Title: The Antique Shop
Summary: Taiwan's enjoyment of shopping may be her undoing, especially when she goes with a companion she does not know.
Pairings: Implied Austria/Hungary
Disclaimer: Hetalia Axis Powers and the 200 Phenomena in the City of Calgary are the creations of Hidekaz Himaruya and an unknown author respectively. I am merely a writer taking creative liberties.
Somewhere in the Northeast, although there are conflicting reports of its location, there is a small antique shop called Edson's Antiques and Importing. By the look of it, the store's been closed for decades, and for good reasons. Not the least of which is that it opens onto an alley instead of onto the street. The merchandise inside can't be seen through the murky glass, but you can usually make out the window display.
The display, despite the fact that no one really knows how to get into the building since the door's apparently rusted shut, changes from day to day. A stuffed bear's head might show up on Monday and be gone on Friday, replaced with a large antique samovar. The floor beneath this merchandise is covered with newspapers written in a language that no human being has ever spoken or read, and the pictures... well, let's just say you'll be amazed what you can fit in a samovar.
Taiwan enjoyed shopping like any other girl, so when Elizaveta offered to accompany her on her Sunday shopping trip, she gladly accepted. Despite the fact that she did not know the other female well at all, Elizaveta seemed nice enough.
Her company was mostly male-oriented, but that did not mean she did not enjoy a little female bonding time. That was why she agreed to go to the older part of town Elizaveta had proposed instead of the local shopping district. Perhaps they would find some interesting trinkets there.
Surely enough, she found a small antique shop to the alley with a rotting sign that she could barely make out as 'Edson's Antiques and Importing'. Elizaveta trailed behind her as she went to check it out.
It was not very interesting to Taiwan; the newspapers plastering the floor of the window display were of some strange unknown language and the teddy bear's head did not seem to be attached to its body. There was also an elaborately decorated container she supposed was antique. The glass was too murky to make out the rest of the shop.
"What do you think of this, Eliza? …Eliza?"
She did not notice her shopping companion behind her, nor the gleam of a knife in her hands.
A rusted key clattered to the ground, and there was a scream that soon fell silent. That day, there was a new display gracing Edson's Antique Shop.
After all, Elizaveta knew the owner.
"Roderich, I have something for your shop! I think you'll like it!"
"Why, how kind of you, Miss Elizaveta. Would you like to step in for a cup of tea before you go shopping with another one of your friends? In addition, I would like some help with the camera; I need to get the pictures to the press before next week."
"Of course, Roderich!"