself and stood, peering around. There wasn't much to see in the dim light, provided by a faint square on a nearby wall, which hardly illuminated anything. A neatly folded pile of clothes—his own clothes—lay on the floor. Quickly, Gilbert picked them up and changed.
As he slipped on his dark jacket, Gilbert made his way to the square of light, at which point hi found it to be a small glass window set into a door. The instant he pushed said door open, realization came over him.
I fell asleep in the back of the bar? he wondered. The building he was in now did seem a bit different from where he worked, like there was something missing he couldn't quite place, but in every other aspect it was just the same as the building he was used to. That was until he noticed who was behind the counter.
"Mattie?" he asked, thoroughly confused. "What are you doing here? And... in the morning, at that!"
The Canadian, who was crouched behind the counter, turned around, looking up. His expressions lightened.
Something wasn't right.
"Gil!" Matthew exclaimed. "You're awake!"
Something really wasn't right.
"I'm trying to get breakfast ready," he continued, showing confusion to match Gilbert's. As a side thought, Matthew added, "By the way, I'm completely fine. My headache's gone."
"What headache?" Gilbert asked, trying with all his willpower not to ask more than one question at a time out of the hundreds that were popping into his head at once. He failed. "Why are you here?"
Matthew groped around for the right words before replying, "The one I had yesterday, after I woke up, remember?"
"No, Mattie, I don't remember."
"Erm... Arthur was there, too. It..." he paused, biting his tongue. "It was after the, uh... the whole incident with Ivan."
"I really don't have any clue what you're saying," Gilbert repeated. "If you think Arthur can make any more sense of it, ask him."
As though in response, the door opened, behind it standing the very man in question. With the same perplexed expression as the other two, he walked in and began to speak—unaware of the Canadian just below the countertop.
"It's as though someone rearranged the place overnight, but left this one spot... more or less intact," the Brit complained.
"It's different out there?" asked Gilbert, being unable to see out the small windows from where he was.
Arthur nodded, then jerked his head in the direction of the back door. "What about that?"
"I don't know," Gilbert replied with a shrug. "Haven't checked yet."
Matthew, who was more confused than he thought humanly possible, decided to get off his knees and show himself, hoping that asserting his own presence might actually get him somewhere for once. "Can you two please explain what you're going on about?" he asked, exasperated. Arthur jumped backwards in shock, as though the Canadian had just overheard something way too personal.
"Matthew?" he asked incredulously.
"Yes, that's me. Either you both have some serious memory problems or you're trying to play an elaborate prank on me," Matthew said bluntly.
"Mattie, we honestly don't know what you're talking about," Gilbert tried to explain.
"You really remember nothing?" he asked. Arthur and Gilbert exchanged tense glances. Matthew continued, "Ivan attacked me? You both helped? I had some god-awful headache?"
"Alright, you're just making things up," Arthur concluded, sitting down and placing his forehead in his palm, an odd shaky note of relief in his voice.
"Vampires?" Matthew suggested, desperate to get them to recall something. Arthur instantly perked up, every muscle in his body tense. Gilbert drew in a sharp breath. Both looked at one another with wide eyes.
"What... about vampires?" Arthur asked, his nervous fingers curling themselves into a tight fist. He then released his fingers, his hand going limp, still shaking.
"That Gilbert it—" Matthew began, stopping when he noticed how shaken Arthur looked. The Brit stood and walked over to Gilbert, leaning close and speaking in a forced whisper.
"What did you tell him?" he hissed. Gilbert noted that Arthur looked exceptionally pale.
"Nothing!" he protested.
"You didn't let anything slip?"
"No!" Gilbert insisted. "I don't know how it happened."
"Buenas dias," came a cheerful voice from the doorway. All three heads turned in the direction of the voice, watching Antonio as he approached them. He grinned. "Something wrong?"
Gilbert dropped his voice. "Mattie knows, somehow."
"Wait a second!" Matthew protested, overhearing the Prussian. "Since when has—? I mean, Antonio—ugh!"
Flustered, he turned and exited the building.
Antonio's expression darkened. "How did he find out?"
Outside, Matthew had taken a seat on the bench right in front of the windows, sheltered from the sweltering sun. Something funny was going on here, and he wanted an answer soon. He seemed to be the only one who really remembered previous events. Somehow, there was something wrong with his knowledge of Gilbert being a vampire. He was there when Gilbert realized it himself, wasn't he? Not to mention the Prussian had deliberately said it to Matthew's face. And since when was Antonio involved in this? He tried and tried and tried, but couldn't come up with a logical explanation for any of it.
"Matthew?" asked a voice. The Canadian had been so lost in his own thoughts he had forgotten to pay any attention to his surroundings. Ivan was standing a few yards away from him, ready to walk into the building.
"W-what do you want?" Matthew asked, his words uneasy.
"What're you doing here?"
"Please don't tell me you're in on this too," Matthew said, his eyes pleading.
"In on what?"
"...Never mind," he said with a sigh. "Is there something wrong with sitting outside?"
"Well," Ivan said casually, stepping back from the door and slightly closer to Matthew. "You're awfully vulnerable out here, given that it's just us two and no one else is here to save you if, let's say, something were to suddenly... happen."
On the word happen, Matthew felt a sharp prick of pain on his forehead. Reflexively, he reached a hand up and found a shallow cut on one side of his head. Pulling his hand down and inspecting his fingers, he found he was bleeding.
"Did you just do that?" he asked in horror, only to get no response. Ivan was staring intently at his forehead, his eyes narrow and his brows furrowed. After a long pause, he spoke.
"Just as I thought," Ivan said with a smile, more to himself than anyone else. Matthew frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Ivan turned and opened the door, ignoring him.
"What did you just do?" Matthew cried. Ivan turned away with a smile. Angrily, Matthew slipped into invisibility and slide through the doorway moments before it closed. No one had noticed.
It was the first time Matthew had truly used his power to his advantage.
And that's that.
Next chapter will be set in TAP!verse~
