| 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 ○
[ Norway? Come in, Norway. ] England spoke into the microphone.
[ Roger that, England. ] the Norge on the other line replied. [ Anything new? ]
[ Yes. Now... ] The Brit reached out for the piece of paper on the other side of his desk and examined it. [ I'll need you and Sweden to bank your unit at Port D. ]
[ The n'rtheast'rn s'de of th' isl'nd? ] Sweden asked him.
[ Exactly. ] England said.
"WOOHOO!" Denmark cheered once he closed the control room door behind him. "Arv and Waldy say that we're almost there!"
I will never get used to that nickname, Finland thought as a drop of sweat rolled down his temple.
"Oh yeah!" Dan and Nellie woot-ed, pumping their fists into the air.
"No offense, Matthias, but..." Nellie began. "I can't wait to get out of this old, rusty submarine!"
Their submarine lurched forwards, backwards and practically in every direction imaginable when the Eastern Europeans, Ekats, and Wizards were nearly to the island. The passenger's section was filled with panicked, screaming children, and the nations were no way in a better condition. Poland did a subtly bad comment on Belarus' complexion, and it went haywire from there. While Lithuania and Estonia were trying to break them up, poor Raivis was expected to pilot the old, worn down sub in a control filled with homicidal maniacs and frantic relatives.
"GAH! Baltarusija! Lenkija!" Toris screamed while he was getting crushed by the two nations he was pitted against. "QUIT IT, YOU GUYS!"
Eduard was holding back Feliks because he was too afraid to even go near Natalia in this state (who wouldn't be?). "This is going nowhere! Either of them has to give it up sometime!"
Natalia let out a low, maniacal laugh as she reached out her arms and attempted to claw off the Pole's face. "Zabić* zabić zabić zabić zabić zabić...!"
"Ty czarownico**!" Feliks shrieked, putting as much distance between himself and the crazy woman. "Like, get away from me!"
Back in the passenger's section, the Cahills were hearing most of the Eastern European's conversation. And just when they thought it couldn't get any louder...
"OMIGAWD! SHE, LIKE, TOTALLY STABBED ME!"
"Uli ga dochag haesseubnida, daze~!" South Korea cheered, raising his floppy, over-sized sleeves into the air. "We've arrived, daze~!"
While he was gleefully jumping on the olden port of the island, the other Asians were helping the Kabra children out of the submarine. With the 'ladies first' rule, Natalie was the first to come out. She was hoisted out of the sub by Hong Kong, and later earned a cold glare from Taiwan. Then, Ian was pulled out by Thailand and Vietnam. They may have gotten carried away, though, because they managed to put so much muscle into it that Ian ended up in a tree nearby. So as the two went to rescue him from the Quercus Ilex tree, the rest of the group followed them away from the port.
"Get me down this instant!" the Kabra boy cried out, hanging in an upside-down position on a thick branch more than fifteen feet above the ground. "HEY!"
"Yeah, yeah. We're coming to get you," Vietnam drawled as she stood right beneath him. With her hands on hips, a smug smirk on her face, and Thailand staring blankly at the crybaby Kabra, Vietnam felt proud of herself.
"Are you just going to stand there and watch me all day," Ian said, irritated. "Or are you going to get me down?"
The smirk of Vietnam's face grew wide and more sinister. "Nah, I'm just going to cherish this moment."
And thus, Ian spat out almost every swear word in the British dictionary at the Vietnamese woman while she watched the enraged, dangling teen with pleasure.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group had just caught up to them. Upon witnessing Ian's predicament, none of them managed to suppress even a giggle.
"Excellent," Hong Kong muttered and smirked as he took out his camera. "More blackmail."
"I...I..." The Austrian was out of breath half a mile away from the port. He was starting to sweat like a pig and breathe shorter breaths. "I can't take this any longer...!"
The Holts were bombarding him with insults ever since he began to slow down.
"What a wuss!" "WIMP!" "Aw c'mon!"
"Being prissy for a couple of decades has made you ultimately weak, Roddy!" Prussia jeered as he effortlessly jogged back to be walking beside the Austrian. "Especially since you and Lizzie divorced! Ahahaha!"
This time, Gilbert was ready. He knew Hungary would quickly take out her frying pan and smack him unconscious, but now he was ready for it. Just as she lunged herself at him, he ducked down. In the process, Austria was hit squarely in the face and knocked down to the ground — as if he needed that to be done.
"Oh my — RODDY!"
As Elizabeta rushed to Roderich's aid, Gilbert had already dashed away to the nearby town up the steep hill they were trekking on. Sensing the tension, the Holt family gaited on him.
A number of nations arrived that day at the island. The eight of them — the miraculous combination of the Axis Powers and Allied Forces — had sent invitations to almost everyone in the United Nations. Japan was even shocked to see some micro-nations to show up (Sealand sneaked up on him from behind with a glomp, Seborga was seen with the Italies, and Australia and New Zealand were seen pestering Wy).
He, along with Italy and America, was left in-charge of greeting the incoming nations. The three of them shooks hands, gave or were given hugs, and (in Italy's case) kissing cheeks. Well, no one could blame a passionate country like Italy for acting like that.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the venue was a large and dark room where dozens of monitors showed live videos of surveillance cameras stationed at every nook and cranny on the island. Russia, China, and France were carefully eying the monitors for any suspicious behavior among the other nations (excluding their usual anomalies) and their 'Cahill guests'. Ever since they were assigned to this station, the three countries had been at it for more than five hours already. With no breaks other than going to the bathroom, it was tiring and painstaking.
In the main meeting room were Germany and England going over the itinerary for the meeting. The room was cleaned and ready for the event thanks to the efforts of everyone. It wasn't easy cleaning an academy cleaning spanning roughly the same size of the Buckingham Palace, let alone swabbing the place spotless overnight. And from their experience, all eight nations never wanted to go through it ever again.
Just as they about to finish their turn for the hour, "God Save the Queen" was playing on England's cellphone. He answered it to found out it was France.
[ Angleterre, they are almost upon us. ] Francis told him.
"That's good. Germany and I had just finished," Arthur said. "Now, please do inform the others and tell everyone to proceed to the room."
[ Oui, oui. ] the Frenchman mused before hanging up.
"Woah," the Starling Triplets breathlessly said as they twirled on the spot, scanning the olden town square. Even Alistair was knocked speechless by the sight.
The town was barren and ancient-looking. It's design appeared to be based on Ancient Mediterranean architecture, right down to the intricate designs on the walls and pillars. Jonah even noticed a few worn but readable Latin markings on some walls.
"'Pasta fac non bellum'...?" the Wizard boy slowly read it, squinting his eyes at the confusing text.
"'Make pasta, not war'," Alistair said from behind him. He laughed at either the translation or Jonah's sudden and slight retreat (probably both).
"Interesting," the Korean man said, smiling to himself. "It makes you wonder, doesn't it?"
Two Cahill children, their au pair, and an Egyptian Mau were standing in front of two large, wooden doors adorned with gold and bronze. Above these were letters worn through the ages, spelling out the words "Southwest Gate". As the three Madrigals gaped at the doors (Saladin was clawing Dan's leg in a "Gimme mah tuna!" way), Sweden and Finland were at the gigantic bronze knockers, huge enough to conflict Prussia's ego.
Tino grabbed one of the rings and tried to lift it, but it was all in vain. Berwald stepped in and rapped a bronze ring with ease, causing his Finnish "wife" to tense up. As soon as the loud pang of the bronze knockers echoed around them, a hoarse, domineering voice spoke out of nowhere.
"Who dares to knock upon the doors of the United Nations?"
Denmark cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Quit it, Al! You know it's just us!"
"...Aw, c'mon dude! Why do you have to spoil my fun?" the voice whined in a different tone, one of which was energized and hyper.
After that, the doors slowly opened. The voice grumbled something before the Nordics and the Madrigals began to walk inside the threshold.
"Hmp, darn Mattie..."
The unnamed academy (or at least that's what the Nordics told Dan, Amy, and Nellie) was perch atop the seemingly high hill on the island. You can pretty much see the whole place from there; it loomed over lush forests and ports stationed all around the land mass. The woods were so noisy and frantic that you'd be right if you guessed that it is teeming with wildlife. Flocks of birds flew in unusual formations above their heads (Amy was dumbfounded if those storks really were flying in a swastika-like formation). If not for the old, abandoned town downhill, the island would be paradise.
On the outside the academy, it looked like a classical-style castle painting in white and cream. It was large, all right, and sent shivers down the spines of those who stand beneath it shadow.
Inside, it was grand and beautiful like nothing Amy, Dan, and Nellie had ever since. Even more than all the places they went to during to the Clue Hunt. With its shiny marble floors, expensive golden chandeliers, smooth porcelain walls, high ceilings, and long windows, the sight almost blinded them.
"And the United Nations have their meetings here?" Amy asked the Nordics bewilderedly.
Berwald grumbled a reply, Tino nodded and smiled, Mathias answered with a "Heck yeah!", Arvid said "On rare occasions, we do.", and Nièl was busy pulling Puffin off his head to reply properly.
Dan stopped in his tracks and gaped at them. "Mocha fudgin' nut of a brownie — NO WAY."
"Way cool," Nellie confirmed with a satisfied nod. She wore a disturbed expression with a smirk, a face that gave the impression that she'd seen a ghost. "Waaaaaay cool."
A couple more minutes down the hall they stopped in front of two white doors. The Nordics instructed Dan, Amy, and Nellie to wait for them in the room behind the doors, and they'd be back soon after.
"Like how soon?" Amy pondered aloud in a worried tone, more or less addressing Arvid.
Norway looked a her with a blank expression and said dully, "Just soon."
Dan wasn't even finished saying "but" when Mathias pulled him, Amy, and Nellie into a giant hug.
"Hey, hey, stop worrying you guys!" he laughed, unaware that he was practically choking the three Madrigals. "We'll be seeing each other soon enough!"
Sweden suddenly appeared behind Denmark, glaring at the back of his head and pressing a forceful hand onto the Dane's shoulder. A drop of sweat rolled down Mathias's temple, he tensed up, and released the people locked in his arms.
Denmark turned back to Sweden, rubbing his shoulder and defiantly glaring at Berwald. "Hehe," he laughed darkly. "Sve, you bastard..."
As Finland and Norway were about to cut in between, a small boy appeared at the doorway. He was young and blond, dressed in a blue sailor suit, and holding a petite, white puppy in his hands. He beaming at them all with a toothy smile as he screamed each of the Nordic's names.
"Mum! Dad!" he yelled excitedly at Tino and Berwald, causing Finland to stutter a "P-Peter!" and Sweden's to turn a slight rosy shade.
"Everyone, I'm so glad that you're back!" Sealand told the whole group. He whipped his head at Dan, Amy, and Nellie and his face lit up. "Oh! And you brought another lot!"
Sweden quickly rushed forward and swung the young principality over his shoulder and carried him outside. In the process, the puppy flew out of Peter's hands, and only for Finland to catch the pup in his arms.
"B-Berwald! Wait for me!"
The rest of the people in the room watched with an air of oddity as the three-man-and-one-dog family went outside. Once Tino's frantic voice was heard no more, Mathias, Dan, and Nellie burst out laughing.
"Who were those guys?" Amy asked Nièl, who answered her with a droning voice.
"The pup is named Hanatamago, considered more family member than pet."
"And the boy?"
"Peter Kirkland, Berwald and Tino's love child."
It seemed that Denmark had heard this, because he almost immediately laughed louder. Dan and Nellie were clutching their stomachs, and even Norway couldn't suppress a slight smirk.
The boy was sitting on the floor before the coffee table, reading comics in different languages and styles, while his sister sat on one of the armchairs around the table and their au pair lay in on the sofa, mouthing the lyrics of what seemed to be a punk song.
Amy looked at her phone, and its clock said "04:37 PM". She told Dan about it, and he responded by dropping his head onto the table. Nellie's body didn't move in the slightest way, not with the loud music pumping into her ears.
"They've been gone for two hours!" Dan whined, his head still face-down on the coffee table strewn with comic books. He turned his head a bit, and looked at Amy with a doubtful face.
She wanted to reassure him, even if it wasn't even true. And that he knew that it wasn't true.
Amy pushed herself to give him a weak smile and softly said, "They'll come. We've just to wait a little longer, that's all."
Dan didn't looked that reassured at all. He turned his head face-down on the table once more and muttered, "And just when I began to trust someone..."
"We will, we will, ROCK YOU! YEEEAAAH!" Nellie suddenly screeched. Dan and Amy stared at her for a moment, then let it slip. This was Nellie, anyway. Good ol', awesome Nellie.
Dan had read the last page of the last comic book he dug out of the coffee table. Now, he was bored again. He sighed, and began to clean up the mess atop the table (something Amy was shocked to see). As he reached out to grab one of the comic books he accidental knocked over the vase, revealing a red button cleverly concealed underneath. Half a second of panic processed in his mind, and then the rest was intrigue. Dan was tempted to press the button (with or without Amy and/or Nellie's knowledge), but he knew better. Months of traps and secrets taught him to be more cautious, if not to level his curiosity.
"What...DAN, NO!"
LOL I WAS JUST KIDDING ABOUT THE "BEING MORE CAUTIOUS" PART.
Amy screamed, being witness to her idiot brother attempting to press a red button. And everyone knows that red buttons mean SERIOUS BUSINESS. She prayed to God that if he gets away with it, she'll wring his throat dry.
Dan got away with it.
The floor beneath them began to rumble. Nellie had snapped out of her nirvana and was staring at the two Cahills with a horror-stricken face. Amy was too panicked at the moment to soot daggers at Dan, and he was filled with too much regret to even think straight. After seconds of shaking, the room was still. Nothing more than the soft chiming of the shaken chandelier above and the heavy breaths of the Madrigals who've clung onto their seats for dear life.
"DAN WHAT DID YOU PRESS THIS TIME," Amy and Nellie scolded him, accompanied by equally cold glares and scrunched-up faces.
"Um...maybe it was just..." He didn't know what to say, so he just spat out the first word that came into his mind. "...an earthquake simulator?"
Everyone wished it was, because the floor suddenly flipped upside-down and sent them down a steep chute.
Ned, Ted, and Sinead would have squealed and whee-d if the ride wasn't so horrifyingly thrilling. Sliding down the chute behind them were Alistair, Jonah, and Broderick. Ned, Ted, Jonah, and Broderick were swearing loudly in English while Alistair was doing so in Korean. Sinead, on the other hand, was used to that Polish transvestite's Valley Girl speak so she was screaming with "LIKE — OMIGOD" and "HOLY MOTHER OF PINK PONIES — ".
The chute was dark and damp. Natalie was hoping that no dirt would get her clothes in a mess. Again.
Ten seconds into the fall, Ian was sick of hearing his sister's screaming. Then, he hit against a wall and was whiplashed straight to his right. The fall had taken a great turn and they were now sliding at unimaginable speeds.
"WEH!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"OHMYGOD— NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
These were the kind of screams heard from the long, steep chutes beneath the academy. Back on the ground floor, the nations were filing into ten different elevators that would take them five levels underground — the "Emergency Meeting Room".
No one could stop Greece and Turkey's rambling, Egypt's indifference to the previous two, Hongkong's secret plan to drop a small explosive down England's pants, Cuba and Netherlands' smoking, Romano's whining (to Spain's "parental affection" for him), Switzerland lecturing Liechtenstein about the "dangers of being around an Austrian" (and the said country's debate to it), nor Hungary and Taiwan going around and taking random pictures of everyone.
"I swear to God," America told Japan as they ushered ten or so countries into an elevator. "I'll never volunteer for this post ever again."
Japan cracked a small smile as he pushed a series of buttons causing the elevator doors to close and send them down. "It is quite a lot to handle, right America-san?"
The trip — or "chute ride from hell", as Dan put it — felt like an hour. They'd been falling, sliding, and turning corners at unexpected moments for quite a matter time. There seemed to be a wind that kept whipping past them, flooding their ears with noise. And the whole thing was making Amy nauseous.
"Is there even an end to this thing?" Nellie bellowed, her voice bouncing off the metal walls of the chute.
And just as she had said it, Dan spotted a small, faint light coming from further down the chute. Then at the last moment, they took another turn and — like a water slide — thrown out of the dark chute and up into the air. All three of them screamed as they stood airborne for some seconds until they dropped to the floor. The funniest thing was not the awkward ride they'd just taken nor the ever more awkward exit from said ride, but the 'floor' they landed on. From the sounded of several groaning and panicked voices, it felt like there were more than fifteen people around them. Then there was no light, so Dan could only estimate the number to only that much.
"DAN! Where are you?" he heard Amy's voice not far from his position. He wanted to move and search for her, but someone heavy was lying on top of him.
He pushed that person by their chest and tried to heave them up. "Hey! Get off me!"
As Dan struggled, he heard numerous familiar voices all around him.
"I can't see!" "It's so dark!" "Ned! Ted! Where in the world are you two?" "Oh, my gut! Get off me, you heavy oaf!"
They were all too familiar.
As each Cahill fought off those blocking their way to find their own allies, the ceiling above them split in two and diverged from each other, letting a blinding white light spill into the dark abyss below. The floor beneath began to tremble, and it rose like a platform taking them up into the light. Moment by moment, each of them recognized one another. Names were said, gasped, and screamed. They would turn from family member to another, slowly taking in the sudden reunion.
"What's the meaning of this?" Sinead asked them loudly. "What the heck is going on here?"
"Hey, calm down, sis..." her twin brothers told her softly.
"Why should we know?" Ian spoke up. "We were taken here against our will!"
"And by some strange Asian people!" Natalie added. "Who were probably part of some mafia or something!"
A loud clanking sound came about and the platform came to a stop. Everyone soon realized that they had been elevated to a new room which gave off the impression of being a high-security military base training room. They were in the center of a cold, octagon-shaped room, dimly-lit by small lanterns hung on each of its eight walls. Above them and all around the room were viewing rooms with highly-tinted windows, concealing the audience behind them. At each side of the room were metal doors marked from 1 to 8 and a country's flag on a metal plaque right above each door.
"W-where are we?" Amy stammered, slowly scanning the room with her eyes.
"I don't know what the heck is going on here," Eisenhower Holt said, grabbing his wife's hand as she grabbed each of their children's hands, and began to walk away from the rest. "But I'm not going to stay here for any longer!"
Suddenly, the eight doors around the room slid open, blinding them all with bright light coming from the outside. At each door stood a person whose shadow spread all the way to the center of the room, looming over the Cahills.
"I'm afraid that you cannot leave yet, Mr. Holt," said an Englishman's voice from the door that was marked with the number five.
Eisenhower, quite a bit shocked, retreated a step or two and strengthened the grip on his wife's hand. A drop of sweat ran down the side of his face as he gulped.
"Oh yeah?" Eisenhower yelled at the man. "You and what army?"
Despite the dimness, he could see the devilish smirk spread across the man's face.
"This army," the man said, and with a snap of his fingers the windows of the upper rooms lost their tint, revealing more than half a hundred people within them.
The Cahills stood in the center of the room with gaping mouths and horrified faces as the people in the upper rooms were pointing and waving at them.
"AH!"
Amy, Dan, and Nellie were staring at the five men who took them here in the first place. The Nordics were staring down at them: Tino and Iceland were wearing worried faces, Sweden and Norway had neutral expressions, and Denmark was happily waving at the three Madrigals.
Up in the upper rooms, Denmark found the microphone and turned it on.
"Hey, Dan! Amy! Nellie!" he beamed at them without the knowledge that they were grimacing at him.
"Unbelievable," Amy said under her breath. "Truly...despicable." She said the last word with utter disgust.
"YOU JERKS!" Eisenhower screamed at the Germans at another of the room. "I knew we couldn't trust you!"
Ian and Natalie were throwing every single British swear word in the book at the Asians. And it is best for you to not even know of them...
Poland was blowing kisses at the Starlings and Wizards, and the latter was fearful to speak back for Belarus was glaring at them as she held up her signature knife. Alistair simply shook his head in dismay.
"Ve~ L-Ludwig!" said a man with an Italian accent from one of the doors. He addressed the person at the door to his right, whose door was topped with the German flag. "I-I think we made them angry!"
The other man slapped his face with palm and sighed heavily. "Isn't it a little too obvious, Feliciano?"
"WAIT A SECOND!"
Everyone turned to not the Madrigals, Alistair Oh, the Holts, the Kabra children, nor the Starling triplets, but Jonah Wizard's father, Broderick. His chest was heaving and the layer of sweat on his forehead shone against the light. The obvious signs of restlessness and aggression were surfacing.
With a heavy sigh, he slightly calmed down. Briefly collecting himself, he spoke. "If would anyone please care to explain to us what in the world is going on here?"
"Pft! Just chill, dude," an American at one of the doors lazily told Broderick. "And by the way..."
The American spreads his arms wide in a welcoming way, and the lights around the room turned on, finally showing a clear scope of the people standing at the eight doors around the room.
"Welcome to the United Nations!" each of the eight men said in their own accent and language.
Translations:
* kill (Belorussian)
** "You witch!" (Polish)
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH *repeatedly bangs head onto desk* Why — can't — I — post — sooner — ? Darn school! *madly shakes fist in the air*
...is it just me or am I being too dependent on Google Translate these days? *can't even completely write a chapter without consulting it* ( ^ ^ ;)
And yeah...so now, I'm in school. In my third year of high school, to be exact. Research and life-changing decisions begin!