Then I was Young and Unafraid
"Dinner!" Liechtenstein called down the hall where she and her brother spent most of their days; of course, there was no indication he had heard her. Rolling her eyes with good nature, the girl put down their dinner on the kitchen table and walked down the hall.
"Bruder!" She shouted, "Dinner!"
The teenager smiled to herself at the muffled voice that passed through her brother's study's door. Good. he'd be down to eat in a few minutes; now...where was that little boy? Austria. Meandering down further, she paused with her hand on the guestroom's door. "Österreich?" She implored.
No answer. Was he still asleep? Maybe. She didn't know very much about children other than what she'd seen on television and in movies. She was pretty sure one the boy's size needed naps...but hadn't he slept long enough? Biting her lip, she wondered if it would be rude to pop in or if it would be okay since she was worried...
"Eva?"
Spinning around, the blond gasped. "Vash!"
He frowned. "Vhat are you doing? I thought ve vere having dinner?"
"Ve are..." her eyes flickered to the closed door. "But vhat about our guest? Surely Österreich is hungry?"
The man waved a hand. "Leave him be, if he's hungry he'll come out."
Liechtenstein bit her lip. Was that really the best way to handle things? Germany had asked them to take care of Austria...if, if he didn't come down she'd bring him something before bed. Nodding to herself, she hurried after her brother. That was a good plan. The little boy would be okay.
Sitting criss-cross on his borrowed bed, Austria relaxed as he listened to the girl walk away. He didn't want to be anywhere near Switzerland tonight (or ever again, actually);but...he sort of like Liechtenstein. Something in the back of his mind told him she was nice. Like really nice. She must have been very good to him before he got his memories back, that was the only answer he had to that feeling.
Shifting, his knee bumped something. Curious, the little boy reached for it. Looking at it, he saw that it was a book. A book of nursery rhymes. Opening it, he thumbed through the pages until one caught his eye.
"A farmer vent trotting..." skimming the rest he muttered; "And they all tumbled down." Unhappily, he closed it and threw the book at the wall. Stupid story. Huffing Austria crawled off the bed and then underneath it. Instinct dictated he hide from the close threat...even if he knew that the "threat" wouldn't dare do anything when Liechtenstein and Germany were looking out for him.
Hooking his arms around his knees, Austria buried his face in the stupid, soft cloth of his pants and tried not to cough at the dust around him. Blinking some, the little boy rubbed at his eyes. Suddenly, he was actually very tired...before he knew what he was happening, Austria fell into the darkness of the mind.
Several hours later, dressed in her nightgown, Liechtenstein walked down the hall to the room Austria was staying in with a plate of lukewarm dinner. She was a bit upset that the boy never came out tonight, but maybe he just missed Germany? He'd seemed quite comfortable with the man when he was here. Knocking once, she got no answer.
Pausing, the teenager wondered once again if it would be okay to just walk in. Gnawing on her knuckle, she came to the conclusion she really didn't have a choice if she wanted to make sure he ate...so with great reluctance the Liechtenstein opened the door. Coming in, the first thing she noticed was that the indent in the bed and the fact that there was no little boy at all.
She counted to ten. No reason to panic just yet, maybe he went to the bathroom? Putting the plate on the dresser, she walked out and down the hall; the bathroom door was open. The bathroom door was open. Finally freaking out, the teenager raced down the hall to the living room where she knew her brother was still cleaning his guns.
"Vash! Vash!" She cried, leaning in around the doorway. "He's missing!"
Green eyes lift. "Vhat? Vho's missing?"
"Österreich!" She burst with great agitation. "I vent to give him dinner and he vasn't there!"
Pushing himself up from his chair, Switzerland inquired; "Did you check the bathroom?"
"Ja!"
Pinching his nose, the man got up. "Come on," he sighed. "Let's get looking...he's probably lost or something."
Liechtenstein frowned. "Bruder, our house isn't that big."
"He's six!" Vash snapped back in exasperation. "To someone his size, this place probably seems huge!"
Wringing her hands, his sister sniffed. "Ve'll find him, right? I promised Deutschland ve'd take care of him..."
Coming around, Switzerland hugged the girl. "It'll be fine Eva, ve'll find him. You'll see."
"Danke," she muttered wiping away her tears. "I don't know vhat I'd do vithout you Vash!"
Lips quirking, the man's stare gentled. "Probably taking care of someone else," he answered. "Now, c'mon. You start vith down here, I'll go search upstairs;" Switzerland ordered as they slowly edged away from the living room and to the staircase between the floors.
"Okay," Liechtenstein agreed, putting on a brave smile. "I bet once ve start calling for him and making a ruckus he'll turn up, ja?"
Smiling, Vash affirmd the teenager's assumption. "Ja."
What do you guys think will happen next? Guessing's always fun! Anyway, I want to give a ginormous thank you to Mite! You really helped with correcting all that German and I think I'll head your advice more or less. If you're still there, I want you to know you won my prize for being the Eleventh reviewer too! A One-Shot of your choosing in any fandom I have previously written in. I'll give you a week to get back to me before I hand the prize over to the next person...
If anyone's interested, I have recently put a Russia-centric one-shot called If I Could (I'd be There). If you want to read it, I'd be much obliged.
To reviewers, HetaJuu, Mite, MoonBlazer, and Onyxlark36; you guys are awesome and I hope to hear from you again!
Thanks for reading and please leave a review!
Words:
Ja-Yes
Danke-Thanks
Bruder-Brother
Österreich-Austria
Duetschland-Germany
P.S. Check out the poll on my page! I'd totally appreciate you voting on it!