The Beginning [Part II]

Budapest. November 10th.

It was a rather cold morning in the town where Gilbert, Elizaveta, Vash and Lili lived in. Even though it was still autumn, and there was no snow yet, the townspeople can already feel the winter breeze already.

Gilbert, the little albino, when he woke up, found himself lying on the floor. His little bird, Gilbird, was still sleeping, snuggling within the warm covers of the blanket on Gilbert's bed. Elizaveta, on the other hand, was shivering even though she had blankets on, while she walked towards the fire place in her house to warm herself up. Vash and Lili, who always woke up early (a habit they developed while living in Switzerland), were already at the dining table, enjoying a warm cup of chocolate and Gundel palacsinta* with their parents.

Days like these seem to pass in the little town in Budapest.

"Elizaveta! Elizaveta!"

Elizaveta turned around while sitting near the fireplace. Gilbert was running towards her, now panting, holding an air gun that she assumed was brand new. "Hey, hey! My Dad bought this new air gun for me, Elizaveta!", Gilbert said, full of excitement in his voice. "Let's play outside!", he said, as he tried to pull Elizaveta away from the fire place. "W-Wait, Gilbert! I need to get my air gun in my room, and put warmer clothes on.", Elizaveta said, as she pulled away from Gilbert's grip on her wrist. She sighed, when she got to her room to get ready, since she was initially planning to stay at her house, warming herself near the fireplace and drinking hot chocolate while watching her favorite cartoons. "Oh well.", she muttered to herself, now holding the air gun the little albino's father had given her as a late Christmas present, ten months ago. Elizaveta opened the door, and shivered as the cold, winter breeze rushed into her house. Gilbert was already there outside, pulling the arm of an irritated Vash, and Gilbert doesn't seem to notice, since he was smiling and laughing while the Swiss continued to speak unkind words to the little albino.

"Oh, where's Lili?", Elizaveta asked, as she noticed that Vash's little sister was nowhere in sight.

Vash stopped cursing the little albino immediately when he heard Elizaveta's voice. He stiffened as he tried to look at her, and to answer her question.

"Umm.. L-Lili? Uh.. She's.. at the market.. With my mom today, fortunately.", he answered, then glared at the little albino while he tried to remove the hands of Gilbert off his arm. "Since we're playing with our air guns today, I think it would be safer for Lili to not come with us."

Elizaveta nodded in agreement. Gilbert, on the other hand, wore a smug expression as he spoke, "You're just worried that I might hit on your sister or something.", and this irritated Vash, as he pointed his air gun at the little albino. "You! You better run, you bastard!"

Orange, yellow, brown. The ground was covered with fallen leaves, slightly bristled by the soft winter breeze as three children were chasing each other, towards the town's only park. Their screams and laughter can be heard everywhere, and the cursing of the little Swiss can also be heard, as well.

"You! Come back here!", the little Swiss shouted at the little albino, who was already a couple of meters away from him. He can clearly see the albino smirking at him, and he can read how the albino's lips go, "Kesesese!" He tightened his grip around the air gun he's been holding, now that he's at his limit, he would now shoot the little albino with all the pellet ammo he had stored in his toy air gun. He pointed at the gun towards the little albino, who was taken by surprise by how serious the Swiss looked at him, or rather glared at him. The little Swiss can hear a female's voice from behind him, after he had taken his aim and had already fired his gun towards the albino. "Vash, stop!" It was the only words that can be heard when they saw a kid fell down on his knees, clutching his arm in pain.

"Vash! Look what you have done!", the little Hungarian shouted at the flustered Swiss, who was looking at the little hand on his shoulder. When Vash fired his gun towards the surprised and shocked albino, fortunately (and unfortunately for Vash), he managed to dodge the bullet and it hit another kid instead, who was running from something, or someone. The kid was wearing a pink dress, and ribbon around his blonde hair. He was crying now, clutching his arm in pain, mumbling something like, "Please.. Like.. Totally.. Stop.. I don't want to be hurt like this anymore.."

The albino approached him with a worried expression on his face. "Umm.. M-Miss? Are you alright? Please stop crying..", he said as he tried to console the crying kid. Vash and Elizaveta quickly ran towards the albino to check if the kid was alright. Elizaveta kneeled in front of the little kid and two emerald eyes met as Elizaveta tried to touch the arm where the bullet hit. "Are you alright? Are you—"

Elizaveta's voice was cut off when she realized that she was hugged suddenly by the crying little kid. "Please.. Please save me.. I don't want to be in pain anymore..", he whispered, almost choking on his words. She felt how cold the little kid's body was, his clothes were in tatters, his face smeared with dirt. He felt like sticks and bones as Elizaveta patted the little kid's back. "Now, now. Don't cry. I'm here. We're here. Don't cry anymore.", she whispered into the little kid's ear, as the kid continued to sob. And on that day, that very day, the first snow started to fall.

"I haven't like, totally eaten these kinds of food for years!"

Smiles were all around the dining table as the little kid continued to eat. It was evident on his face how happy he was, and how hungry he was before he came to Elizaveta's house. Vash was grounded by his parents, for the very first time, and he might be able to not see his friends for two weeks. Gilbert, on the other hand, was also grounded; it didn't surprise his parents that the cause of all the commotion was their obnoxious little son.

The little kid looked at Elizaveta with curious eyes when he noticed that she was staring at him.

"Umm. Is there.. anything wrong? Do I still have dirt on my face?", he asked, and tried to touch his own face while saying so.

Elizaveta came back to her senses. "Oh.. No! I was just wondering.. How did you became like that? Who were you running from? Why.. are you in a dress?"

The little boy chuckled as he heard the last question. He looked back at his food, stared at it, before he answered. "Let me introduce myself first. My name is Feliks Łukasiewicz, I'm from a country north from here.", he smiled a bit as he said the name of his homeland. "I'm from Poland."

Elizaveta moved her chair closer to Feliks, eager to hear more of his story. Feliks smiled at this, and continued, "I was totally happy when I was in Poland. It was really peaceful there, just as peaceful like your town here. And the dress? Well, I just like wearing them."

His face grew dark as he continued, "But then, in the town where I lived, there came a big stranger who took me away from my parents and even took my other friends..", he began to sob as the bad memories returned to him.

"We were forced to work for him, in a cold, frozen city in Russia. The companions I had there, the ones I can remember, were four or five, I guess. It was always cold, we were always hungry, we were rarely fed, and when I got the chance to escape, after finishing a day's worth of selling pipes in the frozen streets of Moscow, I got on a truck that was said was going to a town in Hungary.. And now here I am..", he said, and smiled bitterly as he continued.

"My friends.. I don't know what happened to them.. Toris! Oh my God..", he cried, putting his hands over his mouth and the words came out muffled. "I left my dearest friend behind.. Toris..", he sobbed, trying to hide his face from Elizaveta, who put her arms around his shaking body, tightening her embrace when she noticed how cruel it was for her to remind Feliks the pain he had to go through, and the pain of leaving his friends behind, the pain of being alone..

Elizaveta tried to fight back the tears forming in her eyes. Everything will be alright, everything will be okay, she repeatedly uttered. Yes. Everything will be alright as long as they were together. Feliks will no longer be alone, as long as he had Elizaveta.

"Happy Birthday!"

A year passed in the peaceful town in Budapest. Everyone was smiling as the birthday boy tried to fight the urge to cry. 'It's been a year, since I came here.', he thought to himself as he blew the birthday candles on the cake. Elizaveta's parents gladly accepted Feliks into their family, and it didn't take him a while to fit in. He was glad that there was a family who wanted to accept him, to take him in.. He thought that he would always be alone, now that his parents are gone.

His parents.. He can't imagine how the cruel Russian killed his parents, thinking that he might find the little Polish there.. He cried and cried in Elizaveta's arms when he heard of the news from Elizaveta's parents, who tried their best to find Feliks' parents in Poland.. But..

Feliks tried to smile. I won't cry now. Not again. Not when everyone I love is here.

He looked around, at Elizaveta's parents smiling as they grabbed a piece of cake, and to Elizaveta, who was laughing at Gilbert choking on his food, while the smirking Vash was prepared to hit the albino's back, full force. He wouldn't let others see his tears again. Maybe except for Elizaveta, who was the most important person to him now.

His mind lingered to a faded memory of an old friend. "Toris.", he muttered as he scooped a spoonful of cake.

I hope that you are doing well and fine. I wish to see you again.

He got away from his thoughts when he noticed a warm hand over his right one.

"Elizaveta."

Thank you. Thank you for everything.

A/N : I managed to finish this chapter while listening to some jazz music. Hahaha. I really tried my best to write this as interesting and as canon as possible, like Feliks' relations with the Baltics and Russia and such.. Well.. I tried my best! I hope you enjoy reading this.. And since it's the weekend, I might write two or three chapters, and also a special chapter since my birthday is also a few days away~ Thank you for reading this, and I promise, the AusHun moments will come, have patience, my little grasshoppers. ^^

Review, favorite and follow. :)

*Gundel palacsinta - Gundel pancake, stuffed with walnuts and served in chocolate sauce, often flambéed.

P.S. I almost forgot. It's Toris AKA Lithuania's birthday today! I didn't know that, and I'm glad I mentioned him in this chapter.