"You've got to be kidding me…"
Adrian stood in one of the main aisles of a room of the Library, his expression one of utter disbelief and anger. Earlier, he'd first walked in to find it suitably normal, with everything seemingly and surprisingly in its place. Then there had been a cry of disbelief from one of the manga shelves, and then a thump followed with the fluttering sound of many rustling pages as what sounded like an avalanche of books had crashed down on someone.
Adrian had dashed across the aisles of the library, with the single thought that, if Aster had damaged any of his books, she was in for the Boot to the Head of her life. But he had stopped short as he processed the scene with rising irritation and surprise.
Several bookcases had tumbled over on each other, a huge stack of books, mostly manga, supporting them. Buried under all of it was a person, feet sticking out from the bottom of the pile and twitching painfully. There was a muffled, anguished cry for help.
"Aster, what the HELL were you doing?" the Librarian growled, approaching the pile. Though he had quite the urge to say it served her right, he couldn't just leave his Library like this. With his Librarian powers, he rose his hands momentarily and the books started to fly out of the pile one by one into the air (so that he could quickly look them over for damage), and slowly the person's body began to appear from the bottom up. As the books began flying out, Adrian began attending to the bookcases, righting one of them with a hard push. The girl's legs flailed up and down in panic though; apparently the girl was having trouble breathing down there, so Adrian picked up the pace and started to remove books from the other side. As it progressed, the Librarian made an odd face. Something seemed off. "Wait a minute, this isn't…"
"What happened…?" asked a voice above and beside him. Adrian glanced over his shoulder quickly before looking back at the pile, and then did a double take. Aster had peeked around a bookcase and was looking a little surprised, holding several Haruhi light novels in her arms.
"Wait, this isn't you…?" The Librarian looked down at the pile, where apparently the girl was trying to edge backwards out of the pile. "Then who…?" His expression was serious; if it was an intruder—
Aster gasped with happiness, seemingly able to recognize the person simply by seeing her shoes. "Oh, it's Chrys-chan!" The girl had finally hauled herself from under the pile of books. She was sniffling with tearful eyes and clutching her head.
"M-Manga isn't even really hardcover. It shouldn't be so hard…" mumbled the girl named Chrys feebly, looking up in the direction of Aster's voice. "H-Hello Aster…"
Adrian also looked up at the fae. "A friend of yours?" he asked. The tone of irritation in his voice hadn't disappeared; if anything, it was increasing. Why did everyone feel the need to make messes in the Library?
"Yes, definitely!" Aster dropped her novels on the ground pulled the girl up to her feet and into a tight hug, earning her a timid yelp from her friend and a glare from the Librarian. When the fae had grabbed her arm, the girl had released her head to reveal small, delicate-looking, white animal ears. She wiggled them tentatively, as though to check that they were safe and unharmed.
Adrian, upon seeing that, felt the urge to wiggle his ears as well. "Kitty ears…?" the Librarian thought aloud.
Aster looked a little wary suddenly as she looked over at Chrys, who was now sulking deeply. The girl's ears had been laid back, and she was growling from her throat sullenly. "They're dog ears. Excuse me for being a mutt with little pointy ears."
Aster whispered to Adrian, "Shh, Chrys-chan is very sensitive about her fluffy half-demon ears." She patted the girl beside her gently, and Chrys just sighed and softened her expression. The girl was too good-tempered to stay angry for long.
"You don't need to tell the world I'm a half demon every time you see me…" she mumbled nearly inaudibly under her breath.
"So." The Librarian raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, looking down a little crossly on both girls. Both recognized the tone. Aster immediately put on a look that somewhat resembled innocence but reminded Adrian more of whenever he accused her of not putting manga back or breaking the fourth wall. He looked over. Her friend beside her, however, had the near-teary expression of a little child who was afraid she was going to be punished. Her appearance, especially the seemingly magical anime-style sparkles that appeared out of nowhere around her, took Adrian aback a little.
"I'm really, really, really, really sorry about this!" apologized Chrys, referring to the books around them that were already shelving themselves. The girl bowed deeply with her hands folded in front of her and her long brown bangs covering her face messily as she straightened. She looked around at the still unrighted shelves and the piles of the books. "I-I can try and reshelf them if you want…" Her expression, however, looked quite as though she didn't enjoy the thought.
The Librarian sighed. "No, it's fine. I'll do it; I don't want everything ending up all out of order."
Chrys gave a little sigh of relief, only to squeak as a young girl with long silvery hair and wearing a plain white robe just suddenly plopped on her shoulders, wrapping her arms around Chrys's chokered neck and dangling quite comfortably against Chrys's will. "I see you've met the Librarian and gotten yourself into trouble already," commented the little girl with a grin and a tone much too old for her age.
Aster grinned at the girl's appearance, chiming, "And Mizuho-chan's here too!" She glomped Chrys and the tiny Mizuho together, and Chrys staggered to support the weight of all three. She couldn't hold it though, and the three of them went down in a pile. As Chrys popped out of the bottom of pile with a little moan, she looked around at Mizuho, pretending to be a little offended. "Well, you could've stopped all this, Mizuho. But no, you ENJOY watching me get into trouble…"
The little girl called Mizuho laughed, wiggling her small pointed ears and reminding herself to prank Aster later for the uncomfortable and scruffy-looking tumble. "Oh no, I'm not saving you from little things like this. That's reserved for when you get your arse in REAL trouble." She pushed the fae off them and stood, adding with more of a frown, "Aster, I don't need to be crushed every time you see me along with Chrys."
"Kyaa~," Aster grinned and began to collect her novels that she'd dropped to the floor. Chrys looked horrified as she realized Aster was picking up a book that had fallen page first and was sitting on the floor wide open with its binding bent back. The girl wasn't exactly the gentlest with her books either, but such was a little bit too much for her, and she immediately began berating the fae beside her. "Aster, you can't just drop books like that! That's horrible for them! You can ruin books like that!" she continued, but Aster had stopped paying attention by that point with another simple, long-winded, "Kyaaaaaa~."
Adrian was looking down at them with a weird expression, watching the little silver-haired newcomer as the three girls on the floor of his Library socialized. Then a light seemed to pop up in his head and he crossed his arms, smiling slightly. "Well, what do we have here? An honest-to-literacy sprite. And I thought the name was only reserved for the soda nowadays, since you guys are so secluded. " His grin spread a little as he added, "And, what do you know, you guys ARE as short in physical form as they say…"
Chrys laughed sheepishly as she realized what the Librarian was talking about, while her little friend Mizuho put her hands on her hips and stuck her tongue out. "Well, EXCUSE ME if most of my race shares a name with a brand of soda and prefers to take shape as little midgits. I could tower over you if I wanted." She smiled though, taking an immediate liking to him; anyone who could correctly identify a sprite (and not call her a pixie or fairy) and maintain all these books AND the Creators' trust had to be somewhat decent, in her opinion. "That someone knows a sprite when they see one makes me rather pleased; I usually get called an elf or gnome or something." The sprite shuddered at the last thought. Then she straightened politely, adding, "We should probably introduce ourselves." She gestured towards her chest delicately. "My name is Mizuho, if you haven't noticed, and you may call me as such."
"And I'm Chrys, as you've heard. The two of us are friends and partners." The girl patted her heart. "We're always connected."
The Librarian smiled slightly as he began righting another bookcase; he didn't have to use his Librarian powers for everything, after all. "Ah, you know, I can fix those at least for my klutzy friend here," commented the sprite as she stood up. "After all," she looked over at Chrys with a teasing smirk, "she'd probably wreck SOMETHING on accident if you let her pay you back somehow."
Adrian shrugged and waved to the bookshelves, giving her leave. The sprite grinned and raised both hands as they began to glow an eerie lavender. The bookshelves also began to glow ever so slightly, and they lifted themselves up slightly before turning and landing upright in the neat rows they had been in before Chrys had screwed them up.
As the glow faded, the sprite turned to the Librarian, as though asking his opinion. "Eh, it'll do," he replied simply. "Thank you." The books that had been hovering expectantly above them in the air began flying to their appropriate places on the shelf at the direction of the Librarian. "So what are you two in the Library for?" he asked while watching everything organize itself.
"To wreck the library?" Chrys attempted to reply with a sheepish smile.
Adrian just stared at her over his shoulder skeptically. "Something about that seems unlikely, since you're not running from me, the Librarian."
"That and she's quite obviously a horrible liar," Mizuho coughed softly with a near blank face. "We passed the test."
"Is that so?" Adrian looked back at the shelves as the last of the books reshelved themselves. He walked into the aisle in front of him, checking the shelves to make sure things were okay.
As he inspected the reorganizing of the shelves, Chrys heard the doors of the room open and pricked up her ears expectantly, looking excited. After a few moments, Tash strode up, an odd expression on her face as she ruffled through the three files she was holding. One was labeled "Chrys", another "Mizuho", and the third was unlabeled.
Aster looked up from the floor from her novel as Tash came in, and greeted, "Ah, hello Tash-san!" She guessed Tash's purpose here wasn't to see her, judging from the titles of the files.
"You've got our rookie mission?" grinned Chrys with those little anime sparklies again, scrambling up to her feet. She looked as excited as could be. Mizuho, however, furrowed her brow a little and crossed her arms, saying nothing.
Adrian popped out from behind the shelf. "Rookie mission for these two?" he asked the Society de facto Leader.
Tash nodded, though her expression seemed a bit grave. She was silent for a moment, rummaging momentarily in the two named files before looking down at the two girls. She did her best to smile reassuringly, though something in it didn't seem quite right. Chrys seemed completely oblivious to it, but Mizuho caught it and narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
Adrian caught it as well and gave the seasoned Society de facto leader an odd look. She, on the other hand, seemed to ignore it. "Come with me, you two. Adrian, you as well, if you don't mind?" She nodded in the direction of the door she'd entered through, and then disappeared down an aisle towards it.
Chrys skipped off happily with a called out, "See ya later, Aster!" as an afterthought. Adrian looked down at the sprite beside him for a moment before following after Tash and Chrys with a, "Well, c'mon then." Mizuho stared after the three of them thoughtfully for a while, then shook her head as though to clear it and lifted up into the air, seemingly supported by nothing as she flitted off after Adrian with her sprite powers.
As the sprite flitted past him, the Librarian suddenly now had a feeling about why Tash's expression had been so odd.
-
Tash was sitting at her desk, hands folded in front of her as she glanced from her kitty Librarian love in the corner of the rooms to the two girls sitting across from her. "So, congrats on passing the test, Chrys, Mizuho. I'm sorry I couldn't congratulate you properly on that earlier—"
"What happened?" asked Adrian, suddenly curious.
"Well you see…" Tash began, but the sprite with the cackling grin across from her butted in.
"You see, my little Chrysie here is quite easily flustered. She didn't know there was a written test to join this Society, and I didn't feel any particular need to warn her about such a possibility. So when she was handed the test, the only description for her reaction was," the sprite couldn't help but snicker, "pure, unadulterated panic."
The hanyou (half-demon) girl couldn't help but turn a bright pink and lay her ears back, pouting, "Mizuho, can't you ever give people a nice impression of me…?"
"You don't do a good job of giving people a good impression of yourself."
"Mizuho!" The sprite cackled and jumped off the chair as the girl grasped for her, making sure her silver hair and long gown were far enough out of reach of Chrys's hands. Tash grinned a little, since these two reminded her of herself and her housemates.
"So Chrys panicked rather spectacularly as she took her test," continued Mizuho, crossing her arms and continuing to narrate. "Apparently she did pretty well, since she's seemingly passed." This set Chrys a bit more at ease, and she leaned back in her chair. "However, the moment she handed in her paper…"
"…she passed out in a heap and scared the hell out of the other applicants," finished Tash with the grin still playing on her face. "I have to admit, that was quite a spectacle, complete with screaming spectators." Chrys turned bright pink again.
Adrian was trying to picture the terrified applicants crowding around as Tash and Harriet tried to restore order. He shrugged, commenting, "Well, on the bright side, if an applicant flips out at just seeing someone faint, there's no way they can handle fighting the Sues. I'm not surprised they didn't make it through."
"Anyways, the second part of your test is in order," declared Tash, opening the third and unlabeled folder. "Have you heard of the… Axis Powers Hetalia fandom?"
Mizuho's head whipped around to her friend. The sprite herself knew the fandom, but that was not the problem here. "Oh god, not the desu," she groaned, her only words.
Chrys was sparkling. And not just a little "Oh, of course I know that fandom!" sparkle. It was full, cover the room, mushy-lovey-dovey-anime-scene sparkling. "D-D-D-Did you say Hetalia…?" she cried, her voice squeaking with happiness and her ears pricked so high they probably could have come off her head.
Adrian was staring rather amazedly at the sudden mass of sparkly death that had suddenly invaded the room. Tash wasn't entirely surprised; she saw her own fangirlism in there, though the actual spontaneous sparklies were… interesting, at best. "I'm guessing from your reaction, you know it?"
"Know it? I'm addicted to it!" The girl wriggled in her seat, looking pleased as pumpkin pie.
"It's one of the few series where Chrys actually does some yaoi shipping," chuckled Mizuho beside her with a little smirk. Chrys pretended not to hear through her sparkles, though some of them seemingly went zooming at the sprite, who ducked and dodged them.
"Well anyways," continued Tash with a smaller, more squinty-eyed smile from the brightness of the sparkles, "that's where you'll be heading. There seems to be a Mary Sue taking over. The equipment for both of you is here." She rested her hand on a small pile of Society gadgets at the corner of her desk and then pushed it towards the two girls.
Chrys squeaked ecstatically, and Mizuho smiled demurely as she looked over what had been given to them. "Well Chrys," commented the sprite, "unless you want to get your sorry arse in even more trouble when the situation's tight, I suggest you keep all your gadgets on YOUR person rather than in MY hammerspace dimension."
The half-demon looked indignant, the sparkles suddenly blinking out of existence. "Hey, you said you were sharing!"
"Yes, but seeing as you can't usually seem to navigate it without getting lost like a sheep without a shepherd, you probably should stop leaving stuff in there."
The girl sighed acknowledgingly, beginning to shove gadgets in her pleated skirt's exceptionally deep (and magically enlarged) pockets, save for the Communicator. She looked at Mizuho questioningly, a worried expression on her face. Mizuho just sweeped everything but the Communicator into one sleeve of her robe, where the gadgets just seemed to disappear into nothing. She too seemed very reluctant to clamp the Communicator around her wrist though, muttering something about "Creators" and "monitoring". Instead, after a look of understanding with Chrys, the two stared long and hard at the devices in their hands. After a couple moments, the Communicators began to go translucent and then simply disappeared.
Adrian narrowed his eyes. "You know, you're supposed to just wear those. What did you do with them?"
Mizuho smiled secretively. "We assure you, both Communicators are on our persons. You just can't see them." Chrys held out her wrist, where the Communicator faded partially in for a moment before disappearing again. Adrian raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Shyly Chrys asked both of the Society Leaders, staring down at the floor as she lowered her wrist, "Is it too much to ask for an extra Copyright for each of us for this fandom, just in case?" She fiddled with her fingers and fidgeted a bit. "I mean, this fandom has a huge amount of characters and who knows what could happen."
Adrian pulled his two Copyrights from his trenchcoat pocket and held them out to the two girls with a grim smile. "Just one extra each then," he told them as they held out their hands to take the stickers. "Use them well."
Tash grinned. "Well then, good luck! We'll be watching you from here and judging your ability to adapt to the situation based on what you do."
Chrys and the sprite bowed simultaneously, heading out the door. The de Facto Leader looked over the Librarian in the corner, who had now stepped forwards and was rubbing his eyes with a disgruntled expression. "I see you didn't like the sparkles, huh?" chuckled Tash.
"How in the world does she do that? That can't be normal." His voice and expression became graver. "Is that why you called me in as well?"
"I think you could tell as well as I could. But judging from the essay responses of those two, Hati thinks that perhaps there's hope for them."
"This probably isn't a good idea."
"We'll see." She scratched his ears gently for a moment, earning a gentle purr from the Librarian. "Come, let's head to the computers and watch the show."
"You should take this a bit more seriously, you know…" But Adrian smiled as he opened the door for her and strode out after her.
-
Thetania Andromedia Trillieam Odette sat on her comfily cushioned, golden throne as she surveyed the world map. It was far, far outdated, as it still declared the names of the many countries in the world as countries. Now, however, they were all just state-like entities joined together under the one great country that was Thetania.
Thetania was a modest 5'6", with soft, near-waist-length blond hair with beautiful locks of blue interspersed in it. It always seemed to be fluttering beautifully despite the lack of wind, probably as a result of the pair of beautiful, ethereal, shimmering fairy wings of varying shades of pink, blue, and green on her back that seemingly few but England could see. Her skin was a golden tan from her time in the tropical sun, but her face's skin tone was as a porcelain goddess's visage. Despite the complete change of skin tone, it didn't take anything away from her appearance. The girl's face had been decorated with heavy layers of rouge and mystically blue eyeliner as well as a dark black lipstick. Even with all the peculiar makeup, her face still managed look light and delicate as a result of her sheer perfectness. She sighed, lazily scratching the pair of long red fox ears atop her head (which seemingly few but England could see either). She felt odd without her cowboy hat, or a hat in general, to top her outfit, but wearing one might clash with her kimono. Not that that would have detracted from her appearance one mite.
She wore a long white robe covered by a blood-red kimono with black cloth trimming and an ornate dragon circling across the material. It was all tied together by a beautiful, embroidered black obi around her waist that glittered in the light. The entire outfit had been one of many gifts of apology from dear, sweet Japan, who hadn't known that her country was so close to his and insisted he would have been there for all her hardships had he known what she'd been going through.
She fingered the two thick, translucent bangles on her right wrist, pushing back the sleeves of her robes to fiddle with them. They were one of the few remnants of her regular outfit still on her person, along with her bishie-wrangling magic whip/lasso (it had the ability to tie itself on its own and become a lasso) and scouter/cleared-eye monocle that both hung tucked into her obi, but she didn't mind; her regular clothes still sometimes reminded her of THAT girl. These clothes were a bit more… alienating from her. Thetania grinned wryly to herself at that thought.
The world had been in such turmoil before her arrival, with continual conflicts going on all over. It had seemed like the world had been on the brink of a third World War. But when she, a beautiful tropical island country floating in the East China Sea that all natural disasters seemed to just miss entirely, had appeared on the scene with crashing, sea-like eyes that could stop hearts, all the world powers and everyone else stared in awe at her stunning, awe-striking beauty and just stopped.
England, rather than try to declare Thetania a colony, had instead been inclined to try and ally with or, if possible, even marry himself to her. This temporarily caused conflicts with France, as he believed that Thetania should be his lover instead. They had been on the brink of war until Thetania had come into the battlefield, called a meeting between the three of them, and then kissed the both of them gently on the lips before asking them to simply stop and follow her.
They obliged.
America had grown to really love Thetania's food, which increased his metabolism while filling him quickly and efficiently. He ended up much thinner and fit because of her "training", which persuaded him to join her. Canada admired her ability to try and avoid conflicts (not to mention notice him), and he was able to become fast friends with Kumajirou, his polar bear, after Thetania taught them both each other's names. She also did her best to continually point him out to the others so that they wouldn't forget him.
China had been amazed by the food as well as the record keeping of the tiny island; they had records that far surpassed China's in age as well as detail. Japan had been swayed by her superior technology systems as well as magic that actually had scarily visible results, something that had also inspired admiration from England and various other countries. The can-do-all island country also helped Taiwan to stop worrying and Hong Kong to open up and voice his feelings a bit more. Korea even called her "Older Sister" with much adoration, and tried to proclaim that Thetania had been the real inventor of kimchi. She was, of course, humble and kind, adamantly replying that he really DID invent kimchi and insisting that he take the credit.
Veneziano had grown very attached to Thetania, simply because she was nice to him and a great chef who could make exceptional pasta of varying types. Romano, grudgingly and shyly, had been swayed as well by her charming smile and her admiration for the tomatoes he'd grown. She also praised Spain's tomatoes and his great optimism in times of hardship, and Spain in return praised her ability to get along with everyone and her exceptional growth. Austria had approved of her interest in music and her thriftiness. Hungary had also fallen for her excellent-ness as well after Thetania had convinced her of the love still bubbling deep within her and helped her to capture Austria's heart and remarry him.
Switzerland had been satisfied by Thetania's admiration of his ammunition (and quality dairy products) as well as his ability to stay neutral continually. Liechtenstein had warmed up to her after the little island country had helped her improve on her looks to impress Switzerland. She'd praised Turkey's ability to entertain as well as his delicious ashure, asking for the recipe and charming him with her polite admiration as she vowed to try and make some better than his (which, being what she was, she probably could if she wanted to). Her compliments to Greece's long history and great philosophy, as well as her adoration for the cats (who weren't so fond of her odd fox smell) held well in his mind.
The way Thetania automatically sensed Sweden was actually a nice person despite his appearance and acted with kindness towards Finland (as well as her receptiveness to the latter's salmiakki) instantly made her welcome with them. Sealand had grown very fond of her after she'd helped him to expand some when she suddenly and miraculously found a couple little islands near him and gave them as gifts. She used her influence to get him into world nation meetings as well.
Latvia was given boosts of confidence by Thetania's kind demeanor (and promises of protection). Estonia found her assistance in his IT work quite helpful and was very flattered when she asked that he help her reorganize her information network to be more efficient; even a nation like hers could use ideas from others to improve it even more. The girl was quite kind to Lithuania and, after he'd joined her, had allowed him to visit with America and Poland whenever he wished.
That, as well as her friendliness to Poland, got her in the cross-dressing country's good will. She swayed Belarus by giving her tips on how to woo Russia slowly and kindly (as well as to not disturb him completely), and helped Ukraine to be more careful (as well as to find more supportive chest wear to combat her chest pains). Her influence on Russia had been most astounding; she'd managed to heal his cracked mindset, taught him to be genuinely kinder, and he'd even begun to insinuate that the countries would be united under, not Mother Russia, but rather Mother Thetania.
She'd done much more while unifying all the various types of governments under her power, but the author of this fic had begun to laugh too hard at this Sue-ish section, so she stopped describing it (to Thetania's ire).
The only country that Thetania hadn't managed to sway at all through her charms was Germany, which greatly annoyed her. Her brow wrinkled as she thought poutily about how the stern country had somehow resisted all her kind advances. The only reason he listened to her right now was because of the immense peer pressure from Veneziano and various other countries.
She sighed, leaning back on her comfortable, cushiony chair as she observed the outdated map in front of her. Life was good for now, but considering she had her author's attention it meant that someone, most likely THAT annoying girl, would be coming after her. Well, she thought to herself with the smallest of smirks, might as well enjoy myself while I still can.
The girl pulled a long rope by her chair, and a calm looking Prussia came walking in. She smiled at him; he'd gladly accepted a position serving her as a disciplinarian for those who disrespected her authority now, since such a position gave him much power, but he wasn't fond of having to be so formal and polite. Thetania knew that he, and perhaps a couple others, would probably plan to try and overthrow her, but if she lasted in the fandom then she could just charm him into submission with the many tricks under her sleeve.
"Has Japan returned from his duties yet?" she asked him softly, her delicate voice wafting through the room like music.
"No m'lady, he's still on his way."
"Very well. Have some of the others bring in my guzheng please. I feel the urge to entertain myself with some improv music."
"Yes m'lady." Prussia left the room, and the Sue sighed, folded her arms on the desk, and rested her head atop her arms with a gentle smile still lingering on her face.
"They all work for me like ambassadors, but it's still so difficult to get them all at beck and call…"
-
"Oof!" A disgruntled Chrys was thrown into the air and landed arms and face first in the grasses, mosses, and dirt of a large bamboo forest. "Ugh…"
Mizuho flittered gently out of the hole that had appeared out of nowhere and grinned impishly at the half-demon below her, closing it after her with a wave of her hand. "You really need to learn to land feet first."
"I always do if you hold on to me!" retorted the irate Chrys, who had gotten to her feet and was brushing dirt off her front. "Augh, this is a brand new white T-shirt. Why did it have to get dirt-streaked already? We haven't even found the Sue…"
"That's what you get for wearing new clothes on a mission."
Chrys just sighed in agreement. "So where are we?"
"Well, judging from the bamboo ALL AROUND US, I'd suspect perhaps somewhere in East Asia, probably China.
"Ooh! Maybe we can find the character China aru!"
Mizuho shot her a glare, and Chrys laughed sheepishly. "S-Sorry, couldn't help it. His speech tic is cute."
"Anyways," mentioned the sprite, closing her eyes and furrowing her brow as though she was processing something, "Let's follow this path and see if we can find anyone to help us find the Sue." She opened her eyes and waved her sleeve at the small path they'd landed in that seemed to wind through the forest.
Chrys nodded, letting the sprite lead the way after commenting in almost a whisper, "You should probably be on the ground though, unless you want people to be terrified of you. And maybe change the hair color too." The girl closed her eyes for a moment, and her mutt ears suddenly disappeared and were replaced by what seemed like human ears. She couldn't help but scratch these human ears though; the change and slight loss of hearing always annoyed her.
Mizuho growled a little and touched the ground gingerly with her little shoes as she landed on tiptoe. "I'm not changing my hair color unless necessary. Besides, some of the characters have silver hair, so it's fine."
The half-demon shrugged. Then the two of them began to walk.
It seemed like quite a while before they finally found someone on the path. And as luck would have it, it was just who Chrys had hoped to see.
"CHINA!" Within seconds, the girl had tackleglomped the poor young man to the ground with a squee.
"Ch-Chrys, get a hold of yourself! You're under examination!" cried the sprite, looking horrified.
"O-Oh! Oh, you're right…" She sounded a bit dejected, but got off China and offered an embarrassed hand to help him up.
"What in the world was that for aru?" He took her hand suspiciously and let go immediately after she helped him up.
"I-I'm sorry, it was an instinctive reaction." She found herself staring at him in awe; he was slightly taller than her, and despite his probable irritation at her she still felt the urge to just hug him around the middle for seeming so cute.
China gave her an odd look as he brushed himself off with his hands and checked that nothing had fallen out of his bag. "If you say so aru." He began to turn away, and Chrys panicked.
"Ah! U-Um, wait!" He stopped and turned his face back to her, looking visibly exasperated. "C-Could I ask you a question?"
"You just did aru." Mizuho covered her face at this, sighing. This mission might take a while if things continued like this.
"I-I mean another one!" insisted Chrys, a little desu sparkle appearing beside her as she pleaded to him with her eyes.
He sighed, relenting. You couldn't resist puppy eyes like that. "Well, what is it aru?"
"H-Have you seen a really perfect girl around here? I-I mean…" She struggled to come up with the proper words. "Someone really pretty, with exceptional talent who probably just recently appeared and wowed everyone…?"
China thought for a moment, "Hmmm…" Then he smiled a bit dreamily, and the two girls knew they had an answer as they exchanged a horrified glance. "Yeah, I just remembered aru. There's a little island country to the east, though not as far as Japan, that just recently revealed herself to the world aru. Her name's Thetania, and she's just so amazing aru… Pretty much everyone has submitted to her authority and is now governed as a peaceful state under her control…" He continued on to begin describing all the good things about the island country, ending each and every single one of his sentences with "aru", though Chrys and Mizuho had stopped listening.
Mizuho looked almost sick. She lunged forward and grabbed his pant leg angrily, a Copyright sticker that she had just pulled out of her hammerspace in her free hand. "No!" Chrys grabbed the sprite's hand.
"Why? This is just disgusting!" China looked confused, staring blankly at the two of them.
Chrys gave Mizuho a stern look as thoughts travelled from one to the other, and the sprite's features relaxed in defeat as she realized what the girl meant. Vanishing the sticker back into the hammerspace and letting go of his pant leg, she sighed, and then looked up irately at the confused China and verbally conveying Chrys's logic. "Look, we need you to take us to her ASAP. We need to talk to her."
"Well, I guess I might be able to aru," China grinned, placing his hands on his hips. "I've heard getting in to meet her can be difficult, but I'm sure she'd welcome people who wanted to show their appreciation for her greatness aru."
Mizuho gagged.
Chrys smiled, humoring him sadly. Yet she was a little distracted as well; the name "Thetania" sounded familiar…
"Well, lead the way," grumbled Mizuho as she grabbed the pondering Chrys by the hand to catch her attention.
-
After they'd gotten out of the forest, China (the character) had called the boss of the China state and had had a small helicopter sent for the three of them. Chrys was smiling and enjoying the short ride, while Mizuho was tapping her finger impatiently on the armrest of the seat beside her partner in the back. China yelled from the front beside the pilot (who just happened to be Shinatty-chan), "We're almost at the castle, aru."
"Castle?"
The Asian nation pointed at the window, and the two of them leaned to see a huge castle of very Western-style design, with stone turrets and several stories, along with a huge, very Asian-styled, near labyrinth-like courtyard.
"Wow, this Sue's got it good…" grumbled Mizuho, inaudible to everyone else over the roar of the engine.
Mizuho, we're going to have to at least pretend to like the Sue, came the thought from Chrys in Mizuho's mind.
Yeah, well, I'll pretend, but I won't like it.
They landed on a helipad in the courtyard, and China helped both girls out of the helicopter. Shinatty-chan hopped out of the pilot's seat and then took of his costume head as he sat down on the stepping edge of the helicopter. Chrys and Mizuho shuddered as they saw the silly-looking old man inside the kitty suit. "I'll never get used to that," mumbled Chrys.
As they began walking through the courtyard, several guards came up to China to ask about the two guests he had behind him, and he simply stated that they were travelers who wanted to pay their respects to the great Thetania. This seemed reasonable enough to the guards, though privately the two girls wished it could have seemed more suspicious. It seemed almost too easy getting in, they thought as the huge doors of the castle slowly swung open.
There was a little desk in the corner of the main hall that was covered in papers and had two people sitting at it. One had fallen asleep on the pile of papers, while the other was angrily trying to wake him up.
"Oi, Italy! Wake up and focus! Don't you have a job to do?" came the disgruntled voice of Germany as he shook Veneziano beside him.
"Eh…?" The laid-back looking young man lifted his head sleepily. "Oh, Germany! Since when have you been here?"
"You idiot, you just fell asleep in the middle of the paperwork! I've been here this whole time!" Germany, as the three of them approached the desk, was sounding very irate.
"Beh…"
Chrys worriedly glanced down at the sprite beside her as they finally approached the desk. In truth, she wanted to fangirlishly glomp both the characters in front of her, but in person Germany was taller than her, stronger than her, and intimidated her quite a bit. Mizuho gave her the smallest of smiles, but it reassured the half-demon quite a bit.
"Welcome to the great Castle Andromedia, capital of Thetania and the home of our great Lady Thetania," grumbled Germany in quite the monotone voice that clearly showed an interest in getting away and buying some wurst. Something about the way he said it told the two Rookie Agents that he'd probably said this many times, and just as displeasedly. "How can we help you?"
"You know just what we need aru," replied China. "I have two guests here, as you can see aru. Since you work the front desk, you know that we need an extra escort if we have guests, just in case aru."
Germany sighed, leaning on the desk with one arm and rummaging in one of the drawers while Veneziano watched sleepily. "I'll be the escort then. Anything to get away from this hideously boring desk job."
"What about Veneziano?" Chrys piped up suddenly, immediately regretting her little outburst and blushing a little.
Germany gave her an odd look. "Well, this idiot will probably just fall asleep again for an impossibly long time if I just leave him here, so," he linked his arms under Veneziano's and pulled him startlingly to his feet, "you're coming with us," he growled.
Veneziano groaned and whimpered in protest, struggling around, but Germany refused to let go until the young man gave up and assented. "Well then, this way," the Italian told them rather dejectedly, motioning towards a huge set of double doors.
"Oh cheer up," sighed Germany rather dully as they walked through the doors and began to lead the two Rookies through the castle. "Who knows, she might spoil you like she usually does and cook you some pasta or something."
Germany took the lead, with Chrys, Mizuho, and China following and letting Veneziano take the end. Chrys did her best to walk as close behind Germany as she could without kicking him in the heels or tripping over his or her own feet. She began to whisper up to him, taking a chance but leaving a hand in her pocket to hold onto a Copyright in case it became necessary. "You can tell something's wrong with this Thetania, can't you?"
"What…?"
"Well? Doesn't she seem, I don't know, unnatural?"
"I have to admit, yes, she does."
"Well, you'll probably find out soon sort'f why. I hope you'll help when the time comes."
"What do you mean?" But Chrys had already fallen silent and so left Germany to wonder what was to happen.
They passed many different rooms, all ornately decorated, some with good taste and some with decidedly less. As they walked, Chrys thought she saw Austria at a piano and knew she heard a Chopin piece that she'd played before. Mizuho thought she saw France and England pass by with a girl with twin pigtails, probably Seychelles. Chrys nervously grasped for Mizuho's hand behind her, and when she found it a flat object passed between their hands discreetly; Mizuho could probably put the Copyright to more use than Chrys could. They eventually arrived at another set of double doors, the largest and most ornate they'd seen yet, in front of which stood a young man with short, silvery hair in a deep blue uniform. He was singing something to himself about being awesome, and a little chick peeped over his head, pun intended. The man smirked slightly at their approach.
"What business have you with the great Lady Thetania?"
"We are mere travelers who have heard of her great exploits," replied Mizuho loudly, curtseying deeply with her robe and signaling Chrys to do the same with her skirt. Inside the sprite's mind though, her only thought was, Oh how I want to wipe the smirk off this idiot's face, which earned her a mental reprimand from her half-demon partner beside her.
"I was planning to come back and give my report to m'lady when these two crossed paths with me and begged me to take them to see her aru," continued China. Though it was impossible for Prussia to see because of the distance and the covering of her bangs, Mizuho was twitching. Chrys had peeked over incredulously; it didn't seem right for China to speak like this and still have that cute speech tic…
"And you know the policy that… Lady Thetania has set up." Germany seemed to have difficulty calling her as such, almost as though the idea made him feel rather repulsed. "So Italy and I have come to escort them." Veneziano waved merrily from behind the line.
Prussia walked forward and studied at the two girls suspiciously, then addressed Germany with a dark look, though the little chick on his head made it seem, at least to Chrys, that his manner didn't seem quite as intimidating. "I'd advise you to watch the tone you use with our Lady's name, West. Who knows how she could take it." Then he walked to the wall and pulled a long lever to open the huge double doors. As they opened, the slightest tinkle of music wafted out.
Walking forward into the room, Prussia announced, "M'lady, China has arrived as you asked, along with a few other guests."
"Ah, thank you Prussia. Bring them in then," replied the soft, fluttery voice from within. As the doors opened wider, the desk at the end of the long hall became more visible.
Chrys trembled with expectation. Mizuho's face was blank as a wiped slate.
As they began walking in, the two girls in the middle of the line with Prussia and Germany in front as well as China and Veneziano in back, the music got louder. As they neared the set of couches and cozy-looking desk at the end of the hall, they began distinguishing the two people already inside.
One was the great Lady Thetania, who sat on one end of a loveseat in front of a Chinese guzheng that fell silent as the girl lifted her hands from the strings and leaned onto the man next to her affectionately. The second, the man who she leaned on, was Japan, who was very red with shy embarrassment but was not objecting in any way because of Thetania's Sue-ish power. The Sue smirked as the six of them approached and turned her face towards Japan, fluttering her long eyelashes and bringing a hand to his cheek. He couldn't help but stare down in awe, and she took the chance to lean up to hold him in a long, deep kiss.
Mizuho grimaced as her eyes focused on the girl's face. Even through the thick layer of makeup, it was much too close to Chrys's to be natural. "Uh-oh," was all she got out before Chrys blew up.
"TATO!" Chrys screamed in horror and anger, her voice cracking and making her sound rather banshee-like as she pointed an accusing finger at the blonde girl leaning upon Japan. Unintentionally, there was a small pop and the little white husky ears replaced the human ear disguise, and the girl ruined her angry exclamation by squeaking and flushing, one hand instinctively coming up as though to hide them.
"Ara, so you've finally come, Chrysie dear," cooed Thetania, not the least bit fazed though she laid her delicate furry fox ears back to soften the sound for them. "Well, I'm doing my job, you know. Exactly what my Creator made me for; to 'steal your men'."
Chrys's eyes were now wide, her face was flushed, and her teeth were gritted in withheld anger. Tato was one of the few people who could make Chrys fly into a rage, usually because of various reasons from their past encounters that Chrys hated to be reminded of. The girl was usually unfortunate enough to come upon the Sue just as she seduced one of the girl's favorite characters, fandom or original, in front of her very eyes. She knew the Sue delighted in this ability to infuriate her and the girl didn't want to give Tato this pleasure, but the half-demon couldn't help her own anger.
"Well, regardless of whether you're doing your job, on behalf of OUR Creator and the Anti-Cliché and Mary-Sue Elimination Society we're placing you under arrest," Mizuho replied dryly, stepping in front of Chrys to prevent the girl from running forward and doing anything stupid.
These words brought a rather negative reaction from Prussia, who whirled around and immediately blocked their path to the Sue. He grabbed Mizuho by the collar of her robe and hoisted her up to his eye level. "What's this nonsense?" he demanded with a snarl, crimson eyes sparking dangerously.
Mizuho's blank expression turned icily cold as her silver eyes narrowed. She made no movement with her body. "Let go," were her only words. Several seconds paused in a shaky stare-down with no change, then she glowed a faint mauve, and the glow spread down Prussia's arm. Suddenly he let go and was thrown several yards away to the side, narrowly missing Germany. Prussia's baby chick flew through the air as well, but landed harmlessly on top of Prussia's chest, peeping disgruntledly. Chrys looked shocked and reproving at the sprite, but was relieved to know that the chick (oh yeah, and Prussia too) was not hurt, only stunned and confused as to what had just happened. Though nothing was supporting her, the sprite continued to float, glow, and flutter in the air, earning gawks from all the countries save Thetania. China stared from the sprite beside him to the crumpled Prussia across the room; he had nearly reacted in a similar reaction to Prussia and was now slightly glad he hadn't. He looked back at the sprite beside him when he suddenly felt a tight grip and the slap of a flat object on the edge of his shoulder. A peculiar feeling washed over him, and he blanked out. Wait, what just happened aru? What's going on?
"Uh oh, seems like Mizu's getting iraaaate~" taunted Thetania in a sing-song voice, not noticing what had just happened and pulling gently away from a reluctant Japan. "So be it." She stood delicately, smoothing out her kimono and loosening the obi ever so slightly before standing up. Stepping around the guzheng, she cooed to the man behind her, "I'll be back in a bit, Japan darling." He flushed and stared down at his knees, sitting as straight as ever. Chrys's teeth were bared; her Japan fangirlism was making the scene in front of her all the more offensive, which was the Sue's intention.
"You're obviously not coming quietly, so I guess we'll have to do this the hard way," commented Mizuho softly, her voice almost bland with subtle control. She flitted towards her half-demon partner. "Or at least, Chrys will do most of it," she sighed suddenly. "Stupid Creators…" she muttered under her breath, and Chrys understood grimly that it was mostly up to her now.
"I don't want any of the other countries helping, is that clear? This is my fight." There was an odd echo of her voice in the hall; those words had become a proclamation that was now subconsciously known in the minds of all those under her control. Thetania reached delicately to her waist and pulled out the surprisingly unadorned whip at her waist. "Shall we?"
"Let's." Chrys, with bared teeth and a snarl, dashed towards the Sue with a tiny bit of assistance from a burst of her demon energy, her palms emanating a bright, angry red-violet as she outstretched one in a soft-palm thrust. The Sue smirked. She knew this was all just Chrys's tough-girl act; the girl was actually a very flawed fighter, especially when angered.
Thetania did a side step at the last second with a small flap of her wings to boost the movement, and Chrys made every effort not to run straight into the guzheng behind the Sue. She failed partially; though she hit the guzheng, she managed to slow herself enough to not topple the instrument. Several of the strings snapped and whipped Chrys painfully, and the girl cried out. Then Tato's whip found its way around her wrist and pulled her back, flinging her backwards onto the hard tiled floor. "Come Chrys, I know you can do better than this."
Mizuho's face looked carved in stone as she stood there, fists clenched. The heavy whips of the strings made her wince ever so slightly, though it was from the physical connection and not the whimper of pain. She suddenly shivered and looked behind her. Germany looked completely lost, and Veneziano was just completely flipping out and flailing his arms around, the epitome of panic. Germany heard quick footsteps; he turned to see Prussia rushing past him at the girl on the instrument. Without a second thought, Germany reached out and grabbed the brother country's uniform, pulling him close and wrestling him into a full-Nelson.
"What the hell are you doing?" the silver-haired country hissed, the chick on his head rolling and bouncing indignantly to keep on top and not fall off. "You're in the way!" Germany was silent in response; he didn't quite know what he was doing. "Wah, Germany, are you crazy?" Veneziano was at his side, half-reasoning and half-panicking even more. "You're holding one of Lady Thetania's Head Dissuh… um… Disci… uh…what's the word again?"
"Disciplinarians!" If Germany had a free hand, he would have facepalmed.
"Right, that!"
"I know who I'm holding, you idiot!"
"B-But-!"
"Let go of me, you bastard!" screamed Prussia, interrupting the fight and this argument that would probably get nowhere, as well as the author's attempt to keep the rating down. After a short pause of everyone just staring at each other, they all went back to wrestling and bickering.
Tato and Chrys had been locked in a face-off in which Chrys spent most of the time dodging, trying to find an opening, and then sometimes failing and being thrown away by the Sue-ish whip that had the ability to stretch and compress at the Sue's will. However, Prussia's scream brought them out of the fight for a moment to realize what was going on around them. Chrys, however, reacted instinctively and took the blessed opportunity handed right to her. The girl rushed at the Sue while she was off-guard and thrusted with a more lavender sort of glow in her hands; Tato was sent flying into the couch with a gasp, a purple stream fading from her midsection, where she'd been hit. Unfortunately for Chrys, Tato crashed straight into Japan as well, and the two and the couch hit the back wall with a resounding crunch. The half-demon squeaked in sudden regret, "Japan! Ohno ohno ohno ohno…!"
Japan pushed himself up, gasping as he leaned over the soft form pressed against him, "Are you alright, Lady Thetania?" (Chrys could have screamed.)
"No worries, dear Japan. I'm quite alright." Tato brushed off the rubble of the wall and the pieces of the couch as she sat up, seemingly unhindered. Chrys growled angrily; those two were too close for (her) comfort. She could feel her heart clenching as her beloved Japan smiled such an adorable tiny smile at the Sue beside him.
Tato seemingly just floated back to her feet with her magical wings, helping Japan up without blinking an eye. Chrys was already dashing towards her, so the Sue let her whip flail out to the girl's feet. However, Chrys was focused and managed to dodge it as it approached, swiping with blazing violet claws. Tato rolled to the side and brought her arm up sharply, which led the whip to lash Chrys on the back. The girl screamed and crashed on top of Japan, whose only thought was that, somehow, he had ended up on the floor AGAIN with a girl squishing him into rubble.
"I-I-I'm sorry!" sobbed Chrys as she pushed herself up off of Japan. Japan wasn't quite sure to say, so he simply helped her off of him gently and then got up with a slightly reddened face and averted eyes. Chrys looked like, if she disappeared into the floor and faded from existence for all eternity to escape from her embarrassment, she'd be okay with that. Tato, by this point, had backed away and was smirking ever so slightly as she fluttered just millimeters in the air with the help of her wings. She was feeling all the more confident, since it was more than likely from Chrys's show of power that the half-demon wouldn't be able to shape up enough to beat her in time to save herself. The Sue cracked her whip with a grin. "You disappoint me, dear Chrys. I thought you'd present more of a challenge, but I guess you've gotten too used to living all cuddly cozy and not fighting: being a good little Peacekeeper, right?"
Chrys growled at this comment, rubbing her back sorely. It was true that she had not been fighting and she'd been keeping in the Creators' good favor, but staying a good little Peacekeeper often entailed remaining passive as atrocities happened right in front of her. Because of this, Chrys often disobeyed the Creators and didn't like being mocked like this; she could never decide if she wanted to be a good Peacekeeper and please the Creators or disobey and follow her own heart in troubling situations.
Tato smiled, and opened her mouth to psychologically mess with Chrys more when suddenly there was a huge shattering sound and rain of glass from the sky. Both Sue and Chrys screamed; Chrys instinctively put up a thin barrier of magic to catch the glass, and the Sue made a couple hops to get several yards away to avoid it. There was a bold laugh as something large landed in the center of the room and caused a very out of tune twang. As everyone looked up, they saw a lone figure standing in the bright spotlight of the broken window as it shined down on him and the guzheng he had crushed in his landing. His lopsided grin sparkled, and he showed everyone a thumbs-up. "Sorry I'm late everyone! You know, the hero always has to show up fashionably late!"
"…America, you shattered my window." Thetania was smiling, but somehow her demeanor made the words seem much more angry.
"Sorry, I can pay for that later!" he laughed, putting his hands on his hips and drawing a gun that was unexpectedly holstered at his waist. He drew it out and up, holding it near his face in a comical, James Bond-ish manner. "After all, the hero has to make a dramatic entrance! I had Air Force One let me parachute onto the roof, and then I swung in here hardcore video game style~!" He looked exceptionally proud of himself, and there was a small sparkle by his eye.
Chrys wasn't sure what to do but stare at him in total awe. Then she felt a shiver and looked up at the window. Just peeking out over the glass was a pair of violet eyes, a large nose, and a beige-ish mop of hair, along with a tiny peek of a beige-ish brown scarf and a small smile. "Lady Thetania, da?" said Russia, peeking over the pointy glass. "I followed America's plane and somehow ended up here." He added ever so quietly to himself, "I was hoping to shoot him down and watch him burn…"
Thetania wasn't quite sure how to handle all the new entrances and especially the destruction of her beautifully hand-crafted instrument, but there was a now a slight eye-twitching tic going on. "…Just… just get out," she sighed, her ears laid back in irritation. Chrys, Japan, Germany, Prussia, Italy, and China were all staring in disbelief at what was going on, and no one moved save for Japan, who was edging awkwardly around Russia and towards the other countries and his allies. Prussia and Germany had frozen with their hands mashed against each other's faces (Prussia's looked decidedly more disgusted at Russia's appearance), and Veneziano looked completely lost. America, however, seemed to be enjoying what attention he got from his entrance and had not counted on being ordered out. "But I just got here!" he protested, crossing his arms and staring at the several inches shorter Sue who was floating at eye level with him. Russia was clambering over the glass, taking care not to cut himself on it. He hopped down, scarf streaming behind him, and landed with a loud thump as Thetania's glare began to become rather openly hostile as she took several menacing steps towards him and fluttered her wings rather quickly; she was obviously pissed.
"Get. OUT."
"But Lady Thetan—!"
"OUT." She pointed one finger up at him and one on the other hand towards the huge door on the far side of the room.
America's expression was like a kicked puppy dog; Chrys felt so bad for him and wanted to run up and hug him… so she did, coming out of nowhere, jumping through the air, kicking Tato in the solar plexus, and clinging onto America's shoulders to hold her back from flying through the air after the Sue. Russia looked almost pleased with this development, and America was just sort of in shock when he felt the girl clinging to him and pulling him forward as he watched the Sue go flying into a wall with a sickening crunch and an "Oof!"
Thetania coughed, clutching her middle and looking rather ragefilled as the rubble attempted once again to mar the beauty of her silky hair. She couldn't believe that Chrys had managed to attack her effectively AND keep fangirling over the characters of this fandom. She staggered to her feet, the rubble sliding harmlessly off; her breathing was ragged and shallow though, since all the air had been completely knocked out of her lungs. Her wings were momentarily limp and were just dead weight so long the Sue didn't have the oxygen and therefore energy to lift them both.
Chrys realized that this was a prime opportunity to take the Sue out. Reluctantly, she let go of America and went dashing at her. A Prohibitor clinked in Chrys's skirt pocket as she grabbed for it, planning to clamp it on the Sue. Tato realized that there was no way to get away with such a lack of oxygen; even as a Sue, if she couldn't breathe things could be problematic. She prepared for the worse, almost grimacing (which still never managed to detract from her eerie beauty), when something a huge sound that rumbled the floor startled Chrys, made her misstep and trip over her own feet, and sent her flying into the Sue to knock all the air out of her again.
The doors on the far end were opening as two figures skipped in to say hello. There was no one to flip the switch to close the doors again, so they remained open. As the figures approached, it became apparent that they were… hand in hand, and… was that tra-la-laing? Tato threw Chrys off roughly, gasping silently for air as she looked over to see who the hell may have just incurred her wrath. Her expression softened as her acute eyes picked up who was coming up, but she was still rather pissed that all these people were bursting into her fight.
As they sang their way down the hall holding hands and skipping, England and France's out-of-characterness sent sparkles flying every which way. Prussia and Germany had finally let go of each other and stop to watch these two come in; it was just so (sickeningly and disturbingly) awe-inspiring that these two enemies had come together and were now the best of buddies. Prussia actually backed away back towards the wall slightly in disturbed silence, his little chick chirruping.
Chrys pushed herself up shakily; there had been an ever so slight burst of electrical magic in the blow Tato had struck which had coursed through her muscles and paralyzed her for a moment, but she was recovering quickly. Taking advantage of the distraction, Chrys grabbed the whip that had fallen from the Sue's hand when the girl had tripped on her and snapped it at Tato, who yelped and staggered forward, her ears laid back in pain. The Sue growled, and Chrys grinned eerily; something about the whip was bringing a bit of Chrys's inner demon out again. "You and I, let's have some fun."
Tato hissed, her lip curling in a snarl. The two had a stare off, each bound by a wall on one side. "Give me back my whip," came the Sue's cold growl. Chrys laughed, then charged, whip whizzing through the air. Tato knew perfectly well how her own weapon worked and dodged it each time it came for her, though several times it sliced and ripped her beautiful outfit, causing Tato to get ever so slightly angrier. She tried to advance on Chrys with hands streaming beautiful, sparkly rainbow magic, but she was learning how hard it had been for Chrys to fight her earlier because of this whip/lasso. Though she managed to get in and nick Chrys several times, the girl always managed to maneuver the whip. In frustration and irritation, the Sue eventually managed to catch it with one hand, though she winced as it cut open the skin of her palm. She yanked Chrys towards her, but the half-demon pulled back and activated the whip with her magic to turn it into a lasso again; she had seen Tato work this weapon before. Tato hissed again as the lasso closed around her wrist.
Chrys fired several blasts of magenta magic from her free palm at the partially restrained Sue. Most of them missed, but a couple grazed her and one hit her square in the chest and sent her flying into the wall as the lasso extended. "This is ridiculous!" snarled the Sue as she landed on her feet instead of just splatting on the ground when she fell from the wall. Scrabbling for the fan at her obi, she whipped it open to reveal a sharpened and shiny hidden blade, which she cut the knot of the lasso with in a swift, violent motion. It's magic, after all, was Tato's reasoning. It'll grow back.
Chrys, however, hadn't expected Tato to damage her own precious weapon. Nor had she expected Tato to grab the end of the now lasso-less rope and yank it and Chrys towards her. The blade was outstretched, and Chrys's eyes widened as she saw it heading for her. She winced, closing her eyes instinctively. This can't be good!
England and France had long since gotten close to all this. They had been booing Chrys and cheering on Lady Thetania from the sidelines, literally doing cheer routines and chants for their great Lady Thetania. The other countries, especially America, were watching in horror (or in Russia's case, a small unfazed smile), and China had fled the room in confusion and terror, a small C sticker visible on his back from where Mizuho had patted him. ("What in the world is going on, aru?") If Chrys had had time to watch them, she might have been sick. Though the two fighters were mostly tuning them out, Chrys had already been rather distracted at several times by the way they, characters beloved to her, were verbally abusing her. Several moments before Tato had managed to get much closer and swipe at Chrys simply because the half-demon had been distracted by the names England had been calling her.
However, France seemed to have some ill-timing, as usual. After all, he seemed to live on taking advantage of others' strife. "Since I know our Lady Thetania will be victorious, I must show my enthusiasm with celebration, non? So I will give you all a magnifique gift!" And with that…
His clothes exploded.
As in, they just burst off of him, and now he was naked save for the beautiful roses that always seemed to conveniently censor his nether regions.
"THE HELL?" Thetania and Chrys screamed simultaneously; they couldn't help but notice the explosion, and the moment they looked they had been blinded. The half-demon staggered backwards, hands covering her eyes as she dropped the handle of the whip. Thetania had hid her eyes in the crook of her arm, cursing the stupidity and just plain bizarreness of some of the characters in this series.
"Hands up, everyone!" yelled a voice on the far side of the hall.
"DAMMIT, WHO IS IT THIS TIME?" screeched Thetania, now thoroughly irritated.
A very pissed looking Switzerland and Prussia were advancing with an army of armed men and women behind them. Thetania hissed, "I thought I told you guys I wanted no help. What are you-?"
Mizuho had appeared from behind Switzerland, smiling sneakily. She patted each of them on the shoulder, where it seemed a Copyright had been stuck on the both of them. The sprite had disappeared earlier from the room to find people to help her when she had seen Prussia sneaking out. She followed him to find him meeting with Switzerland to ask for help subduing all the other countries in the room where the fight was going on; by not giving open support, they weren't showing they were allied with Thetania and were therefore possibly committing treason. Mizuho had laughed and slapped them both with Copyrights before he could go on, and then after that it had just been too easy for Mizuho to convince these two. she had to say was that Thetania had taken over the world, she had allowed people to run around in an indecent lack of clothing, and that she thought Prussia was uncool. She didn't know if it was true or not, but France had definitely been all the proof the Swiss soldier had needed and Gilbo didn't take smack talk from anyone.
When she saw the overwhelming forces, Thetania knew that the odds were against her unless she wanted to draw more attention to herself. She dashed in the opposite direction, grabbed her whip, and screeched, "I'm outta here!" She pointed forward, creating a plothole to escape through. As she stepped through though, Chrys tackled her leg. The Sue yelled angrily, trying to kick the girl off. Chrys was pushed away, but as the leg and the rest of Tato disappeared into the plothole the light caught on the metal band that had been clamped around Tato's ankle, the Prohibitor, and Chrys knew that she'd done her job somehow. There was a resounding cry of horror from inside the hole as it faded away, and a curse. "No matter what you do, Chrys, you and your little partner will always and forever be one of US! A SUE!"
Those final words echoed in a rather cliché manner until the plothole was gone, which made Chrys wince. There was no way the people from the Society missed that. Mizuho sighed in relief from across the room nonetheless, but then there was a loud rumble and it faded almost immediately as something processed. "Tato… doesn't exist here anymore…"
Chrys staggered up, looking aghast and catching her meaning. "Meaning this island country doesn't exist anymore! It's going to crumble! EVERYONE, GET GOING NOW!"
-
"…Well, that was… interesting." Tash had her arms folded on the desk, watching the two girls in front of her closely. It had been about a half hour since the two girls had come back with the laughing scream from Tato recorded all throughout the system. There was no escaping that, especially now that they were sat down in front of the de-facto leader.
Chrys was staring down at her knees, looking really embarrassed and teary as she sniffled a little to herself. Her ears were laid back and she seemed to be wishing, from her body language, that she could just disappear. Mizuho, on the other hand, was staring right back at Tash with that blank, almost cold expression plastered on her face. She seemed completely unfazed by the chain of events; in truth, Mizuho had already known they'd have to explain themselves eventually, and it would just be a matter of time.
"So I was right." Tash murmured with a small, almost triumphant smile. She leaned in slightly, as though to lessen the distance and watch them more closely.
Chrys winced at this, shoulders trembling. Would they be kicked out? She had wanted to redeem herself so badly, but did this mean she'd be stuck at this point forever?
Tash sighed, leaning back again and looking through the unfinished paperwork on her desk which had many instances of red ink and the names of the two girls in front of them. "I'm glad you got that Prohibitor on your Sue; the damage in that fandom was pretty extensive, don't you think?" She flipped through a couple pages. "Granted, you nearly managed to sink everyone on the island into the ocean and drown them, which would have been rather a problem for the fandom with all the major countries gone. Not to mention there was a lot of luck involved there with most of the characters bursting in just in time to keep you safe."
Mizuho smiled. "I'm not so sure that was luck. I have my ways, ma'am." Something about the way she looked as she said that made Tash a little uneasy about what the sprite. Suffice to say, her methods had been somewhat effective, especially by way of distractions.
"That Tato definitely seemed familiar with you two though, didn't she?" Tash commented almost nonchalantly. "Perhaps you want to explain, especially her last comment. After all, if a Sue other than Willowe can get into the Society by way of the test still, we definitely need to—"
Chrys jolted up, her entire upper body trembling in a mixture of withheld tears and indignation. Her eyes were watery, but she still looked fiercely defensive. "I never wanted to be a Sue," she murmured, her voice dangerously quiet as though she was surpressing her voice almost entirely. "I never wanted to be a Sue, anti-Sue or not! Neither of us did. It wasn't our choice!" Mizuho watched her partner, her expression never changing. She tried to mentally tell the girl to calm down, but she was surprised to find a mental barrier of tears and distress.
Tash's expression softened in slight confusion, and she opened her mouth to reply, but Chrys cut her off, her voice steadily rising in hysteria. "It's not my fault! Our Creator made us as two halves of her whole; two personas of herself! She can't help her sometimes Sue-ish personality traits, and so neither can Mizuho and I! The three of us always were trying to work together to change this, but the label sticks no matter what we do! We can't help who we are, but it doesn't mean we want to be something considered so negative!"
The de-facto Society leader looked a little taken aback. She hadn't expected the girl to panic so suddenly like this. "Chrys, you don't have to—!" But Chrys continued on without even listening, her eyes clenched shut in an attempt to fight back the tears as she ranted down at the young woman she stood before
"We're good, we really are! Tato wasn't even created by the same Creator! We don't try and manipulate dimensions and fandoms to our own liking! We 'Peacekeepers' aren't even supposed to cause any sort of disturbance in the dimensions we watch over! We know there's no such thing as perfection; if there was, it would have already existed in at least ONE of the many dimensions we've been to. We've still too much power to be fair, but that's been cut down so much that we're barely even the same characters that first appeared in our Creator's mind! I…! W-We…!" The girl's voice was trembling on the brink of collapsing into unintelligible tears.
Mizuho reached out and grabbed the girl's wrist. The movement seemed violent and harsh, but Chrys could feel the reassuring warmth coming from it as she realized her unintentional mental barrier and tore it down to let Mizuho's calm consciousness overwhelm her own like a bearhug and calm her enough to sit and open her large, teary eyes to look at Tash apologetically. "I'm s-sorry…" she breathed, averting her eyes down to her lap again.
Tash sighed in some sort of relief. The girl seemed to have calmed down, but Tash could easily tell that that had been genuine feeling and not some passionate acting. It was all in the eyes. She smiled sympathetically at Chrys, trying to clear things up. "I was trying to say that we need to add more to the Test, but that I think you passed, even if it seems like you only passed the practical portion by a hair. That you passed the test means you made progress, doesn't it?"
The half-demon looked up hopefully.
"Don't… Please don't take it offensively that we need to keep watch over you though," Tash said, looking a bit troubled as she looked between the both of them. "You understand don't you?"
Chrys opened her mouth to speak, but Mizuho clamped a sleeve-covered hand on the girl's mouth and stated simply, "Yes, we understand. Safety's sake and all. But we'll prove we can be trusted, right Chrys?"
The girl just nodded, though it looked like she was trying to nibble at Mizuho's hand/sleeve to get it off her face.
Tash smiled weakly. "Now, what's this about, uh, 'Peacekeepers'? You emphasized that, like a name or something."
"It's a sort of job," murmured Mizuho after she lowered her arm but before Chrys could say anything. The sprite was making sure that Chrys didn't say anything too distinctive; it might affect things that they weren't supposed to. "We're supposed to try to keep conflict in dimensions from happening as much as possible, but not interfere in conflict that's already started. Peacekeepers, not Peacemakers." Something in the way she said that last phrase sounded terribly bitter.
Chrys added to this solemn bitterness when she murmured softly, "The Creators know it's impossible to keep peace with the nature of living beings, so our job is essentially futile. But it exists anyways, and we get punished for affecting and interrupting conflict..."
"We work under the Creators." Mizuho continued, refocusing. "Rather, we work under the people who create the characters and the worlds; writers and, I guess in some cases, self-inserts. So," Mizuho close her eyes and bowed her head slightly, "people like you are Gods. At least to people like us who actually realize you create the worlds that they live in."
Tash was quiet. "I… see," she said, although this was a bit of a lie. As far as she could tell, most of the characters she'd heard of that ever broke the fourth wall didn't have much respect for their creators. Then again, how could a character tell between a viewer and their Creator? She was beginning to get a headache thinking too hard about this now.
"It's complicated," replied Mizuho in understanding. "Please don't worry about it. It shouldn't interfere much with the Society, we hope."
"Alright, well, I'll trust you on that." She stood, gathering her papers all together. "Well, I've got to finish this paperwork, so you're free to go for now. And congrats on getting into the Society." There was a mutual all-around smile. The two girls stood as well (or rather, in Mizuho's case, floated) and bowed to Tash before they headed out the door. Adrian passed them, coming in. Shutting the door, he asked, "Well, how did that conversation go? I heard some interesting things from Chrys, though that Mizuho is pretty silent."
"Well, we'll see." She stepped around her desk and towards him, "They might be a promising subject for the Society technicians to study; after all, they're examples of full-grown Sues that turned away from that path, but they still have some of the traits of Sues. Perhaps we can get info to help us fight from their example?"
"So what, you're going to use them as guinea pigs? Didn't think you had it in you." His expression made it clear he was messing with her.
Tash elbowed him, shaking her head and trying to surpress her smile. "Har har, very funny. No, but they can give us some insight, perhaps."
"I still say this is a bit dangerous." The Librarian's expression became serious again.
Tash just grinned widely and scratched at his ears. "Come now, don't think you we can handle it? If anything, we have Aster to influence them, don't we?"
"Mmm…" Adrian fell silent, and then nodded towards her desk. "The paperwork's trying to multiply…"
"BOLLOCKS!"
