Welcome to 'Round and Round', my third Hetalia fic! (I consider the 'Blood and Tears' series to be one story, XDD.)

There is a bit of a backstory to this one. One of my friends was fed-up with the lack of well-written OC stories, so she challenged me to write one. Normally, I am not a big fan of OCs, but I will write about one, as a gift to my friend.

Also, I read a story called 'World is Ours', by Atama Ga Kuru Teru, and I fell in love with the 'globe' concept.

So, yeah, this story will be a 'globe' fic. However, I like to think that this one will be a bit different than the others because it won't be humorous and lighthearted. It will be pretty dark. (Though there will be some humor in it; all stories need a little comic relief, XD.) Also, there won't be any pairings; characters will become close friends, but that is all. (Romance is my weakest genre.)

All right. The long author's note is over, so enjoy the prologue!

Round and Round

Prologue

An impromptu meeting was held at a (very expensive) hotel in England, and all the people attending were very confused. This was no ordinary business meeting, however. This was a meeting for the personifications of various nations. In this world, each country had one, and they took the form of a human being so their true identity would never be revealed.

But back to the meeting. It wasn't one of the scheduled ones that occurred every three months or so, nor was it an emergency meeting because of an international disaster. All of the nations present whispered confusedly to anyone sitting close enough, sharing their theories as to why they were assembled at the hotel.

"I bet it's so we can create a team of awesome superheroes!" the personification of America whispered excitedly to Japan, who was sitting next to him.

The Asian nation said nothing, his eyes narrowed in thought. He turned his head when he felt someone tugging on his sleeve.

"Do you think we did something wrong?" Latvia murmured, looking down. "I know I accidentally broke the vase at the last meeting, but—"

He was cut off by Austria (whose country hosted said meeting), who angrily snapped, "That was you? I had to pay for that!"

The short nation whimpered and moved his chair closer to Japan's. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Austria!"

The raven-haired man sighed and shook his head. "It's all right, I guess. Just try to be less clumsy next time."

"Yes, sir!"

Not wanting to interrupt the conversation—er, lecture—Japan waited until Austria was finished talking before he spoke. "Ah, I do not think we did anything wrong, Latvia-san, so don't worry yourself."

"Yes, sir," the younger boy muttered, though Japan could sense that his words did nothing to soothe the blond's anxious mind.

Does he ever think optimistically? The Japanese man knew the answer to that question, and narrowed his eyes. He became this way because of the Soviet Union. He didn't know what had been done to the small blond or his two companions during that time period, but he knew it had to have been very unpleasant.

He let his mind wander as time passed, thinking of cherry blossoms, his dog, and what needed to be done when he got home. He was snapped back into reality when he heard someone's fist pound on the table. He looked up to see England standing up, a page of notes in his hand.

"I have called you all here today to discuss something extremely important."

"So it was you!" France called, flipping his hair. "Of course you would make all of us drop what we were doing to listen to you blather on about some unimportant topic!"

"Shut it, Frog!" the Briton snapped, giving France a glare that made Finland, who was sitting next to him, grimace. He cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. "As I was saying, I discovered something that could be beneficial to us."

"Is it a vat of toxic waste that can give us superpowers?" America asked, a goofy smile on his face.

Japan resisted the urge to facepalm. To those who didn't know the energetic blond, they'd think he was joking. But to those who knew him well, he was being serious. Completely serious.

"Of course it isn't," scoffed Switzerland, rolling his eyes. "But we'll never know what it is if everyone keeps talking. So shut up!"

Intimidated by the neutral country's outburst, America nodded and sat back down.

"Thank you, Switzerland," England said, nodding. Addressing everyone else, he continued. "I have discovered that a portal to another dimension will open soon!"

"Is it the one with the naked cat people?" asked Belgium, looking interested. "I've been wanting to talk to Parallel-Spain for such a long time!"

Japan thought back to that…interesting…Christmas and shuddered. If what England was saying was true—and it probably was, since the green-eyed man was known to dabble in black magic—he didn't want a repeat of that incident.

"No," England responded. "It's not that dimension. It is another world that is just like ours, according to my research." He held up his notes. "The only difference is that they have no country personifications."

"Hold on, England," stated Germany, standing up. "How do you know that this is true? Pardon my French," France pouted at this statement, "but it sounds like utter bullshit."

"We've dealt with other worlds before, Germany, as Belgium pointed out. Does it still seem that unrealistic to you?"

The muscular nation sighed. "That's an excellent point. You can't blame me for being skeptical, though." Sitting down, he continued. "If this is real, where is this portal supposed to be, and why would we want to go through it?"

"Well," the Briton replied, "there's a reason why I chose this hotel. The portal is supposed to open right here in this meeting room in approximately three days. That is the reason I required for you to pack a suitcase before coming here. As for why we should go through it, isn't it obvious? We can learn much from other worlds. I for one would like to experience what life is like there."

After England concluded his speech, Lithuania raised his hand. "Umm, sorry if this offends you, but wouldn't it be illogical if everyone here went through the portal at once? It sounds like it could cause a lot of trouble."

"Thank you for bringing that up, actually," said England, causing the brunet to sink into his chair in relief. He held up an old-looking fedora.

"Hey!" snapped Romano, also known as the southern half of Italy. "That's mine; I've been looking for that! Why the hell did you steal it?"

Ignoring the angry Italian, England continued to speak. "Inside this hat are slips of paper, one for each of us. Four of the slips have a red dot on them. If you get one, you get to be the first set of people who go to the other world, with me. Does that seem fair?"

"Why do you automatically get to go?" France grumbled.

"Because I'm the one who made this discovery, Francey-Pants," the Briton gloated. He gave the hat to Hungary, who was the closest person to him. "Take a slip of paper, and pass the hat around the room. Once everyone gets one, give it back to Romano, since apparently, it belongs to him."

"Thanks, bastard," said Italian snapped sarcastically.

Hungary nodded, taking a slip from the hat and passing it to Poland, who sat next to her.

Once everyone grabbed one, England said, "Now, then. Whoever has a slip with a red dot on it, please stand up."

One by one, Japan, Iceland, Lithuania, and Germany got up.

"Ha, West!" cackled Prussia. "You got a period paper!"

A swift glare from Hungary shut him up.

"Okay. Now that we know who's going the first time, there is one more thing we have to discuss," said England, causing everyone to settle down. "We will be entering the parallel world via some sort of object. Whoever owns it is called the Keeper. According to our research, he or she will be the only person who can see us; to everyone else, we are invisible. One of us must bond with this person, and become their protector, for the portal to remain open for a period longer than a week."

"What?" Japan exclaimed quietly, surprised. I wasn't expecting that. "England-san, how does that work?"

"According to my notes, the bond is like a connection between the two people, like invisible strings pulling them together."

"So it's like l'amour?" asked France, being serious for once.

"No," explained the green-eyed man. "It's quite different than love. It's just a feeling of very close friendship. I really don't know how to explain it."

The French nation nodded, still looking very interested.

"Okay!" England clapped his hands. "Everyone can feel free to socialize or go back to your rooms. However, I must give some more instructions to the people coming with me to the other world, so you four have to stay."

After a minute, the room emptied, leaving Japan alone with England, Germany, Iceland, and Lithuania. He was familiar with the first two, but he didn't know much about the others. Maybe I can get to know them better, and learn some facts about their culture.

As England began to speak, a rare emotion raced through his body. Excitement.

And that's the end of the prologue! This will probably be the most humorous chapter in this story, XD.

This chapter references the 2010 Christmas Bloodbath comic. (Specifically Belgium's comment.)

I LOVE the Paint it, White English dub outtakes, so I included a reference to that. Virtual cookies (Kirkland brand, XD) go to anyone who gets this.

Hopefully, it wasn't too boring, and you want to read the next chapter. I know it was short, but it was only the prologue. The real chapters will be longer.

I really hope I kept everyone in character; I'm paranoid that every time I write a fanfic, characters are OOC.

If anything doesn't seem explained well-enough, don't worry. I will go more in-depth in later chapters.

As for the five nations who are going through the portal, I bet you weren't expecting Iceland and Lithuania, XDD. All of the fics I read seemed to revolve around the Big Eight (what I call the Allies and the Axis), so I decided to switch it up. Plus, everyone who knows me knows that I love the Baltics and the Nordics, so I had to include at least one of each group in the story. (Don't worry, Latvia and Estonia will definitely be making appearances, as well as the other Nordics.)

The next chapter will introduce my OC. I hope she's realistic, since I have been working on her for a long time.

Many thanks goes to Atama Ga Kuru Teru, who inspired me to write this. You're awesome~! I hope this does your amazing globe idea justice!

Note: 'brunet' is the male version of 'brunette'. It is not a typo.

I am using the manga coloring for the characters, meaning that Latvia will have pale blond hair and amethyst eyes instead of sandy-brown hair and pale blue eyes, Lithuania will have green eyes, etc.