Disclaimer: Don't own Hetalia.
Chapter 06
Looking around absent-mindedly Alfred leaned on the side of the car while munching on his burger. He noticed Arthur, in his white dress shirt, coupled with a royal blue coat with long navy blue pants tucked into his riding boots, standing a few feet away from him looking out at the plains with his gaze distant.
He seemed distracted; holding his barely drunk tea in his hand close to his lips. Alfred had no idea how Arthur whipped out a teacup, much less have the time to brew the tea, but that wasn't the main problem at hand. Following his gaze, Alfred looked out to the vast beautiful rolling green hills and plains surrounding the capital, a guess turning into a plan in his head.
Turning to the man who was busy packing up beside him, Alfred asked. "Yao, how long does it take to reach Urbis?"
"If we were to keep up the pace, we would be there around five days' time, with another four days to rest before the summit begins aru." Wang Yao answered, glancing suspiciously at his charge, knowing that he wouldn't like what was to come next.
"Since we have time, it'll be fine if we take it slow and enjoy the sights right? We can reach there one or two days behind schedule. That is if there are no objections, not like anybody would object a hero!" Alfred chuckled as Arthur turned to look at him, a brow raised, but those emerald eyes seemingly sparkling at his words.
Antonio smiled and Feli cheered, clearly excited at the prospect. Ivan had a smile on but his eyes seemed to reflect a frown.
Ludwig however, was clearly against the idea.
"If I may, we should stick to schedule." He started, turning around to face them. "The schedule was created for a reason, and thus should be followed."
"If the prince wishes to, as well, I see no reason for a small change in pace. And we haven't been around this region for some time. It would be good to take in the sights and learn about any changes while we can." Kiku defended, as Ludwig now turned to look at Arthur, a plea in his eyes.
"I-it would be a good opportunity to stretch our legs. Sitting all day in a car cannot be healthy." Arthur concluded.
Ludwig sighed softly at his total defeat while Feli smiled and patted his fiancé on the back.
"Well, if that's what you want aru." Yao said with a sigh, "The Broken Lake is just a short distance from where we are aru. We could head there first since it is in the direction of Urbis."
The lake sat in the middle of a small valley, hidden right next to a forest clearing. The Broken Lake was named as such due to the fact that the bed right in the middle had naturally formed in such a way patches was visibly shallow, forming an illusion the lake was broken along the center. The jagged path was shallow enough to cross on foot from one end of the lake to the other. But people rarely did so, for it was too dangerous due to the sudden steep drop from shallow waters into the deeper waters. To add on, this lake was house to dangerous colossal sized creatures, the Monmoths.
Running towards the edge, Alfred watched with glee as all of them gasped at the sight before them. They had arrived just in time to see a Monmoth waddle close to the hidden path near the shore to try and grab a mouthful from a flock of long legged Skykarks that had been feeding on the shellfishes burrowed into the wet earth by the shallow waters.
The Skykarks had frantically flew off with their enormous pinkish grey leathery wings opened wide, their long necks twisted sideways looking down with their giant round eyes at the sickly green leathery back of the Monmoth, their sharp crackling calls piercing the air.
Arthur was looking up at the clear sky, eyes wide in wonder and slight worry for the Skykarks flying in circles as Alfred glanced over at the blond beside him with a small grin.
Wang Yao hovered beside Kiku with a wide smile on his face as Kiku listened silently with an expressionless look, but his head followed along Yao's fingers as the Chinese man pointed out and explained the various behaviors of the creatures they were seeing. Ivan stood at the back with a creepy smile on his face while chanting "kol kol kol", eyeing at the scene.
Everybody was absorbed with the astounding sight before them until Ludwig's voice jolted their attention.
"Feli!" Ludwig called out as he drew out his pistol from the shoulder holster hidden diagonally behind his crisp navy blue coat, aiming it as he ran forward, cursing.
Feli had unknowingly wandered pass the sign by the path, and was now right beside the towering Monmoth which had waited patiently with its mouth wide open, now coming down to envelope the brunet whole. The sight of thousands of sharp jagged teeth spiraling in its mouth stunned Feli in his spot. There was no way any of them could reach him in time. All they could do was watch in horror as the gaping circular mouth of the Monmoth came crashing down on a shrieking Feli, the impact sending water and soil all around the close vicinity.
Ludwig continued racing forward, mud splattered across his polished boots as he shouted his fiancé's name in despair. Nobody said a word as the water settled down to reveal a Monmoth whose mouth was partially covered with a white cloth. Feli sat on the muddy ground next to it holding a short pole no longer than his arm, with one end of the white cloth sown onto the top half of it.
"Ahh… ahh…!" Feli screamed, sitting in the ankle deep water whacking the stunned Monmoth on its huge ugly head with the end of his flag.
"Feli get up! Hurry!" Ludwig yelled for his fiancé, aiming his pistol straight at the small beady eye of the Monmoth.
"L-Ludwig! S-save me!" Feli cried, tears in his eyes as he scrambled to his feet, his face covered in mud.
The Monmoth upon noticing that its prey was escaping reared its head back up with a speed that did not match its bulky size, the white cloth on its mouth sliding off to flutter behind Feli. With a deep reverberating growl, it launched at Feli again, this time its thick long neck swooping down from the direction which Feli was frantically running to. Seeing its actions, Ludwig fired his pistol, his aim true as the bullet pierced into the small soft eye of the Monmoth.
The Monmoth staggered, hurt from the wound Ludwig caused, but not enough to stop the creature. However it did steer the creature a tad off target as it swooped down towards Feli's running figure.
Feli paused, looking up at what seemed like his impending death. But as the giant head was about to reach him, Feli merely waved his flag across its face, side stepping as the white cloth landed onto the Monmoth's enormous head and covered its eyes, before quickly flipping it off with a sweeping movement with the pole. The movement was small and seemed insignificant, but it did its work. Its eyes followed the white flag. The Monmoth's head turned a little more just as Feli dived away in the opposite direction, its body fell right beside Feli, missing him by mere inches.
Sitting, he breathed heavily as he tilted his head to his side, watching the head of the Monmoth crashing down into the lake from the corner of his eyes. With a smooth sweeping motion, he flipped the flag back up, before turning to face the stunned group, crying as he fell into Ludwig's open arms.
"Are you ok? Did you get hurt anywhere?" Ludwig asked, pestering all over Feli as he dragged him to the shore.
"Ludwig! I was so scared!" Feli brawled into his fiancé's uniform as Ludwig patted him softly on his head with an awkward look on his face.
"Erm I don't want to spoil the moment, but we have a huge problem." Alfred interrupted, drawing out his dagger on his right and a card on the left.
Everyone turned to face the direction Alfred was looking at, and stared straight into the face of the now fuming Monmoth. The Monmoth's working beady eye stared at the six of them as it raised its huge long powerful leg out from the water with such velocity and took a step towards them, sending tremors that shook the ground. Feli and Ludwig slightly shaken by the overwhelming force of the Monmoth's step, scampered to the rest who were pulling their weapons out. Every single one of them knew grimly that there was no way they could escape from the Monmoth now that it is angry. It would most likely overtake them before they could reach the car.
Standing diagonally in front of Alfred, Antonio extended his partisian, gripping it tight, eyeing the Monmoth tensely. Kiku who was a short distance beside him pulled out his katana that was hanging on his waist on top of his buttoned navy like royal blue uniform, while Yao got into his fighting stance in front of him like a shield, right beside Antonio. That was also when Alfred noticed that Arthur had not drawn out his weapon. He didn't even seem to have a weapon on him at all.
Alfred was about take a step towards him, when Arthur raised his right hand with the index and middle finger out in front of himself. Murmuring softy under his breath, Arthur started drawing on the air in front of him, a glowing orange line appearing in the air with each stroke of his fingers. And within a few seconds, a lightly glowing orange magic circle floated in the air in front of him.
The intricate glowing magic circle was mesmerizing. A five-pointed star shone out from the middle, as beautiful runes drawn by Arthur circled the edges revolving slowly. Alfred unconsciously took a step towards the alluring magic circle, his fingers reaching out towards it, the dagger that was on his hand now gone.
Alfred's fingers were just inches away from the edge of the magic circle when Arthur grabbed his hand harshly, pulling him away while placing his right palm in the middle of the circle, drawing a cutlass from it as the magic circle dissipated as the tip of the cutlass emerged.
"Are you an idiot?! What do you think you're doing?" Arthur shouted infuriatedly, letting go of Alfred's hand with a fling. "Even after so long you're still the same..." he grumbled softly to himself.
Alfred didn't even seem to notice that he had just been reprimanded. "That was amazing! How did you do that?" he asked excitedly, the approaching Monmoth forgotten.
"T-that's nothing really," Arthur replied blushing slightly as he looked away from Alfred's sparking eyes. "We have bigger problems to handle right now. What's the plan?" He quickly added, looking back up at the Monmoth.
"Ahahaha that's easy. Ivan will have the important job of being my backup. Yao's job will be my backup. Antonio's job will also be my backup. Everybody else will be my backup seeing that I'm the hero!"" Alfred declared with a huge smile on his face as he drew his dagger out again.
"Huh?! What kind of idiotic plan is that?" Arthur retort, clearly angry at how Alfred as handling the situation.
"Well if you have a better idea then say it." Alfred shot back at the man beside him, the both of them glaring at each other.
"This is really not the time to fight aru!" Yao called out as the Monmoth raised its leg and slammed it down hard into the floor, causing both Alfred and Arthur who were distracted with each other to fall to the ground from the shockwave.
"A hero shall not be interrupted in the middle of his speech!" Alfred protested as both he and Arthur scrambled to their feet, the foot of the Monmoth pounding down onto the ground they were at just seconds ago.
Arthur looked up at the colossal Monmoth as it turned back to face them. "This is bad…" he muttered, as Alfred patted his back rather painfully, causing him to jerk forward, while going "Don't worry! The hero is here to save the day!"
"You're still going on about that, you bloody idiot?" Arthur grumbled turning to face Alfred.
Just then a breeze went pass as Ivan shot pass them. He jumped up towards the leg of the Monmoth, stabbing his cane deep into its flesh, as he fell. The Monmoth roared in agony as Ivan twisted himself and jumped onto his cane with cat like balance and agility. One hand holding onto the handle while the other was placed onto the rough skin of the Monmoth, Ivan jump once again, ripping his cane out while using his other hand to push him towards the back of the Monmoth as it roared in anger.
Laughing cheerily, Ivan ran up it's back towards the neck. Just as he was about to deal the final blow by stabbing the Monmoth's head, the Monmoth swung its head hard, causing Ivan to lose his balance on the its neck, falling down onto the ground below.
"Ah." They heard him say, as Ivan looked up just as the Monmoth's open jaws slammed down on him.
"IVAN!" Yao cried out desperately, taking a few steps towards the gigantic creature.
There was a moment of silence, only the gurgling sound of the Monmoth throat could be heard until a sweet voice suddenly said as the dust slowly settled.
" I'm here, on the ground. "Ivan knelt on one knee, both hands gripping onto his cane just above his head, keeping the heavy Monmoth's head away.
Even though Ivan was clearly shaking from the effort, his face still held a sweet innocent smile. But his eyes were wide open, cold and merciless. His killing intent seemed to slip out of him, causing shivers down all seven of their spines. Even the Monmoth stopped in its track, blinking its beady eye, confused instead of pressing down even harder.
Yao exhaled in relieve, his once tense shoulders relaxed. "Hold on! I'm coming aru!"
He sped towards the Monmoth, as Antonio snapped out of his daze and followed along, swinging his partisan back picking up speed along with Alfred who too ran forward while throwing a card towards it. Arthur who was still slightly stunned for a moment started moving as well, while Kiku followed behind.
Alfred warped towards the injured leg of the Monmoth, using the momentum of his fall to slice down across its huge leg, blood oozing out from the long deep wound he created. The Monmoth growled in pain, but that wasn't enough to make it release its hold. Instead, it pushed down harder onto Ivan, determined to swallow the man, as Ivan gritted his teeth, the smile still on his face as he pushed back harder against the creature.
The sound of gunfire was heard, as Ludwig shot at the open wound that Alfred created as Feli continued to cry while waving his white flag at the undamaged eye. The Monmoth staggered a little from the sudden sharp pain, its injured leg buckling. Before it could recover, a battle cry was heard as Antonio pulled back his partisan before thrusting it into the Monmoth's thick leathery skin, using his speed as a boost. Yao followed up with a punch that held such velocity that a small shockwave could be seen rippling across its rough hard skin. Kiku stepped up beside him, swinging his katana down and sliced the flesh wide open, blood gushing out.
Still it wasn't enough to make the Monmoth release its grip. What's worst was that with its now useless leg, its entire weight was now pressing down on Ivan. Alfred's mind was racing. The Monmoth was already critically injured and dying, but Ivan was still pinned underneath. They needed an impact with enough force to knock it over.
Just then a fireball flew pass their head, exploding on the Monmoth's side. Alfred turned sharply, a surprised look on his face to see Arthur standing a few feet away with a glowing reddish orange magic circle in front of him, mumbling with his eyes closed. Arthur snapped them open, his thick brows furrowed as he glanced at Alfred for a second. No time to hesitate, Alfred decided.
Alfred threw a card up towards the Monmoth's side just as another fireball went flying. Flipping another card, this time red and covered in bright glowing runes, he threw it flying even faster towards the first. As the two cards came in contact with the fireball, they glowed bright red like a flame for a second, before suddenly vanishing. The next moment caused everybody to look up as a deafening boom radiated across the hills. A huge blast of fire exploded causing the Monmoth to cry out in pain, releasing its hold on Ivan as it started to lean to the other side from the impact of the wavefront.
It was Ivan's idea to store magic in cards, it would be of great help when he needed the extra boost in raw energy. He looked proudly at the collapsed Monmoth, the explosion from his card and Arthur's fireball had amplified a great deal. But… Alfred grimaced at the thought that he'd have to start pouring magic to prepare another card.
Feeling the pressure on him leaving, Ivan swiped his cane down, before bringing it straight up painfully jabbing deep onto the side of the Monmoth's mouth, blood trickling down the side of the cane as Ivan pushed it deeper in with a chuckle. He stood back on onto his feet shakily before swinging his cane out, ripping the side of the Monmoth's mouth, its long tongue flying out to land a few feet away. Yao quickly rushed to Ivan's aid, half dragging him away as Ivan's legs buckled from the effort of pushing against the Monmoth for so long. Alfred then warped to the Monmoth's head throwing a card into its gaping broken mouth. The Monmoth's pained death cry was cut short, as the card in its mouth exploded while Alfred rolled out away from the blast.
"See? Just like I said. The hero would save the day!" Alfred laughed loudly, standing up with his hands on his hips as the Monmoth fell down onto the floor dead.
Ivan smiled as he tried to stand up again before Yao pushed him back down onto the floor.
"Sit down at rest aru! You may be strong but the Monmoth is one of the heaviest creatures in the world! Let your body rest!" He scolded, stomping off towards the car to get some first aid, but not before stopping by a Kiku who offered to help carry the supplies.
Alfred looked around for a moment to make sure that everybody was fine. Ivan was resting against a tree, his eyes closed while being tended by Yao. Antonio was sitting some distance away with his partisan resting on his lap, overlooking at the trio near the waters. Ludwig was swashing off the mud on him and moving on to Feli who was fussing worriedly over Kiku who was trying his best to convince the brunet he hadn't sustain any injury while wiping the blood off his uniform.
Alfred walked to the man standing some distance away as Arthur pushed his cutlass into the orange magic circle, the weapon disappearing into the circle before the circle itself faded off.
"That is so cool." Alfred chipped as he walked closer, causing Arthur to jump a little before blushing slightly at his words.
"Y-you're not bad yourself." Arthur turned his head away to look at the green hills before them.
"I guess we should be more careful with where we go to next. Not that there's anything to worry with the hero here!" Alfred laughed as he started to head back to the car where the rest were waiting.
Arthur glanced at Alfred with a thankful yet slightly embarrassed look in his eyes before following after him.