Hello again. We have reached ten chapters! Double digits! A quick thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed. On another note, I separated what I have written into chapters. I currently have enough chapters to last me five weeks, with two updates per week. Anyways, a lot happens in this chapter! Have fun!
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.
"Ah, that's an idea! When false memories get mixed in to hide the truth, we get confused and don't know what's what. And once you suspect something, everything else becomes suspicious." Russia said.
England frowned.
"Has anyone seen Emma in these memories?" He suddenly asked. It was quiet for a moment as everyone started to remember, but everyone shook their heads 'no'.
"In every memory I have, Emma doesn't appear. Except for a few…" Japan started.
"...Which I'm guessing are the real ones." I continued. "And I don't have any…" I trailed off.
"Any what?" Canada prompted. I blushed slightly.
"Any false memories. I remember everything just as it is." I told them. They stared at me in shock.
"So you don't get false memories? Why?" China asked. I shrugged.
"I don't know. All I remember was becoming unconscious while playing HetaO… A video game, and appearing in the kitchen." I told them. This was getting dangerously close to my secret. It was quiet for a moment.
"Emma-kun, you said something earlier about a mochi at the start of a game." Japan said slowly, staring at me. "What did you mean by that?" I looked away from his gaze.
"N-nothing!" I said quickly, stuttering. My cheeks grew red. That was an obvious lie. A four year old could see that, so immortal countries certainly could. Russia advanced.
"I do not think that little Emma is telling the truth." He said. I tried to hide behind Japan but he moved away.
"J-Japan?" I asked, hurt.
"What did you mean?" Japan said again, staring at me intensely. "What are you hiding, Emma-kun?" I could feel my eyes welling up as I backed up against the door.
"I…" They all suddenly looked cold. Perhaps it was the mansion, but I became paranoid. These weren't the lovable characters I had known. These were immortal countries, cold and unfeeling. "I know…"
"Know what?" China demanded, sounding harsh. I glanced at Italy, happy and cheerful Italy. He looked away. So did Canada when I looked at him.
"I know… what you are." I said, the last part coming out as a whisper. There was a collective intake of breath. I could feel them staring at me, and the words tumbled out.
"I know that you're countries. National anthropomorphic personifications. You were a show, and anime. You were my favorite anime, I even had a t-shirt. You were really popular, too! There was tons of fan art, and fanfiction and fan made games. I was playing the most popular fan game, HetaOni. It had been discontinued, but it still had a pretty large fanbase. There was even fan art of it! Fan art of a fan game, how ironic. I saw some of the fan art. It had a lot of blood, and I heard that it was really sad, but one of the fan arts was funny! It had Canada in a black and white dress, pretending to be a piano…" I rambled, trailing off at their faces. They were mixtures of shock, anger, fear, disbelief…
"You knew?!" England demanded. He stormed towards me, and I pressed myself smaller against the door. "You knew what was going to happen? Why didn't you tell us!"
"I-I didn't k-know…" I protested weakly. England didn't take notice.
"So this is all a game to you?" He continued. "A twisted game? Are YOU the one controlling Steve?"
"N-No! I'm not! I don't know h-how I got here!" I protested, a bit louder this time. I looked around for support, but I didn't receive any. My hand found the doorknob and I twisted it open, falling out of the room. I ran, not looking behind me, tears welling in my eyes. I heard someone shout behind me, but I didn't hear any footsteps. I was alone.
Japan watched as Emma ran.
"Emma!" Italy yelled, but Germany placed a hand on his arm.
"Let her go." He said harshly. "We don't know if she's an enemy." Japan felt slightly guilty as well. He had been the one to find her after all, and was probably the only one here she was really close too. His rational mind was telling him to go after her, but he felt betrayed.
"We need to cool down." Canada suggested. "How about we break the clock in this room?" He was looking at England, who was the most hot-tempered. England took a breath and nodded. They moved over to the shelf, where a single clock was perched. Germany slammed his whip handle into the face, breaking the glass, and Japan fell into another memory.
"Prussia-san!" Japan said, finding Prussia in a room.
"This is a memory from when I first reunited with Prussia, but… Emma-kun isn't here." Japan thought.
"Huh? Who's there?" Prussia asked, whipping around with his sword out. Luckily, Japan was able to dodge.
"Whoa! C-Calm down, it's just me!" Japan said, holding his hands up. Prussia lowered his sword.
"Oh, it's you Japan? Ah… Sorry." Prussia apologized.
"Where is she? What happened to her?" Japan mentally asked.
The conversation advanced, but Prussia suddenly fell silent.
"What's the matter?" Japan asked. Prussia looked worried.
"Don't you hear the sound of… something...getting closer?" Prussia asked quietly. The door slammed open and Steve entered the room. Japan gasped.
"That's-"
"It came in?" Japan wondered. "Oh, yes. Emma-kun wasn't there to lock the door… So Steve could get in."
Steve advanced on the two Nations, rearing his hand back for a strike.
"Watch out!" Prussia yelled, jumping in front of Japan and taking the blow.
"Oh!" Japan gasped.
"Prussia-san!" Japan said, alarmed.
"Son of a-" Prusia started, slashing at Steve. Surprisingly, Steve disappeared after only a few blows. Prussia clutched his chest, which was bleeding profusely from the scratches he had received.
"...Ow...This is bad…" He said weakly. Prussia swayed, then started to fall. Japan caught him and lay him down on the ground.
"Prussia-san!" Japan panicked. "H-Hold on! I'll stop the bleeding with some sheets!" Prussia chuckled weakly.
"No, it's okay… I'm a Nation… I won't… die…" He coughed, and Japan was alarmed to see a trickle of blood forming at the corner of Prussia's mouth. "Ah… but, I'm not… a Nation any more, am I? I told you that…" Japan was still panicking.
"S-Stop it! I'll call Germany-san! This isn't the time for jokes!" He said, sounding frightened.
"Are… West and… Ita… all right?" Prussia asked, sounding weaker. Japan paused for a moment.
"Hai. Both have already left the mansion. We'll go home, too. Germany and Italy are waiting for us." He lied. Prussia laughed.
"Yeah!... We'll all go to your house… and go to… the hot springs…" Prussia said, growing weaker.
"Because Emma-kun wasn't there, and she didn't lock the door…" Japan thought to himself. "But Emma-kun was there. She did lock the door!... And Prussia-san is alive… This memory… It must be fake. I know which one was true. Emma-kun was here, and Prussia-san didn't die in a place like this."
The memory faded away and changed, showing a stone room with Germany, Prussia, Italy, and Japan.
"What's this room?" Japan asked, surprised.
"Damn it! Even though the four of us got together, the situation hasn't gotten any better!" Germany growled. "We're still locked up in here and that fucking monster is still after our asses!"
"That wasn't supposed to have happened yet. What on Earth…?" Japan wondered. "And where are the others?"
"West, don't be so pessimistic. Someone will eventually notice that some Nations are gone, even if it's only a few, and they'll come to help…" Prussia said, trying to sound hopeful.
"We- We're being eaten one by one… That's what I would do, if I was the Thing!" Germany panicked.
"That's enough, West! There are still many ways to get out of here!" Prussia scolded. Germany calmed down a bit.
"...Sorry." He apologized. "I can't… think like that, but… I feel as though I'm in a battlefield. Though, if it were one, I could keep myself together and protect you… I want to change this." The last part was said with newfound determination.
"You can't help it. you hate this kind of thing." Japan protested. Italy looked worried.
"...Germany." He said quietly.
"Hm?" Germany asked. Italy looked him straight in the eye.
"It's okay; You will be okay." He said, sounding confident. "You'll be able to get out this time. And if you get out, run straight ahead. Don't look back, no matter what happens, and get time-"
"Time?" Japan wondered. "What is Italy talking about?"
The door slammed open, and Steve barged in, right behind Italy.
"Italy-kun!" Japan yelled. Italy smiled sadly, not looking at Steve.
"Italy!" Prussia also yelled, his hand going to his sword. Italy looked at Germany, that sad smile still on his face.
"Promise me, Germany." He said calmly.
"Italy-kun is going to…" Japan thought.
"Italyyyyy!" Germany yelled, running forwards with a hand outstretched. Steve raised a clawed hand…
The vision faded into black.