Disclaimer: Don't own Hetalia.
A/N: Chapter 7's been revised and everything from there's pushed back by a chapter so its 1 new chp instead of 2 and thanks for favs/following and sorry for the late update.
Chapter 10
Everyone woke up bright and early the next day. All of them except Yao, Ludwig and Ivan, who kept humming a foreign tune, were yawning with tears in their eyes as they stacked whatever necessities they needed onto the creature known as Faris. They have a crescent blade-like horn on its long snout which curved back towards its head and thick strong neck, as well as two-toed hoofs that are able to grip onto just about any surface terrain. Their powerful hind legs kicked out impatiently as they neighed excitedly to one another, wide oval shaped eyes darting around, eager to get moving.
They had planned to bring the family back to the capital for refuge. But with only one vehicle they wouldn't all be able to fit in. As such, after much debate, everyone had decided to get family back with the car and carry on the Faris for the rest of their trip. They had to leave their car at the edge of the border, setting it to auto navigate back and switch to the Faris for the rest of their journey in Urbis towards the capital anyway. It was just a matter of time.
Alfred could feel Arthur's eyes burrowing into his back as he tackled his overly hyped Faris. "Staring isn't going to get you anywhere. If you want a signature from the awesome hero all you got to do is ask." He grinned as Arthur quickly turned away.
"Don't be an idiot. Who would want to stare at you?" Arthur scowled as Alfred laughed. But after Alfred turned back to his Faris, Arthur peeked at the man again, eyes landing on his gloved hand.
After a quick breakfast everyone stood by the entrance as the family walked up to the car. Everyone said their farewells, watching the car speed off back towards the capital, before getting onto their Faris, heading off in the opposite direction towards Urbis as the villagers waved goodbye. Even with the constant nagging from Yao and Ludwig to speed up, everyone had a blast galloping through the rolling hills and plains. The heavy atmosphere still hung around them, but they had all silently decided not to worry about it, at least for now.
They covered more than twice of what had been expected, and when the Faris finally decided that they had enough of galloping, they were already near the Gorazvok Ravine. Feli was rubbing his eyes while Antonio shifted a yawn as they pulled their now reluctant to move Faris towards the small compound near the edge of the ravine by a wooden bridge.
"Sorry we took so long to reach." Yao called out as a tall young man with neatly combed short black hair walked up to them while adjusting his square curved glasses.
"It is alright." the young man smiled calmly as he reached out to help Yao with a few small bags off the Faris that was already starting to lay down on the spot at the edge of the ravine. "I am in no rush in this empty place."
Arthur couldn't help but stare in awe as he peek pass the edge of the Gorazvok Ravine down at the small dark river swirling at the bottom with dangerous looking rocks littering the bank of the river and sides of the ravine. One wrong step and he knew he would be tumbling down to certain death. Even if he managed to grab onto the sides halfway through, the sharp jugged rocks would tear him to shreds from the downwards force as he fell. The small river at the bottom wouldn't be of much help either. Falling from this height even if he did manage to land in the river he would still end up as a blood stain flowing away with the water.
Arthur tore his eyes off the edge as they neared the small compound, and headed through the entrance. They left their happily relaxing Faris by the stables as they dragged themselves through the wooden door of the building. The young man served them a dinner of Dison stew with bread as they sat around the long wooden table in the living room. Everyone ate hungrily except for Antonio who couldn't help grimacing as he stirred his stew, watching chunks of Dison meat swirl around the brown liquid.
"I trust you'll only be staying for the night instead of the planned two days before heading off across the bridge to Urbis?" The young man asked as he helped to clear their now empty bowls.
"Yes. We only have a few more days till the conference. If everything goes as planned we should be able to reach just a day or two before it officially starts." Yao replied.
The young man nodded. "I'll make sure that all preparations are completed before you leave tomorrow." He motioned to a small corridor leading deeper into the building. "Your rooms are ready and the baths have been filled."
Everyone filtered through the corridor to their respective rooms, with Ivan walking behind humming a soft tune, unknowingly sending shivers to those in front of him. Alfred quickly headed into his room, closing the door behind him before sitting on the bed with a sigh. He looked down at his gloved left hand, slowly pulling off his glove, rubbing the edge of the corruption.
"Do you still remember the main points that'll most likely be covered during the confer-" Yao stopped in his tracks, hand still on the door knob, looking at Alfred sitting on the bed while Ivan peeked in with Krolik on his head. "Aiyah! What are you doing?! Cover up your hand!" Yao hissed, as Ivan quickly slammed the door shut while Alfred grabbed his glove.
"Don't tell me it's hurting aru. There isn't much we can do here if it is." Yao took a few steps towards Alfred, rolling up his sleeves in the meantime.
"Nope I'm fine, really totally fine." Alfred leaned back, hands behind his head as Ivan pulled two chair over next to Alfred, sitting down on one as Yao sat on the other beside him.
Not believing a word his charge said, Yao reached out his hand, waiting as Alfred looked at him shaking his head. Finally, the silvery-blue eyed man placed his left hand palm up on Yao's with a sigh.
"Why didn't you tell me it grew?" Yao asked as he observed the corruption, turning Alfred's hand around.
Alfred rolled his eyes. "I'm fine. It only grew a little. There's no cause for alarm."
"Sure it isn't hurting?"
"Of course I'm sure."
"Then why are your fingers twitching slightly?" Ivan's eyes softened as the Alfred glared at him. "It's been hurting since the ball hasn't it? And it seems to have been twitching even more the past few days."
"It's not like saying would help, would it?" Alfred remarked as he pulled his hand away from Yao.
Yao gritted his teeth. "Thanks guys, I appreciate it." With that, both Yao and Ivan was rushed out of the room. Neither of them seemed notice as a slight shadow dashed into the neighbouring room, emerald eyes narrowing at the eavesdropped conversation as they walked back to their rooms.
The next morning everyone got on their overeager Faris and headed across the bridge as the young man stood by, sending them off with a bow. Alfred watched as Arthur's eyes looked down at the deadly drop from across the wooden railing.
"What's wrong you scared? Nothing short of a huge fiery explosion would break the bridge." Alfred grinned from beside the man, flicking a red card out, playing with it.
"Stop fooling around." Arthur snapped, quickening his pace away from the snickering Alfred.
The mood was light-hearted as they crossed the border, though Yao was curious as to the lack of soldiers on the other side. But as they went deeper into Urbis territory, the light-hearted mood steadily fell lower and lower as the surroundings changed. Even though Urbis isn't lush like Sanctus with its rolling hills and forests, it was filled with beautiful greenish brown fertile grass littered with pure white snow, with tall spiky trees found nowhere else growing proudly all throughout.
But all they saw was a broken land. The plants bend in defeat, dull grey snow covering all as far as the eye could see. The hoofs of their Faris trotting softly on the snow, the silence almost deafening as they passed by a village, even worse off than the surroundings. It was totally destroyed, the clear sigh of corruption on the land as bodies lay rotting unattended. The surviving villagers, most likely all corrupted by now, barely noticed them, and even when they did, it was just a slight glance, peeking out from their houses with fear and dread on their faces before shutting themselves back in, seeing that the group could do little to help.
"The situation is this bad…?" Alfred muttered as they passed a body of a child by the edge of the village, limbs ripped open and eaten.
"I'm guessing this is the village that family of four came from." Arthur said, emerald eyes scanning the broken homes and bodies. "Even if it is far from the capital, this is still unacceptable…"
Just as Alfred was about to turn away from the heart-wrenching sight, the body twitched. He stopped, eyes narrowing slightly as he jumped down his Faris, walking over to take a closer look. He squatted down close to the dead child, ignoring the growing corruption across the mangled body as the rest gathered around curious with what he was doing.
"What in the bloody hell do you think you're doing?!" Arthur hissed grabbing Alfred's hand as the latter was about to reach out towards the body.
"I saw him move." Alfred replied, sharp eyes not leaving the body, watching for the slightest hint of movement. "He could still be alive."
"Don't joke around there's no way he could be ali-." Arthur stepped back, eyes widening as not only the presumably dead child twitched, but coughed.
Alfred moved immediately, reaching out to comfort the child as he coughed, ignoring the fact that the deadly corruption upon the boy could very well spread to him, or that the child might no longer be a child. The boy's eyes fluttered slightly as they opened up, blue at blue, searching for something. He gasped, tears rolling down his face as he tried to form words with his cracked bloodied lips. Alfred held the child close, cradling the broken body even after the shaking stopped as the others watched on silently.