Thanks to madders10, Mx Akiyata and Icefrost12 for reviewing. Just one more review, and then this story will have 400.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 68: Intermission

Henri was in the shower, wincing every time he moved.

He wasn't sure what had decided to torture him, or why, but the thing he couldn't figure out was why they had stopped and simply left him there.

They could so easily have injured him further, or maybe even have killed him, but they simply left him there.

And he wanted to find out why.

…

Ivan and Natalia returned to the library to find Vlad and the unconscious Nicolai. Vlad looked shaken, and the other three Nations in the room were also silent.

Ivan arched a brow, before kneeling down next to Vlad.

"I think it would be best to go back, da?" Ivan prompted.

Vlad nodded her head, avoiding Ivan's eyes.

"Da," she whispered.

Ivan lifted Nicolai, and Natalia helped to support Vlad.

"Let's go find a mirror," Ivan mumbled.

…

"Why are you here?" Lukas asked, her voice and face void of emotion.

Felic glared at her, but she could do nothing. After having scuffled for a few moments, Lukas had managed to gain the upper hand and pinned the other to the ground. But Lukas didn't stop there.

No, she decided to sit on Felic's chest, which was both painful and made it a little hard for the Pol to breathe.

Felic tried struggling, but winced at the feeling of discomfort.

"You're just causing yourself more discomfort," Lukas pointed out.

Felic huffed.

"Fine," she spat. "Denmark and his lovely companions asked if I could take them to your side, since your counterpart had already gone off with Romania. And while there, we picked up Feliks."

"Wait," Lukas said, eyes wide. "She's here too?"

Felic smirked.

"You didn't notice that she was missing?" she taunted.

"I was in your world at the time, and I only went back to my own in order to get my weapons," Lukas said.

"And no one bothered to alert you?"

Lukas glared at the Pol, before slapping her.

"If either of them is hurt…" Lukas began.

Felic burst out into laughter at that.

"Oh, hurt is just the tip of the ice burg," Felic said.

Apparently, wrong thing to say, as Lukas adjusted the amount of pressure she was applying to the Pol's chest.

…

Gabriel was carrying the unconscious Emil, while Feliks was on his back.

Gabriel had to work really hard to move with all the extra weight, and it was slow work. But he figured the first logical choice would be to go to the place where Lukas and Felic were fighting. Hopefully, she had managed to defeat the Pol and they could go back to the other world.

They had arranged earlier that Berwald, Mathias and Tino would distract their counterparts while Lukas and Gabriel would search for Emil, and then they would return Emil to Lukas's world for safety, and then go back for the other three. Of course, they didn't know that Feliks was there, so their plan had to be adjusted a bit.

It was slow work, but eventually Gabriel arrived where Lukas had Felic pinned. He arched a brow, before clearing his throat.

"I think we can go now," Gabriel said.

Lukas looked over towards him before nodding. She looked down at Felic and hopped a few times on the other's chest before standing up, earning a grunt from the Pol.

…

"Alright," Basch sighed in relief. "We're finished."

"Finally," Gilbert said. "Seriously, this was unawesome."

Ludwig rolled her eyes, before she turned her attention to Basch.

"What are we going to do now?" she asked.

"Well, we're definitely going to need to report back to Alida," Rebecca said. "And then we'll see if there's anything we can do."

"We should also make sure you stay out of trouble," Ludwig said, looking pointedly at Gilbert.

"I'd like to see those arschlochs try to take the awesome me," Gilbert said.

"If you don't look out, you might just get your wish," Basch said.

…

Mahesh glared at the ceiling. There was nothing else that he could do.

That stupid Deathplayer had severely weakened him, and he could barely move out of the bed. He even had to call Ricardo if he wanted to go to the bathroom. It was humiliating!

He closed his eyes, trying to see what was happening to Raj. He managed to catch a brief moment where the Reds received a fourth member before he lost the connection.

At the pace the Reds' numbers were growing, his need to protect his two friends grew. He knew that it was only a matter of time before Anika and Roberto were taken, and then Alida and Ricardo would suffer the same fate as him.

He felt extremely helpless, and his fear grew and grew. He could still remember the threat of the Deathplayer. That either they or Raj would be able to kill him. He wouldn't have said that if they didn't have an ultimate final goal which would include/result in him dying. Unless it was a distraction.

He didn't know anymore. He wished that he did. Then maybe he wouldn't be so useless.

…

Vlad dragged herself over to where other Nations had said Arthur was. The day was a total bust. First it was the dream with Marius, and then everything that happened to Dimitri. And then there were the revelations made by the Deathplayer.

She needed to know what other differences there were that had been caused by the Deathplayers, and she needed to know if there was a way to stop it.

She saw Arthur sitting on a couch, a few empty bottles of all kinds of alcoholic drinks in front of her. She herself was drinking a bottle of scotch.

Not opposed to the idea, she searched for her own bottle that she could drink from.

"Don't bother," Arthur sighed, and Vlad looked at her in surprise.

In spite of the amount of alcohol she had obviously consumed, there wasn't a single slur to her speech.

"Looks like you finally learned how to handle your alcohol," Vlad joked.

Arthur glared at her before glaring at the bottle in her hand.

"I can't seem to get drunk," she said. "Not even tipsy. And it's the same with South Africa, Australia, France and Spain."

"No reason for me not to try," Vlad said.

"There is. All of us have something in common."

Vlad sighed.

"We're all pieces of the Deathplayers," she said. "Yet another change."

"What are you…?"

"I was confronted with one of the Deathplayers," Vlad said. "The one that looked like me. He said a few things. Like how it's inevitable, since there are already a few changes in our bodies that makes the transformation easier. Marius even admitted that my blood tasted different. I saw through the mirror when they were discussing Raj's blood being different."

"And the fact that we can't get drunk would be another sign of change," Arthur sighed. "They're making it hard for those of us who just want to forget about it all."

"That's the idea. They want us to bend and break under the pressure, until we snap. He said that they got New Zealand by revealing to him what his counterpart had gone through in the past."

"So that's what caused it," Arthur whispered. "And… Raj?"

"The other world's Nations tortured him beyond the edge of his limits. The Deathplayers didn't need to do anything with him, except offer him a means to escape, in the form of a dagger."

"Bloody hell. Is this what they're going to do with all of us?"

"Da, it looks like it. We're already at the edge. All we need is a push."

…

Ivan examined the piece of lung once again.

He had cleaned it a little, and now it was free of blood. But it still felt strange to hold it in his hands like this.

Was this the thing that had hurt Dimitri earlier? Was it possible that they might have found a weakness of the Reds?

He hoped so. If Raj was anything like Dimitri was, then he needed to get his friend back. And he also needed to protect those that were still in danger.

Anika… Roberto… And even Matthew.

…

Roberto sighed, sitting in front of a mirror.

He had spoken to Ricardo, and the both of them had agreed to try and trigger a vision in order to figure something out about what was going on. Yao was sitting further into the room, in case something went wrong.

Roberto sat on his end and Ricardo on his. As one, the two closed their eyes.

…

Roberto and Ricardo were both on a chess board, but this time, neither of them was a piece. And none of the other Nations were either.

Instead, there were marble statues representing each of the pieces.

"What is this?" Roberto whispered.

Ricardo didn't answer, as he went over towards the black statues. Upon closer inspection, the statues resembled the Nations.

Roberto had gone to examine the white statues, but he had seen something else upon closer inspection.

Each of the white pieces had cracks, and the cracks were red in colour.

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and searched for the source.

He couldn't find anything that moved, but his gaze was drawn to the statue of Raj.

He could feel the statue pulling him closer, and he pushed his way through the pawns in order to get to the knight.

He swallowed nervously when he saw Raj's statue. There were more cracks than anything, and Roberto couldn't help but wonder how it was possible for the statue to still be standing.

He reached out his hand, and suddenly he wasn't on the chess board anymore. He was in a dark room, and so was Raj.

…

"Okay, this isn't working," Anika huffed.

She was trying to teach Jett how to channel a beast from his homeland as a means of defence against the Deathplayers. And now, she had her arms wrapped around the Aussie's neck.

"Out of all the things he could have channelled, why did it have to be a bloody crocodile?"

Of course, she had her own experience when dealing with crocodiles, and knew how to restrain him.

She needed to calm him down before he would be able to return to his senses.

"Next time, try to go for something gentler," she mused. "I know, a wallaby!"

…

Roberto slowly approached the figure of Raj. He was curled up in a corner, and it appeared as though he was crying.

"Raj?" Roberto asked, his hand outstretched.

He flinched when Raj suddenly grabbed his wrist with surprising strength. Raj looked up, and Roberto could see the face stained with tears. He also saw that Raj's golden eyes had become red.

Raj gave a watery smile.

"I knew you'd come. Eventually," Raj said. "That is your magic touch. You cannot control your visions. I just needed you to come."

Roberto's eyes widened.

"I used the last of my sanity to wait for you," Raj said. "I've learned… a few things."

"What things?" Roberto whispered, kneeling down.

"I learned… The Deathplayers plan to kill all the Nations of the world. But they can't do it themselves. It's not within their capabilities. That's why… why…"

"Why they're using the Reds," Roberto finished. "But why haven't they tried to kill any of us yet?"

"The Reds aren't ready," Raj said. "They need to be complete. And until all sixteen Reds are collected, they have a weakness."

"What's that?"

"They can't touch a part of them that has been separated. The other Romania took a sample of my blood. My body can't touch it. And… for the time being… I can't touch Mahesh."

"So he's safe?"

Raj shook his head.

"No. Our counterparts are in just as much danger as we are. Once all the Reds are collected, they'll go after them. They'll… I don't know how the Deathplayers plan to do it. But the Deathplayers that look like us… they will become our counterparts. And then their own power will grow."

Roberto's eyes widened at the revelation.

"Is there a way to stop the Deathplayers?" Roberto asked.

Raj shook his head.

"No. The best way is to make sure they don't get the beasts."

"What beasts?"

"Anika was there. When Wales was tortured and a creature came out… It's one of them. They… They've been hiding within the Nations, and with a great amount of pain, they've been released. There are eight of them in total."

"How many are there now?"

"Six. They only have two more to go. The beasts will give them extra power. Rob… They've been planning this for centuries. When Annie said they dealt with them before… I think it was even before that. We were all their pawns in the game of chess."

Roberto gave his friend a hug, noting how thin… how fragile he seemed.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you," Roberto whispered, tears falling from his own eyes.

"In the end, there's nothing you could have done. The Deathplayers would have gotten me anyway. But please… Make sure they don't get you and Annie. And Canada is also important. If they take him, it's checkmate."

"I understand."

"You need to be careful. Don't believe anything you are told. Don't listen to anything anyone says. And don't accept any acts of kindness from the Deathplayers. They will twist your emotions, and they will make you question your memories. Don't let them do that to you."

"I… I'll try."

Raj smiled sadly.

"This is probably the last time you will see me as me," Raj said. "Please, take care of Annie. Make sure Arthur doesn't fall to the Deathplayers' game. And make sure that Canada isn't taken."

Roberto gave one last hug to Raj, letting his tears fall on his friend's shoulder.

…

Lukas tucked Emil in under the covers. He had yet to awaken, but from what she could see of his injuries, it was understandable.

She stroked his hair out of his face, noting how much younger he looked.

She was angry at herself for allowing him to be taken in the first place, but was relieved that they could rescue him before too much damage was done.

…

Ricardo looked towards the white statues when he heard Roberto sobbing. He then immediately made his way to his counterpart.

"Are you alright?" Ricardo asked.

"Sim," Roberto said, trying to wipe his tears away. "Raj was waiting for me. He had a message for me."

Ricardo's eyes widened.

"What did he say?" he asked. "Are you even sure it's him?"

"Sim," Roberto said. "You're going to need to take care of Mahesh. And you'll need someone to take care of you. After the Deathplayers catch us, they're going to come after you."

"We won't let them do either," Ricardo said.

"I don't know how strong we'd be able to be."

…

"This is interesting."

Marius huffed as Natasha entered the room, smiling at the still-bound magic trio.

"Just shut up and get us out of here," Marius snapped. "And do any of you have South Africa's phone number?"

"I have Dimitri's phone, if you want to call the other one," Natasha said.

"Fine. Whatever."

…

Anika had just managed to get Jett to calm down when her phone rang.

She glared at him, warning him not to try that again before she answered her phone.

"Hallo?" she sighed.

"Anika, right? I'm Marius, the other Romania."

She narrowed her eyes.

"What do you want, and how did you get my number?"

"I have Dimitri's phone. And I want to learn a little more about Deathplayers and what exactly they're dong to the Nations from your world. Also, apparently they've already gone after Lithuania."

Her eyes widened, and she sighed.

"What exactly is it that you want to know?"

…

Felic was standing just outside the area where the two groups of Nordic Nations were having a battle.

She then turned around and stalked to the kitchen. There was no way she was getting involved with Vikings.

…

They were all once again gathered in the dining room for dinner. Well, most of them.

Emil was still in bed, and Lukas and Gabriel had returned to retrieve the other three Nordics.

"So we lost New Zealand, Lithuania and Bulgaria," Arthur said, sighing. "Vlad, you said you learned something from the Deathplayer."

"Da," Vlad sighed. "They're doing this because they resent the fact that they only had a brief time to live before fading from existence, while we can live for centuries. There's also something that changed about our blood that makes the transition into Red easier."

"I also learned something," Ivan said. "The other Ukraine cut out part of Dimitri's lung. It looks like it hurt him when he touched it."

"Sim," Roberto said. "'They can't touch a part of them that has been separated.' And for the time being, the Reds can't touch their counterparts. But… Once all the Reds are gathered, they will go after the counterparts. And after that, they will work on killing all of the Nations."

"That's their ultimate plan, huh?" Arthur said. "We're in a lot of trouble then."

"There are also beast-like Deathplayers that increase their power," Roberto continued. "They hide inside Nations, and are released through torture."

"Like what happened with me," Will sighed.

"There are eight in total. And they already have six."

"So that means that they only need to torture two more Nations in order to get what they want," Yao said. "Aiyaa, this is so frustrating."

"I agree," Arthur said. "I think, for the time being, no one should be alone."

"Oi, Ferdinand," Alistair said, "do you have anything else we should know?"

The Venezuelan placed his finger on his chin, sticking his tongue out in a thinking gesture. Luis facepalmed at his counterpart's action.

"Well, I do know that they're going to leave us alone for the night," he said. "I only know what's currently happening, or has already been set in motion."

"And nothing is set in motion?" Antonio asked.

"Um, well… Okay, they might have already identified their next target."

"Who is it?" Francis asked.

Ferdinand's gaze drifted to land on Feliks.

When Anika suggests that Jett channels a wallaby, she's referring to the rugby team. It's partly a joke, and partly because it's a national symbol for Australia, so he would be able to control it better. While predators or large animals offer them a means to fight, the main target is to protect their mind, and any animal from their country can do it. It hasn't been shown yet, but all the Africans were focused on channelling an animal mind.

And I have started working on the other stories. Your opinions help me decide how often I work on them. Also, if you have any suggestions for Written in the Scars, I would appreciate it.