Hey guys! :3
Sorry for the late update as usual, it makes me happy that you all are so patient with me! :) To be honest, this week's Hetalia really got me fired up for this chapter. Sooooooooooo much USUK~ Seriously, this week's and last week's episodes are definitely a couple of my fav episodes to date.
Right! Time to talk about the chapter!
Okay, so I'm sorry if this kind of feels uneventful but I really wanted to do a little chapter on them actually arriving. A couple of the things that happen in this have been flying around in my head for a while so I really hope you like this!
Right, warnings:
Loads of OOCness, swearing, a little bit of blood and some fighting.
I think that's just about everything.
Soooooooooooo ENJOY!
America never thought that he would find such a horrible looking place so welcoming.
The mangled mess of barbed wire and bricks loomed over them like a monster of some sort. The fact that the bricks were each painted in bright, clashing colours didn't really do much. They were probably done to make it look more welcoming.
They didn't.
They really didn't.
"Erm...This is the right place...Isn't it?" Denmark chuckled awkwardly. "I mean, we were looking for a campsite, weren't we? Not a prison for bad rainbows."
A couple of nations gave a small sound of amusement as a sign of appreciation for the bad joke whereas most just groaned and rolled their eyes, too tired to deal with the Dane's stupid remarks.
"Nope, this is definitely it," Lovino gestured at the metal plaque which had been (poorly) drilled onto one of the brick walls. The slab was engraved with the camp site's name as well as what seemed to be the site's mascot: a smiling sun with sunglasses on. Something which definitely stank of copyright in Alfred's opinion, who was sure he had seen a very similar logo on a cereal box before.
"Well at least it's engraved, not painted," Belgium said in an attempt to lighten up the mood. "It means that it's probably not that shabby!"
"Actually, I think that it's a good thing that it wasn't painted, otherwise it probably would have been peeling and we would have missed the place." Monaco adjusted her glasses. Poland looked at her.
"But wouldn't that have been a good thing? I mean, this place is, like, a dump!"
"It doesn't matter what it looks like. It's safe. That's all that matters right now." Switzerland stepped forward. "So...How do we get the gate to open?"
"I don't think anyone's even around," Russia craned his neck so he could peer through the bars of the gate, his face puzzled.
"How odd...But the tracks still go on even after the gate, so it's not like nobody's home."
Iggy... America gritted his teeth. The thought that Arthur was so close but yet so far away hurt him.
Before he knew what he was doing, the american was placing one foot on a lime green brick (placed between a christmassy red and neon purple? Seriously, who was in charge of decorating this place?) and reaching out towards the metal.
"Oy! Bastard!" The southern part of Italy was the first to figure out what the united states was up to. "Don't do it, you'll tear that thing down!"
"So? At least we can then get inside!"
"But then so can the zombies! C'mon we'll think of something else." Gilbert approached his friend to help him down but the American merely kicked him away.
"Ow! What the hell, man? Not awesome!" The albino stumbled back into Spain's arms as France stepped forward.
"Mon ami, I'm, as worried about Angleterre as you are. But this isn't' the way to go."
"I don't care!" America grunted through gritted teeth, letting out a hiss of pain as the wire cut through his flesh.
"I have to see him now, before something happens!"
"Eh? Well aren't you a prince charming...NOT!" The nations turned towards the small booth at the side of the gate which they had thought to be deserted.
A small but steady stream of smoke could be seen coming from the window. It was obvious that whoever was in there was smoking but the smell was anything but tobacco.
"Who's in there?!" Vash readied his gun as he began to slowly approach the booth. Lilli hurried after him and tugged harshly on the back of his coat.
"Big Brother, no!"
"Big brother, nooooooooooooooooo!" The voice mimicked mockingly. "Ugh! You really are the opposite to me, aren't you, Liechtenstein?" Switzerland narrowed his eyes.
"Don't you DARE speak to her like that! Come out and face me, you coward!"
"Eh?" Some movement could be heard from inside as suddenly, a pair of legs could be seen emerging from the window of the booth, wrapped in fishnet tights which went well with the red high heals on the owner's feet. "I can talk to myself all I want..."
Everyone's eyes went wide and Lilli's face went red when a girl who resembled her extremely well slid out onto the ground. Her red dress was so low cut with such a high skirt it was practically a belt. Her hair was in a pair of platted pigtails similar to the way Lilli wore her own hair before she cut it, tied with a pair of black ribbons and her face heavily coated in makeup to the point that she almost looked like a circus clown.
However, she was not someone to laugh at. The vast array of guns attached to her clothes and body were proof of that.
Switzerland was the only one to not back away as she walked towards him, leaning in until their faces were inches apart.
"Right? Big-bro-ther~?"
"L-Leave him alone!" All eyes turned to see 1P Liechtenstein-Lichtenstein-holding a gun at her counterpart.
"L-Lilli!" Vash's eyes widened but the girl the gun was aimed at merely laughed.
"Eh~?" She smirked. "Is my little wittle other self trying to be the leading lady? Awww! How sweet!"
"Back off!" Everyone's eyes widened as Belarus stepped forward. Yep, Belarus. The girl who stuck up for nobody except Russia. The 2P's face twisted into a nasty scowl.
"What did you say, bitch? Why don't you just mind your own business and turn up your pretty little nose like your second player."
"I'm sorry, but I refuse to take orders from garbage!" Came the Belarusian girl's snappy response. Ivan stepped forward.
"Erm, Natalya?"
But his sister ignored him. (Another sign that shit was about to go down.)
"Either you leave her alone or I peel off your face like an apple skin," the platinum blonde snarled. But all Lillian did was giggle.
"That has got to be the cutest threat I've ever heard!"
Belarus looked like she was about to snap back a nasty remark when...
"Now, now, dollface. Don't hog all the punching bags. We've got to share!"
America, who had just gotten down from the fence at this point, turned to the source of this new voice. His face morphed into a look of pure hatred.
"You!" He threw himself at the gate where his double was standing behind. "Where's Arthur?"
"Well you're not near him so somewhere safe, obviously."
"Don't screw with me!" Alfred grabbed the metal mesh which acted as a gate, only for Alfie to look at the newly formed cuts on his double's hands and smirk.
"How did we get these then?"
"He tried to climb the wall to save his princess!" Lillian screeched from meters away, only for Belarus and Switzerland to send her poisonous glares.
2P America's crimson eyes narrowed and a smirk stretched across his face.
"Heh, and you think you can protect Dollface when you can't even protect yourself?"
"The only person who should be protecting Dollface is Dollface himself!" This new voice caught everyone's attention. "And stop bloody calling me that!"
"Arthur! You're...Okay?" Said Brit turned to meet the gaze of who had said his name. Alfred couldn't believe what his eyes were showing him.
England's body was covered in blood, but the lack of cuts showed that it obviously wasn't his. The clothes that he had put on just hours ago had already been replaced by a green lumberjack shirt that looked a couple of sizes too big for him and a pair of worn jeans. His satchel was still with him though.
"Alfred? Are you listening to me, Git?" But whatever Arthur had been saying to America whilst the younger nation had been examining his ex-mentor would never be known.
"Iggy, did they hurt you?" The Brit snorted.
"If they had then they wouldn't still be standing."
"Were you hurt in anyway at all?" America pressed on.
"I'm alive, aren't I?" The fact that Alfred wasn't getting to the point was irritating Arthur.
"Then why are you covered in blood?" Something unfamiliar flashed in those dark green eyes which America found unnerving.
"England, what did this guy make you do?"
Nobody was prepared for what was to come.
"...Heh..."
A soft chuckle escaped the British nation's lips. Which became a giggle and soon evolved to full blown laughter.
"Arthur!" America's bloody hands gripped the metal mesh again. His head snapped to the direction of his 2P.
"What the heck did you do to him?"
His double merely shrugged.
"We ran into some zombies on the way back, no biggie."
"No biggie?!" Alfred hissed. "Look at him!"
"He does seem like he's got a few screws loose at the moment," Russia agreed as Norway approached the fence.
"Arthur, look at me. You have to calm down."
His friend didn't listen. Lukas sighed.
"Don't say I didn't warn you..." He clicked his fingers and a million white sparks surrounded England. His facial expression began to look more peaceful and within seconds, he was asleep on the ground.
Norway looked at Alfie, his expression icy.
"We kept our half of the deal, now let us in." The red eyed man let out a "tsk."
"Fine, but only because I need a replacement entertainment." He signaled for Lillian to open the gate and let them all inside.
As the 1P's filed in, Belarus felt someone tug of the sleeve of her blouse.
"Um..." Lilli began softly. "Danke...For earlier..."
"Seriously, thank you for saving my sister," Switzerland looked almost embarrassed. The taller girl shrugged.
"It's fine. She was a massive bitch, end of story." And with that, she walked away to catch up with her own older brother in an attempt to hide the faint rare smile forming on her lips.
The second they were through the gate, Alfred was sprinting towards Arthur like his life depended on it.
"Arthur!"
"Not so fast, aru!" China placed a hand on the younger nation's shoulder. "You're not worrying about others until you've had medical attention!"
"But Arthur-"
"He'll be fine," Norway said coolly as he approached his sleeping friend. "I just used something that'll calm him down, he should awaken within ten to twelve hours." He glared daggers at Alfie.
"Maybe then he can fill us in on what we've missed."
"Ooooooooh! All fear the ice queen!" The 2P rolled his eyes, the statement caused Denmark to snicker and earned him a nasty look from Lukas. America refused to allow the subject to change.
"I'm staying with him until I'm sure he's safe," France sighed.
"Can he at least see where Angleterre will be sleeping?"
It was obvious that Norway would have said no if Finland hadn't cut in, saying it was fine and that Sweden would carry him. China turned towards the second player American.
"Where's your medical supplies?"
"First aid point's over there," the tanned man replied, gesturing towards a dingy portacabin. "Be glad it's the site's, not our's, or we wouldn't have let you use it."
"If you want conflict, pick on someone your own age," was the only response he got from Yao. "Kiku, Toris, come with me, aru."
And so he left with a sheepish Lithuania and a pale-faced Japan, but not before giving Alfred an earful and a half about visiting the first aid point the second that he saw Arthur was safe.
"Princess's pad is the furthest to the right," Alfie said, pointing towards the row of tents being put up by 2Ps. Berwald and Alfred were gone before he could say anything else.
It seemed that England's tent was not for sharing.
It was small, but as luxurious as you could possibly get in a crappy campsite during the zombie apocalypse.
It contained a camp bed with a blanket which seemed to be wearing away and a pillow with barely any stuffing in it next to a lantern, which had been placed on a portable stool along with some of the Brit's healing herbs and potion bottles.
The bespectacled Nordic placed England down gently on the bed after removing the Brit's shoes and rucksack. He then turned to leave.
"Dn't stay too long. E' need's res'," the Swede said over his shoulder as he exited the tent.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," the sandy blond replied.
He sighed.
Now it was just the two of them alone.
Sky blue eyes scanned England's sleeping face and anger began to form in the Hero's gut.
This should never have happened.
England should be awake and complaining about Mcdonalds or Tony or, well, anything.
He could never forgive Alfie for whatever he had done to his sweet Arthur. But he could never forgive himself for allowing Arthur to fall into his double's clutches in the first place.
A tear fell gently down America's cheek as the sleeping nation in front of him began to toss and turn in his sleep.
"Alistair..."
Before America knew what he was doing, he was rummaging through the contents of England's bag- Arthur would have been livid if he was awake!-before his hands finally fell upon what he was looking for.
"Aha!"
He grabbed England's spell book and placed it in the smaller man's arms, chuckling softly at the way Arthur began to nuzzle into the book-which was now in it's Scottish form-as if it was a teddy bear.
America wanted to caress the face of his love but didn't want the cuts on his hands to further corrupt the angelic face of Arthur's with anymore blood belonging to another man.
Instead, he draped the worn blanket over England's petite form.
"It's going to be okay, Iggy," he whispered soothingly. "Your brothers may be gone but I promise to takeover protecting you. I'll be your hero, no one else."
And with that, he left the tent. Only stopping once to steal one more glance at the man he loved and to draw the tent's curtain-like doors shut.
"Yeeeowch!" America winced at the feel of disinfectant on his wounds. "Damn it, China. Can you make it any more painful?"
"If that's what you really want, aru."
"S-Seriously?" Lithuania chuckled as the two in front of him bickered.
"it's nice to see them getting on so well, right, Japan?"
Japan gave no response.
"...Japan?" China looked up from his work on America's hands to see his brother sat silent and unmoving on a chair in the corner of the room.
He was looking down at his hands with despair-filled eyes.
Kiku...
China was about to say something when...
"Liet!"
Toris stood up from his chair, wincing slightly from the pain of this sudden movement, as his Polish friend appeared in the doorway.
"We totally have a problem!"
Alfred knew that something was wrong the second he saw Spain on the floor and a cocky-looking 2P Italy standing above him.
"You can't do this, we have children!"
"Eh? so what?"
"Erm... What's going on?" America asked a panicking Feliciano.
"B-Big brother Spain's mad!"
"Idiota! He can see that!" Romano spat from beside him. "Tomato bastard's got every right to be pissed though."
"Why? What happened to get him so mad?" Belgium turned to the American, her usually cheerful smile was replaced with worry.
"The other version of Italy says that they've taken practically all the sleeping bags and we can only have what's left."
"Uh huh..." Alfred nodded slowly, "and how many are left?" Romano merely pointed to a pile of about five or ten sleeping bags. None of them seemed to be in good condition.
And that's when America saw red.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" He stormed through the gathering crowd of nations from both sides. Spain looked up.
"Amigo!"
"Hey dude," Alfred gave a bitter smile and held out a hand. "Can you get up?"
"S-Sí..." Antonio gratefully took the hand and allowed his friend to pull him up. They both glared at the 2P before them.
"Y'know, you're not treating you guests very nicely..." America folded his arms. Luciano scoffed.
"Pft! Guests? You're just our pawns. You know? Entertainment. Meat shields even!" Alfred felt his fists clench so tightly that he was surprised that he wasn't drawing blood yet.
"I know we made a deal and stuff but we're still here to save your asses at the end of the day. Without us, you guy's would probably have idea where to go in our world. So can you at least give us a little bit of gratitude?"
"Please," Spain begged. "We have female and micro nations, and many amongst us are injured. Can't you guys at least go two to a sleeping bag or something?"
"Sorry, but finders keepers, losers weepers~"
"Why you!" America lunged towards the Italian but Luciano dodged it elegantly.
"Booooooooooooring~" Alfred gritted his teeth.
"Why are you doing this? Sure, you guys need sleeping bags, we get it, but we do too!" And that's when the second-player personification of Italy looked him in the eyes, sneered, and said:
"Well I'm sorry that there's not enough for all of us to have one each. I guess we just weren't as dumb as you and didn't let anybody else die!"
That.
Was.
IT!
Before America's brain registered what he was doing, he had tackled the other man to the floor. The 2P nations laughed and jeered whilst their doubles screamed.
"Al! Don't do it!" Canada's voice could be heard amongst the rabble.
"Somebody do something!" Germany yelled. But everyone was either trapped within the crowd or paralyzed with fear.
Even Spain was staying put, uncertainty in his eyes on whenever to stop his friend or allow him to continue. It was only when he caught sight of the cold, unforgiving tips of throwing knives sticking out of Luciano's sleeve that he realized that he had to do something.
"America! Look at his hands!"
Alfred felt his blood run cold when he followed the Spaniard's advice but had no time to be alarmed. Quickly, he tried to restrain his opponent's arms but it was too late. Luciano had the knives in his grip and, after pushing the American away from him, he turned to Spain.
"Looks like somebody needs to learn not to meddle in other people's business, sì?" He snarled before taking aim at the other man who was unarmed.
"Spain!" Belgium attempted to make a break for it towards him but Romano grabbed her.
"Are you fucking crazy? You'll get yourself killed!"
"But-"
And then the first knife was thrown.
"SPAIN!"
Antonio was too scared to move, instead he closed his eyes and readied himself for impact.
The pain never came.
At first, he thought it was because he was dead, but then he remembered that only the bite of a zombie could kill a nation.
So why had the crowd gone silent?
Slowly, he opened his eyes and gasped.
In front of him, a man held a knife: the exact same throwing knife which had left Luciano's hand mere seconds ago.
Only to be caught by...
"Honestly, I'm out for a couple of hours and you all try to kill each other!? What the bloody hell is wrong with you all?"
"I-Impossible!" Norway's eyes widened. "He should still be under for at least ten more hours!"
Alfred had closed his eyes when 2P Italy had aimed the knife at Spain, unable to bare seeing someone else who he was unable to save.
When everyone else had shut up, he had expected the worst.
But that voice...
He opened his sky blue orbs and looked at the figure standing in front of an obviously shaken Spain.
"You have got to be kidding me!"
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy! ^-^
Yeah, it's pretty obvious who's Spain's hero here! XD
And I really liked the idea of Belarus sticking up for Liechtenstein and then Switzerland having to thank her for it. I could kind of picture Belarus getting on with Liechtenstein and Switzerland, ahaha, now I've got the image of Lilli and Natalya going shopping in my head and Vash having to carry all their bags! XD
And yeah, the 2Ps were very fun to write. Especially 2P Liechtenstein cause it was fun making her look and act like a total bitch! (Yep, this is literally how I would expect 2P Liechtenstein to look and act) XD
Okay, NEXT TIME: The fight is broken up...But the noise has attracted attention... Also, the sleeping bag argument continues!
The next update may take a while since I'm off on holiday tomorrow for five days and then there's some stuff that needs sorting for college and stuff but I'll try my best to get it done as quick as I can! ^-^
Until next time...SEE YA!