Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.
"So if you had to choose would you rather be a kelpie or a chupacabra?" Alfred asked Feliciana and Lovise as they sat together in the living room.
"I would say kelpie because then I could still live in water." Feliciana said not looking up from her current drawing.
"I'd rather not answer." Lovise said comforting Tove.
"But that's the whole point of the game." Alfred protested.
"Why would I want to be something else?"
"The game is about asking a question that's out of the norm." Alfred paused for a moment. "How about you ask a question."
"Alright I will." Lovise said as if to challenge him. "Feliciana don't answer this please."
"Okay then." Feliciana said still focused on drawing.
"So Alfred would you rather have to give up meat forever or memorize the entire Collection of the World Geography."
"What is that?" Alfred asked genially confused.
"I'll be right back." Lovise said before walking over to Feliciana. "Feli could you hold Tove for a minute please."
"Sure." Feliciana answered taking the baby in her arms. A few seconds later after Lovise left the room the baby started to cry a bit.
"Feli, Lovise's is going to be mad that her baby is crying." Alfred teased causing the mermaid to roll her eyes slightly.
"It's okay Tove." Feliciana started as she slowly rocked the baby in her arms. "Your mommy just left for a few minutes. She'll be back soon, don't worry."
Shortly after Feliciana finished, the baby stopped crying and opened her eyes. Feliciana smiled wider at the baby looking at her. Carefully she hugged Tove with extra care around the baby's head. Everything about her was so innocent and pure. The only other baby she got to hold was Marcello, but this was the first baby she held that wasn't related to her. She felt she could hold her forever but Tove would want to go back to her mother. It was understandable since babies and their mother's had this magical connection that no one could explain. This magic would amazing to understand, maybe she could ask Ludwig. Nah if that was the case he would have said something.
"Sorry." Lovise said walking into the room. "I couldn't find it."
Looking up Feliciana noticed the giant brown in her hands.
"What is that?" Alfred asked pointing to the book in disbelief.
"It's the Collection of the World Geography." Lovise said with smirk. She placed the book on the table in front of Alfred who continued staring at it. She walked over to Feliciana and took her baby in her arms. "Was she okay?"
"She did cry a bit but I calmed her down." Feliciana answered with a smile.
"Aw it's okay my little baby." Lovise said rocking her in her arms. "Momma is here, you don't need to cry. Alfred are you going pick an answer?"
"That book is huge! Why do we even have this?" Alfred flipped through the book.
"Prior to being a veterinarian Alice consider being a geography teacher but once we filled out the paper to be a traveling group, Alice figure that that career wouldn't be as reliable for a job."
"I didn't know she was into geography." Feliciana admitted.
"Well none of us really know much Alice. Vlad and I met her in the park one day and we hit it off. She looked really upset about something when we met her but neither Vlad nor I felt like we should ask."
"Eh I don't much about her either and she's the reason I'm even here."
"I was never really informed on why that happened." Feliciana whispered nervously.
"What was that?" Alfred asked. "I wasn't sure what you said.
"Oh, well I never really understood why she brought you here."
"That's simple when I was young I was alone and living on the street. I had no idea how long I was out there or if I had family out there. It was really hard for me to get by a day. One day Alice found and took me in."
"Really?" Feliciana as Alfred nodded. "That's crazy I honestly thought you two were related at first."
"You two do sort of look it." Lovise admitted.
"But I'm a chimera and she's a hundred percent vampire." Alfred pointed out quietly.
"Well you both have similar hair color." Feliciana added hoping to make him feel better.
"She did essentially adopt me, so I've always viewed her as my older sister." Alfred smiled. "And I am so thankful to her for it."
Ludwig sat on his bed as he stared at the paper in front of him. For some reason his mind was currently drawing a blank. He needed to think of something.
"Hi honey sorry I'm late." Feliciana said walking through the door. "It was really busy today."
"It's alright Feli." Ludwig responded still looking at the paper.
"What are doing?" Feli asked as she put her art supplies away.
"Trying to write a letter to Gilbert." Ludwig answered looking at her.
"Like you do every week." Feliciana laughed a little as she sat next to him.
"I just believe we should keep in contact even though he left last year."
"I understand I would give anything to be able to talk to my family again." Feliciana fell back on their bed.
Ludwig laid on his back next to her. "Didn't they give you a crystal or something so you could talk to them?"
"Yes but that only works when I'm where they are." She paused for a moment before continuing. "I'd be like if you could send Gilbert a letter but he had to be in the same town."
"Then I'd never be able to send him a letter with those requirements." He turned to face her. "Even still he probably wouldn't respond."
"That's not true." Feliciana said slightly appalled. "He's your older brother off course he'd respond back to you."
Ludwig looked down. "He really hasn't."
"But he and Lizzie has a baby right?" Feliciana said lifting Ludwig's head with her. "The baby is a month or two older than Tove he's probably just been busy with taking care of it."
"I guess so." Ludwig turned away from her.
"Is something wrong?" Feliciana asked only to get no answer. "Ludwig if something is bugging you can tell me. Remember we did promise to be more open with each other."
Ludwig remained quiet for a moment. He knew he couldn't break his promise to Gilbert but he also couldn't lie to Feliciana. She would most likely figure out if he was lying but he still had to answer her. After some thought he turned to her. "It's just that Gilbert and I used to be really close. For all of my life we lived together. I understand why he moved but I don't understand why he hasn't written anything back. It feels odd for us not to talk to each other."
"It's okay Ludwig." Feliciana told him placing her hand on his cheek. "I know it's hard to be away from your family. You feel alone, scared, and unsure. I know that because that's how I felt when I was first separated from my family. I had no idea what to do but I can tell you it will get better. It just takes time."
"It just feels so weird though. We used to be as tight as two brother could be but now it sort of feels like he's abandoned me." Ludwig looked down a bit taking Feliciana's hand off his cheek but held it in his own. Feliciana smiled a bit hoping to give him comfort.
"I miss my family too." Feliciana said trying to give him more comfort. "Sometimes I wonder how they're doing and that's normal. I find it kind comforting to think about actually."
"But don't you worry about them?" Ludwig asked after a few seconds. "They're living in an environment they weren't meant to."
"I'm living where mermaids don't normally live." Feliciana pointed out a little upset.
"Oh sorry." Ludwig apologized pulling her closer to him. Feliciana chose not say anything sometimes being quiet is all a person needs.
"You want to take a walk or something to clear your mind?" Feliciana asked.
"I'm alright." Ludwig said letting go of her and sitting up. "It's a little crazy how all of a sudden it happened. It was just the day before he seemed really happy living here. Heck even that morning I wouldn't have guessed he was planning on leaving."
"The day I moved on the surface world, probably the hour before I wouldn't have guess that my grandfather would come to me and tell me I moving to an entirely different world."
"Was it a big adjustment?" Ludwig asked as Feliciana sat up. "Moving to the surface world."
"I think big is kind of an understatement." Feliciana said with a small laugh. "I thought that I knew enough about the surface world from what Grandpa Rome told me in his stories about the surface world."
"It was for about three months right?" Ludwig asked as Feliciana nodded. "My father told me bit about traveling with your grandfather."
"What did he tell you?"
"The one thing I remember clearly is how they met. My father was hunting for food one day when he came across a man wearing nothing but a small cloth staring at a branch. If it wasn't for the scales across the man's body he would left him there."
"Hey I sniffed lettuce and called it kelp when I first came here. Both worlds are really different." Feliciana interrupted a bit offended.
"You lived underwater for sixteen years, I understand you wouldn't understand anything about here after living for what a day?"
"That is a good point, I guess I assumed the two worlds were going to be much more similar than they actually are." Feliciana move up a pillow and fluffed it a little. "I find it kind of funny that Grandpa Rome was staring at a branch."
"My father than asked him what he was doing and your grandfather responded with 'I'm wondering if this is the plant I'm looking for.' My father was concerned what he meant and turns out that he looking for this plant rumored to cure something called Blood Red Scales."
Feliciana shuddered a bit. "That disease terrifies me. Your scales become really irritated and there is red marks between them. Over time if it's not treated well enough one's scales can fall off! Not to mention"
"They can fall off!" Ludwig said in complete shock. "Can they grow back?"
"It takes a while but mostly it can take years for even one scale to grow." Feliciana seemed to check her scales as if she was worried that her own were going to fall off.
"Was it really that bad?" Ludwig asked.
Feliciana stuck out her arm to him. "Feel them."
"Okay." Ludwig said confused but started to feel them anyway for a few seconds before asking, "Is there any particular reason why I'm doing this?"
"Could you describe how they feel?" Feliciana requested not taking her eyes off him.
"I don't really know how to describe it." Ludwig said taking his hand off of her scales. "It's very unique."
"That's why they're so hard to regrow. There's nothing else like them. While, except for maybe fish scales but even those have a different feeling than mine. Also even when they do grow they are much paler than the originals and I have no idea if they can go back to their original color."
"I can see why then your grandfather had to leave then." Ludwig reached back for the paper. It was slightly crinkled but not ripped.
"Do you know what you're going to say to Gilbert yet?" Feliciana leaned her head on his shoulder.
"Sort of." Ludwig said before looking at her. "Do you think you could help me?"
"I'd loved to." Feliciana said with a smile.
AN: And we're done! Okay so I originally had a different idea for this chapter but I realized that it didn't have much of an effect on the story so I rewrote it causing this chapter to be delayed. I hope you didn't get impatient with this. See you next chapter.