Sorry for taking so long, this chapter did take me some time and school has been anything but unreasonable lately. I got homework stuffed down my throat every single day and I'm really not taking the stress well. Still, don't think I'll give up on the story. ^^
So, this chapter probably has the greatest variety of characters and interactions. I don't think I will have the oppurtunity to do something like that again, this chapter is like it is because firstly I wanted to see how I could write the other Hetalia characters and their interactions with others and secondly this chapter shows just how powerful gossip is. In some places I actually ran in danger of making this chapter way too long so I ended up cutting a few scenes that didn't appear to contribute much. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: Hetalia and the characters don't belong to me.
Chapter 7
After walking silently for while, Sealand finally burst out, "Did you hear that Latvia? Jerk England actually swallowed a poison that caused him to shrink! Can you believe that?"
Latvia shook his head, "I don't think I would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. But England is small so I think it really happened."
"Yeah, it's really crazy right? Too bad Scotland was there or else I could have started my empire..." Sealand trailed off when Latvia suddenly gave him an uncharacteristic venemous glare.
"Hey, just joking!" Sealand protested, surprised by his friend's reaction. Latvia quickly reverted to his normal self and smiled although a warning glint remained in his purple eyes. Sealand decided that maybe talking about starting an empire around Latvia wasn't such a good idea. It probably reminded the Baltic nation of the time he was with Russia.
"Well, I have to go this way." Latvia motioned with his head towards east and Sealand stopped. True, he had to go a bit north now to get to Sweden's house.
"So, I'll see ya around okay?" Sealand grinned brightly and Latvia nodded shyly. They both went their ways, Sealand to Sweden's house and Latvia was dropping by Estonia's house first before going to his.
Night had fallen and Sealand and Sweden were eating dinner at Sweden's place with Sealand chattering all the time while Sweden simply nodded his head now and again. He was used to the micro-nation's chattering despite the fact that most of the things Sealand talked about were not of great importance.
"-and oh yeah, did you know my jerk brother turned into a baby?" Sealand asked cheerfully, his mouth still full.
Sweden almost dropped his fork in surprise and he looked at Sealand sharply, not sure if he had just misheard. "Wh't?" Sweden muttered uncertainly.
"Can you imagine that? Jerk England is now a baby! Ha, the irony of it and-" Sealand continued undeterred while Sweden was still trying to recover from his shock. A nation could turn into a baby?
Hmm, that might be interesting for Finland.
"My w'fe, did you kn'w th't Engl'nd turned into a ch'ld?"
"Sweden, how many times do I have to tell you that I am not your wi-" Finland stopped abruptly when he realised what Sweden had just told him.
"Eh, what did you say Sweden?" Finland finally asked, convinced he hadn't been listening correctly. There was no way this could be true...
"Engl'nd turned into a ch'ld." Sweden repeated slowly, his face expressionless. Finland laughed nervously but trailed off when he saw Sweden looking at him confusedly.
"You cannot be serious Sweden..." Finland argued weakly but Sweden nodded firmly.
"B-but how is that possible Sweden? I've never heard of a nation turn into a baby." Finland stammered, his eyes still unbelieving.
Sweden shrugged unperturbed, "Not s're, Seal'nd told me 'bout it. M'ybe Engl'nd's fairies did th't to him."
Finland stared at Sweden in complete shock, trying to digest this bit of information. Sealand, though a loud, energetic and sometimes demanding micro-nation, was never the type to bend the truth or to exaggerate his stories. But that would mean that it was true...?
The Finn ran a hand through his hair. This whole thing sounded too crazy. A nation turning into a baby? Now nothing else could surprise him.
"Hey Tino, what are you doing here?" Estonia called out from among the crowd, pleasantly surprised to see his friend here today.
The Finn smiled brightly as he approached the Estonian, "Well, you know how much I like flowers so when I heard of your Flower Festival I just had to come over and see it."
"Yeah but I never expected to see you here in Tallinn, you should have given me a call!" Estonia smiled, proud of the festivals his people organised. It always attracted so many people to this land, even Finland visited quite often when he had the time.
Both walked past the many gardens, admiring and commenting on them. It was a beautiful sunny day and both nations enjoyed their free time to their fullest. How often were they able to do something together without it related to their task as a nation? Not often enough.
It was then Estonia beheld another sight that completely astonished him. He came to an abrupt halt and literally gaped. Finland stopped beside Estonia and blinked in surprise.
"Isn't that Toris and Natalia over there?" Finland asked finally, staring at the two nations who were standing further away from Estonia and Finland. Lithuania was pointing out some flowers and smiling at Belarus. Belarus herself didn't seem much different from the usual though she was giving Lithuania's arm a calculating gaze.
A blonde-haired person appeared between Lithuania and Belarus and gave the female nation a hidden glare. Lithuania remained completely oblivious and continued talking.
"Feliks is also with them? I wonder if they are also here for the Flower Festival." Finland speculated, observing the other three nations. Estonia shrugged and started walking towards them and Finland followed.
"Hey look, that's Eduard and Tino over there! Isn't that, like, totally awesome, I didn't think we would see them with all these people!" Poland exclaimed enthusiastically as he caught sight of the two approaching nations. Lithuania looked up surprised but then broke into a joyful smile.
"Well I certainly wasn't expecting any of you here today." Estonia chuckled when they had reached the three other nations. "Are you all here for the festival?"
Lithuania smile turned sheepish and he explained, "N-Natalia once mentioned that she liked flowers and I remembered that there was that Flower Festival at your place and I thought she might like it." Belarus looked at Lithuania briefly but returned her attention to the flowers in front of her, her face remaining impassive.
"What about you Feliks?" Finland asked, turning to the nation who was keeping a watchful eye on Belarus.
Poland looked surprised by the question but quickly responded, "Umm, I like, totally am into flowers too so I decided to, like, tag along!" He tried giving Finland a convincing grin, he definitely was not going to admit the real reason he was here. Not that he was against Lithuania dating girls but when it came to Belarus, well let's just say Poland wanted to avoid dealing with another set of Lithuania's broken fingers.
"Hey, let's like go to a coffee house or something!" Poland proposed excitedly. He was frankly getting tired of all the flowers and it would be nice to just sit with the other nations and to get updated with the latest gossip.
Funnily enough the others agreed with Poland although Belarus did not really say anything, not even a nod. She continued staring at the flowers silently and Poland decided he had to keep a better eye on her, no way was he letting the creepy female nation hurt his best friend!
Five minutes later they were all seated at a table outside the coffee house, all chatting amiably (except Belarus of course) with each other.
Estonia then remembered an odd thing Latvia had told him yesterday. "Did you know that apparently England turned himself into a baby?"
Both Lithuania and Poland looked at Estonia in complete and utter shock while Belarus uncharacteristically stopped brooding silently and looked at Estonia in interest.
Finland nodded solemnly, "Yes, Sweden told me about it yesterday."
"Wait, wait, you're like telling us that England actually turned himself into a baby? Are you, like , joking?" Poland's laugh sounded a little bit too forced while Lithuania's smile came out more like a grimace. The only change on Belarus' face was her eyes, they were no longer distant and bored. Her look resembled closely to that of a hawk that had just spotted a potential prey.
"According to Latvia, both he and Sealand saw England and he was a baby. At first I didn't believe him but when you think of all the magic England messes with then I suppose it shouldn't be so surprising." Estonia shrugged, magic and spells not being his domain.
The group was silent, all lost in their thoughts.
I, like, totally have to tell someone about this! Like, how many times does this kind of thing happen? Oh, I could tell Veneziano! Poland pondered eagerly, always an enthusiastic gossiper.
This might be of interest for big brother Russia...Belarus thought deviously although she was careful to keep her expression neutral.
To break the silence Lithuania finally asked, "Did anyone hear about the next World meeting? Apparently they changed the date..."
"Ve, Germany, Germany, Poland told me something interesting yesterday!" Italy exclaimed as he bounced into Germany's house.
The German nation looked up and asked tiredly, "When doesn't Poland tell you something interesting?"
Italy stopped bouncing and seemed to try to think up an answer. Germany hastily added, "That was a rhetorical question Italy, you don't have to answer it." To think it took him several weeks to get Italy to answer his questions... Germany sighed.
"Do you want me to tell you what Poland told me?" Italy asked curiously, cocking his head to one side.
"I have a feeling you will tell me anyway..." Germany muttered under his breath.
"Ve, Poland told me that England turned into a baby!" The Italian declared excitedly. Germany looked at Italy in complete shock.
Then he inquired wearily, "Italy, were you really paying attention to Poland when you heard that?"
Italy nodded, "Sí, I was listening to Poland when he said that." Germany looked at Italy with some scepticism. Surely Italy must have been distracted when he supposedly "heard" that.
"England is now a baby? No kidding?" Prussia guffawed as he strolled into the room. He added unbelieving, "Seriously, why have I not heard of that?"
"Ve, it must have happened recently because many nations don't seem to know about it." Italy shrugged.
Prussia's eyes glinted with glee, "Wait, are you telling me hardly anyone has heard of it yet? Toll, I can't wait to tell the others about it!"
"Prussia, please don't tell me you actually believe this... gossip." Germany did not like the look in his older brother's eyes at all. He hadn't seen it for a while and usually it meant that Germany was going to have to go after the former nation again.
"Ach come on West, almost everything that Poland says is true. If he says England has turned into a baby then he must have. Anyway, England has a bad habit of playing around with magic. I'll not be surprised if he tried a spell and it backfired on him." Prussia looked thoughtful, already thinking of who he should tell. It wasn't everyday that the former British Empire really messed up on his spells after all.
"Ve, I wonder who England was trying to turn into a baby." Italy wondered innocently. Prussia's eyes widened in realization. True, if the spell England was working on backfired and turned him into a baby then the spell was intended for someone...
Prussia's grin almost turned malicious, "I have a pretty good idea who..."
"Ah, I'm glad this is fini!" France declared loudly as he and Greece walked out of the meeting. They had been in there for a few hours just because their bosses had something important to discuss.
Important enough that the personification of the countries themselves had to be present. What a joke! It turned out that it wasn't even that important but as courtesy demanded, both France and Greece had to stay.
That didn't stop Greece from falling asleep during the meeting and getting away with it. The world could be sometimes so cruel. While France was still deep in thought he remembered something.
"Hey Greece?" France looked at Greece to check if the Mediterranean nation was paying attention to him. "Do you keep up much with the talk that has been going on among the nations?"
Greece looked at France silently before answering calmly, "I don't really listen to the gossip of the nations. There is always something new to gossip about but in the end it is never different from the others."
France grinned triumphantly. So he hasn't heard about it yet... France chuckled, "Well, sorry mon chère but lately there's been an interesting "gossip" going around."
He paused for dramatic effect but when Greece made no attempt to ask about it France finally said, "Apparently England tried to turn America into a child and the spell backfired on him! Now he is a child! Can you imagine the irony of it?"
Greece took in the information and nodded with a bit of reluctance, "That doesn't happen very often..."
"Of course not!" France laughed out loud. "I really can't believe our grumpy Angleterre turned into un enfant! But from what I can remember he used to be cute..."
"Don't go Spain on the little one." Greece warned quietly.
"Don't go quoi?" France looked stunned but then burst out laughing again. "Ah Greece, you really kill me sometimes!"
Greece quirked an eyebrow, "I do?" But France was already walking away and mumbling, "Hmm, I wonder who else I can tell who hasn't been told by Prusse yet... Espagne is out of question... Danemark maybe... no..."
The calm nation watched the other walk off and sighed. This story was spreading out like a wild-fire. He might as well tell Japan about this.
"Hey Canada, I brought you your favourite ice cream!"
Canada turned around surprised but broke into a smile, "Hello Cuba, it's nice to see you didn't confuse me with America...again."
Scratching behind his head sheepishly Cuba said, "Ah well, I kinda have to remind myself that to recognize you from far I just need to look if you have that damned Nantucket that that American bastard has."
Canada smiled warmly, he really did enjoy the ice cream Cuba kept bringing with him every time he visited Canada. But usually there was a reason behind it.
"What brings you here anyway?" Canada inquired curiously, looking at Cuba with questioning eyes.
"Eh, you would not be really happy with the reason I came here for but alright I'll tell ya. It's about this gossip I've been hearing for the last couple of days." Cuba twiddled his thumbs, definitely not trying to meet Canada's disapproving gaze.
"Cuba, I told you I'm not interested in all that gossip. Most of it is always silly or immature." Canada huffed in annoyance. Besides, most of the gossip was always focused on the popular countries. One of them happened to be his brother. Canada really didn't need to listen to all the gossip about the countries, especially when he was clearly ignored.
"Aww, come one Canada, I came here to ask about a gossip, not to talk about it." Cuba protested lightly.
Canada arched his eyebrow but motioned Cuba to continue regardless. "Alright, anyway I was jus' wondering whether the gossip about England was true or not."
"What gossip?" Canada asked confusedly.
"The one about how England tried turning America back into a child with all that crazy magic but the spell backfired and now England is a child." Cuba replied casually, looking at Canada expectantly.
Canada stared at Cuba wordlessly. England had turned into... what?
"Er, I-I didn't hear anything about it. I can't confirm whether it's true or not." Canada stuttered, feeling a bit uneasy. How long has this gossip been going around? How long had Canada remained unaware of it?
"Who did you hear it from?" Canada asked finally.
Cuba shrugged, "Some nations here and there but I think I first heard it from Spain. Too bad you don't know anything about it."
"N-no, indeed not." Canada replied.
"Maybe we'll hear more about it at the World meeting then. It's at your place this time, right? I heard that they moved it to a week earlier."
Canada could just nod and mumble "Yes, yes". Cuba just grinned, completely oblivious to Canada's shock.
"Well, I'll see you then I guess. Adiós!" Cuba waved before walking away. Canada only managed a half-hearted wave before sinking back into his thoughts.
Canada had tried a couple weeks ago to visit England. But he had found the house empty and no sign of England. Not knowing where England could be he had tried to contact one of his brothers but oddly enough none of them had answered his calls.
Was what Cuba had said the reason why he hadn't been able to see England? But why was there gossip about that now? It had been almost two weeks since England was declared too sick to come to the meeting.
How did that connect with the story that England had tried to curse America? Canada sighed. None of this was making sense.
Suddenly a thought occurred to Canada.
Was America aware of this whole business?
America looked at his brother in confusion. "Huh, what do you mean by if I annoyed England lately?"
Canada repeated his question with strained patience, "Before England fell sick did you do something to annoy him?"
"Uh, not that I can remember... I did talk with him the day before the meeting though." America wasn't sure why in the world Canada was asking about England. He was just sick after all...
"How did he sound?" Canada pressed.
"Just tired. I really said nothing to piss him off." America quickly defended. After a pause he asked, "Why are you asking?"
The other nation rubbed his temples tiredly. "I... I heard some gossip lately, not that I listen to it, but this particular gossip disturbed me. Have you heard the gossip about England lately?"
America just looked at Canada blankly and shook his head slowly. Canada explained, "From what I heard from Cuba, England tried turning you back into an infant but the spell backfired on him. Now it's England who is a baby instead."
The American blinked and burst out laughing. "I can't believe England, he really tried doing that? I knew he wasn't over the whole "me becoming independent" issue but I didn't think he was that desperate!"
Canada frowned, "I don't know... it does sound like something England might try to do but why was he declared sick? And why couldn't we visit him?"
"No idea, maybe Iggy was embarrassed and hid from us and had his brothers tell everyone he was sick." America shrugged, not seeming the least concerned about England. It was his fault after all if his spell backfired on him.
Canada said uneasily, "I wouldn't be so quick to believe in those gossips. You know how much the truth tends to get distorted. I'm just a bit worried about England..."
America rolled his eyes, "Chill Canada, no need to get worked up over that old guy. I'm sure he'll be there at the next meeting and we can all have a laugh about how useless he is at his magic."
"Maybe, maybe..." Canada murmured and started to walk away.
"See ya soon!" America called after him, to which he got a faint "yes" from the quiet nation.
Turning back to his house America chuckled. The world would sure be boring without England and his odd antics. What just slightly disturbed America was the fact that England was still bitter about the Revolution. Why wouldn't England just let go finally?
Why did he care so much?
Despite the tiredness of having to deal with the extra weight of work, Wales decided he should maybe pay a visit to England. Right now England was only seeing Scotland and from time to time Northern Ireland and Wales felt a little guilty for being the only country in the UK who wasn't visiting England regularly.
True, he did have more work now than the others but it was still Wales' duty to also check up on England and see what the Brit was recovering. Unfortunately it was already quite late, night was starting to fall already. Wales knew that Scotland had passed by earlier so he expected that England would be already asleep.
Wales entered the house and closed the door slowly behind him. He locked the door securely and then made his way up the stairs to England's room. Through the failing light of the day he could see that England was lying curled up on the bed.
However when he got closer Wales noticed that England's eyes were open. England was watching Wales' movements but made no attempt to move.
The Welsh nation sighed and scolded half-heartedly, "England, how are you still awake at this time? You should be asleep by now, your body needs a lot of rest." Scotland had been reporting on the unusual times that England fell asleep and that he seemed to wake up more often towards the end of the day. It wasn't a good idea for England to become nocturnal. Was he waking up during the nights which caused him to sleep more during the day? But why was that happening?
Wales slowly became aware of some movement. He snapped out of his thoughts and watched in surprise as England tried with great difficulty to sit up. It seemed to be costing the Brit a lot of energy to accomplish such a simple feat and for a moment Wales felt some pity for England.
Shaking his head sadly, Wales helped England to sit up by propping a pillow against the small nation's back. Wales then sat on the bed and stared at England. The little nation seemed tired, it didn't look like he had slept a lot lately. But England resisted his tiredness, trying to keep his eyes open with difficulty.
In the beginning it had been a bit of an issue for the brothers to get England to fall asleep. It took them a while to realize that they physically had to close England's eye-lids as the small infant seemed to have forgotten how to even fall asleep. The blinking reflex had remained intact in England's brain but the association with closing one's eyes to sleep had been lost.
And now it seemed like England was having another problem with sleeping but Wales assumed that there had to be another reason for it.
"Why won't you sleep feinedd brawd?" Wales murmured quietly, looking at England as the younger brother seemed to resist his tiredness. No matter how long or hard Wales stared into these familiar green eyes, he could detect no signs that England was understanding him or was even thinking. Was the concept of thought even possible for him?
So, how to make England fall asleep? Sleeping pills was out of question, Wales couldn't trust what effect other chemicals would have on England in his already vulnerable state. Anyway, England was really close to falling asleep, he just needed a last push.
Suddenly a thought struck Wales and the Welsh nation became a bit embarrassed by the idea his mind was proposing him. He could do that but... he was Wales for goodness sake! Not a nanny or something of the sort!
And yet he couldn't disagree with the logic behind the idea. Lullabies had a soothing effect on the children and England, in the current state that he was, was no different from a child. Maybe he should... besides, no one else was there to hear Wales except England.
Picking a good lullaby was no problem with Wales, he quickly settled on one of his favourite lullabies, "Suo Gân". He picked England up from the bed and cradled him gently in his arms. England blinked a few times and stared up at Wales but his eyes remained blank, uncomprehending. Wales took a deep breath and began to sing softly.
"Huna blentyn yn fy mynwes,
Clyd a chynnes ydyw hon;
Breichiau mam sy'n dynn amdanat,
Cariad mam sy dan fy mron;
Ni cha' dim amharu'th gyntun,
Ni wna undyn â thi gam..."
While he sang Wales rocked England slowly. The little nation relaxed in Wales' arms, his eyes drooping more and more.
"Huna'n dawel, annwyl blentyn,
Huna'n fwyn ar fron dy fam."
England closed his eyes and let out a soft breath, finally allowing Wales' voice to lull him to a sleep.
"Pam yr wyt yn awr yn gwenu..."
Wales paused and looked at England silently. The Brit was breathing evenly, his body completely relaxed. Like this England really reminded Wales of a little child who simply had been too stubborn to fall asleep.
The Welsh nation couldn't hold back a brotherly smile that appeared on his face. He quietly sang the two last lines of the lullaby to the silent night.
"Gwena'n dawel yn fy mynwes
Ar yr engyl gwynion draw."
Angels smiling, have no fear,
Holy angels guard your rest.
And here ya go, the 7th chapter! :3 Hope you like the last scene RedHatMeg, it came out pretty much out of the blue for me. I really could only fit your request here, I wouldn't have had any other chance to put this in. And fellow readers, the lullaby is Welsh ("Suo Gân" literally meaning lullaby) and I used the Welsh lyrics, despite not understanding any Welsh myself. But I thought the last two lines were too beautiful to leave just in Welsh so I included the translated English as well. For the rest of the translation you can go here: http :/ en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Suo_G%C3%A2n and for those who want to hear the actual lullaby can either go here: http :/ www. youtube. com/ watch?v=LYGu3HlcooA&feature=related or here: http :/ www. youtube. com/ watch?v=yyf059psVew&feature=related (the boy sings it)
It's really a beautiful song, even though I can't understand it. :) I always thought the Welsh language sounded very gutteral (being nicknamed the "dragon language") but it doesn't sound as gutteral as I believed. Still, although it is a Celtic language I can't find any similarities between Welsh and Irish.
Oh, and the scene with Estonia and the others in Talinn? Was also pretty much out of the blue. The reason why they call each other by human names is simply by pure logic: How would you react to someone who is calling out, "Look, there's Finland and Estonia!" ... Errr, I don't think I need to elaborate. X) The human names will only be ever used in this story when the nations are outside among humans, otherwise I believe that the nation's name is their "true name". Their human name is simply a way to mingle among the humans.
Okay, here are the translations for this story:
Toll = Great, excellent (German)
fini = finished (French)
un enfant = a child (French)
quoi = what (French)
Adiós = Bye (Spanish)
feinedd brawd = little brother (Welsh)
Rest of Welsh translated on Wikipedia. I don't know how much of a habit I will make of having various nations put tidbits of their own language when they are talking. Maybe not too much. ^^; Before anyone askes, I speak five languages but Welsh and Spanish aren't among them so you can expect mistakes in those areas.
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! :D I'll try to update as soon as I can!
