Hello everyone and phew I hope I made it in time, Sorry I submitted soo late for this week but being on holiday would tend to do that to you. Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter and next week we should hopefully update some other stories for a nice change so if you would love to see a certain series updated please comment the story below ( of course one I write) and maybe the popular choice will get done first or have an extra chapter. But again thank you Vanti for writing this with me as always and all of you fans and readers out there for enjoying this story.
Thank you and enjoy~ 3
The sun slowly started to set over the forest's horizon. Francis watched the day light slowly diminishing from the town's streets, causing him to become irritable and nervous. He couldn't think right anymore. He had stopped paying attention to Alice complaining to a store clerk about something he didn't really care about, and slowly started to let his mind wander, which was never a good thing in Francis' case.
Already waving in his blurred vision Alice was now trying to grab his attention only being an arm length away. " Francis?! I'm talking to you! " Alice huffed now snapping her fingers in the blond man's face " come on its time to go home, don't make me hit you to get your attention" at this point angry enough to show steam though in fairness the aggravation came from the store clerk
Francis blinked a few time before finally noticing Alice trying to grab his attention.
"Oh Alice, what did you say? I wasn't paying much attention. Sorry" he spoke in a oddly calm voice.
Shocked at his lack of attention or even pretence of listening she then put a hand on either hip and leant back raising a bushy brow " what the hell!? you didn't hear me even after repeating over and over again! well if you must know! its time to go home, we should make it before it gets too dark" not hesitating noticing the Frenchman was alittle out of it she snatched his hand while he dozed off in a stasis like trance and huffed off from the market bag with weaved bag of goods in hand while guiding the defenceless man home
Francis let himself be dragged by the witch without making some flirty comment about them holding hands again. He remained completely silent. His eyes were dull and hazy, almost like he was on some kind of pain killing medication.
He was suddenly snapped out of his trance when a young woman rushing past them shouldered him. His natural expression was changed into anger as he let out an audible growl and shot a glare at the blonde. She looked back at him with terrified eyes and mumbled a quick "sorry" before running off.
Although the young female left, Francis's expression did not change. He quickly took the lead, walking faster while holding onto Alice's hand tightly.
" Francis! " Alice shouted now being dragged home... atleast she hoped it was home " stop dragging me! we can atleast walk its not that dark!" getting sassy unaware of how angry the man infront of her looked at this point, she stumbled occasionally struggling to keep on her feet
The Frenchman didn't respond to Alice's complaints and kept moving forward, his grip tightening around Alice's wrist.
Looking down to her clutched wrist she growled just as loud until suddenly " FRANCIS! STOP YOUR HURTING ME!" she shouted alittle too loud for her liking but at this point she was being kidnapped, she tried to snatch her hand back but failed
Stopping abruptly in his tracks he turned around quickly and looked at Alice with a spiteful glare. His pupils dilated into slits and his eyes glowed in the last minutes of sunlight left. He scowled, his fangs clearly more evident then before.
Alice looked shocked but she still concentrated and yanked her hand away from the changing man and ran towards the forests nearby her home, that was her domain and she knew her way around backwards and blindfolded
It didn't take long for the werewolf to realise that she was running away from him. He growled loudly and went after her. He quickly started gaining on the witch, and now ran behind her at an arm's reach.
Clearly the little witch couldn't run as fast as the now hybrid wolf/human form so she decided to climb the easiest and closest tree possible, once she reached a branch tall enough to be out of the predator's reach she yells " Francis what the hell is wrong with you!? I didn't think werewolves got like this unless they never came to control or develop their cravings and nee... ooooooooh" finally realising Alice groaned and rolled her eyed " of course you haven't learned to control this, because that would make my life EASIER"
He glared daggers at the witch and dug his nails into the tree, his hands slowly morphing into sharp claws. He pushed himself up and latched onto a blanch, his intense gaze never leaving the witch for a second.
Alice looked up to the sky and groaned with frustration " if I'm still up here by sunrise I swear ill kick him out for the night or the week..." praying that the hunter never heard her cries, she looks around for options on how to escape or tie up the werewolf but finds nothing
The (not quite yet) werewolf climbed branch to branch in order to reach the surprisingly annoyed witch. When he finally reached the branch below her, he jumped up and tried to grab her foot, but he fell short, and quickly started to plummet back to the ground. Before he could reach contact with the cold, unforgiving forest floor, he latched onto a branch, growling in frustration.
The werewolf's scratch made the scared witch clasp her hand over her ankle and exposed foot, feeling slightly cold she glanced down to the grassy terrain under and spotted her slipper lying there " great... now ill never get down" said with disappointment, she took hold of her warm winter cloak and wrapped it over herself as much as possible and closed her eyes accepting that she will stay like this for hours atleast
The werewolf grunted and slowly got down from the tree, but he refused to let the witch get off the hook. He circled around the tree for several minutes, before feeling defeated and simply sat down under it, waiting for a chance to catch the unrecognisable prey he had been chasing after.
After 2 hours some loud, low grumbling snoring could be heard much to the displeasure of the witch, however if she could not sleep maybe she could sneak down from the tree at this point.
Taking a few tentative steps down the branches and only receiving a few twitches and rustled movements from the beast she found confidence and made it to the flat ground with one naked foot squelching in the wet mud but now wasn't the time for complaining. Slowly sneaking past Francis she took hold of her slipper and slid it back on only to hear some stirring behind her, falling backwards at the very image of the snarling teeth possibly being inches away she cowered and held a branch she found nearby to defend herself
Francis- no. The monster turned around slowly. The once handsome man was now a terrifying wolf-like creature, that had no resemblance to the man it once took form as whatsoever, besides for the blue eyes that glowed in the darkness of the night.
Now wielding this large black branch the soon to be pet food began to conjure up a plan but it involved using an experimental part of her magic that she didn't quite perfect yet, so the pet food route wasn't eliminated yet.
Backing up till her shoulders hit the hard bark of another tree she then held the branch out infront of her and waited for the enemy's next move, unknown to them she was mouthing incoherent words which were summoning a spell
The animal slowly approached Alice on all four limbs, letting out the occasional snarl as he advanced closer and closer.
Alice couldn't look at the man she started to have feelings for as she was ready to take him down with a dangerous spell along with tying him down but she had no choice.
Wincing and only looking with one squinted eye the world suddenly flashed as the spell went off
Birds sang, water trickled down hills and cows mooed in the background; to anyone it looked like a normal calm morning as Alice lay on the ground bloody, filthy and clutching a stick in her hand soo tightly is shaped her palm. Visible scratches on her arms and legs along with a massive bite wound on her side meeting at each end. Francis was not a werewolf to mess with even when he was as harmless as a beanbag in the kitchen.
A groan could be heard a short distance away from Alice's laying body. Francis sat up slowly, his whole body ached and his head was pounding. His hissed from the initial shock, but quickly got over it. He looked around, confused as to why he was laying on the forest floor. He couldn't remember what had happened later on during the afternoon. Mumbling to himself as he tried to recollect his memories, Francis glanced over to his side. His eyes widened when he spotted the witch laying lifelessly on the ground.
He quickly crawled over to her side, ignoring the throbbing pain he felt all over his body. He went to place a hand on her shoulder, but nervous trembling hands stopped himself from doing so.
He knew it was his fault. He caused this. Francis, not knowing where else to look, glance down at the witch, only to find large scratch marks across his arms and legs. Francis choked back a sob and moved his hands away from her.
"Alice.." the Frenchman muttered, hoping for a response from her.
Alice didn't stir however her heavy breathing could be seen in her silhouette as she lay on her side with her hair cloaking her face from the rays of sun soaking through the treetop leaves, in any other situation this would make a lovely romantic getaway location but now definitely wasn't the time.
A grunt was heard when some wind blew close to her face then dragging her hair into her own mouth causing her to spit and fuss " what the hell... am I not dead yet?" she asked unsure if anyone was listening anyway.
"ALICE!" The witch was suddenly engulfed in Francis's tight embrace. He was practically in tears as he apologized frantically.
" Whoa ow ow! whoa!?" The woman whimpered feeling her wounds being crushed with germs rubbed into the cuts from the dirty surroundings " can you please stop that, I'm in agony if you didn't notice, but luckily I was smart enough to tie you up and stop your chaos before I died" almost joking as she gives a light laugh at the end
Loosening his grip around Alice, Francis stayed still for a moment before moving away from Alice "I'm sorry..." He mumbled, not daring to look Alice in the eye "I'll take you home now.."
" Please do" Alice now ordered slowly sitting up and moving into a crouch wither hand never leaving her bite wound with a death tight grip " I only have 24 hours to clean this wound before I become a werewolf aswell so try not to panic and get me home as soon as possible, I also need you to help me in my potion room if we are to cure me" Wheezing at this point from overworking her body to talk and get up when she was essentially beaten by a bloodthirsty beast only hours ago.
Francis nodded, carefully picking Alice up bridal style and started to make his way back to the cottage with the injured witch in his arms.
Once in the cottage Alice then began to moan in pain and writhing in the man's arms " you know... your not as fluffy and gentle in that form as I expected, your pretty strong... I mean you got your whole mouth to bite either side of my waist" glancing down knowing already that its still bleeding " did you hunt a lot in the wild?" taking this moment to have a conversation afterall the distraction wasn't making her serious wounds worse as she neared her research room.
"N-non. Well... Not that I was aware of..." Francis mumble the last part and made his way down the the lab
During the short walk from the front door step to her lab she became worse and worse to the point of drifting in and out of a sleeping state and sweaty at an abnormal rate, realising her weakness she pulls Francis' closer with a yank of his collar and whimpers " the cure is in the big red book of curses... chapter... 34... page...2...8 " Her head slowly rolls to the side and her eyes close fully, her breathing steadied after this
The wolf's eyes widened as he attempted to shake Alice awake "Alice?! ALICE!" He shouted, panic flooding his mind "I can't make potions! Or cast spells!"
He got no response from the wounded woman
"Okay... Okay.." Taking deep breaths in order to calm down, Francis gently laid the witch down and ran into the lab, his eyes frantically scanning the room "Red book... Chapter 34... Page 28.." He whispered to himself while searching for the book
Looking clearly in the room for the first time alone the flustered man could see crystal clear that surrounding him was messy piles of books, some towering to his own height and others exceeding it along with a birch wood bookcase with ONLY red toned books stored within. This wasn't going to be easy .
He sighed and started to go through each and every book with a red cover that he could find. After going through more then half of the bookshelf Francis was feeling hopeless once more.
When he started to give up something popped out to him within the bookshelf, even though it was the scrappiest and ugliest looking red tomed book he had ever seen he just felt like it could possibly hold the answer
Blowing the dust of the old scrapped book, Francis quickly flipped through the pages over to the 34th chapter.
Finally the answer to Francis' problems ... Not a cure for himself of course but he could save Alice from the infection caused, just on the left hand side of the page was a lift of rare and special materials the likes Francis has never seen nor even wants to imagine... Especially the foul smelling described ones shown.
The cure would obviously take alot of work from the lists of methods, directions and orders in which to do them, this wasnt going to be easy especially alone with no knowledge of where to start.
Francis made his way over to Alice's disorganised desk and put the book down on it, leaving it wide open so that he look over it if ever he needed to do so.
"okay.. This won't be easy, but I can do it.." Francis mumbled to himself, looking back at the unconscious witch "I can do this, for Alice.." After his quick pep talk, Francis immediately went to work and started looking for the ingredients to the remedy.
Alice was growing worse with every second but if she was awake right now she wouldnt help but smile at this stranger actually attempting this cure instead of taking all the gold lining from the cottage and running off
Francis was somehow managing to find some of the ingredients in the clutter of dusty books and bottles of unidentifiable potions. His keen sense of smell helped him find the things he knew (not that he'd ever admit it) and he was grateful that the witch took the time to label some of the ingredients bottles. But some things he could not find, that or he didn't even know what it was!
It struck him suddenly that time was running out when he remembered to glance outside seeing the sun bright in the sky, Alice had said she would turn within 24 hours so right now wasnt the time for panicking especially when making a cure.
What if he made it wrong and she died or exploded or even burn in a pile of goo, he felt the weight on his shoulders slowly take a toll as his mind continued to scare him
"Non, I can't start thinking this way..." He muttered to himself, trying to push back the terrifying thoughts plaguing his mind. He continued to search for the missing ingredients, but found himself slowly starting to panic as time ticked away.
One last ingredient, a flower known as Wolfsbane. Alice didn't have it anywhere, that meant Francis had to go search for it.
The weather started to turn bleak instantly when his foot set even near the front door steps, Alice was counting on him though and no doubt her heart would be his forever after this, he would be bathing in kisses for months and maybe even stay in the cottage as his own home... His mind wandered to naughty places.
Alice was no doubt doomed in this man's hands
Hope you all enjoyed that and I'm sorry this chapter wasnt as long as the others but we believe we made up for it in content. It was aimed to be a long chapter but none the less it came out the way I wanted. As I write in all my stories for safety I do not own hetalia or any of their characters so please dont sue me as this fan made. Thank you again and please if you liked the story or have any nice suggestions or comments to add please share with me as Vanti and I love to read what you guys think about it ( but please keep it positive, hug it out dont nuke it out), Thank you again and I hope to see you in the next chapter.
Kirklands.