Title: 100 Lifetimes
Chapter Title: Life 7; The Cop and The Bride
Summary: When Romano finally agrees with one of Spain's corny ideas, they have no idea the journey's that that one decision will take them on, courtesy of a sneaky god.
Chapter Summary: Cop!Antonio x Suspect!Fem!Lovino. After the death of Lovina's husband, she is forced to encounter and relive the memories of the one person who came before him—Antonio.
Rating: T for language, character death, etc. Something different this time, eh?
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia in any of its many shapes and forms. I don't even own all of the one-shot ideas for this fic, since some were ideas suggested by my sister. Others are mini ideas that I had for other fics, usually just a scene or idea. These I do own. But Hetalia, no.
Warning: Slight language, character death, *a* gender-bent character, my bad writing style, some angst, etc. Also, I feel like I end these things too abruptly…
Characters: Lovina (Fem!Romano), Antonio, Alfred, Francis, Gilbert, Matthias, Yao, Kiku (Japan), mentions of Feliciano, Ludwig, Arthur, Toris, Vash, Lars (Netherlands), Mei (Taiwan).
Pairings: Antonio/Lovina, past Kiku/Lovina, mentions of one-sided Mei/Kiku
Word Count: 4,149.
Notes: As I said in the warning, I feel like I'm ending these things too quickly; I don't know, what do you think? Also, yes; character death. Also, genderbends. This won't be the last chapter to have genderbends, but they're spaced evenly through the course of their one hundred lives. It won't just be Romano/Lovino who will get genderbent either; how fair would that be to Spain/Antonio? XD Another note, this idea was vaguely suggested by my sister, and was also vaguely inspired by a story-arc of Detective Conan (I don't own). I would be very curious if anyone could guess which one it was, though.
Lovina counted the number of tiles that lined the room she was in. Sure, she had been in the room long enough to count through every single tile on the wall, but for her sake she chose to focus only on the colored ones that made a band around the room, separating the top half of the walls from the bottom half. She was currently in a concrete room with a single ceiling fan hanging from the ceiling, an uncomfortable chair that she was sitting in, an oak table that was sitting in front of her with another chair on the other side and a large mirror facing her. She knew, of course, that it went two ways.
She sighed, staring into her lap again. She had been there for an hour now and still nobody had come to talk with her yet. She would have thought that they had forgotten her by now if she hadn't known that they were staring at her through the mirror, waiting and watching for any show of weakness. She wondered idly who it was on the other side of the mirror. Francis and Gilbert definitely, considering the circumstances. Alfred may be there too, since he has his sense of justice that never fails. If Alfred was there, then his partner on the force Toris would probably be there too. He would be sympathetic; he always was whenever it was a woman or young child on the other side of the glass. Lovina doubted that Vash would be there; he really didn't care about things like this except to solve the case.
Lovina was accused of killing her husband.
She didn't really, of course. But her general lack of emotion in this case wasn't giving her any sympathy points. Especially since Antonio was on the case.
Lovina started tapping her fingers on the table. She knew this game; she knew it well. They were leaving her in here until she finally cracked, or until they thought they could catch her off guard enough to get the answers they wanted and expected. Such answers in this case would be a confession to her part in the murder.
The door slammed open, startling Lovina out of her thoughts. She turned her glare at the person who entered, slightly surprised to see that it was Matthias who came in. She shouldn't have been that surprised, especially since he was Antonio's partner now.
"Hello, Lovina," he said cheerfully, sitting down in the seat opposite her. "How've you been lately? You know, other than your husband coming up dead and all."
Lovina narrowed her eyes. She sat up straight, holding her chin up. She may have been the prime suspect, but that didn't mean that she would stand to be treated that way. She was Lovina Honda, formerly Lovina Vargas. She would not stand for this.
"I've been fine," she said in a clipped tone. "Just bored out of my mind. How long will this take? I have to make preparations for my husband's funeral."
Matthias nodded his head like he was going along with what she was saying. "Right, right. Well, there's just one problem with that."
"You think I killed him."
"Did you?" Matthias asked, staring squarely at her. "That's one theory. We have a pretty good case against you at any rate."
"Let me guess," Lovina drawled, feeling more and more fed up with this whole charade. "You have my prints on the murder weapon and all around the crime scene; news flash, I live there! I use those knives all the time in my cooking, so of course my prints are on them. I have the means and opportunity, since as I just pointed out I live there. It is a pretty good case. The only thing missing is motive, which you don't have." Lovina couldn't feel too happy with herself. It was only a matter of time before they came up with something else. Judging by the unsurprised look on Matthias' face, they already had.
"Several witnesses have reported that you and your husband have had some…difficulties in your married life," he said. Lovina tensed up, feeling her lip curl in disgust. "Care to elaborate?"
"What goes on in my married life is of no concern to you!" she snapped. Matthias raised an eyebrow, a smirk growing on his face. Shit.
"Actually, it is," he went on to say. "Especially since that's a prime reason for motive. Now, care to explain?" Lovina looked at him through narrowed eyes.
"We had some…issues that we were working through," Lovina said. She felt saddened as she thought of Kiku…dear Kiku, who didn't deserve any of this. "What married couple doesn't fight?"
"Especially with you as a wife," Matthias quipped. Lovina's eyes blazed and she just barely held in a slap. He was baiting her. He was waiting for any excuse he could get to arrest her and keep her locked up until they built up their case. If she had hit him, he could have pressed charges for assaulting a police officer. Lovina took several deep breaths, willing herself to calm down and not rise to his challenge. Matthias looked at her blankly for a moment before looking down at his notes.
"When was the last time you saw your husband?"
Lovina took another breath, knowing how incriminating her answer would be. "…The night before last."
Matthias raised an eyebrow. "You mean, the night of the murder?"
"Yes," she answered shortly. She looked away, staring at the wall again. She wondered how the others on the other side of the glass were taking this interrogation. Were they laughing at her? Were they celebrating how close they were to being able to prosecute her? Lovina had no fans in the police department. Not since Antonio…
Antonio…
"…where's Antonio?" she asked quietly. Matthias raised an eyebrow again.
"Why should I tell you?" he asked, a hint of anger in his voice. "I'm the one asking you the questions. Why do you want to know anyway?" he asked despite himself.
Lovina glanced at him then looked away. "…no reason."
Matthias swore. "You're one cold bitch, you know that? Have you even cried yet since your husband died? What did that poor bastard do to deserve a cold wife like you?"
Lovina gulped, feeling like she had been slapped. Matthias noticed her reaction.
"I take it that wasn't the first time someone said that to you?" he asked, grinning again. He hated her. Antonio was his partner, and after what she and Antonio went through of course he hated her. "Who else told you that? Your husband?"
The door to the interrogation room slammed open all of a sudden, cutting off anything Lovina would have said. Standing at the door with a cool look on his face was Antonio. From his body language and the way he entered the room, he acted as if he hadn't heard anything that had been said already. But Lovina knew. He had heard everything. Hell, he had probably even been listening in to everything though the other side of the glass. Lovina looked away again. This was going to be awkward.
"Hey, I could have handled this myself you know," Matthias was saying to Antonio as he sat down in a spare chair that had been folded up against the far wall previously. Antonio said nothing as he shuffled through his notes.
"This is all well and good," Lovina said as she rose, really wanting to get out of the suffocating room already. "But I really do need to get going. If there's anything else-"
"What did you and your husband talk about before his death?" Antonio asked suddenly, looking straight into Lovina's eyes. She stopped where she was, right behind her chair. She blinked owlishly at him.
"Huh?" she asked, kicking herself mentally for sounding so stupid. Why did he have to have this kind of effect on her, even after all these years? No, especially after all these years. It had been so long since they were last anything together, and now they meet again under these circumstances; it all just seemed too much all of a sudden. She wanted out of the room.
"You said that you last saw Kiku Honda the night of his murder," Antonio clarified, not looking away. His gaze was still as intense as ever. "What did you talk about?"
Lovina remembered that particular conversation, she remembered it well. It was the conversation that changed everything; or at least, it would have if Kiku had lived. Instead, he had been murdered late in the evening. It was such a personal conversation, private, just for the two of them to know. She took a deep breath and managed to meet Antonio's gaze, hers just as steady as his.
"I'm sorry, but that's a private matter," she said as she walked to the door. "If you have to know, then just know that it doesn't have anything to do with your case."
"I think we'll be the judges of that," Matthias protested.
Lovina glanced at them, opening the door. "I have preparations to make. Kiku's funeral is to be held tomorrow and I haven't even had the time to call the…the funeral home yet. Instead of focusing on me, detectives, I suggest that you find who it was that killed my husband." With that, she left.
Kiku's funeral was a strangely quiet affair. Strange, because the people who came were usually always making noise. It was just as well, Lovina decided. Kiku would have wanted it quiet; that was just the kind of person he was.
The turnout was more than Lovina expected. Her husband was well loved, after all. His entire family came, both immediate and extended. Lovina's brother came as well. Feliciano and Kiku were good friends, after all. With Feliciano was Ludwig to complete the trio of friends that had unfortunately been reduced to a duo now. Lovina couldn't even begrudge Ludwig's participation in the funeral. He was hurting just as much as everyone else was, just as much as she was.
Maybe even more.
Lovina looked down at her lap. She should be crying right now. She heard the rumors; she heard how they called her cold as ice, unfeeling, and other cruel things. They knew that she was expected to cry right now. But a part of her didn't want to give them the satisfaction. Another part only felt guilt.
An arm wrapped around her shoulders comfortingly. Lovina looked up and saw Yao glaring at the people who had been saying rude things about her. That only made Lovina feel even guiltier. Yao had been so supportive of her and Kiku even though he hadn't really agreed with the marriage. He had always been protective of Kiku, so it wasn't that hard to believe that he didn't think she was good enough for his brother. But that had changed when he saw how in love the two had been. Those were the days when everything had been better.
But then Antonio had come back into the picture. He had had to go away three years before on some other assignment. Lovina had been dating him, and pretty seriously at that. The new assignment started causing a rift until Lovina had eventually just broken up with him. She didn't want to move away, and she didn't see why he had had to go in the first place. There were other people that could have taken his position. But it was what Antonio wanted, what he had always wanted. While Antonio was gone, Feliciano had introduced his sister to one of his best friends, Kiku Honda. True, they had already met and had already known each other before then but that was when they had first started seeing each other as more than just a friend or relative of Feliciano. They had started dating, casually at first, until Kiku had come out of nowhere and surprised her with an engagement ring. Getting married was something Lovina had always wanted to do; she said yes immediately.
Two years after their marriage had started, Antonio managed to get himself reassigned back to the city they lived in and had come back. As much as she tried to deny it, old feelings started coming back to Lovina. It grew even harder when Kiku became good friends with Alfred, Arthur, Gilbert and Lars, all of who were on the police force.
Lovina looked around the room once again. Everyone was here. The preacher called order to the assembly, starting the ceremony. Lovina wondered what there was to celebrate.
The ceremony went by in a blur. She finally started crying near the end of it. The emotion had just hit her all of a sudden after piling up over the past few days. Yao pulled her against him in a friendly hug, wanting to comfort his favorite brother's wife. He eventually stood up, leading her down the aisle as the coffin carrying her husband's body went by. They trailed after it slowly into the bleak, overcast weather. Lovina barely paid attention to the congregation following along behind her, or when her brother came over and wrapped an arm around her waist for comfort. All she had eyes for was the coffin in front of her.
"Lovina-san, I was just looking for you."
"Kiku? What is it?"
"I wanted to ask you something, if it's not too rude of me to do so."
"Kiku, what have I told you? Compared to me, you're going to have to do something really bad to make me think you of all people are rude."
"Very well then. I shall ask you."
"Yeah?"
"Are you still in love with Antonio?"
"…"
"Lovina-san?"
"W-what would make you think th-that, Kiku?"
"You do not have to be ashamed, Lovina-san. I have known for a while."
"O-oh. I'm so sorry…"
"Do not be sorry. I think it is for the best."
"What do you mean?"
"When I realized that you still have feelings for Antonio, I realized that I was not upset. In fact, I felt ashamed that I was coming in between the two of you."
"Oh, Kiku, you don't have to feel that way-"
"It is alright. I, too, do not think there is any love between us any more, if there ever had been to begin with. I think it was only respect and loneliness, along with my brother's pushiness to get married that led to us as we are now."
"I…guess that's one way of looking at it."
"Please do not look so sad, Lovina-san. This is happy news, is it not? I was thinking that we should go into town tomorrow to file for divorce. Does that sound fair?"
"Yes…yes it does. But…Kiku?"
"Yes Lovina-san?"
"I really am sorry."
"Don't be. This is for the best of everyone involved, I think."
Lovina woke up. She had had the dream again. It was two days after the funeral, six days after Kiku had been murdered. She had trouble getting to sleep, and even more trouble actually staying asleep. Every time she closed her eyes she remembered the conversation—the last conversation—that she had had with Kiku. His murderer was still out there, and she still didn't know what to do. Groaning, Lovina sat up in bed and turned on the light. The clock on her night stand said that it was approaching four in the morning. Lovina was impressed; she had actually managed five hours this time. Standing up, she put a thin bath robe and slippers on and walked downstairs to the kitchen. Something Kiku had managed to get her hooked on was tea and she had a feeling that she would need it to stay awake today.
Today was the day that she was supposed to go back to the police station and give her statement again. This time, they had managed to find a court order to make her be there and answer their questions. Yao had offered to go with her and act as her lawyer, such was his profession, but she had said no. She was innocent and there was nothing they could charge her with. Plus, Lovina felt that she was ready to answer those questions now. She was walking over with a fresh pot of tea when she accidentally dropped her tea cup. Sighing, she bent over to pick up the shards and just missed the bullets that went straight through the kitchen window and were heading for where her head used to be.
To say that she was shaken up was an understatement. It took several hours to calm her down. Lovina didn't even know how she managed to pick up the phone, dial emergency services and tell them about what had happened. She didn't even remember doing so, but the police assured her that she had. Alfred had even picked up the phone, and there was a recording of her by the operators that had connected her though.
The first thing she realized was that she wasn't in her house anymore. Instead, she was in the police station where several people were hurrying about, yelling at each other, most likely trying to figure out who had shot at her. The next thing she realized was that Antonio was standing in front of her, looking concerned. Without another thought she thrust herself at him, hiding her face in his warm, comforting chest. His arms went around her and he started murmuring comforting things in her ear in Spanish. She had no idea what he was saying; he could have been saying 'my shoes are green' or 'your head is on fire' for all she cared at the moment. All that really mattered was that he was there with her, and in his arms Lovina had never felt safer.
When she had calmed down Antonio let go of her, offering a smile. "That was quite some night you had, eh querida?" Lovina didn't know if it was because her nerves had been fried and her emotions were out of control or if it was because she felt like she wasn't numb anymore, but all she could feel now was rage simmering and boiling up inside of her.
"'That was some night?'" she asked slowly, feeling her anger pour through her again. Antonio froze, seeing the look on her face. He knew what that look meant. "That was some night?" she shrieked in his face. "Do you have any idea what I've been through? Kiku dies, and then someone tries to kill me too? Do you think this is funny? Because I sure don't! Oh, but I bet it is for you, since my life's always been something of a joke to you hasn't it mister?" Around them, Lovina was vaguely aware of snickers and other people trying to hold back their laughter as Antonio tried to say something that would calm her down.
"Looks like she's back to normal now," Gilbert noted idly. Francis, next to him, nodded evenly.
"Maybe someone should tell Arthur to tell the doctor that she's out of shock now. Since, you know, Arthur is the 'only one capable of having a civilized conversation' with anyone after all."
Lovina huffed, feeling the anger leak out of her. Now that the adrenaline rush was gone, all she felt was exhausted. It wasn't a surprise, really, after what she had been through that week. Antonio caught her as she slumped, leading her over to a chair next to his desk.
"Um…feeling better?" he asked awkwardly. Lovina glared at him, but there wasn't much feeling in it.
"Who tried to kill me?" she asked tiredly. Antonio frowned at the reminder, hard look in his eyes.
"We don't know yet, but we think it was the same person who killed Kiku," he told her. Lovina managed a tired, wry smile.
"So does that mean I'm not a suspect anymore?"
"Well, it could be that you killed your husband and then faked your shooting, but it's unlikely," Matthias said with a smile, coming up behind Antonio with two mugs of coffee in hand. "Thought you might want this; I should warn you though, police coffee's not for the faint of heart!"
Antonio, smile fixed in place, grabbed the mugs and shooed his partner away. Lovina gratefully accepted the mug, letting the warm liquid heat her up from the inside. When she was a little clearer in the head, Lovina finally noticed that she was wearing only her pajamas, her thin bathrobe and her slippers. Scowling again, she drew the bathrobe over herself, though she knew the damage was done. Antonio smiled at her.
"I'm glad your okay, Lovina." She felt her cheeks heat up, something she hoped he would think was because she was still cold.
"…yeah. You too, I guess."
Lovina's shooter was never found, though many suspected that it was Yao who was later convicted for killing his brother. He said that it was because he and Kiku had gotten into a fight over Kiku's divorce and things got carried away. It was found out later that Yao was actually covering for a family friend, Mei, who had had feelings for Kiku. Jealous that he was married to someone else, and to someone who never even loved him in the first place, Mei had come to visit in the middle of the night and attacked Kiku from behind. She didn't know that he was planning on divorcing Lovina until afterwards, when she tried to take Lovina's life as well. Yao went to prison for a year for lying to investigators while Mei was sentenced to twenty-five years of prison, with no chance of parole until after twenty years.
It took a while, and much, much persuasion from Antonio, but Antonio and Lovina did start dating again. Five months after their first date, Antonio asked her to marry him. Not wanting to repeat the same mistake as before, Lovina said no. Antonio asked her again an hour later and she said yes, having the feeling that he would keep asking until she finally agreed. She was never happier.
They spent thirty years together and raised two children, a boy and a girl. They fought many times and were close to divorce once, but Antonio (and Lovina) knew just what to say and do to make the other forget and forgive. Lovina never forgot Kiku, and still visited his grave every year on his birthday. Antonio would come with her sometimes, though mostly it was just Lovina who went. Though she may not have been in love with him, she always did love him as a wonderful, devoted friend.
Lovina died at the age of sixty-seven from a heart attack. Antonio lived eight more years before he died as well, both leaving behind their two children and their five grand children.
End of Chapter Seven; Next Up—School's back in session!
