Once Upon A Time | A Hetalia x Reader

Chapter 31: Is This Real?

The rain will soon come with unfortunate downfall.

From afar, I was able to see Alfred and Ivan tensely discussing about certain matters. Commander upon slave. Isn't that such an intense moment?

I couldn't possibly bring myself to avoid the recent moment. Only few people survived. I was one of them.

Before I looked away, I spotted Alfred looking towards me.

And when I tried to speak to Arthur, I couldn't find any words. Everything just came jumbled up, and I ended up sighing in defeat. He reassured me with encouraging words to "stay strong" and that "things just happen the way you don't want to at times".

I took his advice, or so I had thought it was. Alfred soon sat nearby, staring upon the fire before us. His eyes were still dull with no emotion, no feeling of anything positive.

"Mother must be disgusted." Alfred whispered ever so softly.

"You had to do what you thought was right," Arthur whispered back with fatigue. "to protect (Name). You swore against your name for that, didn't you?"

"Mother must be disgusted," Alfred whispered again, looking up against the darkened skies, seeing the dull stars faintly shining. Another day of hard work. Another day of people dying. Another day of suffering under miserable and fake happiness.

I was nearly raped by one of the guards at camp.

Arthur fell sick and can barely even move.

Alfred is depressed with seemingly no hope.

How can things go downhill so fast? What happened to the fun and joy? I'd rather revert back to the days when everything was dead serious, not this...this horrible path I've gone into.

Death. Tainted innocence.

Angst. Depression.

War. Racism. Possible sexism. Ageism.

"I want to get out of here before I even go insane," Alfred growled through gritted teeth.

Suddenly, the all-too familiar trio came up to us with spare canteens and edible leftovers. They passed it around, sparing it evenly upon the refugees. I gave Arthur half of what I had so he could heal more quickly, and I ate what I had left. It's better to share than to be selfish, no?

"Sharing is caring!" said a young voice.

"Well I don't care, so I won't share." replied a voice who held a more feminine tone.

I blinked away the faded memoir and took another bite.

"Again, I'm so sorry for doing this." said Toris, his guilt obvious due to the expressions he held on his features.

"Hey now," I whispered. "Negative thoughts will only hurt your health. You don't need to linger upon the past. That was 2 days ago."

"I...still. If only I wasn't afraid of boss, I...I wouldn't bring you here. And your friends - they wouldn't be like how they are now."

By then I shook my head. "Really. The past is in its sorrowful past, and it's more important to be ready for the upcoming future. There is no need to worry about us. We can take care of ourselves."

Toris looked pale, I'm not sure from what emotion, but he looked like he was about to say something. He did, but he seemed reluctant to speak out any more details. "You're so kind. I wish I could help you escape, and continue a life when you never gone through here....I'm sorry."