Slow update attack!
I don't know what to write here so, just enjoy I guess .
Funny Cat: Happiness! Yay this is good. Yup, can't leave out Iggy or China now can we?
Hetalia Kirkland: haha yeah… back… *guilt attack* Sorry I'll be less lazy next time T^T
TrunksGirl1015: ok… eep *hides*
Professional Tsundere: Ah! What are you doing you invade my personal space!
Ivan pulled Gilbert to the side with a sudden jerk, before turning and calmly facing the way they had come. Gilbert stumbled and blinked, barely regaining his balance and his grip on Elizabeth before sending Ivan a confused glance.
"You have been following us for a while now," Ivan called out, Gilbert glanced around, "It is impolite to sneak around, people may get the wrong idea, da."
Gilbert heard a branch crack and he stiffened. He spotted some movement, and guessing by the way Ivan slid his foot back into a semi-defensive position, he had seen it too.
Ivan slid his eyes towards Gilbert and nodded. Together, they walked silently towards where they had last seen the movement. Without any warning, Ivan reached out a large hand and something squealed.
Gilbert narrowed his eyes somewhat as Ivan pulled the male district eight tribute from his hiding place. Said tribute trembled a little, though he bravely held Ivan's gaze.
"Why where you following us?" asked Ivan, smiling childishly.
Gilbert glared at the teen, his red eyes narrowed into slits.
"Told to," replied the tribute, who couldn't have been older than sixteen.
"You where spying on us?" said Ivan, his smile turning cold.
The boy shook his head rapidly, not taking his green eyes from Ivan's violet.
"Arthur, he told me to follow you," he explained.
Gilbert took a step closer, and the boy's gaze shot to him, his eyes widening when he saw Elizabeth in Gilbert's grasp.
"Y-you, you killed her?" was that, anger in his voice?
Gilbert made a low growling sound in the back of his throat.
"You dare insult the awesome me like that?" his voice was uncharacteristically dark, "I vould never kill her, or anyone of my friends."
"I'm sorry…" the defiance left the boy, and he hung his head, then muttered to himself, "no, he wouldn't have changed that much…"
"What was that comrade?" asked Ivan.
"N-nothing…" the boy hesitated, "My name is Christian."
"I am Ivan, and this is Gilbert, you will do well to remember, da?" Ivan smiled again, and Christian nodded.
Setting him on the ground, Ivan placed a heavy hand on Christian's shoulder.
"You will be coming with us, there is much to be discussed."
Before Christian could resist, Ivan was steering him through the woods. Gilbert followed them, still glaring at Christian, though his eyes darted nervously to the sky now and again, making sure the game makers wouldn't be able to take Elizabeth's body away.
They soon made it to the cornucopia, where Ludwig was waiting for them, arms crossed and blue eyes steely. As soon as he saw them approach, he ran to his brother.
"Vhat the hell where you thinking you fool? Did you think you could just run off and…" his gaze fell on Elizabeth, "oh…"
Gilbert closed his eyes, pushing past Ludwig, and heading into the cornucopia. Ludwig took a hesitant step after him, but shook his head and turned to Ivan and Christian.
"And who is this?" he asked.
"He is Christian, he was spying on us," Ivan replied cheerily.
"I wasn't spying Arthur sent me to…"
"He is very funny too," Ivan laughed and patted Christian on the head, "when this is over, he will be my new subordinate."
Christian gave an indignant cry, and hit Ivan in the arm, which only caused the latter to laugh even more. Ludwig frowned and inspected the captive, taking in his bushy brows and green eyes.
"Funny, you almost remind me of Arthur," he mused, "no matter, Ivan take him to the cornucopia."
Ivan nodded and led a struggling Christian away. Ludwig turned to Antonio, only to blink in surprise to see the cheery Spaniard was missing.
"Ivan," he called, "isn't Antonio with you?"
"Nyet, he ran off to find Feli~" Ivan replied.
Ludwig sighed in irritation. Antonio should know better than to split up. After a final scan of the woods, Ludwig hurried after the others.
Irunya was crying by Elizabeth's body, which had been laid carefully down on the grass within the cornucopia. Vash was leaning against the cornucopia wall, his face devoid of any expression. Gilbert was nowhere to be seen, which worried Ludwig somewhat.
"Vash look, I've got a new subordinate" giggled Ivan, pushing Christian forward.
Christian glared pointedly at Ivan, before turning to face Vash.
"Arthur sent me," he said bluntly, Vash nodded blankly, not really paying any attention to the boy.
"Vhere is Gilbert?" asked Ludwig.
Vash nodded towards the woods, where Ludwig could just make out Gilbert's silver hair.
"I vill leave the prisoner to you," Ludwig said, before striding off towards Gilbert.
He was staring blankly out into the woods, not noticing Ludwig's presence until the German coughed.
"Ah," Gilbert jumped a little, "sheesh, don't scare me, so unawesome…"
He trailed off, sighing.
"Listen, I-I'm sorry, for not being able to…" Ludwig began.
"Chill it's ok, you couldn't have done anything," Gilbert laughed half-heartedly, "no, if I vas faster…"
That was when tears began to leak from the corners of Gilbert's eyes.
"Kesesese, that shemale was always hitting the awesome me with her frying pan you know," Gilbert's voice was shaky, "and she and Roddy were always teaming up and we had those fights. It was fun its own way, yeah… Dammit why did they all have to die?"
Ludwig blinked then pulled Gilbert into a hug.
"You have to pull through this Gil," Ludwig closed his eyes, "you are mein older bruder, I vill not accept losing you again."
"Lutz…" Gilbert pulled away from the hug.
"Come on, the others are waiting," Ludwig turned away from his brother and started walking.
"Elizabeth, Roddy, Lutz… thank you…." Gilbert muttered, closing his eyes, opening them. Then following Ludwig back to the cornucopia.
"Oh you're so cute, yes you are," Australia deadpanned as he watched England petting the air in an affectionate manner.
England caught sight of him and waved him over, an unusually large smile on his face. Australia took a few wary steps closer, watching England smile and talk animatedly to the air around him.
"A-are you okay England?" Australia asked, England blinked at him, as if only just realising that the younger nation was there.
"You mean you can't see them?" England sighed, "It's a shame, I thought there was a chance you could have seen them…"
"Um, England, who exactly is this 'them'?" Australia asked cautiously.
"The fairies and whatnot. You know, my magical friends," England said this as casually as though he where commenting on the weather.
Australia went silent for a moment, then.
"Bwahahaha! You almost had me there mate! Fairies, ha!" Australia slapped his leg and howled in laughter.
England frowned,
"I don't know what's so funny, I'm being completely serious."
Australia's jaw went slack,
"You mean, you seriously believe you can talk to fairies?"
"Yes, so can Scotland, Wales and Ireland," said England, "and I believe a few other countries can too."
"Yeah... Fairies…" Australia mumbled ,'he's nuts'
England suddenly blinked and muttered something to the air beside his head, he frowned and gestured questioningly to a bewildered Australia, before he smiled and turned to his ex-colony.
"Ms. Fairy says it's nice to meet you, though she thinks it's a shame she can't talk to you," England informed him.
"U-um, oh! I forgot, Kiwi wanted to see me to discuss some stuff about… rugby, yeah, so I'll see you around England," Australia turned and fled England, who was waving him a cheerful goodbye.
"England is insane, completely and utterly insane…" he muttered quietly to himself.
"Ralph?"
Ralph blinked and shook his head to clear his mind from memories.
"Ralph are you okay?" Arthur had stopped walking and had turned to look at him curiously.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine, just thinking…." said Ralph, waving his hand dismissively.
"Sure…" Arthur sighed, "no matter, I was just telling Antonio that we are almost back to the others."
Antonio, who was a few steps ahead of Arthur, waved cheerfully at Ralph. Arthur turned and continued walking, quickening his pace to catch up with Antonio.
Ralph watched them, Arthur in particular,
Fairies, magic, those things from the fairy tales that Arthur had so keenly told him in the past. At least, they were just fairy tales, weren't they?
They arrived at their 'camp', where Feliciano jumped up at the sight of them.
"Ve~ you guys got here just in time! Me and Kiku just finished cooking some fish!" he exclaimed cheerfully.
Arthur frowned and muttered something about bad grammar, but Feliciano didn't hear him. Kiku appeared from behind a tree and looked at the trio.
"Antonio-san is with you…" he commented flatly, before flushing at his impolite greeting, "please forgive me, I was just thinking."
Kiku bowed, then retreated back the remains of a small fire, where a few fish had been skewered. He collected the fish and handed it out.
"Thanks mate, I was starved!" Ralph grinned and patted Kiku on the back.
Kiku shot him a reproachful glance, but said nothing, rushing off to find Alfred, who was on lookout.
"What's up with him?" asked Antonio.
"He's still edgy about physical contact I guess…" said Arthur, before shrugging, "it doesn't matter, he'll get over it."
They all sat and ate together, Feliciano eagerly asking Antonio whether he had seen the others.
"Well, I was in a group with a few of the others, Vash and Ludwig arrived yesterday too, so at the moment, we're all accounted for," said Antonio between bites, "we've set up a decent base at the cornucopia, but we're almost out of food, this is the best I've eaten in ages."
Feliciano sighed in relief and turned to Kiku,
"See! Tomorrow, we can meet up with the others and we'll all be together again!"
Kiku nodded absentmindedly, watching Ralph intently. It was strange, all this talk of 'the others' and Ralph hadn't said a word. Almost as if he knew who these 'others' where.
'He's definitely not a normal human if he does know who they are, but why can't I remember him?' Kiku frowned searching his memory for a name.
Ralph was also thinking about memories, memories from a distant past. What if those tales he had been told where true, if magic was real and England possessed it. But how to find out for sure, without tipping off the capitol? He bit the inside of his cheek, and idea forming in his mind.
"Hey, since we're in a game of life and death, why don't we tell a few stories to lighten the mood!" he grinned weakly, stupid Ralph, that was undeniably the worst delivery of an idea you've ever done…
The others muttered amongst themselves, then began nodding.
"I'll go first, because the hero always goes first!" exclaimed Alfred, jumping down from a low branch and startling them all.
"Well, once, there was this guy named Peter Parker…"
Ralph sat through all their stories, grinning softly, these stories brought back so many memories. Alfred retold a story from one of his old comics, while Feliciano talked about pasta. It wasn't really a story, but they all found it entertaining. Kiku recited an old tale about demons, which caused Feliciano to get scared and hide behind Antonio, who laughed.
Antonio himself told a story about an armada facing off with a bunch of pirates. At the end of his story however, the leader of the armada, just when they were about to be defeated, gained a second wind, and destroyed the pirate ships.
This story caused a rather heated argument between himself and Arthur. It took a while to calm them both down, and then it was Arthur's turn.
"Well, I'm just going to say, that this isn't a fairy tale, or some fantasy nonsense. This is a true story about… well I'll let you find out," Arthur smiled and began.
"This is the story of a boy, captured by cruel men in days almost as dark as these. It was a simple mistake that had led to his capture, a simple spell, cast at the wrong time.
They kept him in a cold cell, made of a strong steel that was cold and unyielding. The boy was fed little, but held onto hope that he might one day escape.
On a cold winter day, his hope left him. He was abused and tortured, forced to bear the pain and jeers. The men cried he was a sorcerer, a user of dark magic.
He was alone in the dark, hope turned to a cold fear. He called in his mind for help, prayed for the land, the country that had abandoned him.
Then everything was filled by a brilliant light, that blinded the guards, allowing the boy to escape. He ran to the battlements, the guards chasing after him. He was cornered on a tall watch tower, death seemingly the only escape. He turned and jumped, hope coming back after leaving for so long.
From the air descended something by the likes of which he had never seen before. He felt soft wings wrap around him, and the ground rushing up to meet him vanished.
He was back at his old home, a small hut by the woods. He called out, and the door opened to reveal his family. Together, they cried tears of joy, and until the day he died, the boy carried the memory of the angel who had saved him, and though he tried to search for it. He never did see it again."
Arthur finished with a smug smile on his face. There was silence, then Alfred started laughing.
"Cool story bro!" he grinned and hit Arthur lightly on the arm.
Arthur's face flushed.
"It wasn't just a story you git it was…"
There was a low growl and everyone froze.
Pairs of eyes emerged from the darkness, steam rose from hairy snouts.
Ralph pulled out his knife, however useless it might be in this situation.
"We've got wounded," hissed Arthur nervously, jerking his head towards Kiku, who was slowly getting to his feet, "we can't fight them."
As one, the group rose into a defensive formation.
"Antonio, you know where the cornucopia is right?" Antonio nodded, "I want you to take Feliciano and Kiku there as fast as you can, and come back with help. We're armed so we should be able to hold them off until you get away."
Antonio gulped and nodded again.
"RUN!"
The woods erupted into action.
Antonio took off with Feliciano and Kiku, as rat-like creatures emerged from the woods. Ralph stabbed a knife into the back of one of the creatures, and it hissed and writhed in pain, snapping teeth barely missing his face. Arthur shot one, but another took it's place.
Alfred threw away his crossbow, and held the bolts instead, stabbing them into the snarling creatures with amazing force.
"D-dammit there are too many!" exclaimed Arthur, shooting a rat that had gone after the others.
"How long before we can run?" asked Ralph, punching a rat to daze it, then cracking it's large skull with his heel.
Arthur didn't respond he was busy trying to keep the creatures from surrounding them.
"Arthur we have to go, now!" Alfred yelled, barely managing to keep the creatures off the bowman.
Arthur nodded, and the three turned and ran to the trees.
"Climb, CLIMB!" Ralph yelled, leaping and grabbing a branch, hauling himself up.
"I can pick them off from here," called Arthur shooting the rats below with deadly accuracy, "you two concentrate on keeping them from reaching you."
The rats fell, Ralph and Alfred, stabbing them as they climbed, and Arthur taking them down one by one until none where left.
The woods where eerily quiet.
"Think it's safe?" asked Ralph.
Alfred responded by jumping down from his tree and grinning wildly.
"H-hey Alfred, I think you should wa-"
A rat leapt on Alfred from behind, and he swore loudly.
Arthur reached for his quiver only to find it empty. Alfred cried out as the rat bit his shoulder, shaking his body with it's jaws clamped down.
The rat released him, and opened it's jaws wide for the final blow.
Ralph pulled back his arm and threw his knife.
It landed with a sickening thud between the rat's eyes, and the beast fell upon Alfred, dead.
"ALFRED!" Arthur leapt from his branch and rushed to his fallen friend.
Alfred's blue eyes wandered slowly up to meet his own, and he smiled weakly.
"'m okay," he managed.
Ralph pulled the rat off him and winced, Alfred's shoulder was a bloody mess.
"We'll bandage it with something j-just hang in there," said Arthur, pulling off his jacket and ripping it "don't worry."
"I'm not worried, I'm the hero, " Alfred coughed, "hero's don't die like this."
Ralph pulled a canteen from his belt and handed it to Arthur, who washed Alfred's wound with shaky hands.
"H-hey Iggy," Alfred said, "do you hate me?"
Arthur said nothing.
"Because, I won't blame you if you do," he closed his eyes, "but you know, even after the whole, war thing I still…"
"Don't say anything Al, just rest,"
"I still couldn't bring myself to hate you…"
Alfred smiled and went quiet.
Cliff hanger of doom!
Will Alfred survive his injury? Will Kiku realise who Ralph and Christian really are? Will Antonio every stop loving tomatoes? And will the author ever learn how to write England's magical tales and not fail in a really bad way?
Find out in the next Chapter of Revival
Coming to a fanfiction site near you. Batteries not included.