Hetalia – Of Magic and Might
Chapter 19! Thank you for all the reviews I've received so far, they mean the world to me :) Once again thank you and here's the next chapter!
Enjoy!
Whale-Tail Island, The Boston Air Ballon Docking Station, Unknown Forrest area
"What the hell Francis! What. The. Actually. Hell. How could you get us this lost? I knew we should of asked Alfred and Kiku, but no. You and your pompous sense of 'natural navigation' has done nothing but send us in the wrong direction!" Arthur screamed at Francis as the Frenchman struggled to read a map of the area. After expertly landing 'The Fair Lady', Arthur and Francis had split from Alfred and Kiku at a crossroads. The goodbyes hadn't been too emotional, they were after all on the same small island. Alfred had even whispered to Arthur that he may even gate-crash the party later. Much to the distaste and scorn of Francis. Arthur had foolishly let Francis take the lead assuming that, as Francis had been to Antonio's manor before, he knew the way. Oh how wrong he was.
"Quiet Arthur! I'm trying to gather my thoughts! You're absolutely no help when your yelling in my ear!" Francis cried pinching the bridge of his nose as he continued to consult the map.
Arthur made a frustrated strangling noise as he threw his arms in the air. God why couldn't the git remember where the manor was, how could you even miss a gigantic manor?!. Looking around him, Arthur spied one particular tree with low enough branches to climb. By climbing up, perhaps he could get a better feel of the surroundings.
Jogging over to the tree, Arthur reached for a low branch and hauled himself up. As Arthur climbed higher, he reminisced about his adventures as a child. Back then he had to climb plenty of trees, whether it was to escape from enemies or simply find a place to sleep. Even though those years spent alone had sharpened Arthur's survival skills, it didn't make up for the emotional walls that solitude had built. Walls that made it hard for Arthur to easily open up to anyone.
Arthur reached for another branch, very nearly missing. He couldn't afford to be distracted when he was this far up the tree. One wrong move and he'd plummet. Perching catlike on relatively high branch, Arthur had a perfect view of the area. Proximately Northwest from his tree, he could see an old Victorian manor with a few acres of land stretched around it. Strangely it looked as though an assault course had been set up, complete with army netting and laid out tyres for combat drills. This Antonio must be a fitness freak, Arthur deduced as he felt the touch of a gentle breeze.
He missed this, he missed the country. The constant smell of grass and dirt. The quiet chatter of woodland animals and natural tranquility that the Forrest held. In some ways he felt more at home out here then he had ever back in his apartment. Maybe if Francis was willing, they could move into a cottage. Not too far away from a town, but close enough to make rounds. Arthur could go back to hunting and Francis could work in a restaurant. Arthur knew he was kidding himself, Francis adored the city life. The glamor, the riches. He would never truly willing move to the country.
Arthur sighed and was about to begin his descent when he heard a large amount of scuffling below along with some angry raised voices. What was that frog up to?. Climbing down his tree a little way, Arthur's thick brows raised in surprise at the scene below him.
Francis had company and not the friendly sort. Two man had Francis handcuffed on the Forrest floor while a third was talking attentively into his handheld radio. Remarkably the one speaking into his radio had short white hair and his irises were red
"Chill Bro. We've only discovered one intruder, though we have reason to believe that there may be a second. Don't worry about it, the awesome me will take care of them." The white haired one spoke with a cocky swagger in his voice.
Arthur narrowed his peridot eyes and planned his next move, this was going to be harder then he had thought. Non-lethally take out three men, rescue Francis and escape. Simple. Arthur rolled his sleeves up and tensed his legs in preparation to jump. God, he hadn't done this in a while. The last time he had done a leap of faith was when he had last hunted with his brothers. They had been tracking a white doe for weeks, legend had said it granted wishes. With that thought Arthur performed the leap of faith and like a eagle, soared and dove.
For a mere second it seemed time stood still as the wind tore through Arthur's hair and clothing as he watched Francis' attackers draw closer and closer. As he was nearing an arm lengths distance, Arthur raised his arms and turned his palms towards the men. As Arthur came crashing down, his palms hugged the men's faces and the momentum that Arthur carried as he fell was transferred onto the men. Crying in surprise, the men were roughly forced backwards off their feet and fell to the Forrest floor. Arthur had simultaneously taken out both men and was left with one final thunderstruck one.
The white haired man shook his head in amazement and disbelief, laughing slightly in awe.
"Dude before we start, let me just tell you that. That was nearly as awesome as me" the White haired one complimented as he raised his fists in challenge to Arthur. Arthur gritted his teeth in annoyance. This situation was not ideal, true he had reduced the attackers numbers. But Arthur could clearly see that his opponent was better built then he was. If it came to a fist fight, and it would, this White haired man could probably easily overpower him if Arthur slipped up. No, if Arthur wanted to win, he'd have to depend on his agility, quick reflexes and luck. Even then the odds looked doubtful.
"Why did you attack my friend?" Arthur asked loudly as he entered his fighting stance. Bouncing on the balls of his feet, his knees bent and his arms raised chest height. This stance accommodated to Arthur's lack of weight and strengthened his agility, if need be he could easily throw himself into a roll to dodge.
"Because pal, you are on private property. You are intruding on something you really don't want to get involved in" the White haired man replied grinning, obviously eager for a fight. "I'm Gilbert Beilschmidt by the way, thought you might want to know the name of the man who's about to whoop your ass"
Arthur was starting to ready pissed off by this 'Gilbert'. Steeling himself Arthur clenched his fists and looked Gilbert dead in the eye "Come at me"
Grinning the whole time, Gilbert ran forward and threw a right hook aimed at Arthur's chest. Arthur ducked and bounced backwards when Gilbert followed with a swift elbow strike. As Gilbert's strike overshot its target, leaving his right side unprotected. Arthur retaliated by ducking low and striking his heel against Gilbert's foot, causing Gilbert to grunt in pain as he was forced back. Instead continuing his combo, Arthur took a step back and waited until Gilbert left another opening.
Gilbert got near once again and feinted another right hook, to which Arthur prepared to dodge. However instead of punching, Gilbert threw his shoulder forward and tackled startled Arthur. Causing him to smack against a tree, Arthur gasped in pain. Not allowing Arthur time to recover nor breathe, Gilbert threw a heavy punch at Arthur's side. Arthur grimaced as Gilbert's fist caught his thin frame, forcing Arthur to be thrown left and fall to the dirty ground. Arthur hit the ground, the air being knocked from his lungs and forced himself to roll to evade Gilbert's stomp. Gilbert's foot landing where Arthur's chest had been seconds ago.
Arthur continued to roll and scrambled to his feet, clutching his bruised side as Gilbert stalked closer. Dammit, he wasn't going to win in a straight fist fight. Gilbert had strength and training over him, there was no way Arthur was going to beat him fairly. As much as Arthur reluctant to, he knew that it was the quickest way to end this fight. He was going to have to use magic. More specifically, wind magic. If he condensed the air in his palm into a spinning sphere that expanded on contract, then maybe it would knock back Gilbert for long enough to run with the frog.
Just like on The Fair Lady, Arthur called upon the magic in his blood. His magic stirred and Arthur imagined the invisible air currents surrounding him. Concentrating on the magic being directed to his hand, Arthur mentally envisioned the air currents being slowly drawn to his palm. A sudden wind blew past Gilbert towards Arthur, the eager wind rushing to Arthur's aid. Air currents spiralled and condensed together at high speed to form a small semitransparent sphere at the centre of Arthur's palm. As he continued to build his sphere, Arthur looked over to Gilbert who stared in half wonder, half fear. His hair being whipped and tossed by the chaotic wind, Gilbert raised his arm to shield his eyes.
"What are you?!" He yelled as loudly as he could over the howling wind as Arthur continued to build his wind sphere. Arthur barely catching Gilbert's words over the wind's roar, looked up and smiled. His sphere was ready, it wasn't too strong that it would kill him but it certainly wasn't weak either. He could make it stronger, but Arthur didn't want to be the end of this man's life. Gilbert was, just doing his job after all. Arthur sprinted towards Gilbert just as he had with Hyde, no warning. Arthur as though in slow motion, paused just as he stopped in front of Gilbert with the sphere raised.
"I'm Arthur Kirkland" Arthur whispered as he thrusted his palm against Gilbert's chest. The pressurised sphere compressed between Arthur's palm and Gilbert, exploded. The full force of a gale was released against Gilbert, making it feel for him like he had been hit by a high speeding train. The brutal force of the condensed gale threw Gilbert backwards into the air. Had Gilbert not crashed into a fur tree, he would of flown for a mile more. Gilbert smacked into the tree and fell at its wooden base unmoving. Arthur stared after him, slightly concerned. He knew that wouldn't be enough mortally injure him, he just would have a lot of bruises. And maybe a few damaged ribs.
Dismissing Gilbert, Arthur jogged over to Francis who was still unconscious and kneeled beside him. As he examined the lock to Francis' handcuffs, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. It was too late as Arthur heard the soft crunch of creeping footsteps behind him. In a split second Arthur turned and saw what looked like Alfred holding the butt of a rifle inches away from his head.
"Alfred?" Arthur whispered in confusion before he felt the rifle end slammed into the side of his temple, sending him over the edge into darkness.
Hee hee hee. So we have another fight scene, this time between Gilbert and Arthur. We have also met Matthew, though Arthur doesn't know it yet. So I want to talk about Arthur's fighting style a bit. While it might seem that he can't fight without resorting to magic, there's actually reasoning behind this. Arthur is not a brawler, he isn't a boxer and he's not notably strong. He is used to fighting with weapons such as the bow, knives and swords. He specialises in these weapons and if he's holding one then he is more then a match for any warrior. So when he's up against a fully trained (by Ludiwg mind) solider with superior strength, he's not going to win fair and square. He has to resort to his ace card. An ace card which arguably can take out a dozen Gilberts.
I would also like to talk about the concept of magic itself in this story. Whenever I write about Arthur's using magic, I imagine it to be a blend of Alchemy from Fullmetal alchemist and my own idea. Arthur and his brothers all used magic in a similar style, Allistor learnt it from his mentor and Seamus, Dylan and Arthur learnt it from Alisstor. In this world magic isn't limited to one said 'style'.
All sorcecers have their own unique methods of summoning, forming and moulding their magic. Some would use runes, some chants and magic words. I imagine the Kirklands to use a combination of all these styles, which I have dubbed 'free style'. Though Arthur's preferred method of magic combat is conjuring. Allistor was exceptionally excellent at magic so he was able to learn a lot of styles, so in turn the brothers learnt them as well. You can see why Allistor would be frustrated when he had achieved so much, to shunted aside by Arthur because of a natural born gift.
Wow this had been a long author's note, I just wanted explain some of the lore and concepts of this story. There'll probably be more notes like this giving more information about the characters and the world. As you may know, I enjoy including references in my work. There's quite an obivous game reference in this chapter, shouldn't be hard to spot ;)
Thank you for reading this chapter! I'd like to try something new, mostly the chapter posting schedule is random. However for every five reviews, I'll post a new chapter after the fifth! This way, you can have more chapters at a quicker rate while I'm inspired to write them by you reviewing!
Untill next time folks!