A/N: I do not own Axis Powers Hetalia or any of it's characters, this is a work of fan fiction. Please read and I hope you enjoy it. As always reviews are welcomed criticism also. One more thing I use the nations names and their human names interchangibly so I hope it won't be to confusing. The first chapter is about Jeanne/ Joan :)
"DON'T DO IT!"
She turned her head and saw a blond haired man trying to push his way through the crowd, a panicked look evident on his face. He came! She smiled and whispered a prayer of thanks to God. She turned back her attention to the man who was being held back by a few other men, her executioners poured oil all over her white gown and a man wearing black came closer with a torch in his hand.
"STOP IT! LET ME GO!" she felt her lip quiver at his pain stacking screams, she wouldn't die with regrets not now, not never. She held her head high with pride, no one would see her scream or cry in terror, she wouldn't give those villains the pleasure of enjoying killing her. She turned her head to the blond haired man who was crying in anguish, and smiled, though she hadn't intended it a few tears fell from her eyes. Not for her impending death, no she was much too proud for that, she was crying for him. She cried for all the memories of them she cherished, she was grateful for the time they spent together and would forever love them.
"Merci Francis! Merci pour le temps que nous avons passé ensemble! Au revoir mon ami! Adieu! Vive la France!" she yelled out as the man with the torch lit the fire wood and as she felt the heat consume her entity and the touch of death grew stronger, she looked back at the man she loved one last time. Her eyes began to dim and a smile rested on her face as her conscious faded.
"JEANNE!"
Jeanne jolted from her sleep in sweat as she touched her arms and shivered, that dream was occurring more frequent over the past six months. She didn't know who those people were or that man who kept crying out to her from the crowd. She sighed and settled back down into the bed, her head was pounding from the sudden jolt and she placed a pillow over her head to keep the light from the morning's sun at bay.
There was a knock on the door, followed by a voice
"Jeanne? Jeanne it's time to get up! The bus is leaving soon! Jeanne!" it was Amanda Randolph, her best friend from since high school. Jeanne sighed and slowly made her way out of her comforters. She went straight to the bathroom in her room and took a quick hot shower, brushed her teeth, dried, changed into her clothes and was out the door within the span of fifteen minutes.
Amanda was outside waiting for her, she had a slight annoyed look on her face as her best friend trudged up to her casually, their bus was waiting on them and their teacher had cussed her off for keeping him behind schedule to which she had to apologize for her friend's tardiness.
"Jeanne I thought you would have never finished, hurry or we'll have to endure another of Mr. Edison's rants." She grimaced and pulled her best friend along before the girl could open her mouth, Jeanne sighed and allowed herself to be pulled along by her British friend.
Once they got on the bus, their French teacher Mr. Edison scowled at the duo in irritation. He was a man of short patience which was especially obvious when dealing with students he didn't particularly care for, sadly this was the case for the two teens who were almost always on the receiving end of their teacher's verbal abuse.
"Nice to see you two could finally join us, I was about to tell Mr. Parkinson here to go ahead and drive off." He said haughtily, Jeanne looked at him and then at her watch. She frowned in disbelief,
"Sir, the bus isn't supposed to be leaving until another ten minutes, may I ask what's the rush to go now?" she asked carefully, her teacher had a short fuse that none of the students dared to mess around with except Jeanne, intentionally or not she would still end up getting chewed out.
"If you must know Ms. Claude, I have a thing for reaching to my destinations on time therefore we must always leave before the appointed time to reach for the appointed time, doesn't that make sense Ms. Claude? If it didn't I could understand after all you are nearly always late for the class." He said shaking his raven hair.
Jeanne was about to reply with a witty comment but was stopped by Amanda's warning look. She sighed and nodded.
"I understand sir I will do better from now on." Jeanne said clenching her fists at her side, he gave her a grunt of approval and Jeanne quickly scouted the area for a seat for her and Amanda. Her breath hitched as she realized that the only seats that were unoccupied were right next to Ludwig Steinway.
It wasn't that Jeanne disliked Ludwig, oh no in fact she quite liked him…. A LOT. Her cheeks reddened drastically and she looked around again for unoccupied seats hoping to find one somewhere else. No such luck.
"Hey Ludwig are those seats available?" Amanda asked walking up to the youth. He shook his head and smiled.
"Yes Miss Randolph, Ms. Claude you can have a seat as well if you'd like." He said kindly, Amanda grinned and sat down leaving only the middle seat available, which was right next to Ludwig. Jeanne paled and looked at her friend in horror, but the brunette avoided her gaze by texting on her phone, how convenient. Jeanne walked down slowly, her heart pounding in her chest as she got closer. The German teen was reading a French vocabulary book and muttering the different phrases in his head.
Jeanne felt her palms go sweaty as she sat down carefully in her seat, the seats on the bus were so close that their shoulders were touching causing her heart to almost shoot of her chest. Jeanne lips were quivering as she started playing with her hands to distract herself from flushing dark red. Next to her Amanda was silently observing her best friend's anxiety and started feeling guilty, she had meant to give her friend the opportunity to talk to her crush but obviously that wasn't going well as Jeanne looked like she was about to throw up. Amanda turned her head to her friend and leaned in closely and whispered
"Do you want to exchange Jeanne? You look like your gonna blow chunks." Jeanne looked at Ludwig from the corner of her eye with shame and looked back at her friend and nodded, the oblivious teen didn't notice the two girls getting up slightly and switching seats.
Jeanne sighed in dismay, she was a huge tomboy who got asked out by a handful of guys, and some girls, but she always rejected them because she was more interested in sports and fencing, it was like that from the time she was in junior high up until her college days. Well that was before she met Ludwig, she felt what the girls who had crushes in high school used to talk about. That heart pounding feeling when he was near, the sense of joy when she saw his face, elation every time he spoke to her. She had it all, it was no doubt she liked him but she was far too embarrassed at the thought of asking him out like her friend Mei did with Lao.
She had let her hair grow past her shoulder over the years, mainly due to the fact that she was nearly always too busy to have a social life and the dread of having being mistaken as a guy on numerous occasions. She played with the ends of her hair and her mind drifted off to that dream she had of herself being burned at the stake and she frowned.
Who was that strange man crying out to her? Who were those people and why was she being killed like one of those witches from the Salem Witch Trials? None of it made sense and made her head hurt to try and remember. Amanda looked over at her friend and saw Jeanne frowning, she looked at her confused, was she annoyed with her for sitting by Ludwig?
"Jeanne? Jeanne? Hello!" she asked waving her hand in front of her face causing the blond to jump slightly. She looked at Amanda's worried face and smiled,
"Don't worry so much Amanda, I feel fine just a little tired that's all." She gave a reassuring smile and sunk back into the chair trying to get as comfortable, the trip was sure to be long and she needed all the rest she could get.
At the airport
Jeanne opened her tired eyes and peeled herself from the chair after being shaken by Amanda. She sighed, got up and took out her suitcase from the back of the bus. She usually was ecstatic about the idea of travelling but for some reason she couldn't get excited, in a sense she had been feeling quite depressed since her birthday back in April and it lasted till now. She hopped of the bus and look at Vancouver International, the airport seemed so full of life with its influx of visitors from all over the world. She smiled as she saw twins running around an older child who seemed annoyed, the two younger children hugged the older girl's waist and asked for a kiss, the girl looked like she was trying to hold back a smile but to no avail she stooped down and kissed their cheeks causing the twins to squeal in delight.
She was never blessed with any siblings due to her mother being so on with age when she had her at 37 but she had cousins who acted as her siblings so she never complained.
After two hours, Jeanne stretched her limbs which were getting stiff and yawned loudly, Mr. Edison gave her a disapproving look and opened his mouth to lecture but was stopped, thankfully, by the announcement of their plane boarding call. Jeanne hopped over to Amanda's side and the two teens looked at the magazine she was reading, a Gucci model was on the front page wearing barely anything save for a blazer and, in Jeanne's honest opinion, a skirt that was too short to the point it barely covered her buttocks.
"Lina Florentine is the prettiest model ever! She looks like she's not from this world look at how shocking blue her eyes are!" Amanda declared pointing to the platinum blond model, Jeanne agreed, she was extremely beautiful with her long curly platinum blond hair and her perfectly pouted pale pink lips, she also had the iciest blue eyes that she ever saw that stared into a person's very soul.
"She is pretty indeed, but you do know most of those models most likely either bleached their hair to look like this or this picture is extremely photo shopped most likely this is the same for this model ." Jeanne admitted honestly, Amanda adamantly defended the model.
"No way not Lina! She's natural all the way I just know it!" she argued, Jeanne put her hands up in defense.
"Hey I'm just telling the truth, all models have had something fake on them at one point of the other Am, it's a fact. Sorry for upsetting you." She said politely, she should have remembered that Amanda would get all up in arms, she was a lover of fashion and all things feminine unlike Jeanne who would have rather have a good book on a couch in yoga pants and a tank top.
"I'm sorry as well J, it's just that Lina and I knew each other from since we were kids and this is how she looked back then, she hasn't changed Jeanne, she has always looked like a little Barbie doll nothing has changed!" she said smiling sadly, linking her arms with Jeanne's who was surprised at the revelation.
"You know the highest paid teen model? Why are you only telling me that now?" she asked in disbelief as they walked towards the checking station, Jeanne gave the gate attendant her passport and ticket and afterwards Amanda did the same.
"I never thought it mattered." She shrugged and walked into the plane with Jeanne close beside her, Jeanne looked at her plane ticket and went to her seat number, Amanda, unfortunately, had another seat away from her close to the beginning of the plane. Jeanne sighed and went to the empty seats and sat down by the window and looked out, the sky was darkening from rain clouds. She just hoped whoever she sat next to would be interesting.
"Well isn't this a nice surprise!" a cheerful voice interrupted her thoughts, her eyes widened with recognition and she turned slowly to the owner of the voice.
Ludwig!
"Oh um is your seat here?" she asked before mentally smacking her forehead, what a dumb question. Smooth move Jeanne! Ludwig didn't seem to mind and smiled
"Yes actually it is, do you mind if I sit next to you? I don't particularly like being by the aisle the constant footsteps disrupts my chain of thought when I write." Jeanne looked at him surprised,
"You write?" He looked down embarrassed, he nodded and pulled out a small black book, he looked at it and sighed
"Yes but I'm afraid I'm not that good though…" he murmured smiling wryly, Jeanne looked curiously at his book and he looked at it as well frowning.
"I would show you but I'm afraid there's a lot of personal things in here, Es tut mir leid Ms. Claude." He said apologetically, Jeanne tried not to show her confusion but it obviously didn't work as he quickly rephrased his sentence
"Ah! I'm sorry, I still have a habit of incorporating German into my speech even though you're not German. I said I'm sorry Ms. Claude in German, sorry for not being wiser in speaking to you." He said smiling, a faint blush present on his cheeks. Jeanne blushed back, looked away and swallowed nervously
"Ms. Claude-"
"Jeanne." She said looking back at him, he looked startled.
"I want you to call me by my first name Ludwig, we are friends… right?" she was now feeling slightly afraid at the answer. He tilted his head in surprise before smiling.
"Of course we are! If Jeanne is what you want me to call you then I shall call you Jeanne from now on!" he said grinning. Jeanne smiled back and began humming a tune, it seemed this trip was turning out better than expected.
Jeanne was walking in the halls of the palace, she had just got back from battle and was feeling depressed.
They had lost 150 men on the battle field yesterday and she was ashamed coming back, how could she bear to see the families of the deceased knowing her carelessness caused those deaths? She vowed to protect all her men, yet she failed them. Betrayed their trust, the trust of their family, she loathed herself. As she passed the sick room she saw her men lying on the ground being attended to by nurses who were trying to pay attention to all the injured. Most of the men were in bandages ranging from just a limb to almost all their body.
Jeanne was also covered in bandages, the English did a good number on her, her arm was dislocated from its socket and hurt like crazy. The kings physician said that she wouldn't be able to go on the battle field for at least a month, a month she didn't have and wasn't willing to give. She walked out unto the terrace and let the cold night air hit her face, how refreshing it felt after the heat of battle.
She had been so preoccupied in her thoughts she didn't notice that she had a visitor. She felt someone place a hand on her back and she jumped and pulled out her sword, her eyes narrowed in preparation for a fight.
The person jumped back and placed hands in front of him Jeanne's eyes widened and she sighed putting her sword down.
"Francis… what are you doing surprising me like that?" she scolded but secretly she was happy to see him, it had been a while since she saw him and was missing him terribly.
"Jeanne your arm…" he began a worried expression on his face, Jeanne sighed, not this again.
"You know very well that it's likely I am to get hurt in battle, why must you act so shocked every single time you see me bandaged?" she questioned softly. He frowned.
"It bothers me… this whole war I'm tired of it, I just want it to stop. Jeanne I hate seeing you in pain it bothers me." He said gently enveloping her into an embrace as gently as he could. Jeanne breathed in his scent, he smelt like roses which contrasted with her scent of lilies. She wrapped her good arm around his waist and closed her eyes. They stayed like that for a while letting the silence between them be the only thing dwelling with them.
"I wish we could stay like this forever Jeanne." He whispered kissing her hair,
"Hmmm" she replied contentedly, his presence was so comforting, for a moment she wished she didn't have to go to war.
"Ahem." The duo looked to the owner of the voice startled,
"Y-your majesty!" Jeanne stammered pulling abruptly from Francis' arms, she saw his disappointed expression but he quickly replaced with a serious look.
"Was I interrupting something important?" he asked with a raised eye brow. Jeanne shook her head, she thanked the Lord she wasn't blushing like a silly girl.
"Non your majesty, I was just about to leave actually, bonne nuit your majesty, Jeanne." Francis bowed to the Dauphine before walking off leaving Jeanne looking after him longingly.
"Don't worry about him mon cheri, come we have much to discuss about your upcoming battle." Charles said as he held out his hand for Jeanne to take, she hesitated before taking his hand as he lead her away to the throne room.
Jeanne rolled over and placed her head on something warm and firm. She yawned and blinked sleepily, her pillow was so soft and it smelt like cherries. Jeanne cuddled into her pillow more and hugged it bringing it closer. It wouldn't budge.
She frowned sleepily and tried to pull it closer but it stayed in position. Jeanne felt irritated, the stupid pillow wouldn't move, why wouldn't it move? It was her bed and it would obey her! She gave it a final hard yank.
TEAARRRRRR.
Jeanne opened her eyes once more at the sound, what on earth just happened? Jeanne squinted as her eyes adjusted to the light and as it did she soon realized her "pillow" was actually a sleeping person.
Ludwig.
Jeanne's eyes shot open in horror and embarrassment overwhelmed her as she looked at her friend's shirt material in her hand and his shirt sleeve ripped open revealing his toned pale skin. It took Jeanne a few minutes to register that she wasn't cuddling up to her pillow but to her crush.
As it sank in Jeanne's face became five shades of red and she mentally screamed. Her heart was about to leap out of her chest, she was about to pass out at how close his face was from hers, their noses were slightly touching causing Jeanne to feel his warm breath against her lips.
"He is so handsome… just like that guy in my dreams, wait a minute… what did he look like again?" Jeanne thought confused, now that she actually thought about it she always had a vivid picture of him when she dreamed but she couldn't remember his face when she woke up. Jeanne was so absorbed in her thoughts she didn't realize that Ludwig woke up and found them in such close proximity.
"Um… Jeanne?" he said hesitantly, his discomfort brought her back into reality and she pulled her face away from him so quickly she knocked her head into the plane wall. Jeanne winced and held her head,
"U-um Miss Clau- ah I mean Jeanne are you alright?" he asked holding her injured head and inspected it turning her head gently so he could have had a better look.
"Well there's only a slight swelling but nothing serious thankfully. Please be more careful, I would hate to see that beautiful head of yours with anymore injuries." He said politely, Jeanne smiled back what her said flattered her and they continued their conversation for the rest of their trip.
All thoughts about the strange man in her dreams disappeared completely.
End of Chapter 1
How was it? Please R& R next chapter will be with France's side of things