Promises Hurt 【An Hetalia fanfic】

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A plan of action

Matthew looked in from the hallway. A small crack between the door and the frame let him see Natalya holding his hand and brushing his hair from his sweating forehead. As much as he wanted to be in there to comfort his brother, he needed answers. Whatever Arthur had sensed with his dopey magic had to be explained right now. But he couldn't bring himself to leave just yet, Matthew had to make sure his brother was okay before he left.

"Mattieu lets go," Francis placed his hand on Matthew's shoulder. "Angleterre is going to begin soon."

"I'm coming," He answers and looks back to Alfred once more before closing the door and following Francis to the second-floor balcony. It was the only place in the large house that would guarantee them quiet, the older states and provinces would do everything they could to keep the little ones from interrupting them--although Alaska wouldn't leave Ivan's side so she was an exception. 

The balcony wasn't big, not small either, but it was enough for them to sit comfortably. The view overlooked the vegetable garden and playground. Children, teens, and young adults carried on doing their chores and jobs around the house, instructed by Natalya, Matthew, and Romano. On one side of the balcony was a three-person swing seat, Mexico got the side closest to the rail, Veneciano sat in the middle with Romano next to him. Across the way, on the other side, was Ivan and Ludwig in their own chairs, little Ivanna sitting on Ivan's lap quietly listening to the discussion. 

In the love-seat on the left side of the door sat Kiku and Yao, Yao stared into the distance trying to remember if anything like this happened in the many millennia that he's lived. On the right of the door was a couch that Arthur, Francis, and Toris sat. Matthew leaned against one on the support beams by the railing, he knew that he couldn't sit down. His mind had been racing since the morning when they found Alfred. He couldn't just sit. "Arthur, what did you mean when you said that Alfred was under some sort of spell?"

"Right, well, it's a bit hard to explain," Arthur cleared his throat and looked around the room. "In a nutshell, magic has evolved and adapted over the centuries, okay? It hasn't stayed the same for more than a decade, and as someone who has studied and performed magic for almost a millennia, what I saw on Alfred was something that I had never seen before in real life, only in books."

He began to move his fingers more fluidly in gestures no one understood but just as quickly as he began multicolored fog danced between his fingers, shining slightly in the sun. "But I'm not the only one who can wield magic, Lukas has been performing magic far longer than I have. So shortly after we helped Alfred I called him and asked him what he spell he thought was on him, but even he couldn't figure it out."

"So, what are you saying?" Romano asked. "Can you help him? Can we help him?"

"I'm saying that someone older than almost everyone here is the reason Alfred has this curse on him," Arthur says. "An ancient placed him in this dark magic and I don't know why."

"An ancient, aru?" Yao looked up. The only ancients he knew that could wield magic, or those he thinks could wield magic, was Britannia and Scandinavia. Maybe Native America, but he didn't know her too well to judge. 

"Yes." Arthur looked at him with certainty. "The spell is older than Lukas or I know about, it's completely different magic than anything I've seen, but, with enough time, I could try and figure out who could've done this."

"How much time?" Matthew asks. 

"By myself alone," Arthur thinks for a moment. "Almost a whole year. But if Lukas and Vladimir were here, I'd say two or three months. It's hard and a very delicate process. "

"That'll take too long!" 

"Well, I'm sorry magic is a bit more complicated than you thought! Magic doesn't work like cough medicine, it takes time." 

Ludwig looked to the brit. "Is there anyway ve can speed it up vith Lukas and Vladimir here?" 

"I don't know, Lukas might know something on how to quicken the search, Vladimir and I could go through every counterspell the three of us know," Arthur looked around the room. "But even then, the chances that one of our modern spells might reverse his effects, just slightly, are slim."

The room was quiet for a moment. Everyone thinking of ways they could help the young nation, but drawing blanks. This was a specialty that none knew of, yet it was their only hope. Nothing else could've done this too him. Alfred was stronger, both mentally and physically, than most of the nations in the world, so seeing him so weak and helpless made everyone uncomfortable. 

"So, what do we-a do now?" Feliciano asked. He truly wanted to know if there was anything he could do to help Alfred, even if it was just babysitting or cleaning the house. Anything would help. 

"I think," Matthew spoke. "The first thing we do is tell the older states, the children should know whats going on and how we are trying to solve this." Matthew looked down at the floor, thinking of a plan of action. "Then we get Lukas and Vladimir here. I can send some of my kids and Alfred's to fly there and get them.

"After that, we do all we can to help Arthur, Lukas, and Vladimir relieve Alfred of the curse." He turns to Romano and Toris. "You guys stay here to help with the kids, I know the Natalya wouldn't leave Alfred's side--" Matthew looks to the other nations in the room. "But if you guys could stay and help around the house, it would be really appreciated. It's hard to take care of fifty-plus kids."

"I would love to!" Feliciano smiled, Yao and Kiku following suit. 

"I'm not that good with kids, I can help gather food and other materials, da?" Ivan smiled and patted his daughter's head. "Though, she may be the only child here that likes me."

With the tension easing slightly, they decided to split off and begin helping. Matthew called the children to the living room to tell them the news, Romano told his brother and Yao to follow him so that they can learn how to take care of the intense North American children. Toris led Ivan and Ludwig to the vegetable gardens so that they could help gather food and tend to the gardens with the kids, as well as take care of the animals. Kiku and Francis began to prepare lunch, Francis drooling at the wonder that is the kitchen.

It would be hard adjusting to the new members living there for who knows how long, but everyone knew that it was necessary for Alfred.