Washed Up On the Shore (Hetalia Fanfic)

Chapter 17~*~

Chapter 17

"Well, that was fun," Alfred stated as he, his brother, and Arthur and Melina climbed into the green pickup. The sun was low in the sky, nearing twilight. Arthur casually held Cashmere in one hand and Melina hugged the length of images she and Matthew had bought from a photo booth they'd used together.

The first was her getting really close to the camera, nearly blocking out Matthew's face as she raised an eyebrow. In the second she was rubbing her eyes with both fists while Matthew chuckled hysterically. The flash had blinded her because she was too close. Third, they both flashed a peace sign each and grinned with their eyes closed. And the last one was fairly formal, they both just smiled and had an arm around each other.

'I'll treasure it always' Melina vowed as she whispered a spell of protection over it so she could take them everywhere and they would stay looking like new.

Arthur saw her perform the spell on her pictures and thought it would be a smart idea to do the same to Cashmere, so he did. The car started to smell like the magic, which to Alfred and Matthew smelled like the ocean with hints of jasmine and vanilla (A/N: vanilla is Melina, and jasmine is Arthur, btw. Remember, Melina's magic smelled when her friends were looking for her?)

"Why'm I smelling the sea?" Alfred asked no one in particular.

"Sorry, that's just us," Arthur replied.

"Did you /fart/, Artie?"

Melina burst out laughing until it dwindled into little giggles. "Magic smells different for all merpeople. Silly!"

"Ah, of course. Shame on me for not realizing that sooner," Al replied jokingly, making both in the backseat smile.

And while this went on, the other five in this large party drove just behind them in Kiku's car.

"Hey, Ludwig, Kiku? Where do you know are good places to live?" Felyks asked.

"To live? Well, there are many good places to live. Let me think... This is Oregon, maybe if you wanted warmer water then you could move to California. It's much warmer there, and more like the Caribbean than here. You would probably like it there," Kiku replied as he gripped the wheel. "Why do you ask?"

"Toris and I decided to stay instead of going back to Finel!" Felyks announced, much to their human companions' astonishment.

"Really? That's wonderful!" Kiku said, smiling softly. The string tied to Felyks' pinky finger /did/ connect to Toris', after all. "You're going to live among humans, then?"

"Isn't that a bit dangerous, though?" Ludwig asked.

"Y-Yeah, but we can protect ourselves," Toris responded.

"Perhaps we can all help you get settled, then," Kiku offered. "I'm sure Alfred knows of a few good places for you two to live."

"Really?" Felyks said happily. "That is, like, so totally incredible of you guys!"

Feli couldn't quite follow the conversation, but the facial expressions and tones were enough to tell him that good things were taking place. He asked them telepathically what was happening and the two filled him in excitedly. Looks like they would be living together on land instead of going back to Finel.

'Feli~' someone called through telepathy.

'Yes, Melina?' he answered with a smile.

'Felyks just told me what he and Toris are going to do. Are you going back to Finel?'

'I... I don't know, bella. I might, I still have Grandpa and Lovino back there. I couldn't just leave them.'

'Yeah... I really like Matthew, but I don't think he feels the same, though. But I'm afraid to go back...'