Hetalia – The Cold of War
Chapter 10! And we are into double digits baby! So I am sorry for the late updates, this week has been rather busy but what can you do? So this chapter was interesting to write, a major plot point is revealed with a new layer to add to the mystery *wink wink* And so,
Enjoy!
The Capital, The Winter Palace, High Security Dungeons
Vlad Popscu grunted in pain as he was roughly thrown into the warded prison cell, landing on his arm at an awkward angle. The steel barred door was slammed shut and without a word the ever silent guards left, marching down the multi celled corridor. Vlad pushed himself shakily up right and shifted backwards so his back touched the freezing concrete wall.
"Another fine mess" Vlad moaned to himself as he cradled his injured arm, already feeling the lull draining sensation of his magic leaving him. His essence forcefully pulled from him and fed into warding runes etched into the floor. The two cells in either side of Vlad were separated by the familiar steel bars, giving occupants a view of their neighbouring cell mates.
"Popscu?," A tired voice called from the cell opposite Vlad's, the slumped shadow silhouette of a man that Vlad hadn't seen stirred. Vlad peered against the darkness that masked the cell and struggled before finally putting the name to the voice.
"Master Elderthorn?" Vlad whispered in an astonished voice. When the purge had began Vlad had been certain that the Elders were the first to be hunted down, made an example of how the futile resistance was. Though admittedly it was understandable that Master Elderthorn would be spared, the knowledge he possessed would be deemed invaluable by any logical mind.
"Popscu, if it isn't Adrei's Vladimir. What are you doing here? Why aren't you with the others?" The old man snivelled as he crept on all fours closer to the cell door. As the once great master-sorcerer pulled himself closer into the light, Vlad openly cringed at the sorry state years of imprisonment had reduced him to. The man's face was horrendous, his nose permanently disfigured with a large chunk of it missing at the bridge. He was visibly malnourished and his small head only had wisps of dead grey hair. Elderthorn abruptly hiccuped and let out a concerning giggle, causing Vlad to seriously question the man's state of mind. "I mean, why you? You aren't special. Not like me. I'm very very special. The Emperor agrees, he says I'm special. I'm helpful I am. Because I knows things I do. Yes yes I do"
Vlad looked sickened at the broken shell of a proud man. Living proof that even the most powerful sorcerers couldn't stand up to the might of the Empire. Elderthorn scratched his dirty backside and hummed to himself, looking curiously at Vlad before continuing his mad man's ramble. "So answer me question, what are you doing here?" Vlad considered ignoring Elderthorn, knowing there was little reason for informing him seeing as they would never likely meet again. But had it been months since Vlad had spoken with a fellow sorcerer, and frankly he was desperate for someone's company that wasn't Commander Edelstein's or Arkhangelsk.
"This is my room until morning. Tomorrow I'm being taken North. Arthur Kirkland is alive and the Emperor has ordered a manhunt to bring him back. I'm the unlucky bastard that was chosen to track him" Vlad explained, his voice agonised and pitiful. Elderthorn tilted his head to the side as he struggled to recall, letting out a loud gasp when he put the name to a memory. "Arthur Kirkland...Arthur Kirkland, Kirkland! He was son that Gisil tried to hide away from us!," Elderthorn exclaimed as he realised, his tone turning sinister as he spoke his dark private thoughts aloud "Always wanted to know what was so secret about him. I knew I did something was up when Gisil didn't immediately announce his birth. Never allowed him to be taught under any other Master, never brought him to the meetings. Thought he tricked me but I suspected, I thought it fishy yes yes. I'm not like others. I'm special, the Emperor said so you know…"
Elderthorn slid away from the barred door and proceeded to continued mutter to himself as he curled into a small ball. As he ceased to listen, Vlad swore that he was arguing with some other person about who was the 'specialist'. Vlad been near beaten to death and subjected to unspeakable experiments in the past. But somehow by Fortune's grace he had managed to somehow retained his sense of self. His mind had been stretched and battered but it had just held out. He was one of the fortunate few that could grit through the mental tortures. The others fell and lost their minds, becoming mindless puppets for the Emperor.
Vlad drew his knees to his chest and buried his head into their safety, giving out a broken sob. He had to do this. He had to to survive, he shouldn't feel guilty for wanting to live. It was human nature to prioritise his life over another's. But that didn't stop Vlad's chest feeling like it was caving inward. Shakily Vlad lowered himself down onto the hard cold floor and tried to force his heart to relax. He needed his strength and he needed sleep for the bleak tomorrow. Slowly and rigidly, Vlad fell into a fitful sleep sought with his nightmare companions.
The Nordic Kingdom, The Royal Palace, Allistor Kirkland's Chambers
"Ya what?!," Allistor boomed in response, Arthur flinched at his brother's furious tone. After the feast the brothers had roamed back to Allistor's chamber to prepare for bed. Although truthfully it had been Allistor dragging Arthur away from his conversation with Alfred, grumbling over Arthur's resistance that they had a lot of catching up to do. When they had arrived at the room, Allistor had proceeded to throw Arthur on his book scattered cot and demanded that he tell him the whole story. Apart from the occasional glare at the mention of the Resistance, Allistor had taken the story rather well. Until Arthur came to the part where the mermaids he had summoned had nearly kidnapped him.
"But they didn't!," Arthur rushed holding his hands up in pacification and then smirking at the elephant in the room "well I mean, obviously they didn't". Allistor made frustrated noise in his throat that sounded like a mix of a growl and a groan, pulling his hands through his messy red hair.
"Ya might as well put ye self on a platter with an apple in ya mouth! Ya know how dangerous they are, especially for us!"
"I had Alfred and Matthew with me! They're stronger then you give them credit for" Arthur defended thinking how the twins had saved his life more then once. He honestly wouldn't of gotten far without them.
"Oh aye? And how did it end? They escaped! They know ya face and they know ye scent. That's more then enough for them to track ya" Allistor whipped back as he began to angrily clear the bed so it could actually be seen.
"They didn't try anything on the way here" Arthur replied with his eyebrows furrowed together, confused at the fact now he had actually thought about it.
"Because ye were protected more then when you were before. They have an insane amount of patience Artie, they'll wait until your guards down. When you alone and defenceless. They may wait for years until they show face" Allistor grimly concluded, looking over to his brother's now very pale face.
"So what do we do?" Arthur questioned with determination, he would not live in fear for the rest of his life. He refused to. Allistor smiled with approval at Arthur's change in attitude. No Kirkland was a yellow-bellied coward.
"We take matters into our own hands. We summon them again, but this time we take them out. I'll set up a magic circle that'll prevent them from leaving once they're summoned and then we shoot them like fish in a barrel," Allistor strategised crossing his arms and closing his eyes to visual the plan. "If they didn't take anything from ya that contained ye scent then it should be only those three that will recognise ya"
"But what if they bring more then three? If they're told others about me then they may bring friends. It'd be better if we had Alfred, Matthew or Lukas as back up" Arthur put forward as nonchalantly as he could, hoping the logical suggestion would overshadow his wish to include Alfred. Allistor stared at Arthur with a perplexed look before shooting his head in disbelief as he finally finished cleaning away the books, leaving room for Arthur to fully lie down. Taking his brother's silence as an approval, Arthur grinned and began to prepare for bed. First came off his heavy green cloak and his weathered snow boots before he proceeded to remove his cotton shirt, not seeing Allistor's horrified expression as he saw Arthur's naked back. As Arthur's head got caught and he struggled to free it, Allistor drew closer with his eyes fixed.
"Let me" Allistor muttered as he gripped Arthur's shirt edge and raised it so he had a better view of Arthur's full back. On Arthur's creamy back directly on top of his shoulder blades, were the two matching long scars. The scars were deep and the skin around them were now inflamed with an angry red. They looked almost infected except there was no disease, merely like something was irritating them. Without touching him Allistor passed his hand over the scars, hurriedly whispering a healing spell to quell the swollen areas. Pushing out the painful memory of how Arthur got them out of his mind and forcing himself to focus.
This was bad. This was very bad. The fact that they had grown worse over the years without care bit into Allistor like blunt nails. They likely hadn't been this bad or Arthur would've noticed and tried something to cure them. Did it get like this when Arthur had arrived in the North? Had something reacted with the winter land's ancient magic? This was a sign, Allistor was sure. A glaring reminder that no matter how many times Allistor had reenforced the seal, he couldn't stop it. It was going to break and there was nothing Allistor could do about it.
"Uh Allistor? This skirt is still stuck over my head and I'm starting to lose air" Arthur's muffled voice squeaked, causing Allistor to mentally slap himself into the present and rip the skirt off. Tossing it onto a chair where the rest of his clothes were crumpled.
"Sorry lad, lost in thought" Allistor weakly admitted as he moved away and headed for the bathroom door. Pushing the rounded door open Allistor stormed over to the carved stone wash basin and splashed his face with cold water to calm down. Glaring at himself in the polished mirror Allistor began to undress until like his brother, he was dressed only in his beige drawstring roll up pants. His impressive chiselled chest was littered with old scars and his limbs were equally well toned and muscular from the years of hard hunting. Scratching one of the large crescent moon scars that Arthur gave him the last he had snapped, Allistor yawned loudly as he exited the circular bathroom.
Arthur had already fallen asleep and was curled up like a cat on his side snoring softly. The thick bear fur covers had been kicked to the bottom despite the goosebumps that covered his pale arms. Allistor smiled at his brother's peaceful face and listened to the steady rhythm to his deep breathing as he quietly moved to extinguish the remaining lit candles around the room. After the last one had been unlit, Allistor climbed into the cot and pulled up the covers around himself and Arthur. Still so what mystified that Arthur was actually beside him sleeping like the past six years had never happened.
But then if they hadn't then there should have been two more people sharing the cot. Seamus and Dylan should have been with them, resting soundly beside them. Allistor stared at his younger brother's face with a turmoil of fear, happiness and determination. He dreaded for what lay ahead in Arthur's future, and was more afraid that he may not be able to shield him from it. And yet the physical proof that Arthur was alive with him filled Allistor with such relief and joy, that he could almost forget about the impending horrors that awaited them. Almost.
Reaching over Allistor gently ran his hand through Arthur's messy soft halo of hair like he had the day they were separated. Some things never change, he thought nostalgically before lowering his hand and drawing closer to Arthur so that he shared his warmth with his shivering brother. The trembling stopped with a sigh from Arthur and he subconsciously snuggled closer into the cosy warmth, pleasantly surprising Allistor as he contently drifted into a dream of the past.
OOOoohh what could it mean? So a lot of tension building in this chapter, setting up for later chapters. The part I wrote about Seamus and Dylan not being with Allistor and Arthur hurt, got a little sniffle out of me. I'm really looking forward to get the action racing, it's going to be 'fun'.
OH MY GOD! A WILD PREWRITTEN CHAPTER APPEARED! Yes it's happened again! I have written the next chapter already and will be willing to release it for the same small price of THREE REVIEWS. Three reviews and I will release the next chapter the moment the third comes in. You want to read it, I want to release it.
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you are enjoying this chapter and want to see a pig perform a tap dance at your next birthday party, then please take the time to leave a story telling me your thoughts, opinions and questions. If I get three reviews I will release the next chapter early the moment that third review comes in. Once again thank you for reading,
Until next time folks!