Taken By Day
This is heavily inspired by the fantastic fanfic which has been on hiatus for several months now, The Weakest Link, which is here in the APH section of FF… I do indeed give the Author credit for the original idea of some of the APH Countries being kidnapped and sending videotapes out to the close friends and family of the Countries, but I sincerely swear that all the rest is my own inspiration. If you've read TWL and find something far too similar for your taste that isn't of the aforementioned things mentioned above, do NOT hesitate to send me a PM or review telling me so. I shall endeavor to do my best to correct it… I'm a bit of a people pleaser. ;P
And apologies to the Norwegian fans over Norway's surname in this fic (I've heard it's unpopular to you Northerners due to a politician), but I'm genuinely just used to using and reading Bondevik in reference to Norway. Please let me know if this offends you, though only if you're actually Norwegian, in which case I'll change it to Steillson or something for the giggles.
Side note; I'm American, have always been American, will always be American, have never left America even though I'd love to visit all of Northern Europe or Iceland sometime, and as such I'm unfamiliar with most all of European slang but for Great Britain (The Harry Potter fandom is a great asset there!), so I could use fan help there! Along with Translations, if you please. UuU
APH doesn't belong to me; pretty sure Hidekaz has better things to do then write fanfiction
– CHAPTER ONE –
Norway, though his expressionless face revealed nothing, was actually rather unsettled. For the last five blocks someone had been following both him and Iceland, and he couldn't determine if he, Iceland, or both were the targets of this stalker… Norway spared the slightly taller male a glance. No, it was unlikely Emil was the target of this stalker, and he wasn't thinking that in hopeful thinking. If anything, Norway would normally assume Iceland was the target and spirit him away to some bunker in America – surely the outgoing nation wouldn't mind? Realistically, however, Norway was more of a target, and as such, stiffly paused just enough mid step for his brother to look at him.
"I forgot to get butter," Lukas stated, as if just remembering. Emil had an exasperated expression as he stared at the elder. "Seriously?" He asked. Norway nodded. He made to turn around, but paused just enough. He took out his phone just for a second, sending Emil a text. "Don't read it until you're a bit away," Lukas commanded as Emil made for his phone. Emil stared at Lukas, startled at the seriousness in his tone, but nodded uncertainly.
Lukas turned around to walk away, waving slightly, and Emil couldn't help but stare, as if he hadn't seen that same wave hundreds of times before. He couldn't help but feel there was something different about the wave this time, but shook himself; that was a ridiculous thought.
Two blocks away, Emil was rather puzzled as he finally read the text.
Four blocks away, Lukas was unconscious in the back of a white, black tinted window van.
Head straight home and don't do anything stupid. – Bror
Lukas was taken within three minutes of having Iceland go on his way.
Romano, or South Italy, or even just Lovino Vargas, was in a rather poor mood even by his usual standards. Some idiota had broken into his own house! Where were guards when you need them? No, scratch that, he was doing a full mandatory sweep of anyone who'd been on his property in the last six months! Call him paranoid, but hey; he had the Italian Mafia, and there was always some bastard wanting to kill off the boss. It didn't help that Lovino was the boss boss, but he chose to ignore that for the moment.
Holding his loaded hand gun in front of him, Lovino checked around the corner. He could only be grateful he'd sent Antonio home earlier, because he'd hate for the country to go on a bloodthirsty rampage on whoever broke into his house. Not that they wouldn't deserve it, but blood was ridiculously hard to get out of carpet.
Lovino walked around the corner, hands steady as he peered this way and that for the intruder. Someone had deactivated his house security… There were sensors linked from his house to Antonio's – and yes Lovino knew about them, Antonio was such a worrier it was simply easier to pretend he didn't know – that should have activated by now, and with it Antonio in his Conquistador mode should be happily slaughtering anyone unfamiliar he'd come across by now with his trusty axe.
Lovino opened the door to his left in the long hallway, pushing it open as softly as he could and gritting his teeth at the creak it made. He walked inside carefully, hazel eyes narrowed. Seeing no one in the rather sparse room – he made a mental note to get more furniture for it – he made to turn around when–
WHAM!
Lovino staggered from the force of the hit. Had someone been hiding behind the door?!
WHAM!
Lovino crumpled to the ground, eyes bleary and dizzy and god damn it but he should have paid better attention–
WHAM!
Lovino was unconscious at the third hit.
His kidnapping took place within twenty minutes of coming home.
Canada, or Matthew to his twin and France, was humming slightly to himself as he made to go home. He'd left Kumajiro at home today as people tended to get freaked out if someone walked around with a polar bear, but he had special ice cream for the bear in apology. Hopefully he wouldn't be mad!
Matthew dropped his groceries, however, in bewilderment and no small amount of anger when he saw several people attempting to break into his house. They were dressed, not in the stereotypical black, but a pristine white, though they each wore shades that were black as could be expected. Matthew's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"What do you think you're doing, eh?" He snapped. A couple jerked, and they all turned to stare at Matthew. Matthew would normally have felt unnerved, but Kumajiro was in there and he wasn't risking him getting hurt.
Two suddenly lurched forward – there were six or seven in total, Matthew hadn't paid attention – and Matthew, taken off guard, was unprepared for when they grabbed ahold of his arms, taking him to the ground with them.
A third hand was pressing a cloth to Matthew's face and he unintentionally inhaled. There were spots in Matthew's vision as the cloth was kept there despite his gradually weakening struggles, and he succumbed to unconsciousness.
Matthew's kidnapping took less than five minutes.
When Lukas woke up, he was irritated. A moment later, he remembered sending Iceland home and couldn't help but hope Iceland hadn't actually been the target and if he had been then what had he been thinking? But when he took in his surroundings, Lukas knew with certainty Emil hadn't been who the stalker had been tracking.
Actually, now that he noticed, he wondered how he'd initially missed the two other males in the room. Resisting the urge to uncharacteristically groan, Lukas slid over to the nearest one, an auburn haired man who was face down against the cement floor. Lukas rolled him over as gently as he could, but when his hand accidentally brushed against the man's head he twitched. Maybe he was knocked out with brute force, Lukas thought.
When Lukas saw his face, however, he let out a soft "Ah," as he recognized the well-known features; this was South Italy, better known by Romano. Lukas pursed his lips; Romano's head wound looked painful and would probably throb painfully when he woke. Coming to a decision, Lukas took off his jacket – it was actually slightly cold though bearable for the moment – and after folding it slid the cloth under Romano's head carefully, trying not to jog him if he could avoid it.
That done, Lukas began inspecting the other inhabitant of the small room. Sliding himself back over towards the other man, Lukas took note of the curl. So it was Canada? Well, better check for head injuries, he mused to himself.
Doing so, Lukas found none. They probably used a chemical if there were no head wounds. As he finished making sure there weren't other signs evident, however, the Canadian began to stir.
"Ooh," Canada moaned slightly. Lukas slid back so as to not be within his personal space. Canada slowly sat up, face scrunched in discomfort, though when he caught sight of Lukas staring he did a double take before squeaking, "Norway?!" Norway raised a hand in greeting. "Hej," He replied apathetically. Canada seemed startled when he noticed the Italian on the ground, head still resting on Norway's jacket. "Is that–oh my god, that's Romano!"
Norway nodded. "His head was hurt, so I assume someone used something like a bat, maybe a pipe." Canada gave a slight shiver. "A pipe? Are you sure you're not talking about Russia now, Norway?" He asked in trepidation. Norway nodded, drawing his knees close to his chest as he leaned against the wall.
"Ja. Russia can be intimidating, but he isn't the type to send anyone to do his work. Nor even send someone after a fellow country." Norway pointed out. Canada nodded. "Yeah, I suppose that's true… I actually feel kind of bad for even thinking of Russia now," The blonde admitted. Norway merely nodded.
Romano muttered something in his unconscious state.
There was silence for a while, long minutes with neither Canada nor Norway speaking. Norway drew into himself more as it seemed to get colder and Canada even started to seem slightly cold himself. Maybe it was a sign of it being nighttime outside, wherever they were.
Romano eventually woke up, and while it was a bit strange he didn't curse to the moon and back, it made more sense when he stated his head throbbed too much to bother. He did thank Norway reluctantly for the jacket however as he returned it, so at least manners weren't dead yet.
Norway stiffened suddenly, and both Romano and Canada turned towards him. He held up a finger, staring at the metal door. A second later and both Canada and Romano heard it; footsteps.
All three watched the door; Norway watched in his usual apathy, though his eyes were narrowed dangerously. Romano's teeth were grit and he seemed to be attempting to glare a hole through the metal. Canada watched with a mix of trepidation and anger, hands twitching as though he'd like nothing more than to possess America's superhuman strength and throw the door at whoever was coming.
The footsteps, which had been progressively gaining strength, suddenly stopped. No one seemed to breathe for a moment. And then the door slammed opened.
A bonus to whomever with an account can guess my favorite Hetalia character; you'll get to choose one (spoiler word) idea for Canada, Romano, or Norway in this ficlet, and you're choice who!