Ok, I know I should be working on my other fic, but when I noticed there wasn't one for HetaQuest here (or at least not one that I could find) I couldn't help myself! I know I'm writing the first part a little out of order, but this seemed like a good way to start this. And I may alter the wording of some of the things they say if I think it'll make something sound a bit better, but I probably won't do that too often. Anyway, please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia, HetaQuest, or any of these characters.
Near the town of Lytia was a forest, filled with many large trees and several grassy clearings. Most days one could not find people in these woods, but today was different. Today a young man passed through the forest. He was about 20 years old (though you wouldn't guess it from his goofy expression) with amber eyes and brown hair. Sticking out of his hair was a single, gravity-defying curl. He wore a black shirt with blue on the sides and a tan cloak.
"Lud's gonna be so surprised." he said to himself, smiling. "I never show up early." It was true. He was always scolded for sleeping in and keeping his friend waiting. He continued on his stroll towards the town, proud of himself for waking up when he was supposed to that morning. It was a beautiful day, too. The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect.
He didn't understand what happened next. A dark figure, a sudden pain on his right cheek. Before he could figure out what was going on, he ran. If there was one thing he was good at, it was running. He dodged around the trees, trying to get away from whatever had attacked him. He noticed that his cheek was bleeding, but he couldn't worry about that now. He just had to get away.
To his despair, he found himself at a dead end in a clearing. With no place to go, he faced his attacker. It was a humanoid creature with a hooded black cloak and glowing red eyes.
"D-don't eat me!" he cried desperately "I don't taste good!" The thing merely snarled at him. Suddenly, a girl walked up behind the monster. She had light, platinum blonde hair with a white bow in it and dark blue eyes. She had on a blue dress with a wide skirt and a blue bow around the collar. She seemed to be fairly young, maybe 19, but her eyes were cold. "What are you going to do to me?" he asked the girl, trying not to let his voice shake.
She smiled. "Something very simple."
"That monster..." he said, thinking of the large number of monsters that had appeared lately."Who are you? Do you have anything to do with the monsters?"
"Why do you want to know that?" she asked, looking slightly confused. "It's pointless, because you are going to die here." Chills ran down his spine. For a moment he wondered how she could look so expressionless while saying that. But then she smiled a little. "Kill him."
Pain. The monster had lashed out, creating a large, bleeding wound from his left shoulder to his right hip. He took a shaky step back before falling onto the grass. The girl began to speak again. "Now you can no longer go to the meeting in Saia. I won't let anyone get in my way."
"...I knew it..." He said weakly. "So that's what you wanted..." He could feel himself slipping away, the world around him growing cold. "Lud... I'm... sorry..."
Just as everything started to fade, he heard her voice one last time. "...Since you are going to die, I will tell you. I am Natalya. Can you still hear me?" By the time she finished this last sentence, everything had gone black.
"I can't find it." America sighed, closing his eyes. This was the eleventh place they had looked, and he was getting tired.
Italy felt the same way. "'The atmosphere that can be read.' Where could it be?" They had searched the entire library already, and found nothing.
"We've looked everywhere and we still couldn't find it. It must be a legendary book..." the blonde nation said. "But no matter how difficult it is, I won't give up! After all, I'm a hero!" Italy smiled. No, they couldn't stop looking now, not after all their hard work. They both turned when they heard the library door open. A person had walked in, wearing all white. A hood covered a lot of their face, so it was hard to tell what they looked like, but they could make out short blonde hair and one of their expressionless eyes. The person, who on closer inspection appeared to be female, came up to America.
"What are you looking for?" she asked him. Italy came over to her from his bookshelf.
"We're looking for the legendary atmosphere that can be read!" he said, happy that the woman seemed to want to help.
"The legendary atmosphere that can be read...?" she repeated. "Maybe it's this." She pulled out an ancient-looking brown book with no title on the cover.
The two nations were shocked. "Really?" America asked excitedly.
"You can keep it if you want. I don't need it." the woman told them, still lacking any facial expressions whatsoever.
Italy could hardly contain his excitement. "Grazie! How about we have some tea next time we meet?"
"I look forward to it." Having said this, she walked back out the door, leaving the men with the book.
America grinned. "The atmosphere that can be read! We've finally found it!" He was lucky the librarian wasn't around, or he would have been quickly thrown out for yelling like he did. "Anyway, it looks really fancy. Look at these gems on the cover." As he has said, there were five round gems: white, black, green, blue, and red. "And it doesn't have a title or the author's name. How weird."
"Maybe because it's a legendary book, and not just an ordinary one?" Italy suggested. "Anyway, let's read it!" America was confused at first when he opened the book (since it was printed Japanese style) but soon was open to the table of contents.
"It looks like it's divided into three chapters." he said. "Chapter One: Feliciano..." he read.
"Chapter Two: Alfred..." continued America. There was a flash of light.
"Wh-what?" Italy cried. Something felt strange. There was another flash, and he was gone.
"Italy!" called America, already too late to do anything. "Shit, what's going on?" There was another flash, and he was gone, too, leaving the library empty.
Chapter One: Feliciano
Italy awakened in a place filled with trees. He slowly stood up, taking in his surroundings. He was in a clearing, tall grass all around him. "…hmm…" he groaned, then he turned around and quietly said "…where am I?" He looked like he was about to cry (which wasn't uncommon for him) He looked around, just noticing that somebody was missing. "Americaaaaaaaa! Where are yooou?" He heard something rustling ahead of him. "A-America?" he asked hopefully.
Instead of America, Italy was greeted by a growling, wolf-like creature. "Veeeeeeeeeeeeee!" he screamed as it pounced at him. He pulled out one of his trusty white flags and started franticly beating at the thing. It seemed to decide it didn't like being smacked, so it ran off.
Italy was panting, though out of exhaustion, fear, or both he didn't know. "Wh-what the hell was thaaaaat?" Italy noticed a small path at the edge of the clearing, so he figured he should try heading that way.
"What just happened?" he asked himself as he walked down the path. "This is like one of those games from Japan's house… Is this some kind of alternate world?" he wondered. Then a terrible thought struck him. "Will I ever be able to make it back to my world?" The tears that had started to form in the corners of his eyes started gushing out. "Veeeeeee! I'm so scared! What if a strange monster or ghost appears?" His tears slowed a little. "Oh, but it's the middle of the day, so there won't be any ghosts!" He reassured himself.
He continued on the path until he came across another clearing, where he saw another young man with a tan cloak. This wouldn't be that strange, except you could see right through him. "Gh-gh… GHOOOOST!" Italy screamed, turning to run.
The ghost turned towards him and cried "W-wait! Don't run away!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! There really are ghosts in the middle of the day! Please, don't curse meeeeee!"
"Just listen to me! I won't do anything to you!" Italy hesitated.
"…really?" he questioned.
"Yep." Italy wasn't sure why he decided to trust the boy. Maybe it was his sincere smile, or the fact that they're appearances and voices were strangely similar. They even had the same stray curl of hair.
The ghost smiled when Italy walked towards him. "Looks like you can see me." He said, sounding relieved. "I'm Feliciano. You?"
"I'm Italy… a silly boy who loves pizza and pasta." said Italy, still a bit freaked out. [What should I do?] he thought. [I don't usually talk to ghosts…]
"Oh, I love pasta, too. I think we'll get along really well." Feliciano said, as if this was all it took to like somebody. "We kind of look alike, too. It's like we're the same person."
[He doesn't seem to be a bad guy.] "Yeah~ maybe you're a dopplegänger?" Italy suggested. [Wait, don't people die if they meet one of those? Well, never mind. I'll just ask about more important things now...] he decided. "By the way, why are you see-through?"
Feliciano closed his eyes. "To tell the truth, I just died…"
"Whaaaaaaaaat?" Italy didn't know what to do. He had never met a dead person before. "Wh-what happened?" he finally asked.
Feliciano told him about his walk to Lytia and how he got attacked by a monster and some girl named Natalya. When he woke up, he was dead.
"So, what happened to your body?" asked Italy.
"It looks like they took it away." he sighed (if a ghost can sigh)
"Why are you still here, then? Maybe you're still attached to something in this world…?"
Feliciano's eyes closed again. "Look over here." he told him, pointing to the ground to the side of him. Italy saw something shiny there and walked over. He reached down and picked up a pendant with a small white stone on it. Feliciano smiled. "That pendant is very important to me! Right before I lost consciousness, I dropped it, and I was so worried…"
"You're still here because you're attached to the pendant…" Italy whispered, stating the obvious.
"Well, that's not the only thing I'm attached to, though." he said, though he didn't explain further. "Anyway, I'm glad you're here! I was worried someone who can't see me would take it away."
"That's pendant is really important to you, isn't it?"
"Yeah. It has an heirloom, and it's an important stock-in-trade." Feliciano explained.
Italy stopped for a minute, not knowing what else to say. He finally asked, "What are you going to do from now on?"
"Actually, there are a lot of things I have to do…" He looked a bit worried now. Suddenly a thought made its way into his head, and he smiled. "Italy, I have a favor to ask of you!"
"What is it all of a sudden?" Italy had a feeling he wouldn't like where this was going.
"I want you to pose as me for a while!"
"Pose as you? What exactly would I have to do?"
"A friend of mine is going to meet with the patriarch of the village of Saia." Feliciano explained quickly, exited about his new idea. "I was supposed to be a mediator in that meeting, but…since I'm like this…" his smile faded for a second but soon returned at full force "I want you to go in my place!"
"What? I can't! That sounds too difficult!" yelled the Italian, completely shocked.
"There's a little ritual you have to do, but it's very simple!" said the dead man, trying to convince him.
"But your friend will see right through it!" There was no way this could work. No way at all.
"It's okay! We look identical. I think our personalities are pretty similar, too." He did have a point, but… "Besides, I'll go with you and give you advice! I'll tell you everything you need to know." When Italy looked doubtful, Feliciano started crying (ghosts can do that?) "Please! You're the only one I can ask!"
Italy sighed. There really wasn't any way he could say no, "Alright! I'll try. I don't know how far I can go, though."
"Thank you!" Feliciano yelled happily. "Now, first you need to go to a village east of here. That's where my friend is." After saying this, the ghost vanished, but Italy could tell he was still there. [What did I get myself into?] he wondered. [Oh well. Better get going.] So he headed out of the forest, all the while wondering what the rest of this world was like and what Feliciano's friend would be like.
Edit: I had to upload this again since I forgot an impotant page break and had Feliciano going to Ramneyg instead of Lytia. Whoops ^^; Anyway, I think I fixed everything.
Okay, so there you have it! Thank you to SotetAG for the translations. We all appreciate your work. Anyways, if you like this, review. If you don't, still review and tell me how I could make it better. Like many other people, reviews are my fuel! If people like it I'll keep updating, though I'm not sure how often. That's limited by my amount of free time (school just started a few weeks ago) and when new parts get subbed. Plus I'm working on another fic, too, so... Well, I hope you enjoyed this! Bye~