Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 107

Norway wandered back towards Iceland's room. The younger nation had fallen asleep soon after arrival, and Norway wondered exactly what effects that brainwashing had on his mind. If he could just learn the full extent of what damage had been done…

Well, to put it simply, if Denmark wasn't dead already, Norway would have killed him himself.

A part of him still couldn't believe that, after all this time, they were free. And he was also still trying to process all that he had learned. Svalbard had filled him in on all that happened, and it was a lot to take in. But he confirmed that Finland's group was definitely a lot better than Denmark's group.

For one thing, they didn't use brainwashing in order to boost their numbers.

Norway stepped into Iceland's room and sighed when he saw that his little brother was tossing and turning, face flushed and muttering in his sleep. Out of curiosity, Norway went closer and felt Iceland's forehead.

A fever.

Norway would need to see if he could ask one of the Alvora nations if they had something for that. He turned around and jumped in surprise. He didn't realise that anyone else was nearby, much less standing in the doorway.

Andorra had his eyes fixed on Iceland, a strange expression on his face.

"Can I help you?" Norway asked.

"He's like me," Andorra muttered. "An unwilling pawn of Requiem."

Norway's eyes widened when he heard that, and he turned to look back at Iceland before focusing on Andorra again.

"What can you tell me about this?" Norway asked.

Andorra flinched before focusing his gaze on Norway.

"It's… difficult to say," he said. "I still don't know a lot, and we haven't had a lot of opportunities to talk to anyone else like this. But… In my case, something went wrong, and the subconscious started to mix with the conscious. I sometimes hear their voices, and the things they're saying…"

"I see," Norway said. "And what do you do about it?"

"Music helps. Loud music. Music that makes it difficult to let your mind wander."

Norway could think of a few groups that he could use for that purpose. And he wouldn't have to look farther than the Nordic countries for those groups.

But they would still need to see how Iceland responded to everything first, and decide whether or not it was necessary to act on it.

Australia and the other Oceanic nations were watching the news, keeping their eyes on what was happening in New Zealand and hoping that Kiribati hadn't been taken there. It was crazy, and unnatural. And Australia knew that, even if he didn't know what was going on, he might not have wanted to get involved, at least not on New Zealand's side.

They could clearly see the footage from the battles, and it didn't escape their notice that even the children were attacking the soldiers. These humans were operating against their nature, and even the reporters were appalled by the locals' actions. At one point, one of them even wondered if the invading soldiers knew about what was going on.

Australia also took note of the fact that the only ones reporting on the attack were foreign journalists. None of New Zealand's own media hounds were involved at all, something which was commented on by their colleagues, who were also wondering what had shifted in such a short time. Not even the political analysts could make heads or tails of what was going on.

And they wouldn't. What was happening was purely the will of nations, and the humans couldn't understand such a thing. There would be no way for them to pinpoint where or how it all went wrong.

Australia leaned forward when he saw a familiar face on the TV. The humans only took note of the young-looking girl with the rocket launcher, but the nations knew her to be Philippines. She was involved too. But he didn't see New Zealand.

But he could see the gleefully psychotic grin on Philippines's face. There was no doubt about how dangerous she was. And when the camera focused on her targets, Australia could see other nations among them, including East Timor and Indonesia.

If the true New Zealand was anything like Philippines, then Australia really didn't want to see him again. And he definitely didn't want him anywhere near one of the others…

His thoughts came to an abrupt stop as he recognised another pressing feeling. Something that would not go away until he solved the problem. He could sense something happening in Sydney, and when he focused on it more, he could detect the presence of a nation. It shouldn't have been this clear with so many nations already in his land. Nations couldn't detect another nation immediately after they entered their land. It usually took a few days, and when the nation was prepared for it, they could dull the sensation, otherwise whoever would host the world meetings would go crazy. If there were many other nations, then it depended on whether or not the nation knew of their presence. Since Australia knew about the other nations with him, he didn't get a raging headache or experience this strange obsession that they had when there was an invader. When there were many nations that remained for an extended period of time, their presence would spike for several days longer before dulling again. That was usually when someone was hosting a meeting and realised that not everyone had left. Then it usually became a matter of whether or not the other nations only wanted to sightsee or were trying to do reconnaissance. Defence mechanisms could sometimes be more trouble than they were worth, in Australia's opinion.

Now, there were two possibilities with this nation: either they had been there for a while, or it was someone that was seriously hoping to be found. And he could tell that it was only one person. And there was a chance that it might have been someone from Requiem.

Still, he had absolutely no intention of letting a fellow nation linger in his country without his consent. If it was Requiem, then leaving them alone for too long could spell disaster. The attacks on China and Saudi Arabia came to mind. And if it was Alvora, then… He actually had no idea what they would want, but he still had the duty to investigate. And if it was someone not involved, then there was a chance that they needed his help.

Still, he wasn't going to go unprepared.

"Tonga, Papua, I need you to come with me," he announced as he stood up.

"Huh?" Tonga questioned. "Where? Why?"

"Sydney. There's someone there." He glanced over the others. "And for that reason, I want none of you to leave this building." He turned to Samoa, the only other person whose appearance was older than a teenager. "I'm leaving you in charge, understand?"

Samoa nodded, a solemn expression sliding onto his face.

"I understand," he said.

"When are you leaving?" Tuvalu asked, a look of apprehension on her face.

"Now," Australia replied.

One could've sworn that Australia had spoken a magical incantation based on the speed with which Tonga and Papua New Guinea jumped up. One look at their feet told him what the reason was. No one really wanted to wear shoes unless they were going outside.

"So, let me get this straight," Saudi Arabia said. "You said your predecessor killed himself because of something he saw, right? And you couldn't be bothered to tell us that it was essentially the apocalypse that he saw, and that you saw it too?!"

China sighed as he massaged his temples.

"Tell me, how many of you are calm after hearing that little piece of information?" he asked.

"He has a point," Ukraine sighed. "Knowing something like that… It's going to weigh on all of our minds."

"And any idea how this can be stopped?" Turkey asked, looking intently at China.

"Our best bet is to stop Requiem," he sighed. "They're the ones that caused the majority of this."

"Right, because of all the vengeful spirits," Russia stated. "Tell me, do you think Japan will count among them?"

"I don't know," China sighed.

He hadn't really placed much thought into who they would be seeing. He knew that the regions would be angry over the tortures they had to suffer, but what about the nations that were killed? Would England, America, Japan and Germany make a return? Germany, at the very least, didn't seem to have suffered much, but he had a feeling that the others might have had a bit more baggage. And he didn't even know what the other spirits would do to them. Technically, they hadn't noticed what was going on either, but they were also victims of Requiem.

He wished he could have asked that sooner.

"Any idea how long we have?" Spain sighed.

"Less than one human generation," China replied.

"Twenty-five years…" Estonia muttered.

To a human, that might have seemed like a lot of time. But to a nation, twenty-five years was nothing. Everyone's faces fell when they seemed to realise the impact of such a statement.

"Hold on," Iran said. "How do we know that this is the truth?"

"I agree," Laos said. "None of my premonitions have given me an inkling that this might be the future."

"It's because the spirits of nations are on a completely different plane from anything else," China sighed. "Apparently, not even deities are aware of what's going on with the spirits."

"Speaking of which, have you heard from Susanoo again?" Taiwan asked.

"I asked him if he could keep an eye on Japan's prefectures and my other provinces," China replied. "They're a bit more scattered, and it's not always easy to call everyone for an update on their condition. He's also getting in touch with some of the other gods, but they're a bit more reluctant to get involved."

"There's something else that's bothering you," Mongolia observed. "Something that's… haunting you."

"Did anyone ever say that you're too observant for your own good?" China snapped.

"Now is not the time for secrets," Russia said.

China sighed, before he took in his younger siblings. He swallowed thickly and closed his eyes.

"Xia just told me about one of the regions they experimented on," he said. "Hubei. The previous one."

"What?!" Inner Mongolia demanded. "What… what did they do to him?!"

"They used him to see if a nation – or a region – that's been disconnected from their land and replaced by someone else could still influence it. And those experiments culminated in a certain flood of 1931, which Hubei could feel all the while."

"You're kidding," Hong Kong whispered. "They… they used him to… to…"

"They caused the floods through him."

"Isn't that the one that's considered the worst natural disaster ever?" Estonia asked, going several shades paler.

China solemnly nodded his head.

"I guess I can see why something like that could haunt you," Spain said. "They told me that some of my regions are still alive, but I have no idea how to find them. The knowledge that they're somewhere out there in their hands terrifies me."

China turned to face Spain, and he supposed Spain was glad that he had asked Madrid to stay away from the meeting. TRNC was keeping her company.

"Xia asked me to warn you to be careful of regions or nations that you know to be dead," China said. "And considering I thought I saw Zhili the other day, it's a possibility that they would definitely come here. They're angry at Requiem for what they did to them, and they're angry with the rest of us because we did nothing to stop them."

Mongolia flinched. As the one that actually had the most amount of awareness of the goings on of Requiem and Alvora, he must have been feeling especially guilty at that moment.

"Anything else you'd like to tell us?" Turkey asked.

"You know how Alvora's goal is to rewrite the laws that govern nations?" China asked. "I think they managed to find a way to rewrite one in particular. Even Zhili and Xia admit that they have no idea what the repercussions of this might be, and they also admitted that the spirits have no idea how to react to that. But there's absolutely nothing we can do about it at the moment."

"Okay, what is it?" Ukraine asked.

China looked towards Ukraine, and considering her personality… she might have been interested in this. He also turned to regard every other woman in the group, and Vietnam narrowed her eyes when his gaze landed on her.

"Speak," she said. "Now."

"Well, to put it simply," he said, "and I'll admit that I had a hard time processing this myself… Four of the women on Alvora's side are pregnant."

"WHAT?!"

China flinched at the many voices that demanded that question at the same time. Whispers started to emerge from the group as he took a moment to massage his ear.

"How is that even possible?" Ukraine whispered, her large eyes wide.

"I have no idea," China sighed. "But it's only been a few days, so it would be too soon for even them to know about it. But they must have done something." China focused his gaze on Spain. "And don't call your brother to ask about it. I don't want to have to deal with the headache of having to explain to them what's going on."

Spain could only nod numbly.

"Sestra, you're not thinking of something like that, are you?" Russia asked, eyebrow arched as he looked at his sister suspiciously.

She smiled weakly.

"I would admit, it would be nice," she said. "I've always envied humans for that. But that doesn't really matter. I have no one who I'd like to have as a father of the child."

"That is, of course, a major issue," Kazakhstan sighed.

"Hold on," Cyprus said. "Would you want to have kids?"

"Well, I for one had considered the possibility a few times," Vietnam sighed. "It just… It just seems like it would be nice to have someone like that."

"I think you'll make a great mom," Taiwan said, smiling softly.

"And what would that even mean now?" Turkey asked. "What might happen with those kids?"

"No idea," China said. "But the mothers can't even be harmed at all for the next nine months."

"So, I guess that would burst Requiem's bubble," Spain said. "What do you think might happen if they heard of this?"

"Not something that I want to consider," Taiwan said.

Indonesia gritted his teeth. Philippines was fast and nimble, and she wasn't afraid of the low blows. That was why Indonesia was taking a few moments to gather himself.

What bothered him was that she was intent on attacking Malaysia, basically treating Indonesia as a nuisance. And East Timor had to focus on trying to get his hands and foot to heal. This was the second time that Timor had been shot with those bullets, and Indonesia also knew how painful they could be.

Indonesia knew that he needed to pick up the slack. Philippines wasn't an enemy that they could afford to take lightly. He observed her for a moment, gripping his kris. When he saw her wind herself up for the next attack, he launched himself at her.

She caught him in her peripheral vision, an annoyed frown crossing her face. Malaysia's arms were bloody, since when his golok couldn't be used to defend himself, he had to shield himself with his arms. It turned out that she had another blade on her, which made it more difficult when it was only Malaysia fighting.

Malaysia pursed his lips, and he rushed at Philippines from the other side. Philippines managed to block both of their weapons. Indonesia used the momentum to swing the fist of his other arm towards Philippines, which she didn't notice in time.

She grunted when Indonesia punched her in her diaphragm, and Malaysia kicked out, sweeping her off her feet. She landed on her back, and while she was still winded, Indonesia stabbed his kris into her chest. He wasn't sure if he managed to pierce her heart, but he could definitely see a faint hint of panic in her gaze.

"Well, that was unexpected," she said. "So, are you going to kill me now?"

Indonesia understood what she was asking. He was in the position to carve out her heart, and they could destroy it. And if they could do it before she recovered from the injury…

He exchanged a look with Malaysia, and he could see the same conflict in his eyes. They didn't want to stoop down to Requiem's level, but if they didn't kill her, then it left her open to attack again. And she could continue to torment Singapore.

Indonesia squared his jaw, knowing that he would have to go through with it. He tightened his grip on the kris, but before he could slice downwards, both he and Malaysia were thrown back by an invisible force. Philippines looked surprised, but she quickly sat up, hand on Indonesia's weapon. She wouldn't be able to fight with an injury like that, and with any luck, she might have been considering a tactical retreat.

"What the hell?" Malaysia demanded.

"She is not your prey."

Philippines tensed, and whatever relief she might have had from being saved from her potential death faded away. There was confusion and even fear.

"It can't be…" she whispered.

Indonesia searched for the speaker, before finding a young girl, no older than twelve. She didn't feel like anything that he'd ever been exposed to before.

"Zamboanga…" Philippines muttered.

The girl's eyes narrowed. Indonesia recognised the name. Wasn't that one of Philippines's provinces? And wasn't the province partitioned into two?

If that was the case… Didn't Requiem torture and kill their regions?

And the ANC officially became the lesser of two evils. The EFF needs to be completely banned. Today in Senekal (a town in South Africa's Free State province) there was a protest against the farm murders, which the government does nothing about. And the EFF, one of the three most powerful political parties, went to protest against that protest. Because apparently white people protesting against the racism aimed towards white people where people are murdered on a regular basis is a bad thing, but if a pharmacy chain put up a hair ad that was unintentionally racist towards black people the EFF took an active role in fighting the 'racism'. By throwing petrol bombs at the stores. The EFF were singing struggle songs (protest songs from the Apartheid era, among others), and Julius Malema, the leader of the party, led with the song 'Kill the Boer' (Boer not only refers to the descendants of the Dutch settlers, but it also means farmer). And they're the party whose support is growing. The fact that he justified this counter protest by calling the farmers 'racist terrorists' and by saying they were 'defending democracy' just makes this worse.

And it's not just the EFF. A lot of non-whites are of the opinion that the farmers deserve to be slaughtered after Apartheid. Because, of course, the farmers were the ones that made the Apartheid laws. And naturally, slaughtering people they blame for something that ended more than a quarter of a century ago is much more important than having food to eat, because obviously no one is considering the possibility that all their favourite foods have to come from somewhere. Although, to be fair, there are a few people that can see the problem with that. We smiled when a black farm worker on the news report made it clear that if the EFF attacked the farmers they would have to go through him first. But people like that are still too much in the minority.

Personally, the only colour I think people should pay attention to is red, which we will find once the skin is cut. And anyone who focuses on something so superficial is not meant to have any leading position since they obviously don't have many deep thoughts. And kudos to anyone that can see the double meaning.