FFFF…I read the new DGM chapter…Kanda…why are you so angsty? Anyway, sorry this took so long, writer's block struck. But, I finally managed to finish! I hope you guys all enjoy!
Thank you for reviewing! Seriously, it makes me so happy!
Disclaimer: …You know, after the eighth time, I think I made my point…
A people's literature is the great textbook for real knowledge of them. The writings of the day show the quality of the people as no historical reconstruction can. - Edith Hamilton 1867-1963, American Classical Scholar, Translator
A cold chill ran through the field as Ivan reached into his heavy overcoat and slowly pulled out a metal pole. (1) He glanced up briefly, frowning as he shook his head. "General Winter is a good ally," he said to no one in particular as he continued to stare up at the sky. "But I don't like the cold."
Alfred, wary around the older country, lowered his rifle. "How did you know we were here?" he asked as Ivan shrugged lightly, his smile returning instantly.
"I got a message from someone while I was in Saint Petersburg," he replied as the American stared at the Russian, with a look of, "Bullshit", clearly imprinted on his face. "So I decided to come out to welcome the guests to my home! However…" he paused, staring at Road. "An unwelcome guest came as well."
Road shook her head, her eyes still playful, however the playfulness was slowly disappearing for a cruel smirk. "As unwelcome as I might be," she began, spinning her umbrella. "Would you like to play a game with me?"
Ivan laughed, rather childishly, his weapon gleaming in the dim light. "Unfortunately, no, I can't play little girl," he replied as he stood his ground. "As much as I'd like to, I have no time." At those words, the cold wind picked up again, wrapping around the group and when Road could open her eyes again from the howling wind, they were gone.
The Noah of dreams pouted before hopping on her umbrella again. "Hey Relo," she called as the umbrella made a noise. "What do you think the Earl wants with those countries?" she asked as Relo made another noise.
"How should I know? That's what Master Earl knows, not me," it replied as she laughed, nodding.
"You're right," she said while snapping her fingers, calling for her door. "He was around for 7000 years, enough to realize who these people were…and thus, in turn, we inherit the memories of the past Noah and know of their existence…" She smiled almost wryly, shaking her head. "Besides me of course, since I was never reborn after the 14th's betrayal." (2)
"Mistress Road…" Relo began as Road laughed, waltzing through her door.
"I still hold those memories Relo," she sang as the door closed. "And I can't wait to play with them again."
The cold wind finally died down, leaving the group standing in the exact same area they were before. "What was the bloody point of that?" Arthur snapped testily as Ivan smiled.
"If you'd like," he began, storing his pole inside his jacket. "You can take that up with General Winter."
Arthur then blanched, shaking his head as Ivan's smile turned into a small smirk. The Russian then turned his head towards the exorcists, eyes watching their movements.
"You have my name," he said with a childish smile. "But I don't have yours. Do you mind telling me?"
"Allen Walker, it is also a pleasure to meet you," the British boy said, holding out his hand and somewhat oblivious from the aura surrounding the Russian man. Ivan shook it, still smiling as Allen let go, introducing the rest of his friends.
"This is Lenalee Li," he said as the girl smiled politely, more wary of the man whose aura she could feel much more clearly. "Lavi, and B…I mean Kanda."
The Bookman Junior dipped his head towards Ivan who nodded, then smiled at Kanda. The Japanese boy scowled, turning his head away, surprising Ivan. It wasn't often he found someone willing to put up a fight. There was Poland but he had lost in the end.
A cruel smirk curled around his mouth as he turned the other way, towards his capital. Well, this would be fun.
Ivan led the way to St. Petersburg, humming a small song under his breath. "Alfred," he called as the country jolted to attention. "I heard your country had a civil war."
Alfred tensed as he nodded stiffly. "Yes, we did. We made it out okay, thank you for your concern," he grounded out as Ivan shook his head.
"Nyet, it wasn't concern on my part," he replied as Alfred stopped in his footsteps.
"What are you talking about?"
Ivan smiled as he glanced at Arthur and Matthew. "It was just information," he said as Alfred clenched his fists, tempted to punch the taller man. If I did though, he thought as he sent a dark look at the man, I would probably find that metal pole up where the sun doesn't shine very soon.
Allen walked sideways over to Arthur who was walking behind Alfred cautiously, watching the American's movements in case he tried something stupid. "Who is he?" he almost hissed as Arthur glanced at him.
"He's a representative of the Russian court. Be careful of what you say around him. He may be smiling but I have never met a crueler person," he replied, eyes narrowed. France, although beaten severely by Russia, still was concerned for the country's sake. He wondered why the bloody frog still would be concerned, if even at all.
Was Russia's condition really that bad?
Snow began to fall as the eight man group walked into the capital. Lavi noticed this and raised his hand. "Weren't we on the outskirts of Russia?" he asked as Ivan glanced at him then nodded. "Then how are we here, at the capital so quickly?"
"When you're a native," Ivan replied, tucking his scarf a little more tightly around his neck. "You know where to go and how to get there quickly."
Walking into the palace, Ivan was quickly greeted by palace officials as he motioned to them while talking in Russian. The other seven waited patiently as the Russian walked over to the group. "You're allowed to stay in my home before we go to China," he said with a satisfied smile.
"Shouldn't we just go straight to China?" Allen asked as Ivan turned to look at him curiously. "We're already spent more than a few months on the road. I'm sure that your friend needs help as it is."
"However, if you were to push yourself too hard," Ivan retorted smoothly, his smile never fading. "Then you wouldn't get anywhere from the lack of energy." Glancing at the exorcists with a nod, he turned around and went forward. "It takes a bit to get to my neighbor Yao. We will rest for the night."
Lenalee repressed a shiver as she took a step back. This was a dangerous man, for sure. She still couldn't believe that they would be traveling with him. Kanda seemed to share her sentiments, his hand never leaving his innocence blade for a moment.
Ivan pushed open the ornate door to his home as he glanced around then smiled. "Toris! There you are!" The man jumped where he stood then turned around quickly, nodding to the other man now inside the house.
"Mr. B-Braginski," the man, Toris, stuttered as he took a step back. "I didn't expect you back so early."
Ivan laughed as he tugged off his heavy overcoat, handing it to him. "Well, I did have a few setbacks along the way, but all is fine now. The exorcists are here and I expect for you to treat them well."
Toris managed a stiff smile as he ushered the small group away from the Russian who continued to climb the stairs to his private room. Once far away in the kitchen, Toris gave a loud sigh and sank down in a chair nearby, eyes closed tight as he mumbled something in his mother tongue.
"Are you alright?" Allen asked as Toris nodded, eyes still closed shut as he then managed to gather himself together and stood up, dipping his head in a polite bow.
"I'm sorry for not being able to introduce myself properly. I am Toris Lorinaitis, do you mind if I get your names?"
As both exorcists and countries introduced themselves quickly, Arthur poured himself a small drink.
"Has something been happening?" he began slowly as Toris sighed softly, glancing outside with a wistful gaze in his eyes.
"Mr. Braginski…he's slowly becoming more pressured, I can see that much, but he's hiding everything with a smile," he replied, setting down a cup of water that he had gotten for the younger country.
"I could tell," Lenalee added as she sat down also in a seat. "The air around him when we first met was very cold, as if…" she shivered, shaking her head in memory. "As if it could suck the warmth out of my body completely."
"General Winter," Toris replied with a reluctant smile as Lavi entered the conversation.
"General Winter?" the boy asked curiously, eyes wide as Toris nodded.
"A while ago, I fought with my friend, Feliks, against Ivan. I remember one of those battles," he said with almost a reminiscent look in his eyes then cautiously glanced up, lowering his voice. "It was our victory in sight, our armies knew it, we knew it and Feliks and I were celebrating…"
His voice grew almost fearful, clenching his fists tightly as he continued painting his story for the others to hear.
"Liet!" Poland called triumphantly, rushing towards his friend who turned his horse to face him. "This is so totally awesome! Russia's, like, backing off!"
Lithuania laughed, nodding his head as he turned his gaze towards the horizon. Then, a small nip passed his cheek as he turned again, glancing around. "Hey, Poland, do you feel anything…different?" he asked as Poland snorted, patting Lithuania on the leg.
"Liet, you're, like, totally dreaming. I-!" He never finished that sentence as a cold wind then blasted through the field. The men on Poland and Lithuania's armies stood no chance, either frozen where they stood or struggling out of the snow that suddenly coated the field.
Poland sputtered something unintelligible, eyes widening as a looming figure entered the battle, sword pointed towards the duo, laughing ominously.
"You thought that the victory was yours…da?" Russia called out, his violet eyes gleaming in the dim light. Both Poland and Lithuania summoned their courage to the best of their abilities and shouted orders to attack.
A few moments later, Russia loomed over Lithuania, a childish smile on his lips and cruelty in his gaze. "You look smart," he said as Lithuania's gaze spun, still disoriented. Russia placed a hand on his arm and tugged him up roughly. "I'll take you home, to live with me!" (3)
Although he didn't mention his country name or Poland's own, Toris still trembled as he nodded his head at the conclusion of his story. "My homeland, Lithuania, is now part of Russia and I am what you can call a tribute to that."
"What happened to your friend Feliks?" Matthew asked softly as Toris managed a small smile towards him.
"He's back at his home, I was only required to come here," he replied as the small group stayed silent. Lavi was running through his mental history books as he stared at the man now asking the group if they wanted to eat, his eyebrow now arched high.
What was this nagging feeling that kept assaulting him throughout this mission? He hadn't been as observant as a Bookman ever since he joined the Order. It had always been 'fight Akuma and record the hidden war'. He never had a real chance to examine the 'outside world', as some of the scientists put it wryly, as much as he used to. So, why is this bothering me so much? He wondered with a wide look in his expression. The fact that so many things seem to be off about them?
Remembering some of what he stored away before, he excused himself to a corner in the kitchen to mull over his thoughts as he pulled out his little booklet. The others weren't as concerned with the details. He grinned at that, remembering Kanda eloquently telling him on the way here to "Shut the fuck up and keep walking forward."
He promptly had tripped on a rock right after he said that, causing Allen to laugh at him as Kanda tried to murder him.
Lavi thumbed through the pages, stopping at the section marked Russia and read through it briefly. Currently under the rule of Alexander the Second, Russia as a country had proven itself after beating France during the Napoleonic Wars.
He closed his eyes, shutting the book with an 'fwap', leaning against the back of wall. He remembered how Arthur, Alfred, Francis, Matthew even Ivan had introduced themselves, whether through others or by themselves. They were all representatives of their respective countries but all with innocence fragments…
Supervisor Epsteine had tried to say something to them only for Alfred to conveniently interrupt them. All of the others, Lavi mused thoughtfully, had some sort of excuse behind their actions.
Who was Honda Kiku exactly and why were the others so intent on saving him?
"Having fun reading?" A voice whispered as Lavi jumped, the booklet falling out of his hands. Backing up backwards, he stared at the Russian who smiled still. "Be careful of what you read though," he said slowly, his smile never faltering for a moment. "It could get you somewhere you don't want to be."
His words held a warning, a cold glare in his eyes although his words were sounded cheerful as Lavi nodded stiffly, making his way back to where the group was chatting and eating their dinner. Calls for Lavi to sit down and join them filled the warm kitchen as Ivan was tempted to join them for a moment.
As he made his way over, a crinkling noise caught his attention as he blinked curiously, stooping down. It was the red head's book. He glanced through it briefly then with a small smirk, opened the furnace and easily tossed it in, taking pleasure in watching it burn.
(1): So I read the manga of Hetalia, and Russia actually got his pipe from Germany when they made their alliance. So…I sort of had to improvise.
(2): In Night 183 I believe, the Earl was explaining about the role of the Noah and Road states that she, out of the 13 Noah, was the only one not reincarnated after the 14th's death.
(3): I'm referring to Russo-Polish War (1654–1667), in which the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lost land to Russia. Of course, the final line in the whole flashback is from a strip.
Creepy Russia for the win~ I had a lot of fun writing for him, even though it took a while to write it. Ugghh, I still feel like my grammar and spelling are both off though. *kicks writer's block* Anyway, I'll get the 9th chapter out as soon as possible!