Hetalia – The Cold of War

Chapter 6 and woo has it been a long time! Unfortunately school is putting a lot on strain on my available time to write so chapters haven't been quite as frequent as desired but, we can't always get what we want. Just a quick note, I am also writing a prequel of this series called Hetalia - Origins. It details the creation and lore of the series and is a nice companion story to read alongside this. I won't say much but it's where the Ancients will be making their first appearance :3 And now I present the chapter,

Enjoy!

Whale-Tail Island, The Resistance Headquarters, General Ludwig's Office.

"A thousand silver pieces?! Ha, Unlikely! Tell Mr Wang he'll have my unmentionables before we'll let ourselves be robbed blind" Gilbert yelled as he shot up out of Ludwig's leather chair, no his leather chair now, and slapped both hands against the desk. The reporting men jumped back in shock at the dramatically childish action. They were so used to their General Ludwig's serious 'lets-get-down-to-business' attitude that they were completely caught off guard.

It had been two days since Ludwig and company had left for the North. Two days and Gilbert still left like an imposter sitting in the chair that was his brother's. It wasn't because he was physically sitting in a chair that was not his. But rather it was the expectant foreign looks that all the men gave him, looks that seemed alien to him. Gilbert had had power in the past, he knew how to handle it. But this was different. It was borrowed respect that the men looked at Gilbert with. In their eyes, he hadn't earned anything. He was a king with an empty no longer! Today was the day Gilbert showed everyone what an awesome leader he was by securing the deal of the year. Lord Wang won't easily steal the coin from his pocket!

"Uh but Sir, might we reconsider Lord Wang's generous offer? He is after all, our only long term arms dealer. And truth be told, a thousand silver pieces is the usual down payment for this type of shipment" One of the shorter men stuttered, so what mystified at Gilbert's lack of understanding of economics. He had been personally tutored by General Beilschmidt hadn't he? How could he know so little about the trade of business?

"Look look. The awesome me knows how to handle deals okay. It's called bantering. You see first you-," Gilbert started before he was rudely interrupted.

"We know what bantering is, Sir. In fact we frequently practice it" The taller one stated bluntly beginning to grow tired of their temporary leader's shenanigans. Gilbert huffed in irritation and folded his arms. He had thought the idea of bantering the price lower would have been impressive as his first act as leader. It was meant to inspire the men and show that they could put their faith in him. Apparently this hadn't been the best way to go about it.

"Okay then. Uh- go tell Lord Wang then that we'll accept his gracious offer. And give him a fruit basket or something, a puppy if you have one. Actually if you find a puppy I want it instead. That will be all. You may go" Gilbert stated with a flourish of his hand to the door and shaking back down into the leather chair. His leather chair. After the two men saluted and left, Gilbert dropped his head into his hands and sighed wearily. He felt like a terrible leader, heck he must seem like the worst person to lead next to Ludwig! Ludwig always knew everything about military and business deals while Gilbert was a complete noob at it all. So caught up in his self pity, Gilbert didn't hear the quiet knock and the sound of the door open.

"I'm such a failure compared to my brother," Gil muttered into his hands, an audible gasp caused him to look up and see a surprised Feliciano, "Feliciano! Wh-what the hell are you doing here? Would it kill you to knock?" He stuttered as he quickly swiped his moist eyes, cheeks a light rose shade with embarrassment at being caught at a moment of weakness. Damn Italian.

"You think you're a failure?" Feliciano's unusually quiet voice asked to Gilbert, light brown eyes meeting red. Gilbert barked a half hearted laugh as he ran his fingers through and tussled his unnaturally white hair.

"How can I not be. I'm supposed to be filling in as a substitute for brother, and yet I'm not even good enough to stand in his shadow" Gilbert replied as he leaned back into the soft worn leather. There was an a definitive pause before Feliciano broke the silence.

"It's not fair to compare yourself to someone who has been doing this for years. You can't expect yourself to suddenly be the man everyone wants, not without experience and practice," Feliciano walked forward and placed his hand reassuringly on Gilbert's leg "I believe in you Gilbert. You can be a great leader, it's in your blood" Gilbert looked astounded at Feliciano's frankly honest speech. He had never known that Feliciano had such faith in him. He didn't think Feliciano thought much of him outside being Ludwig's brother.

Gilbert coughed to distract the Italian from his lightly blushing cheeks "Thank you Feliciano, it means a lot" Feliciano smiled that heartwarming smile of his that made Gilbert forget about the world and took his hand away. The place he had touched tingled as his touch lingered. Feliciano made to walk out the study before grinning one final time back at Gilbert and exited the spacious study. A smile played onto Gilbert's own lips as he thought of his most recent visitor, feeling not for the first time a wave of envy for his brother. He was so lucky to have Feliciano by his side. But for now Gilbert didn't have time to indulge in his own self pity.

He had work to do.

Rebel Airship 'The Gallon', Front Deck, 79 miles away and closing from the Nordic Kingdom.

Matthew found his brother sulking up in the crows nest, standing alone. Alfred was looking through his spyglass when Matthew had scrambled up the ladder to join him, giving him a quick glance before resuming his watch. Matthew steadied himself as he found his centre of balance and took his place beside his sulking twin. The chilly air was thin at the altitude the Gallon was flying at and wisps of cloud drifted past Matthew's face as he too observed the magnificent view. The wintery Island's boundary was peeking into sight through the misty fog and the thousand year enormous ice wall that guarded its kingdom stood ever impressively. Many bombardment cannons were built in and on top of the wall, prepared for southern unwelcome warships. Alfred could probably see a great deal more then he could, but Matthew was sure that if he squinted he could make out the silhouettes of little men.

"We'll be there in less then half an hour at this speed" Alfred stated cooly, not lowering his spyglass an inch. Matthew sighed at his brother's off mood, something had clearly put Alfred in a foul mood.

"So what's wrong with you? You're acting like someone threw up in your sock" Matthew remarked in response, leaning forward against the wooden ledge. Alfred stayed silent for a minute before making an impatient noise and snapped his telescope close.

"Arthur's been acting like a jerk ever since he went crazy over this letter he got from Francis. I mean he literally caused the letter to explode into a fireball with his mind, it was insane! Then he got pissed at me so I've just been chilling up here" Alfred said with clenched teeth.

"Whatever was in that letter must have been pretty bad, Arthur's usually quite level headed," Matthew reasoned in defence, knowing that his friend wasn't one to needlessly yell at Alfred "Maybe he just needs some space. He'll apologise in his own time I'm sure"

Alfred nodded his gratitude for the reassurance and slapped the ledge excitedly as the Nordic Kingdom was now fast approaching and close enough that little houses could be seen under the dim lightly snowing clouds. Below Ludwig called to stations and to prepare to land. Matthew peeked over the ledge to see the Great Wall pass below them, grinning at Alfred enthusiastic waving to the guards at their posts.

The Gallon and its sister ship slowly dropped in altitude once they were completely inside, descending on a cleared landing platform. Men in brightly dyed winter coats waved the Gallon down and hurriedly rushed to secure the levitating war ships with thick ropes and chains. Alfred and Matthew slid down the crow's nest ladder and landed heavily on the busy deck as a wide set of metal stairs was pushed up against the side, the northern men already boarding to assist in unloading of the cargo. The air was alive with the sound of thumping boots, shouts of welcome from native observers and calls of command from those in charge. Sprinkling flakes continued to drift from above and nestle in the men's hair, nipping at their cold noses and drawing out sniffles and sneezes. The North had welcomed the Rebels into her wonderland.

Alfred was about to leap off onto the metal stairs when he felt a tug on his coat covered elbow. Arthur stood behind him with blushed cheeks and his head bowed in shame. Clumped puffs of snow clung to his messy blonde hair and thick eyebrows. The raging temper he had shown before had evaporated and was now gone with the wind. "I apologise Alfred. I was out of line before, you didn't deserve that when you've been so good to me" Arthur meekly spoke as he lifted his head to look Alfred in the eye, his own begging for forgiveness. Alfred let out a happy chuckle before responding warmly.

"It's okay dude. I get that you weren't in the best of moods, I shouldn't of pressed you. Are we cool?"

"We're cool" Arthur replied feeling the weight of guilt lift from his shoulders. He knew he had been unfair to Alfred and really didn't want things to be awkward between them, especially when he was one of the only people he felt safe with. Alfred's eyes seemed to visibly lightened as their dispute resolved, the spring returned to his step as he turned with Arthur to collect their effects in their cabin. The harsh weather not quite so cold as it was before.

Awww everyone's a happy bunny again. Soooo we presently don't know what's in Francis' letter, only Arthur's reaction to it. Interesstttiinnnggg I wonder what was in it? ;) Although we didn't get to see the whole argument, it was put in more to illustrate that no ones perfect and we all say things we regret later on. Sometimes we have to be the bigger person and admit we were wrong.

Regarding Gilbert's section, I felt that we needed to have a little check up on how he was doing. Apparently not as well as we would happily believe. Feliciano's there though to help him through it, what a nice guy.

Once again a quick reminder that I am writing a prequel to this series called Hetalia - Origins that details the lore and myth of the story, exploring stories and elements that will resurface in this present timeline. It'd really mean a lot if you could give it a little look and tell me what you think of it so far, I always appreciate the feedback.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. We really are starting to move again and we're drawing closer to anticipated reunions, both good and bad ;) If you are enjoying this story and would like to see it continue, please take the time to leave a review telling me your thoughts, opinions and questions. I love hearing from you and it's you who motive me to keeping posting. Once again thank you for reading.

Until next time folks!