North American Hurricane (Hetalia)

Author: Ashynarr

Summary: In the same vein as Bunnies For Your Amusement, I now bring you my collection of oneshots and short stories featuring the North American twins, America and Canada! Now including non-LJ drabbles.

Disclaimer: Hetalia's not mine.

Warning: Random Shit, Bros Being Bros, Fantasy!AU, Dragon!Al, Healer!Matt, friendship

((Part the first of what may or may not someday become more.))

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thu- SNAP!

Alfred flinched, thinking for a second that the sound was that obsessive knight having finally tracked him down to finish him off despite the fact that he'd left the other bleeding out on the ground. Yes, he'd heard of the dragon attack on a village near his caverns, but he'd dismissed it as rumor since he hadn't seen or heard any other dragons in the area for quite a while. But apparently the king had thought otherwise, sending a knight to deal with the 'monster' -

- thus why he was now limping through the forest, his right wing badly mangled and right side in general covered with bleeding wounds from that knight's blade.

Alfred could tell he was on his last legs; he was already feeling lightheaded from bloodloss as it was and all this movement wasn't helping. But he had to put distance between himself and any humans or else...

He imagined his head on a pike on display, his scales skinned off him for armor and jewelry, and his horns carved into that damned king's wine goblets. The dragon shook his head to clear away the thoughts and pressed on into the darkening woods.

~0~0~

Matthew, aged a mere 19 years, was for the most part grateful for his life. He'd been raised up by his mother and father, the oldest of three siblings in their small home. From a young age he'd taken after his father, practicing the healing arts and learning how all the various herbs and plants that grew around them worked together to alleviate numerous symptoms that people from the nearby villages had. Even when their mother died when he was six to an accident, his father still made sure all of his children were well cared for.

But Matthew could tell the extra work strained him; the bags under his eyes and the sometimes too-cheerful expression he wore to reassure the younger two were the most obvious to him. So when he reached of age at seventeen and officially finished his training, he set off with a tearful goodbye to act as healer for a group of villages about two week's travel away on foot.

He'd quickly settled in, making himself known to the locals while keeping to himself in the cottage in the woods. It was close enough that people could get to him easily, but far enough so he could enjoy the peace and quiet. He was a rather shy person – although any of his patients could easily admit to his stubborn streak when he told them off for going against his orders – and generally preferred being on his own.

...it tended to get lonely, though.

Needless to say, he was surprised when he stumbled across a dragon while on his usual herb hunting rounds. He'd expected an attack at first, until he realized the beast was actually unconscious, looking very much like he'd just... collapsed there.

Strange – dragons were mountain creatures, and this place was far from the closest of them.

Matthew quietly stepped around, keeping an eye on its head just in case it woke up, until he came to the other side and sucked in breath. The wing itself looked horribly damaged, and the wounds across the other's flank were coated with dried blood. Without thinking his healer's training kicked in, stepping forward to examine the wounds.

Had it gotten these in a fight with another dragon? No, the cuts were too clean, and didn't come in the – he checked one of the dragon's front feet – set of four he'd expect from that. A gentle hand ran just over one of the larger cuts, idly noting that the dragon was still alive if the shallow rise and fall of its chest meant anything. No, this was a blade wound. Possibly from a knight or vigilante?

There was movement to his side. Matthew glanced over to see the dragon lifting its head to stare at him, eyes blinking slowly. It seemed startled to see him, but that failed to last long, shifting over to rage as it screeched at him. Without thinking he ran, ducking the swing of its tail and not stopping to look back until he was in the clearing around his house.

Breath heaving, he shut his eyes, trying to slow the rapid heartbeats against his chest. That had been too close – he should have known better that to linger around a known man-killer while it was still alive.

He glanced back. In his panic, he'd flung his bag away from himself. The herbs in that bag were a day's worth of scavenging, and he really didn't want to have to do it again... not to mention he didn't have another bag, and he really didn't feel like having to explain how he'd lost the last one...

Matthew bit his lip. He could probably dart in quickly and grab the bag before the dragon noticed him, or if he were lucky the beast would be well away from the area and he wouldn't have to worry about it.

...yeah, sure.

Carefully retracing his flight through the underbrush, he came back to the clearing to see that the dragon was, unfortunately, still there. It hadn't noticed him yet, which gave him a chance to spy the bag just a few feet into the clearing. He glanced back to the dragon just in time to see it shakily get to its feet, only to collapse again. Several of the wounds had apparently reopened, and even though it was a beast Matthew could clearly see it was in pain.

...No! He only came back for his bag! It didn't matter if he was starting to feel sorry for the dragon! It was a threat to people as long as it was alive! It would be better if it... if it...

Matthew looked back at it again, its chest heaving as it struggled just to get up.

...damn it.

~0~0~

Alfred felt himself wavering again, and only stopped his collapse through sheer willpower. He knew he couldn't get too far in his condition, but he didn't want to wait around for that human to come back with others to finish him off.

Finally, after much too long, he had what could vaguely be called balance, even though all his muscles were screaming at him. Carefully he took a step forward, taking a moment to keep his body from swaying. He could do this – he'd made it this far, hadn't he?

There was noise in the underbrush. Shit, he'd wasted too much time! Since he couldn't run, it looked like he'd have to fight... his body twinged. Okay, maybe he'd have to bluff it.

But instead of the group of humans, the one from before appeared alone, stepping out slowly and keeping his eyes on him. Eyes narrowed, Alfred issued a warning growl, wondering what he wanted. Maybe he'd realized Alfred was in no condition to fight and decided to finish him off himself?

But there was no blade in the hands held out before the human, just a bag Alfred hadn't noticed until then over his shoulder. Still, it was better to be cautious. He growled again when the other stepped towards him, halting his progress again.

"Look, I'm not going to hurt you, alright? I'm a healer. I just want to put some medicine on those wounds and then I'll go..."

'Yeah right,' Alfred snorted, wondering why the human thought he would buy that story. Human healers didn't help dragons, they helped other humans.

The 'healer' steeped forward again, and Alfred stepped back, mustering the most menacing growl-hiss he could. He'd scared plenty of others off with it before -

"Stop that!" The human snapped at him, making him stop and blink in surprise. "I am trying to help you, and you trying to be all menacing and moving around isn't helping you or your wounds! Just- stop being stubborn and let me help!"

Still trying to process the fact that the healer hadn't reacted as expected, he stayed still and allowed him to approach, watching distrustfully as the human ruffled through his bag, pulling out a cloth, a smaller bag, and a sealed container.

Putting the latter to the side, the healer opened the smaller bag and poured what seemed to be water onto the cloth, letting it soak in before sealing the bag and putting it to the side. He then proceeded to carefully work over the wounds with the cloth, apparently cleaning them out. Alfred whined a bit, not enjoying the sting but a bit nervous to make the other snap at him again.

Once the cleaning was done – and man that was a lot of dried blood – the healer tossed the cloth to the side and grabbed the container, opening it and allowing the scent of herbs to assail his nose. If he thought the sting from the cloth had been bad, the one from the substance being applied was much worse. He growled quietly to voice his displeasure, matching the look sent his way with one of his own.

"Baby," He heard the human mutter, and Alfred bared his teeth lightly. However, the human was done, stepping back and allowing the dragon to curl himself into a slightly more defensive position.

"I'm going to leave now, but I'll be back tomorrow to check those again. If I find you trying to move too much I won't hesitate to smack you, even if you are a dragon, because right now you're my patient, got it?" The human gave him a firm look, one that Alfred responded to blankly. Come back? Was he crazy? And threatening him, no less.

...he had to admit though, he was interesting. Most humans either ran from him or tried to kill him. One that tried to boss him around was... different.

Maybe he'd stay a bit. Just until he was strong enough to leave.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

AN: …shut up, I want Dragon Alfred, and I want AmeCan friendship fluff. YOU WILL NOT DENY ME THIS!

But yeah, I got this idea. Basically Dragon!Al is injured, and Healer!Matt nurses him back to health.

Issues: Al can't speak human, and both are nervous about trusting each other at first.

There are some misunderstandings along the way, and there will be setbacks. Eventually they come to learn about each other and form a lasting friendship.

More backstory for both in future installments. For now, enjoy.

[And yes, I'll get back to my main stuff soon. I've just been busy getting ready for school to start up again. Man time flies!]