Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

BelSwiss: All are Punished

Bella looked behind her, scanning the environment for traces of her brothers. With any luck, they hadn't noticed that she'd slipped away, at least not for a while longer. She was at the edge of town, and there was no sign of either of her brothers in sight. She smiled and proceeded to walk along the path, before veering right, into the field.

In the shadows of the trees, she spotted a black horse. But it was the figure on top of the horse that made her run closer, the bag she carried slapping against her hip. When she was close enough, she smiled at the young man on the horse, and he smiled in return.

"Ready to go?" Vash asked.

Bella nodded, and he helped her onto the horse. The two of them went off to another nearby field, one where their families wouldn't come looking for them. Their families both owned stores in their small town, and as a result, there was a rivalry that devolved into a feud. Bella had never seen her parents as angry as they were when she asked to marry Vash. And Vash's family wasn't accommodating either.

But their families couldn't take this day away from them. Bella's bag contained food for a nice picnic, and they were planning to spend the entire day together. Somehow, they would show their families that they couldn't keep them apart, and that they would be together no matter what.

"It's a beautiful day," Bella remarked.

"Yeah," Vash said. "Perfect for a picnic."

They found the perfect place to set up their picnic, and they didn't hesitate. Vash had brought a blanket, and the two sat together with the horse secured to a nearby tree.

Unfortunately, within the next hour, the weather had decided to betray them. The day grew darker as clouds gathered, and the wind made it difficult to keep everything together. But it was only at the first rumble of thunder that the two of them decided to admit defeat.

"Let's get back before it gets bad," Vash suggested.

By the time they had packed all their things and mounted the horse, the rain had started to fall, and the thunder was louder. Much too loud, and the lightning was far too bright and too close.

"Are we going to make it?" Bella asked.

"We have to," Vash said.

Vash urged the horse along as best he could, but they were still a fair distance away from the town. Bella flinched when lightning cracked not too far from them. The echo rang in her ears for a few seconds. She looked over Vash's shoulder, and she sighed in relief when the town came into view.

And then, there was intense pain, a white flash, and a deafening echo. A single second lasted the rest of Bella's life.

…

Lili looked up when someone knocked on the door. It was early in the morning, and she couldn't think of anyone that would come that early. Her father apparently agreed, for he grumbled on his way to the door. Lili flinched when he let out a very ugly word when he opened the door.

"What the hell are you doing here, Koopman?" her father demanded.

"Is Bella here?" Mr Koopman asked. He sounded scared. "She didn't come back yesterday. I thought she might be with your son."

"Well, she's not here." Mr Zwingli's voice softened. "But Vash isn't here either. He didn't come back for dinner last night."

Lili and her mother wandered closer to listen to the conversation of the two men. She could see Mr Koopman, and she had never seen someone look so vulnerable.

"Do you think they would have eloped?" Mrs Zwingli asked. "Since we wouldn't give them our blessing?"

"Wait," Lili said, before she ran to her brother's room. She knew where he kept all his savings. If they had indeed run away together and eloped, the money would be gone. She returned soon afterwards. "His savings are still in their usual place. He wouldn't leave without his money."

"True," Mr Zwingli said. He turned to Mr Koopman. "Let's go look for them. I'm worried after that thunderstorm we had yesterday."

…

Lars and Henri were on horseback, looking in the nearby fields. Their parents were looking in the town, but it was possible that the two of them had gone out of town. They had asked a few of the other townspeople to help them look. With any luck, they had found an abandoned barn or something to shelter from the storm.

Their horses suddenly started to grow restless, and after calming them, Lars scanned the area, looking for any sign of what had disturbed them. It didn't take too long. There was a black circle, and Lars urged his horse closer. The circle turned out to be burnt grass, but it was what was in the centre of the circle that bothered him. There was the corpse of a horse, and accompanying the horse were two charred figures of humans.

"No," Lars whispered.

The figures were badly burnt, but it was still possible to see that they both had blond hair, and one of them had a green headband, just like Bella.

"What is… Oh," Henri said as he came closer. "Oh, no."

Lars knew that his sister had wanted to be with Vash Zwingli. He didn't think that this was what she had in mind. But if they didn't need to feel as though they needed to meet in secret, then they might have still been alive.

Henri broke down crying, and Lars's eyes stung. They would have to tell their parents, along with the Zwinglis, that Bella and Vash were dead. And Lars made sure that he would inform them about the reason why they ended up being killed in the first place.

The other day, I caught a bit on TV about the South African town Clarens. The part I caught was at a tiny cemetery, and this one guy talked about two of the graves. Apparently, in the 1930s, there was a pair of lovers, but they couldn't be together since their families were feuding. They then went out together on a horse, towards the nearby fields, but while they were out, a thunderstorm rolled in, and they were struck by lightning. There's apparently a poem about it, but it's most likely in Afrikaans, and a bit hard to find.

Anyway, the town Clarens in South Africa was named after the Swiss town, so I chose Switzerland for this. And I chose Belgium because I figured chocolate rivalry might be a good basis for a family feud between two shopkeepers in a small town. The title is a reference to Romeo and Juliet, said at the end.

And Koopman is a Dutch surname roughly meaning 'merchant'. I think it fits with Netherlands.