Disclaimer: Hetalia is owned by Hidekaz Himaruya
As soon as the door slammed shut it began.
"What the hell was that?!" Alastair stood, glaring daggers at his youngest brother. Reiley and Dylan stood too; Reiley rushing to the windowed wall of the lounge to watch what was going on below.
Dylan folded his arms sternly. "That crossed the line, Arthur."
Arthur met Dylan's gaze and copied his pose. "It had to be done." He remarked sourly.
"She's going down the stairs with Braginsky…" Reiley narrated, still pressed against the window. His brothers ignored him.
"It was pretty harsh, Arthur," Lukas agreed, a frown on his usually indifferent face.
"You've been with her for three days, Art. You seemed to be getting along so well," the second eldest brother pressed.
"It is NOT REAL, GITS!" Arthur snapped, fists balled and resting against his sides. "None of it is real! We are puppets to Vargas' twisted little game. Once it's over, we return to business as usual! She won't come back!" The incredulous looks from his brothers and friends were incredibly annoying. "None of this is real." He muttered once again under his breath.
"Shite, shite, SHITE!" Reiley howled. Everyone paused to look at the redhead. In the window's reflection, his face was twisted into an uncharacteristic frown. "She's crying."
Arthur felt his stomach plummet; he hadn't meant to hurt the American. Well, no…no, that wasn't entirely true… He'd been hurt and he'd been lashing back out of spite, of course he had been trying to upset the girl. But, he never wanted to make her cry…fat load of good intentions were. He had made her cry, he would have to accept that fact and live with it.
Shouldering past Alastair, Arthur went to the window and the regret was immediate. Seeing Amelia clinging to the Russian was like a punch square in the chest. He unfurled his hands and turned from the window.
"I hope you're bloody proud." Reiley spat, shaking his head.
"Sod off," Arthur muttered, walking away
"Man, what is your problem?!" Arthur could feel the anger in his brother's voice. "What are you so afraid of?!"
Arthur did not answer; he merely stopped walking and fought the urge to scream at his idiot brother.
"Enough boys," an easy voice commanded. Looking up, Arthur saw Mathia take charge. "I really need to start working with Arthur on his skating. Just because he's being a jackass doesn't mean that he can get out of the practice that Vargas assigned." Though her blue eyes glittered playfully, there was something cool about her tone that suggested something darker.
Dylan and Reiley complied immediately, making their way towards the door and shooting the youngest brother dirty looks the whole time. Emilie and Lukas made to follow them.
"Lu," Mathia called, gaining the attention of the Norwegian. "Why don't you and Em take the Kirkland bros and explore that mall we passed on the way here?" Lukas raised an eyebrow. Mathia continued, "I'll be done here in a few hours, promise!" She smirked innocently.
After a doubtful look, Lukas gave a slight nod and followed the others out of the lounge. Only Alastair remained, hands on his hips and glaring at Arthur—it was a glare that made Arthur feel two inches tall.
"Are you going to hit me?" Arthur asked bitterly, knowing that his eldest brother was likely to give him a hard slap at the back of the head for being so stupid.
Alastair narrowed his eyes and looked away, nodding to Mathia before exiting the room and snapping the door shut behind him. Arthur blinked in surprise. Somehow that hurt more than Alastair's hand ever had.
Mathia raised an eyebrow, "You okay?"
He shook his head, letting out a breath that he had not been aware that he had been holding before responding. "I'll be fine." He muttered lamely.
"Are ya sure?" the Dane asked, pointing to her neck. Arthur looked at the girl's neck and then looked down to see that he still had Amelia's scarf wrapped around his collar. Growling, he grabbed the wrap and pulled hard, fighting to untangle himself. Chortling, Mathia walked up to the Brit and eased the scarf from around his neck and handed it to him, "Here, better?"
"Not really." He sighed, balling the scarf in his hands and slammed it down onto the table.
The tall blonde clicked her tongue, "Wanna talk about it?"
"No."
Mathia shrugged, "Fine, we don't have to talk about it now," or ever, as far as the Englishman was concerned. "But," she looked at Arthur coldly, "don't expect me to go easy on you after that!" It was suddenly apparent why the girl was the self-proclaimed 'Queen of the North,' her eyes were sharp and cold with something wild lurking beneath the surface. "Let's go."
After a chill ran through Arthur, he felt compelled to do as the Dane commanded and followed her down to the rink without protest. At the far side, Amelia was watching Ivan demonstrate some intricate footing and didn't give the Dane or the Brit so much as a sidelong glance. It was for the best really.
"Alright, Artie," Arthur was about to correct the obnoxious girl, but stopped cold when he saw her pulling a hockey stick from the beneath the bleachers. "Let's get started…"
"What is that for?" He asked, never taking his eyes off of the stick.
"Well, Ivan says that you need to learn how to skate well without over-thinking things," She smirked playfully. "I can't think of a better way to teach someone to skate without over-thinking than to smack them every time they start to over-think."
"You can't be serious." Arthur shook his head.
Mathia smiled. "Better start skating, Arthur!" she sang sweetly. The rock star shuttered, this was going to be a long day…
Mathia continued to "teach" him to skate for the rest of the day. She would give him more and more difficult routines and watch him attempt to complete them. Whenever he looked down or appeared to be thinking too hard about the series of movements, he would receive a sharp flick to the ankles with an unforgiving hockey stick.
"Go, Arthur! Faster!" she cheered, skating at the Brit's side as he wove in and out of the bright cones that she had set on the ice. It had gotten easier to stop over-thinking the movement of his skates, but without those thoughts to occupy his head others soon took their place.
He really shouldn't have gotten so angry with Amelia—it was his brothers who had been throwing out hasty invitations. Wankers, they knew how he felt. Still, there was no need to snap at the Yank like that, he really needed to apologize. As for making her cry…ugh…he hated to think about it—it was truly unforgivable.
He was glad that Amelia and Ivan had ended their lesson about a half-hour ago, it had been very hard to keep his thoughts straight while the pop star had been skating at the other end of the ice rink.
Arthur rounded the cones and shook his head. Well, if nothing else, at least it proved that they could not work together. He'd probably be able to put some distance between himself and the girl now. That was what he'd wanted wasn't it? Yes, from day one, he'd been cautious to keep the American at arm's length. So why did his chest feel tight at this thought? You know why. Arthur circled the final cone and slid to a stop, breathless and awaiting Mathia's critique.
"Yeah!" the Nordic girl cheered, "Great job! That was the best yet! You didn't look to your feet for guidance once, you kept your head up…it was great!" she thumped his back and knocked the breath out of the rock star. "Want to take a break?"
"Yes, please," Arthur immediately answered, groaning a little as the pain in his ankles caught up to him. Everything hurt: Mathia had hit everything from his ankles to his shins; he had fallen more than once due to her unconventional teaching methods, scraping his hands and knees; and he could feel bruising developing all over his body.
The girl nodded, "Alright, you rest up. I'll get us some hot chocolate!" She winked at him before skating off. The girl was a monster!
Moving to follow the girl off of the ice, the Brit found that he could not do it; the pain in his right ankle was shooting up through his leg to his knee. Great, with his luck it would be broken—or worse. Opting to readjust his skate before moving off of the rink, Arthur shrugged out of his coat and placed it on the icy floor before sitting on top of it and unlacing the skate.
Hissing, he removed the boot from his foot and pulled the sock down. There were angry red marks splotching up and down the ankle, some of which were already turning black and blue. The marks were swelling a bit, but nothing seemed to be broken.
"There are benches just outside the rink, you know," Arthur looked up to see the Dane returning with two paper cups in her hands. Damn she was fast! She handed one to him gingerly before attempting to sit beside him, dressed in a knee-length, black coat, the ice didn't seem to bother her at all.
"Yes, well, I needed to make certain that your little 'lessons' haven't crippled me," he simpered.
At that, Mathia laughed. "Man, growing up with your brothers should have toughened you up!" Arthur rolled his eyes; Mathia had started in the agency around the same time as his brothers and had sometimes joined in on their shenanigans. She had been wild and fierce in her youth—it was unbelievable how much she had mellowed as she grew older.
"You would know." He muttered, taking a sip of the too-sweet drink. Tea was so much better.
She ran a hand through her wild hair. "Yeah…I would…" she agreed quietly, holding her cup of cocoa in both hands. Arthur watched the girl closely; under normal circumstances she would have been insufferably loud and obnoxious. Her being still and quiet was never a good sign. "Arthur, what the hell happened between you and Amelia?"
"You were there, you saw what happened." Arthur muttered, starting to put his skate back on to give his hands something to do.
"I meant…back then," Arthur fumbled with the laces and couldn't bring himself to look his companion in the face. He took the laces again. "You used to be so close…"
"I believe that was covered in today's earlier spat," he noted, tying the knot much too tight.
"So…" the Dane said with exaggerated skepticism, "Amelia wanted to leave the band in order to get rid of her crappy agent and you begged her to disregard her unhappiness just to stay with you..?"
Arthur sighed and relieved his grip on the laces. He knew what she was doing; she was trying to prod him into talking. What made him very mad was that she was succeeding. "Not…exactly…" he admitted. There was silence as the Nordic girl waited for him to continue.
"Amelia was unhappy with her agent, I knew that. I had tried to petition the agency to contract her to someone else, but the problem was that she was contracted to that agent already and as a ward of the government, he gained power of her guardianship with that contract." He shrugged, "It was some big deal, I suppose. I never completely understood it myself. All I knew was that it was going to be a very difficult process to get her a new guardian.
"After a while, I guess that Amelia got tired of waiting for the bureaucratic nonsense and decided to take action herself." Mathia sat next to Arthur, eyes round with rapt attention. Arthur surprised himself at how much he was telling the Dane, though it felt cathartic to finally tell the story aloud. "She filed a petition with the government and gave a Declaration of Emancipation." At this point, the Brit couldn't help the bitter chuckle that escaped his lips. "I was impressed and so proud of her," he could feel his eyes begin to sting as he remembered the events of the story. "When I congratulated her on getting a court date, I wanted to extend to her full membership into the band, once she was free, but…" his voice felt weak, just remembering that night was almost too painful. He cleared his throat in an attempt to break up the lump of feelings collected there.
"But," he continued, "She told me that she didn't want to continue with the Beasts. She said that she was going to move out of the agency's dormitory and perhaps get Madeline to join her." Arthur shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I was surprised to say the least, never before had I ever heard her consider leaving the band.
"I begged her to reconsider. After becoming emancipated and moving out on her own, starting a whole new career seemed like it would be too much. At least if she re-signed with us, I could keep an eye on her and make sure that she was doing well before letting her go off on her own…"
"You thought you knew what was best for her…" Mathia interjected quietly.
Arthur nodded, "It was presumptuous, I know. But, at the time, I was her Big Brother and I wanted to keep her close by—" He knew how selfish it sounded, but that was how he had felt. "The worst part was what came next, after voicing my concerns she still wouldn't listen. Then, I told her that, as her Big Brother, I wouldn't accept her resignation—she was too young and inexperienced to be completely on her own."
Arthur took a breath and covered his face with his hands, "That's when she said that…that I was no longer her Big Brother…" His chest was tight from recalling that time.
The two of them sat in silence for a while as Mathia stared blankly across the ice, seemingly trying to absorb the Brit's story. For this Arthur was grateful. Although it happened four years ago, the wounds were still fresh.
Had he not been a competent Big Brother? Had he been too complacent in trying to get Amelia a different guardian? It was true, he had thought that the girl's need for a new guardian to be simply teenage angst—an extreme dislike for being told what to do. But he had pressed for a new agent on her behalf just the same. Perhaps she thought that he had not been pressing hard enough? Or, perhaps she had seen him as a part of the problem. Whatever the case, she had felt the need to distance herself from him and the band.
"So, why did she leave the band?" Arthur blinked a few times, trying to make sense of the question that the girl had asked. Why had Amelia left the Beasts?
"I don't know," he admitted quietly, running a hand through his hair. "I wish I did." At the Dane's curious look, Arthur continued, "I asked once…she said that she couldn't tell me." He shook his head. "I never found out."
"Hmmm," Mathia hummed thoughtfully. "I'm sure she had a good reason." She moved to stand, brushing the frost from her clothing. "Though, if I were you, I'd knock off that cold, hostile attitude…"
"I beg your pardon," Arthur stammered as he too stood. His ankle was still sore and shaky but he could probably make it to the edge of the rink just fine.
"Well, if you want to win her over…being nice is kind of a necessity." The girl crossed her arms and nodded positively.
"I beg your pardon?!" the rock star exclaimed, trying desperately to keep his balance. The Dane could not be serious!
Mathia laughed and took Arthur's hands, pulling him towards the edge of the rink. "We are a lot alike, you and I. We both have nasty tempers and we both chased our younger siblings away." She gave the Brit a lopsided grin. "The only difference is that…I made up with my family."
Arthur thought for a moment. He could vaguely remember the Nordic's breaking up for a short while a few years ago. If he recalled correctly, Berwald and Tino had left the band, tired of how bossy Mathia was being.
He mustn't sound too interested. "And how did you do that?"
The Dane shrugged. "Apologizing—that was the hardest part. Then I had to learn not to take things too seriously: just laugh things off."
"So now—instead of being the demanding, controlling leader of the band; you're an overly-cheerful, overgrown child who can't seem to take anything seriously?" He wasn't convinced. More had to have happened to change her personality so completely.
"Whoa, whoa, take it easy, Artie!" she laughed, releasing his hands as they walked out of the rink and onto solid ground. "An 'overgrown child,' that's pretty rude!" Regardless of what she said, the Dane was still grinning widely. "But, to answer your question, yes."
Arthur rolled his eyes as they walked into the locker room, "And how is this supposed to help me?" He collapsed onto the bench in front of the locker which held his shoes and began to untie the skates
"You want to apologize to Amelia, right?" Arthur bit his lip and said nothing. Mathia smirked knowingly, delicately turning the key to her own locker. "You live just like you skate—you over-think too much, look down too often, and end up missing critical moments." She opened her locker and pulled out her boots before sitting on the bench and unlacing her skates.
Huffing, Arthur retrieved his trainers and laced them up. It felt really good to be back in normal shoes. He did want to apologize to Amelia, he just wasn't sure taking advice from the Dane was the smartest idea. Was he desperate enough for that? It was a lot to consider.
It would have been completely silent as they returned the skates to the counter had it not been for the annoyingly bouncy—and vaguely familiar—tune that Mathia was humming. The girl working the counter was quick and efficient and soon Arthur was walking out the double doors of the indoor skating rink and toward the SUV that his brothers must have borrowed from the agency.
"Well, Artie, it's been fun!" Mathia said, waving to Berwald who was at the far entrance, apparently waiting for his sister.
"Ah, y-yes," Arthur agreed, not relishing the grim looks that his brothers were giving him from afar. "Thank you for er—helping me today…"
Mathia smirked, "No problem! It was fun!" She seemed content to make Berwald wait a bit longer.
The Brit grimaced. "Fun? That depends on what side of the hockey stick you were on…"
"Like I said, it was fun!"
Shaking his head, Arthur sighed. "Yes, well… I suppose I'll see you around the agency." He turned to leave.
"Hey, Arthur," Arthur looked back, seeing the Dane smiling gently. "Really, good luck with Amelia."
The rock star turned and gave the girl a curious look. "You know, you've been telling me to make up with her since the night of her concert. Mind telling me why?"
Shrugging, the girl looked up thoughtfully, "Well, she is one of my best friends and I know she misses you," Arthur scoffed, but the Dane continued as though she hadn't noticed. "Plus, since she broke up with Ivan, there aren't any other guys that are in the way at the moment…"
Arthur blinked, what did she just say? "Wait, what?" he asked.
"Huh?" The girl tilted her head; she seemed to think about what she had just said. Her eyes grew wide. "I-I…"
Suddenly there was a voice from behind. "Mathia, it's time to go." Berwald, apparently having grown tired of waiting for his sister had come to personally retrieve her. His face was stern as he folded his arms.
"Hi, Waldy!" Mathia cheered, she looked back to the Brit. "Bye, Arthur!" she smirked before sprinting off at top speed toward the car where Tino, Lukas, and Emilie were waiting. She'd left Arthur with more questions than answers. Amelia had broken up with Braginsky?
Berwald blinked in surprise, "What was that about?" he asked, glancing at the Englishman.
Arthur shook his head, "I have no idea."
Hello everyone and thank you for reading, following, favoriting, and/or reviewing! Not much to say in this note other than I am not sure if I like this chapter or not-it may or may not get another "final" polishing… Ah well!
A deep, heartfelt thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter: Willow Breeze the first, Guest, Ashleyyy, and Darkabyssoflove. You are all wonderful people and every word, critique, and compliment is read, taken into consideration, and cherished. So, Thank You!
Another thank you and birthday shoutout to my beautiful sister! She is the only reason that this story was ever published and she is also the only reason for the somewhat timely updates. Happy Birthday, Love :3 I only wish it was a more lighthearted chapter!
EDIT: Oops, I forgot that guest reviews cannot receive PMs (duh...I should know better. Haha)
GUEST: I think both guest reviews were written by the same person? Sorry if that is incorrect! Anyway, hello. I'm so happy that you've taken the time to read my story! Yeah, Arthur can be a bit much to deal with at times. This chapter was meant to be a reveal chapter so you can see a little more of the history between these two since neither of them particularly likes to think about that time. I never meant to make Arthur the villain, but it seems like I've done a fairly good job at it. XD
ASHLEYYY: Hi there. Thank you for reading my story and your kind words, they mean a lot to me! I hope this chapter didn't disappoint, it was a bit...angsty. Also, thank you for letting me know that you like long chapters, it is helpful when I am trying to determine if a chapter is too long (it seems like that happens with every chapter, haha). I usually update every week-Sometimes longer if a chapter is particularly difficult to write. Hopefully that isn't making the wait too long :)
DISCLAIMER: This piece of fiction is not meant to be a guide to the process of becoming an emancipated youth. To learn more, please research your local procedures online and/or consult an attorney.
'Til Next Time!
Published: 15/1/2017
Word Count 3,391
