Spain's head hurt, and it throbbed horribly. In fact, if he wasn't being slung over someone's back, he'd probably lie down and wait for the pain to subside. Of course, the fact that he was hit and was being carried to somewhere while blindfolded wasn't a good sign, and for once Spain knew the possible danger he was in.
Luckily for him, the uncomfortable shoulder ride ended shortly after he regained consciousness. He felt the person carrying him toss him over and Spain grunted as he hit the floor. He heard several people murmuring but he couldn't make out what they were saying. The sound of a metal door provoked a small, "Ohhh..." from him. He was being locked up in a cell somewhere. And by the sounds of it, other people were captured as well.
It didn't seem like he was the only one. There were several other cell doors (Spain was quite certain they were cell doors) that rattled open and slammed shut.
"How many more are there?" a voice asked from far away. It sounded eerily like himself. Could it be Dark Spain?
"T'is not much. A mere five to fill our cups." another voice said quietly. Spain knew that voice anywhere; it was England. Or, it would seem, England's doppelganger. Spain couldn't help but chuckle to himself. It had been a while since he heard England speak that way. What was it, five hundred or so years ago? Was it really five hundred? It seemed like last century.
The doppelgangers left and the voices around Spain erupted. "You guys too?" came America's voice.
"Not so loud...my ears hurt." England muttered.
"Spain, are you okay?" Belgium asked nervously from her cell.
"He doesn't look too bad." Lithuania remarked. "But Monoco looked a little beaten up."
"Monoco!" France's voice cried out in alarm. "Ma fleur, are you okay?"
"Everyone, please be quiet." Ukraine said nervously. She let out a small laugh. "If everyone is this loud then it won't be good for those hurt, right?"
Spain felt someone come closer to him. Their fingers tugged at the knot of his blindfold and within a few seconds, Spain was able to see where he was.
"Yay!" Korea grinned. "You can see again, da-ze."
Spain glanced down at his hands, which were binded together by a tight nylon rope.
"Oh, right, da-ze. Your hands are tied up." Korea frowned. He sighed and motioned for Spain to lift his hands.
Spain laughed as Korea struggled with the ropes. "How can you be laughing at a horrible situation as this, da-ze?" Korea asked Spain, giving up on the ropes.
The Netherlands took over for Korea and Spain smiled at him. "You're here too? I'm glad to know you're safe-"
"Shut up." The Netherlands scowled at him. "I'm only doing this because it's a disadvantage if you're tied up. I'm doing this for everyone else's sake, not yours."
Spain blinked and then he laughed. "Even so, I'm glad to kno-"
"What did I just tell you? Shut up." The Netherlands loosened the ropes and yanked them away from Spain's hands.
"Thank you-"
"You don't listen, do you?" the Netherlands muttered, standing up.
"Why don't we calm down and tell the new ones what's going to happen, ana?" Thailand asked, giving Spain a smile in which Spain returned back.
Korea jumped to his feet and said, "Okay! Listen up everyone, I'm not going to repeat myself, da-ze! Oi, you in the back, are you paying attention, da-ze? Good, don't sleep on me, da-ze. Just to let you guys know, I completely came up with this plan all by myself, da-ze. It originated from m-"
"We get it, we get it, aru." China growled. "Hurry up and explain your plan again."
Korea rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Okay, so we know from Italy that the doppelgangers vanish if you don't want to hate anymore, da-ze. So that means we just have to not hate, da-ze! But, that's harder than it seems. Especially for some countries, da-ze. Italy is lovable and nice and everything so it was easy for him but some aren't that way, da-ze."
Spain perked. "Italy is here? Is he okay?"
"Oh, thanks for showing concern for the rest of us, da-ze." Korea rolled his eyes. "No, I'm kidding, da-ze. Yeah, Italy's fine. Now where am I...? Oh yeah! That's one thing we know, da-ze. Another thing we know is that Dark England is very strong-"
"I believe that's an understatement." England piped up.
"Oh shut up." America sighed. "We all know how powerful you were and all of that, but you don't have to brag about it."
"I'm not bragging-"
"Mon cher...you're bragging-"
"I'm not bragging!"
"Hey, da-ze!" Korea snapped. "Quiet back there, da-ze!" Korea heaved a sigh and folded his arms. "So we have to be careful of him. According to the bird-"
"Mr. Puffin." Mr. Puffin said from Iceland's shoulder. "My name is Mr. Puffin."
"Yeah, Mr. Puffin found out what the doppelgangers are up to, da-ze." Korea said. "And I learned in Guangzhou that there is no invasion-"
"What invasion?" Spain asked.
Korea's shoulder slumped. "So many interruptions, da-ze." he murmured. "How can high school teachers stand it, da-ze? Anyway, in Guangzhou, I learned that they were planning to invade Germany and take over from there, da-ze. BUT it is later proved to be false information and I um, leaked that false info to Germany and now he thinks that they'll be invading him, da-ze."
"That's a bad thing because Germany will be calling back as many countries as possible to defend it, aru." China interrupted as Korea threw his hands up into the air, murmuring how he quit. "With every country in Germany, I think that allows the doppelgangers to freely wipe out the rest of the world, aru. By the time they realize what's going on, millions would be dead, aru."
Spain suppressed a shudder. "Then what are we going to do?"
"We're going to break out of here, go to Germany's, and save the world!" America said, grinning. Then he faltered and groaned, "Aw man, I'm so loud...my ears are hurting now..."
"How do we break out?" Norway asked bitterly.
"Huh? Norway is here, da-ze?" Korea peered through the bars.
"I just got here with Spain and Monoco and whoever else." Norway said with a sigh.
"Well I got here too just now." the Phillipines said timidly. "That makes four of us and Spain's doppelganger said that there are five new ones. Who's the other?"
"We have Australia here." Finland said. "But he's still knocked out."
"So in other words, we have a lot of people." Greenland said. "Okay, the more the better so far in our plan."
"The plan...which is...?" Norway urged.
"Are the bars still electrified?" America asked.
"No, the power is off but we're not sure for how long." Taiwan said. "Hurry and break us free!"
America glanced at England. "Are you sure that my wounds won't reopen?"
"Are you doubting my healing skills?"
"Dude, I always doubt yo-"
England sent a glare towards America.
"But okay, okay, I trust you. This once." he added to himself, smiling.
Norway glanced around his cell. Poland, Seychelles, and Greenland were his cellmates and they were staring at the wall closer to America's voice, waiting. Norway sighed. He still didn't know what the plan was, and it unnerved him that he didn't. He wasn't sure if it was safe or if it was flawed, but he'd have to trust them because they were in there the longest.
Besides, there were some countries in here that knew when to be serious; there were some who were reliable as well so he probably shouldn't worry. Now if his brother, Denmark was here, he'd have something to worry about. But Denmark wasn't there, and Norway could relax for a while.
A loud clang shocked him out of his thoughts. America laughed and said, "Yes! One bar down! Man, my feet hurts..."
"Only one bar, but there's still, like, totally more than one left to go." Poland said.
America stared at the single bar he broke. Then he threw an uneasy look back at England. "Hey...you don't think you can use your magic and break us all out at the same time, can you?"
England closed his eyes in thought. "I wasted a lot of magic already." he murmured. "And I wasted more healing you. If you want me to collapse of fatigue, then sure."
"Okay, England's going to break us out you guys." America called, cupping his hands around his mouth.
"You idiot, I was being sarcastic!" England said, exasperated.
"Well I can't usually tell when you're sarcastic or not." America said. "Can you at least restore my original strength? If I had all my strength back, I can break through this no problem."
"Wait, if you can restore America's strength, why don't you restore your own strength, aru?" China asked. "Then you can use all the magic you want."
England rubbed his temples irritably. "Magic doesn't work that way. There's a specific rule that states you can't restore magic with more magic."
"Well how would we know that?" France asked. "We didn't even know you even practiced magic. You kept it hidden from us all this time."
England scoffed. "There's a good reason why. People would bother me to use magic for trivial matters." Then he sighed.
It was quiet for a while. America picked up where he had left off, breaking off pieces of the bars one at a time. They were very thick, but the Netherlands was right about them being hollow. Italy helped America out by holding onto the bars as he kicked at them so that they wouldn't fall to the ground and alert the doppelgangers.
After a few minutes, England straightened up with a loud, "Oh!"
"Hm? What is it England?" Greece asked.
"I have a back-up wand I always carry around that stores extra magic." England said. Then he reddened. It seemed embarrasing to say something like that. A wand? What would the others think now?
"That's great, ana!" Thailand cheered.
"Phew, see, now England is one of those people you can rely on, aru." China laughed.
"What about me, da-ze?"
"Uhh...no comment, aru."
"That's my line, da-ze."
"Go on, England." America said, relieved. "You can be the hero this time."
England smiled to himself. Okay, so maybe there was a benefit on carrying the old spare wand around after all. He'd forgotten about it until now.
America, Italy, and France crowded around England, wanting to see what the wand looked like. It must have been a mystical, amazing looking item if it stored magic, and they had seen a lot of magic lately and they were somewhat intrigued (even though France and America were reluctant to say that they were).
The wand was a stick with a gold star sitting on the top.
France and America were crestfallen but Italy clapped his hands together. "Ve! England that is so cool!"
England twirled the wand in his hands. "Now let's see here. After we break out, there's something we four have to do. The rest of you will escape. Head to the top-most floor and you'd probably be above land-"
"Wait, above land?" Spain repeated.
"Ana, we're underwater." Thailand said.
Spain nodded slowly. Things were happening too quickly and so suddenly. First there was the doppelganger thing, then there was magic that England had all this time (Spain wondered, was that how England defeated him so many times back in their pirate ages?), and then the underwater thing. What else was he missing on?
"So when you are on land, head towards Lake Michigan. There, you'll see a boat that we came in. We'll meet you there soon. Well, actually..." England paused, cocking his head in thought. "Italy, go with them. I'll leave you in charge of leading them back to safety."
Italy stood at attention, saluting England. "Yes, sir!"
England blinked. He wasn't used to be called 'sir', especially by another country. Normally, those who were called 'sir' were those knighted by the Queen (he found it somewhat ironic that he, the actual country, wasn't knighted and he had complained to the Queen on several occasions, only to be defeated). He heard that in some countries, it was normal, and so he decided to not take notice (though he coudln't help but grin to himself).
"What are you guys going to do?" asked the Phillippines.
"We're searching for weapons and we're going to destroy them." England said. "That's about it, right? Or did Germany ask us to do something else as well?"
"No, that is it." France said. "Now stop talking and hurry up and free us."
"Yeah England, I thought that the Dark Englands had said that you're supposed to be 'hasty like a hare'." America grinned. "Aaaannnddd, I still have no clue what that means. I should google it sometime."
England considered wiping America's memory clean of that incident; he thought the joke was gettng old and he would die of embarrassment if America found out what it meant. But he didn't wipe America's memory; he tapped the bars with the wand and started to chant.
And the wand snapped in half.
America, France, and Italy stared at the broken wand and England suddenly went into his corner of woe, knees pulled up, arms wrapped around them, head burrowed in his arms, and a dark depressing aura surrounded him.
"I heard a snap, da-ze." Korea said. "It sounded like a bone snapping, da-ze." England groaned. "No, it sounded like ice breaking, da-ze." England groaned again, only louder. "Oh wait, da-ze! It sounds like a tree snapping in a thunderstorn, da-ze!"
"Aiya, stop it, aru." China chided Korea as England's depressing aura worsened. "Don't make the man cry, aru."
"Oh well." Lithuania said anxiously. "We'll be okay without the magic. We can help America break the bars. If we all work together as a team, we can get out of here."
"Sounds like a plan." Belgium smiled. "Come on everyone. We have a lot of work to do."
Japan panted in sync with his doppelganger. Those of had tried to help Japan were told to leave him be, since it was his fight and that his honor was at stake. The doppelgangers left Dark Japan alone too, because they knew all too well that Dark Japan also had his honor at stake.
"What honor?" Japan scolded his doppelganger. "You discreetly attack us. There is no honor in that."
"Sometimes you have to disregard your honor to gain your goal." Dark Japan scowled. "I do not like it either, but we will stop at absolutely nothing to reach it."
"You truly are dark." Japan panted, his grip on his tanto tightening.
Dark Japan said nothing. He gritted his teeth and lunged himself at Japan and their fight continued. Japan hadn't been in a fight like this in quite some time. When was the last time he felt his adrenaline rush through him? When was the last time he had narrowly dodged a furious fist or a bone-crunching kick so successfully? Every punch Dark Japan dealt, every kick Dark Japan did, Japan would always be so close to avoid it.
Even with his tanto, Japan felt like he still needed something better to gain the upper hand. There were times where his tanto would draw Dark Japan's blood; his doppelganger's blood would spew into the air, splattering across Japan's face and his clothes. The wound always healed, but Dark Japan's glare would only worsen until it contorted to pure hate.
There were times where Dark Japan would pull in an unexpecting country and Japan would be more cautious in striking, in case if he hurt the country itself. Dark Japan used Japan's hesitance to his advantage and would often catch Japan slightly off-guard.
Japan wasn't the only country fighting with his own doppelganger. Vietnam was also fighting, and she too was fighting for her honor. Germany, who had been trying to help her, found out that the Asian countries had a strong sense of honor and were willing to protect it. Vietnam had refused help from Germany and Germany wasn't sure if he should violate her honor and help her out or respect her wish and risk her safety.
He didn't have much time to think about it, because he had to deal with Dark North Korea who was taking on Malaysia, Portugal and Estonia at the same time without too much trouble.
Vietnam's ponytail came loose and she sported several bruises along with a couple of gashes where her blood dripped onto the carpet. Dark Vietnam looked over her original and said icily, "I've fought better fights."
Vietnam panted for a while and then she breathed, "Don't worry. I'll give you a fight to remember."
Dark Vietnam's eyes gleamed. "We'll see." And then she lunged. Vietnam side-stepped the first few punches and blocked many after. After ducking a kick, she swept her leg underneath Dark Vietnam to knock her off her feet.
Dark Vietnam landed on her back but rolled out of the way when Vietnam brought down her foot. Vietnam clicked her tongue in frustration as her doppelganger got back up. It was difficult to fight someone who knew all your moves and had the same fighting style as you. She didn't know when the fight would end, but she knew that if it continued, her stamina would deplenish. In the end, the fight was to see who would last the longest.
Before Dark Vietnam could approach again, Japan flew in between them and crashed into the painting on the wall before falling to the ground, grimacing in pain.
"You're making a mess." Dark Vietnam told Dark Japan, who joined her side.
"It can't be helped." he replied. His eyes flickered to Vietnam, who hurried to Japan to help him up.
"Thank you." Japan muttered, wincing. "It seems as if we can't defeat them this way."
Vietnam frowned. "They know our moves, they know how we fight and they anticipate what we do and counter it. We do the same as well, but they have more energy to keep it up...how can we win with honor?"
Japan watched as Dark Japan and Dark Vietnam slipped out of their normal poise and into their fighting stances. Japan glanced at Vietnam and then he said, "Switch."
Vietnam blinked at him. "What?"
"You fight with my doppelganger and I'll fight with yours." Japan said, brushing off fragments of the broken painting off of himself. "They won't be able to read our moves as easily now."
Vietnam stared at Japan for a while and then at Dark Japan. "I see...alright, we'll try it. There's not other option now."
Japan and Vietnam side-stepped each other and they now faced the other's doppelganger. Dark Japan and Dark Vietnam exchanged glances but they shared a knowing nod. "Clever, but it's futile." Dark Japan said.
"We'll defeat you all the same." Dark Vietnam added.
"Maybe, but we'll see." Japan said.
Vietnam nodded. "Fate is a funny thing. Anything can happen, bear that in mind."
"Fate huh?" Dark Vietnam murmured. "In whose favor, I wonder." And with that she and Dark Japan lunged at their originals.
Germany's trigger-finger was itching, and he was tempted to shoot at Dark Japan and Dark Vietnam but left them alone.
Dark North and South Korea were fighting alongside each other, just like how the other two were, but they seemed to be in competition. Germany would hear how Dark South Korea note that he had hit so and so more than Dark North Korea while Dark North Korea growled he had sent more people flying than his brother.
Germany couldn't take their 'casual competition'. It irked him because it showed that they were occupied with a trivial thing and not focused on the fighting itself.
So he did what his trigger-finger wanted to do; he shot at them. Blood stained the walls even more and the floor was starting to get a dirty red color. Germany knew that it would take forever to get it cleaned up; he might have to get a new carpet (it was right here when he regretted getting a carpeted floor in the first place and not a tile or wooden one where it was easier to clean up).
His firing gave Malaysia the chance to sweep in and knock the Dark Korea brothers off their feet. "Malaysia, here!" Portugal called, tossing one of Japan's katanas through the air. It was dangerous, throwing naked blades around but the Koreas were healing and getting back up.
Malaysia caught the blade easily and flipped it around hastily, the hilt in his hand with the blade pointing downwards at Dark North Korea's neck. Portugal tossed another katana to Belarus and she didn't hesitate to stab the sword through Dark South Korea's neck.
Dark North Korea hissed as Dark South Korea's blood stained his face. Then, when Malaysia stabbed the sword through Dark North Korea's neck, Portugal tossed the last katana to Russia a few feet away from the Dark Koreas. Russia caught it easily, gave Dark Estonia a bright smile, and said, "I'm sorry, but I'll have to stab you now. I hope you don't mind."
Germany slammed the butt of his gun on the ground as Dark Estonia was pinned down to the floor as well. "Teamwork goes a long way." he noted as the others brushed off dirt form themselves.
"I feel like a vampire hunter." Portugal sighed, wiping his bloodied hands on his pants. "Do you think garlic will keep the doppelgangers away?"
Malaysia and New Zealand laughed together and Russia beamed at them. Belarus went to Russia and clung onto his arm. "Did you see me, Big Brother?" she asked him urgently.
Russia looked down at Belarus and nodded. Belarus nodded in approval and leaned her head onto his arm. "I'm glad, Big Brother." she said.
Belarus seemed much calmer and mild whenever Russia acknowledged her. Germany thought that it was a nice change.
Now if only Japan and Vietnam would have a change of heart in honor and allow the others to help but he knew that they wouldn't when honor has been in their culture for a long time. Although Japan was more picky about it than Vietnam, now that Germany thought about it.
"Portugal, katana!" Japan and Vietnam yelled over their shoulders.
Portugal looked bewildered. "Where? I only found three in your room, Japan!"
Japan and Vietnam had pressed their backs against their doppelgangers at the wall, but they seemed to be struggling keeping them there. Any second longer and it seemed as if they'd lose control again.
Malaysia pointed towards his room and shouted, "I have a few kampilans in my room! Use them!"
Portugal assumed they were swords and rushed towards Malaysia's room with Malaysia yelling after him that they were underneath his bed.
Portugal returned soon and rushed over to Dark Japan and Dark Vietnam, who were trapped behind a faltering Japan and Vietnam. "Please hurry." Vietnam said, her voice strained.
Portugal unsheathed a kampilan and placed the two-split tip at the base of Dark Japan's throat before forcing it through and into the wall. Japan fell to knees, panting heavily, very relieved. Then Portugal unsheathed the other and did the same to Dark Vietnam.
All the doppelgangers were now disabled and pinned down, their wounds trying to heal but were prevented by the swords.
Vietnam fell to the floor and heaved a sigh. "It's over..."