Thanks to EverythingMath, Big Eater Queen, madders10, BloodLily16 and Miss Akiyata for reviewing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 53: Securing Borders

As the game is played, defences are set up.

And it is the goal of the players to break through their opponents' defences.

…

"This is a bad idea," Rebecca said.

They were at Basch's house. The Swiss was working on rallying his people in order to set up a border control. Rebecca, Gilbert and Ludwig were with him.

"I thought that this was what we're supposed to do," Gilbert said. "Actually, since Switzy has this under control, I don't see why we're here."

"Lutz is one of his neighbours," Ludwig clarified. "And so is Italy. And in case you forgot, France's counterpart is also a bit of a problem."

Gilbert flinched.

"And don't forget about Austria and Liechtenstein," Basch said. "Basically, all my neighbours are nasty."

"And once their alerted of the border control," Rebecca said, "they'll try to stop us, and that's what we're doing here. They're going to try to take the land. Since he's no longer with the Northern Powers, they have no reason to allow him to keep his land."

"Then why didn't they try anything sooner?" Gilbert asked.

Rebecca and Basch looked towards her, before exchanging a look.

"It's because they decided to 'play' with you," Basch said. "The novelty of having new toys distracted them from doing their 'jobs'. But once they're aware of what we're doing, they're going to get serious."

"Does that mean that they might leave us alone?" Gilbert asked.

"It's 50/50," Basch said. "Either they'll leave you alone in order to do what they're supposed to do, or they're going to get even crueller with you out of anger."

"And what of Indien?" Ludwig asked, interrupting them. "With him as their prisoner, they might take their anger out on him."

Rebecca growled, turning her attention to Basch.

"Hurry up so that we can come up with an idea to save India," she said.

…

Arthur, Miguel and Alistair were staring at the four unconscious Nations.

When the news came that all four were attacked simultaneously, they had decided to move the four to the same room, which was a large living room. As it was, each of them had their own couch.

They also found out that in each case, their governmental buildings were attacked, again with a bomb. They had already enlisted the help of Feliks's phoenix to help them recover faster.

"Do you think it's the Deathplayers?" Arthur asked.

"I don't know, amiga," Miguel said, a dark gleam in his eyes. "But when I find the ones responsible for this, they will regret the day they decided to mess with my filho."

"Three of my former colonies were attacked this time," Arthur said. "I couldn't agree with you more."

…

The Deathplayer smirked as it stared at the White Knight.

This Deathplayer looked like England, before the gender swap. It had blood red hair and golden eyes with slitted pupils. It wore a black leather coat with leather pants and leather boots. It may not have wings, but it still had the horns and the tail.

The Indian was curled up on the floor, shivering as the visions filled his head.

It was cruel, but the Deathplayer couldn't find it in itself to care. First there were the hallucinogens that Black had given the poor Knight, then there were the whispered words. And then the Deathplayers had filled his head with visions. And now, it was time for the Deathplayer to whisper its own words.

It resented taking the form of a Pawn, especially seeing as there were four other strong pieces remaining, but this was in order to claim the White Knight as their own.

It leaned down in front of the Indian, who still couldn't see it.

"I never cared for you," the Deathplayer said in England's voice. "You were nothing more than a piece of land to help me expand my empire. Who would care about Raj? India is a nice piece of land. Quite a treasure. But not the most important now, is it? I hope you're not thinking that any of us would try to save you. For all I care, Oliver and the others can do whatever they want with you."

It heard a whine coming from the Nation on the ground, and its smirk widened.

Its job was complete.

Take the piece that was most vulnerable.

…

Matt was a little annoyed that Alfred had accompanied him to his home in order to secure his borders.

At least Rosa came along as well. The Mexican knew how to keep the American in line, especially if borders were concerned.

"So dude, what exactly are you doing?" Alfred asked.

Matt glared at him, especially considering he was on the phone with one of his generals. It was rare for the Nations to drag the humans into their quarrels, but it still happened. But the general was willing to listen when he heard what the subject would be.

"Let him finish first," Rosa muttered, massaging her temples.

The two jumped when they felt something at their legs, and looked down to see a black bear glaring up at them.

"I'm guessing Kumajiro also has a counterpart," Alfred said nervously, as he and Rosa backed away from the bear.

Matt sighed, hanging up the phone.

"My people are setting up border controls," Matt explained. "This means that Allen won't be able to sneak in, and it'll also make sure that none of their soldiers are sent."

"Dude, how is this going to help?" Alfred asked. "I thought you guys could teleport."

"We can. But when borders are closed, it becomes impossible. Besides, not everyone is adept at that magic, which means that few will use it unless it's an emergency."

"Alright," Rosa said, "but won't that other gringo be able to force his way in?"

"Not easily," Matt said. "Our people don't like us, but if we're trying to protect them, they become more loyal than you can imagine. Also, everyone over the age of thirteen has at least some military training, so almost everyone can fight. And Allen's people aren't in the mood to fight for him. So he'll need to force his way here, which is gonna be hard."

"Can't he just take your cities?" Rosa asked.

"No. We're not as sensitive towards our people and lands like you are. We can draw on the power when we need to, but it wouldn't make a difference if anything's attacked. The only way to get a victory over any of our Nations would be to find the Nations themselves."

"So, that's why we're here?" Alfred asked. "Making sure that no one hurts you?"

"…As much as I hate saying it, that's the case."

"So, that makes me your hero, right?"

"Shut up!"

…

Alida stared in astonishment at the large amount of canvases that Ricardo, Luis and Ferdinand brought along.

She had no idea that there was that much going on. It made you wonder…

"We're taking this to the other world, right?" Ricardo asked, interrupting her thoughts.

"Ja," she said. "They don't have to deal with the war unless they want to. And they're affected by the Deathplayers even more than us, so they'll try to figure things out."

"Great. I'll go tell Roberto to…"

"He's unconscious," Alida sighed. "I think it's because of a bomb hitting his parliament building or something. Anika is in the same predicament."

"A bomb?" Luis whispered, looking down in thought. "I can't believe it."

"The Players wanted to take out four pieces in one move," Ferdinand said, hugging himself.

Alida frowned, nodding her head.

"I was confronted by a Deathplayer that told me the exact same thing," she said.

"So, how are we getting there now?" Luis asked.

"I'll see if I can get in contact with Kanada."

…

Jeng Soo was pacing nervously. His land was still in danger, although since he was half a Nation, it didn't matter as much.

There was no problem concerning his people, but there was a problem if any of the Northern Nations found him.

It would be nice if the entire Nation of Korea could be under the Southern Powers' control.

But it all would depend on which Korea could be taken down first. That was what would determine their victory.

As soon as they realised that the borders were being locked down, Hyo Soo would try to find him. Their people wouldn't make a difference either. Civil War was always an issue among humans, and the Nations stayed out of it.

He only had half a land, which, no matter what, would be shared with his brother. Unless the two Koreas could become their own…

Jeng Soo stopped his pacing. North and South Korea from the other world were two different Nations. Perhaps they could try something like that? Then he could ensure that his part of the Nation would be under his complete control.

…

Eva groaned in annoyance.

Mathias had decided to come with her in order to secure her borders, and it was probably the worst mistake she ever made.

And none of the other Nordics came along.

The only other Nation that came along was James, and it was a little awkward having an Oceanic Nation on Scandinavian land. And the New Zealander kept quiet, to the point where it was creepy.

Oh, James could be exuberant, cheerful and overly friendly when he wanted to be. But she supposed being in the company of the counterpart of a Nation that used to torture him would put anyone in a bad mood.

As soon as her land was secure, she would hastily depart to the other world, where it was safer.

…

Gabriel had Lukas, Tino and Berwald with him. He liked this setup.

Lukas was not as bubbly as his brother, but she was nice. In a way, the calm of the other Norwegian was soothing, and she kept a cool head at all times.

The three allowed him to organise his people in order to protect the land. He was thankful that he was an island, which added extra security. And it would also take longer for any other Nations to realise that he was closing off his borders.

Hopefully his people would be able to protect the land, so that his resources wouldn't be under their control.

As soon as his borders were secure, he would return to the Southern Powers to receive his next set of orders.

…

Alida sighed, hanging up her phone.

It would seem that Canada was still busy with organising his people. It might take a while.

She looked towards Ferdinand, who was hugging himself again, rocking back and forth. He also seemed to be twitching slightly, as though he was antsy and needed something to do. Usually, she would like to see that, but presently he needed to keep focused (or as focused as he could be) on what the Deathplayers were doing.

She looked up when Bruce entered the room, before she turned back to the other Venezuela, who was looking at his counterpart nervously.

"Is something wrong?" Bruce asked.

"We need to get Ferdinand to the other world," Alida explained. "But we don't have any way to get there at the moment."

"Why don't you go yourself?"

"The glass won't allow me to get through."

"Well, I was experimenting, and it seems as though I could cross the barrier."

She arched a brow, and immediately went towards the hallway mirror to test it out. Sure enough, when she applied pressure to the glass, it felt like she was touching the surface of water.

"Alright then," she said. "Venezuelas, Ricardo, get those canvases. We're leaving."

…

Ivan watched as Nicolai was on the phone, speaking to whoever was in charge of his armies to handle his borders. The way Nicolai spoke, Ivan got the impression that it wasn't a boss, but just some human that he could order around.

Ivan smiled towards Dimitri and Vlad, who had also come along to help Nicolai with whatever they need to help him with.

Dimitri fidgeted under Ivan's gaze, while Vlad didn't even react. Ivan inwardly frowned. He had noticed that the Nations that had been involved longest didn't feel intimidated around him anymore. In fact, most of them were completely different. Poland was quieter, Lithuania didn't shake or stutter around him, Prussia didn't declare that he was 'awesome' every five minutes.

He remembered how Katyusha looked after her counterpart got to her in her dream, and he wondered if the others also had dangerous counterparts. He knew that he would be able to handle Viktor, it was easy, but perhaps the others weren't as lucky. Perhaps their counterparts were more like Natalya.

He knew Nicolai wasn't that bad, but he suddenly wondered how the other counterparts were. He found that he wanted to meet them.

He looked towards Vlad, whom he also noticed didn't seem to be as cheerful as she used to be. Now that he thought about it, the only time certain Nations seemed to be nervous now were when the subject of their counterparts came up.

He jumped when he received a text, and looked at the screen, seeing that it was from Yao.

"Kolkolkolkol…"

"What is it?" Vlad asked.

"Someone decided to bomb Anika and Roberto's government buildings," Ivan said.

The other two stared at him with horror.

"You don't think it's the Northern Powers, do you?" Dimitri asked.

"I don't know," Ivan said, "but whoever it is, will learn that it is not nice to hurt my friends."

Dimitri shuddered, and Vlad didn't react. Ivan ticked that off as more proof that the Nations were changing.

…

Camille was playing with Andrei, Alexandru and the Micro Nations.

Matt was handling the security on her island, just like Nicolai was handling the security of Andrei's land.

It was strange to act like a kid. To be carefree, where a game was actually fun and not just some way to inflict pain. It was nice. And she could tell that Andrei was thinking along the same lines.

The Micro Nations were waiting for the Nations to make another trip to the other world, before they carried on with whatever Roberto had asked them to do.

…

The African Nations, with the exception of Miora, who had decided to help her counterpart in the other world, and Anika, were in the dining room that all the Nations had used so far. It was an African meeting, considered to be an emergency.

"Why'd you call this meeting?" Morocco asked.

Imane had light brown skin with long, curly black-brown hair tied back in a braid. She wore a blue and purple djellaba with brown sandals.

"We need to decide who's going along to the other world," Gupta explained. "This could be the only opportunity we would get to kick European butt."

There were smirks coming from several of them. It was true. The Europeans were idiots that couldn't figure out which tribes got along and which didn't. That was probably the biggest reason why Africans weren't too fond of Europeans. There were a few that could be tolerated, but otherwise, it was a strained relationship.

"We also have the Deathplayers to think of," Jana said.

"That's another reason why this meeting was called," Gupta said. "We in the Sahara have no prior experience with them. Which is why you Sub-Saharans need to educate us."

"It's nearly impossible to fight them," Theresa said. "The best way is to succumb to your animal instincts. It kind of levels the playing field."

"What do you mean by 'succumb to your animal instincts'?"

Mozambique closed her eyes, taking a few heavy breaths. When they opened, there was a feral look in her eyes, and her mouth automatically twisted in a snarl.

"Like that," Farai explained. "You need to channel an animal that calls your land home. It's easier with animals that are national symbols. Mozambique would be able to channel and control and elephant a lot better than a lion, and some of us can do the Big Five."

"I see," Gupta said. "Now, who wants to go along? Oh, and someone please get Mozambique to snap back to normal."

…

Arthur, Alistair and Miguel were still watching over the unconscious Nations when they suddenly had company. They reacted with surprise, of course.

"Bloody hell!" Arthur exclaimed.

It was then that they realised who the others were.

"What are you doing here?" Arthur asked. "How'd you get here?"

"The barrier is weaker," Alida said, looking towards Anika.

The three Nations then took note of the other three occupants and also of the boxes that they had with them.

"What's all this?" Alistair asked.

"Our Venezuela has been painting everything that the Deathplayers have been doing," Alida explained. "I brought him here so that he could help you make sense of it all. It would seem that the Deathplayers are more focused on you than us. I'm just glad he likes to use quick-drying paint."

The two Kirklands stared at the boxes and sighed.

"I think we have a bare room that can be used," Alistair said.

The other Venezuela beamed, and the three Nations shuddered when they realised that he appeared to be even more insane than Ivan.

…

Roderich was playing on his piano, allowing the melody of Mozart's Waltz in A Major to fill the room. He really had nothing else to do.

He paused when he heard something else. It sounded like his violin being played. And the melody being played…

Now, Roderich prided himself in his great knowledge of music, being able to identify the melody and the composer by a single bar. And this melody was no different. But when the name of the composition came to him, he shuddered subconsciously.

The Devil's Trill.

He looked around, and his eyes widened when he saw someone that vaguely looked like Gilbert, except he actually had blue eyes and blond hair, and there would be no doubt that he was related to Ludwig. But this version wore a tight black shirt, leather pants and leather boots, and there was a pair of horns atop his head.

The man smirked, not allowing a single note to be played incorrectly.

"Hallo, Österreich."

I'll be updating the character guide soon enough, so don't worry about the OC's of the last three chapters.

I at first wanted to make Morocco a man, but when I allowed my instincts to guide me, I only got the picture of a female version in my mind. And while doing research, I came to the conclusion that I really like the djellabas. Do a google image search, and you'll find a beautiful blue and purple djellaba that I see Imane wearing. Also, interesting fact. Morocco is the only African country that isn't a part of the African Union.

And I actually mentioned a few months ago that the best way to fight Deathplayers was to allow yourself to become more animal-like. This is because, as animals, the Nations aren't so in tune with the buildings, so in the event of having an important building or a city attacked, they wouldn't be affected. Also, if anyone knows a good website that has the animal symbols of each country, I'd be grateful.

The Big Five refers to the five game animals that are the most difficult to hunt on foot in Africa. They are the African lion, African elephant, African leopard, Cape buffalo and White/Black rhinoceros. The African Nations would naturally see the five as important, and would usually try to channel one of them. It comes easier for Nations that have all five as native animals. Since Mozambique isn't one of them, channelling a lion was a little difficult, even if there are lions native to Mozambique, and she has limited control. An elephant would come easiest to her, being a national animal. South Africa would find it the easiest, since the Big Five are actually a big deal, even being printed on our money, along with Mandela.

And Jeng Soo and Hyo Soo have the same setup as Italy and Romano. They're actually the same nation, just different halves of it.