CHAPTER 1

"Alfred, for the love of Queen Elizabeth, will you PLEASE stop talking with your mouth full!" Arthur yelled at his step-brother as he continued to eat an absurd amount of hamburgers while talking about how amazing the new video game he bought was. For the life of him, Arthur didn't even catch what the name of the game was.

Arthur was a sixteen-year old sophomore with an English accent – which, in all reality isn't surprising since he moved to New York last year from London. He was wearing a dark green sweater tee that appeared to be well knitted with white sleeves, khaki pants, and sneakers. He had shaggy blond hair that only slightly covered his dark, large eyebrows, but his evergreen-colored eyes were stunning nonetheless. Compared to Alfred, however, he was a little on the thin side, and not quite as tall as most of the other boys at his lunch table. His face concealed a small blush of anger, however, as he yelled at his American half-brother.

Alfred, however, was 100% American. He was a sixteen-year old boy who had short dusty blond hair and a cowlick at the parting of his bangs that seemed to defy gravity, and eyes the color of a clear summer sky behind glasses. He wore a white tee-shirt under a brown bomber jacket that had the number fifty on the back, and a star pin on the right breast part of the coat, jeans, and sneakers. He was taller and more muscular than Arthur, and seemed to have a mischievous twinkle in his eyes as he swallowed his seventh (or was it the eighth?) burger, before flashing Arthur his megawatt smile. Arthur rolled his eyes at Alfred – he was an odd one.

"Honestly, Alfred, you're the only person I know who can swallow a full-sized burger whole."

"Yuppers!" Alfred jabbed his thumb towards his chest as he continued, "I was the champion at the Hamburger-Eating Contest five years in a row!"

"Now why doesn't that surprise me…?" Arthur mumbled. "I think whoever can eat anything faster than you had to have their stomach pumped."

"Actually, yes. Alfred, don't you r-remember Gilbert?" A quiet voice asked Alfred from next to Arthur, to which Alfred responded with a grimace.

"Only because you keep reminding me, Mattie."

Matthew was Alfred's twin brother, and although they looked alike, they sure didn't act alike. And not just because Matthew was Canadian, either. Matthew was wearing a red tee-shirt with a white maple-leaf emblem in the middle, jeans, and Adidas white sneakers. Matthew has the same hair as Alfred, only a little longer and curlier, with a long curl protruding from the middle of his hair and falling in front of his face, and he has almost violet eyes. He was thin as well but about the same size as Alfred in height, but he had a more diminutive appearance about him, compared to Alfred's powerful and goofy aura. In Matthew's arms was a stuffed Polar Bear about two feet in height that he clutched tightly, as if it would run away otherwise.

"Bleeding hell, that's beastly!"

"Ohonhonhon…Je m'en souviens très bien (1). Poor Gilbert had to refrain from drinking for a whole four months!" A blond-haired boy on the other side of Alfred commented.

"True, but he still didn't beat me!" Alfred grinned again. Arthur face-palmed and Matthew rolled his eyes.

Francis, the sixteen-year old French boy sitting next to Alfred, had shoulder-length blond hair and eyes the color of a calm ocean, with some small stubble growing on his chin. He was wearing a long blue button-up coat with a matching caplet, red pants and brown boots. He seemed to have a nice body figure, not necessarily macho, but almost in a lean way. He seemed to be about the same height as Arthur, so Alfred still seemed much taller.

"Wait, I didn't think it took four months to recover from a stomach pumping," Arthur asked. "I thought it took about a week at most or something."

Francis laughed the stereotypical French laugh again. "Non, mon ami (2). He continued to drink immediately after the operations were fini. Les médecins (3) had to keep pumping his stomach until he stopped drinking."

"My goodness. That seems like something the old chap would do, though." Arthur thought about it some more, and it really did seem like it.

"Ohonhonhon…Mon ami (2), you would do something like that too, non?"

"What? Belt up, you bloody Frog! That was one time!" Arthur yelled at the Frenchman, his cheeks going pink out of anger and embarrassment.

"Aw, but dude, it was still hilarious!" Alfred said, laughing loudly. "I still have the video!"

"Oh, clear off you prat!" Arthur stuck his tongue out at his brother. Then he snickered, saying, "Or should I show them the video of when you tried to flirt with that waitress at that bar?"

Alfred's face blanched. "You wouldn't dare."

Matthew and Francis appeared interested in this, but before they could say anything, the rest of the crew sat down at the table.

"Mein got (4). De people in ze line vere so shlow!" A blond-haired German boy complained with a straight face. The brunet waking next to him continued to smile so wide that he had to close his eyes.

"Vee ~ Non essere così triste (5), Ludwig! The people in front of us were-a very nice!" He said in a thick Italian accent.

Ludwig sighed at his friend.

Ludwig was a blond-haired sixteen-year old German with slicked back blond hair, striking blue eyes, and an almost permanent scowl on his face. He was wearing a clean white tee-shirt, so you could easily see his arm muscles, jeans, and black boots, with a fake Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross necklace (6). He seemed very muscular, and about as tall as Alfred and Matthew, whereas his friend was a little different.

"Zey vere flirting vith you, Veli."

"Vee ~ I know! Erano cosí belle! (7)" He cooed in Italian.

Ludwig refers to him as "Feli," (but it sounds like Veli in his accent), but his name is Feliciano. He was sixteen years old, with a lean form and about the same height as Arthur or Francis. He had short brown hair and brown eyes (which weren't noticeable because they were almost always closed), with a strange curl on the left side that seemed to bounce as he moved. He was wearing something that resembled a white sailor suit shirt with a blue collar, necktie and sleeve bands, blue shorts, and white sneakers.

Francis laughed at this statement.

Arthur glared in his direction, mumbling, "Pervert."

This made Francis laugh harder. "Non, you are just upset that you don't get as many girls as he does, non?"

Arthur glared daggers at him. "Belt up, Frog," he repeated.

Before anything else could come of this, Alfred laughed. "Dude! I didn't even see you guys sit down!"

The others looked to their left to see that their friends Kiku, Yao, and Ivan had sat down with them. They all seemed interested in Arthur and Francis's squabbling.

"Da, ve vere just enjoying the show," Ivan said, a small smile on his face.

"I don't know, it wasn't all that amusing, Ivan," Yao huffed, crossing his arms defiantly.

Kiku just smiled at them. "I think you two really need to talk things over."

Ivan was a sixteen-year old Russian boy with silky white hair and violet eyes, a baby face, and a prominent nose. He was very tall, much taller than anyone else, and had a crazy outfit on considering it was almost 70 degrees outside. He was wearing a long beige coat that was only buttoned up at the top parts, with green pants (that were almost covered by the coat), gloves, boots, and a white scarf. Nobody really knew why he always dressed like it was wintertime, but nobody dared to ask, or they probably would be found the next day dead in a ditch or something. There was something about this sixteen year old that, despite his smile, appeared dark and dangerous.

Yao was much shorter compared to Ivan, and much thinner, definitely the thinnest in the group. He was a Chinese boy a year older than the rest of the group, with long black hair tied up into a ponytail and chocolate-brown eyes. He was wearing a red tee-shirt with the stars of the Chinese flag on the corners (a gift from his mother back at his home), white breeches (8), and gong fu xie (9) shoes over leg wrappings.

And Kiku was a bit shorter, about the size of China, and was thin. He had jagged brown-black hair and his eyes were so deeply brown that they appeared to be black. He was wearing a long white shirt with a black collar, white pants, and black polished shoes. He, also, was sixteen, and was from Japan.

"Oh, no. I'm not talking to this prat," Arthur scoffed at the idea. "I would rather jump off of a cliff."

"Oui, I would rather you jump off of a cliff, aussi (10) Francis said, a smirk on his face.

"Why you dolt!" Arthur grabbed his hair, and Francis whined, saying something in French that was practically inaudible, because it was so fast, slurred and panic-stricken. Everyone in the school knows not to mess with Francis's hair. "I'll skin you alive, bloody bastard!"

"NON! Not the hair! Anything but the hair!" He yelled.

Arthur, now satisfied, threw Francis back by his hair, and Francis smoothed it out, muttering "Putain de bâtard… (11)" over and over again.

Everyone laughed. "Whoa, Arthur, dude! You're showing mercy! That's so unlike you!" Alfred gave his half-brother a noogie. "I thought Francis was going to lose his whole head!"

"Well, I felt that it wouldn't be worth getting into trouble," Arthur said. Then he paused. "No, I take that back. It would be worth it, but…I suppose I just didn't want to get into trouble."

Francis scoffed. "Non, mon ami (2), it is simply because you love me and you didn't want to hurt me."

Arthur reached over to his head again. "Keep it up, Frog, and you might end up as bald as Mr. Rogers."

Francis instantly shrunk back, almost as if it was a reflex. Everyone laughed again. Their math instructor, Mr. Rogers, was so bald, you could practically see your reflection. Francis, of course, likes to look at his head when he is bent down, so he can use it like a mirror, so, naturally, Mr. Rogers hates him for insulting his lack of hair. Strangely enough, however, he doesn't have eyebrows, and his eyelashes are either really light or gone. At first, people think he has cancer, but that isn't the case. Although most people wish it was.

After they were through making fun of Francis/Mr. Rogers, however, Alfred nudged Kiku's side annoyingly. "Kiku, whatcha staring at?"

Everyone's attention turned to the Japanese student, making him blush and shrink in his seat a little. He didn't like attention being drawn to him.

"I was wondering who that student was, over there," he said quietly, pointing to something behind Arthur, Matthew, Ludwig, and Ivan. Everyone looked over to where he was gesturing, and sure enough, there was someone unfamiliar to all of them.

"Woah, who is that?" Alfred stared. "She looks familiar, though, man. I'm sure I've seen her before."

"Yes, aru. I agree," Yao said, squinting and leaning towards her direction to get a better look.

"Maybe she is in one of our-a classes?" Feliciano chirped.

"Not that I'm aware of, I'm afraid," Arthur said.

"Oui, moi aussi (12)," Francis concurred.

"Da, but she is really pretty," said Ivan, his small smile still present on his face.

Ludwig and Kiku remained silent, not bothering to give their opinion. Nobody seemed to notice, really. They do this all the time.

It was a girl, probably their age, with dusty-blond hair, but that was all they could really make out. It was hard to see her from where they were sitting, so nobody had any idea how Ivan managed to label her as 'pretty.'

"Why don't we go say hello? The poor girl looks lonely," Arthur suggested. It was true, she was sitting down at a circular table by the wall, alone, looking at the floor. As far as they could see, it appeared she never got any lunch, either.

"Yeah! I've always wanted a girl in our group!" Alfred fist-pumped. As he said this, Francis got a perverted look on his face.

"Alfred, behave. She doesn't look like she's the outgoing type," Matthew said quietly. Everyone turned to him for a second, as if thinking about it.

"Let's just go!" Yao said, standing up. "After all, we are just going to say hello!"

Everyone followed suit, much to Yao's pleasure. As they walked to her, almost single-file, she looked up. And as they sat down, her eyes widened in fear.

Arthur got a good look at her eyes. They were a beautifully stunning blue, somewhat like Alfred's, but a little darker, almost sapphire. But it was obvious she was afraid. "U-uh…I-I'm sorry, b-but there's no l-lunches f-for you to t-take…" She shrunk a little while saying this, as if ready to be punched in the face. Alfred laughed.

"Oh, don't be silly, dudette! We just wanted to say hello!"

She flinched a little at the loudness of his voice, but seemed to relax a little. She almost literally deflated. "Oh, t-thank goodness."

"Mon cher (13), why would we hurt such a delicate flower like yourself?" Francis cooed, trying to flirt. But she seemed either oblivious, or not interested. She was still slightly nervous, but nothing like before. She appeared almost terrified for her life before.

"Oh well, I don't really know."

"Hey! You've got a cute accent!" Alfred beamed. He didn't seem to think that what he said was flirty, he just liked it. Arthur face-palmed. She seemed to understand his meaning, however, and giggled. "Aw, shucks. Thanks."

"Please, miss, forgive him," Arthur sighed. "He really is a dolt sometimes."

"Oh, don't worry, it's alright," she said. "Besides, it's not me who has the accent. It's you. I talk normal," she said with a giggle.

Everyone laughed. "Da, if you think about it, it does seem like everyone else talks differently when you have a different accent," Ivan concurred.

Alfred slung his muscular arm around the girl's slim shoulders, making her flinch out of reflex. "I like you. You can be a friend of ours," he announced.

The girl remained wide-eyed, shaking, and unresponsive, until Arthur pushed Alfred's arm off, scolding him about being polite. Once his words sunk in, however, she seemed to be surprised. "A…friend?"

"Of course!" Feliciano chipped. "You can be-a in our group, bella!"

"R-really? A-are you sure?" She seemed a little taken aback by the abruptness of the situation. "I…I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about you."

Everyone seemed to deflate a little at this. So she didn't want to be friends? Well, obviously, Alfred rushed things a little too much.

"Please, love, forgive him. He's a little too forward with these kinds of things," Arthur explained to her politely. Then he held out a hand. "My name is Arthur. Arthur Kirkland."

The girl flinched back at his hand for a moment, as if he were going to hit her. But she slowly sat up straight again, staring at the hand for a moment in thought. Arthur slowly brought it down to his sides, a little embarrassed. Is something wrong? Why didn't she shake my hand?

"I'm the one and only Alfred F. Jones! The hero and savior of the world!" Alfred boomed, awarding a few glances from other people. Arthur hushed him as the others continued.

"I'm Matthew Williams, and this is Kumajirou," Matthew said, holding his polar bear up a little.

"I'm Yao. Wang Yao.

"Francis Bonnaparte, at your service, mon cher(13)."

"Ivan Braginski."

"Vee~ I'm Feliciano Vargas! But you can call me Feli!"

"Ludwig. Beilschmidt."

"Kiku Honda."

The girl looked one by one at the people as they all introduced themselves. She smiled softly at all of them. "Are all of you from different places?"

"Vee~ Si, we are!" Feliciano chirped.

"Most of de schtudents here are vrom different countries," Ludwig explained bluntly.

"After all," Kiku added, "This is a private school."

"Everyone in our group is from a different country," Arthur told the girl, not unaware that she never gave her name. "Alfred is American, I am British, Matthew is Canadian, Yao is Chinese, Kiku is Japanese, Ivan is Russian, Ludwig is German, and Feliciano is Italian. We have many other people here, too, that are from different places."

"Yeah," Matthew smiled. "Like Bella, from Belgium, or Roderich, from Austria, or Elizabeta, from Hungary."

"And," Alfred added, "there's Lilli from Lichtenstein, and Feliks from Poland, and Vash, from Switzerland, Eduard from Estonia," Alfred counted them off with his fingers, "Ravis from Latvia, Toris from Lithuania, Matthias from Denmark, Tino from Finland, Emil from…Iceland? I think? Uhhh…" Alfred seemed to lose his train of thought for a moment. "Lukas from Norway, Berwald from Sweden, Gupta from Egypt, Heracles from Greece, Sadiq from Turkey, Antonio from Spain…"

"Don't forget-a big brother Romano! He's-a from Italy, too!" Feliciano piped in.

"Yup, him too," Alfred concurred.

"And my sisters, Natalia from Belarus and Katyusha from Ukraine," Ivan piped in.

"Vee~ And Ludwig's brother, Gilbert!" Feliciano added. "He says he's-a from Prussia, but he's really from-a Germany."

"And my buddy, Im Yong Soo, from South Korea!" Alfred finished.

"Oh, but there's also Allistor from Scotland, Dylan from Wales, and Patrick from Ireland. They're all my brothers as well as Alfred and Matthew," Arthur explained. "And Peter, of course."

The girl widened her eyes at all of this. "How are all of you related?"

So Arthur, Mattie, and Alfred continued to explain their relationships. "Dude, Arthur's mom was a busy woman with too much free time on her hands," Alfred laughed. Arthur slapped him for this.

"My mum was not a whore you arse!" He whispered loudly, so as not to attract attention. Then he went to the girl. "My mum had married four men for her first twenty years of her life, each time having one child, save for the last time, when she had two. She first married a man from Wales, and had her son, Dylan. Then she divorced him, married another man from Scotland, and had her son, Allistor. Then she divorced him and married an Irish man, and had a son, Patrick."

"And finally," Alfred finished, "She divorced him and married a man from England, and had Arthur and Peter."

"Most of them are moved away now, save for Peter and I, with me being sixteen and Peter being twelve," said Arthur.

The girl scratched her head at all of this. "Wow, a full house, huh?"

"Yep, but he didn't even get to the part where we fit in!" Alfred chirped.

Matthew spoke up, which isn't usual for him. "You see, though, it was the same with Arthur's mom, but Alfred and I are twins, and our parents divorced, so Alfred lived in America with dad, and I lived in Canada with mom. Arthur's mom married our dad two years ago."

The girl blinked. "I think you lost her," Kiku said.

"No, I understand. It's just…Surprising." She turned to Ivan. "Is that what happened with you and your sisters? You said that they were from different countries as well."

It amazed everyone that she wasn't terrified of Ivan. "Da, but it vas vith my fader."

"Your father? Jeez," the girl giggled. "I suppose we might as well all be related."

Alfred stared at her, contemplating something. When she realized that he had done this for some time, she flinched back into her seat a little. "W-what are you d-doing?"

His eyes were squinted, staring at her, unblinking, and his hand was on his chin, with the other on his hip, and he was leaning very close to her seat. "Don't worry," Yao said. "That's his thinking face."

Everyone laughed but Alfred. He was still thinking. Yao continued, "It's hard for him to think, so he has to focus really hard on something to get it through his head."

More laughter, but again, Alfred was still staring at her. She was shaking now. "P-please s-stop."

Then, suddenly, he banged his fist onto the table loudly, shouting, "Aha! You're from Oklahoma!"

The girl squeaked a little at the sudden loud noise, but nodded, covering her face with her arm a little. "Y-yes."

"How did you know?" Feliciano asked. "I thought she was from-a Texas or-a something."

"I can tell by the accent," he said proudly.

"Well, congrats, dimwit. You've successfully given her a heart attack," Arthur rolled his eyes. The girl, however, giggled.

"That's fine, really. I don't mind. In fact, it's pretty neat that you guessed it so quickly."

"Vee~ I haven't the slightest idea –a where Oklahoma is!" Feliciano said like it was a good thing. Ludwig, for the first time in a while, actually spoke. "You moron, it is right above Texas."

"Oh, that makes-a sense!"

The girl giggled again. "Do y'all talk like this all the time?"

"Unfortunately, mon cher (13), oui," Francis rolled his eyes.

"Excuse me, but we still do not know your name," said Kiku quietly.

"Oh…" The girl thought about this for a moment. Arthur studied her a little as she seemed to ponder over something. She was wearing jeans, sneakers, and a yellow V-neck tee-shirt, so she didn't seem all that fancy for a private school. Then again, their school didn't seem to stress the dress code at all, anyway.

She sighed, snapping him out of it. "My name is Victorea."

Alfred gasped. "I KNEW IT! I KNEW I KNEW YOU!" He pointed at her wildly, making her flinch again. "I SAW YOU ON T.V.!"

AUTHOR'S NOTE :

Dun dun duuuuunnnnnn :D

Sorry it took so long, but I was really busy over the weekend. I tried my hardest, but my curfew is never going to bend to my will. :P I am only a Sophomore, anyway.

I really felt like this chapter had a lot less detail about everything than the prologue, but please let me know what I need to improve on, please. I would really appreciate advise, even if I might have a hard time changing things around :P

Also, any ideas for a plot would be nice, too. I already have a plot in mind, but if someone gives me a good shoutout, I might include it (I'll also give the username in the Authors note).

And, I noticed that I seemed to make this in Arthur's point of view more so than anything, but I really can't help it. I like him :D (I was planning on adding romance between Victorea and Arthur, but…I don't know how all of you would like that. Please tell me yes or no on that, too).

As for Victorea's name, I chose it because the name sounds like 'victory', which is a big part of the story (as you will see later), and the different spelling because it is really a different victory for her. When most people think of a victory, they think of winning a battle or fighting a war or slaying a dragon, but for her, she's overcoming her past, trying to win against fear and evil memories. A different victory. Victorea.

PLEASE REVIEW!

TRANSLATIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS :

Je m'en souviens tres bien – I remember that very well

Mon ami – My friend

Les médecins – The doctors

Mein got – My God

Non essere cosí triste – Don't be so sad

The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a medal given during the reign of Nazi Germany and during World War II (Just an F.Y.I.)

Erano cosí belle! – They were so pretty!

Breeches – Pronounced 'britches'

Gong fu xie literally translates to 'Kung-fu Shoes'. They are the black shoes that are flexible and are common in kung fu movies

Aussi – Also

Putain de bâtard… - Damn bastard… (sorry if it's wrong, I never learned that in French class :P)

Oui, moi aussi – Yes, me too.

Mon cher – My dear

ALSO NOTE:

For the people that do not know Hetalia all that well, or don't know it at all, or just don't know the human names for them:

-Alfred – America

-Arthur – England

-Francis – France

-Ludwig – Germany

-Feliciano – Italy

-Ivan – Russia

-Yao – China

-Kiku – Japan

Victorea and Mr. Rogers are my creation, and have no relation to me whatsoever. They are not supposed to personify any countries.

SUPERDUPERLONGAUTHORSNOTEISNOWFINISHED!

~Dreampainter