It was in a modest house rather in the middle of nowhere where they found England and Arthur. With finely trimmed hedges edging it and some beautiful roses by the walkway. Tino reached the door first, rapping on the wood as he waited, smile on his face. There was a quick "come in!" from inside.
Entering the house, the group witnessed something rather…odd. A blond with ridiculously huge eyebrows was sitting in an armchair, smiling happily with a cup of steaming tea. Across from him, another man with black hair and a monocle was sitting in an armchair, also smiling happily with his cup of tea. It was the most British thing you could ever see.
The black haired man, England, judging by his shirt, noticed the group first. "Um, just who are you?" he took a sip of tea.
After everyone had introduced themselves, Arthur, the blond, stood, "So, you," he gestured to the flag-clad countries, "are like us." Nod. "So you are personifications of your countries and people?" Another nod. "So why are you so different?"
"Maybe," England ventured, "We just represent different aspects of our countries?"
"That doesn't really explain anything, speaking we both represent all of our country." Arthur shook his head.
"Well, it does, you see, since we are from another universe and…" England went into some long exposition involving string theory and worm holes, or something like that. No one really knew what he was talking about.
Denmark tilted his head, "I'm confused." He muttered, then looked to Lukas, "So what does England have to do?"
Lukas looked up from what must have been the most epic floor tile ever, "We need a sample, a piece of hair, blood, something like that."
"And why?" England seemed a bit alarmed.
"So you can get back to your own dimension," Lukas held out his hand to the Brit.
He shrugged, pulling a strand of black hair from his head and placing into the Norwegians palm. Lukas pulled out the bag the demon had been in and dropped the hair in.
"Alright, one down, who knows how many more to go. We better get moving." Lukas turned to leave, striding to the doorway until a hand on his shoulder tried to stop him. He sighed, "Listen, we really have to go, I don't care if you want to sleep or something Matthi-"
It was Matthias' frightened whisper that halted his movements, "Lukas, don't turn around." His voice shook in the once hospitable, now deathly silent room.
Lukas stood stock-still, uneasy spreading from the suddenly unnatural feeling hand on his shoulder. It's grip tightened, the fingers digging into his skin like fiery claws. It grew hotter, singeing his shirt and threatening to burn. A mix of quiet whispers and rustles were quickly drowned out by a long, curling hiss. Something touched his neck, something slippery and hot. Forgetting the warning for a split second, Lukas whipped his head to the side, trying to shake off the burning feeling on his neck.
There was red. A lot of red. Only red, consuming his vision until it was as if the world melted away from the heat and all that was left was this hot, burning red. He thought he might have heard something, but all the noise was muffled and distorted. He tried to raise his hand to feel something, but it was too hot. He tried to remember what he was doing, who he was, but all his memories were melted, slippery, too slippery to remember. The red was changing, darkening. Black rose from the edges until it consumed everything.
He panicked, trying to find some sort of light. Something grabbed him and he clawed at it until it let go. He heard more noises, high pitched and warped. He lashed out at them, frantic. Everything was so dark, so hot. He needed to find light, find cold, find direction. He didn't know what to do, everything was so confusing, screams and hisses melding into chaos. Too hot, too dark…
"LUKAS!" The scream shattered the darkness, the heat disappearing with a hiss. Lukas stood for a few seconds, wavering, before collapsing.
Matthias didn't know what was more terrifying, seeing Lukas rush about, panicked, eyes red, or seeing him lying completely still on the floor, a puddle of black ooze surrounding him. Iceland walked towards him first, muttering words in Icelandic. The black ooze began to clump together, forming a vaguely feline shape. Just as its red eyes opened it got a boot to the face. Iceland declared something in his confusing language, grinding the demon into the ground.
He turned to the group, wait, was he smiling? "It won't stay gone forever, but it's the best I can do."
Matthias ignored him, gently lifting Lukas off the floor. "Will he be okay?" He stroked the small man's cheek.
Dusky blue eyes opened slowly, irises hazy. Lukas pushed Matthias' hand away, staring in confusion.
Before he could ask, Iceland answered in his creepily chipper way, "You were possessed by a demon. Luckily, you snapped out of it after a few minutes, after about ten you need a full on exorcism."
Lukas' eyes widened, "I, wait, WHAT?"
Before Iceland could re-explain, Ludwig cut in, "Alright, we really need to get going. If vhat Iceland says is true, than any country or person is at risk. Ve need to get you and your demons out of here as fast as possible!"
Norway thought for a second, "Well, if we were to split up, we could go through all the countries faster."
"S-split up!" Denmark screamed, grabbing at the nearest person, a not very amused Berwald.
"It seems like a good idea." Sweden agreed, "So let's see, I'll go with the Norways and-"
"Wait!" Denmark called out, "How come you get to split us up?"
Sweden gritted his teeth, "It's either you get Norway and Finland, or you get neither, take your pick."
Denmark pouted, "But why?"
"Because you'll have Iceland to deal with the demons, and I will have Lukas. It's even."
Denmark pouted again, but didn't complain anymore. Sweden, satisfied, resumed, "Okay, so uh, Berwald and I will go with the Finlands and Norways, and The Denmarks, Germanys and Icelands are together. Got it?"
There were some yeses, whimpers courtesy of Denmark, and Finland looked ready to kill, but it was set. These idiots were ready to save the world.
We're doomed.
Hello world! I warned you, I do believe, that updates would be random and delayed constantly. And if I didn't, here is your warning. So, yeah, I had rewrite this chapter about five times before I was happy with it, but here it is! Seem you next time, SCC out!