Where Thou Art, That Is Home (Hetalia Fanfic, Part 2)

Chapter 161~!

WARNING: There's gonna be some graphic descriptions in the next few chapters as she fights. You might be disturbed, so you've been warned. Still, it's pretty cool, actually~

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"Ah!" I yelped as my back hit the far wall after taking a fairly strong blow to the stomach. It had been strong enough to send me flying, and I felt a breaking sensation somewhere in my rib cage. Did I crack a rib?

A groan of pain escaped my mouth as I struggled to my feet once more. Hungary was sneering uncharacteristically at me, her skillet in an offensive pose. Of course, my sword had been thrown away from me when she had gotten under my guard once again.

"Dammit...!" I muttered angrily, eyes glancing furtively at my fallen weapon. How was I going to get out of this one?

The Darkness had undergone countless transformations, taking on the faces and forms of the people I knew and cared about. What a cruel, underhanded way to get under my skin and weaken me.

Now all the training with the incense made sense. If I saw that this was not the real person, then I would have an easier time defeating it. However, the voice in the back of my mind had returned, telling me not to fight her because it was the real Hungary, and that I couldn't fight against her or kill her.

I really wanted to tell that voice to shut the hell up, now and forever, but I couldn't. The worst part was that it sounded like my own voice, or even my conscience, telling me what to do. After getting so used to listening to my own conscience, now I had to defy it or it would get me killed. What an ironic thing to do...

"How... How many people are you going to look like?" I choked out, putting an arm around my lower ribs to help keep them stable. It hurt, like a little fire in my chest that sent out sparks every few seconds.

Hungary giggled, a black flower perched in her brown hair. "Vhy vould I tell you zhat? Silly girl~ No, I'm just going to end zhis fight now, before zhings get too messy. I'm nice like zhat."

I sincerely doubted that.

"Stuff it," I groaned before lunging for the sword that rested some ten yards away on the white floor, its handle pointed away from me. Hungary went for me as well, but I managed to get there in time and turn around, my blade sticking straight up and waiting for her. She couldn't stop herself in time and ended up running into my sword, impaling herself in her stomach. Tears welled up in my eyes as she gave me a pleading look and then began to melt back into darkness and shadow. I had to scramble frantically to get out from under the falling goo before it splashed onto me.

I was afraid to find out what would happen if that occurred.

I panted harshly, bent over with my hands on my knees some twenty meters away from the reforming puddle. Whose face and body would it steal this time? I was anxious to see.

So, it was clear why this battle would be so hard to win now. I would get tired before this regenerating heart of darkness would, and at the rate we were going I would have a long way to go before it even started showing signs of weariness.

When I glanced up, Poland was smirking at me haughtily, a thin-bladed yet elegant sword in one hand. Ah, so it was going to be a sword match this time. It would be the first so far.

With heavy breathing and a bleeding shoulder, I launched into attack.

~~

"Bro? You okay?"

Matthew turned to look at Alfred, who had a deeply concerned expression for him. Matthew shrugged easily.

"It's nothing. Just... my wife might not ever come out of there alive. No big deal." His voice had hardened angrily close to the end, and he turned away from Alfred to glare at the wall that had separated him from his beloved.