Hi again! Same warnings as last chapter, which includes the disclaimer. Oh, and there are more swears in this one, courtesy of Lovino's potty mouth!
Every other chapter is a bit different. So for like this chapter it shows fragments about a certain character's past. So, for example...
Chapter 1: Storyline
Chapter 2: Past
Chapter 3: Storyline
Chapter 4: Past
Chapter 5: Storyline
And so on...
When I run out of 'Past's to type (or if I wanted to keep them hidden), I might try to add omakes and bonus scenes.
No one reviewed last chapter... I'm kinda sad but oh well, it was my first Hetalia fanfic after all. Though it would help to review just to at least TELL ME what's wrong about it, or what I can improve. If you just don't like the storyline then it's fine. But I would still like to thank everyone who 'alert'ed and 'favorite'd this fanfic! That means a lot ^^
So anyway! Onto the next chappie! Hm... Whose past should it be? Eh, let's start off with Feliciano's and Lovino's!
(Make sure you've read at least the first part of the author's note, it's kinda important in case you sorta get confused with the chapter arrangement...)
Friday, March 10th, XXXX (2 years ago from present time)
"Lovino! Come back here!" shouted Feliciano. He was chasing after Lovino with strangely enough; A broomstick.
"No! I don't wanna!" replied Lovino, running away with all his might.
"LOVINO! You are going to tell me where you hid the rest of the ice cream!" complained Feliciano, swinging his broomstick in order to hit Lovino. But Lovino easily dodged it and ran outside.
"For the last time, I told you I ate it!" insisted Lovino, darting across the streets.
Feliciano and Lovino used to complain about what seems to be for other people the littlest thing. Well, first of all; their parents are messed. Really messed. Messed enough to leave two 1st graders alone in some rotten house while they go enjoy paradise elsewhere. Well, at least they pay for the bills, their education, and send them postcards. The thing is they're filthy rich but didn't want children, so they just ditched them in an old house and left to Hawaii or something. They're just that messed. Oh, but they send extra money to them as allowance to pay for food and clothing. At the very least, they acknowledge that they do have a pair of twins starving.
It was one of those rare moments where they've sent enough money for having extra dessert. The twins were happy, but...
"You can't possibly have eaten it all in one day!" complained Feliciano, dropping the broomstick and just started to plainly chase after him.
"It's possible!" replied Lovino, darting behind bushes.
"But that's crazy, ve! I didn't even got a scoop of it!" shouted Feliciano, jumping over the bushes. Lovino just managed to escape Feliciano trapping him and ran towards the more 'lively' parts of town People didn't seem to be bothered by the scene because they're used to the twins fighting all the time. They've ran through the streets and barely managed to avoid the honking cars. But the sound of sobbing stopped the two brothers. Feliciano was the first to react, forgetting all about the ice cream problem. He carefully made his way towards where the sobbing was heard. Lovino just grumbled, following close behind him.
There they saw a child about a year older than them, sobbing. His golden hair was a mess and violet eyes turning red due to sobbing so much. The twins scanned the house behind the boy. They knew this house. Their parents would often visit here, talking to its owners. They've made friends with their boy named... Frincus? What was his name again..? Oh well. But they've never saw this boy before.
"Hey, are you alright?" asked Feliciano, patting the boy on his back. The boy didn't answer, he just continued sobbing. But he could feel that the boy has noticed him. Feliciano decided to keep on talking.
"What are you crying about? It's such a pretty house you live in." Smiled Feliciano, making a bad attempt to cheer him up. Honestly, he has never tried to cheer people up in his life. Mostly because at school he would distance himself from everyone besides his brother. Usually, when people cry, someone else would cheer them up. Now who was that boy again? Alfond? The golden haired boy didn't respond, but his sobbing were starting to cease. Feliciano took this as a good sign and continued.
"You know, I really like this part of the neighbourhood! The flowers are always so pretty here! I've always wanted to take care of a garden. Or maybe even a tomato garden! That would have sounded like fun!" grinned Feliciano, waving his hands as he spoke. The boy stopped crying, but his face was still glued to the ground.
"Are you done yet?" grumbled Lovino, impatiently waiting for Feliciano to stop talking about worthless things. He was leaning on the tree in front of the house. Feliciano seemed to have noticed him for the first time.
"Oh! And I also have a brother. He can sometimes be a handful, I suppose. He's over there leaning on that tree, so you can't see him if you kept on staring at the ground, you know." Giggled Feliciano, "He ate all of the ice cream we had today. I got really mad! So mad that I nearly chased him with a broomstick outside! Luckily I dropped it, huh?" The boy didn't look up, still. Why won't he talk..?
"Hey, are you okay now? You still look a bit pale." Stated Feliciano. The boy froze for a moment, but then nodded. Feliciano brightened up to the fact that he's responding.
"That's great! What's your favourite food? I like pasta! Pasta is good! But Lovino, my brother, kept on complaining how we kept eating the same thing every day, so I had to learn how to cook other things too! My madre and padre are very weird, though. They just left us in some small house but at least they give us money! So that's why I had to learn how to cook. Lovino is too lazy to!" stated Feliciano happily.
"I can hear you, you know!" shouted Lovino, frustrated. Feliciano just laughed in response.
"Wait! I almost forgot! I didn't say my name yet! I'm Feliciano Vargas! What's yours?" asked Feliciano. The boy hesitated for a moment, but then shrugged. Feliciano looked taken aback.
"What? You don't know! That's not good! Everyone should have a name! It's not nice just to call you 'boy with golden hair'!" exclaimed Feliciano. The boy didn't respond, staring lifelessly at the ground in front of him.
"So what should I call you? Lovino, do you have any ideas?" asked Feliciano. Lovino grumbled.
"How about random-little-boy-from-the-street-that-we-had-found-crying-and-decided-to-give-him-a-name-cause-our-lives-are-just-that-stupid?" growled Lovino, not really interested.
"Uh... That's too long..." commented Feliciano.
"Does it look like I care?" growled Lovino.
"I know!" exclaimed Feliciano, snapping his fingers, "Let's go in the shopping parts of this town! There's gotta be a lot of shop names there, right?"
"Feli, you can't just go ahead, drag some random kid on the streets, then bring him all over town just for something as stupid as a name." Grumbled Lovino.
"Yes I can! C'mon, ragazzo!" exclaimed Feliciano, yanking the kid by his arm (Italian: Translation: ragazzo = boy). The kid seemed startled by the contact, but didn't got a chance to say anything as he was being pulled by the hyperactive Italian. Lovino followed close behind, hiding his worry.
"Feliciano! Stop! We have homework to do!" shouted Lovino, running after the two kids.
"As if you've ever done your homework in the first place!" grinned Feliciano, laughing at Lovino's expression at those words. What? It's true.
The band of three soon entered a long street filled with stores. They've tried names of stores (such as Allan's bakery) but the violet-eyed kid would always shook his head, disagreeing with every name.
The three kids, exhausted from all that walking, decided to sit down in a nearby park, leaning on a maple tree.
"I told you this was pointless. The kid likes nothing! We try being nice to him but he would refuse our help! What is going on in that stupid head of his?" grumbled Lovino in annoyance. The child looked taken aback, watching the ground shamefully. His eyes brightened up, though, as he saw a maple leaf on the ground. He picked it up gently, afraid to break it.
"Wow! That is one pretty maple leaf~" exclaimed Feliciano, gazing at the pretty red color. He turned towards the kid. "Do you like maple leaves?" The child nodded in happiness, scanning the leaf as if it was some rare object that needs extra care. Lovino muttered something under his breath. Feliciano stared at him in curiosity. Tilting his head to the side, he asked:
"What did you say, Lovi?" asked Feliciano.
"Acero." Stated Lovino, louder this time.
"A...cero..? What about it?" asked Feliciano with curiosity.
"His name, what do you think? He likes maple leaves, right? So his name should be Acero; Italian for maple." Suggested Lovino with gritted teeth. Feliciano brightened up.
"Wow! You do care after all, Lovi! So, do you like that name?" grinned Feliciano towards the boy. The boy nodded, equally as happy.
"You don't have to sound that happy about it. It's a stupid name." Muttered Lovino. Feliciano shook his head.
"No! It's a great name! Besides, you actually paid attention to him, so you chose that name with care, right?" grinned Feliciano.
"Shut up! I don't care at all! I just wanted to go home as soon as possible and he deserved a stupid name!" shouted Lovino. Feliciano glanced at Acero, whose eyes were filled with appreciation. He actually looked happy. That's great. Feliciano's grin turned into a thankful smile.
"Acero looks like he wants to say thank you! C'mon, Lovi! Give him a hug!" exclaimed Feliciano.
"No way in hell am I going to give some damn kid a hug!" yelled Lovino in disgust.
"Aww, why do you have to hurt our feelings?" cried Feliciano, frowning.
"Whatever, I want to go home." Pouted Lovino in boredom.
"Ok! Hold on... Acero, you do live somewhere, right?" asked Feliciano. Acero seemed upset, shaking his head in a sign of 'no'. Feliciano looked surprised and Lovino's eyes just widened.
"Ve? Really? Then whose doorstep were you crying on?" asked Feliciano. Acero's eyes were downcast, not responding to the question. Feliciano's reply was immediate.
"So it's settled! You're staying at our house, Acero!" exclaimed Feliciano. Acero and Lovino both looked shocked, with Lovino the first to recover.
"WHAT! No! I don't want some blonde-hair idiot living in our house!" cried Lovino.
"Please, Lovi..?" said Feliciano, doing the puppy dog eyes. Lovino's hand twitched for awhile, resisting it, before crying out:
"Ok fine! Yeesh! Just make sure he doesn't get into my way!" stated Lovino in frustration before walking out back towards home, arms crossed. Acero then looked guilty, but Feliciano's smile reassured him.
"Don't worry about Lovino. He's actually happy that you're staying over! If he wasn't, then he would have been stomping back home." Smiled Feliciano. Acero smiled back at this, and the two kids headed back to the Vargas household. Back then, they thought it was a silly game of 'Let's take care of random people off the street then act like bosses about it!', but they didn't know that this encounter has changed the Vargas twin's lives.
Saturday, March 11th, XXXX (2 years ago from present time) (The following day from above...)
"For crying out loud, Feliciano! Why do you always have to mess up?" shouted Lovino on the left side of the table.
"It's not my fault! The batter wouldn't cooperate with me! Since I couldn't make pancakes without batter, I just tried to toast some waffles instead!" exclaimed Feliciano, on the right side of the table. Acero sat awkwardly between the two twins, watching them fight.
"Yeah, but you left the batter as a mess all over the kitchen and burned the waffles!" complained Lovino. Acero glanced around the kitchen. He did have a point. Acero, gaining an idea, looked around the room for a wet cloth. When he found one, he began cleaning up the batter.
"The toaster must have been rigged! And like I said before, the batter wouldn't cooperate with me! Pasta is way more friendly!" shouted Feliciano. Acero then finished cleaning up the batter and left the used cloth on the sink, planning to wash it later.
"Those are foods, it's not like it can talk back at you! And what kind of person would have pasta for breakfast?" stated Lovino in frustration. Acero then grabbed the burnt waffles and threw then away in the garbage.
"I would! Pasta is so tasty!" exclaimed Feliciano. Acero then grabbed the leftover batter and went to work.
"You can't have pasta every day!" shouted Lovino.
"Yes you can!" stated Feliciano.
"No you can't!" disagreed Lovino.
"Yes you can!"
"No you can't!"
That went on for about ten minutes, neither brother letting up.
"Yes you can!"
"No you can't!"
Yes you can!"
"No you—Acero, what are you doing?" asked Lovino, watching as Acero placed the finished pancakes onto a place.
"Yes you—Uh... Where did the batter and burnt waffles go?" asked Feliciano, looking around the room.
Acero didn't respond; instead just placing the plate filled with pancakes onto the table then slamming a bottle of maple syrup besides it. The look on Acero's face clearly said 'EAT. NOW.' The Vargas twins stared at the perfectly made pancakes in what seemed like awe, before grabbing their own plates and placing some pancakes on it. Acero pointed towards the maple syrup, and the two twins understood his message. Pouring some maple syrup on the perfectly made pancakes, the twins felt like they were in heaven. They've wordlessly devoured the pancakes with their bare hands, not caring if the syrup got spread everywhere. Acero grabbed some pancakes of his own and literally dumped half of the bottle of maple syrup on it, not caring that it overflowed the plate. He then ate it happily, and honestly the twins were too busy eating their pancakes to care.
It was then decided Acero is making breakfast for them. Forever.
Monday, March 13, XXXX (2 years ago from present time)
Acero (who has been decided to sleep in their parents room), woke up with Feliciano pouncing onto his bed. Groggily, he sat up, and Feliciano grinned victoriously.
"Come on, Acero! We want your breakfast!" exclaimed Feliciano. Acero glanced at the alarm clock besides him. 6:30 AM. He rubbed his eyes with annoyance, not liking to wake up so early in the morning. But, anyway, he left the room to make the oh-so-great breakfast.
"Feliciano! You didn't have to wake him up! We can make our own breakfast. It's too early for him." Grumbled Lovino, rubbing his eyes as if he just woke up.
"But I wanted Acero's pancakes today..." whined Feliciano, crossing his arms.
"We're getting it for every weekend of our lives, stupid brother!" shouted Lovino.
"You didn't have to yell!" yelled Feliciano.
"Yes I do! Or else nothing will get into that tiny little brain of yours!" shouted Lovino. Feliciano shouted back and the two boys started complaining once more. Of course, like last time, they were interrupted by Acero's pancakes. Acero inwardly sighed, wondering how long his pancakes can stop them from complaining.
After finishing their breakfast, Lovino went off somewhere, muttering something along the lines of 'preparing'. Feliciano nodded and Acero shot the two twins a questioning look. Feliciano spotted that look and grinned.
"We have school from Monday to Friday! Uh... We should come back home at around 4:30 in the afternoon... So stay put until then, okay?" asked Feliciano. Acero nodded as Feliciano left. With an inward sigh, Acero cleaned up the mess the two twins left in the kitchen. (They eat like pigs! Seriously!)
Friday, March 17, XXXX (2 years ago from present time) (12:30 AM)
Feliciano yawned, knowing he should really sleep right now, but deciding not to because he wanted to keep Acero company. Acero was reading one of Feliciano's textbooks, mostly due to the fact that he felt like he should have an education too. After all, he hasn't been going to school as far as Feliciano knows. Maybe Feliciano should send his parents a message about Acero soon. After all, they're clueless about the golden-haired boy. But what happens if they get mad at them? Hopefully not...
"Why won't you talk?" whined Feliciano, poking Acero. Acero stared at him for a moment, not responding to his question. That just made Feliciano whine even more. For the whole week Acero has been there, Acero hasn't even spoke a word to them. It gets sort of annoying after awhile.
"Just forget it, Feli." Grumbled Lovino, passing by, "He won't talk and he never will." But Feliciano didn't accept defeat.
"But Loviiii! I want to hear him talk!" shouted Feliciano.
"Just forget it! The only thing that is going to end up with pestering Acero about this is him leaving!" yelled Lovino.
"No! I'm helping him get his voice back!" cried Feliciano.
"No you're not! You're annoying him!" shouted Lovino.
"Yes I am! And if Acero wanted to leave so badly, he would have done so ages ago!" exclaimed Feliciano.
"The only reason he hasn't left is because you keep on clinging onto him and it's starting to get annoying!" yelled Lovino.
"I'm not clinging onto him! Right, Acero—" started Feliciano, turning towards the direction. But Acero wasn't there.
"Acero..?" questioned Feliciano, panicking.
"He probably went to go to sleep. It's already Twelve 'o clock in the freaking morning." Reassured Lovino in annoyance, but if you look closely he seems as panicked as Feliciano. Feliciano nodded, trusting his brother.
"Y-Yeah! You're right! C'mon, I wanna go to sleep now..." yawned Feliciano, quickly running towards his room. Lovino, muttering something under his breath, followed him anyway.
Feliciano rolled around his bed, unable to go to sleep. He had dreams about THAT again. Wiping away his tears, Feliciano crawled over to Lovino's bed.
"Lovi..." whined Feliciano, "I can't go to sleep..." But Lovino didn't respond, fast asleep. Not wanting to wake up his brother, Feliciano made his way to Acero's room.
"Acero..." started Feliciano, crawling onto Acero's bed. Feliciano blinked in curiosity as he felt around the sheets. No one was sleeping here. Feeling his hands shake, Feliciano charged back into his room and pounced onto Lovino's bed.
"LOVINO! ACERO IS GONE! WE HAVE TO GO LOOK FOR HIM!" shouted Feliciano in worry. Lovino groaned as Feliciano's pounce made his fall off the bed.
"What? What about Acero?" stated Lovino groggily, standing up slowly.
"Acero isn't here! I can't find him anywhere!" shouted Feliciano. Hearing this, Lovino snapped out of his groggy state and rushed out the door. He rushed to put on his coat. Feliciano watched him in puzzlement.
"What are you doing, ve?" asked Feliciano, tilting his head to the side. Lovino scowled at him.
"What do you think I'm doing? I'm going to go look for Acero!" shouted Lovino, running out the door. Feliciano followed his example and quickened his pace to catch up with his brother.
They've searched everywhere; from the house they found him in, the shopping district, everywhere. By the time they've reached the forest, the two boys were exhausted. But perseverance causes them to urge on. They've scanned through the area but still no luck. Dragging their sore feet along the dirt, they've stopped when they reached Seamoore's Cliff. Lovino was the first to talk.
"Maybe the kid just returned home. There's no possible way to go farther than this unless you used a car or a boat." Stated Lovino, his fatigue clearly shown in his voice. Feliciano's eyes were downcast. Then, out of the blue, he noticed a flash of golden near the lower parts of the cliff. (It curves down in some sort of half circle.)
"Acero!" cried out Feliciano, running so fast down the hill that it seemed as if he was sliding. Lovino followed his lead and the two made it to where Acero was. Acero leaned against a well-polished rock and appeared to have cried himself to sleep. The twins turned towards each other, debating on whether or not to wake him up, before Lovino just hoisted Acero onto his back and the three left to return to their homes.
Acero's cheeks were wet with tears.