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 for the late-ish update, just ran into a lot of assignment due dates. Thought it'd be best to upload this before going into exams.
Anyway, thanks so much for the feedback (and favourites and follows) and as always, enjoy the chapter.
Chapter Nine: Amends
"Nice to see that you're doing well." Arthur said, a sly smirk beginning to form on his lips, "My, my, it's as if you haven't aged a day since I last saw you! You must tell me what you're using."
The eastern ruler twitched at that statement before he hid his physical disdain in the next comment, annoyance leaking into his voice, "Through beauty there is pain, little grasshopper. And you are very well aware about how to achieve this. Maybe you should consider using it. You are in need of a little touch up, especially with those eyebrows..."
"Oi, who're you calling bushy eyebrows?"
"My, my," the emperor's tone now mimicking Arthur's in a mocking fashion, "Aren't we jumping into conclusions a bit too quickly? I didn't even call them bushy. Not that they aren't."
"At least I don't live false to my age!"
"And whose fault is that?" The emperor rose up from his throne.
"Arthur really doesn't get along with anyone, does he?" Alfred quietly whispered to Gilbert as they patiently waited for unsuccessful negotiations to finish – although it seemed unlikely it would get done soon.
The albino nodded before he began to inform the fire prince more on their relation. "Around the time he fought me, he was a nasty batshit piece of work on his best days and had an even worse temper than he has now – anything could've set him off. Rumours say that when he had to hand over the Eastern lands, King Eyebrows cursed the ruler with immortality."
Noticing Alfred's expression of surprise and bafflement, Gilbert gave him another explanation. "Magic like his reacts to strong emotions so he accidentally activated his magic and got his wish granted. After that, emperor guy over there got all paranoid about your old man trying to do more damage so he levitated the lands to help it be less prone to external magic and intruders. 'Course, the kingdom's toxic gas helps too."
Alfred nodded in understanding as he continued to watch the unfolding argument, now escalating into a fight. A small heated glow had now surrounded the fire user, increasing at the same rate of his rising temper. Likewise, small sparks began to flash frequently around eastern ruler, predominantly near his right hand.
"Why don't we settle this the old-fashioned way, Arthur?" the amber-eyed eastern proposed as he clasped his arms together, his wrists facing upward.
"I thought you'd never ask," Arthur eagerly retorted, pulling his wand out of his sleeve.
"Aw, man – this could turn ugly," Gilbert commented, turning to see Alfred's reaction to the situation. However, the Fire Prince no longer stood where the bird-keeper last saw him. Instead, he had been charging towards the middle of the soon to be battlefield. Just when Gilbert was about to call out to him, he felt a presence quickly rush past him, dust violently kicked up as a result. The Bird Keeper stood his ground and looked up to see what happened after the dust cleared.
The eastern ruler launched his hands forward, and from his palms, a small globe with a dark purple center appeared. A long beam of lightning shot out from it, its tail disappearing as it bolted its way towards the target. Arthur finished his chant, a ring spewing out flames shooting out from the tip of his wand toward the other attacker.
Alfred now had rushed in front of the emperor. He raised his sword, holding it horizontally. A blazing fire curtain formed as Alfred slid the sword downwards, absorbing the incoming attack his father sent.
Smoke exploded out from the collision, not just on Alfred's side but from Arthur's as well. Alfred quickly crossed his arms in order to protect himself. When the fire user felt it was safe to look, he began to peek out. On the other side stood a young man he assumed to be in his early twenties hidden within the shadows of the dispersing smoke. The clearing soon began to reveal his clothing to be a white robe-like attire, now tainted with dark burns and dust from the blast.
His neat raven black hair that wrapped to the form of his head swished momentarily as he tilted his face up, chestnut-brown eyes staring out to the ones in front of him. In his hand, he tightly gripped a katana, whose silver blade had been significantly plain and thin but the hilt was uniquely decorated with a gear-shaped pommel and chains wrapping around the golden handle, a yellow swirling orb wrapped in bronze wire in the dead center.
"Kiku...?" The eastern ruler was the first break the silence, slumping down on his throne from initial shock.
"It has been a long time since the last time we've seen each other, Lord Kirkland," the boy reminisced before he turned to face who he protected, "I'm glad you were unharmed by the North's invasion."
Arthur flinched at the usage of his name, and then nodded as if his own question was confirmed. "It really is you."
"You know him?" Alfred asked, now confused by the turn of events.
The Westerian King nodded, still too stunned to speak. He eventually found his voice. "Remember that one merchant I told you about? The one that caused the Green Tea Incident?"
Alfred nodded in confirmation. They had lost five teapots on that day, and they still hadn't found them. The servants were shell-shocked for weeks. "This is the man – or so I thought." Alfred looked back to Kiku for an explanation.
"Kiku?" Yao asked for clarification. The person in question saw that everyone was curious, so he really had no choice but to tell the truth. And the truth went something like this:
Kiku had heard about his father's terrible relations with the West over a little accident that resulted in the eternal youth, so he decided to visit the Westerian king to see what he was like. He didn't want his father to jump to conclusions, so Kiku had told him that he was going on a little trip to check up on the season's crop.
What he didn't tell him was that he was going with their usual tea shipments, disguised as a merchant. He paid the shippers to send him to deliver the tea to the king himself. Now, it was a long story that involved a cat, ten teabags, and a pair of shoes, but the eastern prince had eventually befriended the king. After a week in the king's company, he went back home.
On the king's end of the story, Arthur lost the trail to find his new found friend – and eventually forgot about him, because Alfred had come back from a disastrous week's attempt at training on the same day Kiku had left for home. There was an accident – which was an entirely different incident on its own.
Kiku focused his gaze towards Alfred after his explanation. "So, I presume this would be your son, Arthur?"
The addressed boy smirked, trying not to say the reflex 'he is not my father'. "The name's Alfred. Now, I'd like to know the name of who got this guy to avoid drinking tea for a month, and helped me stop the little scuffle from earlier."
"Forgive me for not formally introducing myself. My name is Kiku of the Wang Dynasty, the First Prince of En," Kiku introduced with a slight bow. "You all must be very tired and starving from your long trip. I must apologize for treating guests so rudely. If it is not presumptuous of me to do so, may I suggest that we have a more formal discussion at lunch?"
"You may not!" Yao said as he tore his gaze away from Arthur. "Kiku, after I deal with this intruder, you and I will be speaking of your...excursion."
"With all due respect, Your Grace, you 'adults' will probably too busy being at each other's throats all night if we let you, so Kiku's gonna have to decline that offer to talk," Alfred taunted in support for the prince before he turned to face him, "So if it isn't too much trouble, lunch sounds awesome."
It took a lot of persuasion to get the two stubborn rulers to sit with each other and talk (there was dragging involved), but it was the fact that their own two children had managed to pull it off that made them proud (which ended in the inevitable debate about whose son was better).
So they eventually found themselves kneeling behind a wide mahogany table with short legs to accompany the seiza sitting position. Somehow and to their utter dismay, both kings ended up seated beside each other, Yao being at the head of the table and Arthur to his left. Alfred sat adjacent to his father and Gilbert while Kiku, Tien and the other people who Alfred assumed to be their siblings sat across from them.
The table had been set with a variety of delicacies, all quite foreign to the guests. The walls behind them had been beautifully illustrated with murals, the distinctive colouring of various scenery and multiple figures, possibly depicting significant historical events of the En Empire.
Sadly, for the first five minutes of sitting, the well-reputed rulers had done nothing but bicker. It wasn't even about their country relations or the negotiations. Their arguments had ranged from food choice and cooking styles (which Alfred had no trouble admitting that Yao won that one – everyone was a better cook than Arthur), to floral arrangement and even about each other's sitting position. And while all of this was happening, Alfred had been watching the room as if it were a play.
The remaining six had been eating their food very quietly, except Gilbert, who pulled the First Prince into an engaging discussion. There were three other guests that Alfred had yet to be introduced to. Along with Kiku and Tien, there had been a younger female and two boys, one younger than and the other as old as Alfred.
Tien and Kiku seemed to carry irritated expressions at the fathers' continuous argument and the youngest girl flustered at the current proceedings. As for the other two boys, the youngest boy had an indifferent expression as if this were a daily occurrence. The other boy, who looked closer to Alfred's age, didn't bother to hide his boredom, vaguely listening and occasionally inputting into Gil's and Kiku's conversation.
"Al-Alfred..?" Kiku unintentionally stuttered, unaccustomed to first name basis, "You haven't touched your food yet." The adolescents and Gilbert's attention began to focus on Alfred. He looked down at his food. Normally, like Gilbert, he would have been digging in right away, possibly joining or starting a conversation. However, it wasn't the unfamiliar food that bothered him.
"I don't know to use these." He pointed towards the pairs of sticks that everyone seemed to know how to use – something that they called chopsticks, apparently.
The bored boy suddenly drew a large smile and made large hand gestures, the long sleeves of his loose navy blue garment flapping rapidly, "That's easy! Take the thick ends of the chopsticks and hold it using your index finger, middle and thumb like so."
The youngest boy helped cater to the explanation by showing Alfred a demonstration, following exactly the recently mentioned instructions. Alfred gave the chopsticks a new determined look and tried to imitate the required positioning. Eventually, the youngest girl had decided to help the Westerian prince. Even with the girl's help, Alfred still failed every attempt he made.
Through each try, the expressions of the spectators began to soften. At one point, Alfred gave up and folded his arms, giving a pout. Both Gilbert and the younger boys began to laugh, Tien and Kiku trying to stifle their chuckles and the youngest daughter giggled.
"By the way, we haven't introduced ourselves. After all, you've only met my father, Kiku and Tien," the youngest girl began to remember, "My name is Mei Lin, the Second Princess, but I prefer being called Mei."
"My name is Xiao," the youngest boy followed after. The remaining un-introduced person left was still chuckling with Gilbert from Alfred pathetic attempts. The group began to wait in silence for them. Gilbert noticed this and quickly nudged the boy.
"What was that-?" the nudged boy started but then noticed the stares, "Oh. And you can call me Yong Soo."
"The name's Alfred," he grinned.
"Well, I'm glad things are going well on our side," Kiku commented before he faced the direction of his father. "Now I wished things went smoothly over there."
Alfred followed Kiku's gaze to the squabbling men before he brushed off his comment. "Let me handle this. Though, what I'm about to do wouldn't have worked if you hadn't started that incident."
"Hey, old man!" he raised his voice and arranged his face into an expression of fear as he backed away slowly from his seat. "The tea's turning blue again!"
Oddly, that caught the Westerian King's attention. He yelped and quickly brought the tea close enough to look. Realizing that his son had tricked him, he was about to scold him when Alfred slyly told him, "It was the only way to get your attention. And now that I have it, I'd like to tell you that the more I see you argue with their father, the more I don't regret ditching my lessons."
That tidbit surprised the Eastern Emperor enough to stay quiet and listen to what was about to unfold. Growing angry, Arthur began, "Excuse me?! Why, you arrogant little –"
"Am I wrong, Arthur?! If I was anything like you, it would be a miracle that Westerius had any allies at all! Honestly!" He gestured to the eastern siblings. "We're trying to ask for help from these people! Or have your old grudges made you forgotten why we're actually here?"
Not for the first time, Arthur silently admitted that his son had a point. It was hard to believe that Arthur had been the one scolding Alfred not to embarrass them earlier that day. Yao didn't waste time in exploiting that.
"Oh, how the great have fallen. Really, your son has more common sense than you –"
"Father, with all due respect and as your heir, I suggest that it would be in your best interests to be silent," Yong Soo sharply cut Yao off.
Heir? Alfred thought in disbelief. That didn't make sense. It was obvious that Kiku was older than Yong Soo. He searched his memory of the few lessons he did attend and vaguely recalled when his tutor taught him about succession. Apparently, it varied from Kingdom to Kingdom and the En Empire's heir was always male and selected based on their ability to use lightning magic.
Yong Soo faced Alfred, ignoring everyone else for the moment. "I'd overheard from my father that the West had been decimated by the North a while ago. I take it you need help because of that." He spoke in a practiced tone used in diplomatic negotiation between royalties, but it still had a casual ring to it.
Alfred nodded, trying to imitate Yong Soo's tone. "We're gathering allies to fight back. You know as well as I that no one can fight the North alone. I apologize for the behaviour that my father has shown today. If we haven't offended you yet, we were going to ask you for men to fight along with us."
Yong Soo nodded, his personality jumping back to its happy disposition when he turned to his siblings. "Sure, it's no problem! I think we should be sorry about our father's attitude too! So guys? What do you say about helping out?" The eastern siblings were still stunned from the rare show of competence. It was Kiku who recovered first as he silently consulted with the others. "I assume that I speak for all of us when I say that yes, we will fight along with the West."
"Isn't it about time that the Eastern and Western relations repair?" Xiao asked in a quiet monotone.
"And I've seen how untrained your soldiers are," Tien commented. "You need all the help you can get."
"We'd love to help in any way!" Mei sweetly piped up.
The Lightning Prince grinned at Alfred. "That's our answer, Fire Prince of Westerius. So now that we've got that out of the way – yes, father, we're giving them troops and whatever else they want within reason no matter what you say!" he cheerfully interjected as he saw En's emperor open his mouth in protest.
And the rest of the night was spent persuading Yao to give in to Yong Soo's decision and therefore turned into a completely different affair.