I'm back! It's like I have been like dead for a while. And finally, finally, my own new chapter for this story has started to unfold. Please read and enjoy!
One Last Fairytale: Remember the Memories
Arthur fiddled with his collar before inhaling a deep amount of air in hope to lessen the tight knot that was giving him uneasiness in the pit of his stomach. Francis went to place a comforting hand on his husband's shoulder as an attempt to calm him down. Arthur looked back at him, forcing a failed smile at him in hope to assure Francis that he is fine.
The look Francis received from Arthur did not satisfy him, though. He sighed and cupped Arthur's face in his hands. "Cheri, it has been more than seven years already and yet you are still not over it."
Arthur sniffled a little, trying not to let his tears fall. "I-It is just t-too painful to remember this day..." He mumbled to his husband. "So many people died because of me... Katyusha, Germania and Roman... They all died because of me..."
Francis went to hug his husband and Arthur just gladly accepted it as Francis ran soothing circles on his back. "But it's not your fault, cheri. It was that corrupted father of yours who started up all these riots." Francis tried to reason him.
"D-Don't talk about him again..." Arthur pulled himself back from Francis, sobbing. "That man can never be m-my father... He killed Ivan's mother, s-so many of the innocents... A-And he even took your father away just when you h-had reunited with him for the first time in s-seven years..."
"Forget it, cher." Francis cut his sentence. "That's all in the past and we can never change it... But all we can do now is to appreciate what they had done for us and make sure we won't let their effort go waste."
Arthur gave him a bitter smile before replying, "Thank you, Francis... I'm glad that we had all their support. And that's why... We will always remember them in our hearts..."
They stayed like that for a while when a servant came in and inform them that their guests had arrived and are now waiting for them. Arthur stood up and dusted his clothes before heading towards the door. Francis followed soon and went to hold Arthur's hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze as a form of comfort which Arthur returned. The two kings walked to the grand hall hand in hand to where their guests are waiting.
As they walked across the hallway to their destiny, Arthur managed to catch a glimpse beyond the castle ground. He observed the streets that stretches and dwindles until they all met at the central square of the city of Main Hetalia. Arthur could make out the whole bunch of white and yellow flowers that scattered all over the streets and the central plaza. He paused in his footsteps while taking in the scent of the flowers as his mind began to flash the images of those painful past. Thanks to Francis, giving him a little nudge from behind which snapped him from his trance and continued to walk towards the grand hall.
Arriving at the grand hall, there stood Roderich, Elizaveta, Vash, Liech and some other guests of nobility they have invited, all clad in their black ceremonial mourning clothes. Vash brought a message from Antonio saying that he was unable to attend the ceremony because of the twins back at his Southeast Castle. Needless to say, it's a tough one being alone having to rule a kingdom and taking care of two little children at the same time, and that Lovino kid is already a pain in the ass at such young age!
The nobles in the room exchanged glances from each other, knowing well that no word is enough for comfort. With a nod of approval from Arthur, he stood alongside with Francis at the front of the hall and the rest of the guests stood behind them as they began to mourn for those who had died in the Old Northern Kingdom, followed with the tragedy of Main Hetalia revolution which killed all the late rulers that once brought so many glory to the kingdom. This moment of silence meant so much for them, for the deaths, just a little reminiscent of the past and their long gone beloved, a reminder not to let the dark past happen again.
After what it seemed like an eternal of grave silence and solemn, Arthur announced that everyone went to the garden to pay the deceased people their respect. He and Francis then led everyone out of the hall, each person taking a white flower from the maids when walking down the hall to the garden.
At a hidden corner of the garden at Main Hetalia castle ground, laid a tall and sturdy building that stood erected in the midst of it. The monument in memorial of the tragic history. Arthur had decided to keep this part of the garden away from the children because he afraid they will disturb the deceased while trying to hide the pain they had been through so many years which was still fresh in their memories.
In utter silence, Arthur and Francis led the crowd to place their stalk of white flower at the foot of the monument. Once again, they let a moment of silence reverberated throughout the castle and into the city and streets as the last respect for those to rest in peace.
While the adults were at the garden performing a mourning ceremony, the children were hidden off somewhere in the castle. Alfred, being as loud as always, were making fun in their play room. Matthew being the quieter one of the twins just tried to tolerate his brother while Natalia remained undaunted no matter what kind of dirty pranks Alfred showed up. One of their visitor, Ludwig hid in a corner of the room, too scared to be alone surrounded by strangers. Oh, how he wished that cheerful, auburn hair kid in his dream is with him. The kids ignored and left him aside unnoticed as if he didn't exist. Well, that was alright. After all, he was used to being alone. Another loner, Kiku sat further away from the group as he reached his hand to open the window in their room that procured the view of the city of Main Hetalia. He could see flowers arranged all along the streets and the central square. From what his brother had told him, this day meant to be a blue day for the royals, especially King Arthur.
"Dude, what are you looking at?" Alfred took this as a chance to creep next to Kiku and pounced on him, giving him a shock. "M-Master Alfred..." Kiku snapped from his thoughts quickly turned to the young little prince who was towering him. Despite being the older one, Kiku always felt inferior to the boy in terms of size and strength. Perhaps the boy's appetite and daily meal intake is somewhat abnormal for a kid.
"I told you not to call me that." Alfred made a pout as he rolled away from the smaller boy before joining him at the window. "What do you see outside?"
Matthew and Natalia followed Alfred and joined the group, gazing into the world outside the castle wall. "I heard today is a special day." Matthew said softly. Alfred drew his head from the window and faced his twin, "What's so special about today? All I see is just so many of the flowers outside." Matthew snorted, "Al, don't you understand what the flowers meant?"
Alfred shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as he replied, "What's wrong with flowers? We can see them in the garden everyday, so there's nothing special about it." He stopped his sentence for a moment before continued speaking, "Say, can we go out to the garden and play? I'm boring being stuck in here."
"But Al, dad told us not to go to the garden today. There's an important ceremony being taken place." Matthew reminded his brother. Natalia, who felt boring with their conversation just walked away and sit among the pile of toys to play.
"What's so important with that ceremony?" Alfred voiced his question again, his expression like an innocent child. Well, he is a child for now. "I wanna go out and play and run rather than being locked up in here."
"I heard that today is exactly the day when it happens..." Matthew said, his voice barely above whisper. "I heard it from big brother Ivan, saying that a long time ago, the king is disliked by many people because he kills many innocents, including nobility and royalty. This angers the people that a war raged up to overthrow him. In that process, many people died..."
Kiku listened their conversation silently, his face as expressionless as always. Deep down in his heart, he was glad that the piece of reality is hidden away from the princes and princess. It is not good for them to learn such a cruel reality at this age. After all, what would a kid understand about death?
Alfred cut Matthew's sentences halfway, in hope to stop all these boring stories (he thought so). "I get it, I get it. I guess we can't go out to play so why don't we go and have some snacks at the kitchen?" He asked rubbing his growling stomach. "I'm hungry already."
"But Al, we just have breakfast not too long ago." Matthew tried to reason him but was ignored. "I don't care. We eat when we are hungry, right? So, let's get going." Alfred said rushing towards the door. Matthew rolled his eyes as he followed his twin a distance away, Natalia and Kiku followed soon, not because they are hungry but because they don't want to be abandoned. The group of children walked out the room together, completely forgetting that they left their visitor behind. Ludwig crept out of his hiding spot and ran out of the room in pursuit of his brother once he made sure that he was alone.
At the other side of the castle, Yao was also having a hard time persuading Ivan out from his room. It was almost noon now and yet Ivan refused to step out from his room a single step, let alone had his breakfast.
"Ivan, open the door, aru." Yao banged his fist on the door for who knows how many times several hours ago. Seriously, what has gotten on Ivan? He can't be out of his mind, can he? "Ivan, you haven't had your breakfast! I know you don't like to come out but at least you should eat something, aru." Yao knocked again but received the same thing, no response at all. He let out a sigh as he looked at the tray of food placed on the floor that was turning cold. Ivan has never been like this before. What makes him change so much? Probably because of the incident years ago where he lost his family, the lack of companion and growing up has isolated him from the family.
"Ivan, listen up. I brought you your favourite scramble eggs." Yao said again, hoping it will move the older prince to open the door. A few minutes of silence pass and Yao sighed in defeat. What should he do to make the prince come out from his shell?
"Yo, are you having trouble? Don't worry, the awesome me is here!" All of a sudden, Yao heard footsteps from other side of the hallway. He whipped his head to find the future High Prince of the Western Kingdom running towards him with a grin on his face.
"Are you sure you can make Ivan open the door?" Yao asked, uncertainty is in his tone.
"You can trust the awesome Gilbert. I am his friend after all." Gilbert said confidently with a little sarcastic tone as he reached his hand to knock the door. "Hey Ivan, remember me? It's me, Gilbert the chicken." Upon saying so, Gilbert adopted the position as a chicken as he began to waddle and mimic the sound of the said bird. Yao watched aside with much amusement.
Slowly, the door knob was twisted and opened, revealing a sleepy and annoyed Ivan at the door. Gilbert chuckled as he ran up to Ivan and began talking something that Ivan did not register in his mind. Yao let out another sigh as he carried the tray and walked towards the pair. "I know you are excited to meet Ivan, Gilbert. But I don't think Ivan has the mood to do so now, he needs to eat something first, aru."
A scowl was formed on Ivan's face as he winced in disgust. He turned his head slightly and said, "I don't have the appetite to eat."
Yao placed the tray of food on a table and shook his head at Ivan's personality. "What's wrong with you? Are you sick or something?" He asked in concern.
"Hey that's right, you should have eaten something. It's unawesome to starve. Kesesese..." Gilbert joked, only to receive a glare from Yao and realize that this was not a joke at all.
At this point of time, Ivan had his back facing them. He was silent for a moment, seemingly to be in deep thought. A childish grin slowly spread across his face and he turned his body back to face them. "Let's talk for a while, Yao."
"Hey, no fair." Gilbert whined, "I'm your awesome friend too! Can't I stay with you too?" But with a glare from Ivan, he knew better than to stop rather than sticking his nose in their business.
A pair of small, padding footsteps raced down the lane. Gilbert turned to the source of the sound to find his little brother running towards him. "Brother..." The little blond boy whimpered as he scurried towards his brother. Gilbert's heart softened a bit as he went to embrace the little boy in his arms. "What are you doing here? You should be playing and socializing with the kids." Ludwig shook his head, somehow preferring his brother company rather than those kids of the same age. Gilbert sighed as he led his brother out of the room, with Ivan closing the door to keep them out.
"What do you want, Ivan?" Yao asked, his hands on his hips.
"I want something better than any other food." Ivan said, licking the corner of his lips. Yao shivered and backed up a bit. "I-Ivan... D-Don't..."
"Yao, why won't you accept my feelings?" Ivan whined as he inched closer to the older, but smaller boy. "I am a big boy now, you don't have to be my caretaker anymore."
"Your mother trust me to take good care of you, aru." Yao tried to reason. "A-And remember w-what I had said, there is always something better for you ahead in the future. So don't just stick to me, aru."
"And how do you think will I fare better in the future without you? There's no other people I can love more than you, Yao." Ivan said, cornering Yao. "We don't always need a Happily Ever After ending like those fairy tales. They are just kids' stuff."
Yao heaved another sigh, this is getting endless. "Ivan, I'm just merely a servant and your caretaker, aru. I'm not much of a match to you. I'm sure someday you can finally meet the person whom you love and then, you can find the happiness you are looking for."
Without hesitation, Ivan tossed Yao onto his bed, causing Yao to yelp. He then topped above the boy and began to plant kisses all over his face and then on his lips. Yao freaked out a bit and pushed Ivan off him with much of his strength. "Ivan, stop it aru!"
Ivan sat across the bed and gave him a puppy face. "But I said it, I have found the person meant for me. I have been waiting for this, Yao. Why can't we do this already? I'm tired of you being my caretaker."
Yao get off from the bed and straighten his clothes before facing Ivan. "Wh-Where did you learn all this? You are still too young to do so..." Then something hit him that Ivan likes to enter Arthur and Francis' room, which was why...
"But Yao, I'm now taller than you and I'm not a kid anymore. Snap it out." Ivan went up and gripped Yao forcefully on the shoulder. "You may still treat me as a child but I won't acknowledge you as my caretaker. You are my lover and you meant a lot to me." He insisted stubbornly as he tightened his squeeze on Yao's shoulder, causing the other to flinch slightly. "Someday you'll see it. You are mine and only mine. My heart belongs to you and I will show it to you so that we will be together in the end no matter what."
"Ivan, you're insane." Yao released himself from Ivan's grip. "I won't change my mind aru. We have different destinies and I believe someday you will find someone you could truly love." He turned to see the hurt expression on Ivan's face. Once again, he felt guilty again. I shouldn't have been that harsh on him, aru. Guess I went overboard. "You may not understand now, aru. But someday, you will." He said, walking up to kiss Ivan. He pulled back while trying to hide his tears, "Someday, you will find the person whom your destiny is bonded to aru. Someone who has skin as white as snow... Someone like that..."
"Yao... I..." Ivan was about to continue but Gilbert suddenly slammed the door from outside. Both of them looked outside the door with horrified expression, hoping that Gilbert had not heard of anything. Yao's horrified expression quickly morphed away when he noticed Kiku along with the brother at the doorstep.
"It seems like the kids are looking for you." Gilbert said, holding the hands of Ludwig.
Yao walked up to Kiku, "Is there anything you need, Kiku? Or did something happened?"
The small Asian boy looked up at him and tugged his sleeves. "Master Alfred is hungry and want something to eat." Yao sighed and shook his head, that Alfred kid has been quiet a handy. Up to his record, the boy could eat six meals a day, and he doubt it would increase as he grow up, such an unusual appetite.
"Nii-san, aren't you going to prepare some food for them?" Kiku asked upon seeing his older brother's expression. "It's nothing Kiku. Seeing that it's almost lunch time, I have to prepare lunch for everyone." Yao said and he let Kiku went off first before turning back to Ivan. "Do you feel like having anything for lunch?" Ivan just groaned and said, "The usual one..." Yao nodded and walked out from the room, not before saying 'Just a moment.' Ivan sighed and slumped down onto his chair near the table. "I just want to eat you, Yao..."
Unknown to Yao who has walked out of the room, he entrusted Gilbert and his younger brother to keep Ivan in company while he was working. Gilbert smirked and replied, "It's not an awesome problem. The awesome me can handle this," before entering the room where Ivan is. Yao watched Gilbert tried to get Ivan open up to him and smiled a bitter smile, hoping everything will end in something he had hoped for... For the sake of Ivan... He thought to himself as tears clouded his eyes...
xXx
Finally, my own chapter is up. Sorry for being short, I considered writing other events in it but think that it will stray away from the title. And sucks in writing the characters. But I promised the other upcoming chapters will be longer like the previous ones.
First of all, I have to apologize for not updating the story as I had promised. I had delayed the whole thing for a good four months because of all the universities exams and assignments I had to deal with. And this is really one of my longest hiatus that I lost track of my story. I have to read this thing all over again to make things right.
This is not much of a long chapter as it is a little prelude to the future chapters (and I'm not in the mood to write long chapters for now). But I had the next chapter in mind and I will try to complete and upload it as soon as possible. My sem break has finally begin after the whole ordeal of endless work, so I have to finish this story quickly.
The title of this chapter is based on the celtic music Memories and Remember by Brunuhville. The next chapter will be featuring a little celebrations for our little Alfie and Mattie. Stay tune!