Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 11

France yawned as he waited for the meeting to begin. He, Switzerland and Turkey were asked to sit at the front, so that they could more easily chime in when they had to share news about Malaysia's disease. Frankly, all France wanted to do was go to bed.

He kept thinking about what Japan had said the previous evening. Apparently, a building that he used to store his more unpleasant memories had seen a fire, and a few of the documents were gone. There was something… off about the story. And also, if the documents were stolen by some unsavoury characters, why would they go to Malaysia to test out whatever it was they wanted to test out?

As far as France knew, Malaysia had warm relations with Japan. A government official wouldn't sanction these actions. A terrorist organisation, perhaps? But then, why would they go to Malaysia instead of doing whatever it was they were doing in Japan, if they were Japanese people? And how would they even know about the building in the first place? France might have been exhausted, but he knew that there were gaps in Japan's story.

He also didn't think that Singapore bought the story, but Singapore's mind was in many places. He didn't even want to come to the meeting. He had opted to stay with Malaysia, and he had promised to call if something happened. At this point, France was sure that the only thing that could still happen to Malaysia was that he fell into a coma.

"Oh, France." France turned around to see Canada, who smiled at him. "How's Malaysia doing? Any improvements?"

"Non," France sighed, shaking his head. "Things are just getting worse."

"Oh. And… How are you doing? Have you been getting enough sleep?"

France just shook his head. He could feel the concern from his former colony, and he appreciated it. At least, if there was a chance that he should succumb to this disease as well, he had a good idea of at least one person that would do their best to take care of him.

"Alright, settle down," Germany said. He waited for a while as everyone grew silent, a process which was faster than usual. Everyone wanted to know about Malaysia's condition, and what that would mean for the rest of them. "Right. So, the CDC have managed to find the cause of Malaysia's disease. The water supply is contaminated."

"So, it's something like cholera or a disease that affects the stomach?" England asked.

"It's not cholera. They also managed to find porcelain shards, similar to those used to make bio-weapons, so…"

"Are you saying that you think that someone deliberately did this?" China demanded. "Be careful how you answer."

"We are not accusing anyone," Germany said. "Yet. But, considering the fact that this is a disease that works extremely fast and which has never been seen before, it's possible that it was created in a lab. Whether or not an army or a terrorist organisation is responsible remains to be seen."

"The Middle Eastern nations are safe," America said. "They prefer bombs and planes. Engineering a disease and adding it to the water supply isn't their style. Can they even engineer something like this?"

"I don't know if he's trying to defend us or insult us," Turkey hissed.

"On that note, I don't think we can blame the Africans either," America continued. "They would be the first to show signs of sickness, and I don't think they can engineer something like this either."

"America, stop defending us!" Cameroon snapped.

"America does have a point, though," England said. "If this is an engineered pathogen, then the developed nations have a greater chance to be guilty than the developing nations. If we had all gotten sick from an unknown pathogen at the meeting, then there would be a chance that the developing nations would be guilty. But the developed nations are also likely to be at fault."

"Angleterre, you should shut up too," France sighed. "Humans with biology or chemical degrees would be able to do this, regardless of nationality. Why they targeted Malaysia, I have no idea. But, just for practicality's sake, it would be best to look first at the Asian nations and then slowly expand our net."

"A fair point," Germany said. "Asides from territorial disputes, no one has a problem with Malaysia, right?"

The nations murmured and whispered. Most of them looked confused. Vietnam and Thailand whispered about something, but France highly doubted that she would have taken part. She was friends with Malaysia too, and she had come by the previous day to ask France about Malaysia's condition. She had been horrified to see him on the bed.

France knew that Vietnam felt bad for being left out of the whole affair, and he wondered if Singapore and the others would include her more, now that they knew that they weren't infected.

His eyes then snapped to Japan. The other said nothing. This would have been the best time to say that some of his more secure documents had disappeared. And that was when France realised the flaw in Japan's story.

He said that they described the past experiments done on Malaysia. And unless they had developed a pathogen like that, then it wouldn't have mattered if the documents had been stolen. And they would need a sample to make it work.

France wanted to kick himself. Japan had taken advantage of their exhaustion to deceive them, but for what purpose? Unless he was somehow directly involved, then…

They'd neglected to ask Japan about his visit to Malaysia. They had forgotten about one of the most important things they'd wanted to discuss. He didn't think that Japan knew what they had wanted to ask, but that just made things worse. And it didn't help that Japan had admitted that he'd used gaslighting against Malaysia.

France narrowed his eyes, but before he could say anything, Germany called for everyone's attention again.

"Alright, settle down," Germany said. "So, if no one here has an issue with Malaysia, why would they contaminate his water? Now, if we can assume that no one here has anything to do with this, then it might be a terrorist attack. So, any reasons why anyone would do such a thing?"

"If we had to list all the reasons why anyone would resort to terrorism, we'll be here all week," Spain said. "The fact is, it's impossible to keep everyone happy, no matter how hard we try."

"…True," Germany sighed. "Philippines, you've been keeping a close eye on the developments. Has anyone claimed responsibility or made demands?"

"No," Philippines said. "No one has."

"Terrorists generally want to make their actions known," England said.

"I have another thought," Russia said. "It has to do with the previous idea. That it might be one of us, and that it is an act of war."

"Are you confessing?" America asked.

"I would not make this point if I was the one responsible. What if a nation did engineer a pathogen like this? It would need to be tested, wouldn't you say?"

"A test?" Germany demanded.

"Da. If you're going to use a weapon, then you need to make sure it works."

"…I see your point. So, what other thoughts do you have on this subject?"

"Well, there is a chance that Malaysia's own government was responsible and…"

"That's not true!" Indonesia snapped. "Mal wouldn't do this to his own people!"

"I said the government, and you didn't let me finish. As I was saying, the government of Malaysia could be responsible for the tests, and they lost control of the situation."

"They would have taken precautions, if that's the case," Germany said. "And Malaysia's Prime Minister is dead, and the king is in critical condition."

"It wouldn't be odd for someone planning a coup to do something that endangered their opposition. But that's only if the cause comes from within Malaysian borders. Because the other alternative is that someone else decided to use Malaysia as a test subject, and that we could perhaps see more attacks like this. And this would either be a nation close to him, for their own personal reasons, or it could be someone farther away, which would make it less likely for them to be suspected. Personally, if I was testing something like this, then I would do it to someone as far away from me as possible. Someone in the southern hemisphere, preferably."

Many of the nations in the southern hemisphere squirmed, but the message was clear. Russia had nothing to do with this, and he was actively trying to think of a good solution. France's eyes trailed to Japan again, and he almost jumped when he saw that Japan was watching him. His eyes were unreadable, not that Japan was easy to read in the first place. But it was as though he was waiting for France to say something.

Before he could say what was on his mind, his phone rang. France jumped and pulled the phone out. He hoped that it wasn't Singapore. But when his name flashed on the screen, France could feel the dread pooling in his stomach again.

"What's wrong?" he asked as soon as he answered. He was already pushing his way towards the path.

"I-It's Mal," Singapore said. "He's having a seizure."

"Merde! Alright, make sure that his head is cushioned, and don't hold him down. I'll be right there." He pushed the 'end call' button and turned back to the room at large. "Malaysia's having a seizure."

He didn't wait for anyone to react. He ran to help his patient. The medical room was thankfully not too far away. He could reach Malaysia before he got seriously hurt.

Just when he reached the medical room, he realised that he had never said anything about Japan's history with experimenting on Malaysia, or his recent visit to Malaysia.

…

Japan watched as France ran from the room, and he sighed. He knew that France suspected him, and that would cause trouble.

It would be harder to tell his generals to move their attentions to France. They were already having a hard time with their true targets. Japan had already told them to forgo the porcelain shells. He didn't realise that that would have been the thing that revealed his actions. He thought that there would have been more time.

He fiddled with the small bottle of water in his pocket. He needed to distract France, but it would take too long. The pathogen remained dormant for two weeks before it attacked. He wouldn't be able to silence France with the disease. If he wanted to keep France quiet, then he would need to use more aggressive means.

And then he would need to infect his true targets…

Things would have been simpler if Malaysia hadn't remembered what Japan had done to him in the past. He could have continued to use Malaysia as a test subject. He had a pretty good idea about how strong Malaysia's immune system was, so he was the perfect subject. He lasted longer than Japan expected, but if he was dealing with a seizure and organ failure, then it was still a positive sign. He wondered how a nation who had less access to help could have fared with all of this.

The room erupted into chaos soon afterwards as conspiracies and accusations flew around. Japan looked around, before he slipped out of his seat. No one seemed to pay him any attention. He had also chosen to sit at the back, just in case he needed to make a quick getaway. And now that he was free, he could focus on more important matters. But first, he needed to make sure no one else followed him.

France suspected him, and he suspected that Singapore also shared his suspicions. Japan needed to retreat, before they shared their suspicions with anyone else. But first, Japan needed to deal with those two.

And he could use the time to examine Malaysia's condition personally.

…

"There," France said, rolling Malaysia onto his side. "This would be the best position now."

Malaysia hadn't woken up at all during that episode, and Singapore feared that he wouldn't wake up now. He had been reading aloud in Malay, hoping that it would somehow soothe Malaysia, when he suddenly started seizing. When Singapore checked Malaysia's eyes, they had been rolled up to the top of the sockets. He had immediately called France when he realised that Malaysia wasn't just writhing in a dream.

France had helped him with Malaysia until the episode was over. Malaysia's breathing was laboured, as though he expended a lot of energy, he was covered in sweat, and he was pale. When Singapore placed his hand on Malaysia's forehead earlier, he found only a very light fever.

"Thank you," Singapore sighed. "That was terrifying."

"I can understand," France said. "I'm just going to check his vitals. It might also be necessary to do another brain scan, but I don't want to do that without Switzerland and Turkey present."

"I can help, if that's what you need."

"No, that won't work. I'm going to need someone that knows how to use the machine to help. But merci for the offer."

"I just hate the fact that I can't actually help him."

"I know it's hard. But sometimes the best way to help someone is to stand back and let someone who can help them do their jobs. You did the right thing by calling me. I just hope I didn't cause too much panic when I left the meeting."

"…How was it going?"

France sighed.

"Everyone is debating terrorism or act of war," he said. "Russia suggested that Malaysia was targeted specifically to test a created pathogen."

"…What did Japan say about that?" Singapore asked.

"Japan said nothing at all throughout the meeting. He didn't say anything about secret documents being stolen or anything. And when Russia mentioned a test, I looked at Japan, and he was looking back at me, as though he was waiting for me to say something." France shuddered. "It was creepy, to say the least. And I also realised that we never got around to asking about his visit to Malaysia recently."

Singapore's stomach dropped.

"So… what do you think that means?" Singapore asked.

"…I think Japan lied to us about that fire," he said. "I think he is responsible."

"…You are correct."

Singapore's eyes widened, and he whipped around to the door. Japan stood there, his expression unreadable. Singapore swallowed. The way Japan just admitted that…

"What is the meaning of this?" France demanded. "Why would you do this?"

"…I used to be an empire," Japan said, as though he didn't hear France. "Now, I have to fight to be heard, and I'm forced to play the role of passive coward. Tell me, France, do you not long for the old power you used to have?"

France tensed.

"Not if it means forcing someone to suffer," France said. "You chose Malaysia as your subject again. I suppose you would have gone with someone familiar."

"When you told us that your people would have used you if you didn't give them a subject," Singapore said, "were you lying?"

Japan gave a small smile. Singapore shuddered when he saw that.

"I was trained as a ninja," Japan said. "Deception is the most important skill I had to learn. We were running tests, trying to find better ways to wage war. When the subject of weaponizing diseases came up, we wondered how it would work against a nation. As I said, Malaysia was recently captured, so he would have made a good subject. I'm also familiar with his physiology, so I know how receptive he is to diseases. It made him the perfect subject."

While he was speaking, Japan had moved closer. Singapore didn't see a weapon or anything, so what was Japan even doing?

He looked back at Malaysia, who appeared to still be unconscious. Whatever Japan was planning, Singapore needed to protect Malaysia.

"How long have you been experimenting with this pathogen?" France asked.

"This has been fifty years in the making," Japan said. "It was hard, getting it to not go out of control. We needed to make sure it didn't mutate, and that it wouldn't accidentally transmit to our soldiers. We also needed it to have enough time to incubate, allowing as many people to be infected before it is noticed as possible. It was not an easy pathogen to develop. Neither was the cure nor the vaccine."

Singapore's breath hitched. Japan had a cure. He glanced back to Malaysia.

"You thought of everything," France said. "And now what?"

By now, Japan was right in front of them. He suddenly lunged forward, and something sharp pierced France's jugular. Singapore moved backward in surprise, before he positioned himself in front of Malaysia. France slumped to the ground, and Japan dropped the object. He then turned towards Singapore and reached for him. Singapore screamed as Japan grabbed him and threw him to the ground. Before Singapore could push himself up, Japan sat down on Singapore's chest. The smaller nation struggled, but Japan's legs pinned Singapore's arms to his side. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small bottle.

"There's also another reason why I targeted Malaysia," Japan said. "He was part of my empire. And I'm going to reclaim everyone I lost."

Singapore's eyes widened as Japan opened the bottle. Memories of World War Two flooded back to Singapore. He was also one of the nations that the Japanese had occupied.

Japan clamped Singapore's nose shut, and after a few seconds, he had no choice but to open his mouth to breathe. Water poured down his throat, and he was forced to swallow, or else he would drown. Singapore shuddered at the thought that Japan was forcing infected water down his throat.

"I can't have you or France telling anyone before the proper preparations have been made," Japan sighed. "So, I need you to die now. You have two weeks to surrender before the symptoms start."

Japan pulled out an empty syringe. He pulled back the plunger. Singapore screamed when it was jabbed into his neck.