Thanks for the reviews! Apologies once again for the long delay. I was hit with a bit of writer's block for this one and I just never had the time to work on this one, but I later decided to have the latest chapter of Dawn of the New World Order delayed so I could finally update this. I think the next one will come out a lot earlier, I hope. I already have some progress made. I hope you enjoy! Now, on with the show!
Gillen wished he could say that he wasn't at all anxious about this.
He took a little pride in how he would manage to remain (somewhat) calm in many situations that had been presented to him throughout his long grueling life, from the ones that could be considered comical to those that were completely brutal. It wasn't an easy feat, especially considering how… er… brash and catty Allen and Flavio could be respectively, even in the face of serious danger.
But honestly, how could he not be anxious right now? There was something about all of this that struck him as… urgent. No. It was urgent. But this was a type of urgency that made him constantly antsy and made the hairs on the back of his head stand up.
There's also the fact that at the center of all this was Italy, their current archnemesis.
It wasn't just because of the situation overall that Gillen was anxious, no. It's part of it. But no, it's a lot more than that. In order for Flavio to meet with his brother, he obviously needed to call his brother and organize the entire meeting so they could fully make a plan.
They might as well take advantage of the fact that Allen's busy speaking with him. Thank God he didn't object much to this, not that Gillen thought that he would in this case. While Allen's capable of restraint, it might be a little difficult for him to do that with someone like Italy scrutinizing and taking apart ever word that'll come out of Flavio's mouth. The boy's not only under much stress, but he would naturally be inclined to come in Flavio's defense.
It's for the best.
"All right. I-I am going to call him now, for real this time." Flavio muttered uneasily to himself, trying to take deep calming breaths.
"You can do this, Flavio." Gillen stated confidently, nodding. "I believe in you. But please, be careful."
"I am going to put it on speakerphone, so, you know, can hear." Flavio explained a little too quickly, but Gillen understood and grunted in affirmation. "But this means he might hear you too, so whatever happens… Don't. Make. A. Sound."
Gillen nodded and grunted in affirmation at the warning. The blonde seemed a little more confident with this and after anxiously calling his dreaded brother's number, he held out the phone as they waited for North Italy to answer and…
Now. Huh. That surprisingly took less time than he had thought.
"Ah– Ciao, Luci!" Flavio cheerfully greeted in an impressively inconspicuous tone. "How have you been?"
"Where have you been?" Italy's callous voice immediately cut off his brother's cheerful greeting with the blunt question.
Flavio winced at the harsh tone, but he stayed strong and spoke clearly, only slightly stuttering his words, "I-I was at America's house, Luci."
"I knew it, why did I expect any better?" Italy grumbled with his words dripping with bitterness, the remark itself making Flavio looked pained. "Tch. You were at his house? Again?! You left without even saying goodbye or even a word to go to that idiota's house?!"
With that enraged accusation, the blonde Italian started to look nearly as agonized as he became when he tearfully recounted the tale of just how his northern brother became the ruthless man he was today and it . He gnawed on his lip, probably to keep himself from making any strangled noise or even cry.
"Why do I even bother anymore?" Italy hissed, further wounding Flavio and Gillen had to clutch his cross to restrain his growing anger. "Heh. At least you had the guts to admit it for once."
"I'm sorry," Flavio whispered pitifully, anguished pink eyes fixed on the floor.
"Don't apologize if you don't really mean it, fratello," The vicious brother spat resentfully. "Now, what do you want? Why call now? No. First of all, where are you? You're not at that… idiota's house, are you? After this stunt, you can't be that much more... stupid."
Gillen was sure that no one could possibly miss the underlying threat laced with that last question. Scowling and keeping his hand on the hanging from his beck, he had to force the rising need for aggression in his heart down to prevent himself from possibly giving himself away in response of the implied threat toward his best friend. Italy had that effect on people. He somehow had a way of making even the most patient man feel irate.
Oh, he hated this. He hated having to stay silent and watch this abuse all over again. He thought he had seen the last of this since… And what made it even worse was that despite everything that happened today, deep down somewhere, Flavio probably thought that he deserved to be insulted.
Flavio frantically shook his head, even though Italy shouldn't be able to see him. "N-No, of course not, Luci! I said that I was at America's house. Not anymore. They even told me not to call you. Right now I'm my car, making a quick stop on the way to the airport."
"…Really?" Italy sounded very skeptical of that.
This time, Flavio nodded quickly, desperate. "Si, really. Honest!"
"So you are nowhere near any American's hearing range, right?"
"That's right, I'm not!"
"And you're being completely honest?"
"I am, I swear! I would never lie to you, Luci! I couldn't!"
A period of silence followed that insistent exclamation where the albino expected a derisive scoff or something similar. Gillen unconsciously rubbed his thumb and index finger on the cross as the looming dread and anxiety hung over the room. The longer the seconds dragged on, Gillen couldn't help swallow, feeling increasingly worried if Italy will indeed buy the lie after all.
On the topic of Italy's amount of gullibility, Gillen would say that it honestly wasn't much. That man had been tricked before, with the more memorable instances being perpetrated by the Alliance. But that didn't make him gullible. Gillen and his fellow allied nations had to be careful in their efforts. And he was among the top of the world for a reason. Italy's ability to see through people may pale in comparison to individuals such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, among others, but he wasn't stupid.
And this included in matters concerning Flavio. Estranged as they are, they're still brothers. Family. They knew each other on a personal level, and the information and details gleaned from such a closeness with Italy no one else had had proved to be useful in several instances.
They could only hope that Italy's recent and increasing insanity, recklessness and anger would be enough to cloud his senses and better judgment.
Their prayers appeared to have been answered when the North Italian released an exasperated sigh.
"Damn right you can't. Fine. I'll believe you. Not like I'd let anyone get involved anyways…" Italy finally spoke up with a grumble, scoffing in disgust, and both Flavio and Gillen allowed themselves to relax just a little. "You never had the guts to be like me."
"G-Grazie, Luciano." Flavio sounded genuinely grateful for that, despite the jab that came after.
A fierce growl from Italy outright crushed that moment. "Spare me, Flavio. We need to talk, fratello. We will talk. This is one thing you won't be able to run away from this time."
Gillen felt his eyes further narrow in anger, but they went wide when he was struck with a horrible realization. England had been telling the truth. The man said that Italy would be seeking out Flavio sooner or later. Or at least, he was truthful about that part. The rest remained to be seen.
There's something heart-wrenching about how terrified Flavio looked right now. "Wh-What do you mean w-we need to talk? Is it important?"
"Oh, because you wouldn't bother coming if it wasn't, right?" Italy bit out balefully, and Flavio cringed at the bitter attack. Gillen could feel his teeth bearing a snarl as he clutched his cross even tighter. "Well, you'll be damn happy to know that it is, you hear me?"
"That's not what I meant!" Flavio cried out near exasperatedly, wincing. "It's just– We've hardly talked lately and now you suddenly have something important to say?""
"And? It's your fault for always avoiding me and running away so you wouldn't have to deal me. Suck it up and deal with the consequences of your own actions."
Again the jab obviously wounded Flavio, no doubt as intended by that monster. And once again, even as despite how Gillen must force it down for the sake of their mission, it was becoming increasingly difficult to suppress the anger boiling his veins. Indeed. How could Italy be so cold to his brother who had never stopped loving him for all these years?
Why must they all have such cruel, cold-hearted brothers?
"Just stop whining before it gets even more annoying. But enough about that, like I said, we're going to talk. So–
"…No…" The blonde whispered eerily with a startlingly blank stare.
"What?" And for once Gillen agreed with North Italy. What?
For the first time in a while, Gillen was there to witness Flavio becoming angry at his brother, "No… no, don't try to turn this around! You're wrong, Luci! It isn't me, it's you!"
"Excuse me?"
"No, don't you dare do this to me again, Luci! Don't blame me for every single thing wrong with us!"
Gillen stood there in awe with his mouth hanging slightly as Flavio defiantly talk back to his brother with a shaky scowl and not show any signs of shrinking away and apologize. G-Granted, Flavio did have a backbone (Gillen and Allen would be damned if they allowed him to not have one with such a dangerous brother haunting him), but it's something of a… rare occurrence.
His friend was always one to usually not allow his anger get the better of him.
"It's your fault." There was a rare resentment in Flavio's voice. "You've been giving me the cold shoulder for days, as the Americans say. I've tried to talk to you for the past week but you– you brush me off and you're always angry! How could I talk to you when you're like that? Why should I bother? I love you, but you make it so painful for me!"
Even from this distance, Gillen could hear the growling coming from the northern brother and feel the seething anger at being defied from the device. If this other any other situation, he would feel extremely happy for Flavio for accomplishing what he knew was a difficult feat, pride for his friend being able to stand up to his brother when the latter attempted to guilt-trip him once again.
"Well, why should you? You've only tried your fucking best to avoid talking to me." Italy retorted.
"Because you'd always do nothing but lash out! You'd never talk. You always brushed me off!" Flavio yelled at him. "If you're going to do nothing but insult me again, then I might as well hang up and leave you alone since, to you, I'm so stupid and annoying!"
Gillen's confident that he could feel color drain out of his face in shock. And Italy seemed so stunned by that retort that he went silent.
But right now, in this situation, it might not be the best option. He frowned in worry. Although, it then occurred to him that this might not be a bad thing. Wouldn't it strike as suspicious to Italy if his brother was being too compliant with his demands, especially in these times? Perhaps a show of defiance could further convince Italy that there wasn't any hidden plot involved.
Flavio then met his gaze with his almost calm eyes, and a sort of understanding passed between them. And that was when Gillen understood that he should trust that Flavio perfectly knew what he's doing.
"You… You've got some nerve, fratello." Came a low snarl from the Northern brother after a long silence, positively dripping in barely restrained rage.
The southern brother only showed the briefest hints of an involuntary flinch before remaining firm and determined in his anger. Gillen was impressed, to put it mildly. This was why people should learn not to underestimate Flavio, he was no pushover.
"Is there a problem with that, fratello?" Flavio sniffed, courageous even after briefly cringing at his own challenge.
It was here that Gillen braced himself for the inevitable fit of anger from Italy. It was only expected. However, his predictions of a defeaning shouting match were promptly thrown out the window when he heard a scoff from the other side of the line.
"Whatever, I'm not going to waste time being petty like you."
If Gillen was a man with a dry or cynical sense of humor akin to Allen, France or Indonesia, he would've snorted at that last remark. He wasn't however, and the hypocrisy gave rise to a surge of irritation similar to when he dealt with England. That. Now that was rich coming from Italy, one of the pettiest men Gillen ever had the misfortunate of meeting.
But, in all seriousness, this was simply… odd, to say the least. Italy wouldn't simply brush aside such a show angry defiance from Flavio like it was nothing. To put it very, very, VERY mildly, he'd be pissed off (pardon his language). He wouldn't take this lying down. He would return Flavio's bite with ear-grating screaming and worse, not… simply move on with just sounding a little over mildly annoyed.
He wasn't alone in this. Flavio looked just as surprised at his brother's apparent nonchalance. However, they could not dwell on this for long, as Italy swiftly moved on the conversation.
"Huh...?" Flavio's mouth hung open in disbelief.
"Let's get to the point again with no distractions again, shall we?" Italy suggested mockingly. "I'm not going to discuss the details of the matter here. You may say that you're alone, but the Americans can still find a way to eavesdrop on us, and we don't want that, do we?"
"N-No. I suppose not–"
"Suppose? Ugh! Did that idiota's stupidity suddenly become infectious?" Italy snapped in great annoyance, making Flavio flinch again. "Of course I'm right. You yourself should know how the Americans acquire their information since you two are both in the same glamorous alliance. That buffoon or his humans or maybe even another nation could've tapped your phone for all you know! And you 'suppose' I'm right?!"
Flavio bit his lower lip. "I… I…"
"Got it? Good." Italy didn't bother to wait for a proper response. "Now, listen up. Here's what you're going to do."
Despite his visible dismay at this, and Gillen's own, swallowed his complaints and paid attention.
"Fly home, to Venice. Si, I think that's a nice place to meet. Right in my land, in my terms, what better place to be in, eh, fratello?" Good Lord, he could just hear the smirk in Italy's voice.
Venice? If it was possible, Gillen's jaw might as well have dropped to the polished floor. That's deep in North Italian territory, not to mention dangerous...
"I-I was thinking that Milan might be nice, you know with the view and all…" Flavio dared interject a little sheepishly, anxiously glancing away to a wall.
A sudden cackle from Italy startled both of them and nearly made Gillen jump. "Ha! Milan? Don't be stupid. Like hell I'm letting you two feet near that shithole again!"
Gillen could only sweatdrop as Flavio visibly deflated like a balloon at being shot down with even his curl drooping at that. Ah, yes, it's a bit of a shame. For what, exactly? Well, let's just say that Flavio became a little… moved when Alfred happily told him all about the Milan in the Light World. Maybe a little too moved.
"Unless…" Italy's tone suddenly took on a more darker one dripping with suspicion. "You don't want to go to Venice because you're worried that you won't be able to escape?"
"It's not that. It's fine." Flavio hastily shot down that accusation. "P-Perfectly fine, honest. I-In fact, it's… been a while since we've last visited Venice together, right, fratello?"
"I wasn't asking for your opinion. And you're not flying over to sightsee and reminisce or be all sappy, fratello. This is strictly business." Italy coldly dismissed Flavio's well-intentioned remark. "Very personal business, but still strictly business. I won't tolerate you sidetracking us with your ridiculous hobbies. This is too important."
Flavio looked as if he were punched in the stomach, and swallowed. "I… I understand, fratello."
"Good." Italy huffed in satisfaction, and then spoke in a sickeningly sweet yet mocking voice. "So you'll book the next flight to Venezia… right, mio fratello?"
"W-Wait, right now?" Flavio stammered. It was hard to tell if it was genuine alarm or not.
"Did I stutter? Si, I meant as soon as possible, fratello. As I said, this is important. And I know it's much more important than whatever it was you were doing or were planned."
The red-eyed albino raised an eyebrow. Gillen just liked how Italy confidently already started using past tense, how typical.
"Okay then, I'll see you there." Flavio muttered, looking a little shaken.
"Good." Italy harrumphed. "Oh, and Flavio?"
"S-Si?"
"Don't think of telling that American idiota or that damn Templar or even bring them to the meeting place, I swear on Nonno's name that there will be consequences if you do"
The mention of the Italy brother's dreaded grandfather was enough for Flavio's expression to morph into a face of pure anger, then having all the color drain from his face with a look of paralyzed fear, going back to bitter anger, before finally settling into a nervous frown.
"I-I won't."
"Good. Arrivederci, mio fratello. And don't be late."
With a 'click', the call ended, and the air of safety and freedom finally returned to the room. And Gillen was sure that he could speak for both himself and Flavio when he said that they felt like a large weight had been lifted off their shoulders.
It was done. The first phase of their plan had worked, apparently.
"W-Well!" Flavio was the one who broke the silence, wearing a smile that was a tad bit too wide with sweat trailing off his brow. "Th-That went a little better than I thought, haha…"
Flavio's forced – pained – laughter wasn't fooling Gillen for a second. He knew Flavio. And more importantly, Gillen had been around enough psychopaths and broken people to know a fake smile when he saw it. It was painful itself seeing Flavio try to mask his pain and fear. Why, old friend? You don't have to pretend around me.
The albino regarded him a frown before at last asking the question that's been heavily on his mind throughout watching that entire frustrating and borderline unnerving phone call.
"Are you alright?" He asked the question softly.
Biting his lip, Flavio's downcast eyes remained fixed on the floor, "I… I think so."
"That was impressive. I know his words you and it obviously, but danke." Gillen said gently, resting a hand on Flavio's tense shoulder. "I'm proud of you, Flavio."
The blonde slowly nodded, swallowed, and managed a weak smile. "G-Grazzie."
They fell into a more comfortable silence, despite the gravity of the situation. A minute later, the door swung open for a smirking American to reveal himself.
"Just talked to Kaf, says he and his bro are happy to help us," Allen announced rather proudly as he strolled into the room, hands in his pocket. "Just a half hour and our chances of getting away with this shit scot-free just skyrocketed."
Flavio sighed, only sounding a little less stressed now. "Si, that is good news. But please tell me you didn't–"
"Oh, relax. I didn't mention any of the suspicious shit you're hiding from us," Alfred glared pointedly at Flavio, obviously still resentful. "I'm not a blabbermouth."
"Mio Dio, I'm not– I just don't want to risk him learning about–" Flavio stopped himself, pressing his mouth tightly and shooting a quick glance around as if there might be someone listening, before opening it again, "What I think my fratello might be after."
"Bro, he won't be able to hear," America hissed, obviously taking offence to that. "Whatever the place this whole shit's gonna take place, he won't be close enough to hear. We can't have Italy risk detecting him, can we?"
"I just want to make sure we can trust him."
"So? I trust him, and he's never broken a promise he made to me before and I'm sure as hell that he's not about to do it anytime soon," Allen retorted defensively, eyes now even more alight in anger.
Gillen found himself sighing for the umpteenth time.
For all of Allen's short-temper, poor manners and penchant for violence as the answer to everything, he would gladly to stick for anyone he truly trusted and saw as a friend, even if others didn't approve. It was an admirable trait really, and Gillen always appreciated his loyalty. But it wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't that man Allen was defending.
As expected for a young man of his character, Allen had had his share of similarly reckless and/or violent friends and bad influences over the years. And as expected, it had caused Gillen and Flavio (especially Flavio) no end of stress and distress. That man, while a good example, wasn't even the worst person Allen had stuck with. At least he seemed to be concerned with Allen's well-being and opinion (somewhat). The same couldn't exactly be said for other nations, though some had improved along with Allen himself over the years…
But that unfortunately didn't apply for that man. If Gillen was somehow pressed to name a single change he had seen in that man's personality in all the years since that nation had befriended, he would spend a good amount of time silently pondering on that before simply stating patience. He had certain had become more patient, and Gillen did not necessarily mean that in good way. He had gained patience and perhaps a whole new level of distrust of humanity after seeing the nations of the West (which was certainly something considering his disdain for his own hemisphere).
For this case, however, Gillen was willing to put aside his distrust if it meant that that man could help them get to the bottom of this and help them get away scot-free.
"And you're absolutely sure about that?" Flavio further pressed with his brows furrowed.
This finally pushed Allen over the edge of his already short patience, and he threw his hands up. "For the last fucking time, if I wasn't, I wouldn't have told in the first place, dammit!
That curse-riddle exclamation earned the boy an ear pinch by a deadpan Flavio. As usual, Allen yelped and desperately tried to fight against the blonde's grip. Oh Lord, how many times was this going to happen again? Flavio's going to end up tearing out Allen's ear someday, at this rate.
However, before Gillen could even consider sighing for the millionth time today and stepping in to prevent further escalation and diverting from the main topic at hand, Flavio unexpectedly released Allen, allowing the younger nation to hiss and cuss in pain as he rubbed his ear.
"Fine." Flavio huffed, relenting.
"Thank you. So what about you guys? How'd the call with Loony Lucy go?" Allen asked in a rather nonchalant tone, more out of calmness than apathy, as he crossed his arms with a.
Gillen resisted the urge to smile at the admittedly amusing nickname. No time for jokes. "Good, we suppose. Luciano is skeptical, but it doesn't sound that he figured out that I was listening in.
It turns out England was right in regards that Luciano was seeking out Flavio for a private talk."
Allen raised his eyebrows, then immediately scowled. "Seriously? That crazy sonuva bitch was right?"
"At least in that regard, the rest remains to be seen." "But why does Luciano want to meet him?"
"We're not sure." "I have a sneaking suspicion… but let's hope I'm horribly wrong."
"So, where exactly is this 'talk' gonna take place?" America bit out, using his air quotes.
"Venice, North Italy. We'll be heading to there in a few days."
If the look on Allen's face was any indication, he would've done a spit take had he been drinking water. "Venice? Ugh. Figures that bastard would wanna be in a place where he'd be in complete control and somewhere where he'd know if there's someone other than Flavio involved."
"Heh. Now I'm really glad I called Kaf. And you guys called me crazy for wanting to ask him to help us."
"Si, si, I suppose he's our only shot at getting you two in my fratello's territory undetected. And with his powers, we can possibly completely get away with this." Flavio begrudgingly admitted, to Allen's glee, before frowning at his fellow nations. "But there's still one problem: how are we going to record the information without Luci noticing?"
Gillen pondered on that deeply for a few moments, and "Allen, do you still have a few of those chips– those, those hearing devices or whatever it's called–"
"Let's just call them chips." Allen said.
"Ja, those. Did you still have a few of those here or nearby?" Gillen asked hopefully.
"Yeah, I still got a couple of those things in the workshop." A knowing smirk then slowly spread across Allen's face, his eyes glinting with mischeif. "Oh, I get it. We'll plant one on Flavio, make sure to put it somewhere Luci's not bound to look, and we'll hear the whole conversation on a phone or something and record it. Piece of cake."
Gillen nodded in approval, smiling, "My thoughts exactly, Al. Flavio, your thoughts?"
Flavio hummed as his eyes stared "But where would we put it? My fratello's not an idiot. He will check me for anything suspicious."
Like that, Gillen's newfound sense of confidence slightly dimmed with that detail, but the spark was far from being put out. Yes, Flavio brought a good point. If Gillen was meeting with his estranged brother after the latter surprisingly agreed to come, he would definitely feel suspicious and feel obligated to check his brother's
"How about Flavio's dick?" Allen nonchalantly suggested.
Gillen instantly choked at the very idea once it fully registered in his mind. He gawked at Allen in horror. "Wh-What? Nein! Please, take this erious
"You know, crudeness aside, that's actually not a bad idea." Flavio mused thoughtfully, and he was actually pondering on the idea and considering it.
What? Suddenly feeling like something clogged his windpipe, Gillen whipped his head at the South Italian in a mixture of betrayal, dismay and mortification on his suddenly pale face, especially that last one. Yes, yes, that was it. He was mortified. Absolutely, terribly mortified. God help us all.
"Yeah. Like, who'll think of checking someone's dick? No one, that's what." Allen cracked a wily smirk, seeming proud of this.
Smiling, Flavio nodded fervently in agreement. "Si, si, it's one of those 'it's so crazy that it has to work' schemes, right?"
"Damn right."
"But which part would be the most comfortable place to put it?"
"If you ask me, I say that-"
"E-Except we can't know for sure if we'll be able to hear from… under all the clothing!" Gillen quickly interjected, stammering, before this topic could go somewhere very undesirable and unpleasant. "H-How about somewhere a bit more practical? L-Like Flavio's sunglasses?"
To his tremendous relief, his fellow nations did not reject the idea regarded it with the same, if not even more, thoughtfulness than the previous horrendous one.
"That could work," Flavio hummed in approval with a nod.
"Might need to be careful where we put it, but yeah," America snorted and crossed his arms, lips forming a half smile. "Doesn't sound half-bad."
Gillen heaved a large sigh of relief. Why must he be the only one sane all the time? "Well, I suppose we first need to test it. Luckily, we still have about two days to get everything ready for this task. But we must remember that this will be dangerous mission, with no doubt massive consequences waiting for us should we fail or be discovered, should that man be unable to wipe Italy's memories. Are we all ready for this?"
Allen and Flavio shared a glance, and their eyes hardened into a familiar sort of determination.
"Let's do it." The redhead American smirked.
/ / / / /
Hungary's stress about her country's politics and her relations with the European Union seemed like a faraway thing now.
Instead, she just felt warm and happy at the thought that she'll be visiting America soon.
Hungary had never thought that she'd feel this excited for a visit that wasn't Poland, Austria or anyone in her rather short list of European friends in quite a few years, but it felt great to feel this happy again about it again.
But this was more than just excitement at the new prospect of travelling to an alternate dimension. No, no, it's a lot more than that. She liked this. She liked this… this budding new friendship she's having with America. It felt good to have someone else understand her. It felt good to discover more about someone and grow closer to him as a friend when you never thought it possible.
She smiled fondly. It's America she's looking forward to visiting. However, it's just as nice talking to him now.
"I still can't believe you stopped me from kicking that oaf." Hungary grumbled in a playfully upset tone.
America laughed nervously. "Come on, don't you think you were going a little too far, dude?"
"…He nearly claimed Austria's vital regions."
"So you had to try to crush his balls to dust with your frying pan for it?"
They were having a fun chat via their computers, because why not?
Just because they'll seeing each other in a few days, didn't mean that they couldn't talk in the meantime. They've decided on becoming better friends after all. They had a few things they needed to discuss about the coming visit anyways, so there wasn't anything stopping them. So, they talked it over and decided
Budapest and Virginia's only six hours apart, which helped with the planning quite a bit and they easily decided on a time to talk where they both had plenty of free time. And right now, it's currently morning in America's house while being afternoon in Hungary. It was perfect, and it gave them plenty of time to work on their new and improved friendship.
"Man, you're a riot, Hungary." America chuckled amiably.
"You flatter me, Alfred." Hungary smirked.
And it's also a great chance to finally ask an important question.
"You know, you never explained to me about the portals." Hungary reminded him.
"Ha. Aw yeah, I never did, didn't I?" America laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "We kinda got distracted over that whole thing with Poland and Taiwan."
Remembering that whole fiasco, one of Hungary's eyes twitched. She really didn't want to go into that. "Yeah, it was really distracting. Anyway, will you explain this time? Or is Taiwan going to pop up and try to drag you away again?"
Hungary bit her tongue regretfully when she realized that her words came out sounding bitterer than she would've liked. Then she remembered that America wasn't exactly the best at reading the atmosphere or the mood, if the way he's smiling without any change was indication.
"Nah, I'm alone here. I think…" America's brows knit together in suspicion and he started looking around warily. "Unless that commie set up cameras in my house somewhere…"
She couldn't resist the laughing at America's silly but not exactly misguided sense of paranoia. "I'm sure you're fine, Alfred."
"You sure you're sure? 'Cause I remember this one time when–"
"Oh come on, can't you indulge a woman's curiosity?" Hungary said playfully.
"You sure you got the time for this, Liz? It's gonna take a bit of a while to explain it all." America looked a little uncertain for some reason.
"I have time." Hungary assured him, smiling sweetly. "Besides, we chose to chat at this time because we'd both we awake and have no work to do, didn't we?"
"Hmm…" America seemed to mull it over for a minute before brightening. "Okie dokie, let's start with the simple parts. So listen up, okay?"
Hungary nodded and paid full attention. She wouldn't want to miss any of it.
"You wonder why I'm the only one who knows about the other world? You know, even though we have more than a few nations with the magic touch and one of them's bound to discover something sooner or later?"
Not even twenty seconds in and Hungary's already raising an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't believe in magic. You always argue with England about it."
America's grin was just devilish. "Nah, I just do it 'cause it's funny seeing him mad. And hello, portal?"
"Alright, point taken." Hungary found herself laughing again. She would've done the same, honestly. "But that did come up in my mind at one point, to be honest. What's the explanation?"
"The answer is barriers, dude." America's eyes were glimmering in excitement similar to when they first arrived in the Dark World. "There's a barrier between our worlds that prevents anyone from going over to the other side or detecting it."
Hungary nodded slowly while humming in understanding. Alright… Alright, so there were barriers between their worlds that not only prevent anyone from either side from crossing to the other, but also prevent them from discovering that there's an alternate world. Alright, that's easy enough to understand. So far, so good, she supposed. Yeah.
"And these barriers are powerful enough that no one with magic would ever… discover them?" Hungary asked, just to be sure.
"Yup! Both sides are completely blocked from each other. But like Gil said, I'm the only one with the power to get through them." America beamed, looking pretty damn proud of that.
"Gillen and Flavio did mention you that you were the only one who had that ability," Hungary recalled from the meeting in Central Park. "Why is that?"
"I'm the one who's gifted with the power, but Allen's only connected. He can't cross but he can reach out to me through reflective surfaces. It's probably some kind of side effect from him being my counterpart. Didn't stop him from trying to break through anyways though, not that it ever made much of a difference." America replied easily, almost a little too quickly, with a fond smile.
Hungary's lips twitched. "That doesn't explain why you're the only one who can do that."
She was taken aback by how quickly America's smile vanished. "You wouldn't believe me."
If things hadn't gotten so serious, Hungary would've burst out laughing at that ridiculous statement. She still smiled wryly, however. "Oh, really? After everything I found out that day? You can tell me that you have a zombie army in your Area 51 and I'd believe you."
But America wasn't amused, if anything, he looked pained. "I don't want to talk about it."
Now Hungary's smile fell off her face. "Why not?"
She couldn't quite make out the emotions going through; only that he's anguished and conflicted. He hesitated, "…I… it's… personal."
"As in, the painful kind?"
"Y… Yeah, that kind." America's voice was surprisingly quiet and his face nearly blank as he stared away from the screen, from her.
It was hard to ignore the crushing guilt developing in Hungary's heart, not helped by how part of her still wanted to press him for the answers she wanted. He looked so anguished.
"W-Well! There's no need to worry about that, Alfred," Hungary quickly assured him with what she hoped was genuine enough cheerfulness. "I'm sorry for pressing it."
Sky blue eyes blinking, America slowly looked up at her with a puzzled expression. "You… don't mind?"
"Of course not," Hungary waved her hand, snorting, and putting on her best smiles in hopes of seeing his again. "I already really appreciate what you did for me, especially when you didn't have to."
"Th-Thanks, Lizzie."
"You don't need to thank me." Hungary felt an easier smile, really glad that he "So, about these barriers..."
"Oh, right! So anyway, you got these barriers, and there's nothing you can do to get them to open," America continued his eager explanation, his enthusiasm and the sparkle in his eyes renewed. "Nothing, except for one thing."
"And what would that be?" Hungary asked, feeling that they've reached the really intriguing part of the explanation.
"That brings me to this next. In order to understand why this is possible, you need to understand one thing first. You know everyone on the other side's the opposite in personality of everybody here? I mean, of course you know, but the point is, you know a lot of things of different there, right?"
"How could I not?" Hungary cracked a smirk. "Prussia has an actual charming personality, there's a red sun, nations don't have bosses there, leaves are pink and the grass is purple. It's all wonderfully bizarre."
"Well, it kinda looks like it's the same for, like, everything else in that world.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean it's not just the nations, the sky, nature or the history that's different. Many historical figures seem to be the same, but even then there's a couple difference with the different histories and stuff. Point is, everything there is different, one way or another. Nothing seems to be exactly the same in that world."
Hungary had no idea where this could be going. But she had already understood the opposite/different nature of the world, so this part wasn't difficult to grasp. "You mean that every single thing is different from our world?"
"Yeah, it's all different one way or another. No building's in the same spot as in the other world, no tree, no photo on your nightstand, no crack in the sidewalk, nada. And even if they are in the exact same spot, the two things' appearances or composition will usually be too different to ever be considered the 'same thing', y'know?"
What? Her reaction was one of mild bafflement along with shock as she was left staring at the screen while America stared back expectantly. Did the differences really go that far?
Hungary had already figured out the opposite theme of the worlds both during her visit and the days that followed where she looked back on it. She supposed it made sense, on a thematic level. Light and darkness, two opposites, and here you have the Light World and Dark World, so of course things would be wildly different as evidenced by the delightful version of Prussia she wished would be roaming this earth instead the oaf they're stuck with.
But everything was different, down to the little details? It wasn't so shocking as it was… strange.
"N-No, I think I'm wrapping my head around it. But how do you know all this?"
Hungary wasn't sure how America could know if a crack in a sidewalk was a few inches off from its counterpart in the other world.
"Research, Liz. Didn't spend every time in the Dark World just hanging around, you know. Naturally, I wanted to know how this whole world worked and Allen and the boys were cool enough to help me out. Tony's tech was a big help in figuring it out too."
Ah. That made sense. It's common knowledge that America had a very curious mind, of course he'd want to have a logical explanation for everything. Hungary could understand. If she was in his shoes, she'd also want to know just how different the Dark World was from this one, as well as how the entire jumping to another dimension worked.
As for Tony, America's mysterious alien friend… Well, Hungary was no stranger to the weird. She's weird herself. So, unlike a normal person, she just accepted that as if it were completely reasonable and normal.
"Oh, that makes sense." Hungary said calmly, probably too calmly.
"We think it's some kind of law with our worlds." America mused, eyes brimming with fascination. "Everything's different so why should something be the same?"
Hungary pondered about that. It's still an odd law. Why must everything be different? She didn't have long to delve into that, as America abruptly continued.
"Here's an example: You ever wondered why you never saw the Statue of Liberty in the other New York City?"
"Now that you mention it, that does strike me as a bit odd." Hungary realized, leaning her head on her palm.
"That's 'cause there is no statue of Liberty, Liz," America smiled darkly. "In the Dark World, France Pants never gave Al any statue, they're not even pals."
Hungary blinked, digesting that new surprising information. "Oh. Then there is no giant statue."
"Actually, there is. In its place, you'll find the Statue of Justice."
Hungary couldn't help snort at that despite the sudden somewhat serious mood in the air, "The Statue of Justice?"
There's something cute in the way America sighed. "Yeah, I know. It's kinda cheesy. But trust me, it's awesome. Just don't laugh about it when Al's in the room, that's one way ticket for an hour-long lecture for why it's not cheesy."
She gave a wry grin. "Noted."
"Good. So, you know how the Statue of Liberty's modeled after this Roman goddess of liberty? Well, this one's modeled after a goddess of justice, Justitia, I think. You know this winged gal with the blindfold? Flavio gave it to him."
"Really?" It was the only thing that flew from her mouth. It was an interesting piece of trivia though.
"Yeah, real cool. But the point is, because they look vastly different and even placed a couple inches away from the other's positions, they're following the law of the world by being the 'opposite' or at least, 'different' from our world."
So basically, everything in the two worlds must be different from each other, either slightly or radically it's still following the so-called rule of the world? How odd.
Hungary took a glance around her room, at all the furniture, the windows and other items in it. She started to wonder if any of it was anything like the other Hungary's house. Then again, that would require for her counterpart to live in the same house in the exact same spot… right?
"So… if I'm following this, let's say that there's also an Eiffel Tower in the Dark World…" Hungary began carefully, praying that she's getting it right.
"There is, actually. Looks a little shabby though…" America merrily interjected.
"Oh. A-Anyway, so since there is an Eiffel Tower in the Dark World" Resuming her theoretical question, Hungary fidgeting her fingers while her face scrunched up. "If it's in the exact same spot as the one in our world and looked more or less the same, would it count as 'the same thing'?"
"Bingo! Now you're getting it!" America cheered, laughing boisterously.
"And if… say, the top part got blown off somehow, it would… no longer qualify?"
"No, it'd still qualify. Top or not, it'd still be in the same spot as the version in other world."
"But if the tower just a single inch off from being in the exact spot as the other tower, it wouldn't qualify then, right?
"Nope, it wouldn't qualify. Hey, you're really getting it!" America gave her a thumbs-up, looking very happy.
Hungary felt a surge of joy at the praise as well as just the smallest bit of smugness. Ha, take that, England! She wasn't an idiot. Something still didn't add up however.
"But what does any of this have to do with the barriers?" She looked at him questioningly.
"I'm getting to that. I don't know why, no one else does, but one of the rules for our worlds seem to be that nothing must be the same, or just extremely similar." America began explaining. "By something being the same, like a building being in the same spot as the one in the other World, or a shelf being placed on the same wall, it's breaking the law. They're contradictions, anomalies, and they're super essential for the portal to work."
"You mean they shouldn't exist?" Hungary asked in a puzzled voice, and then something occurred to her. "Everything's different or out of place in the other world, so something like that has no reason to exist."
America practically sparkled. "Yeah, exactly! And because of these contradictions, the space, reality or whatever gets really messed up and confused, since again, they shouldn't exist since they defy the laws of nature of the world.
"But why would they exist if they're supposed to?"
"We don't know, but that's beside the point. What's more is that there's no way for the world to correct that contradiction unless someone ruins the 'sameness' themselves. The two identical things become connected since, as far as the worlds are concerned, they're the same. Then the space around the objects gets all messed up as the barriers get confused with the contradiction in that area."
"What do you mean by 'confused'?"
"I mean that the barrier starts to weaken, I mean really weaken," Immediately after saying that, a sly smile made its way to America's face. "More than enough for a guy who already had a connection to the other world via Allen to be able to open a hole and jump to the other side and back."
With a wink, America's smile broadened and he leaned back in satisfaction.
"And that, Lizzie, is how the whole portal thing works."
…Well, this was a little complicated. She wasn't going to lie; she's wracking her brain trying to properly wrap her head around all this. Wow. But at the same time, it sounded so fascinating that she didn't have in her to feel annoyed by this.
"Wait, how do you know these places you go to are anomalies? How do you find them?" Hungary asked while trying really hard not to get a headache. It's not that complex…
"Back then, I knew because I can feel… something around them, call it a gut feeling. I had to rely on luck then." Shrugging, America proceeded to keep grinning "But ever since Tony showed up, he's helped a lot in finding them."
"And… how do you open a hole to another dimension?" Nothing about what happened there in the supply closet resembled anything like opening a hole.
"Hm, well, it's pretty specific." America said thoughtfully, staring off at something off-screen again. "Obviously, I have to go straight to one of these things, and if I want to go hop to the other side, the whole darkness thing happens and that's that."
"It just happens when you want to go?"
"Yeah, but that's the important part. I need to want to the Dark World. It won't work otherwise."
Hungary felt that was a bit of a curious detail.
"So, on the bright side, if God forbid one day I get found out and some jerk threatens me into taking them to the Dark World, it won't work." America stated smugly as he reverted to a more cheerful state. "Because even if I want to go in order to go along with the jerk's demands, I don't actually wanna go, you know?"
America's loud laughter resounded in Hungary's mind as the woman remained absorbed in thought, digesting all the information, while the blonde remained cheery waiting for her.
Okay… Okay, okay, with every minute that passed, this didn't seem so bad. Sure, she needed a while to fully understand it, but that's expected, no?
Hungary nodded slowly and took a deep breath before saying, "So, let's see if I'm getting this right – I'm sorry, it's just that it's taking a little effort for me to wrap my head around this…"
"S'okay, Liz. If ya got any questions, I'll answer 'em." America chirped helpfully.
"Yes, well, thank you." Hungary gave a grateful smile before going back to her thoughts. "So… there are barriers between our worlds that prevent anyone from crossing or knowing about each other."
"Uh-huh."
"There's absolute no way through them except through these… anomalies."
"Uh-huh."
"Right, so, these anomalies are the result of two items or spaces that are exactly the same as the one in the other world, which shouldn't be possible because everything from the sky to the nations to the buildings is different or located a little off from their counterpart."
"Uh-huh."
"And since they're not meant to exist, the barrier starts to weaken enough for your powers to allow you to open a portal to the other world and go through it." Hungary finished, blinking before quickly adding, "That is, if you truly want to go the Dark World in the first place."
America's rapid nodding and splitting grin allowed Hungary to feel a wave of relief as her shoulders sagged. She nearly let loose a sigh and laughed. Yes! Yes, she got it! This would teach those pricks at the European Union for calling her dense.
"Aw, man, Hungary. I wish I had some confetti. You totally nailed it, dude!"
Hungary laughed tiredly, both in joy and relief. "Well, this is… a little more complicated than I would've thought. Granted, I didn't really know what to expect…"
"But it's way cool, right?" America asked excitedly, leaning forward.
She grinned. "Yes, really cool."
This week was just full of surprises, but good ones. And Hungary again couldn't be happier that America decided to include her.
/ / / / /
Flavio wasn't nervous. He wasn't nervous at all.
He anxiously pushed up his sunglasses, conscious of the tiny listening device implanted on one of the hinges, and returned to wringing his hands as he sat in a taxi headed towards the port his brother had stated they'd meet at.
Goodness, he could just feel his palms sweating. Ugh. How disgusting.
He shouldn't be so nervous. Yes, this was Luciano they're dealing with but victory wasn't impossible. They've won before. So maybe the fact that he's all alone at the moment in a dreadful country wasn't helping things either. No big deal, he had worked alone before.
And besides, he wasn't actually alone.
Allen and Gillen had decided on traveling to Venice with the magical help of that man and his brother, teleporting straight to the dreadful capital and proceed to go along where they overheard they needed next instead of traveling via plane like Flavio and risk detection. It was a solid plan, yes, yes it was.
So far, everything seemed to be going well enough. Not too good that warranted suspicion that something wasn't ring and not bad to the point where there's no chance of them succeeding. Yes, things were going just alright. No metal detector had detected the device, which Allen was more than smug about no doubt, and Flavio was confident that his acting skills had helped him remain inconspicuous.
But, unfortunately, none of that was making the fear go away.
He just couldn't help it. Flavio always felt this way when it came to his brother. Luciano was a loose cannon, predictable but also unpredictable and he's capable of hurting you in the worst ways possible. But believe him when he says that he hated feeling this fear.
Get ahold of yourself. Come on Flavio, think about what Grandpa Rome would say if he could see you.
Oh, wait. He hated his grandfather and didn't give a damn what he thought. Not only did he hate him (and still do, by the way), he deliberately went against everything that bastard stood for to spite him and actually build a happy life for himself after that old coot and Flavio's own cowardice screwed Luciano over. Whoops.
Damn him. Flavio bit his tongue to prevent an involuntary curse from slipping out. Damn him to hell.
Still, if there's anything he loved besides fashion, Gillen and Allen, his country, and yelling at his mafia, it was proving his grandfather wrong. And he'll prove once again to his grandfather, while of course completely ignoring his existence because the bastard would just hate that, that he wasn't a coward or weak. They're going to walk away from this, regardless of what will occur, and Flavio won't let himself wither.
Especially if his worst fears were right and Luciano had found- No, bad Flavio. Stay positive. It'll help with the nerves. You're supposed to be the positive one. And even if he was right, which he hoped wasn't the case, things will turn out alright.
Everything will be fine. Gillen had said it, that man had said it, even Allen, for all his touching worry for him, had said it.
Well, no use standing here just twiddling his thumbs while his brother waited (impatiently) for him. He won't get the answers he wanted – needed - this way.
And answers were what he wanted more than anything else right now, along with having his fears proven wrong.
/ / / / /
Somehow, all this dang paperwork didn't seem that stressful anymore.
Or maybe that's because the nation who was working on them was smiling-nonstop, even more so than usual, and brimming with positivity even in the face of every nation's worst nightmare and four days having had passed since his latest adventure in the Dark World.
But with each day that passed, he came one day closer to when Hungary's coming over, duh!
Oh boy. Who would've thought that he'd end up having a buddy to go world-hopping after all? Sure he's an optimist to the end, but America had more or less became long resigned to the fact that Tony might be the only other inhabitant of the Light World to ever see the other side. Friendships with nations come and go. There's no telling just which friend will end up becoming a hated enemy in the future.
America's gone through that enough times to feel anxious about every single one of his relationships.
But with Hungary, he… Man, he didn't know. It just felt right. They both totally understood each other's own brand of craziness. She's real nice and she stood up for her beliefs even when getting flack for it. How could he not admire that? He's really looking forward it.
He wished he could talk about it with his good old pal, maybe help improve the cranky guy's opinion of her even more, but lately Allen hadn't been showing up in any mirror. No appearance, no voice, no nothing. Allen's gone completely silent, which, from all the years America had known him, wasn't exactly common.
America honestly wondered what Allen could be up to make him go so quiet, and that's when he belatedly remembered with a snort, that his dopplergangster's currently dealing with the stress of a possible World War on the horizon all thanks to a psycho Italian.
Duh! Dude, how could he forget about that? He smacked himself on the forehead. He saw how on edge Allen was. In that case, he hoped that Gillen and Flavio were making sure to help him with the stress. America knew he could count on them to help his redhead pal through this mess. But if Allen needed some extra help, then America's here for him whenever he'd need it.
Well, whatever good ol Al's up to right about now, America hoped it's fun.
Yeah the visit's gonna be in the next chapter, since having too big of a timeskip in one chapter might feel too rushed. I know it's not much but I hoped you liked it. I also hope the explanation for the portal is comprehensible and sorry if it's a bit of an exposition dump but it's something I thought I needed to do. Fingers crossed I can get the next one out earlier than in a month this time! Please review, if you have a minute.