Thanks to Eternal Nexus Warrior for reviewing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 12

Japan stood up as Singapore went limp. It was amazing what a little air in the bloodstream could do. Now, he needed to retreat before anyone realised that he had left. He didn't know if anyone would have heard Singapore's scream over the sound of the meeting's chaos, unless it was one of the lulls in chaos, when actual conversation could take place.

Japan looked over towards Malaysia. He reached out and touched Malaysia's forehead. He was warm, but not hot. His fever must have gone down. But there was still a yellow tint to his skin, and when he looked over the scans they left on the desks, he saw that two of Malaysia's organs had failed, and another was on its way. This proved promising. Very few diseases could cause a nation to suffer from something like that.

He looked down at Singapore. Unfortunately, the amount he received wouldn't be enough to affect him like it did Malaysia, but it would infect him. He had performed countless experiments on his own people – homeless and criminals – and even a small amount could completely destroy the immune system. In a small dose, like the one he gave Singapore, it could take Singapore an entire week to reach the point Malaysia reached within forty-eight hours. Perhaps longer.

The true purpose of this was to see how it would work in practice. He had arranged it so that Malaysia's symptoms would start while they were at the meeting. That was why he'd gone to visit Malaysia two weeks ago. He needed to make sure that Malaysia would be infected, while some of his agents threw porcelain bowls filled with infected water into the water supply. But if they hadn't used porcelain, then they wouldn't have been discovered so soon. But the pathogen didn't cooperate well with plastic, so the water they used couldn't have been stored in plastic. Porcelain was the only material that didn't interfere with the pathogen.

He had already told his generals to be careful when they infected the water supplies.

Japan stroked Malaysia's hair. He felt a bit guilty for making Malaysia suffer like this, but any sacrifice that would return the Japanese Empire had to be accepted. He wondered how long it would take before Singapore negotiated for the cure on Malaysia's behalf. Well, he would have to be found first.

Japan searched for a utility closet and found some rope. He used it to tie France and Singapore's wrists behind them, and he also tied their ankles. Next, he started to drag Singapore towards an out-of-order elevator. While most of the others had remained in their rooms, Japan had tried his best to learn the layout of the hotel, just in case. And he knew how to use this building to his advantage.

He also managed to steal a master key from the hotel manager's office. This made things even easier for him.

He used duct tape to gag Singapore. It wouldn't help if anyone heard him screaming. And then he had to deal with France.

This would be more difficult. He had stabbed France with a kunai in the artery, so he had bled out quickly. And the blood would leave a trail. He couldn't drag France, so he had to carry him. At least he wasn't Germany or Turkey, otherwise, Japan would have been in a lot of trouble. He needed to make sure that no one would find France soon.

He used the duct tape as a sort of bandage, cutting off the flow of blood. He then lifted France, grunting at the effort, and started to slowly go to the elevator. He paused when he left the medical ward and listened. No one was coming. He would have had a hard time explaining what he was up to.

He half-carried, half-dragged France to the elevator, then went to the fourth floor. He remembered which room Malaysia originally stayed in. It would take a while before anyone would think to look there.

Japan sighed after placing France in the shower, making sure that he was also gagged. He looked down at his shirt and grimaced. France's blood was all over him. He quickly left the room and made his way to his own hotel room. He would need a change of clothes, and then he would see if he could sneak back into the meeting. If not, then he would have his bags ready to flee.

…

"We are getting nowhere," Germany said after a while. "Perhaps we should take a short break, and then we will continue in ten minutes."

Sighs and grumbles rose around the room. Many of the nations stood. Some stood simply to stretch their legs, others wanted to leave the room, whether it was just to create some distance between the other nations, or to go to the bathroom. Italy was one of the nations in the latter category, and was the first to reach the door. However…

"It's locked!" Italy announced.

"What?" Romano, who was close to Italy, since he wanted to get away from his fellow nations for a while, demanded. "Did you make sure you tried to open it in the right direction?"

Italy nodded, as he tried to alternatively push and pull the door. The other nations that wanted to leave started to whisper, and Germany sighed, approaching the door. Of course, he needed to deal with everything. The other nations stood aside to let him through, and when Germany tried to open the door, he realised that Italy was right. The door was genuinely locked.

"How did this…?" he whispered, before his eyes widened. He looked around the room. "Everyone, back to your assigned seats! Look for whoever's missing!"

Everyone scrambled to find the seats they'd used on Monday. Their name cards were still there, so they managed to find their places without too much trouble. Germany made his way to the front, looking for the gaps. There were two behind each other, but Germany dismissed those seats. He saw the ASEAN nations around those gaps. The ones missing from those seats were Malaysia and Singapore.

His eyes sought out the other gaps. He knew that there were at least two other gaps. His seat, obviously, was empty, and so was France's. Their seats were close to each other, while England had been strategically placed as far away from France as possible, while also keeping America away from him. There were supposed to be two empty seats near where they had been sitting.

There were three empty seats.

Germany's eyes widened as he scanned the gathered nations. He had arranged for Italy to be close to him, so that he could keep a better eye on him. Italy was there, along with Romano. Switzerland was there. Liechtenstein was there. Japan…

Japan was not there.

Germany's eyes scanned the room again, looking for his friend. Perhaps Japan hadn't been fast enough to reach his seat. But no. Japan was nowhere to be seen.

"Germany?" Finland asked. "Do you know who locked the doors?"

Germany closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes again, and this time he searched for China. He managed to find the nation very soon.

"Where is Japan?" he asked at last.

The question was for the room at large, but he kept his gaze on China. If anyone knew where Japan had gone, then China was a likely candidate.

"Japan?" China questioned. He scanned the room as well, and Germany could see the concern in his eyes. "I… I don't know."

"Wait," America said. "You don't think that Japan could be the bad guy, do you? I-I mean… It's not like he's Russia, you know?"

"But Japan would have the means to engineer a pathogen, wouldn't he?" Russia asked, smile in place while glaring at America, most likely due to the other's jab. "After all, he's a very scientific nation."

"Not to mention the fact that he has a history of this kind of warfare," China said. He had grown considerably pale. "As much as I don't want to think that it's Japan… he's a likely candidate."

"But… Why?" Italy demanded. "Why would Japan want to do something like that?"

A series of loud swears from the ASEAN nations attracted all eyes to them. Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand were forcing their way out of their seats and ran towards the door.

"Would you three happen to know why Japan would do something like this to Malaysia?" Germany demanded.

They stopped and stared at each other before turning to the room. Thailand swallowed and straightened.

"Malaysia's been having nightmares," Thailand said. "Singapore believed they were PTSD episodes. He confronted Japan about them yesterday. We overheard."

"What does this have to do with anything?" Germany asked.

"The nightmares… are from the time Malaysia was a prisoner of Unit 731."

"What?" China shouted, jumping up from his seat. He'd grown even paler than before, and Germany was worried that he might pass out at some point. "Malaysia was taken there? Are you sure?"

Thailand nodded.

"We didn't ask Singapore for more details, and we didn't bring it up with Malaysia," Thailand said. "He's got enough on his plate as it is. But we overheard Japan saying that he only found Malaysia near the end of the war, and he didn't know about it."

"Why didn't you mention something like this before?" Germany asked. "We might not be locked in here."

"Because we didn't think they were exactly the same," Philippines said.

"But now we know that Japan has a history with experimenting on Malaysia," Russia said. "It wouldn't be strange for him to test the effects of a disease against someone whose response to something similar was known to him."

Germany bit back a swear. Sometimes, he preferred it if Russia didn't contribute to meetings. His contributions sometimes painted a bleak picture, but there was no doubt that he was insightful.

"First order of business is to get out of this room," Germany said. "America, Russia, could you please… break down the door?" That was more damage he would need to deal with. "Then we need to spread out to find Japan. He might be thinking of fleeing."

"…Or he might have gone after Malaysia, France and Singapore," Switzerland said. "Dammit!"

"You and Turkey need to go check on Malaysia. France said he had a seizure."

"We're going too," Indonesia said.

"Understandable. Now, let's break down that door."

…

He was in that dark place, somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness. He couldn't willingly move his body, but he could hear everything that went on around him. He heard Japan's words. He heard Singapore's scream.

And he heard the silence.

Malaysia tried to claw his way out of this state, but his body had become a traitor. He wanted to break free. He wanted to check on Singapore. He wanted to warn the others. Japan was planning an invasion. Did he already start?

His panic grew. The longer he spent in this place, the harder it was for him to break free. He wanted to help his brother. He wanted to stop Japan from hurting anyone else. He wanted to…

His finger moved. Malaysia tried to focus on that finger. There, it moved again. He then tried to focus on the next finger. Why was it so hard for him to find his body parts?

The more fingers he moved, the easier it became. Once all ten of his fingers cooperated, he tried to move his toes. He wasn't sure if he could move them individually, but he could feel movement. Finally, after he was satisfied with that, he tried his eyelids.

This one took longer than his fingers and toes had. Eventually, black and white started to alternate. He could open his eyes, but he couldn't focus on anything. When it was white again, he tried to keep it that way, with only brief moments of black. But every time he blinked, his vision seemed to improve.

When Malaysia was confident that he was properly awake, he tried to push himself up into a sitting position. It helped that he was already on his side. Why was he on his side? In fact, what happened before he ended up in the between-world? He remembered speaking to Singapore, and that his head hurt.

Once he was properly seated, he looked around the room. He was completely alone, but there was a puddle of blood near his bed. He frowned, before he attempted to climb off the bed. As soon as he was on his feet, he fell to his knees. He bit back his scream as the IV's needle moved around in his arm. He glared at it for a moment, contemplating pulling it out, before he realised that he couldn't do that either. The thought made him sick.

He stayed like that for a while, trying to push back the nausea and the pain. His entire torso hurt. He then grabbed the IV stand, using it to push himself to his feet. He had just managed to do that when he heard running footsteps, and a moment later, a group of people burst into the room.

"Mal!" someone shouted. Malaysia flinched at the sound. It was too loud. "What happened? Are you okay? Where's Singa?"

"Too loud," he muttered.

He felt hands on his arms, and he looked up to Switzerland, who frowned while looking at him.

"You shouldn't be moving around," Switzerland said. "France said you had a seizure. Do you remember that?"

Malaysia frowned, before he shook his head. Switzerland helped him back on the bed, and he sighed.

"I heard them," Malaysia said. "Japan was the one responsible for this."

"Dammit," Switzerland said. "Do you know why? Tell us everything you remember."

Malaysia frowned as he tried to sort out his memories. He hoped that they were all memories and not dreams.

"Japan wants his empire back," Malaysia said. "And he's been working on this thing for a long time. He also made a cure and a vaccine. I think… he also infected Singa in some way. I think I heard him say… He has two weeks before the symptoms start."

"Two weeks?" Switzerland repeated. "Is that the incubation period?"

Malaysia's frown deepened and he shrugged.

"Do you know what happened to France and Singapore?" Turkey asked.

"I think… Japan killed them," Malaysia said. "He said that he doesn't want them to tell anyone before…" Malaysia frowned, before he shook his head. "I'm sorry. I can't remember that part."

"It's fine," Switzerland said. "You did well. What you told us would be very helpful." He turned to the others. "Call Germany. He needs to know what Japan is planning. If this is indeed the beginning of an invasion, then other nations will be targeted as well. You as well, if I'm not mistaken?"

Malaysia looked over towards the others. Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, and even Vietnam. They all slowly nodded.

"Meanwhile, I think we need to do another brain scan," Switzerland said. "I don't like the idea of you having a seizure. I just want to make sure that there isn't damage, and that there isn't something that could cause a repeat."

Malaysia sighed, but nodded. In all honesty, he was growing very tired of tests, but he knew that they did it to better understand how to help him. And at least it wouldn't be as probing as the needles.

Speaking of…

"Can I take this out?" Malaysia asked.

"No," Switzerland snapped as soon as he realised Malaysia was speaking about the IV needle. "Since we can't get the equipment necessary to keep your liver and kidney functioning properly, we have to rely on this. Also, if you have any idea how many painkillers are needed for you, you wouldn't want us to remove it either."

Malaysia frowned. He was still in pain, but… now that Switzerland mentioned it, the pain seemed milder than the previous day. And it would explain why he's so fuzzy.

"I'm sorry," Indonesia said, "why is it hard to get the necessary equipment?"

"Because those machines are usually found in the ICU," Switzerland said. "First, getting that equipment might put humans' lives in danger. Second, it would cause too many questions if we have to transport those machines from the ICU. If Malaysia were human, then he would have been on life support by now. Our hope is just to keep him alive until his body starts healing the damage on its own. Which could take a while."

"At least we have the technology for this now," Turkey said. "Imagine if this happened a few hundred years ago."

"I've already had a nightmare about that, thank you."

…

"Scheiße!" Germany exclaimed. "Alright, thank you."

He hung up the phone and turned to his group.

"It's become even more important to find Japan," he said. "Apparently, Malaysia managed to overhear Japan's conversation with Singapore and France. Japan is planning an invasion, and he specifically engineered the pathogen for that."

"This is messed up," America said. "I mean… I-it has to be his boss! He wouldn't…"

"What happened to Singapore and France?" Russia asked.

"They don't know," Germany said. "But it seems as though Japan killed them and hid them somewhere."

"Why would Japan tell them? I mean, if this was America, I would understand the part of the bad guy explaining his plan. But why tell them?"

America glared at Russia for the remark, and some of the others backed away, lest the second Cold War would begin. But Germany paused. Russia had a point. Even though Japan enjoyed anime and manga, he wouldn't do something like that, unless…

"I think he's subtly implying that he has a cure," Germany said. "He might be planning to blackmail his targets with it. They've seen what happened with Malaysia, so they wouldn't be willing to go through that. But why…" Germany's eyes widened. "He's already begun with his invasion plans. That's why he told them."

They neared Japan's room, where he would most likely be. Germany broke out in a run, and when he reached the door, he immediately knew they were too late. The door was wide open, and Japan's possessions were gone.