Thanks to Dragonfire78, Miss Akiyata and madders10 for reviewing.

I noticed the amount of reviewers has dwindled recently. Please, I want to do this professionally, so I need reviews to tell me whether or not I'm doing a good job. My writing is my passion, but I need to know that I'm not wasting my time.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 59: The Morning After

In the morning after a powerful storm, all is revealed.

…

Alida had her arms crossed. Her face was blank, but her eyes were stormy with a thousand emotions.

Ricardo had returned with the Micro Nations and informed her that Raj had been taken by a Deathplayer. And that apparently, something was very wrong with Raj.

And then Tibet, Macau, Mongolia and the two Koreans had returned with an unconscious and feverish Mahesh. And then Tibet had said that somehow, Mahesh was no longer a Nation.

She had some idea of what the Deathplayers were capable of, but nothing like this. How was it possible that what was done to one counterpart could affect the other? Well, other than being turned into women for some of them.

She sighed. In the morning, Ricardo will attempt to find out what was happening, and someone would have to inform the Southern Asians that their leader was no longer a Nation like them.

But that didn't stop the question of what India had become, for he was definitely not human.

…

Felic swallowed nervously, before she opened the door to Italy's room.

Luciano was bowed over a map, and when the door opened she looked up, a scowl forming on her face.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's about the prisoner," Felic said, trying to keep calm, but extremely nervous because of what she would say.

"What about him?" Luciano asked, looking back down to the map.

Felic took a deep breath, steeling herself for what she was about to say.

"He's gone."

Luciano's head instantly snapped up, and her eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice ice cold.

"He's no longer there. The door was locked and everything, but he wasn't there."

"We will wait for an hour, just in case someone decided to take him to the bathroom or something," Luciano said. "If he's not back, we'll start making demands. And whoever took him will pay."

Felic took a deep breath, before nodding her head.

For now, Luciano's rage wasn't directed at her, but as soon as they realised that they couldn't find the missing prisoner, the Pol knew that the Italian would lash out, and she would be a prime target, because she was the one that discovered that he was missing.

…

Toris was dozing in her chair next to Feliks's bed when she heard a loud cheer, effectively waking her.

She yawned, turning her groggy eyes towards Feliks, who was doing some sort of victory dance while still in bed.

"What is it?" Toris asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Like, I finally finished!" Feliks said.

"What?"

"Like, all the candy I was supposed to eat. I totally finished it!"

"Oh, that's great."

"Tak! And now I'm like totally in the mood for some słonina."

Toris sighed, but smiled slightly. She supposed that it was normal that Feliks would want something salty after eating all of the sweet food.

…

When Ivan woke up the next morning, he saw Nicolai frantically making calls. He cocked his head to the side. The Bulgarian seemed even more panicked than before.

"What happened?" Ivan asked, and Nicolai jumped.

The Bulgarian finished his current conversation, before hanging up the phone and turning to the Russian.

"I received a message from the Belarus on our side," Nicolai said. "She said that our Russia and Ukraine will be coming for me. And I need to prepare."

Ivan frowned at that.

"Tell me, are you afraid of the other me?" Ivan asked.

Nicolai gave a nervous, hysteric laugh, and Ivan's frown deepened.

"You haven't seen them when they're angry," Nicolai said. "They're absolutely vicious. They're merciless. Believe me."

"Did they hurt you before?"

Nicolai sighed, before turning his back to Ivan. He removed his shirt, and Ivan stared in shock at the Bulgarian's back.

There were deep scars, and some of them looked as though they were stitched up at some point, with the marks of the stitches still remaining.

"They carved deep," Nicolai explained. "And then they used Ghost Blood. It's a liquid that is usually used to soak thread, and then the thread is pulled through the victim's skin, as though you're sewing. The liquid causes the thread to dissolve in an hour, and it burns the skin surrounding the thread. No one knows how long it takes for a Nation to heal from it. It was discovered around two hundred years ago, and no one's healed from it yet. And simply pouring it on your skin wouldn't do anything. Ukraine did the sewing."

Ivan kept staring at the Bulgarian's back.

"Why did they do it?" Ivan asked.

"I was always the punching bag of Europe," Nicolai said. "Particularly Eastern Europe. Why do you think I decided to join the South?"

"I see. Is that the only time you were…"

"No. These scars were inflicted twenty years ago. They're taking long to heal because they were so deep. A few of these scars reached all the way to my spine, and they would scrape the knife against the vertebrae."

Ivan felt enraged. He might be a little cruel as well, but this…

"What did they have to gain?" Ivan asked.

"They did it to vent. They wanted to let out their frustrations."

Ivan clenched his fist. This was too much.

"Tell me, what else did they do to you?"

"They tried to drown me, they buried me alive, they let me out in the tundra with only my pants, they once pulled out all of my hair and some of my scalp, they wrapped a noose around my neck and tried to hang me, they…"

"Enough," Ivan said, feeling enraged. "Why would they do that?"

"Like I said, I'm Europe's punching bag. There was one time when they tortured me out of anger."

Ivan noticed that Nicolai had started trembling, and decided to do something about it.

"I managed to beat Viktor before," Ivan said. "So I can do it again, da? So just stay around me."

Nicolai stared at him for a moment before a smile appeared on his face.

"Thank you, Ivan."

…

Viktor, Irina and Natasha were standing just outside the Bulgarian border.

"We have to find a way to sneak through," Viktor said, eyeing the scene.

"I've already searched for an opening," Natasha said. "Bulgaria is smart."

"Shouldn't we have brought Romania along?" Irina asked. "After all, he is the one that Bulgaria fears the most."

"I see your point," Viktor said. "Perhaps we should ask his opinion about it."

"And maybe he'll be able to come up with a plan," Irina said.

"You know, I wonder what my counterpart is like," Natasha said. "Can I come with you to see?"

"Sure, babochka," Viktor said. "But from what my counterpart said, she's a little terrifying."

"I'm sure that you can do worse," Natasha said.

…

The moment Raivis awoke, he was trembling viciously. He had never been forced to suffer pain like that for the sake of purely causing pain. Not even when he was living with Russia.

He found himself wanting comfort, and his first thought immediately went to Tors, who was currently a woman.

He had felt a strange, motherly aura coming from Toris, and at the moment, he found that that was what he wanted.

So he decided to find Toris.

…

Marius was pacing her room. She had heard about the missing Indian, and Michael had also contacted them.

Apparently, Raj's blood was nowhere near what a human or Nation's blood should be. He wasn't sure what it was, but there were a few similarities with snakes. And then there were a few things that could be found in humans that practiced cannibalism, though there were also hints that the one the blood belonged to was a vegan. But the most disturbing part was that some of the cells were identical to those of a corpse.

And when they learned that the prisoner was gone, the magic trio agreed that they didn't think that his escape was his choice.

Marius growled, looking towards the mirror. Vlad was still asleep, but she knew that it wouldn't be for long.

Coming to a decision, she knew that she would have to act fast.

…

As soon as Mei woke up, she went in search of Yao. She had to tell him about what Yong Soo had told her, and she also had to check on him. If Yong Soo couldn't reach him because he was plagued in his dreams, then it was important that she make sure that he was alright.

She would also need to check on Hyung Soo.

She arrived at his room, and entered without knocking. Yao wasn't there, and she wondered where he might be.

She found him in the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee. He looked haggard, and his hair was completely soaked, and when she got close, she could smell dirty water.

"Are you alright?" Mei asked.

"He tried to drown me," Yao said. "And then he tried to strangle me with the vines in that dreamscape."

"I'm so glad that I'm South," Taiwan said. "Oh, speaking of South, Yong Soo called. He said that it's not necessary to get Tibet, Macau and Mongolia."

"Did he say why?" Yao asked.

Mei hesitated, too afraid to tell him, and eventually sighed.

"Apparently, something happened to Raj," Mei said.

Yao's eyes widened, and he immediately ran away. Mei suspected that he was on his way to his room, in order to grab his cell phone.

Now she just had to check on Hyung Soo.

…

"I can't believe we have to go and buy alcohol," Seamus sighed.

"I know, right?" Patrick said. "Not once did we ever run out of alcohol. I blame Prussia. And Denmark. Russia…"

"Russia wasn't here yesterday."

"He was still here the previous days!"

"Good point."

The two of them were driving to town in what could only be called a truck.

The two Irish brothers were intending restock the Kirklands' alcohol supply.

…

Kiku groaned, trying to climb out of the bed. She had fought against her counterpart for three hours before the other managed to gain the upper hand. Fortunately, by that time Kyo was tired as well, so didn't do much, other than push her around for a while.

Really, she was more sore than anything else.

"What happened to you?" Cheskka asked.

Kiku turned a tired gaze onto the Filipino and sighed.

"I met Kyo."

Cheskka winced, and patted Kiku's shoulder in sympathy.

"Come on, I think the others want breakfast," Cheskka said.

…

Mamun watched as Cheskka dragged Kiku into the room.

Bangladesh had light brown skin with messy short black hair, masking his brown eyes. He wore a black kurta with loose black pants, and his feet remained bare.

South Africa had called to let him know about what had happened to Mahesh. It was disturbing, to say the least.

And he would need to find some way to tell the others.

He looked towards Cheskka once again. She wasn't technically a member of the empire, but she was an ally nonetheless. The news of Mahesh's fate wouldn't affect her. And then there were the two guests to think of.

"You look tense," Singapore said.

Alvira had long, silky black hair tied in a high ponytail, an orchid pinned at the base of the ponytail. She had red eyes which looked exactly like fresh blood. She wore a red thigh-length qipao with images of orchids in bloom, which only made her eyes and the orchid stand out, along with her pale skin and dark hair.

"South Africa called me this morning," he said. "Something… happened to Mahesh."

The light chatter that had filled the room died out, and all eyes fell to the Bangladeshi.

"What happened?" Lien asked.

"Something involving Deathplayers or something."

Lien and Kiku exchanged a glance, and Mamun's eyes narrowed.

"What do you know of them?" he asked.

"The Africans told us about them," Kiku said. "How they used to torture them when they were still children, and before anyone came to colonise and raise them. They have a hatred of Nations, and they enjoy playing cruel games with their victims."

"Sounds like the North," Akmal muttered.

"Also," Lien said, "they said that they transform into the likeness of someone they're playing with."

"The likeness of…?" Mumal whispered. "Have you seen one of these likenesses before?"

The two shook their heads.

"So there's no way to know exactly how they differ?" Mumal asked.

"I think we'll know if we were to see one of them," Alvira sighed.

…

When he awoke, Sadiq immediately went to find Gupta. He wanted to warn the Egyptian of a possible visit from his counterpart.

On the way, he ran into Heracles, who he noticed seemed to be limping.

"What happened to you, feta-breath?" Sadiq asked.

Heracles levelled a tired glare on him. Not sleepy, but tired, as though the Grecian was emotionally exhausted as well.

"Alexandros," Heracles explained. "He pierced my leg with a sword. And then stepped on my ankle."

Sadiq winced. But then he sighed.

"I learned something from my own counterpart," Sadiq said. "What happened to the other Egypt… It was our counterparts that did that to him."

Heracles's eyes widened, and he seemed to become alert.

"What?" he whispered. "So that's why…"

"It gets worse," Sadiq said. "Mustafa said something about going after Gupta next."

Heracles paled, and the two of them made their way to Gupta's room together.

…

Luciano was pacing furiously, Kyo and Lutz keeping an eye on her.

Kyo also seemed to be enraged, but didn't move about, her hands drumming in a murderous tic.

"How could he have escaped?" Lutz asked.

"I don't know," Luciano snapped. "But I don't think the South has him."

"How can you be sure?" Kyo asked.

"They would have gloated by now. In what state did you leave him in?"

"I don't think he would have been able to move on his own."

"Do you think there are more traitors?" Lutz asked.

"If that's the case, then they might have taken him," Luciano said. "To what purpose, I don't know. And it will be hard to try and determine who the traitors are, what with everyone going to deal with those other traitors."

"As long as the South doesn't have him, we still have hope," Kyo said. "Have you managed to see anything from your counterpart?"

"No," Luciano said. "The idiota is still asleep."

"We could ask one of the others," Lutz said.

Luciano nodded her head in agreement, and the trio set out to find one of the other Nations to try and figure out what was happening on the other side.

…

Ricardo sighed, sitting down on the floor, facing the window.

He was about to have another vision about what was going on, and he hoped that this time, he would be able to figure out what exactly it meant.

…

Florencia watched as America passed her location once again, and she sighed.

It was the fourth time he passed, and while it was worrying at first, it was only boring now. How long would it take for him to get bored?

He suddenly turned to face her direction, and she narrowed her eyes.

There was a smirk on his face.

…

Vlad found himself in a strange place. It looked like a banquet hall, and he was sitting at one end of the large table.

He looked down at himself, and saw that he was, in fact, a he, which meant that this was a dream.

"You realise that I'm cutting it close, right?" a voice taunted.

Vlad's eyes narrowed in a glare, and he turned his attention to the direction the voice came from.

"Marius," Vlad spat. "What do you want?"

"First, we need to talk," Marius said, sitting down at the other end of the table. "Please, drink up."

Vlad looked down, and saw that a goblet had appeared in front of him, filled to the brim with a red liquid.

"Don't worry," Marius said. "It's wine. Nothing to worry about."

Vlad's eyes narrowed, before he reluctantly took a sip of the wine.

"Why are you suddenly being so hospitable?" Vlad asked.

"As I stated, we need to talk," Marius said. "And neither of us are leaving until we've had our talk."

…

When Mahesh awoke, he instantly knew that something was wrong.

For one thing, he wasn't in Tibet's home anymore.

His entire body felt heavy, and he felt incredibly hot. Something unnatural had happened.

He looked around, and he finally recognised the room as a spare room in Alida's home. He also noticed that he was alone.

He closed his eyes, and he instantly got a vision of Raj, wearing some sort of red cloak. His eyes were filled with a beastly hunger, and Mahesh couldn't help but wonder what had happened to his counterpart.

"Don't worry about it," a voice said, and Mahesh instantly opened his eyes. "You'll be joining him soon enough."

Mahesh turned his head to the side, and he spotted someone that looked a lot like him.

"You're a Deathplayer, aren't you?" Mahesh asked.

"That is correct," the Deathplayer said.

"What did you do to Raj?"

"I started the process of turning him into one of us. Of course, one of the requirements is that he should die, but that part was skipped. So now, we have an incomplete version. The result is a feral, animalistic demon that will obey whatever the rest of us have to say."

"Why?"

"Patience, Black Knight," the Deathplayer said. "You know, I wasn't expecting you to be affected as well. Not to the same extent, but the result is nevertheless satisfactory."

"What do you want?"

The demon loomed over Mahesh, and in his weakened state he couldn't move to defend himself as the Deathplayer wrapped his hand lightly around his throat.

"There was another requirement that we skipped," the Deathplayer whispered. "You need to die as well, and then the two pieces become one."

Mahesh's eyes widened, and the Deathplayer chuckled.

"We'll come back for you later, Black Knight," the Deathplayer said. "For now, you can live without the responsibilities of being a Nation, as something akin to a human. Well, not quite. There are two that will be able to kill you. Us."

The Deathplayer leaned down, next to his ear.

"And Raj."

The way I see it, Ivan is kind of oblivious to his own acts of cruelty, but is fully aware of cruel acts done by others. And there's no denying that what Viktor and Irina did was cruel.

I realised that there's quite a hole involving 2PPhilippines. In Chapter 8, which explains who else is among the Southern Asians, she wasn't mentioned, and with the Mirror History chapter she was neglected as well. But there's no denying that she's South. I think it's because the website that I used to get the names of the Southern Asians didn't have Philippines listed, or I might have overlooked it. And I didn't notice it until now because there are a lot of names, and unless something stood out, I wouldn't notice it. Anyway, I'm going to try to close that hole, but it would most likely be in Mirror History.