Hetalia - Down the Rabbit Hole

Chapter 25! And oh my gosh, the responses I got from the last chapter were amazing. Special shout outs go to AlwaysForever, who wrote me a freaking essay of a review, thank you so much. And to slfx14 for the touching praise. Honestly, you have no idea how much it means to know that you actually enjoy my writing. So to all of you, the old fans, and the new, thank you. Thank you so much.

And now with that out of the way, let's jump right back into it,

Enjoy!

Hearts District, Unknown, Unknown.

Arthur slowly awoke to the sound of muttered voices and a shadow looming over him. When he blinked to focus on it, the haze that clouded his vision cleared to reveal it was a face he knew.

'Doctor Connors?' He rasped.

The middle-aged neuroscientist let out a relieved sigh before he looked back over his shoulder, 'He's awake!'

There was a chorus of shuffling and chairs scrapping against the floor, and then three more faces appeared to look down at Arthur; who recognised them all as the other missing neuroscientists: Doctor Kent, Doctor Song and Doctor Lecter.

Doctor Song, a woman with a frizzy halo of sandy blonde hair, knelt down to Arthur's level as he slowly sat up, trying hard not to wince at the throb of pain that pulsated behind his eye, 'Are you alright, sweetie?'

'Where—Where am I?' Arthur groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose when the floor swayed beneath him.

'You are Yao Wang's prisoner, the same as all of us,' Doctor Lecter replied, his voice deep with an almost purring rumble to it. 'As to where we are being held, none of us can answer that.'

As soon as the room stopped spinning, Arthur looked to see that they were in a plain, windowless room, it's borders lined with large whiteboards where lines of texts, equations and diagrams had been drawn. There was no visible door, with the only other thing to break up the monotony of the room being the small, circular air vent that was about the size of Arthur's head.

When Arthur looked down, he saw that he had been stripped of his Valkyrie suit and weapons, left bare-footed, and dressed in a white t-shirt and shorts, made from the same flimsy fabric quality one might expect from a hospital gown; possibly the least threatening, and least protective thing Arthur had ever worn whilst captive.

He clenched his fist, and understood why his headache refused to ease. His magic was far away from him, the metaphorical magnets that he would pull apart to Bleed intangible in his mind's eye. Hatter, or his mother, must have given him something.

'Don't get too close. He's known to bite.' A irritatingly familiar voice sneered, and Arthur's eyes narrowed on Roderick Edelstein huddled in the back corner of the door, a large purple bruise blooming on his jaw. Anger helped Arthur ignore how his fatigued muscles shook as he forced himself onto his feet.

'I suppose you're feeling quite smug right now.' Arthur spat, and Edelstein shrugged his shoulders.

'Not really, no. You were our greatest hope of rescue, but that is clearly no longer an option.'

'I wouldn't be here if you had just told me the truth that night on the cruise ship!'

'What is he talking about?' Doctor Connors muttered to Doctor Song, unaware of how his whispering was actually closer to a stage-whisper.

'Either way, Arthur, it makes no difference to our current predicament. A fact I implore you to remember before you have any urges to assault me.' Edelstein said in a bored tone, and with great difficulty, Arthur concentrated on his breathing until he was calm enough not to want to punch the Austrian doctor in the face.

'Arthur? Was that your name? Just—who are you? What is Roderick talking about, you being our hope at escape?' Doctor Song asked, and Arthur took another deep breath before he moved so that he could address all of them.

'I am the Britannia Angel, and I've been searching for all of you ever since you— Doctor Lecter— first went missing. Another vigilante, Columbia, and I had been investigating, and we discovered that Wang had an agent, The White Queen, kidnap you to develop on Edelstein's research into a neurotic drug known as 'X'. We, along with Terra's other vigilantes, managed to destroy most of Wang's stock of it, but…he still has some left, and I got captured.' Arthur let out a sigh after he was finished, the need to sit down greater than it had ever been since he had woken up.

There was a long silence.

'You're the Britannia Angel?' Doctor Connors uttered, blinking at Arthur as though he couldn't believe it.

Doctor Song's hand was over her hand, 'But—you're just a boy. You're so young.'

'Arthur, or Britannia if you wish, you said that you were working with others?' Doctor Lecter pressed, and Arthur shook his head, already guessing where his line of thought was heading.

'I'm sorry Doctor Lecter. Even if I did know where we are, Wang has given me something to block my powers. I can't get a message to them.', It was though the whole room had stopped breathing, and Arthur felt a lump swell inside his throat under the frozen stares of the neuroscientists. 'What? What is it?'

'Do you mean to tell me, you are Lucid?' Doctor Connors pleaded, giving a small shake of his head as if begging for him to say no. Arthur's stomach was fill of lead as he instead nodded, and looked to Doctor Song when she gasped.

'No. No you can't be.'

'Why else do you think they brought him here?' Edelstein reasoned, and Arthur felt the floor begin to sway beneath him again.

'But—that's—'

'River, it does make sense.'

'What does? Please! If you know what Hat—Wang is planning, you have to tell me.' Arthur begged.

The scientists looked between each other, before Doctor Connors stepped forward and motioned Arthur to follow him to one of the whiteboards. On the board, there was drawing of a vortex, a dot at the centre.

'What do you know about Roderick's research?' The doctor said, and Arthur shrugged as he quickly scanned the rest of the board, words like 'area-effect', 'resonance' and 'synchronised' jumping out at him.

'I understand that 'X' can increase brain activity to dangerous levels. That is can be devastating to neural and cognitive functions, especially to whose that are Lucid.'

'While that is correct, there is an additional effect when administered at a specific dosage, one that affects the way the brain perceives wavelength.' Doctor Connor explained.

Arthur frowned at him, 'What do you mean?'

'Whether we can sense it or not, on a molecular level, every person gives their own unique wavelength. Some wavelengths frequent, operating on a higher level such as an Lucid individual is capable of, some not. Now—imagine that every person that takes 'X', their wavelength completely flatlines. They are no longer unique, they are all thinking and processing the same way.'

'Like, a hive mind?'

Doctor Connors looked down, his expression pinched, 'Yes. Exactly like a hive mind. They become like a clear body of water, and should someone Lucid Bleed within range—'

'It would be like throwing a peddle into that water. A ripple effect. Every mind would mirror the Lucid's wavelength, bolstering it's effects to unprecedented levels.' Doctor Lecter stepped in, and bile threatened to jump into Arthur's mouth when the vague memories of what had happened when Hatter had forced him to take 'X' resurfaced. He manifested a small portion of Wonderland into the room. He had literally torn apart a rip in reality to make a non-existent place real; defying one of the fundamental law's of nature. He had created something from nothing.

Arthur stared down at his hands. Oh god. What had he done?

'They're going to bring my dreamscape, Wonderland, into this reality.' He breathed, and shivered when all eyes snapped onto him.

Doctor Song cleared her throat, 'My boy, you're talking about the sustained merging of two entirely separate dimensions. It's not possible, it's—'

'Madness,' Edelstein breathed, his violet stare locked onto Arthur. 'You've done it before, haven't you?'

'Is that true?' Doctor Connor paled as Arthur stiffly nodded, his hands curled into shaking fists, 'Then God have mercy on us all.'

Everyone jumped when there was a loud thud! and a section of the wall slid open to reveal two yakuza standing behind it, one of them held a pair of handcuffs.

'Arthur Kirkland,' He said, mouth twitched as though to fight against the smirk curling on his face. 'Our client will see you now.'

Spades District, 221 Baker's Street, The Kirkland Residence.

'You both not only went my back, but you also involved the other Guardians in your recklessness. You were lucky no one was killed!' Germania shouted over the line, causing Matthew to wince. He wished he hadn't had to be the one to tell Germania about their failure last night; how they hadn't managed to destroy Spades' stash of 'X', and they hadn't learned where the missing neuroscientists were. But given the near-catatonic state of everyone in the apartment, the misfortune had fallen to him.

'How is Columbia?' The DIA agent sighed.

'The White Queen shot him in both legs, but miraculously, nothing's broken. I—I think it's something to do with his bone strength being approximate to the force he can output?' Matthew said, running a hand down his face as he leant back on the party sofa; Seamus and Dylan sitting opposite him, the former vacantly staring out the window whilst the latter robotically flipped through the TV channels.

'And Britannia?'

'He's—' Matthew's words died at the murderous look that Seamus shot him, sharp enough that he could of bled him, 'He disappeared after he got Columbia.'

'I see…Acadia, allow me to make this clear. From here on, if you, or Columbia, or any of the Guardians act against my orders, you will be reprimanded for insubordination. Do you understand?'

Matthew gulped, 'Yes, sir.'

The line cut and Matthew slumped down, feeling as though he ran a marathon, unable to feel his legs. What had his life become? With effort, he heaved himself up and dragged his feet over to Allistor's Med Room. Inside, Allistor was tightly binding Alfred's knees whilst he was perched on the operating table. Both their gazes were dark and downcast to the floor.

'How is he?' Matthew asked, and only received a hard nod from Allistor in response. After what seemed several seconds too long, Matthew decided he had sweated on it long enough, and loudly cleared his throat.

'So—uh, Alfred. Germania called, and well…he's kinda benched all of us. Like—we go against him again, it's insubordination.'

'Add it to fucking list.' Dylan growled from the living room, and Matthew turned back to him.

'I'm—I'm sorry, but we can't be a part of this anymore.'

'Can't be a part of this?', Seamus spat as he rose up from his seat, 'You're the reason we're in this fucking mess!'

'Excuse me?' Matthew took a step back as Seamus squared up to invade his personal space.

'It was your idea to bring the other vigilantes. If you hadn't just decided to stay put the night at the Jasmine Dragon—'

'If we had, then it'd wouldn't have made any difference!' Matthew argued, 'All that would be, is that Wang and the White Queen would have taken Arthur sooner.'

He gasped when Seamus grabbed him by the collar and wrenched him up, bracing the punch that would surely follow.

'SHUT IT!' Allistor roared as he stormed over and shoved the two of them apart. He glared between them, chest heaving. 'Biting each other's heads off is going to solve nothing!'

'There's nothing to solve, Allistor, because there's nothing we can fucking do!' Dylan yelled. 'We have no fucking leads, no clue where they have Arthur, let alone if he's still in Terra, or even the country for that matter!'

'Even if we did know where he was, we would be talking about going up against Wang, Victoria and Hatter alone.' Seamus bitterly reminded, with Matthew not missing the glare he sent his way.

'You won't be.' Everyone's heads snapped around to see Alfred leaning heavily against the doorframe, clutching to it to support his weakened legs.

'You—' Matthew stepped around Allistor, starting forward with his hand half-stretched out when his brother stumbled with a sharp hiss. 'You shouldn't be up so soon.'

'How can you expect me to rest,' Alfred gritted with clenched teeth. 'When Arthur is…'

Matthew averted his gaze. This was the part he had been dreading the most. 'Alfred, you heard what I said—'

'How can you say that?' Alfred hissed, the intensity of his stare causing Matthew to squirm.

'But, the Guardians—'

'This is Arthur, Matt. Arthur. How can you—expect me to just, do nothing?' Alfred pushed himself off the frame, wincing as though each step were like walking on nails as he approached.

'You're hurt, what exactly do you think you can do in this condition. You can barely walk.' Matthew tried and his gut knotted itself over when Alfred shook his head.

'I will never turn my back on the people that need me. Especially my family…I love him, Matt. I love him so much, and—and the look on his face when he…' Alfred's voice cracked and he had to take a moment to compose himself before he could continue, pure venomous hate burning in his eyes. 'I'm going to tear that bastard apart.'

'Aye.' Allistor, Seamus and Dylan agreed as one, and all eyes turned expectantly on Matthew.

'Matt?' Alfred said, and Matthew sighed. He knew he was beaten.

'There's nothing I can say to convince you, is there?' He asked, when Alfred nodded, he gave another sigh. 'I guess I'm in then. After all, you're completely hopeless without Acadia.'

Alfred's lip wobbled as he smiled a watery smile and sniffed, and Matthew felt the knot that was his stomach loosen just that bit more, 'Thanks Matt. I mean it. Thank you. I'll never forget this.'

'Yeah, yeah, whatever. It's just a job, so stop crying and wipe your nose. You're getting snot everywhere.' Matthew deflected with a wave of his hand when there was a knock at the front door. He stepped aside to let Allistor cross the floor, and the Scot opened the door to find that their housekeep, Reina was stood behind it holding a parcel.

'From the mayor. The whole street's got them, think it's some kind of freebie.' She stated as she pressed it into Allistor's hands and returned to the lift without another word. Matthew raised an eyebrow as the Scotsman shut the door and returned back to where he stood.

'From the mayor?.' Dylan frowned and Allistor tore open it, only to freeze at what he saw inside. His face was unreadable as he took out a small glass bottle, labelled in neatly calligraphed text, 'Drink Me~'

'That's it?' Seamus asked with his arms crossed, clearly unimpressed.

'And this.' Alfred said and reached in to pull out an advertisement leaflet for the Terra Founding Festival, the same festival that was taking place later on in the day.

'I know where Wang is,' Allistor suddenly announced, and smirked everyone stared at him with slack jaws. 'We have to go to the Founding Festival.'

'How did you get that from a glass bottle?' Matthew wondered, and Allistor held up the glass bottle.

'Last night when Arthur was searching through Spades' crates of 'X', this was what was inside. Glass bottles just like this one.'

Matthew's eye went wide when the puzzle pieces clicked together, 'Oh my god, they're giving 'X' out at the festival.'

'What the hell. Why would Wang want that?' Dylan asked.

Alfred clicked his tongue before he looked to Allistor, 'Dude. We gotta get down there. Give me the strongest painkillers you have, and let's go.'

Hearts District, Unknown, Unknown.

Arthur grimaced against the sun's harsh rays as the door at the top of the stairwell swung open, and he was led out onto a rooftop garden. After blinking away the white spots from his vision, Arthur registered three things: one, the rooftop they were on was a skyscraper; two, said skyscraper was in the Hearts District of Terra, overlooking the Queen's Square where the Founding Festival was preparing to launch could be heard below. And three, leant against the glass railing that lined the green rooftop, was Hatter—wearing the sickeningly smuggest grin Arthur had seen—and his mother.

He tested the small give of his cuffs as he was frogmarched over to the sitting area where they stood, and raised an eyebrow at the teatime spread on the wicker dining table. That irked him. Somehow, he felt that Hatter wasn't taking him seriously—although…Arthur studied how his mother was stood to attention, one hand resting on her holstered hip pistol. If Hatter had positioned her there, to make sure he didn't try to jump, then perhaps not.

'How much of my mother is still in there?' He glared with a slight nod toward her, and Hatter gave a thoughtful hum before he pushed himself off the railing and danced over.

'Nothing left, I'm afraid love…Well! Best not dwell in our grief! Look at this lovely tea party I threw together just for us,' Hatter beamed as he dragged Arthur over to the table and cast a sweeping wave over it. He plucked up a baby pink tea cup and pressed it into Arthur's shackled hands.

'Here. Earl Grey, piping hot. Just as you like it.'

Arthur took the cup, and locked eyes with his demon before he dropped it, the fragile china shattering against the concrete, 'Oops.' He unapologetically deadpanned.

Hatter's eye twitched before a forced smile curled onto his lips. 'That's quite alright. Plenty of tea to go around.'

'I know what you're planning Hatter. I know what you intend to do with 'X', and I'll tell you, it won't work.' Arthur growled and squared his jaw when Hatter threw back his head to laugh.

'As expected, you clever-clogs! Well? What do you think?'

'It's insane.'

'Well-suited for the both of us then.' Hatter giggled, and Arthur stepped forward to play the pity card.

'Hatter, please. You have what you want, you have me. You don't have to do this, you can just stop.' He pleaded, and when he reached out, Hatter did not hesitate to take his hand.

'Oh Arthur,' Hatter squeezed their hands with a sad smile, 'what an incredibly naive thing to say.'

Arthur blinked and tried to pull away when Hatter brought a hand up to cup his cheek, but Hatter held him fast. At the moment Hatter touched him, his palm inviting a chill down his spine, Arthur gasped when the world blurred around him into a whirlwind of colour, and when it stopped, and he and Hatter were standing in Wonderland.

Only, it was a Wonderland Arthur could scarcely recognise. His Wonderland was of sprawling fields of wild flowers and rustling green grass; sparkling springs, bubbling streams; elder pine forests of birdsong. This—what Arthur saw—was not his Wonderland.

The sky above bled crimson and a fermented yellow met the black land on the horizon. All around them, the grass and the flowers were rotted; a sickly sweet black blight corrupting their natural greenness. The air was stale, with no breeze to offer any kind of relief, and perhaps the worst thing of all, was the terrible silence; the complete devoid of any life.

Arthur covered his hand over his mouth whilst Hatter deeply inhaled and sighed, 'Not quite as you remember is it?'

'Wh-What did you do?' Arthur choked around the tightness of his throat.

'Arthur, Arthur, Arthur. How many times do I have to tell you? It's not me who did this to Wonderland, it's you. Everything you see, it's all because of you. But don't worry,' Hatter smiled and narrowed the distance between them so that his hot breath washed over Arthur's face, unbearably close, 'I'm going to save you from yourself, Arthur. That stubbornness of your's is going to get yourself killed otherwise, though—I suppose, you wouldn't be you if you weren't that way,'

The engorged lump in Arthur's throat killed any words he might of had, and Hatter grinned as he took it as a submissive sign and rubbed his thumb across his cheek, 'There, there. It's going to be alright. It won't hurt that much, and afterwards, we'll truly be together as one, how we're meant to be.'

Hatter's hand dropped from his face, and a hook yanked on Arthur's gut as Wonderland dissolved around them to jar them back onto the rooftop. His mother's steady, empty gaze had never left them, making it seem as no time had passed at all.

'If what you wanted was to be one with me,' Arthur gritted. 'Then why did you never just—take me like the others.'

Hatter rolled his eyes at him, 'Bloody hell Arthur, I'm not a monster. I can't just 'take' anyone, I need their consent first before I can step into their body. But, I believe what you are trying to ask is, why I've never tried with you. Well, you see, when I possess someone, I take everything, their mind as well as their body. There's nothing of themselves left. So love, if I so wanted to 'take' you, then you won't be the Arthur I love anymore. And everything I have done to this point will have been for naut.'

'Can't live with me, can't live without me.' Arthur huffed, and Hatter smiled with a cock of his head, reaching up to brush Arthur's bangs away from his face.

'You know, perhaps when we've got our Wonderland back on track, maybe if I'm feeling generous, I'll give you little Alfie to play with as a reward. It could be like our housewarming present—' Hatter never got to finish the end of his sentence as Arthur lunged forward and cracked his head against the man's freckled nose.

Hatter stumbled back, and Arthur was on him, eyes ablaze with greek-fire as his hands wrapped around Hatter's pale neck. Unbelievably, rather than gasping for air, Hatter began to laugh manically, thrusting out a hand to ward off his mother—who had surged forward in his defence—and gripped Arthur's wrists to slowly pry him off. Arthur grunted when Hatter shifted his hips to throw off his balance and reversed their positions, slamming him back against the ground so that he was top on. He roared in frustration at his powerlessness as Hatter easily straddled his hips and pinned his bound wrists above his head, leering down at him.

'Oh~ That's so silly of me to say. Of course I'd never let him live, not after what he did. Touching you, kissing these lips—Ha! As if you could ever be anyone else's but mine!'

'Let go of me, you sick fuck!' Arthur snarled, writhing and throwing himself against Hatter's vice grip to get free. 'I'll fucking kill you—Argh! You won't get away with this. I'll never, never bring Wonderland to this dimension!'

'The wheels are already in motion, poppet,' Hatter cackled, drawing a tight groan from Arthur when he ground their crotches together, and then twisted his fingers into his hair painfully at the roots. 'It's been delightfully catching up, but the next time you wake up? That's when the fun really starts.'

And with that, before Arthur could even conjure any thoughts of resistance, Hatter lifted up his head and lights exploded behind his eyes as his head was slammed down hard, plunging him into unconsciousness.

This was a very much 'Heroes gear up for the final battle' chapter. We finally know what Hatter has been planning this entire time, we meet the missing neuroscientists (hats off to whose of you who could spot the references, and name where each one is from), and we have some more understanding about Hatter and Arthur's worsening mental health. Wonderland is not looking so wonderful, let me tell you.

Matthew had his own character moment this chapter, essentially giving up on the Guardian's Job (that he really wanted) for Alfred. Honestly, part of me felt that he was being a bit too cold/harsh to the Kirkland brothers when they had just lost their little brother, but on the other hand, that scene just could of wrote itself. Those of you who write yourself, you'll understand what I mean. You can play out a scene, except when you come to write it, your characters will act completely on their own accord. Well, this was the case with Matthew.

In my head, Matthew kinda of, hit a wall. He has had to endure Alfred's relentless chasing after Britannia, had to follow his say so on every decision, and I think some part of him, even though it probably hasn't the right time to come out, went 'No. I want this for myself, and I'm going to dig my heels in for it.'. It's a tricky one for me, because truthfully, I agree with both arguments on that. Matthew deserves to be allowed to want something for himself-The Guardian's Job, but there are some things that just cannot be compromised on.

I think that given any other situation and context, anything else where Arthur's life/sanity didn't hang in the balance, Alfred would have been willing to listen. But this wasn't the case, and there's no way Alfred would ever turn his back on Arthur. In the end, Matthew realised this, and was the bigger man for agreeing. Like I said before, it's a tricky one. I think maybe if Arthur and Matthew were closer, had had the time to get to know each other and bond, then Matthew would have been more willing to give up on his job in favour for rescuing him, but-same as before-that didn't happen.

Can't make any promises when the next chapter will be up, only that it will be a biggie. Like, BIG. It's gonna be the beginning of the end, and there's gonna be epic character moments and payoffs, fights, fireworks, angst, drama, all that good stuff.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you are liking the story, please take the time to consider leaving a review telling me your thoughts, opinions and questions. Once again, thank you for reading, and as always,

Next time folks!