Chapter 5
"Prussia!"
Gilbert winced and glanced over his shoulder as he made his way upstairs, his lips curving into a small smile when he saw Francis following him, his blue eyes stunned beneath his honey blonde hair. France froze for a brief moment when he saw the smile, his eyes widening in shock.
"Did you... Oh mon Dieu, que tu viens de sourire? Qu'est-ce qui se passe? (Oh my God, did you just smile? What the hell is going on?)"
"Francis... Dude, calm down, okay?" Gilbert chuckled. He turned a continued to make his way up the stairs, not really surprised when the Frenchman followed.
"You never forfeit a fight... And... Who was that boy? Why did you talk to him? Gilbert, what-"
"France." The Frenchman stopped talking abruptly and stared at Prussia with wide eyes. Gilbert noticed distantly that the country's usually-immaculate clothes were rumpled from the crowd, that his white shirt was slightly stained with what looked like beer. "You having fun down there?"
"Mm, I was until I saw your little show, mon ami. There was a fascinating young man serving the beer... Now, what is this about?"
Prussia shrugged, his lips curling upwards into a small smile of relief when he saw a group of teenagers watching him warily from the top of the stairs, Magnus and Francisco at the front.
"You'll see," he whispered to France.
"What took you so long?" Magnus demanded quietly when the two countries joined them at the top of the stairs, his cool blue eyes flickering towards France with an uneasy caution. "And who's this?"
"A friend of mine," Gilbert explained easily, not even bothering to look at his friend. "C'mon, let's see if we can find someplace a little more private..."
"Why should we, burro?" Prussia blinked in surprise when a younger boy with curly dark brown hair and bright amber eyes glared at him defiantly from behind Magnus, his arms crossed stubbornly in front of his chest.
France drew in a sharp breath from behind Gilbert, his slim hand reaching out to clasp Prussia's shoulder for balance.
"Mon Dieu (My God...)..." he breathed. "He looks... just like Antonio... Oh my God... You found them..."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Francisco broke in sharply, his cheerful face darkening into an uncharacteristic frown. "Who are you two, and what do you want from us?"
Prussia shook his head slowly. "Not here... Please, let us talk to you privately. It's about your parents."
"We have no parents," Magnus growled fiercely, although Gilbert noticed that none of the other teens seemed to share his sentiments.
France chuckled humorlessly and moved forward to stand beside Prussia, his blue eyes focusing intently on a slim girl with wavy golden hair and violet eyes.
"Oh, you have parents, mon ami," he murmured. "... Is that Katerina?"
The violet-eyed girl stiffened and shot Francis a panicked look. She raised a trembling hand to straighten her glasses before nodding timidly.
"How do you know my n-name?" she asked quietly.
Francis chuckled again and shook his head. "Not here, mon cherie (my dear)."
Katerina sighed and glanced pleadingly at the twins that still stood at the front of the group.
"Magnus, Francisco," she whispered. "Пожалуйста ... Я хочу услышать, что они должны сказать. (Please... I want to hear what they have to say)."
Magnus frowned before sighing in defeat. He glanced at Francisco, who nodded and moved towards a simple black door in the far corner of the room. France and Prussia followed the teens, their eyes widening in slight surprise when the door opened to reveal a reasonably-large bathroom, fully stocked with bandages and other medical supplies.
"A bathroom?" Francis muttered in disbelief, earning himself a glare from Magnus.
"You wanted privacy. This is the only place where we can get it in this building," he said flatly.
Prussia chuckled at the slightly disgusted look on France's face and flung himself unceremoniously onto the floor in front of the recently-shut door. He smirked up at the Frenchman before turning back to the teens, his scarlet eyes tightening when they all moved to the other end of the small room.
"I'm not going to bite, you know," he pointed out casually.
"Just tell us what you know, bastardo."
"Ve, please don't be rude, Cielo," Francisco whispered to the olive-skinned boy.
Cielo ignored Francisco and glared defiantly at the two nations, his amber eyes gleaming with a fierce sort of hope. Prussia sighed and shook his head with a wry smile.
"You know, you really do look like Antonio," he muttered.
"Oui, but he acts more like Lovino," France added with a chuckle.
"Who the hell are they, bastards?" Cielo demanded.
"Antonio est votre père, ma chère. Lovino est votre mère."
"I don't speak fucking French, you wine bastard!"
"H-he said that Antonio is your father," Katerina translated quickly. "And Lovino is your... W-wait, how can a m-man be Cielo's mother?"
France smiled warmly at the girl, causing her to fidget and draw closer to another blond girl for protection.
"Ah, you understand la langue française(the french language)?"
"Her brother Marc speaks it," the other girl broke in cheerfully, her wary emerald eyes watching Francis closely from behind her glasses. "By the way, we seem to have skipped the usual introductions, haven't we? Not that you two seem to need it."
Gilbert raised his eyebrows, his pale lips curling into a smirk. "Oh, you're Alyson, aren't you? Figures you'd be Artie and Alfred's brat, kesesese~."
Alyson raised her eyebrows and smiled thinly, her hand clasped tightly in Katerina's shaking fingers. "You didn't answer my question."
Prussia shrugged. "Whatever. You can call me Gilbert for now. Gilbert Beilschmidt. My friend here is Francis Bonnefoy."
Magnus and Francisco started at the mention of Gilbert's last name, their identical blue eyes focusing on his pale face with an almost-frightening intensity. There was dead silence in the room for a long moment, before it was broken by another boy with messy chocolate-brown hair and sleepy brown eyes who had remained silent throughout the entire exchange.
"Enough dancing around the question," he said quietly. "Tell us what the hell you want from us. Now."
France stared at the boy for a moment before turning to Prussia, his eyebrows raised questioningly. Gilbert shrugged in response and looked at his two nephews, his expression softening.
"Ja (Yes)," he murmured. "Alright, listen up, because the awesome me isn't going to repeat this too many times. There are a few things that you guys should know about your parents..."
XXX
Alyson Eleanor Kirkland-Jones had heard and seen a lot of strange things in her life. Of course, that was mostly due to those pesky fairies playing pranks on everyone but still. She had definitely seen her fair share of weird things.
However, sitting in a bathroom with her only friends listening to a Frenchman and a Ger- Prussian tell her that they were the personified nations of France and Prussia and that her parents were apparently America and England pretty much blew every other odd part of her life out of the water.
"So... Wait, what?" she gasped, her large eyebrows furrowing in confusion beneath her eternally-tangled golden hair.
The albino- Prussia- shot her an amused look and winked one of his red eyes at her.
"You heard me, kid," he chuckled. "You're the daughter of the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. And your friend there, Katerina? She's the youngest child of the Russian Federation and Canada."
Katerina trembled, her thin hands reaching up to touch the white maple leaf that was embroidered on her headband.
"D-do they l-look like me?" she asked quietly, prompting Magnus and Cielo to stare at her incredulously.
"Wha- You can't actually believe them, Kat," Magnus hissed.
"W-why not?" Katerina shot back stubbornly, her violet eyes firm.
"Well, for starters, these crack heads just told us that our 'mothers' were men," Cielo muttered. "Even I know that men can't have kids, and I slept through health last year."
"Oui, that was a bit of a surprise for us as well," Francis- France?- chuckled. "I remember your own mother had a fit when he found out about his twin brother's pregnancy... and that was before Lovino realized that he was with his own child... Romano was always a, how do you say, angry sort of fellow..."
"V-ve... So, Cielo's... mother and my mother are the same country?" Francisco clarified slowly. "But they are... different people?"
Magnus glared at his twin and opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by Prussia.
"Yep," Prussia declared cheerfully. "Northern Italy and Southern Italy are two different people, although South Italy is usually only called Romano to make things clearer."
"Is that even possible?" Alyson broke in skeptically.
Prussia shrugged. "It is if a country has been divided long enough. Take me and West- er, Germany. We were both separate nations before the country was unified, and now he's all of Germany while I'm an ex-nation. Although there is a new Prussian Empire..."
"So, what, mia madre (my mother) is an ex-nation?" Cielo grumbled.
"Are you saying you belief us?" France shot back cheerfully.
"Fuck no! But... I mean... Kind of a shitty deal, you know, considering..."
"Hahaha, sucks for you, Cielo," Alyson laughed.
"Shut the hell up Alyson! Wha- dammit, Achilles, what the fuck are you doing?"
"...You seemed upset..." Achilles mumbled, his arm still wrapped loosely around Cielo's shoulder despite the younger teen's protests.
Prussia laughed at the display, his expression quickly sobering when he caught sight of Magnus's glare.
"So... do any of you actually believe me?" he asked quietly.
"I do," Katerina broke in immediately. "I-it makes sense... t-the dreams I've been having... they f-fit with what you said." She glanced pleadingly at Cielo and Alyson, silently begging them to agree with her and prove that she wasn't insane.
Alyson hesitated for a moment and glanced over at the small green fairy that had decided to sit on her shoulder halfway through the conversation, her eyebrows raised questioningly. The fairy giggled and nodded enthusiastically.
"They're telling the truth, Aly," the fairy told her. "England's a really good friend of mine. You have his eyes, you know."
"Why didn't you ever tell me this, Tink?" she muttered, making sure to keep her voice low.
The fairy shrugged and smiled beatifically. "Well, you never asked."
Alyson snorted and clapped Katerina on the shoulder, making the other girl jump.
"Well, I believe you two!" she proclaimed loudly. "The fairies say that you're right, so I suppose it's all true."
Prussia blinked at her in confusion and glanced at France, who merely smiled knowingly.
Cielo sighed heavily at Alyson's proclamation and glanced warily at Achilles, who had remained silent after his short outburst.
"Well?" he muttered. "What do you think, bastardo?"
Achilles shrugged lazily. "...They don't look like they're lying...I don't mind being the son of Greece and Japan..."
Cielo rolled his eyes and muttered a few insults in Italian before moving closer to Katerina and Alyson, dragging Achilles behind him.
"Looks like we believe you two bastards, too," he grumbled. "So I swear to God, if you're lying I'm going to cut off your-"
"Ve~! I don't think they're lying, cugino (cousin)," Francisco broke in quickly. He glanced at his twin for a moment, his blue eyes troubled. "Magnus?"
"Nein," Magnus said shortly. "No. I don't believe them."
Prussia flinched and leaned forward, his eyes narrowing in concentration.
"Look, if it's proof you need-" he began.
"I don't want any damn proof," Magnus snarled, his usually-calm expression cracking to reveal raw fury. "Do you even hear how insane you sound? You expect me to believe that the reason we haven't seen our parents is because we were kidnapped, and that some of the most powerful countries in the world couldn't track us down for fourteen years?"
"They used everything that they had-" France began desperately.
"And, what, every advanced intelligence agency in the world failed to track down a group of children?" Magnus growled. "We were in a fucking New York City orphanage for most of our lives, being treated like shit and praying every night that someone would come and rescue us, that no one would try and separate us! You'll excuse me for not really believing your fairy tale of loving parent-nations when I watched the people I loved get beaten bloody by every fucking person we came into contact with nearly every fucking day of my life!"
France and Prussia stared at Magnus in horror, unmistakeable pain and anger rising in their eyes. Alyson winced at their expressions and glanced at Francisco, trying to force back the memories of those days in the orphanage... those nights of shivering in the cold beside the small Italian boy and his twin, trying not to cry over her latest injuries... Francisco sensed her gaze and offered her a tired smile before he turned back to his twin, his blue eyes pleading.
"Fratello," he whispered. "Please don't blame that on them. It wasn't their fault..."
"Besides, I'm not sure that that hellhole was considered a legal orphanage," Cielo broke in sourly. "So I'm not really surprised that they couldn't find us."
"Is that place still standing?" Prussia demanded roughly, his voice low and thick with suppressed rage.
"Da (Yes)," Katerina whispered shakily.
Prussia's expression darkened and he shook his head slowly, his red eyes murderous.
"We'll deal with that later," he vowed quietly. "But first... We need to let your parents know that you're alive."
"How?" Cielo demanded sharply, his cheeks flushing when he realized that he had spoken aloud. "Not that I really give a damn... Like I would want to see those bastards..."
France chuckled and nodded. "Oui, I agree with Gilbert. You have all gone long enough without meeting your families. There is a world meeting tomorrow, so everyone is here... The only problem, of course, would be convincing the security guards to allow us to bring you in..."
"Kesesese~ Who says the security guards have to approve anything?" Prussia broke in. "I've been breaking in to that place for years without them knowing."
"Oui, it always works well for you until someone gets annoyed and calls security. Mais (but)... I suppose that is our only option for now."
"Wait," Magnus broke in angrily. "What makes you think we want to come with you? We have school tomorrow."
"From what you have told me, neffe (nephew), that school of yours is a load of bullshit," Prussia broke in bluntly.
"So are you," Magnus shot back. The teen stood abruptly and pushed past his twin, his blue eyes boring into red as he made his way to the door. "Move out of the way. I'm going home."
"Fratello-"
"Don't start with me, bruder," Magnus growled back. "If we don't head home now, Marc and Saichi will be there before us and we don't want them to worry."
Katerina and Achilles winced at the mention of their respective elder siblings and reluctantly rose as well, Cielo following close behind. Alyson stayed put and, after a moment of hesitation, Francisco joined her. Magnus frowned at them.
"Bruder-"
"I-I'm staying here," Francisco said stubbornly. "I want to see my parents, fratello."
Magnus glared at his twin, his eyes flickering towards Alyson. "You too?"
Alyson nodded firmly, her jaw set. "The fairies said- Actually, I say that it's the right thing to do. I'm going with them tomorrow."
Magnus snarled and stormed out of the room, his blue eyes flashing as he glanced over his shoulder.
"Who else, then?" he growled.
Achilles hesitated and looked down at Cielo, who was glaring thoughtfully at Alyson and Francisco. After a moment, Cielo met the Greek boy's questioning gaze.
"What the hell are you looking at, bastard?" Cielo muttered, his cheeks reddening furiously.
"...I won't go anywhere without you," Achilles told him quietly.
"Saichi-"
"Η αδερφή μου ξέρει πού στέκομαι μαζί σας (My sister knows where I stand with you)," Achilles murmured. "She will understand whatever decision I make."
Cielo's blush deepened. "Cazzo linfa... (Fucking sap...)" he muttered. Without another word, the pair joined Alyson and Francisco, leaving Katerina alone in the doorway.
Katerina bit her lip, her violet eyes flickering towards Magnus's hunched form a few feet away.
"Magnus..." she called softly, struggling to be heard over the noise coming from the nearby bar.
Magnus stiffened and glanced over his shoulder at her, his expression hurt. "You're siding with them?"
"I-I'm siding w-with my parents," she sighed.
Magnus took a small step towards her, his mouth set into a hard line. "You've never even met them, Kat. What if they aren't good people, what if they hurt you?"
Katerina shuddered at the thought but squared her shoulders. "I-I'll still have мой брат (my brother)."
"Marc won't always be able to protect you," Magnus snapped.
"... W-will you?"
Magnus flinched and sent the younger girl a look of betrayal before turning and walking out of the building. Katerina took a deep, shuddering breath and retreated back into bathroom, her violet eyes catching sight of Prussia and Francisco's stricken gazes as she did so.
"Kat?" Francisco whispered.
Katerina shrugged, her violet eyes trained stubbornly on the floor.
"I-is th-there a place where we can w-wait until tomorrow?" she mumbled. "I-it doesn't take that long to g-get to the U.N., right?"
France frowned and glanced at Prussia. "I suppose not," the Frenchman admitted slowly. "Although I cannot think of a place to stay... unless you were planning on spending the night in this bathroom."
"We've slept in worse," Alyson insisted. "We'll stay here just in case he comes back."
Prussia shrugged and slumped onto the floor beside Francisco, his scarlet eyes fierce.
"If they're staying here, so am I," he said stubbornly. "You go ahead and wait at the meeting for us, Francis. We'll see you there tomorrow."
France sighed and nodded. "I will have a car dropped off here tomorrow morning for you. Have fun..."
"Danke (Thanks)," Prussia snorted.
France chuckled and started to leave, his blue eyes meeting Katerina's for a brief moment. The Frenchman paused and offered the Russian girl a small, sincere smile.
"I am happy that we found you, Katerina," he whispered quietly. "Tu m'as manqué, ma petite-fille.(I have missed you, my granddaughter)."
Katerina blushed and nodded shyly. "...Je vous manqués, trop (I missed you, too)."
Francis beamed and winked at the girl before leaving the room. Katerina sighed and sat down in an unoccupied corner of the room, her eyelids slowly lowering behind her glasses. Alyson chuckled and walked quietly to Katerina's side, her slim fingers deftly removing the younger girl's glasses.
"I guess we might as well get to sleep," she mused.
Francisco sighed and ran a hand through his hair, carefully avoiding the small curl that still bobbed at the side of his auburn head.
"Ve... I don't think I'll be able to sleep after a night like this," he muttered darkly.
XXX
Everything hurt.
Magnus crawled slowly towards the open window, small whimpers of pain breaking through his lips as every tiny movement sent shivers of pain through his abused arms and legs. Drops of blood ran down the sides of his face like tears, filling his parted lips with the metallic taste. He shuddered and reached up to feebly brush the drops away, his fingers sticking briefly to the newly-formed scab on his forehead. In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have talked back to their 'mother' in the middle of the kitchen... There were always too many hard or sharp surfaces in that filthy place...
With a soft sigh that was really more like a moan, Magnus gingerly pulled himself up onto the window sill, his bare feet waving freely over the busy streets two stories below. He glanced over his shoulder towards the closed door, his lips trembling unwillingly when he remembered that Francisco wasn't with him tonight. The 'mother' had seen to that... Had called it 'beneficial' for them... Apparently it wasn't healthy to have two siblings who were as close as Magnus and Francisco were to each other, even if they were twins.
"It's not healthy... Nothing here is healthy," Magnus breathed, his shoulders heaving with the effort of holding back long-overdue sobs. She couldn't hear him cry... No, she would just punish him more, punish all of them. At least if he was quiet, he could spare Francisco some of his pain...
For a brief moment, Magnus caught a glimpse of a blonde man staring down at him, worry in his ice-blue eyes. Magnus pushed the image away as tears began to blur his vision, his fists clenching when the image disappeared. They always left, in the end. He was always left alone...
Why am I alone?
"M-Magnus?"
Magnus blinked and looked over his shoulder again, his lips parting into a small "O" of surprise when he saw Katerina watching him from a corner, her violet eyes tinted with red behind the bent frames of her glasses. He noted distantly that there were new scratches on her neck and wondered where she had put her scarf. Didn't she want to hide those scars from Marc?
"Ma-magnus," Katerina repeated timidly, her small feet carrying her silently towards Magnus's perch. She glanced over the windowsill and paled at the view below, her pale lips trembling. "D-don't sit th-there. Y-you'll fall, da?"
Magnus shrugged and turned back to the view below, his thin shoulders hunched. "I don't care."
Katerina whimpered and tugged at the ripped sleeve of his shirt, her eyes swimming with tears.
"P-please come down," she whispered. "W-why are you i-in h-here, anyways? I-I d-didn't think s-sh-she let an-anyone stay with me at n-night."
Magnus shrugged and finally gave in to her persistent tugging. He glanced down at the five-year-old girl with a sudden flash of sympathy as her cold hands clutched desperately at his ripped, bloodstained clothes. Of course, he had forgotten... 'mother' liked to keep Katerina in solitary confinement as payback for the small child's habit of 'sneaking up on her'. He felt a sudden rush of anger at that woman. It wasn't fair. Katerina shouldn't be punished because that damn woman wasn't observant enough to see her.
Then again, life wasn't fair.
"M-Magnus? W-we should get to sleep, da?"
Magnus shook his head and glanced down at his feet. "...I can't sleep." Not when he was in so much pain...
Katerina's delicate brow furrowed in concern for a moment before she brightened, her lips curving upwards into the tiniest of smiles.
"I-I could try and h-help," she offered timidly. "M-Marc a-always sang this t-to me be-bef-before, when I c-couldn't fall asleep."
Magnus opened his mouth to turn down her offer, only to close it again when he caught sight of her hopeful expression. He couldn't deny her this... Not when she had already been through so much.
"What is it?" he asked warily.
Katerina smiled at him and gently tugged him back towards her corner. Magnus noted with some small surprise that that area of the floor had been lined with various scarves and blankets, creating a slightly-softer surface to sleep on.
"I-it's a lullaby," the small girl whispered quietly, as if divulging an important secret. "Мой папа (My papa) used to sing it to me."
"You remember it?" Magnus interrupted in surprise.
Katerina shook her head, her violet eyes bright. "H-hear it... In my dreams."
Magnus blinked but stayed silent, his lips curving involuntarily into a smile when Katerina began to sing.
"Spi mladyenets, moi prekrasný,
bayushki bayu,
tikho smotrit myesyats yasný
f kolýbyel tvayu.
Stanu skazývat' ya skazki,
pyesenki spayu,
tý-zh dremli, zakrývshi glazki,
bayushki bayu.
Sim uznayesh, budit vremya,
branoye zhityo,
smyelo vdyenish nogu f stremya
i vazmyosh ruzhyo.
Ya sedeltse boyevoye
sholkom razoshyu.
Spi, ditya mayo radnoye,
bayushki bayu."
"What does it mean?" Magnus asked quietly when she had finished.
Katerina shrugged and turned to smile at him, her smile fading when she saw the tears that ran down his cheeks.
"O-oh! Мне жаль! (I'm sorry!)" she whispered. "I-I didn't mean to ma-make you cry!"
Magnus shook his head and smiled at her. "It's okay." He yawned suddenly and lay back on the thin mat of coats and scarves, his lips curving into a small smile when the small girl followed his lead and buried her head in his shoulder.
"Do you really think that your father sang that song to you?" he asked quietly.
Katerina hummed and nodded her head, her violet eyes already closing with sleep. "He would sing it... Before he left... According to Marc. Except for the last time... He didn't sing it then..."
Magnus nodded mechanically and allowed himself to drift off to sleep, the sound of Katerina's voice still going through his mind.
Hey! So, I actually have an excuse why this update is late! Midterms! (Ich, hate those things... Really, they are a pox upon humanity... Well, they're a pox upon students...) So, due to an overload of studying and trying to remember things that the human mind cannot possibly have a use for, I was unable to write anything for about two weeks (it SUCKED). But, I'm back now! And... Yeah, I probably should have updated Tides of Betrayal first, but I was kind of in the mood for angst, so I decided to write this. But I promise, Tides of Betrayal will be updated before the end of the weekend, if anyone cares...
Anyways, thanks sooo much for your patience on this, and thank you for the reviews and support! :)
Btw, in case you were wondering, Katerina is singing a traditional Russian lullaby in that last bit called "Cossack Lullaby". It is incredibly easy to find a recording on Youtube if you really want to hear what it sounds like, and the English translation of the lyrics are as follows:
Sleep, good boy, my beautiful,
Bayushki bayu*,
Quietly the moon is looking
Into your cradle.
I will tell you fairy tales
And sing you little songs,
But you must slumber, with your little eyes closed,
Bayushki bayu.
The time will come, then you will learn
The pugnacious life,
Boldly you'll stem your foot into the stirrup
And take the gun.
The saddle-cloth for your battle horse
I will sew you from silk.
Sleep now, my dear little child,
Bayushki bayu.
Well, hope you all enjoyed it! And... In case I forgot to mention this before: I do not own Hetalia, although I do own my OCs for now.