Disclaimer: No, Tomatoes and Turtles do not own Axis Powers Hetalia or the idea of the fanfiction at all. Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya. The original concept was inspired by a prompt from Hetalia kink meme (though there is a major difference between that and our fanfic) and premise of the fanfic belongs to Alowl. All we did was take her idea (with permission, of course) and ran in the opposite direction. However, the prologue and the first two chapters are based scenes from her original story.
Sorry we're late again, just got a bit distracted yesterday. Anyway, thanks again for the feedback and enjoy the chapter.
Chapter Six: Neutrality
"Should I ask Young Mistress Lili to bring up some drinks and food?"
"No need to trouble yourself. He'll be leaving very shortly," Vash hastily dismissed him.
Arthur raised an eyebrow, irritated at the comment before reverting to an unreadable face. He really had to resort to asking this guy for help, didn't he? He knew from personal experience that Vash was never willing to help anyone, especially not him (but then again, no one seemed to be willing to help Arthur these days).
The guard bowed respectively before leaving the two to their discussion. Arthur had just finished telling the neutral ruler about his situation. As he did so, Vash continued to look more irritated. The Westerian king supposed that he hadn't changed at all since their last meeting six years ago either. When finishing click of the closing door was heard, Arthur immediately continued, "As you heard earlier, Westerius needs your support against Northern forces."
"I heard you the first time and I told you, Windrose is a neutral force," Vash impassively replied as he got up and turned away, finding more interest at his work table, "We will not side with anyone when it comes to war. Consider yourselves lucky that we are at least providing you supplies."
"Don't you understand?" Arthur urged on his cause. "The North had invaded and completely demolished the Western Lands. They will obviously come back to dominate the other kingdoms, including yours! At least do your job as the mediator!"
"I'm well aware. However," Vash's voice was still blank but Arthur noticed his grip on his chair tightened, "I don't have enough resources and people to take them on alone. Our people might be justifiably killed if send them there based on just an 'assumption'."
"That's why you need to join forces with us. We can put a stop to their attack if there are more forces against them," Arthur argued, his tone leaking out desperation.
"No, we are a neutral territory and we'll stay that way as long as we can! I will not endanger my soldiers unnecessarily for what might happen. Be grateful that I haven't called the guards on you yet. Now leave before I–"
"Snacks and tea are here," chirped a sweet voice outside the doorway. In came a young lady wearing a flowing pink dress, the only other colour being the white lacy collar and blue ribbon tied as a bow near her neck. She looked somewhat similar to Vash except that her facial expression was much more gentle and youthful, along with a blue silky ribbon tied to a lock of her hair. She held a silver tray that contained two pairs of plates, both with a slice of red velvet cake and a cup of tea. "I made them myself this morning, and – ah, I didn't introduce myself, did I? My apologies, Lord Kirkland. I am Lili Zwingli, thirty-third Princess of Windrose."
"I told the guard to specifically not bring up anything," Vash intentionally cut in before Arthur could reply.
"But that would be rude to not feed our guest anything, especially after coming all this way," the young princess said, stepping forward to join the two.
"I heard the whole discussion outside," she said as she placed the tray on the neighbouring table and clasped both of her hands on one of Arthur's. Lili bowed her head slightly with her eyes closed, speaking before her brother could interrupt.
"We are sincerely sorry we cannot fully support your cause. While we would like to help you as much as you can, my brother might get in trouble and lose his position. However," she tilted her head up as she slowly opened her eyes, her smile brightening up, "If you can gather many soldiers from the other kingdoms, we will put our input as well. We must respond to something as big as that."
"Lili!"
"It's not as simple as it seems, brother. It is easy to say you support something but to put your life on the line for it is a completely different matter. That shows not only to us but to the other kingdoms just how important this issue is. We can't just base it on your soldiers alone since it will be considered on a biased view." She then turned to face her brother, letting go of Arthur's hand.
"Brother, I apologize for interrupting you, but ever since you became ruler of Windrose, things have been so peaceful. I visited the people many times and they all told me they are grateful to be under your rule throughout the past six years."
Vash's angered expression melted, leaving him blushing and too speechless to respond.
"That's why..." the girl continued on but her cheery tone beginning to falter and her expression sadden, "That's why I don't want to see it all destroyed at the last minute. Lord Kirkland is right. They will come after us, possibly doing more harm to our land compared to Westerius with their very increasing power.
"If there is way to avoid such a fate, I would to do whatever I can to help protect this land. But first things first. We are, above all, a neutral land. Once we see obvious concern from the public, we can do something about it. It will be reasonable to do our following actions if multiple kingdoms are concerned about the issue. We are all mediators as well. So please, brother?"
The ruler stared at his sister before he focused on Arthur. He sighed in defeat before he gruffly responded and directed his attention to the work on the table. "Do as you wish."
Unexpectedly, Vash felt the arms of younger sister wrapped around his body. "Thank you so much, brother." Vash smiled warmly as he enjoyed the hug.
Arthur also smiled at the sight. "Thank you for your support and reconsideration."
Lili, starting to release her brother from the hug now focused on the caped man. "Please stay in our kingdom for as long as you need. The guard will help direct you to our supply room."
Right on cue, the previous guard came from the doorway and beckoned the king to follow. Arthur gave a quick goodbye, Vash nodding in mutual understanding while Lili wished him good luck, before he followed the guard direction throughout the castle.
If there is way to avoid such a fate, I would to do whatever I can to help protect this land...
Arthur felt a sudden pang in his chest when remembered those words.
"Is there something the matter?" the guard stopped as he expressed genuine concern for the man.
Arthur, now realizing he was clutching to his chest, immediately stopped. "Oh, it's nothing to worry about. I'll need to find my troops before we go for supplies."
The guard nodded but didn't look like he completely believed him. Arthur followed him as the guard moved on forward. To do something in order to protect your kingdom, Arthur deeply thought, Matthew, please be alright.
It was cramped. It was dark and cold.
And in the middle of it all, he could see the little boy again, knees to his chest and shivering. He was smaller than he should have been for his age. He was dirty and miserable.
Suddenly, he heard someone coming, but it was too dark to see who it was.
"Before you ask, I still don't believe you," The young boy's weak voice was quieter than a whisper. "Papa and Al would have never left me."
"Why are you so attached to the fantasy that they care?" the man's voice echoed in the empty dungeon.
The child was in tears and trembling in fear as the man stood over him. He knew from the look in the boy's dull blue eyes. He didn't understand why he was still there. Unfortunately, the man could tell from his eyes as well.
"What is there to understand? There is no one in this world who cares about you – not even that so-called family of yours." His voice had a dark undertone of enjoyment as it echoed through the dungeon. With that statement, the man left the dungeon – with Matthew's quiet sobs following him every step of the way.
Alfred shot up from his blankets. He inwardly cursed at himself. They were happening again – those dreams, the dreams that plagued him in the early days of his childhood – after Matt was taken away. He didn't know what the nightmares were about at the time, but he slowly began to realize what they were after he understood what happened to his brother.
One or two years after he figured out what the dreams meant, they had suddenly stopped. He sat up from his makeshift bed, shaking out the thought. Gilbert was also sitting up in his nest of blankets on the other side of the put out fire, looking at him. It was just at the crack of dawn.
"Bad dream, kid?" Gilbert questioned.
"Guess you could say that."
"Must've been some dream, making you thrash around like that. I was thinking about waking you up at one point," Gilbert remarked. He slumped back on the ground. "Was it about your brother?"
Alfred was never good at hiding his emotions so early in the morning. The albino could tell he was right even before Alfred nodded in confirmation.
"You know, I've got a little brother too." He laughed bitterly. "Well, he's not so little anymore."
The fire prince didn't miss the bitterness in his tone either. "Did something happen?"
The red eyed man looked pointedly at the dying dead pile of ashes where the fire stood the previous night. His tone was casual, even though the subject was anything but.
"Got in a big fight with him. It was bound to happen eventually. He was the kind of guy who you'd think had a stick up his ass – a strict and lawful kind of guy." His gaze hardened. "And then the North took him away. I don't even know whether he's alive or not."
"So … you hate the North too?"
Gilbert shouted a laugh that sounded like a bark. "Kid, in this day and age, who doesn't?" Suddenly, his tone became so venomous that Alfred almost flinched away from him.
"No offence to your brother, kid, but they're a bunch of shit for brains who can't tell up from down unless that fur coated bastard tells them otherwise! And if they aren't being shitheads, they're cowards," he spat, "Cowards who do what that dictator says to save their own asses. Because of them, people's lives have been ruined; family members are killed or forced to pick sides, villages are annihilated!"
Gilbert stopped and took a breath. "If you can find me one guy who isn't from the North and doesn't mind those bastards at all, you're my new hero." With those words, his tone suddenly lightened again, but was unable to lighten the mood like Gilbert intended.
They spent the rest of the morning silently packing up the sheets they slept on after that. Alfred was lost in his thoughts about his brother, and the information that Gilbert gave him about his own life. The solemn atmosphere left when they sat down for breakfast. They spent the breakfast time joking around and debating about who was more awesome. Then they spent the afternoon working on Alfred's sword skills.
The fire user wasn't the greatest, but he was improving – once Gilbert nailed the lesson that people weren't going to fight fair (or in his words, like wimpy pansies) into his head, that is. It wasn't that Alfred was bad, not at all – he was pretty skilled for a kid who was self-taught. The reason why he wasn't making more progress was because Gilbert had a lot more talent and experience with a sword than he did. He honed his skills for when he faced opponents that had more advantages like magic. After ten sparring battles later and nowhere near closer to beating Gilbert, Alfred decided to take a break.
"Wait," the prince panted. "I need to take a dump." And with that, he entered the forest.
"Kid!" Gilbert called to him with a smile. "Don't take long or I'll think you're avoiding the next fight!"
He heard some muffled response that sounded like an insult which made him laugh. Seeing that he had no sparring partner, he set his sword down beside him and took a seat. Not even two minutes passed and he heard the rustling of bushes coming from the opposite direction that Al left. Assuming it was a thief or another deer, the albino readied his sword. But what came out of the bushes wasn't a thief or a deer – it was a man. And by Alfred's description, he looked awfully like the kid's father.
"Alfred!" the assumed king started, awfully sounding like he was about to start a lecture. "Be glad that I even came back for you-" Then he noticed Gilbert pointing a sword at him.
He almost laughed as he saw the guy who he assumed to be Alfred's father back away to the edge of the forest clearing and whip out a wand aimed at him as fast as he could. Although frequent, it was one of the funnier reactions whenever someone recognized him.
"Damn it!" The tip of the bushy-browed man's polished stick began to glow with an orange light. "I knew that the North would be after us! Sending the Implacable Man after us!"
Realizing that the kid's family jumped to conclusions too quickly, Gilbert decided to stall the battle so he could ready himself. "Wow, someone still knows me by that name? After all these years?"
"How could I forget it?" the alleged king spat. "Those blood red eyes that are said to pierce enemies yards away; that albino hair that was so easily speckled with blood!"
Unimpressed, Gilbert coolly retorted, "Annoying voice? Eyebrows as thick as the forest we're standing in? You must be Al's old man!"
"Oh, so you did do something to Alfred! You'll pay for what you did to him!"
A light orange glow began to surround Arthur as he quietly chanted, ignoring the red-eyes man's protests. At his last word, his wand glowed brightest. Arthur immediately pointed it at Gilbert, and a twister of roaring flames spiralling out from it.
"Damn! Paranoid and hot-blooded? Is everyone he's related to like this?" Gilbert muttered to himself as he tried to evade the attack.
He did manage to escape the fire whirlwind but not without acquiring a few minor degree burns near the edge of his limbs. Of course he would have more experience than him! Gilbert thought. Either way, this should be fun. Arthur had already begun chanting a new spell; Gilbert gave him no time to finish it. He began to charge at the spell caster, sword positioned to attack. He was already the middle of an attack spell.
There was no way it was going to help him against this hit. And as the Implacable man thought this, he noticed the chant pace of the glowing sorcerer went a beat faster.
Before Gilbert could fully calculate this, five massive fire pillars busted out of the ground. Gil had to stop immediately in his tracks, just before the fire barrier. Shit! Changed his spell mid-sentence! Gilbert searched the area desperately for possible ways to break the fire shield. He grinned when found the perfect one.
Gilbert pointed his sword to the ground diagonally across from him, making sure it was deep enough that a good chunk of earth was felt at the tip of his sword. He then ripped it across a ground horizontally; a wave of sand and dirt instantly formed and put out one of the fire pillars. Before gravity could pull all sediments down, Gilbert immediately threw the item he picked up earlier at the fire user. It flew right by the sandy buffer, disappearing once it got across the barrier. Coughing and a satisfying clunk could be heard from the other side, Gil knowing that had hit the target.
"Bloody hell!" Arthur grumbled as he spat out dirt, an angered expression revealed thanks to one of his pillars being down, "You're going to pay for that!"
Gil proudly smirked, anticipating the battle.
"Ladies first, Eyebrows!"
