Hey Guys and Gals, CheeseCakeKitty here again with another story! I have been thinking about this one for quite a while now and am quite excited to be finally getting around to writing it! For future reference going to try and keep the Author's Notes at a minimum (I might not even do them at all in future chapters) so this will probably be the longest one you see until the end. Also, I will be making Arthur and Alfred's ages a lot more similar because I think that it would make the story work a bit better and some of the plot points and conversations make more sense. This is my first attempt at writing from a first-person perspective, so please do tell me how and I did and how I can improve! I hope that you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.
Twiddling my thumbs and looking down towards my feet, my mind raced like a free stallion of infinite possibility as my boss went over my new mission for the first time. It was such a big task, a massive one really, but I would have never thought that he would put me up to the job. We were alone in the cold office, it was barren and slightly haunting, aside from the glass window covering the entirety of the wall to the left of me, giving me an utterly spectacular view of the city underneath the warm morning rays of the sun.
I could hear my boss talking to me and the sound of constant tapping on his laptop, but my mind had travelled elsewhere the second he had given the the job's brief. The power of the whole company would be resting in my hands if I took this opportunity, so naturally I began to fantasize about me being a world-renowned hero, loved by all. We all have our little dream-worlds that we go to sometimes.
"Jones, are you paying attention?" the boss's voice sliced through my conscience like a knife through butter and I could feel his gaze on my face.
"Ugh… Yes, Sir, certainly!" I replied sheepishly, scratching the back of my head to get rid of my nerves, "But can you please explain it again. I… Umm… I feel like I need to understand it a bit better."
It was a weak excuse, and I knew that he had not fallen for it by any stretch of the imagination, but fortunately for me he knew what I was like and was kind enough to give me the time of day. I heard him lowly sigh and saw him rolling his thin eyes despairingly before he repeated the information again to me.
"Your task is to kill the top assassin of our rival company, Aeternam Organisation, as the association is posing a threat to ours. Taking out their very best will lower them steadily in the rankings, and bring us back to our former glory before they snatched it away from us. Hell, they might even go bankrupt!" he laughed manically to himself before continuing, "The assassin's name is Arthur Kirkland, and I assure you, though he may not look it at first, he is truly a formidable man; a force to be reckoned with. He is exceptional at close combat and-"
"But Sir!" I cut him off loudly, earning a glare in my direction, "If he's so great, how on Earth am I gonna be able to kill him? I'm only twenty, an' I haven't even been doing this for that long!"
He held his hand up in a 'stop' motion, bringing an end to my panicked rant. "He's only a few months older than you are, and besides, age doesn't matter when it comes to skill. Aeternam thinks we are trying to improve relations by sending our top hitmen to meet up and participate in missions together. You will have plenty of chances to strike."
I took a few steps closer to his desk and put my hands on its smooth surface, locking eyes with him filled with curiosity. "When and where am I meeting him?"
"Today, in a little place called the Rosebush Café."
That bit of information was a shock to the system and I stumbled back a little in disbelief. Today? In a little café as if we were just friends? What would the boss have done if I wasn't now so eager to accept the mission? He'd probably force me and threaten to have me fired!
"How will I know who he is?" I said nervously after regaining my composure.
"You will both have your business cards with you and I have a photograph of him here, as they do of you."
He typed in something quickly, before turning around his laptop to reveal to me the other assassin's photo. He had large eyebrows resting above glistening green eyes which honestly had me captivated; shiny and silky looking blond hair appearing to be somewhat in a permanent state of bedhead. His skin was slightly paler than my own and his face was thin with a well-defined jawline. His lips showed no expression, so this must have been the picture on his card which would confirm his identity once I finally would meet him. Something about his appearance excited me: he looked like he should be a posh aristocrat or a wealthy businessman, not an assassin. That just made me look forward to meeting him even more.
I wondered what his reaction to my photo would be. It took me at least ten tries to get it right since I couldn't stop grinning or playing up to the camera as if I were a model. Eventually, they just had to wear me down so I at least looked half-serious, though if you looked closely you could still see a ghost of a smile on my face.
"Ok then, what's his personality like?" I questioned with a newfound vigour which had previously been missing. I wanted to know who he was as a person so that I could easily formulate a plan to kill him. The boss only shrugged his shoulders in response.
"I'm not sure." He said, turning his laptop back around so that he could type again, "However, trust is going to play a very large part in your task. That is what you must earn from him to eliminate him. I have been told that he finds it difficult to rely on people, but give it a few missions together and see how far it gets you. Once you have earnt his trust, killing him will be like taking candy from a baby."
"I see." I pondered on my thoughts for a little bit, tapping my chin with my finger. "So, I meet up with him, make him think that we are friends, then kill him." I chuckled darkly to myself. "What missions will we be doing?"
"There is a brief of each one on his laptop, so once you find him, you can choose a mission to get yourselves started. Oh, and by the way, you will be sharing an apartment. Aeternam thinks it will 'improve relations' even more. Don't try any funny business there, though."
"Why not?"
"They have special surveillance which will tell them if anything bad is going on, as do we. If you do anything that they deem 'off', you'll end up in chains and this whole company will go bust, and you will also probably be sentenced a harsh punishment."
Nervously, I gulped and widened my eyes. This was certainly not going to be as easy as I first thought it would be. Not once in my career so far have I been caught, and I intended to keep it that way.
"So, Jones?" my boss questioned, fixating his icy gaze on my eyes, "Will you take the mission?"
I weighed out my options in my head. I would be learning new ways to kill and how to function properly in co-operative missions, not to mention that it would bring me great success if done right. On the downside, one wrong move would land me in prison. I had to consider that too. It was now or never.
"I'll take it."
The boss chuckled again. "I thought you might. But, before you go, recite the A.H.A Assassin Rules one more time, just so you don't forget. After all," his voice darkened into a menacing growl, "I'm sure you know exactly what happens if you break them."
No assassin in my company would ever dare break the rules, and everybody sure knew what your punishment would be if they were violated. You would be promptly killed, simple as that, as well as anybody who perhaps knew anything about your job who wasn't in the company just for good measure.
"Number 1." I started with a shaky breath, "Do not disclose any information about your mission to those outside the American Hitman Association. Number 2: You must have no romantic relationships of any kind to anybody outside of the A.H.A. Number 3: You must not get attached to your target. Number 4: Do not get caught by the authorities. Number 5: Complete your mission, no matter the cost."
"Very good, Jones." The boss muttered under his breath, "Now go. I can assure that you will be paid handsomely for this."
I walked towards the door, briefcase in my hand swinging freely besides my legs. I pushed it open gingerly and, before it closed completely, I heard the boss whisper,
"Do not let Kirkland get out of this one alive."
The hustling streets I wandered through on my way to the café lifted my spirits significantly as the scent of freshly baked cookies and pumpkin wafted around the crowds. I liked to listen to the people talking as they strolled along, and to imagine what they did before then; I like to think that this is somebody's hometown-a place that they've had so many memories in that I couldn't even begin to comprehend-but to them I'm just another person passing by.
The Rosebush Café wasn't too far away from the massive office block I had come from, only about a fifteen-minute walk, but it still felt like I had trekked across half the country. The place looked very friendly and inviting, with the signboards painted in a pretty, dusty pink and its full-length windows. It had two colourful rose bushes on either side of the entrance that had a little silver bell on it which made a sweet twinkling noise when the door was opened.
When I walked in, my eyes scanned the area in an attempt to spot my target. I saw groups of teenage girls huddled round tables sipping hot chocolates topped high with cream and marshmallows, families, friends and couples chatting eagerly and munching on slices of red velvet cake.
I decided to order myself a coffee and do a little more searching whilst it was being prepared. Eventually, my eyes landed on a man sitting in a small booth in the corner of the café, a steaming cup of tea next to his silver laptop which he was staring at intently whilst typing. He was definitely who I was looking for. No doubt about it. He had the large eyebrows and the thin face, and his eyes seemed to sparkle even more than they did in his photograph.
Picking up my coffee and nearly burning myself in the process of trying to take a sip, I shuffled to his table and quietly cleared my throat to get his attention. When that didn't work, I mustered a feeble, "Hello…?" before he lifted his head to look at me. Almost instantly, he recognised me, smiling and scooting over a little bit to make room for me on the seat.
"Hello there." He greeted me, his clipped yet pleasant English accent startling me as I was not prepared for it, "Nice to meet you! Alfred F. Jones, I presume?"
"Yep!" I replied, laughing like a child as I started to relax a bit, "You must be Arthur Kirkland then!"
The Englishman fumbled in his bag for a few seconds before pulling out his business card and showing it to me. "Indeed, I am." He shoved it back into one of his trouser pockets, "But please, just call me Arthur."
"Oh, ok then." I said, taking a long swig of my coffee, "Then I guess you can call me Alfred!"
He smiled at me again and this time I returned it before he went back to scrolling on his laptop. I managed to keep myself to myself for about ten seconds, but curiosity soon got the better of me and I ended up craning my neck to peer over his shoulder. Just like my boss had said, the screen displayed all the various missions we could choose from. The missions I would be using to wrap Arthur round my little finger.
I glanced over at my target, whose eyebrow was annoyedly twitching (probably as a result of me). His eyes moved to look at me, "What are you doing?" he grumbled.
"I just want to see the missions we're gonna do together!" I whined, getting a mere roll of the eyes from the assassin.
"Firstly, it's 'going to' not 'gonna', and secondly, if you wanted to help me chose, you could have just asked."
He turned the laptop slightly so we could both see it at the same time, before he started quietly reading each task aloud to me. My baby-blue eyes scanned the laptop's screen for a while, then one mission in particular caught my eye.
"Hang on a second," I interrupted, pointing at the grey box on the illuminated screen, "Click on that one."
Doing as he was told, I saw Arthur smile devilishly upon reading the mission and eagerly clicking the accept button within seconds. He turned off and closed his laptop, placing it gently in his rucksack, then giving said rucksack to the man in the booth next to us whilst whispering something in his ear sternly.
"Alright, Alfred, we've got ourselves a job. Get your briefcase and let's go."
"Wait what? Arthur slow down!" My head was practically spinning like a whirlpool as I grabbed the other man's sleeve to stop him from leaving without me. "Where are we going and what are we doing?"
He paused and sat back down, turning back to me with determination and murderous intent in his big emerald eyes. "Two rich wankers down in the country-husband and wife. They run a dodgy cannabis plantation in Mexico and they treat their workers like dirt. One of them has clearly gotten contact with my company and want them taken out. What do you say?"
I nodded, smirking, "Let's go."
This was it. The trigger was being pulled, the kick starter to my proper mission. As he grabbed my sleeve and pulled me out of the café and towards the train station, my mind was running wild again. I would have so many chances, opportunities, to strike, to carry out the true mission I have been assigned to.
The mission that would change my life forever.
Thank you for reading the first chapter! If you enjoyed it, please do perhaps drop a review telling me how I did! Constructive criticism is always appreciated also as I would love to know how I can improve! See you next chapter!