World Academy Experience (Hetalia x Reader)

ch13: Treasures of the Snow I

"Hana?!"

I glared at the (h/c)-haired girl's sudden outburst. Does she really not know how to hold her tongue? Usually, I try not to get into disagreements or fights of any sort. Back is Switzerland, my friends used to say I was too neutral for my own good. But hey, it's not my fault that I'd prefer to remain impassive to everyone.

Except that (Name) (Surname). She aggravates me.

It's not herself in particular, no. I don't judge people based on their looks or personality or whatever. It's their actions. I know that, in a different timeline, her and I could have gotten along. I respect that fire that seems to ignite in her eyes when she talks to me. I can respect anyone who stands up for what they believe in.

But she crossed a line with Lili.

She thinks she knows what's going on, but she doesn't. She has no earthly idea what Lili and I are like, as brother and sister, and that's another reason why she irks me so much. She's so blind to it, she doesn't even know what she doesn't know.

She could never know what it was like for us. She doesn't know that when I was seven, I was sent off to an orphanage in the Swiss Alps to fend for myself because my parents didn't want me. She doesn't know that when I was eleven and Lili was eight, I found her in Lichtenstein starving and alone, huddled up in a street corner. She doesn't know that Lili and I started out with nothing and I had to work, even though I was too young, to get enough money to buy ourselves a small house. She doesn't know how poor we were, how poor we are, and that I haven't stopped working since then because I know that I need to care for my little sister. She doesn't know that I had to skip a year of school because it was a difficult winter for us, and we needed wood for our fire and food in the pantry. She doesn't know that the first day after Lili cut her hair so it could be more like mine, she came home crying because a passerby thought she was a boy. She doesn't know that I used what little money I had saved up to buy her a hair ribbon so she never had to feel that shame and embarrassment again.

She doesn't know that I have nightmares every night about what could happen to her. That every night, I see Lili get kidnapped or tortured or killed and the only thing I can do is stand by and watch. She doesn't know that I haven't been able to sleep a peaceful night for four years because of it. She doesn't know that without Lili, I would have nothing.

Without realizing it, in my anger, my fist had clenched up and I had wrinkled and ripped a couple pages in my book. I try my best to smooth it out. Treasures of the Snow had always been my favorite story. I can remember staying up late at night to sneak a few extra pages of it when I still lived at the orphanage. I have at least three copies. I still have the one from the orphanage, a tattered hardback cover with yellowed and mouse-nibbled pages, but I still love it nonetheless. Right now, it's sitting in the bottom of my suitcase, folded up carefully with some of my spare shirts. I couldn't leave it at home. It means too much to me.

In an effort to comfort myself about the beginning of school, I had started rereading it for the 28th time (yes, I've kept track.) Its words always seem to bring a sort of calm to me. I've read it so many times, I can nearly recite it word-for-word.

'"Have you got Klaus in your pocket?" said Dani, opening his eyes suddenly.

'"I'm fetching her now," replied his father and, holding onto the rope, slid to the edge of the precipice again and picked up the white kitten. Dani held out his arms and Klaus nestled down against his heart, purring like a little steam engine. And Annette, for the first time in all that nightmare evening, burst into tears.'

Dani had always kind of reminded me of Lili, minus the spoiled little boy part of it. But Dani was kind and sweet and cared about people, just like Lili.