I updated! Good for me.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. If I did…
Warnings: Swearing, implied pedophilia
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"Bonjour, Matthieu," said the blonde man, his back to the little boy, "What would you like for breakfast?" Before Matthew could reply, his brother barreled into the room, screaming "Omelette! Omelette!" at the top of his tiny lungs.
The blonde man turned, revealing a handsome face with blue eyes and a stubble beard. Scooping up Alfred, he chuckled. "Chéri, I know that you are desperate to get away from that ghastly 'food' that mon Angleterre makes, but I asked your little brother first."
England, thought Matthew somewhere in the part of his brain that wasn't dreaming, he said "My England." What does that mean?
"C-could you make pancakes? I love pancakes." Matthew stuttered nervously, tugging on his white nightgown.
"Of course, Matthieu," cooed the blonde man, scooping up Matthew as well and holding both of the twins close to his chest. He smelled like roses, wine, fine bread and another scent that Matthew couldn't quite identify. It was heavy and musky, and Matthew decided he didn't like it as much as the other smells.
"Frog!" called a new voice, this one laced with a rough British accent, "What the bloody hell are you doing to Alfred and… err… his brother?"
Matthew could imagine the coy smile spreading across the blonde man's face as he squeezed the twins a little tighter. "Mon amour, I am holding them like any good papa! They love it~"
"My arse they love it!" Matthew and Alfred were yanked from the blonde man's arms and into the chest of someone else. After a squirming around a bit, Matthew could look up at his new captor. For a moment, Matthew could have sworn that two bushy caterpillars were crawling over the skin right above his captor's emerald-green eyes, but he quickly decided that he was just being over- imaginative.
"Arthur, aren't you overreacting? I was just hugging them!"
"You'd be doing more than that pretty soon, you pervert!"
"You doubt I tell the truth?"
"And with a bloody good reason, too!" Arthur sighed, placing Matthew and Alfred on the floor. "I'm sorry you had to hear that, lads. It must be hard to hear your big brother fight." The blonde man frowned.
"Angleterre, I thought we had agreed that I'm the papa and you're the ma-"
He was cut off by a punch to the stomach.
"We should go," whispered Alfred, taking Matthew's hand and harshly tugging him in the direction of the living room door. Matthew took one last look at his big brothers before letting himself be dragged out.
"Matthew!" called a voice from his bedside, "Matthew, wake up. It's time for breakfast."
Matthew rolled over, refusing to open his eyes. For a moment, he was drifting through the limbo between dreams and waking life. Then he remembered – he couldn't remember. Matthew opened his eyes, sitting up. Alfred was on the bed, next to him. Matthew noticed something new – a strand of his brother's hair was sticking straight up, and he was also wearing glasses. Matthew wondered what he should ask about first: the hair, the glasses, breakfast or the people in his dream.
"You wear glasses?" Matthew asked. Alfred nodded.
"So do you, bro." Alfred plucked something off the bedside table and handed it to his brother. The glasses were nearly identical to Alfred's, but they were a little rounder and thicker. Come to think of it, Matthew did remember something about wearing glasses when he was outside.
"I took them off when you fell asleep," explained Alfred, plucking them out of his brother's hands and placing them on Matthews face.
"You seem like a very kind person, eh." Matthew stated offhandedly, not thinking. Alfred coughed in surprise, his sky blue eyes widening at the bold statement.
"E-eh, no, not really. Just wanna make a good first impression, y'know? It's my second chance, and I don't want to mess up this time too."
Matthew bit his lip. "Did… we argue a lot?"
Alfred looked like he wanted to run out of the room. After a moment, he swallowed and nodded slowly. "Yeah… we didn't see eye-to-eye on most things. It didn't help that people kept confusing you for me, and sometimes outright ignored you. I've… always been louder, and since we're twins, well… they just thought you were a less interesting version of me. It was really horrible…"
Matthew thought back to his dream. It seemed like the British man – Arthur – had trouble remembering his name. A flash of red-hot anger flared through him. Matthew gasped, recoiling at the intense feeling. For a moment, he felt like he was burning up. His vision didn't go red but black as Matthew struggled against the tide that was pushing him down somewhere, somewhere he didn't want to go.
"You okay, Mattie? Mattie?" A voice – Alfred's. Matthew held onto that one string of light among the mirth that had filled him. He blinked. Once. Twice.
"Mattie?"
Matthew stuttered out a response as he tumbled back into the real world. "Y-yes?"
"You okay, Mattie? You kinda glazed over. Didn't seem like you even heard me." Alfred looked really worried, and placed a hand on Matthew's shoulder. Matthew's brain scrambled for options. He really didn't know what had just happened or why, but if he told Alfred the truth, he would scare him.
"I had a flashback, I think," Matthew said slowly. Alfred's eyes brightened, and a smile spread across his face.
"Really? What was it?"
Matthew glanced away. He knew he should tell his brother, but a coil of suspicion was rising in his gut. If Matthew could lie, so could Alfred. They might not be related at all. Hell, everything Alfred said could be one big, fat deception.
No, Matthew thought, remember your dream? That was obviously Alfred. He isn't lying about that, at least.
"Um, well, there were these two people, and they were fighting…" Matthew trailed off, not sure how this would sound. How could he explain that his first memory was not a happy one? In the movies, usually the amnesia victim could only remember a fragment of something happy that happened in their life, and they went pursuing that until they found their lover or something like that. In his flashback, Matthew honestly wasn't sure that his childhood had been a happy one.
Sensing his hesitation, Alfred rolled off the bed, his smile faltering slightly. "Hey, maybe we can discuss this over breakfast, yeah? I always feel better after eating your pancakes."
Oh yeah. Matthew apparently liked pancakes, though he really couldn't remember that all too well. He wondered if he could still make them. At the thought, Matthew smiled a bit and scooted off until he stood next to Alfred. It was just then that he noticed that he was uncomfortable close. His nose was almost pressing into his brother's cheek. Blushing, Matthew stepped away. Alfred gave him a weird look, but smiled nevertheless. "C'mon bro, let's go."
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As it turned out, Alfred had to make the pancakes, because Matthew hadn't the faintest idea how to do it. However, throughout the entire process, he was giving Alfred advice, and when his brother was finally done, Matthew could tell he was more than a little irritated.
"Here you go," he said, dumping a few large pancakes onto Matthew's plate unceremoniously. Matthew winced, not meeting his brother's eyes. Alfred picked up a bottle of maple syrup and practically drenched the food in the all-Canadian dressing. Matthew eyed it nervously. Was this normal? Picking up the fork, he poked the pancakes dubiously before cutting off a piece that wasn't completely soaked and eating it.
"So…" Matthew started awkwardly, not knowing what to say. "Uh… about my flashback…"
"Actually, I need to tell you something really important," Alfred said, giving himself the rest of breakfast and shoveling it down, "About right now, not your past. Um… we're in a vacation home of yours, on this island in the middle of Ta… Taki… Taki-something-or-other lake. It's in Canada. You invited me over here, and this… cold snap blew in. The lake's completely frozen over, and we don't have any phones here. We've been here for over a month. It was supposed to be this secret retreat or whatever, so no one really knows we're here…"
Matthew was stunned. They were trapped on a freezing island? It sounded like something straight out of Hollywood. He opened his mouth, and then closed it again. Suddenly, getting his memory back didn't seem that important.
"How… how have we survived?"
"There's wildlife on the island, and I brought my gun with me. Though we've been really careful with the bullets, since there's only so many… plus, you brought a lot of food, 'cause I generally eat a lot…"Alfred looked down at his plate. He has eaten two pancakes, and there was only one left on his plate. "Yeah, this is a pretty small breakfast for me."
Matthew leaned back, rubbing his eyes. Was it possible that the stress of being trapped made him lose his memory? Though it seemed likely, something didn't add up. What was that anger that he had felt? Why hadn't he told anyone that he was going on a vacation? Didn't he have a job? And why was Alfred looking so nervous?
"We'll be okay," Alfred said eventually, "I'll protect you from any harm, I promise." Matthew's brother stood, walking over and patting Matthew on the shoulder. Matthew looked up, and then buried his face in his brother's chest. "C'mon bro!" Alfred shouted a little too enthusiastically, picking Matthew up with a slight grunt. "So what did you remember?"
Matthew took a deep breath. "It… it must've been a long time ago. I was a young child, and so were you. And… there were two other people there. One of them was named Arthur, but the other didn't have a name. They were arguing over something… something stupid. Arthur called himself out big brother, and I guess he also meant the other man."
"Ah," Alfred said, still holding Matthew, "That would be Arthur and Francis. I guess you could call them our big brothers, but they were more like parents. They took care of us, and even though they fought a bunch, they really did love each other."
"Are they dead?" Matthew asked bluntly.
"What? No! What the hell made you think that?!" Alfred set his brother down, stepping away. Matthew felt another surge of anger, but he managed to repress it this time.
"Well, you kept referring to them in the past tense. I thought you might mean that they were dead."
"No, no. I just was tryin' to say it in a way that was like, a memory."
Matthew closed his eyes. Did that mean that they were adopted? Was it possible that Alfred wasn't really related to him? Something new filled Matthew's heart. It was warm, but it also sickened him. It was like his heart was greedy. Nothing was really making any sense anymore. "I'm going to take a shower." He announced, turning away.
"Do you need help finding the bathroom?" Alfred asked, walking after his brother.
"No! I mean, I can find it on my own, eh." Matthew really needed to spend some time away from his brother. In the short time that he remembers, Matthew was almost always in the company of his brother. He really needed some time to sort everything out. It was like pieces of the puzzle were coming together, but in the wrong places and much too fast. Matthew could feel his brother's worried gaze all the way up the stairs.
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Yay for the second chapter!
The blonde man = France
The lake Alfred is trying to talk about is Takijuq Lake, which is this little-known lake in Nunavut Territory, Canada. There are a bunch of unnamed (as far as I know) islands in Takijuq lake. The reason I chose this lake is because it's not really close to anything and is forested enough that it could pass off as a vacation home site. You should look it up on Google Maps.
To my reviewers:
Kouya-kun: Congrats on stealing the comment virginity! XD Anyways, I hope you continue to enjoy your birthday gift (even though it was reaaaaally late)
Teh Llamainator: I dub thee a Prussia point for using the word "awesome" so much :) Thank you for leaving a review.
Kira92: I'm glad you like my writing style! I really hope you keep reading and keep enjoying~
Anyone else who wants to leave a review, please do so! Also, the more reviews I get, the faster the next chapter comes. Please don't be shy about constructive criticism, just no hating. Till next time!