Although Dark Italy was gone, Italy had a feeling that his hatred never really left. It only lost its will to maintain its physical form and whatever hatred he might have left in his heart, it was weak because he was filled with happiness.
Until Dark England surprised him by grabbing his collar from behind, lifting him up into the air. "I do me wrong once more." he snarled. "What shame, what idiocy, ho! If I were to keep thy hatred back, he'd still be here."
Italy tugged at Dark England's hands, trying to breathe. He had no breath left to cry out; he barely had the energy to move.
"Dost thou surrender? Promise made if thou promise to give in, and I will not harm thee."
Italy gasped, "Okay, okay, I'll give in!"
Dark England dropped him to the ground and Italy massaged his throat, breathing in deeply. "Right glad I am thou art cooperating." Dark England said darkly as copies of himself stepped out from behind him, making their way to England, America, and France so that they could bring them to the Chicago hideout.
Dark Japan, Dark North and South Korea, and Dark Vietnam arrived in Germany several hours later. It was in the middle of the night in Germany, roughly three in the morning. The time played to their favor; the night was the best to strike when the darkness agreed to hide them and the grogginess of the nations sleeping slowed their thought process. If done correctly, they'd be able to capture the nations at Germany's without waking anyone up.
Of course, the doppelgangers took the most utmost care when it came to risky tasks. One thing goes wrong, everything goes wrong.
Dark North Korea confirmed that the real Japan and Vietnam were there, and that Dark Japan and Dark Vietnam could use the contacts Dark Estonia created in case if someone woke up.
"You two would have a better chance in there." Dark North Korea murmured.
"Isn't Estonia's hatred locked up here, da-ze?" Dark South Korea asked in a low voice. "We haven't heard from him ever since Guangzhou. Germany probably caught him."
"Is that so? I'll free him then." Dark North Korea muttered. Dark North Korea silently slipped into the covert of the night and left the group.
Dark South Korea went on ahead to scout the perimeters of Germany's house while Dark Japan and Dark Vietnam put on their contacts. Through the windows, Dark South Korea estimated that there were at least a good dozen or so nations resting in Germany's house. It was a good number.
"Have you found a way in?" Dark Vietnam asked as she and Dark Japan met up with Dark South Korea by the gates of the house.
"Open a window." Dark South Korea harrumphed.
"And if an alarm goes off?" Dark Japan asked.
Dark South Korea took a second to register the facts. "Ah, right. Germany's hatred turned the power back on, da-ze. The switch really controls all the electricity in the world?"
"Somehow, yes." Dark Vietnam murmured. She eyed the gates carefully and then the house looming over the threshold. She pointed to the top of the house and said, "The chimney."
"There shoudln't be a fire burning in there, correct?" Dark Japan asked.
"Not that I know of." Dark South Korea said.
Dark Japan nodded. "Let's go."
The three doppelgangers pushed at the gate gently to see if it was locked, which it was. It didn't stop them; they scaled the gates quietly and landed lightly on their feet. Getting to the roof of the house wasn't too hard for them; cllimbing things was simple.
Dark Japan peered into the windows every so often, mentally reminding himself who was on what floor and in which general direction. He was the first to get to the top and he scanned the roof as his other two comrades pulled themselves up.
"There." Dark Japan said, pointing to the silhouette of Germany's chimney. "Who will go first?"
"Allow me." Dark Vietnam said, and she made her way over to the entrance, the other two trailing after her.
The chimney was dark and somewhat narrow, but it was big enough for them to slip in. Dark Vietnam ran a finger inside the chimney and rubbed the loose soot with her thumb. There was a nice layer of soot and ash, which would make cleaning up their trace rather difficult.
"How about this? I'll go in and open up a door from inside. We won't make too much of a mess and North Korea's hatred will be able to come in easily when he returns." Dark Vietnam suggested.
Dark Japan nodded and beckoned for Dark South Korea to leave the rooftops.
As they scaled back down, Dark Vietnam pulled herself up onto the top of the chimney, swinging her legs around, and peered down the chute. "I have roughly three or four hours before anyone gets up." she reasoned to herself. "Some of them might be early birds, and some might be light sleepers." And with that she lowered herself into the chimney and allowed herself to shimmy down.
Dark Vietnam landed at the bottom softly, ducking underneath the mantlepiece from above the chimney and stepping down onto the floor. She was careful not to make a big mess, but preventing the soot from spilling onto the carpet was impossible. She'd have to clean it up later, after their mission. She carefully made her way aross the room, leaving a tiny, barely noticeable trail behind.
Dark Japan and Dark South Korea could see her move from outside the house by looking through the windows. They followed her from the outside and slipped in when she opened the kitchen door. Dark Vietnam slipped outside, excusing herself to brush off the rest of the soot.
While she did, Dark Japan muttered to Dark South Korea to start his hunt on the second floor while Dark Japan scoured the ground floor. Dark South Korea left Dark Japan in the kitchen and Dark Vietnam joined Dark Japan a few minutes later, asking where she should go.
"There's a more likely chance the second floor has the most bedrooms." Dark Japan murmured quietly. "South Korea's hatred won't be able to check all of them within three hours if he has to deal with the original countries there. It's a tedious task."
Dark Vietnam nodded, but then she froze and glanced around the kitchen. "Do you hear that?" she asked quietly.
Dark Japan frowned and nodded. Footsteps. "It can't be South Korea's hatred." he hissed. "Can it?"
It wasn't.
Austria couldn't sleep for some odd reason. He had tried multiple times to fluff up his pillow and he tried sleeping in different positions. It didn't work. Frustrated, he reasoned that a late night snack or drink might help him, even though it was three in the morning and that he probably would only have a few more hours to sleep. He knew that Germany didn't like people oversleeping if they weren't sick or wounded.
He heard low voices in the kitchen when he came out of his bedroom on the ground floor. The kitchen was a mere hallway away, so it didn't take him long to get there. Pushing his glasses up his nose, he opened the kitchen door and saw Japan and Vietnam sitting down at the table, glancing up at him.
"You two as well?" he asked them wearily.
"Couldn't sleep?" Japan asked him.
"Yes." Austria sighed. "I'm not sure why. Why are you up then?"
"We couldn't sleep either." Vietnam replied. "We were thinking of getting some tea but I'm not too sure where Germany keeps his tea."
Austria frowned. He remembered that Germany kept some tea in the cabinet above the stove when he had annexed him. Pointing that out, Japan went to go see if Austria was right, which he was.
"I'll make us some then." Japan said, giving Austria a grateful smile. "Please wait."
Austria took a seat at the table as Japan hurried to brew some tea. He glanced at Vietnam and frowned. "You look paler than usual." he noted. "Are you alright?"
Vietnam looked somewhat taken aback. Recovering quickly, she said, "Ah, yes, I'm okay." Then she glanced to the door. "Excuse me, I'll be back." she murmured, leaving the table.
Austria leaned back in his chair and sighed as Vietnam left the kitchen. Somehow, the kitchen seemed much more...lighter? He didn't know. Earlier, when Vietnam was around, the kitchen seemed cold but Austria thought that was because Germany had the air conditioner on.
When she left, the kitchen regained some sort of warmth. Or maybe it wasn't temperature-wise, but rather atmosphere-wise. Was she in a bad mood?
Japan finished the tea when Vietnam returned, and the cold, almost hostile (yes, Austria decided it was a little hostile) feeling returned. As Japan served the tea, Austria asked, "Are you in a bad mood, Vietnam? What happened?"
Vietnam quietly thanked Japan for the tea and regarded Austria wearily. "It's nothing. I'm just a little worried. My people...I'm not sure, I think everyone is starting to get a little stressed."
Austria nodded understandingly. "I see. And, where did you go, if you don't mind me asking?"
"The restroom." Vietnam said. "I needed to splash my face with water for a while. It helps soothe me."
Japan sat down at the table and asked Austria, "Do you happen to know how many people are here, exactly? I'm thinking of making breakfast for everyone and I need to know how many people are here."
Austria raised and eyebrow as he sipped at his tea. "Hmm...honestly, I'm not sure. Two dozen at the very least. Let's see, there's Germany, you, her..." He nodded to Vietnam, who was labeled 'her'. "Hungary, Liechtenstein, Switzerland...ah, let's see...Russia is here. That Prussia is here, and Turkey...Portugal...ah, Hong Kong, Estonia, Denmark? Yes, he's here. Hmm, I can't quite remember who else. I apologize."
"No need." Japan said quickly. "I'm sure I can remember eventually." Then he stood up and bowed slightly towards Austria and Vietnam. "Excuse me, but I'll be heading back to bed now. Vietnam," he turned towards her. "Please...clean up after me."
Austria shuddered a little. He wasn't sure why but the way Japan talked seemed cold as well. Was he in a bad mood too? He even noticed that when Japan left, the kitchen was definitely more comfortable. There was still something wrong about the atmosphere however, but he wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not.
"Austria?"
Austria glanced at Vietnam, who had stood up. "Yes, what is it?"
Vietnam stepped past Austria and turned so that she was behind him. In a quiet, cool, voice, she murmured, "Good night."
The next thing Austria knew, he had lost feeling throughout his body and he had slumped in his seat, tumbling down towards the ground as his tea cup rattled violently in its saucer.
Dark Vietnam caught Austria before he fell to the floor. She propped him up and threw his arm around her shoulder, carrying him towards the kitchen door.
Opening the door, she tossed his body on the ground near the bushes and cracked her knuckles. "One down..." she muttered, closing the door shut.
Dark South Korea was aware of the fact that Austria was in the kitchen with his 'siblings'. He didn't worry about them; it was two against one. And they both had contacts on so they'd probably trick him anyway. No noisy fight in the middle of the night to wake the entire neighborhood up.
The majority of the rooms on the second floor were locked; the ones that were locked were most likely the rooms of the nations becuase the unlocked rooms were empty.
Dark South Korea found it useful that he knew how to pick locks and he successfully got into a locked room after a minute of concentration.
The room belonged to Switzerland. Dark South Korea had to admit he was impressed by the wide range of weapons leaning against the wall of Switzerland's bedroom, and he was almost sorry that he wouldn't get a chance to see how hard they could shoot bullets because he knew he'd be taking Switzerland without a scuffle.
Dark South Korea crept up to Switzerland's bed and watched the sleeping country for a moment. "Funny how sleep and death are nearly the same, da-ze." Dark South Korea murmured to himself before he jabbed at Switzerland's pressure points, knocking him into a much more deeper sleep.
Dark Japan knew that Dark Vietnam was able to take care of Austria without problems. He was sure of it.
He wandered the hallways in search for the bedrooms located on that floor. There was one bedroom with its door slightly opened ajar; that would be Austria's room, most likely.
He was already taken care of anyway. No need to bother with that room anyway.
The next door was locked but Dark Japan came prepared. Dark South Korea taught him how to pick locks, thinking that it would be useful. Dark Japan didn't want to admit it, but he did find it pretty useful.
The door swung open after two minutes; not bad for his first time. It wasn't like his original actually picked at locks; Dark Japan wouldn't know how until someone actually taught him. He knew that if he, Japan's hatred, learned something, then eventually, his original would learn as well. But that was only when Dark Japan would return back inside his original's body, and that wouldn't happen.
He watched Prussia drool as he slept, covers thrown on the ground and limbs spread out leisurely. He wondered how anyone could sleep like that, but it didn't matter. Dark Japan silently creeped over the unexpecting nation and did his job.
Prussia, too, had fallen into the doppelganger's hand.