Hello! As promised, I put a preview in this chapter. And feel free to let me know if I'm doing anything wrong, especially with the honorifics and the other languages.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia or HetaOni. Hetalia belongs to Hidekazu Himaruya and HetaOni was made by Tomoyoshi and translated by PianoDream and others.
My eyes followed the battle as I stood there, shaking. Japan managed to get in a lucky shot, forcing Steve to stumble back slightly. Prussia used this opportunity to jump in and force him into the hallway. Now that there was some space, both nations could fight Steve. Steve stumbled against the wall.
"Emma! Run!" Prussia yelled at me. This managed to get my feet moving and I ran out of the room. I heard another few whacks, then Japan yelled "Prussia! Come!"
There were two more pairs of footsteps behind me. I headed to Germany's room and threw open the door. Prussia and Japan followed me in and Prussia slammed the door shut, leaning on it. We waited, but Steve didn't attack us. Prussia sighed and got off the door.
"So where's West?" He asked. Japan walked over to Germany's door.
"This is where Germany-san is." He said, knocking on the door. Prussia eyed the door.
"Looks pretty solid." He said. "Hey, West! Come out, it's your awesome older bruder!"
"Prussia?" Germany called back. "Is that you? Are you alright?"
"Ja, I'm fine!" Prussia replied. "But Italy is still missing-"
"And we have to help a mochi!" I added.
"-So stop hiding in the closet and come help us!" Prussia continued. Germany was quiet for a moment.
"Alright. I'm done here, so we can go now." Germany exited his closet, closing it quickly behind him. I shrank back slightly. He was so tall! Germany walked over to me and held out his hand.
"Hallo, I'm Germany. I'm assuming you're Emma Brune?" He introduced. I nodded and shook his hand.
"Let's go!" Prussia said, going out the door. I followed him.
"The mochi's on the fourth floor." I told him. I heard Japan and Germany talking behind us.
"So, what're you doing here?" Prussia asked. I snuck a sideways glance at him.
"I don't know. Probably a prank." I told him. "I woke up here with a katana." Prussia stared at me.
"You're American, right?" He asked. I nodded. "We're in Japan."
If I hadn't figured out that I was in HetaOni, I would have freaked out. As it was I just sighed and nodded. This was just another reminder of how far from home I was.
Prussia noticed my hopelessness. "Hey, don't worry. As soon as we find Italy and get out of here, West can get you a plane back to America!" He said, trying to cheer me up. It did the opposite. If I got out of here I would still be in the Hetalia world. I would have no place to go, no family to return to. Tears welled in my eyes.
"Don't cry!" Prussia said, backpedaling. "I-"
I cut him off by hugging him, wiping the tears from my eyes. "It's fine." I said quietly. "We're here." I held open the door for the others. Prussia and Germany went to examine the mochi, but Japan looked at me.
"Emma-kun? Are you alright?" He asked. I forced a bright smile on my face.
"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?" I replied before going over to Germany and Prussia. "Well?"
"It's stuck pretty deep. Can you get it out, West?" Prussia asked. Germany strained, trying to pull the mochi out. The mochi made distressed little squeaks.
Seeing that the Mochi wasn't coming out, Germany stopped pulling it and sat back. "Sorry, I can't do it with my bare hands. Maybe if I had some kind of tools…?"
"A tool?" Japan asked. "Well, it's a big house. I'll look around."
"Ja, it would be much easier with tools." Germany said. "Danke."
"Let's split up and look for it." Prussia suggested. Japan opened his mouth to agree when the house shook. I almost fell, but Japan caught me.
"Are you alright?" He asked. I nodded and stood up. He turned to the room. "I'll go ahead. If I find something of use, I'll come right back.
"I'll go too. I haven't seen much of the house." Prussia volunteered.
"I'll stay here and try to loosen up the mochi." Germany said. They all looked at me.
"Um…" I said. "I'll go too. I know the house." Prussia and Japan left the room, me right behind them. Prussia started walking to the stairs and Japan headed towards the other room. I followed Japan.
"Emma-kun? Why are you following me?" He asked. I laughed nervously.
"Well… I can't exactly fight. And if we both look at the room we'll get it done twice as fast, right?"" I told him. Japan looked confused.
"Why didn't you stay with Germany-san?" He asked.
"Um…" Because this is a game and I think that you're the main character? Because Germany is scary? "I wanted to explore." Japan didn't say anything, but he didn't protest to following me either.
The room had crates in the middle, with a lever in the corner. We immediately went to the lever. There was a plaque next to it that read 'Up is Heaven. Middle is Earth. Down is Hell.' on it. Japan frowned.
"Where do we move it?" He asked. I examined the lever. It looked fragile. I grabbed the handle and pulled it down. There was the sound of something shifting behind us. Japan turned around, drawing his katana, but Steve wasn't there. Instead, a bag had shifted, revealing a weak-looking portion of the floor. I turned back to the lever and tried to move it up, but it was stuck.
While I was fiddling with the lever, Japan had gone over to the weak floor. He stepped on it warily, and it held his weight. He jumped on it a few times. On the third jump the floor gave way and he fell. I immediately stopped trying to get the lever to work and rushed to the hole.
"Japan!" I yelled down. "Japan! Are you alright?"
Japan had fallen next to a white piano. "Hai, Emma-kun. I am not hurt." He replied, getting up and dusting himself off. He looked up at me. "However, I can't get back up."
I stared at the white piano. I had seen fan art of Japan dying next to that piano. "Is the door unlocked?"
Japan tried the door. It opened. "Hai. I seem to be on the third floor. You should come down." I hesitated for a moment. Walking through the mansion alone, with Steve running around?
"S-sure. Be right there!" I glanced around the room one last time. There was a piece of paper stuck to one of the crates. I grabbed it and put my hand on my katana. I took a deep breath before running out of the door and down the stairs. Japan was standing next to a door.
"Here, Emma-kun." He said. I ran over to him. He frowned, looking at me. "Are you hurt? Why were you running?" He asked.
"Steve could be anywhere." I replied. "Let's look around the piano room." japan nodded and started investigating the bookshelves. I found myself drawn to the piano. My fingers gently ran over the keys.
Back home, I had played piano. I was good at it, too. Sitting down, I started the first notes for a piece that I knew by heart, Marukaite Chikyuu. Once I had gotten into Hetalia I had made sure to learn it. Japan came over, hearing the music. He stayed quiet until I finished.
"I think I have heard that song before. What is it called?" He asked.
"Marukaite Chikyuu." I replied, looking at the multicolored numbers on the keys. Japan frowned.
"Draw a circle that's the earth?" He asked. I nodded absently.
"From an anime." I told him, finishing with my piano examination. "Find anything?" Japan shook his head.
"No, I didn't." He replied. I nodded.
"Let's go to the next room then." I told him. We went to the next door on this floor. It was a library. We walked down the rows a bit, then someone came out from behind a shelf. I jumped and hid behind Japan.
"Italy-kun?" He asked. I peeked out from behind him and saw Italy.
"Japan! You're okay!" Italy replied.
"Yes, somehow." Japan said. Italy noticed me. He looked extremely surprised, and perhaps scared?
"Who's this?" He asked, staring at me. Japan stepped to the side so that I couldn't hide behind him.
"This is Emma-kun." He introduced. I straightened and held out my hand.
"Emma Brune." I introduced. Italy looked almost afraid to touch me, but he shook my hand quickly.
"Nice to meet you, bella!" He replied.
"What happened?" Japan asked.
"Right after you left, a monster appeared from the hallway and came after us! Germany screamed… did you hear him?" Italy asked. Japan and I looked at each other.
"No… We did not hear anything." Japan said. Italy glanced at me on the 'we' but continued his story.
"Germany's scream surprised me and I was confused at the time so I tried to run away and leave you behind. I'm so sorry Japan!" Italy said. "But the front door wouldn't open so we split up while we were running away." He did look really sorry.
"Don't worry Italy-kun, no need to apologize. Anyone would have done the same in a situation like that." Japan replied. I smiled sadly.
"All I've been doing since coming here is running." I told him. Japan sighed, glancing around.
"What is going on in this house? The door and windows can't be opened. Our cell phones don't work…" He said, trailing off.
"And don't forget Steve!" I reminded him. Italy looked confused.
"Steve?" He asked.
"Oh! Sorry, that's what I call the monster." I told him. "Steve doesn't make him sound as scary." Italy looked shocked, but a laugh bubbled out of him.
"You named him Steve?" He asked, laughing. I couldn't help but laugh too. Japan smiled at our antics, looking at Italy.
"Italy-kun? Are you hurt?" He asked. Italy stopped laughing.
"Nope, I'm perfectly fine! Are you okay?" Italy replied. Japan shook his head, still looking at Italy.
"You are surprisingly calm about this, Italy-kun." He said. "You were even wandering around the house." Italy looked serious, gazing at the bookshelves.
"When the mon- Steve came, I was really scared and wanted to cling to Germany. But he and Prussia were falling apart too." Italy explained. He brightened a bit. "So I decided that someone had to keep calm, and I amazed myself! So then I began to look around for everyone so that we could get out as soon as possible!"
Japan nodded in understanding. "That makes sense. I was startled too, but after seeing Emma-kun so flustered, I felt oddly calm." I laughed sheepishly.
"At least I'm good for something!" I said, trying to sound positive.
"So what happened to Germany and Prussia?" Italy asked. "Have you found them yet?"
"We found them." Japan replied. "We're meeting on the fourth floor, I'll explain on the way."
"They were worried about you." I told Italy. "We should go see them ASAP, so that they know that you're alright!" Italy nodded.
"Okay! Let's go together! Oh, and I found some things while I was exploring, so I'll give them to you." He said, moving behind a shelf. He came out with beer, onigiri, and another gold coin. This coin had '150' written on it. I took off my bag and held it open so that Italy could put everything inside.