A/N: Aye, Chapter 3. This is so bad, I'm sure, I'd rather do a comic on it, but I can't draw Hetalia characters... yet...
SS out~
Matthew was still shaken from his run-in with the white-haired Mainlander. He knew the soldier-guards weren't going to go for the Mainlander. If there was a fight between Arthur and the albino-guy, no matter who was at fault... Matthew knew he'd never see his green-eyed friend again.
He ran the rag over the fish scales, glancing over at Arthur. Arthur was helping him again, just as he had earlier.
"Lovino is going to be pissed that you're late," Arthur commented.
"It's the afternoon..."
"Yes, but weren't you going to visit him and Feliciano for dinner?" the green-eyed Islander asked his violet-eyed friend, glancing over. "It is their birthday, after all."
"I know... I hate that I'm late," Matthew sighed, setting the fish in the basket. "I should have been paying attention."
"Matthew, don't you-"
"No, it's true. I wasn't paying attention and I ran across the path to get to the farm station. I didn't see the Mainlander there..." Matthew sighed again and rubbed his forehead. His hands smelled like fish, but he didn't really care. "I know usually it is their fault but this time it really wasn't. He looked like he didn't even want to touch one of us, let alone run into us."
Arthur was about to respond when an irritating voice interrupted.
"Vat ze hell vas zat?"
Both Islanders nearly dropped the fish they were holding and spun around to look at the albino Mainlander.
"W-what was what?" Matthew asked, glancing aside. He didn't want to offend the Mainlander by looking him in the eye. He'd made that mistake before...
"Whot do you want, Mainlander?" Arthur asked, a scowl forming on his face.
Gilbert ignored Arthur, deciding that Matthew was the one who would talk to him in a more respectful way. "Vat ze hell vas vith zose soldiers? Vhy are zere Mainland soldiers on a puny little Island?"
"Isn't it obvious? To make sure no one tries to escape or... bother... Mainlanders," Matthew answered, glancing at Arthur. Arthur simply scowled and turned back to his work.
The albino was silent for a few moments, thinking about this new information. As he did, he glanced around the house.
He was only a few feet away from the blonde duo, who were standing at a basin of some sort that served as a sink, which was next to a woodstove and across from a tiny wooden table. The house didn't have any walls inside it to divide out rooms. The other side of the large room dipped down like a downstairs and was split in half by a loft. The loft had three beds in it. In the "downstairs" bit under the loft there was a bookshelf in one corner next to a rinky-dinky brown couch, and what looked like badly-made fridges on the other side. He could barely see a small door in the corner, probably going into a basement area. Directly opposite the front door was another door, probably the dock.
Even the inside of the fishery was stone.
The saddest part was that, from what Gilbert had seen so far, this was the nicest house in the entire village... thing...
"Whot are you still in my house for?" the Briton-sounding Islander demanded, finally turning around to glare.
"Arthur, please don't attract attention," Matthew whispered even quieter than he usually did, glancing out a window worriedly towards the soldiers.
"You have got some guts for an Islander," Gilbert commented, crossing his arms. "Zis house is pazetic. I've seen better on ze Mainland."
"Well no duh," Arthur rolled his eyes. "We only give the Mainland ninety-five percent of everything we have."
"Feisty too. You should vatch zat mouth of yours."
"Arthur," Matthew interrupted Arthur's retort, "How about you come with me to Lovino and Feliciano's? You haven't been there in a while, let's go...!"
Arthur frowned. He knew very well Matthew was trying to stop an oncoming fight. Truth be told, Arthur knew better than to start a fight with a Mainlander. Even if he was stronger than a Mainlander, he knew he stood no chance against a gun.
"Alright, fine. Are we done with cleaning the fish?"
"Yes, Arthur, let's just go..."
Gilbert watched the two as they picked up the baskets and turned to the door. He didn't move.
"Move it, Mainlander."
"Make me, Briton."
Arthur blinked. "Briton? I'm not a Briton, you twat."
"You sound like one," Gilbert smirked.
"Islanders do have ancestral roots in the Mainland, Mainlander," Arthur scowled. "My roots are in Britain, but I am an Islander. We are not divided like you Mainland scum. Now move!"
Mentally, Gilbert tucked away the knowledge that Arthur didn't like being associated with the Mainland in such a direct fashion.
"Please excuse us," Matthew cut in Gilbert's thoughts and Arthur's rant, nudging his friend slightly. "We have somewhere important to be." Gilbert pondered antagonizing them even more, but... to be honest, the soft-spoken blonde really caught his attention. He had no clue why.
"Vatever," Gilbert shrugged, stepping aside to let them out. Matthew quickly went past before Gilbert could change his mind. Arthur followed at a slower pace, still glaring at Gilbert. The albino smirked. "Have fun, Briton~!" he called tauntingly.
"I'm not a Briton, you git!"
"Arthur! Now we're going to be even more late!"
After once again cleaning the fish that Arthur dropped, the two finally were at the small train station that Gilbert had noticed off to the side. Gilbert followed them, not really knowing why... maybe because there was nothing better for him to do. Plus, he decided this blonde duo was... interesting.
The two stood by the empty tracks, looking out over the long train-bridge. Gilbert assumed they were waiting for the train. According to the train schedule, it only ran two times a day every Monday and Thursday... once in the morning, once at night.
It was Monday, a little past seven...
Over the horizon a train appeared. It wasn't going as fast as Mainland trains, but it was still fast.
Once it got to the station, though, Gilbert realized that the train wasn't even a passenger train. It had an engine and one train-buggy-whatever-thing, and some Islanders got to work unloading dead things and crops and... stuff. Gilbert wasn't sure he wanted to know. He looked back towards Arthur and Matthew and noticed they had left their spot. Shifting his gaze along, he saw them walking on the train bridge.
...
Nope. I'm going back to the hotel.
"That git finally stopped following us," Arthur noted, glancing over his shoulder towards the station. "Probably too cowardly to walk across."
"Or lazy," Matthew giggled. It was a pretty long walk, but he was used to it. He made the walk every day! Around five o'clock every morning and four o'clock every afternoon. It was the third time he was walking across that day, but it was for a special occasion; it was the twins' sixteenth birthday. Matthew thought they'd appreciate having fish for once, instead of pork or beef or chicken or no meat at all.
"Perhaps both," Arthur suggested with a laugh. Then he sighed, though it was a contented sigh, and smiled slightly. "Ah, doesn't the wind feel wonderful?"
"It does," Matthew agreed with a smile. "Smells like sea salt, of course."
"Of course. No better smell in the world, if you ask me!" Arthur stated matter-of-factly. "The Mainland can keep their factories. I quite enjoy our simple life here."
"Me too," Matthew smiled. "There's so much to do that the Mainlanders don't even know of."
"Like the tunnel systems below the island," Arthur chuckled, obviously remembering the time he, Matthew, and Lovino- on one of Lovino's rare trips to the Main Island- went swimming and found the underwater tunnels. There were air pockets, of course, or else they would have drowned...
"Exactly!" Matthew smiled with his friend, remembering the discovery as well. That day had been an amazing day. It was Sunday, and by law of the Mainland, they weren't allowed to do more than necessary work- feeding the animals, feeding themselves, stuff like that. It was the one day the Islanders got to play around and relax all day instead of only late afternoon. Lovino and Feliciano had come for a visit after feeding their animals. Feliciano had been too scared to dive off the cliff-side that Matthew lived on, but Lovino was all for it.
They had been feeling rather adventurous that day, so instead of climbing back up and just diving again, the three of them- Matthew himself, Lovino, and Arthur- swam around a little. The salt water had long ago stopped bothering them, so it wasn't hard to keep their eyes open under the water.
It had been Lovino who spotted the little cave. The three brave Islanders didn't hesitate to explore... after surfacing and getting air.
Coming out of his memories, Matthew turned to his friend. "So, how are we going to talk our way out of Lovino's anger?" he asked with a sigh.
"Easy, tell him the truth. Some Mainlander git got in our way."
-Meanwhile-
"Seriously, valking on a train track? How stupid can anyone be?" Gilbert demanded, looking over at his brother. Ludwig didn't look too impressed.
"Perhaps it vas ze only vay zey could get to vhere zey vere going," he suggested, glancing up from his books. "But it is not our business."
Gilbert frowned and looked out the window. He could see the village-town thing and the rinky-dinky "train" station and the train-bridge. From that height he could just barely see another, smaller island, but obviously he couldn't make out anything even close to it, not even the dotted forms of Arthur and Matthew.
"Vhy vould it be so hard to make a train for zem to ride?"
"You're starting to sound like me, Gilbert," Ludwig commented. He was paying more attention to his book now, so he didn't notice Gilbert tense at his words. "Ze answer is simple enough. Mainlanders don't like to make ze Islanders' lives easy. Vhy do you zink ze Mainlanders take most everyzing zey have? Vhy do you zink ze Mainlanders only let zem rest one day, in relation to a Mainland religion? Vhy no electricity or indoor plumbing? No proper building materials or-"
"Alright, alright, I get it, do ze shutting up zing now," Gilbert growled. "I get it, our people treat ze Islanders bad simply because zey vant to. But come on, if zey did somezing like fall off ze bridge, zat's two less vorkers ve have!"
"Gilbert..." Ludwig shook his head. For a moment he'd thought Gilbert had seen the light...
"Vaaaaat?"
-To Be Continued-
