So I've been busy reading this awesome story lately is why my stories are late. don't hate me! Hope this next chapter's good though! Enjoy!
I Do Not Own Hetalia
Silence seemed to echo around every corner. I could tell I was awake, but I couldn't bring myself to open my eyes because there was a pulsing headache in the front of my head. The ground felt rough. We must be in a road or something, I thought, closing my fingers around what felt like bits of gravel. Suddenly, I heard slow footsteps somewhere nearby. "Madeline?," came a voice. The footsteps grew quicker and closer. I opened my eyes carefully, squinting in the dull light, to see the faces of Alfred and Little Ivan looking down at me. "Hey, Mad, you ok?," Alfred asked quietly, stretching his hand out to me. I grabbed his hand, thankful for the help, and stood up, holding my head as it thumped painfully. "Yeah, I'm ok, Al. Thanks," I said, squeezing my eyes shut for a second to clear my blurred vision. "I'm glad you are safe," Little Ivan whispered, "but we need to start going. The dock is only a mile out of the city from here, luckily. Let's go."
We began walking at a slow pace against the sides of tall buildings. Now that I was able to see better, I could get a good look at the surroundings. It all looked like a Hollywood disaster movie: The entire area was deathly silent and broken. The roads were vacant of any signs of life and covered with dust, debris, and varying sizes of gray rocks and glass shards. The city buildings all around were crumbling in some form or way. Large holes were in the walls of some with electrical wires sticking out and sparking occasionally, and the rooftops of some were completely ripped off as if a large, hungry beast had traveled through. Nearly every window in sight was broken. There was little sunlight shining from the sky, which had clouds of gray hanging heavily in the air. A faint wind picked up every now and then, bringing with it the scent of rain. The whole scene looked just as artificial as a movie, yet a forboding feeling weighed on my shoulders. I tried to swallow the fear that was starting to rise in my throat. "U-um, what happened here?," I asked shakily. The two in front of me stopped for a breif second. "I suppose you're the only one i haven't explained this to yet, aren't you?," Little Ivan mumbled. "Ohmygod, Mads, this place is SOOO cool, you should have HEARD the AWESOMENESS this world is in!" Alfred yelled excitedly, then suddenly stopped and glanced around guiltily. Ivan's eyes were wide, glinting with a slight fear. "L-let's keep moving and I'll explain to you, Miss Madeline." The two males seemed to move at an even slower, more cautious pace now. This was especially unusual for Alfred. What could make him act this way?
"This all started a bit over a decade ago," Ivan began quietly. "We're not all completely sure of what caused it, but a pandemic of sorts began to spread all over the world, until every country was infected. In under a year, it had taken over the entire population of every country across the globe." They paused their slow progress momentarily for the small man to check quickly around the corner or the building. He darted across the rock-littered street, then squatted at the edge of another building protectivly and motioned for the two to follow. They copied his motions carefully, then they stood and started moving silently again. "It seems sort of impossible, but our situation is similar to a zombie apocalypse to your world," he concluded swiftly. "And," Alfred added joyfully," we might get to see one before we reach the others!" Ivan glared at the American and shushed him with a slight anger. "How about we try to get to the dock without running into any more of them?," he suggested, though the anger he was trying to convey was betrayed by the way he trembled with fear.
The rest of their journey was quiet and uneventful. They reached a dock where all the others from her world were waiting for their arrival. "About fucking time," Lovino grumbled. He stood up from where he had been sitting on Antonio's lap and walked up to the returning group, looking directly at Ivan with his blazing eyes. Does his expression seem softer? I wondered, looking over his features as he spoke with the short man. Then I shook my head, deciding against it. Lovino doesn't care for anyone, I must be imagining it.
Soon after this, we all boarded as small boat, though it was plenty enough room to fit all of us. Once we began inching along in the water, the atmosphere of the group seemed to lighten a bit. Feliciano was snuggled up to Ludwig, his boyfriend, who was looking off across the water with a slightly visible blush on his cheeks, fighting back a smile. Ivan sat more near his smaller self, who was steering the boat, uttering a low 'kolkolkol' sound. Lovino, Antonio, and Vlad sat towards the front of the boat. Antonio hugged the Italian boy to his chest with a cheeky grin on his face, while said Italian was trying to fight his way from the Spaniard's grip, his eyes blazing as always, but an equally blazing blush on his cheeks. Vlad sat across from the couple, laughing at Lovino's struggles with his pure white fangs glinting in the dull sunlight. Lovino was yelling at the man, but I didn't care to pay any attention. I sat on the left side of the boat, staring ahead, with Alfred to my right and Francis to my left. To Alfred's right, Arthur was sitting beside the American, and the two seemed to be in a silly yelling match over what kind of movies were better. From what I could follow, Alfred believed horror and hero movies were better, while Arthur thought movies that "let your imagination run" were better. They were so funny sometimes. My head was still pulsing a bit, so i lifted my hand up to try and lessen the pain it brought, closing my eyes and leaning forward. As I did this, I felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around me and pull me into a comforting hug. I smiled and leaned into the hug, looking up at Francis. "Are you ok, mon cheri?," The blonde haired man asked. I nodded, closing my eyes again and laying my head on his chest. "I'm just a little stressed, Papa. Don't worry about me." My headache was starting to disappear as I began to sink into sleep. I felt a barely noticeable pressure through the fog of sleep as he kissed my head. "I will always care, Madeline..." I remember him whispering. He had something else after that, but I was too far into the peaceful darkness of sleep to hear him.
I was stirred from my sleep by a shift in the motion of the boat. I opened my eyes a crack, and noticed we had stopped at a dock. Compared to the dock we had left from, this one looked steadier. The wood looked almost new, and sand surrounded it. "We're here," Ivan announced to the group. Several people jumped up from their spots, complaining of being cramped up for too long, while a few other were stirring from sleep like me. I just closed my eyes again. I didn't want to go meet people from this parallel world, I just wanted to go back to sleep. However, against my will, an arms slid under my legs and I was lifted up from the boat. I squeaked, my eyes shooting open. "I-I can get up on my own, you know!" I yelped, my face starting to heat up. Those bright blue eyes seemed to be in a different place, but he smirked at me. "But you didn't," Francis defended himself. I squished my eyes shut and covered my face with my hands. "W-well, I can walk, so p-please put me down." Apparently this worked, and I was set carefully down on the soft earth. Removing my hands from my face, I half smiled at him thankfully, again feeling my face heat up.
The area around us was completely opposite from the land we had left when first arriving. This place was a small island with gentle waves lapping at sandy shores, and fresh, bright, green grass in every other spot inland. Not too far away, there was a giant mansion. And when I say giant, I mean giant. It appeared to be between five or six stories high, and stretched out to the length of about eight full-length buses. The color of it was a natural brown: most likely made from the wood of beautifully kept trees. There didn't seem to be as many windows as there should be rooms in the house, but there was still a decent amount of light streaming from the glass, shining brighter than the sunlight outside, through multiple colors thin curtains or colored glass. All around this great mansion there was life blooming everywhere. Everything from Lillies to Apple trees seemed to be growing there. It painted a rainbow trail of frail beauty as the new-coming group walked carefully after the small native Russian who, as far as they knew, had lived here for quite a while. I wasn't sure who could possibly tend after so many sorts of plant life, but it was all breath-taking. The ones that caught my eye as we walked towards the door were the Roses: all around the edges of the house were thick bushes of dark red roses, and they were the only plant that close to the house. They seemed to be hugging the wood of the enormous abode, saying, 'this is mine, this is where I belong'.
Once Little Ivan reached the door, he stopped dead in his tracks and looked at the ground for a moment, as if thinking. We all grouped around him on the large porch, not comfortable with entering without permission. That is except for Lovino. He grabbed the doorknob and was about to yank it open, but was stopped by Ivan before he could. The tall Ivan, our Ivan. He grabbed the Italian's arm not reaching for the door and twisted it behind his back. "Ouch! Fuck you, let me go!," growled, releasing the door handle and turning around to somewhat adjust the angle his arm was at. The tall man just smile. "You need to be waiting," he advised. "Little me has something to say to us, if you can not tell." Then he released the younger man's arm, allowing him to fall back into Antonio, which in turn sent them both tumbling to the floor. Little Ivan looked up at the scene a little shaky. "Um, t-thank you."
He looked at his parallel self, then up at us. I could tell this had to be said, for his eyes seemed to be serious as he turned to look at the whole group. "There are two things you all must know," he explained. "Firstly, those in my world were former rulers of the countries that once stood. We prefer to be addressed by such titles to all those we associate with. You will refer to me as Russia from now on. Occasionally, a human name will be used in an affectionate way..." he shivered slightly, but became serious once more.
Then, he looked around, looking us all straight in the eye for a second. But he stopped on he. His eyes were as cold as ice, as if he were glaring at me in a rage that the Ivan I knew would do. I felt like shrinking under this gaze, but it would do me no good. I stood where I was, keeping our eyes locked, knowing he didn't mean to scare me. Though I felt he was trying to tell me something personally, and I tried to not shake. "Secondly," he said, after what felt like an eternity, "and most importantly," he added," do not snoop in anyone's business here." Something about his gaze made me feel like he meant the exact opposite. However, what he said next made me fear for my life.
"This mansion holds dark secrets. Try to understand anyone's personal life that lives here and it could be the death of you."
With that he broke our gaze, turned around and motioned for us to follow him inside...
Woohoo, starting to get good? Hopefully everyone liked this and you'll keep reading!
