Thanks to i, madders10, Mx Akiyata and the SakuraKnight for reviewing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 64: Madness in Pain

Often, one succumbs to the madness brought on by their own pain.

But it sometimes happens that they succumb to the madness after seeing another in pain.

…

Tolys kept checking her phone, just in case.

Felic had gone with Denmark and the other two Nordics, and while the Lithuanian wasn't too keen on going in one of the more dangerous countries, she did want to hurt someone.

Besides, it was boring at her mansion, all alone.

…

Raivis had gone outside. It was a sunny day, and the fresh air felt really nice.

And after the session with his counterpart, he felt that it was necessary.

Davis gave the impression that there was nothing that he feared. That if he had been living with Russia, he wouldn't have been trying to think about survival. No, he would have been learning from Russia. Or teaching him.

That last thought terrified him more.

Davis didn't just attack him physically. He attacked him emotionally and mentally as well.

The Latvian was left wondering about everything he thought he knew. He had been wondering what would have happened if things had been different for him if his childhood had been different. If the other Nations that were around him were different. Would he have been anything like Davis?

He had even asked Andrei about it. The Moldovan had said that most of the Nations from the other world were the way they were because of other Nations, mostly the Nations that raised them.

And Davis had taken the opportunity to point out all their differences, and then he went and pointed out the similarities.

That was what disturbed the Latvian the most. The similarities between them. As though nothing stopped Raivis from becoming like Davis.

And he didn't want that. Sure, Davis was a lot stronger than Raivis (mentally, at least), and he was a lot more violent, but the look in Davis's eyes… That complete and utter disregard for another person… Raivis didn't like having anything in common with someone like that.

It terrified him. He saw how cold and cruel Davis was, and the thought of being anything like him disturbed him more than anything else.

That was why he had sought out warmth. Davis had chilled him more than a winter in Russia ever could. And he had latched onto Toris, who had always seemed warmer to him, and even more so ever since Toris became a woman.

The Latvian sighed, before he felt a hand placed on his shoulder.

He turned and screamed.

…

When Natalia couldn't immediately find Latvia, she decided to find the other two Baltics.

The first she found was Estonia, who was suffering from a massive headache. Natalia didn't really care about it, so she went to find Lithuania as well, ignoring Estonia's protests.

They found Lithuania asleep in her room.

Natalia smirked, before she took the key to the Lithuanian's room and locked the eldest Baltic inside.

"Why'd you do that?" Estonia asked.

"I know what's going to happen to Lithuania," Natalia said. "Hopefully, this prevents what would happen."

"And if it doesn't?"

"I'm not finished yet."

Natalia closed her eyes and raised her hands. Estonia was surprised to see her hands glowing green. It lasted a few seconds, before she opened her eyes.

"There," she said. "That's supposed to keep anyone, or anything, out."

"If you can use magic, why don't you use it more often?" Estonia asked.

"Because my magic requires that I ask the assistance of ghosts."

"…Oh. Never mind."

…

When Irina was done, there were tears streaming down Dimitri's face.

It was more pain than he had ever felt before.

"Aw, poor baby," Irina taunted. "Don't worry. Soon enough, my little brother will be giving you attention as well. So I'll see you later."

Dimitri watched her go, and he heard the heavy boots of the Russian coming down the stairs…

…

Ivan decided to text Vlad, saying that she would need to get Natalia.

He had a feeling that she would be very useful.

He looked over towards Nicolai, who had a tight grip on his wrist. The Bulgarian had grabbed onto him out of pain, but the grip was slowly loosening.

"Are you alright?" Ivan asked.

"Don't you mean is Dimitri alright?" Nicolai asked dryly. "If that was what they started with…"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off by a scream. Ivan narrowed his eyes.

"Let's go pay a visit to Romania, da?"

…

Vlad had opted for watching her counterpart through the mirror. All she managed to see was Marius, Sigurd and Oliver sifting through books. From what she could tell, they seemed to be spell books.

At first she was suspicious, wondering if it was another spell to harm someone in a cruel way, until she realised that they were searching for a spell to undo their transformation into women.

Of course, Vlad knew the spell, but chose to ignore it. If it was such a huge issue to Marius, then Vlad would simply refrain from turning herself back into a man. She didn't mind the form so much, but obviously Marius felt differently about it.

She wondered if she could try her own spell in retaliation against Marius, but just as she was turning, she heard a scream coming from the other side of the mirror.

She quickly whipped her head back to her reflection, and saw that the other magic trio didn't react at all.

But she knew that voice, and she could recognise what kind of scream it was.

It was Dimitri, and he was screaming in pain.

…

Felic wasn't really happy.

Sure, Emil and Feliks were suffering from the cold temperatures of Denmark, but she was also suffering, even though the Dane had given her three fur coats in order to keep warm.

Well, the good news was that their two prisoners were suffering from the cold even more than she was.

"Alright," Tobias said, looking towards her. "You play with your counterpart, and we'll play with Emil. Is that alright with you?"

"Tak," Feliks said. "You know, I don't think I've ever involved you in one of my games before."

"Ja. I think this will be a nice change. And it's an honour to play alongside you."

…

Raivis was unconscious. There were six creatures standing over him.

The newest addition was some sort of combination of a squid and human.

"Six down," the draconian said, "two to go."

…

Toris woke, feeling very uneasy. She didn't know what made her feel like that.

She sat up, and almost screamed.

Sitting at the foot of the bed was what appeared to be an altered version of her male form. He had platinum blond hair tied back in a ponytail, with lavender-coloured eyes. They stood in stark contrast with the black horns, black leather shirt, pants and boots.

"You're a Deathplayer," Toris whispered.

"That's correct, little Pawn," the other said.

She jumped out of bed, going straight to the door, only to find it locked.

"Natalia thought she could keep you safe," the Deathplayer said. "She cast a spell to keep anything else out. But we were already here before that."

"Why would Natalia do that?" Toris asked.

"She knew you were on the list of becoming a Red," the Deathplayer said. "The next one would have been one of the Bishops, or one of the other Pawns. But by locking you in here with us, she sealed your fate."

"Us?"

"That's right," another said, suddenly appearing out of thin air, and Toris widened her eyes.

It looked like Poland, with a few minor differences. This one had red hair with golden eyes, and wore a black gothic-Lolita dress.

"Even the Deathplayer likes to cross dress," Toris muttered.

"That's because I was a female, before I became a Deathplayer," the Poland lookalike said.

"What do you mean?"

"Each of us used to be a Nation," the Lithuania lookalike said. "But we were only there for a short time. Humans managed to outlive some of us. Nomadic humans, until they learned how to farm."

"And if you think we would be satisfied with just fading out of existence, then forget it!" the Poland Deathplayer said.

"What do you want with us?" Toris said.

At first the Deathplayers had seemed dangerously playful and calm, but now they were enraged.

"You have it so easy," the Lithuania Deathplayer said. "You get to live for centuries, and you can even recover from a mortal wound. We were lucky to see another year! And then all you can do is fight with each other, over the most trivial things. How many meaningless wars were there?"

"Our bosses…" Toris began, but was interrupted.

"And you subject yourself to humans!" the Poland Deathplayer said. "At least Black rules over their humans. But that is why we chose to play with White the most. So fragile. And yet you have survived all this time."

The Deathplayer crouched down before Toris, who had fallen to the floor, trembling in fear. He smiled.

"But by the end of the year, none of the Nations should survive, and all that would be left would be the Deathplayers."

"Then what do you…?"

"Unfortunately," the Lithuania Deathplayer said, coming closer as well, "the only way for us to achieve our goals is through the Reds. And I think it's time to begin, don't you?"

The one that resembled how she used to look like placed his hand on her forehead, and she saw something that she wasn't expecting.

Raivis being tortured.

…

Alfred couldn't take it anymore. He saw as Allen used his bat to hit Matt in the stomach, and immediately kicked the Canadian against the wall. Alfred was sure that he heard a crack.

"Come on," Allen taunted. "You're making this too easy."

Allen raised his bat, and that was around the time where Alfred decided that it was enough.

In spite of his possibly broken leg, he leapt up and tackled Allen to the ground, surprising the dark-skinned American.

Alfred then started to do something that he would be embarrassed about later on.

He started beating up Allen with his fists.

…

Matthew had gone to check on Matt, and was a little upset to see the fight between Matt and Allen. Unlike their fights for the sake of 'brotherly bonding', this one was serious, and Matt was losing.

Just when he thought that it was over for his counterpart, Alfred intervened, and for the first time, Matthew could say that Alfred was truly a hero.

…

Feliks screamed as Felic brought down the sledgehammer on her ankle.

It was bad enough that her body was already in pain from the cold, but now she was in even more pain from the broken ankle.

"There," Felic said. "Now you can't run away. Now, what should I do to you next?"

…

Tears were streaming down Toris's face after the vision faded.

She had seen everything that Raivis had gone through. Saw that no one had helped him. Saw that the Deathplayers were one step closer to their goal.

"What about those creatures?" Toris asked.

"They're Deathplayers as well," the Lithuania Deathplayer said. "They're just stronger than the rest of us. And once all eight of them have been freed, our powers would be stronger than ever. Who knows, we might even return to our true selves."

"From which side are you?" Toris asked.

The Deathplayers seemed to know what she was talking about.

"Both," the Poland Deathplayer said. "When we faded, the two from both sides of the mirror merged into one. Interesting fact. I used to be around what is now known as Switzerland."

"Then why did you take Poland's form?"

"We take the form of whoever we deem to be fun. Or whichever is necessary to get the job done. Which reminds me…"

He placed his hand on Toris's forehead.

"Time to see what Feliks has been up to."

…

Eduard was shocked when he saw Raivis.

He and Natalia had split up, if only to try and cover more ground. The Estonian had been confused at first, but now he could understand what it was all about.

Raivis was unconscious, and there was blood pouring from his nose. His skin was very pale, and his arms were twisted in awkward positions.

"Now what?" Eduard asked himself.

He needed to find a way to get the Latvian inside without jostling his possibly broken arms.

…

Dimitri was panting heavily. His face was twisted in pain.

Viktor had reached inside the cut that his sister had made, and with a larger knife that had a saw-like edge, he had begun to saw the collarbone and a few ribs.

Also, Dimitri didn't like the fact that the other had easy access to his heart, which Viktor enjoyed proving by lightly stroking the beating organ with the blunt edge of the knife.

"This is only the beginning," Viktor said. "I think you would need a wash."

…

Ivan and Nicolai arrived at Marius's castle, and immediately noticed something important.

The Romanian wasn't home.

There was evidence that the Romanian had been there recently, but no one was there at the moment.

Ivan had left Nicolai in the living room, since the Bulgarian didn't look too well.

Ivan frowned, and took out his cell phone.

"Vlad," Ivan said into the phone. "Get my sister. We're coming to your location, and then you can take us to your counterpart."

…

Marius sighed in frustration. So far, they had found nothinguseful. She was even tempted to go back to the other world to get Will to cast the spell again.

At least she had the sound of Dimitri's screams of pain to soothe her.

…

Allen was starting to get really annoyed with the Pork Chop that was pounding against his face. As soon as he got an opening, he would…

He froze when his phone rang. And not only that, it was an assigned ringtone. One that belonged to…

"Fuck," Allen muttered. "Time out, time out."

Alfred paused, and Allen took out his phone.

"Um," Rosa asked, "why did the gringo have a Spanish love song for a ringtone?"

Allen ignored the Mexican as he prepared to deal with another one.

"Hey babe," he greeted on the phone.

"Don't you 'hey babe' me!" Fernanda's voice shouted from the other side of the phone. "You went to Canada. Without me!"

"I didn't know you wanted to…"

"Of course I want to! Italy sent everyone home, and there's nothing else to do! And it's too early for Rosa to be asleep."

"She's here."

"WHAT?! You get back to my place, immediately! You had fun without me, and you are going to be punished. And it's not the kind that you like."

Allen frowned. Fernanda was the only one that knew how to hurt him in a way that he wouldn't enjoy.

"Fine, I'm coming," he said, as he hung up the phone. "Hey Pork Chop, mind getting off me. Fernanda's pissed at me."

Alfred looked at him confused, but did as requested. Allen sighed, picking up his bat again, before he turned to the door.

…

Bruce had no idea how he had ended up in that situation.

Mathias had approached him, demanding that he be taken back to his own world. At first Bruce was hesitant, but after finding out why Mathias wanted to return, he had to agree to it.

He didn't like the Nordics very much. Not since the war. And considering the fact that Mathias had the same look in his eyes that Tobias tended to have…

Yeah, he didn't like it.

As soon as they arrived, Mathias immediately stormed off. Bruce didn't really care about what the Dane planned on doing at this point.

He nodded towards Jett, who was watching the scene with a frown on his face, and with a final word about being safe, Bruce went to find a mirror so that he could return to his own world.

…

Toris was breathing heavily, tears streaming down her face. She had no idea her best friend was in trouble. How did it happen? When did it happen?

And she knew that the Deathplayers weren't lying. There was something about what she had just seen… She knew that what she just saw was the truth.

"Do you know what your weakness is?" the Lithuania Deathplayer asked. "You take things to heart. And you especially allow others into your heart. An older brother, and an older sister. Or perhaps the latter case would be a mother? But it's your concern for others that would ultimately be your undoing." The Deathplayer grabbed onto Toris's hair, earning a cry of pain as she was dragged into a standing position. "The spell prevents others from coming in. Nothing prevents us from getting out."

…

"What just happened?" Alfred asked.

"It's simple," Matt said. "Allen and Fernanda have had this on and off relationship for the last two hundred years. And she's the only one that knows how to hurt Allen in a way that he doesn't like. Also, she's the only one allowed to boss him around."

"Wait a minute," Rosa said. "Are you saying that my counterpart and the gringo's…"

The American and Mexican looked at each other in horror, before they each started a rant about why they would never date each other.

Matt sighed, shaking his head. He slowly stood and limped towards his room, getting the first aid kit. He left the American and Mexican to it.

…

The two Reds awoke as soon as they felt the presence of a Nation among them, and the Deathplayers turned to that direction as well.

Toris was dragged in by the other two, and she looked absolutely terrified.

"This is just perfect," the India Deathplayer said. "Knight, you know what to do."

Toris trembled when Raj approached her, and she screamed when he sank his fangs into her neck.

I was originally going to have Dimitri as the next Red, followed by Feliks, but then this idea popped up. Since no one knows that Feliks is in danger, it was especially harsh for Toris to hear about that. And since she's currently a mother-figure for Raivis, it was also devastating to hear about him being tortured. Also, next chapter I'll show you what happens if one of the genderbent characters gets turned into a Red.

And the Allen/Fernanda thing was thanks to Mirror History. I got a request to write about their meeting, and in a previous chapter I mentioned that when he was younger, Allen had a crush on her. Which makes sense, since she's a sadist and he's a masochist. And that thought when I was thinking about what to write for this chapter while in the world of Limbo between Sleep and Wakefulness… Yeah, you saw the result. Plus, I find it amusing, since Alfred and Rosa are constantly fighting with each other. It's kind of how Marius and Reka are friends with benefits, and Vlad and Elizabeta were not pleased when they found out.