Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia: Axis Powers, Teen Wolf: The Series or Twilight.

Chapter 5: Lovino The Outlaw

Natalya wasn't sure the plan was going to work. Lovino was currently in her dress, bonnet, wrapped up in a blanket, and wearing her boots. He complained that they were too small and squeezed his feet.

Natalya was wearing Lovino's clothes and penny loafers. She'd cut her hair to a shorter length to wear his flat cap. She'd always wondered what it felt like to wear pants but found herself not liking them.

Arthur had grown out a mustache and beard. They were planning to pose as the Smith family to get lodgings for the rest of the night. Arthur as their father and she and Lovino as siblings. Arthur made up the tale that Lovino was ill to explain why he sounded strange.

The man at the front desk looked them over. "For a two bedroom, it will be $1.50 per night."

Arthur dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a dollar note and a few coins.

"Does that include breakfast?"

"Yes sir, breakfast is included." The man slid the key across the counter. Natalya grabbed the room key.

"Well thank you, good morrow."

"I hope your daughter comes into better health. Good morrow."

To which Lovino let out a cough.

Natalya tipped her hat and led the way to their room, 133B.

Natalya took off her clothes and was just in her undergarments. She slipped into the bed farthest from the door. She could admit although she missed her bed at home, sleeping on the ground was not ideal.

"Stay on your side," Arthur hissed.

"I'm nowhere near you!" Lovino barked back.

"Exactly, I want to keep it that way."

And the three travelers got some sleep that night. Betsy was outside with the other horses but they had hidden the coach just beyond the tree line.

00000000

After paying for and eating breakfast Natalya and Arthur went out to find some bandages to wrap around Natalya's midsection and a better disguise for Lovino.

They stopped inside a drugstore. Natalya noticed a glass jar that would be perfect to store her seeds and some soil. It wasn't too much out of her price range. She grabbed the jar and looked around for Arthur to see if he had found the bandages.

Natalya found a pair of lenses that weren't too expensive.

Natalya narrowed her eyes upon seeing Arthur talking to some auburn haired woman with her young son who looked to be no older than 10. Natalya walked over, as the two of them were laughing.

"Oh, is this your son that you mentioned?" The woman turned to Natalya. She looked more mature than she did, with her sharp cheekbones, but Natalya could admit she was fairly attractive. Her eyes were a striking green. The boy at her side clutching to the hem of her dress, had the exact same shade although his hair was orange colored.

"Why yes! My son Norman, he's fifteen now and I'm trying to get him to go into the candle making business like his old dad." Arthur said, clasping her on the back just a bit too forcefully.

Natalya was still wearing Lovino's clothes, and tried to pitch her voice lower, "Did you at least find the bandages in this section?"

"No but Misses Vargas here said she would patch your sister up without any charge. All we have to do is gather up their bales of hay." Arthur smiled and Natalya eyed the woman with suspicion.

But she couldn't argue about them saving money. Natalya needed to have her ribs looked at and she was pretty sure Lovino had a concussion. So they had to get at least a little medical attention.

"Alright, fine, just let me go pay for this jar and these glasses." Natalya went over to the counter and the man who rang up her jar smiled before telling her to have a nice day after she paid.

When she returned, Arthur was by himself and he had a slip of paper in his hands. Mrs. Vargas had given him a cheerful farewell. Natalya noticed his cheeks were salmon colored.

"That was Lovino's mother, you daft boy." Natalya frowned, clenching her fists.

Arthur slapped his forehead, "How didn't I notice that?"

"Lovino isn't going to be happy about this, but I do want him to connect with his family," Natalya placed a hand under her chin, ``But how are we going to hide him from them?"

"I have another idea."

They went to a grooming shop to purchase a blond wig for Lovino as well.

"You agreed to help mi mama? What part of I didn't want to see those assholes didn't you get Blondie?" Lovino said once they returned and told him the situation.

"Stop calling me Blondie!" Arthur crossed his arms.

"I need to get my ribs looked at and I'm sure you have a concussion." Natalya interjected.

Lovino crossed his arms and pouted, "No."

"You get to wear a mustache." Natalya said a smirk on her lips, holding up a bottle of glue and a pair of scissors.

So Arthur rested on Natalya's lap in dog form, as she trimmed his fur. Lovino then proceeded to gather a bundle of fur to take into the bathroom.

She did enjoy clipping Arthur's fur with her scissors. Scissors were just below knives as her favorite weapon, followed by guns. As they waited for Lovino to glue on facial hair, Natalya absentmindedly petted the dog in her lap.

"I guess I could see why Lovino likes you better as a dog."

Arthur let out a huff, or a breath out of his nose, but did not move from his position.

"Ta da! How do I look now?" Lovino reappeared in their room. He'd glued pieces of fur above his lip, and on his chin. He had on the wig, the glasses and his hat as well.

Arthur lifted his head, and looked at him before giving Lovino a bark.

"You think it looks good? Thanks, Blondie." Lovino said before kneeling down to rub Arthur's face. Lovino smiled and looked up at Natalya.

"It surprisingly looks realistic." Natalya gave him a nod.

"And what's our names again? I'm Edward Smith?" Natalya nodded. "And you're who?"

"He's Norman Smith and I'm Louise Smith," she said.

000000000

Mrs. Vargas regarded them all with a raised eyebrow. But brushed it off after a few moments,

"Well, come in Mr. Smith and Louise, I'll take a look at you both. Norman, the hay is towards the barn."

Lovino and Natalya followed Mrs. Vargas into the house.

When Lovino was led to a bed he fell asleep, to which Mrs. Vargas giggled, "I suppose he just needs a bit of rest."

Natalya was led to a room that had a cross above the headboard. On a wooden desk by the window sat a Bible.

Natalya sat on the bed, "My son Feliciano is off at his catholic school. This is his room, so I'm sure he won't mind." Mrs. Vargas smiled, "One moment while I go get the bandages." She held up a finger and left the room.

Natalya got up and walked over to the window, outside she could see Arthur beginning to roll up the hay. She wondered briefly just how strong he was.

She was startled by a light knock on the doorframe. Natalya turned to see Mrs. Vargas with a few bandages and a bag of ice. Natalya lifted up her dress and Mrs. Vargas untied her corset to reveal dark purple bruises just under her breast.

"What a nasty bruise." She commented, "You can't roughhouse with the boys Miss Louise." She shook her head.

"I just had a bad fall." Natalya muttered.

Mrs. Vargas pressed the bag of ice to her ribs, causing her to hiss at the temperature before a bandage was wrapped over her ribs.

"I think you should be fine Louise. Try not to make any sudden movements or do any heavy lifting."

Natalya nodded, "Thank you."

"Are you all staying for supper?"

Natalya didn't want to pass up the possibility of free food. "Yes. I will help you prepare."

When they were finished preparing supper, Stefano, Lovino's youngest brother came in with a basket of freshly picked corn from the stalks. Arthur had finished rolling up the bales of hay and joined them inside.

Mrs. Vargas made ham, potatoes, and a few other root vegetables to serve. Natalya helped set the table.

She passed by Arthur on her way to the dining table, "Do you know where the restroom is?" She stopped, a basket of bread in her arms. He looked tired, and was perspiring quite a bit, so much that his shirt was clinging to him.

"Uh…" Natalya started and looked to her right, "Down this hallway to the right." Arthur gave her a nod and headed towards the bathroom.

"We're staying for supper?" Lovino hissed.

She turned to look behind her, "We need free food."

Lovino frowned and took his place at the table, presumably where he sat before he joined herself and Arthur.

When they were all seated Mrs. Vargas said that they had to wait for Mr. Vargas. He was out selling wool and would be back in time for supper. Lovino flinched as Mrs. Vargas gripped his wrist suddenly, "You just have to meet my husband Mister Smith. I think you two would get along well." She smiled, making her eyes squint.

Lovino let out a seemingly forced chuckle, "Ah yes. He seems like a hardworking man."

"Yes he is. He's had to work twice as hard to make up for the slack of one of my sons. He's caused us nothing but trouble." She shook her head. "We had to pay for a coach that he stole to go to who knows where."

Natalya felt a weird tense feeling in the atmosphere. She gripped her fork.

"I'm sorry to hear that ma'am." Lovino said, avoiding her eyes, "Not everyone can have perfect children. Sometimes even Norman gives me trouble."

Mrs. Vargas gasped, "Really? How do you get him back on track?"

"I tell him that its just us. You could hate me now, but we're family, and I'll always support you. We're all we've got so we have to work together."

Natalya watched as Lovino frowned, still not looking his mother in the eyes. There was a heavy silence in the air before there was a loud slam. Natalya turned to hear the heavy trudge of boots before a mustached man appeared in the entryway.

He was a brunet with honey brown eyes. He was small in stature although his expression wasn't pleasant. He carried a sack in one hand, and set it down. He was wearing a flat cap which he tipped up momentarily, "Lovino?" He had his sights on the brunet in question.

"No dear, this is Mister Smith and his two children. They came to help me a little on the farm." Mrs. Vargas folded her hands in front of her.

"Angelina, ti voglio bene, but that is Lovino. I know my own son."

"Papa." Lovino hissed.

"Lovino?" The woman gasped, "How-?"

"You decided to come back. Maybe they'll take that bounty off of your head if you turn the coach in willingly." Mr. Vargas said.

"I didn't come here to turn myself in. We came to eat and then I'll be out of your life forever."

"Lovi, stop talking nonsense. I need your help on the farm. Turn yourself in and you can help with the sheep tomorrow."

"Oh now you need me. Work's too hard without your precious golden child Feli, huh?" Mr. Vargas's eyes narrowed as Lovino continued, "How's that working out? Is Grandpa finally willing to let you back into the family now that his grandson is following in his footsteps?"

Mr. Vargas stalked over to the table and slapped Lovino on his cheek. Natalya saw the angry red mark that it left. "You shut your mouth boy! I'll turn you in myself if I have to." Lovino frowned and did not make eye contact with his father.

Lovino pushed back his chair and stood up. "You're not getting past me boy." Mr. Vargas was the same height as Lovino. He stared at the young man for a few moments. Natalya had by then taken a piece of bread to eat. She looked between the two brunets, tension thick in the air.

That was until Lovino reared back and knocked his forehead into his father's. "Agh!" Mr. Vargas stumbled back and it was enough time for Lovino to run past his father and out the door. Natalya didn't know Lovino could run that fast. She got up and so did Arthur. She was going to follow Lovino when she felt a grip on her arm.

"You're not going anywhere. You know where his coach is, don't you young lady?" Mr. Vargas said. She was going to grab her knife when he gripped her other arm. She struggled against him as he wrapped his arms around her tight.

"You let her go or I'll snap her neck." Natalya looked over to see that Arthur had Mrs. Vargas in a similar position. Although the woman was trembling she still had a smile on her face.

Mr. Vargas let out a chuckle, "You can't do that. You've been reading too many fairy tales."

Natalya did not want Lovino's mother to die, "Don't do that!" She made eye contact with Arthur, whose eyes started to glow. "I can free myself. I pro-arg!" Mr. Vargas tightened his hold on her, and it was pushing her arms into the bruise just under her breast. "Ahh!"

She couldn't think of anything except the pain. If she hadn't been bruised, this situation wouldn't have been as stressful.

And suddenly there was a loud thump as Mrs. Vargas was carelessly dropped to the ground. Natalya looked at her, her neck wasn't snapped, thank God, Arthur had knocked her unconscious from holding her around the neck so tightly.

"What the hell you bastard?" Mr. Vargas let go of her and she fell to her knees. Natalya hunched over and tried to steady her breathing. Natalya only looked up when she heard a sickening crunch.

Mr. Vargas stumbled back, before receiving another punch in the face and falling onto the ground unconscious. Stefano rushed over to his parents and shook them. His eyes were wet with tears.

Natalya stood up, "Have you gone insane? These are Lovino's parents!" Gripping Arthur's shoulders, she shook him. "I'm fine now, calm down!" His eyes returned to their normal color.

Arthur's expression quickly turned to fear. "I-I didn't mean to-."

"It's fine. At least you didn't kill them."

"That is not reassuring!"

Arthur picked up and carried Mr. and Mrs. Vargas to their bedroom. He placed them gently onto their beds. Arthur told Stefano that his parents would be awake tomorrow morning. He had physically flinched when Arthur reappeared outside of his parents room, so Natalya tucked the young boy into bed.

"Lovino's brother probably thinks I'm a monster."

"Have your moral crisis later. We have to catch up to Lovino." Natalya said as she gathered as much food as she could put into the bread basket.

"I'd have to carry you." Arthur crossed his arms and frowned.

"I was hoping you would."

"W-what?" Natalya could see his cheeks were salmon colored.

Natalya glanced away from him and shrugged in the unbothered way she usually did.

"I'm not an ass. You can't just expect free rides." He said as he picked her up. "Just this once. Next time you walk."

She wrapped her arms around the basket, "Of course." She muttered.

When they caught up to Lovino, he was passed out in the grass, he had gotten quite far from the house. Arthur let Natalya down and she crouched down to where Lovino was on the ground.

She shook him, "Get up! Get up!"

Lovino groaned, "What? What?"

"Were you just sleeping?" Arthur asked from somewhere behind her.

"Yes, you were taking an awfully long time and I was tired from running. So I was taking a little siesta."

"We thought you were dead! You can't just hit someone with your head while having a concussion!" Arthur said, to which Natalya nodded.

"It's fine. You fret too much Blondie." Lovino brushed him off before he frowned, "Did something happen? What took you two so long?"

"We-" Natalya started.

"The only reason I care is because you have those silver bullets! Otherwise, I don't give a rats arse what you do! And stop calling me that!"

Lovino frowned, "Fine! See how you get around without a carriage, you ass!" Lovino got up and started to walk away before Natalya gripped his arm.

"Don't touch me!" Lovino tried to pull out of her grip.

"Don't listen to him. We are traveling together so we have to look out for each other. This only works if all of us are alive."

Lovino grit his teeth and with a hard tug pulled away from her, "No! I'm not gonna stay around and take this from him."

"We literally just met!" Arthur exclaimed, "Of course your only value to me is what you can do for me!"

Natalya glared at Arthur as Lovino walked away, presumably back into town.

"What?" Arthur glared back at her.

"Why are you doing this?"

Arthur crossed his arms and let out a huff, "It's not my fault that he can't handle the truth."

"Are you deliberately trying to disband us? Why would you tell Lovino he has no value outside of that gun knowing that he has issues with his parents?"

"I never wanted to work in a group!"

"Why do you insist on doing this alone?"

"Because then I won't have to worry about anyone slowing me down." Arthur ran in the opposite direction and towards the woods.

Natalya grumbled and followed Lovino because at least she could catch up to him.

Lovino was aggressively packing his things into the coach when Natalya caught up with him.

"Lovino!"

Lovino turned in her direction, "Is he not with you?"

Natalya shook her head. "I do not know why Arthur wants to travel alone. But Lovino, I consider you my partner."

She held Lovino's gaze before his lip twitched upward, "Gratzie, Natalie. I consider us partners too."

Natalya gave him a nod. "Alright. You think you're up for driving? I'm having a pounding headache."

"Maybe we should leave tomorrow."

0000000000

The next morning Lovino fed Betsy and washed her a bit while they were still in town. While Lovino was doing that Natalya decided to write to her sister.

Dear Nyah,

I hope this letter finds you well. It is my weekly notice to tell you I am still alive. I have not found Vanya as of yet. I am traveling with Lovino, who is also looking for him. His friend sold candles with Ivan and was killed during the attack.

I do not want you to worry, and I do not want you to look for me. So, I will not tell you where I am.

I was traveling with another, but they left, and I do not know why. You are good with people Nyah, you tell me that I should make connections. I am trying, but it is hard.

Your advice is appreciated.

Love,

Natalya

Natalya folded up the paper and wrote Irunya's address on the side not containing her letter. She dropped it at the post office in El Paso.

Natalya planted her wolf's bane in her jar and watered them in a bit of soil. She placed cloth over the top of the jar and punctured a bit of holes. Then they were on their way up the Rio Grande.

Lovino still had a headache but insisted on driving them out of El Paso. They still had the food they took from Lovino's parents and had bought more cans of beans.

When they stopped for Betsy to take a drink at the river, they set up camp to eat beans and discuss their plan for when they ran into the werewolf pack with two alphas.

Natalya had lit a fire and was spooning her beans when Lovino suddenly said, "So we're supposed to ask them about the werewolf pack that contains all alphas. What will stop them from eating us, if they don't want to talk?"

"I was hoping my wolfsbane would have grown at least a little by then. If not, you could fire a warning shot."

"What if that just makes them angry."

"Then we run away. Our other option could be to lure vampires."

"Those options seem really dangerous."

"You want to get revenge or not? We can't retreat now that we came so far."

Lovino frowned, "I know. I'm scared, we got hurt pretty bad last time and we don't have Blondie with us now."

"There is no time to dwell on that. We'll be fine as long as we look out for each other." Natalya said. It seemed to lift Lovinos spirits minimally.

Natalya knew that they were at a disadvantage without the numbers or Arthur's strength. But they had to keep going if they were going to find Ivan. Also Natalya didn't want to face the shame of going home empty handed, the social repercussions of her actions would be great.

"You got some family back home? I saw you writing a letter back in El Paso." Lovino said, breaking her from her thoughts.

"I have an older sister, Irunya. She is all I have left besides my brother. My father was killed and my mother died giving birth to me."

Lovino sucked in a breath. "Now I really feel like an ass."

"It is understandable to want to be noticed by your family."

Lovino let out a sigh, "Natalie, I love my parents but it's always about keeping up the farm. Or Stefano got high marks, 'we're going to send him to be a lawyer.' Or it's 'why can't you be like Feli, he's into his studies. He's going to be a priest , what are you gonna do?'" He threw his can of beans onto the ground. "The only one who actually looked at me like I was a person was Antonio, and he's dead."

Natalya saw his eyes were becoming wet.

He furiously wiped his eyes with the palms of his hands. "I guess what Blondie said was true. How foolish of me to think I could come out here and avenge Antonio. I'm useless!"

Natalya got up and wrapped her arms around him, used to doing this so many times for Irunya.

"Lovino, that is not true. You know how to drive a coach and you take care of Betsy really well. You're just going to have to tough it out, we'll get through this together. We have to."

Lovino was silent for a few moments before laying his head on her shoulder.

"You are right."

Natalya nodded, she was mostly always right.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Criticism Welcome.

Translations curtesy of Google Translate:

Angelina, ti voglio bene,- Angelina, I love you,