Author Notes: In the spirit of NaNaWriMo, I'm starting something new this year. I've been holding this story idea back just for this month. No worries, if I can stay ahead on this story, I'll keep the priority list going for my other stories and such. I just love writing several projects at once and it's too addicting.

This is my first attempt at a PruHun. So straight up just forgive any cliches or overused ideas seeing as I don't actually read a lot of PruHun or write it, like, ever. So. Yeah! That goes for high school AUs too. Lol. Also, keep in mind it's my NaNo story so it'll be coming out super fast this month without much editing. I know exactly how it ends, and my outline is basically being filled in a few chapters ahead of where I am (seeing as I'm a huge discovery writer and usually only use a few points ahead of time and the end goal to keep myself on track). I thrive during NaNo, so hopefully this goes somewhere.

Warning: Character death is a possibility. I haven't determined yes or no at this point, but it's definitely a possibility.

Pairing: PruHun, AusHun, others possibly implied

Genre: Romantic Tragedy (guys, Clannad is my favorite anime ever, if that tells you anything xD)

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Incomplete

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Chapter 1: Elizaveta

There were a million and one things running through my mind as I climbed the stairs in the old hospital. Like why I wasn't taking the elevator for one, and the acknowledgment that being still even for a few seconds would probably make me break down at this point. After all, the phone call earlier was enough to almost make me lose control. Thankfully, my parents could understand my urgency to leave the house in the middle of the night, even if they didn't particularly care for the guy I was rushing to go see.

Questions surged through my head. Why? How? When? What was he doing? How did it come to this? When did he get caught out in this mess? Why had he never told me? Why did this have to happen? Would he be all right? What was it going to be like when I walked inside his room?

I gulped and pushed that thought away the most. I didn't want to think about it. Obviously, everything I thought of would be worst case scenario and it was going to work me up as I rushed through the stairs. I needed to keep it together. Just a little bit longer. Keep it together long enough to make it there. I was pretty sure I'd lose it and the tears would break free and my shaking would make it impossible to stand, but I wanted to make it there first.

I had to see him for myself.

Of course, there was another major thought hovering behind all the others as I finally made it to the room. As I pushed through the door and stared down at the still form on the hospital bed, ignoring the two other occupants of the room. A small, old hospital for a small, old town. The staff had not been prepared for the recent school yard bloodshed. No one would have been.

And yet, as I stood there staring at him, feeling my heart pounding and the tears beginning to break free, all I could think of was how he deserved better. I should have paid him more attention these past few years. God knows, he deserved so much more than what I gave him, so much more than what life in general gave him. I could have done more, should have done more...why did it take this tragedy for me to realize as much?

I walked over to his bed and hovered at the edge, staring down at the seemingly sleeping form. I could feel the eyes from the other occupants, and the eyes as more people flooded the room – those who had been hanging outside when I burst down the door against hospital visiting hour policy.

His eyes opened. I felt myself bark a half-hearted laugh through the sobs as I reached out to lightly punch him on the shoulder. He grinned at the tap, a grin so wide it reached all the way to his eyes.

"You idiot," I murmured, and then everything broke loose and all control was lost.

~!~

Maybe I should start my story from the beginning. That little glimpse was probably too heavy for an introduction, and you have no idea who I'm talking about or even who I am at this point. Well, let's get started for real then.

On the first day of my adventure in a new school my parents had to pull me from the bed kicking and screaming. Figuratively, of course. I was a sophomore by American high school standards, a second year, and lucky for me, I got to transfer from Hungary into this small, old American town where no doubt everyone would know everyone already. If it were up to me, I'd stay home and insist on being home schooled or learning the material on my own. I hadn't heard many good things about America's current school system, and I was definitely not looking forward to being the new kid on the block in such a foreign environment.

Nevertheless, I wasn't one to disappoint my parents. They were nice people. A little overbearing at times, but still nice and so obviously trying to walk the line of being friends and being, well, parents. We've been to America before. After all, my mom is from here, and the military can't always send her overseas. I just...haven't been to a small town like this, even if my dad keeps insisting it's not as bad as I keep making it out to be. Granted, he was born in a small town in Hungary, so his opinion is a little biased. Some of his best friends were made in that town, so he's got it in his mind that of course I'll make my best friends here.

Well, news flash Dad, things are different from when you were a child.

Seriously. And to top it off I'm in America! Not some chill Hungarian town with silly traditional dance festivals. Not the same at all.

Besides, there was no need for me to search for my best friend. I already had one. Lili Zwingli lived in Lichtenstein currently, going to some boarding school for girls far, far away from me. She normally lived with her older brother in Switzerland, but their parents had seen fit to separate the two for some reason. Of course, we had pleaded for them to send Lili to America with me, but that didn't work so well. Something about too much money, even though her family was well off enough to do whatever they pleased. They were just the type to actually budget and save and refuse to spend money on frivolous things, such as keeping two desperate best friends together.

Oh well.

All the begging and pleading amounted to absolutely nothing, and the two best friends in the whole world separated for what would feel like forever. Sure, we promised to always send letters, seeing as calling someone across the ocean would be a little difficult. And Lili had suggested a pattern for my school uniforms. My parents were pleased to see me sewing in my own room, on my own accord, doing girly stuff for what was not the first time no matter how much they gawked. Excuse me for acting like a tomboy when I was growing up. I still liked to do girl stuff from time to time, and the opportunity to make my own school uniform as opposed to wearing the atrocious store bought designs...

Yeah, at least I had something to do during the summer vacation. A normal girl may have poked her head out of the new house and gone exploring during the daylight hours. I refused. I didn't want to meet anyone. I was still mad at having to move, and I didn't feel like exploring the town I could no doubt walk circles around in a single day.

At least not now or maybe ever.

Of course the day for my first appearance eventually arrived against my will and I was forced out of the house to begin the short trek to the school. Wearing my recently made red and white plaid sleeveless dress over a white blouse with a tie because apparently everyone was required to wear at least that much. Actually, the instructions for school dress were quite easy to follow: keep it within school colors with the absurd plaid uniform look, wear a tie, keep shorts, skirts, and dresses to appropriate length. Nice shoes to match with tights or pantyhose for girl's legs when weather reached chilling points. Of course, we were allowed to wear pants, too, if we so preferred. Also, there hadn't been any mention of hair accessories, so I took the liberty to wear a thin headband in my long, full brown hair, clipping a faded red fake flower onto the band. Just to add a little personal flare, I guess. Lili would have thought it was cute.

I sighed as I shifted my choice of backpack further up my right shoulder and thanked whatever genius business decided to create purses with long straps. Wearing my purse against my hip with the strap resting on my opposite shoulder left my hands free to open doors and deal with anything that came my way this morning. Or so I thought.

Walking beside the empty country road, slowly making my way to the hill I would have to cross to get to the school on the other side, I assumed I would have nothing else to worry about beyond watching my own steps. The grass was green on either side of me and a little wet from the dew of the morning. There were also puddles along the side of the road as if to prove that the drainage system of the country road was terrible as to be expected. Things were much better in the city where they didn't rely on mother nature to keep areas flood-free. So needless to say, I had to step around puddles and...

Well, I guess after all the set up you know exactly what comes next.

Apparently, I was one of the few walkers, but not the only one to live close enough to make the trek. The others who lived nearby just happened to have bicycles to make the walk to school quicker and easier.

My only warning was the shouting cries from behind. "Gil, watch where you're-!"

Faster than lightning, a bike passed me on the right. I caught a flash of odd white hair and strange bright red eyes (an eye color like that stands out), and then there was the splash of water as his bike tires ran through the puddle right next to me. Water and mud on my new personally sewn school outfit. Nevermind the soaking my backpack received. God help me, he was lucky to be on a bike and racing past me. My anger inflamed near instantly as the perpetrator escaped unscathed. I burned his image into my mind. Thankfully, he was unique enough that I could have found him later even if this wasn't a small town.

A few seconds later, another guy passed me on a similar bike, shouting after his friend. If I hadn't been fuming, I might have cared to burn the albino's friend into my mind as well. Instead, I got to be distracted by yet a third person pulling up on his bike and actually taking a moment to slow down and apologize.

Or, I should say, a blond haired idiot who made an attempt to apologize. "I hope Gilbert didn't ruin-"

Clenching my hands into fists, I turned to the pony-tailed boy and tried not to glare too hard. "First day reputation be damned, that guy is dead."

I never had been good at holding back my anger once it managed to break free. Even as a child, I was a bit rough around the edges. Boys loved to play with me and sometimes I'd even pretend to be one of them. It wasn't too hard to play at being a guy when I was younger. Of course, once I developed that went out the window, but the anger and urge to punch someone for wronging me in anyway? Yeah. That never went away.

"Sacrebleu!" The guy exclaimed, a very fake-sounding French accent mixed with an overused and not truly accurate curse; my mind screamed poser the moment I heard the word. "The cat has claws!"

Before I had a chance to blow up at this jerk, he put his feet back on his bike pedals and chased after his two friends without even offering a real apology or attempting to cover up for the mistake of splashing the new girl on the first day of school. First impressions of this school crowd: absolutely appalling. I was so excited for the rest of the day.

~!~

I made it to the school without any more issues, thankfully. Walking through the students after the first bell rang, though, that was devastating. I could almost hear all the people silently judging me for coming to school dirty on the first day. I wanted to scream at them that it wasn't my fault, but such an outburst would only serve to worsen the situation.

It's okay. You've had bad luck before; this is just more major because it ruins your chance of having a good reputation on the first day of school and since everyone here no doubt already has their cliques getting friends is going to be impossible. But no, it's perfectly fine.

I went to the office to pick up my yearly schedule of classes, groaning at the lineup. Four classes for the first semester, four for the second. What a stupid system. Not that I had any say in the matter. Not anymore. I would probably be bored throughout all the classes anyway.

Considering math was my first subject and American high school math courses were supposed to be laughably easy for most foreign transfer students, I decided now would be a great time to visit the restrooms and clean myself up. I couldn't walk around soaked and covered in mud the whole day. Looking down at the ruined dress, I felt my anger rise back to the surface. If I so much as saw that white haired red-eyed albino idiot – well – heaven help him.

Clenching my fingers into my backpack strap, I pushed through lingering students and quickly made my way into the nearest girl's bathroom without any more incidents. No one else seemed to be in here, which was good. I didn't want to deal with questions or judgmental stares. I had experienced enough already from students and administrators alike. The adults in the office just seemed to look down their noses when I had to explain more than once that I was a foreign transfer and couldn't just go look at the lists on the walls. Besides, they spelled my last name wrong, which led to an even worse experience as I tried to explain to them what "all those marks" actually meant.

With a sigh, I set my bag on the floor next to the bathroom sinks and rolled my sleeves up. Turning the water on, I grabbed a handful of paper towels, got them wet, and started to dab at the mess on my clothes. Such a pain. I can't believe this had to happen on the first day. At least I'm not crying over it. I'd much rather be fuming at the guy who caused this than crying all alone in the bathroom.

Yeah, thank god I'm not doing that.

Sure, I was going to have to walk around school all day with this water splotch on my dress, even if I did manage to get most of the mud stains out, which was unlikely. But I couldn't let that ruin the entire day. I was going to be late for my first class, probably called out for it. Which would be annoying. I could use the excuse that it was my first day here and I got lost, but that was once again at the cost of my reputation. All my plans and hard work to make a good impression, and everything' went wrong because of that albino fool. If I saw him later today at all, I would make him pay. Too bad I didn't have a PE class scheduled for this half of the school year. That'd be the best place to get my revenge.

As I grumbled to myself about stupid albino jerks, a flash of white caught my eye from the mirror and I froze. The owner of said hair stepped up closer, heels clicking on the bathroom floor, and I turned to see long white hair flowing from a girl beside me. Staring at her in the mirror, I noticed a pair of dark blue eyes staring back at me.

"Something on my face?" The girl growled, and I noticed the dark blue choker around her neck and the tongue ring in her mouth. Okay, so, her hair must be dyed or a very platinum blond. Not albino. Just punk. Well, that explained her sour attitude, too. "You the new girl?"

I nodded, a little taken aback to make a definitive reputation-saving response at the moment.

She turned and the water stopped dripping from the sink as she moved to dry her hands, all the while keeping her icy cool glare on my gaze in the mirror. "Stay away from my brother."

Without another word, she left me hanging, blinking into the mirror. I stared in the spot she had been standing, well after she had vacated it, and opened and closed my mouth several times. Stay away from her brother? That's a hell of a greeting.

"But," I murmured as I went back to scrubbing the mud out of my dress. "I don't even know who she is, so how am I supposed to know who her brother is? Not only is that a terrible way to greet the new girl, but now I'm even more confused about who I'm supposed to stay away from. Is her brother popular? Does that happen a lot? Why would she care? Ugh! I don't care! It's not like I'm here to hunt for guys anyway! Screw this place. I just want to go home now!"

Gritting my teeth, I scrubbed until my hands were sore, and then growled at the lack of progress. Okay, I can be honest and admit to the progress, even if it is very small, but it's still enough of a lack to make me growl and groan and fume and huff and imagine that stupid little albino jerk on his stupid little bike. Maybe I should set a trap for him tomorrow morning as revenge. I could push him off the hill. Yeah. Sounds good. I make that jerk wish he hadn't messed with me!

~!~

Funny story. My day didn't end there. Oh yeah, it gets better.

I eventually found my way to the classroom I was supposed to be in. Some simple math class, I was sure. My theory was proven correct, too, once I was able to sit down after all the cute-explanation and looking-sorry-on-purpose and trying not to glare at the albino boy I spotted almost immediately upon entering the room. Oh, the professor wasn't as bad as the office workers. She actually allowed the excuse, introduced me to the class like we were children or something stupid. She mispronounced my name, and I sighed and said people could call me Elizabeth if they so wanted. All the while trying my best not to let my anger out.

Time and place for everything. This is not the time for attempted murder.

Not that I would actually kill him. Just...cause enough bodily harm to make him regret ruining my day. That was only fair, right? I mean, he deserved it, didn't he? Especially with the way he was nudging his buddies – what were the odds of all three of them being in the same classroom and being allowed to sit next to each other? Thankfully, I found an open seat to claim as my own that was far enough away from the terrible trio.

It didn't stop them from whispering about me, though. "She's hot. Would you bang her?"

Stupid. Annoying. Immature.

"Nah, my eyes are only for Lovino."

"Oh that's right. I forget Toni's gay. What about you, Francis? You think she's a virgin?"

"Mon ami," that fake French again; what was wrong with this trio? Seriously? Asking such inappropriate questions and not even getting called out by the teacher; I guess the professor was used to them; ugh, that spelled so much bad for this town. "I am trying to focus."

"Tch, whatever, man. I'll ask her myself."

What? What is he going to-?

And just like that I was successfully distracted from the lesson, not that it was too important anyway. I remembered covering this topic a few years back. Apparently all the talk was true. Americans were so behind on their math. I could do these problems on my own without having to ask for help or have it explained again. Granted, it was just the beginning of the year. Maybe they could catch up. Maybe?

Before I could ponder further, a piece of paper dropped onto my desk from over my shoulder. It was folded into several squares and had the words "To the new chick" scribbled on the front in horrible writing.

Feeling my rage bubbling to the surface, I took a deep breath and unfolded the failure of a proper note. Wasn't there a cuter way to do this passing notes thing? Why did it have to be him? Of everyone who could toss me a note on the first day, I get the one guy I don't want to have interest in. The guy that splashed me and completely ruined my first day. What does he even want?

"Hey new chick, are you a virgin? Yes/No?"

Oh. Oh he is so dead.

Holding the hot anger inside, swallowing, taking a deep breath to chill, I decided to play his stupid little note game. Fine. If he wanted to be an immature asshole, I had no problem giving him a taste of his own medicine.

"Are you really an albino loser?"

Folding the note up – the proper way mind you with the little tag to "lock" it and everything – I crossed out his "to the new chick" and wrote my name instead. Beneath it, I wrote my own little description of him. I was pretty sure everyone would know exactly who the note was meant for anyway.

"To the albino asshole."

Yeah. Tossing it over my shoulder to the no doubt bored student behind me, I sat back in my seat and waited for his reaction. If he would even feel obligated to give me one. I had noticed that he'd stopped whispering to his buddies, though. Maybe the note thing was a good enough distraction to keep him from ruining everyone else's day, too. Well, fine. I hated how he was the only one to give me any kind of real attention, but this certainly beat day-dreaming away the math lesson for a concept I already understood.

The note flitted back to my hands. An arrow pointed to the tagged lock with the word "cute" in small print. Besides the fact that he'd drawn a lopsided sad face with another arrow pointing to my apt description of him. No correction, though, which meant he could at least accept the truth however harsh. It did make me wonder what his response would be, so I opened the note quickly and read:

"I am awesome! But yes, albino. I know it's rare so people don't always believe me. Don't have to use it as an insult, though. That's so overdone. Trust me."

With a huff, I noticed a couple added question marks to his first message, but nothing overly erratic. The albino comment must have hit him harder than I expected. Huh. I should feel delighted at making him feel pain, but I wasn't exactly intending to use it so early or like that. Then again, he may just be playing me. Still, I had to frown as I responded this time.

"You want me to believe you were bullied for being albino? Please." After a second thought, I crossed out the sarcastic please and in its place: "Oh wait, I guess that explains why you're such a bully yourself."

I folded the note back up and wrote something new on the front, pointing to the sad face. "You could have given me your name, idiot."

I tossed the note over my shoulder again, getting a chuckle from the guy behind me. I guess he thought it was funny. Well, at least we wouldn't have an issue with our classmates turning us in for passing notes. To my surprise, the note came back almost instantly.

"It's Gilbert," was written on the front, and when I opened it a simple, single line. "Not a bully. Explain."

Raising an eyebrow, I turned around to see the albino with his arms crossed, staring at me. So. He was watching me respond this whole time? What a creeper. Though I did get a good look at the sorry state of his own clothes. A thin red jacket to cover most but not all of the obligatory red shirt and tie. And the stupid idiot had a pair of frayed blue and white plaid pants. Well, if he was getting away with it, I guess the office staff didn't have such a stick up their ass about uniform as I assumed. Pretty sure blue wasn't a main color, and he was the only one in class with blue plaid, too!

Scoffing to myself at his curious look, I turned back to my desk to give him a response. "Well, Gilbert, you ruined my morning when you splashed me with your insane bike moves. So, yes you are a bully. My first day and you're already taking advantage of a poor innocent cute girl on the side of the street. It's a wonder one of your friends even wanted to cover for your fuck up."

The wait was longer than I thought it would be. "That was you? I had no idea. Francis was terrified when he came back. Said you were like an angry cat baring its claws. It was fucking hilarious. I haven't seen him so scared of a chick before since he tried to force Natalia onto the dance floor. So yeah that's awesome. I like you even more now. Can I call you Lizzy?"

Having my face blush at his comments just served to piss me off more. I did not want attention from this jerk of an idiot! Seriously! Why did he have to be the only one to talk normally with me? Hell, this couldn't even be considered normal!

"No you cannot call me Lizzy. Or I'll start calling you Gil. That's such a stupid name by the way. And I don't like you. You ruined my dress! You're immature and from what I've seen so far, you're nothing but a pain that everyone just suffers to have around."

"Ouch. You don't pull any punches do you, Lizzy?"

When I saw the words on the paper, I had to stare. A memory came back to me, hitting me hard between my eyes as it flashed and refused to disappear. I'd seen an albino once before in my lifetime. That's why it wasn't so surprising when I saw him today, and why I knew exactly what the red eyes and stark white hair actually meant. Because I'd seen it before. And I'd seen the annoying smirk before, too.

With shaking fingers, I managed to write back. "Gil? Were you ever in Berlin? For a concert? As a kid?"

I couldn't bear to look back at him as I waited on a response. My hands were starting to shake from the irony. Was it irony? If it was true...it couldn't be true. The world was too big for chance meetings like that. Impossible. Too rare. The little boy from my memories. He had been nicer. Easy to push around. Fun to hang out with whenever our parents met up. Concerts, plays, dances...we were always dragged along and always sneaking out to jeer at the people walking the streets outside or climb trees we weren't allowed to climb in our outdoor nice evening clothes or even better, sneaking around the concert hall for the best hidden seats that no one else ever found. Oh god. All those crazy antics. All those mostly forgotten memories.

It couldn't be...

The note came back. I turned to glance over my shoulder, catching the smirk, before opening the now ominous folds.

"Took you long enough. No way I would forget that attitude, though it did take me a while, too. I mean, you actually look like a girl now, you know?"

~!~

A/N: My first het romance I think. Funny. Took a little bit to find her voice, but I think I got it. I haven't really written from Lizzy's point of view – a section of a chapter here or there in One Season but beyond on that, it's doubtful. The set up for this story is three points of view though so if you don't like my Hungary you can always be satisfied with my Gilbert or Roderich, I guess. Hopefully one of them will be good enough xD

Speaking of, next up we get Gil's point of view. Yay. My high school AU is so loaded.

Oh, and I am going to explain the comments about France's french. Lol. My sister always goes on about how it's silly to imagine all these people of different national origins in one high school, so I'm aiming for a little more realism. I'm focused more on their characters than their nations or nationality, too. Yeah.

Funny that Belarus is the first to show up besides the BTT and even funnier that she comes across as punk? Like, what, where did that even come from, brain?

This seems to be more comical than I first imagined. I can't do high school without doing comedy, though. Anime has ingrained it into my brain. Romance/Comedy/Tragedy? I dunno. That's kind of weird.

~I love each and every review/alert/favorite; hit me~!

~Reda