Warnings: Language but I don't think that's enough to up the rating. Tell me if you disagree. (It's 2Ps though, of course there's cursing)
The first thing Kuro felt upon waking was a rush of ice water. It felt all at once like he was placed beneath a waterfall as frigid water ran down his exposed chest and back. In an immediate reaction the stoic Asian jerked in his seat, trying to get away from the freezing stimuli. His efforts though, proved in vain as restraints kept him firmly in place. Around his wrists as well as his ankles he was strapped down to an uncomfortable chair which was now pooling with the remains of the ice water he had been doused with. Realizing the futility, Kuro went still.
"Is he awake now?" Someone's voice pierced the silent void but Kuro made no indication of either having heard or remained conscious. "It's been weeks. He doesn't speak no matter what we do. That has to be unnatural." Stupid humans.
"You would think so, but no. I've known Japan a long time. It's not that strange."
Kuro's whole body was lightly shivering and he had to bite his lip almost to the point of drawing blood to keep his teeth from chattering. Broken pieces of memories of the past weeks flit through the dark-haired man's mind. There had been confusion, panic, definitely blood. He remembered briefly catching a glimpse of his counterpart Kiku, but other than that he knew very little of what was going on. But these people, whoever they were, wanted something from him. And if Kuro knew one thing it was how to withstand even the most brutal forms of interrogation. He was one of Luciano's most trusted allies after all, and therefore knew how to perform as well as withstand, anything these people could throw at him.
Making full use of his slight advantage Kuro took quiet stock of his condition as whoever else was with him tottered about the room. Slowly flexing his muscles he noted that he had several lacerations on his chest as well as stinging burns on his back and arms. All of which having been poorly bandaged. He had a headache centered on the right side of his temple as if to indicate he had recently taken a blow there, two fingers on his left hand were broken and had been placed in a splint to heal, and finally he felt a different type of sting in his right arm that only came from having multiple injections. Basically, he probably looked like crap.
The sound of footsteps reentered the forefront of Kuro's mind as a well dressed Japanese man in a suit approached to stand before him. With his head bowed limply as it was, all the nation could see were the man's well-polished shoes. "Watashi wa anata ga me o samashite iru shitte imasu. Watashiwomite." Well, how kind of him to speak his own native language. There must be an American in the room or something if he was only now speaking Japanese. Kuro decided to oblige the man and picked his head up to pierce the older human with his red stare. He silently enjoyed how the man flinched at his unnerving gaze.
For several long moments nothing was said. Both men simply continued to share a look, reading the other's thoughts through their eyes. "Why is he still not talking?" So it was an American.
Kuro did not avert his stare but his countryman did turn to face his fellow human. "Probably because we haven't asked him anything." Back to Kuro. "Who are you?" The Otherworld nation made no sound and no motion, as water continued to trickle slowly down his short black hair and dripped off the end of his chin. After a minute of silence he was backhanded by the Japanese official. "Kotaete kudasai."
Still, Kuro remained silent and simply turned his head back to face the man who had struck him. Acknowledging internally that he would probably have a bruise on his cheek later. "Sir, if you don't mind. English?"
Kuro fought the urge to smirk as the Asian man rolled his eyes out of the American's view. "Fine." The man leaned forward and grasped Kuro's chin in his hand to force the nation to look at him more directly. Inside, the assassin burned with rage at the audacity of the man to touch him in such a way. "Who are you? You are very similar to a man named Kiku Honda. Or more specifically the State of Japan itself. Do you have any relation to him?"
"..."
"Maybe he is another one of them? A personified nation?" the American offered.
"Without a doubt. But what I want to know is if he is supposed to be some sort of replacement. If they are just going to sprout copies every time we get close to killing one of them then all our work has been for nothing" the Japanese official hissed, dropping Kuro's chin.
While the two men bickered, Kuro was reeling from what he had inadvertently learned. So Kiku Honda was not part of this. In fact, it was likely that his counterpart was in the very same unfortunate position as himself. Also, it appeared that whatever had brought him out of Otherworld and here was probably tied to what these men had done to Kiku. How troublesome.
"What do we do? He won't give us information." the American's voice came back into focus. The Japanese man walked off to the side of the dark room and momentarily out of sight before returning with what appeared to be a sheathed katana. His katana. Kuro made a silent vow to kill this man the moment he was given the opportunity.
"I was given permission to dispose of this one if he proved to be of little use." The man drew out the beautiful sword and let its honed edge rest just in front of Kuro's face. "And that seems to be the case." He knew the man was giving him a chance to speak. A last opportunity to submit before he lost his head. Kuro had never been beheaded before. Let alone by his own blade. He knew his body could recover from most anything, but there was always a chance that he would meet his limit. Especially when it seemed the sole purpose of these men was to quite literally kill the immortal.
Still Kuro did not speak but met the man's glare without hesitation or fear.
"It would seem you are just as stubborn and proud as Kiku. But, unlike Kiku" the man moved so that he was standing to the nation's side and pulled back the blade to strike. Kuro closed his eyes and let out a long breath. "You are expendable. I know your kind can reattach limbs. Kiku has demonstrated that fact many times over in the past months, but I wonder. If we keep your head separate from your body, will it serve as something sufficient to death?" The blade was swung.
~One Month and Three Weeks Earlier~
"Louis open up! There's no point in pretending to be asleep Flying Chocolate Bunny already told me you're awake!" The sullen Frenchman wearing a loose blue shirt and black pants groaned from his place on the smoke-scented couch. Putting out the burnt-out cigarette in his mouth the blond attempted to continue ignoring the group outside his door.
"Curse that flying abomination" he muttered quietly. He could still hear Oliver pounding on his front door. The scent of freshly baked cupcakes and likely some other sweets wafted in from that direction as well. Making the Frenchman's stomach growl with gluttonous desire.
"Dude maybe he's ignoring you?" another voice, probably Alex.
"Don't be stupid Al of course he's ignoring him." Ah, that would be Matthieu.
"Matt don't call your brother stupid."
The pounding suddenly increased in volume. "Papa ouvre la porte!" the boy shouted through the wood. Louis sighed and slowly moved to rise from the couch, absentmindedly shutting off the muted television. He never could ignore his little Canadian. Removing another cigarette from the pack in his back pocket Louis lit the stick and then swung open his front door. There, standing at the ready was Oliver, Alex, and Matthieu.
"Quoi?" he muttered, leaning against the door frame.
Oliver was the first to react. His smile doubling in size as the small Briton raced up the last few steps to the front door and tackled the taller Frenchman in a fierce hug. "There you are! It's not polite to ignore people you know. I even brought cupcakes and left out the human bits just like you prefer!" Oliver dropped his arms to take the small bag of pastries Matt was dutifully carrying for him before offering it to Louis.
Louis took them, peeking into the bag to examine the brightly-frosted treats critically. They looked humanless enough. "Merci cher" he leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to the Brit's forehead in thanks, knowing it would probably make the man's day. "Now, what are you all doing here?" he finally asked with some reluctance. A thin brow arched in some interest as he caught a slight bloom of scarlet touch Alexander's cheeks. Louis shifted his focus to the young American who immediately ducked his head and started fiddling with his dark sunglasses.
His moment of intrigue was quickly smothered when Oliver's face suddenly devolved into slight worry and his gaze traveled to Alex as well. "Oh it's awful Louis! Alex has been having all sorts of trouble because of that boy Alfred! We're going to go help fix it so come on!" Oliver quickly reached out and took Louis' hand in his own and tried to tug the Frenchman out of his doorway. Louis would have none of it.
He anchored his feet to the ground and resisted the pull of the lighter male. "Non."
Oliver looked as if he had been kicked in the gut. "Wh- what?"
"Non Oliver. What is the point? Whatever is happening" he debated his words for a moment "over there is none of our business. And if we do in fact fix it who's to say it will not happen again? Better to let it be."
"B-but-"
"Non" Louis pulled his hand out of the pinkette's grasp and pointedly ignored the disappointed faces of the rest of the group. Even Matt looked on him with slight disquiet. He went to shut the door in the group's faces and felt some amount of satisfaction with the sound of wood slamming on wood.
Turning to head back towards his very worn couch, Louis stopped as he once again heard banging on his door. Not as heavily as Alex or Matthieu would have done though. Maybe Oliver? Shrugging, the Frenchman plopped himself down and reached for the remote but the banging would not cease. Five minutes later and with a groan Louis once again pulled open the door. But instead of pink hair and a smile like he expected, the man was met with an auburn-haired and exceptionally pissed Northern Italian.
"Merde."
"Louis swear jar. Just because it's in french doesn't mean it doesn't count."
"Quiet Oliver." Luciano glared up at the slightly taller Frenchman, foot tapping in irritation and impatience. "You're coming."
Louis quirked a brow. "What is this? I didn't think you were much of a team player Luciano" Louis questioned.
Luciano clicked his tongue in annoyance. "I work well enough with my allies thank you very much bastardo. But this is something bigger than any of us. It's not just the Allies being affected, Kuro went missing too. I am in contact with Earth's England and he has agreed to open a portal for us. We are going. All of us."
Louis stepped back from his threshold. "Non, I don't think I am" and promptly slammed the door again. Unfortunately though, even as he turned he could still hear the voices outside.
"Well what now?" Oliver.
"Cheh. Siegfried."
"Hm?"
"Get Louis. The rest of us will be waiting in the Jaguar."
"Ja."
Baise-moi. Two seconds later he could hear his door get kicked off its hinges and clatter to the floor. Louis made to run for the immediate safety of the upstairs but was soon hoisted off the ground and thrown over a muscled German shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Laissez-moi!" Shouting french curses in ways that would have had Oliver pulling out his own eardrums Louis was hauled out of his home and out to the street where a primly kept black Jaguar XE waited patiently on the side of the road.
"Here we go." At Siegfried's utterance one of the back doors was kicked open and Louis was tossed in across the laps of two North Americans and an Englishman.
"Ah, there you are Pops" Alex greeted with a cheeky grin as the unwilling Louis quietly resigned himself to what was likely to be a long trip. The blond Frenchman settled himself down tightly between Matthieu and Oliver so that the two older nations were squashed between the larger twins.
"Was that really necessary Siegfried?"
"Es tut uns leid" the German apologized as he settled in the driver's seat. Luciano simply humphed and looked pointedly out the window. "We do not have a lot of time und we are already late."
"Quoi?"
"We were supposed to be back at Luciano's office a week ago."
"WHAT!" All four nations in the back seats of the car sat bug-eyed at the proclamation.
Matthieu was the first to get his mouth to stop flapping like a fish. "But we only received Flavio's phone call yesterday eh!" At this Luciano's face took on a scarlet hue.
"Ja, Luciano ended up spending two days trying to get in contact with Flavio, a day convincing him to help us, and the rest of the week trying to talk to Nikolai and-"
"Alright enough!" the Italian smacked Siegfried on the back of the head. "Vaffanculo! No need to tell them every single detail. All they have to know is that it will just be those of us here and Flavio going to Earth." The Canadian groaned in response and let his head flop against the window to his left.
"You better not leave smudges on my windows idiota! Off the glass!"
"Make me small fry" Matt challenged, making the much scrawnier Luciano fume silently from the front.
For a few more minutes the odd group remained in silence until Alex finally decided to put in a word. "So~ if we're that late, are those losers still going to be okay?"
Siegfried pulled into the small parking lot of a local park before Luciano answered. "I don't know but since none of you have disappeared I can only assume they have been able to hold their own. Besides, there's no guarantee that the humans know where they are so it's possible they have managed to stay hidden. I wouldn't count on it though. We are probably going to be walking into a warzone."
Alexander's expression turned up into a feral grin. "Even better." Now parked, the two Axis members got out of the car, followed closely by the North American family. Catching sight of their new mode of transportation, Alex wolf-whistled in appreciation. "Dude Lucy, nice jet."
Luciano bristled like a cat. "It's LUCIANO stupido americano!" Once the latter half of the American's statement registered however, he quickly calmed down. "But thank you."
As the six made their way to the jet, a well-dressed head of bleached blond hair appeared to greet them. "Oh hey guys! Matt nice to see you again!" Flavio waved to his Canadian friend.
"Hey Flav" the two blonds fist-bumped and entered the plane, followed closely by the rest of the group. Once seated, Luciano called to the front and told the pilot to take off. In a matter of minutes the nations were airborne.
"Alright listen up." Luciano stood and gathered the attention of all present which included, himself, Siegfried, Flavio, Oliver, Alexander, Matthieu, and Louis. "This is not the ideal situation, especially considering the scenario, but it will have to do. To save time I had the mirror meant to help us cross worlds moved to the plane." Snapping his fingers, the Italian ordered two attendants to bring out the large oval mirror and had it placed delicately on one of the empty seats. "Now, once we arrive-"
He was interrupted by a growl as a large polar bear exited the back end of the plane and ambled over to his owner. "Hey Kuma, there you are" Matt greeted, petting the bear's head.
"Wha- how? When did you smuggle a polar bear into my jet!?"
Matt shrugged. "I had help."
"Who!?"
The Canadian just grinned. "Doesn't matter."
"Ugh, fine" Luciano groaned, running a gloved hand over his face. "Moving on-"
"What the BLOODY FUCK is wrong with you people!" All present jumped at the unexpected voice. Swerving their heads to the oval mirror, the nations caught sight of blond hair and green eyes.
"What is with everyone interrupting me today?"
"Artie that was rude~"
"And dear God it's you!" Arthur looked very much worse for wear from the sight the Otherworld nations had of him. His hair looked even more messed up than usual, a smudge of soot was smeared across one cheek and he was bleeding a distressing amount from a cut on his forehead.
"Dude what happened to you?" Alex questioned, leaning in slightly.
England looked affronted. "What do you think!? We've been waiting here for a week. A bloody WEEK! You told me twelve hours you Italian bastard!"
An explosion sounded in the background along with shouting and gunfire. "I'm guessing your location was discovered?" Luciano questioned.
"No, these fine gents just came for tea and biscuits. Of course we were discovered you wanker!"
"Well no need to be rude about it we're here now" Oliver attempted to placate his counterpart, to no avail.
"Fuck that! Just get your arses here now, I'm opening the gateway." Arthur ducked out of view and suddenly the mirror expanded to become a hazy portal.
"Alright let's get going!" Alex jumped up excitedly, grabbing his bat that was resting off to the side. He all but leapt through the portal with manic glee, followed closely by Matt with a hockey stick wrapped with barbed wire and Kuma trailing behind him, Oliver, a reluctant Louis, Flavio, and Siegfried with Luciano standing behind him for protection. As soon as the last member of the Otherworld party passed through, the gateway shut, leaving nothing but a mirror behind.
...
Moments later, a sullen-looking albino walked out of the back trailed by a yellow chicken. The red-eyed Prussian looked around quietly for any signs of the loud nations that had been there not long ago before realizing they had left. With a quiet sigh the man settled into one of the jet's plush chairs and began to stroke his chicken. Oh well, I hope Siegfried stays safe. Maybe I'll go visit Alejandro. Deciding this course of action would be the best, the mute albino got up and scrawled his suggestion onto a small whiteboard. Checking to make sure his writing was legible, he headed towards the cockpit so that he could have the jet directed to Spain. He was sure the flight staff who normally worked for Luciano would not mind the brief vacation. After all, there was no sense in not making use of their new found free time.
Thanks for reading! This chapter is a bit dull but I just wanted to get the groups together and now they are so yay!