Chapter 1- Welcome to Floor 20! Brianna's POV:
I trudged through the damp grass, my clothes and shoes completely soaked. I couldn't see anyone or anything in the pitch black park. The pain is almost unbearable; I cover my bad eye with one hand and feel out in front of me with the other. My bag felt like it weighed a few tons,but it wasn't my biggest concern. As I try to stop the flow of blood out of my eye, a tall, dark figure appears in front of me. My ears are pounding, but I can still hear the concern in the man's voice. He grabbed my shoulders to stable me as I sway from the blood loss. I look up at what I think was the man's face and close my eyes.
"Help..." I whispered as I fell, unconscious before I even hit the ground.
I woke up in a dim room, my clothes still slightly damp and my head wrapped in a bandage. I layer there for a while with my eyes closed, thinking about what happened. Where am I anyway? I attempt to sit up up, but a pair of warm hands on my shoulders says otherwise. I'm too exhausted to fight it, so I don't. Instead I look over and see the man from the park, the one who helped me. He has messy, blonde hair and eyes that are the most beautiful shade of green I'd ever seen. He's wearing a black and grey t-shirt and light blue denim jeans. He looked into my eye and flashed me his pearly white teeth in a slight smile.
"Hello love, glad to see that you're finally awake." His accent surprised me, you don't find many English people in Ashiya. Well at least he speaks English; it'd be really awkward if he spoke only Japanese. "Oh" He looked at me puzzledly. "Ah, anata wa nihongo o hanashimasu ka?" He looked at me expectantly as I admired how smoothly he spoke the language.
"Ah only a little bit..." I snapped myself out of it and tried to look anywhere but into his gorgeous eyes.
He smiled in relief. " Thank goodness, I'm only just learning it."
"Yeah, um, same here." I smiled awkwardly, "Um, where am I anyway?"
To answer my question, he stood up and walked over to the curtain on the wall to the right of me., He opened them to reveal a city shinning in the in the midday light. It took me awhile to figure out I was looking at-
"Osaka" He sat Indian-style at the foot of my bed and admired the gorgeous view of the city. "And this," he gestured to the whole room, "is my apartment."
"It's very nice..." It was nice, clean, and organized. I looked back at him sitting at the end of the bed. "I, ah, don't think I caught your name."
"Arthur, Arthur Kirkland" He inched towards me, his eyes meeting with my...eye?... "And yours?
"Um... oh Brianna." I blushed at how stupid I sounded. I flinched as he grabbed my hand, but was still unable to look away from his emerald green eyes. He put his other hand on my check and started to unwrap the bandage around my head. As the bloody bandage dropped to the floor, he frowned anxiously.
"Your eye..." He held my face gently, making me blush even darker. "Can you see?" He covered my good eye, forcing me to test the other one. I opened it and saw Arthur only a bit blurred. I blinked a few times and my vision cleared a little, enough to see the distress in his eyes.
"Yeah its not that bad," I blinked a few more times, "Ah, do you have a mirror?"
He nodded and turned around to grab a hand-mirror that was on the table. I looked into it and saw myself, my hair was dirty with dried blood and mud, and my eye socket looking horribly mutilated. No wonder he thought I couldn't see. I looked back up to see no one. I looked around frantically, searching for those calming emerald eyes. He reappeared with a navy blue towel and a change of clothes.
"Would you like to wash up?" he handed me a towel and clothes and nodded towards the bathroom. "
Then he went into what was probably the kitchen. I walked into the bathroom and gasped. it was stunning white elegant, one of the nicest bathrooms I've ever seen. I stopped marveling at the gigantic shower and turned it on. The hot water felt soothing against my aching body as I scrubbed myself clean. I was washing my hair vigorously, getting the blood and dirt out of hair. Unaware if the blood was actually mine or not. I stepped out of the shower and onto the extremely soft rug, wrapping the towel around me. I put the clothes, a light brown tee and jeans that were really long and baggy on me. I brushed my hair and stepped out of the bathroom. Apparently Arthur heard me because he poked his head around the corner. He saw me and beamed.
"Hey, where's my bag?" I looked around for my black backpack.
"Right here," he picked it up and handed it to me. I open it and was about to put my dirty clothes in it, but he grabbed my wrist. "Let me wash them for you. I wasn't going to make you wear that all day." He took the clothes and ran off again. I went back to my futon and sat facing the window. I could see people walking through the streets, frantically scurrying to get to get to their destination on time. I sighed and gazed into the distance.
"It is a beautiful city no?" The Frenchman's voice made me jump. "Oh, did I frighten you, mon amour?" I turned around to see a man, a tall blonde, his wavy hair almost reaching his shoulder, bright colored eyes, and a crystal glass in his right hand, full of wine.
"No, I, ah..." I backed away as he stepped towards me, his eyes scanning up and down. He was much too close, I could smell the wine on his breath.
"Get away from her Francis" I looked at Arthur fearfully and shifted towards him and away from the Frenchman. "Leave her alone." He sounded deadly serious and Francis backed away from me.
"Well, she iz a woman, and I am a man, no? Oh, iz she yours?" He raised his eyebrows and tipped his glass towards Arthur.
"No, she was injured, so I brought her here"
"Can I have her then?"
"NO!"
""Why not?" I was disgusted by him, asking is he can 'have' me, because people like that piss me off. Just a little bit... So I kicked him in the shin. He wailed in pain and fell to the floor. walked over to Arthur, who didn't really look surprised.
"He deserved that." he mutter as he took my hand and lead me into the kitchen. I sat down at the small table.
"So how many people here anyways?" He hands me a plate full of delicious-looking food; eggs, a bagel, and a shit load of bacon! I love bacon!
"In this apartment, just me. In this building, basically everyone I know..." He seemed kind of distant, but I kept the awkward conversation going, or I tried to anyway. I heard the door slam shut.
"How did he get in anyways?"
"Probably stole my key or-" He was cut off from the rest of the sentence by the door reopening.
"Hej, what's up with Francy-pants? He seemed a bit off..." A white blonde boy? entered the kitchen.
"Do you Danes ever knock?" Arthur had a look of mixed relief and annoyance on his face.
"First off I ain't Danish I'm Greenlandic. Secondly I have a key so why do I even have to knock?"
"It's 'I'm not', and because it's common courtesy Ms. Jakkubiina." So this boy is actually a girl...
"Whatever... Who's the girl, one of France's whores?" Whore? Do I really look like that much of a slut?
"No."
"Really?" She steps closer to me and looks into my eyes. "Oh, you're right, she doesn't have that AIDS look... but she does have that raging virgin look!"
Iggy facepalms. " meet one of my neighbors, Ms. Jakkubiina. She rooms next to me."
"I like Jak better if you don't mind."
"I'm not calling you that. You know I won't because-"
"It's one of your stupid gentleman laws, I know I know. You don't have to keep treating me like I don't listen to you."
"Most of the time you don't though."
"Cause you are a boring old fart who treats me like a child."
"You are a child compared to me!"
"Hey, um, guys?" They both look over at me. "Ah, what are you guys talking about? You both look the same age to me!"
"Well we kind of are, physically." Jak explained awkwardly.
"What do you mean, physically?"
"Well," she paused for a moment in thought, "We look the same age...but... ugh, Iggy, you explain it!"
"We are like representatives of a country. It's like if someone took a country and put most of the traits into one person and had them attend meetings as that country. I represent the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Miss Jakkubiina here represents Greenland. We also have the benefit of not aging and staying eternally one age. Well unless..."
"Our country dies." Jak finished the morbid thought. "Though that Prussian is still alive."
"He defies the laws of nature. Its Prussia."
"Who?" Again, the conversation was getting confusing.
"You'll meet him later." Jak reached over and took a piece of bacon.
"So where is...Mathias?" Arthur asked trying to change the subject into an even more touchy subject.
"I dunno I'm not his mom I don't have to keep track of him!"
"But you are living with him you are his...partner?"
"STOP! Drop it now!"
"But its true...!"
I heard the door slam again.
"HEJ! THE KING OF THE NORTH HAS JOINED THE PARTY!"
"Dear gods in Asgard" Jak mutter under her breath. Then louder, "Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear."
"What? I heard a new voice so I came right over!" a man with messy blonde hair stormed into the kitchen.
"Do you listen through the walls?"
"Well ja and nej, you left the door open." The man tried to hug Jak and she ducked away from his advance. "Well, who is this?" He turned his attention back to me.
"I'm Brianna."
"You a rep?"
"Not that I know of..."
He whistles, "A human then, not many around here."
"You're brilliant, Denmark, now can you go?" Jak seemed annoyed with the man's entrance.
He ignored her and looked at Arthur, "So, is she yours then Brit?"
"NO!" Arthur blushed.
"Hmmm. Hey Jak wanna do it tonight?"
"What?! No!" She blushed a dark shade of red.
"Aww why not?"
"'Cause I said no and why the hell you have to bring it up now?!"
He lowered his voice in what seemed to be an attempt to be sexy, "You know you'd love it."
"Ja...no wait! NO!" she turned an even brighter red and left the room slamming the door on the way out and another slam came from next door.
"Welcome to floor number twenty." He said with a smile that never seemed to fade, no matter what happened.
"Do you not think you should go check on Ms. Jakkubiina?" Arthur seemed like he wanted the Dane to leave.
"She will be fine. She is always fine."
"Oh..um, are you two...sleeping together?" Ah, me and my awkward questions... I really should try thinking before I talk.
"I wish they would it be a lot easier." Arthur answered awkwardly for the Dane.
"So you do agree with me!" The Dane smiled, delighted at the idea of him sleeping with the girl next door.
"Well, it would make it a lot easier for me to get some sleep..."
"We aren't that loud!"
"Yes you are, I haven't gotten more than 4 hours of sleep this week!"
"Tell Jak then." He shrugged, "I don't think she'll listen though, she's so stubborn."
"I think we all know that by now..."
"Well I'm going to go check up on her, god nat." The Dane strode out of the room, leaving just Arthur and I... again...
"Bloody Danes, they think they own everything!" Arthur complained as he took my dish over to the sink and began to wash it. I sat there awkwardly, not knowing what to say. I was still trying to process what I had learned today about my new companions. "So that was Ms. Jakkubiina Thomassen and Mathias Køhler the two Danes next door. Oh, and if you haven't noticed yet, Mathias represents The Kingdom of Denmark."
Oh dear gods, what have I gotten myself into?
Okay, yes I know the beginning is kinda creepy, but it'll get better I promise.
I never really intended for the main character to be me, but whatever~
I know it sounds like a romance novel, but it's just how I think I suppose!
Greenland is an original character based on my friend/co-writer Jackie (thanks btw! *brofist*)
The DenXGreen pairing is just so hilarious, I couldn't pass it up!
Haters gunna hate, and stay tuned for more!