Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. I just own the story idea.
A lithe man hurries down the hall towards the throne room. His pale skin is clammy, nerves shooting through the roof. He is to be expected in another minute at the throne room of the castle, and he should be in tip-top shape. Pristine condition. He is the exact opposite as he is flustered and very, very disheveled. This is fact but he knows the king will overlook it. If anything, the king will think he's adorable and help him clean up before their joker arrives with the news. So Tino hurries along until he reaches the double doors that conceal said room, throwing them open unceremoniously.
Berwald sits on his throne, eyes at first downcast as he read a book with his arm resting on the one armrest, fist bedding his cheek, until the doors open. His eyes glance up, his body not moving as he wants to see who it is first before righting himself. When he sees his queen, he shuts the book, sets it in a compartment of the throne's armrest he made years ago. Standing up, he meets his queen at the bottom of the steps, letting the man rest his head against his chest before lightly patting his back.
"I'm sorry I'm late, Berwald," Tino pants out. He rests another minute longer in the silence, knowing the man he's leaning on his telling him it's okay without even speak. Once he's caught his breath, he pulls away and smiles up at the Swede. "Could you help me straighten up before Matthias comes in?"
"Mm," Berwald answers, nodding with a small smile. If there's anyone who can crack the king's exterior, it's the queen.
So Berwald helps straighten out his queen's outfit, lightly patting down the wrinkles and combing his thick fingers through his partner's pale blond hair. Tino chuckles a little, blushing as he feels his heart swell from the affection his husband gives him. He remembers when they at first didn't get along all that well – the Swede was terrifying when Tino didn't understand him and the Finish man always coward away from fear. Over the years, Tino grew to understand the taller man and find out that he's a gentle giant. Berwald just has very little muscles in his face that move.
When the Finnish man is all tidy, the two take their places on their thrones, waiting for the Danish joker to arrive. Before he does, their jack and ace walk in. Tino and Berwald nod a good morning to the two, Lukas and Emil nodding back just as silently. With all the important officials now present, they just had to wait for the fifth member to appear.
Time slowly goes on and the Dane doesn't appear. Tino worries a little over his dear friend. He also notices Lukas giving the floor a death glare full of annoyance, which makes him smile a little as he knows that Matthias is the only one who can pull any emotion out of the usually neutral Norwegian. Emil tries to ease his brother back into a neutral emotion, failing as Lukas mentions something about having enough of the Dane's tardiness. Tino glances at Berwald to see a reaction but finds the Swede is reading his book again. He smiles a little more, loving how casual and relaxed his husband looks.
Soon enough, a whooshing ripple swirls in the throne room. The air rips and cracks as a small sliver of white breaks through the reality. Everyone watches as the end of a well-known axe in the slot of the white sliver pulls the tear further down until it's long enough for a tall person to walk through. The axe disappears and is replaced by some fingers which pull open the tear, showing the other side of the slowly forming portal, the tear in reality between two places which only jokers can make. A tall man stands on the other side of the portal, blond hair sticking up and defying gravity as he devilishly grins wide at the four in the other room.
"Sorry I'm late!" He shouts from the other side, pulling himself through with his axe. As his weapon swings down against the marble floor, cracking it like he has done before, the portal he opened snaps close in quick succession. "I had some newbies to train this morning before gathering all the intell you asked from me."
"Quit making excuse," Lukas hisses from his side of the throne room.
The Dane pouts, hurt as he gives the shorter man his puppy eyes. "I'm not lying, Norge. I'd never lie to you, babe."
Lukas snorts, rolling his eyes as he shakes his head. "Just tell us what you have gathered, numbskull." He obviously ignored the endearing term thrown his way, but he's blushing just a tiny bit. He can't break in front of the blond idiot otherwise Matthias would constantly call him pet names that fluster him. Not like he would admit that he likes the pet names.
"Please do update us on everything, Matthias." Tino's soft voice calms everyone. He turns to his king and places a hand on his lover's arm. "Dear, put the book down. This requires our full attention."
"Mm." Berwald sighs through his nose, sticking the title of "King of Few Words Unless Pissed" that everyone has come to name him. He sets his book away once more, dull eyes gazing at the only person he dislikes the most in their world. "W'at do 'ou h've f'r us, Dane?"
Matthias grins wide, an angry tick forming on his forehead from the king's obvious distaste in his words. "I bring you news of the other kingdom's missing crowns," he states, bowing in respect towards Tino and Berwald. He soon stands tall as he hears three of the four murmur in surprise. "I finally have located them all. The kings, queens, jacks, and aces."
He falls silent for a moment, causing Tino to gesture with his hand as he says, "Do go on. Tell us where they are."
A wider grin appears on his face as he glances at his king, gloating silently that he has the queen's full attention. Berwald glares at him, telepathically telling him to get to it before he hurts him like he has before. Matthias laughs boisterously before shaking his head and finally continuing on with his news.
"They are spread out in five different worlds," he states as he picks up his axe and rests it across his shoulders like it was a wooden pole, so light. "It seems some of them are siblings, which is sad since they will be split into different kingdoms. There's only one world where only one person is living that shall come here soon, and he's supposed to be the King of Clubs. I'm only going to warn you once about him since he's quite the scary mofo. Not as scary as our king, but still scary within reason to keep an eye on."
Berwald glares at the remark towards him but doesn't say anything. Instead, his queen speaks for them all, obvious curiosity swimming in the lithe man's form. "Does this mean we have to open the Tunnels?" He asks with a little glee as he looks towards Lukas. "Lukas, if the other destined crowns are in separate worlds, we will need you and Matthias to open the Tunnels. Oh, it's been so long since they've been open. A few decades, right?"
"Exactly 37 years, if I am to remember correctly," Emil answers his queen. He bows his head in respect, ignoring his brother's proud stare. "37 years ago there was an occurrence such as this; where the crowns of different kingdoms were born in separate worlds and had to be brought through the Tunnels for our world to be complete once more."
"Someone's been studying up on his history." Matthias laughs good-naturedly as Emil flushes a little.
"It is also during that time a great war between the kingdoms arose." Lukas marches over and whacks the Dane on the head for making his brother uncomfortable. He then turns to the king and queen with a serious stare. "If history is repeating itself, I can only wonder if another war will break out once they are all here."
"How many events through history do you know of that has been repeated before, Lukas?" Tino asks curiously.
The Norwegian is silent as he thinks, jabbing the other blonde man next to him when he hears Matthias snicker from his quiet pondering. "If I recall right, at least four or five instances in our world's history is a repetition of another that happened decades prior?" He glances at his brother for confirmation, receiving a nod from Emil. His eyes lock back onto the king and queen to continue speaking. "From past history, we should be cautious."
Tino hums, nodding slowly as he glances at his king. "We shall take heed of your warnings, my dear friends, but we still should help fill in the gaps of each kingdom. It's the least we can do."
"You say that as if they've done things for us. I don't remember them doing things for us." Matthias winces from another jab, taking a huge step away from his companion whom he's been trying to woo for years. "Geez, I get it." He chuckles a little, hand over his side this time as he rubs the tender spot. "We'll complete the puzzle. Just tell us when to start the spell."
With a nod, Tino rises from his throne and extends his hand out towards the two. "Prepare yourselves tonight for the spell shall be cast tomorrow. Do not dillydally as this is of utmost importance." After a moment he adds, "Please."
Matthias chokes down a laugh that bubbles up in his chest from the showy order their queen. He lets Tino have the moment since he knows the man barely gets to do anything that makes him feel like he's actually ruling the land and making great demands while still being kind. Saluting his queen with his right hand, he plops his other hand around Lukas's shoulders and pulls the Norwegian close.
"You can count on us, my queen!" Before the shorter man can thrash and complain, Matthias drags the Jack out of the throne room.
For the rest of the night, both Mat and Lukas work seriously over the spell which has not been used in years. This spell always needs a person with magical abilities as well as a joker to tear open passages into the different worlds. They prepare for the next day, setting themselves up while dealing with flirtatious moves and near strangles of death. Once everything is ready, they head to the center of their kingdom where a giant summoning circle lies embedded into the concrete ground.
Tino and Berwald watch from afar with Emil as Lukas holds a book in one hand and extends the other. Closing his eyes, Lukas starts chanting the spell. Matthias spins his axe around with his hands in ease, grinning as he waits for his moment to slash the air as he always does. When the wind picks up around them, they see white streams coming from the ground, slowly rising up and swirling around the Jack. Lukas opens his eyes, which glow white as the spell overtakes him. He comes closer and closer to the end of the spell and the wind starts thrashing everything around him. Tino and Emil have to hang on to Berwald so they don't get blasted away, watching in awe. Knowing that he's nearing the end, Matthias braces himself, ready to slash the wind that's picked up.
"Sunt lacrimae rerum universitas in ponte solus RIDICULUS quod cuniculum." He raises his hand higher, Mat raising his axe at the same time. With a quick swipe down, Lukas shouts "Scinditur!"
Matthias yells at the same time as he brings down his axe, cutting a long, big tear into the air. He then makes four more slashes, tearing the reality in front of them. As soon as he finishes doing so, the tears grow bigger, shinning ever so brightly. Then the tears flash towards different directions, all heading towards the different kingdoms who await their missing crowns. The sky crackles with thunder as they shoot off like lightening, and once they're gone, everything settles back down. Lukas and Mat both collapse to the ground, panting from the loss of energy during the spell.
"Why," Lukas pants out the start of his question as he glares at the other, "did you slash five times?" He shakily tries to stand as his brother comes over to help him. "You were only supposed to slash four times."
Mat laughs through his exhaustion, letting himself fall completely on his back, splayed out. "I must've forgotten to mention," he begins, trying to gain control of his breathing, "that we'll be getting a new joker from one of the other worlds as well."
"Yes. Yes you forgot to mention that." Lukas scowls, sighing as he leans on his brother. "Whatever. At least it worked."
"With you casting the spell? Of course it worked." Mat winks at Lukas, laughing off the next glare sent his way. He can see an ever faint blush but doesn't point it out as he notices the queen offering a hand for him. "Thanks, Tino." He takes the lithe man's hand, feeling that secret strength the queen holds as he's pulled up easily. "Really tuckered me out," he says as he laughs again. "I'm probably going to spend the rest of the day sleeping? Before doing my usual duties of course."
"You do that." Tino smiles, picking up the axe and handing it back to Mat. "I also will want you to keep watch over those worlds. Make sure that they all enter the Tunnel and go to the right kingdoms."
The Dane grins wide and nods. "Will do, Tino." He does a two finger salute in farewell before heading in the direction of his home.
Lukas and Emil watch him go, nodding towards the thankful king and queen before heading home as well. Tino smiles up at his husband and Berwald cracks a small smile back. He offers an arm for Tino to hold as they go back to the castle and the other man takes it without hesitation. All they have to do now is rule their kingdom while waiting for the other kingdoms to finally become complete again. Hopefully there will be no battles to come and a war to stop. If history is truly repeating itself once more, then there's a high chance of the peace finally breaking again after so many good years of tranquility. Tino can only hope for the best.
Note: So I decided to rewrite the first 9 chapters and add a prologue to this series. I am doing this because I finally found a plot line to follow. So, this story will probably be very long. It's going to be three acts long. Total chapters? Not sure. Like 50 or more? Whatever. I hope you enjoy the new version!
Ciao: I hope you enjoyed the update, lovelies! Thanks for reading! R&R.