I AM SO BOILING MAD RIGHT NOW! My memory stick has been corrupted, thank goodness I save this chapter to my laptop as well as the stick or you would be waiting a while for this chapter. Bloody technology!

Okay! Now that rant is out of the way, Enjoy!

Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya and Disney is owned by Disney!

Hetalia Tale 5:5 : A Fairy Tale Job Pt 9

Kiku stood on a rock, watching Flynn/Alfred watching Natasha as she went on a mood swing-fest. At first she was euphoric, crying about how she had finally done it and yelling for joy, then she went on a downward turn, fretting about her mother's reaction and Kiku was afraid she would bolt back to the tower.

What she doesn't know won't hurt her! he willed.

"But if she doesn't know about it, it's all good, right?" Natasha reasoned and Kiku smiled but his smile dropped when she said, "Oh! It would kill her if she knew!"

But this is the biggest adventure you've ever had, He threw her way. Do you want to miss out on all this fun! Natasha began to run around the woods in excitement.

"THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!" she squealed but it didn't last. "How can I be so horrible to my own mother! I'm going back!" Kiku panicked.

How can you go back after tasting this freedom? Embrace it! Natasha grabbed some leaves from the ground and threw them into the air to fall over her.

"I'M NEVER GOING BACK!" she cried and then she dropped again. "I am a AWFUL, AWFUL, AWFUL PERSON!" Kiku groaned. This was hard work!

You're not awful! Think about what you've done! You tackled an intruder and beaten him! Now you've set foot outside of the tower for the first time in your life. This is a great day! Natasha threw her hair over the branch of a tree and began swinging on it, screaming, "BEST DAY EVER!"

Kiku was exhausted so when Natasha suddenly sat down sobbing he was glad that Flynn/Alfred, who had been watching all this and decided enough was enough, finally stepped in.

"Ya know," he said. "You seem to be a little conflicted here." Kiku turned to him and thought, you think! Natasha looked up in tears.

"What do you mean?"

"Just the impression I get from what I've picked up," he replied. "Over-protective mother, forbidden adventure, it's serious and stuff but I can help with that. It's all part of growing up, a little rebellion and adventure, everybody does it." It all sounded like reassurance but Kiku was pretty sure that's not what Flynn/Alfred had in mind.

"They do?" Natasha asked.

"Of course, it is," Flynn replied. "Stop over-thinking it. Does your mother deserve this? Probably not! Would her heart be broken and her spirit crushed by disappointment? Of course it would but whatcha gonna do, I mean, ya need this, right?" Kiku just knew it!

Natasha looked shock at his words.

"Break her heart?"

"Shatter it!"

"Crush her spirit?"

"Into dust!"

'Damn!' thought Kiku. 'Why do I have to work with people who make my job difficult?"

"It's true!" he worriedly heard her say. "She would be so hurt!" More worried about the loss of her fountain of youth, more like! Kiku thought.

"Oh no!" Flynn/Alfred replied, dramatically. "Okay, it'll cost me to do this but I'm gonna forget the deal!" Stop that, right now!

"That's right!" Alfred said, sticking the frying pan under Natasha's arm. "I don't want thanks! We'll just get ya home, I'll get back my satchel, your mother never knows and you get to keep your relationship with her and we part as friends and allies..." As he steered Natasha toward the ivy curtain, Kiku willed Natasha not to fall for it and sighed with relief when she suddenly punched Flynn/Alfred in the arm.

"NO!" Flynn/Alfred rubbed his arm where she had punched him while she shouted at him. "I AM seeing those lanterns and you ARE going to take me!" It might not have been what Flynn/Alfred intended but Kiku was pleased to see that he strengthened her resolve.

"OH, COME ON!" Flynn/Alfred lost his temper as his failure to cajole or guilt-trip his way out of this situation. "Who cares about the stupid lanterns! Just give me my satchel back?" Natasha turned dark and scary again, ready to swing the frying pan at him.

"I WILL USE THIS!" Kiku was ready to will her to do just that, to knock some sense into him when the bush beside them rustled and Natasha squealed, hiding behind Flynn/Alfred, ready to defend herself with the frying pan. When Flying Mint Bunny flew out of the bush, Kiku was pleased. He knew FMB would bring Arthur here, saving him the task of somehow informing the Fae of the whereabouts of his son because, how Kiku was going to do that without Arthur recognising him from the Chibitalia days, Kiku had no idea.

"Keep the frying pan ready," Flynn/Alfred teased as the little green rabbit flew away. "It might be back. It knows you're scared now." Natasha blushed and said she was a little jumpy. Flynn/Alfred agreed that it would be best to stay away from rough people.

"Are you hungry?" he asked. "There's a place that serves great meals not too far from here." Kiku knew Flynn/Alfred was going to take Natasha to the Snuggly Duckling in an effort to scare Natasha back to the tower but Kiku had read that part of the Tale. He was going to enjoy the surprise on Flynn/Alfred's face.


Hercules had joined the Tale for this next bit but he was running foul of a certain Turk who had taken a dislike to him and Lucifer. As he sat, talking to Lucifer about the days of Sparta when the soldiers would strip down for inspection by another soldier or …... friend, Sadik lost it, grabbing Hercules by his shirt and glaring at him threateningly.

"Any more of that naked Spartan bullsh*t, Feta-breath," he growled. "And I'll gut you and that damned cat." Lucifer responded by scratching the offending hand, making Sadik yelp in pain. Hercules petted Lucifer, this time rewarding his bad behaviour and just as Sadik was about to pound them both, the door to the tavern burst open and a voice called out, "Landlord, your finest table please!"

Everyone in the tavern turned to the voice to see a blonde man with glasses beside a frightened blonde girl with the longest hair anybody had ever seen. The man put his hands on the girl's shoulders and pushed her into the room and she squealed as a big thug with a moustache stained with blood grabbed hold of her hair and ran in a desperate attempt to get it out of his hands.

"You look scared, Blondie," Flynn/Alfred said, putting his arm around her shoulders and moved her toward the door. "Maybe we should call it a day and get you home. After all, this establishment's high-class and if you can't handle this..." Flynn/Alfred's plan fell apart when the tavern door was slammed shut.

"Is this you?" On the back of the door was a wanted poster of him with an enormous nose. Suddenly it was a free-for-all as everyone began grabbing Flynn/Alfred, all wanted the reward while someone ran to find the Royal Guards. As he was pulled past, Hercules grabbed Flynn/Alfred's neck cloth and let it flutter to the ground while Natasha was hitting people with the frying pan and demanding that they leave Flynn/Alfred alone. She whipped her hair around Sadik's hand, just as he was about to punch Flynn/Alfred's lights out, and yanked him off his feet.

"Let him go!," she cried. "I don't know where I am and I need HIM to take me to the flying lanterns because I've always wanted to see them for as long as I can remember. Have you never had a dream?" Sadik got up and approached Natasha threateningly while Hercules and Kiku locked eyes and nodded to each other.

Tell her your dream! They willed together. Every person in the room had a dream and a kernel of decency at their core, although Kiku had his doubts about the man in pink, putting some suspicious frosting on some rather dubious cupcakes in the corner.

"I did have a dream once," Sadik said, filled with a sudden urge to answer Natasha "I'm malicious, I'm mean, I'm scary. I have a sneer that curdled milk still inside the cow. I've no clean record when it comes to violence. I hide my face behind a mask and I have a temper but I wasn't always like this. When I was younger, I really wanted to become a chef."

"It's not too late," Natasha reassured him. "You can still do that if you really want to."

"I want to be a musician," came a voice near the broken piano. It came from a young in a red coat with black hair and reddish-brown eyes who bore a striking resemblance to Roderich Edelstein. The Grand Duke of Austria. Natasha recommended that he go for it!

Everyone was calling out there dreams. A Spaniard called Andres Carriedo wanted to be in love, a Canadian named Matt Williams, who jogged Flynn/Alfred's memory for some reason, wanted to write Romance.

"I bake cupcakes!" the pink man said, offering the finished treats that everyone avoided like the plague. Kiku turned and winked at Hercules.

"I just want a happily ever after," Hercules said. "And maybe open a cattery." Lucifer meowed in agreement and Kiku smiled.

"What about you?" Sadik asked, poking Flynn/Alfred.

"What about me?" he said.

"What's your dream?" Sadik pressed. Flynn shook his head.

"I don't do 'share my inner thoughts'," he said, then found a curved sword under his chin. "All right. I want to, one day, be really wealthy and own my own island."

Right! thought Hercules and Kiku. Sadik gave a grunt of derision before turning to Natasha.

"And your dream, little one?" Sadik asked, with a smile.

"I just want to see the flying lanterns," she replied. "I've seen them at a distance my whole life. I want to see them up close, just once." Sadik nodded with understanding. "You know, I was scared to leave my home," Natasha admitted. "But after meeting you I'm glad I did. I mean, look at us! We're all different but we all have dreams and I'm sure they'll all come true." Everyone cheered in agreement.

Everyone raised their tankards.

"To dreams coming true!"

Then the front door burst open and the man who went for the authorities ran in.

"I've brought the guards!"


Kiku clung to Natasha's hair as Flynn/Alfred pulled her down behind the bar as the guards burst in. Kiku knew there was a way out but it was yet to be revealed as they crawled behind the counter only to be stopped by Sadik's sword. The look on Flynn/Alfred's face showed that he believed that Sadik was about to turn them in for the reward but instead, Sadik's eyes flicked to the floor with a painted duck on it next to them but Flynn/Alfred was clueless as to what Sadik was trying to say. Kiku turned to look at Hercules and nodded and Hercules reached to grab an ale pump, pulled it and the duck fell, revealing the hidden tunnel that Kiku knew was there. Hercules knelt down beside them.

"Go live your dream," he said to them both. "Make it come true!"

"I will!" Flynn/Alfred promised. Sadik snorted.

"Your dream sucks!" he declared. "He was talking to her!" Hercules chuckled and he and Kiku looked at each other as they passed.

Be careful, Kiku! Hercules thought to his love.

I will! Kiku promised back as they disappeared into the tunnel.

And there we go! Running from the guards now and next week we'll see Berlitz and the Jones Twins again. Fun times ahead.

To Maveriqua – YES, NATASHA IS FINALLY FREE! XDDD Thanks for telling me about the italics! I don't know how that happened but it been fixed now!

To themusicalcat – That's true! A story can get bogged down with too much detail which is why I try not to do that. And Kiku has rougher times to come, trust me! :(

To takuya – I glad you think so! It's nice to revisit old friends, isn't it! ;)

To Normandy – Katya's not on my nice list either! :( Poor Kiku really has a tough job and yeah! Poor Ludwig and Feliciano :'( but they won't be sad for long. :)

Next week, we'll have twins, a dog, a dip in the river and maybe the return of our favourite Italian 2p! Stay tuned to find out!

Hasta la Pasta!

Please excuse any errors! I had no time to check. I'll do it when I have time! ;)