Demons and Princes
A Twizardck Production
I do not own Hetalia
Birthday Updated Fest – Number 13
This is a oneshot written on the request of APHxENGLAND. I was a bit apprehensive about all the fantasy... And I hope that doesn't show too badly. Enjoy!
He closed his eyes and tapped on the table. Once, twice, three times. Peeking through the lids, a bright smile lit up his face. A patch of light showed where his finger had hit. A bright glow that showed exactly what he was looking for.
Lifting up his gaze, he nodded slightly – seemingly to thin air. And then there was a fizzling noise and laughter.
He smiled. After all this time… his efforts… Now they would all be paid off. And then his sister – his elder, his favorite sister – would finally be able to come to this land in safety.
O.o.O
It was annoying. That tune. Annoying. And of course it was the one that my companion chose to whistle as we walked through the woods, collecting herbs for the healer. I had only agreed to go with HIM out of respect for the healer. Fear too, but to a lesser extent. Though I had seen the demon's eyes glow red, he had never hurt anyone. A pure demon, to be sure.
But at the moment it didn't matter how much respect I had for him – though it was a great deal as he had kept me from losing sight in an eye. All that mattered was because I had agreed I was now stuck with the self-proclaimed "Knight of Amour" as my only company. His proficiency in love aside, I found it extremely infuriating that he give himself such a title, as the queen had knighted him herself under the name of "Sir Francis Bonnefoy," and that should have been good enough for him.
On this particular outing the healer – Roderich is his name – had given us the task of bringing back whatever herbs we might find. I was not exactly adept in finding the plants that help and not harm, so I was protecting Francis's back as he searched. He was a chef in his down time. I specialized in black magic. The plants I used weren't meant for healing.
Francis continued to whistle, the sack he was carrying getting quite full by now. I was about to suggest that we head back when he waved me over, the high notes he had been getting towards abruptly cut off.
I tread carefully towards the knight, hood drawn over my face, not trusting him enough to put throwing something poisonous at me past him. But all he did was point, awestruck, at a couple of necklaces on the ground.
Well of course he'd notice necklaces. I'd since gotten over the fact that he was more girly than most other men of battle that I had met. But I have to admit even I was intrigued by these pendants. There was something about them that seemed different.
On closer inspection I saw that there was indeed something strange. I could feel the crackle of magic in the air as my face drew closer to them. Two necklaces, one red, one blue. And in each of them, an image of a winged boy.
Francis reached for the red one with an awestruck, "This one is so pretty," at the same moment I reached for the blue with intentions to study it at a closer range. So as it happened the both of us touched a pendant at the same time.
There was a resounding crack in the air and the necklaces broke. And all of a sudden the boys that had been in the gems were out, standing before us, and my right arm was burning. I turned it towards me and stared at the small star that was now branded there, glancing over to see Francis with a similar mark on his left arm – a maple leaf.
I glanced at the boys from under my hood, drawing it lower over my head with my left hand, knowing full well that a type of magic that was unfamiliar to me had just occurred. Therefore it was best not to be too curious. Curiosity had killed my favorite cat.
One – the one that I was sure had been in the blue gem, stood before the other, his hands on his hips and blue eyes narrowed. He held himself confidently, dirty-blonde hair ruffling slightly in the breeze. I noticed a strange cowlick. Out of his back sprouted two huge, leathery blue wings – the same shade as his eyes.
From what I could see from the other boy, he was blonder and his hair slightly curled at the top. His eyes were blue-violet, his wings the same color. But he was hiding behind the first boy and so I couldn't see much.
The confident, blue-eyed one fixed me with a stare, and then a bright smile danced across his face. He walked towards me and I realized he was tall, quite tall. He bent down slightly to my level and looked me right in the eyes.
"I'm Alfred," were his first words to me. "And I'm guessing that you are my new contractor." He gestured toward my arm where the star shown, white teeth catching prisms in the light.
I was about to answer and express my confusion but my attention was caught by a slight fizzling noise and a rippling of light behind the two boys. Francis and I exchanged a glance. Demons were here.
But they didn't disturb us and we tried our best to ignore the visible shadows and occasional glimpses of red eyes in the trees. Instead we walked back towards the healer, the two boys following as if strung on invisible ropes connected to us.
A fizzling noise caught my ears as the demons left. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding. And we all kept walking, Francis and I confused about what was going on and the two boys – mostly Alfred – asked many questions I could not answer.
O.o.O
He frowned at the two figures before him, eyes glowing red briefly. He needed the winged boys. With them he could wipe out the human population and bring his sister out of the mother kingdom. In order to achieve full control the entire family had to be out here, but he would not allow any possibility of danger do come near his sister.
So the humans had to go.
But now he had received word that the boys had already contracted. And with two working for that rebel. What was he to do now?
O.o.O
As Alfred talked I learned more and more about him, my curiosity slowly being satisfied. My amazement was rising, however, and I could feel the beat of excitement course through my veins. Alfred and his brother – Matthew was his name – were from the Dragon Kingdom, a place far in the North, and another one slowly being overrun by demons, much like the Human Kingdom that we lived in. The two of them had been sent away because their species, half human, half dragon, was being hunted down and eliminated.
I also discovered that by touching the pendant I had contracted with Alfred, and Francis had contracted with Matthew. None of us were quite sure what this meant, but Roderich would know. So now it was imperative that they get back to the healer's base before another round of demons showed up. They hadn't bothered us last time, but luck usually doesn't hold.
As the small white building finally came into view, I rose my hand up and felt for the force field, pressing on it and feeding it enough power to let us through before closing again. We went into the "hospital".
Roderich was sitting on a bench, talking to a small blonde man I knew by sight. The healer's brown hair bobbed slightly as he nodded in answer to a question. Neither made any move to show that they had seen us come in, but I knew at least Roderich must have felt the force field falter. Probably the other as well, for no one completely normal came here. They couldn't see it.
I watched from a respectful distance as Roderich asked the man to take off his shirt and a ghastly wound was exposed. The healer's eyes glowed red as he hold out his hands and placed them on the wound, feeding his power into it. The four of us by the door stood transfixed as the damaged skin and tissue knit back together, neither of the two men moving until it was done.
Then they both turned around and I noticed the tawny feathers in the blonde man's hair. Griffin. Then he had felt me disable the force field.
Roderich stood and took the herbs from Francis before turning to me and motioning for my hood to come off. I let if fall to my shoulders, exposing my blonde hair and green eyes. One green eye, actually, the other was hidden behind an eye patch that I now loosed and slipped into a pocket. This eye blinked in the sudden light. Outdoor natural sunlight could damage it; it was the one that that the healer had saved and was still recovering.
With a smile, the demon moved closer and looked into the eye I had been hiding, examining it from every angle. Then, with a pleased look, he moved back and asked the question I had been waiting for.
"Who are the dragon boys behind you?"
Quick introductions were made and the healer looked at the marks on both mine and Francis's arms. He was silent for a long while before walking back into his office. The door was closed. There was silence for a time, then the sounds of a violin being played. I happened to know that he practiced music while trying to think.
It was a long time before he came back and tried to explain. What he said was simple in words, but difficult in meaning.
"Contracting with a dragon means power. There are those who will come after you now." And then he just pointed out the door towards a small yellow bird hovering there. "That is the familiar of my brother, who is loyal to the king. To my king. You should be careful."
Roderich's eyes quickly changed from their normal violet to red and he went back to get his instrument before walking out the door. I refused to watch the battle that then occurred between the gentle healer and the familiar. I didn't want to see Roderich like that.
Instead I spoke to Alfred, who seemed confused and frightened, not like he had been in the wood. The mention of demons had scared him, and even seeing a rebel demon, one who fought for the rights of the natives of a kingdom and opposed the annexation the bulk of his kind were trying to carry out, had shaken him. I knew I would have to make this boy see reason. Roderich was our greatest ally and our best healer.
When the healer finally returned inside, the familiar having fled, he gravely warned that we would soon have a visitor. And just like that an all too familiar fizzling noise filled the room and the light rippled, this time the demons fully appearing.
Three figures, two men and a girl. One man was albino and the bird Roderich had fought with nested on his head, so I assumed this was the healer's brother. The other two looked like royalty, the girl small with long blonde hair and richly dressed, the man incredibly tall with silver hair and a crown.
Roderich, despite being a rebel, bowed and introduced Ivan, the demon king, as well as his younger sister, the princess Natalya. The final man he simply addressed as Gilbert.
The man that Roderich had healed – whose name I now remembered to be Vash, an incredibly powerful Griffin soldier – stepped up, sensing the tension in the air. And then the king, Ivan, spoke.
"I have come for the princes of the Dragon Kingdom."
And the entire room froze, the only visible movement the trembling of Matthew, who I now knew to be a prince.
Alfred stepped up to my side and gripped my hand, looking at me as if wanting me to do something. And I never got to understand what he expected me to do because Vash leaped forward, sword in hand as if he would run the demon king through.
The three demons vanished. So did Vash.
Author's Note: And yes, that's the end. I may write a companion to this, but it is doubtful. I've never done something this wrapped in fantasy before, and it probably stinks, but I'll let you decide if you agree with me on that.