DON'T HATE ME PLEASE

I DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO FINISH THE LAST BREATH ON DEC. 22 LIKE I PLANNED, DUE TO SCHOOL ACTIVITIES AND THE GENERAL CHRISTMAS SEASON CHAOS (also, I have writer's block again so yeah.)

HERE'S THE DEAL;

THE FINAL CHAPTER WILL BE OUT ON NEW YEAR'S DAY, I PROMISE!

THANK YOU FOR PUTTING UP WITH ME I APOLOGIZE TO EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU AND I HONESTLY APPRECIATE EVERYTHING YOU GUYS HAVE DONE :)

As always, reviews, follows and favorites are appreciated :)

Enjoy!

-luvlani88

"Where is she?!" Atlantis' angry growl rang throughout the chamber as North Pole quaked in fear.
"I-I don't know. Maybe she went out again…?"
The answer obviously made Atlantis' mood worse, as she scowled deeper and clenched her hands into fists as she paced back and forth.
"Ugh….I should've… Ugh." She moaned in frustration as North Pole watched in fear.
Finally, Atlantis stopped pacing. "…Um…Atlantis…?" North Pole said softly.
Atlantis inhaled deeply and sighed again, obviously exhausted by this.

"We're leaving. Now." She snapped before exiting the room with a loud slam of the door.

"Where did that come from?!" Finland exclaimed as the nations looked around wildly for the source of the sound. Nobody could see anything yet.
"Japan. Do you sense anything?" Greece called over to the Asian nation who paused and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and focused his energy, allowing his mind to listen for any changes in the atmosphere. Almost immediately, he felt it. "…I…Yes!...It's…I'm not sure what it is but…I can sense something…something….evil." He shivered and felt another gust of cold air blow against him.
"Where? Where is it?!" France murmured as he looked around.
"Everyone!" China shouted to get everyone's attention. "Draw your weapons, aru! It looks like we're being ambushed, aru!"

The word sent more feelings of dread through everyone, but it didn't stop anyone from taking out their weapons.
America had a machine gun, a standard one, but combined with his super-strength he would most likely prevail.
Britain's book was tucked away in his coat, but his wand was out and ready, as he already felt the warmness of the magic coursing through it.
France's sword was slim and was used in fencing, but it was what he felt most comfortable with.
Russia's usual metal pipe was already prepared and the glint in his eyes could be described only as deadly.
China's large wok was in his hand, but now he looked down at it and frowned. Would he really need a weapon like this? Japan's sword came out of its sheath without question. He held it steadily in both of his hands as he prepared in his usual fighting stance.
Germany's hand gun was now fully loaded and he slipped on his gloves for extra protection.
Hungary had brought her usual frying pan and Austria pulled out his sword.
The other nations had brought their preferred weapons as well; a mixture of all kinds of swords, guns, even a few butchering knives were intended to be used by Belarus.
And so they readied themselves, as they stayed completely silent, listening carefully for anymore signs of movement.

Germany glanced at Romano, who hadn't moved an inch. "…Romano..." He murmured.
Silently, the Italian personification set down the ancient case and unlocked it. As the lid flew open he straightened back up and held his hand out over the weapon. Almost instantly, it flew up into his hand as if it was eager to be in his grasp.

"Well. Isn't that a pretty weapon, Romano."

The words seemed to flow smoothly as the countries tensed. "Your grandfather was quite the craftsman."
Romano was about to shout something back when Denmark stopped him. "Guys! Over there!" He pointed in one direction and the nations automatically turned in that direction.
And their hearts leapt to their throats as the wind suddenly died down.

Standing about 30 feet away, almost on the edge of a water canal was three figures.

One was North Pole.
She looked around cautiously at the nations, as if surprised to see them with weapons.

The second was Trident, who had his hands behind his back, looking smug with a glint of amusement in his eye.

And the third, standing in between the two and wearing a long flowing strapless royal blue gown with jet black hair and gleaming turquoise eyes was the one being that in Romano's mind, was the one to blame for everything that had happened.

Atlantis.

Even though most of the nations had never seen her before, it was more than obvious to everyone who was standing right there in front of them.
And for some reason, the fear that some nations that would plague them the moment they faced Atlantis was nowhere to be felt.

"…What, Antarctica didn't want to join your little party?" America called back, remembering that as far as they knew, Atlantis didn't know about Antarctica's betrayal.
Atlantis' smile didn't waver. "That's irrelevant, to be honest." She chuckled.

Romano's eyes narrowed and he suddenly stepped forward. Even from where he stood, Germany could see Romano's hands clench his weapon tighter, the whites of his knuckles clearly evident.
"…R-Romano…?!" Spain stammered as he watch the Italian. He tensed for a moment and then began to move to stop him, but Austria held an arm out to stop him.
Germany was about to yell out to him, when Romano finally stopped, a mere ten feet away from the trio.

"…Where is Veneziano?" He scowled, lowering his voice into a menacing tone that made even Germany shiver. It obviously didn't bother Atlantis the slightest bit, as she just shrugged.
"He's a little busy right now." She said half-heartedly, which clearly angered Romano even more.

"Don't play games, Atlantis. Where is my brother?!" He snapped.
She smiled at him. "He couldn't make it. But to be honest, I don't think he really minded missing our little encounter-"
"Don't fucking play games with me Atlantis!" Romano suddenly exclaimed. "Now shut the hell up and tell me where Veneziano is right now!" He was all but snarling at her now as she simply brushed it off, obviously satisfied by Romano's little outburst.

Wordlessly, she spun around on her heel and walked ever so gracefully back to the other two, who hadn't moved an inch. "Where the fu-" Romano began but she cut him off.
"It's best if you stop thinking so much about Veneziano." She responded with an effortless flip of her hair.
"What-" Romano began again but once again she ignored his attempts at communication.
"He's not interested in whatever you petty nations have planned." Her voice had turned monotone all of a sudden, as if she had abruptly became bored with their conversation.

She kept walking past North Pole and Trident, who turned around with her as soon as she passed them.
The nations watched as the trio started walking towards the canal. He was about to yell out again, when they suddenly stepped into the water, and immediately disappeared.
The water had practically moved out of their way to let them sink in and then swallowed them whole.

Romano suddenly felt a burning sensation in his throat where a scream of anger suddenly lurked, desperate to come up to the surface and resonate sound. He forced it down and bit his lip hard.

"What the hell was that?" Turkey asked nobody in particular.
Nobody could answer. For a moment, the nations all stood silently, staring at the spot where the three enemies had disappeared. They had finally seen Atlantis up close, only to have her disappear again? Deep down, nobody really wanted to object. There was something…disturbing about being around Atlantis. As if you were slowly but surely being drained of all your emotions, only to be left with what felt like hollow emptiness that swallowed your entire mind until you could no longer feel anything that had to do with life.

Antarctica was right. America thought with a shudder. He was suddenly struck with extreme concern as he thought of her and the fact that she seemed to be absent.

"Everyone…!" Japan exclaimed suddenly, effectively breaking the silence and grabbing everyone's attention. "I…I can sense something…!" He tensed with worry, but automatically forced himself to relax.

"…What? What is it?" Russia looked around carefully, craning his neck to see everything he could.
"I feel it too, aru. I can hear it." China said.
"Hear it?" Denmark tried his best to listen carefully, but to no avail.
"Yes, aru. I can hear something coming towards us…!"

Britain suddenly tensed, drawing in a sharp breath. "Could…Could it be…the army that Antarctica mentioned…?!"
There was a collective silence as realization hit.
"Keep your eyes open! They could be here any minute!" Germany exclaimed as the nations gripped their weapons tighter.

A familiar feeling was starting to rise up in Germany's stomach. A feeling he only got when facing an enemy. Although this time, this suffocating feeling was much more intense as he realized that he knew next to nothing on how to battle an enemy that they had never seen before, let a lone a whole army against the relatively small group of nations. How could they win this? How could they become victorious when they had so much to lose and so little power? A sudden thought entered Germany's mind and he realized that he was mentally clinging to it, as if it would bring him comfort. It did.

We've fought like this before. He thought. When the Pictonians invaded Earth and painted everything white.
His mind flashed back to that, and he was left with two very different emotions.
The first one was a sense of pride, mixed with comfort. They had won a battle against creepy, expressionless aliens who wanted to claim Earth as their own. They barely survived, but they still somehow made it through, and even made some intergalactic friends in the process.
The second one was much less satisfying. Germany felt a sudden sense of longing, mixed with sorrow, dread, sadness, anxiety, and hurt. It was terrifying the way that this emotion wracked his body, but he knew that there was one reason and one reason alone for this overwhelming amount of pain.

Italy.

It was Italy who had saved everyone from the Pictonians by drawing on their faces.
It was Italy who had somehow managed to cook them a delicious meal when they were stranded on a tropical island just before their hand-to-hand battle with the aliens.
It was Italy who smiled nonstop everyday, and refused to stop singing his cheery songs.
It was Italy who had brought smiles to everyone's faces.
It was Italy who could create nothing less than a beautiful drawing with only a few utensils.
It was Italy who had changed Germany's mind…no, his heart.

It was Italy whose mind refused to let him forget the smallest details of his grandfather's demise.
It was Italy who had to resort to self-harm to combat those feelings. It was Italy who was depressed.
It was Italy who would've killed himself if he was human.
It was Italy who's mind had sank to the very depths of hell, where nothing, no light at all could penetrate through the cloud of dark despair and pain that hung over him and swallowed up everything that he could grasp.
It was Italy who still smiled, regardless.

Am I really going to let fear keep me from saving Italy? Germany thought.
He realized he was smiling. It was a small, weak, pointless smile, and yet he couldn't help it.
Nein. He thought. I'm going to let the fear of losing Italy make me stronger.

He then realized that the sound they had heard was getting louder.
"It…It's getting closer…!" Japan exclaimed.

It was becoming more and more obvious as to what the sound was. Footsteps. Lots of running footsteps.

"…China! Can you tell how many there are?!" America yelled to the Asian nation who shook his head.
"Not exactly, aru. There…There's too many…!"
The sound of the footsteps was nothing short of a roar as the army neared them.

And suddenly, the owners of the roaring sound were no longer invisible. A startled cry came from Hungary as the members of the army, Atlantis' soldiers, came into view. They were running straight at them from all over, as if they had been hiding and waiting behind corners of buildings for this very moment.
Antarctica had been right; they looked like people. Just like the Pictonians had had four limbs, a head and a body, these figures did as well. Except that they were much more detailed, and appeared to be made of ice. Even from a distance, the nations could see the details in their structures. They weren't overly tall, about an average height, and they had no faces or hair or genitalia or anything that could distinguish them as 'human-like' other than their stature and their hands and feet.

Nothing else seemed…right. It was utterly horrifying. And what made it worse, was the fact that they were charging directly at the nations from all angles. In just a few moments, they would be upon them.
"W-what do we-" Greece began, but Romano cut him off. "Fight them head on! Don't show any mercy and keep an eye out for the doppelgängers!" He shouted quickly.

And that was all the time they had before the battle commenced.

"I'm sorry I'm late. My apologies." The man smiled wearily as he sat down, placing his dark hat on the table.

"No worries. Traffic is bad today, isn't it?" The other Italian smiled lightheartedly, as he pushed forward a glass filled with a dark liquid towards him.
"Hm? What's this? Wine?" The man asked and the Italian nodded. "Red. Made right here in Italy."

The man chuckled and pulled a cigar out of his pocket instead. "So…Let's talk." He said as he reached for a lighter. "This evidence that I have…You say you can give me a fair amount for it?"
The Italian tilted his head as he watched the man take a long drag. "It depends. Are you sure this so called 'evidence' is worth it? My news agency doesn't report just any petty rumor, you know. It has to be cold, hard, evidence." He was still smiling, but his tone had taken a much more serious turn.

The man nodded. "I'm aware. You doubt me, my friend. My source is very reliable." He exhaled, causing a small cloud of smoke to pour out of his mouth and evaporate into the warm summer night's air.
"What is your source, pray tell?" The Italian laughed and folded his hands on the table in front of him.
He watched the man take another drag of his cigar and sit back in his chair. "I had my assistant break into his office."

"Who's office?"
"South Italy's of course." There was a twinkle in the man's eye as he chuckled again, his lips curling into a smirk."Italy Romano Lovino Vargas. Quite the character, but apparently he's too careless with classified information."

The Italian chuckled, a light sound that tinkled in the quiet atmosphere of the outdoor patio of the pub that they sat in.
"Both of them are. How many people know of this?" He asked carefully.

The man smiled. "Nobody but me and my assistant." There was a pause. "Who just recently died in a fatal car accident."
"I'm so sorry." The Italian's words were the complete opposite of his smile which widened.
"Don't be. It wasn't much of an accident, if you know what I mean." The man laughed and took another long drag on his cigar.

"So…this 'evidence'. Do you have it?" The Italian asked patiently.
The man nodded and shifted to pull it out of his coat pocket. A tan file folder with the word 'classified' in red marker written on the surface of it slid over to the Italian, who picked it up gingerly in his fingers and opened it delicately. The papers inside were hard to read in the dim light, but it was obvious what they were.
"It's all here?" He asked without looking up and the man nodded.
"Everything. Records, photographic evidence, even the signatures of both Italy Romano and Italy Veneziano."
"Amazing."
"Indeed."
The man studied him for a moment as he read in silence. He was of average height, and was wearing a suit and hat, which was usual for an Italian, especially while in Rome. He appeared to be a brunette but it was hard to tell in the fading light.

The Italian suddenly put the file down and fished around in his pocket for a moment, before pulling out a checkbook and tearing off a page. He quickly wrote down a sum and signed it, then slid it across the table to the man who sat up straight and picked it up. "Will this amount do?" The Italian asked and the man grinned as his eyes skimmed over the amount written on the check.
That's a lot of zeros…! He thought as he nodded. "Yes indeed! Excellent! I'm glad we don't have to argue over it." He put the check down and looked back at the Italian. "I hope the story runs well."
The Italian smiled. "Thank you, it will." He picked up his glass, filled with red wine. "Let's toast, shall we?"

The man laughed and flicked his cigar to the ground before picking up his glass and raising it to the other's.
"To Italy Romano." The Italian said. "For apparently being careless."

"And to Italy Veneziano." The man smiled. "For having a bloody secret that made me rich!"

And then, he drank from his glass as the Italian did the same. "Hmmm…This is an interesting taste." He said as he licked his lips. "Where did you say this was from?"

"Italy. Actually, I'm familiar with the person who made it." The Italian replied, no longer smiling. "It's an acquired taste."
"Hm. I see…" The man's voice trailed off as he took another sip. He suddenly felt the familiar feeling of becoming drunk. He looked back into his glass. He had barely taken two mouthfuls.

"What…What's in this?" He blinked away sudden spots in his vision.
The Italian tilted his head at him. "Do you not like it? Would you prefer something else?" The man nodded weakly as his head started to spin.
"Y-yes, thank you. What do you recommend?"
"Recommend? Hm…" The Italian took another sip of his wine as he thought. "Well, I'd suggest a few actually, but I can think of one that would probably suit you best." He said.
"O-oh? And what would…what would that b-be?" He slurred, just before realizing that he could no longer breathe due to the fact that his chest felt like it was in flames.

The Italian leaned forward, his drink held carefully in his slender fingers. The man put down his glass with a slam and stared at it before he began coughing. He felt blood pool in his mouth. And yet, even as he felt as if he would collapse to the ground right that second, he somehow noticed the name that was signed with a flourish on the check in front of him.

"Nothing short of death."

And with that, the man coughed up blood that soon covered his shirt and his mouth as he choked on blood and struggled desperately for air.

"I hope you like the wine. I made it myself."
The man collapsed backwards in his chair as tears fell down his face. "Y-you…!" He barely managed as he coughed up more and more blood.

The Italian stood up, putting on his coat and fixing his hat that was still perched soundly on his head. He picked up the file folder which he put in his coat and the check which was stuffed it in his pocket before walking over to the man who was still unable to move.
"It…It…" The man tried again, but to no avail.
"There's something you should know…before you die, I mean." The Italian leaned down to put his mouth close to the man's ear before whispering harshly with gritted teeth.

"My 'bloody secret' is none of your business."

He straightened up and walked out offering a lighthearted "Ciao!" and a wave before leaving the man covered in his own blood.

"Ita…Italy..!" The man tried to scream but no sound came out.

He died within moments.

The Italian went back to the comfort of the place he called home. He quickly undressed out of his suit and hat, before passing by his own bedroom and slipping into the one that belonged to his brother. Wordlessly, he slid into bed. His brother barely stirred.
"Red?" He asked.
The Italian closed his eyes and nodded.
"Clever."
"Thanks."
His brother chuckled before turning over and pulling him towards him, running a hand through his copper, almost red hair and gently kissing his cheek. "Goodnight, Veneziano."

"You really need to remember to lock your office."

"Behind you!" Austria shouted to Hungary who reacted instantly by spinning around and swinging her frying pan into the 'face' of one of the soldiers. As the impact was made, the solider shattered and fell to the ground, disintegrated into thousands of pieces.

That was the thing with these soldiers; if you hit them hard enough, they would shatter. The nations had learned this in about three seconds. But no matter how many they shattered, more and more would appear to take their place.

Germany threw a punch and a solider fell to the ground, shattering on impact. A few more began rushing towards him, so he raised his gun and fired at them, making them shatter as well.

So far, the nations were evenly matched. They were doing quite well at holding them off. In the back of his mind, the part that was constantly evaluating everything, Germany made a mental note of the group's most powerful strengths.
China of course was one of them. He was fending off soldiers left and right with a variety of martial arts techniques, and wasn't even breaking a sweat.
Also on that list was Britain, who with the help of his magic wand, was able to take out relatively large groups of soldiers at a time using his magic spells.
America's abnormal strength came in handy too. He had grabbed on to a street sign, wrenched in from the ground, and was using it as a weapon.
Russia had his sheer size as well, and several other nations had various strengths that made them useful assets in this fight.
It was surprising to Germany when out of the corner of his eye, he watched Romano battle with his half of the Dormire Crocifisso. He used it like a sythe or maybe a type of staff, and although he would never truly admit it, Germany was impressed with Romano's skill. It was as if he had been training for this battle since he was a child.

Maybe the Roman Empire taught him how to fight with it. Germany thought. In case an occasion like this ever occurred.
He kicked a solider who crashed into another one, shattering them both.
I wonder if Italy knows how to fight like that.

"…Ah!" France exclaimed as he was nearly knocked to the ground. He tightened his grip on his sword and plunged it through the chest of a nearby solider, causing it to shatter instantly. He turned to his right, in time to see a figure that made him shiver.
"Angleterre!" France suddenly shouted to Britain.
"What is it, France?" Britain shouted back, not using his usual insulting nickname for the Frenchman.

"Your doppelgänger!"

Britain looked up and saw that France was right. Standing on the balcony of a building was another ice figure, but this one looked much different then the faceless ones they were currently fighting. It looked like Britain, no doubt about it. It was as if someone had carefully carved an ice sculpture of the British Gentleman and it had somehow come to life.
Its eyes were glowing blue and didn't have pupils.

Britain felt like screaming as he watched his doppelgänger raise his arm, a magic wand made of ice in his hand.
He can use magic…! Britain thought as he raised his own wand up to the icy figure.
A few unintelligible words spilled from his mouth as he cast a spell, causing a large force-field shaped like a semi circle to appear just above the nations.
He was just in time, as the doppelgänger's wand glowed and a sphere of bright light flew from the tip of it, impacting the force-field and causing it to ripple.
Britain was about to fire an attack from his wand, when he suddenly felt a strange pressure on his torso. A moment later, he started to feel light and was suddenly being lifted off of the ground. He gave a shout of surprise as he ascended without consent.

America, hearing Britain's shout, looked up. Without warning, ran forward and vaulted the street sign he had pried from the ground, aiming for Britain's doppelgänger. He missed, but was lucky enough to hit part of the balcony that he was standing on. The impact caused him to stumble and the invisible hold that had been lifting Britain up in the air suddenly disappeared, and without warning he began to fell.
With a few seconds to spare, Britain quickly waved his wand and with nearly twenty feet to spare, his fall slowed to a point where he was hovering, and he slowly lowered himself to the ground. As soon as his feet touched solid ground, he sighed with relief and glanced over to America, who had immediately gone back to fighting the Ice Soldiers.

In the next moment, Britain realized something extremely nerve-wracking. I can't battle my doppelgänger with magic with everyone nearby. He thought. I have to get him away from the others…!
 "Hey! Ugly!" He shouted suddenly up to the doppelgänger, who looked down at him with distaste. "Come get me!"
He abruptly fired a ball of glowing white energy towards him, and then took off running without bothering to check if he had hit his intended target.

"Britain-san! Behind you!" He heard Japan yell and he glanced behind him, only to see that his doppelgänger had leapt off of the balcony and landed on the ground. Britain sped up as his doppelgänger began running after him. He had no idea where he was going, and he knew that it was risky to run into unknown territory with an enemy chasing him and the potential for more soldiers to ambush him, but he ignored his usual sense of judgment and kept running.

I have to get him away from the others! He thought.

He ran several blocks and even used his magic to levitate himself over a canal, before he finally slowed down to a stop, in the middle of a street littered with empty vendor's carts and emptied stores. He turned around, just as his doppelgänger caught up to him and stopped about fifty feet away.
Britain was breathing hard but the doppelgänger didn't seem to even break a sweat.
What the bloody hell are these things made of? Britain wondered. He suddenly tensed as the doppelgänger raised his wand again, pointed directly at Britain. The British gentleman raised his wand as well.

Alright then, He thought. Magic, don't fail me now.

"Russia! Are you alright?" Belarus exclaimed as she caught sight of her older brother. In the midst of the battle, nobody had noticed him disappear, but now that he had reappeared with several bleeding wounds, it was clear that he hadn't just gone on a leisurely stroll.
"Da. I'm well." He replied, smiling cheerily, even with the knowledge that the other nations were battling for their lives

. He definitely didn't look well. There was a large gash on the side of his head, and blood was gushing from it, falling down the side of his face and staining his favourite light-coloured scarf a sickly shade of crimson. He was limping as well, and had a few other bruises, including a black eye.

"Where did you go?!" Estonia gaped as him, Belarus, Latvia and Lithuania helped him away from the major areas of combat, and let him sit down on a small lawn of grass beside the magnificent steps of the large church.

"I found my doppelgänger." The Russian replied, seemingly unfazed by his wounds.

"Wha-?" Belarus began but cut herself off when out of the corner of her eye she noticed movement. A few ice soldiers had spotted them somehow and were running towards the small group.
"Ah! We need to go!" Latvia exclaimed as he reached down in an attempt to pull the Russian to his feet.

"No." Belarus said in a low voice.
"W-what? What do you mean 'no'?" Latvia asked, clearly panicking.

"Leave them to me." Belarus walked forward, pulling a knife from her pocket and holding it tightly. "Nobody threatens my brother." She murmured as the ice soldiers charged at her.

"Belarus!" Estonia yelled at her, but the ice soldiers were already too close. He held his breath as he tensed, almost not wanting to see what would happen next.

The first solider ran at her, and she spun around and kicked it hard, causing it to shatter as it hit the ground.
Another ran at her from the side and she quickly drew the blade upwards and to the left, making a clean slice through the soldier's throat and causing it to shatter as it hit the ground. Another ice solider ran at her and she kicked it straight in front, causing it to stumble backwards before she quickly rushed forwards and stabbed in in the torso. It seemed to hesitate for a moment before shattering.
The other nations gaped in shock as they stared at the female nation, who was now breathing hard but still standing.

"Now." She said as she turned back to them. "Let's get him cleaned up."

*America's POV*

These things were seriously weird.
Like 110% creepy.

One of them rushed at me and I kicked him away. Even though I made it shatter, I could still feel its icy grasp on my leg as it tried to grab me before I counterattacked.
Geez…What the hell was with these things?!
I had lost that street sign after I threw it at Britain's doppelgänger, and now I was looking around for another one. It was waayyy easier to take these things down with a weapon.
Crap. I thought as I spun around and punched another one. These things are insane…!

This was way worse than the Pictonian invasion. This was absolute mayhem. At least the Pictionian's hadn't tried to grab us and….I shuddered just thinking about what these things probably wanted to do to us.
I swept my foot under the legs of one and hit it hard, making it shatter.

And then I was suddenly skidding on the ground and seeing stars and everything was spinning in really weird ways. And my jaw was suddenly screaming with pain and it hurt so much.
I blinked rapidly, trying to clear my vision of the black dots that had suddenly appeared.
I sat up even though it made my head rush.

What just hit me…?!

Whatever it was, it was super strong and I didn't even see it coming.
I looked up.
Oh. It's just me. I managed to conclude as I stared incomprehensively at it.

Just…me?!

Everything came rushing back as adrenaline pumped through my body. My doppelgänger…! It looked just like me, down to the jacket and everything, except for the fact that it was clearly made of ice and it's eyes were this weird bluish glow.

I screamed as it came rushing at me again.

*Canada's POV*

There wasn't much that I could say about these things. They were scary, that's for sure, but it didn't really bother me as much as it should have.
I mean…well…it's not like I didn't find them completely insane….but it was incredibly frustrating to watch everyone else battle these soldiers while I couldn't even be seen by them.
The ice soldiers, that is.

I had shattered a few, but it was easy since they couldn't see me coming…
Wait! I paused. That's perfect! They won't see me coming…I can help everyone after all! And I suddenly felt more confident.

I took out the gun I had in my pocket and unlocked the safety before taking aim. I stood on the steps of the church building and took aim. I wasn't much of a sniper but it wasn't hard to hit these things. They were EVERYWHERE.
I shot one that was about to attack Cuba from behind. It fell to the ground and shattered.

Yes! They can't even see where the bullets are coming from!

I shot the back of another that was in the middle of attacking Hong Kong.

Suddenly, I heard a scream. It sounded like America's voice and my heart stopped. I looked over and for a moment, I couldn't make sense of the situation.
America was on the ground, a bit of blood spilling from his mouth, and there was something rushing at him.
It looked just like him.

His doppelgänger! I thought, and without thinking I raised my hand, took aim and pulled the trigger. In the back of my mind, I had a feeling that I wasn't going to be able to make a shot like that, with so much distance. But somehow, the bullet zoomed straight into the shoulder of the doppelgänger. And he toppled over to the side due to the impact.
I hit him! I ran forwards, as I watched him fall to the ground.

He didn't shatter…Oh god the doppelgängers are probably a lot stronger than we thought.

"A-America!" I shouted as I ran up to him.
He looked up and sighed a breath of relief. "Canada, bro!" He said. "Thank god you're here!"
I pulled him to his feet and we both whirled around to avoid putting our backs to his doppelgänger.
"I-it has super-strength…!" He stuttered as he pulled out a gun.

"Don't bother." I said.
"Wh-what?"
"It's not going to help much. I've already got one. It's better if you fight it head on, super-strength versus super-strength." "Are you sure…?" He said as he put it back.
"I'm sure. I'll help you out though. I'll keep shooting at it to give you openings."

He looked at me then, and I for some reason I felt the need to smile at him.
So I did. And he smiled back. "You're the best, Canada." He said as he pulled me into a one arm hug.
"You too." I said and then I pulled away and gripped the gun tighter. "Let's do this."

America murmured as he took a few steps forwards. "Let's show 'em what happens when you mess with North America." He said smugly. I nodded and took aim again. I definitely didn't have as good as a shot as Switzerland or Romano or any other country really, but I knew that I wouldn't allow myself any room for error.
This thing was going down.

And that's when I realized how tired I was of being invisible.

*Japan's POV*

I've never fought myself before, obviously. It was excruciatingly frustrating.

My doppelgänger was identical for sure, which I believe was what made it so frightening.

I spotted mine standing on the ledge of a building and watched it jumped down. It occurred to me that these enemies were coming out of nowhere.
I tightened my grip on my kendo sword, and rushed forwards with it, aiming for this new enemy. It turned to look at me and I was suddenly aware of it's intense cold stare.
Disturbing indeed.

Nevertheless, I continued to charge at it. "Huh!" I exclaimed as my sword came down on top of his. The vibrations of our two swords colliding made my teeth rattle, but I held my ground. He swung again and I blocked his sword from hitting my side. After a few moments, I realized that he was indeed learning my techniques quickly. I was no longer able to fight on the offensive and I didn't have any successful attacks.
We were even.
I had been in fights were my opponent and I were deadlocked, but this was so much different…I feared for the worst, yet kept fighting.
I'm a samurai. I thought as I blocked another hit.

Samurai's do not run from fear.

*Taiwan's POV*

A solider tried to grab at me so I side-stepped an elbowed it hard towards the face. It shattered as soon as it hit the ground.
A few others rushed at me from the side and I grabbed the arm of the first one and slid under it, causing it to flip over me. I hit one with a high kick, but just as I was about to throw an attack at the other one, something suddenly grabbed me from behind.
It's cold arms wrapped around my neck and I realized that it was too strong for me to break out of it's grasp. I screamed as it's arms tightened and tried to twist.
I tried elbowing it and kicking backwards but it wouldn't let go and I barely managed out another scream.
It was cutting of oxygen and I was already feeling light-headed.
I think I screamed again and I must've screamed out Big Brother's name because suddenly his hands were on the ice soldier's arms and he was prying him off of me.

I gasped for air as I stumbled forward, landing on my hands and knees. I looked back and my breathing hitched.

It was Dàgē's doppelgänger that had tried to strangle me.

For some reason, that made it seem even more scary.
"Dàgē!" I called out to him. He must have attacked the doppelgänger before I looked back because they were standing several feet apart.

"Get away from here, aru! Run!" He shouted back at me and I scrambled to my feet. "I can't just leave you, Dàgē-" I began but he cut me off. "Go, aru!" He snapped and for a moment our eyes locked.
And for that one moment, I knew that now wasn't the time for me to be doubting him.

So I ran in the opposite direction, shattering a few soldiers as I went. I ran until I saw South Korea who was smashing two soldier's heads together, causing them so shatter.
He looked at me, and gasped at the bruises that must have formed around my neck.

"What happened?" He gaped as we engaged in battle again, this time back to back.
"Dàgē's doppelgänger tried to strangle me." I replied as I ducked to avoid a sweeping kick and came back up with a quick jab, making it stumble backwards.

"Where's Dàgē?" South Korea asked. "He's fighting it. He told me to run. We need to go back and help him!"
"We can't. We have to trust that Dàgē can handle it."
"But-"
"Taiwan." South Korea said as he turned to face me. "I know it hurts to leave him behind but he's strong. You know that. And you know that he wouldn't start a battle that he knew he couldn't finish."
It was scary to see South Korea like this. He seemed more and more like Dàgē when he was being serious. It made the pit in my stomach worse, but I nodded.

"O-okay. What do we do now?"
He frowned and looked around. "It's getting too hard for us all to fight individually like this. We need to find the other nations." I nodded. "Okay. Let's get going." I said quickly as he gave me a quick nod and took off running.
I followed him, but I couldn't help but glance back to the direction that I had left Dàgē.

He'll be okay. I thought. China is strong.

*France's POV*

My doppelgänger crawled out of the water of a canal. I didn't even notice until it wrapped its cold icy hand around my ankle and nearly pulled me in too. I pried his hand off with my sword but it climbed out and I started running from it, just to put some distance in between it and me.
My chest seized as I turned back around and I regarded it fully for the first time. It looked just like me.

Oh my god.

It ran towards me, it's mouth in a sneer as I pulled out my gun and started firing at it. I hit it in the shoulder and it stumbled a bit but then reached down to it's side and pulled out a sword.

Oh my god. Oh my god.

Why did it have to have a sword?! It rushed at me again and I tightened my grip as it swung at me. Back and forth, back and forth we swung and I felt a sharp pain in my side as it jabbed me.
"Lucky shot." I said through gritted teeth as I attacked again.

"Mr. France!" Someone shouted and I almost took my eyes off of my doppelgänger but I'm glad that I didn't. In the next moment, a shot rang out and the doppelgänger suddenly stumbled as he was shot in the side. I took advantage of the assistance and swung my sword into his torso, causing him to fall. He didn't completely shatter.

"Mr. France!" Taiwan and South Korea were running towards me.
"Salut!" I greeted her as I smirked down at the doppelgänger struggling to get up.

Without hesitation, South Korea suddenly flipped forwards, landing on the other side of my doppelgänger and on one hand, grabbing my doppelgänger in the other, than finished the flip, landing on his feet and effectively throwing it several feet away were it skidded across the ground and shattered as it collided with a street pole.

"China has taught you two well." I smiled at them, feeling a bit of relief flow through me.
Taiwan bowed politely and smiled.

"Mr. France, we need to get everyone together again." South Korea came up toward us.
"What do you mean?" I frowned. What could possibly be happening now?
"It's too risky to fight like this. It's what Atlantis wants." He explained. "She wants to divide and conquer. If we stay together, we can shatter more of these soldiers, defeat Trident and North Pole, then find Atlantis and Italy." He said and I couldn't help but be impressed with his sudden shift in character. It was quite remarkable, actually.

"Alright." I said as I tried to catch my breath. "Let's go, how you say, round up some nations, no?" He smiled and nodded. "We'll meet back at the steps of the church." Taiwan added and I nodded again.

"Good luck, and stay safe." I said to them before we all split up in different directions.
China had done such a good job in training them. They had defeated several soldiers, and then found the strength to analyze the situation and decide that our current tactic would only get us destroyed faster.
What's with the bruises on Taiwan's neck? I thought as I ran. Oh well. I'll ask her later.
 I drove a sword through another solider.

We have to end this battle. I thought. And we have to come out as the victors.