Hetalia – The Cold of War

Chapter 3! Woo woo! Thank you for all your lovely reviews, you guys rock :) And now, the chapter.

Enjoy!

30 miles away from The Capital, The Capital Border Control, The Radio Broadcasting Room

"Hmph!" Arthur cried out in shock as he felt a beefy hand clamp down over his mouth and a muscular forearm cut off his air way. The man behind tightened his suffocating grip on Arthur and raised him so Arthur's feet dangled uselessly off the floor.

"Little birdies should know better to into the jaws of beasts" A snide voice hissed into Arthur's ear, the attacker's body well built and easily subdued Arthur's squirming attempts to break free. Arthur panicked his lungs began to scream for air. His mouth gasping for air that won't be. Arthur's vision was starting to turn blurry from the lack of oxygen. If he didn't break free, he'd be out and at the mercy of this fiend.

With difficulty Arthur ceased trying to dislodge the hand over his mouth and reached up, pressing his hand against his assaulter's face. With large black spots took over his vision, Arthur desperately summoned scolding white-hot flames into the palm of his hand. The villain screamed as the side of his face rippled severe third degree burns, his face spouted multiple excruciatingly painful blisters. The attacker released Arthur, letting him smack onto the floor as he retreated and clutched his face howling. Arthur collapsed onto the floor spluttering and coughing as he tried to regain his breath. His dizziness began to subside as he hungrily gulped down air, his throat raw and his vision clearer.

"Wonder which one of us is the 'little birdie' now?" Arthur sarcastically replied with rough, scratchy voice as he stood up on shaky legs. The man clumsily stumbled to his feet, his face still smoking and the horrible smell of burning flesh emitted from him. The man gave a roar as he charged in blind rage towards Arthur. Instinctive with fear and adrenaline Arthur shot his hand out and telepathically pushed at the man.

From somewhere within Arthur he did not know, a once chained powerful torrent of power rose up within him. The energy burst out of Arthur like a tsunami, wild and terrifying. Nothing could of prepared him for what happened next.

The man snapped backwards as though he were a rag doll thrown in the path of a speeding train. His body collided and splintered through the locked door with back breaking strength as he was launched backwards. Continuing his flight, the man flew across the wide stairwell and collided the opposite stone wall of the inner tower with a crack, before his body fell forward and slammed down against the metal stairs. His heavy body still with his limps struck out at unnatural angles.

Arthur felt horrified as he looked down at his trembling hands, as if to check they were his. What, the hell was that? Arthur tried to comprehend as he slowly walked through the door that now had a splintered hole at its centre. Arthur felt confused and scared as he looked down at the crumpled body of the man who had attacked him. The horrified look of terror was stuck frozen on the now dead man's face. The back of his head had cracked open, a bloody grotesque mess of brain tissue and fractured bone. The body looked how the radio broadcasting box had when Arthur had dropped it out the sick irony made Arthur nauseous as he willed himself not to vomit. His chaotic mind distracted him from the onlookers on the ground floor..

"Up there!" A voice shouted from below, snapping Arthur out of his heavy thoughts and back to the present. Arthur looked down and saw multiple pairs of horrified wide eyes staring back up at him. On the ground floor It looked like the plan had been going smoothly until Arthur's interruption, Kiku stood solely confided at the centre of the watchers.

"Time to go" Arthur squeaked as he watched several pissed off guards rush up the winding stairs towards him, their swords already unsheathed and glinting with ill intentions. Arthur quickly cast the same enlightening spell he had used to sneak in on his body, and leapt off the stair landing. He levitated for a brief moment before falling with practiced grace, his cloak and golden locks standing on end as he speedily rushed towards the ground. Arthur stretched his hands out and, what felt like so long ago, performed the ol' double takedown on two guards directly beneath him.

Arthur slammed the guards into the stone floor as he heavily landed. Kiku spun and swung his heel into the vulnerable belly of the nearest guard before striking his elbow against the face of another. Arthur leapt up and sprinted for the door as Kiku finished off the last guard by punching him in the Adam's apple. Before the guard even fell, Kiku easily caught up with him and the duo ran out the tower together.

"What happened?" Kiku loudly asked as they bounded towards the waiting airship. Aboard Ludwig signalled his men to prepare for a sudden takeoff as Arthur and Kiku drew nearer.

"I got found out. But I managed to destroy the broadcaster" Arthur yelled over the Gallon's stirring noises. Behind the fleeing Arthur and Kiku, the remaining guards had sprung the alarm and a hammering bell was repetitively being rung. The Gallon's engines sprang alive as Arthur and Kiku launched themselves over the metre gap, rolling to divert the impact as they landed on the wooden deck.

"Everyone to stations! Be prepared for oncoming attacks!" Ludwig commanded beside the helm, sending the crew dashing for their assigned posts. Arthur looked for Alfred to no avail as he ran to the wheel helm, Dominic stepped aside as Arthur took his place as pilot. With Ludwig standing as captain at his shoulder, Arthur grabbed his head set and hurriedly turned it on.

"Jonny! Do you read? We're leaving, follow along side and prepare for follow up gun fire" Arthur blunted into the microphone as he pushed the E.O.T handle from 'stand by' to 'slow'. The Gallon began to drift upwards and forward as Arthur steered it away from the chiming tower, on the ground the guards were preparing to pursue in their own small airships.

"This is Jonny, hearin' you loud and clear. Warning noted. We're right behind you, over" Jonny's staticky voice sounded from Arthur's headphones, the whistling winding nearly drowning out his speech. Arthur spun the wooden helm roughly ninety degrees right to pull the Gallon further away and pushed up the altitude lever to take them higher.

"We have pursuers coming up on our left Sir!" A rebel in the crows nest shouted down to Ludwig, his spy glass aimed back at the Tower where four small mobile airships had ascended and were racing after the rebel ships. Arthur pushed the brass E.O.T handle to 'half speed' and quickly glanced at the map to estimate how far away they were crossing into Capital Air space. Approximately another twenty miles before they would be over the Air space, Arthur noted thankfully. They could do it. The Gallon was built to withstand heavy damage and there wouldn't be any Capital ships to meet them. They would be fine.

"We have four attacking air ships men! Incoming on the starboard side, man the left guns and fire on command!" Ludwig yelled as he ran down to the deck and jumped onto one of the heavy artillery cannons. The rebel gunners followed their leader's example and braced themselves as a one of the attacking airship's machine guns opened fire onto the Gallon. The bullets peppered the side of the ship and clanged against the metal hull armour.

"Fire!" Ludwig boomed over the gun fire and the Gallon let loose its full might against the opposing airship. The cannon rocketed its explosive cannon balls with deafening claps of thunder, the smell of gunpowder populated the late evening air.

The enemy airship exploded with a well aimed shot and combusted into a great ball of flames. It's three brother ships pulled forward with sudden bursts of speed and pulled ahead of the Gallon, turning its machine guns back to fire backwards on the slower ship.

"If that's how you want to play," Arthur muttered to himself, he felt his heart beat wildly as the Capital could into view. The airships wouldn't follow them over into Capital Air Space for fear of their own lives, they wouldn't risk blowing off pieces of the warships and have them land on the city below. Crushing citizens and creating collateral damage for the Emperor to clean up. Arthur just had to get the ship over there as quickly as possible. With renewed determination Arthur pushed the engine to 'full speed', holding on tightly to the helm as the Gallon powerfully steamed ahead. The three mini airships began to fall behind as the Rebel ship passed by it, giving a generous amount of fire power as it flew by. Arthur grinned as the Gallon zoomed over ahead over the invisible boundary that marked the Capital Air Space, the three airships changed targets and attempted to aimed for other rebel ship as it followed closely on the Gallon's tail.

Both rebel ships soared safely over the Capital below, their great slanted shadows looming over the quietening city. Everyone on deck collectively relaxed as Ludwig waved the all clear. The wooden parts of the deck now had multiple lead bullets embedded into it. Arthur sighed in relief and pulled the E.O.T down to 'Slow', he felt everyone deserved a break. They should enjoy the safe time while they had the chance.

"Alright men. We need to use the borrowed time we have to reload and make any needed repairs. Arthur, let Dominic take over and get some rest. We're going to need you in prime shape later" Ludwig barked the last order over to Arthur as he released his cannon to be repaired. Arthur nodded and took off his headphones before handing them to Dominic, his copilot still refusing to meet his eyes. What is wrong with him?, Arthur thought irritatedly to himself as he made his way down to the deck and down more stairs into the confided cabin quarters.

The cabins of the Gallons were minimalist and contained only two bunk beds, though the rooms were so small there was barely a gap between each bed. A single oil lamp illuminated the cramped room as Arthur opened the door to his shared cabin and closed the door silently. The walls and floors were panelled wood and huddled in a corner were all the lodgers packs. On the top left bunk, Kiku was already dozing peacefully with his hands rested together on top of his chest. Arthur smiled at the irony of how this seemingly small napping man could easily take out three armed guards without batting a eye. No one would of believed it if they looked at Kiku's relaxed face, his lower lip pouting slightly out as he breathed in and out shallowly.

As quietly as he could with the ship's swaying motions, Arthur crept over to the bottom right bunk and took off his boots before he snuggled under the cool blankets. The pillow wasn't terribly comfortable and Arthur had to shift his position many times before he closed his eyes. He let out a huge yawn as he began to feel drowsy, his muscles sore and strained. After a few minutes, Arthur slipped over the edge of conciseness and delved into his vast Aqua mindscape. Completely unaware of unseen forces that watched him as he delved into a vision of a far away place.

OOOoohh. So this chapter was abit weird to write. We have about three destinations where I have to write Arthur travelling between them, which is actually quite hard while making sure it doesn't get repetitive.

So the thing that stuck out most to me in this chapter, Arthur's fight in the tower. Now I'd like to say, Arthur has killed in the past. When he was younger with his brothers, they would take down pirates, bandits and other evil supernatural creatures. Its clear why Arthur would feel sick with himself. Even though he did it in self defence, Arthur killed that man in the same way that he had destoryed the radio box. He had laughed with childish innocence, and to have it happen again in such a sickening way. It's pretty messed up. He literally smashed the guard into the side of a wall, crushing his skull. The death was ugly and twisted, and...unintentional.

Arthur didn't actually intend to kill the guard, but rather knock him out. So when he murders the guard, Arthur's freaking out. For a split second he did not have control over his magic. I'd liken the situation if you had a ballon of air and wanted to slowly release its contents. We all know how easy it is for the ballon to lose control and fly everywhere. That is essentially what happened to Arthur. Only add a thick layer of confusion on top of horror, Arthur doesn't understand how it happened. We fear things we do not understand.

As to what actually did happen, ha ha. We'll have to wait and see ;)

Things are beginning to move behind the scenes and lie in wait. Big things are coming for our heroes. Hold on to your butts.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you are liking this story, then please take the time to leave a review telling me your thoughts, opinions and questions. Once again thank for reading!

Until next time folks!