Monde Amere

Summary: A war-torn world, nations who have gone insane, three best friends who could be their only hope. Three Canadian mortals exist normally in the Hetalia universe, but when a mysterious mirror in antique shop transports them to a future that is all but destroyed, they find themselves stuck in a world far darker, and far more dangerous than anything they have ever known before.

"The war destroyed everything. We weren't strong enough to survive in the world it left behind. So we changed. Some of us have changed so much that they've forgotten who they are supposed to be. I wish this never happened. I wish the world could go back to the way it was. But at the same time, I don't want to give up the power that I have because of it. I'm far stronger than Arthur ever was."

T. Adventure/Thriller. OC, Parallel Nations, Canada, England

A/N: Hey! Back again! With OCs this time and my first 2ptalia story. They're based off myself and a couple friends. Although they will play a part in the story, they aren't going to be paired with any characters. The story is about them, but the other characters will also play a vital role. I am going to continue to try and update "Turvallinen ja Vakaa" but I am currently suffering writer's block for that. :( So apologies. Also, the cover art is by Pansychic27213, check out her writing too!

Chapter 1: A Bit Harry Potter

Summer break was hands down Anika's favorite, especially this particular summer break. Because this summer, she would get to see her two best friends that had graduated and gone off to college the previous year. Spending an entire school year without them was the absolute worst high school experience ever. She had grown so used to having them around. Of course she called and texted them, and talked to them via Skype, and they got together during breaks, but it wasn't the same.

So when she threw her cap in the air on graduation night, her excitement was absolutely beaming. Finally, she was done with the school she had been stuck at for four years. Her life was officially beginning. Now, she would finally get to pursue her career as a literature teacher and author. But first, she had the whole summer to look forward to.

In fact, tomorrow, she would be driving to meet her best friends for sushi. This was the first time since spring break they would see each other in person. And she was quite excited.

-xXx-

Anika parked her Honda civic in front of the trio's favorite sushi restaurant and got out. She wasn't surprised to see Aeris and Alexi already waiting and chatting at the front. A large smile curved across her mouth as she made her way up to them. She wanted to run up and hug them, but that was childish and she was in public.

Alexi was the first to notice her. "Anika, hi!"

"Anika, dear, how are you!?" Aeris added.

"I'm good!" She walked up to her friends and they joined together for a three-person group hug.

"Shall we go?" Alexi asked.

"Indeed."

With that, they walked inside the restaurant, and the hostess took them to a booth, then left. They began to look over the menus.

"I'm thinking that we should do what we usually do." Aeris began, "We each order something different and then share everything."

"I was about to say that." Alexi replied.

-xXx-

After choosing and ordering food and drinks, they spent the rest of the time catching up.

Soon, their sushi plates were brought out for them, and after some triangular trade, they ate their lunch. It was delicious, as per usual.

-xXx-

"So, now that we're done eating, what do you guys want to do?" Aeris asked.

"I don't know," Anika replied, "I'm just happy spending time with you guys. We could walk around I guess?" She played with one of her brown pigtails.

Both of the older girls nodded in agreement.

"Hey guys," Alexi started, "There's an antique shop a couple of blocks down the street. It looked kinda cool if we wanted to check it out. Since we're walking around anyway."

"Of course you wanna go to an antique shop, history major." Anika teased.

Alexi chuckled, "You know it."

"Yeah, we can check out the antique shop." Aeris said, "We should probably leave now, we're done with our sushi and we already paid."

With that, the girls gathered their purses and headed out the door of the restaurant, strolling down the street, immersed in conversation.

They walked a couple of blocks, when Alexi stopped them.

"It's this one." She said, pointing to one of the larger shops on the street. They pushed the doors open to a world of antiques, and stepped inside. They dispersed instantly. Aeris made her way to shelving full of old books and journals, Anika went to look at all the fancy dishes that looked like they were from the renaissance, and Alexi walked around excitedly, looking at everything, strawberry blonde A-line seeming to bounce as she made her way.

Suddenly, her eyes caught sight of a little room of the shop that was full of old maps.

"Guys," she called, "Come look at how cool this is! It's a map room."

Her friends quickly joined her, gazing around the room. There was hardly a blank spot on the wall, or on the shelves.

Alexi and Aeris walked over to a map of the Soviet Union and began to study it, and Anika looked at a group of old U.S. ones that were on a wall near them. That was when something caught in the corner of the tall brown-haired girl's eye. It was in the corner wall and it seemed odd to her that something like that was in a room of maps.

"Guys, there's a mirror over here."

"Huh?" Alexi's attention snapped to the corner wall, "What the heck?" Her and Aeris joined Anika at the mirror. It looked like it was from the Victorian era. It was a body mirror, and it had a gothic look to it with the silver bordering. There was a bit visible dust on it, and the looking glass was cracked near the top.

Alexi's fascination caused her reach out and touch the mirror, attempting to wipe some of the dust off of it, but she wasn't as careful as she should been and she cut her finger on the looking glass's edge.

"Ouch!" She exclaimed, pulling her hand back. When she did so, a drop of blood soared in the air and landed on a world map, right on the United Kingdom.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Aeris asked.

"Yeah." Alexi replied, licking the blood off of her finger.

Suddenly, a draft of wind past through the little room.

"Odd, there's no windows in this room and that draft didn't come from outside." Aeris observed.

Suddenly, something of an earthquake shook the room, knocking the girls to the ground, and continuing to shake. Artifacts fell off shelves, and drafts of wind continued to pass around the trio.

"What on earth!" Alexi exclaimed, "The room is spinning!" She tried to get up but couldn't, she was forced to remain stuck on the ground, "Does anyone else see this?" Alexi yelled over the shaking.

"I can hardly see anything." Aeris replied, "Anika, take my hand. You too Alexi!" They grabbed onto each other's hands and closed their eyes as the room continued to spin, and shake.

"Hold on!" Aeris instructed.

Then, everything went dark.

-xXx-

Aeris opened her eyes, a plethora of thoughts spinning in her head. She was lying on a carpeted floor. It was pretty dark; the lighting was so dim it was difficult to see. It was quiet. Save for the distant, eerie sound of a ticking clock and what appeared to be rain falling outside.

Questions spun in her mind: What just happened? Where was she? Where were her friends? Was everyone okay?...

She was reassured when she felt their hands entwined with both of hers. As her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, she glanced briefly at them. She untangled her fingers, and felt for a pulse. She was delighted to fine that both had one, and both were breathing. She figured they'd come to in a moment.

With that in mind, she slowly pulled herself up off the dusty ground, coughing. Wherever she was it had been abandoned for a long time. She looked around. Besides for the additional dust, eeriness, darkness, and her feeling of dread, the room was the same.

That was when the ticking started to increase in volume. She knew at that moment they should get out.

Without a second thought, she roughly shook them awake, "Get up! Get up now!"

"Huh? Where are we?" Anika asked quietly.

"I don't know, but you need to get up. We have to get out." She helped her off the ground, "Are you hurt?"

"No, just dizzy."

"Great, now get Alexi up," she spoke quickly, and then frantically began to search for a way out.

Anika got down on the ground and continued to prod Alexi, "Alexi! Alexi get up!" Her voice was louder than usual.

"Huh wha-ow my head...Anika?" She was disoriented.

"Yeah it's me, are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. Wh-"

Suddenly, a loud chiming noise interrupted them. It was so loud the walls around them started to vibrate, and the ceiling began to crumble.

"Stairs! I found stairs. Get her up! Run!"

In a heartbeat everyone was off the ground and running down flights of stairs as the ceiling continued to crumble and the bell continued to chime. Their adrenaline pumped them forward, and they flew down the stairs as the very area began to collapse behind them.

They reached the door just in time, and they stumbled out, getting as far away as possible, into pouring, cold rain, into the streets. They turned and watched as the bell continued to chime, and the building...no, not building...the clock tower, collapsed in front of them. Not just any clock tower either.

"Wait, that's..." Anika began, voice shaky.

"Big Ben." Alexi replied sadly, "Big Ben just collapsed. And we almost got stuck in it." They stared at the clock tower's rubble solemnly. She took a deep breath. She was still shaking, she had just about died.

"Is everyone okay?" Aeris asked. She was trying to catch her breath as she paced.

Anika sneezed, still shaking.

"Sure, yeah, totally," Alexi exclaimed, "If you count almost DYING as being okay! Holy sh*t! That was terrifying!" She took several breaths as she tried to calm down.

"Oh sweetie!" Aeris saw the state Anika was in, "You're shaking!" She pulled the younger girl into a hug. Alexi came over and hugged them both. They were all completely shocked, and they were all trembling with fear. Eventually though, the feeling of one another's embrace was able to calm the disoriented girls down. They let go of one another, and Aeris started:

"It's raining, so we'd best find shelter before we catch a cold." She brushed a long piece of wet, curly, light pink hair behind her ear.

Anika nodded. With that, with their hands in their pockets, and shoulders hunched, they walked down the sidewalks in the pouring rain. Around them, it was a ghost town, completely deserted. Buildings were crumbled, windows were broken, and the buildings that stood had all sustained damage. Some were burned, some had holes. Cars and double decker buses were broken, abandoned, burned, upside down or on their sides. It looked like there had been a war or something.

"What happened here?" Alexi had dreamed of visiting London, but she had never imagined it'd be quite like this, "Everything's destroyed. It looks like a war zone."

"It doesn't make any sense." Anika said, "How is this possible? If something happened here we would have heard about it in the news."

"You're right." Alexi said, "Hmm..."

"Judging by how deserted it is, this happened a while ago. Additionally, if this was recent the streets would still have rubble and trash strewn in them. It looks like most of it has been cleaned up. So yeah, clearly we would have heard about something like this."

"It's creepy!" Anika stated bluntly, "For all we know, we could be in danger!"

"Of course we're in danger," Aeris said, "This was a war zone. Who knows what could be lurking. Just stay on your guard."

"Aeris, so morbid!" Alex yelped, "We're already freaked out enough!"

"Just stating the facts."

Alexi shook her head, "Anyway. I would have seen this in the news, like Anika said. So that leaves me with one possible explanation that makes the most sense; whatever happened here, hasn't happened yet. This is the future. Whatever happened in that map room, we ended up teleported here. It sounds a bit Harry Potter, but still."

"Yeah, maybe it's the future or it could be a parallel universe." Aeris suggested.

"Either way, how will we get back home?" Alexi began to fret, "Obviously we'd go back the way we came, but we can't because Big Ben collapsed."

"I don't know," Aeris replied, "Right now, the important thing is figuring out where in the world we are."

"We're obviously in London." Anika chimed in.

"Yes, thank you, Captain Obvious," Aeris chuckled, "I know that…you know what I meant."

"It was a joke… I'm bad with jokes, I'm sorry..."

"It's okay Anika," Alexi reassured, "That made us feel a little better."

Alexi forced a small smile, then she noticed something across the street.

"There's a flyer on that shop window." Anika said, "Let's find out." They crossed the street to the shop, and tried our best to read it. The ink was wet and smeared from the rain, scarcely readable. It was a flyer for some theatre show, and the date read "September 12th, 2051."

"Oh my goodness!" Anika pulled out her phone and frantically tried to search up information. But she had no reception.

"Uggh, no reception!" she said, dissatisfied.

"You're right about us being in the future, Alex." Aeris said, "Although, we can't exactly rely on a flyer for accuracy, Anika. If there was a war or battle or something no one's going to be updating flyers for theatre shows."

"I know," she replied, "But it does tell us approximately what time period this is- Achoo!" The brown-haired girl shivered. Her cute summer dress felt like nothing compared to this weather.

"You're right about that." Aeris commented.

"Hey, as much as this sucks, there isn't a way to get out of here that we know of, so we should find some shelter." Alexi said, "I'm soaked and cold. As much as I love the rain, our sweet little Anika is gonna get sick."

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps on the pavement interrupted them. They froze, jerking their heads towards the noise. Aeris pulled her pocket knife out of her purse, and Alexi followed suite, getting her pepper spray, stepping in front of her younger brunette friend, her motherly instinct kicking in. Meanwhile, Anika put herself in a fighting position, clenching her fists. They braced themselves.

The person grew closer. It was a young man of smaller stature. He was wearing a long raincoat and a scarf, with an umbrella over his head.

"My, it's been a while since I've seen people out." He said, noticing the girls. His English accent and his tone were quite friendly. "Young women for that matter. In fact, my dears, you shouldn't even be out here. These are hard, dangerous times. You'll be killed. And, the weather is terrible, surly you'll get sick. Come on, I'll take you to my house. I'll make some tea for you and give you a change of clothes." He continued to approach them.

The girls stood their firm ground.

"It's alright; you don't have to be afraid. I won't hurt you. I only want to help, that's all."

Now he was completely in the light. His coat was black and his scarf was bright blue. He had messy, strawberry blonde hair too, and thick eyebrows. There was a warm smile on his face.

The girls swore he looked familiar, but different. He looked a lot like that man Alexi recalled seeing with the queen and at the UN meetings on television. The man she saw had the same eyebrows and messy hair as this one, although his hair had been blonde, and he was frowny, blunt, and sharp-tongued. And he did not seem very friendly or energetic like this one.

She lowered her pepper spray. "You look familiar." She said.

"I do?" He questioned.

"But you can't be the same person. You just look like him. I saw him on TV a long time ago. He's called England. Does that name ring any bells?" Alexi continued.

"You silly," he laughed, "That's me! I am England! Someone actually remembers!"

"Uhh...how does...never mind."

"It doesn't matter," he was excited now, "Come on, let's just get out of this rain and we can work on the rest of the familiarities later! There's only room for one of you under my umbrella. I'm sorry about that. I would have grabbed a bigger one if I would have known I would run into you."

"Anika, you go." Alexi said.

"Are you sure?" She asked quietly.

"Of course."

"Yeah, we're cool with walking in the rain." Aeris added.

"Alright." With that, Anika walked up to join England under the umbrella, while the other two walked behind them. None of them were quick to trust, and they wanted to ensure that this man wouldn't hurt them. This wasn't the England they remembered after all. Even so, he seemed friendly enough. Yet, it was clear all three of them felt uneasy about him. There seemed to be something off about this England. However, none of them could quite figure it out.