HetaOni: Novelised

This story is inspired by Trapped Within written by simba-rulz. It will follow closely to the fanmade game HetaOni with some slight changes to make the story flows better. I will also be referring to the translation made by LJ user Gemini_artemis.

All intellectual properties belong to Hetalia, Hidekaz Himaruya, and the creators of HetaOni and Aooni. I am purely doing this for fun.


Chapter 3: The Thing

Standing in the foyer fingering the key, Japan wondered which door led to the library. Realising that he was completely clueless, Japan gave a resigned sigh, "Seems like the only way is to try this key on every door."

And so he did, trying the key on every door he remembered was locked. He even cautiously tested the key on the door next to the toilet. Strangely, it was a major relieve for him when the key couldn't fit into the key hole. Finally, a few doors later, he found himself standing in front of the last untested door, the one beside the room with the kitchen. He pushed the key into the lock, confident that this was the right door after all the failed guessing. The key slid all the way in and Japan gave it a sharp turn, resulting in a soft click.

The door swung open freely but before Japan took a step in, he spotted movements within the dimly lit room; a large shadowy figure making a turn around the corner and disappeared into the depths of the room.

Japan was alarmed.

Who's there? ! His mind screamed but he managed to stay calm. His hand gripped tightly on the hilt, ready for a quick draw of the blade should the situation demanded it. He proceeded carefully into the library. He found the light switch to the room and flicked it on, flooding the area in pale light. He walked along the shelves, softly calling out for Italy and Prussia as he silently prayed that the shadowy figure he saw was one of them.

After walking around the library and finding no one, he decided that maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him again and forced himself to relax by looking at the contents in the library at a slower pace.

Although his eyes glided over the titles available on the shelves, Japan was taking in none of the information. He was very distracted, his nerves and senses were on high tension. Something in this room was unsettling him but there was nothing he could pinpoint his discomfort to. Frustrated, he abandoned the shelves for the large desk.

There were many letters, papers and stationeries cluttered on its wide surface. Japan moved the things around carefully, occasionally picking up reading materials that might be of interest to him. While he was shifting the papers around, he accidentally uncovered a brass key and … … "Th—This is —! ! Onigiri? !" Japan exclaimed as he excitedly picked up the food.

But his happiness over finding his home food was short lived. In an instant, the temperature within the library plunged to an unbearable cold. Fear and despair immediately gripped his heart. Breathing became difficult and the atmosphere was driving every fibre in his body into overdrive.

Instinct screamed at him to look up and he did, meeting face to face with the most grotesque creature he ever laid his eyes on.

Its skin was of sickly rubbery grey. It had a stout body and at the ends of its muscular arms, instead of hands and fingers, long sharp claws as black as coal took their place. Its disproportionately huge head rested on its think shoulders and two large eyes as black as the deepest darkest abyss made up most of its head. And those eyes were looking at him. Oh, he knew they were looking at him, into his soul, trying to suck him into its despair.

Japan wanted to scream. But nothing came out of his throat. His heart constricted painfully as panic sets in.

It'sthatthingit'sthatthingit'sthatthingit'sthatthingit'sthatthingit'sthatthing

The onigiri fell out of his shaking clammy hands and hit the floor with a dull thud, losing its triangular shape as it broke into pieces.

The sound sliced through the silence like knife through hot butter.

One moment, it was standing still, opposite of Japan with the desk in between them. Then the next moment, the creature violently lunged towards him at a sudden speed, swapping its long powerful claws at Japan.

Before his brain could comprehend what happened, his body had moved on his own, barely avoided the vicious attack. Taking advantage of the small opening available as the creature was recovering from its attack, Japan ran as fast as he could to the door. Every cell in him fanatically told him to get away, get out.

Run run runrunrunrunrunrun RUN

Japan threw himself at the door, desperately grasping for the knob and turning it, struggling against the door with all his strength but it refused to budge. It's locked! His stressed out mind realised and he quickly searched his pockets. A new wave of dread washed over him when his search came up empty.

"The key…" Japan whimpered weakly. Oh no… I think I dropped it somewh— He couldn't finish his train of thoughts when his instincts screamed at him again, this time telling him to duck.

Japan dropped to the floor immediately; big sharp claws narrowly missed his head as the creature came up to him from behind. He turned around in his squatting position to face the Thing and with a desperate shout, he launched himself at it. Somehow by a stroke of luck, he managed to jam his elbow into the creature's gut, dealing a painful blow to its abdomen. The creature seemed to be surprised by the retaliation and it stumbled back away from Japan, growling with pain and anger.

Then a strange sensation enveloped Japan.

When was the last time I have felt like this? Japan asked himself. He felt as though time was slowing to a halt and suddenly every sound became so clear. The sound of heart thumping loudly against his ears, its beating vigorous against his chest. He could hear himself breathing hard, desperately trying to fill his lungs with as much oxygen as possible. The sensation of fear and adrenaline rush, of being pushed into a corner. A situation of life and death, when was the last time he had a near death experience?

Oh, these sensations were so, so familiar. His mind flashed back to the times of the warring eras of the samurais, to the period of enlightenment, to the world wars, to days where he would fight against adversaries so many times bigger than himself and he would come out of those battles alive.

Fight or die.

As a nation, the concept of death had always seemed so farfetched to him. Surely, he was saddened by the passing of his own people, but of his own kind, Japan had yet to experience any of it. He had some experiences of near-death, but he had always managed to come back. Still, he knew what dying felt like. He knew how painful it was and how it could make one so very utterly helpless. To Japan, becoming incapacitated needlessly and dying pointlessly was not an option.

Live live livelivelivelivelivelive live

The instinct to flee now coupled with the instinct to fight, to survive at all cost.

I will survive this.

His eyes hardened with new determination, holding a steady gaze at the creature who was recovering quickly from his retaliation. The Thing swiftly lunged towards him again, baring its claws with malicious intent to cause severe harm. But Japan felt oddly calm and in control. In a split second, he had drawn his katana and deflected the incoming talons. The creature was unfazed and swung its other arm at him.

Japan, however, was much faster and more agile than the Thing. Eyeing an opening to his left, he dodged the attack and dashed towards the opening. As he slipped through the gap between the wall and the creature, he brought his katana up to slash across its side. He pressed his blade into the flesh as hard as he could while passing and used his momentum to drag the steel across its side. The creature howled in pain but Japan wasn't done yet.

Now standing behind the howling creature, he raised his katana up high above his head and brought it down with an aggressive shout, putting all his energy and concentration into the swing. In its wake, the attack left a deep nasty gash on the Thing's back and its painful howl increased in volume. The attack also sent the creature staggering forward and sprawling towards the ground.

Now's the chance! Japan forced himself to turn his back on the Thing when he saw the creature went down on the ground. Not even registering the awkward lack of blood from the creature, Japan moved into the room and began his urgent search for the missing library key.

Japan looked around the desk while occasionally glancing back at the creature to monitor its situation. The urgency increased more and more as it began to move and even trying to stand. A glint on the floor caught his eyes when he searched the back of the second row of bookshelves. A low guttery sound also caught his attention and Japan panicked a little, knowing that the creature was back to its feet.

Kept hidden behind the shelves, Japan risked a peek. The Thing was now moving along the wall at the other end of the room. It movements, however, were slow and lethargic. It's not fully recovered, Japan observed. I can outrun it! Returning to his hiding position, he took a deep breathe and exhaled. He sneaked a peek around the shelves again to make sure that the creature was still on the other side of the room. With a mental Go!, Japan forced himself to leave his hiding place and ran towards the door, his sandals only making soft tapping sounds against the floor.

The Thing turned towards Japan, but it was too slow, too hurt and too far to catch up to him. Japan unceremoniously jammed the key in and turned, putting his weight on the door to force it to open quicker. He almost lost his balance when found himself stumbling out of the door and onto the corridor. It was only when Japan had slammed the door shut and locked it firmly, did he allow himself to relax.

He slid to the floor, back leaning heavily against the door as all the excitement and action drained the energy out of his feet and hand, causing his heavy katana to slip from his fingers and landing unsheathed beside him. "What on Earth was that?" He asked himself, feelings of disbelieve settling in with his weariness. Pulling his knees closed to his chest, Japan rested his head on his kneecaps while he regained his strength, sort out his emotions and recalled the previous event.

Got to the library. Checked the library. Checked the desk. Key and onigiri on desk. That thing appeared. Dropped onigiri... … Oh… What a waste of food, Japan mentally sighed but quickly got back to the important memories. Fight the Thing. Finds the key. Get the hell out of the library.

Just then, Japan paused in his thoughts and rewind. What a minute! Key? Japan looked up and studied the library key in his hand. Key? Key… … A key… … …

He was shifting some papers around the desk when he accidentally uncovered a brass key… … …

There was another KEY! ! ! Immediately Japan stood up in shock and turned to glare at the door with dread.

"How can I be so careless? !" Japan scolded himself. He did not want to go back in again, but he knew that the key would be important. In fact, any keys found in this god forsaken house were important with the number of inaccessible rooms around. The scenario of keys and doors in the house vaguely reminded Japan of the RPGs and their dungeon maps he had played but he had to force the impression away. This is not a game! He told himself.

"Go in, get key, get out," he chanted to himself. I can do this. He mentally prepared himself for a second confrontation with the Thing within the library, key in one hand, katana in the other. I have dealt with it once. I can deal with it again. After some deep breathing to calm his nerves, Japan's expression hardened with new resolve.

Get the key and find the others became Japan's mantra as he once again entered the library.

| / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ |


Thank you for reading!

This chapter was quite a challenge to write. Why? Because of the fight scene. I am scared to death to write the fight scene, namely because I have never written a fight scene before. I tried to make it short and sweet, it's easier to write without too many complicated moves.

Another challenge was the transition from flight to fight. I believe that if one is pushed to the limits, he or she will snapped and all hell breaks loose. Actually I also take inspiration for the transition scene from Black Cat. There was a part where Train was in a tight situation, which reminded him of his past and he momentarily reverted back to Black Cat, scaring the shit out of all the men who wanted to kill him. So something similar was used here.

There are so many times I feel like my vocab is so limited because I keep using the same words all the time… … …

I hope you like what you have read so far!

Bye bye! !


Blooper

Japan unceremoniously jammed the key in and turned, putting his weight on the door to force it to open quicker. However even with the key in the lock, the door still wouldn't move.

Japan: What? ! But I'm already using the key! ! Open already, damnit! ! !

Tony stood behind Japan as he watched the nation struggled with the door, pushing and pushing against it to no avail. A few minutes later, Tony couldn't stand it anymore.

Tony: You are freaking opening the door the wrong way, you fucking idiot! ! ! !

I'm sorry. I really had to do this no matter how cliché it is.