Fate's Strings (2p! Hetalia x Reader)

Chapter Seventeen

"Oh my..." Oliver glanced back at everyone. "I think we all have a lot to discuss."

I sighed, trying to push aside my fear. "Yes, I think you're right."

"Well..." it was clear Oliver wasn't sure exactly what to do. "The three of you need to come inside, I suppose."

My eyes locked with Luciano's as Viktor took a step forward into the house. My grip on Zao's arm tightened. I could feel myself begin the tremble, but used all the energy I had to stop it. I couldn't let them see how scared I was...

"What...what are you three doing here...?" Gilen's face was pale as he rushed up to me.

"Did you know where she was the entire time?!" Luciano exclaimed, and even though I couldn't see him, I could hear the anger in his voice.

"Fratello, stop! Think about what I've said to you!" Flavio yelled.

With that, the two Italians began yelling at each other. After hearing some of their conversation, Allen and Matt started yelling at them as well. I was rather shocked. They must have been yelling at each other like this before we had rung the doorbell. I glanced around to see that Oliver was trying to keep the peace between the argument. Gilen looked overwhelmed, however, the rest of them looked like they thought this was stupid and didn't want to be here. I glanced up at Zao last.

"You sure you don't want to run off while they're yelling...?" he leaned down to whisper in my ear.

It was tempting. It would probably be much easier if we just snuck out. That would mean avoiding a rather messy conversation. But I came here for a reason. If I left, everyone would just hunt me down. Wouldn't it be better to just settle this now?

I shook my head in response before whispering back. "Running won't solve anything..."

Well, here goes nothing....

I took a deep breath before yelling, shocking everyone into listening to me. "That's enough, all of you! Whatever you're fighting about, yelling at each other like this isn't going to solve anything!"

"Poppet..." Oliver muttered, just as unsure of what to say as everyone else.

"I don't know why you all are arguing," I continued to speak. "But I didn't come here to be a part of some argument. I came here to see Oliver and the others."

I could tell Luciano was still angry, but he kept quiet, as did the rest of his group. Allen suddenly walked right up to me. His face was oddly serious, so I had no idea what he was thinking. Before I could say anything, I was pulled into a crushing hug.

"Allen?!"

"Where the hell have you been all this time...?" he muttered. "Don't you know how worried we all were?"

"That's...a rather long story," I admitted.

"How about we all come and sit in the living room so we can have a civil discussion?" Oliver suggested.

Nobody protested. We all just followed his lead. I sat down on one of the couches between Viktor and Zao. There weren't enough seats for everyone, so some were left standing. But for the most part, it seemed like everyone was a bit calmer. It was rather intimidating to have them all staring at me, though.

"As for what happened...where should I begin?" I sighed, trying to sort out my thoughts.

"What happened that night you disappeared?" Matt offered.

"That's probably the best thing to start off with," I agreed. "Seeing you and Allen covered in blood and hearing you talking about torture, I couldn't help but be scared. It made me remember...some of the memories I had forgotten. When I realized you were all second players, I freaked out. I thought you might want to kill me for finding out you were torturing that man, so I ran away."