Hetalia - Down the Rabbit Hole
Chapter 7, and oh boy is this a big one. Super excited to get into, so I'll say no more and jump right in,
Enjoy!
Spades District, The University of Gaia, The Gymnasium
The girl's abrupt screech tore Arthur and Francis apart. All heads snapped to the screamer as she sank to the floor; her fingers knotted in her hair while a glassy sheer possessed her vacant eyes. A ring formed around her as the students backed away fearfully. Arthur's eyes narrowed as he watched Francis push through the crowd, and kneel to wave a hand over her unblinking eyes. The air was deadly still as they all waited for his evaluation.
'She is in some kind of trance.' The professor concluded when another loud gasp resounded from a student lingering around the edge of the circle.
'Hey! Who turned out the lights?' He cried, and Arthur's hairs on the back of his neck stood on end with the dawning realisation that something was very wrong here. Carefully, he lowered his mental barriers and stretched out telepathically, searching for the source of their hysterics.
'I won't let you take my money. It's mine!' Arthur heard to his left and gasped when he felt someone grab him from behind. When the deranged student spun him around, his hand aiming for his neck, Arthur's eyes went wide when in he sensed a near transparent haze cloud cling to him.
As though from nowhere, Alfred was at his side and pushed the entranced student away from him. All around them, more and more of their fellow classmates began to succumb the strange trance; blabbing nonsense and wandering aimlessly as though in a dream.
'What is happening?,' Alfred muttered in Arthur's ear and the Brit gulped as the floor tilted out from under him. A weak groan escaped as his knees buckled, and had it not been for Alfred's quick reactions, he would of slumped to the floor. 'Woah! Arthur? Arthur!'
A sheer of sweat broke out on Arthur's forehead as he clung to Alfred, the sudden dizziness leaving him breathless, when there was a loud crackle of static as the PA system was turned on and a voice, that Arthur vaguely recognised as the girl Amelia, shouted over it.
'Attention all students! There is a super villain on school premises! Stay away from the weird flowers and do not, I repeat not, breathe in the spores they release!' She exclaimed over the mic, and Arthur swallowed thickly as his stomach plummeted. This couldn't be happening. Not here, not now. H-how the bloody hell was he supposed to think straight, let alone fight? Distantly, Arthur heard Alfred shout his name, but the sound was distant with an strange echo to it, as though his head was stuck in a deep vase.
As Arthur's feet stumbled to find themselves again, his mouth opened to tell Alfred that they had to hide, when the same haze that he had seen on the entranced students clouded his vision, and a lone figure materialised from across the gym; a humanoid coiling mass of shadows with no clear edges. Arthur's breath hitched as he felt the familiar dimensional shift of his lucidity, and knew that he was Bleeding, knew that what he saw before him was not of the third dimension. As the being's indivisible eyes locked onto his, and a toothy cheshire cat grin stretched on it's 'face'.
'Found you~' It purred, and began to stalk towards him. Unable to tear his eyes away, the complete embodiment of a deer in the headlights, Arthur twisted Alfred's shirt for his attention.
'Alfred, you have to slap me,' He stated, his voice cracking in it's desperation.
'What? Why?'
Arthur tightened his grip, the lack of oxygen to his brain causing large black spots appear and swallow him up. 'Just do it!' He begged as he felt his eyes begin to roll up, his consciousness on a tightrope
The blow came almost instantaneously, and after wincing from the sting, Arthur blinked furiously to see Alfred's worried face level with his; the haze gone.
'Better?' He asked and Arthur looked for the figure, giving a sigh of relief when he saw that they were gone.
'Much.' Is what he would of said, if not the interruption of a loud bang! as the gym doors were thrown wide and a boy strode through them.
He was disturbingly young, only twelve years of age, with curly hair and bagged eyes that were too old for their face. From his black jumpsuit, dark ivy and vines sprouted from the seams that curled around his arms and writhed in the impression of live snakes. Even if Arthur had not sensed it about him, the metal shock collar around the boy's neck revealed the terrible truth: that not only was the boy Lucid as he was, but a soldier slave to the Winter sight of the collar caused Arthur to freeze as past hauntings of it's cruel weight around his own neck stirred.
The boy smiled as he scanned the chaos of the gymnasium, and his smile grew to a perverse grin when his dark eyes settled on Alfred. His lips pursed as though to speak, when his jaw went slack and his stare widened as it fell on Arthur. Arthur knew what he saw; the face he had seen in his dreams.
'You.' He mouthed with a frown, and Britannia's instincts took over. As adrenaline shot through him, banishing the dizziness, Arthur grabbed Alfred's hand and ran.
'Stop!' A shriek came after them as Arthur shoulder barraged open the other set of double doors and they burst into the sleepwalking student infested corridor. From the vine riddled ceiling, giant colourful hibiscuses hung, and remembering Amelia's warning, Arthur covered his face with his free hand to avoid breathing in the flowers' airborne spores. A glance over his shoulder saw that Alfred mirrored the action while he looked back towards the gym. Arthur bit his lip and pushed his legs harder. He had to get Alfred away from him and these flowers.
'In there!' Alfred yelled as they turned the corner and dived into nearest classroom that had been converted into a greenhouse; the professor and his students all staring blankly into space inside surrounded by greenery. Without a pause, Arthur pulled Alfred over to the window and wrenched it open. After waiting a few seconds, he lowered his hand and inhaled the fresh air. Beside him, Alfred squatted back on his heels and hung his head.
'What,' The american gasped between pants, 'what are we gonna do?'
Arthur looked down at him, his mother's voice quietly urging him to ditch Alfred and summon the Britannia suit before the boy found them and forced him to reveal his powers. 'I'd going to lead him away. While I do, you run and get help.'
Alfred's head jerked up. 'Yeah, like hell that's going to happen. Half the school is under his control and I totally saw the way he looked at you. It was like he knew you or something. No, no way, we are sticking together.' He protested with a glare, and Arthur quietly cursed. He hadn't thought Alfred could be that observant.
'If we stay together and get caught, then no one will know about it. If he's so interested in me, then I'll be able to draw him away while you get somewhere safe and contact the police.'
'No! I'm not abandoning you!' Alfred declared, and Arthur was struck how alike he and Columbia were in their unmovable stubbornness (of course, Alfred's was much more endearing than that american idiot's).
Arthur sighed as he knew what he had to do. 'Be safe. Get help.' He ordered, before he inhaled a deep breath and sprang for the door, Alfred too slow to stop him from reentering the corridor again. Slamming the door shut behind him, Arthur took a quick check of his surroundings before breaking into a run down the corridor the boy would have gone in pursuit. His boots squeaked against the polished floor, carefully not to collide with any of the students as he paced through the hallway that led to the university's cafeteria.
Decreasing his speed, Arthur jogged past the canteen's pinned open doors and saw that the hall was strikingly empty in comparison to the rest of the school. The rounded tables had been moved to the side by vines as thick as his torso and when Arthur moved closer to approach them, he cried out in surprise as he was yanked into the air by his wrists. The same vines he had gone to investigate were now animate and had silently crept behind him, slithering down and around his squirming form. Arthur strained against the bindings as they pinned his arms at his side, and lashed out a desperate kick only to have the foot ensnared, shortly followed by the other.
Behind him, a thick lump formed in his throat as the sound of soft footsteps grew louder. Arthur craned his neck to watch as the boy padded out from around him and surveyed him, his expression unreadable.
'You're him,' The boy chimed in a high prepubescent voice as goosebumps crawled across Arthur's skin. He was going to have to use his powers, use them against a child who could of lived a normal life if not for the Syndicate. A hiss escaped between his teeth as the vines tightened and lowered him closer to their master. The boy climbed onto a near table, and when Arthur was level with him, roughly grabbed his face from under the jaw and twisted it from side to side, examining it from every angle.
'And you're one of us.' He softly cooed.
'What are you doing here, attacking a school?' Arthur demanded, trying hard not to look at the shock collar, and the boy hummed disinterestedly as he pulled and patted Arthur's cheeks; tracing the faint freckles there.
'Contract to kill a student. Goes by the name of 'Alfred Jones'. Know him?' He asked teasingly, and unknowingly chuckled as Arthur's magic ignited like fire on oil in his veins, all sympathy he may have had for him evaporated. The vines that held him exploded into sap, freeing his arms that Arthur brought forward and struck out his palm against the boy's chest, putting all his telepathic force behind the strike. The boy's small frame was thrown backwards to crash and snap in half a round table from the other end of the canteen.
Arthur dropped, and landed on the balls on his feet, breathing heavily. He couldn't afford to take liberties now. Alfred's life was stake. Reaching into his shirt's chest pocket, Arthur retrieved his smart phone and pulled back the cover, revealing a small piece of folded slip of paper tucked inside. Replacing the phone, he opened it and focused on the rune he had prepared with blood printed there. Concentrating on maintaining the correct rate of Bleeding, he combusted the paper with his mind.
As the slip crackled, Arthur's own clothes burst into bright bluebell flames, and after a brief second of complete nudity, Britannia's suit materialised out of the fire. Arthur stared down with satisfaction at his now gloved fingers and flexed them experimentally before he reached for the gas mask that hung on the utility belt and donned it, pulling the half jacket's hood over his head to complete the look.
From across the room, the boy clambered to his feet and shook his head, turning up his eyes to narrow them at Britannia. 'Now that's a development I did not expect. The man from our dreams is also the famous Britannia Angel. Wow. Have anymore shocking and fantastic revelations up your sleeve?' He giggled as he dusted himself and Britannia cracked his head from side to side.
'A few.' He smirked before he lunged.
Spades District, The University of Gaia, Classroom BT
'Oh my god are you okay? Are you hurt?'
'No. No I'm fine. Listen, Matt, I need you to call the TPD. The insidious kid's got powers like Britannia, like he can control plants or something. I'm going to go for my locker, I stashed the spare suit in there.' Alfred spoke without breath as he peered through the classroom's door to check the scene. It was all clear, no creepy boy to be seen.
'You took the spare suit to school behind my back?!' His brother yelled from their apartment living room, his mobile pinned between his eye and shoulder as he scrambled to start up his coordinator set up.
'Well, I'm seriously glad I didn't because I sure as hell need it now. Arthur was with me and he just freaking took off to distract the bad guy before I could stop him. I gotta hurry and make sure he doesn't get himself hurt. Over and out.' Alfred said before he cut the call and edged out of the classroom to head down the corridor, towards the canteen where his locker was.
Spades District, The University of Gaia, The Student Canteen
Britannia grunted as an organic tendril coiled around his ankle, and cried out as it ripped his feet from under him and whipped him around to launch him back through the double doors he had came through. His breath was forced out of his lungs when he bounced against the smooth floor, skidding to a slow stop. Britannia allowed himself a second to just lay there before he forced himself onto his knees, wincing as his battered muscles ached in protest. Shit. The brat was more capable than he had hoped.
'Britannia!' The gas mask snapped up, to have it's wearer's blood run cold when he saw Alfred Jones standing in the corridor. Oh no. The doors, still swinging from when he had been thrown through them, were flung open as the boy stalked through them.
'We aren't finished.' He hissed as he shot out another hand and the vines mimicked the movement, aiming for Britannia. His fear for Alfred overriding his fatigue, Britannia sprang and like he had done in the gymnasium, grabbed Alfred's hand as he sprinted past; half dragging him behind him as he fled. The two of them charged through the next set of double doors that marked the start of the locker hall and as they did, Britannia swiped a hand out behind him. The locker wall nearest the door shrieked and squealed against the floor as it pivoted and slammed against it.
His sense of urgency so what decreased with the metal barricade between them, Britannia turned to Alfred and quickly scanned him for wounds. 'Are you hurt?'
'I'm good,' Alfred replied, a red blush colouring his cheeks as he looked down at their still entwined hands. An bright crimson flushed Britannia's cheeks under his mask when he realised and hurriedly let go. He suddenly didn't know where to look. Alfred nervously cleared his throat.
'Um, this corridor is clear, but all the students are under some kind of trance from those flowers.' Alfred added with a point to the overhead flower; it's slow releasing spores gently floating down like particles of dust. Britannia gave an internal sigh, grateful that his mask filtered out such particles, when a question struck him. Despite being unprotected, Alfred was talking and breathing normally. He wasn't in a trancelike state as the others were.
'Why aren't you affected?' He asked with a raised indivisible brow and the american shrugged before his eyes went wide.
'Oh crap. You haven't seen a guy with blond hair and green eyes running around have you? His name is Arthur Kirkland, he's my friend and he ran off to confront that villain.' Alfred pleaded, his strong hands tightly grasping Britannia by the shoulders to the point where it was painful.
'I did. I got him out before he could engage,' Britannia grimaced, shrinking back from Alfred's iron grip when there was a loud bang and the locker wall bulged. 'Get behind me, and when I say run, run.' He stated with an outstretched hand to ward Alfred back, positioning his body so that it formed a shield between the assassin and his target. The wall of lockers gave another bulge before it's strength gave and the doors were torn from their hinges. Surrounded by the flora, the boy stepped through the doorway, a trail of blood running from his nose; a telltale sign that he was starting to push beyond the safe amount of Bleeding.
Britannia gritted his teeth. If the boy was going to push the limits, using regular magic to win the fight wouldn't cut it. He had no choice, but to summon it. 'Get back!' He yelled to Alfred, his magic once again, flaring as he Bled the realities.
'Call it's name.' His mother's voice whispered to him, and Britannia felt hot air whip around him as he visualised the awesome blade that was evil's bane. His vision became tinted with the haze as Britannia increased the Bleed, the strenuous sensation comparable to holding apart the world's strongest magnets. A fresh sheer of sweat broke onto his forehead as Britannia imagined the golden hand and a half handle, the double edged blade of starlight that radiated holy light. His magic climbed, and climbed, building higher and higher as Britannia Bled, truly lucid as the third and fourth dimension temporarily became one by his command. The power rippling through him as a electrified current, Britannia extended his hand with his eyes closed, the name of power already rolling off his tongue.
'Excalibur!'
There was a explosive clap of thunder as the legendary weapon, his weapon, exploded into existence with the immense repulsion of the dimensions; rightfully separate once again. A satisfied smile slipped onto Britannia's face as he felt the weight of the handle fall into his hand, and he brandished it with a flourish before pointing it level with the astounded boy.
'This is your only warning. Yield.' Britannia threatened and the boy regarded the blade wearily as it hummed with blessed light.
'Just who are you. How can you wield that much power?,' He breathed, before a sadistic leer stretched his lips, reminding Britannia of the shadowy figure he had seen in the gymnasium. 'Ah, guess I'll just have to string it out of you.' He giggled and shot out a hand. In a flash, the vines launched themselves towards them. Britannia tightened his grip and with both hands, swung the sword of kings. The blade beamed and a crescent slice of sunlight flew out from blazing swing arc. The slice did not disperse after obliterating the green tentacles, but cleanly sheared through the metal lockers and concrete walls as though they were butter, it's flight unstoppable as the boy was forced to throw himself to the floor to avoid being severed in half.
Britannia gave a sharp gasp as fatigue slammed himself, near crumpling to ground as his knees almost buckled. With quick, swallow pants, he gritted his teeth and pushed through it as he turned back to Alfred, and motioned for them to run. His friend looked at the sword he held in his hands in complete awe.
'Duuuudde! You're been pulling your punches big time!' Alfred grinned and Britannia couldn't even bring himself to smile, it was taking all his concentration to think straight.
'I don't remember it being this draining.' He hissed to himself just as a shriek splintered the air behind them. Instinctively, as the reliable warning chill rode down his spine, Britannia shoved Alfred hard to the floor, the action ruining whatever defence he might of brought up as a battering ram of vines crunched into his abdomen. His brain was incapable of registering the pain as he was catapulted off his feet, the incredible momentum crashing him through the gymnasium doors to smash against the wall opposite.
He did not remember hitting the floor, and when his consciousness remerged, the world was spinning with no end; the footsteps that approached each an exploding land mine. Had he been able to form a coherent thought, Britannia would of questioned why his spine hadn't shattered on impact, or why his brain was still solid. Instead, the thing he was insensibly aware was the rattle of his ribcage as his lungs desperately tried to draw air into them. A whimper that would have been groan if not for the lack of oxygen, slipped from him as Britannia numbly felt his rag doll body be lifted up. There was a reverberating clang of metal as Excalibur fell from his lame grip, and clattered to the waxed floor.
The boy stared at his captive with wild bloodshot eyes while dangerously thick trails of blood poured from his nostrils and corners of his mouth. His hagged breaths hunched over his trembling form as he staggered closer, barely able to hold himself together.
'When I look at you, it gets clearer,' His babyish voice quivered. 'The voice, the one that sounds like it comes from the Void.'
He didn't have the strength to choke when the boy wrapped his bloodless hands around his neck and started squeezing. 'What is so different about you? What does it want?'
Britannia's lungs began to scream as his heartbeat grew louder to drown out all other sound. Black spots appeared and swallowed up his vision as at the same time, the pressure inside his skull swelled like a cancerous tumour to the point where he thought it would burst. Arthur knew as his eyeballs rolled back into his head that he was dying. He was dying, and there was nothing he could do to stop it…
And then, the pressure vanished with a scream. Free, his body uncontrollably spasmed and Britannia felt his acidic bile churn in his gut; tears and clear mucus and sweat streaming from seemingly everywhere as another spasm rode through him, convulsing his heart back to beating. His chest heaved as he gulped down air as a starved man. He didn't know how long it took him to crawl his way back from death's door, with the first rational thought to form being one of awareness that he had been unconsciously Bleeding, his magic ceaselessly regenerating his body's cells, fighting to keep him alive. Willing his glands to release more adrenaline, Britannia managed to crack open his eyes.
What he saw caused him to dry retch.
Towering over the collapsed students, Britannia saw a giant skeletal cat with no fur nor fat to pad it's grotesque frame, but shrivelled ash grey skin that clung to it's bones. It's amber slitted eyes glinted as it continued to chew on the head of the Lucid boy, a final crunch! of it's powerful fangs relieved it from it's dangling body. Another wave of nausea overcame Britannia as he impossibly forced a knee up and swallowed back down the bile that was climbing up his thorax. The demented cat watched him with curiosity as it swallowed and, unbelievably, grinned a wicked grin at him; proudly showing off it's dark red strained whiskers and teeth. Even as Britannia reached for Excalibur and quaveringly used it to prop himself up, it swished it's tail as it looked down to a sleeping student, and it's grin widened as it bared it's teeth for another meal.
'NO!' The scream tore itself raw from Britannia's throat as he lunged forward, the miracle adrenaline coursing through him the only thing keeping him standing. With a shriek, Britannia swung the blade and sliced off it's right paw. The great cat yowled as it reared back onto it's hind legs and stomped down to send a vibrating quake throughout the gymnasium. Unable to tell whose screams were whose, Britannia forced himself to spin to follow up with a decapitating blow, when the cat's colossal claws sank into the flesh of his back. Unable to stop the already set momentum, the swing struck true, and simultaneously as Excalibur cleaved the cat's head from it's neck, the sunk in killer claws carved in deep, horizontal ragged gouges in his back.
Pain unlike he had ever experienced before imploded Arthur's mind as his body keeled over. Excalibur exploded into millions of firefly lights as his magic finally gave out in exhaustion, paralytic numbness seized up his utterly drained body. With nothing left to give, worn down to nothing, Arthur Kirkland collapsed face down on the saturated floor of blood, and began to bleed out.
Alfred had never ran so fast in his entire life as he had that day as he raced back to the gym. His boots drummed against the squeaky corridor's floor (had he been paying attention, he would of noted that the previous vines and hibiscus flowers were missing) and when he reached the gym's double doors, he threw them open to be met with the suffocating smell of blood.
His hand leapt to his mouth as he retched, tears whelming in the corners of his eyes as he took in the bloody scene, until worse of all, he saw Britannia laying in a puddle of leaking gore beside a dismembered gigantic cat's skeleton. The dread that splintered through him was the only thing preventing him from vomiting again as he stumbled stupefied to Britannia's side, and collapsed to his knees when he saw the three rigged gashes in his crimson clothed back.
'No,' Alfred's voice cracked as his hands tremblingly hovered over Britannia's still form. 'No. Please, god no!.'
Britannia couldn't—
He couldn't be—
A wail rose up and burst from his hollowed chest. Alfred Jones caved in on himself as he howled, and spluttered and wept for his dead hero, the only one he had ever loved.
Couple o' references in this one hidden amongst all the angst and drama. Have good spotting them ;)
Thank you for reading and I hope you 'enjoyed' this chapter. If you are enjoying this story and want more frequent updates, please consider leaving a review telling me your thoughts, opinions and questions. Once again, thank you for reading and as always,
Until next time folks!
