Thanks to madders10, Mx Akiyata, stormpix, EverythingMath, booklover4816, the secret trio and an anon for reviewing. And for everyone who helped out with the history, double thank you.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 73: Changing Strategies

We acted on impulse.

Tempers altered the game.

A new strategy is in order.

…

"Now that we've got that out of the way," Luciano said, "what else can you tell us about the Deathplayers?"

After everything had calmed down, the Nations that were affected by the lightning were moved to another room that was conveniently soundproof. Some of the Northern Nations made a few jabs about how suspicious it was that she had such a room, until it was revealed that Lesotho occasionally stayed with Alida and the soundproof room belonged to him. And the other Nations had to grudgingly admit that it made sense that the room was soundproof.

And Lesotho made sure that all of his instruments, gaming equipment, and so forth were safe from the other Nations.

"I'll tell you everything I know," Alida said. "As much as it pains me to do so."

…

"Can anyone explain to me what that was about earlier?!" Lesotho asked.

Mahesh, Nicolai and James had to try hard to hide their amusement.

"Our Lesotho doesn't like quiet," Mahesh explained. "He's almost like your America, only worse."

"How so?" Arthur asked.

"Silence of any kind will drive him crazy," James continued the explanation. "At meetings he's hell to deal with, and he can only stay quiet for a minute at a time."

"No one can harm him because Alida is very protective of him," Mahesh said. "She's also the only one that can keep him somewhat quiet. But even she can't keep him restrained all the time, and she occasionally lets him go ahead and be as loud as he wants at meetings, mostly when she has trouble with Italy and she wants to lash out."

"Oh yeah," Matthew said. "Matt told me once that Alida doesn't get angry, but she does get even. Is that how she does it?"

"One of the ways," Mahesh said. "But that part of Alida not getting angry is not completely true. She can get angry, she just rarely shows it. And when she shows it, you know that she's furious."

Nkau huffed as he the three from the other side continued to list examples of times when his counterpart couldn't shut up.

…

After an hour of no interruptions, the meeting was successfully concluded.

Ricardo watched as most of the Northern Nations left. It was agreed that the Southern Nations would remain at Alida's residence. The Northern Nations that were staying were either their allies or waiting for their own allies/relatives to recover from the effects of the crimson lightning.

They had come to a temporary truce. The war between North and South was put on hold in order to deal with the current situation. The Northern Nations were mostly staying out of it, saying that it was the mess of the South, and they would only help if the South had failed in keeping the other Nations from becoming Reds.

Of course, the counterparts of the future Reds were also supposed to stay with the Southern Nations under close scrutiny.

But Ricardo had a feeling that things were about to change. The Deathplayers could no longer take advantage of the North's ignorance and sadistic tendencies.

They would find another way to get the other world's Nations to snap.

…

"Who should be our next target?"

"I think we should hit multiple."

"Focus on the Pawns first. They have been around longer than the other remaining pieces, and would have more scars to reopen."

And we will happily exploit them.

…

After the meeting on the other side had concluded, the Nations separated, none going alone. There was still the chance that they would be tortured by the Deathplayers to release the last beast, whatever that may be.

Arthur had already revealed that none of those marked by the Deathplayers were able to get drunk, and many of the others agreed to that, much to their chagrin.

Gilbert was not happy, and had forbidden any other Nation to drink beer in front of her. Mathias had whined, Ludwig had looked a little forlorn, and the Ireland twins started arguing with the Prussian.

And many Nations had to find something to keep them occupied.

And no one decided to let their boss know about where they were or what they were doing. It was far more important than doing work for the human leaders, and they didn't want to explain the situation to humans anyway.

Each of the Nations had blocked any incoming calls from anyone that wasn't a Nation, except for Hyung Soo, whose cell phone had been confiscated by Yong Soo.

…

Lovino glared at his reflection as the other rambled on about something or other. The South Italian had a lot more patience than people gave him credit for due to having Feliciano as a brother, now sister.

But Flavio Vargas only served to annoy Lovino in a way that Feliciano and Antonio combined would never be able to do.

"Could you just shut the hell up?!" Lovino finally snapped.

Flavio did stop speaking, but he didn't look like a kicked puppy the way Feliciano usually did. Flavio just looked amused and intrigued.

"Your temper is a bit like my fratello's," Flavio said.

"Don't compare me to that bastard," Lovino snapped.

"Oh yeah, I heard he played with you. I had a feeling he would do that, since you have a bit more fight than your fratello did. Well, it would seem your sorella is better now."

"As much as I hate to say it, you're right. Now, how the hell are you two related? Because you sure as hell do not act like each other, and then there's the hair and the eyes…"

"Well, I used to be like him, but then something happened that I can't quite remember…"

Lovino huffed, before he spun around and left the bathroom. He did not want to deal with Flavio any more than he absolutely had to.

…

Anika and Roberto were keeping Mahesh company. The Indian was still too weak to walk very far, and even though he was not part of their world, and thus in no immediate danger of the Deathplayers, they didn't want to leave him alone.

He told them all about his history with Alida and Ricardo, and they in turn told him as much as possible about Raj.

Almost, the IBSA trio was complete again.

…

Arthur was reading a book when she suddenly felt a wave of dizziness hit her. She shook her head, trying to focus on the words in front of her, but the letters were swimming, and when she focused, she could find certain words jumping out.

Greedy… Selfish… Black sheep… Poor parent…

"Artie?" Alistair's voice cut through the haze in her mind, and she looked at him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said. "I'm just… I think I need to get some air."

Her brothers nodded, and they all went together to go outside. Arthur was a little irked that she couldn't go alone, but understood that it was for all of their securities.

William had been carrying one of those beasts inside of him, and she herself had been marked as one of the potential Reds. It was best not to go alone.

…

The bad touch trio were admiring Ferdinand's paintings. Francis especially appreciated the art, while Gilbert and Antonio were more focused on trying to figure out what each of the paintings that involved them were supposed to depict.

Francis's eyes skimmed over to another when she thought she saw something. Snapping her attention back to the painting that had caught her eye, she saw that it was one of a younger Matthew.

Strange, for a moment, it had looked like…

"Aidez-moi!"

Francis jumped, hearing the voice. She looked over towards Gilbert and Antonio, seeing that they did not appear to have heard the voice, though it had rung crystal clear. It sounded like…

Francis's eyes once again fell on a painting, and she had to blink to confirm it was real, only that it wasn't.

For some reason, she kept seeing and hearing Jeanne d'Arc.

…

Gilbert's eyes were flickering over the different paintings when she saw one that caught her eye. Her jaw dropped when she saw it, but when she blinked it had changed.

The painting now was one of when they first had turned into women, but what it was originally was Old Fritz, lying on his deathbed.

What would he say if he saw her now? How would he react if he noticed that she was now a woman? What would he have thought of her current situation?

She wondered if he was still watching over her.

…

Antonio was also looking towards a new painting when something caught her eye. It looked like…

Her eyes widened, seeing the bodies of Maya and Aztec, their bodies surrounded by a pool of their own blood. What really tore her up was to see little Rosa standing there, looking up with wide, tearful eyes.

She wretched her gaze away, only to land on another painting, this time of the bloody corpse of Inca as little Peru stared up with the same tearful gaze.

She kept seeing the South American Ancients. Those that she had slain. And their children. The children that she had taken in. The children…

The children that resented her.

She shut her eyes tight, willing the images away, and when her eyes opened again she couldn't find a single one of those paintings.

…

A few of the Nations from the other side returned in order to keep an eye on the other possible Reds.

Ferdinand had returned, but didn't go to the room where all his paintings were being kept. He couldn't.

Something was wrong.

The Venezuelan was hugging himself, rocking back and forth. It couldn't be possible.

There were shadows lingering at the edge of his mind, but no images.

He had no idea what the Deathplayers were doing now.

…

Lukas was with the other Nordics, which included Gabriel and, reluctantly, Sigurd. The other Norwegian reluctantly came along because Lukas's current situation was mostly her fault.

No one said anything. Sigurd was pouting, Tino was toying with a gun, Mathias was sharpening his axe, Emil and Gabriel were eating salmiakki, Berwald's usual glare had been replaced by an actual glare, and Lukas was absentmindedly thinking of a few hexes to use against her counterpart.

"Why couldn't Ollie and Mari come along?" Sigurd whined, not for the first time.

"Because we don't even trust one of you," Mathias said, looking up to glare at the Norwegian.

"And because those two are looking through the spell books on your side," Lukas said. "Which reminds me, shouldn't you be doing it here?"

Oliver was supposed to search through all the spells the North owned, while Marius was meant to search through spells that the South owned. They were looking for something ancient that could lead to the Deathplayers' downfall.

Sigurd huffed, glaring at the door. Then she turned to Lukas.

"By the way," she said. "The Romano on my side asked me to give you a message."

Lukas narrowed her eyes.

"And what would that be?" she asked.

"Your clothes are finished."

Lukas was silent for a moment, while Gabriel burst into giggles.

"Oh for heavens' sake," Lukas huffed. "Did he really go through with that?"

"Male and female," Sigurd said, a smirk on her face.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I prefer our Romano. The grumpy one that cusses you out left, right and centre. Not… Flavio."

And both Sigurd and Gabriel burst out laughing.

…

Vlad was playing with the two Moldovas in Nicolai's room. Nicolai didn't mind the company, as Vlad was a lot more preferable to Marius. And the laughter of the two children made a small smile play on his lips.

Andrei was more reserved than Alexandru, but for the first time in his life, he was allowed to be a child. He was allowed to have fun that didn't involve hurting someone else.

And Vlad was happy because she got to spend time with both of her little brothers.

"But they're not both your brothers."

Vlad stilled. It felt like a thought, but at the same time, it pierced like a voice being whispered into her ear.

"One of them is the brother of your counterpart. He belongs in another world. And the other one prefers Russia over you. You can't be an elder sibling to them."

"Vlad?" Nicolai said, breaking Vlad from her daze. "Are you alright?"

"Da," she said, smiling a sad smile. "I'm fine."

…

Tolys had looked over to the timeline in the history book. He was surprised to see that several things coincided.

Such as the formation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The date coincided with when he and Felic had started working together to play games with the other Nations. And the start of World War II was when the Cold War had started.

It was strange, to say the least.

He wondered if there were other coincidences.

…

Alida was in her office, sipping tea while she watched Marius looking through different books. It was actually a bit of a punishment.

She found that she liked the tea. Anika had sent it to her when she sent the Tokolosh. It was called 'rooibos', and Anika had acted appalled when she had discovered that Alida didn't know it. And after talking to the Tokolosh, she understood that it was because rooibos was marked as 'Proudly South African', and was a huge part of Anika's culture.

And thinking about the creatures, she supposed that she should probably send them back, what with there being a truce and all.

She looked up when Czech Republic walked in, looking anxious. The woman had short dark brown hair and reddish pink eyes. She wore a simple black shirt with black jeans and black boots.

"How long is my brother going to be in there?" she demanded.

Alida calmly put down her cup of tea before she addressed the European.

"The effects of the lightning lasts a few hours," she explained. "Don't worry. Lesotho will let me know if they've recovered. He's probably the only person alive who can't sleep with silence."

"How do you have the patience to deal with him?" Marius demanded.

"Storm magic, remember," Alida said. "That, and my people invented ear plugs that can block out anything above a certain pitch and volume."

"I think I know why," Czech sighed.

…

Ricardo sighed, running his hands through his hair in frustration.

It couldn't be possible. It shouldn't be possible. And yet…

"What seems to be the trouble?" Florencia asked.

"I think the Deathplayers have grown smarter," Ricardo said, looking towards the Argentine. "Somehow, they've blocked my magic. I can't check on their progress anymore."

…

Lukas had gone to the bathroom, the only time any of them could get privacy. She looked at the blank mirror, thankful that she no longer saw Sigurd's smiling face. Instead, she saw the other Norwegian outside of the mirror.

Oh joy.

She jumped when the image rippled, and she was staring at someone that looked like her male form.

He had black hair and brown eyes. She couldn't see what he was wearing, but supposed that it would be similar to what the other Deathplayers wore. She did see that the other held his hair back with a skull hairclip.

He smirked to her, and she immediately moved to get out of the door, only to find it locked. Swallowing nervously, she turned back to the Deathplayer in the mirror.

"We told you, you won't escape," the Deathplayer said.

"I'll scream, and the others will break down the door," Lukas said.

"Soundproofed the room. Thought we'd have a little chat."

Lukas let out a shaky breath as she walked closer.

"What do you want?" she whispered.

"You know, Feliks felt a little upset that none of you knew that he was missing," the Deathplayer said offhandedly. "The only reason he was saved was because he was with Emil. And that is part of the reason why he willingly offered himself to us."

Lukas's eyes widened, before narrowing.

"No one else is going to fall for that little trick," Lukas snapped.

"Exactly. We revealed all of our old tricks, so now they're obsolete. But I have a question for you. With everything the Nations had done, do you think any of you would be able to run from your past?"

And like that, the Deathplayer was gone.

She shuddered, wondering what the Deathplayer had meant, before fighting off a wave of dizziness.

She opened the door to find it unlocked, and she promptly left, seeing Emil still waiting for her.

"Let's get back to the others," Emil said.

Lukas wanted to smile fondly at her younger brother, but a sudden thought stopped her in her tracks.

"He doesn't want to refer to you as a 'big brother'."

Shaking her head of the sudden thought, she accompanied Emil back to the other Nordics.

…

Luis, Sofia and Rosa were passing through the room where Ferdinand was and were surprised to see the Venezuelan rocking back and forth.

"Ferdinand," Luis said, going towards his counterpart. "What's wrong?"

"I can't see anything," Ferdinand muttered. "I can always see what's going on, but… I can't now. The Deathplayers… They're doing something they don't want me to know about. Something that I can't warn anyone about."

"Is that a bad thing?" Sofia asked.

"Si!" Ferdinand wailed. "That means that something very very bad in going to happen. They don't want anyone interfering. They're… They're mad."

Ferdinand looked at Luis with watery eyes, and Luis took his counterpart into a hug. He looked at the other two, and he knew that something was coming.

"Get Roberto," Luis said. "We need to get in touch with his counterpart. This could be really bad."

The whole thing with 2PLesotho was to explain why Alida would have a soundproof room. I figured that since they're an empire, other Africans would come to her place, but I needed one close by that would visit more often than others/practically live there. My first thought was Lesotho, since it's an enclave within South Africa. I don't know, whenever I picture Lesotho, I can see him living in a shack somewhere on South Africa's yard, and with her occasionally referring to him as a 'squatter'. Another way I see it is that South Africa has a large farm and that Lesotho has a shack somewhere on that farm. And if you know how the farm was perceived in Afrikaner culture for the longest time, you'll understand. I mean, the Afrikaners are also referred to as the 'Boers', and 'boer' means 'farmer' in Afrikaans. And we had to focus on the farm novel this semester, so it's kind of stuck in my head.

So, can any of you guess what the Deathplayers are planning now? It's actually a lot crueller than what they were doing before.

Also, if I'm starting to get a little into the psychology behind everything, it's because we also did the novel '18-44'. It's written by one of the Sestigers (google them), and this book had a lot to do with existentialism. Then again, a lot of their work had to do with that. I'm going to be preparing for the exam paper, and that means that I'm going to have to study for it. Some of the things mentioned involved the animus/anima, collective subconscious, archetypes, mandalas… Yeah, expect some psychology being involved.