Title: Nocturnal
Author: The Moof
Word Count: 2,633
Rating: T+
Summary: Prussia sees R'lyeh commit a dark ritual in the Dark Forest of Germany.
Notes: This is a Hetalia/Cthulhu Mythos crossover fic.
Disclaimer: Prussia is from Hetalia and is owned by Hidekaz Himaruya, Shub-Niggurath and The Young of Shub-Niggurath are all owned by H.P. Lovecraft. I own Raya.
Raya was doing vile preparations for the dark rights she had been planning for a week now. The pungent smell of rank decaying mist and dragon's blood incense filled the dark forest afternoon air.
Everyone in town had heard of a rumor of the place known as simply the Satan's Thatch. A cursed and secluded meadow in the middle of the woods near an old dirt road that had a long history of having dark occult rights, satanic black masses and the like.
Most of the people in town considered it an urban legion that was told to make the kids behave. But there was more to this place than most people knew about, a lot more and none of it good.
Gil was wandering around; pretty much looking for anyone he could fight or just bother. Gilbird was flying in circles around his head before he just stopped, falling onto Gil's shoulder. He could suddenly smell something horrible and wanted to see what it was coming from. Gilbird chirped in protest but Gil kept walking until he saw her.
Raya was looking over the cold and black slab that seemed to look like a pagan alter. The slab had what seemed darkened brown spots in various places, which was an indication of previous blood sacrifices. She felt her friend watch her standing over the sacrificial alter and she sighed deeply.
"What is it Gilbert?" she said in a quiet and calm tone.
"Uh-" He was quite surprised that she knew he was there considering she didn't even turn around. "I wanted to see where the smell was from. It's really gross…" Something was telling him to not get any closer, maybe it was Gilbird chirping in his ear, but he didn't listen and took a few steps closer to her. "What are you doing?"
"I am doing… things child." She paused she wanted to tell him what she was up to and what she was planning, but she knew that it would frighten him and since he was a Catholic crusader. It was his job, like other crusaders, to hunt down and torture pagans, Jews and Muslims as well as other non-Christian believers.
"Please Gilbert, it is wise for you to go and please… don't tell anyone what you have seen, smelled, heard, touched or said here."
"What? Why? Are you doing something bad?" He was even more curious and stepped even closer now. "Let me see before I go at least! You can't deny the awesome me so show me!" he begged.
"To your leader and your church… yes I am. I am a bad person in their eyes. But… to the people that still practice your pagan rights… what I am doing is a good thing."
He stepped back and continued to back away from her. "You're… You're one of them? But… but…" He suddenly turned around and ran away. He had trusted her. She seemed so nice! He ran to report what she was doing but he stopped himself. 'Is she really bad? I know that's what I was told but… She's so nice to me…'
"Gilbert… please; come back. There is a reason why I am doing this." She turned and chased him till she caught up to him. "Please… let me explain. Please." She looked at him with tears falling down her face.
He looked at her with an expression of mixed feelings. He sighed and looked down. "Fine…"
"Gilbert… there… there are things in this world that are ancient and dangerous. I am guessing that your father Germania told you stories of these monsters; creatures that have been known to harm and kill humans. And some of these creatures have to be appease to prevent them harming humanity." She bent down and looked at him, "Sometime people have to do bad things other see as bad to keep the evil away. Please understand."
"Aren't those just stories? They can't be real, right?" He was in denial and didn't want to believe anything she just said but he did believe. He was starting to get scared. "They… They won't come, will they? They won't take me away if I'm bad like daddy said, right? Right?!"
"No little one… I am going to make the monsters stay away. But to do so I must do bad things. I… must sacrifice a human." She lowered her head in guilt. Not because of what she had to do, but because she didn't want Gilbert to see what she was doing and what the Catholic church told the boy that was evil and satanic in their eyes.
His eyes filled with horror. "You… You have to sacrifice a human…? B-but… Why can't you do that to an animal? Or… Or…" He was starting to cry now. He never killed anyone and killing someone for monsters is unthinkable. He tried to hold the tears back but he couldn't. He was just too scared and confused.
"I am so sorry little one, but… I have to do what must be done or you country will be in danger… you… will be in danger. But I promise the human I have to sacrifice will be a bad one… someone condemned to die because of their evil deeds."
Raya's heart was breaking. She didn't want Gilbert to know this much. She was giving herself away to, at least in her eyes in a religious sense, the enemy. But she was also confiding to a good and dear friend.
He wanted to run away again but his legs wouldn't move. He wiped his tears away with the back of his hand and continued to look down.
"For this I am deeply and truly sorry Gilbert, but to save your country and the other lands of the Holy Roman Empire, I must do this."
"I… I can't be… I can't be friends with you anymore!" He turned and ran away again.
She knew that she couldn't go after him. The consequences were too dire to go after the boy. So Raya saw him run off. Her heart broke as she lost another friend. She knew the curse that the other primordial nations placed upon her was a dark and deep one. Curses of such things always are.
He eventually ran out of breath and stopped. He was breathing heavily and fell back onto the grass. Gil raised his arm up, holding his hand straight out. Gilbird gently rested in the palm of his hand.
It was twilight when she and the other pagan followers saw the monster come into full view. Her sacrifice was tied to the alter as the pagans started to chant. As the chanting got louder, thunder was heard in the distance with lightning flashing over them as an approaching thunderstorm came closer to them, while the howl of a pack of dire wolves could be heard nearby. Soon a bright blood red glow of a circle with a pentagram inside of it surrounded the sacrifice, Raya and the pagans, as they chanted louder as the wind whistles and whipped around them. As this was happening, Raya read from the book aloud.
"Ia! Shub-Niggurath! Ia! Shub-Niggurath! The black goat of the woods with a thousand young! We give you this sacrifice in honor of thee! Bless us oh mighty goddess with your dark kiss so we can sing your dark praises! Ia! Shub-Niggurath! Ia! Shub-Niggurath!"
Gil wasn't too far and he heard loud noises. Why he was still there, I have no idea. He snuck around some boulders that were nearby and watched the whole thing,
Suddenly the clouds started to part as a humongous mass of claws, sharp fangs, eyes and tentacles came toward the sacrifice on the altar. As black corrosive slime-like drool hit the sacrifice's leg, causing noxious smelling puss and large black maggots to eat her raw flesh in such an excruciating manner that the sacrifice couldn't take any more pain. But the pain only increased in intensity as pieces of his body was slowly ripped from the bone.
Gil wanted to look away from this horror but he couldn't. He stared, wide-eyed, at what was happening.
The physical pain was nothing to the mental and emotional pain the sacrifice felt as his mind and soul were being shredded and thrashed by beings that looked like insane trees with tentacles for branches and goats feet for roots. As they feasted on his memories and emotions, they made him feel such sickening guilt that he couldn't describe to any sane person. The torture felt like an eternity of hell. The sacrificed only wished for death, but unknown to him it was going to be an unfulfilled one.
Gil eventually passed out and fell the ground. He couldn't take the sight of that and it's surprising he was able to stand it that far.
As the creature started to carry him way to the depths of the unknown, Raya heard a thump behind her. Telling the others to say put she walked to the sound and saw a passed out Gilbert. Raya sighed as she picked the boy up. She guessed that he fainted from the horrific site of the monsters. Cradling him she sat on a bolder and kissed his forehead.
He eventually woke up and found himself in Raya's arms. "W-what happened?"
"You had a nightmare sweetheart, but everything is okay, I promise." She lied to the boy. Raya didn't want to have Gilbert know the truth… at least not yet.
"Oh, I did? But… It was really real…" He was confused now. He swore it was real.
Seeing one of the knights that was his guardian walk up to them, she handed Gilbert over to the man, "He fell and hit his head on a rock as I was gathering firewood. He is okay now, but it seemed he had a nightmare about monsters. He must be working very hard for the lord."
Raya's words and actions protected her and Gilbert from the eyes of the knight. Who, lucky for her, believed her being a maiden who lived with her parents in a nearby cottage.
Gil gave Raya a confused look as the knight carried him away.
"Goodnight fair knights; gods peed." Raya said as she waved before gathering up fire wood.
Time: 21st century.
Raya was looking at the altar again and was preparing for another sacrifice to be made that night.
Gil secretly followed her and hid behind the boulders. 'This is just like that nightmare I had when I was younger…' he thought. He laid in wait, watching Raya carefully.
Around her was a group of pagans that stripped and tied naked a local child molester and rapist that constantly had the damned luck of escaping the German police. The cultist that were Raya this night knew that this man needed to pay for his crimes and to do so they hunted the man down and made him the latest of a long line of sacrifices that were given to the Goddess of the Black Forest.
'What the /hell/? What are they doing?' He hid a bit more behind the boulders but not too much so he could still see what was going down.
Soon all too familiar chanting was heard from the pagans, as thunder was heard in the distance with lightning flashing over them as an approaching thunderstorm came closer to them, while the howl of a pack of dire wolves could be heard nearby. Soon a bright blood red glow of a circle with a pentagram inside of it surrounded the sacrifice, Raya and the pagans, as they chanted louder as the wind whistles and whipped around them. As this was happening, Raya read from the book aloud.
"Ia! Shub-Niggurath! Ia! Shub-Niggurath! The black goat of the woods with a thousand young! We give you this sacrifice in honor of thee! Bless us oh mighty goddess with your dark kiss so we can sing your dark praises! Ia! Shub-Niggurath! Ia! Shub-Niggurath!"
His eyes widened when he saw all this unfold. 'She… She lied to me!' He continued to watch although he knew he should turn and run.
Suddenly the clouds started to part as a humongous mass of claws, sharp fangs, eyes and tentacles came toward the sacrifice on the altar. As black corrosive slime-like drool hit the sacrifice's leg, causing noxious smelling puss and large black maggots to eat her raw flesh in such an excruciating manner that the sacrifice couldn't take any more pain. But the pain only increased in intensity as pieces of his body was slowly ripped from the bone.
The physical pain was nothing to the mental and emotional pain the sacrifice felt as his mind and soul were being shredded and thrashed by beings that looked like insane trees with tentacles for branches and goats feet for roots. As they feasted on his memories and emotions, they made him feel such sickening guilt that he couldn't describe to any sane person. The torture felt like an eternity of hell. The sacrificed only wished for death, but unknown to him it was going to be an unfulfilled one.
He covered his mouth and nose to prevent puking. He just watched in horror because he couldn't look away now.
As the creature started to carry him way to the depths of the unknown, Raya heard a vomiting behind her. As the pagans finished their dark ritual and left Raya stood at the altar waiting for Gilbert to show.
He peeked from behind the boulder and saw Raya looking at him, or in his general direction. He cleaned himself up the best he could and slowly walked out and toward her.
The look on her face showed guilt, but not guilt for what was done, but guilt for what she did to Gilbert all those centuries ago. "It had to be done Gilbert. There was no choice, but the sacrifice was one of Germany's notorious rapists and child molesters. The bastard deserved what he got here."
He didn't say anything at all. He just gave her the same confused look he did when the knight was taking him away all those years ago.
"What you saw…" she walked closer to him, "… they are known as the Young of Shub-Niggurath and the creature from the cloud was Shub-Niggurath herself."
He furrowed his brow and continued to stand in silence.
"It was both I and your pagan members of yours and Germany's homeland dealing with that sicko and killing him in a sacrifice or have all of the people in yours and brother's homeland get eaten and killed, while destroying you and Germany. Sorry Gilbert, I will not let a god take my friends and the people I love away from me." She started to cry as the look of pure honesty and sincerity shown on her face.
His looked softened but he stood still. It wasn't that he was angry with her or anything, but he just couldn't find any words.
She suddenly hugged him and held him tight as she cried. "I am so sorry I lied to you those centuries ago. I don't expect you to forgive me, but I did it for you, Ludwig and your countries. Please understand I had to do evil things like this to prevent darker evil from happening."
He was surprised but he held her back. He eventually started stroking her hair to hopefully get her to stop crying.
Looking up at him she smiled and felt some sense of ease for what had happen and what Prussia just saw. "Thank you Gil, thank you so much."
"Don't mention it, Raya." He continued to hold onto her, trying to find comfort himself.
She kept hugging him and never let her friend go.