WARNING: This fanfiction will contain mentions/descriptions of physical and psychological torture. If you are sensitive to or easily triggered by things like that, please do not read this fic.
Chapter One
"Bollocks!" England cursed as he slammed the spellbook in front of him closed. He ran a hand through his filthy hair in frustration and took a deep, shaky breath before reaching for another book. He was exhausted and all he wanted to do was lie down and rest, but he couldn't. He hadn't slept in a week, and he hadn't eaten, drank, or showered in even longer; how could he when the fate of Earth rested solely upon his shoulders?
It had all started about a month ago….
England had always known that their universe wasn't the only one that existed, but until recently, none of them had ever attempted to enter theirs or make contact. He had learned a lot about the parallel universe in the past few weeks; more than he ever wanted to know. Like his, their universe had personified countries, but they were different, and not in a good way. In addition to their appearances being quite dissimilar to the nations England knew, their personalities were almost exactly opposite from what he'd seen of them so far...and they all were insane. He had spoken with his counterpart, Oliver Kirkland, several times in the past month, and each time, he became more and more anxious to find a way to keep him out of their world. Everything about him was unnerving, from the way he spoke to the all-too-cheerful glint in his eyes. He wasn't mentally stable, and his intentions were anything but good.
As for their world, it had gone to hell. Luciano Vargas, North Italy's counterpart, had started a war a few decades back in their history that ended in the death of more than half of the world's population and caused the dissipation of dozens of nations. The ones that remained either seized the desecrated land left behind by dead countries, or fell victim to the Union of Vitality. The Union of Vitality was a forced alliance of the strongest put in action by Luciano. In this union, the parallel nations of Germany, Japan, England, France, America, Canada, Russia, and China had all been joined together by Italy, who was the ruler of their world, and had no choice but to do as he commanded.
None of this ever would have become a problem for England, or anyone else in his universe, if one simple thing had never happened; Luciano getting bored. He had grown tired of his own world, having already destroyed everything he wanted to break and tortured or killed anyone he felt like hurting. Having exhausted nearly every form of entertainment he deemed worthy in his own world, he sought to find amusement in theirs. What he intended to do, England didn't know, and he was working as hard as he could in the hopes that he never had to find out.
Oliver had been trying to get into their world for over a month now, and his attempts had become twice as strong as they had been. He was attacking the barrier between their universes with a strength England had not anticipated, and the increase in his efforts had forced him to take drastic measures. Due to not knowing when the attacks would come, he had no choice but to continuously cast a protection spell on his side of the barrier, which would prevent Oliver's spells from breaking it down. Or so he hoped.
Thankfully, the spell didn't use up too much magic energy, but due to having to constantly have it in effect, he wasn't able to sleep. England had evaded the problem of having to rest by casting another spell which enabled him to go for as long as he wished without needing to sleep, which would be ideal if not for its side effect. When he stopped casting it, he would fall into a coma that he couldn't wake from until he'd caught up on, or rather, paid for, all the hours he had borrowed while awake. He didn't have to waste time eating or preparing food either; he couldn't die from not eating or drinking, and though it wasn't in the slightest a comfortable experience, it was bearable. With the problems of having to sleep and eat eliminated, he had spent every second of his time pouring over his agglomeration of spellbooks, desperately trying to find an incantation that would permanently keep their world safe from the parallel nations.
After almost eight days of constant searching, all England had was abdominal pains from not eating and a panic in his chest that increased with each hour he didn't find what he was seeking. He knew that he couldn't keep going on like this for much longer, both because he would lose his mind and that sooner or later, someone would wonder where he went and come looking for him. He had been even more distant than usual in the past month, had shut off his phone two weeks ago in addition to ignoring all other attempts at contact, and had missed yesterday's world meeting.
England was rather surprised and a little hurt that France hadn't come by to see what the matter was, as it seemed the wanker could hardly go a day without finding at least one way to drive him mad and frequently dropped by his house just to piss him off. And that was one of the many reasons why he hated France, because even though he angered Arthur in a way nothing or no one could, he still cared about the bastard.
As his eyes scanned the pages of a spellbook, England thought of the man who had always simultaneously been his friend and enemy and felt his heart twinge a bit. Why hadn't he come to check up on him? Sure, they claimed to hate one another almost daily, but everyone knew that was only a lie. Despite how often they fought and hurt one another, they were best friends...or so England had assumed. Perhaps he was the only one who thought that. Perhaps he had been tricked by his loneliness into believing that France cared about him, when in reality, he truly did hate him.
He had been careless and let his mind wander, and due to that and his poor physical state, he hadn't noticed that he was being watched until the reflection spoke.
"Hello, there, my darling Arthur!"
England immediately stood, reflexively grabbing the dagger he was keeping near him for the time being, and looked at the mirror the voice had come from. As he thought, it was the same face he had seen there every other time this had happened, a face that was his own, yet completely foreign. Instead of his usual hue of blond hair, it was a slightly pink strawberry blond color and far more unkempt than his own. His eyes were different, too; light blue instead of rich green. He had the same face as England, even the same eyebrows, but it most certainly was not him.
"Oliver." He hissed, glaring at the reflection in the mirror.
"Tsk, tsk, that's no way to speak to your bestie, now is it?" Oliver chided, sounding quite a bit like a mother scolding her child.
"I'm not your sodding 'bestie'." He snapped.
Oliver's eyes, the eyes that England hated looking at because they should be green, widened in shock and he gasped softly. "Artie, love, please don't use such vulgar words."
"I'll say whatever the bloody hell I want." He said, sitting back down at his desk to continue his search.
Oliver sighed and tsked. "We'll have to work on that mouth of yours, poppet."
"'We' don't have to do anything. Now, bugger off so I can find a way never to see your face again."
"Oh, but that's impossible." He answered with a soft chuckle. "Even if you somehow find a way to keep us out of your world, which you won't, you'll see my face every time you look in the mirror because we are one and the same, love."
England, enraged by his words, stood and faced the large mirror reflecting the face of his counterpart. "We are not one at the same, we haven't been and we never will be. You're a monster. A murderer."
Oliver didn't seem affected in the slightest; he merely smiled sweetly. "And you're not?"
The words stung quite a bit more than England thought they would've and caused him to falter. He knew that he was a murderer, he knew it better than anyone alive, and being reminded so suddenly caught him off guard.
"You're just as much of a monster as I am, love. You know that, too, don't you?" Oliver asked, his voice soft and gentle, as if he was singing a lullaby. "That's why you haven't found a spell to keep us away yet. You want us to come. You want us to punish you for everything you've done because you know you deserve it. You want to die."
"Shut up!" England bellowed, lurching forward and shattering the mirror with his fist, making Oliver's face disappear.
"That's not true," he murmured at nothing. "I'm-I'm not a monster."
After a few moments of ragged breathing, England stood upright and hissed in pain when the broken shards of glass in his hand shifted and his body registered what had happened. Wincing, he plucked the mirror fragments out of his flesh and tossed them to the floor with the others before clenching and unclenching his fist to ensure that he had gotten them all out.
He took a deep, shuddering breath before turning back to his desk. Arthur sat and turned his gaze to the spellbook he had been searching when a cold, stabbing spike of fear pierced through his entire body. On the pages he had left it open on, a message was written in bold, disjointed lettering.
I'M GETTING CLOSER.
SEE YOU SOON, POPPET.
WITH LOVE,
OLIVER KIRKLAND
England's heart began throbbing in his chest and he felt like he was going to be sick, because if Oliver had been able to do this, it proved true what he had just written. He was getting closer to breaking through the barrier between their worlds. And there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop him.
A/N: Hello! I hope you liked chapter one of Disarray. ^-^ If you're wondering, this story is rated M for violence and swearing only, which means that there will be no smut. There won't really be romantic pairings, either. But there will be a /ton/ of angst and multiple points of view! Hope to see you next chapter!