[Fic] Searching For Atlantis [3/6]
Title: Searching For Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: America/Belarus, England/France, Romano, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Prussia.
Rating/Warnings: PG-13, Romano's mouth.
Summary: Alfred Jones wants to find his real parents. Arthur Kirkland would like to find some form of employment. Natalia Alfroskaya needs to get away. The solution: a road trip to California. Along the way they meet a mysterious hitchhiker called Romano and his problems, as well as discover what exactly utopia means to each of them.
Prologue Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
July 3, 20XX
After our late night, Romano woke us all up at some godforsaken hour demanding we leave right away without giving us an explanation until we were on the road. Apparently he spotted an ‘associate’ of some kind and couldn’t possibly be seen by him. Needless to say, he drove. I navigated. Alfred slept off a hangover in the back with Natalia.
Alfred demanded breakfast at another McDonalds, but for lunch Romano insisted on stopping by a diner where he knew the owners, a brother and sister pair who were not so happy to see us. At least, the brother certainly wasn’t. The sister seemed fine with us stopping by. We arrived in Chicago just before dinner. I will have to keep a closer watch on Alfred and Natalia this time.
-Arthur Kirkland
“Wake up you bastards and Natalia!” Romano shouted as his new companions grumbled and attempted to shut him up by throwing pillows at him, “We got to get back on the road!”
“Wanker,” Arthur somehow got his hands on the bible that came in every room and chucked it at his head, “it’s five in the morning!”
“And we need to get moving!” he shouted and kicked Arthur from his spot on the floor, “And don’t throw this!”
“Urg, my head…” Alfred complained, “Do we really have to go now?”
“Yes, yes we do,” Romano tossed a pair of pants and a shirt at his head, “Now let’s go!”
“’M not going anywhere without breakfast first,” he mumbled before turning back over and falling asleep again.
“I second that motion,” Arthur declared as he and Natalia followed suit.
“You guys are idiots! Completely hopeless idiots! I should have stayed in Pennsylvania damnit!”
“Good, then we’d be able to get some blooming sleep.”
“Fine, bastard, be that way,” he snatched Alfred’s keys from the nightstand, “I’ll just drive to California myself.”
“Wait no stop give me my car back!” Alfred jumped up from his position on the floor and tackled Romano to the ground, waking up Natalia and Arthur in the process.
“Since you are all so very kind to wake up now, may we get going?”
Arthur sighed, knowing he wasn’t getting back to sleep at this rate, and helped pack their things and check out of the hotel. He could sleep on the ride there.
***
They stopped by a gas station somewhere in Indiana when Romano, after driving like a maniac, looked at the meter and discovered they were almost out. Alfred and Natalia went inside the store to buy snacks for all of them while Romano dealt with the gas pump. Arthur meanwhile took the opportunity to sneak off to find a phone booth.
“Bonjour! You have reached Francis and Arthur! Unfortunately we are busy in the bedroom right now having very kinky sex and cannot possible answer your call-”
“Stupid frog! Don’t put that on there!”
“-But we will get back to you as soon as we’re done, although that may take awhile. The English are very perverted.”
“Delete that this instant! You can’t possibly use that you-”
BEEP
“Francis, i-it’s Arthur,” he always felt awkward talking to machines, “I thought I told you to change that recording. Uh, anyway, i-it seems I’ve missed you, so I’ll just…try again later I suppose. Right, well, cheers,” he quickly hung up the phone.
“Was he there?” Arthur jumped and turned around to find that Alfred had finished his shopping, “Did you tell him I said hi?”
“No, I just got the machine,” he pushed passed him on his way back to the car where Romano and Natalia were waiting.
“He’s probably just busy at work or something.”
“Yes, probably.”
“Here,” he held out one of his snacks and a bottle of water for Arthur, “They didn’t have any tea, only iced, and you always complain when I make you some.”
“Thank you,” he grabbed the food stuffs and continued on his way.
“Y’know he misses you too,” Alfred prattled on, “and he’s going to feel like an idiot for missing your call.”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
“So cheer up old man,” he grinned, “Don’t be such a downer.”
Arthur attempted a smile, which seemed to pass by Alfred’s standards, as he grinned and jogged ahead. Arthur sighed and opened the bottle of water, taking a sip before heading back towards the car and climbing in the passenger’s seat.
***
“This place looks closed,” Alfred commented as Romano continued to bang on the door to the diner. There were in Illinois, about three hours away from Chicago.
“It always looks closed, but trust me, they’re in there.”
“We should’ve just stopped at that McDonalds we saw before…”
“Fuck no. I’m sick of burgers, and I’ve only been traveling with you for a day!” he pounded on the door even harder, as if his life depended on it.
Suddenly a blonde man holding a gun opened the door and shouted, “Can’t you see we’re closed?!”
Alfred stepped in front of Natalia as everyone but Romano backed away slowly. Romano just smirked up at him.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it Vash?”
The man called Vash lowered his gun a tad and stared wide-eyed at Romano. “I thought for sure you’d be dead by now.”
“Still alive and kicking and starving. Get us some food, bastard. This is a diner isn’t it?”
“We’ve closed shop!” he shouted and raised the gun again; “We aren’t taking anymore customers. Go away.”
“Brother,” a younger blonde girl came to the door as well, “What’s going on out here?”
“Lili, I thought I told you to stay inside!”
“But you were taking so long, and I was starting to get worried, oh,” she caught sight of the four travels outside, “Are these customers?”
“It doesn’t matter if they are, because we’re closed.”
“But we still have some food left…we could feed them if we wanted too.”
“And we have money,” Arthur added, “So we’d be able to pay you for your services.”
“Please feed us,” Alfred threw in his patented puppy dog eyes for good measure, “We promise we’ll be good…”
Vash ground his teeth, “Fine! You can come in, but don’t make a mess!” he pushed the door opened and disappeared into the kitchen. Lili took it upon herself to show her new customers to a table.
The diner was deserted. Several boxes were packed and piled up in the main dining area, leaving Lili to lead her guests to a booth on the other side of the establishment instead.
Alfred had to ask, “You guys moving or something?”
“Yes,” Lili answered as she handed out the menus, “Business has been slow lately. Before you four, we hadn’t had a customer in weeks.”
“A small diner on the back roads probably isn’t the best place to make a living,” Arthur commented.
“We used to live in the city, but after our parents got divorced, I didn’t want to stay there anymore, so my brother took me out here instead. We’re planning on moving back to Chicago at the end of the week though…you’ll probably be our last customers. But, enough about our problems, I’m supposed to be serving you. What would you like to eat?”
They placed their orders and Lili joined her brother back to the kitchen. As soon as she was gone, Arthur turned on Romano.
“So, you know them?”
“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. What’s it to you limey?”
“Since you’re stuck with us until California, it would be best if we knew a little something about you. For example, if you have a friend who owns a diner on our route, or if you have associates you need to avoid for some reason.”
“My problems are my own, alright?” he slammed a fist on the table, “I’m not prying into your life, so why pry into mine bastard?”
“You invited yourself into our car! I believe that means you owe us some sort of explanation!”
“Dudes, chill,” Alfred said, “Your right Romano, we don’t have a right to pry into your life, but if you’re going to wake us up at crazy early hours, I want a reason.”
Romano sighed and looked out the window before answering, “Vash is a friend of my family. We go way back, although I’m not all that acquainted with his sister. When the two of them left Chicago, we sort of lost touch, although I have run into Vash on occasion, alright? Nothing strange about that.”
“…And you woke us up at crazy early morning hours because…?”
“It’s not going to hurt you in anyway. Don’t worry about it.”
Before anyone could protest that statement, Lili returned with their food. They ate in relative silence, broken periodically by Alfred’s need to fill it. When they finished, Romano insisted on having a word with Vash and Arthur was allowed to use their phone, leaving Natalia and Alfred alone at the table while Lili cleaned up.
“When are you going back to the city?” Alfred asked.
“At the end of the week…”
“You don’t seem too happy about it.”
“Our parents’ divorce was messy, and there were a lot of painful custody battles for me and my brother. It just hurts to be there sometimes, but with the diner failing, we don’t have much of a choice.”
“What happened to your parents?”
“I…assume they still live in Chicago somewhere,” she answered, turning her head away and concentrating on her work, “As soon as Vash turned eighteen, he took me and came out here, since I don’t like the city much anymore.”
“I’ve never met my real parents,” Alfred leaned back and stared out the window, “I was adopted away at a young age, although those parents don’t really care what happens to me either.”
“I’m very sorry to hear that,” and she did look truly sorry.
“At least you have your brother…I still haven’t met mine yet.”
“I do owe a lot to him, but at least you have Mr. Kirkland, right?”
“Artie?” Alfred chuckled, “He’s just my neighbor. I’m technically supporting him you know.”
“Oh, right, sorry. I just assumed…”
“It’s alright. Hey, how much money would you need to keep this place up and running?”
“Why do you ask Mr. Jones?”
“You can just call me Alfred. My adopted parents still give me money when I ask them, so I was thinking maybe I could give some to you.”
“Th-that…you don’t have to do that for us Mr. Alfred!”
“It’s no problem! Consider it a tip for that tasty meal you served us,” he flashed her one of his Hollywood smiles, “How much do you need?”
“W-well, I do recall my brother saying something about five thousand dollars…”
“Awesome! I’ll send you six just to be safe.” He smiled at her, causing Lili to blush and smile back.
“Y-you don’t have to-”
“I know, but I want to.”
“I-in that case, thank you very much, Mr. Alfred,” she bowed slightly before gathering all their used dishes and hurrying back to the kitchen.
“You always have to play the hero, don’t you?” Natalia commented when she was gone.
“Haha! What’s so bad about that?” he smiled at her as well.
“It’s going to get you in trouble someday,” she turned to face the kitchen as Alfred continued staring at her. “You probably don’t remember much about last night…”
“Sorry about that,” he responded quickly, “if I said or did anything out of line, I mean.”
“You were fine, except for the part where I had to drag you back,” Natalia flipped her hair behind her shoulder and turned to face him directly, “You…asked what I ever saw in Ivan though.”
“I’ve always wondered that,” Alfred blushed slightly as he turned to look out the window again, “I mean, you’re way out of his league…and he’s a real jerk on top of that. Sorry if I hit a nerve or something.”
“I don’t know,” she began after a pause, “if you’ve ever been in love, but Ivan was my first love. He stood up for me when the other children would pick on me and my sister. When it seemed like the rest of the world abandoned us, Ivan was always there, and he became a comfort in my life, a constant in an ever changing world, and I wanted to hold onto that, maybe a little too much. You only see his bad side, because that’s all you want to see, but Ivan Braginski has a lot of good in him too.”
“…You really do love him, don’t you? Even after everything he put you through?”
“I do.”
Alfred bit his lip before his next statement, “Do you think…you could ever learn to let him go?”
Natalia caught his eyes in the reflection of the window, “I just might.”
***
“You know Artie, you don’t have to tag along with us…” Alfred stated.
“Apparently I do, or you come back raging drunk,” Arthur crossed his arms, ending the matter there. After dinner Romano had wandered back to the hotel, claiming to have a headache, leaving the other three to explore Chicago without him.
“I think that boy is hiding something,” Arthur commented offhandedly.
“Who, Romano? Of course he’s hiding something,” Alfred chuckled, “Everyone has their own little secrets.”
“Why do I have a feeling his secrets are going to get us killed?”
“Uh, because you’re a paranoid stick in the mud? Seriously, relax. He said whatever he’s hiding isn’t going to hurt us, so it’s not going to hurt us.”
“You,” Natalia added, “need to stop trusting people so blindly or it’s going to get you killed one day.”
“Hahaha! It’s nice knowing you care…”
“I don’t care,” she muttered and turned away blushing.
Before he could comment, they were interrupted by a shout of “Mattie!” and Alfred being tackle-hugged to the ground by an albino.
“Who the bloody hell are you?!” Arthur shouted.
“Huh? Oh, it’s Alfred! Hey man, what brings you to Chicago?”
“Still heading to California,” Alfred smiled at Gilbert as he helped him up, “I should ask you the same thing.”
“Still looking for that guy. You haven’t seen him have you?”
“Nope,” Alfred grinned as the two kept talking like they were old friends.
“…Natalia,” Arthur asked after a moment, “who is he?”
“Some random loser we met in Cleveland. Apparently he knows Alfred’s brother and they hit it off.”
“Who’s this?” Gilbert asked upon noticing Arthur standing there, “and hello Natalia,” she punched him in the face when his eyes lingered on her chest.
“This is my friend/neighbor guy, Arthur Kirkland,” Alfred introduced.
“Huh, Kirkland…” Gilbert looked up, trying to remember something, “Why does that name sound familiar…”
“Perhaps you have met one of my brothers,” Arthur responded, “in which case, I am very sorry.”
“Naw, it’s all cool,” Gilbert smirked and playfully smacked Arthur’s shoulder. “I’d love to stay and chat with you guys, but I really need to find this guy.”
“What guy was this again?”
“Yeah…I never told you about him have I?” Gilbert chuckled, “Just some Italian. I had him for a moment, but then I lost track of him in Pennsylvania somewhere…pretty sure he’s heading west though.”
“What makes you say that?” Natalia asked.
“Well, north is too cold for him, south is too hot, and he came from the east. What other direction would he go in?”
“What does your Italian look like?” Arthur asked.
“He’s got…you know, eyes and ears and all that…” Gilbert scratched his head, “Green eyes, auburn hair…weird ass curl sticking out of his head. Probably the grumpiest personality I’ve ever come across. Have you seen him?”
Arthur smirked, “As a matter of fact-”
“Nope!” Alfred shouted and forced out a laugh, “Never heard of anyone that matches that description perfectly ever. Hahahaha!”
“Really?” Gilbert gave him a once over, causing Alfred to sweat and twitch nervously, before he sighed and turned to leave, “Then I guess I should get going. Like I said, I really need to find him. Auf wiedersehen,” he left with a wave.
“What was that all about Alfred?” Arthur whispered harshly as soon as Gilbert was out of sight, “We could have gotten rid of Romano right there and then!”
“I don’t know why Gilbert is looking for him…but if Romano doesn’t want to be found, then we shouldn’t let him be found.”
“What kind of daft logic are you coming up with now boy?”
“Romano’s traveling with us, so that means he’s one of us, our mate if you will. Mates don’t sell each other out.”
“We’ve known the prat for less than a day! That does not qualify him for matehood.”
“My car, my rules. We’re not selling out Romano.”
“What if he turns out to be some kind of serial killer,” Natalia suggested, “and Gilbert is trying to bring him in?”
“…We’re not selling out Romano until we find out more information.”
They cut their night short and went back to their hotel room, intent on doing just that. When they arrived, Romano was wide awake on the bed, pigging out on room service.
“You better be paying for that yourself wanker,” Arthur grumbled, “and you don’t look very sick.”
“I am, shut up! I’m very sick damnit, so sick that I need to eat this pizza.”
“Why is Gilbert looking for you?” Alfred asked right off the back.
Romano scrambled around in surprise and ended up falling off the bed, taking most of the blankets with him, “Y-you ran into Gilbert…and he’s here?!”
“Yeah, why’s he looking for you?” he tried asking again, but Romano was already busy with packing their bags to pay them any more attention.
“We’re leaving!” he announced, “The sooner we leave the city, the sooner we can get to California right?” His attempt to shut one of the bags was thwarted by Natalia’s foot and glare.
“Why is a perverted German looking for you?” she asked, the intensity of her stare causing Romano to gulp and back away a bit.
“I…that’s none of your concern…”
“If you want to leave the city,” Arthur rounded on him as well, “you’re going to have to tell us. Now.”
Romano withered under his glare and sat down in the nearby chair, “I…may have gotten into a fight with my family…a pretty nasty one at that. I accused my brother of some things, and it all went downhill from there…”
“So,” Alfred asked, “you ran away?”
“Yeah. I’d been meaning to get away from them for a while, so when the excuse presented itself…but they’ve sent that fucking potato bastard after me…”
“Another friend of the family I presume?” Arthur asked.
“If you could call it that. Whatever, he does what my grandpa wants, and it looks like he wants me home.”
“And you don’t want to go home,” Natalia summed up, “so you’re putting as much distance between you as possible.”
“Yeah. You can kick me out of your little road trip and tattle to Gilbert if you want,” Romano stood and grabbed his bag from where he had hurriedly packed it at the foot of the bed, “I’m still going to keep heading west.”
“We’re not gonna kick you out,” Alfred stated, “I mean, you’re one of us, and that wouldn’t be very fair.”
“I’ve only known you for about a day! You’ve got to be the most naïve bastard in the world to trust me after such a short time!”
“And he is,” Arthur conquered, “but I also see no reason to kick you out.”
“Neither do I,” Natalia added, “I never trusted Gilbert from the beginning.”
“So,” Romano stared between the three of them, “we can leave the city now?”
“I say we get some sleep here first, since we already paid for the room,” Arthur proposed, “We can leave early the next morning.”
Alfred and Natalia agreed, so despite Romano’s protests, they opted to stay the night in Chicago.
Characters/Pairings: America/Belarus, England/France, Romano, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Prussia.
Rating/Warnings: PG-13, Romano's mouth.
Summary: Alfred Jones wants to find his real parents. Arthur Kirkland would like to find some form of employment. Natalia Alfroskaya needs to get away. The solution: a road trip to California. Along the way they meet a mysterious hitchhiker called Romano and his problems, as well as discover what exactly utopia means to each of them.
Prologue Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
July 3, 20XX
After our late night, Romano woke us all up at some godforsaken hour demanding we leave right away without giving us an explanation until we were on the road. Apparently he spotted an ‘associate’ of some kind and couldn’t possibly be seen by him. Needless to say, he drove. I navigated. Alfred slept off a hangover in the back with Natalia.
Alfred demanded breakfast at another McDonalds, but for lunch Romano insisted on stopping by a diner where he knew the owners, a brother and sister pair who were not so happy to see us. At least, the brother certainly wasn’t. The sister seemed fine with us stopping by. We arrived in Chicago just before dinner. I will have to keep a closer watch on Alfred and Natalia this time.
-Arthur Kirkland
“Wake up you bastards and Natalia!” Romano shouted as his new companions grumbled and attempted to shut him up by throwing pillows at him, “We got to get back on the road!”
“Wanker,” Arthur somehow got his hands on the bible that came in every room and chucked it at his head, “it’s five in the morning!”
“And we need to get moving!” he shouted and kicked Arthur from his spot on the floor, “And don’t throw this!”
“Urg, my head…” Alfred complained, “Do we really have to go now?”
“Yes, yes we do,” Romano tossed a pair of pants and a shirt at his head, “Now let’s go!”
“’M not going anywhere without breakfast first,” he mumbled before turning back over and falling asleep again.
“I second that motion,” Arthur declared as he and Natalia followed suit.
“You guys are idiots! Completely hopeless idiots! I should have stayed in Pennsylvania damnit!”
“Good, then we’d be able to get some blooming sleep.”
“Fine, bastard, be that way,” he snatched Alfred’s keys from the nightstand, “I’ll just drive to California myself.”
“Wait no stop give me my car back!” Alfred jumped up from his position on the floor and tackled Romano to the ground, waking up Natalia and Arthur in the process.
“Since you are all so very kind to wake up now, may we get going?”
Arthur sighed, knowing he wasn’t getting back to sleep at this rate, and helped pack their things and check out of the hotel. He could sleep on the ride there.
***
They stopped by a gas station somewhere in Indiana when Romano, after driving like a maniac, looked at the meter and discovered they were almost out. Alfred and Natalia went inside the store to buy snacks for all of them while Romano dealt with the gas pump. Arthur meanwhile took the opportunity to sneak off to find a phone booth.
“Bonjour! You have reached Francis and Arthur! Unfortunately we are busy in the bedroom right now having very kinky sex and cannot possible answer your call-”
“Stupid frog! Don’t put that on there!”
“-But we will get back to you as soon as we’re done, although that may take awhile. The English are very perverted.”
“Delete that this instant! You can’t possibly use that you-”
BEEP
“Francis, i-it’s Arthur,” he always felt awkward talking to machines, “I thought I told you to change that recording. Uh, anyway, i-it seems I’ve missed you, so I’ll just…try again later I suppose. Right, well, cheers,” he quickly hung up the phone.
“Was he there?” Arthur jumped and turned around to find that Alfred had finished his shopping, “Did you tell him I said hi?”
“No, I just got the machine,” he pushed passed him on his way back to the car where Romano and Natalia were waiting.
“He’s probably just busy at work or something.”
“Yes, probably.”
“Here,” he held out one of his snacks and a bottle of water for Arthur, “They didn’t have any tea, only iced, and you always complain when I make you some.”
“Thank you,” he grabbed the food stuffs and continued on his way.
“Y’know he misses you too,” Alfred prattled on, “and he’s going to feel like an idiot for missing your call.”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
“So cheer up old man,” he grinned, “Don’t be such a downer.”
Arthur attempted a smile, which seemed to pass by Alfred’s standards, as he grinned and jogged ahead. Arthur sighed and opened the bottle of water, taking a sip before heading back towards the car and climbing in the passenger’s seat.
***
“This place looks closed,” Alfred commented as Romano continued to bang on the door to the diner. There were in Illinois, about three hours away from Chicago.
“It always looks closed, but trust me, they’re in there.”
“We should’ve just stopped at that McDonalds we saw before…”
“Fuck no. I’m sick of burgers, and I’ve only been traveling with you for a day!” he pounded on the door even harder, as if his life depended on it.
Suddenly a blonde man holding a gun opened the door and shouted, “Can’t you see we’re closed?!”
Alfred stepped in front of Natalia as everyone but Romano backed away slowly. Romano just smirked up at him.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it Vash?”
The man called Vash lowered his gun a tad and stared wide-eyed at Romano. “I thought for sure you’d be dead by now.”
“Still alive and kicking and starving. Get us some food, bastard. This is a diner isn’t it?”
“We’ve closed shop!” he shouted and raised the gun again; “We aren’t taking anymore customers. Go away.”
“Brother,” a younger blonde girl came to the door as well, “What’s going on out here?”
“Lili, I thought I told you to stay inside!”
“But you were taking so long, and I was starting to get worried, oh,” she caught sight of the four travels outside, “Are these customers?”
“It doesn’t matter if they are, because we’re closed.”
“But we still have some food left…we could feed them if we wanted too.”
“And we have money,” Arthur added, “So we’d be able to pay you for your services.”
“Please feed us,” Alfred threw in his patented puppy dog eyes for good measure, “We promise we’ll be good…”
Vash ground his teeth, “Fine! You can come in, but don’t make a mess!” he pushed the door opened and disappeared into the kitchen. Lili took it upon herself to show her new customers to a table.
The diner was deserted. Several boxes were packed and piled up in the main dining area, leaving Lili to lead her guests to a booth on the other side of the establishment instead.
Alfred had to ask, “You guys moving or something?”
“Yes,” Lili answered as she handed out the menus, “Business has been slow lately. Before you four, we hadn’t had a customer in weeks.”
“A small diner on the back roads probably isn’t the best place to make a living,” Arthur commented.
“We used to live in the city, but after our parents got divorced, I didn’t want to stay there anymore, so my brother took me out here instead. We’re planning on moving back to Chicago at the end of the week though…you’ll probably be our last customers. But, enough about our problems, I’m supposed to be serving you. What would you like to eat?”
They placed their orders and Lili joined her brother back to the kitchen. As soon as she was gone, Arthur turned on Romano.
“So, you know them?”
“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. What’s it to you limey?”
“Since you’re stuck with us until California, it would be best if we knew a little something about you. For example, if you have a friend who owns a diner on our route, or if you have associates you need to avoid for some reason.”
“My problems are my own, alright?” he slammed a fist on the table, “I’m not prying into your life, so why pry into mine bastard?”
“You invited yourself into our car! I believe that means you owe us some sort of explanation!”
“Dudes, chill,” Alfred said, “Your right Romano, we don’t have a right to pry into your life, but if you’re going to wake us up at crazy early hours, I want a reason.”
Romano sighed and looked out the window before answering, “Vash is a friend of my family. We go way back, although I’m not all that acquainted with his sister. When the two of them left Chicago, we sort of lost touch, although I have run into Vash on occasion, alright? Nothing strange about that.”
“…And you woke us up at crazy early morning hours because…?”
“It’s not going to hurt you in anyway. Don’t worry about it.”
Before anyone could protest that statement, Lili returned with their food. They ate in relative silence, broken periodically by Alfred’s need to fill it. When they finished, Romano insisted on having a word with Vash and Arthur was allowed to use their phone, leaving Natalia and Alfred alone at the table while Lili cleaned up.
“When are you going back to the city?” Alfred asked.
“At the end of the week…”
“You don’t seem too happy about it.”
“Our parents’ divorce was messy, and there were a lot of painful custody battles for me and my brother. It just hurts to be there sometimes, but with the diner failing, we don’t have much of a choice.”
“What happened to your parents?”
“I…assume they still live in Chicago somewhere,” she answered, turning her head away and concentrating on her work, “As soon as Vash turned eighteen, he took me and came out here, since I don’t like the city much anymore.”
“I’ve never met my real parents,” Alfred leaned back and stared out the window, “I was adopted away at a young age, although those parents don’t really care what happens to me either.”
“I’m very sorry to hear that,” and she did look truly sorry.
“At least you have your brother…I still haven’t met mine yet.”
“I do owe a lot to him, but at least you have Mr. Kirkland, right?”
“Artie?” Alfred chuckled, “He’s just my neighbor. I’m technically supporting him you know.”
“Oh, right, sorry. I just assumed…”
“It’s alright. Hey, how much money would you need to keep this place up and running?”
“Why do you ask Mr. Jones?”
“You can just call me Alfred. My adopted parents still give me money when I ask them, so I was thinking maybe I could give some to you.”
“Th-that…you don’t have to do that for us Mr. Alfred!”
“It’s no problem! Consider it a tip for that tasty meal you served us,” he flashed her one of his Hollywood smiles, “How much do you need?”
“W-well, I do recall my brother saying something about five thousand dollars…”
“Awesome! I’ll send you six just to be safe.” He smiled at her, causing Lili to blush and smile back.
“Y-you don’t have to-”
“I know, but I want to.”
“I-in that case, thank you very much, Mr. Alfred,” she bowed slightly before gathering all their used dishes and hurrying back to the kitchen.
“You always have to play the hero, don’t you?” Natalia commented when she was gone.
“Haha! What’s so bad about that?” he smiled at her as well.
“It’s going to get you in trouble someday,” she turned to face the kitchen as Alfred continued staring at her. “You probably don’t remember much about last night…”
“Sorry about that,” he responded quickly, “if I said or did anything out of line, I mean.”
“You were fine, except for the part where I had to drag you back,” Natalia flipped her hair behind her shoulder and turned to face him directly, “You…asked what I ever saw in Ivan though.”
“I’ve always wondered that,” Alfred blushed slightly as he turned to look out the window again, “I mean, you’re way out of his league…and he’s a real jerk on top of that. Sorry if I hit a nerve or something.”
“I don’t know,” she began after a pause, “if you’ve ever been in love, but Ivan was my first love. He stood up for me when the other children would pick on me and my sister. When it seemed like the rest of the world abandoned us, Ivan was always there, and he became a comfort in my life, a constant in an ever changing world, and I wanted to hold onto that, maybe a little too much. You only see his bad side, because that’s all you want to see, but Ivan Braginski has a lot of good in him too.”
“…You really do love him, don’t you? Even after everything he put you through?”
“I do.”
Alfred bit his lip before his next statement, “Do you think…you could ever learn to let him go?”
Natalia caught his eyes in the reflection of the window, “I just might.”
***
“You know Artie, you don’t have to tag along with us…” Alfred stated.
“Apparently I do, or you come back raging drunk,” Arthur crossed his arms, ending the matter there. After dinner Romano had wandered back to the hotel, claiming to have a headache, leaving the other three to explore Chicago without him.
“I think that boy is hiding something,” Arthur commented offhandedly.
“Who, Romano? Of course he’s hiding something,” Alfred chuckled, “Everyone has their own little secrets.”
“Why do I have a feeling his secrets are going to get us killed?”
“Uh, because you’re a paranoid stick in the mud? Seriously, relax. He said whatever he’s hiding isn’t going to hurt us, so it’s not going to hurt us.”
“You,” Natalia added, “need to stop trusting people so blindly or it’s going to get you killed one day.”
“Hahaha! It’s nice knowing you care…”
“I don’t care,” she muttered and turned away blushing.
Before he could comment, they were interrupted by a shout of “Mattie!” and Alfred being tackle-hugged to the ground by an albino.
“Who the bloody hell are you?!” Arthur shouted.
“Huh? Oh, it’s Alfred! Hey man, what brings you to Chicago?”
“Still heading to California,” Alfred smiled at Gilbert as he helped him up, “I should ask you the same thing.”
“Still looking for that guy. You haven’t seen him have you?”
“Nope,” Alfred grinned as the two kept talking like they were old friends.
“…Natalia,” Arthur asked after a moment, “who is he?”
“Some random loser we met in Cleveland. Apparently he knows Alfred’s brother and they hit it off.”
“Who’s this?” Gilbert asked upon noticing Arthur standing there, “and hello Natalia,” she punched him in the face when his eyes lingered on her chest.
“This is my friend/neighbor guy, Arthur Kirkland,” Alfred introduced.
“Huh, Kirkland…” Gilbert looked up, trying to remember something, “Why does that name sound familiar…”
“Perhaps you have met one of my brothers,” Arthur responded, “in which case, I am very sorry.”
“Naw, it’s all cool,” Gilbert smirked and playfully smacked Arthur’s shoulder. “I’d love to stay and chat with you guys, but I really need to find this guy.”
“What guy was this again?”
“Yeah…I never told you about him have I?” Gilbert chuckled, “Just some Italian. I had him for a moment, but then I lost track of him in Pennsylvania somewhere…pretty sure he’s heading west though.”
“What makes you say that?” Natalia asked.
“Well, north is too cold for him, south is too hot, and he came from the east. What other direction would he go in?”
“What does your Italian look like?” Arthur asked.
“He’s got…you know, eyes and ears and all that…” Gilbert scratched his head, “Green eyes, auburn hair…weird ass curl sticking out of his head. Probably the grumpiest personality I’ve ever come across. Have you seen him?”
Arthur smirked, “As a matter of fact-”
“Nope!” Alfred shouted and forced out a laugh, “Never heard of anyone that matches that description perfectly ever. Hahahaha!”
“Really?” Gilbert gave him a once over, causing Alfred to sweat and twitch nervously, before he sighed and turned to leave, “Then I guess I should get going. Like I said, I really need to find him. Auf wiedersehen,” he left with a wave.
“What was that all about Alfred?” Arthur whispered harshly as soon as Gilbert was out of sight, “We could have gotten rid of Romano right there and then!”
“I don’t know why Gilbert is looking for him…but if Romano doesn’t want to be found, then we shouldn’t let him be found.”
“What kind of daft logic are you coming up with now boy?”
“Romano’s traveling with us, so that means he’s one of us, our mate if you will. Mates don’t sell each other out.”
“We’ve known the prat for less than a day! That does not qualify him for matehood.”
“My car, my rules. We’re not selling out Romano.”
“What if he turns out to be some kind of serial killer,” Natalia suggested, “and Gilbert is trying to bring him in?”
“…We’re not selling out Romano until we find out more information.”
They cut their night short and went back to their hotel room, intent on doing just that. When they arrived, Romano was wide awake on the bed, pigging out on room service.
“You better be paying for that yourself wanker,” Arthur grumbled, “and you don’t look very sick.”
“I am, shut up! I’m very sick damnit, so sick that I need to eat this pizza.”
“Why is Gilbert looking for you?” Alfred asked right off the back.
Romano scrambled around in surprise and ended up falling off the bed, taking most of the blankets with him, “Y-you ran into Gilbert…and he’s here?!”
“Yeah, why’s he looking for you?” he tried asking again, but Romano was already busy with packing their bags to pay them any more attention.
“We’re leaving!” he announced, “The sooner we leave the city, the sooner we can get to California right?” His attempt to shut one of the bags was thwarted by Natalia’s foot and glare.
“Why is a perverted German looking for you?” she asked, the intensity of her stare causing Romano to gulp and back away a bit.
“I…that’s none of your concern…”
“If you want to leave the city,” Arthur rounded on him as well, “you’re going to have to tell us. Now.”
Romano withered under his glare and sat down in the nearby chair, “I…may have gotten into a fight with my family…a pretty nasty one at that. I accused my brother of some things, and it all went downhill from there…”
“So,” Alfred asked, “you ran away?”
“Yeah. I’d been meaning to get away from them for a while, so when the excuse presented itself…but they’ve sent that fucking potato bastard after me…”
“Another friend of the family I presume?” Arthur asked.
“If you could call it that. Whatever, he does what my grandpa wants, and it looks like he wants me home.”
“And you don’t want to go home,” Natalia summed up, “so you’re putting as much distance between you as possible.”
“Yeah. You can kick me out of your little road trip and tattle to Gilbert if you want,” Romano stood and grabbed his bag from where he had hurriedly packed it at the foot of the bed, “I’m still going to keep heading west.”
“We’re not gonna kick you out,” Alfred stated, “I mean, you’re one of us, and that wouldn’t be very fair.”
“I’ve only known you for about a day! You’ve got to be the most naïve bastard in the world to trust me after such a short time!”
“And he is,” Arthur conquered, “but I also see no reason to kick you out.”
“Neither do I,” Natalia added, “I never trusted Gilbert from the beginning.”
“So,” Romano stared between the three of them, “we can leave the city now?”
“I say we get some sleep here first, since we already paid for the room,” Arthur proposed, “We can leave early the next morning.”
Alfred and Natalia agreed, so despite Romano’s protests, they opted to stay the night in Chicago.