Hello world! So, it's been a while again. I need to update more often…
Anyway, guess who broke their "L" key? I DID. And that's bad, considering I have to look for it now—the L button. It's nothing critical because I can still use it (obviously) but it's kind of annoying because it throws me off. Oh, well. I'll manage—I got used to my broken "S" key, too. BUT THAT ONE DIDN'T LOSE EVERY PIECE OF THE KEY, DID IT? NO. *Ahem* Sorry about that. Anyway, I don't own Hetalia or anything you see in the below chapter of Lauren's Story. :3
Enjoy~ X3
So, it's been a little while since England and I switched bodies. And it's been some kind of Dante's Inferno, you see—just little things I'm sure you can figure out. It's kind of horrifying to both of us. It's hard to explain.
But then came the time when England popped up out of nowhere, and dragged me off to a closet.
"Lauren…I…I'm bleeding," he whispers in my voice, looking at me worriedly.
I felt my heart rate double, and honestly felt it beat out a samba. And I tensed pretty bad, too. I brought my palm to my face, and let out a sigh.
"Well, see, that's the magical moment you become a woman," I explain dryly, and he gives me my own glare.
I never realized just how scary it was… I tensed again and continued.
"Well, there are specific things you're going to need from this point until about three days or so from now. One, chocolate. Two, painkillers…" I went on, describing how precisely to take care of my body during this time.
The whole time, England's just blushing away, nodding and trying to remember everything. I watched him carefully as he listened, trying to deduce his feelings about everything. He was just terrified. I don't see why…oh, right—he's been a man all his life. And for him, that's a really long time…he's never had to deal with this…
"And there are specific foods you can and can't eat. Like pears. I hate pears. I don't want to wake up from being you and taste that." I look him square in the eye and he nods, "And finally, Arthur Kirkland, if I find out you've done any of these things wrong or have done something you were told not to—Lord help you." I growl.
Suddenly, the cabinet door swings open, and there stands France, who suddenly looks shocked and amused all at once.
"Ohohonhonhon…~" He begins laughing his throaty French laughter, "I see how it is—"
By now England has tackled him in a fit of rage. Because that's part of what England is made of—rage, jam, rainbows, and kittens. A small bit of him, at least. I could only watch with amusement as my nation fought with France, defending my integrity or something like that. Suddenly, Issa runs up.
"England. England. England. I need you. Iggy. France, shut up and let me talk to Iggy," she says, trying to talk over England and France's insults and grunts of effort.
So, here's a summary: me in England's body watching England in my body fighting with France in France's body, and Issa's watching all three of us, clearly needing to tell something important to England…
"ARTHUR FREAKING KIRKLAND!" Issa finally lost it and shouted—everyone jumped, including myself; England, France, Canada, Rin, and even Teacup, who sat at my feet, jumped a bit, his ears flicking back in surprise, even though he tried to act like he didn't.
Little bugger.
"What's gotten into you?!" England yells at her.
"I've been standing here for five minutes, saying your name over and over, but that's not the point! The point is that Germany bugged Rin and found out it's Italy's blood!" She shouts back, eyes flashing with rage.
I watched my semi-tan skin go pale as the information sinks in.
"Wh-what?!" he gasped.
Rin holds up the crushed remains of the microphone. "He must've put this on my shirt when he threw me through the mirror. He had it all planned."
Not-so-little bugger.
"You squished it?" England asks.
"Yes."
England takes the mechanical skeleton with my fingers and looks at it carefully. "It's German-engineered, alright," he confirms gravely.
Suddenly, there was an Italy, skipping up the hallway with a "Ve~ Hi, everyone~!".
He stops with a scared "Wah~!" when I look at him with England's green eyes; he hides behind France and uses the blond as a human shield—"I didn't do it~!" he wails.
"Ita, it's me!" I start, and point to England, in my body—"That's England."
"Ve~…I don't really get it, but whatever," he says, giving a shrug.
"Italy, you're going to have to stay close to someone who can protect you," England says slowly, trying not to frighten the adorable pasta-lover.
"Okay," Italy replies plainly; he then turns around and skips away, calling, "America, I need you~!"
I watch Arthur make my face exasperated, "At all times—that includes now!" he yells as he jogs away, down the hall Italy wandered away in.
A small motion from Canada—an amusedly disapproving glance to Issa—somehow triggers a chain of events. Issa sticks her tongue out at the aforementioned nation, and then sort of bear-naps Kumajiro, who sat at Canada's feet. She put him in her hood with a small warning of "Hold on!", and grabs Rin's and my hands, taking off in a run. We end up in the infirmary, with me and Rin practically being dragged along behind our friend. I hear a chattering noise, but it was just Kumajiro's teeth, clashing against each other as Issa ran.
When we reached the infirmary, Issa opens the door, and strides in, letting go of Rin and I. She removes the polar bear from her hood and sits in Rin's spinny-chair. Rin sits kind of awkwardly on the side of Issa's bed, and I just kind of sit really close to Dimah, realizing but not regretting the fact I am now a male nation. Poor Dimah looks so confused—Issa laughs, and I'm sure she's thinking the same thing I am. It's going to take quite a bit of explaining, the magic…
"So…," Issa started, "Can you explain the lookalike process-thingy to me? You said something about it, in the basement," she said to Rin.
The girl nodded and began to explain—I eagerly listened.
"It works in phases. There are six phases, more or less. The first phase depends on whether or not the nation in question has a curl. Because if he or she does, then the lookalike gets that curl, too."
"Okay. I got my curl a while ago," Issa added, flicking the looped strand of hair and immediately regretted it, screwing her face up in the sudden pain that followed.
"You're okay?"
"Yeah, it's just…if you touch the curl…bad stuff happens," she whispered.
"Bad stuff…" Rin repeated, raising an eyebrow.
Issa nodded, and Rin shrugged—I flopped over tiredly. I don't know why I'm tired…
"Alex freaked out when he thought I was going to touch his curl, so, alright," Rin rationalizes. "Anyway, the second phase is for any wounds the lookalikes have to be healed."
"Check," Issa comments.
"That explains it. These should start healing any time, now," Rin says, delicately rolling up her pants leg and pivoting her ankle, displaying her cuts.
I looked at them, and suddenly skin kind of…crawls over the jagged red marks and the violent red shade fades to a pink.
"…Gross," Issa decides after watching Rin's cuts heal; Rin smiles.
Well, I thought it was cool…
"As I was saying, Phase Three is seeing the nation's memories," Rin continues. "I've started flashing-back, but I was so distraught that I kept pushing them away. Phase Four is the nation and lookalike communicating with telepathy. I guess it's because they're becoming one."
My mind jumps immediately to an image of Russia, and I hold in a snicker. Issa grins at Canada, and they make eye contact before Canada flinches, just a little bit.
"Phase Four…hasn't happened to me yet. I'm dreading it. I don't want to know what Japan's thinking. I don't want him to know what I'm thinking. I don't like him." Rin says; clearly this has been bothering her.
It may be my division, comforting people when they're troubled, but it's not my conversation. Issa looked unsure of how to handle the situation, so she was silent as well—Dimah was just kind of quietly trying to piece together "England's" sudden closeness and disregard for personal space. Nonetheless, Issa puts a comforting hand on Rin's knee, and Rin smiles, before keeping on.
"Phase Five happens to the nations. The more memories a lookalike sees, the more transparent the nation becomes." She pauses for a few seconds and continues on with, "Germany said Phase Six is extremely painful to both. The nation—" Rin stops as someone else's words overlap hers.
"—disappears for good, and the lookalike takes the place as the representative of that country." Prussia finishes.
Whoa. Shocker…Prussia, huh? Everyone in the room (everyone had been listening because they weren't being that quiet. Even Dimah had snapped out of his personal stupor and was paying attention—we were all curious to what the lettuce is going on) stops and stares at the albino man. He slouches in his chair, staring at his shoes rather sheepishly.
"…How did you know that?" Rin asks.
Prussia finally looks up, but he stares at every nation in the room with a very uncharacteristic, almost depressed, empty kind of stare. His eyes were clouded with sadness. There was no better word to describe them—sad.
"No one remembers?"
"Remembers what?" Harvey asks.
"Rome…not even you?"
The child form of the once-great empire merely shakes his head in his seat by Romano and Spain.
"Mi dispiace, Prussia…"
"So…no one remembers that…the first representative of Prussia…was a girl?"
Silence fills the room and suddenly my head is full of new thoughts. CANON GENDERBEND! Okay, really bad time, brain. Seriously.
For once, Prussia seems to dislike the attention he was receiving—every pair of eyes was on him and it would make me uncomfortable, too…
So he explains.
"It was before the Teutonic Order…her human name was Monika. Prussia was just starting out. I was training to be a knight. I thought she was a princess…" He gives a small chuckle, here. "She saw my natural chibi-awesomeness and wanted me to be her guard. I think it was because we were both albino. But mostly because I was the awesome-est little chibi in the entire world!"
There's the Prussia I know…
"Anyway, I would stand guard outside her room every night and follow her around, and do guard-things. But, sometimes, I would see things that were not awesome. I guess it was other chibi-nations, and they're still not awesome, even after all the years fighting the Awesome Me. And the little unawesome cuts I'd get during training up and left. Then, both me and Monika got really sick at the same time. I went into a coma at the same time she did. Woke up…my princess was gone. She couldn't have been older than I was at the time, because my nation came into an awesome little blob over Europe around the time I, the Awesome Gilbert, was born. I…" He hesitates here for a long time as he stops and lets the words sit on his mind for a bit, "…I loved her. Yes, it was chibi-young-puppy-love, but still love!" He adds indignantly.
No one's judging you, Gil…no one even commented or snickered at all the whole of his story.
After a few minutes of silence, he fumes, "Well, don't just sit there and gawk at me like that! It's not awesome!"
Issa moves closer to the ex-nation and gently hugs him. He holds out a long sigh, and then hugs her back.
"I'm so sorry…" she tells him.
"Way way way-y-y-y before your time. Nothing you could've done. Nothing anyone could've done…" He mutters back.
His voice was so hollow, so hopeless…it was defeated and just so unnatural for his personality.
"Well, there's got to be something we can do now," England says determinedly.
Wait—wait just one moment, when did he get in here?! … Meh.
Run suddenly gasps and clamps her hands over her ears, beginning to mumble, "No. No, please. Get out. Stay away from me…"
I suppose Phase Four has begun…
"I need to get away from all of you," She tells us shakily, "Don't tell me anything important." She pauses, furrows her brow in mild rage, and mutters, "Don't tell me what to do."
"Okay," Issa speaks up, stands, and leads the poor girl out of the infirmary.
I twiddle my toes for a moment, having removed my clunky penny-loafers as I sit next to England, bored.
"What's the point of those things, anyway? They're absurd." I say, holding up the left shoe, "I don't know why on earth anyone would take their two-cents' worth and stick them in these girly shoes!"
England pouts for a moment. "I like those shoes…!" he complains.
Then, Prussia adds, "Why not at least make them with quarters? Then you could make a phone call, at least…"
"I know, right?" I replied.
This triggers a conversation about shoes with the albino nation, cheering him up along the way as best I could.
Then, suddenly, a scream rang out through the house. Practically everyone who wasn't tied down jumped up (derp) and ran to find the source of the noise, with me going with them. It wasn't long until we discovered who it was—China.
"What happened?" England immediately begins checking for injury.
China begins to babble incoherently in a mixture of Chinese and Japanese, pausing every now and then for breath. Then Issa runs up.
"What happened?" She asks.
"…And then, there was this person, and they tackled me like Lauren does, aru!" he jabbers.
I take offense to that! …I think…
"It couldn't have been you," he points at Issa, "because you had Japan's lookalike with you! And this person also had some sort of crossbow, aru!"
"Well, what did they look like?" Canada asks.
"I didn't get a good look at them, aru," China says ruefully.
Isn't that always the case…?
"What was he wearing?"
"I didn't see that either, aru."
Some help you are… Whoa. I can't tell if that's my usual cynicism, or Teacup or England… D:
"Well for the love of—" England starts.
"It's dark!" China protests, "And they were gone before I could turn on the light, aru!"
"Well, did you at least get the gender?"England says, clearly at the end of his rope.
China looks down, as if he were a child, being scolded for stealing from the cookie jar. "No, aru…"
Cue the foot-twiddle of guilt.
"Do you have any proof of this mysterious person?"
"…No, aru." He repeats, guiltier, almost.
"Then I suggest we turn in and call it a day," England says, rubbing his (my) temples.
"Wait…!" Jia Li calls out—once the attention is on her, she blushes and almost regrets her outburst, but continues anyway, "I can see China's memory, aru. He's not lying, aru. There really was a person."
"Were you able to answer any of my questions, love?" England asks, turning on a more motherly tone (which is okay now he's in a female body…or does that make it worse?) so Jia Li might not be further embarrassed.
"W-well…the person's shadow had their hair in a bun," he says. "I think it might be female, aru. A male with long hair is also likely…"
"See?!" China cries with triumph, "I told you, aru! I'm not crazy!"
Well…I wouldn't say that…
England just stands there frowning my frown.
"I think Austria should invest in some manner of security…" he muses to himself, and I kind of agree.
"Yeah, no kidding," America huffs as he passes with Italy in tow.
"U-uh…maybe you saw me…?" someone asks.
I see Issa jump and whirl around, and most of the others do. I just kind of turn, confused at the new voice. Then I refuse a squee of fangirlism, for it is…
"Lithuania~!" Russia chirps, waving from the doorway.
He's shirtless and covered in stitches…
The nervous Lithuanian, who appeared from the shadows (ninja-Liet?) with his hair up in a ponytail, jumps and cowers behind Issa.
"He won't hurt you," she says softly.
"You don't know his powers!" he hisses back.
(A/N: Okay, sorry for this (not really) but I just pictured Russia as Gandalf. I don't know. It's late, okay?)
"I challenge that, my good sir," Issa replies in a British accent.
I feel myself resist the urge to laugh as England scowls at her, looking as if he wishes to lecture her about it. He probably will later…
"I know, but Russia, in the past—" Suddenly he stops. "You're human." He states blankly.
Excellent deduction.
"You didn't hear any of that! He's Ivan and I'm Toris N-nice to meet you! Ahahah~!" He laughs nervously there at the end, and shakes Issa's hand with a bit of unnecessary force.
"It's okay. I already know everything with the nations and such." She explains.
"I-is that what the distress call was about, M-Mr. Russia?"
"Somewhat," The giant replies, smiling.
Liet looks around, confused. He sees Jia Li, England (he sees my body, and I am/was human) and Harvey, whom was hovering beside France.
"How many humans do you have here?!" he yelps, backing away from Issa.
"Oh, well, there's…" Russia pauses and mumbles to himself, counting on his fingers, "…Fifteen! I think…"
I do a count of everyone in my head. However, Alex and Sydney are elsewhere, so it's down to thirteen or so.
"W-well…why?!"
"This will take a while to explain…" England says, "Please come in, Lithuania."
Liet just stares at him—well, him as me.
"…I'm England," He says, "There's been a slight mix-up…"
"Th-then who's…" Lithuania starts, pointing at me as Arthur.
"I'm Lauren~!" I chirp, flailing England's arms gleefully.
France snickers; it's not often he sees England (well, England's body) move like I make it move.
"O-oh. Okay…" Lithuania says, "Oh, wait—" he pulls a walkie-talkie from his pocket and speaks into it: "Latvia, Estonia. There's no danger. You guys can come to the…second floor. It's a hospital room." There are muffled responses that I can't quite make out due to the static and my slight distance from the nation.
"I'm going back to Rin," Issa tells anyone who's listening (which as always, includes me~) and wanders back in that direction.
I myself begin to wander off, despite England's protests about safety and all that junk. I go find as many windows as I can and just stare out of them, looking around. Wandering the manor alone was probably a bad idea and I can't deny I'm a bit shaken, but I decided it was all just China being senile and old. And wise, probably, but still old. I mean, who's to say it wasn't Liet?
Near a back window on the second floor, I get to see out into the garden in the back, which was frozen over with the signs of winter. And then I notice something grey, out of the corner of my eye—something made of stone. Something covering its eyes…
"Oh my heavenly pasta…" I whisper, trying to keep my eyes open and focused on the potential demon.
It's just fear and stimulus but just because I know it in my brain doesn't mean I don't feel the adrenaline or the fear.
Was that really what…no. It couldn't be…
I run back to England, but bump into Austria along the way, and decide to warn him.
"Austria. Weeping Angel, your backyard." I say, breathless.
"Excuse me?"
"There's a Weeping Angel in your back garden…"
"A what?"
"Weeping Angel!" I exclaim exasperatedly—and notice Arthur walk into the hallway.
"What?" Arthur asks, and I feel about ready to grab both of the nations by the necks and just—
"A WEEPING ANGEL. IN AUSTRIA'S BACK GARDEN."
Arthur sighs and smiles softly.
"Lauren, there's no such thing…"
"Don't judge me! Its hair is in a bun, maybe that's what got China!" I say, flailing.
"No, if that was the case, he would be somewhere in the past, love. Remember?"
I pause. "…Right. But still!"
Then—
"There he is again, aru!" Is heard from down the corridor.
England runs off, and I just sigh, talk with Austria for a moment, and retreat to the bedroom Issa and I shared. I was still kind of paranoid, so I shut the curtain and sat on a bed, staring at the wall opposite me. I didn't notice the Teacup curled up on the pillow, napping—he didn't notice me so I didn't disturb him. I just kind of let my mind wander.
So, if there's a Weeping Angel in the garden, why doesn't it attack? It's just a statue, stupid, that's why…Well, then, brain, you're polite… Let's think about something else, shall we?
I begin to put on a pair of the old baggy blue pajama pants that were really meant for girls, but they still fit quite well—a very loose white t-shirt came next, and then, I was lying on the bed, just pondering life. I looked down at the bare pale arms of my nation, and noticed the faded burns and scars. This lead me to begin thinking, really thoroughly about stuff. Time passed and then Issa and Rin come into the room, finding me, sitting up and staring blankly at the wall, deep in thought. I barely notice their entrance.
"What's up?" Issa asks, sitting next to me.
I snap out of my stupor and trail my refocused eyes over Issa's face, took a moment to process, and then spoke.
"I'm historical," I say simply, resting my head in my hands as I spoke in England's voice—it was still kind of weird, but also kind of fitting…
"What?" She asks, confused.
"Every single scar I have, and now, everyone seems to have…they're like words on a history book's pages. Every isn't something you forget…you always remember how you got them. It could be a bike accident when you were young, or it could be what a knife left behind…incident or intended, everyone gets hurt in some manner. And, not all wounds are visible. We both know that…all too well…" I explain, and trail off, going back to my thought and flopping over back onto the bed, careful not to kick Issa.
Then, out of nowhere I get the urge to sing England's Campfire Song. So I smile, and I do.
"Meramera to, oyaki tsukuse sumi kara sumi made sono gouka de, atokata mo nokoranu youni, Tamashii made mo yaki tsukuse…" I sing, staring at the wall again.
I begin to drift to sleep, with my eyes still open as I feel the indent where Issa was sitting vanish—she got up. I sigh, and continue thinking, dreaming without sleep—until Issa pulls me up.
"Come on, up you get," she says as she pulls me to my feet.
Confused and now very drowsy, I look at her, "What happened?"
She takes a little camera out and holds it up. "We've got a spy somewhere."
"Oh," I mumble, kind of too tired to really care, "that's not good…"
Should I inform her of the possible alien presence now?
"It's not," she agrees, "Let's go show England."
She walks past Rin, and before she could step out of the room an arrow lodges itself into the doorframe, causing Issa to yelp and tumble back into me. I opened my arms to catch her, just in case.
"I'd appreciate it if you left my equipment alone," someone says.
"I'd appreciate it if you left us alone," Issa retorts after a long pause.
Then, a girl with a scar on her face, not unlike Issa's, walks up and pulls the arrow from the doorframe.
"Camera, please," she says, holding out her hand in the give-me manner—palm up.
"Finders keepers."
"Ha hah. Now give me my camera."
"Leave us alone."
"No, I don't think I will."
"Then I don't think I'll give it back."
Whoa. Sass.
The girl glares at Issa—red eyes, just like Prussia. White hair, just like Prussia. She's just got something else that rings a bell, that I can't quite put my finger on…
Suddenly Rin speaks up.
"You're—you can sense them, can't you?"
The girl quietly acknowledges Rin. "What's it to you?"
"I can too," Rin tells her, "I was kidnapped and tortured, too…" She pulls down the neckline of her shirt to her collarbone, to reveal the tip of a long scar on her chest.
The girl stares at Rin for a few more seconds. I realize what's familiar about her—it's the way she holds herself, exactly like Prussia. Half-slouched and half-erect, demanding respect.
She seems to be near twenty. Her face is kind of blank as she keeps on regarding Rin. Now she's still and I could see all sorts of electrical wires and things poking out of every possible pocket on her person. She really seems to know what she's doing.
"Give me my camera, or I'll take it from you," she says, turning to Issa.
Then she's tackled by Prussia himself.
A few other nations wander in, and take her away—Rin and Issa go with them. England hesitates for a second and looks at me.
"…Are those women's trousers?"
"Indeed." I reply, stony-faced.
He just furrows his brow and then wanders off with the others. I've had enough of today, for one thing, so I crawl into my bed and sleep. They don't need me to interrogate Prussia's lookalike, they'll do fine on their own…
I'm asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.
Okay, that's all, because it's 5:50AM and I started writing at 3:30AM. My head is pounding and my stomach hurts and I need to sleep, NOW.
So, yeah. Lots of Doctor Who in this—the Weeping Angels and whatnot. For those of you who haven't heard of them, they're these creatures from the British Sci-Fi show "Doctor Who"—specifically the newer series.
They're an ancient race from a faraway planet as most of the things are in the show. They're predators and psychopaths, but they can't move if you look at them. It's a fact of their biology—they're "quantum-locked". They'll turn to stone as long as you're looking at them. And you can't kill a stone. But a stone can't kill you either—but as soon as you turn your back or look away….they're faster than you can believe