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, Thunderbird!Alfred

Drabble 3 (I think?)

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

Alfred was scared.

It'd taken Matthew a bit to pick up on it, but suddenly it made all the previous conversations related to The Incident a lot clearer. Whatever his brother was hiding, he was scared of sharing it.

But why? What could be so frightening that it scared the same person who fought off a wendigo without fear? He really didn't want to contemplate the answer. With this thought in mind, he resolved to drop the subject, perhaps for good, the next time he saw his brother.

However, it seemed his brother had other things in mind.

"Swear you won't say a word to anyone."

"Alfred, what are you-"

"Mattie, please."

"Alright, I swear. What's going on-"

"Follow me and don't say anything. I promised I'd explain, and I'm going to, but it's easier to show than explain."

Matthew nodded, wide eyed, as his brother grabbed his wrist and started pulling him along, barely keeping his strength below the point that would actually hurt, but certainly not light enough to keep Matthew from wincing. They moved through the old mansion, following a twisting path that Alfred obviously knew well but had the Canadian brother completely lost.

They came to a sudden stop before an almost innocuous wall that looked no different from any of the others in the halls they'd gone through. Alfred pressed at a certain point, causing the wall to rotate and show a hidden pathway, and pulled Matthew through, shutting the wall behind them and leaving them with only the dimmest light to go by. The southern twin seemed unphased by it, instead continuing along as only one who'd long ago memorized the way could.

They soon emerged into a larger room, which if the faint breeze was anything to go by was connected to the outside somehow - probably another hidden entrance, knowing Alfred.

The only object in the room wasn't visible at first, being half-hidden in the shadows; it took Alfred dropping his wrist to go straight to it that even allowed him to pick out the vague shape of a bird on the wall before the American brother had pulled it down, turning to Matthew and gesturing for him to follow again.

Rubbing at his wrists, he stayed close to Alfred while they made their way through another short tunnel, the breeze growing stronger as they went. Matthew apologized out of habit when he bumped into his brother, only to realize that they'd come to the end; Alfred didn't seem to notice, setting whatever was in his arms down on the small table next to them before pushing at the wall and causing it to swing out into a small clearing in the woods.

The feathery object in his brother's arms was easier to study now, although Matthew had little time for that before it was gathered back up, Alfred walking out into the clearing and forcing the northern brother to follow before the door shut on him.

When he saw his brother unfold the object, he opened his mouth to ask what was going on, but closed it after remembering his promise. He didn't like the fact that his brother hadn't said a word since then, but there obviously was a reason, right?

It was strange, though, the casualness with which Alfred threw the feathery cloak over his shoulders, along with how easily they seemed to settle on him. Matthew glimpsed, briefly, an apologetic smile on his twin's face before he turned away, pulling the lifelike head of the cloak over his own and…

Well, Matthew couldn't really describe what happened next. One second it was his brother under the cloak, and the next it… wasn't. It moved wrong, and Matthew took a step back before realizing Alfred wouldn't deliberately put him in danger.

...hopefully...

It turned to him, larger than any bird had a right to be, and oh was he reminded of the Incident again, because whatever this was was far older than he could comprehend-

It stepped forward, head lowered to his height and tilted in a questioning manner, and only now could he actually look into its eyes, such a familiar shade of blue that he hadn't realized he'd spoken until it moved back, feathers ruffling as if it was trying to seem… smaller? No, it was getting smaller, and suddenly it wasn't it anymore, but Alfred.

"Mattie…"

Matthew, to his credit, was trying to understand, but this was something outside his comfort zone. People couldn't just- turn into giant birds, and even if they could, it wouldn't be Alfred of all people doing so - he was the most vocal about his disbelief in magic of anyone he'd met.

Hands came to rest on his shoulders, startling him out of his circular train of thought and forcing him to actually look at his brother. There was a swirl of emotions playing through Alfred's eyes, the greatest of which was a plea for acceptance, of understanding-

Matthew swallowed. "What… what was that?"

A sigh. "It's a part of me I didn't want to show anyone. I- it's who I was, who I am." One of his hands lifted to rub at his face. "Ugh, I knew I should have explained first, but I had no idea what to say or if you would even believe me-"

"Why didn't you say something before now?"

"And what was I supposed to say? 'Oh Mattie, by the way, I'm the reborn spirit of the ancient thunderbird spirit that the natives worshipped a lot time ago.' Yo would have thought I was nuts."

"I-" Matthew found he couldn't argue, as it still sounded crazy, even with what he'd just seen. "Why keep it secret for so long, though?"

"Besides the whole sounding crazy thing? I just… I didn't even know until after the Civil War, and I was just so happy to know that I wasn't crazy for dreaming about flying my whole life that I didn't even think to tell at first, and then, well… I just didn't want to. I didn't want someone to think I was crazy, or worse, believe me and try to take it away from me to use for themselves."

Any of Matthew's arguments were lost when Alfred locked eyes with him again, showcasing the same fear as before - that Matthew would in fact do just that.

What scared Matthew most was that a part of him wanted to run and tell the others, a part of him that was still the little colony who clang tight to the coattails of Arthur for fear of being left behind again. He closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and stepped forward to hug his brother tightly.

There was a hesitant pause before the hug was returned, Alfred's face pressed into his shoulders. Matthew was close enough now to smell the light waft of ozone and earth and other things he couldn't name. Whatever came next, one thing was clear-

Alfred was Alfred, face or form be damned.

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

AN: ...yeah, I just like this AU too much to let it die, ahahah.