Thanks to Mx Akiyata and madders10 for reviewing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 85: Taking What You Want

Waiting for the right time to strike is tedious.

I think it's time we take what we want.

No matter who stands in our way.

…

Felic watched with a blank expression as Gilen curled up in pain. At first he was confused, since the Prussian wasn't screaming, like he did, but then he noticed that she was turning back into a he, and the Pol understood what was happening.

Alejandro and Francois watched as well, and they sighed.

"Looks like his counterpart had joined the ranks of the Reds," Francois said.

"If Antonio ends up a Red, then no matter what, I will find him and I will murder him," Alejandro said.

"Nice sentiment," Felic said. "But you'll need to be able to stand first."

"It's not surprising that Prussia didn't last so long," Francois said.

"Still, I know that what he's going through hurts like hell. I'm impressed with him for not screaming."

The other two Europeans shrugged, accepting that it was something that counted in the Prussian's favour.

"We'll have to wait until it's over before we move him to the bed," Alejandro said.

"Nie," Felic snapped. "Find him another bed. You're not putting him here."

With their backs turned to him, the two women glanced at each other and exchanged a smirk.

…

Elizaveta and Mathias were tending to Ludwig and Jana's wounds. Natalya went to see what they wanted with the magical Nations, such as herself.

None of them said a word, too shocked about what had happened with Gilbert. The Deathplayers had gained another Red.

"I'm sorry," Ludwig muttered, breaking the silence.

"For what?" Elizaveta asked.

"I allowed myself to be used against mein bruder. This is all my fault."

"What about me?" Jana asked. "I'm in a similar situation as you, Ludwig."

"Neither of you are at fault," Elizaveta sighed. "It's those Deathplayers."

"I agree," Mathias said. "When we find those Deathplayers, they'll regret everything they've ever done to us."

Jana hissed slightly as Mathias pushed the needle a little too harshly in where he was restitching the wound that would not stop bleeding.

"Believe me, I want nothing more," Jana said through gritted teeth.

…

The magical Nations had all gathered in Oliver, Sigurd and Marius's room. Many of them could recognise the magical energy that had been in the air a short time ago. Naturally, they were all concerned about this, and when they heard that the other magic trio wanted to speak to them, they knew that there was something really bad happening.

"So, I take it you all know about the telepathic pulse from last night?" Sigurd asked.

"No kidding," Miguel said.

"Well," Marius began, "last night, Lukas came. He told us a bunch of things about how the Nations between the two worlds are connected. Two bodies, two minds, but one soul."

"For some reason the two counterparts share a soul," Oliver explained. "And the Deathplayers are ripping those souls in half."

There was a murmur in the room, the Nations present knowing enough about magic to recognise the severity of the situation.

"That explains why it's so painful," Mahesh said. He was supported between Anika and Roberto. "What we felt was our souls being ripped in two."

"But what's the purpose of that?" James asked from where he was on Jett's back.

"Because the soul is normally strong," Gupta explained. "But if even a small piece is ripped, it becomes fragile. And it's easy to bend that small piece to your will."

Everyone looked at him oddly, surprised by how much he knew, and he sighed.

"My mom knew a lot about soul magic," he explained. "She taught me a few things."

"At least we know now how they're controlling the Reds," Alistair sighed.

"And why they were so feral after their transformation," Ivan said. "I wonder, can the soul be fixed?"

"It's possible," Gupta said, "but the damage would already be done. Think of a broken mirror. If you try to put it together again, then no matter what, you'll always be able to see the cracks."

"And Lukas mentioned that your side contains the light of the souls," Marius sighed. "The Deathplayers are corrupting the lighter half of our souls to the point where they're darker than the dark half."

"Oh, that's reassuring," James muttered.

"The three of you are in a lot of trouble," Oliver said, looking pointedly at Anika, Roberto and Jett. "They're going to come after you soon."

Ivan hummed in thought, and everyone looked towards him.

"What is it?" Roberto asked.

"Can you tell me what each of your pieces is?" Ivan asked.

Roberto blinked in surprise, before he scrunched his face in thought.

"Raj and I are knights," Roberto said. "Anika's the queen, Canada king, Australia and New Zealand are rooks, Moldova and Bulgaria are bishops and the rest are pawns."

"I still don't see why we're pawns," Marius muttered.

"And how many of those pieces have the magic touch?" Ivan asked, ignoring the Romanian.

"Um, let's see," Roberto said. "There's me, Anika, England, Romania, Norway…"

"The two of us," James said, indicating Jett.

"And I as well," Mahesh said.

"Now I wonder, why is it that the three with the strongest magic touch are nothing more than pawns?" Ivan asked.

"Unless they're not operating through magic," Michael said. "They'd need to use something else."

"Da, I was thinking so too. I was also thinking about their strategy. They started with a knight, rook and bishop, then the next five were pawns."

"Six," Natalya said. "They took Prussia as well."

"When did this happen?"

"A few minutes ago, actually. The Deathplayer threatened Germany and Namibia, and also did something to hurt Hungary, Denmark and I."

"Is Jana okay?" Anika asked.

"Da, she's fine. Bloody, but fine."

"Okay, so they have six pawns," Ivan interrupted. "Traditionally in chess, the pawns always move first, but it's possible for knights to go first as well. They went with a knight first, but then a rook and a bishop. It doesn't make sense, to be honest."

"Asides from Kiwi, they didn't really do anything directly," Jett said. "At least, at first."

"I think they wanted those three for practical reasons," Ivan said. "New Zealand was bird-like, da? And Dimitri seemed to be some sort of dragon."

"And Raj would be a snake," Oliver said.

"Wait," Michael said. "Snakes have venom, right? What if that venom contained a component that would allow a Nation to turn into a Red?"

"Then the other two were for defence," Will said. "They needed a way to defend the source of their venom."

"Da, it would seem so," Ivan said. "Another thing I noticed is that all the pawns are Northern Nations, and with the exception of Moldova, Bulgaria and Canada, all the other pieces are South. Why not go for half North, half South?"

"Because of allegiances," James said. "We've had Bulgaria on our side for decades, and…"

"Matt and Moldova had no interest in playing with their counterparts," Oliver said. "That must be why."

Ivan turned towards the door and started walking.

"Hey, where are you going?" Marius asked. "We're on a roll here."

"I'm going to get your Venezuela," Ivan said. "I need an insane mind to help me out here."

James looked over towards Oliver and Sigurd and arched an eyebrow.

"Um, I think we already have our insane minds here," James said.

"They've still got more screws than Venezuela," Marius said.

"…Okay, that might be true, but…"

…

Lars sighed, phone in hand and pressed against his ear.

"Dank u," he said. "Go rest now. Totziens."

He hung up and ran a hand through his hair. He looked over towards the Nations that were gazing at him expectantly.

"It would seem my brother is the latest target of the Beasts," Lars informed them.

"Is he alright?" Francis asked.

"He's disoriented, nauseous and shaken up," Lars said. "Other than that, ja."

"Why are they doing this?" Michelle asked. "What's the point?"

"There's always a point, mon cher," a familiar voice said.

Before anyone could react, they were thrown against the walls, with Francis being thrown farther than the rest of them. They each took a moment to recover, and when they did, they saw the France Deathplayer standing terrifyingly close to Francis, though he was looking towards Michelle.

"The first point is to have fun," the Deathplayer said. "And the second point is to weaken you Nations for a later point in the game."

"How can you think of this as 'fun'?" Maurice demanded.

"You know, considering your size, I don't think it's wise for you to start a fight."

The island Nation flinched, and the Deathplayer turned his attention to Francis.

"But no matter how fun messing with you Nations can be," the Deathplayer continued, "it does get tedious after a while. This round has gone on long enough. So now, I'm here to take what we need."

He made his way to Francis, who was staring at him with wide eyes. The others tried to rush to the Frenchwoman's aid, but other Deathplayers appeared and held them down.

"I'm afraid we can't let you do that," the Prussia Deathplayer said as he pinned Lars against the wall.

Francis yelped as the Deathplayer yanked her to her feet, pulling her so that she was flush against his body and wrapping his arms around her when she tried to struggle free.

"Non," she said as she tried to pull free. "I don't want to be un Rouge!"

"Well I hate to break it to you, but you can't escape your fate," the Deathplayer hissed. "Gilbert and Arthur are already waiting for you."

Francis gasped and faltered in her struggles, and that was apparently all the Deathplayer needed to gain complete control of the situation. In a moment, they were gone.

The other Nations were left, shocked, and the Deathplayers pulled away.

"Another time then," the England Deathplayer said, chuckling as they all disappeared.

The room was silent for a moment as everyone processed what had happened, until it was broken by Michelle.

"So, who's going to tell Allemagne?"

…

Antonio was happily chatting with Lovino and Bella, a bowl of tomatoes between them. David was nearby, sulking because he wanted to protect Anika, and instead he was stuck with Antonio. The Spaniard didn't take offense, since half the world knew how Israel felt about South Africa.

"Come on, amigo," Antonio said, looking towards David. "You need to cheer up. Come have a tomato."

David scowled before he shook his head.

"No thanks," he said. "If I'm eating tomatoes, then it has to be in a salad with lettuce, cucumbers and other vegetables."

"How boring," Lovino said, taking a bite of his tomato.

Antonio chuckled in agreement before she tensed. Something didn't feel right.

"Are we interrupting something?" a voice asked.

They yelped as four figures suddenly appeared in the room, three of them pinning down David, Bella and Lovino and the fourth one standing right in front of Antonio, leaning into her face. It was the Spain Deathplayer, and the other three were Deathplayers as well.

"Get the fuck out of here!" Lovino shouted, struggling against the Romania Deathplayer. "Leave the Tomato Bastard alone!"

"This one's got a mouth on him, doesn't he?" the Bulgaria Deathplayer commented.

"Leave him," the Spain Deathplayer said, pulling Antonio to her feet. "We just need the final Pawn."

"What do you mean 'final'?" Antonio asked.

The Deathplayer smirked before they all disappeared, dragging Antonio along as well.

…

Ivan returned, bringing two unhappy Venezuelans with him. Actually, he was dragging one, while the other was following behind, keeping a wary eye on the large Russian that was manhandling his counterpart.

The other Nations looked on with a mixture of sympathy and amusement.

"Okay, now we have our insane mind," Ivan said, letting go of Ferdinand.

"You know your own would have done just fine," Luis muttered.

"I heard that."

"Focus," Marius snapped. "Now, Russia, where was your train of thought from earlier?"

"Right," Ivan said, before he turned to Ferdinand. "The three with the strongest magic touch are nothing more than pawns, and all but three of the more important pieces are South, whereas all of the Pawns are North. Why?"

Ferdinand stared at him with large eyes for a moment, before he turned to the three Nations on the bed.

"Because they're older," Ferdinand explained. "The captured Knight and Bishop are exceptions, except one is more fragile in Black and the other's White never realised his full potential."

"The punching bag of Europe," Mahesh sighed, glancing towards Marius. "Our Bulgaria is pretty unstable mentally due to being used as a punching bag by nearly everyone in his continent. He's nervous and afraid most of the time. And Raj only recently discovered that he has the magic touch."

"That would also explain Canada and Moldova," James said. "But what about me? I'm the only Southern Nation that's part of this that isn't a major power."

"Scandinavian-Oceanic War," Sigurd said. "You're where it began, and also where it ended."

"I still don't see how…"

"Nations that were chosen were through chance," Ferdinand interrupted.

"Alright, but tell me how I'm rook? I mean, shouldn't a rook be strong and sturdy, and capable of ploughing through anything in its path?"

"Clearly you've never played rugby against Fletch before," Anika muttered.

"Normally I'd make fun of you while trying to deny it," Jett said, "but you're right. Kiwi's a lot stronger than he looks."

"Alright," Ivan said. "Now, we need to…"

Ferdinand whimpered, and everyone turned to him. He was hugging himself and had started rocking back and forth.

"What's wrong?" Luis asked.

"Deathplayers," Ferdinand whimpered. "They were here."

"Please don't tell me that they took someone else," Miora whined.

Ferdinand nodded.

"They now have all of the Pawns," he said.

"I'll go get Alexandru," Ivan said. "It's not safe for him at the moment."

Roberto, Anika and Jett drew closer to each other.

"What about Matt?" Alistair asked. "He's not safe now, either."

"I don't think they'll go after Matvey," Ivan said. "Not yet."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because he is the king piece. If it were me, I'd go for him last. Makes sense to leave the most important for last."

"He has a point," Marius said. "Our Poland likes to play games with other Nations, right? He likes to leave the most important part of the game for last."

There was silence for a moment.

"We need to bring Poland here, don't we?" James whined.

"Seems so," Oliver said.

"Oh, wonderful," Mahesh said, rolling his eyes.

…

Felic sneezed, before he looked over towards the other two conscious Europeans in the room.

"I suggest you lie down, right now," Felic said.

"Why?" Alejandro asked.

"Because you're about to join Prussia."

The two looked confused for a moment, before their eyes widened and the screaming started.

Felic looked at them with a blank expression, and he was counting down the seconds until the door opened, revealing Bruce.

"New Reds," Felic simply said.

"I more or less got that message," Bruce sighed. "We'll have to move them to the bed."

"Don't even think about putting them in with me."

"It doesn't matter," a voice said at the door. The two turned to see Alida standing there. "You're needed in the other world."

"What for?"

"They need your strategic mind."

"What makes you think that I'm going to help them?"

"The fact that you're helpless, you can't run away, you're surrounded by your enemies, you're bored… Need I continue?"

"…I'll mostly help because of the last one."

…

Tolys watched as they brought Francis and Antonio. The two struggled against their captors, and they screamed after Raj bit them, injecting the venom.

They now only had five to go. And then they would do whatever it is they intended to do to him.

And the Lithuanian could live without learning what that would be.

…

Feliciano was examining the paintings that Ferdinand had left on the wall. She was an artist, and appreciated art whenever it crossed her path.

She could see that the paintings were beautiful, even though some (actually, most) depicted scary scenes. And considering how fast Ferdinand painted them, she could only admire them even more.

Looking closer, she could see that they created a story. She knew enough about art to be able to see how old a painting was. It allowed her to follow the story.

So her eyes strayed to the oldest painting, and possibly the one that scared her the most. A toddler resting on a pile of bones while shadows loomed over the child. A child that looked very much like Matthew.

She also knew enough to be able to interpret a painting at first glance. Matthew was chosen by the Deathplayers when he was still a child, but he wasn't the first one. He was just the first that managed to live long enough in order for the Deathplayers' game to be set into motion.

…

At lunch, everyone was tense. The news of three new Reds within the same morning didn't sit well with any of them, especially the Nations that were supposed to be protecting them.

Ivan and Ferdinand were discussing a bunch of theories, which made the surrounding Nations nervous. They had dragged Felic through from the other world, but the Pol was just sitting and watching the other two formulate their theories.

Matthew had been filled in on everything the magical Nations had discussed, especially regarding the Reds, and he was somewhat relieved to hear that they might be planning to take him last. Felic had said that it would definitely be a strategy, saving the most important for last, and also ending it with the one where it all began.

But it disturbed them how the Deathplayers had just come to take Francis and Antonio. With Gilbert, they had used hostages. But now…

"They're getting desperate," Felic said. "Either that, or they're bored. They want the game to move faster."

"If that's the case, then we need to improve our security," Ludwig said, looking towards all the future Reds. "You five will stay in the same room at all times with as many Nations as possible. We can't afford more of you being taken."

That part with Israel was due to a conversation I had with a friend who I'm not allowed to brainstorm with because we both have pretty sadistic minds. Seriously, he once took over a tour group in the Cape Castle and described how each of the torture devices worked. For three hours. Anyway, we were discussing our headcanons regarding South Africa, and we both came to the conclusion that South Africa should be shipped with Israel, due to their history together.