Hetalia x Reader: We're Fading P.18

 
     The battle with Seventeen and Eighteen was tough and fierce. Countries against elemental bosses. They both went all out. Several of them had been fatally injured on both sides. The battle's fate was already decided, with the remaining people standing. 
 
     At your end, Kiku, Ivan, and Berwald had lost a life out of three. 
 
     Being a country doesn't mean eternal life within the game this time. As for you, you barely escaped death with your first life. You were the weakest out of the group, and you knew it. You weren't even conscious when Yao did the final blow on Seventeen.
 
      At the other end, Prussia had lost two of his lives in recklessness. France, along with England only lost one, while the others had their entire lives. 
 
     The two groups met up in the room you woke up in after Kiku's suggestion. 
 
     In that room, you surveyed everyone's injures and their current actions.
 
     Gilbert was in shock, and was looking at the floor as if he was reliving something all over again. Francis was poorly twirling a piece of his hair in his fingers in thought. Mathias had gotten his lower half of his arm burnt, in which Norway was tending to. Sweden had his same expression, but was clutching his side where the hit took away his first life. Kiku was cleaning his sword, cuts all over his pale face. 
 
     You could see Germany shivering every once in a while. He had dirt all over his clothes, and the upper part of his uniform was tied around his waist, and his hair was unkempt after the battle. England had blood running down his forehead that was still left unhealed, for that he was tending others first. 
 
     America's ahoge was slouching down slightly, and one of the frames for his glasses were broken. 
 
     "I almost died..." you could hear Prussia whisper to himself. That's right, you heard the story. He had lost two of his lives, and on his second one you knew that he began to fear that his life would be taken away. Gilbert was now on his last one. "I don't want to go through disappearance again."
 
     "That boss was really hard... And the experience of losing a heart..." America murmured. 
 
     You could see what they mean. Seeing blackness, and then finding the tunnel back to the real world was frightening. But, you knew that they would eventually give up on trying to find a way out. "Guys, I know everything is being hard right now, especially with the boss battles that just happened. But now, there's two more bosses that we don't have to fight anymore. 
 
     "And yes, fighting them was already tough. There's a way to beat the next boss, and the next."
 
     "How?!" England said a bit desperately. He wanted to protect others, he didn't want to see them leave. 
 
     You smirked. "It's easy! If you actually play video games, the only way to get stronger... Is to level up. And to level up, we need to fight monsters and the enemy."
 
     "I doubt that there are actual monsters in this damn facility," Ludwig growled. "Much or less that they even exist."
 
     "Germany," Alfred joined, this time his facial expression more passionate and confident. He shook his head towards the German. "This is a game. Of course there is monsters in here."
 
     "..."
 
     
     "[NAME]!" you heard Ludwig shout from behind you. You gave out a laugh, and stopped running. Turning around, you saw that Ludwig was struggling with a black ball with a large eye. He kept shooting at it, but all the bullets just sunk through and went out the other end. "I need some help!"
 
     "Watch where you're shooting Germany!" France said in annoyance. Ducking another bullet from Ludwig, Francis cut through another one-eyed monster that was heading straight for him. The monster split into two, and dissolved into little particles. "Honhon, I could get used to this!"
 
     "I hate video games!" Germany shouted, as he finally landed a bull's eye on the monster tailing him. 
 
     "If you actually memorize they're weak points by observing, you could actually gain more than a handful of experience points!" you advised. 
 
     Idiot, behind you. That idiot Norway isn't paying attention! your male 2p warned. 
 
     Snapping your head towards the direction, you saw a mutated four headed dog heading towards Norway, who already was battling a low level monster. 
 
     "Incendio!" you shouted, and then held out your hand where Lukas was. The country looked towards you in surprise, and then moved out of the way just as the flames passed him and hit the mutated dog behind him. You sighed in relief, and you saw Lukas nod in thanks. "I think that's enough leveling up, yeah?"
 
     Sweden, along with a few others, agreed. "Yeah," Prussia agreed. "I'm getting tired. You have any more of those potions?"
 
     "Do you have any money for them?" 
 
     "No..."
 
     "An enemy dropped these coins," you could hear Sweden say beside you. You looked up at him, and you saw a few golden coins in his hands. Surprisingly, he took your hand and dropped them in yours. His hands are big...

     "Thanks," you murmured in embarrassment. "I'll buy Health Potions..."
     
 
     "Alright China," Ludwig began. "Where is this 'Boss Sixteen'? Where is it located?" Yao took out his book that he found, and looked at the table of contents. He then flipped to the page, and began reading. 
 
     "Well, Sixteen is a male. And they specialize in...magic? Ugh, bullcrap! Who uses magic?" Yao exclaimed. England and Lukas shot a glare towards him, and Yao flinched. "A-and, they're located on the second floor, along with Fifteen and Fourteen. We don't have to fight them together though." 
 
     "Magic." You could see make a large smirk as he tugged on the bottom of his gloves so that the entire thing slid over his hand. "My...Specialty!"
 And then he laughed a bit, in which sounded more like an evil laugh.
 
     "Mine too," Lukas added. 
 
     "We shouldn't rush in," America advised. "We don't even know where the stairwell is, so..."     
 
     "There's a map in the book," China informed. He tugged on a page, and then the page began to open up to a larger piece of paper. The map was fairly old, for that it had the color or a treasure map. There was ink on the paper that made the layout of the first floor. Yao then pointed at the room that they were in. "We are here. And the stairs are all the way..." He dragged his finger to the inked stairway. "There."
 
     "It's not that far," you said in surprise. 
 
     "Awesome!" Prussia exclaimed, and punched his palm with his fist. "Let's go!"
 
     "Wait," Ludwig stopped him. "We have to go in prepared next time. You guys almost were burnt to crisp."
 
     "You guys almost froze to death," Gilbert shot back. 
 
     "It wasn't an insult."
 
     "Whatever West."
     
     You stood up away from the group, and noticed that there was a bathroom nearby. I could probably buy things from that toilet too. Walking towards it, you heard America laugh at you. "Going to the bathroom [Name]? You scared?"
 
     You son of a... 
 
     Shut up. 
 
     "Nyet, [Name] has some magical power that could summon supplies from the toilet!" Ivan said. 
 
     "Seriously?!" America exclaimed in surprise. "Does that mean that you could buy me more bullets?!"
 
     "No," you informed. "Only medical and herbal supplies only. Maybe more if we level up a bit." 
 
     "Why does this game require you to level up?!" Ludwig said in frustration. Even if he has a favor in strength, fighting does get old and makes you exhausted if there is no rest. 
 
     "Because if you want to win, we need to level up. If we do, we get more powers and such," you explained. Germany nodded in understanding, even if his face told you he didn't exactly agree on the terms. "I'm sorry, Ger. But that's the only way to beat the bosses."
 
     "But we can't win constantly," China piped up. "And we can't really rest either. And I'm tired of kicking and dodging..." You heard America sigh.
 
     "If you don't want to, I have an idea," America smirked. "If we have the location for Sixteen, we could always set a—"
 
     "An explosion~" Russia finished. Alfred pouted for not getting the chance to finish his own plan. He grumbled a bit, before nodding hesitantly. Ivan continued to speak. "We could cause a distraction, and then someone will plant it in the room they resonate in." 
 
     Then who's planting? you thought. You were no specialist on these things, but you knew that you weren't a risk taker for this.
 
     I want to.

     No, you thought quickly. Your male counterpart obviously had slight differences.
 
     "I'll do it."
 
     Your eyes widened. Looking up, you saw that Gilbert was standing up, looking towards all of you. His face showed confidence and cockiness, but you knew that he was secretly scared inside. Gilbert, you don't have to be brave to keep everyone's hopes up... you thought. Those words were the ones that you wanted to blurt out. He was taking a HUGE risk.
 
     He had one life left.
 
     "I refuse to let Prussia go," Japan objected. He stood up to, with his sheath by his side. "I volunteer. I have two lives left."
 
     "Nein! I will go!" Ludwig growled. "No one else is allowed to go! If anyone else goes, they'll risk loosing a life for planting the C4! I refuse, especially since my brother is volunteering!" Germany's hands turned into fists, and you saw that he wasn't shivering anymore. He gained his strength back. 
    
     "Ludwig!" Prussia shouted. He glared at his younger brother. Damn, you never knew that Gilbert was actually going to shout at his own younger brother. "I have nothing to lose," he said slowly. "I refuse to let you go. You have a life ahead of you, and I have lived my time. If someone has to go, it will be me."
 
     "You have a life too!" Germany yelled. "You have one life now! This is a video game! If you die, you won't be able to come back! It's not real life! You aren't coming back like the close calls after that war!"
 
     The brothers were practically face to face now. They both glared at each other in disapproval. "Look, Germany. Who has more experience? Both in video games and wars. Me. And I'm getting tired of standing around helplessly. I ran in carelessly during the previous battle and lost two lives in return. I won't be reckless next time... Plus I'm awesome and no one else can beat my awesome ego."
 
     "...Fine," Germany gave in. "I want someone to accompany you though."
 
     "I'll go with him," you spoke up. All eyes turned towards you. "I don't want to be looking at all your backs now. I want to actually help besides just money farming from you guys and buying supplies. No, I want to fight. I have magic, and you all trained me a bit. I think it's time for me to go out in the battlefield!" 
 
     Confidence. Nice, step one.

     "But [Name]," Norway jumped in. 
 
     "C'mon Norge!" Denmark interrupted. "Let her have some fun!" 
 
     "Hate to break it to you Dane, but this isn't fun and games. I'm surprised you didn't lose one of your lives."
 
     "You guys, you need to stop fighting!" you barged in. "This is what happened every time! There's something you all need to complain, and that's what breaks up the World Meeting and groups!"  
 
     The room turned quiet. "No more arguments. Please."
 
     "We'll try," France promised. "Anyways America, do you have the C4?"
 
     "Uh... I thought you guys would have one," the America grinned sheepishly. "But England could probably summon one. Or Norway."
 
     "Do you think I actually use my magic to summon those kind of weapons? Hell no!" England growled. 
 
     "Sorry, but I don't summon those kind of stuff either," Norway agreed. He held out his hand, and green swirly things began to swim around his hand. "Only magical things. And spells only." 
 
     "Ah, okay," Alfred muttered sadly. Even you couldn't summon one with your magic. And you could only buy medical items from the toilet, and you had too much of those in your bag already. "Actually, now that I think about it... I think there was a weapon store in one of the rooms. I bought a small pack of bullets there. But I ran out, and I bet you guys did too. I forgot where it is so... Oh well!"
 
     "Aiyah, same as always. Can't remember things properly..." Yao flipped through his book, and opened up the same map he did earlier. "It's just two doors down. A few people should get at least two of everything and come back with it. Then Prussia and [Name] should depart to the room."
 
 
     You shoved a pack of ammunition into your NERF gun that America managed to retrieve. He managed to grab your goggles as well, and that's about it. You were pretty sure that... Romano had your knife. Slipping on your goggles, you shrunk your gun into pocket size. 
 
     Prussia was swinging out his sword, and weighing it out in his hand. Once he was used to it, he nodded at you with a look of confidence. "Alright, we won't lose!" 
 
     You followed him out the room, and you heard Alfred scream good luck at the both of you. 
 
     Gilbert had his phone out, looking at a picture of the map at he took. He muttered to himself, devising a plan. He turned a right, and you were closely behind. "Don't have any weapons out. We don't want to cause any loud noise." His sword was clipped on his pants. 
 
     "I was wondering, who's going to cause the distraction?" you say. 
 
     The albino smirked at you. "Why, you of course."



     Prussia and you ran down the stairs in a rush. You almost tripped a few times, and you had to grab onto Gilbert's shoulder a few times. A few gun shots rang behind both of you, and you yelped slightly. Gilbert gave out a nervous laugh as he held tightly on the handle of his sword. "That was a nice fire you did back there! Damn, I think I could still hear their screaming."
 
     Yeah, that's right. With your magic, you lit up the C4 that Prussia hid in the room. It was a difficult plan, but it managed to work. 
 
     You had to knock on the door, and wait for Sixteen to come out the room. And then you had to rely on your reflexes, and dodge his grab and run away with him chasing you. During that time, Gilbert snuck into his room and planted the bomb inside the drawer desk. That was when he let out the signal, which was him screaming awesome as loud as he can. 
 
     That's when you ran back towards the room, made a u-turn in Sixteen's room, before quickly closing the door on him, and melting the door knob from the outside. There was a little crack under the door, in which you sent in flames from.
 
     Both you and Gilbert managed to cover a good distance before the entire room exploded. 
 
     "T-there's the room!" you heaved out with pants in between. Gilbert grabbed your wrist, and twisted the door knob. He slipped in along with you just as bullets hit the metal door. One almost scraped you, and you saw the bullet make a dent in the door.
 
     "You guys okay?" you heard Berwald ask. You jumped slightly, and turned to the left and saw that Sweden was standing by the wall. You nodded, and received one back.
 
     "So, did any of you guys loose a life?" England asked worriedly. 
 
     "Of course I—" Prussia began.
 
     "No not you. [Name]."
 
     "Uh, rude!"
 
     You laughed, and then frowned slightly. "No... I didn't lose a life."
 
     You didn't say anything, but you heard your 2p laughing in your mind.