Heh~ Sorry this chappie took so long~ In this chapter, we finally find out what is taking Singa so long! And, of course, you readers know that nothing good is going to happen.
"So! Dear Singa, where have you been?" Luciano twirled his knife with his fingers, a sly smirk on his face, his ruby eyes fixed on the blonde girl in front of him. The said girl stood with her arms crossed, chin up and her maroon eyes meeting the other's defiantly. She had been forced to help Allen and Matt with their 'activities', then Oliver had come and murdered Allen, then she had been forced to help Allen recover, then Luciano had decided to drop by. Then he had brought her here. To his house.
The Asian shrugged nonchalantly. "Is it any of your business? When will you let me go?" she sighed in exasperation.
The Italian man pointed his knife at the girl, whose only reaction was a slight jerk, out of habit. Italy Veneziano repeated his question, louder, clearer and more menacing. He looked frighteningly like his counterpart. Luciano often used this to his advantage, tricking his victims, then severely harming them or, most of the time, killing them.
Singa responded with a slight frown as she refused to tell him. She would not be budged by this guy. But, probably, he would just keep her captive-and even torture her-until she told him. Which she definitely would not. But she didn't feel like being tortured that day, so she would try her best to avoid pain.
"Tell. Me," Luciano finally growled, his eyes flashing. He was about to fling his knife at her-and it would no doubt hit its mark-when a hand rested on his shoulder. The hand belonged to one of Singa's 'friend's, a very fashionable dyed-blonde, red-eyed man. He was Luciano's brother. Italy Romano. Flavio Vargas. The less-menacing-but-more-cunning-and-deadly version of Luciano.
He was also the one who got Singa to dye (and cut) her hair. But that's... a story for another time.
"Dearest fratellino, why not we offer her another choice~" Flavio said coyly, winking at Singa, who just sighed.
"What is it that you want now, Flavio?" she muttered, hands on her hips.
Flavio shoved Luciano (who yelled and curse at him) to one side, and stepped forward. "The Baltics and Poland have gotten another idea for a game," he told her.
Singa thought for a while. The Baltic-and Poland-'s games were always lethal and, in some context, fun. She didn't really join in, unless forced to. It consisted of a villain and a victim. It was not nice to be the victim, Singa had learned this the hard way. She didn't want to accept... but if it was a way out...? But what if the victim was Alfred? Or Matthew?
After around two minutes, she raised her bowed head. Her decision had been made. To anyone who didn't know her well, or even to the people who did know her well, they would have expected the wrong answer. But the three Italies, not unusually, knew her almost inside out. Which was why she nearly always obeyed their orders.
"Tell me about it."
~* Somewhere in that exact same world... *~
Filip Lukasiwicz was having a somewhat peaceful conversation with Tuomo Vainamoinen. Tuomo had requested a lead to this new... game. The finnish did not share ideas often, but when he did, they were always interesting.
Tuomo had many different types of 'themes', but his favourite theme was, of course, the darkest one. He liked to call it, 'Santa Claus of Doom' because, whether the victim be good or bad, the only thing they would receive is doom. It lasted exactly one hour, at midnight, right at the border between Christmas eve and Christmas. The first step- murder the victim's whole family. Next- swipe all the victim's presents and replace it with one single present, which contained a mirror, painted completely black. Once the victim has scratched off the paint, leap out of the mirror and torture him until death OR until he or she is severely injured.
All whilst dressed in a black-and-midnight-blue Santa Claus suit.
Tuomo loved this method. It satisfied his blood lust AND gave him a chance to make people miserable.
He had other methods, though. But this one was the most fun. Too bad you could only use it on children of the other world, and not on the children in this ones. He had heard that Luciano and Flavio had captured Pheonix- or Singa, as she wanted them to call her-so the game would be twice as fun. Singa didn't usually join, but when she did, it was much fun~
This world-the 2p! world-was roughly divided into five sections of a kingdom. The Royalty fifth, the Prison fifth, the Healer's fifth, the Tech fifth and the People's fifth. The world was the kingdom, a very bloodthirsty, dangerous kingdom. And each fifth were dangerous in their own way. Most of the countries belonged to at least two of the fifths.
The Royalty fifth was basically the King, Queen, Advisor, Kingsguard, councillor, Hand of King, Prince/Princess(es), etc etc. The countries in this fifth were feared the most. The King was Luciano. The Queen was Flavio. The Advisor was Paolo. The three Italies held the highest positions. The higher position, the more deadly/ruthless you are. The Kingsguard was Lutz and Kuro, obviously, and they were the next to be feared. It was unusual that the Kingsguard had such little people in a real kingdom, but in this world, two was enough when the King himself was fond of bloodshed.
The councillor, whom was the person the King supposedly turned to when he was in trouble, was more than one person. In fact, all of the King's favourite 'targets' were them. He turned to them when he was in trouble, but not for advice. It was to beat them to pulp to make himself feel better. The Hand of King was Filip, who saw the world as a playroom and everyone as playthings. The Princess was Liesl. The Liechtensteiner just loved dissecting people and she disgusted Tuomo.
The Prison fifth was the fifth that looked after prisoners, and are basically interrogators, jailors, and the 'King's Justice', though the one who committed the most crimes in the 'realm' was the King. The Prison fifth include Flavio, Oliver, Paulina and Valerius. Valerius was one of the names of Romanian saints, yet Tuomo though the Romanian man was the least saintly thing he had ever seen... or one of the least. Paulina was more tolerable. She was a 'good' little girl who acted like a six year old and liked to paint... with blood. The 'King's Justice' was Andres, though Luciano didn't really like him...
Oh, and one of the jailors was Gilen. That depressed Prussian was the best jailor ever. His depressing aura made every prisoner lose the will to live, even though he hadn't done anything. He was so exceptionally good in his 'job' that Tuomo felt that this was worth noting. Gilen, when snapped out of his dangerously depressed state, was actually a fierce fighter that he scared Tuomo sometimes.
The Healer's fifth might seem weak, but don't underestimate those girls (and guys). It consisted of that girly-girl Erzsebet (nicknamed 'Ressa' or 'Reza'), Paulina, the weird girl Natasha and her dirt rich sister, Kalyna. There was also a few others, like that Danish man Markell. They were good at Healing, but also liked 'experimenting' which, sadly, includes dissecting humans/nations. They also had access to a wide variety of poisons. Tuomo also remembered that Oliver was in the 'Healer's fifth', the Maester, which was probably why those darned cupcakes turn out the way they are...
Anyways, making a Healer angry was never good. Tuomo did once, and for the rest of the week, all his food had either arsenic, rat poison or was actually made of glue and rubber. Because of this, he would forever hate a certain Belarusian girl...
The Tech fifth was what its name suggested- Technology. This fifth was divided into three groups. The Hackers, the Virus and the so-called Blackmailers. The best hacker-and the 'head' was Edvin, who could hack into anything, even non technological things. Edvin particularly liked hacking Tuomo's arm off, which always earned him a slap with the other arm and the loss of all his fingers for a while. The Virus were the ones who spoilt- and foiled-everything. That spoiled rich Ukrainian, Kalyna, was also in this group. They made everything spoil without fail. Your computer, your phone, your food... and not just spoil. They also make things rot...
The Blackmailers- Tuomo was part of this group. They were like threateners, the monsters and ghosts of horror movies in the other world. Tuomo would never admit it, but he liked one of Tino's horror movies, about creepy Santa Clauses... The countries in this group were not the type of people who took action. They were quiet as a shadow, as agile as a cat, as swift as a deer, as smooth as water. (A/N: These phrases are taken from the series 'A Song Of Ice And Fire'. Yes, I read that series. If you're a fan, too, then we'll get along!)
Finally, the last fifth. The People's fifth. The second most dangerous fifth. Tuomo, being one of the only nations in one fifth only, was not in this fifth. Though the fifth might sound peaceful and humanitarian, if you believe that, you are sadly mistaken. Looks are deceiving. Take Phoenix-Singa-and Oliver for example. Sweet as sugar and candy, lovely as flowers, gentle as butterflies. But no one who had ever actually seen them in 'action' would dare to say that. Oliver had his cupcakes, for example. Singa was fond of ripping people's organs apart when they made her angry.
Other nations in this fifth are Flavio, Gilen and Valerius, and also Andres. Andres liked beheading people and using their heads as bowling balls, or he sold them to the Healer's fifth. Gilen just killed people with his depressing aura. Valerius, though he wasn't a vampire, fulfilled his stereotypical looks to the fullest and drank people's blood, or killed people with a bite on their neck. Flavio... he had his pasta.
There were many nations Tuomo hadn't named, but they were scattered in this 'peaceful', messed up kingdom. Everyone viewed the world this way. The fifths were never mentioned, never spoken aloud-or rarely-but everyone knew their positions. In Tuomo's opinion, the world he lived in was as boring as hell.
"Who are you planning on taking along?" Filip asked, his chin on his hand.
Tuomo grinned maliciously and started counting off as many countries as he could remember.
DISCLAIMER= ME NO OWN
Hermione Granger had put off trying to solve the secret of the transfer students for a while- she had to concentrate on her studies. Whilst all this, she had been trying extremely hard to become friends to Harry and Ron, because Harry was kind to her and Ron... well, she didn't particularly like him, but he was friends with Harry, so he must be okay. But every time she tried, Ron would make a snide comment which would make her feel lonely.
One day, she just couldn't bare it.
She had tried to approach Harry and Ron again, after Charms. She was slightly hesitant, after the incident with the three-headed dog...
*Flashback- Harry's POV*
There was a very good chance that they were going to get caught by Filch or Mrs Norris, and Harry felt he was pushing his luck, breaking another school rule today. On the other hand, Malfoy's sneering face kept looming up out of the darkness- this was his big chance to beat Malfoy face-to-face. He couldn't miss it.
"Half past eleven," Ron muttered at last. "We'd better go." They put on their bathrobes, picked up their wands, and crept across the tower room, and was about to go down the spiral staircase when they heard a whisper. "Harry? Ron? What are you doing?"
The two whipped around, half expecting it to be Neville, half expecting it to be Alfred or Arthur-who proved to be extremely light sleepers. But it wasn't. It was Tino, the slightly round faced cheerful Finnish boy, who didn't look angry, just curious. Harry hesitated, then reluctantly told him.
Tino immediately responded, "It's a trick."
Wait, what? Harry thought, confused. A trick?
"How do you know?" Ron said accusingly.
"Lukas told me."
"You mean Lukas Bondevik, a Slytherin." It was not a question, but a statement. "He's just a Slytherin who wants to help Malfoy, his fellow Slytherin, prove that I'm too 'wimpy' to face him!"
Tino looked at Harry pleadingly. "Fine. You don't trust Lukas, but at least trust me?"
Harry hesitated, forcing himself to look at Tino's large, pleading, purple eyes, then winced and turned away. He couldn't say he didn't trust Tino, who had been so kind to him, but he couldn't trust Lukas. Fortunately-or Unfortunately-Tino wasn't asking him if he trusted Lukas.
Luckily for Harry, Ron responded for him. "This could be Harry's only chance of showing Malfoy! What if it isn't a trick?" he challenged.
Harry heard the Finnish boy sigh softly. "If I can't stop you, then I'll go with you," he murmured. "Just let me change, alright?"
The Boy Who Lived turned to Ron, who shrugged. Harry reluctantly agreed. After Tino had changed, they made their way down the staircase and into the Gryffindor common room. A few embers were still glowingin the fireplace, turning all the armchairs into hunched, black shadows. They had almost reached the portrait hole when a voice spoke from the chair nearest to them.
"I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry."
A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione Granger, wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown.
"You!" said Ron furiously. "Go back to bed!"
"I almost told your brother," Hermione snapped. "Percy- he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this."
Harry couldn't believe anyone could be so interfering. "Come on," he said to Ron. He pushed open the portrait of the Fat Lady and climbed through the hole. Hermione wasn't going to give up that easily, though. She followed Ron through the portrait hole, hissing at the, like an angry goose. Harry noticed that Tino had not spoken a word so far.
"Don't you care about Gryffindor do you only care about yourselves, I don't want Slytherin to win the house cup, and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells."
*Same flashback, Finland's POV*
Finland couldn't believe it. He didn't know Harry and Ron could be so rude. Couldn't they see that Hermione was trying to help them, trying to tell them that there were other ways to beat Draco Malfoy? But there was a more important question- why were Gryffindors so obsessed with beating Slytherin? The two houses were perfectly good. Secretly, though, Finland disliked the Sorting Hat. It was like marking people, turning them into sort of racists.
If you were in Slytherin, other people think you are evil, cruel, mean, muggle-hating and lower than the lowest. If you were in Gryffindor, people expect you to be brave and, because many people think Gryffindor was the best house, no one stops to think that they may be headstrong, arrogant and rash. If you were in Ravenclaw, people would expect you to know everything and get high marks on tests. If you were in Hufflepuff, people would think you were weak and pathetic.
Tino Vainamoinen did not like this school.
He didn't say it out loud, though, as he knew England was proud of the school, but he knew the said person could admit that the Slytherins had turned biased. Hopefully Norway would be of good influence on them.
He was suddenly brought back to earth by Hermione, who was saying shrilly, "Now what am I going to do?"
The Fat Lady had gone on a nighttime visit and Hermione was locked out of Gryffindor Tower.
Finland noticed a figure curled up on the floor, fast asleep, making sounds like a sort of snuffling. He walked soundlessly towards the figure, who turned out to be Neville Longbottom. "Neville?" he said softly, and the plump boy jerked awake. Relief was evident in Neville's eyes.
"Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours, I couldn't remember the new password to get into bed."
"Keep your voice down, Neville. The password's 'Pig Snout' but it won't help you now. The Fat Lady has gone off somewhere," Finland raised a finger to his lips just as Harry, Hermione and Ron hurried over.
"When did you get here?" Hermione hissed to him, as Harry asked if Neville's arm was alright. Finland hurriedly explained how he tried to get Harry and Ron to stay, but in vain. He could tell that Hermione approved of his efforts. "Look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere, we'll see you later-" Harry tried saying, but was interrupted by Neville, scrambling to his feet, saying that he didn't want to stay there alone and that the Bloody Baron had been past twice already.
Ron looked at his watch and then glared furiously at Hermione and Neville. "If either of you get us- Harry, Tino and I-caught, I'll never rest until I've learned that Curse of Bogies Quirrell told us about, and used it on you."
Hermione opened her mouth, maybe to tell Ron exactly how to use the Curse of Bogies, but Finland shushed her and Harry beckoned them all forward. They flitted along corridors striped with bars of moonlight from the high windows. At every turn, Finland expected them to be caught by Filch and his cat, but they were lucky. They sped up a staircase to the third floor and tip toed towards the trophy room.
When they suddenly heard Filch speaking to his cat.
Finland instinctively whipped around and bolted, as he had done when facing enemies whom he had no chances of winning against, and he agilely swerved between the suits of armour that filled a long gallery and paused at the end, waiting for Harry and the others, who were definitely not as nimble as him. Neville had tried to run, but crashed into a suit of armour, which lead Harry to yell, RUN!" and they sprinted down the gallery.
As they ran past him, Finland followed them, staying behind Harry and following his lead until they came across a hidden passageway. He then took the lead and they hurtled through it and ended up near their Charms classroom, which, Finland was certain, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville knew that it was miles from the trophy room.
Finland was the only one who wasn't panting hard. "I told you," he feigned tiredness. "It was a trick. Draco tipped Argus Filch off. He was never going to met you, like Lukas told me."
*a little timeskip*
Finland was outside when Harry shut the door to the forbidden corridor. He didn't really want to go in. He would be breaking the school rules again. And, he hated to admit it, he disliked breaking rules. He let out a startled yelp as the door flew open and Harry and the others fell out and onto him. Without saying goodbye, they rushed away.
Curious to what could scare them so much, Finland pushed the door open, to be greeted by a three headed dog. His eyes widened a considerable amount, not because he was scared or horrified, but because he knew this dog.
*end of flashback, Hermione's POV*
That incident was around a week ago. As Hermione tried to go over to Harry and Ron, pushing through the crowded corridor. She happened to hear Ron saying to Harry, "It's no wonder no one can stand her. She's a nightmare, honestly."
Hot tears filled Hermione's horrified eyes, and she tried blinking them away, to no avail. She tried wiping them away, but they came again. She tried swallowing the big lump in her throat, but it couldn't go down. The tears that welled in her eyes finally came down as she wondered what she could have done to make them hate her so much? Was it for trying to help them?
Crying shamelessly, she surged forward, her legs moving fast, and knocked into Harry. But she could hardly care, her legs carrying her to the bathroom, where she sat, curled into a ball, crying, crying, crying all day.
Wow, three thousand, seven hundred and twenty two words! I hope it makes up for the looooooooooooooooooooooong wait! Here, we have
how Hermione feels after Ron tells Harry that Hermione 'was a nightmare'. Bad Ron! Oh, if you
decided to skip the part about Tuomo and the 2p! 'kingdom'- I know there are some of you-you should go back and read it.
I will be referring to it quite a lot of times in the story. And ooooooooooooooh~ We find out why Singa's taking
so long! What is she gonna do? Will she play the game? And how did Finland know the dog? DUN DUN DUN!
Key (If you haven't already figured it out):
Filip- 2p!Poland.
Tuomo- 2p!Finland
Luciano- 2p!Italy Veneziano
Flavio- 2p!Italy Romano
Paolo- 2p!Seborga
Lutz- 2p!Germany
Kuro- 2p!Japan
Liesl- 2p!Liechtenstein
Paulina- 2p!Wy
Valerius- 2p!Romania
Andres- 2p!Spain
Gilen- 2p!Prussia
Erzsebet- 2p!Hungary
Natasha- 2p!Belarus
Kalyna- 2p!Ukraine
Markell- 2p!Denmark
Edvin- 2p!Estonia