HetaParadokkusu (Hetalian Paradox)

Chapter One: Going Into the Darkness

"To face your demons, you have to chase them. And to defeat them is to find your own weakness. Face your fears... for they are also facing you."

An Italian man stumbled his way through the hallway towards the meeting room, anxiously catching up, trying to beat time. He panted, gripping his papers and folders. The young man called out in pathetic desperation to anyone who was going to participate in the meeting, but when his memories were recalled, everyone had already sat down in the meeting room. The national representation of Northern Italy bounded towards the huge stairway.

"Ludwig! Kiku! Come on, guys, wait for me, ve~!"

He tripped going halfway up the stairs, but revived out of shock, making his way to his fellow countries. He almost pushed away other nations blocking his path and apologized sincerely with his head hung low.

"Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry, Mr. Vash!" Italy sprinted to the doors. The Swiss nation sighed in annoyance, holding his sister's hand for protection's sake. "I hope that you never miss anything important, Lilly."

The country of Liechtenstein nodded timidly and watched as Italy ran in a panic.

The Italian couldn't believe that the meeting was being held during his siesta... Ludwig would have woken him up with his booming, irritated voice, but the German nation himself didn't want to be late from his comrade's sake of sleeping in.

It's my fault! If Fratello hadn't flipped me out of bed, I wouldn't be here right now!

He sprinted in a nervous panic, but was able to finally catch his breath when he gripped the door handles of the meeting room. He pulled the doors apart, and seven other faces turned to Italy's arrival in disappointment and annoyance.

Feliciano held his breath, and laughed out loud, exclaiming with pride: "I'm here! Sorry, you guys, I had my siesta, and I didn't set my alarm! I totally forgot!"

Some nations rolled their eyes, some held their breath, and Ivan, the representation of Russia, smiled questionably.

"Good to see you, little Italy," Ivan greeted, "I thought you would have forgotten me." The aura that suddenly surrounded the Russian terrified the young Italian to the point where me almost wet his pants. "Ve~... Scary Ivan..." he whimpered, trying to find his seat.

Arthur Kirkland grunted, tapping on the desk. "You're late. Everyone got the message that the Eight Powers had a meeting at precisely one O'Clock. You missed your chance for any respect or redemption. Now sit down." The nation of England grunted, raising a bushy eyebrow.

"Yessir," Feliciano slurred, drooping in his seat. His friend Kiku, the representation of Japan, barely seemed to notice. This was a usual situation that only happened with Feliciano around. Ludwig, however, sat in fury of Feliciano's embarrassment.

"Damn it, Feli..." growled Ludwig, placing his hand on his temples, "You do this all the time."

The nation of France interrupted the German man, shaking his head. "Monsieur Germany, you are too harsh on him. He is a little late... does that matter? He is here." Francis winked at his little Italian brother, who smiled in return, silently thanking his friend for backup.

Alfred coughed, suddenly slamming his palms on the table. As the American nation, he had the audacity and obnoxious behavior to express himself through action. Feliciano yelped in shock as Yao's eyes widened. "Is that really necessary, aru?!"

America grinned back at the Chinese nation, revealing a set of white, polished teeth. "Yes it was! But let's get to the nitty gritty, shall we boys?!" The young American laughed in his own pleasure and pointed directly to the chalkboard behind him, showing various pictures of strange places and events. "Look here, bros! I got some information and stuff about today's meeting!"

Feliciano squinted. From what he saw from seat on the round table, the pictures were mostly portals of darkness and places that looked like something from a fantasy world. The trees were bare while it was still summer, and the leaves and flowers flourished during a snowstorm. The sky was black in the daytime and blindingly white during the night. He saw objects... no, citizens... walking with their heads down low, dragging their feet to walk. Some had chains, some had blood. Some were dead on the ground.

Feliciano had never witnessed anything so horrifying. Not since the Second World War. Even Ivan, one of the most mentally torn nations, shuttered at what he saw.

Feliciano whimpered unintentionally. then he turned in embarrassment.

Alfred dropped his jaw in negative surprise. "I didn't know that it would be this bad... the thing is... my boss sent these into me, sent from special spy forces in my country... but I didn't know what I'd be looking at would be this terrible..." He was trembling when he finished explaining.

Arthur's eyes widened. "What is this...?"

Yao cringed, looking away. "I don't know... I haven't seen something like this in a long time, aru..."

Francis gripped his forehead. "This is not anything from our world, then. Everything's been peaceful between all of us countries, despite our arguments from time to time."

"True," Ludwig grunted, "But where are these images from? Alfred, you dumkof, you've better not have created these false images to scare us into one of your advertisements..."

Alfred stood up, clearly insulted. "No! Of course not! These are live, dude! I just opened up the folders and set up the pictures! I had not idea what was on them!"

Arthur mused, still glaring at the pictures posted up on the chalkboard. "Well, tell me this... why the bloody hell are people suffering like this? This is scarring for me, at least... I just don't understand why these exist. Alfred..." the British man turned to the American, staring at his former colony with intensity, "... how did these get to you, if all these people are going through this unnecessary torture?"

Everyone was silent. The sounds of uneven breathing were the only thing heard in the large room. Alfred clenched his jaw.

"I got these from a few members on the Secret Service," he replied, "But when I called the members to thank them, I was left a message that the men were missing in action."

Not even the sound of breathing could be heard. Just the pattering of separate heartbeats.

"There's no way..." Yao shook, looking in the distance.

Ivan shook his head without saying a word.

The only country in the room who couldn't hold his emotions in was Ludwig, turning red while processing the information given to him. As a country of strong nationality and right-doing, he slammed his fists on the table, nearly breaking the wood base in half, creating a straight crack towards Alfred.

His chest rose and sunk as he gritted his teeth. "This is no excuse... that this sort of chaos would happen... to find a solution, WE NEED TO GET ON THIS CASE!"

Feliciano, by unconscious will, nodded his head repetitively. His mind was everywhere; he had no idea how to wrap his head around the problem given to him and his fellow nations.

Francis blinked, noticing a trend. "Wait... these portals that come up... they are right next to some landmarks of ours... Monsieur Japan, isn't that Mount Fuji next to that black hole?"

Kiku narrowed his eyes, taking a glance at the picture Francis was pointing at. "Yes... I believe it is. But this is not a complete conclusion, Francis-san. Why are they appearing, is the ultimate question-"

Alfred interrupted, blurting out his thoughts. "Yes! Why are they there?! I know it's not Tony causing this; I checked with the little guy earlier! He said he's not sure, but he analyzed what it could be, and that it's something that's totally evil!"

Arthur twitched. "It's not my magic, is it?!"

Ivan tried to smile sweetly. "Well, it's not me either. I'm usually the antagonist in all of the messes that America creates, so I'm not to blame."

Alfred shot the Russian a nasty glare, the look of vengeance in his bright blue eyes. Yao covered his head with his hands, under pressure. "Let's not get into the fighting! We need to pay attention to what is happening here! We're all going into panic about this!"

The tension in the room melted between the American and Russian nations, who turned from each other. Arthur broke the silence with a heavy breath.

"We need to figure this out, gentleman. Without anyone getting hurt or worse in the process. Some of the American spies are missing. That's a clue right there. These portals show up at random places and we have pictures of what seems to be a completely opposite world from ours; another dimension perhaps. But they are our people, OUR people, despite what country they are from. We are here to protect ourselves, true, but most importantly, THEM."

Francis nodded with a hopeful smile. "For once, I have nothing to say against you, Angleterre."

Alfred chuckled to lighten the mood. "Good then. I'll get to what's going on. We should all declare a country emergency for all of our people, and..." Alfred dropped his jaw, staring in Feliciano's area.

Soon everyone had turned their heads, and Italy opened his eyes, afraid of what they were witnessing. Something had Italy by the throat, a steel-like grip that was lifting him up from the ground. Feliciano's mind was in a cloud, trying to make of what was lifting him up, but a hand with a chloroform cloth covered his mouth immediately. He tried to realize what was slowly happening, but the effects from the liquid cloth had him dazed and dreary. His golden eyes rolled back, and his mind drifted into a complete blank, sedative state.

Ludwig blinked rapidly, rising in action from his seat. There, out of the blue, was one of the portals that he had seen in the multiple pictures Alfred had shown. He saw with his own eyes, another Italy coming out of the darkness, lifting up Italy with an unknown brutal strength. He couldn't do anything but watch in horror as he saw Italy pass out in this stranger's arms. A gun cocked in the other hand, raising it to the head of the unconscious Feliciano.

"Don't move, or I'll blast his brains out, bastards!"

The man threatening to take Feliciano's life was Feliciano himself.

. . .

Ludwig was attempting to visualize the image he was given. It was frightening, but vivid, nothing of an illusion, but harsh reality. The man who was holding Italy hostage from the portal was indeed Italy, but wore clothes that was part of the standard brown Italian war uniform. His torso was wrapped in a maroon tassel, and he wore a standard brown military cap. But what truly struck Ludwig was that this version of Italy had the brightest pair of purple irises that the German man had ever seen. This Italy's smile curved into something similar of pure mischief and evil.

"Good... stay back, bastards, or my friend here will pay for his stupidity."

The original Italy never moved. He slumped over in his doppleganger's arms. The captor Italy laughed menacingly.

"Well, this might be strange circumstance for you all," he grinned, "But before I take him with me, I might as well wage war. I am the infamous Veneziano Italy, or Luciano Vargas... the leader of the Eight Powers. We might as well call ourselves your inner demons; your opposites. We live and reign in lands that we control. Our people serve as our slaves. But we want more than what we have already. That's why I want to declare war on all of you."

The tension lit the room on emotional fire. Ludwig could barely hold himself.

"LET FELI GO-"

Kiku stared at Ludwig, beckoning him to cease any intent on attacking. The doppleganger Italy rose an eyebrow in amusement.

"There's more," Luciano smiled with cunning, "If you give in immediately, then blood will not be spilt, minds will not be ruined, and everything will run smoothly, well, for our benefit. If you do not comply, then we simply have no choice but to show you hell."

Arthur, shaking from shock, was the first one to raise his voice to his opposer. "You have no army... no one to compare to us and our strength. What the bloody hell makes your countries stronger than us?!"

Luciano rose his cheekbones. "Simple. We are your darkness. Your weakness. We know you better than you know yourselves. You'll all fall like cards in the wind, one after the other... if we decide to invade your world."

Ivan mustered up the audacity to smile in his intimidating aura. "Surely you have no idea how after every fight, every battle, every war... we come back standing stronger than ever. There are fears we conquer everyday. Starvation, disease, war, execution... if these seem like play to you, than we'll gladly go against your suggestion for giving up."

Alfred gripped his seat. "As a nation of pride, I'm not planning to give up! Show us everything you've got! We'll tackle everything you throw at us until we die trying!"

Luciano laughed bitterly. "That was a stupid remark. Stupid, young American. If only you could see your face... but I'll get to the bitter insults later. As for this little 'conversation', I understand that you all are not complying to my request of surrender?"

No nation spoke in fear of the trigger near the captive Italy's head. The Italian doppleganger chuckled. "Ah, the sound of silence. 'No, we want to surrender', should be the appropriate answer, but if you idiotic countries want to stand straight while walking to your graves, that's fine with me. I'll agree to this war, then. Prepare your funerals early. As one of your heroes once said, America... what was it...? Ah, yes. 'There is nothing to fear... but fear itself'."

Alfred stiffened as the evil Italy tilted his head and sighed, cocking the gun to his victim's head. "Then it's settled. War it is." He looked down at his original country, who sighed happily in his sleep, then grinned, exiting into the portal above. "Ah, Ludwig, isn't it? Isn't he cute while he's sleeping? I hope, for your pathetic sake, that he still hold his sanity, let alone his life when we're through with him." The echo of cackling dissolved as the black hole to the opposite Earth shrunk until nothing was seen.