Hey guys, I'm back! And I'm opening the new chappie with the ONE AND ONLY SINGAAAAAAAAA!
Gently swirling her finger in the mixture, Singa turned her head to look at the room the other girl had shut herself in. She shook the bowl that was on the table in front of her, sloshing its contents around. It really was hard to prepare. Curse Flavio for persuading her to do this for him. Why couldn't he have just chosen the victim who had blood poisoning or something.
She had to get back soon. Alfred and Matthew would be worrying. But she had to wait for the murderous Liechtensteiner to finish recording and to send it. Then she had to make even more preparations. Singa was starting to regret agreeing to participate in Tuomo's new 'game'.
Curse them. Curse all of them.
Singa rolled up her left sleeve, and picked up her penknife with her right hand. Using her thumb to push the blade out, she held it to the place where her vein was most prominent (the skin under her joint) and pressed.
It wasn't a deep cut, but blood overflowed quickly. The Asian girl winced slightly as she held arm directly above the bowl. A few beads of blood dropped into the bowl before the wound fully healed. She stuck out her tongue and made the face one would when tasting something very bitter.
The world she lived in was lacking of many useful things, because everyone and everything in it was a mistake. The nations were mistakes. The humans were mistakes. The cars were mistakes. The food were mistakes. The whole world was a mistake.
After all, white moves first. But if it made a mistake, Black would get the advantage of the first move. And her world was the white.
They let Black move first.
When Singa said she was a mistake, she didn't mean that "Oh, I'm a mistake, I should never have been born!" No, she didn't.
You see, the second players all were younger than their first players. They were created when the first players had made a choice that determined their whole future personality. But it didn't have to be their first players who made the choice.
For example- Allen. America. Allen was how Alfred would have turned out if Arthur hadn't pampered him and told him everything he wanted to know. So now Alfred was an impulsive, 'heroic' yet polite attention-seeker who liked to help people. And Allen, the mistake, was crafty, 'villainous', rude and self-controlling, but also an attention-seeker. Though did have some good points.
A nation whose first player's choice created them was Yang- China. If Yao had let the gloominess and hardness of his nation-friendless early life get to him, he would have turned out like Yang, instead.
Oh, and Singa? She didn't know about her, but it seemed that everyone else knew. Just like everyone except Allen knew about him. Second players were just... weird that way.
Singa stared at the mixture in the bowl, which was now bright red when it had been yellowish-blue moments ago. "Is Liesl done yet?" she wondered, just as the door of the room flew open and a very smug Liesl Zwingli marched out and flung an envelope at her.
Singa caught it easily, and opened the envelope, which was never closed to begin with. Inside was a card. One of those cards that burst into a song once you opened it. She looked up.
"You've put the recording in it?" she queried, and Liesl gave a slightly disgusted sigh and nodded.
"Yes, now f*** off," the brown-haired Germanic nation flapped her hand and Singa nodded, snatching the bowl up and walking out of the house at a fast speed. Okay, the recording was done. Now she had to get an owl. But she could only get one at night... so now she had to do this second thing on her list- Get to Greece and pick up θυσία the cat.
Now, here's the thing about the world of the second players- it's considerably smaller than the first player's earth. So it took only around twelve hours to get to Greece by foot from Liechtenstein. But Singa wasn't planning to walk all the way there, to she stole a car and drove.
In the 1p world, it was illegal for her to drive, but in the 2p world, no one cared, just like no one cared when you got drunk at the age of thirteen. Singa hadn't done that, but she had seen a thirteen year old boy do it.
She reached Greece in three hours and was knocking on the door of Greece's house ten minutes after she had entered his country. The extremely bad-tempered nation opened the door, his pink eyes slightly bloodshot. When he saw who it was, he went back inside and came out with an extremely large cat, which he thrust into Singa's arms.
Singa still looked eleven, so holding the cat that high up blocked her view, though she was strong enough to carry it.
"Just give him plenty of what his name means, and he'll be fine," Greece said shortly, and promptly slammed the door in her face.
"Rude."
At that very same moment, Roderich Edelstein closed the door on Gilbert Beilschmidt's face.
"Rude."
Alfred was worrying a whole lot about Singa. What in the world was Allen and Matt planning to do with her? Why was she taking so long to get back? He had already asked Oliver, but it turned out that Oliver didn't know either. The only think she could be doing was taking care of Allen, which Alfred blamed for his constant headaches and the stinging pain at the area over his stomach.
But taking care of Allen couldn't possibly be that long.
Matthew was starting to worry, too, that the other 2ps had harmed her, but Alfred knew they wouldn't. They'd better not. How could he be the hero who saved the day if he didn't know where the damsel was?
Okay, so Singa was no damsel. She could handle herself. But she was in the body of a 11 year old! That was bad enough! Alfred suddenly felt incredibly guilty for asking Singa to go with him to Hogwarts. He tried peering at a mirror to try to see at the Other world, but since his 2p was probably still unconscious, he couldn't see anything.
Though Oliver already said he didn't know, Alfred was pretty sure he had an idea. So he planned on asking him in potions.
*timeskip to potions class~*
"Oh? Alfie wants to sit with me?" Oliver simpered in his usual sweet voice, and Alfred gritted his teeth, but offered a beaming smile in return and told him that he wanted to get away from Arthur, for once. Oliver, of course, giggled slightly. Some Gryffindors gave Alfred disgusted looks, but others, like Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, knew what he was up to and mouthed, 'Go for it'.
Snape entered the classroom, and cue the boring talk about potions. Somehow, luck was on Alfred's side and Snape chose Alfred and Oliver to pair up. Since Oliver was brilliant at potions, Alfred didn't need to be worried about making Snape angry again.
Just as Oliver boiled up the water, Alfred whispered to him, "Oliver, I know you have an idea about why Singa's not back yet."
Oliver smirked, stirring the ladle-like potion making instrument. "Very good, Alfie. I do have an idea," he blew some of the clouds above the cauldron and added in some ingredients.
Alfred raised an eyebrow. This could not be Oliver's full answer. The English man (?) just wanted to enjoy keeping Alfred in the dark, which Alfred though was not fun at all! "And?" he persisted.
The pink-haired boy/man pouted, then stuck his tongue out. "It's extremely unlikely, so it's better for you to not know," he said almost tauntingly, stirring the cauldron again and taking a silver knife to cut up some kind of brown beans.
The American growled a little, frustrated. "Just f- er, tell me!" he hissed, being careful not to swear.
Oliver looked impressed, and smiled. "Since you managed to fight the urge to swear, your mouth remains clean and I shall tell you," he replied cheerily, making no sense at all. "The unlikely idea was that she is playing the game."
Finally, he's going to tell me! was Alfred's first thought. And then-
Wait. What?!
"Game?" Alfred asked, mystified, scrunching up his eyebrows in confusion. Oliver dropped in a secret ingredient- caterpillar's eyeball. Say it together- one, two, three; GROSS!
Alfred was about to say something else, but Oliver had placed a finger to his lips (Oliver's, not Alfred's) and winked. "Darling Alfie," he purred like a cat. "There are many dangerous games, but the game of mirrors is the most dangerous of all."
Alfred, being Alfred, didn't get it at all.
Oh well. Oliver wasn't expecting for him to do. Though he smirked outwardly, inside, he was worrying. It was almost impossible for Singa to join the Game. She almost never did. The last time she did was two centuries ago! And that was a minor game. Singa had been victim quite a number of times, but never the villain.
Singa joining a game was the day Matt confesses his undying love for his brother.
Okay, that was a very exaggerated example, but Oliver really was worried. It was a very small chance, but it was the only possible explanation. The pink-loving man was almost completely sure that she had joined the game, but he desperately hoped that she hadn't.
Because when Singa joined a game, her whole demeanour changed. And she became terrifying in a way only 2ps could be. It was a kind of disease. An incurable disease that most 2ps were created with. It came with many side effects, all mostly bad, but some good.
This disease was known in this world as insanity.
But in the other world, it had no name, simply because it was so common that people had no needfor a name.
Oliver stirred the ladle-like instrument counterclockwise and paused. After thinking over it, he was completely sure. Singa had definitely joined in. Her reasons were unknown, but they didn't matter to Oliver. Reasons never mattered. Oliver sighed inwardly, one thought taking over his mind.
So, who exactly is the King and Queen of the chessboard that has been set, and what is my King's objective?
It was at night when Draco received the letter. The owl, a violent shade of red with huge, watching purple eyes, had flown in through the open window of the dungeon, and had landed on the chair Draco was sitting in. Everyone had gasped with horror, and Pansy Parkinson clutched her hand to her chest dramatically, her eyes wide.
Draco had reacted more or less the same, but without the gasp. He had leapt forward and skipped back a few steps, staying away from the freaky-looking owl, before carefully approaching it with interest. The owl held out its leg, smiling slightly, its eyes looking slightly deranged and insane. Draco considering firing a spell at it, then discarded the idea.
He reached out his hand carefully, and took the letter. Once the letter was in his hand, the owl sank its beak into his hand, which made Draco shriek in pain, and for the Slytherins to scream at the sight of so much blood (well most of the Slytherins). The owl gave Draco a look that might have a hint of the owl version of superiority and flew away.
Lukas offered to wipe the blood up, and Draco gave him a grateful smile. Hey, he may be manipulative and cruel, but he had a heart! He had feelings!
His hand shaking slightly, he opened the bloodied letter (his hand had stopped bleeding, though it was still drenched in blood) and almost immediately, a song burst out, sung by a child.
"If you're happy and you know it clap your hands~"
It was followed by two claps.
"If you're happy and you know it clap your hands~"
Clap, clap.
"If you're happy and you know it, and you really wanna show-"
Suddenly, the voice changed into a slightly deeper voice of a teenage girl, with a German accent. Draco shot deadly glares at the Slytherin who laughed at the song, mentally telling them to shut up so he could hear the girl speak.
"Ugh, finally! So, hi, I guess. Jou're Draco Malfoy, right? Jou're probably vondering how zhis vorks, right? 'Cause jour in a magic school, right? Vell, behold the vonders of the world- a stupid card which sings an equally stupid song. La la la and all zhat. Now, to my real message. Jou, Draco Malfoy, have been cordially invited to play zhe Game vith us. Jou vill be zhe King, and jou must choose a queen and two knights to protect jou on zhe dangerous chessboard. And by 'cordially invited', I mean 'unelegantly forced'. So jou vill play this game. There is no ozher option.
"So, how are jou doing, Draco Malfoy? I'm supposed to give jou some details about myself and my position in zhe chessboard. Jour first question vould be, 'How do jou know my name?' correct? My ansver is- I know everything. Now, about me. I suppose I'll tell jou my name, age and gender first, is that alright? My name is-"
Draco wanted to slam the letter shut, then decided not to. He was too curious.
"Liesl Vogel-"
Another voice, this time a male one, interrupted Liesl. "Zwingli."
"Ignore zhat fool. I am Liesl Vogel. I am sixteen years old and I am a girl. Now, I vill tell you about my position in zhe chessboard. I am not zhe Queen of zhis game, though I vould like to be. I am a bishop. Do jou know vhat the bishop it? No? I von't tell you anyvays, so it doesn't matter. My hobbies are dissecting my victims, baking cookies vith someone you might know, and sharpening my knife. Is zhat enough information? If it isn't, it does not matter, because I will not tell you any more about me.
"So, Draco Malfoy. I vill now tell jou the rules to zhis easy game. Zhe first rule is to know zhe rules. Zhe second rule is that everyone must play by zhe rules of chess. Zhe third rule is that jou may use as many pawns as jou may like, but jou may never completely control them. Zhats it for now, zhen. I vill talk to jou soon, Draco Malfoy. Remember- zhe Game of Mirrors is an easy but very dangerous game. And keep in mind zhat not all of us play fair."
The message ended and Draco sighed in relief. He had felt slightly... intimidated. The Slytherins were staring at the letter in Draco's hands in horror, and the young Slytherin did not notice that Lukas had frozen suddenly and that Oliver had a small smirk on his face.
Draco suddenly jumped a metre in the air as the card sang-
"It, if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!"
Clap, Clap.
Personally, I loved writing that last part. It was awesome. Whoa, 2,600+ words in a new chapter in less than one week?! AMAZING! That means you guys BETTER REVIEW, got it? If you do, Ollie will bake cupcakes to feed to Crabbe and Goyle to turn them into a Crab and a Gargoyle.