AN: I'M BACK! Sorry I took so long, but life has been crazy! But, here is a nice long chapter for you and hopefully I will update more frequently! Onwards!
Anna stood just outside the house, leaning against the railing as she spoke with Ivan on her phone.
"Are you sure about this Anya?" Ivan asked. She nodded, then gave a verbal confirmation as she remembered he couldn't see her over the phone. Classic.
"Yeah. It would only just be for a few days until she gets settled, you remember the emotional wreck I was while I was adjusting to all this, right?" she replied. Ivan hummed in response.
"Da… what is wrong kotik? Something is on your mind?" he asked. Anna smiled, Ivan always knew when something was bugging her no matter how hard she tried to cover it up.
"I'm not going to lie, this whole thing recently… it scares me. Hive's been too quiet, Arthur's been acting strange… well, stranger, and now Kate just appears? I don't know, but, I feel that something is going to happen, and it won't be pretty." she admitted quietly, frowning with worry.
"It is strange, da… but I do not think you should worry so much. You should just take care of your friend and if anything goes wrong, just call me! I'll be right there." Ivan encouraged. Anna could hear his smile over the phone and the sentiment made her chuckle.
"Da, of course! I love you Ivan, I'll call you in the morning, okay?" she said, voice going a little timid. Ivan chuckled.
"I love you too, my sunflower. I look forward to your call!"
"Доброй ночи."
"Доброй ночи, Моя любовь…" with that Anna hangs up and walks back into England's house. Walking up to his study, she is not surprised to see him hunched over his desk with only a desklamp on.
"You know, that's bad for your eyes mate." she says, startling Arthur who jumped as he looked up at her.
"Anna! I thought you would go back to the hotel with Russia?" he questioned. Anna shrugged.
"I decided to stay here, if that's alright. I kind of need to look out for Kaitlyn for a couple days, make sure she adjusts. You understand right?" she questioned, not wanting to seem to presumptuous. Arthur nodded.
"No, of course! By all means you're most welcome to stay. Your old room should be right next to hers." Arthur smiled at her. Anna nodded and approached his desk.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Preparing a sort of curriculum for Miss Kate… This is, rather new to me I'm afraid…" he sighed.
"Hey, it will be fine! Kate is a hard worker." Anna encouraged.
"It's not Kate I'm worried about actually…" he threads his fingers through his hair, the look in his eye causing Anna to frown.
"Are you sure you're feeling up to it?" he merely shrugs in response.
"I honestly cannot say…" Anna nods in understanding and places a hand on his shoulder.
"Well, I'll be here and help wherever I can. Just, don't keep this bottled up okay? Take care of yourself." she smiles at him, even though her eyes are glazed over with worry. Arthur nods.
"I'll do my best, thank you. Go on, get some sleep." he orders, motioning out with his head. Anna laughs and turns to leave.
"Yes mum~" she jokes before leaving his office, heading straight up to her room and face flopping on the bed. Today was just a really long day. Tomorrow…
Who knows?
…
It was Kate who woke up first. At first, she panicked when she first saw her new surroundings, but then yesterday's memories all came flooding back. Looking down at her hands, she smiled at how different they looked animated. Yesterday wasn't a dream after all… she was truly, yet inconceivably, in Hetalia.
And she was going to learn magic from Arthur! Kate couldn't contain the small squeal of excitement as she jumped out of bed and ran over to her wardrobe. She quickly pulled out a dark green, long sleeved casual dress that had flowing sleeves and hugged her curves in all the right places and black leggings to go with black lace up ankle boots with a pointed toe and small heel. The collar bunched around her shoulders and left her collarbone exposed so that she could tie a black choker around her neck. To top of her look, she tied her dark hair into a high bun on her head and let a couple strands frame her face. Perfect.
Unlike Anna, Kate found the kitchen in no time and saw that no one else was there. She still felt terrible about imposing on England so suddenly like this. Maybe, she could do something to show her gratitude? Smiling, she rolled up her sleeves and set to finding where everything was located.
Meanwhile, Arthur had fallen asleep at his desk. He was dreaming about smoke… and fire… in the waking world, he whimpered and twitched as his dream self remembered what it was like to be caught and tied like an animal, set aflame by screaming crowds who cheered as his flesh was burned continuously, only to heal and be burned again. He was screaming, crying, choking- he sat up in his desk, panting and covered in a cold sweat. It took him a moment to realize that he was in his own home, but the smell of smoke still lingered… in fact, it seemed to be getting stronger-
"God dammit Kate!" Anna's voice rang throughout the house, followed by the sound of running footsteps. Arthur quickly got out of his chair and marched over to the door, opening it to a face full of smoke.
"What the devil?" He exclaimed, waving the smoke away from his face as he walked to the kitchen, where the smoke was coming from.
"I swear, I only turned my back away for one second-!" Kate's voice protested.
"Kate, this is why Tris banned you from the kitchen years ago!" Anna's voice retorted. Arthur walked in to see Anna carrying a pan with- something inside of it. Whatever it was, it was charcoal black and quickly tossed in the rubbish bin while Kate opened a window and fanned the smoke away with a tea towel. Arthur cleared his throat to get the girls' attention.
"Engl- I mean, Arthur! Um, I can explain this…" Kate stammered, smoothing out the wrinkles from her dress. Arthur blinked at her attire, he had no idea that the house would provide her wardrobe with such- provocative clothes. Not that he minded all that much, green was a lovely color on her-
Hang on a tick, what was he thinking? Must be the smoke getting to his head, so he cleared his throat again.
"It's quite alright, these things happen all the time. Just, what was it you were trying to do?" Arthur asked, giving Kate a reassuring smile.
"W-Well, I felt really bad about suddenly dropping in on you like this, so I wanted to do something to show my thanks. I thought maybe I could, well, make breakfast…" Kate explained, playing with the edge of her sleeves nervously.
"Miss Kate, you didn't have to do that, really! I'm happy to have you here." Arthur responded. Kate merely sighed, she was a failure to her italian heritage!
"I know but-"
"No 'buts' love, there's no harm done." Arthur comforted, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Well, maybe to none except this pan. It's toast mate." Anna commented, holding up the charred-beyond-repair utensil. Arthur and Kate looked at it with similar expressions of embarrassment and disgust.
"I am a failure to my heritage…" Kate mumbled, a cloud of gloom appearing over her head as she slumped over.
"How about I make breakfast, you two can just relax?" Anna offered, moving to turn off the stove. She started a moment when she saw the fire but shook it off and quickly turned it off.
"Alright, come along Miss Kate, we'll wait in the lounge." Arthur said, guiding Kate out of the kitchen. Kate could only nod dumbly, he must think she was an absolute idiot now! As they entered the lounge, Kate went to a small couch and sat down mechanically, not meeting his eye. Arthur smiled and shook his head.
"Don't you go around beating yourself up about this, I'm sure you know by now that cooking isn't exactly my forte either…" he said after a moment of silence. Kate looked up and smiled nervously.
"Well, I never tried it so I can't really say… but surely you haven't set eggs on fire?" She replied. At his lack of response her eyes widened. "You have?"
"And other things I'm afraid…" Arthur said, rubbing the back of his head nervously "Though to be fair it wasn't my fault! People are just so fussy about what they eat these days, it's ridiculous!" Kate laughed as she moved a strand of hair behind her hair.
"At least your food still ends up being edible."
"Well, most folks would disagree. But, thank you, I appreciate it." Arthur's smile had Kate looking down in an effort to hide her blush when Anna came in.
"Food's ready!" Everyone then went into the kitchen and sat down, Arthur begrudgingly admitting that Anna's cooking was slightly better.
"So Kate, how would you rate your first night in Hetalia then?" Anna asked, smirking slightly. Kate froze mid bite and cleared her throat.
"Well, I still can't believe that I'm here, but it was nice. What about you two?" She asked, looking between Anna and Arthur. Anna shrugged and rubbed the back of her head. Now that Kate got a good look at her, Anna looked terrible. And she learned from past experiences that an Anna who didn't get enough sleep was a force to be reckoned with.
"Not the best if I'm honest, I had a nightmare. I'm fine though, don't worry." Anna dismissed, causing Kate to frown while Arthur paused in his eating.
"Really? What sort of nightmare?" Kate asked. Anna quickly glanced at Arthur who in turn raised a questioning brow before she shrugged.
"Don't remember, kept me up at night. What about you Arthur? Did you manage to get to bed last night?" Anna asked, redirecting the attention to Arthur.
"I- um, well… Not exactly…"
"What do you mean? Are you alright?" Kate asked, her expression growing concerned. Has Arthur not been sleeping?
"Oh, well, I uh-"
"Arthur, did you fall asleep at your desk?" Anna deadpanned. Arthur was cornered, so he simply hung his head and didn't say anything. Kate went wide eyed at the revelation.
"Arthur Kirkland, you should take care of yourself! You'll throw your back out if you keep doing that!" She scolded, surprising the other two at the table with the authoritative tone she took with him. Anna couldn't think of anyone who talked to him in that fashion in the last century! Arthur raised a brow.
"I appreciate the concern, but I assure you I'm quite alright." Arthur stated, sending Kate a particular look that had Anna inching back ever so slightly. She was never comfortable with the battle of the wills... Meanwhile, Arthur had finished his breakfast and moved to clear his place.
""We'll begin your studies in my office upstairs in about an hour, please don't be late." His tone left no room for argument.
"I won't be…" Kate assured, bristling slightly. She was only trying to be sympathetic, why did he get so cold all of the sudden? Before she could say anything else, Arthur left his dishes by the sink and walked out of the kitchen. Anna stared after him a moment before sighing.
"Rule one about Arthur Kate, he usually only takes advice cordially from his closest friends- which isn't many." She reprimanded softly. Kate turned to look at her and scoffed lightly.
"I was just being nice, it's not healthy sleeping like that!"
At least he was sleeping, Anna thought.
"Well Kate, you agreed to be his student- which means there's a certain boundary you have to acknowledge now, understand?" Anna retorted. Even though Kate hated to admit it, Anna was right.
"Yes…" she sighed before resuming eating. Meanwhile, Arthur stood listening outside the door. Perhaps he had been a bit cold with Kate earlier, and he scolded himself for falling back on such ungentlemanly behavior.
Oh please, you're no gentleman… what gave her the right to talk to like that? A voice sounded in Arthur's head, causing him to snap up in alarm and storm off to his study.
She was showing concern, that's all! He thought back.
You give her a place to stay and offer her tutelage, yet she thinks she has some sort of authority over you? We should put her in-
"NO-! No, you are not welcome…" Arthur growled as he passed a mirror. Out of the corner of his eye, a shadow flickered in the depths of the glass.
AN: Ooooh, Iggy's hearing voices... Next up, the magic lessons begin!