Okay so, I'm sorry for waiting so long and normally I would talk more but I have to go to school right now so... Big thanks to everyone who reviewed and placed me on their lists and all... Big big big thanks to Hippie Vampire for checking everything for me!
Last days together...
The tent in which he woke up was bright red. He could easily tell that morning had arrived and he could listen to the Hybrids moving outside. From time to time he heard what they were saying, but mostly everything was silent. Were they trying to keep it silent, as to not wake him up? In any case, he had been awake for some time now, but he couldn't move at all. Every move he made was painful, especially breathing. He had checked out his wounds to assess the damage, not that he could assess much, since his chest was mostly covered by bandages. That buck had certainly done a number on him.
Blinking, Alfred continued on watching the roof of the tent. Things were quite blurry, considering that they had taken of his glasses so that he could sleep comfortably. The dirty blond snorted. They sure as hell didn't have to worry on him running away this time, since he didn't think he could get up let alone run.
Closing his eyes he took deep breaths, instantly regretting the move. Shit, that hurt. Groaning softly, as to not hurt himself further, Alfred waited patiently for somebody to come around. He was hungry and he felt he was dying a slow, painful death. When was the pain going to stop?
He heard the tent open and he instinctively rose to see who had visited. That was a stupid move on his part he realized, letting himself flop back down to stop the pain. Deciding that raising his neck would be a smarter move, he did so looking towards the entrance.
"Are you alright?" It was the Canine Hybrid he had met earlier (Feli-something right?). He held a small piece of wet cloth in his hand, which he placed against his forehead when he approached him. "We were kind of worried. We feared that you would come down with a fever or something like that, considering that the buck's antlers had ripped your clothing and had been able to open your skin. You are quite lucky you know. You didn't have any broken ribs or anything like that, just some superficial damage." The brunet smiled down to him. "How are you feeling?"
"I've felt better in any case..." He turned his eyes towards him, he was quite blurry, but he could still recognize him thanks to the curl and the whole 'easy-going-and-not-about-to-curse-you-to-hell' attitude. He wondered how everybody else was. They hadn't gotten hurt had they? Frowning to himself, Alfred couldn't believe he was worring over the enemy. For goodness' sake, they were the ones he was meant to annihilate some time in the near feature! What was he thinking?
The image of a pretty young boy's tearful green eyes flashed through his mind and instantly Alfred felt guilty. He didn't like hurting people in general and up until now he had never considered the Hybrids as anything but lower than humans and just below animals. He had never thought that they could be able to feel like he did. Everything he had been told about Hybrids was that they were dangerous and didn't posses any of the human's feelings like love and pity.
Ever since he was a small child his teachers had told him and the rest of his classmates what Hybrids were. They had been creations of humanity, a mixture of humans and animals, but from what he had learnt they were mostly animals that possessed a part of human's intelligence. They were smart and were extremely dangerous for that reason, but that was where any type of resemblance stopped. They looked human enough, but that didn't stop them from being unable to feel things like they did, the teachers always said.
Hybrids were like Neanderthals. Looking human enough, able to create weapons and clothes but incapable of feeling strong emotions, or any kind of emotion at all. They were simply gifted with a greater intelligence than their ancestors, but they were simply considered underneath humans. They were like insects: pests that were below people, but that could still be considered a danger under the right conditions.
In any case, Alfred's beliefs were starting to shake. So far he hadn't seen any of that untamable wildness and heartlessness. Hybrids used plates and forks; they cooked their food and talked like any civilized human. He could remember the protectiveness the whole pack seemed to feel over the little Bunny Hybrid, the care and love that Francis showed constantly (even if it was kind of pervert and slightly sick...) and he could see clearly the sadness and worry in those emerald eyes, eyes that filled themselves with tears that made a path down pale cheeks... Yes, they definitely had nothing to do with the image he had made for himself about them.
He had just realized that the Canine Hybrid had kept on talking the whole time. "... make sure not to move too much because then you are just going to worsen your wounds. If you feel any serious pain you don't think you can handle then call for me or anybody. Right now I have to go, since me and Lovino have to go check out the forest in case any unwanted visitors come around." With that said the young teen got up and left, sending one last smile behind him. "I hope you feel better soon!"
Alfred was left alone again. Closing his eyes, the SA agent tried to rest for a little bit, being able to ignore the dull pain he could still feel. Hearing somebody else walk in, he raised his head in surprise, his eyes only widening as he recognized the person who had walked in. That messy blond hair, that pale skin and those furry ears on top of his head could only belong to the little Hybrid, Arthur.
"Hey," the young boy said, crouching down beside him. Both of his hands were playing with each other in his lap, his head turned elsewhere, not watching the other one. "How are you?"
"Well, everything hurts," noticing the sharp turn of the head, as well as hearing the tiny gasp he quickly added. "It's not unbearable really, it's just that... the pain is there, but it doesn't bother me so much. How are you?" He tried to convince himself that he only asked that because he was being polite, not because he was really worried. Sure, he wasn't known because of his politeness, but that didn't matter, he could be polite when he wanted to, and he didn't have to wander why he was being polite, because damn it! He didn't need a reason!
"That's good," the sigh that followed proved how worried the younger one had been. "I feared you were going to die. There was so much blood and you just kept bleeding and..." The kid shuddered. "But you are alright now right? And that's what matters. You are safe."
Hearing the kid talk like that only made Alfred feel giltier: he had never thought that Hybrids could show so much compassion. There were just so many things that were completely wrong with what he believed in. The kid was showing how much he was worried over him, the person whose job was to hunt down and kill him and his family. God he had to do something quick to distract himself. It wouldn't do if these feelings started interfering with his job. "I'm okay. How are you?"
"I'm excellent. Animals have this weird ability that enables them to recognize us. I think it's the smell. They realize that we smell similarly like them, even if we still have something weird in us. From that, their instinct tells them if we are a possible predator or not. Since I'm a Rabbit Hybrid, they seem to know that I represent no danger to them, so they leave me alone. For Francis and Adolf it's harder, since their animal is a natural predator. Even Lovino and Feliciano have some troubles, since they are half-wolves."
"Really now?" That was something interesting. He didn't think that the scientists back home knew that sort of thing, since they never bothered to check out the relations between Hybrids and animals. That hadn't seemed quite usefull, but who knew? Maybe that kind of information could help them out to catch other Hybrids. "Do you know where my glasses are?" He probably should have asked for them earlier, but then again, he had been rather distracted.
"Oh! Here they are! You are lucky that nothing happened to them. The force in which the buck had hurt you with was enough to break them." The young Hybrid showed him what he supposed were his glasses, which he instantly placed over his eyes.
"I wasn't that worried. Those glasses are meant to resist an assault and many other kinds of harsh treatment. They are supposed to resist a twenty foot fall at least." He blinked as his eyes quickly adjusted themselves, his eyes turning towards his companion.
Arthur's eyes were shinning in surprise and interest. "They can do that?" His voice had a breathless quality in it, leaning closer to see those glasses in detail. "What else can they do?"
Alfred could feel himself blushing. He could admit within himself that the feeling of the Hybrid's soft, warm breath over his face felt nice, and he could even go as far as to say that he had quite lovely eyes. Sure that didn't mean anything; he was simply stating a fact. Whoever could say that those eyes didn't hold any charm clearly had no taste. "Well, they are able to see clearly during the night, but they can also detect movement and heat. There's even a scanner included that scouts the whole area in the search of enemies..." Alfred stopped right there. Arthur had kept approaching their faces, until there weren't more than a few centimeters between them. His eyes were wide open, admiring his glasses as if they were the greatest thing in the world. His pale pink lips were open slightly, forming a small O in surprise. He forced his eyes to turn elsewhere. He shouldn't really be checking out the lips of what was his enemy, especially considering his age. The kid was hardly thirteen and therefore not legal. God it could even be considered pedophilia!
It only took the other one a few seconds to realize their position. Eyes wide, the Bunny Hybrid pushed himself upwards, blushing the whole way. His ears were twitching slightly on top of his head, nervous like their owner. "Sorry. I didn't mean to..." He trailed off, blushing harder.
"Don't worry. Nothing happened right?" Ignoring strongly the slight disappointment, repeating to himself over and over why the whole situation was completely wrong, the American smiled. "What time is it?"
Looking down towards him, Arthur frowned slightly (he really had bushy eyebrows, but he looked kind of cute with them). "It must be around noon. I'm not sure. Are you sure you are alright?" He had seen Alfred frown harshly, his face twisting into something similar to anger.
"Yes, perfectly alright... just kind of hungry." To reinforce his statement his stomach growled, reminding his owner to feed it.
"It's true you haven't eaten since yesterday morning... I'll go and bring you some food." With that the younger boy got up and left, leaving Alfred to his own thoughts.
He was pretty much berating himself.
What is wrong with you man? That kid is hardly old enough to know what exactly kissing entails. Does he even know what a kiss is? A make out sesion? No he does not. Control yourself. You DO remember your whole training right? Well then use it. If you even as much as touch that kid in any way you can be sure as hell that the others are going to hunt you down. As soon as we go back home we are hitting the bars and finding yourself a nice girlfriend or a friend for the night to get your hormones back under control. If you find yourself fantasizing over a kid who hasn't even hit puberty then that means that you have been holding yourself out for too long.
Funny how he never actually berated himself over the fact that the kid he was thinking about was a Hybrid.
When he heard somebody walk in he was expecting to find said Bunny Hybrid. He certainly wasn't waiting for the Fox to show up.
"What are you doing here?" He sounded kind of mean, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Sure these guys were holding him against his will, but he didn't think they would actually hurt him. They had had already many occasions to do so, but not once did they hurt him. In fact, they were doing everything within their power to get him back to full health. So yeah, he wasn't worried about his safety.
"Is zat ze way one shoul' talk to ze one who saved 'is sorry be'ind?" Francis smiled at him charmingly, not that it changed things much. That man was too much of a creep to let your guard down around him.
"Whatever."
"I brought ze food." And indeed he had, showing him a plate in which some cooked meat and smashed potatoes were. Alfred's stomach growled at the sight. He was real hungry, but that didn't stop him from noticing a small detail.
"Where's Arthur?" Wasn't he the one who was supposed to bring him the food?
"It's 'is turn to wash ze dishes. After zat Lovino and Feliciano will keep an eye on 'im. I'm going to be ze one to feed you today. N'est-tu pas chanceux?" Francis's smile widened as the other groaned.
"Why me, God?" He asked softly to the roof of the tent, as the older one helped him to raise the upper part of his body to eat. The Frenchie placed some more pillows behind him, so that he had something to lean against.
The Fox Hybrid fed him. Alfred had tried to do the job himself, but had to painfully realize that he couldn't do so. It just hurt too much. They went through the task in silence, something that vaguely surprised the American. He couldn't believe that the older one hadn't tried to do some sort of pass on him during the whole thing.
"I just want to 'ave somezing clear between us," he said as he handed the SA agent a small glass of some kind of fruity drink. "If you ever 'urt Arthur, if you ever make 'im cry, I swear to God zat I'm going to 'unt you down and make you regret ze day you were born. You better treat 'im good." Francis kind of reminded Alfred of an over-protective brother threatening his little sister's boyfriend behind her back. Why he felt something like that he had no idea. He drank quickly, trying not to read too much in between the lines. Whenever he tried to do so things usually ended badly. "Zat being said, I 'ope zat you 'ave a good night." Alfred wanted to point out that it wasn't night time, and that it was only the beginning of the afternoon, so he had no reason to feel sleepy, but now that he thought about it, he kind of did.
Yawning, Alfred leaned fully against the pillows, his eyelids closing slowly. He was really tired. Closing his eyes fully, Alfred let sleep take him completely.
When Alfred eyes opened again, he had the vague feeling that he had passed another day sleeping. Sighting, he realized with surprise that the pain had receded to a minimum, and that he could now breathe normally. Blinking he attempted to get up, surprising himself further since the pain that usually came with such movements was hardly there. Shocked, Alfred wondered from where had such fast-paced healing had come from. He was pretty much sure that normally the pain should have stayed for a few days more, at least.
Getting up, he walked out of the tent for the first time, wincing slightly as he went. It wasn't really painful, but more like uncomfortable. Turning to the right side, he tried to check out the camp site in search of the Hybrids. This proved to be a bad idea because with his movement the pain flared up quite a bit. Holding his side, he reminded himself to keep movements to the minimum.
"Oh, you are up." A voice said in front of him. The voice didn't sound very happy, in fact Alfred could almost say that he sounded disappointed in front of this fact. But then again he could be imagining things, since Mattie always reminded him just how bad he was at reading the atmosphere. Because come on, nobody is that sadistic as to be disappointed because he had healed. Looking up, Alfred came face to face with one of the Canine Hybrids, the grouchy one from yesterday... or was that two days ago?
The twin stood in front of him, one hand on a slim hip while the other one stayed by his side. The guy, although around his age, was a head smaller than him. His eyebrows were pulled down in a slight frown that seemed to be almost permanent in his face, and his brown and green-tinted eyes kept watching him, in a weird mixture of indifference and wariness. Obviously this one knew what he was capable of.
"Yeah... who are you again?"
Rolling his eyes skyward, the other one seemed to hesitate between ignoring him or answering. Sighting, his frown became more pronounced, looking over him carefully. "It's Lovino. Call me anything else and I will castrate you." His voice sounded serious enough, making Alfred shudder. He just kept receiving threat after threat didn't he?
"Right. Where's everyone?" He had to stop himself from twitching. He had received worse threats than this one and even if the guy in front of him was a Hybrid and therefore completely capable of going through with his threat, Ivan was far more scarier than that...
Lovino shrugged. "Feliciano is preparing some pasta to eat and the Frog and Arthur already left in search for some water I think. I'm the one who was supposed to look after you."
Alfred wasn't the kind of guy who let first impressions dictate what he thought of a person, but he had the feeling that this Canine Hybrid didn't have very good bedside manners. "Well, as you can see I'm perfectly alright, so I don't need you to take care of me." He added a bright smile in the end.
The other one didn't look very impressed. "Believe me when I say that I couldn't care less. Feli insisted, and since you can walk, you better come with me. That way he will calm down and would leave me alone." Turnning around, and not waiting for any kind of answer, the Hybrid walked off, leaving no other choice to the SA agent but to follow him.
They didn't have to go far. In fact, the other twin had simply placed himself behind the tent, under a tree a few feet away from them. Feliciano was there, cooking food over a small fire that had been placed there. From what Alfred could see, the huge bowl thingy (he had no idea what that was) only had something boiling inside. Probably the food.
"You are awake!" shouted the giddy teenager when he looked up from the food. Unlike his brother, Feliciano wore a huge smile in his face, clapping his hands as he jumped up and down. He was clearly glad to see him up and going, unlike some people... "I was afraid that Francis had given you too many sleeping pills!"
Wait, what?
"WHAT?" Alfred's mouth reached the floor, his eyes wide as saucers. Okay... he hadn't expected that one...
"Sleeping pills?" The twin's head was cocked to the side, wondering why the American was reacting so strongly.
"A SA agent's DNA is enhanced so that they have higher chances of survival against us. Therefore your immunity and healing system is stronger than any other human, but not as strong as ours. To accelerate things we gave you some sleeping pills, that way you cloud heal faster as you slept." Lovino explained in a bored tone, leaning against the tree in a careless fashion. His eyes kept themselves on the blond however, watching everyone of his movements.
Said blond turned his head the other way, feeling himself blush. He had kind of forgotten that tiny detail. Since their physical attributes were pushed to the point in which they were almost inhumane, they were able to heal faster than other humans, but never quite like Hybrids, since they had the immune system similar the the animal they were joined to. Maybe Mattie had a point whenever he whined about his memory that ressembled to that of a goldfish... but it wasn't that bad was it?
"Right..." he muttered. Everyone fell silent after that, the only noise being Feliciano's cheery singing as he cooked, and even that was done in moderate silence. Alfred shifted his weight from one foot to the other, feeling uncomfortable. What was he supposed to do now?
"Fratello? Puoi cercare due pomodori per la salsa?" Feliciano's voice reached his brother's ears. Rolling his eyes and grumbling under his breath Lovino got up, walking of somewhere.
"Where's he going?"
"I asked him if he could bring me some tomatoes for the sauce." The nicer twin gave him a winner smile, continuing to steer the sauce.
Alfred blinked, slightly surprised. He had kind of expected the other twin to simply tell him to do it himself, or throw a tantrum before he actually got up and did so. He felt kind of bad now, having such a bad image of the Canine Hybrid. Sure he hadn't been nice, but that was probably because he was a SA agent, somebody that represented a huge danger towards him and his pack. He had no reason to think such things of somebody he had just met. After all, he seemed to seriously care about his brother.
It kind of reminded him of his own relationship with his brother. They were polar opposites when it came to personalities, but that never stopped him from watching out for Mattie, or Mattie from taking care of him in other ways. They loved each other dearly, even if they never said it aloud. There was never the need to tell each other about their feelings, because they just knew. The twin's relationship was probably like his. They acted nothing alike and yet there was something there that never needed comfirmation, something that came naturally to them like breathing and sleeping.
A soft smile drew itself in his lips, a smile he hardly noticed as he watched the twin (Lovino) return and help his brother a little bit before he returned to his original position. He could hardly believe that Hybrids acted in such ways, reminding him of ways families acted, the way his own family acted around each other. It had been a while since he last visited his parents, coming to think about it.
He didn't know exactly how long he stood there, but it wasn't that long. When Feliciano had finished preparing the food and handed out plates for everyone he hesitated for a second, before he sat down beside the twins. Neither said anything about it, and both started talking to each other in what he was sure was Italian. He felt a little bit put to the side, but for once he decided to pay attention to the relationship between the brothers.
They both ate quietly but sometimes, when Feliciano was getting excited about one of his stories, Lovino would frown and interrupt his brother, taking a small napkin to clean the sauce that smeared around his lips or simply to reprimand him because he was talking with the mouth wide open. They were the perfect image of sibling relationship, the older one taking care of the younger one (ar at least he thought that Lovino was the older one), and Alfred felt his lips smile again, this time in amusement. They were one of a kind.
It didn't take long either for Arthur and Francis to return. They had finished eating a while ago and Feliciano was taking his usual siesta, but Lovino stayed up to watch over the American. When they returned, Arthur's eyes brightened and he rushed forward. "You are awake!" he shouted in greetings, a huge smile in his lips.
The older blond returned the smile. "Yeah... How did it go?" His attention was taken fully by the younger one, although he did notice Lovino falling asleep, while Francis took some of the pasta for himself and Arthur.
"It went okay I suppose... How are you? You were asleep for a whole day. Are you feeling better?" Arthur crouched beside him, both of his hands on the floor and his two ears twitching around, being a physical proof of his excitement. He took the plate the Frenchie handed him without turning around, keeping his eyes fully on the American.
"What do you mean a whole day?" They hadn't given him enough pills to make him sleep for a day had they?
Arthur's slight blush seemed to proof other wise. "It's just that since we are leaving tomorrow we couldn't just leave you all alone while you were healing so we gave you lot's of pills so that you could sleep longer and heal faster so that way when we left you wouldn't have to handle yourself and..." The liitle bunny kept rambling, but Alfred had stopped listening.
He had just listened to the fact that tomorrow they would all leave. Counting in his head he realized that a week had almost gone by and soon it would be time for him to leave as well. He surprised himself by feeling slightly disappointed. He wasn't growing attached to them was he? He had only passed a week with them and sure, they had fed him, healed him and seemed to seriously like him, but that didn't mean that he could care for them. Sure, he could feel gratefull for what they had done for him, but he couldn't start caring for them. He was a SA agent! He was trained to kill them! He couldn't start feeling things for them!
Ignoring his current feelings, he watched the mismatched family in front of him. Francis had reclaimed attention from Arthur and they were both talking; more like bickering. Francis would make fun of Arthur, to which the younger would answer violently. This would usually catch Lovino's attention, who would always side with the Hybrid Bunny. Feliciano would then try to make amends between them before thing got really violent, which usually happened when Lovino's patience (which wasn't even that big) reached its limits.
Alfred surprised himself by joining from time to time to the fights, always backing up Arthur. Every time the younger one would send him a grateful smile; one that made Alfred feel warm. This was why he always like helping people out. When they showed their thanks, by a word, a small smile or even a tiny gift, he felt content, warm. That was the main reason why he had joined the Specialized Army (even if the discounts, the considerable popularity and the respect that came with it were huge bonuses), he just liked helping people in any way he could.
The rest of the afternoon passed that way, and not once did Alfred ever consider running away. The sun was setting down when they fell in a comfortable silence. They stayed like that, until a sound made them all turn around. There was another tent, one not far from the one Alfred had used, that had opened, and out walked Adolf, tall and imposing.
He walked calmly to their direction, his tail swishing this way and that in a nonchalant way. His hair was a little mussed from sleeping, but his golden eyes watched Alfred carefully, in the way a wolf would have when studying a possible danger. The silence that surrounded them made Alfred uncomfortable and this time he couldn't stop himself from twitching. Arthur then took his hand softly, smiling towards him in a reassuring way when the older blond turned his way.
When Adolf finally reached them they all set out to work without a word. While Lovino left to search for the food, Francis set out to prepare the fire. Feliciano looked for the cooking utensils and Arthur helped in any way he could. Sometimes he helped Lovino carry the food, or Francis with the wood or even handing over anything Feliciano may need while he prepared everything. This left Alfred all alone, with the Wolf Hybrid beside him. The man didn't try to make any sort of conversation and Alfred didn't even dare try. The silence was almost unbearable, especially since Alfred, on principle, hated any kind of forced silence (or simply silence itself).
When everything was ready, everybody had a plate with food in their hands and everybody had sat down, the tension was almost palpable. Nobody dare try to break it, so everybody ate in silence. Alfred forced himself to eat for once in his life, since he could still feel those golden eyes watching him carefully for any kind of mistake. Beside him Arthur played with his food, his ears twitching more and more as time passed. The silence continued.
"How did your day go?" Adolf's voice was the one to break the silence, making everyone flinch in surprise. Feliciano was the first to talk, detailing his day. As he talked Lovino did so too, if only to correct his brother on something or other. From there Francis joined the conversation, making Arthur join to when he started making fun of him again. The tension left each of them little by little, until it was nothing more but a bad memory.
The night had finally fallen and everybody sat around the fire, talking. Alfred didn't dare join, and Adolf didn't even try. They were all listening to Lovino and Francis fight over something (what that something was, Alfred had no idea) when something heavy fell on his shoulder. Turning around, he was surprised to see that Arthur had fallen asleep against him.
His eyes were closed and his face was completely peaceful. He looked even younger like that Alfred noted with surprise, and he looked quite cute too. Blushing slightly, Alfred turned his attention to everybody else, surprised to see Feliciano falling asleep against his twin, while said twin tried to keep him awake if only to take him to their tent. Francis watched them for a few seconds before he too left to help Lovino. Adolf in the other hand simply watched him, as if waiting for something. Carefully the SA agent got up, holding the little Hybrid against his chest and turned questioning eyes towards him. Getting up, Adolf took him to his own tent, where Alfred placed Arthur after a moment of hesitation.
"You can sleep there too." Was all he said before he turned around, watching the forest.
Alfred turned towards him in surprise, but seeing no other reaction from the older one, he did as he was told, placing himself beside the little Bunny. The last thing he saw before sleep claimed him once again was a soft, angelic face sleeping inches away from his own.
Translations
N'est-tu pas chanceux- Aren't you lucky
Fratello? Puoi cercare due pomodori per la salsa?- Brother? Can you look for two tomatoes for the sauce?
Read and review if you have anything to say, but right now I really have to run!