So we got two mini-bosses out of the way! Now what do we do? Well, find Gilbert of course! That, and also play through the "World War II" subplot! Details are sure to follow!
/= "Ghost Blood" by Pandora Hearts =/
"Wow…that's a complicated story."
"Yeah, basically. So the murderer is killing people with means that apparently allow us to revive them." Charice twirled her finger. "Though in your case as well as Lovi-chan's, you two fit more into Alfred and Matthew's situation."
"Um…how, exactly?"
"Alfred stalked us inside when Arthur was killed. And Matthew was never a true victim." Li Xiao stated. "In fact, how did you get into that other world…?"
"Um…I can't remember…all I knew is that I was depressed about something one day and I remember drawing circles on the floor…" He blinked. "I…might've accidentally let myself fallen in…"
"Well, that's kinda funny!"
"D-don't rub it in, brother…"
"It does save us half the trouble. Beforehand, whenever someone was in trouble like this, we had to find a portal ourselves to go into." Li Xiao stated.
"…who's we?" Antonio asked, tilting his head.
"Me and Carlos…the first victim. The portals seem to favor anything like mirrors and TV screens, anything that shows a reflection." He explained. "Ever since Matthew joined us, we don't have to waste our time finding an entrance point and let the victim waste away."
"Eh? Entrances were a problem before?" Alfred blinked. "Since when?"
"Since this all started. You do realize that people who die from this murderer's methods are barely clinging onto life support." The Chinese man turned toward them. "How a nation's body works, according to Wang, is that when this man kills, he blocks the pride that fuels the country and can keep him alive when he fights in wars. That's why we are considered immortal: as long as the people wish for a better tomorrow on their lands, we live forever. No matter how many times we are shot, stabbed, burned, killed, over and over again we will come back stronger…even if it takes years.
"However, when this is blocked, our bodies cannot take on that immortality, making us extremely human. The human body survives on oxygen, water and food alone, and upon death that body loses that oxygen supply, causing the organs to die off until they are destroyed beyond repair. If this rare case happens to a nation, then they simply reincarnate into another body: perhaps similar to the previous vessel, but acting like a baby…with no memories of their own. This process is preventing all of this from occurring full circle. When that doesn't happen, our country suffers until they collapse from an economic ruin that comes fast and hard."
"…that's a lot to take in." Alfred shivered.
"You don't know this? What about that Depression you had for ten years? I heard that you were barely surviving on whatever your people could give you." Li Xiao stated. "You dragged all of us with it. If it hadn't been for that president…FDR, his name was?...you'd be dead."
The American stood there in a bit of shock, keeping the entire place in silence. To distract herself, Charice turned her head and realized that his Persona had changed Antonio's outfit: it's now similar to Len from the Synchronicity Vocaloid series….which, by the way, made him just a little bit cuter.
"Well then, what about Gilbert?" Lovino spat. "Obviously, he's not a nation anymore, so why bother saving his ass?"
"That's the funny part. If Gilbert wasn't a nation anymore, this world wouldn't have been created." Li Xiao stepped forward. "He would've died a human death, something that even we can't reverse."
"So…he's a living, breathing nation?" Arthur tilted his head. "Of what land? Antarctica?"
"Seeing as how Gilbert has such stamina to him, I wouldn't be surprised." Kiku stated, rubbing his chin.
"Um…do you think that's part of Gilbert's Shadow? He's trying to avenge his former land?"
"Maybe." Charice shrugged. "Let's just go find the damn Shadow's lair to begin with! Level 2, here we come!"
At those words, the land of misty Madrid vanished, leaving them in the middle of what seemed to be the marble palace that they started out from. Only instead, there were open wooden doors showing off to what looked like the depths of the palace. Nonetheless, it did look a little nice…well, for a home suited for Shadows.
"Who's walking first?" She blinked.
"I'll do it." Matthew walked forward. "My hunting skills have been working for a while, so I should be able to spot any traps if I see any."
"THAT'S my bro!" Alfred chirped.
Charice could only shrug as they descended deeper into the hallways, watching the corners for anything that might vaguely resemble Shadows or monsters or anything Gilbert-ish. Cause…you know, this is Gilbert's world. It was then that she realized something a little…strange.
"Hey, um…look at the portraits…"
"Eh? WHAT THE HELL?" Lovino jumped. "T-there're no pictures there!"
"…ok…t-then it's not just me."
"That's just plain creepy, man." Alfred turned his head. "Why are they empty?"
"Knowing him, they would've been filled with photos of awesomeness or something." Arthur spat under his breath.
"Charice. Look at this."
Charice tilted her head and saw Kiku staring at the frame of one of the portraits. She walked up toward it and saw something strange: an indent that looked like it could fit an index card. Just above it was the number 11 in roman lettering. She blinked before turning her head to Kiku.
"Are you thinking what I seriously think you're thinking?"
"Only if you're willing to test it out."
That grin on Kiku's face means that he definitely wants to see this. She lifted up her hand and let the shining card of the Strength Arcana erupt forward. Charice stared at Kiku (hoping to the world that it isn't a trap) before pushing the card into the slot, feeling it click into place. Instantly a picture began to shine in the frame, showing what looked like Gilbert in king's clothing.
"…yep." Arthur sighed. "Awesome."
"This looks like a blast from the past." Kiku looked up. "Gilbert looks happy."
"This must be from his days as a kingdom." Li Xiao answered, staring at the images. "So strong, so filled with honor…"
"M-maybe the other frames have pictures?"
"Oh yeah, that's true! LET'S GO LOOK FOR 'EM!" Charice chirped.
"Uh…who said that?"
"Ca-na-da!"
"…Milwaukie?"
Canada gave up as Charice continued to scout through the other frames, scanning each image. All of them seemed to be that of him as a kingdom: with old kings, pwning other nations in war, the usual stuff that nations usually brag about during their meetings and whatnot (she's heard them). But then…one portrait in particular…
"Hey, this one's different!" Antonio looked up. "It's not the number twelve! Lovino, can you read this?"
"It's roman numerals, dammit! Anyone can read them!" Lovino stormed up to the portrait. "It's the number thirteen, idiot! You know, 'unlucky 13'? Ever heard of it?"
As they went through with that 'argument' (at this point in time, she had no idea what the difference between an argument and a lover's spat are anymore), she stared at the portrait in front of her. From her sides, she could see Arthur and Matthew walking up slowly and touching the sides.
"There's a presence here…but I don't know who it is…" Arthur said.
"Do you know what can open it?"
"Yeah, and…I guess I can understand why it's this." She lifted up her hand. "The Death Arcana. The card that holds no Persona…the one that always comes to me upside down…set to people who have done all they can…the card that symbolizes an end to something."
"So then…" Arthur tilted his head. "This is Gilbert's Social Link?"
That's odd part. It's not. She thought. This is Ludwig's.
She slowly slipped it into the slot, feeling the portrait erupt before her. This time, the picture was something a little more strange: it was a map of the geographical Germany, separated into strange zones. The Eastern and Western halves were separated by a huge white line. A line that made Arthur cringe at the image.
"Hey, it's the Potsdam Agreement! The one that completely stopped the Nazi Party in its tracks!" Alfred chirped. "Yeah~! That was a good day!"
"Don't be so goddamn cheery about it, bastard!" Lovino spat.
"Eh?" He turned to Lovino. "You look mad, bro!"
"That's because I am!"
"Why, though?" Li Xiao asked. "If what I've been hearing from around the campus is true, you loathe Doitsu with everything Italian inside you."
"Yeah, why are you so worried?" Charice blinked.
The three of them turned their heads and saw that everyone in the room was extremely mad or depressed. The top numbers were Lovino and Kiku, looking down and refusing eye contact with any of them. That's when Charice saw something familiar: Kiku's eyes were deadly, the same time he took them over during World War II. It made her shiver.
It was then that the portrait dissolved the wall, revealing an indent that looked like it was leading into a basement. The other nations scoffed about something as they headed deeper into the stairs, leaving the three who were extremely confused standing back in the room with head scratches.
"OK, what was that treaty thing you were talking about again?"
"It's the Potsdam Agreement, of course!" Alfred boasted, obviously proud. "You see, it's a European treaty that gave a lot of nations that were taken over by the Nazi Party back their power as well as making sure that the German army won't be taking over them again!"
"…and the map?" Li Xiao asked.
"Aw, come on dude! I thought you knew this!"
"Alfred, Charice and I are Asian nations. We wouldn't have any direct correlation to this event, and we've never heard of this before." He stated. "You're going to have to fill the blanks here."
"Well, Kiku surely knew about this." Charice stated. "Then again, he was a member of the Axis Powers."
"Well, look at this! You see, the main focus of the Potsdam Agreement is that it separated Germany into four sectors, governed by America, England, France and the Soviet Union." Alfred looked back to the portrait that moved up out of the way. "The eastern part of Germany was given to the Soviets, while the western half was then split again to those three others."
"So Germany was split up into four pieces…" Charice blinked. "Wait a minute, something's not right!"
"Eh?"
"Look at the map!" She pointed at it. "That part, over there! That's not part of Germany, that much I know! It's part of Prussia!"
"So Gilbert was given to the Soviets as par the agreement…no wonder he might be mad." Li Xiao stated. "Guess we know why everyone hates you so much. You basically tortured the poor man to pay your debt by separating him from his brother."
"Hey, don't put all the blame on me! England was the one who agreed to giving him to Ivan first! I just jumped the gun afterwards!" Alfred answered. "Besides, why would this make him all angry at me?"
"Unless…" Li Xiao rubbed his chin. "Something happened behind the sheets that you weren't filled in…"
"Like what?" Alfred tilted his head. "Take away his beer and he went on a rage? Come on, how bad can it be? Come on, they're probably waiting for us! They need the hero to save them, of course!"
"Oh yeah, the stairs." Li Xiao sighed. "We might as well."
The three of them descended down the staircase as Charice remembered something from long ago. Back when they were talking to Kiku said something that unnerved her a little bit.
The war that almost killed Germany.
/=+=/
And you meet the Shadow again next chapter! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh yeah, can everyone state what pairing they want again? I've lost track.