Thanks to Mx Akiyata, Mantyke30 and madders10 for reviewing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 83: Magic and Science

Two things considered to be complete opposites come together for a common goal.

But can they truly unite and work together?

Or will the opposites prove to be too different?

…

The next morning at breakfast, everyone was either tired or sombre. It hadn't escaped their attention that Arthur and Vlad were missing, and that their counterparts had reverted back to their male forms.

"We're running out of time," Ludwig said. "Already, they have half the Reds. We can't allow any more to be taken."

"I agree," Alfred said, throwing his arm around Matthew's shoulder. "If they're going to take Mattie, they're going to have to get through me."

"And we won't allow them to get to Anika either," Theresa said, her expression dark.

"And little Alexandru is safe with Big Brother Russia, da?" Ivan said, his aura becoming menacing.

"We will need to protect the other potential Reds," Ludwig sighed. "I apologise in advance to you eight, but we'll need to keep a watch on you at all hours of the day. And we also can't allow the only company you're in to be other potential Reds."

"I see," Gilbert said. "So what you're saying is I can't be with the bad touch trio because we're all in danger, but the awesome trio because only I'm in danger, right?"

"Basically, yes. Although I won't leave you alone with only America and Denmark. I propose that each potential Red has at least one responsible person and one magic user with them. Also, we'll need to add someone that's good with a weapon."

"Is all that really necessary?" Yao asked.

"I have met a Red," Ivan said. "As well as the Deathplayer that looked like him. If either the Reds or the Deathplayers come, we need to be ready."

"Why haven't they really used the Reds yet?" Heracles pondered. "I mean, the only time we see them is right after they're transformed. What are they waiting for?"

"The rest of the Reds," James said. "And as for the Reds themselves… Up until last night, they were more animal than anything."

"What happened last night to change all that?" Ivan asked.

"I'm not sure. I was a little distracted by the sudden onslaught of pain."

"I have a feeling that the other England and Romania might know something about it," Kiku said. "After all, it was their counterparts that were taken."

"We'll need to wait for them to wake up," Seamus sighed.

"By the way," Ludwig said, looking at the Irishman, "where are the rest of your brothers?"

"They needed to go see their counterparts for something," he said.

…

Michael sighed, looking back and forth between the stalemate between his counterpart's brothers and his own. Three sets of blue eyes were glaring at three sets of green and vice versa.

They had arrived at his world and called his brothers. They arrived, and he discussed his plans for making his brothers perform a magical transference for their counterparts. However Duncan was sceptical, which caused Alistair to call him out, which resulted in Connor defending his brother, and Will responded by defending his own brother, then Finn and Patrick started to bicker, and the other brothers started to fight back and forth between counterparts and brothers' counterparts, until Michael snapped and shouted at all six of them to just stop fighting and shut up.

And now they were in their current situation.

"Please," Michael sighed at last. "I know you don't trust each other, but this could be the only way we could help England."

He didn't care about which England he was referring to, since both needed them to do this.

"I don't see why we couldn't just go and help you," Connor said.

"We're not letting any more of your world through if we can help it," Alistair said.

"And is there a problem with the Nations of our world?" Finn growled.

"Well, considering more than half the chaos with the Reds and Deathplayers is thanks to you guys deciding to play around with the Nations from our world," Patrick said.

"Name one incident!" Duncan said.

"Hm, let's see," Will said. "Thanks to Oliver and the others torturing me, the first of the Beasts was released, which set in motion the other Beasts being released. Then there's the fact that two of our Nations became Reds after being captured and tortured."

"India…" Michael muttered. "That reminds me, I need to check everyone's bloodwork."

Both sets of brothers stared at him incredulously, as though saying 'now is not the time for that'. Michael sighed. He looked towards his own brothers.

"The reason why I asked the other side is because their England is lost," Michael explained. "And from what I've learned by observing them, Nations from their world are very protective of each other. That protective instinct will fuel their magic, and that's what I need to allow my plan to work."

Duncan, Connor and Finn stared at him for a moment. Finally Duncan sighed, turning to his counterpart.

"Alright," Duncan said. "If Mikey thinks this is best, then we'll do it."

Alistair smiled.

"Thanks," he said.

…

Michelle was with Maurice and Miora, but she wasn't laughing along with them, like she normally would. She was extremely dizzy, and she held her head in her hands.

Miora saw this, and she came to sit down next to the smaller island.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I don't feel so good," Michelle said. "I feel very dizzy."

"Maybe you should lie down?" Maurice suggested.

"I…"

Her eyes widened, and she let out a strangled cry.

"What's wrong?" Miora asked, concerned.

"Grand Anse Mahe," Michelle whispered.

"What's…?" Maurice began, before his eyes widened. "Non. Don't tell me…"

"Those Beasts," Michelle whimpered. "Grand Anse Mahe is flooding."

"I'll go tell Germany and Venezuela," Miora said, standing up. "Maurice, you make sure she's okay."

Maurice nodded, and he guided the other island until she was lying on the couch.

…

Luis sighed, seeing as Ferdinand changed the canvas he was working on again. He looked over towards the incomplete canvases sitting to the side.

"You can't just leave them like that," Luis said.

"Hope I don't need to continue them," Ferdinand said. "That would mean that a Nation is attacked again."

Luis sighed, knowing that the other Venezuelan was right.

"Now we'll need to figure out who it is," Luis sighed.

"I think someone's coming to tell you now," Ferdinand said.

"Which means it's someone that's here. Oh, this day just keeps getting better and better."

…

Kiku was in the room where the magic trio from the other side were resting. The others that were working on the chips were already working, but she wanted to know what the three of them knew.

She couldn't explain why she thought they knew something, but the feeling was still there. An instinct. And if there was one thing the Japanese knew with certainty, is that one should always follow their instincts.

She heard a groan, and her attention snapped to the one that made the sound. Sigurd's eyes were flickering, and soon enough they opened, the normally lively blue eyes a little dulled, almost looking like what Lukas's normally looked like.

"Good morning," Kiku said, always polite. "I was wondering if you could enlighten me as to what happened last night."

Sigurd blinked a few times, and the life somewhat returned to his eyes. He sat up, looking either side of him, seeing his two friends unconscious next to him. Finally he sighed, looking towards Kiku.

"Lukas was here," he said at last. "But he wasn't… He… He had these wings…"

"Please," Kiku said. "If you feel as though you need a moment to gather your thoughts, then take all the time you need."

Sigurd blinked again, and nodded slowly.

"He said something to Ollie and Mari," Sigurd said. "I'm not sure what it was. I was asleep, but I guess I could still sense him. He was… coherent. More than the other Reds were. He could rely more on logic than instinct."

Kiku frowned. This was concerning.

"He used a telekinetic pulse," Sigurd continued. "It was to completely sever the last thread that bound us. And he… He made it so that the other Reds became more coherent as well."

"I see," she said. "Arigato. How long do you think it will take before your friends wake up?"

"It shouldn't be too long," Sigurd said.

"I see. Then I'll wait a while longer."

…

Andrei glared up at Alexandru. It wasn't Alexandru that he was angry with, not exactly.

It was the Russian whose shoulders Alexandru was perched on.

He knew Alexandru was a little scared of Ivan, like most of the other Nations (he didn't understand why, though). And yet, Alexandru allowed Ivan to pick him up, and he didn't even protest when Ivan called him his little brother, even calling Ivan his big brother in turn.

Frankly, the thought of his own Russia as his brother made the Moldovan's skin crawl.

Ivan was walking along the halls with Alexandru on his shoulders, Andrei trying to keep up with the other's long strides. He was not leaving his counterpart alone with the Russian.

He scowled whenever he heard one of the other Nations that they passed laugh at the scene. Thankfully they did so quietly, probably because they're afraid of Ivan hearing them.

He wasn't afraid of Ivan. He just didn't like him, and didn't hide this from anyone. It might be because Nicolai was a better big brother to him than Marius was, and because Viktor was one of the Nations that hurt Nicolai the most, probably second only to Marius. And he blamed Ivan for being unable to save Dimitri, which resulted in Nicolai being unable to move around properly.

"Are you keeping up?" Ivan asked, a laugh in his voice. He turned slightly to regard the Moldovan following him, a laugh in his eyes.

Andrei growled in frustration. Ivan was doing this on purpose.

He hesitated slightly in front of a door, and he looked inside. He could see Marius lying unconscious on the bed, although Sigurd was already awake. Kiku was in the room as well, remaining silent, and the Norwegian seemed to be annoyed with how quiet it was.

But Andrei kept his eyes focused on his brother. Something about seeing him unconscious like that made him feel better.

Before the two conscious occupants of the room could see him he turned away, running slightly to catch up with Ivan and Alexandru.

…

"Ma cherie!" Francis exclaimed as she entered the room.

Maurice looked up, startled by the Frenchwoman's presence, before she was suddenly at Michelle's side.

He looked up to the Nations that had announced themselves Francis's bodyguards for the day: Lien, Vash and Gupta. Seeing the island's questioning expression, Gupta sighed.

"We ran into Miora, who told us about Michelle," Gupta explained.

"Okay," Maurice said. "But why are you with Francis?"

"There needs to be a magic user around, remember? Omar is with Anika, Portugal with Brazil, Ireland is currently with Australia, Russia is with Moldova, Jamaica with Spain, and Belarus with Prussia."

"We're still waiting for Scotland and the others to get back," Vash said. "And I think we need more magic users."

Maurice nodded.

"I think we'll need to talk with Miora about it," he said. He looked back towards Francis, before turning his attention back to the others. "Who's with Canada?"

"He has America and Mexico with him," Lien explained. "I don't think the Deathplayers will try to get near. You know how America and Mexico can be when they're together."

"My prayers be with him," Maurice said.

…

Both Matt and Matthew sighed simultaneously. They were stuck with Rosa and Alfred, and the two started one of their fights again. Matthew turned to Matt.

"Do you think it's the same with your America and Mexico?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Matt asked.

Matthew looked back towards the other two North Americans.

"Um, you know… Sexual tension?"

"No it's not!" Alfred and Rosa shouted simultaneously.

"I'm always amazed," Matt said. "How, in spite of all their shouting, they can hear that when you speak in that quiet voice."

"I guess it's true what they say," Matthew said. "You hear what you want to hear."

Rosa turned to him, looking furious.

"I do not want to hear something like that, got it?" she asked.

Matthew was unfazed by her expression.

"You listen for it, just so that you can disagree to it," Matthew explained. "Or deny it."

Rosa's eye twitched, and she turned to snap at a laughing Alfred.

"You know he was referring to you as well?"

"Maybe, but you're the one that reacted," Alfred said. "Guess that means you're actually in denial."

"Why you stupid gringo!"

"I think you might be right," Matt remarked as their argument started to get physical.

"Do you think it might be sexual tension that's causing your Italy and South Africa to hate each other?" Matthew asked.

The two fighting Nations silenced, turning towards Matt with curiosity. Matt shuddered.

"Please, don't let either of them hear you," he said. "The last time someone suggested that, he was skinned alive. It took him months to heal from that."

"Who was it?" Alfred asked.

"Russia. It was probably the only time they worked together."

The other three Nations took the time to picture Feliciano and Anika doing something like that to Ivan. Then they turned the mental image to the counterparts.

"Um, I think I'm a little scared of your Italy and South Africa now," Alfred said.

"A little?!" Rosa demanded. "Bullshit! There's no way you'd only be a little scared of them."

"The hero doesn't fear anything."

"Why you little…"

The two Canadians sighed once again.

…

"Took you long enough," Yared sighed.

Michael chuckled slightly, looking back towards his counterpart's brothers. They had only just returned.

Seamus lingered behind them, looking as though he wanted to return to protecting Jett.

"So, how is this going to work?" Alistair asked.

"We need to find a way to interfere with a telekinetic pulse, first of all," Michael said. "What do you have so far?"

Yong Soo sighed.

"Well, we can't get this thing to work without releasing too much of an electric pulse that could end up hurting them," Yong Soo said. "We've only managed to create tracking chips in the past. Mind control chips are still in sci-fi."

"We're not going to control them," Goran said. "Just interfere with the signal that is controlling them."

"Of course, we'll need to have a sample of that signal," Eduard sighed.

"In other words, we'll need a Red," Michael said.

"That's not going to happen," Alistair said. "Not if we can help it."

…

The Norway, England and Romania Deathplayers stood on a hill, overlooking the mansion where the Nations resided in. Their respective Reds were with them.

"I think it's time to show them why magic and science can never work together," the England Deathplayer said.

Arthur nodded, and the former magic trio transformed into their last resorts, but instead of Arthur being an angel clad in white, he had grey wings and he wore a robe of red. Vlad wore regal-looking black clothes, with black bat wings behind him.

The three took each other's hands, creating a circle, and a swirling cloud of black started to circle the mansion. The air around the mansion grew thicker, and the day itself grew darker.

"Magic is ancient, arcane and mysterious," the Romania Deathplayer said. "Science is new, and it can be explained. Give enough magic, and science can no longer function properly."

"It should be able to show them that their plan will not work," the Norway Deathplayer said.

"And if it doesn't?" the England Deathplayer asked.

"It's simple," the Romania Deathplayer said. "We take the Reds before they find a way for it to work."

…

Kiku noticed the day going dark outside the room. Sigurd tensed, and Oliver and Marius's eyes snapped open.

"They're here," the Norwegian whispered.

Kiku turned back to regard them, a concerned look on her face.

"Please, tell me what else you know," Kiku said. "Did Lukas-san tell you anything last night?"

"Da," Marius said. "Two counterparts, two bodies, but with one soul. We're dealing with really ancient, powerful and dangerous magic. Magic that not even we could master." He turned towards the window. "But what our counterparts apparently could."

"You need to get other magic Nations here right now," Oliver said, blue eyes wide and panicked. "We have to tell them… they…"

"Please, remain calm," Kiku said, noticing that the trio started to tremble, and that they each looked terrified. "I'll… I'll see if I can find anyone."

…

Michael and the others experienced their own problems. The computers that they were working on, as well as the chips they started to build, started to short circuit, and they all had to put distance between the technological devices and themselves.

They started to feel something in each of their pockets vibrating like crazy, and they each removed their cell phones. The devices seemed to be going haywire, and when it started to spark, they had to throw it aside.

"What's going on?!" Yong Soo asked.

Will waved his arm through the air, and he narrowed his eyes.

"There's magic here," he said. "Strong magic. Technology can't handle the magical air."

"I don't understand," Yared said. "Why is this happening?"

"Technology is younger than magic," Michael explained. "Strong and old magic can completely ruin any technology in the surroundings. Why do you think my lab is as far away from my brothers' lands as I could manage?"

"There's more," Will said. "Arthur's here. This is his magic."

"But that's impossible," Alistair said. "He's nowhere near this powerful. And he's a…"

"We need to make sure the other potential Reds are okay," Seamus said, cutting him off. "If Arthur's here, then we can assume the Deathplayers are behind it too."

Realising the implication, the group scattered, hoping to find every Nation that was a target of the Deathplayers, and hoping that another Red wasn't being claimed.

Yeah, I kind of borrowed the whole 'technology doesn't work around strong magic' from Harry Potter. There's no way the Deathplayers are going to give them a simple solution.

And yes. Their magic grows stronger after they become Reds. Bad news for the rest.