Thanks to madders10, Dragonfire78, EverythingMath and Miss Akiyata for reviewing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 57: The First Red Piece

The first White piece has been captured.

And the first Red piece is truly on the board.

And it's time to move on to the second.

…

The entire mansion heard the pained screams of their prisoner. No one really reacted, except for those that were about to pay their counterparts a little visit. In order to access the others' dreams, they would need to focus.

Everyone thought that someone just decided to torture the Indian, and whoever it was had more success with causing him pain than anyone else that decided to torture him.

No one thought to check.

…

The Deathplayer smirked, watching as the Nation squirmed at his feet. Well, the Indian could no longer be called a Nation, now could he?

He watched as the fingers clawed at the ground, before actual claws appeared. They disappeared as suddenly as they came.

He couldn't see Raj's eyes, but he knew that they would most likely be red as well. The skin started to glow in a slight reddish hue, and the veins underneath the skin became darker, standing out against the skin, appearing to be black.

And from what little the Deathplayer could see, the man's injuries were healing themselves.

…

Yong Soo paused in his account of the time he accidently set Choden's robes on fire when they heard agonised screaming.

As one, the four Nations left the room to find Mahesh outside on the ground, curled up with his hands on his heart. Yul was watching, confused and afraid.

"What happened?" Lobsong demanded.

"I don't know," Yul responded. "He was clutching his head, as though he had a headache…"

"Then why is he clutching his heart?" Jeng Soo demanded.

Lobsang frowned, before he knelt down besides the screaming Nation and placed a few fingers on his head. As soon as the digits made contact, the Tibetan swiftly withdrew them, as though he was burned.

"What's going on?" Yong Soo demanded.

"The Deathplayers," Lobsang said, his eyes wide and face paling. "They did something to his counterpart."

"What did they do?!"

"They… They severed the connection."

"Between the two of them?!"

"No. They severed the connection between the Nation of India and the land of India. In both worlds."

The others looked at him, horrified.

"So then," Chio said, "are you saying they're no longer Nations?"

"They're something else entirely," Lobsang said. "What they are, I cannot say. The only thing I'm aware of is that this is only the beginning."

…

Alistair was getting tired as he watched Ferdinand paint. It was getting a little boring.

At least, until Ferdinand dropped the paintbrush.

Alistair winced when he thought of cleaning the paint that now stained the floor, and he felt a little enraged and wanted to snap at the Venezuelan.

At least, until he saw Ferdinand hugging himself, rocking back and forth.

"Oi, what's wrong?" Alistair asked.

"White became Red," Ferdinand said, a slight tremor in his voice.

"And what exactly does that mean?"

Ferdinand turned to face him, and Alistair was taken aback by the absolute terror in his eyes.

"First, sanity's last thread snaps," Ferdinand said. "And then, your humanity is gone with it. And something else needs to take its place."

"What?"

Ferdinand whined, rocking himself back and forth, and Alistair sighed, knowing he won't get a straight answer out of him.

But it was obvious that they needed to figure out exactly what takes the place of your humanity then.

…

The Micro Nations heard the screams, and each of them panicked.

Though now they were able to follow the sound of the screams, they didn't know what to expect.

And anything that made a Nation scream like that would be too dangerous for the Micro Nations.

…

Francesco was awoken by the scream, but Flavio remained asleep. The Micro Nation knew that his older brothers were used to the sounds of screams, especially considering that Luciano used to torture a lot of people at their home. He only stopped for Francesco's sake.

He looked over towards the window, and blinked in surprise when he saw a flash of silver. He frowned in confusion, and with some trepidation slowly approached the window.

He opened the window, hearing a slight yelp. He turned to where he heard the yelp, and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion when he saw what appeared to be a young boy.

And he only knew that it was a boy because his instinctual nervousness around girls was non-existent.

"Who are you?" Francesco asked.

The boy looked at him with wide, frightened eyes, and Francesco wondered if the other even knew who he was.

"Well?" Francesco demanded, hoping he sounded as harsh as Luciano usually did.

"K-Kugelmugel," the boy said, and Francesco was right in his assumption that it was a boy. "I'm a Micro Nation."

Marcello's eyes widened at the revelation. He knew that he wasn't the only Micro Nation, but it was the first time that he met another one.

"Are you from this world, or the other?" Francesco asked.

When he saw the other tremble, he got his answer.

"Why are you here?" Francesco asked.

"I-India," Kugelmugel said.

Francesco listened to the screams that were echoing in the background, and he knew that he was referring to that. But it also meant…

He sighed.

"Luciano's going to be mad if he figures out you're here," Francesco said, closing the window and going back to Flavio, trying to ignore the pained screams.

…

Hans blinked in surprise. He was sure that the other Seborga would have sold him out, or would at least have alerted Romano. But the other let him go.

At least, he hoped he let him go.

He glanced inside the room again, seeing Seborga sitting down next to Romano again.

Hans sighed in relief, and proceeded to try and get himself down. He realised that Raj wasn't on the upper floors, and there was no reason for him to be on the walls.

…

Lien and Kiku were getting tired, so the Southern Asians directed them to rooms where they could stay for the night. Of course, Hien decided to stay with her counterpart, just in case.

Cheskka and Mingyu decided to keep an eye on Kiku. Partly because they found it impossible to trust Japan, and partly because she was staying in the Filipino's room.

…

Kyo glanced towards the mirror again, a thoughtful frown on her face.

She could try to see if her counterpart was asleep. And it would be easy.

India's screams were like a lullaby to the Asian Nation.

…

Hyo Soo had returned to the home that he shared with his brother. Jeng Soo wasn't there, which was really disappointing to the South Korean.

He wanted to find his brother. Find him, and break him.

He had a feeling that Yong Soo was with him, since whenever Hyo Soo would look at a reflective surface nothing would greet him.

He had also tried to see if he could pay his counterpart a visit in his sleep, but either the spell didn't work when they were in the same world, or the hyper South Korean simply wasn't asleep yet.

Well, there was one more option that he could try…

…

Sadiq glared at the figure standing in front of him. He had already grown to hate the other the previous two nights, and the third night would just increase that hatred.

Mustafa had the same skin tone as Sadiq, but his hair was darker, and rust-coloured eyes were hidden behind a black mask, similar to Sadiq's white one. The other Turk wore a green dolman with a red and blue kaftan, purple Ottoman pants and golden sandals. He also wore a purple fez.

It was obvious that the other was rather colourful , with the exception of the mask.

"You just don't know how to stay back," Sadiq said.

"Oh really?" Mustafa said. "Well then, you don't know how to stay down."

Mustafa lunged at Sadiq with the sword that he carried, and Sadiq blocked with a metal pipe.

Mustafa had brought them to some sort of warehouse, with a lot of potential weapons that Sadiq could use. However, the other Turk was faster than Sadiq was, and the sword cut through whatever Sadiq used as a weapon, or in most cases, a shield.

Sure enough, the pipe that Sadiq was using was cut through, and Sadiq was kicked to the ground.

"This is fun," Mustafa chuckled.

"Wait," Sadiq said. "I wanted to ask you something."

"And what would that be?"

"What happened to your Egypt? Who hurt him?"

"You really want to know?"

That was all Sadiq needed to hear to confirm his thoughts. He had caught Omar glancing at him with hostility, and then there was the time where the Egyptian had forcibly removed his mask.

And now it made sense.

"Why'd you do it?" Sadiq demanded.

"Clever, aren't you?" Mustafa taunted. "I was mostly supervising while Greece had his revenge."

"Revenge? For what? What could he have possibly done to make you that angry?"

"Well, it was more Alexandros's revenge, but I was a little pissed myself. After all, Mama Greece did take me in when I was still rather young. Egypt's mom killed her, and by the time Alex was ready for revenge, Ancient Egypt was gone, and the little brat was all that was left."

Sadiq's eyes widened, and he felt himself growing cold.

"You're not going to hurt Egypt again, are you?" Sadiq asked.

"There were a few times when we went after him again," Mustafa said. "But I'll admit, after destroying his vocal chords, torturing him just isn't fun anymore."

Mustafa grinned.

"But your Egypt still has his vocal chords, am I right?" Mustafa asked.

Sadiq roared in rage, forcing himself to his feet and lunging at his counterpart.

He actually liked Gupta, and didn't want to think that the Egyptian would be hurt outside of a war.

And when Sadiq saw the smirk on Mustafa's face, he knew that the other would try to hurt Gupta just to get to Sadiq.

…

Luciano contemplated paying a visit to her counterpart, before shooting down that idea. She had been seriously disappointed by her counterpart last time. It wouldn't be worth it.

She considered paying a visit to Feliciano's brothers, before she shuddered at the thought of what happened last time. She had no interest in being forced outside again.

She supposed she could do her job as leader of the Northern Powers. She would need to pay attention to what the South was doing anyway.

…

Peter, Jack and Sheila had managed to find their way into the basement, which they had determined as the origin of Raj's screaming.

They were a little despaired by the fact that the basement had been converted to be like any other floor, meaning that there were hallways and rooms.

And they needed to find out which room the Indian was kept prisoner in.

…

Miora had joined the Africans on the other side, and she found that she rather liked them.

They got along better than the African Nations in her own world, and there was some sort of camaraderie between them.

She remained close to Angelique and Omar, at least at first. When she met her counterpart, she decided to stay close to her.

Aina had short black hair, and her skin was a little paler than Miora's. She wore a red shirt with a pair of jean shorts. But what disturbed Miora was the cloth over the other's eyes.

Angelique had told her that that was a result of Russia's torture. Miora also noticed that several of the other Africans were hovering around Aina, prepared to protect her against anything.

And after seeing how timid and quiet the other was, she also felt the need to protect her.

Although, she wasn't sure how.

…

Seamus had gone down to their liquor room. He had wanted to get a beer in order to help him sleep.

However, when he arrived, he could almost imagine a vein popping.

For the first time in over three hundred years, the Kirklands had run out of alcohol.

…

Bella was tied to a chair, staring at her counterpart with venom in her green eyes.

Emma had long brown hair tied in a high ponytail with brown eyes. She wore a long, loose red shirt with black leggings and grey boots, a black belt tied at the waist. She was also very pale.

And she started at the blonde Belgian coldly, holding the bloody knife high.

"You're hardly worth my time," Emma said. "Perhaps I should turn my attention to your little brother. Luca doesn't really want to take part in all of this, especially since his counterpart couldn't be seen."

"You leave Henri alone!" Bella cried out, struggling against her bonds.

Bella flinched when Emma stepped up right in front of her, knife pressed against her cheek.

"Luca is incredibly lazy, and doesn't want to take part in torture," Emma said. "He's kind of like Abel, in a way. So the job of torture in my family falls to me. And I want to make it fun. You're just not doing it for me. So maybe I should go after your little brother. Maybe then it would be interesting."

Bella winced as the blade dug into her skin, and she could feel a few drops of blood going down her cheek.

"Why do you even need to torture anyone?" Bella demanded.

"It's either torture or be tortured," Emma said. "And I'd rather not let Italy torture me because I don't want to play his game."

"Then, how is it your brothers can get away with it?" Bella demanded.

"Because they're not known for their torture. I am. And Italy wants your lands, and the best way to do that is if you're too weak to fight back. Why, just look at India."

Bella growled, but she could feel herself growing cold.

"What did you do to India?" Bella whispered.

"I personally did nothing, since I don't have a reason to hurt him. However, before I came to meet you, his screams echoed throughout Italy's house."

Bella's eyes widened, but the conversation was ended when Emma stabbed the knife in Bella's thigh, earning a shrill scream of pain.

…

"Which one should we go for next?"

"I think I have an idea…"

…

Peter, Jack and Sheila finally managed to find the room where the screaming seemed to be coming from. But just as they reached out to open the door, it stopped.

They shared a nervous glance, and swallowing his nervousness, Jack reached out to open the door.

…

Fletcher nervously looked around.

He was tied so that he was lying on a table, and there was a bright light shining above him.

He heard giggles, and looked to the side. He paled when he realised that there were five figures entering the room, resembling the Nordics. He specifically recognised Gabriel.

"Now that he's awake," Denmark said, his voice as cold as ice, "let's begin."

Fletcher couldn't figure out why he was there, or what was happening. He saw Finland taking out what appeared to be a handgun, but there was something seriously wrong with it.

The Fin steadied the weapon on his shoulder, and fired at point blank, and Fletcher screamed. It took him a moment to realise that there was a stinging sensation that felt like needles stabbing him, only it came from underneath his skin. And the focal point was the point of impact.

He looked towards Gabriel, who avoided his gaze. And he screamed when the other shoulder met the same fate.

…

Miguel screamed in pain.

Of course, he had met Marco. And he could completely understand why some of the Nations from the other world didn't like him.

He was chained to a wall, and the other had all sorts of metal objects on a nearby table.

"I like your eyes," Marco suddenly said. "They match. Not like mine. I wonder if I could have them."

Miguel could feel his blood run cold, and when Marco grabbed his jaw, he shut his eyes tightly, not liking the idea of what the other just might do.

"Aw, don't hide them," Marco said. "They're very pretty to look at."

"Get away from me," Miguel said.

Marco chuckled, and Miguel felt the other Portuguese release his jaw. He dared to open his eyes, and sighed in relief when he saw that Marco had returned to the table, but that relief was short-lived when Marco took a scalpel.

"You know what would make those pretty eyes stand out?" Marco taunted. "The skin surrounding those eyes, covered in blood."

And Miguel screamed in fear and pain.

…

When the three Micro Nations opened the door, they were shocked to see Raj.

He had this insane smirk on his face, and his eyes were glowing red. He also seemed to be wearing some sort of red robe, or was that a cloak?

And Raj began to chuckle darkly.

"Welcome, little ones," another voice said, and the Micro Nations were startled when they heard the voice.

They turned to see someone that looked eerily like India, standing in the shadows.

"W-who are y-you?" Peter demanded.

"I am simply a Deathplayer," the lookalike said, and the three Micro Nations paled.

"W-what did you do to India?" Jack demanded.

"I simply freed him," the Deathplayer said. "He is no longer a Nation. Now, if anyone attacks any part of India, he wouldn't feel a thing."

"I can smell your blood," Raj said, startling the other three. "Your hearts are beating wildly. Your blood is calling to me."

"Not yet," the Deathplayer said. "Soon, you can have all the blood you want."

Raj growled, but nodded his head.

"The first of our pieces are on the board," the Deathplayer said. "Gathering the Red pieces will be harder than gathering Black and White." He looked at the Micro Nations. "There is no reason for you to take part. So if you play your cards right, we might allow you to go from Micro Nations to true Nations."

The three were startled, and the Deathplayer turned to Raj, a smirk on his face.

"I believe it's time to go," the Deathplayer said. "It is time to start on the second Red."

To get an idea of what Raj is now, think of a combination of a Rakshasa and a Pishacha. I figured those two would work out great.

I originally wanted one of the 2Ps to go investigate and find the Micro Nations, leading to the capture of said Micro Nations, but that would mean that the 2Ps will know what the Deathplayers are up to, and I need them to be the villains for a while longer, which meant keeping them blissfully unaware of what really happened. It will probably be after about half the Reds are gathered that they'll learn.

And there will be dream torture next chapter, like there is above. It's been a while since I focussed on the dream tortures, and I seriously need to work on it again.

On a lighter note, I have finished writing another story. Tangled Red Threads will be posted today as well, so if you like crack pairings, and want to read something a little lighter, go check it out. I wanted to wait until I've finished before posting, just in case.