Thanks to IceFrost12, Angeldonut, Mx Akiyata and madders10 for reviewing.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.
Chapter 71: New Definition of Nightmare
Ferdinand smiled, stepping back from his latest painting.
Luciano lying in the shadow of the female Feliciano with Lovino standing behind her.
He then turned to the painting he finished beforehand, of Yong Soo's body, but above were two people fighting, Hyo Soo and Yong Soo.
He sighed, thinking about the next painting he should create, and started moving the wet canvas in order to get a blank one.
One of the most horrifying things of his existence was that he needed to keep painting, otherwise he would go mad with all the disjointed images. Well, madder. The longest he could go without painting was an hour, and even that was risky.
There was a reason his sleeves were so long. It's harder to claw his eyes out, to wrap his own hands around his neck, to grab something that could be used as a weapon.
As a Nation, he couldn't die by traditional means, but he could still try. Anything to keep the visions away.
…
Yong Soo rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, the two North Koreans staring at him with a blank look. Finally, the two Northerners laughed, but it was a nervous and hysteric sound.
"I do not want to be him right now," Hyung Soo said.
"Yeah, but that's a pretty cruel punishment," Jeng Soo said. "I'm kind of afraid of how he might retaliate."
"Yeah, well," Yong Soo said, "after what he did to the both of you, he deserves it."
The two North Koreans sobered up instantly, staring at him.
"What do you mean?" Jeng Soo asked.
"Well, I saw what he did to you for two hundred years," Yong Soo explained. "And I'm… sorry, about what he did."
Jeng Soo sank onto the bed, a blank look on his face.
"What did he do?" Hyung Soo asked, looking at his Southern twin.
"He kept him prisoner and tortured him, so that he wouldn't be able to escape," Yong Soo said. "He kept breaking his legs, and…"
Hyung Soo held up a hand, silencing his brother. He then turned to his counterpart and did something that was uncharacteristic of him.
He hugged Jeng.
The other gasped in surprise, breaking out of his stupor, before he buried his face into Hyung Soo's chest and cried.
Something that he obviously wanted to do for a long time.
…
Marcello returned, carrying the first aid kit. Feliciano had helped Lovino over to the bed, where he was lying down while trying not to move.
"Do you think you can take off your shirt?" Marcello asked.
Lovino nodded, sitting up slightly and removing his shirt, showing all the marks where Luciano had stabbed Lovino. The blood had dried, but it still made for a horrifying sight.
"Why did he do this?" Marcello whispered.
"Because he's a bastard," Lovino mumbled.
"Normally, I don't like you saying something like that," Feliciano said, "but this time you're right."
…
Luciano checked out her reflection in the mirror.
Most of her face was bruised, and her jaw seemed to have been fractured.
She scowled, thinking that she would need to repay her counterpart for what she had done.
…After she recovered, of course.
…
Felic was standing next to Lukas and Gabriel, watching the scene.
The Norwegian and Icelander had arrived a while ago, intent on retrieving their allies, except the Danes, Fins and Swedes were still at it.
And Felic had no intention of starting another fight, so she merely watched with the other two. She was a schemer, not a fighter.
"How long do you think they'll be at it?" Felic asked nonchalantly.
"Knowing Mathias, they'll be busy for a while," Lukas said.
Felic nodded her head in understanding, deciding that they might as well get comfortable, even if they didn't speak to each other.
The last thing they needed was to get along with each other.
…
Gupta tried to struggle as he was carried on Mustafa's shoulder, Alexandros walking right behind him, laughing at his expressions.
And suddenly, the Egyptian realised how much he enjoyed the company of a lazy Greece.
How did they even know where they were going anyway?
"Well, here we are," Mustafa said, removing Gupta from his shoulder and throwing him to the ground.
Gupta winced at the pain, and took the opportunity to examine the room. He paled when he realised what it was.
It was a torture chamber.
…
Tolys groaned, pulling himself onto a couch. He felt so weak. No war, no amount of torture, had ever made him feel this weak.
He heard a cold chuckle and froze. That voice… it sounded like his own, but…
No, it couldn't be Toris. Even if what Romania said was true, there was no way that Toris would be able to pull off that sound.
"You're right," a voice said, and it sounded like his own. "If it was Toris, then there would be a hint of insanity. Well, not a hint. It's as clear as day."
A figure crouched down beside him, and Tolys was surprised to see someone that looked like him with light blond hair. But it was the pair of horns that caught his attention the most.
"What do you want?" Tolys asked.
The other cocked his head to the side, a playful smirk on his face.
"First off, I want to thank you," the other said. "Without you, tipping Toris past the point of insanity would have been a lot harder."
"Why us?!" Tolys demanded.
"…Fate chose you. Or just your rotten luck. You like to play games. How about I tell you how we played?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, think of it as a game of chess. We chose the piece that would be our king a long time ago. We found someone isolated, and largely ignored. And then we made sure that he became practically invisible. To the others, he was virtually non-existent. There were a few others, but this one was the first that didn't completely fade from existence. He grew up, lonely and desperate, so when the time was right, we exposed him to a spell that would access your world. The mirrors were the only means in the beginning, and the barrier was still in place. But it broke the moment our King was caught in the same reflection as someone else. Our first Pawn. The Pawns managed to spread it further, but we needed to separate the Pawns from the others. That was when you decided for us. The Black Pawns chose to torture their White counterparts, making their minds more fragile."
Tolys swallowed nervously, knowing what he meant.
"One of the Pawns brought one of the Bishops towards a mirror where another Pawn was chosen, but he didn't catch on immediately. Only once all the Pawns were chosen did the White Bishop see his Black counterpart. And soon after, he showed the other Bishop. The White Queen was chosen when she met the Black King face-to-face, and when she met her own counterpart she called for the two Knights. In order to gain an ally for their counterparts, the Queen allowed one of the Rooks to be chosen, and when several Blocks came through, one of them shared a reflection with the last Rook."
"Block?" Tolys asked.
"They are necessary, but aren't Pieces. Russia and Ukraine are Blocks, and they tortured one of the White Bishops to desperation and insanity. Italy is a Block, having ordered several attacks against the others. The other Romano is a Block, since one of the Major Players was within him. Do you see?"
Tolys nodded his head.
"We had to break down the walls around their hearts and minds. The Pawns did it well enough. It was the other Pieces that we had to worry about. We started out with the King, trying to see which method would work. We finally found it by bombing their capital buildings. Something that wouldn't have bothered Black, but which made White become desperate in a way. Physical injury without touching them."
"And what are you doing now?" Tolys asked.
"We've managed to get White unhinged, but now we need to stain White Red. And this requires our personal attention."
Tolys closed his eyes, before opening them in a glare.
"Why are you telling me this?" Tolys asked.
"You see, you have a disadvantage compared to the other Black Pieces so far. James, Mahesh and Nicolai were among allies. You are not. And I'm going to make sure it stays that way."
Tolys's eyes widened as the other advanced on him.
…
Gupta's eyes were wide, teeth gritted as Mustafa and Alexandros tied him to a bed of nails. It was so cliché, but he had a feeling that there would be more. Only his neck and head were spared, but that was because the two had no intention of killing him.
Alexandros giggled, and Mustafa approached, carrying a large pot. Gupta grew worried when he saw steam coming from the top.
He had to focus on not screaming when the boiling oil was poured over his body.
…
Omar, Heracles and Sadiq watched as Gupta thrashed. They saw the Egyptian biting her lip, hard enough to allow the blood to flow freely.
"I'll go see if we can get help from England," Heracles said, leaving the room.
"We need to get him out of there," Sadiq whispered, and Omar nodded in agreement.
…
Feliks was still lying awake, looking out the window from her position. She still didn't know what she should do. Should she give in to the Deathplayers, or try to hang on with the rest of the Nations? She didn't think she was strong enough to remain a Nation.
And if she went with the Deathplayers, she would be with Toris, who had always treated her with kindness and respect.
…
A Pawn is conflicted.
It would be all too easy to get closer.
…
"You are really stubborn, you know that?" Mustafa asked, looking annoyed.
Gupta felt tears stinging his eyes, but none fell. Likewise, he did not scream, but his lip was bloody, the way he bit it.
"I wonder," Alexandros said, turning to Mustafa. "There was always something that made little Omar want to scream, even when he couldn't."
Mustafa smirked, and Gupta could feel his blood run cold. Alexandros took a box of matches, and Gupta started to struggle.
Alexandros smirked as he struck a match and dropped it on Gupta's oil-covered body.
Gupta tried to keep the scream in, but as the flames kept licking his body, he had no choice but to scream.
…
Sadiq and Omar jumped when they heard the sound of Gupta screaming. They both stared in dread, knowing that the scream meant that Gupta had failed.
The sound of burning flesh met their senses, and Sadiq looked a little green.
"Bastard," Sadiq whispered.
Omar nodded, running her hand through her counterpart's hair.
…
Will, Alistair and Arthur had been woken by the Egyptian's scream. Will sighed, going to his dresser to get another dream charm, right before Heracles burst into the room.
"Here," Will said, handing the charm to the Greek.
Heracles nodded in thanks before running back to the room he shared with Gupta and Sadiq.
"That's probably the most awake I've ever seen him," Arthur commented.
"No kidding," Alistair agreed.
…
Alida, Ricardo and Bruce were in the room with Mahesh once again. The Indian was still very weak, and that scared the other three.
"What are we going to do?" Ricardo asked. "We can't wait for the Deathplayers to come and get us."
"I agree," Bruce said. "Unfortunately, we have no way to find them."
"We need to take everyone to a safe place," Alida said. "They're after our counterparts, among others."
"Is anyone in immediate danger?" Mahesh asked, looking at Ricardo.
"There are a lot of cracks around Poland," the Brazilian sighed. "I fear he might succumb soon."
"Is there still time to save him?" Alida asked.
Ricardo slowly shook his head, remembering the amount of cracks he had seen in his vision and knowing that there was no way to prevent the cracks from completely shattering the Nation.
"If only we know in what order they'll strike," Bruce said.
"We should focus on getting our Poland, as well as Lithuania," Alida said. "If it's too late to keep their counterparts from becoming Reds, then we can stop the Deathplayers from going through with their next step."
…
Sadiq and Omar watched as Gupta arched her back, and they were worried about what would come next. But what they didn't expect was to see a scorpion-like creature emerging from Gupta's body.
"Remind me to thank those idiots at a later stage," the creature said, before lashing at Omar.
Sadiq pushed her out of the way, taking the strike from the creature's tail instead.
Omar stared wide-eyed as the creature disappeared and the Turk sank to the floor.
That was when Heracles returned to the room, looking surprised as he saw what happened.
"What…?" he started.
"Those Deathplayers are opportunistic bastards," Sadiq said. "Um, Omar, right? Do you think you can tell whoever's in charge in your world what happened?"
Omar nodded, taking out her phone and starting to text Alida. There was no reason to try to save Gupta now, for the other had passed out.
…
Mustafa blinked in surprise, Alexandros doing the same.
One minute they were enjoying the Egyptian's screams, and the next they found themselves back in their world, a little tired but otherwise alright.
"Um, what just happened?" Alexandros asked.
…
Ferdinand sighed, stepping away from his new painting.
Seven down, one to go.
The Deathplayers wouldn't attempt anything that night, but that didn't mean that Nations couldn't give the Deathplayers an advantage.
…
Feliks stepped out of the bed, going to the window. She attempted to stare at her reflection, but it was Felic's face that looked back at her.
"Please, make it stop," she whispered. "Take me to Liet."
And she turned, seeing the Deathplayer that looked like her.
…
Tolys struggled in the grip of the creature as he was brought to some cold, underground cave. But he was too weak. He could barely stand, let alone break free.
When the other stopped, Tolys found himself in some sort of chamber, glowing slightly despite there being no visible source of light. There were figures standing around the edge of the chamber, but it was the centre that made him pale.
Four figures appeared to be sleeping, and he could easily identify Toris, who seemed to awaken with his very presence.
His eyes widened when he looked into the eyes of his counterpart. Everything he had hated about his counterpart was missing, to be replaced by something… feral.
Toris snarled, before launching himself at his counterpart. Tolys was too weak to attempt to get away as Toris wrapped his fingers around his throat, but the two of them screamed when the contact burned the skin of both Lithuanians, Toris's scream sounding distorted.
"Now, now, my pet," the creature said, his voice sickeningly sweet, "you'll have to wait before you can kill him. For now, he's just here to make sure that none of the Blocks can protect him when the time comes."
Toris growled, glaring at his counterpart. And it was for the first time in his life that Tolys experienced true fear. He had tortured his counterpart for his weakness, but now the roles had switched.
"You want to know something interesting?" the creature whispered in his ear. "Toris's world has monsters, just like yours. The only difference is that while your world has a possibility for monsters to be born, all monsters in his world are created. Do you see the monster that you had created?"
A tear fell from Tolys's eye as he nodded, seeing the fury, the hatred in Toris's eyes.
"Liet?" a voice whispered.
Toris wrenched his attention away from Tolys, and Tolys also turned to see the speaker, seeing Feliks.
Tolys thought that Toris would attack her, but to his surprise Toris walked towards her and took her in a gentle embrace. That was when he saw one of the other figures in the room, Raj, walking closer to the pair, and the Indian bit the Pol in the neck.
Tolys shut his eyes as Feliks started to scream, and when he peeked, he saw Toris holding tighter onto Feliks as she thrashed. He turned his eyes away when he caught glimpses of a bizarre transformation, and turned to the centre, where some of the figures were still sleeping.
"Five down," the creature whispered, "eleven to go. And then we can go on to the next step of the game."
And Tolys knew that he would be involved with the next step.
…
The fighting Nordics stopped when they heard Felic start to scream. They turned to see the Pol clutching her head, a look of absolute pain on her face.
"This is what happened to New Zealand," Mathias whispered, walking closer.
"That means that the Deathplayers have another Red," Lukas spat.
Gabriel whipped out his cell phone, calling Mahesh.
The Indian needed to know about this and relay the information to the rest of the Southern Powers.
…
Alida turned her attention away from her cell phone as Mahesh hung up his own.
"Well?" Bruce asked.
"The Deathplayers managed to get their hands on another Beast," Alida said.
"They also managed to get another Red," Mahesh said.
"Poland, I presume?" Ricardo asked.
The Indian nodded, and the others sighed in frustration.
"The Deathplayers appear to be using the Northern Nations to do their dirty work," Alida said.
"Well, we can't negotiate with them," Bruce said.
"No," Ricardo agreed. "But we can persuade them. If only we can show them what happens with a Red."
Alida frowned in thought, before she wrote a text that was sent to all Nations.
World Meeting in ten hours. My place. Unavoidable. This involves ALL of us, so BE there. If not, you can expect a few bombs coming your way.
She saw as her comrades received the message, and knew that it was only a matter of time for the entire world to receive it as well.
It was fun, writing Tolys feeling weak and afraid. Now he knows how Toris felt, but it's too late to change anything.