And now for the last chapter! This is a long one because I wanted to get this Tale finished and not rush it! I hope I managed it!
And some old faces returns! Enjoy!
Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya!
Hetalia Tales 5:5 : A Fairy Tale Job Pt 13
Hercules watched as the boat collided with the dock, alerting the nearby guards to its presence and waking the man tied to the helm with a valuable crown tied to his hand who seemed oblivious as what was going on. Then Hercules turned toward the dog on the quayside as guards leapt on to the boat to grab Alfred and dragged him away as he yelled Natasha's name at the opposite shore and the German Shepherd looked in that direction. As Alfred was dragged away, Hercules came up to the side of Berlitz.
"We need to help him escape, you know," he said to the dog and, as a magically enhanced canine, thanks to Prince Marcello, son of Kings Antonio and Lovino, Hercules could hear Berlitz's response.
'Why should I help a thief escape?' Berlitz thought. 'And why should I trust you? I remember you from the Snuggly Duckling!' Hercules smiled.
"Because Natasha is clearly in danger," he replied. "And Alfred is the only one who knows where she might be! And I know you know who she is!" If a dog could look surprised, Berlitz managed it.
'How did you know?" Berlitz demanded. 'You should not be able to know that!'
"That doesn't matter," Hercules replied. "What matters is King Ludwig and King Feliciano's daughter is in danger and Alfred is the only one who can help her. Will you like your dislike of me, and anyone who might help, risk your master never seeing his offspring again? Do you want to lose your childhood friend for good?" Berlitz wondered how this man knew that he knew his Master's offspring when he was a pup. This man seemed to know a great deal!
'Alright!' Berlitz replied. 'I'll accept your assistance!'
"Good!" Hercules said. "First, let's round up some help!"
"What are you doing back here, Feta-breath?" Sadik growled as Hercules came through the door and everyone in the tavern turned and stiffened as Berlitz came in behind him, recognised as he was as King Ludwig's guard-dog. "You brought the King's dog back here! After it revealed our secret passage! Are you mad?"
"He's here for another purpose, this time," Hercules replied before Sadik could come up to him and punch him. "Ryder's been captured and taken before the Kings. If what I've heard is true, he'll be sentenced to death for stealing the crown of the Missing Princess!"
"If Ryder stole that, he deserves everything he gets!" Sadik snorted. "Not even I would steal that! Why should we care?" Everyone looked at Hercules to hear his response.
"Natasha, the young girl who was with him, is missing and in possible danger," he told them. "And Ryder's the only one who could possibly know where she is!" Muttering ran around the tavern because, as indifferent as they were about Ryder, Natasha was a different story. The sweet girl had worked her way into their affections and they would do anything to help her, even help Ryder escape prison.
"I'm in!" Roland called out and Matt held his hand up.
"Count me in too, eh!" he said.
"I'll go as well," Andres stated and Oliver stepped forward.
"I want to help the little poppet too," he said and offered up a tray. "Does anyone want a cupcake?"
"NO!"
The Snuggly Duckling Posse as they were unofficially dubbed made their way to the prison just before sunrise and managed to get inside, though none of the posse knew how (except Hercules) and they hid as they listen to the guards talk about the morning execution of Flynn Ryder and began to plan how to get him out. Sadik looked out at the courtyard from where they were hiding and came up with a Plan B, just in case.
Morning came and Captain Luciano Vargas took his brother, Lieutenant Flavio Vargas and two other guards toward the cells and the posse put their plan into action. While they were busy in the cells, the posse took out the guards in the corridor. Oliver was in charge of the exit from the corridor while Andres climbed into the rafters. Sadik hid in a room on the left while Hercules took a room on the right. The exit was opened while Oliver hid behind the door, holding the frying pan he had taken to carrying since meeting Natasha and her frying pan, ready to act when the time was right. Matt and Roland were in the escape route, ready to run interference while they got Ryder away.
Then they heard sounds of struggling and the door opened at the other end, Luciano coming through it, followed by Flavio and the two guards who were trying to drag Alfred along as he fought them, despite being in shackles. Oliver watched as they came closer and, when they were a few feet from the door, he slammed it shut and locked the door. The doors of the room either side slammed shut too and Oliver heard banging on the door and he opened the eye slot, looking into Luciano's confused and somewhat angry eyes.
"Hello, Loves!" Oliver said, cheerfully. "Password!" Luciano looked flummoxed.
"What!" Oliver smiled.
"Wrong!" he sang and slid the slot shut. The banging started again and he opened the eye slot again.
"Password, poppets!" he demanded again. Sadik quietly opened the door of the room he was hiding in and looked out at the guard on the left. He reached out, put his hand over the guard's mouth and silently pulled him into the room and knocked him out.
On the other side, Hercules opened his door and the other guard was within reach. He put a silence spell on the guard and dragged him into the room. The guard tried to fight but Hercules put his hand on the guard's forehead and he dropped like a stone. He looked back out of the door, up at the rafters and smiled.
Andres looked down at Flavio as he began to notice that the other two guards had vanished so he had to move fast. A shame because he thought Flavio was kind of cute! Ah well!
He reached down, grabbed Flavio's shoulders and pulled him up into the rafters with him. Flavio was too surprised to cry out when he landed in the rafters with Andres and Andres gave him a hard kiss.
"Hello, Cutie!" he whispered before knocking him out. Andres hoped he would not hold that against him when he woke up. That and the fact that he was not the most law abiding citizen around.
"Open up!" Luciano demanded at Oliver, having no idea that he was now the only one with the prisoner.
"Nowhere near!" Oliver declared and slid the slot shut again. The door rattled as Luciano battered the door.
"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!" he shouted and Oliver gasped in shock. Really! Was there any need for such language! He opened the slot, stuck his hand through and flicked Luciano on the nose.
"Stop swearing!" he admonished and shut the slot again. After a moment, he opened the door a crack to see that Luciano had spotted that his brother and the other guards were gone and had his back to the door. He quietly stepped out behind Luciano and swung his frying pan. Luciano hit the ground like a falling tree. Sadik and Hercules left their rooms and Andres dropped from the rafters while Alfred laughed as Hercules removed his shackles.
"Who knew frying pans had so many uses, right?"
Then the door behind them began to shake as something hit it from behind and they knew the other guards were coming.
"RUN!" Sadik yelled and he, Hercules and Alfred shot through the door and down the corridor, followed by Oliver as they made a break for freedom.
Roland could hear footsteps coming toward him while Matt hid himself in a side corridor as Roland watched Sadik, Hercules and Alfred come round the corner, Oliver having gone down an earlier corridor, taking some guards with him. Roland grabbed his guitar as the three runners shot passed him and then he nodded to Matt as guards appeared in hot pursuit and Roland stepped out, playing his guitar and blocking their path.
"Get out of the way!" one of the guards yelled but Roland kept playing while looking down the corridor as Matt charged toward the guards with a hockey stick (whatever that was). The guards barely had time to scream before the slapping stick robbed them of their consciousness. Roland cringed.
That was going to leave some permanent marks!
Kiku had no choice but to return to the tower with Natasha and Katya and watched as Katya pulled the flowers from Natasha's hair and released it from her braid. Katya picked up the basket she had dropped the flowers into and went to leave, declaring that she was making Hazelnut soup for dinner but Natasha did not react, just sat on her bed and gazed down at her hands. Kiku was disgusted as Katya sounded sorry for Natasha's depressed state when she was actually anything but.
"I tried to warn you about the outside world, Natasha," Katya told her. "I tried very hard! The world is a dark, selfish and cruel place. It always seeks to destroy anything good. If it finds the slightest trace of sunshine and purity, it snuffs it out!" With that parting shot, she left!
Kiku sat on the table beside Natasha's bed as she continued to sit and stare at her hands silently. Then she opened her hands and opened out the piece of cloth she held in them to reveal the Triple Monarchy flag that Alfred had bought her and she looked at it with sad eyes.
That was it! Kiku hated to leave Natasha when she was feeling so down but he had to read the end of the Tale to find out what happened because he simply could not believe that Alfred had betrayed Natasha. He loved her, Kiku was sure of it so there was no way he do that to Natasha.
As Natasha laid down on her bed, Kiku crawled to the floor and left the room. As Katya pottered around the kitchen, Kiku stood in the main room, took his human from and summoned a portal to take him home.
Alfred, Sadik and Hercules ran but every exit was blocked by guards so Sadik decided to put Plan B into action and lead them to the courtyard. Alfred was completely confused as to why Sadik would lead them to a dead end with seemingly no way out and guards pouring from every door but Hercules knew exactly what Sadik was doing as Sadik pointed to a cart that stood in the centre.
"Stand him on the cart!" he said to Hercules and then ran back into prison the way he had come. Hercules chanted a spell beneath his breath and then grabbed Alfred and placed him on the end of the cart that rested on the floor.
"Head down!" he instructed and Alfred obeyed. ""Arms in! …..." Hercules spotted Sadik on the floor above them, ready to jump. "... Brace yourself!"
"Why brace myse..." the rest ended in a scream as Sadik leapt from his perch, down on to the other end of the cart, catapulting Alfred into the air and over the prison wall. Hercules knew that the spell he had cast on Alfred would make him land safely in the feeding pen full of hay where Berlitz was waiting with a horse to take him to the tower. After all, Hercules could not have Alfred landing just anywhere. He would not save anyone as a bloody stain on the ground.
The guards were everywhere now and Sadik and Hercules split up in an effort to escape. Every one but Hercules was caught.
Invisible to everybody, Hercules watched as Kings Ludwig and Feliciano swept into the prison, followed by a blue-eyed, blonde man with a beard and a Fae, also with blonde, messy hair, huge eyebrows and green eyes and wings with a ball of light and a flying green rabbit above his head. Hercules recognised Arthur of the Kirkland Clan from the Beauty and the Beast Tale when Hercules went to tell that his son, Matthew had disappeared. Throughout the Tales, Arthur had been searching for his other son, Alfred and now he was here with his French husband, Francis, obviously seeking help from his former charge, King Feliciano.
Luciano had just regain consciousness when they arrived and he could not apologise enough for his failure.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesties," he said. ""Ryder escaped but I'll find him and, this time, I'll make sure he pays!" King Ludwig shook his head.
"The execution is cancelled, Captain," he replied. "Ryder will be brought back, unharmed by his father, not the guard!"
"Sire?" Luciano could not understand why the King had changed his mind so quickly but Ludwig had turned back to Arthur.
"Can you still find him?" Arthur nodded, indicating the ball of light.
"This light will lead us straight to Alfred," he said and Luciano frowned, wondering who Alfred was.
"I wish you luck!" Ludwig replied. "Go find your son!"
"Ve~ Good luck, Uncle Arthur," Feli called after them as Arthur and Francis left with the light and the rabbit following them.
Hercules turned and opened a portal. The rest was up to Kiku now.
A little pixie flew through the forest, singing a happy little song. She had long wavy, ginger hair with freckles across a nose that sat between a pair of grey eyes. She wore a little white dress that stopped just above her knees and wore little green shoes. As she fluttered her way through the greenery, a figure stepped out in front of her and she shot back with a little cry of panic. When she got a good look at the figure she calmed down.
"Is that you, Pastaaddict?" she asked, looking at the brown haired female with green eyes wearing a red cloak. "You startled me!" Pastaaddict looked apologetic.
"Sorry, Kin of Norway," she said. "Listen, you know where the Revenge Pixies hang out, don't you?" Kin of Norway nodded.
"You remember the Chamberlain, right," Kin of Norway nodded, more enthusiastically.
"Oh yes!" she grinned. "Me and my friends had a lot of fun with him!" Pastaaddict grinned with her.
"Well, I've got another one for you," she said and told Kin of Norway about Katya and what she had done to Natasha. When she was done. Kin of Norway had a determined look on her face.
"Leave it to us!" she declared. "Me and my friends will take care of her!" Pastaaddict smiled.
"I knew I could count on you," she replied. "Have fun!" And Kin of Norway flew of to find her friends. She would enjoy this!
Alfred galloped through the woods and into the valley that Natasha's tower resided in. He leapt off the horse before it stopped and he stared up at the window.
"Natasha! Let down your hair!" There was no response so he began to climb the tower, leaving Berlitz below as he arrived after Alfred but when he was part way up, Natasha's hair came flying down so Alfred grabbed on to it and began to ascend to the window.
Kiku was reading through what he had missed and realised that they had been mistaken about Alfred. He had gone to use the crown to try get the Jones Twins off his back so he could be with Natasha without putting her at risk from his former colleagues but they had been told about Natasha's hair by Katya and had knocked Alfred out, tied him up in the boat and sent him out with the crown to be caught by the royal guards to be taken to the Kings to be sentenced to death! Kiku's heart went into his chest when he read that but breathed a sigh of relief when he found that Hercules had organized a rescue.
Kiku also read about Natasha, remembering her real family and confronting Katya. Kiku cheered when Natasha finally saw Katya for what she was, a liar and a manipulator. Kiku clapped when Natasha declared her intention to leave and find her real home and family but, of course, it was never that simple and Katya took her prisoner before she could leave.
But Alfred was coming, galloping through the woods toward the tower and Natasha, with Berlitz following. He got to the tower and called up to Natasha. When he received no answer, he began to scale the wall of the tower until Natasha's hair came flying out of the window and Alfred began to use that instead but Kiku knew that Natasha was not the one who had sent it down.
Because, as Alfred climbed through the window, he saw Natasha gagged and chained to the stairs but what he did not see was Katya behind him, with a dagger …..
Kiku activated a portal. He had to get back! This was happening now! He had to get back and stop Katya!
He transformed into his chameleon form as he came through the portal in Natasha's room and scampered to the stairs but he was too late! He was just in time to see Katya pull the dagger from Alfred's body and Alfred fall to the ground. Kiku scrambled down the stairs, not believing what he was seeing. This is not supposed to happen! Alfred is the hero, he is not supposed to die! No! He could not fail!
"Look at what you've caused, Natasha," she said, putting the guilt of her crime on the distraught girl. "But never mind! When he dies, our secret dies with him." Katya took the chain from the staircase and began dragging Natasha toward the trapdoor. All Natasha wanted to do was get to the injured Alfred.
"Now!" Katya said, struggling against Natasha. "We are going somewhere where you'll never be found again." Natasha just kept pulling away from the trapdoor and her former parent. On reflection, it would have been better if Kiku took his human form to help but he panicked and stayed as a chameleon to grabbed Katya's cloak in his mouth and pulling. Katya looked down, laughed and kicked Kiku against the wall and he fell to the floor, too stunned to be of any help.
"Natasha, stop it!" Katya snapped, grabbing Natasha bodily and pulling her up. "Enough! Just stop fighting!" As Natasha pulled away and fell to the floor, her gag came off and she looked up at Katya with anger.
"NEVER!" she shouted. "I'll never stop fighting you. For every minute of the rest of my life, I will fight you. I'll never stop trying to leave." Then Natasha looked at Alfred.
"But if you just let me save him," she continued. "I won't fight you any more. I'll go with you willingly, no argument!"
"No, Natasha!" Alfred groaned. "Don't!" Alfred tried to crawl past Kiku as he came out of his daze to get to Natasha to stop her doing this.
"I won't try to leave again," Natasha promised. "I won't run. We'll be together, just the way you want it. We'll go back to the way things were. I promise! Just let me heal him!" Kiku wanted Natasha to stop! When she made a promise, she kept it, no matter what the cost to herself and Katya knew it too. If she let Natasha heal Ryder, she would have Natasha without having to fight to keep her so she agreed.
She took the chains from Natasha and clamped them around Alfred's wrist and secured them to the stairs again. She said it was to stop him from following them when they left but the truth was she planned to return and kill him. He knew too much!
Natasha knelt beside him
"I'm sorry, Alfred," she apologised. "But it'll be all right!" But Alfred pushed away the hair she tried put against his wound.
"I'm not letting you do this!" he gasped in pain.
"I'm not letting you die, Alfred," she cried. "I can't live with that!"
"If you do this, you'll die," Alfred replied and he meant in spirit. A slave to Katya's pursuit of eternal youth. No more freedom, ever!
"It'll be fine," Natasha said but Alfred did not believe that and neither did Kiku but since Natasha had made this deal and Katya agreed to it, Kiku could no longer interfere. Natasha put her hair on Alfred's stab wound and took a breath. Alfred's hand came up and caressed her hair.
"Natasha, wait!" he begged. His hand travelled down her hair and she revelled in his touch.
Then suddenly he grabbed her hair and dragged something across it with something in his other hand. The strands snapped and a great weight fell away from Natasha's head as the mass of hair was cut short by a shard of the mirror Katya had broken earlier in a struggle with Natasha.
Katya screamed as the detached hair from blonde to auburn, even the short hair left on Natasha's head was changing colour. Katya desperately gathered up the hair but, as the hair lost it's blondness, Katya began to lose her youth and grow older. She saw her ageing face in the mirror pieces that scattered the floor and pulled her cloak over her head, as if that would stop her ageing.
Kiku could not believe what had happened, what Alfred had done! Katya was still staggering about and Kiku saw a length of Natasha's detached hair and pulled across the floor in front of the window. Katya's feet tripped on the hair and she fell from the window, screaming.
A group of pixies watched as Katya fell from the tower and Kin of Norway waved her hand. Katya was suddenly floating in the air in a haze of blue and the other pixies fluttered around her.
"Is this the one Pastaaddict told us about, Ekouta?" asked a little pixie in green and lilac with lilac wings, blue eyes and brown hair with blonde on the ends and sounding annoyed.
"I believe it is, EverythingMath," Ekouta, an auburn-haired pixie with orangey eyes replied with a sassy tone. She sounded as annoyed as EverythingMath.
"Oh dear!" another pixie in a light blue dress that matched her eyes and wings, exclaimed. She had long blonde hair that reached the back of her knees. She had little glasses perched on her little nose and carried a little book. "She's growing older, ArtemisIsis13. She'll die soon of old age."
"Oh! We can't have that, Briana. schmidt1," a pixie with untameable, short black hair and hazel-brown eyes that were slightly slanted, replied. She wore a dark-purple and forest green dress that was shredded deliberately to look, well, shredded and she had purple wings that were transparent. All the pixies placed a hand on Katya and she began glowing white. Katya became young again. Young forever, just when she thought her life was over.
"That takes care of that," a little boy pixie, one of the only two males in the group, said. He had brown shaggy hair that would blend in with tree bark and eyes of bright turquoise. He wore light blue trousers and a little blue sweater vest and he had small green wings. "what shall we do with her now, Scarlet Phantom?"
"I know of a new home for her, Nightshine315," A little red-headed pixie replied. She had scarlet eyes and wore a little Victorian-style coat. She gave the appearance of being weak but that was deceptive. She was usually nice, just not to bad people. "After all, Natasha won't welcome her now. I know someone'll take her in. And I just might get a cup of tea. What do you think, Maple?"
Cardfighter by Maple or Maple, a pixie with rusty red hair and green eyes, wearing a dress that looked like it was made out of maple leaves and a crown of maple leaves in her hair, nodded.
"I know just who you're talking about," she agreed with a grin. "Yes, he'll be happy to give her a home.
"Thank you!" Katya exclaimed. "Thank you so much!" Kin of Norway laughed as she changed into a flying brown rabbit with red eyes flew into Katya's line of sight.
"You're thanking them!" she giggled. "Why are you thanking them? Trust me! They're not doing you a favour. This way, my little friends!"
Katya screamed as they flew away with her.
Katya was gone, at long last but Alfred was dying! Kiku could not believe he had failed so badly! He should have read the full Tale before beginning this task but he been caught up with looking after Hercules's cats, especially Lucifer, not that that was an excuse. He had failed! He could still help Natasha find her family but Alfred was dying and there was nothing he could do about it!
Natasha held Alfred's head in her lap as he breathed shallowly and painfully as his life leaked away.
"Alfred!" she cried and he coughed, opening his eyes. "Stay with me, please!" She took his hand and placed it on her now short auburn hair.
"Flower, gleam and glow," she sobbed, desperately singing her song which was now useless "Let your power shine. Let the clock reverse. Bring back what once was mine." Her hair did not glow.
"It's too late," Alfred gasped, breathing becoming difficult.
"It can't be," she refused to believe. "I won't let it!"
"Natasha!" Alfred whispered. "You were my new dream!"
"You ARE mine," she replied, tears sliding down her face. Alfred smiled before his eyes fluttered shut.
His hand fell from her hair and his face fell to the side as his entire body went limp.
NO! thought Kiku. This was not supposed to happen. Alfred was supposed to live, take Natasha to her family and they would live happily ever after together. THIS WAS NOT SUPPOSE TO HAPPEN!
Natasha began to cry as she caressed Alfred's dead cheek. She sang her song again as the tears fell from her cheek and she held close as a tear fell on to his cheek. The shape of a flower glowed where the tear was absorbed into Alfred's skin and light shone from the wound in Alfred's side. The light moved around the tower, into every corner, and then it faded.
Alfred took a breath. And then another. And then another!
Both Natasha and Kiku gasped as Alfred opened his eyes and looked up at Natasha who now sported a head of short, auburn hair with a curl on the left side and smiled.
"Natasha!"
"Alfred!"
"Ya know something? I prefer brunettes!" Natasha gave a laugh and she kissed him. Kiku could have laughed with relief as he watched them kiss.
They kissed for a long time.
Alfred and Natasha galloped back into the city after Natasha told what she remembered, that she was the Missing Princess, the daughter of Kings Ludwig and Feliciano. He knew he was risking re-arrest by taking Natasha back to the city but she had every right to be with her parents. It was a surprise to him that none of the guards made a move to apprehend him. It was a surprise to Kiku too but he was not going to question it.
They rode to the palace and announced that the Missing Princess had returned. The guards would not have believe it, had there not been a resemblance between Natasha and King Feliciano (sound familiar?). Alfred and Natasha were taken to a balcony in the palace and they waited until the doors to the balcony opened and two men stepped through.
Both wore crowns and one had golden blonde hair that was slicked back and he had light blue eyes but it was the auburn-haired man who caught Natasha's attention. It was the same colour as hers was now and had the same curl on the left. He took a step toward her and she took one toward him. They met and looked at each other, happy tears filling the man's eyes and he cried out Ve~ and hugged her and she hugged her mother/father for the first time in her life.
Another pair of arms embraced the both of them and Natasha looked up to see her other father holding both of them. Kiku watched Alfred watching the touching reunion with longing and he knew that he was thinking of the family he was so desperately trying to find. Feliciano looked up and held his hand out to Alfred and, after a moment, Alfred took it, only to find himself pulled into the embrace with them.
Feliciano called a guard over!
"Bring his Excellency and his husband to the throne room," he ordered. "Quickly!" The guard ran off and they went to the throne room. They talked and Alfred explained his reasons for stealing Natasha's crown and how he was looking for his family which had Feli smiling.
"Vee~," he said. "They may be closer than you think." And the throne room doors were opened and Arthur and Francis entered.
"You wanted to see us, Your Majes ….. " Arthur trailed off as he saw who was with the King and went into shock. The blonde hair, the cowlick, the sky-blue eyes. Arthur had been connected magically to both sons and he had felt Alfred die. Yet here he was!
"Alfred!" Arthur gasped. Alfred was alive!
"Alfred!" he cried, flying to Alfred and engulfing him in an embrace.
Just as Arthur let Alfred go, Francis suddenly swept him up in a hug with tears in his blue eyes.
"Mon fils!" he wept. "Mon petit garçon!" The dream came back to Alfred. The dream about his parents. His brother.
"Dad?" he gasped. "Papa?" The two men hugged him again.
"Welcome home, son!"
"Matthew!" he blurted. "Where's Matthew?" Arthur smiled.
"He'll be here," he promised. "I'll see to it!" They hugged again and all of them cried.
Kiku smiled. He had done everything he needed to. It was time to go!
When it was discovered that the men who helped Alfred escape prison did it so Alfred could save Natasha, they were all pardoned and they began to follow their dreams and Oliver was no exception. He opened a bakery called 'Oliver's Sweet Treats' and right now he was taking cupcakes with some questionable ingredients out of the oven. Then he heard the shop door opened and went to see if it was a customer.
"Hello, Loves," Oliver said, brightly, seeing Flying Chocolate Bunny AKA Kin of Norway and all his little pixie friends with a human woman, wearing a weird collar. "What brings you to my establishment?" Kin of Norway smiled.
"We have a surprise for you, Oliver," she squeaked. The pixies pushed the woman forward.
"We have a new taste-tester for you, Oliver," a little Tinker bell type pixie in a little blue dress said, cheerfully. She had auburn hair like King Feliciano's and her wings matched her dress.
"Oh! Thank you, Ishikawa Miki," Oliver clapped his hands at the idea.
"And this one won't die like the others," another pixie, the other male one, added with a little laugh. He dressed in green and blue to match his eyes, that contained a slightly psychotic gleam, with dark-blonde hair. "Although she'll still feel the affects of your ….. special ingredients. And the collar means she'll do what ever you tell her to do."
"Is that right, Musicalcat?" Oliver replied, happily. "Well then, your timing is prefect. I've just taken a fresh batch of cupcakes out of the oven." He turned to Katya who looked terrified and beckoned with his finger.
"This way, poppet!"
Kin of Norway left the shop and spotted a familiar red cloak and smiled at the figure. Pastaaddict gave her a thumbs up and left.
Kiku stepped back into the The Hall of Tales and Hercules was waiting for him.
"Next time I make sure I read the whole Tale before I start!" he vowed.
Was it a success?" Hercules asked, holding a sleepy Lucifer.
"Hai!" Kiku replied as he turned and closed the book, Hetalia Tales. "It was a little close for a moment but everything is exactly how it's meant to be. Another Tale ended just the way it should."
"That's our job, my love," Hercules replied, giving Kiku a kiss on his forehead.
"This one has been a long journey," Kiku commented.
"True," Hercules reminisced . "You warning the Fae about Natalya's minions. They never knew it was you who warned Alexander in the first place."
"You sent Lovino back to Antonio leading to their first kiss," Kiku replied, with a soft smile.
"Everything you did for Katyusha to get her to the Ball!" Kiku still had a little bit of a grudge where Lucifer was concerned over that Tale but Lucifer had improved since then.
"Giving Matthew that book and warning Arthur about his disappearance," Kiku commented.
"Telling the Jones Brothers about the crown and setting Alfred on the road to finding Natasha!" Hercules replied. "All the things you did for Natasha. Do you think they'll ever realise that Natasha was Natalya reborn?"
"It's better that they don't," Kiku commented. "Natalya's darkness was not her fault. She deserves a second chance."
"Do you remember how it started?" Hercules asked and he opened the book at the first page.
"Arthur, Francis, the twins and the Dark Fae?" Kiku replied. "How could I forget?"
And they re-read the first Tale they had watched over.
And we're back to the beginning! Yes, I brought back the pixies, that was fun! A little egotistical to put myself in but I don't do that often. To everyone who reviewed through their account I'll be answering those reviews by PM after I post this but to those who reviewed as a guest, I'll answer here!
To Normandy – We finally saw Arthur and Francis and they've been reunited with their long lost son! YAY! XD I have nieces and nephews and I would be devastated if any of them went missing and quite right! You dodged a bullet, Kiku! Next time, do your homework! :P
And that's it for this story! For HT6:5 I plan for Francis and the boys to meet the family they've now joined! Yes, they're about to meet the Kirkland Clan in Meet The In-Laws. It should be a one-shot, at least I hope so!
So till then,
Hasta la Pasta!