Driven Off the Edge

Chapter I – Breaking Point

APH Cast © Hidekaz Himaruya
Original Characters © Their Owners

Many apologies in advance in case any characters that may be OOC.

-/-

Once… there was a mirror. Perfectly shaped; perfect in every aspect. Not a single spider crack was upon the surface of its clear and shining image. It gave a clear double of the person who viewed themselves in it.

However… one day, one fatal, crucial event occurred…

"I trusted you!" gunshots were heard, screams intermingling. "I trusted you – but you…" two men stood in the middle of a street, already gathering spectators. It was a clear night – and the stars twinkled merrily down upon the two warring men. "You killed her… you killed her!" he ran forward, gun forgotten; ready to kill the one he once called kin.

"You were an idiot, Mattie." His brother calmly stated, deftly dodging him and sending the younger man sprawling. "You didn't see what she was doing – of how she was going to ruin your country!" Another dodge, "Of how she was going to ruin everything – everything – that we've strived for. Their deaths meant nothing, if it meant that I was to be the Hero."

"So that's it…" Mattie, or rather, Mathieu Williams, said. He pulled a Colt .45 out, aiming at the man who looked so much like him – save for those blue eyes of his – and gripped the handle tightly. "That's it – why you killed Erin. It was out of pure spite – pure jealously." He gave a weak chuckle. "She was right; I was blind to it all along… they… they were all… Erin. All of them – they were merely pawns in your sick game, weren't they, brother?" he cocked back the hammer, his eyes wide with a maniacal light.

"Mattie, you didn't see the signs… the dangers." Alfred said quietly. "Erin was working against you – she wanted to have the entire world fall at Ivan's knees. Couldn't you tell? Her close friendship with Lumi – it was all plotted to begin with…" Mathieu shook his head at this.

"Lumi was my friend too," tears began to fall, "And I killed her, because she knew something I didn't – and for what? For your own gain; so that you can play "hero" like we did back when we were kids?" Mathieu glared at him, the scarf that once belonged to Ivan was stained deep with the Russian's blood, and it was comfortable. It reminded him of what he had lost – of what had happened.

Reminded him before his innocence was ripped away by the man he once called 'brother'.

Prior

Erin looked outside to see the sun setting on yet another uneventful day. Nothing had changed, nothing had been altered – everything was normal. Pawsteps were heard heading towards her direction, and Erin gave a genuine smile – a rare occasion. Her cat, Mattie, was awake. "Hello there, Mr Handsome." She cooed, as the tom reached up and rubbed his head against her cupped hand. "How art thou?" she giggled at herself, and the cat merely gave another loud purr. "Look at me, talking to a cat." She shook her head. "I need to get out some." She muttered to herself, hearing the phone ring. Curious, she left her cat to play with a string of yarn that he had found to answer.

"Hello, who is this?" she asked cautiously. She was just a little paranoid if someone called her – and if Mattie ever called her – she might just faint.

"Hey Erin, I have a question." It was Romania, and she sounded trouble. "Did you ever happen to find my bandana? I can't find it for the life of me. I already asked Fia, and Yu, but they haven't seen it." Erin looked thoughtful.

"I can't say I did… what colour was it again?" there was a noise behind her, and she heard Mattie growl warningly. Erin looked up, her puzzlement turning into terror as she gave a quieted shriek; the intruder's hand grasped around her mouth so she couldn't be heard. She struggled, trying to break free; but the man was obviously stronger than her. Mattie – where's Mattie? She saw the body of her cat lying limp on his side, and gave a heartwenching wail. Her baby – her Mattie – was dead! At this, Erin tried to break free even more, terror turning into fury.

"Let me go!" she hissed, but the man put up a greater fight, snapping her neck.

"Hey – is something going on? Erin – Erin? Erin! Erin, pick up the phone! Hello? Hello!" her voice sounded panicky, but the person who picked up the phone wasn't Erin.

"Heheh…"

"Who is this? What did you do to Erin?" the person chuckled, low and soft – dangerous.

"Erin… is dead." The phone disconnected.

-/-

"I… I tried calling her again, but there's no answer. Yes – I told you people fifteen times: I called her to ask if she had seen my bandana, and she had asked which colour it was. I told her, but I swear that I heard scuffling and a cry! Then this deranged psycho gets on the phone and says that Erin's dead!" Lumi began to hyperventilate. The minute the man had disconnected the call, she had redialled the number, only to get her answer machine. She had tried multiple times to get in contact with Mathieu over the matter, but he was unreachable as well. Frustrated, she had then turned to calling the emergency agency, but they were being utterly difficult.

"What is the matter, da; trouble?" Ivan asked, looking through a window. Lumi covered the mouthpiece with her hand, giving him a short glare.

"I'm not in the mood to play twenty questions – Erin could be in danger, or worse, dead and these idioti are taking forever!" she seethed, as Ivan reached for the phone. She debated about it, but in the end handed the phone over.

"Listen, and listen well, yes?" he said, "We are worried for – ah, Erin was it? – And wish to know if she still lives. You will check, yes?" silence, and then a garbled answer and at this, Ivan's expression grew slightly terrifying. "You will check yes. Otherwise your bones will be pounded into dust." Silence; then the phone was handed back to Lumi, "All done."

"Thank you, Ivan. I guess you are useful after all."

"What do you mean?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Don't even start – you know what I'm talking about." Lumi put the phone back in its cradle, and gave a sigh, leaning in towards the sink. Her knuckles went white from her grip on the counter, and her shoulders began to shake. Ivan blinked, concerned.

"What's the matter, da?" He heard her sniffle, and she reached up to brush the tears away.

"I… I just got this b-bad feeling i-is all." Ivan didn't know what to do – it was times like these that he was utterly helpless at. After she was able to speak again, Lumi cleared her throat.

"I just… I just have this feeling… that… that Erin's dead."

-/-

Mathieu sighed as he sat there in an extremely uncomfortable chair, listening to reports given by the other countries. His gaze slid down the row, and landed on an empty seat. Huh, wonder where Alfred was. He was always at the meetings; or rather, stirring up trouble between other countries. He dragged his violet gaze away from his brother's suspiciously empty seat to the door, which had banged unceremoniously opened to show his brother standing there, looking hurried and distracted.

"Totally forgot there was a meeting today, sorry dudes!" he called, rushing over to his seat and sitting down with a plop into his seat. "So what'd I miss? Oh man England dude, you're scones are terrible – they taste like old couch stuffing!" he said, stuffing a scone in his mouth while scanning the documents before him quickly. Arthur sighed.

"Before you rudely barged in, we were debating whether or not we should go ahead and let Japan and China merge into an Empire. Only a twit like you wouldn't be bothered by it." The last part was muttered, and wasn't heard by the distracted country. Mathieu tuned the rest of them out, his thoughts wandering down paths and trail in a forest – some ending, others continuing on and on. His eyes grew heavy, and where he was seated was where the sun was hitting directly. However, a sharp and urgent knock on the door snapped him out of the warm lull the sun had given him.

"Mathieu." He looked up to see Lumi standing at the door; her hand gripping the door handle was tight. "I…" she faltered, and Ivan, who had come behind her, nudged her. "I need to tell you something. Something… something happened Erin…" Mathieu stood up; calmly walking out of the room; ignoring the looks of curiosity (and contempt?) That followed him on his way out. The look in Lumi's eyes– and the dark one in Ivan's – worried him.

What happened to Erin?

-/-

Lumi had led him to a quiet, undisturbed place, Ivan parting with them after a quick, quiet discussion with the young woman. Mathieu was confused, and worried began to settle in for the province that was under his control. Now, she sat across from him, her hands in her lap and her eyes staring directly at the floor, biting her lip so hard that it might start to bleed. The silent tick, tick of the clock was grating, and Mathieu was about to shake her when she finally spoke up.

"I… I called Erin today, to ask the whereabouts of my bandana, and…" He had a vague memory of it, but why was it so important? "And when I asked her, she seemed to suddenly freak out. I heard… I heard her scream, I think…" she trailed off, and shook her head abruptly, and that's when Mathieu saw the tears. "I think I heard her cry out, "Mattie!" y-you know her cat…" her voice had caught, and she hastily cleared her throat.

The tick, tick grew louder and louder, until it was ringing in Matheiu's ears. He stared at her like as if it were a beginning of a neverending nightmare. He wanted her to stop, to just leave it at that – why, why now torment him? "I heard the screams… and… the snap of her neck… oh Mathieu, I'm sorry to be the one to tell y-y-you, bu-but…" she trailed off, unable to control her sobbing. Ivan walked in and sat down next to her and reached to pull her into a hug, but Lumi had launched herself at Mathieu, who sat there, shell-shocked.

"S-S-She's dead, Ma-Mathieu. E-E-Erin… the-they're b-both d-d-dead; Er-Erin a-and h-her ca-cat ar-are d-d-dead."

Not… possible… Mathieu felt like he was falling, Erin's…

Erin's dead?

And the mirror began to crack.