Family Ties [Part 84]
Sep. 17th, 2010 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hellzabethTitle: Family Ties
Characters (in this chapter): Wales, several surprises.
Rating: 12
Warnings: LIBERAL APPLICATION OF HEADCANON, WEIRDNESS IN GENERAL. I AM ABOUT TO LOSE HALF MY READERS.
Summary: Uh, I need to be banned from the kink meme or monsters like this happen? Essentially, Scotland leaves the UK, which gives Northern Ireland an excuse to up and out as well, which leaves England and Wales all alone. Oh yeah, and this somehow leads to World War Three.
... A field.
He was in a field, that was the first thing that he knew. He also knew instinctively that it was, at least in some part, his. But he didn’t recognise it. The hills weren’t in any shapes that struck a memory, and it wasn’t like he hadn’t been everywhere on his land. Didn’t have that much land to memorise either. The grass was tall and healthy, and nearly came up to his waist. He ran his bare hands over the tips, watching the wind play similarly over the hills. In the distance, a few rainclouds gathered ominously, though the wind was blowing the other way.
“Cymru?”
The blonde whipped round, eyes wide and staring up at a woman with long red hair pulled into various messy braids to keep it from matting and to discourage faeries from making knots in it in their mischief.
“Mother!”
His voice was high and childish, and the reason why the grass was waist high for him but only reached his mother’s knees became clear. He was a child again. Maybe six or seven. He was even wearing his old clothes, short brown trousers, a slightly scratchy wool shirt and a warm cloak. But he didn’t have time for that, tears were welling in his eyes and he dashed through the grass to his mother.
“Mother, mama! Where have you been, I lost you!” he sobbed into her skirts, and she knelt down to hold him and hush him and pet his hair. “I thought you were gone forever…”
“Shh, it’s fine, I’m here. I go off for a little while and look what happens to you! You’ve been a busy boy.” She chuckled, holding his small hands in her rough, well worked ones and standing. “Come on now, let’s go.”
Sniffling and feeling every bit like the child he was again, Cymru walked with his mother through the long grass, the peaceful wind floating past his ears. He couldn’t help the smile that came to his face. “Mama, where are we going?” he asked curiously.
“Somewhere nice. You’ll like it.” She smiled back at him. Oh, well, if mama said it would be nice, then it would be. Mama knew everything.
He heard a rumble, and turned to look behind him. The clouds in the distance were thundering, though the sky above them was blue. He stopped walking. Something about the rumbling sounded familiar. Mother stopped too, looking back at the clouds.
“What’s over there?” Cymru asked, and a thrill of fear ran through him. He was surprised to see his mother’s face pinch worriedly.
“Where the others are.” She responded, the concern evident in her voice. But she didn’t go back. Cymru tugged her hand back that way.
“Then let’s go get them!” he insisted. “That storm looks scary, and what if little Albion gets frightened? Eire hates storms when she’s not got someone to hold on to and Alba won’t let her hold him cause he wants to pretend he’s too tough for storms and-“
Mother shook her head, green eyes like all of her children’s mournful. “I can’t do that, Cymru. It’s not my place. And besides, Eire’s got someone to hold on to now, and Albion’s not frightened of rain or thunder after he’s been at sea for so long, and Alba has someone to tell him to stop pretending to be so tough.” A shake of the head. “They don’t need me. I can’t go to them.”
Cymru pulled his hand from his mother’s hold. “But they need me. Albion and Alba will get into fights and Albion will take it out on Eire for stupid reasons, and who’ll pull Alba out of ditches when he’s fallen into them?”
“Not Albion or Eire.” Mother conceded, looking mildly amused at the thought. “Ah, my children still need a peace keeper.” She smiled a little. “So, do you want to go back for them?”
Wales didn’t even consider it. “Yes.”
She smiled. “Then go. You have my blessings.”
Nodding, Wales ran forward to give his mother one last, desperate hug, before running towards the rumbling clouds. His mother watched him go, folding her arms and shaking her head. A rustling in the grass next to her alerted the red head to another.
“Kids, huh?”
“Tell me about it, aru.”
-----
Wales found running towards the clouds a lot harder than he thought. After a point it felt like he was running through water, and then through glue, but he pushed all his effort into it, struggling on, swearing under his breath when the grass shortened and became dry, the ground with pitfalls hidden by leaves. His head hurt, and the further he went the more he could remember, silly little things of no importance to him currently. He had to get to the others, urgently. Upon falling into one for the fifth time, he smacked the ground in frustration. He wasn’t getting anywhere.
“Hey, what’d the ground ever do to you?” snarked a voice, one that Wales recognised from somewhere. “Well, aside from tripping you up, I mean.”
The look of bewildered confusion on Wales’ face when he looked up must have been hilarious, because Prussia burst into laughter.
“Prussia? What the…?” Wales spat dirt out of his mouth, sitting up on his knees. The albino nation was dressed unusually, all white and black when usually he preferred a brighter arrangement of colours. He tried to reign his laughter in.
“No, seriously, you’ve got like this dirt print on your face and it’s-“ and again with the laughter. Wales’ eye twitched irritably. He didn’t have time for this. He had somewhere to be, even if he didn’t know how to get there. Getting to his feet, he walked past Prussia, who grabbed him by the hood of his cloak.
“Woah, hey, where do you think you’re going, kid?”
“Don’t call me a kid, I’m older than you.” Wales grumbled, irritated by his child’s body for the first time. Though, looking at himself, he seemed older than he had been when he was with mother. Still not back to adulthood though. “Let me go, I’ve got to get back.”
Prussia scoffed. “Hah, and you know the way, right?”
“And you do?” the blonde snapped, infinite patience thinning.
“Duh.”
The two of them stared at each other for a little while, Prussia grinning cockily and Wales trying not to pout, as this little body was prone to. Snatching his hood out of the momentarily taller Nation’s grip, Wales frowned up at him.
“What’re you even doing here? You’re not dead.”
Prussia hissed a laugh. “Well, it’s funny you should say that, because I sorta technically am.” A shrug. “But, yeah, it’s not like I can die for real when I’m so awesome, so God let me hang about on this one condition.”
Wales stared disbelievingly at him. “And that was…?”
“Gotta keep little shits like you in line so you’re there for when you’re needed.” He explained. “Coz, well, you’ve still got a people, and yet you’re technically dead since most of your people are, uh, gone, and there’s not much anyone can do about that until the paperwork’s sorted out and there’s the right cycle of moons or some shit I don’t care about. Whatever, that’s not part of my job.”
That made a weird, distorted, Prussia-esque sort of sense. “What about my people now?” the blonde asked, concerned.
“You ask a lot of questions, kid. But that’s what I’m here for I guess.” Prussia folded his arms. “You’ll either have another representative step in, or they’ll float free for a bit.” He jerked his thumb back to where the last edges of blue sky showed. “Where you just came from, you made the decision to go or come back, right? With someone you knew?” Seeing Wales nod, he continued. “If you’d decided to go, then your people would have been absorbed into England’s or something. They’d lose their nationality as Welsh people. So way to go at determining the future. And don’t ask me about which way round that shit works, whether it’s the people influencing our actions or us influencing them, because last time Greece ended up here it was a bitch to get him back and nearly caused an economic crisis.”
Wales closed his mouth, and looked around instead. The wind was blowing a gale rather than the gentle breeze it had been in the other place. He pulled his cloak tighter around him. “Alright, where’s this place then?”
Red eyes looked around. “Sorta limbo for Nations. Ish. It’s not purgatory because you’re not being punished for shit or anything, kinda like a waiting room instead.”
Thunder rumbled above. “Is there anywhere in this limbo place that doesn’t look so ominous?”
The Germanic Nation chuckled. “Sure, come on, you can meet the others.”
“Others?”
"Yeah, you're not the first, stupid." he rolled his eyes like this was obvious. Personally this whole revelation was blowing Wales' mind out the back of his head. So they weren't really dead, only they were, only they weren't. Dead or not, he still had a headache. Prussia jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, and the smaller Nation suddenly noticed a door that he swore hadn't been there before. It was simple and unmarked, seemed like a door you'd find anywhere. Granted it was standing in the middle of a field with no visible walls holding up the door frame, but it was a very normal door. "Go through there. First door on the right. Do not go through the other doors, got it? I will noogie you so hard the next three generations of your people will have bald spots."
"Alright alright, geez!" Wales resisted the urge to pout again, but settled for folding his arms and walking sulkily past the albino. He paused with his hand on the door knob. "Wait, aren't you coming?"
Prussia shrugged one shoulder. "I still have another one to pick up."
"Oh." said the blonde, about to turn the handle when it clicked. "Wait wait wait, who else is dead?!" he shouted, wheeling round and grabbing Prussia's sleeve. "You can't just say stuff like that and not tell me! That's my family!"
Prussia lifted his arm, but Wales clung tightly, and ended up suspended a foot off the ground with his legs kicking in the air. Was Prussia this strong? Or was he just so weakened now?
"Alright you little rugrat, alright!" red eyes glared at green. "If you have to know, it's your littlest, okay? England and Scotland are alright, Ireland's not really doing that hot but she ain't dead, but the youngest didn't have much Nation status to cling to anyway since he rejoined his sis-"
"Is he dead?" A horrible, cold feeling settled in Wales' stomach. "He can't be dead!"
The taller Nation finally shook him off his arm. "Would you give me a second? Geez. No he's not dead, dumbass, I wouldn't go pick him up if he was dead dead. Waste my fucking time when I have brats like you and the others to look after."
A tiny, relieved smile dawned on Wales' face. Prussia watched him calm down with raised eyebrows and an irritated set to his mouth. "Done? Good. Now get your scrawny ass through that door and keep an eye on the others while I sort this shit out, kay?"
"Fine." Wales replied, turning on his heel to go.
"Remember, don't go through the other doors!" Prussia called after him as he opened the door. "You'll feel the need to, I know, but don't do that shit, got it?"
The young boy looked behind him. "I think you're mistaking me for one of my idiot brothers." he said, and closed the door behind him.
Notes:
- Has this story suddenly got weird? Why yes, yes it has. Feel free to abandon ship.
- I swim in headcanon. It does wonders for my complexion.
Part 85
Characters (in this chapter): Wales, several surprises.
Rating: 12
Warnings: LIBERAL APPLICATION OF HEADCANON, WEIRDNESS IN GENERAL. I AM ABOUT TO LOSE HALF MY READERS.
Summary: Uh, I need to be banned from the kink meme or monsters like this happen? Essentially, Scotland leaves the UK, which gives Northern Ireland an excuse to up and out as well, which leaves England and Wales all alone. Oh yeah, and this somehow leads to World War Three.
... A field.
He was in a field, that was the first thing that he knew. He also knew instinctively that it was, at least in some part, his. But he didn’t recognise it. The hills weren’t in any shapes that struck a memory, and it wasn’t like he hadn’t been everywhere on his land. Didn’t have that much land to memorise either. The grass was tall and healthy, and nearly came up to his waist. He ran his bare hands over the tips, watching the wind play similarly over the hills. In the distance, a few rainclouds gathered ominously, though the wind was blowing the other way.
“Cymru?”
The blonde whipped round, eyes wide and staring up at a woman with long red hair pulled into various messy braids to keep it from matting and to discourage faeries from making knots in it in their mischief.
“Mother!”
His voice was high and childish, and the reason why the grass was waist high for him but only reached his mother’s knees became clear. He was a child again. Maybe six or seven. He was even wearing his old clothes, short brown trousers, a slightly scratchy wool shirt and a warm cloak. But he didn’t have time for that, tears were welling in his eyes and he dashed through the grass to his mother.
“Mother, mama! Where have you been, I lost you!” he sobbed into her skirts, and she knelt down to hold him and hush him and pet his hair. “I thought you were gone forever…”
“Shh, it’s fine, I’m here. I go off for a little while and look what happens to you! You’ve been a busy boy.” She chuckled, holding his small hands in her rough, well worked ones and standing. “Come on now, let’s go.”
Sniffling and feeling every bit like the child he was again, Cymru walked with his mother through the long grass, the peaceful wind floating past his ears. He couldn’t help the smile that came to his face. “Mama, where are we going?” he asked curiously.
“Somewhere nice. You’ll like it.” She smiled back at him. Oh, well, if mama said it would be nice, then it would be. Mama knew everything.
He heard a rumble, and turned to look behind him. The clouds in the distance were thundering, though the sky above them was blue. He stopped walking. Something about the rumbling sounded familiar. Mother stopped too, looking back at the clouds.
“What’s over there?” Cymru asked, and a thrill of fear ran through him. He was surprised to see his mother’s face pinch worriedly.
“Where the others are.” She responded, the concern evident in her voice. But she didn’t go back. Cymru tugged her hand back that way.
“Then let’s go get them!” he insisted. “That storm looks scary, and what if little Albion gets frightened? Eire hates storms when she’s not got someone to hold on to and Alba won’t let her hold him cause he wants to pretend he’s too tough for storms and-“
Mother shook her head, green eyes like all of her children’s mournful. “I can’t do that, Cymru. It’s not my place. And besides, Eire’s got someone to hold on to now, and Albion’s not frightened of rain or thunder after he’s been at sea for so long, and Alba has someone to tell him to stop pretending to be so tough.” A shake of the head. “They don’t need me. I can’t go to them.”
Cymru pulled his hand from his mother’s hold. “But they need me. Albion and Alba will get into fights and Albion will take it out on Eire for stupid reasons, and who’ll pull Alba out of ditches when he’s fallen into them?”
“Not Albion or Eire.” Mother conceded, looking mildly amused at the thought. “Ah, my children still need a peace keeper.” She smiled a little. “So, do you want to go back for them?”
Wales didn’t even consider it. “Yes.”
She smiled. “Then go. You have my blessings.”
Nodding, Wales ran forward to give his mother one last, desperate hug, before running towards the rumbling clouds. His mother watched him go, folding her arms and shaking her head. A rustling in the grass next to her alerted the red head to another.
“Kids, huh?”
“Tell me about it, aru.”
-----
Wales found running towards the clouds a lot harder than he thought. After a point it felt like he was running through water, and then through glue, but he pushed all his effort into it, struggling on, swearing under his breath when the grass shortened and became dry, the ground with pitfalls hidden by leaves. His head hurt, and the further he went the more he could remember, silly little things of no importance to him currently. He had to get to the others, urgently. Upon falling into one for the fifth time, he smacked the ground in frustration. He wasn’t getting anywhere.
“Hey, what’d the ground ever do to you?” snarked a voice, one that Wales recognised from somewhere. “Well, aside from tripping you up, I mean.”
The look of bewildered confusion on Wales’ face when he looked up must have been hilarious, because Prussia burst into laughter.
“Prussia? What the…?” Wales spat dirt out of his mouth, sitting up on his knees. The albino nation was dressed unusually, all white and black when usually he preferred a brighter arrangement of colours. He tried to reign his laughter in.
“No, seriously, you’ve got like this dirt print on your face and it’s-“ and again with the laughter. Wales’ eye twitched irritably. He didn’t have time for this. He had somewhere to be, even if he didn’t know how to get there. Getting to his feet, he walked past Prussia, who grabbed him by the hood of his cloak.
“Woah, hey, where do you think you’re going, kid?”
“Don’t call me a kid, I’m older than you.” Wales grumbled, irritated by his child’s body for the first time. Though, looking at himself, he seemed older than he had been when he was with mother. Still not back to adulthood though. “Let me go, I’ve got to get back.”
Prussia scoffed. “Hah, and you know the way, right?”
“And you do?” the blonde snapped, infinite patience thinning.
“Duh.”
The two of them stared at each other for a little while, Prussia grinning cockily and Wales trying not to pout, as this little body was prone to. Snatching his hood out of the momentarily taller Nation’s grip, Wales frowned up at him.
“What’re you even doing here? You’re not dead.”
Prussia hissed a laugh. “Well, it’s funny you should say that, because I sorta technically am.” A shrug. “But, yeah, it’s not like I can die for real when I’m so awesome, so God let me hang about on this one condition.”
Wales stared disbelievingly at him. “And that was…?”
“Gotta keep little shits like you in line so you’re there for when you’re needed.” He explained. “Coz, well, you’ve still got a people, and yet you’re technically dead since most of your people are, uh, gone, and there’s not much anyone can do about that until the paperwork’s sorted out and there’s the right cycle of moons or some shit I don’t care about. Whatever, that’s not part of my job.”
That made a weird, distorted, Prussia-esque sort of sense. “What about my people now?” the blonde asked, concerned.
“You ask a lot of questions, kid. But that’s what I’m here for I guess.” Prussia folded his arms. “You’ll either have another representative step in, or they’ll float free for a bit.” He jerked his thumb back to where the last edges of blue sky showed. “Where you just came from, you made the decision to go or come back, right? With someone you knew?” Seeing Wales nod, he continued. “If you’d decided to go, then your people would have been absorbed into England’s or something. They’d lose their nationality as Welsh people. So way to go at determining the future. And don’t ask me about which way round that shit works, whether it’s the people influencing our actions or us influencing them, because last time Greece ended up here it was a bitch to get him back and nearly caused an economic crisis.”
Wales closed his mouth, and looked around instead. The wind was blowing a gale rather than the gentle breeze it had been in the other place. He pulled his cloak tighter around him. “Alright, where’s this place then?”
Red eyes looked around. “Sorta limbo for Nations. Ish. It’s not purgatory because you’re not being punished for shit or anything, kinda like a waiting room instead.”
Thunder rumbled above. “Is there anywhere in this limbo place that doesn’t look so ominous?”
The Germanic Nation chuckled. “Sure, come on, you can meet the others.”
“Others?”
"Yeah, you're not the first, stupid." he rolled his eyes like this was obvious. Personally this whole revelation was blowing Wales' mind out the back of his head. So they weren't really dead, only they were, only they weren't. Dead or not, he still had a headache. Prussia jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, and the smaller Nation suddenly noticed a door that he swore hadn't been there before. It was simple and unmarked, seemed like a door you'd find anywhere. Granted it was standing in the middle of a field with no visible walls holding up the door frame, but it was a very normal door. "Go through there. First door on the right. Do not go through the other doors, got it? I will noogie you so hard the next three generations of your people will have bald spots."
"Alright alright, geez!" Wales resisted the urge to pout again, but settled for folding his arms and walking sulkily past the albino. He paused with his hand on the door knob. "Wait, aren't you coming?"
Prussia shrugged one shoulder. "I still have another one to pick up."
"Oh." said the blonde, about to turn the handle when it clicked. "Wait wait wait, who else is dead?!" he shouted, wheeling round and grabbing Prussia's sleeve. "You can't just say stuff like that and not tell me! That's my family!"
Prussia lifted his arm, but Wales clung tightly, and ended up suspended a foot off the ground with his legs kicking in the air. Was Prussia this strong? Or was he just so weakened now?
"Alright you little rugrat, alright!" red eyes glared at green. "If you have to know, it's your littlest, okay? England and Scotland are alright, Ireland's not really doing that hot but she ain't dead, but the youngest didn't have much Nation status to cling to anyway since he rejoined his sis-"
"Is he dead?" A horrible, cold feeling settled in Wales' stomach. "He can't be dead!"
The taller Nation finally shook him off his arm. "Would you give me a second? Geez. No he's not dead, dumbass, I wouldn't go pick him up if he was dead dead. Waste my fucking time when I have brats like you and the others to look after."
A tiny, relieved smile dawned on Wales' face. Prussia watched him calm down with raised eyebrows and an irritated set to his mouth. "Done? Good. Now get your scrawny ass through that door and keep an eye on the others while I sort this shit out, kay?"
"Fine." Wales replied, turning on his heel to go.
"Remember, don't go through the other doors!" Prussia called after him as he opened the door. "You'll feel the need to, I know, but don't do that shit, got it?"
The young boy looked behind him. "I think you're mistaking me for one of my idiot brothers." he said, and closed the door behind him.
Notes:
- Has this story suddenly got weird? Why yes, yes it has. Feel free to abandon ship.
- I swim in headcanon. It does wonders for my complexion.
Part 85
