Faded: welcome! so i finally got over my writer's block and managed to crank this out.
Riane: whoo. finally.
Faded: so i won't keep ya'll waiting any longer. here's chapter 4!
Raine: TFG doesn't own hetalia in any way, shape, or form.
Erina
Erina lolled around in bed, pulling the covers over her head to block out the sunlight. China had left early for a meeting with his boss and had told her that he would be gone most of the day. Finally deciding that she should get out of bed, she threw the covers off and went to the kitchen to make herself some pot stickers.
After about another hour and a half, she was done with her breakfast and sitting on the couch watching TV. She didn't understand how people could sit and watch it for hours on end. The cartoon show playing on the screen lulled her back into a state of sleepiness and she drifted off again.
***
Erina awoke with a start to the sound of the phone ringing. Stumbling off the couch, she reached over and answered the phone. "Hello, aru?"
"Hi!" came a boisterous voice from the other end of the line. "This is Erina, right?"
"Da…who is this?" she asked, wiping the sleep from her eyes with one hand.
"Hmm? Oh, sorry. It's America." She could almost hear the smile in his voice as he spoke.
"Ah. Did you need something from my brother, aru?" she asked, staring absently at the TV, which she had left on.
"Actually…no. I was gonna ask you something, but I can only ask if China isn't around," he told her.
"Why do you not want him around, da?"
"Eh…no reason. So is he there?"
"No, aru."
"Okay, cool. You wanna come to a UN meeting with me?"
Erina bit her lip slightly. Her brother had always told her not to go places with strangers, but as with before, America wasn't all that strange to her. "Da, I will go with you," she finally answered. "But…how am I going to get to the meeting, aru?" she asked innocently.
"Don't you worry about that!" America told her. "Just go get ready and I'll come by to get ya."
"Mm-hmm. I will see you in a little while, da?" She picked up the remote and switched the TV off.
"Yep. See ya!"
The line went dead and Erina went to go get ready for the meeting. This would be the first time she had ever gone anywhere without China or Russia. It worried her a bit, but she didn't think anything would go terribly wrong. 'America seems like a responsible person,' she thought to herself, as she put on a formal red and gold qipao (1). The doorbell rang and she smiled to herself as she rushed to go greet America.
America & Erina
Erina stayed close to America as they entered the meeting room. There were countries all over the place! She recognized some from her first world meeting, but there were some that she had never seen and struck her as extremely exotic. She shied away from any attempts at conversation and remained very introverted for the entire meeting. At least until America made his announcement right before the end of the meeting…
"And so, without further ado, I think we can call this meeting to a close—"
"Whoa, wait! Hold up!" Beside her, America had just jumped up and cut off the speaking country. (She hadn't bothered to recall his name, there were too many names to memorize as it was.) "I have an announcement to make!"
A collective grumble rippled through the countries at this. Erina looked up at her chaperone with wide eyes. What was he planning on doing, she wondered vaguely.
"It better not be something bloody stupid again like last time," England muttered, a few seats down from where America was.
"Hey! My announcements are never stupid!" America exclaimed. England merely rolled his eyes and America continued. "Okay, so back to my super important announcement. I bet you're all wondering about the kid I brought with me, today, huh?" There were a few agreements to the statement here and there. "Well, this is Erina." America gestured for her to stand up, and she did, feeling a little awkward as the judgmental eyes of the countries fell upon her. "She's kind of a colony, right now and that's why she's so little. But anyways, she's not my colony, cause I know that's what you're all thinking. She's actually China's colony." There were mutters about Erina's brother throughout the meeting room as America said this.
"Where is aniki, anyways?" Korea asked. "He's never missed a meeting!"
"Gē ge is at a meeting with his boss today, aru," Erina said quietly.
"So yeah, that's basically the announcement," America finished. "Feel free to ask little Erina here any questions you might have."
And as soon as he said that, everything went to hell in a hand basket.
Questions came flying at the not-quite-colony, not-quite-micronation from all directions. Questions regarding her age, the size of her territory, political stand points, military strength, her location and all hundreds of others were thrown at her. Being unused to the attention, Erina froze up and looked around frantically for a familiar face. Finally her eyes landed on someone she could be grateful to see.
"Papa!"
Erina tore from the spot she was standing over to where Russia sat, not really paying attention to the growing ruckus around him. She jumped onto him and clung tightly to his coat, bawling her eyes out.
Russia looked down at the little colony-nation that was clinging to him. "Hmm? Erina? Something is wrong?" he asked pleasantly.
Erina said nothing, and only tried to burrow into the larger nation's coat as a way to hide from the terrifying countries that wouldn't leave her alone. Unnoticed by her, the countries that had been questioning her had gone quiet as soon as she had fled to her "papa." She sniffled and looked up at Russia. "Papa…papa, I…I want to go home, aru."
Russia smiled pleasantly and nodded. "Da, I will take you home. But first I would like to talk to America. That is okay with you, da?"
Erina nodded and scurried out the door, waiting for Russia. She waited patiently outside for Russia, wondering absently if her brother was still in his meeting. 'Hm…he might be upset with me for leaving and not telling him…' She was still reeling slightly from the experience in the meeting room, but couldn't quite get over what that feeling of recognition had felt like. What would it be like to be independent again as she had been when she was young? Even now she could never entirely recall what it had been like to be independent, but she had needed that dependency on her brother and papa. Without that support from either Russia or China, she may well have fallen very quickly.
"Time for us to go~!" Russia picked Erina up and set her in the car. She squealed happily as she was picked up and bounced happily in her seat. Perhaps when she got home, she would as her brother what "independence" was.
China, Russia & Erina
Knock knock!
China jumped slightly at the noise. He had been so worried about his sister that he hadn't even heard a car pull up outside. He rushed to the door and pulled it open to see Russia and Erina standing in the doorway. "Gē ge!" she cried happily, hugging him around the waist.
He smiled and hugged her back. "Where have you been, aru?" he asked, almost afraid of the answer.
"I…I…" She bit her bottom lip and looked away from him. "Wàibian (2)…"
China sighed. She obviously wasn't going to tell him now. "Very well. Go get ready for dinner, aru." Erina nodded sheepishly and walked to her room. As soon as she was out of earshot, he turned to Russia and demanded, "What happened, aru?!"
Russia gave the older nation his ever present smile. "You mean you did not know the she was gone?" he asked.
China frowned at this. "No…if I had known, I wouldn't be asking, aru." He crossed his arms and held the Russian's stare. "Why? Who was she with, aru?"
"She was with America-kun at a UN meeting," Russia told him, his expression not changing a bit as China's expression turned to stone. "Da, everyone seemed very interested in her territory."
"No! I don't believe it, aru!" China shook his head empathically. "She would never—!"
"But she did~!" Russia said, cutting him off. "Perhaps I will have to take her back, since it seems you are not fit to take care of her, da?"
China was taken aback by the sudden threat. "No! I will fight you for her again, aru!" China told him. "I do not want to, but I will if I must, aru!"
"Very well. But I will be back to see her again soon. Oh, and you will give this to her, da?" Russia produced a sunflower from his coat and handed it to China, who merely nodded at the request. "Da, and tell her to not lose hope."
A little while after Russia left, Erina came out of her room to talk to her brother. To her surprise, China was sitting on the couch, curled up and holding onto a sunflower. "Gē ge? Are you okay? Da, you look sad. What happened, aru?"
China shook his head and tried to smile. "I-I'm fine, aru. Just a little worn out, aru." He held his sister close, wondering if she would really want to leave and have her own independence. She had never complained about her situation before, so what had changed? Had he made a mistake in bringing her to that world conference? He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear her when she asked him a question. "Hmm? What was that, aru?"
Erina giggled a little at her older brother's spacy-ness. "I asked what independence is, aru," she repeated. "I think America said something about it before…"
China laughed nervously. "Ah…well it is a western idea, aru," he replied, not wanting to give an actual answer.
"So then…it is a bad thing, da?" she asked innocently. Erina had been raised on the principle that many western ideals were not in her best interest and that she should always ignore them if she wanted to remain with her brother.
China nodded immediately at that. "Yes. Yes it is, aru. You must never be independent. Do you understand, aru?"
Erina nodded happily. "Da! I understand, aru!"
***
It was late at night. Very late. China definitely wouldn't approve her being up at this time to make a call. But…she had to do this. Erina needed an explanation, and her brother, in all his wisdom, hadn't given her an adequate one. She snuck down the hall into the kitchen where one of the phones were. She looked around for her brother's contact list and looked it over until she found the number she was looking for and dialed.
Ring…ring…ring…
"Heeello?" came the voice from the other end.
"H-hello?" she said quietly. "This is America, da?"
"Yep! Who's this?" he asked.
"This is Erina, aru," she told him, curling on one of the kitchen chairs.
"Oh! Rina! Hey! How's it going?" he asked excitedly. "Did ya need something?"
"Actually…da." She paused and glanced down the hall to see if her brother was awake. "Can you tell me what independence is, aru?"
"Huh? Oh…um, sure!" he replied. "But, why the sudden interest?"
"Oh…no reason. But you will tell me, da?"
"Of course! But let me start by telling you about why I became independent…"
(1) - a traditional chinese dress
(2) - out/outside
Faded: kay, next chapter is after about a 4 year time skip. you're gonna see some major changes in Erina's personality, so be warned.
Raine: you mean like how she--- *gets hit on the head*
Faded: NO HINTS. if ya wanna see what's gonna happen, stay tuned! ;)
