Warnings: France. (Also, generalizations.)
Pairings mentioned/brought up: GerIta, SpaMano, and FrUk
-2.14-
"So, let me get this straight: you were walking around the woods, when some sort of loup démonique appeared out of nowhere, and attacked you," A Frenchman begins, the red-headed Italian nodding desperately, "Then," He looks pointedly at me, "he showed up and killed it, whatever it was."
"Si, si, it's the truth!" The Italian seems nearly at the brink of tears, "I- I just wanted to help him! He was wounded and-"
"Feli, shut up," His brother silences his incessant rambling, the definitely more pleasant one snapping shut at the mouth, all without breaking a furious glare from my face.
"And then," The blond speaks slowly, dragging out every word, "You decided to take him to my house to patch up his wounds, which he got while fighting that monster."
"Si!"
"It was only one, and I could've managed on my own."
"Shut up, you potato bastard! No one asked you!"
"Fratello, be nice to our guest!"
"No! I will not have some testa di cazzo-"
"Hey, Lovi, do you think we should ask Francis about this first? I mean it is his house-"
"VAFFANCULO!"
"What- I was just saying!"
"Ve~ why can't we all just stop arguing and get along?!"
"THAT'S ENOUGH!"
The room goes dead silent at the sound of an angry, shouting, British voice. Where a bunny once was on 'Francis's lap is nothing but air, and standing beside him is a short, disgruntled Englishman with the largest eyebrows I have ever seen. The fancily clad man rises from his seat.
"I have seen enough.
"And I think…" He reaches into his coat, lowering his head. Then, he meets the gazes of everyone else in the room, "That this… is perfect!" He pulls his hand out to reveal a bouquet of roses, petals flying all over the place.
"An adorable, yet somewhat ditzy, main protagonist stumbles across a shady and cold-hearted spirit animal purely by chance. He takes the mysterious new character home and heals his wounds, after he had so daringly saved the hero's life. The main character's brother automatically hates the second lead's guts, as well as clearly harboring certain feelings of l'amour passionate for his spirit animal; the main protagonist just so happens to have had a long discussion with his relatives about how he needs to get his own spirit soon or he'll practically be disowned in the media's eyes, the family reputation… officially tarnished… and all of this happening during a three-month time period in the romantic, vineyard-infested countrysides of southern France, la nation de l'amour!
"It's absolute perfection! Five-out-of-five stars! Top of the charts! Number one rating! Due to the main protagonist's bubbly, open nature being such a stark contrast to the brooding solitude only to be expected from his panty-wettingly handsome co-star, sexual tensions are bound to arise! And, even if the main plot proves duller than anticipated, there's always the side-plot of the hero's brother and his 'foxy' companion to keep viewers on the edge of their seats! There's drama; there's suspense; there's L'AMOUR! What will happen to our young, moronic protagonist?! Will the two stars finally stop being socially and romantically awkward and go after that ass?! Will le jumeaux furieux et le renard make sweet, passionate love?! WILL THE LOVE EXPERT OF THE CAST FINALLY WIN OVER THE DISGRUNTLED LAPIN'S AGGRESSIVE AFFECTIONS?! STAY TUNED FOR EACH AND EVERY MOMENT OF THE GLORIOUS, ROM-COM-LIKE SUMMER VACATION OF THE CENTURY!"
By the end of it, the Frenchman stands on a chair, one foot on the armrest, one on the seat itself, rose petals littering the floor.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'WILL THE FURIOUS TWIN AND THE FOX MAKE SWEET, PASSIONATE LOVE?!'" Lovino shouts and the fighting continues.
"Ow, mon cher, why must you hurt me so?" The Frenchman, who has since been introduced as 'cousin Francis,' moans as he presses a raw steak to his eye. Apparently, the rabbit spirit, Arthur, liked that line about 'the love expert of the cast finally winning over the disgruntled rabbit's aggressive affections' about as much as Lovino liked the one about him and the one called 'Antonio.'
The rabbit spirit snarls, narrowing his moss green eyes, "Oh, I don't know, maybe it's because you keep saying utter rubbish as if it's gospel."
"Ve~ Cousin Francis, why did you say all that stuff about sexual tension between the two lead characters?" The more softhearted Italian, Feliciano, questions innocently, smiling as if he's talking about the weather, "Well, that is assuming I'm the main character. I mean, you did say the main character was saved by the co-star and fixed their wounds, si? Then wouldn't that make the co-star…?" He turns to me, "Hey, I still don't know your name!"
All five of the other people in the room stare at me with either blank or thoughtful looks. A cold bead of sweat forms at the sudden attention. "Um…"
"Well, spit it out, bastard!"
"Lovi, don't be mean!"
"Oh, shut up, you tomato-obsessed freak!"
"Knock it off!" Arthur sends them a deadly glare.
"Ludwig."
"What the fuck's a Ludwig?"
I feel my expression go cold, "It's my name. It's German."
"German!" Feliciano claps in joy, "I thought you were German based on your accent, but I wasn't entirely sure!"
"Tch, German," The word drips from Lovino's lips like venom, "Go figure. Only a German would be a big enough asshole to take advantage of my fratello."
"Lovino, that's a generalization," The rabbit spirit scolds, "Not all Germans are terrible, terrible people. Just because we know one German that sucks doesn't mean they all do."
"But what about Americans? Didn't you say that one time that-"
He rushes to interrupt the naïve one of the Italian brothers, "That was a heat-of-the-moment thing!"
"Ah, but mon petit lapin, didn't you also say that all Frenchmen are 'bloody frogs that deserve to burn in the pits of hell?'"
His face turns pure white, "Shut up, you bloody wanker! Stop trying to prove I'm a hypocrite!"
"What's a hypocrite?" Feliciano grins absently.
"It's some bastard that says not to do something then goes and does it themselves."
He gasps, "That sounds horrible! Arthur couldn't be one of those; he's too adorable as a bunny to be so mean!"
"Mais oui, that is the harsh reality of life: oftentimes, those that seem the most innocent are anything but," Francis stares intently at Feliciano before muttering to himself, "Quel est votre secret?"
"Hey, tomato-bastard, you in there?" Lovino addresses Antonio, drawing the room's gazes to him, "You've been strangely quiet."
He jumps slightly, startled, "Huh? Oh, sorry, Lovi~ I was just thinking about something."
The Italian raises an eyebrow, "Oh? Well that's something new. What were you thinking about?"
"Heheh, just wondering what a German wolf spirit would be doing in the middle of southern France is all. Nothing to worry about!" He scratches the back of his neck.
"Quel es-tu couvrir?" I hear Francis mumble in the background.
"Well?" Lovino's harsh attention shifts to be aimed at myself.
"What?"
"Well, what were you doing here? I hate to admit it, but the bastard's got a point. It's suspicious for someone like you to just randomly be in the area when my idiota fratello is being attacked by a magic wolf-thing. The fuck is wrong with you, being in the wrong country?"
"It's kind of a long story."
Antonio shrugs, "Eh, we've got time."
I nod and take a deep breath, "Strange things have been going on in the north."
"Which north?" Arthur interrupts, "The Nordic region or Great Britain?"
"Great Britain," He nods in acknowledgement, "As I was saying, strange things have been happening in the north-"
"What kind of strange things?" This time, Francis is the one to pause the conversation.
I feel my eye twitch, "Magic things."
"What kind of magic then?" A British voice butts in.
"Dark magic, now can you just let me finish talking?" I shoot the others a glare, making sure to meet each of their eyes, moss, zircon, amber, hazel, and basil. "Now, continuing on, dark magic-related things have been happening in Great Britain lately. Some of the communities in the region have taken note of this and I was sent to figure out what was going on.
"I traveled northward as I was told, and found exactly what I was looking for. Trails of shadow magic were all over the place. Feliciano, do you remember the shadow wolf that attacked you? I followed a trail and discovered an entire hoard of them. There's definitely something sinister happening in the British Isles, and I was heading back to inform my community of this when I got side-tracked."
"How do you get side-tracked all the way to another country?!" Lovino comments.
I send him a hard look, "As I said, I got side-tracked. If you will allow me to explain what happened."
He rolls his eyes with a sneer.
"Anyways, I got side-tracked. I was just across the English Channel, when I stumbled upon a pack of murderous shadow wolves. Of course, I tried to get rid of them. As I've come to realize, these things aren't sentient creatures like normal spirit animals. They're wild, deranged beings with no real sense of free will. Not only are they clearly artificial but as soon as I knock one out, they've been hexed to self-destruct. Letting them roam wherever they wished would only end in humans and other spirits getting hurt.
"Somehow, although I'm not entirely sure, I managed to destroy all of them, or at least, all but one. Not wanting it to just run amuck in society, I chased after it. I honestly had no idea I'd gone all the way to France until recently, and by then it was too far into the hunt for me to simply drop it and go home. I wanted to finish this. And, judging by how I supposedly 'saved Feliciano's life,' I guess it was good that I showed up when I did. If I'd just given up, who knows what that thing would've done. I'm glad to have helped decrease the risk of shadow wolf attacks."
Lovino places a hand on his chin, seemingly pondering something or other, "So… you need to get back to your community, si?"
"Well, ja, I need to go back eventually to tell them I'm alive."
"Great! It's been a pleasure to meet you and all, but you know what you just said; time to get a move on!" He grins and stands, dragging me out of the room and into the hallway.
"What- Fratello!" Feliciano runs after us, "Fratello, no! He can't go yet! Luddy still needs to recover from his injuries!"
"Wait, 'Luddy?!' Okay, no, you're out of here, wurst-boy!"
"Frateeeeeeeellllooooooooooooo-" The other Italian begins whining loudly, extending the 'o' to the extent that it's a miracle he has that much lung capacity.
Just before the front doors, Lovino stops, stomps his foot, puts his hands to his ears, and says, "Gah! Alright, fine! Just stop your obnoxious complaining! I don't have the patience for this shit!"
"Wait, so does this mean I'm staying?"
"Yay! Luddy's staying!" Feliciano cheers, dragging me upstairs. He then begins to blather on, and on, and on about all the fun things we'll do.
As we pass through, I take the time to take note my surroundings. The walls of the hallway are all a nice, purple wallpaper with the intricate details of roses etched into the covering. The floors are beautifully polished, marble tiles with delicate swirls of light gray, and the space in-between each door is filled with potted plants from far-away, tropical countries. Finally, we arrive at one of many cream-colored doors.
"Luddy, this is going to be your room while you're here!" The other grins, exposing flawless pearly-whites.
"Uh… thank you, I guess." I respond lamely.
He tilts his head at me, "Huh, you know, now that I think about it, I never did formally introduce myself to you, did I? You probably just heard someone say my name and remembered it."
I skim through my memories of the previous conversations, read: arguments, to find that he's correct. "Hm, I suppose so."
"Well, then, allow me to introduce myself!" He grabs my hand, shaking it enthusiastically, "Ciao, Ludwig! My name is Feliciano Vargas and I sincerely hope you enjoy your stay here!"
"What- wait, did you just say-?!"
"Well, I'm pretty sure fratello will get angry if I'm alone with you for too long, so I'm going to go now! Arrivederci, Luddy!" He giggles and scampers off, leaving me shell-shocked with the revelation of his last name.
Mein Gott, what have I gotten myself into?
A/N:
Bonjour! I love how I literally wrote 'France' in the warnings! X3 Also, yaaayyy, GerIta's finally being brought up! I don't think I mentioned this, but in case you couldn't tell, Francis totally ships it. Also, where do you think those roses came from? Does he just carry them around in his coat all the time?!
By the way, this sub-part heralds mention of the main plot line, of which will be concluded in part 3. Speculation inquiry: who do you think the main antagonist is? I can assure you, they haven't been formally introduced yet; I'm just kind of curious as to whether or not anyone will guess correctly. I can also assure you that they're not going to be introduced until part 3. XP (Hint: The main antagonist is the one behind all the shadow wolves running around, so obviously they have something to do with magic.)
Oh, and I posted a Nekotalia Rome x Germania thing yesterday! In case you're interested in reading it, you should be able to easily find it from my profile page. It's called 'Germania-Cat Almost Gets Laid.' Huzzah for shameless self-promotion! XD I mean, you know, just in case you want something to read while you're waiting around for the next sub-part.
Also, I know it's a long way off, but I'm kind of at a crossroads with planning. I have two options: A and B. Option A is that I finish this fanfic with part 3, slap an epilogue at the end, and write a sequel with a clever title to expand upon this AU. Option B is that, after part 3, I continue to write part 4 and so on for all of my ideas regarding this AU.
So basically, who wants a sequel?!
Again, this isn't really going to be important until later on; I just want to see what you guys think at the moment.
Responses to review(s):
Seele Esser Deustch: Nah, it's okay! Holy shit, you cheered?! (Read: Omg, people like me! GAHH! u)
APDubtalia: Will do! Thank you so much; it really does make me blush when people say stuff like this! (Also, why did you post this review on 2.1, as opposed to 2.12? I'm slightly confused by that. XP)
Anyways, au revoir et à demain!