So, a few things before we get started. First: my little sister, The Deviant, has a Tumblr! She posts a lot of drawings, mostly Splatoon, the Mother/Earthbound series, Professor Layton, and some original works. She's really good, please check her out! She goes by "time gear remix", so remove the spaces and look her up.

Second: shout-out to XXSamuraiPrincess26XX for being the first to review this story! Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me. I'm curious, though, did you read the first three books before this one? The order is: "The Cult of Veneziano", "The Cult of Steve", "The Author, The Rogues, and The Oni", and this one, "The Citadel of the Onis"; just in case you're interested.

Third: Monday is the first day of Spring Semester, so I won't likely have a lot of free time to write for fun until Spring break, which is sometime in mid-March, and even then, I might have homework that I can't not do. If worst comes to worst, I'll be back in mid-late-May.

Fourth: I don't own Harry Potter.

Fifth: I had forgotten about one of the game mechanics of HetaOni that needed explanation. You'll see it towards the end of the chapter.

Sixth: There is no sixth. This is the end of the things before we begin. Now, we can begin. Enjoy the story.


Chapter 4: Being Hot

Sheesh, The Vet thought, if the summers back home are bad, I'd hate to live… wherever this mansion is.

It was broiling. As Vet blinked in the bright sunlight, she could make out heat waves in the distance, making the bright green grass appear as though it were dewy. The cult and countries had appeared in a large, empty, grassy field, with a forest in one direction and a darker spot a little farther away, too far to really see. Vet knew what it was, though: the site of the mansion.

She looked down at herself: instead of the old T-shirt and jean skirt she'd been wearing, she was now in her Cult uniform: Germany's teal hat, green pants, black tank top, and black boots. There was a pistol at her hip with the German flag painted on the handle. She held a hand over her forehead to block out the sun and looked around at the other members. Sure enough, they all had the uniforms they had worn during their first meeting on. The countries, on the other hand, had not changed clothes, which was probably better for their sanity.

Most people were complaining loudly about how hot it was; The Artist was trying to unbutton her beige jacket and loosen her black tie, though she seemed to be having trouble since her fingers were slick with sweat.

Casey, for some reason, seemed perfectly fine. Despite wearing what looked like a heavy green cotton dress with an apron, she was fluffing her skirts with a smile on her face and examining her white apron with interest. She turned to Brittany, who was having better luck than The Artist with loosening her black tie. "Love, do ya think a black apron would look good with this dress? I like it 'ow it is, but I feel like something darker would look nice too, I do."

Brittany wiped her brow while trying not to pant. "Casey, you look good in anything."

"Aw, love!"

"Wait, did I just say that out loud?" Brittany blushed, though from heat or embarrassment, people could make a guess.

Casey nudged Brittany's arm playfully, meaning she nearly knocked her over. Once Brittany straightened, she quickly pulled out her black book and flipped to a certain page. She mumbled something under her breath while waving her hand towards one of the hills in the field.

Vet watched with a sense of curiosity as walls of concrete bricks appeared in small sparks of white light, turning and adjusting—like the entrance to Diagon Alley in the first Harry Potter movie— to the hills foundation to create a long gray bunker. Another spark of white, and two glass doors appeared on the side closest to the group.

"EVERYONE INSIDE!" Brittany called tiredly. Everyone walked up the hill as quickly as they could without overheating.

It was dark and cool inside, a welcome relief noted by loud sighs of content as people continued to take off the excessive jackets and cloaks.

Brittany flipped to another page and waved her hand again, this time summoning several coolers from the shadows. As soon as she was done, she flopped onto the cool floor and sighed. Casey immediately lay next to her, holding her hand.

Curious, Vet opened a cooler and looked with hunger (or thirst, rather) at the ice-cold bottles of water. She grabbed two, tossing one to The Artist while downing the other in content. As soon as the other members saw what they contained, they rushed for the coolers, careful not to run over their leader and her possible girlfriend.

Vet took off her hat and splashed the remaining water in her bottle on her head, sighing at the cooling feeling it gave her. She looked down at Brittany and Casey. "Is she good?" Vet asked Casey.

Brittany had her eyes closed and was panting heavily. "I think she 'asn't used magic in a while, so she musta tuckered 'erself out," Casey replied. "Pass me a bottle, I'll 'elp 'er."

Vet nodded and squeezed past the crowd around the coolers to grab a water bottle. She handed it to Casey, who helped Brittany sit up and gave her the bottle. Brittany drank slowly, taking deep breaths between sips until the bottle was empty. She said something quietly, too quiet for Vet to hear over the murmurs of the cult, but whatever it was made Casey smile and squeeze Brittany's hand.

Vet crushed her bottle and shoved it into her pants pocket. She held out her hands for Brittany and Casey to grab, which they did, and she pulled them to their feet. Brittany was looking a lot better now.

"YO!" Vet jumped and turned to see Mochi America looking up at her. It was a little hard to see in the dark, but for some reason, she felt an almost… malicious tone in its voice. Despite this, it was smiling brightly. Was Vet imagining things…?

"What is it, you weird… thing." Vet wasn't sure how to treat a living ball of rice and possibly red bean paste. It stared at her, and even though her eyes were adjusting to the dark, it was hard to see the emotion in its eyes. Wait—could mochi creatures have emotions beyond what she'd seen in the comics? It had been a while since she read one about Estonia's mochi friends, but she didn't remember there being much complexity to their characters.

Vet broke eye contact with Mochi America and noticed Ivan staring hard at it, an unreadable expression on his face. He definitely wasn't smiling, so that probably wasn't a good sign.

"Alright, everyone; I just finished having heat stroke and I'm feeling better now," Brittany called. Everyone turned towards her. There were a few nervous giggles, but no one could tell if she was being serious or not. "Now, here's the plan: we're going to go into the mansion grounds—don't worry, there shouldn't be any radiation there anymore—and we're going to search for any clocks that might not have been broken. If we find any, we'll take them back here to examine and see if there's any residual magic to them that could lead to The Author's whereabouts. Are your instructions clear?"

"OKAY!" Mochi America yelled before anyone could speak.

"I hate that it sounds like me," Alfred muttered. Ivan was still staring icily at the creature.

"Ah, yes, Mochi America, I forgot about you…" Brittany hummed for a bit, then snapped her fingers. "You were already in the mansion before the countries came in, right? Could you lead us to where you think the remaining clocks are?"

"OKAY!"

"That settles it, then." Brittany clapped her hands. "Everyone, grab one more water bottle, then we're moving out!"

The cult members made quick work of the coolers, then headed out the door and back into the heat. Surprisingly, the walk wasn't too long, and they were soon at the remains of the mansion. Vet looked slowly around the rubble. Burned pieces of would, a few bits of ceramic, presumably from the bathrooms, and lots of broken stone. Where should we start? Is what The Vet would have wondered if Gilbert didn't suddenly and loudly whoop and run to a certain pile of debris.

"Gilbert, did you find a clock?" Ludwig asked, hurrying after him. Vet followed suit.

"Even better!" Gilbert lifted away a few pieces of wood and showed off what he had found.

"…A toilet? Are you freaking kidding me?!" Lovino growled in annoyance. "If you needed to go, why the heck didn't you say so when we were inside?"

Gilbert gave him a look. "It's not just any toilet, Süditalien. West, pass me some Euros." Ludwig sighed and handed him a few coins. "Nun wollen wir mal sehen… Ich denke es ist… da!" Gilbert opened a coin slot next to the perfectly intact toilet's flush handle and put the coins in it, closing it after it was full. After a few seconds, on the side of the toilet, a larger slot opened automatically. There was a can of cheap beer in the slot. Gilbert held it up triumphantly. "Bier ist besser als Wasser, ja?" He took a swig.

"Did—you just drink toilet beer?" Vet asked.

Gilbert shrugged. "It's cheap, but it's better than nothing. Oi, there's a note…" He pulled a sticky note off of the bottom of the can and read it aloud: "To aid you on your mission. Do not trust the mochi."

"I'm far ahead of you…" Ivan muttered.

Brittany finally came over, followed closely behind by the Mochi America and Casey. "Well, the first three piles of rubble were a bust. I've sent the rest of the cult in small groups to search the other piles; I guess Mochi America doesn't actually know where the clocks are. Did you lot find anything?" Mochi America bounced up to Gilbert, seeming to be trying to get a look at the note. "…Well?"

Gilbert carefully handed Brittany the note, and she read it silently.

"What's it say, what's it say?" Mochi America asked excitedly.

Brittany glanced down at the creature, unease on her face. Then, she folded the note and put it in her pocket with her book. "It says 'To aid you on your mission'. I think I have an idea of who sent it, which means they know what we're doing here… and if it was here before, does that mean they were trying to help before they realized she was interfering…?" Her voice got quieter as she said this, speaking more to herself than anyone else. Casey squeezed her hand. Vet noticed that the mochi had a bit of a crease in its "brow" that made it look annoyed. Definitely don't trust the mochi, she decided.

"Brittany!" Someone called. The countries and the three cult members looked up to see a boy with dark skin and hair with white bandages tied around the cuffs of his beige pants waving at them from a few meters away.

"Ah, Damien," Brittany waved back. "What is it?"

"You need to come see this," he called.

"Don't speak in vague clichés, wanker!" Casey called back.

"Okay, fine. We found a clock."

"Thank you~!"

"Who's the author here, you or my sister?" Vet asked.

Casey shrugged and smiled at her. "Literature's my favorite class, it is. I know all the clichés. Or most of 'em, anyway."

"Never mind that," Brittany interrupted, "let's just go get that clock."


So the thing that I realized I hadn't thought of explaining was… the toilet! In case you don't know: in the game this story is based on, there's a toilet where you can put your "Heta" (the currency in the game; though here I replaced it with any coins, since Heta was likely just a game mechanic and not an actual thing) in exchange for beer and onigiri, which refilled your MP and HP respectively. There are a few other items you can buy, but it's not super important or interesting for the story, so I probably won't mention it again unless something comes up. As for why the toilet was there in the first place… Brittany's on the right track, I'll say that much.

So, what did you think? Can Mochi America be trusted? Does it truly not know where the clocks are, or is it hiding something? For answers, leave a review, follow, and/or favorite, and I'll see you in a while… I hope. Until then!