Waiting for Spring: Prologue - Axis Powers Hetalia, Russia x America (AU)
P r o l o g u e
A long time ago, a great king and his wife prayed for a child. For years, they waited and prayed, until finally, their wish was granted, and the king's wife bore a son. Because God was gracious, they named the child Ivan.
To celebrate, the king proclaimed a holiday so that all could meet and pay tribute to the newborn prince.
Also on this day, the prince would be betrothed to another royal. This child was Prince Alfred of one of the western kingdoms, who, at the age of two years, was little more than a babe himself. The young prince offered the newborn a pendant of white silver, set with ruby and sapphire, the colors of their kingdoms. The pendant was hung from the top of the infant prince's cradle, which pleased him, and his laughter rang throughout the great hall.
At this time, the king's most loyal advisors, the Baltic Three, met the new prince. Tolys, the eldest, was sensible and wise; Eduard, the middle, was well read and clever; and Ravis, the youngest, was cheerful and pleasant.
As they admired the newborn prince, the great oak doors at the end of the hall opened, and all eyes turned to the person who had stepped through them-a woman, wearing a navy and white dress and a dark cloak whose hood concealed her face.
Everyone fell silent as she made her way to the front of the hall. As she stepped onto the dais, she pushed back the hood, revealing ashen blonde hair and eyes like fragments of ice. She fixed the king and his wife with a level gaze before crossing to stand at the cradle. The Baltic Three took a step back, but the woman ignored them and peered at the infant prince inside. "When might I expect him to be marriageable?" she asked of the king.
"He won't be," the king replied. "Not to you, Lady Natalia."
The air suddenly grew cold. "And why not?" she demanded.
"Our son is already betrothed," the king announced, "to Prince Alfred."
Lady Natalia looked down at the other young prince, who hid his face in his father's trousers. "To this whelp of a boy?" she asked incredulously. "Surely you mean this in jest."
"The marriage of these princes will unite and strengthen our kingdoms," the king replied. "Our armies will grow strong, and our people will prosper."
"And what of my people?" Lady Natalia hissed. "We have suffered and fought alongside yours for a dozen generations! I have petitioned for this prince's hand-it is my right!"
"And you think this entitlement permits you to come here and disrupt this occasion?" the king demanded. "If you've nothing to give us but torment, you will be removed from this hall."
A smile like the curve of a blade touched Lady Natalia's face. "I do have a gift for the little prince," she declared, kneeling by the cradle and running her hands along the edges and looking down at the infant prince, but never once touching him. "What is the prince's name?"
"Ivan," Ravis answered; he was quickly silenced by his brothers, as his youth made him made him prone to speak freely.
"Ivan," Lady Natalia repeated, her voice soft and cloying. "You will grow, Ivan, I promise you that. Grow and grow-you will be quite handsome at twenty, I think." The words she spoke were meant only for the little prince, but she made no effort to conceal them. "There'll be a gift for you on your twentieth birthday-you'll love it very much, so much so that all you'll long to do is prepare for your ascent to the throne. And I promise you, my little prince-" only then did she reach into the cradle, to brush her fingers over his forehead-"all will be one under our rule." All around her recognized the words for what they were: a curse.
Eduard whispered a few words to Tolys, who stepped forward. "Lady Natalia, where's the pleasure in this?"
She fixed him with a stony glare. "What I do is neither for your pleasure nor your concern."
"But I know you, Lady Natalia," Tolys noted. "You love games and challenges as much as you love your people-"
"To simply take the prince provides neither," Eduard added.
"I'm not 'simply taking,'" Lady Natalia observed. "If I wanted to take him now, I would do so. I choose to bide my time before the prince and I align."
"Without challenge?" Ravis asked, catching onto his compatriots' plans.
"Lady Natalia, surely you'd love to play a game with us," Tolys asked.
"What kind of game does the clever Baltic Three think I should play?" Lady Natalia asked, her expression smug.
"Give us a chance to fight," Tolys announced.
"Your proposition sounds more like a demand," she noted icily.
"I could never demand anything of a lady such as yourself," Tolys answered, bowing slightly. "What I mean is that surely watching us put up a fight would be more satisfying than our passive acceptance."
Lady Natalia tapped her chin thoughtfully before a small, snakelike smile touched her face. "Very well-Ivan will still be preparing to take his place at my side, but it will take time. From sundown on the day of Ivan's twentieth birthday, you-anyone who wishes to try, has one hundred days to free him. If you cannot…" A soft, dark, deadly chuckle. "Know that your people will think fondly of you for trying." She stepped a little closer to Tolys. "Does this please the clever Baltic Three?"
"Lady Natalia, no one will ever doubt your graciousness," Tolys said, bowing.
Lady Natalia smiled coldly before turning away from the trio and looking into the cradle. "Until we meet again, little prince," she promised. She offered a curtsy to the king, swept her hood up over her head and left the hall without another word.
As the great oak doors closed behind her, the hall erupted into cries of confusion, fear, demands that action be taken against so brazen a threat to the prince! The king roared for silence, which fell on the hall like a blanket. He gave a somber look to the Baltic Three and indicated that they should follow him out of the hall.
The trio nodded seriously as the queen gathered up her sleeping son from his cradle and stood at the king's side. The group made their way out of the hall and into a more private room. "All of what she said-what does it mean?" the king demanded.
"Exactly what she said, Your Majesty," Tolys replied regretfully.
"Then how is any of what you said out there meant to help us?" the king asked, nearly snarling.
"It gives us a chance to find a way to fight back," Eduard cut in.
"Lady Natalia's not invulnerable, Your Majesty," Ravis added, hoping to counter the audacity with which his senior addressed the king.
"It can be done," Tolys went on, "and we have twenty years and nearly one hundred days to find out how to do so."
"And what do you propose I do with my son until then?" the queen asked coldly, holding the prince against her heart.
"Let us care for him," Tolys replied.
"What?" the king asked in disbelief. Even Eduard and Ravis seemed surprised by their brother's proposal.
"Let us care for him," he repeated, "somewhere far away from here until the day he can marry."
There was a pause as the king and queen exchanged glances, silently debating whether or not to send their long-awaited son away for twenty years. "I promise you, the prince will be safe," Tolys said softly.
• • •
And the king and queen placed their son in the care of the Baltic Three, who left the kingdom in the night and traveled to a distant village, where they raised the prince and made their home for nearly twenty years. Such is where our story begins.
-.-.-.-
Title: Waiting for Spring
Author: TheCrazyAlaskan
Fandom / Setting: Axis Powers Hetalia (anime) - Folklore and Fairy Tales AU
Characters / Pairings: Ivan R Braginsky x Alfred F Jones; Tolys Laurinaitis, Eduard von Bock, Ravis Galente; Natalia Arlovskova; appearances by many more
Characters / Pairings in This Chapter: Betrothed Ivan R Braginsky x Alfred F Jones; Tolys Laurinaitis, Eduard von Bock, Ravis Galente; Natalia Arlovskova; NPCs
Rating: T+
Genre: Adventure, romance
Warnings / Notes: None so far
Relevant Quotes:
I am fond of this Thy stubborn project, / And to play my part I am content. / But another drama is in progress, / And, this once, O let me be exempt.
-- "Hamlet," Boris Leonidovich Pasternak
" I am not sorry that I've met you, / and not afraid to love you, too."
-- "Rain Flogs My Face...", Izabella Akhatovna Akhmadulina
Summary: Princes Ivan Braginsky and Alfred Jones are betrothed, so that their marriage will strengthen their two kingdoms. However, the wicked Lady Natalia promises to steal the young prince for herself. Teaming up with Prince Ivan's guardians, Prince Alfred embarks on a journey to save his betrothed and the kingdom, and to learn what it takes to be a leader.
This what happens when you listen to "Once Upon a Dream" and trawl the RusAme tag on Tumblr at like three AM. Much gratitude to mortalcreator on Tumblr for the title. As to the AU title, I'm hoping to make this a big series, taking some of the classic fairy tales (okay, probably their Disney versions, as the source material tends to have a lot of Family Unfriendly Deaths) and adapting them to Hetalia. I have the framework partially laid out for GerIta and AmeLiet versions.
Oh God, how I adore character- and world building. Thinking this whole concept up and molding the Nations in this world's image was so much fun. I admit, I had the most fun with Belarus. I wanted to give her more depth than "marry me big brother," so it turned out for political and economic reasons-which is actually the basis of Belarus' affections for Russia, as at one point, the Belarusian prime minister was pushing really hard for closer relations with Russia-and I think I did a pretty okay job.
It's my sincere hope that you stick around for the rest of the story.
All characters, Axis Powers Hetalia © Hidekaz Himaruya