Disclaimer: AilateH nwo t'nod eW!
A/N: Hey, everyone!
Sorry for the wait! I've actually had this chapter for a few days but it's time to sign up for classes for next semester. Yeah, and my life can't ever be easy. Aw, don't be like that, Castor! Everything's going to be shut fine! Yeah right.
Aw, Castor's in a bad mood. Send her lots of hugs to make her feel all better!
Alright, we have a request for all of you. Send us the name of the country you live in. It's a secret, but I'll give you a hint. It's for the next story. ;)
Caha, we tried to stick to your words as closely as we could. Hope it looks fine to you. ^^
Enjoy! Please review!
French and Indian War
1754 – 1763
England/Native Americans vs. France/Native Americans
Poland clutched Germany's hand tightly as she followed him into the courtyard. She jumped at every shadow that moved about them. Estonia, Lithuania, and Denmark followed the pair quietly. The two Baltic nations were forced to support Denmark, as he could barely walk on his own.
Poland broke into a wide grin at the sight of China wandering into the courtyard with his large family.
"Dziadek!" Poland called, waving excitedly. She practically dragged Germany over to the nation she had managed to become so close to. Macau quirked an eyebrow while Hong Kong didn't even bother hiding her smirk. China sighed but smiled at the sight of Poland.
"How are you doing, Poland, aru?" he asked tiredly. Poland opened her mouth to respond but froze up. Slowly, as if the recent events were just catching up with her, Poland's face fell and she ducked behind Germany.
Germany groaned, his head falling back. "What is it now, Poland?" he asked in an exhausted tone. Poland muttered something inaudible and buried her face in her fiancé's back.
"Poland-chan has had a rather hard time," Japan said wisely as she moved to hug the other female nation. "She might need some time to recover."
"Oui, and being chased by Wars is not going to help," France said, sauntering up to the group. "Mon Dieu, it took me forever to find you in these buildings."
"Too bad you didn't stay lost," Vietnam spat venomously, earning herself a glare from China.
France ignored the insult. "Pologne, how are you doing?" he asked his friend.
"Someone touched me," Poland muttered.
"Was?" Germany frowned down at his fiancée. "What are you talking about?"
"Well," Denmark said before grimacing. "Suomi did just manhandle her."
"Mon Dieu!" France wrapped his arms around both Japan, who looked as though she didn't appreciate it, and Poland. "You poor thing!"
"You have to come to our house," Taiwan told Poland as she and the other female nations converged on Poland. "It's wonderful. Japan has the cutest little spa at her house."
"Eep!" Germany quickly found Poland burying herself in the back of his jacket once more.
"Would you please leave Poland alone?" Germany growled. "You're making her nervous."
"Sorry," Taiwan sang happily.
"Is Faðir going to me mad at us?" Bauhinia suddenly asked Hong Kong who shrugged.
"I'm not the one who decided to go on a wild ride," Hong Kong said. "Iceland's just going to have deal with it."
"We ran the perimeter," Cyprus announced, entering the courtyard with Finland and Egypt. The female nation had refused to change back, as she had not brought any extra clothing with her. "We didn't find anyth-." He stopped in mid-sentence at the sight of the Asian nations. "What are you all doing here?" he asked in confusion. Egypt rolled his eyes at the question.
"Someone magicked us here, ana," Thailand explained. Korea bounced happily as he babbled to North Korea who just nodded along with him.
"Someone magicked you here?" Cyprus repeated with a cock of his head before turning to Egypt. "People can do that?"
"Yes," Egypt sighed. "Some nations have the ability to transport others. But a group this size would take quite a bit of magic."
"Ja," Germany agreed, though he knew nothing of magic. "Egypt, Cyprus, you need to be extremely careful the next time you meet Turkey."
"Why?" Cyprus asked curiously. "Did he get bitten by a rabid dog or something? Did Sweden bite him?"
"Hey!" Denmark started forward and would have fallen to his knees had Lithuania and Estonia not caught him.
"Nein." Germany shook his head. "Ottoman is back."
"Ottoman?" Cyprus' jaw dropped and he looked like he wanted to hide. "Ottoman's back?" he squeaked.
"That would explain a lot." A voice said from behind Egypt and Cyprus. Finland looked over from sniffing Denmark and her eras flattened against her head, a growl rising in her throat. She started forward with raised hackles. Egypt and Cyprus stepped aside to reveal Albania.
"Hej." The nation raised a hand in greeting. Vietnam's eyes widened before a deep flush crawled up her neck.
"Where," she said through gritted teeth. "Have you been?"
"I was at your place," Albania said with a shrug. "Then I got a note to come here. It's a good thing I did." He grinned. "Or else I wouldn't have been able to find my wife again."
"Your. Wife, aru?" China glared at Vietnam who blushed even further.
"Why didn't you tell?" Albania's eyebrow quirked and his smirk became even more mischievous. "We've been married for decades."
"Decades, aru?" China's eyes narrowed.
"Maybe I just didn't want the whole world to know," Vietnam snapped, waving her hand. "Did you ever think that?" Her golden ring glinted in the sunlight.
"Çfarë?" Albania looked down at his own hand. "But . . ." he trailed off in confusion.
"Would you care to explain this to me, aru?" China asked Vietnam tersely. Vietnam pursed her lips and looked away.
"Po." Albania looked up. "Tell me, how did you get that ring?"
"You gave it to me," Vietnam snapped at her 'husband'. "Don't you remember, husband? Over fifty years ago." Germany quirked an eyebrow and looked between the 'married' couple.
Albania opened and closed his mouth before frowning in thought. A silence hung in the air as the nations looked between each other awkwardly. Beside Germany, Finland suddenly stiffened, her ears perking up and her head held high.
"What is, Finland?" Germany asked, looking down at the wolf in confusion.
There was a sudden whooshing sound and someone landed behind Vietnam. Taiwan shrieked loudly and Vietnam whirled around, her hand flying to the pipe strapped to her back by a belt.
"Nǐ hǎo, aru." Zhōngguó grinned and slapped Vietnam across the face, sending her sprawling to the ground. Vietnam cupped her cheek in one hand and her neck in the other.
"Vietnam!" Albania started forward, unraveling a chain from his belt and allowing the iron ball to fall to the ground.
"Khốn, (Bastard,)" Vietnam muttered under her breath.
Germany, North Korea, and Lithuania all opened fire on the War. Zhōngguó moved in a blur, darting between the bullets to appear before North Korea.
"North, da-ze!" Korea dove for his brother as North Korea stumbled back, trying to aim his gun at Zhōngguó. The War grabbed the gun and crushed it in his hand. There was a moment of silence before the bullet, halfway down the barrel, backfired and caused the gun to explode. North Korea howled as both he and Korea were thrown backward. The other nations could see him clutching his burned head.
Finland barked and leapt forward. Denmark shouted in alarm when his friend charged the War. Zhōngguó turned around and grinned at the wolf0nation heading for him.
"You are all game, aru!" he laughed. Grabbing Finland by the scruff, Zhōngguó whirled around and hurled her into a wall. There was a sickening crunch and Finland fell to the ground.
"Finland!" Estonian abandoned Denmark to run to his cousin's side.
A hand grabbed Zhōngguó by the hair and whirled him around. The War found himself facing his original.
"You will never touch us again," China all but snarled. "Especially not my family, aru."
"Or what, aru?" Zhōngguó smirked and grabbed China's hand in a tight grasp. Finland whined weakly, trying to stand.
"Don't." Estonia pushed her back down. "You'll just hurt yourself."
Korea and Thailand were hovering over North Korea who was wailing in pain.
"Or nothing," China said. "I will kill you anyway, aru." Grabbing Zhōngguó by the head, he twisted sharply.
"That's too bad," someone sighed from behind Germany. "I didn't like him anyway." Poland glanced over her shoulder and screamed in terror. Germany whirled around and turned his gun on Polska. Finland jerked up, knocking Estonia over. She yelped and collapsed back to the ground. Blood ran from her head due to a fresh gunshot wound.
"Verdammt!" Germany's eyes flicked sideways to the wolf-nation.
Vietnam stood with Albania's help, still clutching her neck. She glared at the chain in his hand.
"We need to talk," she said. "Husband."
"Later," Albania grumbled, hefting his weapon and slowly spinning it to allow it to gain speed. "Right now we need to fight."
"Too true!" Someone crashed in Vietnam, tearing her away from Albania. Vietnam screamed and beat her attacker with open hands.
o)O(o
Portugal stood in the square, pouting at the empty streets before them. Saigon had become strangely silent, as if someone had pressed the mute button. As soon as the nations had arrived, there had been whispers of 'the Final Coming'. Apparently there was a story about demons coming on a certain day for an evil reason. The nations were still trying to figure it out.
"This place is creepy," Czech whispered loudly to Slovakia who shushed her.
Portugal, Morocco, Indonesia, Slovakia, and Czech stood in the center of Saigon. Spain and Greenland had been left at the local hospital with Vietnam's personal doctor.
"Why do we need to be here?" Luxemburg complained loudly. "There's nobody around."
"The message said to come here," Slovakia snapped at him. "Where is that bastard anyway?"
"Maybe Russia could not make it?" Morocco offered. "You cannot always expect him to be able to do everything."
"That is very true," Russia suddenly said from behind Luxemburg. "Why does everyone expect me to do everything?" Slovakia frowned at his cousin.
"Alright, why did you call us here, Russia?" he demanded. Russia cocked his head in confusion.
"I did not call you here," Russia said. "England told me to come here, da?"
"Nie!" Slovakia snapped back. "You sent us here."
"Net." Russia shook his head and Slovakia started cursing him out.
Israel shook her head in disbelief while Northern Ireland fiddled with his long coat nervously. Iceland had been left at yet another hospital after he had a breakdown with Hong Kong's sudden disappearance.
"If you didn't call us here, and England didn't call you here," Luxemburg demanded. "Then what are we doing here?"
Romania wandered away from the squabbling nations to study a statue standing a few feet away. He squinted his eyes and tilted his head to try and see the weathered statue better.
"What is it, Romania?" Israel asked, approaching the male nation.
"That statue." Romania pointed at it. "I sweat it looks a bit like Vietnam. I can barely make her out, it's so old."
"Chto?" Russia looked up from his argument, causing Slovakia to start hitting him angrily. "But no one is supposed to know about us." Every nation turned to look at the statue. Vietnam's face was weathered beyond recognition, but they could clearly make out her hands. They were facing palm up and pointing down at her feet.
"It looks like she's trying to show us something." Romania followed the direction of the statue's palms. He slowly stepped on a stone. "Like she wants to show us something." There was silence before the stone sunk under his weight nearly an inch.
Northern Ireland cocked his head in confusion. "How did that happen?"
There was a grating sound, as if ancient gears were being forced to move.
"What is happening?" Morocco paled at the noise. "It sounds as if something is moving." Northern Ireland backed away from the statue. Anyone could see his wings trembling under his jacket.
"Run," Romania said before shouting. "Run!" Whirling around, he had barely stepped off the stone when the ground gave way.
The nations suddenly found themselves plummeting into darkness. Belarus flailed, striking her bother on the head in her panic. Israel screamed shrilly as he fell. Slovakia, having grabbed Czech, was curled up in a tight ball. Portugal shrieked, curling up tightly and closing her eyes.
Romani was the first nation to hit the ground. He barely had any time to catch his breath before Russia landed on top of him.
"La naiba!" Russia heard the muffle shout beneath him. Around them, the other nations hit the ground with carious cries and thumps.
"Izvinite, Little Romania," Russia apologized as he rolled off Romania.
"Portugal." Slovakia crawled to his wife's side. "Are you alright?"
"Sim," Portugal groaned and sat up, holding her head. "Head hurt."
"And the baby?" Slovakia's hand flew down to Portugal's stomach.
"Baby alive," Portugal grumbled, struggling to get to her feet.
"Good," Slovakia sighed in relief as he stood.
"Where are we?" Luxemburg groaned, standing and rubbing his head.
Israel suddenly screamed in terror. She stumbled back before tripping over Morocco.
"Israel!" Morocco caught the younger nation before she could hit the ground. "What is wrong?"
"It grabbed me!" Israel sobbed. "It just reached out and grabbed me!"
"What did?" Czech asked nervously.
"Th-The statue!" Israel pointed with a shaking finger at the shadows. Russia moved examine the offender.
"It is nothing but a statue of a child," Russia said, turning to look at Israel. "He looks happy, da?"
Romania backed away quickly, paling. "It moved." He pointed at an old woman. "One minute she was smiling and the next she was trying to eat me."
Russia turned back around with a frown. His eyes winded and he shouted in terror, falling back to the floor. The child, who had been smiling and reaching out as if to play, was now standing behind Russia. Its hand was reaching for his legs with a malicious grin.
"Do not let them out of your sight!" Morocco dragged Israel to her feet. "They will attack us if they get the chance."
Slovakia pulled Czech close to himself, his wild eyes searching around himself.
"I swear I saw them go this way," Israel's voice drifted down from above. "They were just here." Morocco shared a look with Russia and the last of the color in her face drained away.
"Wars," she said softly.
"They must be down there," Eesti commented. Pebbles were knocked over the edge when the War stepped up to the edge. "We might as well go down there too."
Russia stood, his eyes fixed on the sky above. "We need to get out of here, now."
"But where's Northern Ireland?" Israel piped up. It was then they noticed the island nation's absence.
"Run!" Romania grabbed Israel's hand and dragged her forward. He paid no attention to the other nations following him.
Belarus screamed and ducked when she was almost grabbed. She shrieked in pain when her hair was grabbed. She struggled against the hand uselessly.
"Big Brother!" she cried. "Help me!"
"Belarus!" Russia whirled around to help his sister and nearly screamed when his scarf was yanked back.
Czech shrieked in terror and raced down the hall, ducking past statues.
"Czech!" Slovakia tore after his sister with Portugal hot on his heels.
Ukraine succeeded in helping her brother and sister free. She squeaked and ducked under an arm, leading them away from the statue. They passed through a doorway and she froze, causing Russia, Romania, Belarus, Morocco, Luxemburg, and Israel to collide with her.
"Okh. Moye. Boha," Ukraine said softly, gazing around herself.
The nations stood on a bride in an enormous cavern. Stairs ran along the wall, leading to the levels carved out of the wall. Statues lined the walls, all turned to face the nations. The statues nearest to the nations were reaching out with twisted faces of hate and pain.
"Chert," Russia whispered. "What is this place?"
"A maze," Ukraine said in a hushed voice. "A maze of the dead."
o)O(o
Northern Ireland dodged yet another hand as the statues converged on him and tried to grab at his wings. He had fallen down with the rest of the nations, but a wall had suddenly appeared between them. Now he was separated from them with no idea of where he was. He had been running for at least ten minutes, taking every turn he could.
"Idiot," Northern Ireland muttered himself. "Scotland would be yelling at you right now. You're the master of stone, not the other way around." He ducked under another arm, yelping when his right wing was caught. "No!" Northern Ireland struggled hard, screaming when his other wing was grabbed.
"Help!" Northern Ireland screeched. He twisted desperately in the hands, trying in vain to free his wings as they were jerked painfully. "Russia, help me!"
Footsteps echoed off the stone as they approached Northern Ireland from behind.
"R-Russia?" Northern Ireland asked nervously. "Please, help me. They're going to break my wings."
"Are they?" a familiar voice said. A flashlight shone on Northern Ireland, blinding the small nation. Northern Ireland fell backward, shrieking when both his arms were grabbed in painful grips.
"I'm sorry!" he sobbed. "Please, don't hurt me."
"I'm not going to hurt you." The flashlight lowered and Albania stepped into Northern Ireland's view. "I'm going to help you." Northern Ireland stilled in his struggles, tears forming in his eyes.
"Thank God!"
Albania set the flashlight in a statue's hand and gently eased Northern Ireland out of the statue's grips.
"Are you going to be alright?" he asked.
"I-I think so." Northern Ireland flexed his wings, wincing at the sore muscles.
"Good." Grabbing his flashlight, Albania made his way down the passage. "Follow me, we're not far away."
"Away from what?" Northern Ireland followed Albania quickly, watching the shadows nervously.
"The center of the maze," Albania said over his shoulder. "That's the safest spot, no one can find it unless they're with me."
"Does Vietnam know about this place?" Northern Ireland asked. "How did you make this without her noticing?"
"It's a long story," Albania said grimly.
"Why does everything have to be a long story?" Northern Ireland grumbled, squawking when a hand grabbed his wing again. Albania sighed and turned around to free Northern Ireland.
"Trust me, this one is really long," he said. "And very, very complicated." He returned to leading the smaller nation through the maze. Northern Ireland sniffled and walked in silence for several minutes. His thoughts returned to an old story Scotland had told him and he spoke again.
"Are you the Waiting One?"
"The Waiting One?" Albania chuckled. "That one's new."
"Scotland told me a story his older brothers told him," Northern Ireland said, wringing his hands. "It's supposed to be a romantic story about a man who waited for his wife for many years."
"Many years," Albania said softly. "It's been more than that." The two nations stepped into a small cavern. Northern Ireland was shocked to see there wasn't a single statue in the room.
"Wh-What is this place?" Northern Ireland asked in a hushed voice.
"The Final Resting Place." Albania ran the flashlight along the wall. Northern Ireland mouthed the words with a frown.
"For who?" he asked in confusion.
Albania remained silent, the flashlight eventually hit the center of the room. There was a stone slab resting in the middle of the cavern, almost like an altar. On the stone laid Vietnam, her hands folded on her chest and her eyes closed.
"Vietnam?" Northern Ireland asked in shock. "What happened to her?" He moved to race to the nation's side but Albania held him back gently.
"Don't touch her," Albania said. "It's too dangerous."
"Why? What happened?" Northern Ireland demanded. Albania opened and closed his mouth before sighing and sitting down on a step.
"The fight was escalation past anything I had ever seen," he said. "Germany and Polska were fighting for Poland. Estonia was trying protect Finland from Suomi who was sniping everyone. And that's when it happened . . ."
o)O(o
A gunshot ran over the din of the many fights followed by a scream. Germany paused in his fight, earning himself a punch from Polska. China shouted in horror and Taiwan screamed. Albania turned just in time to see Vietnam collapse to the ground clutching her chest.
"Vietnam!" Albania shouted in alarm. Ducking under Danmark's wicked axe, he raced to the Asian nation's side. He fell to his knees beside his wife, dragging her into his lap. "Come on, Sweetheart!" He rested Vietnam's head on his shoulder, slapping her cheek gently.
Vietnam's eyes flickered open weakly. She coughed, red staining her lips. "She's singing," she whispered.
"Who's singing?" Albania asked desperately, his eyes stinging with forming tears.
"South," Vietnam said in a hushed voice. "She's singing. For me."
"No," Albania said quickly. "You can't go, you need to stay with me. There's still so much I need to show you. You can't-."
"I'm tired," Vietnam told Albania with a smile. "Don't worry." Raising a stained hand, she cupped his cheek. "About me."
"Vietnam," Albania croaked, wrapping his hand around hers gently. A tear ran down his cheek for the recently found love he was about to lose. "No."
"Goodbye, Yêu. (Love.)" Vietnam's chest fell one last time and her hand fell limp in Albania's.
"Jo!" Albania clutched Vietnam's hand tighter, his shifting slightly.
The rings Albania and Vietnam wore touched, the gold just barely resting against each other. There was a silence before a hum began to develop and quickly escalated into a roar. Two rings of different time periods flickered as they tried to inhabit the same spot in time.
Germany shouted in surprise, shooting Polska before running at Albania.
"Vietnam, aru!" China dove for his sister just as there was a bright flash of light and the two nations were gone.
o)O(o
Albania froze in his recounting of the story when he heard a deep breath. Standing, he whirled around to face the stone slab with a hopeful expression.
Vietnam's eyes flickered open and she inhaled deeply again.
"Vietnam!" Albania rushed to the female nation's side, cupping her face gently. Tears ran down his cheeks as he studied the features he'd managed to memorize.
"What did you do?" Vietnam croaked, her voice dry from lack of use. "What are these stories doing my culture? The songs?"
"I waited." Albania smiled through his tears. "I waited for you for five thousand years." Northern Ireland's mouth fell open in shock.
"And so you started a rumor?" Vietnam asked. She tried to sit up and failed when her muscles refused to obey her.
"I didn't mean to." Albania quickly helped Vietnam to sit up, supporting her. "It just sort of started with one statue and got out of control." Vietnam sighed and rested her head on Albania's shoulder. "Are you alright?" Albania asked worriedly. "You're not hurt at all?"
"My heart hurts," Vietnam mumbled tiredly. "I can still feel the bullet."
"Mut," Albania muttered. "Just go back to sleep." He brushed Vietnam's hair out of her face. "I promise everything will be fine when you wake up." He had barely finished his sentence when he felt Vietnam's steady breaths against his neck.
"You waited five thousand years?" Northern Ireland asked in shock. "But Vietnam wasn't even found yet."
"Exactly why we had to hide." Albania gently laid Vietnam back down on the stone. "I had to stop the people from coming here. It just started with a few statues to scare them away."
"So those are just statues?" Northern Ireland glanced over his shoulder. "But they moved."
"Correction," Albania said as he leaned down to look Northern Ireland in the eyes. "They are illusion. They only look like they're moving."
"Blimey," Northern Ireland breathed. "How many are out there?"
"Wow." Albania straightened up and ran a hand through his crudely cut hair. "I think I lost count after a million." Northern Ireland's eyes widened and he finally seemed to take in Albania's uniform.
"Is that a Viet Cong uniform?" he asked.
Albania glanced down at his clothes and winces. "Yeah," he said. "My other clothes disintegrated, so I had to get some new ones. These ones are about forty years old by now."
"You need new clothes," Northern Ireland commented. "What about the others? They're still out there."
"Great," Albania sighed. "We're going to have to save them now, aren't we?"
"It would be a good idea," Northern Ireland admitted. "Unless you want those statues to kill them."
"That's thirteen levels," Albania groaned. "It's going to be impossible to find them."
"Thirteen?" Northern Ireland repeated in shock. "Blimey, you need a new hobby."
"I had nothing else to do," Albania protested. "I was stuck down here for five thousand years. It's not like I could step outside, it would put time in danger."
"You already went outside," Northern Ireland said in exasperation. "Where else could you have gotten the uniform?"
"I knew what I was going to do," Albania attempted to defend his actions. "I knew I needed to call some nations to Vietnam and I knew I had to get the ring to my past self."
"You're a maze in yourself." Northern Ireland massaged his temples. "What about this whole ring business?"
"The ring?" Albania blinked.
"Yes, the bloody ring."
"The ring." Albania took a deep breath and let it out. "It doesn't exist anymore."
"How's that even possible?" Northern Ireland stretched his sore wings and winced/
"They were the same ring from different time periods," Albania tried to explain. "They're a paradox and therefore can't exist together. Vietnam's ring is repeating its journey from here to the moment it disappeared. Mine is moving from the present to the day it appeared in the past."
Northern Ireland's mouth hung open in shock. "Blimey, you're the Doctor!"
o)O(o
The Mongol Empire listened with interest as China told a young Russia bout the One Who Waits. The story of a man waiting for his lover to awake enraptured him. Once the story was finished, he turned and returned to his work.
Germania and Rome listened intently to the tale the Mongol Empire relayed to them. Rome laughed and retold the story to his young grandson who took it the Holy Roman Empire's house. Hungary listened to the tale told to Austria and remembered when Magyar had told her and Slovakia the tale.
Germania took the tale to his northern cousin, Scandinavia. His cousin passed the story down to his sons who carried to Wessex, East Anglia, Northumbria, and Merica when they invaded. The older brothers told the tale to Scotland who told it to England, Ireland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The Vikings took the story to North America. After driving the Europeans out, Native America took the story to her sisters in the south: Aztec, Maya, and Inca.
Gaul took the story from Rome to Hispania and told his sons when they were formed. France adored the story and later in his life told Charles Perrault who wrote 'Sleeping Beauty'.
It wasn't long before the entire world had heard the story of the Waiting One. It wormed its way into every culture, leaving none untouched. Not even the isolated tribes of Africa or South America. A young America laid in bed and listened with wide eyes as the British Empire told him one last story before bedtime.
"The Waiting One was so sad," England said softly, brushing America's hair out of his face. "That he took his beautiful lover and hid her away from the world. And there he is waiting for her to awake."
"Will she ever wake up?" America asked in an awed voice and England chuckled.
"Who knows," he said. "It's just a story."
A/N: What did you think?
French and Indian War – (1754 – 1763) England/Native Americans vs. France/Native Americans
Casualties: Unknown
Results: France loses Canada to England and Louisiana to Spain.
*Note: Different tribes fought for both sides. They weren't all from the same tribe.