Author's Note:
So here I am, on the final day of recuperation from wisdom tooth surgery, doped up on pain medication, hungry because I just woke up, and slightly worried because some of the stitching fell out, and I decide to write the next chapter for you. Basically, this is the first challenge. It took all of my willpower to convince myself that I could make cloud-hopping into a not so bad challenge… I can only hope that it worked. This will probably be a really long chapter. A really long chapter. I'm sorry. I also apologize for my butchered version of the legends of King Arthur. It will come into play later.
I'd like to thank chukaliteluvver and izzy1229anime for reviewing chapter 4. I'll work hard to keep up and better any writing I do!
Froggiecool: Ch. 3: There will and there won't be. I have an entire list of pairings I made up with weird twists and multiples for one person and stuff. I also have different romantic stories for different characters.
Ch. 4: Thank you. I take that as a gracious compliment.
Ch. 5: Thank you again! :D/:( Sadly, there will be some death in here and there is one person that is definitely not going to be won by their love (I will not name names). That person is the only one I've completely planned out their romance as well, so there are other possibilities. I'm trying to make sure this one has a happy ending, but most of my stories do not. This is the first fanfic that I am extremely dedicated to, so it might be different.
Disclaimer: If I owned Hetalia, I would have enough magic to make the need for wisdom tooth surgery disappear. I do not (regrettably).
Cloud Hopping Isn't a Challenge
"Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive-it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?"
- Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
Lili blinked her eyes slowly opened and let in the faux light that streamed across her room. I could have sworn we were staying the night in Michelle's room with the other girls. Throwing the blankets off of her, the girl ran out the room, only to be met by her Shade attendant who was busy putting out breakfast. Shocked as she was to find the Shade in there, the food, which smelled delicious, began to control the foremost of her thoughts. Snacking for dinner can only curb so much hunger after all.
She practically dove into the sweet rolls with honey glaze, the crispy still-sizzling bacon, fruits from all over the above world, and the egg whites. With her mouth watering and appetite growing, Lili filled her plate to the brim and enjoyed her meal to the fullest. It may not have been the best, having been cooked by a shade, but hunger will make anyone's food the most delicious thing in the world. Well, except for Arthur of course. The first time he was required to provide snacks for the club to chow down on, he nearly destroyed the kitchen in Home Ec. After that, it was declared that anytime it was Arthur's turn, either someone else provided snacks voluntarily or he store bought them. No one but Arthur complained.
Every now and then the feeding girl glanced over at her Shade, who was busy cleaning up the cookware and making the little suite presentable. After the meal, Lili followed the Shade into a small adjacent room that held a little stone bath. It was small and nowhere near as high quality as the bathing room that she had seen yesterday, but it was comfortable and she didn't have to leave her new home for it. In reality, little Lili probably spent more time just sitting in the steaming water than actually bathing, but the relaxing pool did its job well.
When she finally stepped out, she was met with the Shade again. Blushing profusely because she was only clad in a small gray towel, she took the clothes the Shade held and tried to get dressed. It was a simple pair of silky pants that shimmered as she walked and a long-sleeved tunic of the same material. Other than a belt that held all fourteen of the colors she had seen the royalings wear last night, the ensemble was a near-bland gray. The Shade helped her into her outfit, brought out soft slippers for her to wear, and fixed her hair with a small gray bow. As bland as the outfit's coloring scheme was, it reminded Lili of a blank canvas, waiting to be showered with different colors to fill the empty space. I suppose that's what they meant it to be… They had all of those royals wear different colors, maybe colors signify something here.I
Pushing such thoughts from her mind, Lili stepped away from the marble vanity and left her suite to join the others. Who knows what trouble they would get into today?
Michelle straightened out her ponytails as she was escorted down the winding hallways by her shade. Frankly, I don't get why we couldn't bath and eat together like yesterday; maybe it has something to do with that weird ceremony they held. And where were all the girls this morning? I could have sworn that we all fell asleep in my room last night!
Tired and a little confused, the human girl finally made it into a large study/living room area that contained all of the others. Everyone was dressed in a similar fashion: pants, belt, tunic, and all. Everyone seemed to be doing their own thing, despite the fact that they were underground surrounded by creatures out of fairy tales that wanted to marry them off to their children to promote unity. I'm still a little excited about that! I mean, who ever really gets the chance to live out their own fairy tale?
Arthur was busy reading a huge book called The History of the Peoples of Fae, Alfred was playing video games (How on earth does this place have electricity?), Lili was talking to Vash about her morning, Vash was eyeing the Shades suspiciously, Gilbert was bugging Ludwig, Ludwig was ignoring Gilbert, and Katyusha was watching Alfred blow up zombies as if she could learn herself. All in all, they acted as if nothing had happened. A bit worried, Michelle walked over and tried to engage Arthur in a conversation.
"Arthur?"
"Mmhmm?"
"Um… Have you figured out what's going on yet?"
"Wha-?" the confused bushy-browed blonde looked up at her. "I wasn't paying attention. Sorry?"
"Well, you were reading that book and I figured that you were trying to figure out what's going on and why this is happening to us. It's okay if you're not; I just thought you might be."
Arthur blinked a couple of times. "Oh! Well, I wasn't trying to figure out anything, but I did anyway. Did you know that the Shades are supposed to be reflected forms of ourselves? Something about vengeful spirits and time warps that I didn't quite catch. It involved crystals I believe? Anyway…"
"That's not what I was asking."
"Oh."
There was an uncomfortable pause before Arthur bothered to approach the subject again. "Well, then what were you asking?"
"I was just wondering if you understood the big deal about this ceremony and stuff. It just seems a little odd, don't you think?"
Arthur closed the book. "Personally, I think this is a subject we should share with everyone. I don't really want to repeat this again."
"Whatcha talkin' 'bout Artie? You love to hear yourself speak dontcha?"
Arthur glared, full of righteous indignation (or so he thought) at Alfred who just bothered to glance over his friend's shoulder at the book he was reading. Slowly, the entire group of humans gathered around to see what the commotion was about, the unsaid commotion being: Arthur trying strangle Alfred again. Only when Katyusha finally managed to pull Arthur off Alfred did everything return to normal (more or less).
"Are you gonna explain what's going on or what?" Alfred demanded, earning a glare and almost a kick from Arthur.
"Well, we are being held by otherworldly beings-"
"Nah dip, Sherlock!" yelled the albino.
"Shut up Gilbert," returned Ludwig, smacking his brother in the head.
"Now…" Arthur said crossly. "As I was saying, there was a time when there were more of these creatures…"
"Great," Vash complained. "He's using his 'story-telling' voice"
"Back before the medieval times there were also elves, dwarves, giants, imps, griffons, goblins and trolls. They all freely roamed the land of Albion, causing trouble among the kings without fail. Sometimes they even did it at the bidding of the humans, which was forbidden. Humans began to fear these creatures and hunted them down until they were extinct. Watching as their brethren were killed, the remaining tribes worried that they would be next.
"The twin queens of the Seers at the time, Morgause, who could see the deaths of great humans, and Morgan, who could see their births, foretold the birth of a great king named Arthur who would bring peace to both worlds. Morgan approached him and seduced him, believing that bearing his child would show the worlds' unity. When the child was born, the boy was born without a twin, a forbidding sign to the Seer people. His was named Mordred.
"What Morgause did not tell her sister was that her son was destined to kill her lover. Instead she went to the King of the Magicka Tribe, the husband of Hecate, Merlin. The two began to try and figure out a way to prevent Arthur from being killed, because it would only cause outrage among both peoples. Secretly, they met with a princess from the last kingdom of Elves, who was named Gwendolyn. The three tried to arrange a marriage for Arthur, but Gwendolyn fell for the King of the Nature Spirits, Lancelot.
"Arthur was angered when they finally told him about Mordred. The Keepers, who at the time were known as the Druids, had been raising the boy in secret, hoping to divert the prophecy. Around the same time, Morgause was discovered to have been pregnant as well. No one knew who the father might be. Arthur attacked the Druids to get to the boy and Mordred flew into a murderous rage, destroying everything in his path. On the battlefield, Morgause gave birth to the twins, Romulus, who could see people's hearts, and Remus, who could see people's minds. Merlin fled with them as Morgause was dying, her blessing on the wind.
"With Arthur dead, the land was in chaos. People were trying to find the missing Seer princes and trying to rebuild both lands. King Merlin had been caring for the boys under the earth, bringing them up to live with the humans of the above village. None in the village were worried and they all lived in peace. People began to wonder how the village was so prosperous when they were being disrupted by fighting the peoples of Fae. Merlin emerged and showed the boys to the world. The boys worked to make peace with the humans and calm the Fae. In their work to rebuild the Fae however, Remus began to see the atrocities humanity was committing and wished to betray and control them. Romulus, with a heavy heart, had to kill his brother or the worst could happen. The land of Fae was built on the bones of Remus and ever since Romulus has tried to take a backseat among Fae law while trying to keep peace.
"The day that Remus died marks the beginning of the Festival of Death, where eight Fae are sent into the world of the humans to fall in love and live like humans. The day the twins were born marks the Festival of Fertility, where eight humans are sent into the world of the Fae to have their hands won by royalty and live like the Fae."
"Well, that couldn't have been any longer."
Michelle shrugged, "At least now we know."
Around midday, Keeper Yao approached them once more. "Children! Are you ready to view the first challenge?"
"Wait! Already?"
"Don't we get, like, a day's rest?"
"Can't we have some more time to meet with those who we're gonna marry?"
The Keeper rolled his eyes. "Your rest was yesterday and the challenges start today. We have to make sure that everything goes according to tradition, and tradition dictates that today is the first day of the challenges. Some challenges will last longer than others, and the more heart-specific ones will come further down the list."
He was met with seven looks of confusion and one look of annoyance. His eyes met with that of the bushy-browed one, Arthur, and a quick scan of the room proved to Yao that his theory was right: they were investigating the reason that they were there and the history of the competition. I wonder what they've figured out.
He motioned for them to follow him out of the room. The eight humans were flanked by several menacing-looking shades. Much to other Keepers' amusement, the little group greatly resembled a small flock of sheep being led by a shepherd, his dogs nipping at their heels to keep them from wandering off. After a few minutes of walking the now-familiar corridors, they were met by a steam punk era elevator. It seemed such an odd thing to be embedded in the medieval styled hallways. Its mechanics clashed with the torches and the stone walls. The group was ushered inside and with the pressing of the buttons, it ascended.
Up it went, into the world outside the Keeper grounds, giving them another look into the underground world of the Fae. The fireflies that had dotted the "sky" the night before had retreated into slumber and were replaced by strange floating orbs that would bounce off the underground ceiling. The entire city was divided into fourteen different sections, each portraying some of the different styles of architecture through the centuries. There were the Renaissance Cathedrals, the English Gothic castles, the great Palaces of Egypt, Ancient Roman and Greek courtyards, Modern High Rises, Nordic Great Halls, even Igloos made of glass, and beautiful houses carved into trees. It was a strange thing to see, especially because the night before everything had seemed coppery and dark, like the landscape was reflecting the underground walls. Now, the entire world was bright with color, light, and life; the different worlds were intermingling in a strange combination. The humans were so entranced; they didn't realize that they were approaching the ceiling of their new world.
"Hey guys… Are we gonna crash?" They turned to Alfred, who was focusing on the rock above.
"Um… Keeper Yao!"
Then, the entire group rocketed into the air. The sudden push into the air threw several off their feet and into the air, only to be knocked back against the floor. Michelle, Lili, Arthur, and Ludwig were lucky enough to grab onto the railing on the sides of the elevator and use it to hold on for dear life. Alfred, Katyusha, Vash, and Gilbert however, were being thrown back and forth around the little thing, much to Katyusha's discomfort. The Shades had managed to disappear while they were busy staring at the underground world of Fae and, somehow, Yao had yet to be moved from his standing position. The smug bastard was grinning at the poor humans. Finally, it stopped.
The poor humans attempted to stand on their own two feet again, some grasping the concept better than others. Poor Katyusha had to use Lili and Michelle's arms as supports as she simultaneously tried to stand and not throw up, a more difficult task than one realizes. The doors opened to reveal bright unnatural light and a steel walkway leading from the door of the elevator. Keeper Yao stepped out first, holding out his arm in a very "Behold!" fashion. One-by-one, they made their way off the lift and onto the walkway. Once outside, they realized just exactly where they had ended up.
"OMYGOD! WE'RE IN HEAVEN!" yelled Michelle.
"No, yo- "
"Where are the holy angel choirs?" asked Alfred.
"Elevators are deadly!" moaned Gilbert.
"I didn't think the ride was bad enough to kill us!" mumbled Lili.
"You're not listening!" yelled Yao.
"Guys, we don't know-" began Arthur.
"Remove my sister from death immediately," demanded Vash.
"SHUT UP!" exclaimed Yao. "You're not dead! You're not in heaven! The first challenge is cloud hopping!"
Gilbert snickered. "Cloud hopping? That's lame."
"It's harder than you think. It's the first challenge, we're not trying to eliminate people by the dozens, let alone kill our royal children."
"I suppose that makes sense," reasoned Ludwig.
"Good! Now sit down before I bring the Shades back out again!" the Keeper King demanded angrily as he straightened out his white Mao suit with gold trim and fixed his ponytail. Once he deemed himself presentable and the eight were in chairs behind a podium, Keeper Yao went forward to address the crowd. A race course of clouds twisting in and out of the area was set out before them. Most of the clouds had a stereotypical white fluffiness about them, but a fair few were gray and stormy. Off the steel platform hung twenty-five flags, each one gray and made of the same material as the outfits on their bodies. Lining the arena were steel bleacher-like structures that housed people of the Angel Queendom, their cream colored robes and rainbow assortment of wings making the light bounce.
"Hey! Why are there only angels here and why are they only wearing cream?" Gilbert asked, being the only one with the audacity and slight rudeness do question so bluntly.
Keeper Yao actually thought that this question was worth an answer. "The angels are the ones who set up this challenge and they don't only wear cream. Cream is the royal color of the angels; all peoples wear their royal colors curing festivals and ceremonies."
His mouth made an O shape, signifying he understood. Toward the other side of the arena, the twenty-eight contestants were lining up near planks, their parents seated behind them. Each was wearing clothing of similar make to the eight humans, their own royal colors instead of gray and the gray was on their belts instead of the humans' rainbow.
"We gather here today for the first challenge to win the hearts of the humans. The first challenge this time is Cloud Hopping, sponsored by the Angel Queendom. While this is merely the first challenge, take this as seriously as you can. Now, you stand as twenty-eight strong. By the end of this contest, three will be removed from your ranks. Losing here today does not make you weaker than your brethren: only a few were chosen to bond with humans to make peace, and only a few will do so now." The Keeper allowed his words to sink in, hoping his point made it into the distant hearts of all the royal brats, including his own.
"You must make your way to this side of the stadium and collect a flag, and then return to the other side. If you neglect to get flag on the way there, you may take one from your competitors. Those remaining in the stadium at the end, lose. If you fall through, you need to make your way back up to the arena and hope that there is still time. On the mark…"
"GO!"
The humans watched, fascinated, as twenty-eight Fae royalings dropped onto the soft clouds and ran with all their might to their side of the arena. About half of the children dropped through the clouds, either because of the way they landed, or their density alone. The Seelie Court Princes along with the Angel Prince and the Demon Princes were the first to make it. The Elder Demon Prince and the Angel Prince immediately began to fight over the same flag as the younger Prince slunk away. As the Seelie Princes made their way across, the eldest was stopped by the Unseelie Prince, who grabbed the flag out of the other's hand and made his way across, no one bothering to stop him. Poor Prince had to run back to get another.
The Keepers were neck and neck with the younger Unseelie child and smaller Poltergeist Princes, each yanking and pulling on eacher to try and make it first. Finally, the Angel and Demon Princes stopped arguing and became aware of the situation, opting to argue later and they each grabbed a different flag than the one they were arguing quarreling about. This is mostly because the Unseelie Princess had taken it from them. The Nature Princes and the Eldest Poltergeist Prince pushed up from underneath the clouds, each grabbing a flag and dropping under the cloud cover again. The Werewolf Cubs teamed up to push their way back through the growing crowd of royals. Finally, the flags were all gone and the poor Princes of the Vampyr and Magicka Clans remained. They went after a small group who had been making their way back, trying to yank away any flags they could. Prince Eduard and Prince Alin ended up wrestling with Prince Kaoru on their way back, the three trying to contain the two available flags.
Upon hitting the finish line, it was realized that poor Kaoru did not have a flag. The boy was sent to sit with Yao and the other humans. By the time he got there though, he wasn't alone. Mei, who had fallen through and failed to get back up in time to even wrestle away a flag, was accompanying her brother. Another accompanied them as well, Prince Ravis of the Seelie Court. Apparently the small boy wasn't able to get back fast enough to escape the Prince Roderich combined with the Dragon Princess Elizaveta, who wanted her friend to win.
And so went the first challenge, with Keeper Princess Mei Xiao, Keeper Prince Kaoru Wang, and Seelie Prince Ravis Galante eliminated from the competition.
Well, I figured that you guys might not like it if I kept asking who they wanted gone and who they wanted to keep, so I made this giant list. I spent about three hours writing down every single one of the challenges (which was harder than one thinks), who was going to lose, who the ultimate winner was, who was paired with who, and basically how things are gonna go down. Then I spent forever writing the actual challenge scene. This thing is about eleven Microsoft Word pages long. I certainly hope you liked it.