Disclaimer – I don't own Hetalia

Chapter 32

Alice's Point of view

Epilogue

Fifteen Years Later

I stood out on my balcony watching as the full moon rose high in the darkened sky. It was a clear night and you could see gleaming stars sprinkled across the atmosphere for miles. I felt a gentle breeze brush past me and I let out a relaxed sigh. It was nights like these that reminded me of the first time I had left the palace. Though it had been nineteen years ago I still remembered every little nervous breath I took and every little jump my heart had made when escaping perfectly. As I looked back on my younger days I found my eyes wandering down from the sky to look at the village. It had grew larger over the years; fields were ripped up (Alfred and I's stargazing field was left untouched though) to be replaced by new buildings and more people were appearing here and there bringing the population of our country to an all time high. But Hetalia wasn't the only thing that had changed; fifteen years had passed since Alfred and I got married and I had changed a lot too.

I was now officially Alice Kirkland-Jones the Queen of Hetalia and some of the wonderful things that came with that title were pressure, responsibility and management skills. Adjusting to life as the new queen was a challenge. My Father, who was calm, organized and patient had always made ruling the country look easy but when it was me sitting on the throne, well that was a completely different story. Thankfully my Father, the now ex-king, lent me as much help as he possibly could and eventually things fell into place. Even Alfred got the hang of being a king…well after a couple minor incidents we will not speak of that is…

Anyways, I found it pretty amazing that the duty I was once so afraid of having now came as naturally to me as it had to my ancestors. My Father had once told me that the Kirkland family had ruled over Hetalia for hundreds of years and now I could see why, we were bloody good at it! I (with a tiny bit of help from Alfred because that git could never fully handle my job) governed over the country and its people with honesty and fairness. The job that I thought would be boring and prisonlike surprisingly turned out to be a great fit for me. Alfred jokes that it's because I was born to boss people around. Whenever he says that I scowl at him and smack his arm although secretly I agree with him, not that I'll ever admit that though.

I wasn't the only one being kept busy though. As the seasons went by I watched as the people around me that I loved grow and transform themselves too. Relationships blossomed. Antonio and Romano finally got together and believe it or not Feli actually started a relationship of his own with Alfred's former boss Ludwig. People moved away. Vash and Lili decided to move back to their homeland in Switzerland to continue their flower business there, Kiku returned home to Japan to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming a manga artist and Mattie embarked on a journey to Cuba claiming that when he returned home the ladies would call him adventurous. And new faces were welcomed into the world when Feliks and Toris found a surrogate mother to conceive the child they had always wanted. Feliks (after much begging to Toris might I add) named their darling adoptive daughter Cashmere Chanel and although it's definitely not a name I would have chosen I knew that it would fit my sassy friend's future fashion diva perfectly. But it wasn't just Feliks and Toris who had started a family, Alfred and I decided to have children too.

After a few years of trying we were finally blessed with two wonderful children that ended up causing most of the excitement and havoc in our lives. Arthur was nine and the older of the two. Everyone said that he took after me; he shared my love of books and my sharp tongue and like me he lacked the ability to cook. My son also inherited the emerald green eyes, messy blonde hair and thick eyebrows that had run in the Kirkland family for generations. Amelia on the other hand was just like her father. My daughter was seven, spunky and always full of energy; she adored playing games and just like Alfred she referred to herself as the hero. She was the spitting image of him, big sky blue eyes, a blinding smile and that little cowlick that refused to stay down. Currently at the moment Amelia was busy persuading Arthur into playing a game with her and although I was outside on the balcony and nowhere near my children I knew this because I could hear my daughter's begging and my son's grumbling noisily floating throughout the castle. Taking one last look at the moon that sat overhead I returned inside to put an end to my children's little disagreement.

I found them in the study, Arthur was curled up in my reading chair with a thick book settled on his lap and Amelia was forcefully tugging on his shirtsleeve much to his displeasure.

Arthur's mouth was pulled into a frown and his eyebrows had furrowed together in annoyance. "Amelia, I'm trying to read," he snapped as he tried to rip his arm out of her grip.

"All you ever do is read!" she complained, throwing her hands up dramatically. "Can't you take a break and hang out with me?"

I watched the two of them argue back and forth for another moment before making my presence known to them. When they realized that I was watching their squabble they immediately stopped, Arthur straightening his posture in my chair and Amelia smoothing her dress down like there hadn't been a fight at all.

"Hey, Mom," Amelia greeted innocently. She was the first to speak since she was the braver of the two.

I folded my arms across my chest and looked down at her. "Oh don't you act like the two of you weren't just fighting," I scolded playfully.

After I said that she dropped her sweet nothing-was-happening act and put her hands on her hips like the feisty girl she was. "He's being boring again," she accused pointing to her older brother.

Arthur opened his mouth to snap back at her with something witty but I cut him off by saying to Amelia, "Oh, darling, you should know this by now shouldn't you? You know, how grumpy your brother gets if you bother him when he's got his nose buried in a book."

Amelia giggled and Arthur scowled, "I am not grumpy!"

Just then Alfred entered the study and coming over to where the three of us were situated he laughed, "Oh, Artie, I can hear you yelling from all the way downstairs, you're most definitely grumpy."

"Don't call me Artie, dad," Arthur said aggravated. Arthur had always hated that nickname; he thought it was childish and that the future king should have a more proper sounding name. But despite his constant plea to be called by his full name we never listened, mostly because we thought it was fun to tease him.

Alfred ruffled Arthur's hair and gave Amelia a peck on the cheek. He then turned to me he asked with a chuckle, "What are they arguing about now?"

"Oh you know," I said as Alfred wrapped his arm around my waist bringing me closer. "Silly things like Arthur always reading and not wanting to play with his sister."

"You want to play a game, kiddo?" Alfred asked, bending down to Amelia's height.

Our daughter's face brightened. "Can we please? Artie's always busy with his books."

He scooped her up into his arms and said, "Of course but not tonight, right now it's time for the two of you to go to bed."

She stuck out her bottom lip, a puppy dog look Alfred knew only too well. "I'm not tired," she declared.

"Amelia," I began to chide, "its way past your bedtime."

She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed, "Fine."

Alfred laughed and carried Amelia out of the study to get her ready for bed leaving me alone with Arthur.

My little bookworm still had a glower plastered to his face from hearing the name Artie. Sighing I began to run my hand through his golden locks. "Arthur sweetie, we were only joking you can't take everything so seriously," I told him. Like me Arthur was also sensitive to some of the things that people said to him.

I continued to stroke his hair for another minute when he suddenly asked, "Are you and dad angry that I read all the time?"

I pulled my hand back from his head in surprise to what he had just asked. What a strange question, why on earth would a parent be angry with their child for reading? I was about to comment on how silly I thought he was being when I realized how important me answering this was to him. I brought my hand back and began to play with his hair again. "Of course we're not mad that you read a lot. It's wonderful that you enjoy reading; reading is a very vital part of your life. Your father and I are both so proud of you for being so intelligent."

That seemed to brighten him up a bit but he still looked doubtful. "Amelia is angry with me a lot…"

"Amelia is an energetic seven year old girl; she only wants your attention," I explained. When Arthur didn't answer me I said, "Look, I know that the words that you read on those pages might be more exciting than entertaining your sister but as her big brother you need to be there for her. I'm not saying that you need to play with her every second of the day but sometimes you can put down the book and just hang out with her for a while."

There was a silence between us but after a while Arthur's lips slowly curled into a small smile and he nodded. "Okay, I guess you're right."

I smiled and offered him my hand. He happily took it and together we left the study and headed to the bedroom that he and Amelia shared.

…Line Break…

When we arrived at the shared bedroom we found that Amelia had already changed into her nightgown and that Alfred was now busy chasing her around the room. She shrieked with excitement as her father made monster noises and said things like "you can't escape from me!" Arthur and I watched as they played their little game from the doorway until finally I thought that they needed to settle down.

"Really, Alfred?" I said to my husband as I raised an eyebrow, letting him know that Arthur and I were in the room with them. "You were supposed to be getting her ready for bed not making her even more hyper."

Alfred froze mid run and bringing a hand to the back of his neck he looked away and apologized.

I snorted, "You do realize she'll be up all night now right?"

"Oh you need to relax, Alice," he said to me with a laugh as he came over and began to massage my shoulders as a joke.

"Cut it out you, git," I giggled as I smacked him, freeing myself from his hands.

"Make me," he challenged, getting closer to my face.

I was about to respond to him when Amelia suddenly interrupted our moment with a loud "EW!"

Alfred and I whipped our heads around to face her. "What?" we both asked.

"Were you guys going to kiss?" she asked us, her nose crinkled.

I blushed but Alfred kept a cool exterior. "No," he lied smoothly.

"If you kiss you'll get cooties," she warned us.

We laughed and even Arthur, who had changed into his pajamas during Alfred and I's moment, joined in. "You know one day you're going to meet someone who you're going to want to kiss," I said to her.

"Yeah everyone kisses someone eventually," Arthur said to her, "the people in my books kiss too."

I gave my son a questioning look, "what kind of books are you reading exactly?"

He turned a bright shade of red and retreated to the safety of his bed. I was definitely going to have a talk with him about this tomorrow…

Alfred then covered his ears and shook his head. "No we are not talking about this right now. You're only seven so no kissing allowed until you're old enough!" he said firmly, trying to deny the fact that one day our daughter was going to grow up and fall in love. Fathers could be overprotective when it came to any guy other than a family member going near their little girl.

I laughed then announced to the children, "Okay it's time the two of you went to sleep."

"Will you tell us a bedtime story first?" Amelia asked us as she climbed up onto her bed and flopped face down on the pillows.

Alfred chuckled and sat down on the foot of her bed. "Which one would you like to hear?" he inquired as he pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Ooh tell us your story," she requested excitedly as she scrambled to get under the covers.

I gave an amused smile and sat down on the edge Arthur's bed. "But we told you that one the last time."

"But it's my favorite!" she told us, the sapphire eyes that she inherited from her father twinkled as she spoke.

"I would like to hear that story as well," Arthur told us once he had gotten situated.

After our children made a unanimous decision that that was the story they wanted to hear Alfred and I glanced at each other, using our eyes to communicate. We both silently agreed that Alfred would start first and without further ado he launched into the opening of the story where I was an angsty teenager who just wanted to be free. Our kids knew the story of how we had gotten together so well after hearing it time after time but still they felt suspense during the part where I was hiding in Alfred's apartment from the knights and laughter when I told them of how the scones I had been making caught fire. They were always amused when we used different voices to talk as our friends and it was always great fun when the entire family joined in and tried to do Feliks' valley girl accent. By the end of the story, the wedding, the two of them were finally winding down and were moments away from falling asleep. Alfred and I noticed this so we quickly wrapped up the ending before our children drifted off. When we were positive that they were asleep we both stood up from our children's beds and after each placing a kiss on their foreheads we quietly slipped out of their room and into the hallway.

Alfred and I walked hand in hand back to our own bedroom and once we had arrived the two of us went out to stargaze on the balcony. The moon was exactly where it had been in the sky when I had left it and the stars were shimmering even brighter. Alfred squeezed my hand and I rested my head on his shoulder as we shared a comfortable silence, we were finally at peace after a long day of work and attending to our children.

"Do you think they'll ever get tired of hearing that story?" Alfred asked me after a while.

I thought it over for a moment before replying, "Nope."

Alfred brushed a piece of my hair back behind my ear and chuckled, "Well it is a really good story so I can understand why they like it."

I laughed, "You just like telling it because you like to over exaggerate how brave you were when you stopped the wedding."

He grinned and nodded in agreement. "That's true but you've got it admit I was pretty damn heroic," he winked at me.

I smacked his arm. "Git," I muttered as I rolled my eyes at him.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me in for a kiss. "I love you too."

And for a while we just stood there like that, holding each other out on the balcony underneath the moonlight and the stars. We had come so far from when we were teenagers. In the beginning we were both so unsure, doubting that our love for each other could make it but then in the end we proved ourselves wrong and created a bond so strong that it supported an entire country and a family. And as Alfred and I's relationship grew and as the years leading up to this moment right now passed I learned so much about the world and about myself. I learned about friendship and tragedy and first love but most importantly I learned that nobody has the right to choose your life for you. It's your fairytale and the pencil is in your hand; the one who writes down the happy ending is you. And as Alfred lead me back inside the castle I couldn't help but have a feeling of overwhelming happiness rush over me because this life, Alfred, and everything that was important to me was my decision and I will never once regret it.

The End

Dear my super mega foxy awesome hot readers,

So there you guys have it, the ending of A Different Kind Of Fairytale. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! All of you guys are absolutely amazing, thank you so much for supporting this story and seeing it through! All of you get cookies and my love! *hugs each and every one of you* Sadly this is where we must part but I hope to write more stories in the future so hopefully we'll all meet again someday :) Also it would mean the world to me if you reviewed, I would love to see this story go out with a bang XD

- Spoonmeister