Hetalia – The Cold of War
Chapter 17 for you all! I apologise for not updating last Sunday, this is a particularly long tricky chapter that has demanded alot of attention. Fortunately the school holidays are here so hopefully chapters will be coming in thick and fast. A quick shout of to a lovely new reviewer by the name of Chiisaioni, who has gone a reviewing rummage on this series. I'm just like to say thank you for your feedback and I always appreciate hearing you amazing people. Keep your voices coming in! I wish you all a merry Christmas and I present the new chapter,
Enjoy!
The Nordic Kingdom, Outside the Royal Palace, The war readied Entrance Courtyard
Alfred Jones gazed longingly at Arthur as he fled out from sight into the Entrance hall. Gods, he wished he had stolen a kiss before they had parted. Just a quick one before they had pulled away. It would of be perfect, a romantic farewell before he, the hero, marches off into battle. Then after it was over they'd meet and share another, long and sweet. Alfred almost sighed, but instead shook his head as he grimly remembered where he was. Thoughts of luxury were death on the battlefield, and Alfred couldn't afford to be distracted with the lives of his comrades at stake. He turned away and looked off down the now-not-so-far road with the approaching Imperial troops. They marched in a long rectangular formation, with the men at the front and sidelines carrying clear riot shields. The enemy drew near in silence, the only sound was the intimidating pounding of their black combat boots against the icy stone path.
Over in the hectic courtyard, Ludwig had managed to station everyone with guns aimed. His arm held out in the sign to wait for his signal. The flurried air that rained down was cold and thick, difficult to swallow. Adrenaline had ignited inside the men's blood as they waited for their General to release them from their nerve wrecking tension. A few of the younger soldiers' hands trembled as they tried to steady their aim, the barrels of their guns wavering slightly.
They were scared, of course they were, Alfred thought pitifully as he unslung his shot gun off his back. Young or old, all the men here were scared. It didn't matter if you were a total novice or the most experienced in the world, in the heat of battle, nothing is certain. Any morals you had about killing had to be discarded when it was kill or be killed; that was just the way it was. Alfred had seen fellow soldiers fall, had become hardened to it, and now, he expected it. He'd seen war, seen the death and the blood and the sweat of it. Oh Alfred knew war too well, knew that it wasn't about who held the moral high ground; it was about who was left at the end.
"Take aim!," Alfred heard Ludwig shout over the rhythmic stamping, bringing his arm up. The cocking off the safety locks on the guns was heard upon their commander's word. Alfred raised his own gun, cracked open the base of the double barrels and slipped the ammunition from his belt in, snapping the barrels and fore end up to load the weapon. The enemy was now less then ten metres away now and closing. Alfred raised his break action shot gun to eye level and took a deep breath in through his nose. His focus narrowed and sharpened onto a peeking small space between two riot shields. Target acquired, Alfred thought as his lips curled into a smile.
"On my mark!," Ludwig called as he raised his hand above his head "ready…," Alfred slowly exhaled through his mouth, releasing the tension that would sway his aim.
"Let's motherfuckin' do this" Alfred growled as he hissed out the last of his slow breath and distantly heard Ludwig's signal to fire, the gunshot booms drowning out his bold declaration.
The Nordic Kingdom, The Royal Palace, Back of the connected Entrance-Main hall
The first shots of gunfire whipped Arthur's head back to the sealed Entrance hall doors, crackling explosions emitting from unseen sources. The English man skidded to a halt and turned around, instantly regretting leaving Alfred behind. "I should of stayed", Arthur thought as he kicked himself, bouncing on the balls of his feet ready to run back when he was abruptly halted.
"Don't ye even think about it" His brother's rough voice echoed from back of the Main hall, threatening enough to freeze Arthur solid. When Arthur turned back around, his fear was replaced with a brief amused smirk at the sight. His elder brother was slumped down on the King's grand wooden throne, his head lolled down against the back board as his arms hung wide over the armrests limp and relaxed; the symbol of boredom and impatience. By the throne's side, Lukas stood with a shaking head and his arms folded with silent disapproval. Arthur raised his thick brows as he strode forward to meet his kin, his boots clopping against the polished boarded floor.
"I wasn't aware our services are so exclusive" Arthur spoke with dripping sarcasm as he stopped centre of the cavernous hall and waited for the already walking Lukas and Allistor to reach him. Allistor had donned the signature 'Kirkland' green cloak while Lukas had opted for a stormy grey one of simmering material.
"They are when we have a more important job ta do," Allistor curtly returned from about a metre away. "And so what is tha plan? disarm all tha guns out there and give our side a fightin' chance" He continued, pointing over to the thick double doors. Arthur looked to Lukas as if to share his disbelief, before he embarrassingly remembered that Lukas couldn't see his face. He snapped his head back to Allistor.
"Disarm? So Telepathy then?," Arthur snorted doubtfully "bollocks! Not even the three of us could pull that off!"
"That's why we don't use telepathy" Lukas jumped in, built up excitement ringing clear within his usually soft, quiet voice.
"Aye! Instead, we cast a charm. By burning these," Allistor pulled out and held up a small vial of dull metal fillings "fillings taken from tha metal that all guns are made from. With this we can cause all tha guns in that yard ta burn like forge pokers" Arthur scoffed, ripped off his spell book from his hip and flipped it open. His brow furrowed when he saw no such charm recorded, even Allistor's journal pages held no merit.
"This is even possible Allistor? There's no record of any such charm in here" Arthur reasoned, gesturing to his spell book glossary. Allistor waved off his brother's concern with a smug air about him.
"No fear. I've been doing more up here then drinking tha nights away, laddie. It wouldn't be in ya book because Lukas and I formulated it on this god forsaken glacier" Allistor announced proudly as he threw a triumphant smile to Lukas, who must as felt equally proud as he knowingly returned the expression. Arthur snapped his book shut and gruffly replaced it in it's harness, trying to quell the unfair jealousy that bit him. Allistor had never even tried to create new spells with him!
To mask his disappointment with humour, Arthur let out a low pitched whistle and took exaggerated steps backwards, putting distance between them."Well if you don't mind then, I'm going to step back a few". Lukas laughed softly at the reaction though it earned him a disapproving glare from Allistor. With a waving motion of his hand, Allistor gave Arthur a telepathic push from behind, pushing him nearly onto his face as he was forced to stumble forward.
"Bloody git," Arthur muttered as he rejoined the triangle and threw up his arms "Fine! Take charge because I don't have a bloody clue". Allistor grinned and turned to Lukas.
"Lukas, would ya burn tha circle," Allistor politely asked, Lukas nodded in response and dropped to place his hand against the boarded floor. The smell of burning polluted the air and a thin trail of smoke rose as the ashen magic circle slowly burnt itself the wood. "Arthur," Allistor continued "activate tha trinity sigil; ya Courage, I am Power an' Lukas is wisdom"
Arthur nodded and raised his palm, and with a quick flick of the fingers, activated the sigil. The sigil appeared over the circle as a large triangle made up of three smaller connected ones, all beaming a radiant gold colour upwards. It allowed their magic to be safely conducted down into magic circle and acted as an absorber for any negative feedback from the spell. The roles Allistor had assigned Arthur and Lukas connected to the points of the triangle, one of it rules being that the three roles must be appropriately filled for the sigil to work. In the past all sorcerers strode to exhibit all three admirable qualities, having been taught at a young age that that was what the best sorcerers were; courageous, wise and powerful.
As Arthur and Lukas walked into their places, Allistor stood centre of the circle and carefully tipped the metal fillings out. Finished, he tossed the vial away and took the remaining high point of the triangle as Power. "Tha charm's ready, all we hav' ta do is channel in tha energy for it" Allistor explained over the rushing sound of the magic beginning, the energy throbbing air around them spiralling and encircling them. Together the three Sorcerers raised their palms and focused, imagining their mana flowing downwards into the sigil below them. There was a crackle and an explosion as the metal at the centre popped and burst into high purple flames. It remained burning when the spinning wind died back down and the sigil vanished in a dimming golden light.
Arthur took a deep breath in and bent over to ride the wave of fatigue that came over him, he had forgotten how exhausting charms could be. He straightened up and was about to ask if it had worked when he realised, the gunfire had stopped. He had been ready to cheer when he faintly heard the first ear tearing scream, many others joining in on the horrible song. Arthur looked to Allistor who's lips were pulled into a tight line.
"You knew?," Arthur sickeningly asked, his panicked thoughts jumping to Alfred who had been carrying so many guns. Guns that had scolded on contact. Allistor looked over and nodded without a word, Lukas remained silent and nervously rubbed his hands together. Of course the two of them knew, always the scholars. "I'm coming to check on our side" Arthur started as he stepped forward and strode quickly for the double doors. His angry brother's shout came after him.
"Arthur, get back here before I drag ya!" Allistor snarled menacingly, raising the hairs in the back of Arthur's neck. But Arthur kept walking, he needed to know. Behind him Allistor clenched his jaw and mentally reached out to yank Arthur back, when he was interrupted. The entrance doors were flung wide with a BANG! and a horde of wounded rebel men limped in as if death itself were on their heels. Pure terror etched onto their poor faces. Over the river of heads, Arthur could catch only scratches of the battle outside; his breath caught when he saw a sandy gold flash darted across. Confident Allistor would not be able to follow, Arthur pushed forward through the river of soldiers and strained his neck to get a better view. He squeezed through before he was stopped by the sight of a beaten and bloodied Ludwig. The general had an ugly gnash from shoulder to shoulder and he clutched his blood soaked side where a black handled knife hilt had burrowed deep inside. Caked in mud, blood and sweat, Ludwig staggered into the hall and clumsily leaned his battered body against door.
"Ludwig!," Arthur yelled over the hysteria of the hall "What's happening?" Ludwig shook his head before doubling over coughing, tiny droplets of blood splattered against the floor.
"The guns, they burnt like fire. We had the advantage in close combat, but..," Ludwig trailed off and bit the inside of his cheek as he winced against his pain. He opened his clouded steel blue eyes and fixed them onto Arthur, a glint of desperation lay in them "They have sorcerers, Arthur, four of them". Arthur's eyes grew wide and his pupils shrink. It was impossible, the Empire killed the Sorcerers…didn't they? Arthur's head whirled and his tongue became thick with fear.
"Alfred. Is Alfred and Kiku still out there?" Arthur panicked as he grabbed Ludwig's arm and shook it, frantic for an answer. Ludwig hissed at the contact on his wounded shoulder but looked down before regrettably meeting Arthur's eyes, he nodded slowly. Arthur released Ludwig's arm and looked at the man, his heart threatening to leap from his throat. Four sorcerers against half their forces, and Alfred. Arthur looked back for his brother, seeing his brother's red head attempt to slowly push his way to him, green eyes met and locked. The two brothers stared at each other, knowing each other too well to try and guess what was running through the other's heads. "I'm sorry" Arthur mouthed to his only brother before he turned and threw himself outside.
The immediate cold hit him like a fist and knocked the air out of him, Arthur gasped wildly to reclaim his oxygen as he tried to scanned the ruined courtyard for Alfred. Directly in front of him, the front lines had been pushed back and now stood only five metres away from the entrance hall doors. The men yelled and cried as they remained strong against the waves of enemies, the imperial soldiers forever seeking for the weakness in the formation. A row of sandbags was behind the fighting men and few of the troops trembled and cowered behind them, their faces bloodless and pale with tints of green. Arthur moved away from the sturdy doors as to gain a wider view of the yard. What he saw made his heart jump up into his throat as he forgot how to breathe.
Alfred and Kiku were charging toward three stationary men... No, not men; three monsters. The devilish hulk at the centre sneered as Alfred and Kiku rushed to them, his jarred split face curled. The two hooded figures remained neutral and still, seemingly uninterested in two war crying warriors. Fear clawed from within Arthur's rib cage as he choked on nothing and threw himself forward, bounding towards the sandbag wall and vaulted himself over. He soared over the allied men's heads and as he came to land , he swung his feet forwards and crunched them into an enemy's chest. The imperial men cursed as Arthur broke their steady advance, the nearest soldiers reached out to grab him only to have twin surprise hidden blades thrust into their necks. They dropped like stones when Arthur yanked his blood coated blades out and continued to hurtle forward in haste. Arthur's breach caused the rebels to surge forward with renewed energy and began to actually make progress as they pushed back. But Arthur didn't look back, his eyes were fixed ahead to the losing battle. They fought bravely, and they fought hard. They played every strength and used every card but no matter what Alfred and Kiku did, they could not wound the man-monster. The Deadman bellowed with amusement as Alfred and Kiku circled and ducked and dodged about him, laughing how little their best efforts achieved.
"No!, please no!" Arthur silently screamed as he saw the hulk suddenly snap his arm out and grab Kiku's sword arm, he twisted it and a sickening snap echoed. Kiku screamed as he knees buckled and tried to uselessly jerked his broken arm out of the man's grasp. Alfred shrieked and slashed out in retaliation, only to be ruthlessly backhanded away, his body span as it was launched in Arthur's direction. Arthur slammed his heel into the ground and crudely rolled out of Alfred's flight trajectory as the American painfully collided with the hard iced ground and slid a distance, a thin trail of blood in his wake. As he ran, Arthur called upon his magic within and groaned as it shot through him like an accelerated adrenaline shot. His blood boiled with his dangerously low mana, his fist curled and burst into blistering flames. The rippling crackle of the manifestation of his magic diverted the monsters attention onto him, Arthur too caught up in his attack to think it odd that they smiled when they saw him, shot his arm forward and flung his fireball aimed for the arm that held Kiku.
"Kiku!" Arthur shouted as he reached out and closed his telepathic grip onto Kiku, yanking with all his strength and ripped the agent free from the hulk's loosened grip; loosened the moment he had seen his target. Arthur held his arms out and pulled Kiku to him the moment the explosive fireball made contact. The flames briefly embraced itself around the huge forearm, before it combusted into a mini sun.
The impact quaked the ground and the fire was blinding to look at. The tremors sent out a bone rumbling shock wave throughout the yard, blasting Arthur and Kiku off their feet and onto their backs. The hulk roared with agony as he and his henchmen scattered, his arm, now a bloody stump at the elbow. Blood spurted and gushed where the jagged end of bone peeked out of flesh. Ringing deafening his ear drums, Arthur was the first to raise and uneasily got to his feet as his eyes did not stray from the unmoving monsters. At his feet Kiku gasped and hissed through his tightened teeth as he clutched his broken arm, reaching out to cling to Arthur as he shakily rose. Taking in heavy pants as fatigue took its toll over his remaining adrenaline, Arthur looked at Kiku with distracted wild eyes.
"Are you alright?" Arthur managed between breaths, swiping away the sweat that glistened on his clammy forehead. Kiku nodded and gave a small swollen lipped smile, he must of bit the inside of his cheek as his usually white teeth were stained red. Arthur saw his thin black brows draw together before he raised his good hand and pointed to Alfred, who had not moved since being thrown. Arthur felt a new surge of worry bolt through him and, after being certain Kiku could stand on his own, ran to Alfred's side and tenderly turned him over. As Arthur inspected Alfred injuries at a closer range, the sight caused Arthur's bile to jump in his stomach.
Alfred was in worse shape then Kiku, much worse. Beneath his cracked glasses, a horrid large purple black eye bloomed against the angry red swollen skin. His nose had been broken from the fall and a thick river of blood streamed down onto his upper lip and chin, his mouth slack and gaped open. Arthur slumped to his knees and hovered his head over Alfred's mouth, near crying with relief when he heard a raspy, rattling breath wheeze within.
"Oh thank gods. Thank you, thank you," Arthur softly sang as he cradled Alfred onto his lap and rocked in time with his prayers before he attempted to wake his friend. "Alfred? Alfred! Wake up Alfred, you need to wake. You swore to me, you promised we'd spend this stupid holiday together. Alfred, it's not safe here!" Arthur demanded as he lightly but insistently patted the unbeaten side of Alfred's raised face. After what felt like too long, bruised eyelids groggily fluttered open and his breath hitched out of rhythm as Alfred Jones stubbornly returned to world of the living.
Oooohhh, I literally cannot wait for the next chapter, the one where shit literally hits the fan and the truth comes out. I am so excited, I hope you have fastened your seat belts. I'm kicking this story up another gear ;)
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you are liking this story and wish for it to long continue, then please consider leaving a review to tell me your thoughts, opinions and questions. I always look forward to your reviews. Once again thank you for reading and as always,
Until next time folks!