hellzabeth | Family Ties [Part 96]

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Family Ties [Part 96]

Title: Family Ties

Characters (in this chapter): Dora, England, Scotland, France, Ireland, America, Wales, Prussia

Rating: 12

Warnings: Drama! Action! Lateness!

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.

Dora stared blankly at them all, leaning back in the chair she'd sat down in. England vividly remembered buying that chair eighty years ago, to replace the one that had been destroyed in the last war. The poor thing was certainly showing a lot of wear and tear, and the way she was gripping the armrests of it wasn't going to help. The Birmingham lady opened her mouth to say something, and then seemed to think better of it. The Nations in the room waited for her answer.

"Right." she finally said, voice oddly calm. She pointed at the man in front of her. "You're England."

Arthur nodded.

Her finger moved around the room. "Scotland and France."

Scotland, sitting in his own chair, shrugged one shoulder, while France offered a smile. Dora looked to Ireland, and sighed.

"And you're Ireland?" The red head didn't respond beyond a flickering glance in Dora's direction. The woman gave a confused look to Sarah. "And you're..."

"The Diaspora Jews." Sarah said cheerfully, blatantly ignoring the atmosphere in the room. "The ones that never went home to Israel, my son. I've been around a while."

"I see." she folded her arms, sighing through her nose. "Either the radiation's sent you all doo-lally, or you're telling me the truth. And to be honest, I'm finding it quite hard not to trust Arthur. Thought it was just because you were a nice bloke before."

Scotland snorted. France smirked.

"And your brother, Darren..." she frowned deeply. "Was Wales."

"Yes." Arthur said stiffly, not looking directly at her. "We also lost Northern Ireland, the youngest." Quietly, Ireland flinched, fists clenching.

"Right..." Dora trailed off into deep thought for a long time, and England was about to speak up, when she spoke again. "And he's dead, is he?"

The comment was very blunt, and the siblings recoiled a little, shocked. "Yes, that would be correct." France answered for them, seeming a little irritated at how forward she was. A little sensitivity to the situation wouldn't go amiss here, he thought. Dora, however, was busy humming to herself, staring between Diaspora and England.

"Are you sure?"

Jaws dropped open. "O-of course we're fuckin' sure!" Scotland was the first to recover, nearly getting out of his seat before losing balance and having to sit back down. "When a Nation dies their body disappears! If they don't have a country to support their existence they vanish!"

"Then why's she here?" Dora pointed over at Diaspora, who seemed quite surprised at being brought into this.

"I..." she began, before trailing off thoughtfully. "I've always had my people. I was homeless, but not dead." She grimaced at a memory. "I had to live in other Nations' houses... but that's a long, nasty story for another time."

Dora looked around the room, seeming annoyed that nobody was understanding what she was getting at. "Well, I don't think he's dead then. S'long as there are people who call themselves Welsh. Cardiff weren't in the Splash Zone either."

England looked like he didn't dare believe a word of it. "But... but the water... the irradiated rain."

"Rain?" Dora suddenly burst out laughing. "They're Welsh! You're worried about them having problems with the rain?" England and Scotland shared a look as the nurse chuckled at them. "You listen here you lot, I have 214 patients in this place, and I can guarantee that at least 30 of them are Welsh, born and raised."

The siblings gaped openly at her.

"Then... then... North..." Ireland stuttered, voice still slightly raspy. Her eyes were wide with hope. Before she could continue, however, she was drowned out by a sudden ruckus outside. The roar of jet engines made them all wince and look out the window. They were shocked to find a harrier landing vertically on a clear patch of the garden, the engines barely winding down before the cockpit opened, and out jumped a man in US uniform.

"America?!" England exclaimed, disbelieving. "What on earth is he doing here?" The youngest of the siblings hobbled out of the room, somehow managing to run on crutches, dodging curious nurses until he reached the front door. "Alfred!" He called to the boy as he dodged through tents. The younger Nation stopped stock still, eyes going wide, before running forwards, up the stairs, and enclosing England in a tight hug. It hurt quite a bit, with his injuries, and England let out a loud yelp of pain, making America let go and jump back.

"Iggy..." he looked like he was about to cry. "You're okay..."

"I'm slightly less okay now you've smacked my injuries." England huffed, but didn't manage to be angry for long. "You're okay too, I see. That's good." he allowed himself a smile. The taller blonde immediately burst into tears at the sight. "Well gee, I thought my smile only made babies cry." The Brit said dryly. America wiped at his eyes and hiccuped a laugh.

"Thank god, you're normal. I thought I was going crazy..." he breathed. England frowned.

"Alfred, I think we need to talk-"

America's louder voice cut over him. "I mean, Quebec goes and betrays me and things are blowing up and Spain showed up and made me hand Mexico over - he wasn't even in this damn war before, seriously - and I was hallucinating something awful or someone was pulling some kind of horrible prank..." he laughed sheepishly. Unnoticed, the rest of the group came to stand just behind England in the doorway. "I mean, for a minute I actually believed that Canada had come back from the dead!"

England's breath froze in his lungs. "... what did you just say?"

"I know, crazy right? The whole world's gone crazy except for you and me. I mean, the not-Canada even stopped me from shooting Russia! Who would stop the hero shooting the bad guy?" America would have continued laughing, but someone was grabbing the front of his shirt. France shook him, wide eyed.

"Did you just say Canada was alive?" the Frenchman nearly shouted, looking like he didn't dare believe him. The expression was wiped from his face as America pushed him off with such force that he fell to the ground.

"Don't touch me with your filthy NWO hands, fucking Russian-sucking bastard." America snarled, his character pulling a 180 and shocking the rest of the group. His face was murderous. "You're lucky I don't put you down like the dog you are."

"America!" England said, shocked. Alfred's expression instantly morphed back to that of the boy they thought they knew.

"England, you're on my side right?" He grasped England's uninjured hand. "You're always my back up, right?"

England was shaking his head in disbelief. "Alfred, what's happened to you?" he uttered. "You're turning into... you're acting like an Empire would!" He closed his eyes for a moment. "No... no, you're acting like a superpower." He nodded, mostly to himself. "America, you have to stop this."

The blonde reeled back, lost for words momentarily. "Iggy..."

"Please, end the war. Look at me, Alfred." he held out his other hand, the burned one with skin peeling in places, and indicated his scarred face. "Look around you." He gestured at the tents, where injured people had stuck their heads out to see what the commotion was. At best, they were burned, at worst, they looked like walking skeletons. "We can't take much more of this. It has to stop."

America looked lost. "But... but Russia..."

"Is also hurt. We've taken over the capital, he has nothing left. He played his last card and still didn't win the game." He grasped the boy's hand. "Please. You know I don't often beg, but for the sake of my family, Alfred. For your own sake, stop."

Blue eyes stared, uncomprehending. "I..."

---

"No, see, it's kinda like that chart with the two circles that overlap." Prussia tried to explain to Wales, turning his fingers in the air, while searching for the word.

"A ven-diagram?" Wales offered. Prussia snapped his fingers, grinning.

"That's the one! Yeah, imagine our world, this reality, is one circle, and the other world, that limbo place, is the other one. And the overlapping bit is my house!" He nodded, satisfied with his explanation. "And that's why you can't just take him and go yet. He's still getting his shit together from the other realm, and this is the only place where he can do that properly. If you took him outside now, he'd just die again."

Wales didn't like the sound of that. What he also didn't like the sound of was a fully grown Northern Ireland while he remained so small. "And I can't leave for the same reason?"

"Eh, less like that. His situation's different." the albino shrugged. "You'll know when you have to go, and you'll find your way on your own. Not my business after that."

"Do you know if I'll get older?"

"I dunno. Probably? Not like this happens all that often. I haven't had this job that long you know, hasn't been so many wars this big during that time." He scratched the back of his head. "I'm just going on what they told me, and lemme tell ya, they never tell me enough. Stupid ineffable bastards..."

"So, when will we be ready, do you think?"

Prussia looked annoyed. "I keep telling you I don't know! Sheesh kid. I'm a gate keeper not Jesus. Besides which this overlapping space exists in a weird sort of time flux, especially for you guys. Sometimes things just happen."

---

"I..." Alfred said again. "I... don't..."

---

Wales felt a wave go through him, like he'd received a static shock, but not unpleasant. He sat up straight in his seat, blinking his momentarily whited out vision back at him. He felt light and full of energy, like he could run a hundred miles and not get tired.

"Hm?" Gilbert blinked red eyes at him. "What's up?"

"I have to go." Wales said with absolute certainty.

The albino's mouth hung open. "Wait, right now? That was fast."

The smaller Nation stood abruptly from the table. "Look after North until I come back, okay?" And with that, he started running, straight through a door that hadn't been there before.

Prussia leaned back in his chair, looking annoyed. "Okay, bye! Geez, what a hassle."

Part 97

Notes:
- Okay. So after I used to update every other day, I went three months without touching this story. To be honest, I stumbled on some critique on another site that was actually pretty harsh, and being the kind of person I am, I let it get to me far too easily, and briefly lost my drive to write this wonderful radioactive trainwreck. But I don't want to leave it unfinished. I want to get this done. This is far from my magnum opus, or my best work, but I'm proud of coming this far when so many others haven't. I'm going to finish what I started. Wish me luck.
- Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and have a good Winter Solstice, everyone (Or Summer Solstice if you're in the Southern Hemisphere). <3

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, ;___; well, I really like this story! so i'd really like to you to continue :D

Merry Xmas to you too~!! I had a Summer Solstice~ 8D

;u; I'm glad at least you guys like it. I'm doing this for you. <3

\o/ Happy Summer Solstice, then!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you too! I love this story - whatever was said in that critique, it's just someone's opinion at the end of the day. (I know a little how you feel, a 1 minute animation I worked on for 3 months was ripped apart by a stranger on a web blog I couldn't answer back to and it's still there for everyone to see and read! I felt very hurt and angry.) I hope the opinions of those who love your story and give you positive feedback shine through and help you complete this awesome fan-fic!

(It's always worse if you can't answer back to defend yourself, isn't it?) I'll do my best to remind myself that haters gonna hate; I really want to finish this thing or I'll regret it forever!

even though I don't celebrate Christmas

I saw this update

and hyperventilated

hhnnngh

Aaalllfreeeeedd, why do I feel sorry for you I'm not supposed to feel sorry for you you bastard but I do and you're like a lost child ;___; Mama Iggy make it betterrrrr

And Wales! So nice to have you back, your siblings need someone sane already <3

Critiques will always be there, and the more popular the work, the more people want to point out its flaws. Even though the critique's really harsh, at the end of the day there are still the fans who love this story and your writing.

I'm really glad you got over it, though, because this story is like, my drug (I think I had withdrawal pains when you stopped writing it D8)

Merry Christmas and have an awesome New Year! (Hopefully, by that time this mess will all be sorted out)

It's kind of like receiving a gift for a holiday you don't celebrate. XD

Mwahahaha your conflicted feelings feed my author-y soul. <3 Mama Iggy make it better ;u;

They need someone keeping them in line before they tear each other apart.

Thanks you guys ;u; You're really sweet. I don't know why I let it get to me, but I take my characterisation quite seriously and when someone says I've gone OOC I don't know how to fix it...

<3

And I was convinced that this fic committed a silent suicide after no updates for several weeks, which made my life more depressing than it already is; as a fellow writer who has had her share of such criticism, I should have given that site a piece of my mind had I known it would affect you that way but then I saw that you didn't want that? ><

Anyways, I'm glad to see you back and hope that Christmas and the new year will bring new hope and inspiration for you; haters gonna hate, but for every hater there will be one who will love what you do. I hope that you will find encouragement to keep doing what we love by looking at this growing list of comments as well as comments from previous posts; Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all the best to you ^^

(Ffff I used to be such a lurker while reading your fics and here I am writing long comments XD)

The mental image of this monster dying baffles me slightly. It'll just come back and haunt me if I let it waste away... a-ahah, please don't go tear into people on my hehalf, I only mentioned it because I felt I needed to explain myself. It's my own fault for letting it get to me.

I've been looking at "haters gonna hate" stuff ever since and it made me feel better XD <3 thanks for your support, if it weren't for you guys I would have given up ages ago.

I hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

It continues! Yay! This is honestly one of the greatest Christmas surprises I could dream of! Really!

Poor Alfred has got a loooot of explaining to do once England and the lot find out what was going down. Totally not going to help his heroic BSOD. x)

I'm glad you're continuing, Pidge. With something like this, something which has been a part of you for so long, it's easy to understand why a critique could really harsh your feelings. But remember this for the future, since there will be critiques in the future: Focus on what was said. As in, look at what areas they wish could be improved. Don't look at how it was said. If it had a few valid points, yank something for yourself out of it. If they were simply saying it was a horrible story, then they didn't really say anything of value and can be summarily ignored. Either way, you win in the long run. :)

Also, are you gonna provide us with a link to said criticism?

Forgot to add: You have every right to be proud! <3

L-lol really? I'm glad it made you happy! Merry Christmas!

Heroic... BSOD. Hm, maybe scratch the first half, by this point /shot

It's been over a year. I've put blood, sweat and tears into this thing. And yes, it's not perfect, but... blunt criticism is hard to take, you know? I've been trying to take into account what they said, but when they called some of the characters OOC all I could do was go back and read through and go "... but where? How? I don't understand..." If they mean France and how he's become a little more fragile in this fic, I wish I could tell them that's just meant to be character development... that's how a story works.

I won't link, it's silly anyway. Barely anything was said at all but it still got to me.

*does happy dance at update*

Dora is amazing. Seriously. I want to take her home and like, give her tea or something.XD That sounds a little creepy now that I think of it

As far as the criticism goes, I agree with what Taudrey said. And hey, at least you're gonna finish the story, that's more than a lot of writers.:D

What was the crit? Was it that fandomsecrets thing you were talking about a while ago?o.O

Dora is so much fun. I want to write the whole thing from her perspective, how she ended up in the Kirkland house and all that... it'd be fun.

Thanks you guys. <3 Your encouragement is why I keep going in the first place.

I think it was that, plus the stuff on the other site I found. It was a rec list, and someone had ret-conned their original opinion...

IT'S BACK I mean Wales has to go

he has to go

=3=

Nice to see crazy dude again.

By the way, the Lj cuts you're using for the Hetalia main comm don't work and send me to a Frank the Goat ate this post page. D:

Go Wales go! Run like the wind!

Crazy dude? By which you mean America? XD

Ah, are they not? That always happens to me somehow...

Yus, I mean America. And nope, they aren't working. D:

!!!! FINALLY! I'VE BEEN WAITING SO LOOONG. Goddamnit you, spoling us with frequent updates and then just leaving us hanging for months!

Aaaaaa, finally someone Alfred might actually LISTEN to. Dx ... I'd like to abuse him more but damn he's such a kicked puppy. And YAY Wales is gonna be back! \o/ I know he doesn't appreciate this but I kinda hope he's gonna stay tiny. x)

What else? Uhm... I think I forgot already. Oh yeah, yay for Dora and her determined attitude even in the face of stuff that she only just found out about.

And fdskjhkljhdfg noooo not good don't let a little criticism put you down. DD: Damnit. Well, at least you still continued, and that's the main thing. You'll definitely finish, and you'll do it gloriously, I know it. Besides, it's more important to keep writing than to be perfect; once you're done, you can always fix the problems afterwards. And this is wonderful as it is already so it wouldn't even need that much fixing. What did they say anyway? How the hell is this story OOC?

And yeah, Merry Christmas etc. x)

I'M GLAD YOU'RE HAPPY!! Hehehe I confused you didn't I?

Ah, but will he listen? Does he want to listen? That is the question. Wales would like you to know that he resents that remark and would like to be tall enough to play rugby again please.

Dora is like indestructable by this stage. B| at everything.

Hhehe, like I said, I took it to heart way too easily. I shouldn't have listened to the hate so quickly. They didn't say how it was OOC, which is mainly what put me off, because I kept going back to try and find where I'd gone wrong. I didn't feel I could continue if I'd bastardised the characters so much...

Merry Christmas <3

...

*raises hand*

Woman... how exactly does your brain work...? "It's Christmas everyone, let's go! WORLD WAR THREE TIME WERHAY!"

....

>_>;

I love you XD

But Nena.

Doesn't everyone want a nuclear disaster for Christmas?

I don't know about nuclear disaster, unless it's in someone's vital regions because fuck girl you need to get to grips with the Monstrosity. And you know what I'm talking about.

Fuagck....!

o/////////////////o

I don't know if I've ever really commented about this fic, but I thought I'd let you know how creepily weird it was that I was just thinking about Family Ties the day before you posted this part (I even have an earlier part mem'd so I can drop by and check every now and then---the LJ links in the main comm posts tend to be borked with extra quotes or something so the link becomes url-for-the-comm-entry"actual-url-for-the-story").

So close to the end, with maybe Iggy putting his little boy's head straight. How much do I adore Prussia, Wales and wee!Canada? There is no unit of measurement that can adequately express my love for all the characters or this fic.

I don't know how long you've been kicking around the internet or swimming in fandoms, but something many people learn sooner or later is that OOC and IC for a lot of people just don't agree. The problem of personal perceptions and all.

I've had folks yell at me for OOC in clearly crack fics that explicitly warned for OOC behavior or just because their headcanon does not agree with the source material I based my characterizations on. People are weird, un-asked for criticism is rarely helpful, and I hope you're feeling up to finishing this lovely fic.

We've come so far on this journey and it'd be a pity if we had to organize a RL pilgrimage just to get you in a headlock and make you update more often ;)

I think you have commented before, in which case welcome back! I am clearly psychic~ woo~ I'll have to go fix the link in a sec, thanks for telling me!

I know! England needs to give America a clip around the ear before anything else happens. >>;; Prussia and Wales' relationship is a hilarious one mostly full of insults. I love it too. <3

I've been kicking around the internet some 7 years now but this was my first (published) fanfic, believe it or not. And somehow it became a massive thing completely beyond my comprehension, but yeah, I've tried to take critique as well as I can. I'm always open to suggestions and I can't catch every mistake I make.

For OOC comments, I think the problem may be character development. This war has changed some countries, France in particular. He was forced to look after Scotland and depended on him when he was surrounded by enemies, and hence became a lot more attached, unlike he is in canon.

... eeeeep not the headlocks! I'll be good miss, I promise! ;A;

OMG thank you so much for that!!! it's like a christmas present!!! \o/
(and don't let criticism get you down! you can't please everyone! and you're not a professional writter, but you're still doing very good job, i think!)
And thank you so much for not giving up on this fic!! *hug*

I intended it to be one and then I got distracted and posted it just after Christmas had gone by ^^;;

(Thank you very much! This is the first story I really wrote on here... I'm quite proud of it!)

*hugs back*

i love this story~~ so keep going please luv~~~ *insert adorable puppydog look here* and Merry Christmas to you too!~ <3

Lol okay just... keep your head on. *stares at Alfred in icon and is shot for bad puns*

but my mind it was just so blown away from this update ...*facepalm* fff i like bad pun xDD

YOU'RE WRITING IT AGAIN! /delurks

Oh god I was so happy to see this updated you have no idea! Best late Christmas gift EVAR!

...I'll... just stop being creepy now, sorry. Just so glad to see you writing this again and WALES IS COMING BACK FUCK YEAH!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE AN UPDATE /also delurks

This just made my week, ngl. I'm so glad to see Wales going back, and I'm still waiting on the edge of my seat to see Northern Ireland again. Any little mention of him just gets my hopes up a bit. o3o

/disappears back into lurker!mode

So happy to see you're updating this again~! A wonderful belated Christmas gift. :D

I hope you finish, and I'll be following this to the end. Probably be lurking more often then not... I should comment more. -_-;

Happy holidays~

gurhhhh. i read your 96 chapters in one sitting. what else can i say.
merry christmas to you too<3 lol

WALES IS BAAACK! FUCK YEAH!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Family Ties [Part 96]

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Best Christmas gift ever

<3

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Is this my Christmas present, Pidge?:P

Lol if you want it to be <3

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