Disclaimer : Don't own Hetalia.
Chapter 6
Vyaradak – Bel – b*****rd
Dy – Bel – Yes
Syn – Ukr – Son
Idyjot - Bel – idiot
"Alice. Do you want to marry me?"
Her eyes were startling green, like bottomless emeralds. She smiled. The surface of the green pools remained still; the smile didn't reach till her pool-like eyes.
"You aren't the kind of man who asks for what he wants. Why the sudden change of heart?"
"I don't want your unhappiness."
The surface of those emotionless pools finally stirred, giving way to bitterness. "You should have thought of that a lot sooner."
She whispered it. She didn't want anyone to hear that. She looked up, and spoke loudly. "I wish to be happy. I shall be happy."
"I'm glad."
o-O-o
"Oi, Alfred! What are you doing?" Matt asked, tapping Alfred's knee.
"Is he sleeping with his eyes open?" Eliza asked.
"Who sleeps with their eyes open? Not awesome," Gilbert declared, and with a yelp went and hid behind Matt as soon as he sighted the glint in Eliza's eyes.
Natalya turned from the frown on Katyusha's face, to Alfred. His mouth was open, slightly, as if he were actually asleep, but it was the look in his eyes that disturbed Natalya, or the lack of a look – his eyes were glazed over, and he stared right through Katyusha, who was sitting before him.
They had gathered post breakfast to discuss the next plan of action. Natalya had informed Katyusha of everything she could find about the demon during the night during breakfast, and Katyusha was explaining it to them. During her explanation, she suddenly stopped, and began frowning at Alfred, prompting everyone to look at the latter.
Matt kept calling out his name, but Alfred didn't respond. Eliza and Gilbert, too, tried to rouse him, but it was unsuccessful – Alfred wasn't responding to anything.
o-O-o
"What are you doing here? And why do you look like me?"
I wanted to ask him the same question. Why the hell was there a guy in front of me who could pass off as me if he shaved off his beard?
I took a quick glance around. It seemed like a pretty posh bedroom, and I was guessing it belonged to the chick sitting on the bed before him. She didn't seem to see me, though. I frowned. It was really strange – one minute, I was staring into her eyes, saying stuff like they were lines of a script I never got to read. And the next minute, there was this douche continuing from where I stopped.
"Dude, if you ask me, that chick doesn't want to marry you."
He looked down at her, and then looked back up at me again. But this time, his eyes…he didn't look human at all. No, he looked…
He looked like the monster inside me.
I didn't know where I was. I turned around, and ran.
o-O-o
A voice was screaming in Nat's head, an incoherent jumble of words that made less sense that what was happening to Alfred. His body began twitching, and his head slowly lolled back.
"Alfred! Come on! What are you doing!" Matt yelled urgently, and rose. But just as Matt was about to shake him to his senses, Natalya yelled, "Don't touch him!"
All of them turned to Natalya, and looked at her, shocked. She herself didn't know why she said that – it just slipped out of her mouth. But the voice in her head continued to yell, to roar.
"Natalya, what is it?"
Katyusha's voice came faintly from behind her, as if through a screen of water. Natalya had no answer – she herself didn't know what was going on. But she knew no one was to touch Alfred, or else…or else something, something would go wrong.
She began recollecting something she'd read in one of the books, about how someone hosting another entity should be treated. On an impulse, she donned on her coat.
"Priestess, what's going on? What's happening to Alfred?" Matt cried helplessly, his voice carrying his frustration. Natalya grabbed her bag slung on the back of her chair, and rummaged through her bag, in the process glancing at Alfred.
His entire body was convulsing now, and he shook violently. His mouth was wide open now, and the glassy look in his eyes still remained. Ice cold fingers traversed the length of Natalya's spine, and she had to hold back a shiver. He looked unreal, almost…dead.
Nat's fingers curled around the hilt, and she pulled out her gun. She strapped it to her waist, pulled out the other gun, and dropped the knapsack on the chair.
"Natalya, are you sure you want to do this?"
Natalya looked at Katyusha, concern writ large over her face. As quietly as she could, she responded in the same tongue as Katyusha. "Do I have a choice?"
Katyusha rose. "If you aren't back in five minutes, I shall pull you out, regardless of what happens to the boy."
"It depends on the time within Alfred's mind…fine. Give me seven minutes, and pull me out." Nat turned to Alfred, who was violently thrashing about in his chair – it was a wonder that he hadn't yet fallen out of it.
"Matt, move," was all Nat needed to say to get Mathew back in his seat. As Nat approached Alfred, she hoped she was doing the right thing.
o-O-o
What the fuck was going on?
It was…I was running through scenes of someone's life, the life of the guy chasing me. I slowed down sometimes, I picked up speed in other scenes. It was terrifying.
I couldn't see the demon anymore, but I knew the – his? her? It? – presence. And even as I went through these…these…
It occurred to me right then. These were memories.
I stopped in the middle of one, urging my brain to work. Think, Alfred, think! You're the hero, dammit! I told myself as I tried to recall everything that I knew.
A sudden movement jostled me, and I looked around. I was in the middle of a ballroom. My confusion increased. What the hell –
I sidestepped a couple, and moved away from all the dancing couples and went to a vantage point. It was freaking bizarre – I couldn't make out any of their faces. It was a blur of eyes and noses and mouths – it was so fucked up I couldn't explain it to myself.
Almost as if like a magnet, my attention was drawn to just one couple dancing. It was the same chick from before, but I could make out her features better. She looked like a stuck up aristocrat, and had all their features – high cheekbones, small nose, small mouth. She had blond hair flowing down her back, and those emotionless eyes from before were bright and alive now. The weirdest thing about her was her eyebrows. They were thick and black, and seemed…bushy? I don't know, I was too far away to make out. They definitely seemed bushy.
The guy dancing with her wasn't my doppelganger. He was also aristocratic-looking. He was tall, and he kept his blond hair tied up in a short ponytail at the back. The chick came up till his chin, which sported a goatee. He was looking at her like she was some prize he'd been given from the heavens themselves.
I frowned. This didn't make any sense.
"She loves him."
Oh shit. I completely forgot. I spun around, even before registering the voice and its words. And when I saw who it was, I nearly shat my pants.
He smiled at me. His eyes were…sad, like they used to be during his visits to the dungeons. When he was still alive. "You might be wondering what I'm doing here," he said.
I couldn't speak. I couldn't think. I just nodded.
"The priestess was right. Either the demon or I would remain in you. I don't know if it's your bad luck or not, but I am what remains in you."
My throat was dry, but my mind was finally working again. "How is that bad luck?"
"If the demon was within you, they would exorcise it. The demon is within my mind, and my mind is within you. They can't exorcise it now."
"What will happen"—
I heard a loud roar, an unnatural yell. A claw emerged from the window opposite me, and the scene, all the people, the ballroom before me dissipated like mist. The doppelganger appeared before me, heaving and panting. My father's presence from next to me disappeared.
"What…are…you…doing…here?"
It didn't even sound like he was talking – it was like a million voices, overlapping over one another, speaking a second too early or too late. It sounded like garbled nonsense. But, somehow, I knew what he was trying to say.
"You are not Johnny Doe. Who are you?"
The man stood up. Somehow, I could see him, and well as…myself? It was so messed up – I could see him, and somehow I could see through his eyes as well, at the same time.
"Answer me!"
I wanted to. I couldn't. My throat was dry. My brain had stopped working. My senses were swimming.
"Die, then."
My brain screamed one word – RUN!
I turned around, and ran. The sky was red, the ground was hard and brown. Then the sky became brown, and the ground became red. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know—
Something heavy planted itself on my hip. I screamed, and looked down.
Gunshots rang in the sky, and I dived to the ground. The doppelganger's vision jerked, and went black.
"Pick that up, and shoot, vyaradak!"
I looked up upon hearing the voice. A hand grabbed my arm, yanked me to my feet, and I found myself staring at a silver braid.
"N-Natalya?"
"The priestess. What are you doing here?"
"None of your concern. Go back where you came from." She turned to me, and began speaking quickly. "Alfred, I've strapped a gun to your hip. Take that out, and if he manages to get close"—
His roar interrupted her, and he jumped towards us. Over his roar, she yelled out, "Shoot him down!" and ran towards the doppelganger.
She swung out her gun, and shot the doppelganger. One bullet went through his head, another remained in his stomach. He flew in the air, and landed some distance away. The doppelganger-demon rose, and ran towards Natalya, taking swipes at her face. She dodged, got into his personal space, and shot him in the heart three times, throwing him into the air again. She didn't seem to feel any recoil, whereas the demon went flying as if shot by cannon balls.
"What is that?" the demon screamed, and I had to slap my hands to my ears to stop my eardrums from getting blown off. That scream itself had a huge amount of power, getting me to my knees. Natalya, however, didn't budge – she stood there unaffected.
She said something in a language I didn't understand, but the demon seemed to comprehend her. "Specially crafted bullets? You seem to have a lot of skill and knowledge about demons, to craft a weapon like that," he said.
I removed the weapon holstered at my hip, and looked at it. It wasn't a gun. It looked like a mini crossbow, with a barrel at one end, and a large wheel on the top which covered most of the gun, leaving the end of the barrel and the two arms exposed. I turned it over. There were two projections—
Gunshots filled the sky again, and I looked up. Natalya was fighting with the demon again, but this time, she was running towards the demon. As soon as she was in arm's range, the demon swung his arm to claw her face off. Deflecting the blow with her right hand, she pivoted, and slammed the back of the crossbow contraption against the demon's face.
The demon shrieked, and even as I shut my ears I could see his face burning. I looked at the opposite end of the barrel – it was a rectangular shaped end, with half a flower inscribed on it, having eight petals and two half petals on either side, surrounded by various inscriptions. I looked back at the demon – the burn on his face was squared shaped. Then, how –
"Alfred, pull the arms apart and bring them together!" Natalya screamed at me. I pulled the arms of the crossbow – the wheel split apart at the centre, with tiny chains connecting the two parts. The arms came together easily enough, and the projections on the underside came together to form a trigger contraption. And the flower, too was complete, with nine petals inscribed in a circle.
"Alfred!" Natalya yelled, and I looked up. There, in midair, the doppelganger was posed, ready to kill me. I drew out the gun, and pulled the trigger.
The recoil wasn't as much as I'd expected. I didn't stop firing. All the bullets hit the doppelganger – some flew through him, some stayed embedded. Blood shot through the air – some fell on my face, some fell on the ground.
I didn't stop firing.
I didn't.
I couldn't.
I couldn't stop.
He couldn't live.
I couldn't let him live.
He had to die.
He had to die.
"Alfred!"
A hand came up from behind my head, and pulled it down to something warm. A switch turned back on within me. I stopped. My arms swung down.
Natalya was…hugging me. She was holding my head down over her neck. She smelled of jasmines. But, why did she…?
"It's okay. He's not going to hurt you," she whispered into my ear. She raised her head. "We are leaving," she said loudly.
"Who is he?"
"The spawn. He shall be back. And so shall I."
I could see what the demon could see again. And the look in Natalya's eyes…scared me. Her eyes spoke of her opponent's death, no matter what it would do to her. Her eyes carried no fear of her own death, and a challenge to try and kill her. Remorseless, fearless, deadly.
Through the demon's vision, I watched her turn away from the demon, and towards me. Her breath was heavy, and fell over my hair. "Count to three."
"1…2…"
o-O-o
Natalya's eyes flew open, and she fell back, panting. Alfred's eyes gained back their life, and he sat up straight, looking at everyone with wild fear and confusion.
"You got to him in time," Katyusha said.
Nat ignored the confused looks she was getting from the rest of them, and turned to Katyusha. "Dy. He wasn't hurt." Natalya got up, and took the gun from Alfred. She hung the knapsack from the back of the chair, and sat down in it. She pulled out the sides of the gun, and revert it to its original form. "You used up all the bullets, vyaradak."
"Will someone…"
Natalya looked at Matt, who was standing, his hands fisted by his side.
"Will someone tell me what's going on?!" he yelled, tears in his eyes. Natalya didn't let her shock show, but to see the quiet, composed, cheerful man terrified and frustrated…it hurt her. And to see the loud, boisterous, hyperactive Alfred in complete and utter shock…the fear she saw in his eyes…
"Mathew, sit"—
"I will not sit down!" Matt yelled at Eliza, who cringed and drew back. "Someone will"—
"Alfred was possessed."
Matt stopped mid tirade and looked at Natalya, who had spoken. She looked at him with her peculiar blue eyes, her look cutting through his frustration and anguish and striking his heart.
"Johnny Doe's spirit within Alfred managed to take over his mind for some time. And…how do I explain this?" Natalya thought out loud, frowning at her lap. "I'm assuming that Johnny Doe's spirit is what remained within Alfred. Doe had summoned the demon by using his mind, so even though the demon left for its world, a part of it still remains bonded to Doe's spirit, which is now within Alfred." Nat looked back at Matt. "Does that answer your question?"
Matt fell back onto his seat, a look of despair and defeat on his face. Natalya had a feeling that there was a lot more going on in his mind that he was letting out, and it was going to burst out of one these days. Nat just hoped that by then, she knew how to handle such an outburst from him.
"You…were there. With me."
Nat turned to Alfred. The shock was still on his face, but he didn't look so lost anymore.
"How did you get in there? With me?" he asked her.
Nat frowned. She wasn't sure, but… "I had hosted both the demon as well as Doe's spirit within me once. Maybe that's how I could get to you."
"If that is true," Katyusha said, and everyone turned to her, "then you are the only one who can help him in such a situation."
Nat gritted her teeth. Such a scenario did…not appeal to her. But, there was nothing she could do. She sighed, and got up. She turned to Katyusha. "I'm taking the younger brother with me," she said, speaking in their common language. "The others and the Reserve are all yours."
Katyusha looked at her patiently. "Was it bad?"
"He was terrified," the words shuddered out of Nat. "The demon isn't as strong as when I fought it before. It only went behind him because it didn't know what was going on. That's not to say the demon is docile. But the demon, too, doesn't like where it is or what is going on. Anyways," Nat sighed. "I leave them to you."
Nat had walked up to Matt when Katyusha asked, "Why the younger brother?"
Nat turned around, and smiled at Katyusha, her eyes filled with such sadness that Katyusha wanted to comfort the girl, to hug her, to hold her close.
"He looks just like me when I came here."
Katyusha watched as Nat roused Matt, and left the room with him. It had been so long ago, or at least it seemed so long ago, when Natalya had sat before her. She was right. She had had the same look on her face. Terrified, shocked, ready to burst at the seams, but willing to fight to the death.
Katyusha sighed, and rose. Gilbert and Eliza looked up at her, while Alfred's gaze was still rooted to the floor. Quietly, she said, "I promise to tell you what is going on in great detail. But, now, I need to tend to the boy. I request you to kindly leave us alone."
Eliza reacted first. She got up, grabbed Gilbert by the arm, and dragged him out of the room before he could say anything in response.
"Syn?" She got on her knees, and took his face in her hands. Slowly, his gaze travelled up, and met her eyes. He looked lost, confused, scared.
"It's alright. You're safe now," she whispered. His blue eyes searched hers, desperately wanting to know the truth in those words.
"I…I was…so…"
"I know. It's okay." Her thumbs stroked the side of his face in an effort to calm him down. "You're safe."
He lowered his head, sank into the support of her arms, into the comfort of her palms.
"She…saved me."
Katyusha smiled at him. "She would."
"I thought…she didn't like me."
Katyusha sat back on the floor, and laughed. "Oh, she gives that impression to everyone. Once she trusts you, she will be…lot easier to deal with."
Alfred smiled the best he could at the woman. He couldn't say why, but he trusted her – maybe because she could understand without knowing the facts, by just looking at his face. "What happened to me?" he asked when he couldn't keep up the smile any longer.
Katyusha's smile changed from amused to comforting. "I have a faint idea. But I need you to help me."
Alfred trusted this woman, trusted her words. "How?"
"Tell me what happened."
"Where are we?"
"A quiet spot where no one will annoy me."
Matt chuckled at Nat's intonation. "It's been quite…a couple of days, huh?"
She gave a soft grunt, and sat down next to him.
"Listen…I'm sorry for the way I behaved earlier. I…I could have – I'm sorry," he sighed, looking at the ground. At the sound of a chuckle, he looked up, to see a faint smile on Natalya's lips. After seeing her scowl for so long, to see her smile was…something rare.
"You were…distraught."
Matt sighed. "Yes. Yes, I was distraught."
"There is something you are not saying."
Matt looked at her. "Pardon?"
"You are keeping some thoughts to yourself. They are hurting you, dy?"
Matt had come to understand that dy meant yes. He didn't…he sighed. "Yes."
Natalya sighed, and looked around. "This is where I come whenever I need some peace and quiet," she said. Matt looked at her, and she turned to look at him. "When I first came here, I had…problems that I couldn't deal with. Most people who work here are born within the temple. Our religion allows priests and priestesses to marry. In the morning, the children attend normal school. In the evening, the children attend the temple discourse. At the age of eighteen till twenty, they are given time to decide whether they want to work in the temple as a priest or a priestess, or they want to do something else."
"So, you have a choice," Matt said.
Nat nodded. Matt noticed the smile hadn't left her face, and wondered exactly how much she must love this place. "When I came here, I didn't attend both," she said with a chuckle. "I would…what is that phrase?"
"…Play hooky?" Matt supplied.
"Dy, play hooky. That's when I found this place. But there was already someone here when I came. He had brought me here, actually," Natalya said, "and he helped me get answers to my problems." Nat sighed, and the faraway look in her eyes, the smile on her face faded away. "There is a confession room every two floors of the Academia buildings. I'll take you there, if you want to."
"…A confession room?"
"Something similar to what you Christians have. You will understand better if you go there. Whatever you say there you will never hear of again. It is guaranteed."
"B-But…why?"
"You are in pain. Whatever thoughts are giving you this pain, you need to let them go before you hurt someone else without meaning to," Natalya said. Somehow, whenever she looked at him, he felt as though some power in her eyes cut through the haze around his mind. Everything she said always made sense. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I feel you are angry at your brother."
Matt was taken aback. "H-How did you…?"
Nat sighed, and turned to him. "You may have your reasons, all good ones. But your brother needs your support right now. He is lost, too."
"I know. Which is why I…I'm trying."
Nat understood that he was trying to keep his emotions in check, but… "Supressing your feelings isn't going to help anyone. You must accept your feelings, and face them. It is only when you accept the sun in the sky that you can make hay."
Matt blinked. He'd never heard of that one before, but it seemed to make sense. "These confession rooms…they will give me answers?"
Natalya shook her head. "No one has the answers to your problems. You alone have the answers to your problems. They will guide you, show you where to look for your answers. "
The two of them remained silent. Natalya looked at the swishing of the branches in the wind, the graceful dance of the leaves in the breeze, trying to ignore the tumultuous emotions rampaging right next to her. Finally, when she couldn't lie to herself any further, she gave a small sigh which was swallowed by the breeze, and shifted a little away from him.
She grabbed his head, and ignoring his squeak of surprise, brought it down on her lap.
At once, she felt her pants soaking in his tears. The idyjot couldn't wait until they had reached the confessions room. She sighed.
"As soon as I see someone, I'm going to drop your head like a hot potato," she warned him, and sighed as he buried his face into her lap and wept. She slowly stroked his hair with one hand, and rested the other against the top of his head.
She knew dumping him on the ground was an empty threat – she'd taken him to her spot, the most isolated place in the temple. The only other person who knew about this place had once held her like this in the same way, stroking her head while she cried into his lap. And now…Natalya sighed. He would have wanted her to help Mathew, just the way he had helped her in her time of need. And she would honour his ideals and do what he, her mentor and best friend, would have done.
"But…for now, I'll be here for you."
A/T: And...that's another chapter. I was getting a bit impatient with the lack of action, so...I didn't want to write the chapter unless I could put some action into it. And once the idea struck me, I couldn't stop writing it.
Next chapter, the five of them are going to dive into the thick of things...that's going to be fun. I love road trips! :-) Hopefully, I'll be able to introduce more characters. The more the merrier!
Well, let's see how things work out, then.
See you next time!
Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
R. K. Iris.
People, I'm really sorry for the late update. I'd given my laptop for servicing, and it turns out that there something wrong with the mother board. It's going to take an indefinite amount of time to fix. I assure you I'm working on the subsequent chapters, and will try to upload them as soon as possible. I wanted to do a once-in-three-days upload, but it doesn't seem like it's going to happen for a while. So please bear with me, and my deepest apologies to all of you waiting for this and the following chapters.