Welcome to Chapter Ten! (Yay! I'm in the double digits, now!)
This chapter will go back to the Nations who received the disks before. It will also advance the plot. (Yeah, there's more to this story than just torturing Latvia, Estonia, Iceland, and Sealand, XD.) This won't be a gory chapter, so it won't be as scary/interesting as the others. This might seem like filler now, but I needed to add this chapter at some point, and now seemed to be the best time for it.
A big thank-you goes out to everyone who reviewed and/or added this to their favorites/alerts lists. You all are awesome!
*A special thank-you goes to Emilie and Don'tDreamItBeIt; since you are anonymous reviewers, I cannot respond to you via PM, so I will respond here. Thanks so much for your wonderful reviews!*
Random thought: Watching HetaOni at night isn't my smartest idea. (Steve is soooo creepy! I blame the scary music, though…)
This chapter will contain mild SuFin (Sweden/Finland).
*Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya*
Chapter 10
Finland looked around the room, a disk in his shaking hands. After he and Sweden had gotten the first package, they had been contacted by other Nations who had gotten them as well. They agreed to meet with each other as soon as they could to discuss what could be done to rescue Latvia and the others. The meeting would be held in his and Sweden's house, since it was the largest. Coincidentally, another package was sent to them the day of the meeting.
Pulling himself out of his thoughts, he inwardly made a tally of who showed up. America and England. Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. Denmark and Norway. The last two weren't originally invited, but after a frantic call from Norway, who couldn't get ahold of Iceland, he and Sweden let the normally-reserved Nation in on what had happened. Convinced that Iceland was the fourth Nation captured, Norway packed his bags and took the first plane he could to Stockholm. Not wanting to leave Denmark out of the loop, Sweden reluctantly invited him as well.
At first, Finland was worried that the boisterous Nation would ruin their meeting, but for once, he was silent. His trademark grin was gone, and his face looked pale.
"Are you going to play the video?" Norway asked, his voice hard.
"I'm about to." Finland really didn't want to see another Nation being tortured so cruelly, but odds are there would be another message during or at the end of the video. Placing the disk in the DVD player, he ignored the sick feeling in his stomach and pressed 'play'.
At first, all he saw on the screen was a running track. After a few seconds, a very familiar boy ran past the camera, his eyes determined.
Peter? He gripped Sweden's hand and continued to watch, the nausea in his stomach getting worse.
After awhile, Sealand fell to the ground, obviously exhausted by the consecutive running. A shrill scream tore from his throat, and he grabbed at his neck. He writhed in pain until he forced himself to stand up and start running again.
"A shock coll'r." The look on Sweden's face was murderous.
They put a shock collar on him? The disgust Finland felt now evaporated, a burning anger taking its place. His attention snapped back to the video when Sealand screamed and lunged at the scientist who was taunting him.
"SHUT UP! Don't talk about my Papa that way!"
"Oh, did I strike a nerve?" With one motion, the man slammed Sealand onto the floor, placing a foot on his chest. "You think he's your father? Grow up, kid; he adopted you because he thought he'd gain resources from it. You're nothing to him."
"No! Papa loves me! He loves me, and Mama, and Hanatamago! He said so! Denmark, Norway, and Iceland love me too!" Sealand started to cry.
With each tear his adoptive son shed, Finland's heart was breaking.
"Don' listen to 'im, Pet'r," Sweden murmured, only loud enough for Finland to hear. "We love ya."
When the scientist yanked the trembling boy to his feet, England yelled, "Hey! Don't touch him!"
Despite the disturbing content of the video, Finland smiled. I knew he cared about him. The smile fell off his face when the scene suddenly changed. Instead of running, Sealand was on the ground, tears dripping from his eyes. He whimpered and curled up, though his body stiffened when he was shocked over and over again. This time, he didn't make a sound, and Finland knew that he was very close to passing out. When his 'son's' eyes closed, he paused the video, his body shaking with anger.
"Perkele!" he yelled, punching the nearest wall. Everyone seemed surprised that he had an outburst, since he was normally so optimistic and cheerful. "Ne paskiaiset! How could they? He's only a child!"
He was about to punch the wall again, but Sweden grabbed his arm, gently embracing him. "We'll find 'im," he said, his voice icy. "An' when we do, those scientists 're dead."
Taking in a shuddering breath, Finland allowed himself to sit back on the couch, his hand intertwined with Sweden's. Normally, he wouldn't be so obvious about their relationship, but this was an exception.
"Let's watch the rest of the video," America finally said, holding a pillow close to his chest.
"Right." Finland picked up the remote and started the recording once more.
/
After a few more seconds of Sealand on the ground, the scene changed once more. Instead of the gymnasium, the camera looked to be in a small lab. Lithuania's stomach churned when the camera zoomed in on someone extremely familiar.
"No," he murmured aloud. Though his glasses were removed, and his usual cold expression was gone, the boy bound to the table was unmistakably Estonia.
"Voi luoja! Viro!"
Lithuania turned to Finland, who had his hand placed against his mouth. When their eyes met, he could see the pain in the Nordic man's eyes. That's right; Eduard is his best friend.
He was snapped out of his thoughts when the scientist—who was the same man that tortured Latvia before—spoke.
"Today, I'm going to be testing how a Nation's skin reacts to intense heat."
"What?" Lithuania grabbed the hand closest to his, which happened to belong to America. The taller Nation returned the gesture, and when the brunet looked at him, he saw that his face was stony.
At the sound of movement, Lithuania turned back to the video. Estonia struggled, desperately trying to escape the restraints. It was futile, and only succeeded in leaving red marks on his wrists and ankles.
The boy whimpered when some sort of liquid was poured onto his chest and torso. The scientist presented a kitchen lighter to the camera, and Lithuania realized what was going to happen.
"No! He can't do that! Why would he—" He never got to finish his sentence.
"Ei!" Estonia cried, his native language rolling off his tongue faster than his English could. "Palun ei! Palun ei!"
The scientist only smirked and brought the flame down until it met his victim's chest.
When flames traveled wherever the liquid was spread, Lithuania turned to America and embraced him. Though he couldn't see his friend's body burning, he heard his screams perfectly. Make it stop! Why are they hurting him? He's done nothing wrong! He's a child, too, just like Raivis!
He turned back to the screen when he heard the boy wail, "I'm sorry, Mr. Russia, sir! I'll never disobey you again!"
"What?" Russia dropped the glass he was holding, sending it crashing to the floor. "Me? He's apologizing…to me?"
Lithuania looked into his old tormentor's eyes and saw a heartbreaking amount of shame and pain.
"He thinks of me whenever he's in pain," the cold Nation murmured, grabbing the fabric of his thick coat. "Did I damage him that much?"
The brunet completely let go of America. "He's regressing, I think," he explained, his voice dangerously low. "He's in so much pain that he can't comprehend what's going on. My guess is that he thinks he's back in the Soviet Union, since that was the last time his body went through so much distress."
"Oh no…" Russia held his face in his hands.
After what seemed to be an eternity of screaming, the scientist put out the fire, causing Estonia to go silent. "Thank you so much, Mr. Russia," he finally said, tears sliding down his face. His body shook from the trauma it received, and quiet whimpers escaped his throat.
Eduard, I'm so sorry. I wish I could be there, with you. Seeing the normally-reserved boy in so much pain broke Lithuania's heart. He longed to hold him in his arms, to comfort him until his tears stopped falling.
His head snapped back towards the screen when he heard the scientist speak.
"I read all about your pathetic excuse for a life. Everyone calls you the luckiest Baltic, but that's not true, is it? You were hurt just as much as the others, but since you're so damn plain, no one cares about you. You might be smarter than the others, but you're colder than Lithuania and definitely not as beautiful as Latvia. You're nothing."
That's not true, Eduard, thought Lithuania, tears forming in his eyes. Don't believe him.
The man walked closer to Estonia and leaned over, slamming his hands on his chest, aggravating the burned flesh.
The middle Baltic shrieked, the sound of it hurting Lithuania's ears.
"Tch, even your screams don't compare with little Raivis's, Eduard. They're funny to listen to, while his are like a sweet song."
"Stop it!" Estonia rasped. "Please!"
"You want to be complimented? Fine!" The scientist added more pressure to the hands on the boy's chest, causing him to scream again. "I read that you deserted Raivis time and time again, leaving him at Russia's mercy, while you escaped to safety. I would have done the same. His appearance is pleasing, but he's a worthless little brat who doesn't deserve to be a Nation. Nice work."
"Shut up!" Estonia yelled as loud as he could. "Just shut up, you pathetic excuse for a human being! What right do you have to judge us? What right do you have to call Raivis weak or worthless? He experienced more pain than a human could live through!"
"You tell him, Ed!" America exclaimed, nodding at the screen. "Don't let him talk that way to you! You're better than he is; you always will be!"
Lithuania smiled through his tears. Thank you, Alfred. Thank you for supporting him. I'm sure he'd appreciate that.
However, his smile evaporated when the scientist undid the restraints and roughly flipped Estonia onto his stomach. Knowing what was coming after the liquid—which he assumed was gasoline—was poured onto his back, he turned away, leaning into America's chest once more.
The screaming started again, but after awhile, they stopped, soft, raspy singing taking its place.
Lithuania looked up to see the scientist undo the restraints once more before carelessly clothing Estonia in a pair of boxers and putting his glasses back onto his face. The screen then faded to black, and the brunet used this as an excuse to pause the video.
"That was…horrifying," said America, his eyes wide.
"Why would someone do that to him?" demanded Denmark, standing up. "Sealand too! They're only kids!"
"I am starting to lose my faith in humanity." England shook his head, his eyes tired. "I thought I had seen it all: war, piracy, torture. But this? For the simple fact that we are not human, we are condemned to this? No wonder my friends only make themselves visible to a select few."
"I completely agree," Norway added. "Humans always act this way to creatures they cannot even begin to understand. My friends also made themselves invisible to humans for this reason."
"What friends are they talking about?" America asked, tilting his head.
Lithuania just shrugged; he had no idea, nor did he particularly care. His main focus was trying to figure out how to find and free Estonia, Latvia, and the other captured Nations.
"Poor little Estoniya." Russia shook his head, wringing his hands. "He did not deserve this."
Hoping to see a message at the end of the video, like the last one, Lithuania grabbed the remote and un-paused it. After the black screen disappeared, he was shocked to see not a note, but more video footage. He was even more shocked to see the two Nations that were onscreen this time.
"Iceland?" Norway exclaimed, standing up. Gone was his trademark icy expression; in its place was an emotion that Lithuania had never seen him express before: fear.
"And Latvia! He's already been 'experimented' on once! Why the hell is he here again?" America stood up, his face angry.
When will this ever end?
"Their heads 're shaved," Sweden pointed out, narrowing his eyes. "An' Icelan's scalp's stitched up. Latvia's isn', though."
Oh God. Lithuania had a guess as to what happened to Iceland, and what would probably happen to Latvia.
Unfortunately, he was right. Ice traveled through his body when the scientist sank his scalpel into Latvia's scalp. He covered his ears, but his friend's screams were too loud to block out. They only got louder when his skin was peeled back and pinned, revealing his skull. Iceland's pleading for the scientists to stop added to the noise. Both boys' screams got louder when the head scientist cut through Latvia's skull. From where the camera was positioned, Lithuania could see the boy's brain.
"Those bastards!" the brunet found himself shouting, kicking the table in front of him. He didn't care if he was making a scene; he just wanted to wring the scientists' necks, at the moment.
He was so wrapped up in his angry thoughts that he almost missed what the scientist said.
"If this piece of trash wants anesthetics, he's going to have to beg for them."
Everyone went silent when Latvia opened his mouth. "Please!" the boy rasped, his voice barely audible. "I need anesthetics. Can I have them, Mr. Fletcher, sir?"
Fletcher? So that's the bastard's name. Lithuania gritted his teeth.
"What was that? I can't hear you!"
"I'm sorry! I'm speaking as loud as I can! Please! I can't take any more!" Latvia sobbed, his tears falling from his cheeks to the table, mixing with his blood.
"Tch. I'm sorry, little Raivis," Fletcher sneered. "You're just not loud enough."
As soon as he was finished speaking, he stuck his hand into the opening in Latvia's skull and mercilessly jabbed at his brain.
Lithuania visibly winced when the small Nation screamed louder than he thought was possible.
"You monsters!" Iceland shouted. "You bastards! You disgusting freaks!"
Norway's expression turned into one of pure rage when one of the female scientists slapped him across the back of the head.
With each jab to his brain, Latvia's cries became more garbled. When he started begging for death in Russian, Lithuania squeezed his watering eyes shut, wishing that he was never forced to learn the language. When he finally opened them, he turned to Russia, who was slightly leaning against him.
"Why are they hurting him, Litva? He's just a little boy; he is completely innocent!" The large Nation squeezed the brunet's hand, which unnerved him greatly. "His screams are not pretty anymore; they make me sick."
Lithuania was about to answer, but Latvia's heartwrenching screams caused him to look at the screen once more.
"Mama!" he finally sobbed, making the loudest sound since his skull was broken. "Mama…Toris! Where are you? Please, come back! I'm sorry for calling you clumsy before!"
He called me…'Mama'? Lithuania's heart broke even more.
"You call Lithuania your mother even though he's male?" Fletcher scoffed. "You're disgracing his name and accomplishments by referring to him as a female. Even if he did want to come after you, as soon as he sees this experiment, and hears what you called him, he'll be so insulted that he won't even bother rescuing you."
"You're right!" Latvia gasped, more tears pouring from his swollen eyes. "I'm so sorry, Toris; I didn't mean to disgrace you! Please don't hate me! I miss you so much!"
That was the last straw for Lithuania. Not caring that he was surrounded by Nations, he cried, wrapping his arms around himself.
"Liet…" Poland murmured, getting up from his chair and wrapping his arms around his friend. "We'll get them; we totally will."
"That isn't enough!" he yelled, gripping the blond's arm tightly. "I want them DEAD! I want Sweden or America or whoever the hell is good with technology to study every second of this video to try to discover their location. I want to split open their heads and squeeze their brains until they're an incomprehensible mess of nothing. I. WANT. TO. KILL. THEM."
Suddenly tired, Lithuania allowed his body to lean into Poland's embrace.
"I know, Liet," he whispered, stroking the brunet's hair. "I want them dead, too."
When the only sounds in the room were Lithuania's muffled sobs, England finally spoke. "When the video ended, there was a message. It was for America."
"What did it say?" America rubbed his tear-filled eyes and stood up.
"Here, I'll play it again; it didn't make that much sense to me."
Lithuania finally looked up, not wanting to miss seeing some important information.
We sincerely hope you enjoyed this latest installment of our little series. There are plenty more tests to be run on our stars. Since little Raivis is paralyzed at the moment, we wonder how his body would react to an amputation. Or, how about we cut out naughty Erikur's tongue? After all, he was so very rude to us during the last experiment.
However, I know you'd want your little friends back in one piece, so as long as America does what we say, we will not remove anything from our test subjects' bodies.
America, get the passcode for Folder 100 and write it down on a piece of paper. Tape it to your front door sometime before midnight next Friday (that is when someone will collect it). It is highly recommended that you do this. That is all.
"Folder 100? Those bastards!" America punched the wall. "That contains highly classified government information! If I give it to these freaks, they could do some real damage to my country!"
"But if you don't, those scientists will hurt the Nations they captured." Norway stood up. "I will not have my lillebroren tortured! Not when there's a way around it."
"You don't think I know that? Peter's like a brother to me; I don't want to see him, or any of them, hurt! But I can't just give them the password to classified information, my boss would hit the roof!"
"You know, you could talk to your boss about this," Finland suggested. "He might have some ideas."
The tension between Norway and America faded, though a hint of it still remained. "Okay, I guess I can do that."
"Thank you." The reserved Nordic sat down.
Denmark finally spoke, the seriousness of his voice unnerving Lithuania. "We need to contact the other Nations. They need to know what's happening. We should call an emergency world meeting."
"I second that," Russia agreed, his voice icier than ever before.
One by one, the other Nations nodded, approving Denmark's idea.
"The next conference is at Germany's place, so I guess I should call him first," England mused aloud.
"I agree." Lithuania, who finally composed himself, stood up. "Until then, what should we do?"
"You're all free to stay here, unless you have duties at your homes," said Finland.
"Even if I did, some lousy paperwork is meaningless in a situation like this." Denmark cracked his neck.
"One more thing." Sweden's low voice made everyone turn to him. "We must notify the other micronations. They coul' be 'n danger, since they're so young."
The possibility of more child-Nations being taken hurt Lithuania's already broken heart. "I second that."
"Right. So that's the plan, then? We notify every Nation we can get ahold of and plan an emergency world meeting?" England asked.
"Ja." Sweden nodded.
"Let's hope this works," Poland muttered. "I never want to see one of those totally disgusting videos ever again."
I hope so too, Feliks, thought Lithuania. But something tells me this isn't going to be the last one.
And that's the end of this chapter. I know it was a little boring, but I needed to show what was going on with the other Nations, and what they were planning.
I hope everyone was in-character. (I know that Lithuania got REALLY angry in this chapter, but that's because his close friend was being tortured so brutally.)
Yes, Sweden and Finland live together, in this story, XD. (In my head-canon, they switch houses every six months: the first set in Sweden's house, and the second set in Finland's.)
Translations:
Perkele: This is a Finnish swear. I'm pretty sure it is equivalent to 'fuck', but I'm not 100% sure, XD.
Ne paskiaiset!: Those bastards! (Finnish)
Voi luoja!: Oh my God! (Finnish)
Viro: Estonia (Finnish)
Ei: No (Estonian)
Palun ei!: Please don't (Estonian) –This literally translates into 'please do not!', but the contraction flowed better.
Lillebroren: Little brother (Norwegian)
I hope you enjoyed the chapter!