Title: Phoenix Ashes (1/?)
Series: Hetalia
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
Warnings: Boy love, language, AU, France in general

Pairings: America x England, France x Canada, maybe others
Summary: Rebirth…that is the name of the popular MMORPG. It uses state of the art virtual reality technology and makes it feel like you really are inside the game. The world of Rebirth is set during medieval times and players can choose various ways of customizing their characters to make them unique. There are also a wide variety of classes to choose from, and, although they are all different, there is only one thing in common: Summons. Summons are creatures that protect the player during the game, granting various stat boosts and an elemental advantage to the player's opponent. The species and element vary from person to person, though nobody knows how the Summons are chosen.

Still…there's something about Rebirth that makes it dangerous to play, yet the players are blissfully unaware of this fact. Two players stumble across this truth and almost end up dead, both virtually and in the real world. Do they have the courage and tenacity to unveal the truth about this game?
A/N: …Damn my easily inspired mind. Loosely based on Loveless and .hack. And…holy crap, that's a long summary. O_o Also…trying (and possibly failing) at using British spelling, mainly because of the POV I'm using. Try not to kill this poor American too hard.

*

Rebirth…A fantasy game a friend of mine suggested to me. He wouldn't have suggested it to me if he hadn't thought I'd be interested. Francis knew how much I hated playing games. I hadn't touched a game in many years. They held too many memories for me. Memories I wanted to forget. Even a game I've never played before reminded me of that time.

Anyway, Francis thought that if I played this game, I'd get over that event. The event and the person I've wanted to forget about. He was only trying to help, and I knew he was getting frustrated with my reluctance to so much as look at a game. I felt guilty, but…his death just kept lingering in anything I played. It…I couldn't help it.

Still…

For the sake of his memory, I would give gaming one last shot.

~*~*~*

G.A.M.E. 1: Login

~*~*~*

Arthur glared at the box he held in his hands, as if it had caused him a major offence just by being there. He tore it open, dumping the contents on his bed. It held an instruction manual; a CD case that seemed like it could hold four disks in it; a VR (virtual reality) visor, and the chords needed to connect it to the computer. The Briton sighed and ran his fingers through his pale blond hair.

What the bloody hell am I getting myself into? He thought as he picked up the CD case. Arthur opened it up and saw four disks, but only one of them was the actual play disk. The blond shook his head and turned on his computer. He opened the disk tray, popped in the first installation disk, and waited for that one to finish installing. While Arthur waited, he started to connect the VR visor to his computer. As soon as the blond was done connecting the visor, the installation for disk one was finished. Arthur then switched that disk out for the second one. He glanced at the instruction manual and sighed. What could it hurt if he learned more about the game? It would at least make him less of a newb than the norm. The blond picked up the instruction manual, skimmed the table of contents, and went to the directions. He could honestly care less about the history behind the game.

When Arthur was done memorizing the button controls, his computer had finished with disk two and was waiting for disk three. He switched the disks and looked up the classes for the game. The Briton raised a bushy eyebrow at the ten different classes he would have to choose from. Arthur skipped over the warrior classes, focusing solely on the three mage classes.

Sacred

They are chosen by the Goddess to spread her teachings and heal others. Sacreds also use holy magic and are the best support units in Rebirth.

The blond Briton snorted and skipped that class after reading the first two sentences. There was no way he was going to be a wimpy cleric. The other class was some sort of shaman. Arthur had read the description, but he didn't feel like it was the class for him. That left only one class left. He sighed and started reading about it.

Element Dancer

These mages are able to control a little of each element, but their strength lies in the element they were born under. Element Dancers are able to learn healing arts, just like Sacreds. However, it is suggested that only Water, Earth, and Spirit Dancers strengthen these arts. At level ten, an Element Dancer has the choice of specializing in any weapon, but they can only choose one.

That class interested Arthur, so he wrote down the class name. He glanced at the computer screen. It still wasn't done installing, so the Briton decided to read a little of the other classes in the game. When he was finished, a pop-up had come on the screen. It was asking for the play disk. Arthur switched them out, and then it asked him if he wanted to play Rebirth now. He hesitated before clicking yes.

The registration page had an elaborate background, which was expected. It depicted some sort of temple, but it looked old and forgotten. The temple was in deep shadow and the time seemed to be night. There was no moon, but the stars dotted the sky faintly. It was mysterious, and Arthur grudgingly admitted that it intrigued him.

When it asked him for the registration key, Arthur absently typed it in. Afterward, he was asked for a username and password. That made him pause. The Briton hadn't thought about a name or even a password. It took Arthur ten minutes to settle on a name and he typed that in first. Luckily, nobody had taken it. That still left the question of what his password would be. The blond sighed. He hesitated and then typed in the only thing he could think of.

At least it accepted the password. Arthur thought as his computer processed the information. When it finished, it asked what class he wanted and what his sign was. Arthur put in Element Dancer and selected "Pisces" from the drop-down menu for his sign. Afterward, he pressed submit and waited a little while for the game to process the information. When it was done, Arthur slipped on his visor, typed in his username and password, and then hit the login button.

At first, all the Briton could see was black. When his vision cleared, he couldn't help the awed gasp that had left his lips. The town was made completely out of stone blocks and there was a wide river that cut across half of the town. The sun was sinking, yet it still played across the surface of the water beautifully. Arthur vaguely recalled reading that this town was called Angel Feather, a place where everything began.

"Merlin? Why am I not surprised? After all, you have no taste in having an elegant name, such as mine," a heavy French accent cut across Arthur's thoughts. He turned in a huff toward his French friend. Francis' (Serenade was his character name) choice in character hardly surprised the Briton. The Frenchman had a taste for flashy clothing.

Francis' character was wearing typical Ranger garb, reminding the Briton strongly of someone out of Robin Hood. The only difference was that his colors displayed a wide variety of blues and very light purples. Hell, even his boots were blue! The quiver Francis had was a dark blue color and held at least 40 arrows. He was carrying his longbow casually in his hands, as if it weighed nothing.

It seemed like it was the basic clothing for his character class, which was known as the Enchanted Arrow. Enchanted Arrows were able to infuse their magic into their arrows and whatever blade they happened to have on them.

"At least your clothes redeem your name," he continued, his blue eyes gazing appreciatively at the Briton. Arthur fumed at the man. What the bloody hell was his problem? At least he was playing the damn game! Still, the Briton couldn't help but look at his own clothing.

The clothing Arthur's character had was definitely exotic. His shirt was made of pale blue silk, but the long sleeves were see-through and loose, only to cling snugly around his wrists. The shirt's opaque nature stopped at the base of his ribcage, where the see-through material clung like mist to his waist. His pants were the same colour and the silk stopped where his thighs connected to his pelvis. Once again, the translucent fabric covered the rest of his legs loosely, yet they clung snugly to his ankles. This was the normal, basic clothing a Water Dancer had, after all. Still, Arthur blushed and glared at his friend.

"Do shut up! At least I'm playing this game!" the Briton huffed, crossing his arms. Francis grinned and slung his free arm around Arthur's shoulders. The blond Englishman frowned in confusion. He could feel the weight of his friend's arm and the heat that came off of his body. That wasn't sitting right with Arthur. "Wait…this is virtual reality, right? Then, how come I can feel things like I would in the real world?"

"That, mon ami, is a very good question, and one that adds to the mystery surrounding Rebirth," Serenade replied with a wink, "But first I must tell you what you need to know about this game. For one, I doubt you read up on the Summons each player receives."

Arthur blushed and looked away. He hadn't gotten that far, really. Actually, the Briton hadn't been interested and had skipped that section completely. He didn't think it was an important subject. Somehow, Serenade seemed to understand.

"Look, this is why I'm here to help you get started," the Frenchman told him gently, "Allow me to start off with the basics. A Summon is a creature that protects the player both on and off the battlefield. Their species is chosen according to your personality, and it is the species that decides what element it is. Now, a Summon's element gives you certain stat bonuses. I suppose I should tell you what element gives you which bonus, so I suggest you write this down."

Arthur rolled his eyes. He took off his visor, grabbed some paper, and then pulled out a pen from a drawer. The blond took off the top, scratched it across the paper a little to get the ink running, and then put his visor back on. Arthur motioned for Serenade to continue.

"Fire gives you an increase in physical strength. Water increases your magical strength and magical defence. Air boosts your accuracy and dodge stats. Earth increases your overall HP and physical defence. Finally, Spirit makes the regeneration of HP and Mana a little faster than normal," Serenade listed as the blond Briton wrote as fast as he could in shorthand. The Frenchman grinned, enjoying the torture he was putting Arthur through. Bastard. "Anyway, we should go. There's a dungeon here all new players have to go through to get their Summon."

The blond Frenchman gave him a mischievous smile. He then started to walk toward the inn that was on the other side of the bridge. Arthur sighed and followed his friend. It wasn't as if he had a choice. Still, the Briton couldn't help but feel excited at what Summon he would get. Arthur just hoped that he didn't get a Fire type.

The inn wasn't anything special. It was a typical medieval inn with long, wood tables, an ordinary innkeeper who worked at the bar, and wood flooring. Arthur was not impressed in the slightest. Strangely enough, Serenade and he were the only players in the inn. The Briton frowned, but he followed his friend to the man at the bar. Arthur assumed that he was the one who was going to give them the "quest." He honestly hadn't been paying attention to what the two were talking about. Whatever Serenade had said, they had both received a skeleton key because of it. Once again, the Briton was stuck following his friend down to the cellar of the inn. Arthur tilted his head in confusion when they found themselves where the alcohol was kept.

"Hidden passageway. That's why we have the keys," Serenade explained abruptly, causing the mage to jump a little. The Frenchman motioned to a bare wall hidden in the shadows of a couple of beer barrels. They walked over to that part of the wall and Arthur noticed a keyhole partially hidden in the darkness. "There are multiple entranceways to the dungeon, but one thing remains the same: no enemies. All we're doing is getting our Summon and leaving. Here, you take this entrance and I'll go look for another one I can use. It's a 'one entrance per person' sort of thing."

Arthur sighed and stuck his key in the hole, turning it until he heard a soft click. The wall slid back smoothly and without a sound. He gave his friend one last look before entering the dimly lit passageway. As soon as the Briton was inside, the door had slid shut. Arthur glared at the wall, but kept going. After what felt like five minutes of walking, he was ready to throw in the towel out of annoyance.

Does this thing ever end?! The Briton thought in exasperation. He sighed and then noticed that there was a door only a couple metres away. Cautiously, the blond went up to the door and pushed it open. It creaked mournfully, opening up to a circular chamber. A shiver went down Arthur's back when he saw shackles and chains hanging from the walls. It looked more like a dungeon than somewhere that housed a Summon.

Something caught his eye. There was an altar in the middle of the room. On top of it, sitting precisely in the middle, was a sphere. It looked like it was made of pure ruby, and seemed as big as an ostrich egg. Arthur made his way over to the orb to take a closer look. His emerald green eyes widened when he noticed that it seemed to glow the closer he got to it. Was this his Summon? Arthur gingerly picked up the sphere, cradling it as though it would break if he weren't careful. It felt warm. That was unusual considering it had been in a cold dungeon for who-knew-how-long.

That was when the room started to shake. Arthur almost dropped the ruby orb, but he managed to keep his hold on it. He unconsciously held it close to his chest and turned back to the exit. White noise abruptly filled his vision and all he could hear was an annoying, buzzing sound. When Arthur's vision cleared he gasped. Blocking the exit was something large and serpentine in appearance. His eyes followed that section of the creature's body and gulped.

Coiled in front of him was a snake that would have easily been about as big as a house. Arthur estimated that the reptile's length might have been equivalent to three or four soccer fields. It had wrapped its body around the perimeter of the room, blocking any chance of escape. The majority of its scales were swampy green and the diamond markings were blood red. Its head was shaped almost like a spearhead. The snake hissed angrily, opening its mouth wide. Its monstrous fangs were dripping with venom.

I…I can't move! Arthur was trying desperately to wrench his eyes away from the snake's hypnotic yellow ones. He was shaking out of fear and tightened his hold on the red orb. The snake hissed again and slowly lowered its head. It was getting closer and closer to Arthur. The snake's head was only a metre away from his body when a red flash temporarily blinded them. Arthur closed his eyes and heard an angry hiss from the monster. He cautiously opened his eyes when the light faded, only to find the snake distracted from the human in front of it. It was looking up in the air, hissing angrily at whatever was flying above its head.

"Inferno!" a strangely accented voice called out, echoing around the room. Arthur's vision was filled with flames, and he knew no more after that.

A/N: Ahahaha, I should've put this here before. *sweat drop* I'm sorry, guys! I just feel like I needed to clear some things up.

Noise: This is what I'm talking about www dot quasimondo dot com/hydra/sineNoise1 dot jpg