Egg Nation- Words in an Elevator
There was a constant rumble from the moving of the elevator present, and the overhead lights flickered on, exposing the barren space they were in. All that filled up the room was the smallish machine Alfred was in and the two distinct groups of people that stood tensely, waiting for the other to move or speak. Arthur was unable to tear himself away from the distant America's side, staring intently at his former charge and hoping for some response from him. Lovino folded his arms over a puffed out chest and tapped his foot impatiently, stalling until he either got an answer from his brother or an order to attack from the director. Luckily Feliciano spoke, halting his brother's attack (for now), as the little Italian fluttered toward him he squeaked out," W-what are you doing with that mean man? He's responsible about kidnapping Alfred you know. And that makes him really bad! Lovi..."
"Don't call me that, you fucking idiot!" South Italy spat, and as he insulted his brother the mere reference to him sat sourly on his tongue that showed through a disgusted frown. This went unnoticed by the oblivious North Italy when he continued to fly up to his very big brother. Once Feliciano was close enough; Lovino caught the floating nation in his hand and held him in a tight clasp, causing the cowardly character to wail in pain. Germany restrained himself from his automatic reaction of rushing in to save the Italian, knowing there was no chance of success and desperately waited for the right opportunity. North Italy, being unaware of this, bombarded his hesitant friend with pleas for rescue mixed in with his crying. Ignoring these cries Lovino continued and condescendingly said, "And no Feliciano, I don't see how this man is either mean or bad. He's given me the edge I've needed to beat your perfect ass!"
"Don't be swindled in by Easter's empty promises! I know how you feel but-"Utau began to beg, her eyes swelling at the thought of her past actions when she was under control of the company.
"You should learn to hold your tongue, little girl, especially in such awesome presence. His rage spawned centuries ago and has been festering all this time. How can you possibly know how he feels?" Gilbert taunted, stepping up as he interrupted her. Utau's mouth was gapping dumbfounded at the beginning of his speech, but by the end her face was scrunched up disapprovingly and fists clenched, itching for a fight that Prussia was more than willing to comply with.
'Centuries.' The word echoed curiously in Amu's mind.
"That's it. Unlock my heart!" Utau shouted, supported by the cheers of the devilish Il as she returned to her egg.
Character Transformation: Lunatic Charm!
Utau came from the blinding light with a mischievous yet confident air about her as she now sported the small, red dress. The other children stood in shock and unsure of what to do, all Amu seemed to be able to do was wince with Ludwig at each yelp Feliciano emitted. Utau and Gilbert were set opposite of one another, the others unknowingly backed to the sides of the invisible fighting ring and watched. Each opponent wore an identical, arrogant grin as they paced back and forth. This standoff though only lasted for a short while; ending when Utau threw her arms out and yelled, "Nightmare Lorelei!"
"Character change!" Ping.
The storm of glittering butterflies flooded the air and charged at Prussia. But before they came in contact with the intended target Tadase flung himself into their path, wearing the light blue cap on top of his head. When he was hit by Utau's attack he had his feet planted firmly on the ground and arms raised to protect his face. The insects' wings whipped up a powerful gust of wind that forced him to stagger back, and their bodies dissolved on impact, leaving a sparkling cloud and a lingering throb in their wake.
Tadase's body made for an effective shield against the attack; most of the butterflies crashed into the boy, and the rest veered off course because of the unexpected obstacle, missing Prussia completely. But once Utau realized Tadase's self-sacrifice, she called off any remaining butterflies. Relieved from anymore potential hits Tadase fell onto one knee; each of Utau's butterflies was the equivalent to a decent punch, and after a dozen or so his body was ringing in pain. Every part of him sang a different agonizing note and played together as an orchestra of his suffering.
Ping… and whatever strength he had, fell with that sound.
"Tadase!" Amu called catching the weary boy in her arms as she ran to him. While Amu tended to Tadase, Kiseki shot Ludwig a deadly glare. His arms trembled in rage; as he suppressed his nagging desire to maul the German, whose head hung low. Kiseki couldn't stop himself from verbally confronting Ludwig and angrily demanded, "Why did you do that to Tadase? You could've killed him!"
"Mein bruder, my brother. He's my brother… I-I didn't know what else to do." Germany grunted out, hiding the devastation in his voice. Kiseki and Miki shared the same distrusting and skeptical look, while the other characters slightly backed away from the nations and cautiously toward their owners. There was only the hum of the elevator in the quiet the followed; which frustrated England into repeatedly pounding on the glass sphere that encased America and shouted through his banging, "Would you all quite it with the goddamn silence? Honestly, we came to save Alfred. Now if none of you want, then I'll tear apart everyone and thing in this God forsaken building myself!"
Amu then expected either someone from her group to aid Arthur or for one of the director's new minions to stop him. It was neither; instead America slowly lifted his head, calling everyone's attention to him instantly with that simple action.
"U-useless… It's all so useless. Everything I've done, no matter what is was, only annoyed you all. Why did I fight that war? It would've been better if I'd stayed England's little colony." America mumbled depressingly, leaving all the shrunken nations with astonished expressions on their faces. England wore the largest, most shocked and surprisingly the saddest of all.
'Colony… England?' Amu thought these words were spoken privately in her mind, but when a couple curious heads turned toward her, Amu figured out that she had said them aloud. While they exchanged confused and questioning glances; all of their eyes suddenly darted to the director, whose low chuckle had become a thorough maniacal laugh. After he calmed himself from his abrupt laughter and cleared his throat he explained; taking in a sickening pleasure as he spoke, "You really don't know, do you? It seems your new, little friends have been keeping secrets. You see, children, these-"
The director paused and motioned for South Italy to give him his captured brother, which he did despite his urge to resume tormenting the little Italian. After handing over North Italy, he stepped back and huffed unhappily to himself. Then the director presented the squirming Feliciano and finished his previous sentence, "…are countries."
Ka-chunk! The elevator quickly and loudly halted, emphasizing the reveal but unsteadying everyone's footing, and Kiku, who had been ever quiet and observant, launched a determined look at Ludwig that was instantly understood by the German. The two sprang forward; Germany heading to the loosened grip of the director, and Japan coming in behind, wielding his katana. Italy hastily jumped on the chance to worm his way out of his captor's hand and to be received by Germany's safe arms, carrying him out of harm's way. Lovino and Gilbert both tried to take back the retrieved country but met with stinging slices of Japan's blade. France's face lit up as the rescue team returned with the Italian that whimpered, "Germany! Wah! Wh-what took you so long? I was so s-scared, Lovi is acting really scary today."
"It really is those bad guys…" Yaya mumbled with fear quivering in her voice as she grabbed Pepe, bringing the baby character close to her as she hesitantly back away. Amu starred at the nations and back to her friends while helping Tadase to his feet; they all seemed to be frightened of them now, but as she kept looking at their reactions Italy's words replayed themselves again and again in her head. "You see, a while ago we were in this… fight" Rima's large, honey eyes kept bouncing between the Axis trio and Yao, and when they finally returned to rest on China those golden orbs had a sense of betrayal sitting within them. "…with Arthur and his friends, and we thought we were doing the right thing." Utau made a physical barrier of herself between El and the nations, taking on a protective demeanor.
"Though we were the ones who were really being mean, but you know that we aren't." Nagihiko avoided eye-contact with Matthew, glancing off to the side, and thought about the somber face his mother had been wearing when he snuck away. "So… you just keep trying to beat this Easter-thing and everything will turn out good, you'll see!" Kukai took on more of an annoyed expression at first, but this face soon evolved into one of resentment. By then Amu was completely frustrated with the group's new found hostility.
"Who cares if they lied to us? Easter's the one really at fault here; they've put X's on the heart eggs of countless children, Feliciano and his friends are the victims here!" Amu defended, throwing disappointed gazes to her doubting friends, but the defense only served as a joke for the director to laugh at as he ridiculed, "Naïve as ever, aren't you Hinamori Amu? All of these countries have committed unspeakable sins during their lifetime, war is just one of the many examples."
"You shut your bloody mouth! Although I could never condone the fact that war is an atrocious part of our past, we're at least trying to make peace now. But look at what you're doing to America and his people, children are passing out left and right!" England shouted in a hoarse voice, resulting from his utter disgust of the director and his failing attempt to mask his overwhelming sadness for Alfred. Though the children were second guessing their mistrust; the director was unfazed by Arthur's words, and the nations became extremely worried about the fate of their own citizens. France was the one to voice the shared concern and asked, " Mon Dieu, how is that possible? To attack a country's people in such a way from this far of a distance."
"Simple, by exploiting the connection they share with their country. You each are made up of your people and land; if you pollute one heart of the relationship, the other is tainted as well." The director began to explain, marveling at the convenient method of collecting X Eggs, and continued, "Though this doesn't work with only half of a country or one that no longer exist. All we can do is force them into a hypnotic state, better than nothing I suppose, but I'm quite tired of monologuing to you all. Prussia. South Italy. Do whatever you'd like."
With the order given and another click of the director's remote; the elevator doors pulled apart, revealing the thousands of X Eggs circling the roof of the building and the two controlled countries turned to their opponents with excited grins. The additional X Eggs conjured a purple glow around Prussia and South Italy, allowing each to create weapons out of the X Egg energy. Gilbert drew a long sword with a similar glow out of thin air while Lovino now stood with a bushel of tomatoes cradled in one arm, and after realizing the silliness of his ammunition he proceeded to chuck the fruit wildly and yelled, "Pomodori! Are you fucking serious? He gets a badass sword, while I'm stuck with weakass tomatoes! What kind of shit is this?"
Most of his throws had no aim, and a simple sidestep was all it took to evade them. But when the tomatoes smashed into the floor, a terrible hiss sizzled from the foaming fruits as their X Egg energy-induced, acidic juices corroded the floor. Everyone, including Lovino himself, gawked at the tomatoes unexpected effects and China thought aloud what they were all thinking, "What the hell is in those things, aru?" After his discovery; South Italy started putting effort into his throws, forcing his enemies to dance around as they dodged the deadly fruits. Their avoidant movements brought them out onto the roof, much to England's displeasure about leaving America. When they all were outside the elevator, the previously quiet air was filled with the depressed chanting of the X Eggs.
"I can't understand what they're saying!" Yaya complained, covering her ears in an endeavor to block out the painfully ringing words. The rest of the group agreed with this assessment, only picking up the occasional word or two but for the most part were not able to translate the woes of the American children's heart eggs. The nations though, knew perfect English and were unfortunately able to comprehend the cries. Their concentration was then broken by a sweep of energy Gilbert swung at them with his weapon, and they turned backed toward him and Lovino. While he lunged at them, swinging the sword, Lovino rained tomatoes on top of them from a safe distance and some of the X Eggs joined together to form a chain, whipping themselves at the group.
'Utau! You need to take care of the X Eggs, switch me out for El.' Il called before undoing the Character Transformation and tagging her angel counterpart in. Ran looked up at Amu and nodded her head enthusiastically, beaming up her signature cheerful smile. Rima initially spun around to face Kusukusu, but the clown character shook her head, giggled lightly and said, "Yao's stronger, he'll be more helpful. Besides they're his friends, so it's his fight. Right?" After ending her speech with that question she peeked out of the corner of her eye at Yao and busted into another fit of silly laughter. He then went back into his egg, which had: the Great Wall of China, forests of bamboo trees and Panda bears around the egg with his nation's red flag on top of it all.
Character Transformation: Seraphic Charm! Amulet Heart! China Drop!
"Wha- China Drop? Since when have you been able to do that Rima?" Yaya blurted out, watching the new transformation with obvious interest and a tinge of jealousy. "I would've told you, if somebody hadn't interrupted me back at the school." Rima responded flatly; slightly hinting the last comment sarcastically at Germany, who gave a nervous laugh embarrassedly.
Everyone else joined Yaya in starring at Rima; though they didn't have the exact quality of her childish wonder, there were still some trances within each of them. But Yaya lost her endearing wonder when she noticed the creepily happy Russian floating beside her mumble about 'crushing'. Kukai also had his excitement about the possible new transformations taken away as his sight fell on the currently innocent-looking Frenchman, but with memories of him forcing his l'amour ideology upon Kukai, the option of transforming with him was out of the question. Nagihiko was much more hopeful about his results with Matthew, and they traded small smiles to confirm their plan. Tadase tilted his head up to Ludwig, who purposely focused his attention on the Italian hanging onto him.
"I've already forgiven you for what you did back there, but if you don't want to, then I understand." Tadase offered the comforting words with a sincere tone and began to face Kiseki, when he was struck on the head by a falling German. Ludwig bounced off of his head and steadied himself in the air, glaring at Italy who now was holding onto a flustered Japan and cheerily stated, "Germany, you're so stubborn! I'll be fine, Japan will be here to protect me, and if it comes down to it I can always retreat."
'Ja, but that's not the point… 'Germany exhaustedly sighed and took in a quick breath as he mentally prepared himself. He had observed the previous transformations and calculated the exact precision of each characters' movements; and then the moment came where Tadase and the others took their positions, yelling the phrase 'Unlock my heart!'
While the unchanged children were transforming: Amu, Utau and Rima started the attack. Utau stretched out her feathery, angelic wings and fell up high above the storm of X Eggs; but as she journeyed through them the jointed eggs threw themselves at Utau, trying to knock her out of the sky. While the rest sent bolts of their negative energy like thundering clouds striking the ground with lightening; after being sidetracked with evading their attacks Utau finally arrived above them unfolding her arms and wings, and shouting 'Angel Cradle' before humming the soothing song that accompanied the light flits of her glowing feathers. But to her dismay only a few of the stray, unconnected X Eggs were purified.
After becoming Amulet Heart; Amu was immediately barraged with the slashing of Gilbert's sword, barely managing to catch the weapon in the bushel of her pom-poms. As Prussia pushed down the sword, hoping to break Amu's hold, his lips curled up into an insane grin that dripped with his love for fighting. Amu somehow managed to break the lock and summon a beam of pink light that molded into her Heart Rod, resuming the fight as a sword dual. As the two clashed their weapons against the other's Amu could hear his thoughts and see glimpses of blurry scenes, she presumed they were Prussian's memories but was unable to comprehend the language the wispy figures spoke.
'Amu-chan! How can we help him, if we can't even understand what he's saying?' Ran hopelessly asked, to which Amu was unable to answer. She could barely keep up with Gilbert's attacks; each hit became more aggressive, and his tactics were constantly changing. Amu never knew what he was going to do next, she looked out of the corner of her eye to see Rima's progress with Lovino. She wasn't fairing any better. Once she emerged from the light as China Drop, Rima firstly hid behind the wok as a shield from the tomatoes. After there was a pause in his throwing she came out from cover and charged forward, holding up her ladle to strike South Italy, only to be pelted when he resumed assaulting her with the fruit.
Being hit by one of the tomatoes wasn't a pleasant experience, at all. Even though none of it made contact with her skin; she still felt a burning deep within, like the X Egg energy seeped in through her clothing and was smoldering inside her. Rima did not want to be hit by another, and as more were thrown at her she swung the ladle as if it were a baseball bat, sending the tomato flying off of the rooftop. This game of pitcher and batter continued with Rima inching closer with each swing, and Lovino ducking from any tomatoes that were reflected back at him. She eventually came close enough to gain insight into the Italian's troubled heart, but the images she saw were silent, even when the figures' lips moved no words could be heard.
"Amu-chan! I can't figure out what's wrong with him, what should we do, aru?" Rima asked ending with her new verbal tic, and Amu fought hard against the rising chuckles she wanted to laugh out as she called back, "I've got the same problem! Let's fall back for now, the others are doing their Character Transformations. We can counteract at full force when there done. Utau come back down!"
After pulling herself away from Gilbert's sword; Amu joined up with Rima, retreating to the opposite side of the roof with Utau flying overhead as the X Eggs cracked their whip formation at them. Failing to hit any of the fleeing targets the eggs returned to their own side and waited with Prussia and South Italy for the next move. When Amu and the rest of her group arrived the others were just coming out of the very familiar light.
Character Transformation: Dear Baby! Sky Jack! Canada Beat! And Tadase… wait what?
A/N: I think I've got a set system now, one chapter a week. Although I did like it better when I could produce more than one a week, sometimes writting a whole chapter in one day, but I guess this is how it's worked itself into my schedule. And sorry my 'Author's Notes' have been so boring lately I- Dun dun... Ummm... what was that? Dun dun. Seriously, what th-... oh no. Dun dun. Run! Run everybody, run! It's coming! Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun DUN! DUN! DUN! ...England's revenge... God help us all
Peace~! -MagnifiedSun