| IMPORTANT NOTES |
○ This is set between the tenth and eleventh books (Into the Gauntlet and Vespers Rising, respectively) of the 39 Clues, not including the certain flashbacks○
○ I do not own either of the series. The 39 Clues belongs to Rick Riordan and Axis Powers Hetalia belongs to Himaruya Hidekazu ○
| A few days before... |
Everything in sight was burning. The walls, the furniture, and even the people. Hundreds were running past, only few to look back and help those who were trapped beneath the debris. And, bless their hearts, there were even those who carried the dead either over their shoulders, on their backs, or in their arms.
Their desperate cries for help flooded England's mind. He wanted to come to his people's aid as well, but he was being pulled away by his men.
"Sir Kirkland! We must go now!"
"NO! Release me at once!"
"But sir — SIR!"
Arthur freed himself from his men and sprinted towards the flames. He dodged the frantic crowd escaping the scene and came upon another horrid one. St. Paul's Cathedral was a burning wreck, yet there were still people who stayed to put out the flames. They probably knew it was inevitable, but no one was ready to lose the pride and joy of the city.
"You!" he said to the men attempting to put out the fire with buckets of water. "Are there still any people inside?"
"N-not that we know of, sir!" replied one of the men.
"Did you check twice?" England asked the men again.
"Er...no, sir," another said awkwardly. "We were in a hurry to get out."
"THE HELL WITH THAT!" the Brit suddenly swore loudly, shocking all those who heard him.
The men were just about to apologize when England rushed into the burning cathedral.
Arthur could hear the fleeting cries of the people outside, telling him to come back. But he pushed on and searched for any survivors among the wreckage. Moments later, a common street dog ran up to him and tugged on his cloak.
"AH! What are you doing?"
He kept resisting until he realized that the animal was pulling him into a certain section of the cathedral.
"Y-you...want me to follow you?" he asked the dog in a shaky voice. "I-is that it?"
The dog barked, and ran away. Arthur gaited on it, dodging beams and falling debris and staying clear of the flames. He kept doing that until the dog lead him to a dead end with one wall unscathed by the fire.
"A dead end! Why did you lead me to a dead end — "
He stopped in mid-sentence when he saw the dog barking at and scratching on one of the walls.
"...is someone there...?" England heard a parched voice say from the other side of the unscathed wall.
Taking a closer look, he saw that it wasn't a wall, but in fact a makeshift wall built from fallen debris. There was a small gap in the 'wall', and Arthur peeked in. On the other side was a boy, more or less the age of fifteen. He was also peeping through the gap, staring straight into the emerald eyes of the Brit.
"K-kind sir..." the boy pleaded, his voice shaking. "Please..."
"Don't worry, lad! I shall get you out of there!" And Arthur started to push away some of the debris. One by one they got cleared, but it only made even more debris come raining down. The situation was just getting worse at this point.
No! England screamed in his mind. I am not leaving this boy here!
"S-sir..." he heard the boy mutter.
Arthur stopped removing the debris and paid attention. "W-what is it, boy?"
"...you must leave."
England's eyes grew wide at him. " — what?"
"Sir, if you do not leave now..." The boy's voice was cracking and growing softer. "you might die."
"The bloody hell with that!" Arthur swore aloud. Right now, he couldn't care anymore if he was in a church (or the ruins of it). "I refuse to leave you here!"
Just then, there was the gradual cracking sound coming from above. England feared the worst, and prayed with all his heart for it not to happen.
But it still came. The burning support beams above them were crashing down on them, and fast. Arthur instinctively rolled to the side, narrowly escaping the falling, burning debris.
After analyzing the current event, he saw that the makeshift wall of debris where the boy had been trapped behind was no longer visible behind the fallen support beams that just crashed down. It was all raging fire that ate up and destroyed everything in its path, including the boy and the dog.
His eyes were swelling up, not from the heat but from the tragedy before him. His throat was parched and lodged with a lump that could choke oneself. England's knees gave away, and he let fresh, hot tears roll down his cheeks as he watched what would have been a bright future for one young man.
Soon, he was hearing screaming from behind him. The voices of the men saving the church and of his own men were quickly coming closer. Arthur did have not to look back to know that eight men were running towards him, and were later dragging him out with all their might.
"Sir Kirkland! Please come with us!"
"NOOOO! LEAVE ME BE, YOU BLOODY GITS!"
"SIR KIRKLAND!"
"I SAID, LEAVE ME BE!"
" — ANGLIYA!" "ANGLETERRE!" "YĪNGGÉLÁN!"
"...what...?"
"I-IGGY! HEY, IGGY!"
...Iggy...?
"GODDAMMIT, IGGY! WAKE UP ALREADY!"
Arthur woke up to find the four other members of the Allied Forces standing around his bed. Alfred was gripping his shoulders and vigorously shaking him with no end even after Arthur came to.
"A-America! Stop that, you bloody git!" England yelled, pushing himself away from his former colony. He looked at the others gathered around him, all having worried expressions on their faces. "What...what happened to me...?"
"You kept screaming and moaning for the past hour, mon cher," France broke it to him.
"At first we thought you were just havin' some perverted dream about being banged," America said, earning himself glares from all around.
"But when you started yelling about a fire and saving someone," China interjected. "we knew it was serious, aru."
Russia gave England a weak smile that sent shivers down the Brit's spine. "Eto normalʹno, Angliya." He patted England on the back while speaking innocently. "It was all just a nightmare. I get them quite a lot, actually."
China and France nodded in agreement. "Oui, oui." "That's right, aru!"
America let out a boisterous laugh and told everyone, "I once had a dream about my Civil War. It wasn't pretty, I'll tell you that." He then ruffled England's hair and gave him a wink. "It's okay now, Iggy! Those are just things of the past now, amirite?"
He usually won't take the American's words into account, but now it was one of his only comforts. England felt the warmth of being surrounded by his fellow nations, whom he may not exactly get along with very well or even trust that fully (but they were his allies for more than just the times in the Second World War). He let a smile slip out, at least letting the others know that he's fine. For now.
England continued to have the nightmares for the rest of the night. After getting put back to sleep by the Allies, he no longer screamed nor moaned. Instead, he woke up covered in cold sweat and breathing heavily. This happened for at least thrice before the hour of five in the morning.
When he woke up at around half past eight, he found himself alone in the room. England concurred that all the others must have woken up earlier and had already left for breakfast. He decided to do the same, and he got of out his bed and fixed himself.
With his newly-tailored brown business suit on, he walked out of the Allied Forces' quarters and down the hall to the dining room. There, he found the Allied Forces and the Axis Powers seated around a long, wooden table topped with various breakfasts of different cultures. They all momentarily stopped eating to greet the Englishman, then returned to their meals. America beckoned England to sit beside him, but he quickly rushed to the seat next to Kiku once he saw the (fat-filled) breakfast the American had cooked for him. Feeling a bit more comfortable with the full English breakfast Kiku had prepared him, he dug in and made himself full and energized before the first meeting of the day.
Half an hour before the meeting, the nations dawdled and chatted away. Meanwhile, England stood before the long windows spilling warm, bright morning sunlight into the meeting room. He was silently witnessing the ever-busy cityscape of his capital — London — until he suddenly felt a hand rest upon his shoulder. England turned his head to see Japan looking at him worriedly.
"Igirisu-san..." the Japanese man began, but was deliberately stopped when the Englishman averted his gaze and turned back to the cityscape outside.
"I'm fine, Japan," England told him softly. "You need not to worry."
"Hey," France said from behind them, making both men look at him. "If you two lovebirds are done with your sweet little scene, would you care to join us?"
While Japan stood there, frozen and blushing like a massive tomato, England lunged at France while swearing at him with harsh English swears, some of which France could even remember being thrown at him all the way back to the Dark Ages. It took the combined manpower of Germany and America to break them apart.
"You bloody git!" England screamed while he struggled out of America's hold. "Why do you always have to — "
"Ruin the moment~?" France said teasingly, and winced when Germany strengthened his hold on him. "I was merely calling you to the meeting, mon petit lapin~"
"Calling me, my Damn. Gentleman. Arse!"
At that, America almost lost his grip on England when the Brit just snapped and went on a rampage. Luckily for Germany and America, someone rose their voice to stop the mayhem.
"STOP IT, ARU!" China yelled at the French and the Brit. The volume and sternness of his voice not only shocked the two, but practically the other seven nations in the room. And for a second, they even thought it sounded MANLY. China. His voice. Being MANLY. The world was going to end, alright.
"EH? China?"
China sighed heavily as he rubbed his throbbing temple. "For the love of Mao, can we please have a meeting without having our petty quarrels get in the way beforehand?"
After getting scolded by China, France and England ended their 'petty quarrel' and everyone proceeded to their respective seats along the meeting table. The Frenchman and the Englishman were seated far away from each other, just in case.
The next two hours were filled with arguments and counterarguments regarding the Cahills, and their impact on the world and its history. For the most part, Russia was smiling in his usual innocent-but-creepy way, but this time it had a hint of thriving vengeance and restless anger. Even Germany shrugged when he glanced at Russia for more than five seconds.
Much later, America stood up and said, "Alright everyone! That should be about it, so..." A wide smile almost immediately appeared on his face as he stated his next sentence. "How 'bout we go to Mickey D's for lunch? My treat~!"
" — WAIT!"
All heads turned to the man seated beside Japan; England had stood up with his head down and his hands placed firmly on the table.
"Ve, Inghilterra?" a confused Italy asked him.
Pretty much all the other nations were just as dumbfounded as Italy.
"Hey, Iggy," America spoke to him. "What's up?"
England took a deep breath and stated his business. "I-I..." He rose his voice when he said the remaining parts of his sentence. "I WANT TO RELOCATE THE MEETING!"
"EH?" "What the — " "WAS?" "Nanidesu ka...?"
"Meeting? Dude, we just finished — " America never got to finish his sentence by the time England spoke up.
"America, you git!" England swore at him. "I mean, the meeting tomorrow! I...I want to change the venue."
Russia stepped forward and said his part. "But Angliya, the others had already been dispatched, da?" He then flashed England a seemingly innocent smile which made the Brit retreat a few steps back.
"Russland's right, Britannien," Germany told him. "And why did you make this kind of decision right now?"
England was taken aback. He avoided the curious stares shot at him by most of the group. "Um...I..."
"Ah~ I think I know the problem here," France said confidently. "This has something to do with your nightmare, hasn't it, Angleterre?"
America, seeing a chance to embarrass England, had spoken up. "Dude, don't tell me that a little nightmare scared you that much!"
He and France were now laughing with pride over unveiling what they thought was England's 'dirty, little secret'.
England's ear madly turned pink as he snapped at the two. "S-shut up!"
The whole room stilled after he screamed like that.
His chest was heaving restlessly and his blood pressure was surely rising fast, but he had to do something about the current situation.
"Alright, I admit it! My nightmare scared me into rethinking about the venue of tomorrow's meeting!"
England slumped in his chair and buried his face in his hands, trying to hide his flushed face.
"Those flames...they devoured anything and everything standing in their way..." He fought back the tears that were welling up in his eyes. "I felt my stomach churn every time I think about it and the meeting at once...and I-I just can't risk something like that to happen again..."
Suddenly, England felt a pair of arms wrapped around him. Then, it was two. Three. Four. And soon, the other seven nations were huddled up together around the Brit.
"Ve~ Inghilterra, it's okay, it's okay! Everybody is here for you, see~?" Italy, probably one of the first ones to hug England, said with a warm smile.
Germany sighed heavily and said, "This is kind of awkward for me..."
"A-ah, I agree, Doitsu-san," Japan told him, enduring the bone-crushing weight of Russia's body.
"Can we get out of this hug now?" China asked the group. "I-I think France is molesting me again!"
"Yeah!" America agreed. "And I'm starving! Lunch time, please~!"
Once everyone broke away from each other, England was still left on his chair, but now with a lighter heart. He wiped away the tears he wept, and faced the rest as Germany spoke.
"So it's decided..." the German concurred. "The venue shall be changed from — "
"IGGY'S VITAL REGIONS!" America suddenly burst out with glee, causing everyone to stare at him weirdly.
German continued. "Ahem — yes. And it shall be moved to..."
The group turned to England, who was smirking.
"Not to worry," he said. "I've already found the perfect place for our World Summit."
"EEEEEK!"
Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea rushed to the source of the shriek. They saw Natalie madly shaking as she hid behind her brother.
"Oi, what happened here?" Taiwan asked them domineeringly.
Natalie pointed to the porthole, showing different fishes swimming the deep blue sea. The three Asians slowly cocked their heads to the side and raised their brows.
"Hm...?"
"I don't see anything there," Taiwan stated, crossing her arms and glaring at the Kabra girl.
"A-a girl!" Natalie stammered. "I-I swear I saw a girl out in the water! She was swimming with a swordfish!"
The Asians exchanged skeptical looks at each other, then laughed.
"What's so funny?" Natalie asked them, not daring to blush.
Due to too much laughing, Taiwan held her aching stomach as she spoke. "There's no way there could have been a girl swimming out there!"
"And besides," South Korea said. "Seychelles lives in the Indian Ocean. There's no in hell's way she could've taken this route to the World Summit. She would have at least — "
Just in time, Hong Kong stuffed a pork bun into Yong Soo's mouth. Then, he kicked the Korean down to the ground and whispered into his ear, "You've said too much."
"...In the dark, murky waters of the Lake of Ness lies a creature so fearsome, so dangerous...that even the Vikings went running for the hills after seeing it! It is called" — Denmark held the flashlight right below his chin, making his face look as pale as a cloudy sky and as scary as your grandmother's backside — "the Loch Ness monsteeeeer!" He then made fake ghost sounds and monster noises.
"Are you telling them that silly story again, Mathias?" Norway interrupted the laughter of Amy, Dan, Nellie, and Denmark when he opened the door to their joint. Light from the control room spilled into the dark passenger's section of the submarine.
Mathias turned off the flashlight and raised his brow at the Norge. "Aw, c'mon, Arv! You're just jealous of Skotland for having Nessie!"
"I don't need a non-existent creature to attract tourists to my home, thank you very much," Arvid told him curtly.
"You don't believe in Nessie, Arvid?" Dan asked him.
The Norge shook his head. "I have yet to see it. Seeing is believing, after all," he said with a devious smirk.
"You can do what you want 'cause a pirate is free, you are a pirate~!" Prussia sang as he swung his arm across Eisenhower's shoulders. He hiccuped, then said, "Argh, me mateys! Ye go walk the plank!"
Just as Eisenhower was going to use one of his boasted wrestling moves on Gilbert, Elizabeta swooped in and smacked the Prussian with her frying pan. He fell back on his chair, knocking his beer glass into the air in the process. At this time, Vash ran for it and caught the glass just before it could meet the metal floor of the sub.
"I knew we should have checked to see if there was any beer in the cooler!" Hungary exclaimed. "And now look at this mess! Even my sweet Roddy is out cold!"
She spoke the truth. Once Prussia had gotten hold of the beer he found inside the cooler, utter mayhem struck. Now, numerous puddles of beer dotted the floor, the whole sub stunk of wasted Germans, and the only other person who knew how to pilot the submarine was unconscious.
"It's a good thing that Lili has some skills, right Vash?"
Switzerland's cheeks turned a bright pink at the mention of his sister being better at him with old war machines. He shook his head, trying to drive out the thoughts.
"Elizabeta, you try to wake up Roderich," he told Hungary as he walked up to the door of the control room. "I'll go and help Lili — "
" — Hold it right there, Vash Zwingli!" Elizabeta snapped at him, making him stop at mid-step. "You stay here and help the Holts clean up this mess. I'm sure that Lili can handle a simple World War 1 submarine."
"But — "
Hungary glared at him, and Switzerland pretty much got the message. As he went to grab a mop and get started, the Hungarian carried her ex-husband in her arms and settled him beside Prussia. Taking a longer look at the two, malicious thoughts raced in her mind. In the end, she positioned Gilbert and Roderich in a bear hug and took a picture of them.
"Jackpot," she spoke to herself in a soft voice, together with a few "Ohohoho~"'s, a devilish smile, and a trickle of blood gently escaping her nose.
Jonah watched the seascape outside as everyone in the passenger's section of the sub slept peacefully. He enjoyed this moment of peace with his father and fellow Cahills (despite being forced to tag along by complete strangers they've just met). The tranquil sea outside the porthole he looked through was filled with fish of different sizes and colors. It had all looked like one big painting of an underwater wonderland, expect that now he was seeing it up close and personal.
The Wizard boy momentarily turned his attention away from the porthole and to the seat across him and his father.
Alistair Oh was not asleep like the rest. As a matter of fact, he was wide awake. Yes, he was tired from his journey from Seoul to Crete and also the current one, but he was also getting wary of his surroundings.
"Uncle Alistair?" he heard Jonah's voice from across the room.
Alistair turned to him and smiled weakly. "Yes, my boy?"
Jonah hesitated, but spoke up soon after. "...why aren't you catching your z's like everyone else?"
"Ah, well..." Alistair felt his insides squirm as he thought about the answer to the boy's question. He lowered his voice just enough so that only Jonah can hear him. "You see, Jonah, I can't sleep soundly when I feel like I'm being watched. Closely."
Jonah was slightly fazed. He stared around the room, and soon found the silvery blond-haired woman seated right behind his uncle. She was shooting daring at him whilst holding a real one in her hand. He tried to erase all thoughts of worse-case-scenarios, and decided to sleep as well.
AN: So, how was that? Um, well...I was just winging it here, so please don't kill me if I messed up any of the characters ( ^ ^ ;) About Prussia singing pirate songs...it seems that certain Prussians back then were part of the whole European pirate society, and I figured I'd show it here in my story. And why...WHY...do I always have the tendency to make Natalie so uke and helpless? AUGH! *hits self with a fish*
Okay, next thing up is...QUESTION~ Should I include recent, real-life events here? Please tell me what you think~!