Disclaimer: We do not own Hetalia Axis Powers but we do own the story in this fiction and things that are not related to Hetalia Axis Powers. This is also not historically accurate since this is a fictional work anyway.
CHOICES
CHAPTER 2
-1946-
It was a warm morning in London. Arthur was sleeping peacefully when suddenly the telephone rang. He groggily opened his eyes to stare at the clock beside the telephone. The clock said it was 10:00 a.m. He groaned out loud as he felt a headache coming.
"Allo?" Arthur's voice came out hoarsely.
"Anglettere, I'll be there shortly to check on you. Today is a very special day, is it not?"
"Check on me? You bloody idiot, there's nothing special today."
"But we're going to have so much fun, mon cher! It is the fourth of July!"
"What? Fu-" Before he could spew out some complaints, Arthur was cut off by Francis.
Damn that French frog. He called me early in the bloody morning, just to say he will bloody annoy me the whole day, when I already have a bloody headache. Will this day be more bloody worse? Arthur tried to sleep again but he couldn't.
The doorbell rang abruptly, forcing Arthur to get off his bed and to check who was ringing his doorbell. He didn't really need to check who it was but then he still had to ask why Francis came with such wrong timing.
The frog really came. Sigh, guess I'll have to deal with this immediately.
Arthur opened the door but he blocked the path so Francis couldn't come in. "What the hell do you need from me, frog?" Arthur asked, while glaring at him.
"Comme ce que je t'ai dit, to accompany you, mon ami" Francis answered. "Hmm, let me guess, you're having a headache?" he mused. Francis flipped his blonde bangs as he stood in front of him.
Arthur gritted his teeth, "If you bloody know then leave my house immediately. You're making it worse, frog!" He placed his hand on his forehead as he tried to massage it.
"Non, non, mon cher. But your headache is really unbelievable, unfailingly coming on this very day."
"Shut up, frog" England lamely retorted, his headache getting worse every second and his body was so weak, there was no way he can win against Francis at a time like that, even his will-power wouldn't do.
"Just get your bloody arse in here immediately, punk, if you're going to enter." He surrendered as he opened his door widely. Francis skipped merrily into Arthur's house.
"Merci, Anglettere" he said as he reached for Arthur's hand and then, kissed it softly.
"What the hell are you doing, bloody frog!" Arthur yelled as he pulled his hand away from Francis.
"Sshh, mon ami. You're disturbing the neighborhood" warned Francis as he lowered his voice.
Arthur grunted as he made his way to the kitchen, to drink, of course, his precious tea. Francis followed him while complementing his grand house. Although he said it'll be better if Arthur added more furniture. After Arthur prepared his tea, he poured it in to two cups. He offered one to Francis.
"How thoughtful." Francis commented as he accepted the cup of tea.
"By the way, Angleterre, How are your siblings? I can see they're not here to devastate you and your home."
"They'll be coming a little while later, to check on me."
"Je vois."
Then, there was silence. It was like ice that's waiting to melt or to break.
"Well, mon cher, how about having drink downtown first? Then, think about what you should do later." Francis suggested.
"What the hell? I'm having a bloody headache and I don't have any time to waste. I have to work as soon as this damned headache disappears."
"You'll just have another headache, and time doesn't matter to a brooding person, mon ami."
England sighed. Cursing, why the bloody hell must he do such things. But he gave up, thinking he might need it, and got dressed up. He spent the whole thirty minutes getting ready, grudgingly of course. He almost forgot about his sibling's visit because of his anger.
On the other hand, earlier that day in Scotland, Arthur's sibling were getting ready to visit him later on.
"Ow! Damn you Edward! How dare you hurt the great Ireland?" Patrick threatened Edward, as they started fighting with Edward throwing books and other solid things towards Patrick.
"Huh? Yah're a'ready hurt by that? Weak aren't yah?" Edward said smirking. Patrick glared at him.
"You little! I'm gonna settle this once and for all. I'll beat the hell out of you!" Patrick yelled at Edward.
"Heh. Bring't on!" Edward replied haughtily, his face with a smirk. He was itching for a fight.
"You two, for goodness sake, will you stop playing around and start packing your things? We must start travelling to London! Look, it's already six in the morning!" Liliane exclaimed at the two of them.
"Don ya get'n the way, ol' woman!" Edward shouted back as he pulled his sword from the wall, which was supposed to be a decoration. It's sharp and can kill nonetheless.
"Charge!" Patrick shouted as he grabbed a knife, the nearest weapon he can get.
"No charging, you idiots. Don't destroy my house any further." Frederick said with a threatening voice as cold as ice. He glared intensely at the twins. The ruckus by the two was immediately stopped. Peace and order was brought back by Frederick's evil aura spreading.
"Thank goodness. . . Thank you, Fred. Now move you two, start packing." Liliane ordered.
"Yes ma'am!" the twins said as they rushed towards their room out of fear of angering both Liliane and Frederick.
"Really, I can't believe those two, pointing blades at each other's throat when they get a chance. Sigh, well, I better finish packing then. You too Fred." Liliane said as she walked to her room also.
"Yes, go ahead. I already finished packing last night. Brother is expecting us today so we must rush." Fred replied as he went to get their train tickets and his bag in his room.
The siblings started to travel as soon as the twins finished packing what they need for the stay in London. They rode a train to reach their brother. They've arrive in London after four hours. A chauffeur fetched them from the station and escorted to Arthur's village. They travelled by foot to Arthur's house for about thirty minutes.
Arthur and Francis were already walking towards their destination when they met Liliane and the others a few steps away from his house.
"Brother! We're here! Sorry we're. . . late. . ." Liliane finished her sentence, stunned, when she saw Arthur and Francis together. She stopped walking altogether and gawked at her brother and Francis. Although it was unlady-like of her to stare at them with her mouth wide open like the twins. Frederick just stood there and only stared at the scene, his eyeglasses glinting in the sunlight.
"Hey. . . Welco-" Arthur was cut by Francis as he greeted his siblings. Arthur huffed indignantly as Francis hugged the twins as if he was their brother. Liliane composed herself when she realized what was happening. She turned her head with disdain before hugging Arthur as a greeting.
"Bienvenue, mon cher! You must be le Pays de Galles! Oh, and the cute twins, l'Irlande and l'Irlande du Nord! And, naturellement, the handsome l'Ecosse. Bienvenue, mon enfants." Francis cheerfully greeted them and scuffled the twins' hair.
"You're not our father, so stop saying we're your children." Patrick said bleakly as he pushed Francis away and moved towards Arthur and Liliane.
"You're not even our brother." Edward added as he did the same.
"Nor our friend. . .so stop getting close" the two said in chorus, "And why are you here anyway?" Both of them raised their eyebrows. They blocked their siblings from Francis; they acted like a body guard to both Arthur and Liliane.
"Cute as ever." Francis said, amazed. "Well, obviously, I'm helping Arthur here to have a fun time." He answered while raising one eyebrow at the twins' actions.
Arthur couldn't help but roll his eyes at Francis' antics. He shook his head as he watched his siblings bicker with Francis. Liliane stood in front Francis.
"Well, thank you Mr. Bonnefoy, but we're already here so you can go now." Liliane demanded while straining to stop herself from pushing Francis away from her beloved brother.
"It seems that your siblings are hell bent to drive me away." Francis said to Arthur, feigning a face of hurt as he put a dramatic hand on his head.
"We are!" the three exclaimed bluntly. Frederick finally decided it was time to intervene. He moved in front of his protective siblings and scolded them.
"Liliane, Patrick, Edward, stop it. You're being rude to Mr. Bonnefoy. And it seems that brother and Mr. Bonnefoy are going somewhere." Fred observed. He turned to his brother Arthur. "Don't mind us, and attend to the task, brother."
"It's not really impor-"
"Merci, mon cher." Francis said to Fred before Arthur could say that he didn't want to accompany him. Fred just gave him a nod before turning towards Arthur's house.
"Now, Angleterre we must get going." Francis said to Arthur as he grabbed his hand, and started walking. Francis pretended not to hear his friend's protests.
The siblings went inside the house as the two older nations went away. The twins were already playing and messing up the living room by throwing cushions at each other. Liliane and Frederick followed them to the living room to stop the destruction of Arthur's living room.
"Why did you let brother go with him?" Liliane suddenly asked. The twins stopped playing when both Liliane and Frederick entered the room. The twins felt the fatigue from travelling take a toll at them and just layed there on the floor.
"I thought it would be a good change of pace for brother. We can talk to him later on." Frederick answered simply as he picked up the cushions from the floor.
"But he hates the man!" Liliane huffed as she blew a silver strand away from her face.
"Oh really? I think they're good friends though." Fred said with a blank face.
"Ugh, how come you think so?" Liliane asked, as she sat down the sofa. She couldn't comprehend what was happening between Francis and her brother.
"Well," Fred sat down too, "Mr. Bonnefoy knows what brother needs to do, Liliane. They might look like enemies, but because of that brother can easily express himself, angrily of course and with Mr. Bonnefoy's control of the conversation. We, his siblings, cannot help him the way enemies and strangers can help brother. It's not a nice feeling, though. Brother thinks that he must suppress his feelings because he doesn't want us to worry, he is too stubborn."
"I know that much, but…"
"No more buts, Liliane. What's done is done. We can only help brother this way, no matter how bitter things may end for him, for us." Fred said with finality in his tone and he looked away.
Liliane didn't say anything after that but a frown was on her beautiful face as she stared into the space with her ruby red eyes. Frederick could only look at the blue cloudy sky through the window and hope that his inferrence was correct.
Meanwhile, at the bar, Arthur and Francis sat side to side with their drinks in front of them. Although the sun was still shining outside, there were already many people drinking like them.
Arthur and Francis came to Francis' favorite bar in London, all because of the bartender that Francis was trying to groove a move. They've been there for half an hour. All that Francis did was flirt with the bartender, though he was getting ignored. Arthur thought it was funny, but it was getting annoying since he wanted to know what Francis wants from him.
"What now, frog?" England asked as he drank from his fourth glass. "It's about time to reveal your intentions."
Silence was heavy in the air after Arthur asked. Francis' face became grave. Francis inhaled deeply and exhaled something akin to a sigh as he prepared to talk.
"Anglettere, you know that no good will come to you doing this."
Arthur was surprised. The silence shattered like glass. His patience also shattered when he realized what Francis has pointed out.
"What are you talking about?" Arthur asked sharply. He glared at Francis as he clenched his glass hard.
"You know what I mean." Francis answered flatly, daring Arthur to suggest otherwise. He glared at Arthur too.
Arthur knew what Francis meant, and he won't try to play words with Francis anymore. Arthur erupted like a volcano.
"You have no bloody right to tell me this" England hissed as the glass in his hand shattered like the silence. He ignored the broken pieces of glass that pierced his palm just as he ignored his broken heart. Blood flowed through Arthur's hands yet the two remained unshaken. Their gaze upon each other never faltered.
"You know then. Stop this already. You've been miserable every year. Mon Dieu, Anglettere, it's been almost one hundred sixty-five years already. ONE HUNDRED SIXTY FIVE! And every single damn year, you look like you're mourning for someone who died." Francis exclaimed as he waves his hands around.
"I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT!" Arthur shouted as he stood up, his emerald eyes burning with rage. Francis also stood up to face Arthur.
"WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE A KID? YOU KNOW IT YOURSELF THAT WHAT YOU'VE BEEN DOING UNTIL NOW WERE ALL FRUITLESS!" Francis said as he grabbed Arthur's collar and shook him.
Other customers were already watching them. Some were afraid that they might start punching each other, but some were waiting for action to take place. The bartender was too afraid to stop them and cowered away from them. Francis noticed this and he began to calm himself down.
He let go of Arthur's collar and began to breathe deeply. Inhale. Exhale. He opened his mouth a little bit, but no words came out. He stared at Arthur with concern and anger in his blue eyes. Arthur did not return Francis' gaze as he tended to his wounds. Francis started to talk again.
"Arthur," Arthur winced at this, but Francis was persistent. "Arthur, please stop this. I may not be a good friend, but I've been with you the longest time. You're always suppressing your own feelings, and because of that you've become like 'this'. We've been talking every year." France chuckled bitterly then his serious face came back, "but you never wake up from your dream. Le plus cher Amerique is no more."
"I've not been miserable the entire one hundred sixty-five years. Yes, I've been sad, but not all the times. And eventually I've forgotten the sadness, but this day. I've worked hard for my people as I always do. Now, Francis, what else do you want me to do?" Arthur looked straight into Francis' eyes.
"I've been telling you to stop this. Stop ignoring Alfred. Stop burying yourself in work. Why don't you perk up and go buy a proper gift and greet him earnestly this time? It's not only for him to be happy but this is also for you Arthur. You need to properly move on. Look at his eyes and talk to him, properly. Do not search for the Alfred you've been with long time ago. Have a proper look at him. And acknowledge that he is free, and that he has really grown. That's what parents do, right?"
"I'm actually more like an older brother. But I'm trying Francis, I'm bloody trying" Arthur smiled bitterly at Francis as he corrected him. Francis took out his handkerchief and tied it around Arthur's bloody hand.
After a few more drinks (Arthur drank a total of ten glasses while Francis only had three), they paid the bartender with a huge tip for their troubles and left the bar. Francis escorted a drunken Arthur to his home only to be greeted by an angry Liliane and a calm Fred.
"His hand is bleeding! What did you do to him? I thought you were his friend!" Liliane lashed at Francis, not letting him explain what happened, when she saw Athur's bandaged hand.
"Liliane, LILIANE! Calm down! I'm sure there's a rational explanation for this. Let Mr. Bonnefoy say something." Fred scolded Liliane as he took Arthur from Francis.
"Madame, I apologize for Arthur's state. He was—" Liliane couldn't care less for his explanation and so she slammed the door shut to Francis' face, effectively cutting him off.
"Liliane, that was rude."
"Fred, you're annoying."
Francis rubbed his nose as he fetched a cab to catch his flight to United States. The plane departed at exactly 2:00 in the afternoon. The flight from London to New York is approximately eight hours. Francis sighed as he had eight hours to sit his arse and do nothing.
At nine in the evening, Alfred celebrated his birthday at his grand mansion in New York. He tapped his spoon on a champagne glass to get everybody's attention for his welcoming speech.
"Everyone! Thank you for coming to my Birthday Party! Your efforts for coming are greatly appreciated by the great hero! Now let's start my heroic party!" Alfred announced as everybody clapped enthusiastically.
After his speech, people and nations started swarming around him. They greeted him one by one. Alfred was already tired of socializing and flirting with girls, and so he decided to slip out of the party and go to the garden.
It was a full moon that night. The garden was bathed in moonlight, making it look more beautiful and ethereal. Alfred stood there in the gardening, silently enjoying his surroundings. He didn't notice that a large amount of time has passed already.
"Happy Birthday Al!" Matthew greeted Alfred cheerfully behind his back.
"Woah! You scared the hell out of me." Alfred said as he jumped back from surprise.
"Sorry if I surprised you but I was already here for awhile. It's your fault for not noticing." Matthew frowned at Alfred.
Alfred didn't want to upset his brother, "I'm sorry. But thanks! Really, it's suffocating inside there. Accompany me for awhile."
Matthew nodded, "You've really been great these past 165 years, Al. You've become much stronger, and now you have reached the top. You've also helped all nations in growing as well. I'm really proud of you."
"Well, that's to be expected. I'm a hero after all! A hero should not be weak, and must help the ones who needs help!" Alfred said proudly as he puffed out his chest.
"Yes, you really are a hero…" Matthew smiled at this as he stared in the blank space.
He paused for awhile then he continued, "And because you are a hero, I believe that you can save him…" Matthew said softly, "I must go now. My boss will be angry at me since he always has a hard time finding me." Matthew smiled sadly, looking directly at Alfred's eyes, and then silently left.
"Matt, what are you…?"
Alfred was lost for words for he was confused at what Matthew said. He wanted to ask Matthew what he meant but Matthew already left. Alfred sighed, with nothing to do and no one to talk to; he decided to go back to the noisy banquet. As he made his way to the party, he noticed that the nations have started a commotion. This is not so different from having a world meeting, Alfred thought.
"I haven't seen Arthur, aru. Do you have any idea where he might be?" Yao asked Kiku. He scratched his chin thoughtfully while he held his weird Hello Kitty stuffed toy.
"No, he hasn't been around here." Kiku replied politely while looking around the ballroom where Alfred's birthday party was held.
"Well, Athur has, like, never come to Alfred's birthday party, has he?" Feliks said, joining the conversation. He happened to pass by them when he heard them talking about Arthur.
"Now that you've said it, he has never aru." Yao agreed.
"Well, it's quite natural for him not to attend. But what's intriguing me is that Francis is not here too." Toris also joined in.
"My, my, my… What happened to those two? Don't tell me France is comforting dear Arthur right now? Kyaa! Just thinking of it makes my nosebleed." Elizaveta said, her love for BL kicking in. Her eyes were filled with hearts.
"No, dear, I think that's not possible. Arthur will surely punch France as soon as he sees Francis' face. You know that." Roderich gently disproved Elizaveta as he pushed his glasses up.
"Well, it's not bad to speculate things." Elizaveta replied to her ex-husband, pouting.
"If it's Francis, he might be, like, sleeping delightfully tonight that he even, like, forgot that today is Alfred's birthday, like, don't you think Toris?" Feliks guessed.
"It's not impossible. . ." Toris replied as he too wondered about Francis' whereabouts.
"Well well well. I've been gone just for some time, and gossips start to fly already, huh? I see. . . I'm well loved, aren't I?" Francis said arrogantly, announcing his presence.
"Oh, you're here. How boring. . " Elizaveta said, disappointed.
"Well, sorry for being boring." Francis puffed as he flipped his hair in annoyance.
Though Francis has arrived, more speculations and gossips were talked about in the party. It became noisier and noisier.
"Ve~Ludwig, Ludwig, do you want pasta? The pasta served in here is great!" Feliciano exclaimed as he offered Ludwig some of his pasta.
"Feliciano, just continue eating. I'll have some later." Ludwig replied as he thought of strategies for the future.
"Da! Toris, found you da!" Ivan exclaimed gleefully as he glomped Toris.
"Ivan! . . ." Toris squeaked as he tried to get away from Ivan.
"Ivan, stop scaring and following Toris, like, right at this moment, or I will, like, make Warsaw your capital." Feliks said threatening Ivan as he wagged his finger in front of him.
"That will not do, don't you think so Raivis, da?" Ivan asked poor Raivis who was just passing by
"Y-yes, I-Ivan" Raivis said shaking.
"How about you Alfred, do you have any idea where Arthur is?" France asked innocently.
"H-huh? Me? Oh, no, no. I've got no idea where that old man is at the moment. Well, he has hated me since forever so that's why. And he hasn't came to any birthdays of mine, so it's the usual thing for me." America nervously replied, grinning.
"I see. Hmm… Hey, Alfred… I need you for something tomorrow. Are you free?" Francis requested.
"I'm not really busy, but for what?"
"Well. . ."
The next day, there was a loud commotion at Arthur's usually quite home.
"BLOODY BRATS! WILL YOU STOP SHOUTING AND PLAYING AROUND. I'M ALREADY HAVING A BLOODY HEADACHE. GIVE ME PEACE ONCE IN A WHILE!" Arthur yelled at the twins.
Arthur was alone in his office, quiet as usual. Until the twins came, blaming each other for the current fight they were having. It became rowdier. Fred heard the ruckus inside the office, he entered as well to stop the twins but they were persistent. Liliane brought tea to the office to calm their brother down.
"NO! EDWARD STARTED FIRST!"
"NO, YAH IDIOT! YAH STARTED THROWING BOOKS FIRST! LOOK!" Edward said as he pointed a red swollen bump in his forehead, "YAH STARTED 'T! I'LL FINISH IT!"
"YOU DESERVE IT, STUPID NORTH!
"NOW YOU'VE REALLY DONE IT!"
"DAMN YOU, BLOODY BRATS. STOP NOW AT ONCE!"
"MAKE US, IF YOU CAN!"
"Heh, challenging me like that. Do not underestimate the glory of Britannia and the strength of a pirate, you twits." Arthur's eyes twitched, then stood up from his chair, and pulled the sword hanging from the wall. He glared at the twins threateningly.
"It came out! The devil came out!" Edward yelled as he cowered behind Fred and Patrick did the same.
"Waah! Fred stop him!" Patrick pleaded to Fred.
"NO, you two deserve it. But I believe you can be saved if you start pleading now." Fred said coolly for he was having fun as well. His green eyes gleamed wickedly behind his eyeglass as he stepped away from the twins when Arthur charged at them.
"Groveling, you mean" Liliane added, grinning. She watched the twins avoid Arthur narrowly with her ruby eyes.
"Who the hell will do that!" the twins exclaimed as they ran around the room.
"Well, it's fine but if I were you I'll choose groveling. It hurts like hell you know~." Liliane threatened, scaring the two.
"NO! A'right, a'right, ol' pirate man, we give up! We surrender! Here, the white flag, see?" Edward said while waving the flag fastly.
"Go some other place where you'll not disturb me" Arthur ordered.
"Eh~ that'll be bor…ing…" Arthur glared at them with his green eyes, "Ack, we mean, Aye aye captain!" then they started running for the doors.
"At last. . ."
"You were really drunk yesterday, brother." Liliane said as she poured tea in the teacup and handed it to Arthur.
"Yes, and I'm sorry for that. The frog just dragged me everywhere."
Liliane giggled, as she poured another cup of tea and gave it to Frederick.
"Thank you." Fred replied politely as he sipped his tea.
"I shall go and start preparing dinner now, if you may excuse me." She left the office with her wavy silver hair swaying behind her.
"Frederick. I know this isn't a good time talking about political welfare of the country, but we need to talk about this immediately." Arthur stared at his brother. Green met green.
"I understand, brother." Frederick sighed as he ran his hand through his short brown hair.
"Don't be so uptight about this. You're pretty good with dealing things like this."
"I know, but I don't want to commit errors that will bring us siblings to shame."
"Understandable. You're not alone in this, Fred. I'll be there, too."
"You're not alone too brother." Fred said in a low tone, his glasses glinted ominously.
Silence.
"I… I really have placed you in a rather difficult situation, haven't I?" Arthur said while smiling sadly.
"No, brother. I just meant-"
"I understand what you're thinking, even Francis thought so. I'm trying to be more truthful to be myself, I'm trying."
"Brother. . ."
"I'm sorry if I worried you and the others."
"No, don't be sorry. Please. . . Just please remember that we're always here for you."
Fred was answered by silence. Arthur suddenly smiled at Frederick.
"Well, perk up! Let's begin our meeting now. Here, have more tea."
Frederick also smiled, "Thanks brother."
They heard the door bell ringing and Liliane shouting "Coming! Please wait for awhile." The newly found peace in Arthur's home, however, was short lived. Little did they know that not only the house but also their lives were about to take a drastic turn once again.
-End of Chapter 2-
Hello again everyone! The second chapter is quite longer than the first one, ne? Hope you liked it! Please review! Thank you very much! :)