Li: Hello everyone. Even though the author is making me go through all sorts of crap *glares at Karen* she's making me do a disclaimer (which she forgot last chapter). So, she doesn't own the Hetalia world or its characters at all (though OC countries may appear later), and she doesn't own the Avatar World, although she does own the characters from that world along with her Master.
The world summit was going fairly well, all considered. England and France, though not getting along as a rule, were at least not trying to throttle each other. America wasn't eating fast food loudly, and Canada was in the middle of a polite chat with Sealand (who wasn't entirely sure who he was talking to, but hey, someone was paying attention to him!), Italy was reading a manga rather than sleep or annoy Germany, and Romano wasn't insulting everyone in sight like usual. China felt relatively safe, as Russia wasn't present, and Belarus was off somewhere else, presumably looking for Russia, which made everyone else feel much safer. Prussia, though not invited, had showed up anyways (like he always did) and was being unusually quiet, talking with Germany in a low voice.
"West, the situation between America and China is none of our concern. Take it from the awesome me," Prussia pointed a finger at himself with a cocky smile to his younger brother, "we don't need to get involved."
"They nearly came to blows at the last meeting, Prussia." Germany hissed back. "If another world war starts out because of those two, we will be affected. Someone needs to take care of the tension between those two, and fast."
"It's hardly our problem if they start launching bombs across the Pacific at each other." Prussia waved a hand lazily.
"And what if France joins one of them? Or England? Or Poland?" Germany's serious tone finally got the point through to his elder brother. "If our neighbors become involved, we will be affected. Besides, a nuclear attack always results in trouble for the entire world. Remember Hiroshima?"
Prussia was silent for a moment, thinking things over as best he could. His brother stared steadily at him, and the silence between the two stretched on for a long moment until Prussia finally spoke.
"The awesome me can handle anything." He shrugged, leaning back in his chair nonchalantly. Germany nearly strangled him then and there, but restrained himself and merely put his head in his hand. Prussia's arrogance was not without reason, but there were times when it hurt more than helped.
"Does anyone know where Russia is?" Spain looked around, breaking the quiet of the meeting. "We can't start without him. He's the host nation. The main topic of today's meeting is supposed to be about him and America's joint armaments program."
"He's not usually this late." America nodded, scarfing the last of his hamburger down. "Well, I can handle it all by myself anyways! After all, I'M THE HERO!"
"Hero of what? McDonald's?" England jeered. America just took out another burger and unwrapped it, biting into the cooked meat with a starving man's zeal.
"Now now, mon ami, leave him be." France put a hand on England's shoulder, only to have England turn on him and begin to yell. Sealand and Canada broke off their conversation to watch the show with interest.
"This…..isn't as bad as last time." Germany moaned, slumping in his seat. He folded his arms on the table and laid his head down, remembering how Italy had been the last host for a world summit. That had been much, much worse than the current situation. Had Japan forgiven him yet?...it was probably best not to think about that…
"Heeeey!" A familiar voice cried, the doors flying open as though kicked. Everyone started, and turned to stare at Russia, who was standing in the doorway. His usual smile, childish and falsely kind, was absent from his face, and he instead looked serious and intent. In his arms was a limp figure, clearly human and covered in blood.
The Baltic Trio appeared behind Russia, running into the room and promptly shoving everything off the nearest table ("Hey!" America protested as his supersized soft drink found its way to the floor). "Quick, put her here, put her here!" Lithuania babbled at Russia, grabbing a pitcher of water from another table and shoving a white handkerchief into the cool liquid. Russia hurried over to the table, and gently laid the unconscious person onto the bare surface, careful not to drop her head back.
"Wha…what is this?" England gasped, staring in shock at the limp person. It was a girl, wearing red and black clothing that looked like it had gone through a shredder. "Russia…? What did you do?"
"I found her outside, in the snow." Russia had adopted a childish look of worry now, and was watching Lithuania and Estonia attempt to clean some of the blood off of the girl. "She looked like she was sleeping at first, only then I saw the blood…"
"Ve~!" Italy cried, seeing the girl. "Will she be okay?" He turned to Germany and Prussia, eyes filled with worry. "Is she going to be okay, Germany?"
"I…I have no idea." Germany admitted, a sense of shock filling him. He glanced around, seeing similar expressions on the faces of the other nations. Lithuania and Estonia were working on the girl's blood-smeared face, barely making any progress.
"S-someone call an ambulance!" Latvia wailed, panicking. He had followed his fellow Baltic members on instinct, not knowing what else to do, accustomed to following orders. Sealand joined him in panicking, soon followed by Canada and Romano. Romano's panic started off Italy, then Finland, then France, then China and pretty much every other country that didn't have a constant air of calm.
"EVERYBODY CALM DOWN!" A loud scream rang through the room, and the panicking nations paused their hysterics to look over at Hungary. She was panting from the amount of breath she'd put into getting their attention, and glared at everyone. "Okay. Now. Don't panic. I'm sure this girl will be fine. If you were freaking out just a moment ago, please leave the room. If you weren't, stay in here, you might be helpful. Prussia, I don't care if you didn't panic, go and keep everyone else from interrupting and get a doctor here pronto. Got it, everyone?" There were small nods from several people, and Hungary nodded. "Right. GET OUT."
Most of the nations present made their way to the door, glancing at Lithuania and Estonia, who were still trying to wipe the blood off of the girl's face. Hungary grabbed Germany and Sweden's arms as they attempted to leave, and dragged them over to the table. "You two and Russia are the biggest of us all—and we don't know what happened. This girl might be dangerous. If she is, I want you here to defend the rest of us."
"Wh-what?" Russia looked close to panicking himself, childish face full of fear. "But…I-I don't have my pipe!"
"Use your fists." Hungary sighed, then turned to the girl. She took quick stock of the nations remaining in the room. England had stayed, as well as Austria, America and Japan. Russia and Sweden stood awkwardly near Germany, the three tall nations unsure of what to do. Estonia threw down a blood-soaked handkerchief in despair, the strain of trying to clean blood off of a young woman's face too much for him.
"She…there's so much…there's a lot of blood…" He whispered, hands trembling. The nation was usually so focused, so intellectual, so in control of himself…but this small encounter with brutality was shaking him to the core, taking him from his comfort zone into someplace new and strange.
"Let me." Hungary gently took the nation's hand, and guided him to a chair. "Rest here. You've done enough. It was very brave of you to try to help her, but now you need to let us help." She looked to Russia, gaze questioning. "Did you see anything around the area you found her in? Footprints, a trail of blood?"
"No, only her, lying in the snow." Russia shook his head. "The ground was turning red around her." A sinister purple aura gathered around him, but his expression did not change as he said, "I was going to try something, but Lithuania and Estonia insisted I bring her here."
That may have been all that saved her life….. Germany thought, suppressing a shudder as he glanced at Russia from the corner of his eye. Sweden was giving no indication as to his thoughts, but Germany suspected he was just as scared by Russia as he himself was. Hungary spared only a second to stare at Russia before turning to Lithuania and the girl.
"Here, stop using that for a moment." Hungary instructed, untying her apron. "You're just smearing it around. This should clean it better." Gently, trying not to disturb the girl, Hungary began to dab at the blood covering her face. It came off fairly well, though her hair was matted with the stuff, and it would take a good scrubbing to clean her off entirely.
Germany couldn't help but peer curiously at the face that emerged from the bloody mask. Pale skin, with a pallor to it that reminded him of dead soldiers on the battlefield; could she still be alive? He couldn't see any movement of her chest to indicate breathing. Mostly on impulse, Germany stepped forward and pressed a finger into the girl's neck, searching for a pulse. Hungary and Lithuania paused, looking at the reserved German in surprise.
There….a small, faint heartbeat, fluttering and weak, like a baby bird. To be totally sure, Germany leaned down and placed his ear over the girl's mouth, hoping to hear her breathe. A warm puff of air hit his ear, assuring the nation that this girl was, indeed, alive. But all this blood—where had it come from? Surely she must have lost a lot, to be covered to this extent.
"Did you see any evidence of a wound on her when you found her?" Germany directed the question to Russia, who shook his head. Frowning, he looked to Hungary. "Have you found any evidence of injury?"
"There's nothing I can see, so I'm just trying to clean her up first." Hungary shook her head. "I don't think her back is injured, or there would be blood seeping out from under her. Right?" Germany nodded his agreement with the female nation's words, and reached a hesitant hand to the girl's arm, intending to examine it for a wound.
"Wait!" America recovered his mind enough to call. "We should clean her off first. Here." He took his bomber jacket off, and handed it to Germany. "Start wiping off the rest of her. Hungary, can you help him? It'll be easier to see any injuries if she's cleaned up." The nation added, almost as an afterthought.
"He has a point." England grudgingly admitted. "Wait here—I brought a few things with me that might be useful." The older nation strode to his seat, where a large shoulder bag rested against his chair. He knelt and opened it, body hiding the contents as he rummaged through them until he finally pulled one thing out and closed the sack. Germany glanced up as England stepped up next to him and handed him a small First Aid kit.
"You carry that with you everywhere?" America asked England, sounding almost admiring. "Wow. Do you get hurt a lot?"
"Wha—stupid America!" England yelled, the old anger rising. "It's for helping you out when you get hurt, what else?" Sensing more yelling was about to take place, Japan stepped over and put a hand on England's arm.
"Please. There is an injured woman here. We should tend to her before fighting amongst ourselves." He said seriously. The two nations looked at Japan in shock for a moment, then turned their gazes to each other. An unspoken pact to save this for later was made between the two of them, and then they both turned to the girl.
"Here, I've cleaned her chest and stomach." Hungary handed her apron to America. "Can you get her boots off and clean her feet? I'm going to start checking for wounds."
"Sure thing." America and England replied at the same time, and each grasped one of the girl's odd, pointy-toed black-and-yellow boots. Trying not to be violent, they tugged the knee-high footwear off, then gaped at what was revealed.
Her pants, which had been tucked in, only went to mid-calf on the girl. The exposed skin was a patchwork of bruises in various states of healing, from fresh purple-black to old yellow-green. Thin lines of old scars wound around her ankles and the soles of her feet, and looked like they extended further up, evidence of some sort of old trauma or torture. Five burn scars marred her left ankle, inch-long slashes that looked like someone with a burning hand had grasped the girl's leg. It was a gruesome portrayal of violence, painted into her flesh.
"There's…there's no blood…" America found himself stammering. "These, these are old wounds, there's no blood…we-we'd better keep searching…"
"Uhh…y-yeah…" England agreed shakily, finding it impossible to tear his gaze away. Nations knew about pain, more than most humans would guess. They knew what it felt like to ache all over, to be bruised and bloody and beaten but still go on. And they knew what the injuries of such scars would have felt like when they were inflicted.
There was a minute or so's worth of silence as they worked, cleaning off the blood and trying to find any evidence of injury. Hungary broke the silence by looking up from the girl's arm to speak to Germany. "I think there's more blood caked on under her clothing, Germany. Could you take her coat off, please? It's so ripped up, it's hardly there anyways."
"Yes, of course." Germany obeyed automatically, used to receiving orders. He set down America's bomber jacket, now ruined, and took a moment to study the buttons on the girl's coat. Really, the thing was barely held together at the moment, it had been torn so badly. Had some sort of wild animal attacked her? The buttons seemed complex, a sort of loop of chain and fastening pin, but he managed to figure them out in a minute or so.
A groan sounded from the girl, and her eyes fluttered open. Everyone paused with what they were doing—Hungary wiping off blood from her arm, Lithuania was washing off a rag in a nearby water pitcher (good luck explaining that to the help), America and England looking at her boots, Japan, Austria, Sweden, and Russia simply staring at her, and Germany—
Germany was taking her clothes off.
Well, technically he was just taking off her shredded coat, which wasn't much in the way of covering at the moment. But, considering the fact that she was surrounded by men (Hungary's presence was a quick footnote at this point), feeling extremely weak, and in a lot of pain…..her next actions were completely excusable.
With a shrill shriek, she sat up (Germany's hand was holding the next button-chain-thing firmly, and went with her), grabbed Germany's wrist, and threw him at a wall. Then England, who was closer than America, had his shoulder seized. Before he knew what was going on, the girl was swinging him into America, actually lifting him off of the floor.
"Woah! Grab her!" America yelped, barely dodging England. The girl rolled off of the table as Russia and Sweden dived for her, then popped back up to block a punch America aimed at her. She used his momentum to toss him over her shoulder, then paused for a moment to take in her surroundings. Germany and England were sitting against two different walls, staring at her like she was a madwoman. America was lying on the floor, dizzy from being spun during the girl's block and toss. Sweden and Russia were getting up from the table, but seemed dizzy, having knocked their heads together by accident. Austria, Hungary, and Lithuania were staring at her in surprise, but not making any move to attack. Japan, however, had somehow produced a katana, and held the sheathed blade in his left hand.
That made him the most dangerous target, and thus the immediate threat to be dealt with. Russia lunged at the girl, who sidestepped him but grabbed the back of his jacket and spun him around. He sprawled on the floor, somehow rolling into Sweden's legs. The girl jumped onto the table, then launched herself at Japan, all in the space of a second.
"Stop!" Hungary cried just as Japan brought his sheathed katana up to block the girl's attack. "Hold up! We were just trying to help you! Calm down!"
"Huh…?" The girl blinked, and looked over at Hungary. She stepped away from Japan, and looked around the conference room, which was now a mess. "Wha…where am I?"
"The World Summit Meeting in Moscow, Russia." Hungary replied gently, walking over to the girl and putting a hand on her arm. "I'm Hungary. Please, you were found outside in the snow, covered in blood. We were just trying to help clean you up and see where the blood had come from when you woke up. If we startled you, I'm very sorry."
"Ummm…where's Russia?" The girl asked blankly. "And if there's some sort of worldwide-meeting, how'd I get here?"
"Eh?...You don't know where Russia is?" Austria stepped over. "It's a northern country, very cold. That's him, on the ground." He pointed to the nation, who was trapped under an unconscious Sweden (it looked like he'd hit his head on the table when Russia rolled into him and made him fall over…pretty good shot…). "Who are you?"
"Northern country?" The girl frowned. "I…I was at the North Pole, but…what? I'm pretty sure there are no 'Russia's up there…are we using the same map? Oh, and, I'm Li. Li Wu. Of the Fire Nation." She put a hand to her head, and winced as it began to pound, making her vision swim. "Nn…this is…so…not my…day…" Her eyes rolled up in her head, and she collapsed, Hungary catching her before she hit the floor.
A/N: Well, there you go! Chapter Two! I hope I'm not making the Hetalia characters seem unlike themselves...well, I'm sure I'm not! By the way, I would like to dedicate this entire story to the Hetalia Master, without whom I would not be able to write the characters AT ALL, and to my dear friends Master and The Blond (you know who you are ^_^)
