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TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNINGS;
graphic depictions of violence (war-typical one); fucked up nationhood mechanics; painful emotional sorrow for the eri/reader.
all aforementioned disclaimers at the 1st chapter apply here.
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2024, October 27th
This has one of many boring days, filled with studying across old hallways and Old Town filling her mind with various imaginary. Grey eyes once again stared up at the ceiling of the class; bleak fluorescent lights flickering once in a while; muffled voice of the professor explaining Russian motives behind the counteroffensive against Nazis fading away somewhere in her conscious. It seemed like terribly important information to note down; yet thoughts wandered somewhere far away.
Did anything really matter; or was it all a very elaborate game of play-pretend? Or was nothing real at all…?
Bleak rain hit the windows, dull noises of the outside world reminding of the gloomy autumn all around; as faded out leaves hit the cracked tiles of the pavement; harsh wind ripping last of them from the suffering branches. Common sight, really, as the girl's sight focused back at the task on hand; dainty fingers picking up the gel pen again.
Metal tip glided across squared paper, noting down major points in the neat handwriting; not much thought behind, action behind purely mechanical by this point; after so many years of being stuck in the education.
Exhaustion was definitely weighing on her conscious; eyes heavy and still; struggling to focus on text-overfilled generic slides; vision coming in and out of the focus.
Small fingers picked up one of the highlighters, which were in the muted down shades, usual ones being way too straining on her eyes; unflicking flimsy cap, some of the dates being marked over as seemingly more significant. Most probably that will be in the upcoming assignment.
When it was due again…? Mind working at half of the speed at the moment and couldn't comprehend the exact date, but the professor seemed to mention something definitely around before the Christmas break. Nodding slightly to herself for figuring out the question at hand; Erica continued to write down something related to spoken material; yet... she wasn't sure if anything made sense anymore.
With scrambling things, and noises of the chattering students indicated that lecture has already ended, the girl getting up; her tired frame carefully standing up; stuffing scattered stationery across the table in her handbag, with her Gorjuss notebook; emotionless girl with stars seemingly smiling back.
Erica did as well, corners of the mouth turning up slowly for a moment; when she picked up her scarf with beige coat over one hand; handbag over the other; quickly making her way through the wooden door… and downstairs; hand ghosting the handrail as a precaution.
Her frame smoothly made the way into one of the bathrooms, where she could freshen up at peace, at least for some time. Clicking of the lock echoed around the empty restroom, against cold white tiles; exhausted reflection meeting her in the mirror. Eyebags were not as prominent, yet her washed out complexion, along with empty eyes truly showed how worn out the girl was. Shaky, terribly purple hands met her vision; the girl carefully washed her hands away, as if this little gesture would make any difference in the way she felt.
Not much floated around in the mind, Erica drying up her hands with one of the paper towels, it being thrown out seconds later. Grabbing beige coat carefully; girl slid it on, adjusting sleeves by folding them over; tying ribbon around her waist.
Weather outside didn't seem anything good; or pleasant at all; a pale hand unzipping the handbag; pulling out an umbrella with little flowers upon it. Reflection of her inner world in tiny details, like that. Dusting off the coat; handbag comfortably slipped over one arm, and umbrella in the other; eri stepping out into the rain; pulling worn down door open; it squeaking under sudden movement.
Pressing down on the button located at the bottom of the handle; umbrella puffed up, neatly shifted across left shoulder, slight clicking of small heels reverberating from old faculty walls.
Walking the same path, day in and day out has become part of a fixed, well-established routine, which hasn't changed much, passing through the Old Town streets; winding and changing, when finally silver eyes fixated upon the Cathedral. White bell tower stood there menacingly against all odds of the rain, being loud and proud; its bell echoing away through the dark, cloudy skies, as rain poured from above; saturing every fibre of living being around her.
Eri stood there, as if hypnotised for several moments, lost in the distant thoughts her mind could conjure up; yet they didn't really carry any sort of value for the current situation. Shaking her head, she walked off, leaving a square bleaker than it already was; ghosts of people passing; nobody sane being in the thunderstorm outside.
Yet there she was, passing through the nearby park as a sort of shortcut; any remnants of leaves ripped away religiously by harsh gusts; white locks caught up in the chaotic dance with the wind.
Gloomy museum met her sights, a weary sigh escaping champagne lips, when finally the girl sat down at the bus stop, glancing at the light screen displaying arrival times.
Luckily, her trolley wasn't far, remaining time showing 2 minutes; it eventually stopping at the crossing; its glowing sign of destination harshly contrasting with the utterly grey gloominess of the weather.
Dainty fingers flipped the switch, swiftly pulling umbrella down; it smoothly retracting; girl attempting to quickly shake off any excess water down on murky tiles, them being completely soaked through.
Moments later the trolley made its way towards the stop, soft popping noise of opening doors catching Erica's attention; the girl finally was caught off guard from her hyperfixated position; as she scurried off to find a free seat, sitting in the back, as usual.
As a part of a never-changing routine, or so she thought.
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Heavy sigh escaped champagne lips, when at last, her exhausted frame finally hit soft sheets; Eri curling up under them; searching for some sort of relief. Silky sensation surrounder her senses, as she showered just moments ago; feeling physically much, much better.
It felt like her entire being just became sort of liquid, putty-textured, finally her physical form relaxing from all stress recently involved around the psyche. Slowly, a pale hand shifted across the fabric, clumsily grabbing her laptop; its rose gold hues reflecting away slightly.
Once Eri deemed her position under the blankets was comfy enough; dainty finger propped up the lid smoothly; ever-so-familiar lockscreen with Kanna meeting her view. After entering the password, albeit, wearily, with not much coordination, the girl opened her Quotev, scrolling at how her stories were doing.
Profile loaded on the screen; several new followers, along with some hearts made it to her view.
Fuzzy feeling bubbled up amongst her consciousness - it felt really lovely to have your passion; your work; and soul reflection recognised.
Yet, some other tab at the corner of the eye catched her attention at once; eyebrows knitting in confusion.
What the hell was that?
Macbooks aren't supposed to catch petty ad viruses; right?-
One click, and it was just some generic Hetalia blog, filled with 'ne ne papa' music; along with overjoyed sparkly Italy in the background.
In all honesty, he was getting kind of annoying to look at. Yet, some sort of strange link piqued Eri's curiosity; a small finger clicking upon it, when it landed into….
Seemingly white, abandoned page, similar to some sort of 'index' databases with films for download.
A lot of text was overlaid with one another, making it difficult to read out; girl's eyebrows knitting in confusion; trying to decipher several words, which contained 'click here' with blue text, meaning it was some sort of link. Feeling hesitant, a small finger hovered above the mouse button, pressing the key carefully… praying this wasn't some dark web stuff.
Against all odds, just a spinning video of the tunnel faded into the screen with glowing wonky text at the bottom, which read 'would you like to change the world? Trust me, multiverse is a very real concept'.
Eri felt flabbergasted, before scrolling down to the bottom, bold disclaimer spanning several paragraphs. Main keywords which slipped through the mind at the moment were as given;
'Since you are the chosen one, your universe unfortunately colliding with my own, you have the duty, the responsibility to change the course of this devastating war. But there's a catch - Hetalia, and all countries, which you thought were mere humorous characters on the screen are real, breathing human beings just like you.
You have two weeks from now.
On November 12th, in the late evening a portal will open at your home living room, teleporting you into a random location in the European universe. Beyond that, I take no liability for your safety.
Good luck.'
Tangled up thoughts, which required unknotting so they would make any sort of sense given the situation floated somewhere in her conscious, pale hand slamming laptop shut. How the hell was she supposed to act; tell her mom that 'yes, your daughter randomly gets teleported in the midst of the fucking ww2; getting killed?'
Silver eyes glared emptily upon the beige ceiling, a heavy sigh escaping champagne lips. This entire ordeal was way too much to bear on her nerves. There wasn't any agreement button, or a declining one.
Nobody asked or consented; throwing her as a sacrifice sheep into a bloody war machine.
She carefully set the laptop aside on the counter, her head hitting the pillow with soft 'ooph'.
This day has been exhausting as it was; she would decide any sort of plan tomorrow.
Heavy eyelids closed shut; mind drifting away into the comfortable darkness of dream world; body relaxing eventually.
;;
Another day came and went; a girl burying herself in the google docs, formatting countless shadow documents; spy information and facts used for the... sabotage, if things turned out rough. Separate timelines for both fronts, with main countries of action were labelled, papers sorted out, accounting eventually for the several kilograms of pure paper; all printed in the typewriter font for more authenticity.
Dainty fingers glided across the keyboard, pressing 'enter' key for the new paragraph for the nth time, finding herself turning towards handwritten letters for her family, this weekend spending at home. Disgusting feelings swelled somewhere inside her throat; the girl's features becoming terribly filled with sorrow.
** No matter if they didn't treat her nicely in the teenage years, it would be heaven compared to what she would have to endure; crimson staining her hands as a pair of lilac eyes stared back, Ivan taken aback in the wild snows. Her hair white as blindingly fresh snow around them, not anymore, blood dripping down the rifle.
In that particular moment her eyes didn't carry an ounce of empathy towards the traitor, which made her people, her country into a war crime machine. Pure disdain danced there, flickering in exploding sparks.
Rifle was loaded with smooth click time again; another shot reverberating across dead, ashen trees, amongst the horizon. Vanya fell, his hand trying to reach, before being stomped upon full body weight by the girl; burning flesh pain shooting up across his nerves, only a brief moment Russia's expression twisting into something more than empty gaze.
'Don't take this personally, when Nazis will come for you, burning your cities to ashes and murdering innocent people as rats, completely and utterly disregarding any sort of humanity and decency. Then, I'll help you - we need your soldiers, your numbers, after all. Until then, remember me as the flower of death. You have seen blue ones on your soldiers'
Finland shooed the girl away, Denmark taking her away, as she shouldn't see what was about to happen next.
Cold, calculated barrel of the rifle pressed into fragile neck skin, it being purple due to constant exposure to the harsh climate of Finland, seconds later… There was nothing left of the Vanya's life.
Just oozing a hole of the flesh with the darkest, livid crimson.
;;
Yet, the current girl didn't know any of this, or how many people she would have to sabotage to save Jewish peoples' lives, at least some of them, from the horrific war machine.
Blinding, purple light suddenly shot up floating in the midst of the living room; floating - that being otherwise physically impossible, yet multiverse defied any existing notions.
Leaving her life and everything behind, Eri stepped in; suddenly the entire world went black; her nerves feeling like being ripped apart by extraterrestrial force, something above heavens, until…
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1939, August 29th*
Until clear blue skies met her vision with fresh grass, in the middle of the nowhere, mere thought sickening her entire consciousness…
That was her reality now - there was no viable escape.
Painful cries escaped her champagne lips, entire emotional turmoil being way too much, when suddenly confused tuft of the blonde hair, swinging in the wind, approached girl; him carefully pulling Erica to her feet.
'Hej, co ty tam robisz? Nie płacz- [Hey, what are you doing out here- don't cry-], Feliks' voice was laced with enough concern at the moment.
and that is how this terribly tragic story started.
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Historical notes corner;
*Nazi Germany officially started assault against the Poland on the September 1st, 1939. this is a few days prior for realism purposes.
**Referenced forward section towards Winter War in the Finland, when Soviet Union attacked its terittory, getting completely destroyed by Finns, war ending up in the unfavourable peace terms for the Finland, yet Soviet morale definitely took a hit after that.
Spoiler alert; Nordics characters here will become much more manipulative and dark!, than comparing to their bright canon counterparts.