APH - Den/Hun - Unexpected Invitation - Chapter 37
Miklós and Kinia cheered in happiness as they set off to the ocean after saying their goodbyes to Ilona, who had watched them depart until they were no longer in her sight. Elizaveta glanced back now and then to check to see if the mother was still there, in that same spot staring at her children, and smiled slightly. She's still worried about them, isn't she? The Hun sighed silently as she carried Kinia on her back, her arms supporting the weight of the girl. Of course, she had no strain from trying to keep her there.
As the siblings described what they predicted the ocean would look like, mainly taking their details from books and stories, Elizaveta closed the distance between Mathias and herself, walking alongside him, and quietly murmured, "It really looks like we're heading to the sea at this rate. I don't particularly mind, but..." She shook her head. "As you said, it's quite the long way. Should we take a detour?"
Mathias chuckled at the excitement emitting from the children as they walked down the bank of the river. He listened to their descriptions and thoughts about the sea, occasionally humming in agreement. He perked up as he felt Elizaveta move closer to him, his gaze now focused on her as they continued their stroll. The Dane nodded slightly before letting out a sigh, responding quietly.
"Yeah-but, I'd feel bad if after promising them, we don't actually show them..." He thought about it for a while, eyes focused again ahead of them. If there was anything that Mathias could relate well with, it was having dreams crushed, and he did not want that fate to fall upon the two young people. Then his eyes alighted as he thought of an idea. "Hey, Eli...I'm sure these two haven't experienced a jet ride either. What do you say?" His lips curved into a mischievous grin. We'll get to the sea in no time that way, too.
"...and it'll be so wide that we won't be able to see anything past it!" Miklós finished off, then entered into a happy daydream as he rested his chin against the Dane's hard head, hiding a portion of his face in the locks of blonde hair. His nose twitched before the boy gazed down at Mathias's head and sniffed audibly. He giggled, directing his words to his sister, "Hehe, Frederik smells like a girl."
As Kinia snickered quietly with Miklós, Elizaveta, who wasn't paying attention to what the kids were saying, perked up and nodded in agreement to Mathias's suggestion, grinning. "That sounds great. We'll make it back well by a day, too - let's head to an airport, there's one close by." Oh, right, we should at least ask Miklós and Kinia if they're willing to go on an airplane in the first place. She twisted her head around to look back at the girl and gently tapped her leg with a hand. "Kinia, Miklós - what do you think of the idea of flying to the sea?"
The youth shot up their bodies in great surprise. "Flying?" they both repeated, obviously stunned. As members of the low class, they had no such luxury; they couldn't dream of anything better at the moment. The boy of the children asked, "You mean like...those airplanes?" When he saw the Hungarian nation confirmed his question with a bob of her head, he exchanged a beaming expression with Kinia and cheered once again and began rambling on with Kinia about the sky and the airplanes just as they did with the ocean. Elizaveta smiled, her heart filled with so much joy to see them this way, and murmured particularly to herself, "If only I could make all my people this spirited..."
Mathias managed to catch Miklós's comment, and slightly jerked his shoulders in an upward direction, murmuring to him: "That's what happens when girls decide to spray their perfume all over the place." He snickered quietly and turned his attention to Elizaveta once more, grinning. "Sounds like a plan, then!" The Dane looked upwards, as if to see the boy on his shoulders, and laughed quietly as the children again exploded into a fit of happiness as they marveled in the luxuries they were about to experience.
"Don't we all." He whispered quietly to the Hungarian. What could be more perfect than a united, spirited people? It was what any nation wanted-rather, what the world wanted. Shaking his head slightly to stop himself from delving deeply into the thought, Mathias continued to walk as he followed Elizaveta in the direction of the airport. Hopefully they'll have a private jet we can take...
Elizaveta gave Mathias a rather accusing look, aware of how false his words were. She shook her head, quickly disregarding the Dane's answer as she immersed her thoughts into deep thinking again, but Kinia continued on with the topic. "You don't smell a lot like perfume, Edina, so why does Frederik smell like a girl?"
"...You know, Kinia," Elizaveta began with a strange and ominous tone of voice. "The Danes are just a bunch of dirty troublemakers. I got mad at Frederik earlier today because he was being a total idiot today, so I sprayed my perfume all over him." She grinned at the young girl, but smirked at the Viking while the children laughed away.
They reached the airport in a short few minutes. The female nation glanced around, pondering for a moment. I've never walked into an airport empty handed before...maybe... Elizaveta bent down to the floor, carefully releasing Kinia. "I don't think you should be on my back in here," she suggested, in which the girl obeyed without a word to retort, though felt her tiny hand sneak around her pinky finger to hold onto as she straightened back up. Elizaveta was startled at first, but then smiled; she couldn't help but to think that she was simply a mother to many, just as she essentially was for Feliciano and Lovino.
She walked up to an employee nearby, murmuring lowly in Hungarian. The employee appeared as if he was about to burst up into the air and point out Elizaveta in public, but seeing the country's expression, he tried his best to remain calm and quickly carried out his duties for her and her airplane, keeping quiet about Elizaveta's identity. As the man did his work, the Hunnic nation turned around to glance at each of the members of her group. "I think we have our own plane."
Mathias shot the Hungarian a look, and scoffed, and glanced up at the laughing children. "The Danes, huh? Way to be stereotypical. I could say plenty of things about Hungarians, but I'll refrain." He shook his head and continued to walk in the direction of the airport, glad that it wasn't too far of a walk. He kept Miklós on his shoulders, watching Elizaveta walk off to talk to one of the employees. He watched carefully, and his thoughts were confirmed when she returned to tell her little tidbit of news.
"Our own plane, huh? Perfect." He grinned, giving the Hun a knowing look, then gently lifted the boy off of his shoulders and settled him on the ground before squatting in front of the children. "Your lucky day-get to see the sea, and get to travel there, first class!" He wondered if the children would get suspicious-they were certainly curious enough that they would wonder why the group was getting a private jet. We can probably tell them on our way over...maybe it'll make them even happier.
Miklós soon found himself moving off of Mathias's shoulders and laughed as he was set down onto the floor, no longer feeling as tall and powerful like he did on the Dane. Elizaveta watched them as Kinia rejoined her brother, then the children displayed their usual, dreamy looks whenever they had the privilege to do something.
"First class sounds like something really important!"
"Duh, Kinia!" Miklós answered as if it was too obvious to not know. "Didn't you hear Frederik? We get an airplane to ourselves!"
Elizaveta laughed. Those two are so adorable! Nearly forgetting the reason why she was here, she turned around to check on the airport staff member, who had finished his phone call just as the nation gave him her attention. More Hungarian words came out of his mouth for only a second or two, though was enough for Elizaveta to understand, and the Hun immediately started following him. Miklós and Kinia had picked up those words as well, pulling at Mathias's pants to get him to catch up and even fruitlessly trying to drag him across the floor.
"Come on, come on, Edina's going, let's go too!"
Mathias laughed at the children as they conversed, then perked up as he saw Elizaveta turn her attention to the staff member. Before he himself could make a move, he felt his pants being tugged forward, causing his feet to slip slightly, and waved his hands. "Alright, alright! Calm down, kiddos. I'm going." He followed after the Hun while holding the hands of the children, one on either side. He glanced around and saw the usual stares, but tried not to give any notice.
The employee led them through one of the terminals into a more private one, before leading them outside. There, a sleek jet plane was waiting for them, portable stairs set up to the open door. A flight attendent stood by the base of the staircase, and smiled brightly as she saw the small group approaching. "Welcome, Magyarország, Dánia." She spoke just loud enough to hear over the already whirring jet engines, and motioned for them to climb the stair and enter the flying vehicle. Mathias nodded to her, though glanced at the children. Well...
Elizaveta exchanged a smile with the flight attendant, but her thoughts weren't as bright as her expression. They recognize Mathias. If they know about the two of us together, it may spread everywhere...if it hasn't already. She gripped a different part of the handrail for every step she took up the staircase, raising her voice to make sure the attendant could hear her "ksznm" before turning around to check on Mathias and the two children.
Miklós and Kinia had been jumping up and down ever since they had glimpsed at the airplane, yanking around Mathias's arms wherever they happened to hop and land. But when they heard the flight attendant greet the nations, they immediately ceased being hyperactive and stared wide eyed at each other, not believing what they just heard. Rather frighteningly, the two kids stretched their heads far back to take a peek at the Dane's face, then glanced at Elizaveta as well. They remained silent for the rest of the walk into the airplane.
The interior of the airplane had only a few seats, though more than the number of people in Elizaveta's party, but it was surely spacious; less people on board simply meant more, faster service for them when they needed it, and the addition of the table and TV hanging from the wall added to the luxury. The Hun, remembering that this was the children's first time on an airplane, turned to her young citizens. "You two are very lucky to come onto this airplane, especially if this is your first. Not all of them are like this one." She frowned as she read their worried faces, bringing concern to her. "...What's the matter?"
Miklós and Kinia had backed away a centimeter or two, turning shy when Elizaveta spoke but still clinging onto Mathias's giant fingers with their small hands. It wasn't until the second right before Miklós answered that she realized that they knew what she was supposed to keep a secret: "Are you and Frederik...really Magyarország and Dánia?"
Mathias followed after Elizaveta up and into the airplane, kids in tow. He knew by their sudden silence and lack of hyperactivity that they had heard the attendant. He let out a quiet breath of relief as he saw the plane was of good size, and that too luxurious. This will certainly make their day. His attention went back to them as the Hun spoke, and as their shy voices rang out, the Dane exchanged a glance with Elizaveta.
"You two have to promise to keep it a secret, okay?" Mathias knelt down once more so that he was closer to their eye level. "You can't even tell your mother." He huffed gently, shaking his head slightly. "What a day, huh? Going to the sea, traveling by plane, and now you're in on a top secret." He smiled at them. Though many could recognize the nations if given enough time or inclination, it was no surprise that they would try and keep their identities hidden when traveling about, especially in situations like this. "Yes, we are. Now, pinky promise you won't tell?" He held out one pinky to each child, glancing between them.
The two little Hungarians flinched as Mathias met their heights and told them they couldn't tell their mother about the nations' identities; their mother was the one and only person they could share just about anything with, and to be restricted from that disheartened them. But because they were dealing with nations, who had so much power in their hands, they had to obey - plus, they could always secretly talk to each other about it when no one was paying attention or listening to them. After looking at each other one more time, as if they had the same telepathic powers as Eirik and Valdimar, Miklós and Kinia nodded eagerly and intertwined their pinkies with Mathias's and simultaneously agreed to keep their secret.
"Promise!"
Elizaveta blinked in slight surprise with how Mathias dealt with Miklós and Kinia. She hadn't expected him to come into a deal with them and treat them with such kindness. From what I remember, none of his brothers liked how he treated them... She began to think to herself. Was it because Mathias had treated them badly, or did they simply not appreciate what he had done for them? Elizaveta exhaled quietly and slowly shook her head. It has to be the latter.
After Miklós and Kinia darted away into the airplane, Elizaveta looked over to Mathias. "You just love children, don't you?" she chuckled, barely smirking. "I thought you were going to act like one when you started talking to them."
Mathias grinned at the children, and watched them as they ran off to explore the plane. He had seen their hesitation, but was glad that they got past their shyness and hoped that the two would be able to abide to their promise. Then again, they are kids... The Dane turned to Elizaveta, and scoffed at her comment.
"Act like a child when I started talking to them?" He shook his head. "What good would that do?" Mathias then faintly smiled, his gaze wandering back to the kids. "I guess you could say that though-about loving children. Though I think it's more that I've had plenty of experience with them." He huffed, thinking of his endless toils of raising his fellow Nordics. Each had a different personality that he had to deal with...Berwald, the rebel; Eirik, the moody brat; Tino, the quieter one; and Valdimar, the extremely inquisitive one. Overtime their personalities had changed, but as children they were quite the handful to deal with.
"The plane will be taking off shortly. Please be seated." The flight attendant had peeked into the compartment that the group was located in. The Dane nodded to acknowledge the woman before calling to the children. "Miklós, Kinia, time to get buckled up."
Elizaveta laughed once again. "Of course," she agreed without a doubt, remembering the days that she raised the two Italian brothers. If anything, Mathias had a similar experience with dealing with children - except, he was perhaps on the bottom of the hill because he had four rather than two to care for. Even Lovino wouldn't cause that much trouble because he didn't want to upset me, since I seemed good looking to him.
The children, who were on the tips of their toes to peek over through the windows and witness the surroundings from such a height, sacrificed a few more seconds to enjoy their view before retreating to Mathias and Elizaveta. The Hungarian nation was able to pick up Kinia's call to sit beside the Dane as she settled down comfortably on one of the chairs, and soon found Miklós bouncing into the seat beside hers and grinning widely. Kinia had snatched a pillow from one of the other seats, embracing it tightly, and sat down nearby her brother. She looked up at Mathias curiously, remembering their promise just a minute ago. "So...what's it like being a country?"
Mathias chuckled quietly as the kids assembled themselves and got comfortable in their seats. He had settled comfortably in a seat, leaning back. Hmm, when was the last time I flew? Not too long ago… He was snapped out of his thoughts as the girl questioned him, and the Viking looked down to meet her ever-curious and innocent eyes. He huffed softly and shook his head. "Well, it's got its good and bad points." He smiled, glancing at Elizaveta as if to confirm his statement. His eyes wandered to the ceiling as he pondered over how to word his reply.
"It's awesome knowing what you are, but at the same time, it's stressful and has a lot of complications. We can't live like normal human beings-" Again, a glance at Elizaveta. "We're old, really old, but you could never tell, could you?" Mathias grinned. "Every time something big happens in the nation, we can feel it somehow. Economy in a wreck? We get colds. Some major conflict going on, we feel pain." He then looked around, as if what he said next shouldn't be heard by anyone other than the four sitting in the compartment.
"And, actually, we know every single one of our people. One look and I could tell you the name of a Dane, what he did. Because essentially, the people are the nations. So..." He looked at Elizaveta a third time, then down at both children. "You're connected to her-a part of what she is. Kind of. Like I said, it's really complicated."
As Mathias explained to them the lifestyle of a nation, Miklós and Kinia paid close attention to him, imagining what it would be like to be in his - or Elizaveta's - shoes. To hear how different the countries were from them and human beings in general was rather frightening, as they were children, after all. Elizaveta could see this fear in the Hungarian kids, but she had to say that there were times, though not too often, when she felt like any other human. In fact, she felt way right now. She easily understood why: her time with Mathias allowed her to forget her concerns and enjoy life when she had the spare time, which she used to spend worrying over trivial matters. While thinking about this, she caught Mathias looking over to her and reciprocated a smile, unaware that she was confirming his words.
"...So...Magyarország knows everything about us?" Kinia questioned once again, in which Elizaveta mentally slapped herself out of her own head and looked over to the girl. The young girl wanted to test this and returned Elizaveta's gaze. "Do you know my favorite animal?"
The nation, not expecting this, laughed heartily. "No, not like that," she answered gently, grinning from amusement. Elizaveta gave Mathias an entertained glance. "But I did know that you and your mother need my help."
A ding played seemingly out of nowhere to the children, and an announcement in heavily Hungarian-accented English welcomed the nations and warned the passengers of the plane for lift off. A flight attendant briefly stopped by to check that they were seated and buckled, the rumbling and humming of the airplane increasing as the giant machine seemed to wake up, and soon afterward the flying vehicle started vibrating as it began rolling away from the airport. Miklós and Kinia had their eyes glued to the window.
"Sometimes it makes me wonder if I was this lively when I was younger," Elizaveta murmured to the Viking, quietly sighing.
Mathias chuckled at Kinia's question, shaking his head slightly. He returned the Hun's glance, and then turned his attention to the flight attendant. The Dane watched the children as they looked on with wonder and amazement, though he perked up at Elizaveta's quiet and gentle voice. He smirked, leaning back in his seat.
"If you were that lively? Eli, come on. I don't think we could survive back then if we weren't." He murmured back to her. Mathis displayed a sad smile, obviously referring to the hardships all nations faced in their young years-a true struggle to survive, which more or less did not get much easier as they grew older. New world, new problems. He sighed, running a hand through his wild, blond hair. Soon, they were airborne, and the captain alerted them over intercom that the flight would take about an hour. "We hope you find everything acceptable."
Elizaveta wore a confused expression at first, though it quickly changed and reflected Mathias's, showing the same kind of smile. She realized that if she wasn't as lively as Miklós and Kinia in her childhood, then she, her country, and her people probably wouldn't be where they were at the moment. "You're right," she agreed, her eyes averting to the children again. The two had scurried off once more, this time exploring the private jet and awing over the high quality passenger cabin while wondering why in the world their ears were popping. As they darted around, they nearly bumped into an approaching flight attendant, who came up to the nations.
"I hope you're both doing well," she murmured formally. "I just received a message from another nation inviting the both of you to an annual party." She held up a laptop with a small monitor to Mathias and Elizaveta, displaying the invitation. Elizaveta recognized this request too well. "The party is in two days. Would you like for me to accept or decline it?"
Mathias blinked at the computer screen, also recognizing the request. Man, already? Just one thing after another, huh. . . He glanced at Elizaveta before nodding to the attendant. "Accept it, please..." No one ever declined the request, unless, of course, there was a good reason to do so. It was an annual event for all the nations to attend-a party, a ball even, for peace. It was more of an excuse for everyone to just have some fun and not have to think too much about their individual duties, but nonetheless, it was important. The Dane again looked to the Hungarian, and murmured quietly. "When did we get a secretary, again?"
The flight attendant, after receiving Mathias's feedback, turned to Elizaveta for her answer. She gave her the same reply after rereading the invitation once more, then the woman clicked away on the computer for a brief second and walked out of the passenger cabin. Elizaveta, again, had went out of focus as she began to think once more, watching the two children play without really knowing it, before snapping her head back at the Dane.
"Hm? Oh...well, I figured I needed one while flying. There was this one time when I was sent an urgent message on my cell phone, but I didn't receive it right away and it caused a big mess..." A guilty smile hesitantly appeared on her face as she remembered that chaotic event. "So I rely on a secretary to take care of these things. What, do you not have one yourself, oh-so-modernized Dánia?" She chuckled quietly, her demeanor temporarily turning dark until she felt something collide into her knees.
"Edinaaaa! Look, look! Those cars are even smaller than ants!" Miklós was apparently amused by how much their viewpoints changed the size of such things, seizing Elizaveta's hands to get her to join him and his sister in sightseeing. Kinia did the same thing to Mathias, pulling at his leg to try to get the tall man onto his feet. "Come on, come on!"
"Oh, well, that makes sense then." The Dane blinked, then raised an eyebrow at Elizaveta. "I don't like to depend on other people too much." He smirked, returning the Hun's expression, until his attention snapped to the children. Mathias chuckled quietly as the boy pulled the Hun along, then looked down at surprise as he felt a tug on his leg. Laughing, he got out of his seat, allowing Kinia to lead him to the window. "It's pretty great, isn't it?" Mathias sighed quietly, and soon his vision was blocked by clouds.
The remaining time of the flight, Mathias played with the children, showing them how to operate some of the various items in their compartment. As the two sat down to play a video game, he returned to Elizaveta's side, shaking his head. "Those two sure have a lot of energy." He looked up as a ding was sounded, and the voice of the captain came on. "We will be landing in about fifteen minutes."
As time moved on, Miklós and Kinia managed to settle themselves down and were introduced to video gaming, devices that they never had the chance to touch or use unless they were in a large, expensive (for them at least) toy store. They were quite unfamiliar with the controls, but with practice, they caught on and were able to nearly match Mathias in skill - though the two had teamed up against Mathias.
Elizaveta sat aside, observing the three of them with amusement while snacking on small foods. She had decided to stay out as she had broken too many controllers as she became more competitive and started to become aggressive with how she handled those devices; it wasn't worth risking another one when Miklós and Kinia were entertaining themselves. She grinned when Mathias seemed to be exhausted by the children, and waited until the captain finished speaking to reply, laughing. "You don't say?" She ruffled his hair affectionately, purposely trying to irritate him, then shifted her gaze to the other two. "Alright, you heard the man! We're landing soon, so let's clean up so we can head out to the sea, okay?"
Miklós and Kinia, whose aspirations had escaped their minds throughout the plane trip, suddenly remembered about the ocean and hopped up to responsibly put away the gaming system. By the time they figured out how to disconnect the cords and stored the devices away, which only served as another learning process for them (was Elizaveta incredibly happy with that), the jet gently landed in not an airport but an empty clearing close to the seashore. When Miklós and Kinia exited the aircraft, their eyes came upon what they had described earlier - a vast, expansive, and seemingly limitless body of water.
"The sea!" they squealed. "It's really the sea!"
Mathias's eyes followed Elizaveta's hand and half-pouted, half-frowned, as his hair was ruffled. He shook his head a bit to get his hair to fall in its natural way. "Yes, I do say." He watched the children perk up and put the controllers of the game away, amused by their careful handling of the items. He sat back as they waited for the plane to land, watching outside the window as the blue of the sea came into focus. Once the attendant opened the door and released the stairs to allow them to exit the plane, Mathias allowed the children to run out first before following.
"Fantastic, isn't it?" He smiled at them as they stared with wonder, the excitement they felt quite obvious. "This would be the Adriatic sea. Go far enough," He pointed ahead, where a faded shadow of mountains could be seen. "And you'll be in Italy." He gave them a somewhat apologetic smile. "It was the closest one. Any further and we would spend more time than your mother would have liked." He sighed quietly, and inhaled the salty air. "But it's still the sea. A beautiful one, at that."
The small children immediately dashed off, as if they never heard Mathias in the first place; they didn't care what their mother thought, how far the ocean or some other sea was - the sea was the sea. To witness any one of the many out there in the world would mean the world to them. The two nearly tumbled over their own feet as they whizzed down the staircase that had just been set up, then went running down a small slope and again almost tripped over while racing to the shoreline. When the line of white and blue was just another step away, Miklós and Kinia allowed themselves to fall over and collapse into the salt water, soaking themselves in not only water but also satisfaction.
Elizaveta dreadfully watched this entire run, calling out after the two with worry and even almost internally dying whenever she saw either of them nearly falling over. Her concern grew to the point where she began to tightly cling onto Mathias's sleeve, her nails creating perhaps unwanted wrinkles, and huddled closely to the Dane as if she needed comfort. Her wide-eyed, gaping expression on her face didn't change until a few seconds after Miklós and Kinia carelessly dove into the water, giggling as they splashed around. When the Hungarian nation felt that all was right, she sighed heavily.
"If either of them got hurt just now..." she started, though stopped before any unnecessary thoughts popped up and released her grip on Mathias's clothes. Elizaveta nodded to the crew on the plane with a smile, glancing back at the man beside her, and descended down the steps. I might just pass out when we're done with these two today...
Mathias reacted in an opposite way-he chuckled quietly as he saw the children run out to greet the sea. The happiness that emitted from them could be seen by anyone. The Dane suddenly felt Elizaveta's tight grip on him, and glanced down at her. She looks so worried... His eyes went back to watch the siblings as they made it to the water's edge and splashed around. Feeling the Hungarian's grip eventually release, he shook his head.
"Eli, you worry too much. They may not look like it but those two are strong kids-strong in a way that even if they look like they could break, there's enough passion and confidence here," He poked his chest, where his heart hid behind. "Nothing can break them." He smirked. "You should know that best of all." Mathias took her hand and led her to the shore, closer to the kids. "So, enjoying yourselves?"
"I can't help it," Elizaveta mumbled, though didn't say much more as she felt that he wouldn't be convinced. She remembered when Feliciano was just about Miklós and Kinia's age - younger, perhaps! - and Feliciano was so excited about something that Elizaveta couldn't exactly touch upon, but he had definitely fallen over and bruised himself up. He was whining and complaining for the rest of the day, and his voice was so irritating that she simply could not forget that time. She didn't want to relive that experience, especially when there could have been double the whining since there were two of them this time. I should just be glad that didn't happen. Elizaveta then noticed Mathias jabbing his chest with a finger and simply smiled, not surprised that he was taking this lightly, and followed him down to the shoreline.
"Yeah!" the other two cheered in response to the Dane, continuing to jump around in the water. They were in far enough to have as high as their knees submerged in the water, though their bodies were already completely drenched. As Miklós stood in one place and watched his feet get mysteriously and slowly eaten up by the sand with each passing wave, Kinia ran up to Mathias's leg and hugged it tightly, shuddering and squealing. "It's so cold!" She peered up at the Dane, though noticed his and Elizaveta's hands wrapped around each other. "Edina, are you and Frederik a mommy and daddy now too? My mommy and daddy hold hands all the time!"
Mathias couldn't help but grin as he saw the kids shivering. His attention was brought to Kinia as she latched onto his leg, her small arms hugging it as if for support. Her body was trembling, that he could clearly see. "No one said the sea would be warm." He laughed quietly. Being so used to holding the Hungarian's hand, he hadn't even thought about how it would appear to the children. Upon Kinia's question, he widened his eyes. A 'mommy and daddy'? What a way to put it.
"No, no!" The Dane nervously laughed. Sure, they may have revealed their nation-status to the two, but to reveal the relationship they now shared? No, that was something the humans should not know about, for who knows how they would interpret it? Humans think relationships between us mean some type of political statement... "Friends can hold hands too. As can siblings, as can anyone, really. You and Miklós hold hands sometimes, don't you?"
Elizaveta found herself staring incredulously at the little girl at Mathias's feet while a blush easily encroached her cheeks as they was terribly vulnerable to change in color; as her brain usually functioned, she took Kinia's words too far, her thoughts beginning to create situations that would probably never happen and were too good to be true. Instinctively (though it probably wouldn't help her in the end), Elizaveta released the Dane's hand and turned away to hide her shame, momentarily panicking.
It's so obvious now, isn't it? She was more concerned with what Kinia said rather than how it affected her and Mathias as nations. Maybe she was lucky - maybe Miklós and Kinia were still too young and innocent to understand their relationship. Maybe they didn't know how to pick up the various interpretations that formed because of her flustering. Or maybe Elizaveta was just underestimating the intelligence of children.
She turned back around to the Hungarian girl, fanning her face with the same hand that was holding the Viking's before. As of now, Kinia didn't seem too convinced with the Scandinavian's words and mumbled a shy "yes" to Mathias and asked, "But we're just kids. Doesn't it mean something else for grown ups?" Luckily, Elizaveta had a possibly better explanation in mind.
"You surely know about how women and girls kiss the cheeks of men and boys when they meet each other, right?" Elizaveta inquired while chuckling nervously, apparently still stunned by Kinia's question from before. Kinia nodded without caution, then the nation continued, "In many other countries, people don't do that because they see that as something different. Because we're nations, we see it as something different - but remember, don't tell anyone, okay?"
Kinia stared at Elizaveta for a while, as if not picking up what she had said, which began to worry the Hungarian nation. But as the girl's eyes widened and her mouth parted slightly, Elizaveta could tell that she understood; Kinia even confirmed it with a nod. Seeming to suddenly lose interest, the child darted back to her brother, calling after the countries to follow her and wondering if Miklós found anything.
Elizaveta didn't respond to her; she still seemed to be mentally bleeding from the psychological shot, and was about to mutter something to Mathias about it until she realized how awkward it would be to converse about. Instead, her lips simply twitched as she crossed her arms, as if to keep Mathias from holding her hand again. …Not like this silence was awkward to begin with.
Mathias stayed silent as Elizaveta tried to explain, feeling her hand slip out of his. Ugh, another awkward situation... Out of the corner of his eye he had seen how flustered the Hun had become, her usually creamy cheeks discolored with a light shade of pink. He had found the question startling as well, but thankfully managed to keep his cool about it. Watching Kinia lose interest and run off, he stole another glance at Elizaveta.
"You're such a drama queen." He teased, then followed after the young girl as she called to them. The thing that had made the question so shocking was not hinting at a relationship-but the terms 'mommy' and 'daddy', which brought a whole new level to it. Okay, yeah, that's not something I want to think about. Shaking the thought out of his head, he stretched, and looked towards the sky. "We don't have too long-it'll be best if we head back before sundown."
After her face returned to its normal hue, Elizaveta turned to disapprovingly glare at Mathias, keeping her arms crossed as she mumbled through gritted teeth, "'Drama queen' my Hunnic ass, Viking." She pouted slightly, going back to monitoring the children in the water. Her suddenly tempered mood get swept away as she again watched them, their laughter in their struggle to pull out Miklós's feet from the sand as well as the whispers of the Adriatic Sea soothing her ears.
Elizaveta, switching back to her content self, this time gave the Danish nation a smile. "Well, shouldn't we make good use of the time we have left, then?" As if she had forgotten about what had happened just a moment ago, the Hungarian seized Mathias's hand and yanked him off so that they could join the two kids, then tried to slip the boy out from the ground. It had swallowed his legs to nearly his knees and, though Kinia had much trouble and started digging (too often were she and her brother attacked by the growing waves), Elizaveta almost effortlessly freed him in one single lift. However, at the same time, Kinia found herself thrown over by a powerful wave, squealing as she lost balance but again laughing for whatever reason.
Mathias felt himself being pulled towards the children, glancing down at his hand which was once again joined with the Hungarian's. This woman, she can just forget about something like that, huh? He didn't mind though, of course, and happily followed her to the children. As she swept up the boy, the Dane chuckled at Kinia's failure to balance, and assisted her back onto her feet. After playing around in the sea-Mathias taught the others the game of trying to jump over each wave-the group rested on the sand. Mathias taught the two children how to make sand castles, and let them enjoy themselves for a while as he enjoyed the peacefulness of the area.
Time passed quickly, and soon the sun had met with the horizon. "Time to head back." The Viking murmured as they watched the sun slowly sink into the sea. He heard a disappointed sigh from the children, and flashed them a grin. "Oh, come on now. You've seen the sea now, right? And no one said this had to be the last time. You've got plenty of time ahead of you, and you'll be able to come to the sea whenever you like-as long as you work hard, got it?" The four climbed back into the waiting plane and made their way back to Elizaveta's land and the childrens' mother. They look exhausted...
Miklós and Kinia had been enjoying themselves far too much, every second they spent on the shores of the sea proving to be of much value to them - so much value that when Mathias called them back to the plane, they grunted and moaned in sadness as time seemed to fly along with the increasing ocean winds of sunset. But they were soon cheery and jocund again when reassured that this time wouldn't be their only time at the sea and slowly caught up to the countries to enjoy their last moments here.
Elizaveta heaved out a sigh and rubbed her arms, relying on friction to heat up her skin. She wasn't adapted to such cold weather, but at the same time she had given her jacket to Kinia as the child had begun sneezing earlier. Elizaveta, for the sake of Ilona, wouldn't even risk getting the mother's children sick. On the other hand, Miklós was apparently trying to impress the others by claiming that he was a man, and could stand any temperature and thus denied anything that served as a source for warmth while he was at the sea. The Hungarian nation eyed Mathias for a moment as she waited for the kids to board the plane, but when she didn't hear any steps clanging against the staircase, Elizaveta's motherly side took over and she couldn't help but to peek out the door. "Miklós? Kinia?"
"We're coming!" they shouted in unison from below, then scrambled up the stairs noisily. It took them no longer than about ten seconds to enter the jet and plop down onto the sofa. The two were exhausted indeed; the boy of the two sat closely to his sister, sitting in such a way that he could be taken over by his dreams and have his head gently pressed against his sister's. Kinia, too, was sitting in a similar position, with Elizaveta's jacket rolled up into a ball and pressed closely to her body. The Hun could see this clearly, and grinned slightly. "You two look ready to sleep," she chuckled. "Do you want some pillows and blankets?"
"Okay," each of them agreed, obviously lacking the energy they had when they were on the airplane earlier. Elizaveta then came up to one of the attendants to request for blankets, making sure to get one for the Dane as well. While she was occupied the kids chattered very quietly in Hungarian, then exchanged the balled jacket. Kinia looked back over to the Dane and seemed to remember something, then raised her voice and switched back to English, smiling. "Thank you for taking us to the sea, Frederik."
Mathias found himself nearly dozing off as he settled into the comfortable seat, but was able to keep himself awake. He chuckled quietly at the children, then watched Elizaveta wander off to get the pillow and blankets. He lost himself in his mind for a while, an array of thoughts flashing by. I need to get back. The event is in two days. Everyone is going to be there. Do they know about Eli and I? I hope there isn't any drama there. All the nations will be there. What even happened last year...?
"Hm?" The Dane snapped out of his thoughts and looked over to Kinia, blinking. A second later, her words registered, and he smiled. "Oh, it was no problem at all. I had quite a lot of fun myself-You two sure know how to have a good time!" Mathias shook his head, observing their tired little bodies. "But y'sure tired yourselves out, huh? Well, you have time to sleep, and then you get to tell mom about your adventure today, right?"
Kinia's eyes shone hopefully as she compiled together all of the stories she planned to pass onto her mother. She wished that every day could be like this, having fun at the beach - or she hoped that this day would last forever, so that she could stay by the seashore as long as she wanted to. But as a child, she never knew when she was tired, and little did she know that she was in that condition right now. For whatever reason, however, Kinia was fighting against sleep, trying to stay awake; Miklós was doing the same thing.
When Elizaveta returned, she spread out a blanket on each child's lap, also handing them pillows for extra comfort. For her own amusement, she tossed a blanket at Mathias's face while she tended to the kids. "You two can have an hour long nap while we head back," Elizaveta told them, grinning and glancing at the two. "We'll wake you up, alright?"
Again, Miklós and Kinia nodded. Though they were still struggling to stay awake and keep their eyes opened, they surrendered to their fatigue and quickly fell asleep a few seconds after the nation finished talking, their heads against one another. Elizaveta enjoyed this sight, which constantly reminded her of the Italian nations when they were still boys, and then sat down beside the Dane before sighing. "I feel too old to be caring for children anymore," she laughed gently, leaning her body against Mathias's. "You're not tired, are you?"
Mathias waited for Elizaveta to "tuck" the kids to bed, faintly smiling as he saw them fall asleep almost instantly. They remind me so much of the others when they were little... He pulled a blanket around him and Elizaveta both after she sat down, allowing her to lean on him as his head rested lightly on hers. "No, not too tired." He laughed quietly. "And you're telling me. Days like this when I realize just how old I am." He sighed and shook his head.
The lights in the cabin had been dimmed, and barely a sound could be heard from the plane except for a quiet hum. The attendants had let them be, probably resting in their own personal cabin closer to the cockpit. Mathias felt his fingers entwine with the Hungarian's under the blanket, out of sight. It was strange, to have a moment like this, after a day of having to pretend that there was nothing between them other than friendship. "So, what's the plan when we get back?"
Elizaveta softly laughed along with Mathias, watching the other two snoozing away while her mind wandered. It had been far too long since her childhood, though, unlike many humans, she remembered everything clearly. Running around recklessly, getting into fights and wars, dealing with problems only adults had - they were dreams she had as a child. Now, she was trying to do the opposite, maintaining peace and acting responsibly as a nation should be. Even if it was much work, Elizaveta felt accomplished when she finished some political task. I'm afraid I still miss the earlier years of life.
Returning to reality, the Hungarian shifted her head slightly towards the Dane, viewing his face at a strange angle. Her hand found itself under the Viking's rather muscular one, and began to rub her fingers over his skin. "We're dropping off Miklós and Kinia to Ilona first, of course," Elizaveta murmured, lightly pressing her lips against Mathias's jawline as her eyes scanned the entire length of the cabin. But she had to ask that question to herself again. ...What are we doing after that? "We could prepare for the party. Maybe cook something that we could bring?" Elizaveta sure had some recipes in mind already for her own part - though she was curious to see more of the Scandinavian food culture.
"Well duh." Mathias teased, glancing at the sleeping children. "I wasn't expecting us to kidnap them or anything." He closed his eyes momentarily as he felt her lips against his skin, enjoying her touch. He sighed quietly, shifting as he looked out the window at the dark sky. "Cook something? I guess so. . ." He recalled previous years of the annual ball, and how there would be a long table piled with food from one end to the other-not just one table but several, all filled with a variety of dishes from all over the world. It was a ball to signify peace between the nations, after all, and what a better way to do so then share a bit of one's culture? "Though you realize how much that would be, right? Usually we just get chefs to do it..."
They quietly conversed for the remainder of the flight, and as time drew near, made sure to distance themselves some before one of the flight attendants peaked into their cabin. "We will be landing shortly." In a matter of minutes, the plane gently landed back at the airport they had departed earlier. Mathias slowly got up, and looked to the children. "Should we wake them, or carry them?"
Another soft laugh escaped from her throat. "I don't mind cooking that much. It's an annual event anyways. Besides, we have an entire day to prepare everything...unless you don't want to be cooking for many hours, you can go ahead and have your chefs cook while you sit on your lazy ass."
When the flight attendant warned them of their arrival, Elizaveta sat up and folded the blanket she and Mathias shared, and rose after a smooth landing. Her eyes settled upon the children passed out on the seats, and quickly sought for an answer. "We should carry them. I think they need the rest..." She reached out to pick up Miklós, but with a light touch on the arm he immediately jumped up, startled, and even yelped rather loudly, tightening his hold around the balled jacket while shouting and flinching in surprise. Elizaveta herself was startled by his sensitivity, her hand diving away from the boy, and stared at him to question wordlessly what was wrong.
"S-Sorry, Edina!" he stammered as Kinia grumbled and started rubbing her eyes, then glanced around. "Are we here?" It took Elizaveta a few extra seconds to respond with a nod, once again concerned for the boy - but she did her best to shrug it off, convincing herself that children were children and all sorts of things ran through their curious and young heads.
The small group eventually made their way back to where Elizaveta and their mother reunited earlier that day; Ilona at first appeared rather concerned for her children, though as Miklós and Kinia dashed up to their mother, she was very pleased to see their happy faces. Both of them began to blurt out random stories about their day at the Adriatic Sea, and it wasn't until Ilona's second hush that they decided to settle down.
"Thank you so much, Edina," Ilona said to the Hungarian nation, much joy evident in her voice. She turned to Mathias and acknowledged him with a nod. "And you, Frederik. Thank you for coming this far. Miklós, Kinia, say thank you and goodbye..." Her expression altered slightly. "Miklós, that jacket isn't yours, is it? Come on, return it to them."
Miklós seemed hesitant and only brought the jacket, still in the shape of a sphere, closer to his body. Elizaveta wondered why in the world the child was acting strangely, but wouldn't mind if he wanted to keep her jacket, for whatever reason it was. She was about to tell the mother so until she saw her jacket again, suddenly at a loss for words. Miklós asked his mother nervously, "Anyu, can we please keep this?"
It wasn't the jacket that he was referring to - he allowed the article of clothing to lose its round conformation and unravel, revealing a snow white dove sitting in his little hands.
A/N:
Sorry for the late update! We've been wonderfully busy and it took us a while to get this point, but thank you so much to all of you that are continuing to keep up with us, and for all the favorites, alerts, and reviews! It really means a lot to us!
Just a normal or hopefully fun chapter; nothing really historical fun facts here, except that annual ball thing that Denmark and Hungary received invitations for. c:
We're setting things up for future chapters, yeah? ;D And soon it'll be the end! O:
You guys should already know this, but Hungary's incident with that toxic spill a few weeks ago...;A; We were so deeply concerned and, even if it was so strange of us to feel that way, we think we've gotten some kind of connection with Hungary in Hetalia that whatever news about Hungary in real life affects us too. I know that there are a few Hungarian readers out there...? we think...?
We hope you're all alright! ;_; -insert hearts here that fanfiction does not let us make-
Amerzt: ALSO-if any of your are curious, after I got a request for this, I started a fanfic centering on our two OCs-Slovakia/Emil and Czechia/Milena. It pretty much covers their history and for those of you reading this, may give you a better understanding of why Elizaveta and Emil are towards each other as they are-because you haven't seen the end of them! That's right, both Emil and Milena will make another appearance soon and get things up and going before we close this up. If interested, just head to my account profile by adding ' ~tzerma' at the end of the usual URL and you'll see it-it's titled "The Heart of Europe"
Thanks to all of our readers once again! We'd love any feedback~ -insert more hearts here- c: