Hi, guys! I'm back again with the tenth chapter. So I typed like crazy and ended up with 4000 words. Broke my rule of being short and concise...

Enjoy this insanity~

Chapter 10: Rose of the Eldritch

Rose of the Eldritch

Owner: France

World One

Type: Fusil à Répétition modèle F2 (FR F2 sniper rifle)

Prussia proved to be a very, one could say, lively companion. Usually Alfred was the loud one, but he was in too weak a state to strike up conversation. The Prussian made up for Alfred's lack of speech, however.

"Did I ever tell you about that time I kicked Austria's ass?" Prussia asked, as they were spending the night in an abandoned McDonald's.

"Yes," Kiku replied. Half a hundred times.

Prussia shrugged. "Oh, well. I was pretty awesome then, don't you think?"

Arthur finally lost his patience. "Yes, yes, you were awesome," the British boy grumbled. "We bloody heard you the first fifty times."

"Aw, you guys are no fun," Prussia complained.

"Why don't you just shut your bloody trap and let us rest, for Christ's sake?"

"How can the awesome me express his awesomeness without a form of communication?" Prussia smirked at Arthur, his red eyes taunting the Brit. "Remember that time I defeated you and the four-eyed aristocrat and you ran away?"

"I wasn't running away," Arthur growled. "I was just too busy beating that French frog to pulp to worry about your sorry arse."

"Oh, really? What about the Revolutionary War? Couldn't get your hands around his neck then, could you?"

Arthur jumped to his feet. "How about you come over here so I can get my hands around your puny neck?"

"Please stop, the two of you," Kiku said hurriedly before they drew their weapons. "We're on the same side, remember? Fighting amongst ourselves will get us nowhere."

Arthur glared at Prussia, who returned the look with a smug grin, but sat down reluctantly.

The silence that ensued proved too uncomfortable for the Japanese young man to withstand. "I have an idea," Kiku said. "We do not know each other very well, so how about we introduce ourselves? Arthur, you can start."

Arthur stared at the floor in sullen silence. After a moment he raised his eyes to look at the other three. "I'm Arthur, Arthur Kirkland. I come from the UK and am 17 years old at the present." He sat back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Will that suffice?"

"Yes," Kiku answered, relieved. He then continued, "My name is Kiku Honda, and I am also a 17-year old from Japan. My interests are game designing and reading manga. Arthur is my good friend and helps me test the RPGs I make before I release them to the public."

After a short pause, Alfred finally spoke, for the first time that night. He sounded like himself again, Kiku noticed, and the color had returned to his face. "I'm Alfred F. Jones, the hero! I love fast food, sports, and anything super-sized. I'm a junior from America, land of the free and home of the awesome!"

Arthur bristled slightly at the last part, but made no comment.

Prussia surveyed each of them with dark red eyes, quirking an eyebrow in amusement. He then laughed and said, "Well, I'm the awesome Prussia, of course. I'm 312 years old at the moment, if I calculated correctly. I like only two things, and they are sleeping and fighting. I am the most awesome nation out there."

Arthur snorted. "Last time I checked, all that's left of you is a town in Canada and a five-meter long cement block with your name plastered on it."

Prussia's face darkened at the comment and his eyes flashed dangerously, but it was gone in half a heartbeat and the self-satisfied smirk was back again. "Oh, I don't know. My kingdom might revive. I'm still here, aren't I?"

"Unfortunately."

The rest of the night was spent in peaceful quiet, despite their situation and the obvious fact that Arthur couldn't stand being in the same room with Prussia. Kiku leaned against the wall, allowing his weary eyes to slide shut for the day, and Alfred had already made himself comfortable and was snoring softly in the corner. Arthur went behind the counter and was silent after that. Prussia offered to take first watch and sat next to the entrance where two glass doors had once been. The night was chilly; the wind intruded often and stole away some of Kiku's sleep each time.

A long while later, by which time Kiku was still awake, Prussia spoke. "Hey, Kiku?"

"Yes?"

There was a long pause. When Kiku began thinking he had heard wrong, Prussia sighed and said, "Never mind."

No more was spoken after that.

. . . .

"Well, this is it," Arthur said. "Shanghai, China."

It seemed that the more prosperous and bustling the city, the greater the damage inflicted upon it by the war. Shanghai had been the jewel of China, but was now a black mess polluted with smoke, fire, and acid rain. What Kiku found the most eerie was the deafening silence that suffocated the city.

There was one part of Shanghai that still appeared intact, however, and that was where they found their destination. Parked near the Huangpu River was the entrance to the Chinese military base, disguised as a self-regulating ice cream truck.

"Order the ginger flavored ice cream 4 times and the almond lychee flavored 9 times," Arthur said. "Is that right, Kiku?"

"Yes," Kiku confirmed, and pressed the corresponding buttons on the truck. The machine lit up and hummed in response.

"Hey, it has cookies and cream," Alfred noted. "Can I order a double dip?"

"No," answered Arthur automatically.

"Pleaaase?"

"This is serious business," Arthur scolded. "And besides, shouldn't you eat healthier with your physical condition?"

"I can eat ice cream anytime I like. Kiku will say yes. Right, Kiku?" Alfred turned to Kiku expectantly.

"I'm sorry, Alfred," Kiku had to say. "We shouldn't—" He was cut off by the ground giving away, sending them all to tumble into the deep, dark underground of the city.

He would have landed on his face if he hadn't reached out his hands to break his fall. Kiku landed hard onto something only mildly soft, wincing as pain shot up his arms.

"China never takes my suggestion to use something softer," Arthur grumbled, rubbing his head where he'd banged it against the side of the tunnel. "Someone should tell him that a yoga mat doesn't exactly stop someone from breaking their bloody limbs."

"So, what's the plan?" Prussia asked, getting up from where he'd landed. "Do we take over this base by force, or what?"

"Kiku and I will go in and distract China, Russia if he's there," Arthur replied. "You and Alfred try to cancel the missiles headed for Europe."

"But won't there be a password?" Alfred asked.

That was a problem, because even Arthur and Kiku didn't know the access code to China's weapons. "Look around," Arthur suggested. "Maybe you'll find something helpful."

"I guess," Alfred said doubtfully.

Arthur nodded. "Let's go, then." He typed in the 8-digit code to the awaiting metal door and the four passed through, entering a circular room.

"You have to go through a full body scan to move on," Arthur said. "There is no way for Alfred and Prussia to pass that..."

Kiku scanned the room and caught sight of an air vent. "Perhaps enter from there?" he suggested, gesturing towards the metal grate.

Alfred approached the grate and tugged at it. "Hmm, we need a screwdriver to unlock this thing. Anybody got one?"

There was a pause as everyone worked to answer this question. Not surprisingly, the required tool was not available.

At the moment where desperation had reached its peak, Alfred said, "Uh, let me try something." He hooked his fingers in the gaps of the grate and ripped it off, grunting with the effort.

"How did you do that?" Kiku asked, amazed.

"Nice trick you've got there," Prussia said approvingly.

Alfred shrugged. "I dunno. Something America can do, I guess. It is a superpower."

"Now that we've solved that dilemma, let's get a move on," Arthur said. "Is the shaft wide enough for you two to fit?"

Alfred squeezed inside the shaft and his head disappeared from sight. A second later he stuck his hand out and flashed a thumbs up.

"Alright," Arthur said, as Prussia followed Alfred in. "Kiku, shall we proceed?"

. . . .

China was in the operations room, staring intently at a screen that showed the world map and current status of all nuclear missiles. Arthur and Kiku must have seemed in really bad shape, because China stood immediately when they entered.

"Shàngdì, what happened to you two, aru?" China exclaimed. "You look like you just witnessed South Korea angry!"

"As a matter of fact, that's exactly what happened," Arthur said dryly, sitting down in a chair next to China. "Is there any tea available?"

"I do have some ginger and a bit of leftover oolong, but that's not something you would prefer," China said. "What did he do, aru?"

"We ran into him on the way here," Kiku explained, taking the seat next to Arthur. "It just so happened that he had a bat with him."

China winced at the mental image. "That must not have been a pretty sight, aru."

"No," Arthur agreed. He shifted to face the screens. "What's the update on the missiles?"

"My spies told me Germany is planning to destroy this base with America," China said bitterly. "It's a bit of trouble, aru."

Ironic, thought England. Maybe it hadn't been necessary to take out Germany. "I see. Anything else?"

"Berlin will be destroyed in 17 minutes, followed by Brussels and Oslo 9 minutes later," China answered grimly. "Beijing is still holding out, but America's missile will strike it in less than an hour, aru. Yokohama is in danger of being targeted as well."

Japan's dark eyes were unreadable.

Arthur's stomach twisted. "And Russia? Where is he in all of this?"

"He was negotiating some business in India, but he should be back any minute now," China said, crushing Arthur's hopes of avoiding the sinister northern nation.

"We should do something about the missile aiming for your capital, China," Kiku finally spoke in quiet tones. "If we don't succeed in annihilating the weapon..."

"I know, aru." China sighed wearily. "Sometimes I really don't know what to think about this war. Russia seems intent on world domination, America's acting the hero but no one knows his true motives, and Germany's just doing his best to defend Europe. The allies are twisted, aru. Before, could you imagine Japan and I sitting in the same room?"

It was true, England knew, and that made him sad. "No. I find that hard to believe even now."

There were a few seconds of silence before China stood and spoke in a more cheerful tone, "Russia should be here by now, so let's head to the conference room and not waste our precious time, aru!"

He almost followed China but remembered what he was here for. Forgetting could be very dangerous. "Let me just check on a few things here," Arthur said, sending Kiku a quick glance. "I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Okay, but don't take too long, aru," China said, making for the door. "You don't want to make Russia angry."

After China's footsteps faded away, Arthur and Kiku set to work.

. . . .

Alfred was not having a good time.

Unlike in the movies, sneaking in through the ventilation system didn't seem a very heroic task. Instead of being all badass and secret agent-like, Alfred felt like a clumsy idiot.

"Hurry up," Prussia hissed behind him. "Your ass is in my face."

That annoyed Alfred. "Hey, it's not like I crawl through air vents in my spare time. I'm trying, okay?"

Prussia huffed, but didn't reply. Alfred squeezed along the narrow tunnel. The task was more difficult than it had to be because his left leg and a couple of ribs were still broken, although they were healing at nation rate.

Alfred froze when he heard voices below him. Prussia responded to this by exclaiming, "Why are you stopping? We don't have all the time in the world, you know!"

"Shut up!" Alfred growled. "Somebody's beneath us."

They listened to the muffled conversation with their ears pressed against the metal. Alfred guessed there were two people in the room.

"Where are England and Japan?" a voice demanded. That was Russia.

"They will be here in a few minutes, aru." That was China.

"They better be," Russia said. His tone was casual, but there was impatience underneath. "We have to deal with the eastern European countries. Poland's interfering with my plans, too, and Lithuania's just following him around."

Alfred felt resentment swell in his chest. That bastard. If he lays a finger on Lithuania...

"We'll get him," Prussia whispered suddenly, and Alfred realized he'd spoken out loud.

"Of course, aru," China said. "Is Moscow still in good shape?"

"Barely," Russia answered bitterly. "St. Petersburg has already been destroyed."

China paused, then said, "I'm sorry, Russia."

"It makes no matter. My people are seeking refuge in your country and my sisters'. Ukraine's happy about that, Belarus even more so, but neither are in a much better condition." Russia added impatiently, "Where are England and Japan? They should be here by now."

"I'll go look for them," China told the northern nation. His receding footsteps marked the last of his presence and when he was gone, Russia let out a small, barely audible sigh.

"We better hurry," Alfred whispered to Prussia. "Arthur and Kiku are running out of time."

The Prussian nodded, and they continued through the shaft at a steady pace.

However, only a few meters ahead did something go wrong.

Alfred felt a white hot pain sear his arm and yelped, lurching backwards. He knocked into Prussia, who let out a cry and said, "AHH! What's wrong this time?"

"I think something burned me." Alfred rubbed his arm where he'd been seared. "What the hell was that?"

Prussia pushed Alfred off him and leaned over the American's shoulder, studying something on the ceiling of the shaft. "It's a motion detector," Prussia concluded after a moment. "West has something like this in his house. Supposedly it detects any intruders and turns them to ashes. You're lucky only your arm was burned."

Alfred looked down at his arm in horror. Prussia seemed to read his thoughts and assured him, "It's not going to disintegrate; you crashed into me before that could happen."

"So how do we get past this thing?" Alfred asked, concealing his relief. He was not breaking into any military stronghold one-armed.

Prussia bit his lip thoughtfully. "I sneak beer out of West's house a lot. Usually just moving very slowly got me past."

"Let's try that, then," Alfred said, and began inching forward.

"Slower," Prussia instructed. "Bat an eye and the next moment you'll be nothing but dust."

Alfred obeyed, holding in his breath. He sensed Prussia following silently behind him. The process was slow and more terrifying than he could admit, but before he knew it they'd made it past.

"There's an opening," Alfred said, squinting at a small patch of light ahead of them. "I dunno where it leads to, though."

"As long as we can get out of this place, I don't give a damn," Prussia said, rather carelessly.

They struggled forward at the fastest pace possible until they reached the light. Alfred rammed into the grate and it gave away. The two nations jumped down and blinked at the sudden change of brightness.

They were in a room filled with different sorts of disks and files. A sign indicated that they were in the archive room.

"All of China's secret files are stored in here," Prussia said amazedly. "This is probably the most important room in the nation."

"Let's go find Arthur and Kiku before we check anything out," Alfred said, though a bit curious himself. "This stuff is cool, but I have a bad feeling those two are in some deep shit."

. . . .

It was one of those times where Arthur admired Kiku's technical skills. Kiku was typing away furiously at the screens, attempting to hack into the system.

Unfortunately, nothing was ever so simple.

The Japanese boy sat back, a frown on his lips. "The firewall is too strong; it's almost impossible to break through China's security. The best I can do is prevent it from self-destructing after three passcode tries."

"That's great, Kiku," Arthur said. "Now we'll just have to keep guessing until we hit the right combination..."

"I do not want to be blunt, but there are three passwords, Arthur," Kiku cut in. "Each has 10 figures and can be anything from A-Z, 0-9. How can we accomplish that in just a few minutes?"

Kiku had spoken the devastating truth, and Arthur could feel all the hope drain out of him with every word. "It isn't impossible," Arthur insisted, but his will was weakening. "We still might..."

"England? Japan?" China entered the room. "What are you doing? Russia is getting tired of waiting for you two, aru."

It was then that a wild idea struck Arthur. Ridiculously, he'd gotten it from one of America's ludicrous movies. Curse the nation for forcing him to stay up countless nights watching films because the former didn't want to watch the bloody things alone.

"There's something terrible," Arthur cried, hoping he sounded panicked enough. "In 30 seconds one of your bombs will hit Novosibirsk!"

China's eyes grew large. "But how can that be? All my missiles are functioning perfectly, aru!"

"Perhaps there was a malfunction," Kiku said, playing along. "You must hurry and terminate it before Russia is doomed."

The slightest hint of suspicion passed China's face, but he rushed to the screens anyway and typed in the passwords. Unfortunately, the Chinese man was smart enough to shield the keyboard and screen from view. China could be shrewd when he wanted to, Arthur realized in dismay.

There was only one thing left to do. When the idea formed in his head, Arthur knew he had watched one too many American action movies.

Arthur removed his rifle, which had been strapped to his back, and held it against China's head. The Asian nation stiffened.

"Don't move," Arthur whispered, before China could hit enter, "or I'll shoot."

Somewhere inside, he was laughing at himself.

"What is the meaning of this, England?" China demanded.

"I'll let you go once I get those codes," Arthur replied. "That's all I need."

"Are you crazy, aru?" China cried. "Whoever gets their hands on those can annihilate the earth!"

"Aren't we doing the same thing?" Arthur said, remembering a quote he'd once read from a book. "No more talk. I want you to remove your hands from the keyboard."

China did nothing. "You know that if you shoot me, I won't die."

"Shanghai is destroyed, Beijing soon enough. All your ports are blocked by American troops. And did I mention a few troops of mine are invading Guangzhou this very moment?" The last part was a lie, but hopefully China didn't know that.

"You traitor," China hissed, but Arthur preferred that over being called off as bluffing. "Are you in his schemes, too, Japan?"

"Yes," came the cold reply. "Did you really think I would be your ally?"

Arthur's gaze shifted towards Kiku. His eyes were black and hollow, nothing like their usual soft dark brown. He had Japan's eyes.

China became very quiet, the kind of quiet that occurred after witnessing a terrible death or betrayal. Then, slowly, he let go of the keyboard. "You can take the passcodes," China said finally in a dull, flat voice. "The safety of my people is too much to risk. I can't let you hurt them. But Russia will make you pay for this, and so will I, aru. So will I."

Arthur felt a flash of guilt and his hold on the gun loosened ever so slightly. Don't be ridiculous, he scolded himself. They are only NPCs. Nothing matters more than escape. "I'll tell my soldiers to retreat," he heard himself say, and lowered the rifle. "Thank you, China. That was all we required."

Kiku silently approached and recorded the codes, while Arthur put away his weapon. Everything was going well; Kiku was moving along the row of screens, inputting commands for all the missiles to self-destruct.

That was when Russia entered.

"Russia" China cried, and Arthur hurried to cover his mouth.

"What is going on in here?" Russia demanded, his violet eyes burning with cold fury. "We do not have anything time to waste, do you know that?"

Bloody hell, we're in deep trouble. "I-It's nothing," Arthur stuttered weakly, but the whole scene was giving them away. "We're just..."

China pushed away Arthur's hand and said, "They're traitors, aru! Kill them, Russia!"

Russia's eyes darkened. "I hate traitors," he said softly, in a childish but extremely dangerous way. "I suppose I will have to eliminate you two. It's a shame, England. We could have built a new empire together, and restored the one lost."

Regret rose to his chest, but that was England's regret so Arthur willed it away. "Kiku, we have to leave!" he said, and ran for the door. But Russia moved at an incredibly fast speed and blocked the exit before Arthur could reach it.

"Oh, you're not going anywhere," Russia said, with a malicious smile. "I'm going to play with you for a little while." His scarf moved of its own accord to wrap around Arthur's neck, effectively choking him.

Arthur struggled weakly, trying to push the other nation away, but he was no match for Russia's superhuman strength. He heard Kiku shout something, but Russia ignored the Japanese boy's cries. Arthur could feel the life drain out of him and his punches became more and more feeble.

The scarf suddenly loosened and he collapsed to the floor, gasping for air. He looked up to find Alfred and Prussia standing above him. Alfred was clutching his arm like he'd been burned and Prussia's hair and clothes were rumpled, probably from their trip through the ventilation shafts.

"You get your hands off him," Alfred growled, glaring at Russia. Arthur vaguely remembered that America and Russia weren't the best of friends.

Russia pouted like a little kid. "I was just getting to the fun part." He smiled. "But now that you two are here, I have more nations to play with." He began advancing towards Alfred. Prussia took a step back and put a hand on his sword.

Alfred was in no condition to fight, that was clear enough. Arthur was worrying about this when Alfred did something unexpected; he brought out a cloth and thrust it against Russia's nose and mouth. Russia's eyes widened and he tried to remove Alfred's hands, but their strength was equal and the American didn't budge.

Two seconds later, Russia dropped to the floor next to Arthur, out cold. Arthur got to his feet and stared down at the northern country's still figure.

"Chloroform," Alfred explained, dusting himself off. "Found some in the storage room. Man, it's just like in the movies; he's out like a light."

Kiku, who had been mutely terminating China's missiles, stepped back with satisfaction. "All of China's nuclear weapons have self-destructed."

China stared at the four of them in shock. "W-What are you going to do to me?"

"Nothing," Arthur promised in a hoarse voice. He was still suffering from the effects of Russia's strangling. "We'll be on our way now. Good luck, China."

. . . .

"What's the plan now?" Prussia inquired, as they stopped at an abandoned Chinese convenience store for some food and water.

"We will take a trip to Russia, and from there we'll go to Europe," Kiku replied. "There are several European countries on Japan's side."

"Sure. I want to pay West's country a visit, anyway." Prussia sounded normal, but Alfred thought he heard something else underneath. Uneasiness, maybe?

"Let's call it a morning," Arthur said, yawning. "I could really use a nap right now."

"That sounds good," Alfred agreed. He was tired himself from his journey through China's air vents. His injuries weren't completely healed yet, either.

A low thump at the back of the store caused him to look up from his food hunt. "Huh, what was that?"

The four companions approached the source of the noise. Alfred tossed aside a couple of cardboard boxes to reveal someone hiding beneath.

"Don't hurt me!" Italy cried, shielding his head with his hands. "I'll do anything you want, I promise!"

End of Chapter Ten

I do love it when China is philosophical, Iggy is badass (come on, he rarely gets a chance to shine and is always the damsel in distress, with either France or America saving him), Prussia is awesome, Kiku is a technical genius, Al saves the day, and Russia is...Russia.

There hasn't been much about Toni or Lovi, but I'll get to them next chapter. Mhmm.

Hope you enjoyed that long chappie. Thanks for reading and see you next time!

Ciao,

...x Whitlinger x...