Hetalia – The Cold of War

Chapter 9 party people! This new chapter is courtesy of the brilliant reviewers; piratespain13, gxgirl-93 and BlazeToucan, without whom this chapter would not be coming to you this early. A big shout out to you three, thank you for your reviews. Now put on your party hats, it's time...

Enjoy!

The Nordic Kingdom, The Royal Palace, The Dining Hall

Ooh! When I was one

I sucked my thumb

The day I went to sea!

I jumped on board

the pirate ship

an' the Captain

said to me,

'We're goin'

this way that way

forwards, backwards

over the Irish sea!

A bottle o' Rum

To fill ma tum,

An' THAT'S the life

For me!

The huge crowded hall roared with bubbling laughter and applause as the song finished it's first version, sloshing pints of beer were thrusted to the roof in celebration. At the head of the long feast table sat King Simon surrounded by his most favoured men, along with General Ludwig and his own company. Arthur Kirkland sat between his brother and Lukas, where the three of them had been vividly discussing many a matter on the subject of magic. The latest topic had been whether toad spawn or frog spawn was a better ingredient when making a potent sleeping draught. Opposite the engrossed sorcerers Alfred, Kiku and Matthew sat, Alfred shooting frequent glances over to the Kirkland Brothers.

The black and red banners that hung from the wooden beamed ceiling proudly bore the signal of the Densen house, a double edged battle axe. Upon the fine table, a glorious feast laid spread. Whole spiced and salted hogs lay on its vegetable garnished platters along with piping cauldrons of creamed tomato soup and tender stewed venison. Spit roasted honeyed and stuffed chickens glistened in the flickering candle light and finely aged cheeses with nutty wholemeal bread rolls doted along the table. Golden puffy beef pies and huge wooden bowls of sweet apples and red and green grapes were passed up, down and across from one man to another. The Magician's band played its upbeat songs and a merry man's ale of beer was never empty.

OOOoohh! when I was two

I ate my shoe..

Arthur laughed as the ridiculous song continued, the beer making him bold and light headed. At the head of the table King Simon had corked open one of his oldest wines and was sharing it secretly between him, Berwald and Ludwig. Beside Arthur, Allistor took another deep swig at his mug and slammed it back down with little care of its split liquor on the table.

"Hey Artie," Allistor spoke as he leaned to whisper in Arthur's ear, his breath overpoweringly stinking of his beer. "I think that blonde over there wants ye attention. He's been starin' at ye like ya the love of his life" Arthur looked over to Alfred and saw that Alfred had indeed been trying to get his attention. Once he and Alfred made eye contact, Alfred dropped the apple he had been about to throw and sheepishly grinned.

"Introduce me to your brother!" Alfred mouthed from across the table, Matthew stretching over him to grab a roll and dunk it in the tomato soup. Arthur rolled his eyes and elbowed Allistor's side gently and pointed over to Alfred.

"That is Alfred Jones. He helped me and a friend leave the Capital and introduced me to the Rebellion" Arthur stated, feeling a little concerned when his brother's eyes narrowed that the word 'introduced'. Allistor turned his piercing stare onto Alfred and peered at him, as if trying to gauge what he was made of.

"So ye the one who's dragged ma little brother into this? Couldn't leave him be, where he was safe?" Allistor aggressively spat as he leaned forward on the table, steeling his Greek Fire eyes onto Alfred. Alfred automatically squirmed under Allistor's glare however no matter how intimidating Allistor, Alfred would be damned if he showed that he was scared.

"Yeah, I helped Arthur and Francis out of the Capital and was there with him when he joined up. And there when we brought him here, so in a way. I'm the reason Arthur's here drinking besides you" Alfred finished with a smug smile. Allistor paused for a split second before he grinned at the challenge and nodded his head pleased.

"He's got spunk. Good. I wouldn't be able to stand ye if ye were squealed at the sight of a challenge" Allistor declared with a wink before returning to his drink. Inwardly Alfred sighed in relief and relaxed as he had Allistor's favour before putting his question forward.

"So tell what's being a sorcerer like? I know there was a community, but what did you guys actually do? " Alfred asked as he speared a chicken leg with his knife and took a huge bite into the plump meat. Arthur popped a grape into his mouth as he listened to what Allistor had to say for himself. His brother pressed his lips together in thought and scratched his spouting auburn whiskers in thought.

"Well we were Healers, Seers, Adventurers and Scholars. It was a free life, to go where you wanted when you wanted to. You would train your magic, find work and live off what ye made," Allistor reminisced, his expression matching Arthur's longing one as they thought of the past times. "Some of us specialised in selling charms and some became fortune tellers. But for us, we were hunters. Dealing with the wee things that went bump in the night. Ghosts, Rowdy Trolls, Witches, if you can name it we're probably dealt with it"

"We would travel around where rumoured bad omens had sprung up and hunt whatever was causing it," Arthur eagerly butted in. "Once we tracked a coven of witches and almost had our limbs eaten if Seamus hadn't challenged the witches to a limerick competition"

"Aye. The look on their faces when Seamus pulled out tha' word 'Orange'?. Priceless. But jokes aside, t'was a dangerous job that not many could do. If you didn't have the training, ya didn't stand a chance. The Old man grilled it into as soon as I could walk on ma feet, the bloody training was worse then actually fighting tha' monsters," Allistor looked to Arthur as he said his last bit. "He wanted me to be able to look after ya before he…left"

Arthur and Allistor's eyes darkened visibly at the mention of their absent father. Alfred looked between them and gleamed that something obviously went down. A sensitive soul might of left the topic, but Alfred had never been a wuss."So why did he leave?" He pressed, ignoring Matthew's (who had begun to listen in) silent disappointed sighs.

"What are we flimsy girls gossipin' about our daddy issues?," Allistor snorted irritatedly but didn't stop when he saw the glint in Arthur's eye. Arthur had never truly known their father and to desired answers as Allistor did. "He never told me where he was going the night he left. I was nine and Arthur was three. He just came, grabbed his effects and told me he had something important to take care of... I begged him to stay, used every card; You, Seamus and Dylan were too young to leave alone. We had name in the community, a reputation. We had enemies from the hunting business" Allistor paused with smouldering acidic eyes. "He still didn't stay"

There was an odd solemn silence that bound the four men amongst the celebrating feast. Arthur stared down at his plate and found his appetite had fled. He had only hazy scratches of memory about their father, nothing solid or tangible at all "Did you ever know my mother Allistor?" Arthur asked in a quiet half-hearted voice, already knowing the answer but still feeling inclined to ask.

"Never meet her lad. One day the Old man simply brought you home from a trip, a trip from here actually. Me Ma had a right fit when she saw you-" Allistor told before being interrupted by Alfred's loud gasp.

"You two are half brothers?!" Arthur rolled his eyes and simply pointed to Allistor's auburn hair and then to his own golden mess. There wasn't much need for more information after the obvious was pointed out.

"Aye we're half brothers. And ye be the only clue to what ya Ma could of looked like. She must have been beautiful because ya look about as dainty as I don't know what," Allistor teased causing Arthur to retaliate by aiming a punch at his head. Allistor chuckled as he easily dodged Arthur's fist and turned his attention to the twins in front of him "So you know wee part of our story, why don't you tell us yours? How did you end up joining the Rebellion?"

Matthew and Alfred exchanged a glance and Matthew gave a light nod at the unspoken question between them. Alfred's demeanour grew serious as he lost the cheerful twinkle in his eye, to have it replaced by dull remorse. "We grew on a small Isle named 'Potts Field' with our parents who were just honest corn farmers. It was when we were thirteen that Ivan came to the Isle, looking to buy it and convert it into a factory. Our parents refused but no wasn't an answer. The farm was burnt to the ground and we were left orphans. About a week later Ludwig came to visit the Isle, looking to recruit sympathisers. He was quite surprised to find two teenage boys were the first to sign his list. So we were brought back to the base, trained to fight and command. We rose to be in Ludwig's inner circle and have been ever since" Alfred finished, speaking with a somewhat detached voice. Like he had wept too many tears over the past that he was spent of emotions tied to it. Arthur looked across to his dearest friend and meet his eyes, realising that they were more alike then they had previously known.

"We've all been hurt by the Empire in someway. It's only a matter of time before Ivan is brought to justice" Arthur firmly proclaimed, his fists curled tightly like his resolve. Matthew nodded and raised his drink to that, probing the other three men likewise. They shared a determined look before cluttering their pints together and toasted for a better tomorrow.

Awww so now we all know alittle abit more about our heroes :3 The song that the beginning of the chapter is a song I used to sing in primary school, it'd get more and more silly as it went on (e.g when I was five, I sat on a bee hive) It was a cute little song that I thought suited the mood nicely so it was put in.

Hee hee the little head butting heads of Allistor and Alfred. Allistor is a very intimidating man and even badasses like Ludwig feel the power Allistor's presence has. None the less, Alfred ain't afraid of no ghost and he is not a coward. I feel that Allistor and Alfred will get on quite well in the future, although their codes of honour differ in ways ;)

Lovely bits of backstory on the Sorcerers and their way of life. There's no school their sent to, they have to study off their own backs or find themselves a Master and be taught from them. We'll be seeing abit more on this later. Also we finally learn how Alfred and Matthew joined up with Ludwig and essentially became child soldiers, which isn't a happy thought.

I am so thankful for all the reviews that have been submitted so far. Your enthusiasm to see what happens next is what's really driving this story.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you are enjoying this story and want to see chapters be updated more regularly then please take the time to leave a review telling me your thoughts, opinions and questions. Once again thank you for reading,

Until next time folks!