Chapter 2
Cielo Romano Carriedo-Vargas knew that he was dreaming.
After all, it was only in his dreams that he saw so much blood...
The smell of gunpowder and spilled blood was heavy in the air as the young boy ran past the burning ruins of his land. His amber eyes watered at the stench of dead and decaying bodies, his curly dark hair plastered against his face as sweat ran down his skin in thick, salty rivulets. Where... Where were they? Why weren't they here?
Cielo caught himself wondering again who "they" were... then realized that he didn't have to. He knew who he was searching for... Really, it was always the same person... Well, people.
There. The boy breathed out a sigh of relief and put on a burst of speed when he saw an auburn-haired man- really more of a boy- standing wearily besides a line of battered soldiers, his ill-fitting armor smeared with blood and dirt, a dulled rapier held loosely in his hand. The man didn't seem to notice Cielo's approach, his amber eyes fixed intently on another man that was being lead away by his own men, his dark head bent over the large silver ax clutched in his hands.
The auburn-haired man shouted something in Italian, immediately grabbing the other man's attention. The dark-haired man flashed a small, soothing smile at the fearful Italian and opened his mouth in a reply, his words inaudible to Cielo.
Cielo frowned and tried to move closer to the two men, his breath catching in his throat when the image started to disappear. No... No, this couldn't be happening... He needed to see them... Needed to talk to them... He needed to know why.
Why did you leave me?
Adiós a mi hijo …. Ci vediamo presto ...
We love you...
Cielo eyes shot open and he sat bolt upright in his sleeping bag, his curly dark-brown hair sticking to the thin sheen of sweat on his olive skin. He glanced around him at the darkened room, a low gasp breaking through his lips when he felt someone's hand brush against his own.
The fourteen-year-old glared down at the offending hand, his expression softening slightly when he saw a slumbering seventeen-year-old boy at his side, his brown hair falling across his tanned face in soft waves of chocolate. Cielo hesitated for a moment before brushing a few of the brown locks away from the boy's features. He reached out to touch the other boy's face again, only to freeze when another person brushed against his other side and exhaled a small "Ve~" near his shoulder.
Cielo frowned and turned slowly to glare at the other boy that was snuggled against his side, his amber eyes narrowing dangerously when he saw his sixteen-year-old cousin sprawled carelessly on the floor.
"Francisco," Cielo hissed. "Svegliare il cazzo, bastardo pigro."
Francisco Michelangelo Vargas-Beilschmidt stirred and slowly opened his clear-blue eyes to stare sleepily up at his younger cousin, his ever-present curl sticking up on the right side of his auburn head.
"Ve~ That's not a nice way to wake people up, Cugino," he mused.
"Why the hell are you and Achilles sleeping with me, dammit?"
"...Please stop swearing."
Cielo jumped and blushed as the Greek boy on his other side sat up slowly, his sleepy brown eyes watching the two cousins with a trace of amusement.
"καλημέρα," Achilles Taiyou Honda-Karpusi greeted quietly. "... It is morning, isn't it?"
"Si, I hope it is!" Francisco chirped. "We have school today!"
"Merda," Cielo groaned. "I'm going back to bed...
"Eh? But why, Cugino?"
"Because I hate school... And stop fucking calling me that!"
"Verdammt, can none of you be quiet?"
Francisco's smile widened at the sound of his twin's voice and he whirled around, his blue eyes meeting identical icy orbs as the other boy glared at them from his place on the other side of the small room.
Magnus Friederich Vargas-Beilschmidt glared back at his brother and ran a hand through his mussed auburn hair, carefully avoiding the small curl hanging limply on the right side of his head.
"Mein gott," he groaned.
"Ve~ Buongiorno, fratello!" Francisco called cheerfully.
Magnus merely scowled at his brother.
"Please be quiet, bruder," he snapped. "You'll wake everyone else up."
"Actually, you four are the last to wake up," Marc Lucien Braginski-Williams called lazily from the doorway, his lips curving upwards into a small smirk when the three of the four boys jumped (Achilles appeared to have fallen asleep again...).
Magnus glanced up at the platinum-blond eighteen-year-old boy standing in the doorway, his cheeks burning when he noticed Marc's sister, Katerina Ivanova, half-hidden behind her older brother, her normally-pale cheeks bright red beneath her bob of wavy light gold hair. Katerina's violet eyes widened behind her glasses when she met Magnus's embarrassed gaze, her blush deepening even further.
"I- I will go into the kitchen and see if Saichi needs help, da?" she mumbled.
Marc glanced down at his fourteen-year-old sister, his own violet gaze softening beneath his silvery-blond locks.
"Oui," he murmured. "I'm sure that Saichi will appreciate that, Katenka."
Katerina flashed her brother a small smile and murmured quiet greetings to the other four boys before disappearing from sight. Magnus sighed in relief and disappointment, only to stiffen when he noticed Marc glaring at him.
"Yeux ma sœur, en allemand," he snapped. "Now come on. You guys need to eat now, or you'll be late for school."
"Um... What's for breakfast this morning?" Francisco asked warily, silently praying that Saichi and Katerina were the only ones involved in its preparation...
Marc grimaced, confirming the Italian boy's fears. "Désolé... I'm afraid that Alyson woke up early enough to help with the preparations..."
The three boys that were still awake groaned at the thought and followed Marc into the kitchen with all of the enthusiasm of men going to their executions. Alyson Eleanor Kirkland-Jones was talented at many things... Unfortunately, cooking did not seem to be on her list of talents...
Said girl turned away from the frying pan that she had been bent over as the boys trooped into the kitchen, her emerald eyes brightening behind her glasses as she swept a lock of her thick gold hair behind her ear.
"Hey guys!" she greeted happily. "Dude, guess what? I totally got Sai to let me cook this morning! Isn't this great?"
"Si..." Francisco murmured half-heartedly. Cielo merely glared at the petite Asian girl who stood by Alyson's side at the stove, earning an apologetic shrug. Saichi Cassandra Honda-Karpusi hurriedly turned away from the accusing stares of her companions, her moss-green eyes slightly sheepish.
"... おはようございます," she greeted quietly. "Is Achilles still sleeping?"
Cielo glanced over at the Greek boy that was basically using his shoulder as a pillow, his olive cheeks reddening into a faint blush.
"U-uh, yeah... lazy bastard, can't we get him to stay awake for longer than a minute?" Cielo muttered. "Caray... It's a miracle he hasn't failed a class yet..."
"...I'm awake," Achilles argued sleepily. He raised his head to fix Saichi with a sleepy stare and nodded his head slowly. " καλημέρα, Saichi."
"Achilles-kun," Saichi acknowledged quietly. She cast an anxious glance at the pan that Alyson was supposed to be watching, her brow furrowing when the contents of the pan began to burn. "Um... Alyson-chan? Perhaps you should check this..."
"Huh? Oh, no, it's fine, Sai. That stuff needs to be brown, right?"
"Um..."
"We should start getting ready for school, oui?" Marc broke in quietly, his violet eyes glowing with suppressed amusement. "I'm sure none of you want to be late."
Cielo groaned and slammed his head against the table, ignoring the startled glance that Achilles sent his way at the sudden movement.
"Dios mio..." he moaned. "Can't I just stay home?"
"Non," Marc declared cheerfully.
"B-but, what if... What if the other kids make fun of us again today, брат?" Katerina murmured quietly.
Marc frowned, a deep purple aura rising around him. "They will not dare, oui?"
Francisco and Cielo slowly inched away from the Canadian boy, leaving an uneasy Magnus and a slumbering Achilles behind.
"Ah... Please go and get dressed, everyone," Saichi muttered. "I will finish breakfast so you can eat it on the way to school."
Katerina sighed quietly and dragged a protesting Alyson out of the room. Cielo followed reluctantly, leaving Francisco, Magnus, and Achilles behind with the two oldest members of the household.
Marc smiled thinly at the three remaining boys, his purple aura still shimmering around his body.
"You will all watch over ma petite soeur, oui?" he purred. "You know how I hate it when she comes home sad..."
"V-ve, of course we will!" Francisco mumbled hastily. "R-right, fratello?"
"Ja," Magnus muttered, trying to hide his own unease.
"... Did you know that there are over 1000 species of cats?"
Saichi chuckled and motioned for the boys to leave the kitchen. She waited until they had disappeared from sight before unceremoniously dumping the contents of Alyson's frying pan into a waiting trashcan.
"Sometimes I wonder if we should have allowed Cielo and Katerina to skip a grade," she sighed. "They are be so out of place in high school, Marc-kun."
Marc sighed and ran a hand through his hair, his eyes soft when he met Saichi's concerned gaze.
"Oui," he murmured. "I am worried about Katenka... but it wouldn't have been fair to them, would it?"
Saichi shrugged and glanced at the clock in the kitchen, a small sigh breaking through her lips when she saw what time it was.
"We have to leave for work soon, Marc-kun," she sighed.
Marc frowned and nodded. "I suppose the others can walk to school on their own, oui?"
"はい..." Saichi hesitated for a moment and looked down at her feet, her lips pursed in a disapproving expression. "Marc..."
Marc glanced up immediately, his violet eyes wary. "Oui?"
"When are we going to tell them?" Saichi whispered, her green eyes flickering towards the entryway every few seconds to make sure that none of the others were listening.
Marc's expression hardened and he looked away, his jaw working. "...Not yet."
"You've been saying that for years, Marc," Saichi hissed, a rare flicker of anger in her eyes. "You promised that we would find-"
"I said that we would find them when we were ready," Marc interrupted.
"And you think that we are not ready now?" she snapped.
"Look around you, Saichi," Marc growled. "Do you think we're ready? We're barely able to pay the rent most of the time, and we were only able to rent this apartment because Cielo forged false Ids for the two of us that made the landlord think that we were 18. Granted, it's better than that damned orphanage..."
Saichi shuddered at the memories of the hellhole that they had been forced to live in for most of their lives.
"Do not mention that place," she whispered.
Marc's expression softened and he reached out to brush his hand against her cheek, only to draw back when the girl shied away from his touch.
"Je suis désolé," he sighed. After a moment, he spoke again, his voice quiet. "We will find our parents again, ma cheri. I promise you."
Saichi sighed and nodded slowly. "Soon, Marc-kun. Our siblings will not be satisfied for much longer with fuzzy memories."
"No, I do not think that they will..."
XXX
"Kat?"
Katerina glanced over her shoulder at the sound of Cielo's voice, her violet eyes darkening in concern when she saw the nervous expression on the other boy's features. She slowed her steps, allowing Alyson, Achilles, and the twins to walk past her, one of her slim hands reaching up to brush an errant strand of hair behind her red and white headband.
"What's wrong, Cielitka?" she asked quietly.
Cielo chuckled at the Russian girl's term of endearment and cast a wary look at their other three companions up ahead.
"I... didn't sleep well last night," he muttered, his amber eyes lowered towards the litter-strewn concrete sidewalk.
Katerina frowned and bit her lip. "Another... vision?"
"Sí," Cielo sighed. "It was... about a war again."
"Did you see them, though?" Katerina demanded fervently, her eyes widening.
"I- Yes," Cielo whispered, his expression almost wistful. "I saw them... I wish I knew who they were, though."
Katerina sighed and nodded sympathetically, her muscles tensing when Alyson bounded back towards them, her thick blonde hair drawn up into a messy ponytail on the back of her head.
"Hey, what're you guys talkin' about?" she asked, her emerald eyes glittering curiously behind her wire-rim glasses.
"Cielitka had another dream," Katerina murmured honestly, earning herself a small glare from the dark-haired boy.
Alyson frowned and met Francisco's curious gaze as the twins and Achilles paused to listen to the conversation, her lips tightening into an anxious line.
"Yeah... I had one, too," she muttered. "Was yours sorta... I dunno, violent?"
"Si." Cielo nodded curtly. "...Has anyone else been... dreaming?"
"Da," Katerina broke in, surprising the others. "Mine are always lonely, though... And cold. I do not see anyone, only two men."
"Ve~ What do they look like?" Francisco asked curiously.
Katerina shrugged, her pale cheeks reddening as she buried her face in the folds of her red scarf, her fingers toying with the small white maple leaf embroidered on the edge of the scarf.
"I don't know," she mumbled. "I can never see the faces... Only their outlines. Sometimes I can hear voices, though."
"I can't hear anything in mine," Alyson muttered. "I can only see... And it's always these two guys."
"Mismo," Cielo muttered. "Does one of them have hair like mine?"
"No, both of mine are blonde... Actually, the one has hair the exact shade as mine."
"Mine seem to be blonde as well," Katerina added quietly. "B-but I think one of them has silvery hair like брат."
"Can we stop talking about this now?" Magnus interrupted curtly, his blue eyes trained stubbornly on the sidewalk ahead of him.
"Ve? Ma ... perché, fratello?" Francisco asked quietly, his identical blue eyes creased in confusion beneath his auburn hair.
Magnus shrugged stiffly and continued on his way towards their school, his jaw clenched tightly.
"Why should we dwell on dreams?" he snapped. "They're not real... They don't help us. They don't do anything for us except make us wish for what we can't have."
"T-they help me," Katerina argued, her chin raised defiantly. "T-they make m-me hope... A-and, b-besides, w-what if they're visions of my p-parents, eh?"
Magnus stopped short and glared at the ground, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.
"That's impossible," he growled. "Most of us weren't old enough to have developed any memories of our parents... Especially you, Cielo, and Alyson. Besides, all three of you say that you only see men."
"B-but M-marc and Saichi always told us that our parents were d-different-"
"I don't care!" Magnus growled, his icy blue eyes flashing with anger. "I don't care how different my parents were or how they looked. Why should I? It's obvious they didn't care enough about any of us to keep us around."
"Chiudere l'inferno up!" Cielo snarled. "Stop acting like you know everything, bastardo! You don't know anything!"
"Neither do you!" Magnus yelled.
"Stop!" Achilles shouted, his brown eyes glowing with barely-concealed anger. "This isn't the time for arguing..."
Magnus glared at the Greek boy and pushed past him, his auburn hair swirling in the cold winter air. Francisco cast an apologetic glance at the others and hurried after his twin, leaving Achilles and Alyson to calm a tearful Katerina and a furious Cielo.
"Hey, don't cry, okay?" Alyson said anxiously. "You know none of that crap was true... Magnus is just an idiot, okay? Of course our folks loved us!"
"B-but... h-he looked so angry," Katerina sniffled morosely. "I-I d-don't like it when h-he's angry..."
Alyson shook her head and exchanged a knowing look with Cielo, her slightly-thick eyebrows creased with concern.
"We'll... We'll talk about this later, m'kay?" Alyson sighed. "Now, c'mon, let's get going before we're late... I don't wanna get detention again, alright?"
"Ma per favore, you'll probably land in detention without our help," Cielo snorted.
Alyson merely shoved the boy and wrapped a comforting arm around Katerina, her green eyes brightening when the smaller girl offered her a small smile.
"Спасибо, двоюродный брат," Katerina mumbled.
"No prob, cousin," Alyson chuckled. "Hey, Achilles, you still awake? Maybe Cielo could carry you~."
Cielo blushed a furious red and stomped after the two girls with a sleepy Achilles in tow, his eyes flashing when he caught sight of the smug smirks that Alyson was sending his way.
Damn that stupid American...
Okay, Chapter 2 is up! Um... Yeah, sorry for two things on this one.
1: I'm sorry that there really aren't any nation appearances, in case you were hoping for 'em, but... Well, this fic is kind of devoted to the kids, so I figured that I was better off making them the center of attention. Don't worry, though, we'll have some nations making appearances in another chapter or two.
Also, 2: I'm sorry if this seems like a filler or something.. I had major writer's block trying to figure out how to show how the kids are living. Basically, in case you were totally confused, they're renting an apartment that's way too small for all of them in some nameless town, and they only managed to leave this awful orphanage a few years ago thanks to Cielo's skills at forging fake Ids (He's Romano's son, what did you expect?)
On another note, I also decided to make each of the kids represent a city/area in their parent countries. These will be revealed later on, but for now I am just going to put a list of the kids and their parents so you can keep 'em straight!
GerIta: Magnus Friederich Vargas-Beilschmidt and Francisco Michelangelo Vargas-Beilschmidt (both 16)
USUK: Alyson Eleanor Kirkland-Jones (15)
RusCan: Marc Lucien Braginski-Williams (18) and Katerina Ivanova Braginski-Williams (14)
Giripan: Saichi Cassandra Honda-Karpusi (18) and Achilles Taiyou Honda-Karpusi (17)
Spamano: Cielo Romano Carriedo-Vargas (14)
Well, thanks to all of the people who reviewed so far! Please keep reviewing and tell me how I'm doing! (That did not rhyme... nope, no rhymes...)
Sorry for the insanely long A/N... I promise I'll be done after I put down the translations!
Translations:
(Spanish) Adiós a mi hijo- Good-bye my son
(Italian) Ci vediamo presto- We'll see you soon
(Italian) Svegliare il cazzo, bastardo pigro- Wake the fuck up, lazy bastard
(Italian) Cugino- Cousin
(Greek) καλημέρα- Good Morning
(Italian) Merda- Shit
(German) Verdammt- Dammit
(German) Mein gott- My God
(Italian) Buongiorno, fratello- Good morning, brother!
(German) Bruder- brother
(French) Yeux ma sœur, en allemand- Eyes off my sister, German
(French) Désolé- Sorry
(Japanese) おはようございます- Good morning
(Spanish) Caray- Geez
(Spanish) Dios mio- My God
(French) ma petite soeur- my little sister
(Japanese) はい- Yes
(French) Je suis désolé- I am sorry
(French) ma cheri- my dear
(Spanish) Mismo- Same
(Italian) Ma...perché, fratello?- But... Why not, brother?
(Italian) Chiudere l'inferno up!- Shut the hell up!
(Italian) Ma per favore- Oh please