Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 143

Russia used the map on his phone, hating the fact that the screen was so small, but pleased that, as nations, they were able to bypass any restrictions placed on communications in whatever country they were in, but occasionally their signals would be poor. They'd already scolded China a few times about this, but considering the recent attacks on China, it would be impossible to change any of that for the time being.

He was trying to decide which Requiem nation he should attack. Things were tricky, since he didn't want to accidentally hurt the nation's neighbours, especially if those nations weren't members of Requiem.

The best option he had so far was Mexico. Her country was large, and there were a few places he could attack that wouldn't harm any of the others. He especially tended to see Guatemala next to Mexico. She was a nice girl, and Russia didn't want her to be hurt.

They'd discussed the issue with everyone the previous evening. They were going to start launching attacks on Requiem that day, and they would have to get into contact with their governments and military. It would be difficult to convince their humans to go through with this. Unless they had a backdoor installed, like Russia did, though he would have to only use it when he had no choice.

"Um, Russia?"

Russia turned around, surprised to see Latvia standing there, looking nervous as usual. Russia plastered a smile on his face as he put his phone in his pocket.

"Da, little Latvia?" Russia asked.

Latvia fidgeted with his hands, and Russia waited patiently. Experience taught him that Latvia did something like this whenever he had something to tell Russia that Russia wouldn't like. And considering Latvia's normal lack of awareness when he opened his mouth, that was saying something.

"I… Eduard and I were wondering…" Latvia said, before he raised his head. So, he at least had some confidence. "Alvora is holding a funeral for Toris. We… We were wondering if we could go. Eduard… He already feels bad that he couldn't attend Finland's funeral. And Toris was like a brother to us. We just… We just want to…"

Latvia was trembling with tears in his eyes, but Russia could tell that it wasn't because of fear, as normal. No, Latvia was grieving, and he genuinely wanted to pay his respects to the nation he considered to be an older brother. Russia hesitated. This scene struck a chord within him, but he knew that there was danger. He didn't completely trust Alvora because of all the secrecy and deception, and their ability to sway people to their cause so effortlessly. He also didn't completely trust Latvia not to tell them anything about what they discussed. It was bad enough that Spain was in frequent contact with them, but Spain's mouth filter still worked.

"I'll take them."

The two of them turned around to see Norway, who was standing nearby. The Northern European's eyes flickered between the two of them before settling on Russia.

"Lithuania lost his life in the battle that ensured the freedom of Sweden, my brother, and myself," Norway said. "I've already made arrangements to pay my respects. I can take the Baltics with me."

Latvia lit up, but Russia still wasn't too sure. He glanced back at Latvia and sighed.

"Very well," he said. "But on two conditions. First, no one is allowed to tell anyone from Alvora what we're doing." He specifically looked at Latvia, who shrank back under the scrutiny. "Second, keep any form of communication away from Latvia, and make sure that Alvora doesn't realise that he is one of Requiem's sleepers. We do not want Alvora to launch a war because they thought we betrayed them to our mutual enemy."

"Understood," Norway said.

"Thank you!" Latvia exclaimed, before he ran off. Russia supposed that he was going to tell Estonia about having permission to go to the funeral.

"Tell me, how much do you trust Alvora?" Russia asked, turning to Norway.

"I trust them more than I trust you, to be honest," Norway said, crossing his arms. "Though, there is something that worries me."

"Go on."

"In their castle, I could sense that there was a room with all sorts of strange magics. I think Romania might have been experimenting there."

"That would explain why four of their nations were able to violate the laws of nature for nations. Is that all?"

"Well, I'm just wondering about one thing: who do they experiment on if they have experiments?"

Russia's face darkened. Norway raised an excellent point. They already knew that Requiem experimented on regions they'd kidnapped, but they had no idea what Alvora did. And Alvora managed to get on a level similar to Requiem.

And now Russia wanted to investigate.

…

"It's almost time for Toris's funeral," Angola said, looking at her phone screen.

Ecuador lowered his gaze. He wanted to attend to pay his final respects to his friend, but he knew that going anywhere without Requiem's permission would qualify as 'escaping'. He would have to wait for things to change, and that meant that either he or Peru would have to die. That was the only way for their Vow to be broken.

"Tell Gilbert that I'm sorry," Ecuador said. "I'm sure he'd be disappointed that I wouldn't be there."

"I don't think he'd blame you," Angola said. "If anything, he might blame your brother."

"But if I'd been more careful about the Vow…"

"You can't change the past, so stop worrying about it. Instead, you need to focus on what we're going to do about the future."

Angola's hand automatically went to her lower abdomen, and Ecuador followed the motion with his eyes. It was still odd to think that there was life growing inside there, and that he had helped give that life spark. And already, he knew that he would protect that life with his own.

"You should probably get going soon," Ecuador said. "Tell everyone I'm sorry that I couldn't come."

"We'll find a loophole," Angola said, smiling. "I promise, you'll see the sun soon enough."

Ecuador couldn't help but smile. Even if she said it just to comfort him, it was a nice gesture. Honestly, he didn't know what would have happened to him if he didn't have Angola, especially in his current predicament. He would have gone insane or spiralled into despair without her soothing presence.

…

"The wind's really picking up," Chad remarked.

Tunisia looked outside the window and frowned. He'd seen these types of winds enough times. Though it was strange to see it coming along now.

"It's a sandstorm," Tunisia said. "We should stay inside."

"A sandstorm?" Benin repeated. "Are you sure?"

"He's right," Morocco said, coming up next to them. "And it looks like it's going to be a wild one."

"Will we be fine in here?" Rwanda asked.

"Egypt wouldn't have lived in a building that was vulnerable to sandstorms. We should be safe here."

"Anyway, we should probably check to make sure everything is sealed," Israel said.

"Shouldn't you be going?" Chad asked.

"We can afford about ten minutes," India said. "While I don't think it would be a danger to you, it would be annoying if the wind carries sand inside. We should…"

He was interrupted when the ground started trembling. Everyone fell to their knees or clung to the furniture. After a few seconds the trembling stopped. Everyone remained silent, until the silence was broken by Rwanda's horrified shriek.

"Th-the wind!" she stammered. "It… It had a face!"

Some of the other nations went to the window to see for themselves. Wales cursed when he saw the growing wall of sand indeed had a face.

"Well, this is what we're waiting for," he said. "Their timing sucks."

The windows burst, sending shards of glass towards the nearest nations. Shrieks filled the room as those not affected tried to get the other nations away. North Korea turned his attention to the doorway.

"I think all the windows broke," North Korea announced.

There was silence for a while as everyone waited for something else to happen. India clicked his tongue, withdrawing his phone.

"I think we have to excuse ourselves from the funeral," India sighed.

…

Peru made himself comfortable near the border, and he knew that Venezuela was doing the exact same thing. The others would be attacking, and the two of them would make sure that the danger didn't spill into their own countries. Sixty percent of Peru, and a significant portion of Venezuela would be directly at risk.

Attacking the Amazon Rainforest was the best way to hurt Brazil. Even if he was disconnected from his country under most circumstances, attacking something that he was proud of would be painful. And if they somehow managed to get the entire Brazilian portion of the rainforest in the attack, more than half of Brazil's geography would be damaged. And then there were the effects their actions would have on the humans, which would in turn influence Brazil. If he was weakened enough, then the human factor would also start harming Brazil.

Peru checked his phone. In a matter of minutes, the fun would begin. He only wished that he could see Brazil's face when he realised what was happening.

…

"Dammit!" Portugal hissed, his grip tightening on his phone.

"What's going on?" Romania asked.

"Raj just texted to let me know they wouldn't be able to come. Requiem decided to attack now!"

"What?!"

Everyone turned to Portugal in alarm when they heard the announcement. They were minutes away from commencing the funeral, and knowing that their allies were having trouble shook them all. What made this worse was the fact that this was something that they had been waiting for, but it happened at the worst possible time.

"We can't just leave them!" Canada exclaimed. "The funeral can wait. We can't let Requiem get away with hurting anyone else!"

Portugal hesitated, his eyes going to Prussia. He and Poland had thankfully revived just in time for the funeral, though according to Canada, it hadn't been easy for them. And he could understand why Canada would want to avoid anyone else getting hurt, considering what Serbia's condition was.

Portugal and Prussia stared at each other for a few seconds, until Prussia nodded.

"Toris would understand," Prussia said. "And Matthew's right. We can't let anyone else end up dead, or a prisoner, or hurt, or… or anything else."

Prussia's eyes flitted towards Canada and Poland, two other nations who had a problem with being with their lovers. At least Canada's lover wasn't dead, though the inability to spend time with him and the helplessness he must have felt made things potentially worse. Portugal nodded, before looking over the other nations, particularly lingering on the non-Alvora nations that only came to attend the funeral.

"Gilbert, Feliks, I want you to stay," Portugal said. "You're still not completely recovered after your battle yesterday, and I don't want to endanger you."

Poland grumbled, but didn't protest otherwise.

"Matthew, you're also staying here," Portugal continued. "This is your land, and in case of emergency – and to slightly elevate the temperature – it would be best if you're here. Angela, Anika and Sierra are also staying here. I am not risking anything by having them go along. And I'm assuming that Akmal and Roberto will be staying behind as well."

"I'm not leaving Sierra," Malaysia confirmed, slipping his arm around Sierra Leone's waist.

"I thought so." Portugal turned to the extra nations. "I'm not going to drag you into any trouble, so it's best if you stayed here too."

"Understood," Norway said.

"If I may," Haiti said, "I think Tiago should stay too. He hasn't been well recently, and I don't think it's a good idea for him to go to battle."

"I agree," Príncipe said.

"Alright," Portugal said. "The small islands and autonomous regions are also staying. And finally, Alexandru and Novak are staying. Anyone else that wants to stay is welcome to."

"And if you're coming, come forward now," Romania said. "The more time we waste, the higher the danger."

…

"And here we have the Amazon Rainforest," Jamaica said in a voice parodying that of a tour guide. "Soon to be a smouldering husk." He checked to make sure the plane was at a safe distance. He smirked as he pushed a button. "Bombs away."

…

The four boys were playing together, though they made sure that they didn't stray too far from the village. They all looked up when they heard the droning sound from above. They didn't see the source very often, but they knew what an aeroplane was.

They turned around when they heard the sound of thunder, though strangely it came from the land, and screams. They ran back towards the village, freezing when they saw that a large fire had started. The adults were running around, trying to get them and their children away from the fire. They could hear the sounds of small children crying.

One of the boys tried to run towards his house, where his pregnant mother would be. He came to an abrupt halt when he saw that his house was no more. Beneath the remains, he could see a hand peeking out, and a trail of red.

He screamed for his mother while one of the adults tried to pull him away. The fire was growing, and they didn't know if they would be able to extinguish it. Already, several lives had been lost, and it would only get worse. They needed to flee. They needed to abandon their home.

But they would soon learn that there was nowhere for them to escape the flames.

…

Egypt stepped into his house, glaring at all the people that chose to insult him by remaining there. To their credit, they didn't seem scared of him, and instead glared at his arrival. Despite being surrounded by his allies, Egypt was the focus of their attention.

"I hope you've enjoyed your unauthorised stay here," Egypt said. "Because you're not leaving here."

"Took you long enough," Morocco scoffed. "So, how many sleepless nights have you had?"

Egypt turned to her, eyes narrowing. His thoughts drifted back to Peru, and how roughly Egypt had treated him. And as much as he wanted to repay her for the reminder, though she was of course oblivious to what he had done, he knew that attempting to do so would be a fool's errand. She was most likely pregnant as well, which left her currently untouchable.

He only had one weapon to counter with, and he had to hold in his smirk.

"Not nearly as many as Black," Egypt said. "You should see him now. He's been reduced to hysterics."

And the best part of all was that it wasn't a lie. He'd gone to check on Black, and it was obvious that the ghosts still somehow made it to him. Black was being forced to form connections with all of those spirits, which gave him access to their memories, and considering they were all ghosts… Well, Black's sanity was starting to wear thin, and Egypt and his allies didn't have to do anything about it.

Of course, Morocco didn't know that.

As predicted, she grew enraged, and tried to launch herself at him. Tunisia grabbed her around the waist, preventing her from going after him. Egypt noticed that Tunisia made sure to grab her near the diaphragm.

"Let me go!" Morocco shrieked, before turning her full attention to Egypt. "You will pay for everything you've done to him!"

Egypt chuckled.

"I highly doubt that would happen," he said.

His smirk disappeared when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He managed to dodge just in time as CAR fired a gun. He cursed, and some of his allies pulled out their own firearms in order to attack. The enemy nations all ducked for cover, with the exception of Senegal, who was shot at least three times in the torso. And unlike the other nations, Requiem would be able to kill them permanently.

Rwanda screamed when she saw what happened to Senegal, and Egypt saw her dragging him behind cover. He turned his attention to CAR, feeling a strong urge to make him suffer.

"Remember, North is mine," South Korea hissed to the others.

A gunfight ensued, and Egypt was partially impressed by how prepared they were. But he had more important things to focus on.

His eyes landed on Wales, and the two locked eyes. They were both magical nations with access to gods that could help. The two of them would naturally be the best choice to deal with each other.

Egypt sent a bolt of black lightning towards Wales, and the other nation created an energy shield to protect himself, but it wasn't possible to protect himself from the full strike. Wales screamed in pain as some of the lightning hit him. North Korea whirled towards him, but he couldn't help as South Korea charged towards him, ready for a fight.

"Not so fast!" South exclaimed, withdrawing his sword and aiming it at his brother's head.

North Korea managed to block with his own weapon, but he didn't have enough time to brace himself. Egypt couldn't help the small smirk as he saw North Korea grimace at the pain before he turned his attention back to Wales. He already had another spell in mind, but before he could cast it, something told him to turn around.

He spun around just in time to be hit in the chest. If he hadn't turned, it would have hit him in the back instead. He growled as he looked at the spellcaster that dared to attack him, before he cast a shield charm to buy them some time to recover.

And now there was a definite problem. It would seem that the rest of Alvora came to defend their allies. This would not be an easy battle.