Hetachains (Rewritten Hetalia Reader Insert)

Chapter Two *

Chapter Two

Darkness Has A Name

In a world aside from our own, there is only darkness. A neverending void which reaches to the edges of the universe itself. Life cannot survive there and the dead cannot rest. A soul which enters this realm cannot leave until their time arrives. A minute. A month. A decade could pass without a sign of escape as the soul floats in the darkness, latched to nothing but the nothingness all around it.

Some call it a purgatory, a punishment for souls who can never be alive or dead, but that cannot be farther from the truth. The darkness is merely a holding realm for souls. Those who have been forced into a coma, not dead but not alive either. Floating aimlessly while their body remains in a useless comatose state.

A figure sits in this realm, legs and arms crossed as he searches for solidity. Blond hair raises around him as if underwater and the flaps of his military uniform threaten to fly away. He floats. Aggravated but accepting. Brows furrowed together as he taps a finger on his elbow.

He would check the time but realms of darkness rarely have clocks. The man curses his forgetfulness. What kind of brit leaves the house without a faithful watch strapped to their wrist? The surrounding area gave no sign of change after all the time he's spent here, a few hours at the least, and he was growing tired of his tie hitting his nose.

When the green-eyed man had entered the realm, his fury was paired with a variety of creative curses against the void and any who live inside it. He soon realized the only living creature was yelling into emptiness and making quite the fool of himself. So he waited, rather begrudgingly but waited all the same.

The man was an educated one, well versed in the different realms and how to enter or exit them at will, which meant he should know how to exit the empty void around him, right?

And that is how we find the man in his current state. Anger building inside his veins with each failed attempt at escape and the remainder of his temper growing quite short.

He swatted his tie for the hundredth time as it tapped him gently on the nose. He bit his tongue to avoid snapping at his own necktie and losing more of his sanity.

Come on, Arthur. He mentally coached, You're the United bloody Kingdom. Not some old geezer who gets pent up about a simple necktie. The man sighed, allowing anger to fall out with his breath. There. That's better. Anger obviously wasn't the correct approach to leaving but maybe the opposite would work?

He uncrossed his legs and relaxed his arms. The limbs felt odd floating in the air without gravity to push them down. The man let out another breath and closed his eyes, focusing on keeping his breathing steady in the thin air around him.

Relax. Just like falling asleep. He reasoned. A spark of numb started in his fingers, slowly inching up his arms and across his torso. Breath in. Breath out. In. Out. Numbness crawled over his body as if his legs had disappeared from his body.

Just like falling asleep. He repeated, imagine he lay on his bed at home. Safe and warm. Awaiting unconsciousness as his body slowly fell asleep. Had the man's eyes been open, he would have realized his limbs hadn't simply felt like disappearing but were actually fading away into the darkness.

An Infinity War* quality dispersion trailed up the man's arms and legs, chipping away at his body until only his head remained. Cracks broke through his face, shattering through eyes and lips like a dropped mirror. A final clink fell upon deaf ears as the man's face broke apart. His consciousness floating away along with the broken pieces of his body.

~~~~

A sharp gasp cut through the air. Two emerald eyes shot open where black buttons rested moments before. The man took uneven breaths, shocked by the success of his plan. He knew the plan worked the moment his eyes opened.