Chapter Text
KABOOM!
"TIIIIIIINOOOOOOO!"
"Heh heh, sorry..."
"You nearly blew up the base! Again!"
"Not on purpose."
"Sure..."
"...Hmm?"
"SVE TINO NEARLY BLEW ME UP!"
"You're annoying, Den."
"TINO NEARLY SHOT ME TO THE MOON!"
"He's nearly blown up all of us. Deal with it."
"What Nor said."
"Just shut up, and let's get going, guys!"
Emil slid down the ladder rungs to his base donning his red and black Hetalia Academy uniform, it was spring now, and everyone was losing their winter coats for tee shirts and thin dress shirts.
The back half of the base, used as the workshop, now held a charred Tino with spiked-up hair and a burnt-out frame of some contraption on his workbench.
"Tino, I thought you were supposed to test those things outside."
Emil felt odd being the youngest of the group and lecturing one of the oldest.
"Well, I was so excited, and I didn't think it would work anyway..."
"Does it look like it worked!?"
Mathias demanded in a fury, pointing at the large hole in the back of his shirt, revealing the skin on his back that, miraculously, had survived being burnt.
"You shot me with it!"
"It didn't actually hurt you, though...so no, it didn't work!" Tino said, shrugging.
"YOU'RE LUCKY IT DIDN'T!"
"Guys...Headmaster's announcement in ten minutes ringing any bells?"
"Well, let's go."
Lukas, Emil's older brother, turned quickly to the door as Mathias scrambled up the ladder to change his shirt, and Tino wiped away the scorch marks on his face, smoothing his hair.
"All set!" Mathias dropped down the ladder again, and the Nordic 5 exited their base.
They met another team, the Axis, and their friend Vash as they made for the mess hall.
"Say, Kiku, did you lose your glasses again?"
Kiku sighed. Sure enough, his usual wire-rimmed glasses were missing from the bridge of his nose.
"I was training in the dojo with Professor Gojosen, and I did a backflip to dodge. My glasses fell out of my pocket, and with my next step, I crushed them." Kiku moaned.
"How will I study?"
"You a-worry too much!" Feliciano, one of Kiku's teammates, sang, tossing an arm haphazardly around his friend's shoulder. Kiku instantly winced at his personal space bubble being ruptured.
"I am sure you can go order some new ones tomorrow." Ludwig, the teams' leader, muttered, not seeming all too concerned.
Kiku let out another sigh, deflating slightly with the weight of his book, pulling his arms toward the floor.
"I suppose." He replied.
"In other news, how'd you do on that test you were talking about the other day, Vash?" Tino asked, turning to the less than social or talkative Swiss.
The blonde blinked in surprise and glanced up as his being addressed.
"Oh...100%."
"Nice job! What kind of test was it?" Mathias asked.
Vash gave him a very exasperated look.
"The target practice in the shooting range below the arena...the one you were supposed to be in because you're in my class?"
Mathias tilted his head to the side.
"No joke? Huh, musta slipped my mind."
"Idiot," Lukas grumbled as Tino and Feli laughed.
"Now that that's settled..." Germany began before a scream echoed down the hall.
All operatives instantly got into a fighting stance, Feli hiding behind his teammates and Vash drawing a silencer-equipped pistol out from god-knows-where.
"SAVE ME!"
Alfred came barreling down the hall.
"MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE!"
He shoved his way past the gathered teens, who were all dropping out of offensive positions in confusion, Vash quickly tucking his gun away again.
"TAKE IT BACK!"
Yao was hot on Alfred's heels, hollering all sorts of furious words at his retreating back.
About a minute after they'd vanished down the hall, Arthur, Francis, and Ivan came rushing up, Francis leaned on his knees and gasped for breath, Ivan scanned the hall, and Arthur asked hastily.
"Have you seen Alfred or Yao?"
"They just came sprinting through here. Yao was shouting something about 'taking it back' what happened?" Mathias questioned.
Arthur groaned, tilting his head backward.
"Yao was reorganizing his Hello Kitty collection in his room, and Alfred came in to get him for us to leave for Headmaster's announcement, and the moron said something bad about Hello Kitty, I'm assuming, and now Yao is after his blood."
All of the assembled fighters thought at that moment, seemingly as one.
Mental note, never insult Hello Kitty in front of Yao.
With the remaining Allies in tow, they all hurried toward the mess hall, passing by many other students as they passed.
"Hello, Big Brother!" Lilli, Vash's younger sister, donned her slightly puffy black dress and black leggings, puffed-out sleeves, and red lace trimming. She was currently alone on her way through the halls, and instantly Vash veered off toward her. It was no secret he cared deeply for his sister and was incredibly protective of her.
She had a blue ribbon on her hair. As always, it was a treasured present from her beloved big brother, and she had refused to trade it out for a red one when she'd arrived at the academy.
"Lilli, you can walk with us." He said, and the girl happily skipped up and hugged Vash's right arm.
"Ok." She chirped, walking along next to her brother, still holding his arm.
Vash looked slightly embarrassed when his sister grabbed onto him, but seeing as none of his friends were judgmental, he didn't worry about it much. At last, they arrived in the mess hall to find Alfred lying wiped out on the floor and Yao prodding sharply at him with his toe.
"NEVER say that again, you got it!?" He demanded harshly.
"Sir, yes sir..." Alfred moaned, rolling over on the tiles and patting around in search of his missing glasses.
Arthur had spotted the lenses and stooped, picking them up and cleaning them of dust on the edge of his military-style jacket.
"Here you are, now don't be daft and go doing that again, alright?"
"Got the message, bro..." Alfred grumbled as he took his glasses from the brit and put them on, blinking twice to focus his eyes again.
"Yao, you have to learn to control your temper," Kiku murmured.
Yao shrugged, "I am very calm, but if he insults me like that, I will make him PAY."
"You've been hanging around Ivan too much, haven't you? I swear, I thought that you didn't like the guy, but you've become like besties or something. " Mathias asked, crossing his arms.
"SHUT UP!" Yao ordered, pointing at Mathias with a hand that had escaped its overly long sleeve.
Mathias looked down skeptically, raising his eyebrows as if he were slightly amused.
Yao was more than a foot shorter than him and was currently threatening him by pointing at his face and yelling.
Before the conversation could progress further, there was a tapping noise, and everyone in the mess hall, which was currently crammed with all the students of the academy, each representing places from all the corners of the globe, looked up at the stage.
Professor Germania, a man with very long blonde hair wearing a plain black suit with a red tie, had tapped on his microphone to gather everyone's attention.
The groups and teams all turned to look up at him, and for a moment Germania, with Rome standing at his side, took a moment to drink in the way the students under their care had grown and taken all too eagerly to a world which they'd only before seen in movies.
"Everyone, Headmaster Rome has an announcement to make."
Germania handed the mic over.
"Alright!" Rome called into the mic. Germania winced and looked very annoyed at the response of thunderous yell over the students.
"I've got some more world-changing news; I aim to change our beloved Hetalia Academy for the better! We're..."
Everyone leaned forward in curiosity.
"...going public!"
Everyone gasped in perfect unison.
"PUBLIC!?"