The Death of the Ash (Hetalia X Reader)

Day 1

(Y/n) peered through a small crack between her curtains as yet another bouquet of flowers were deposed at the base of her tree.  She sighed and moved away from the window, breathing in the warm steam wafting up from her coffee.

The sound of crunching metal still rung in her ears as she made her way back to her kitchen and dumped her coffee down the skin.  Maybe she didn't have a taste for it this morning after all.

"You're going to be late, dear." Her mother reminded her quietly from the kitchen table.

(Y/n) had woken up before her mother.  Her window was directly above the crash site while her mother's was on the other side of the house.  However, her mother had been the one to wedge herself into the mutilated car and stabilize the necks of the two boys who'd been caught up in the whole afair.

When the paramedics had arrived, her mother emerged from the car, her hands sticky with scarlet blood.

(Y/n) nodded and moved across the kitchen to drop a kiss on her mother's forehead before slinging her backpack over her shoulder and shuffling out the back door.  Usually, her mother would remind her to bring a coat due to the brisk autumnal weather, but not today.

Today, the long way to school didn't seem like such a bad thing. It would give (Y/n) the chance to avoid the grievers on her front lawn and make it so she was just on time for her first class of the day; hence the chance to opt out of the questions that would surely come in the hallways.

The dead leaves crunched under her shoes as she hurries through her backyard and ducks under a loose panel of the fence.  "They were in my school." She mutters to herself, referring to the boys in the crash.

Both of them were seniors.  Twins.  Both captains of important sports teams.  She just couldn't seem to remember their names.  Juniors and seniors didn't interact much.

She didn't even know which out of the two had died.

(Y/n) screwed up her face in attempt not to cry.  Guilt chewed at the walls of her stomach.  She didn't know the name of the boy who died in front of her.  "I'm sorry." She whispered into the cold air.

×××

"Nice of you to join us, Miss (L/n)." M. Kriese raised an eyebrow as (Y/n) inched along the edge of her classroom towards her desk.  "Care to inform us why you're late?

"Have you not seen the news, sir?" Paige Adams snaps from the back of the room.  (Y/n) winced. Sure, she loved her best friend... but at times Paige could be a little overbearing.   "Two seniors from our school died," She paused, perhaps for dramatic effect.  Dramatic.  That's what Paige was.  "In her front lawn."

M. Kriese was silent.  "Ah." He bent over his desk and shuffled papers around, awkwardly readjusting his tie.  "I see." He cleared his throat and gestured towards (Y/n)'s desk.  "Take your seat and let us get on with class."

(Y/n) sat down beside Paige and sighed.  "You didn't need to do that she whispered."

Paige twirled a strand of her curly blonde hair around her finger.  "It was nothing.   Anything for my bestie." She smiled.

(Y/n) looked away.  "That's not what I meant." She mumbled.

×××

"So, like, you called the ambulance?" An annoying Freshman asked.  She was talking too loudly and standing much to close for (Y/n)'s comfort.

"Look," (Y/n) slammed her locker door shut and glared at the girl.   "Just because you're in high school doesn't mean you're mature enough to understand everything that's going on.  Also, I don't really want to talk about it." She brushed past the younger girl.

Halfway down the hallway, a shrill cry makes (Y/n) falter.   "Stop oppressing me!" The Freshman whines.  "You won't give me the answers to my questions just because I'm Panromatntic Bisexual!"

(Y/n) frowns and turns back. "You're what?"

"That's my sexual orientation." The Freshman sneers.  "God, pay attention you stupid cishet person."

"I beg your pardon?" (Y/n) blinks.   She was confused as to what this girl was getting at.

"It's microagression and it's WRONG!" The Freshman puts her fists on her hips.

(Y/n) was about to respond when a hand pulled her shoulder back.  "Microagression my ass." Paige laughed.  "You'll find that in the real world, society will not conform to you. Sure, you're allowed to be whoever the hell you want but you're not allowed to villanise other people because they're part of the majority and haven't 'suffered' enough to be valid."

Paige pulled (Y/n) away and began walking towards the cafeteria for lunch. "Thanks."

"No problem." Paige chimes.  "I don't know what you identify as, but as long as you don't degrade me because I was born comfortable in my own skin," She raises an eyebrow at (Y/n). "We're good." She ends with a smile.

(Y/n )lined up behind her in the lunch line, balancing a tray in her hands. "Did you know some universities have safe places?" She scanned the menu.   "Anyone that has fallen victim to microagression can go there and talk about their problems.  However, straight, cis, white people aren't allowed to go because they never get discriminated against."

Paige laughed.   "You know what's just sad?" She pulled a cardboard bowl of mac and cheese off the counter and placed it on her tray.  (Y/n) does the same.  "That in nighteen fourty four, eighteen year olds were getting shot at, shelled and separated from their families to fight in a war that wasn't theirs and now, eighteen year olds need a safe place because words really do hurt."

"What has our society become?" The two girls pay for their meals and find a seat at their usual table.

"But on a grimmer note," Paige leans across the table and stares (Y/n) in the eyes.  "Do you know the names of those two guys?  I know that the media didn't release their names but I was hoping maybe you'd know."

(Y/n) looked down and prodded at her mac and cheese.   "No." She admitted.   "I had to stay away from the car in case it might explode.  That's what mum told me."

"Does your mum know their names?" Paige pressed.

"I don't know." (Y/n) shrugged.   "If you're so curious, why don't you ask the seniors? I'm sure they know."

"Seniors are scary." Paige lamented.   "I'm sure if we look on the school sports teams rosters we'd be able to figure ot out.  They were captains of the football and hockey team, right?"

(Y/n) nodded. "Right."