Chapter Text
Ivan hummed, petting his lover's hair. He’d been asleep for fifteen hours. The night had passed by now, people were awake and around and eating breakfast. He knew that the nations had figured out where they were going if he was right about those glares that he got when he was returning with the flowers, which now rested in a vase on the bedside table on his side.
The bird, that he didn’t know the species of, who was sleeping in a cage let out a little squawk, curling into its wing.
He just continued humming, leaving little kisses along his face- over his eyelids, on his forehead- everywhere besides his lips.
He smiled lightly as his love cuddled even more into him, burying his face into his chest as he snored lightly, not able to breath with the fabric in his face as Ivan shook his head fondly.
“My little baby,” he said softly, “when will you wake up? You already know I will wait for you even if you no longer wish for me too.”
Alfred grumbled something, wrapping his arms around his neck and forcing him to stay near.
He just laid down, letting his arm wrap around his waist, pulling him closer as he slept on.
He could basically carry him around like a child with how tightly he held on- how unwilling he was to let go.
He heard knocking on the bedroom door and carefully removed Alfred’s arms from around his neck, sitting up and petting his lover’s arm when he shifted.
“Come in.”
“I wondered how long you would take,” Rulyn said, pushing past the door, carrying a large fish tank sized vase, which she picked up even more before placing on the dresser, letting out a sigh.
“You know you can go eat breakfast right?” she asked, glancing at Alfred, who was cuddled up in his blankets, “It will probably be a few hours, or a lot longer, if you get what I mean.”
“I’ll wait,” Ivan replied, looking down at him with adornment, “I want to be here when he wakes up.”
“You do you I guess,” Rulyn shrugged, walking to the doorway, “you won’t get breakfast though.”
“Okay,” Russia nodded, “I might be back by lunch.”
Rulyn nodded, before walking out and closing the door.
He laid back down, letting Alfred snuggle into his chest with a hum, petting his hair. He may have dozed off, feeling his eyes flicker shut in the comfort of being to hold him again.
Around two hours later, Alfred opened his eyes, staring at the face in front of him for a few seconds.
Before closing them again and wiggling closer to the warmth of the Russian’s body.
It took a few seconds, but eventually his eyes snapped open and his hand went out to trace his face, Ivan’s eyes opening slowly to look at him. Shaking, Alfred cupped his cheeks, gulping down his tears.
Before he launched himself at him, wrapping his arms around his neck and burying his face in Ivan’s shoulder, feeling him smirk against his skin, wrapping his arms around his waist and pulling him closer.
“Good morning,” Ivan whispered, “it’s nice to see you again.”
Alfred didn’t reply, just hiccuped as he tried not to cry, Ivan kissing him on the forehead, letting him curl up under his neck, hearing the dry tears fall from his face.
“You’re okay now,” Ivan said, running his hands along the American’s sides to comfort him, hearing him let out a little whimper before he felt the tears against the bandages around his neck.
“Shh…” he cooed, pulling him onto his lap and he sat up, “you’re safe now, nobody’s going to hurt you anymore.”
Alfred just started crying harder, gripping his claws into Ivan’s shoulder and making him wince.
“Kotyonok (kitten), you’re digging your claws into me.”
Alfred jumped, leaning back and cupping Ivan’s cheeks instead.
“Hey malysh (baby),” Ivan said, letting out a chuckle, reaching his hand up to put Alfred’s hair behind his ear, tracing down his jaw while he watched him with a look of disbelief, tears still running down his cheeks.
“You came,” he whimpered, finally cracking as he leaned forward, resting his forehead on Ivan’s chest and gripping into his t-shirt, hearing the little laugh that Ivan let out.
“Of course I did,” Ivan replied, kissing him on the top of the head. Alfred looked up to him, Ivan wiping the tears from his eyes and kissing his cheeks, making the demon look up to him with a distant expression.
“I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” the Russian said, smiling as Alfred stilled, before breaking out into one of the biggest smiles he’d ever seen.
He tapped his lips twice, Ivan leaning forward to peck him on the lips. He let out a laugh as Alfred pouted, giving him a real kiss. He felt Alfred smile against his lips, wrapping his arms around his neck as he remembered the feeling of his lips again. It had been so long- too long. Too much suffering.
He was out of breath by the time the two pulled away, Ivan running a warm hand up his back.
This is why he’d wanted to wait. For this moment.
“Are you okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Alfred asked, tilting his head.
“Do you remember?”
“Um… bits and pieces. It was bad, wasn’t it?” he replied, his eyes watching the sheets. He couldn’t bring himself to look at his lover. He felt bad for not remembering much, his brain erasing anything that would cause pain. He knew it would come back eventually, but he didn’t want it too. Was that selfish? Probably… not?
“Can I see your back?” Ivan asked, Alfred nodded as he turned around, feeling Ivan’s fingers pull his top up, and the cold air that followed.
“There isn’t even a scar…” Ivan whispered under his breath, holding his shirt up with one hand while the other traced where there should be wounds.
Alfred hummed, turning his head to where Ivan was staring with a look of awe, “I feel better than I did, something happened and now there’s energy everywhere. I think that there was enough to heal the scars.”
“What do you mean? Magical energy?”
Alfred had a few seconds before he looked down to his hands, seeing the claws, and Ivan watched as his eyes gazed up his arms, before landing on the Russians face.
In a few seconds, his entire body was stripped of its stripes, and his eyes, where the eye-whites had been black, turned into a normal human color. His claws disappeared, morphing into nails, and the sharper canines retracted.
And then he booked it to the bathroom and locked the door, Ivan jumping up to coax him out.
Alfred sighed, clutching his knees. Why did he panic like that? Ivan obviously knew…
He didn’t want to be the monster to the nations. He didn’t want to be a horrible creature- a demon.
Even though demon was a technical term, and should not be derogatory. It wasn’t derogatory for any of them but to humans it was a horrible thing and horrible things were hated and-
He felt the warmth of the tears running down his face, some of the only warmth he was sure he would always feel.
“Alfred, come out,” he heard him say. He heard the click as his hands tapped the wood of the door, and he pushed himself around to face the door, glaring at the wood like it was the source of all his problems.
He jumped back when it set aflame, the entire thing burning away as he immediately started focusing on trying to keep the fires from spreading, waving his hand and refocusing them so that they went into a little ball of fire, eventually dying off.
He heard laughter and looked to see Ivan standing in the doorway, his arms crossed as he laughed, his head thrown back.
“I don’t know what you were trying to do,” Ivan said, “but I don’t think it worked in your favor.”
“This isn’t fair play!” Alfred yelled in response, crossing his arms and taking a few steps back, his heel hitting the edge of the bathtub, “Go away!”
“What’s wrong?” Ivan replied, taking a step forward, “Why are you scared?”
“I’m not scared!”
“Al, you’re doing that thing where you pretend everything’s alright when everything isn’t, tell me what’s wrong. Why did you hide your stripes? Why did you blow up the door then try and play it off?”
With a growl, Alfred snapped, the door reforming in an instant. Ivan looked at it behind him with a nonchalant expression before turning around to face him.
“Happy to be trapped here with me~?” he giggled, flashing an insane smile.
“I know you won’t hurt me, at this point I’m not even sure what you’re trying to accomplish.”
“I am scary goddammit!”
“Aww,” Ivan cooed, walking over and wrapping his arms around the demon, who growled before pouting, “the little puppy dog thinks he’s scary. This is like seeing a puppy trying to wrestle one of his parents.”
“Hey!” Alfred barked, trying to wiggle away, Ivan just holding on tighter, “Why aren’t you scared of me? I’m a fucking demon.”
“Unfortunately, you aren’t scary,” Ivan replied, “just cute.”
Alfred stared up at him a few seconds before turning back into his normal form, Ivan humming as he traced the stripes along his cheeks with his thumb as Alfred tried to calm down. He felt adrenaline just from being touched, Jesus, how touch starved was he?
“You okay now?” Ivan said, “You could give a warning before you book it to anxiety attack land.”
“Ya,” Alfred muttered, his face in the Russian’s shirt, “and okay fine I will.”
“C’mon,” Ivan said, kissing him on the top of the head, “do you want something to eat? You’ve been asleep for a bit, I don’t know how long it’s been since you’ve last eaten something.”
“I think… depending on what day it is… two or three days,” Alfred replied, resting his finger on his chin in a thoughtful expression, “I didn’t eat much before that either.”
“You need to eat, let’s go.”
“Neither of us are dressed,” Alfred said, poking him in the forehead as he walked out before him, “do you have clothes, or do you need some? I think you’re around the same size as Cole, he wears clothes a few sizes too big anyways.”
“Ah.. that’s unneeded,” Ivan replied, putting his hands up in mock surrender. He felt uncomfortable taking someone else's clothes, in basically every scenario.
“What size are you? XL?”
“Yes,” Ivan replied, nodding as Alfred smiled.
“Now it will be more fun to steal your clothes!”
“Goofball,” Ivan shook his head, “from size alone I take that you’re a medium?”
“How’d you guess?”
“You’re tiny,”
“This is unfair,” Alfred pouted, reaching up to pull him down but being unable to. Normally Ivan would bend down for him, but now he just watched with an amused expression.
Ivan bent down, pecking him on the nose, “Go get dressed, I’m already wearing my clothes.”
Alfred looked him over, a pair of jeans and a black muscle shirt, showing off how toned he was. His scarf was thrown over the end of the bed, and there were bandages on his neck.
“You almost look emo, white boy,” Alfred said, almost sounding impressed, “good on ya.”
“Try not to show me up too much,” Ivan replied, laying back down on the bed as he waited for Alfred. This could take anywhere from two minutes, to twenty. He was hoping it would be two, but that was always questionable.
At least he got to see Alfred’s butt when he walked around in his boxers.
After about five minutes, maybe a little more, Alfred was finally prepared to leave his room, dressed in a pale green shirt with the words ‘pop food’ on it, as well as an electric guitar and a few food items. Probably a fan shirt for a band. (Jack Stauber *cough*) He was wearing black ripped jeans, and had long black leather bracers going up to his elbow, wrapping around his hand and being laced up. It was finished off with a black choker with a turquoise on it.
“We’re doing archery?” Ivan asked, questioning his odd choice of arm adornments.
“I normally wear bracers so I don’t cut my arms, long gloves would work to but these look cooler so… ya.”
“Oh,” Ivan said, nodding as Alfred went over to the window, opening it as the bird let out a light noise, its head lifting as Ivan finally saw that it had a large crown of yellow feathers. Weird, the rest of it was just black and white.
“Thunder, do you know where Freedom, Kanti, and Hero are? Especially Hero, the fat girl,” Alfred asked, opening the window.
‘No clue, I’ve been catching up on my sleep,’ Thunder grumbled, ‘you have no idea how loud it was down in the basement, and constantly too. So annoying.’
“Can you find them?”
‘Fine,’ Thunder replied, stretching his wings, ‘they’ll be to you soon enough.’
“Thank you,” Alfred said, moving out of the way as the bird jumped up, flying in the room for a few seconds before gliding out the window, Alfred going to look out of it, his eyes following the mass of feathers.
He felt arms wrap around his waist and a head get placed on his shoulder, and he leaned onto it.
“Am I going to be hearing more of your one-sided-conversations?” Ivan whispered, kissing him on the shoulder.
Alfred let out a giggle, covering his mouth with his hand, “Maybe, if you’ll stick around.”
“Of course I will,” Ivan replied, kissing his ear, “c’mon, let’s go eat.”
“The lunch alarm hasn’t gone off yet,” Alfred said, “unless you want to go bother ‘em at the kitchen.”
“No, that wasn’t my plan,” Ivan let his arms drop, Alfred still leaning on him, “the nations want to see you.”
Alfred stilled, blinking fast a few times, “The… nations?”
“Dyami,” Ivan said, Alfred holding back a shiver as he heard his true name coming from his mouth, “I needed them to help me. I wouldn’t have found you without them.”
“And… now they’re here?”
“Da.”
Alfred was silent for a few seconds before he nodded, walking to the door and opening it, letting out a gasp.
“I think I forgot something,” he said, absolutely breathless as Ivan walked over, looking over his shoulder as his eyes widened.
“Why are there… flowers?”
Scattered in front of the door was an assortment of red, pink, white, and purple peonies.
“The… the acceptance thing-a-ma-jig,” Alfred said, looking over and seeing a giant vase, no doubt for the exact purpose of keeping these flowers alive.
“The what?”
“My family does this thing… Do you know the Victorian Flower Language? Because you’re going to need it,” Alfred said, shaking his head as he picked up a flower, seeing a tag that said ‘Gad’, “my family won’t outright deny you, but they will use VFL to speak their concerns. They give a peony, they accept us as a couple, they don’t, then we have to remove their concerns.”
He didn’t add the fact that they had two weeks to do so.
“Okay… so how many is this… and how many people live here?”
“Um… about six-hundred personifications, but my kids can’t vote so… about five hundred,” Alfred said, doing some mental math, “and there are about sixty here.”
“I’m guessing the tags say who they’re from,” Ivan said, picking up a white one that read ‘Minko’. He wanted to ask how someone could live with that many siblings, but he held himself back.
“Ya,” he sighed, “help me pick them up, I want to go talk to the nations.”
“I’m worried, you never want to talk to them.”
“I don’t want them trashing my shit, and besides, I need to apologize to Natalia, Toris, and Lovino.”
(Belarus, Lithuania, and Romano.)
Ivan nodded, kissing him on the temple before going to pick the flowers up, reading the tags to the best of his ability (the languages had weird pronunciation that his accent couldn’t comprehend), Alfred making a mental list of the people before putting the flowers in the vase, watching as many of them suddenly became more alive. He looked at the water before tapping it, feeling enough magical energy in it to last for two weeks and a little more.
“Don’t hurt them too bad,” Ivan joked, kissing him on the forehead as the American giggled, reaching up and kissing him under the chin.
“Hopefully, I won’t have too,” he replied with a smile, stripes disappearing from his skin as his eyes went to their human-like color, his claws turning to fingernails once again as he left.
Ivan wasn’t going to bother him, reaching out to touch the flower closest to him gently.
He looked over to the vase of flowers he’d gotten from the entrance, seeing that the roots had broken through the glass, wrapping around the bedside table. No water leaked through.
At least he was happy.
Alfred hummed, fast-walking through his house, catching the gaze of many of his siblings, who he ignored. Without thinking much about it he jumped down the middle of the staircase, rolling out as soon as he got to the bottom.
He had no idea where to go now.
“Living room next to the Library,” Rulyn said from behind him as he spun around, her sitting in the nook under the staircase, on the mini bench, vaping while messing around with a calculator and some paper.
“Thanks,” he replied, turning around, about to walk away before he looked back to her, motioning to the vape pen sticking out of her mouth, “make sure Nevada doesn’t steal it.”
“I know that,” Rulyn said, giving him a mini glare, “now go, I’m trying to get this money shit together.”
Alfred nodded, turning right before going left, passing the library and going to a room to the left of it. It was one of the living rooms that were scattered around the first and second floors, one of about twenty.
He walked in, finding that most of the nations were around, besides Latvia, Natalia, Toris, Lovino, and a few others. He didn’t know how many had come. If it was the entire G36 or G32, or just the G24-
Germany, England, and France stood up to face him as he closed the door. He could still see sleeping bags and the like thrown about the floor- they’d obviously slept in here.
“Hello,” he said, giving a small smile. He would keep it civil as long as they would.
“You lying bastard,” England growled, power-walking up to him.
That didn’t last long, did it?
He was about to hit him, until America waved a hand. Suddenly, he was thrown back by an invisible force, all the way across the room. He left a reasonable hole in the wall, but it was fixed as America made the wood around it grow back into place, and the stone inside it fixed itself, allowing the flow of electricity, water, and heat to run back through it. By now, all of his demon parts were out, most of the nations trying to get away.
“Well,” America sighed, “that was difficult. Now, are you going to try and fight me or are you going to talk?”
The nations were silent, France and Australia beside England, shaking him awake.
America gave him a little glare, before snapping.
He got up quickly, watching him with fear as he realized how his shoulder had gone back into socket and the bruising that he could feel on his back reversed.
“Are we going to be civil, or annoying?” America asked, crossing his arms with an unamused expression, “I’m just asking.”
“Let’s be civil,” Germany said, looking between the two of them before his eyes rested on America, “I suppose you’re fine now?”
“Yes,” he nodded, giving a smirk, “and I thank you for clearing the chaos that went over here. We would have lost too many lives doing it without outside help.”
“That’s the exact reason you shouldn’t attack any of us,” England said, his eyes narrowing, “you owe us.”
“Davie!” America yelled, fairly randomly to the nations before a little boy with wings walked through the door, looking at him like he was waiting to answer a question, “Who did you give the original clue too?”
“Braginski,” the winged boy said, fluttering them a little bit, “but I did say he could get help, I just guessed he’d only do the three, maybe the sons of Odin too, and the Greek and Turk. Not… all these people.”
America looked over to them with a raised eyebrow.
“You can’t blame us, blame Russia,” England exclaimed, “we didn’t even want to come on this stupid trip around the world.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Uh…”
“Exactly,” America said, giving a smile, “now, you get to explain why I shouldn’t immediately kick you out of my house and remove your memories of who you are.”
“You can’t do that!” Canada yelled, “There are some things you can’t do!”
“Holy Rome, where the fuck did ya go?” America yelled in reply, Germany staggering as Italy’s eyes widened, all the nations besides Prussia watching as he clutched his head, tears rolling down his face as the memories flooded him.
“So, that was you,” Prussia said, turning to him, “you were the one that let my little brother live.”
“Nah, that was Maikoh, Jolon, Warrock, and Tala, I just messed with his memories,” America shrugged, “some people don’t want to remember their pain.”
“France,” Germany growled, looking up at the startled Frenchman, “what made you kill me? Or try.”
“I was forced too!”
“Big brother France,” Italy said, his voice void of emotion, “you said you tried to save him. You said you didn’t know how Ludovicus (un-latinized version of Ludwig) died.”
“I was trying to spare you the pain-”
“You lied to me.”
America just left them to fight it out, while Davie inconspicuously got out his phone and started recording.
“I-”
“Don’t try to deny it,” Italy said, tears coming down his cheeks in gentle streams. Other than that, he stayed strong and tall- he’d never feared France.
“I was forced too, you can’t blame me!”
“I don’t give a shit!” Italy said, switching to Italian, “You lied! And then you used me…”
“Tea,” Davie whispered to him, making him hold back a smile.
“We don’t do rape jokes here,” America whispered back, “but still, tea.”
“I am truly sorry-” France started, switching to French-
“Yet you still lied,” Italy cut him off, walking away from him and up to America, “don’t talk to me again, France.”
“Where do you wanna go?” America asked softly, patting his shoulder.
“Away,” Italy replied with the same tone, letting out a little hiccup, “thank you for saving him.”
Alfred nodded, leaning down to his ear, “go down to the other house, go immediately left to the end, turn right, walk down the hall until you find a room labeled ‘Destiny’, you should only have to knock for her to open the door.”
“Thanks,” Italy said, shoving his hands in his pockets as he left the room, everyone's eyes watching him.
Germany was sitting now, clutching his head. Estonia walked over and started whispering to him, and Prussia also left the room. America had no idea if he knew where he was doing.
“Well,” America said, clapping, “now that that’s over, you get to tell me why I shouldn’t throw you out. Germany, Prussia, Italy, Romano, Lithuania, Belarus, Norway, Iceland, and Russia are fine. I don’t mind if the other Nordic’s, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Estonia, Poland, and Latvia, or Turkey and Greece are around. Canada, Mexico, China, and Japan, you’re family, I don’t have that little of a heart.”
“Wait- that just leaves…” Spain started, “me, England, France, and Australia.”
“Australia, I’m sure Texas, Georgia, and Florida will love you,” America replied, giving a small smile to the man, who was jumping on the balls of his feet, “but you colonizers are going to get your asses killed. You seem to forget how many enemies you’ve made- Americans never forget those who died.”
“That was two hundred years ago, surely you people aren’t that petty,” England said, glaring at him.
“Are we now? That’s new information for me.”
“But you let Russia around, you’re kids don’t hate him,” France said, his eyes wide.
“Americans see Russians as equals, can’t say the same for Frenchmen or Brits… and Spain, watch yourself.”
“What do you mean?” Spain asked, his head tilting. He was standing right under the vent, Alaska’s scarf dangling just over his head.
“Cover your neck-”
In a moment, Spain was hanging by his neck from the vent.
“Or… don’t… Alaska, put him down.”
He fell back to the ground, coughing wildly, “I never hurt Alaska! I’ve never even been to Alaska!”
“Did Florida tell you to do it?” America yelled, the scarf disappearing into the vents as America waited with his arms crossed, catching the paper airplane that was thrown at him.
‘Yes, can I just do it? He has a punchable face.’
“No.” America called out, pocketing it, the nations glancing between the vent and him with confusion, “Get down from there, where’s Juneau? I haven’t seen her.”
There was no response but a reasonably loud, “shit!” before the cover was put back on the vent and the person up there disappeared.
“Well, Spain, watch yourself because it seems like some of the kids would love to kick your ass, I can say the same for some of my siblings. France, you might be fine, just make sure that you don’t piss off Louisiana again… England… carry a gun.”
“I’m supposed to shoot whoever attacks me?” England said, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, no, I just know you’ll miss because your aim has been shitty since forever,” America replied with a shrug, “but if you carry it around it will make you look more threatening than your scrawny ass trying to fight… say… Rhode.”
“Isn’t that your smallest state?” Estonia asked, giving a confused head tilt.
“All I’m going to say, is he has my strength and Scotland and Ireland’s temper combined,” America cluckled, putting his hands up in mock surrender, “now, you have one chance. People here hold grudges.”
He spun around, pushing the door open and walking away.
Davie smirked, his head turning back to them, “This will be fun for us~”
The nations couldn’t help but get a little nervous.