Hetalia – The Cold of War

Chapter 18 and, this is it. The big reveal. The thing I have been hinting and nudging towards this entire story. I can't wait for you all to read it. Thank you all the lovely reviewers who posted last chapter, you are the reason this chapter came up so quickly.

To reviewer Secret Paradox 25, I hasn't offended by your comment, actually quite flattered that you really want to see more of the story :D

Alright, I present to thee, the next chapter,

Enjoy! (And hold on to your butts)

The Nordic Kingdom, The Royal Palace, Entrance Courtyard.

Arthur. Arthur was the first thing Alfred Jones saw when his brain finally decided to work again. Those darkly framed emerald rock pools, with their tumbling pulsing veins of gold bore down into Alfred as if they looked into his soul. Alfred felt at peace as he looked up at the man he had fallen for, happy to remain in the moment forever. However reality soon reclaimed him and blew away that sweet bliss. Pain erupted from his very bones and Alfred felt his stomach churn at the thick salty tasting liquid that filled his mouth. When he tried to lift his upper body, his entire frame screamed at him to stop and go back to resting. But Alfred was stubborn and with the gentle pressure on his lower back, managed to raised himself into a sitting position.

Arthur was knelt beside him with Kiku behind him, the two of them looking relieved to his eyes open again. Impossibly through all his pain, Alfred gave them a forced smile which turned genuine when Arthur leaned close and affectionately pressed his forehead against his own. A gesture that Alfred knew Arthur shared only with those most precious to him, the thought made him glow. The two held the intimate moment, heart beating in time as they embraced each other with yearning security. As Arthur lingered before he slowly pulled away, Alfred meet his spring eyes and opened his mouth to speak when a bloodcurdling meaty bellow bounced towards them. Arthur snapped his head up, moved as to let Kiku support Alfred and silently stepped forward to stand in front of the injured men. The giant of a man's laugh lowered to a snicker before he spoke in a sandpaper course voice.

"Well, well. Green eyes? Caterpillar brows? Arthur Kirkland, you are quite the welcomed sight' the Deadman grinned as his hungry graze did not stop lavishing the sight of its prey. The two hooded figures on either side of the hulk known as Long John, shifted and became restless; eager to finish their mission and be done.

"These must be the sorcerers Ludwig was speaking of…though I do not see the fourth," Arthur stressed to himself as his eyes darted behind them to look for the fourth member. Worry gnawed at his insides over the missing sorcerer, Arthur narrowed his eyes as he resumed them on the leader. "And you are very much a unwelcome one"

Long John smirked and tutted his sausage finger at the Brit, making a disapproving noise with his tongue. "Oh ho dear Arthur, I hope you won't be this aggressive on the trip back. It'll make it very unpleasant it will" Arthur paled and subconsciously shrank back away from the Deadmen, a chill running down his spine.

"Trip back?"

"Aye boy, the Emperor himself has expressed a personal interest in seeing the last Kirkland. It was the whole reason why this assault was organised" Long John cackled as he saw the draining effect it took on Arthur, his shoulders slumped and his pupils diluted with grief and fear.

"You bombed innocent people in the town…," Arthur began in a barely restrained tense voice that continued to swell until it burst "You slaughter our men as if they were pigs. And now, and now you claim it was all in my name?!," He shrieked as he ripped out two throwing knives out of his gauntlets and brandished them at the Deadmen.

Long John boomed that ear scratching laugh of his again but to lowered himself into a charging position, aware that their little talk was drawing to a finite close. "What? Don't like the fact that all these deaths are on your head?". That did it. Arthur snarled, actually snarled, and threw himself at three Deadmen. As he sprinted nearer, the two hooded figures sprang forward with a accelerated glide; intending to flank him. Arthur saw the threat and as the two reached out to grab him, jumped, gracefully twisting his body midair and sent his throwing knives flying at them. The knives hit true into the two's shoulders with a dull thud, the pair split and darted a distance away to recover. Arthur roughly landed and was forced to bend backwards as huge fist whistled past his jaw. Long John grunted as he missed, his off balanced reach now passing uselessly over Arthur's head. Arthur remained low and activated his hidden blade, ready to gut the fiend when he was snapped backwards. He yelled as his torso was pulled on and dragged backwards towards the two hooded figures with their extended hands.

Desperate, Arthur waved his hand out behind him and managed to dislodge on of the cloaked men, wavering the telepathic hold on him. He dropped to the ground and launched himself out the way of the incoming hammer fist from Long John. The fist smashed against the hard ice and cracked it like thickened glass. Arthur scrambled out the way with his back to Alfred and Kiku, shoulders heaving with exhaustion as he heavily panted. Hell's bells, they were strong. He could barely dodge one without worrying about the next attack. At this rate he would be run down and overwhelmed. He needed to end the fight before they decided to drag Alfred and Kiku back into it.

With another adrenaline pulse from his magic, Arthur swooped low and threw up a heap of fallen snow into the air. Using his magic, they hung suspended by invisible strings as Arthur hardened them into ice and aligned them like a row of bullets. With a wide sweep of his arms, his lethal ice bullets shot out towards his opponents. The Deadmen had time to barely bring up their arms to protect their faces and chests before they were peppered, the sharp glasslike projectiles drilling, cutting and slicing into their skin and nicking blood. They gasped at the unwanted invasion of pain on their bodies and Long John pierced Arthur with his crazed blood shot eyes. The thrill of a victory made Arthur grow in confidence, that maybe he could take these beasts that couldn't use elaborate spells like he could. Foolishly allowing cockiness to sway him, Arthur cunningly grinned back at the furious Long John.

"Ready to lose the other one?" Arthur teased as he pulled out two more knives and gestured to the Deadman's other remaining arm as he stalked closer. Long John gritted his teeth, hissing through his clenched jaw as his robes began to soak with his red water.

"Go to hell" He cursed, bent over flinching as pain raked over him. Arthur dropped his façade, a cold void expression now on his face.

"You first" He promised as he lunged with dual flashing blades. He swung down on the Deadman's remaining arm, the sharpened edge calling for blood. Then he felt something slam into him with the force of a Iron bear. Arthur was thrown off his feet and sent soaring backwards, smacking down and skidding against slippery ice yard. His back reignited its sweltering fever and Arthur whimpered as it mixed with his already existing agony. For a second his body simply refused to move, choosing to try and absorb and register the pain that it had inflicted on it. But Arthur's mind had a better plan, immediately pouring mana to hasten his healing factor. There was the familiar buzz and the powerful shot of mana pounded through the veins as the healing kicked in, knitting broken skin back together and smoothing the frayed nerves that screamed in protest. Arthur moaned as the buzz numbed out the pain enough so that he could move, the feeling of his frazzled nerves slowly returning to him after their damage had been repaired. Reaching up to where he had been struck, Arthur grimaced as his fingers touched something cold and smooth. A icicle about the length of his arm had embedded itself into his shoulder and was beginning to melt, soaking him in water as well as his own blood. Clenching his jaw, Arthur tightened his grip and yanked the icicle out, letting out a drawn out anguish cry. The pain didn't last long as hole in his shoulder began to feel scratchy and his healing rapidly grew a new layer of skin to cover the wound and sewed together the torn veins inside. Arthur gasped as the process finished, feeling with satisfaction the new baby soft skin as he forced himself to his unsteady feet and looked over to glare at his attacker.

But when Arthur looked there weren't three figures anymore, but five. And the two new comers, unfortunately, Arthur recognised too well.

"Hello again Arthur" Natasha purred as she waved as though they were friends, her smile never leaving her lips as she surveyed Arthur's scrunched up face.

"Natasha," Arthur spat, venom poisoned his eyes as he focused on the man behind "and Popscu to" Vladimir Popscu gulped and didn't bring himself to meet Arthur's blaming stare. Natasha gripped Popscu by his arm, digging her nails in tightly.

"Think yourself lucky you didn't kill him, imbecile. Make one mistake like that again and I promise that your death with be a nice, long one," She hissed and turned spritely back to Arthur as if nothing were wrong. "Now where were we?"

"You were explaining why the Emperor wants me oh so desperately" Arthur hopefully tried as he steeled himself, biting his lip as his safe mana was scrapping the bottom of the well and world mana had began to pour in. If he wasn't careful, he'd accidentally tap into the world mana and release a spell he couldn't control. Natasha pouted her pale lips and shook her head in a thoughtful, dramatic way.

"No Arthur, I think we were leaving together before you got yourself permanently damaged. After all I can't present a broken present to my brother, can I?" Arthur felt his lip curl at the metaphor and glanced behind him to Kiku and Alfred, the pair listening with enraged expressions on their faces. Quick as a whip, Arthur jumped backwards so he stood protectively in front of his friends and looked over his shoulder to them.

"You two need to run and get Allistor. I won't be able to fight all of them alone" Arthur gingerly admitted as he kept his vision fixed on the enemy. Seeing reason, Kiku nodded and sprinted faster then expected back to the Entrance hall, disappearing into the chaotic fighting mass. Alfred clumsily stumbled to his feet and placed a large hand on Arthur's trembling shoulder.

"You must think I'm a idiot if I'm going leaving you behind" Alfred barely managed to speak with his messed up face, his nose still at the crooked angle. Though those sky blue eyes hadn't lost their determined glint as they met with Arthur's.

"I think you an idiot for staying when you can barely stand," Arthur returned curtly as he felt the air shift and tensed, sensing the two hooded Deadmen move before he saw them. The two moved like the wind and rushed at Arthur and Alfred, an ambrush from different sides. Weighed down with Alfred wounded, Arthur pushed his friend's head down and snapped his arms out on either side. Twin torrents of fire gushed out from either hand. The spiralling flames would of bathed the Deadmen in their fiery glory had they not dodged at the last second. Having thwarted the ambush, Arthur almost allowed himself to breathe when he alarmingly felt the pull of a telepathic grip his chest that violently tugged him towards Vlad and Natasha. Arthur grunted as he hit the ground, a fair distance now stood between him and Alfred. If he didn't make it back, Alfred would be unprotected against magic he couldn't fight. Arthur tried to move but found himself immobile, his body frozen by the four telepathic minds that held him in place. Arthur strained his muscles to obey, feeling only the tiniest resistance as he battered his own telepathy against his opponents.

Suddenly the pressure lifted and Arthur felt himself lunge forward upon release, he turned and saw that it had been Alfred that released him, having distracted a Deadman by moving to attack him. Not wanting to fall into the same trap, Arthur sprinted for Vlad as his hidden blades unsheathed themselves from his wrists, hungry to avenge Dylan and Seamus. Vlad squeaked terrified and Natasha moved to block Arthur's path, raising her knife to deflect Arthur's blades. The metal weapons rang as they clashed again and again against each other, Arthur holding the advantage of dual wielding. He spun and tried to throw Natasha off with the flashy movement when, out of nowhere, he felt something grabbed him by the throat and nearly snap it with its force. Behind him, Long John had his thick beefy fingers wrapped tightly around his fragile windpipe, Arthur's legs kicked out uselessly as he was lifted into the air. He gasped for oxygen that was sealed off from him, his vision sporting black spots in the corners.

"Don't kill him!," Natasha shrilled with legit fear, though the Deadman didn't move to obey "Long John! He's to be brought alive!" The deadman smirked and cocked his head as he brought Arthur's face close to his. His breath stank of bitter blood.

"Don't that make you feel special, eh? Alive. Don't kill him. You're a lucky one, Arthur. Any other bastard who would blew up me arm would be already six feet under" His grimace sprayed spit onto Arthur's face as he squirmed and tried to pry the thick suffocating fingers off him. Long John laughed and slammed Arthur down by the neck against the hard ground, bashing his head on the cobbles. Arthur groaned as he felt his face be shoved down and his forehead split open, causing hot blood ran down into his eye and prayed his healing factor had healed his possible concussion before any serious damage was done. Around him, Alfred fought to get closer but was slowly losing ground as the two other Deadmen had him dangerously ducking and diving to avoid being hit. A distance away Vlad was building a vibrating bolt of plasma in his palm to finish Alfred off with. Arthur lifted his head and jerked when he saw Vlad begin forming the base of a plasma bomb, the sorcerer's eyes fixed onto the struggling American. Arthur's back and shoulder rash rippled and burnt as he struggled to free himself from Long John.

The situation was dire. Arthur fought down the scream that built in his throat as the fire on his back escalated, feeling his skin crack and warm red liquid began running down his quivering smooth back. As Arthur's hysteria grew, the pounding in his head took over all other sounds as it felt like something was convulsing inside his very skull. Bright lights began to flash in and out of his vision until he saw only white, blinding white. His frantic heart hammered inside his rib cage as Arthur felt that his whole body was just one humming being. The beating sped up, racing, building until Arthur didn't hear the pause between the beats anymore. Internally Arthur shrieked and clutched his head that felt like it would explode like the Deadman's arm he had blown off. White, and the god awful ringing, was all Arthur was. His mind turned on itself, fighting, biting, tearing. And then the thing that Allistor had seen so long ago; the thing he had spent his whole life suppressing, woke up.

Arthur's Mindscape, Unknown, Unknown

The thing, the entity if it were, surfaced of its sealed corner of the mind, out onto its aquatic mindscape. It breathed, it spread out. It saw it's other half, a helpless thing, lie still with limbs twitching on its side on the disturbed water's surface. It looked so fragile. It needed to rest, repair itself. Slowly, slowly the entity gently lifted and submerged it's other human half. Watched it peacefully drift downwards into the murky deep. If it could, the entity would feel regret that for one to be in control, the other must be suppressed. It was the consequence of keeping the two of them separate: only one of them could have the body at a time. But the entity would never feel the emotion of regret as it had no need for it, or any emotions of that sort. It had no humanity. With his human half out of commission, he was now the one in control. The entity knew and understood its nature. It lived by it's code, by it's Grace granted to it by it's mother's blood. It was a celestial being of the mother goddess Gaia, yet bound to human form. Impossibly, a hybrid that had sprang the loins of both man and sentient being. The perfect child of the two races born from the blood of the Earth goddess.

For too long had it had been remained anonymous, incomplete within its own nature. There would come a time when the two halves would talk face to face. Understand just what they were, and accept it. However now was not the time for words, now was the time for action.

The truth has always been out there...

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you would like to see this series long continue, the please consider leaving a review telling me your thoughts, opinions and questions. I always appreciate the feedback.

A WILD PREWRITTEN CHAPTER has appeared! It's returned, and this time, it's personal. For a mere TEN reviews, I will post the next chapter the moment the tenth review comes 's correct, you can find out the next nail biting chapter early with only TEN reviews

Until next time folks...