APH: Existence 4 - Gathering

As the helicopter continues flying in a shady night, the four nations are anxious to where their destination will be. Only the pilot and his assistant know where it is.

Ludwig never asked the soldiers where they will be going to as he thought even if he asked for it, they will never tell him. It was according to orders and he respects that.

Perla is nervous on what will happen to them after they arrive. But part of her is excited to see her siblings and her friends after a long time due to her work.

Alfred is still thinking about on how to get an edge against his competitors for Perla. But aside from that, he thinks also on how he will make a 'cool' entrance and 'cool' stories about prior events without looking like a loser especially on how he 'almost' saved Perla. He suddenly groaned when he remembered of his stolen hero moment.

Feliciano is thinking about… Pasta… He is surely hungry for all of that. As a matter of fact, his stomach is grumbling and he feels weak.

Fear… Excitement… Uneasiness… Confusion… These emotions surely dominating their shaky hearts…

Whatever's in store for them later lies after their arrival to that destination. After all, their very own existence is at risk and at the very least, the United Nations surely has plans.

"Ve~! Look guys!" Feliciano sees an island with a large mountain peaking in it as the helicopter slowly descends…

"Wow… It's beautiful…" Perla was simply amazed in just seeing the island as it has very lush green trees that add its beauty.

"'Survivor'! Here we come!" Alfred exclaims.

"This isn't some reality show, you dummkopf!" Germany reprimands America again.

"Hah! You're just envious because my reality TV shows are way better than yours! Besides you just copied it from us! Hahahaha!" Mockery is the name of the game for these 2 rival nations.

"Hmph! Yours are not even the original of those shows! Don't forget! You've only stole them from England!" Ludwig mockingly notes

"Hey Dude! Don't accuse me on that! I bought those rights from him, you sausage-freak! And besides 'Survivor' belongs to us!"

Death glares continue to flame up their anger to each other until…

"WHOA!" A turbulent wind suddenly blown violently to the helicopter.

"Please be care-" The assistant pilot stops himself, widens his eyes and drops his jaws on whatever he saw.

"Aww…" Perla pats her head and trying to recover from stumbling due to that turbulence.

"Are you hurt? Feli?"

"A bit, mia amica." Feliciano pats his face.

"How about…" She weakly paused as she and Feliciano turns to their left…

"WAAH!!" Both of them exclaims as they saw the two great rival nations…

inadvertently kissing each other…

on the lips…

"HEY YOU SAUSAGE-F**K*R! DO YOU WANT ANOTHER WORLD WAR HUH?!!" America rages as he and Ludwig release themselves from the shame that both of them accidentally done and blushes in embarrassment.

"YES! AND I WANT IT NOW!!" Ludwig ragingly responds and he too blushes out of embarrassment

"TAKE THIS!!!" Both of them shouted as America and Germany are going to punch each other's faces.

The two of them are hitting each other and is causing a ruckus. The impact causes the helicopter to shake.

"S-sirs! P-please calm down! W-we're g-going to arrive t-there shortly." The pilot nervously attempts to pacify things but the two seems to be more eager to fight each other more than ever before.

"Oh what a waste… I didn't bring a camera… Sis Hungary should be happy to see that!" Italy excitingly says as he remembers Elizabeta as a certified fujoshi…

"What… did… you… say…?" The two violently turns to Italy.

"Wah!!" Feliciano again is terrified and is going to jump to Philippines but... "Per…  la?"

The Philippines has fainted and has seemed like soulless. She was truly shocked on what she saw.

Italy now fears for his life…

"P-please don't hurt me! I-I'm just a useless idiot! I retract what I said!! I beg of you PLEASE!!"

The two still violently stares at Italy… But when the two saw Perla unconscious while leaning on the other side…

"BABE!!"

"PERLA!!"

Alfred quickly attempts to wake up Perla from her 'soullessness'.

"Hey Babe! You alright? Hey wake up! It was an accident! Come on BABE!" He desperately shakes her but no avail…

Then, he violently turns to Ludwig. "It's your fault, YOU SAUSAGE-F**K*R!"

Ludwig only responded with a groan, but it wasn't his fault either.

"When we get outside, we'll settle this in a fight! Got it?"

"Right! And this time, I'll defeat you!" Ludwig ragingly agrees.

"We'll see about that… Hey you! The two of us are dropping here." America now turns to the pilot.

"Sir, I cannot-"

"NOW!!"

The pilot sighed as Alfred hastily opens the door and both he and Ludwig jump immediately like skydivers from the helicopter to the forested island.

"UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!"

"BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLAND!"

The same surge of strength from earlier was released from the two of them as they are fast approaching the island. They are indeed very fast like comets going to hit the ground. As each of them going to collide to their respective landing points, both of them punch the ground and made an immense impact. It caused the surrounding trees to be crushed and leaves no single trace of them.

The impact also felt in the helicopter as it pulls away temporarily to the area. Feliciano is more terrified on what he is seeing. Perla is still unconscious.

The rival nations stand up from the ground. Ludwig, since he still wears his SWAT armory, took them off for him to move more (and to be fair with Alfred who wears nothing but simple T-shirt and pants) leaving him only his sando and his pants.

He dropped his bulletproof vest last and as soon as the vest touches the ground (as if giving a signal), the two start attacking each other violently. The battle has now begun.

"AAAHHH!!" Alfred is going to punch Ludwig in his face but… "What the-?!"

Ludwig evaded it by squatting and he is going to hit Alfred's body.

Alfred successfully defends himself to that attack. Good thing, he is quick to duck himself from that. Due to the impact, he slides backward.

As soon as Alfred recovers from that, their raging eyes meet as if they are giving consent to what will happen next.

Then Alfred strikes first, a series of kicks follows but Ludwig deflected them and finally grabs Alfred's right leg and he was going to throw him but Alfred counter-attacks by kicking him in his right face. Ludwig was strongly thrown to the left.

But it didn't faze him. He quickly recovers by flipping himself and then slides backwards. He then attacks Alfred quickly by punching his face. Due to the strong impact of the punch, Alfred was thrown somewhat distant to where they are. The trees are falling down due to this.

Ludwig is very satisfied to that. As dusts cover everything in sight, he smiles. He thought he finally defeated his long time rival but.

"WHAT THE?!" His eyes widened as Alfred quickly strikes back but something happened…
Alfred stops midway. He can't move as if he was being bound by some force.

"WHAT THE F**K HAPPENED?!! I CAN'T MOVE!"

It was Ludwig's opportunity to strike but a katana stops him to do that as it aims near to his throat. His eyes widened in seeing who wields the said weapon.

"J-Japan?!" He recognizes a black haired guy wearing old Japanese traditional clothing.

"Ludwig-san! Please stop this in an instant!" He politely told Ludwig.

"Kiku-dude! What are you doing here?" Alfred questions the personification of Japan's presence.

"You better clean this bloody mess, you git!" An accented voice from a distant behind of Alfred speaks. Alfred cannot see him at first because of the dust but as the dust clears, he recognizes a familiar British guy with thick eyebrows, wearing tuxedo and wields some magical book.

"IGGY! YOU BETTER RELEASE ME ON THIS!"

"NO WAY I'LL RELEASE YOU! AND STOP CALLING ME IN THAT RUBBISH NAME, YOU GIT!" The personification of the United Kingdom loses patience (once again) to his former charge.

"Honhonhonhon! You're having fun there, non?"Everybody turned to the blonde Frenchman appeared in a white polo (slightly unbuttoned in the upperparts) and black pants while holding a very beautiful red rose. "Would you mind if Big Brother France joins you?" He winked afterwards.

"What are you doing here? And, No, you'll only make things worse, you frog!" England exclaims.

"NO way! I'm also a permanent member of UNSC, Angleterre!" Death glares come next to these rival nations.

"My, my, I see you're having a great time there, da?" A smiling gray haired Russian came in a beige robe and pink scarf in his neck. He also holds a water pipe.

"You, Westerners, do really no good, aru!" A ponytailed black haired Chinese guy in red Mandarin jacket and black pants stands on a tree nearby the area and then jumps to the ground.

Both Germany and America groaned on these nations' presence. With all 5 permanent members of UNSC are here, it could mean trouble for me. And considering all of the Allied Forces from before are here. Well, except for Japan of course. Ludwig thought even though he holds a non-permanent seat in UNSC.

"Alright, I'll stop." Germany calms down as he thought he would do.

"Arigato, Germany-san." Kiku meanwhile put his weapon down and sheathes it.

"Hey, we're not finished yet!" America insists to continue.

"Enough of that, you git!" England scolds Alfred and smashes his book to Alfred's head.

France sighs and… "So, what's the reason for all of this?"

When they heard the personification of the French Republic's question, Alfred and Ludwig remembers that very embarrassing moment in the helicopter.

"IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!!" Both of them shouts (and blushes) in unison.

"Excusez-Moi?! You have caused a lot of trouble here! First, you used your powers here! Second, you destroyed this area! And third, you disturbed everyone's peaceful stay here!"

Wow! Francis is talking with sense now? Alfred silently notes Francis' sudden serious tone.

He talks like that pathetic Austria! Ludwig also silently notes unusual Francis he saw today.

This is the only time I heard him talk other than sexual things. Very unusual. Arthur is seemed impressed with Francis' diplomatic tone.

"As punishment…" Francis suddenly changed outfit into a male dominatrix and wields a whip. "I let you taste Big Brother France's whip!"

All of them (except for the personification of Russian Federation) were shocked to what they are seeing.

"Now… Will both of you tell me what happened?" France whips and makes an evil smile.

"YOU FROG! WILL YOU STOP THAT RUBBISH?!"

"That's actually a nice idea, da?" Ivan Braginski approves' Francis' indecent action.
Suddenly…

"EVERYONE!! IT'S AN EMERGENCY!!"

Everybody turned to the direction where the voice comes from. It turned out to be Italy Veneziano.

"Feliciano, what's wrong?" Ludwig asked the gasping Italian.

"I-It's Perla! S-she's still unconscious until now!"

All of their eyes (except again to Russia's) are widened to the news. Fainting due to shock shouldn't let her be unconscious for the long time. Ludwig thought.

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"Hey old man! Wake up!" Gio is impatiently waking the middle aged Italian up.

"Uhn…" The Italian is waking up from his desk. "What is it, Gio?"

"We got another lead!" He is holding a CD. "I got this from someone close to the US Army."

"Really? What does that contain?" Rinna asks Gio while preparing coffee for them all.

"It contains a report regarding an incident happened 2 days ago at Crowne Plaza Hotel at Los Angeles at around 2 am. A Filipina and an American guy were kidnapped in process. Apparently, this never brought out to the public."

"Wow! That's potentially classified information." Rinna comments while giving coffee to Gio and the other one in the table for the Italian.

"REALLY!! Give me some more information on that!" The Italian stands up enthusiastically as if some bolt struck him to totally wake him up.

Gio sighs. "Alright." He now then goes to his desktop computer and inserts the CD there. The two follows him there.

He then opens the contents of the CD. They saw a folder entitled, Crowne Plaza incident – Classified. He clicked it and they saw some pictures. These show the crime scene, the respective hotel rooms of the said the Filipina and the American.

"Looks terrible. Some fighting must have happened there." Rinna notes to some set of the pictures showing the room of the American. They saw wrecked chairs and tables, crushed television which was apparently thrown to someone near the door, and the bed smashed to pieces.

"Yeah… And it definitely happened according to my source." Gio notes on her comment.

"Uh… I guess I have to get back to my siesta…" The Italian loses interest to the lead.

"Hey, I'm not yet finished, old man. Besides, I didn't call you here for nothing." Gio calls the Italian back. "Well, let's cut the chase."

Gio then opens an archived file entitled, Confidential. A password prompt appears and good thing Gio has the password that was written in a small piece of paper. He then extracts the files to his desktop.

After he extracts the files, a folder was downloaded from it. He then opens it…
The Italian gains interest… Even more interest than earlier… He couldn't cease his smile due to excitement especially when he sees the profiles he definitely expects and he got more than he expected.

What they saw on that folder are the respective profiles of the Filipina and the American. They were the same ones who the old man mentioned a week ago…

"Now, it makes sense." Gio notes.

"We have not only the faces and their profiles but also their human names." Rinna also comments.

"Ma. Perla Liwayway, 23 y/o, Female, Born in the Philippines, Lives in some condominium in Manila and Works as a Clerk in Malacañang." She reads the Filipina's profile.

"She also holds a license as a Professional Nurse not only locally but internationally and also is a volunteer nurse for International Red Cross. Oh, I wish she is my nurse!" The Italian blushes.

"Stop fantasizing old man!" Gio reprimands him again and bangs a paper to his head.

"No wonder she is tending for the injured on that picture you have shown to us a week ago, old man." Rinna remembers the picture right away as she is a keen observer and that makes her reliable to the team.

"Yeah… Good thing you remembered, Rinna." Gio commends her and smiles to her.

Rinna blushed on Gio's comment. "Um… thanks…" She weakly replies.

"Hey guys! Am I missing some fun there?!" Everybody turned due to the door suddenly crashed as Tom enters the room.

"Hey Tom! You're late again!" Gio stands up and scolds Tom for his usual unpunctuality.

"Sorry for that, I have to meet someone. Oh! And speaking of that someone, I would like you to meet him. He is into researching thing about those people." He then calls the guy to get inside. "Hey! Come over here!"

Then a muscular bald guy wearing white long-sleeve polo and khaki slacks comes inside the room.

"Here he is! This is Orsino. He will be our guy when it comes to information about those people! He knows a lot of stuff about them! Hey Orsy! Say hi to them!"
Gio then widened his eyes when he sees the guy as if he knew the guy. Rinna sees it and wonders why he reacts like that…

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Alone… In a very chaotic place…

"Hello!"

"Is anybody here?!"

"Answer me!"

She wanders to a very haunting and destructed place… Everything is empty…

"Alfred?! Matthew?! Daniel?! Where are you?"

"Ludwig?! Feli?! Answer me! Please!"

She saw nothing but destruction…

"Why is nobody answering?"

She is very frustrated… Tears are falling in her face… She is helpless… She is hopeless…

"Why..." She is crying for help and she knelt due to her hopelessness…

"WHY?!!" She shouts. She is desperate. She wanted to end it all…

Then she saw a piece of piercing broken glass…

She picked it up, held it in both hands, aimed the edge against her chest, and…

When she about to stab herself…

A hand stops her… and…

She woke up.

"Perla! You okay?!" A long brown haired Chinese girl in pink Chinese clothing called qipao with large flower on the right side of her hair is the first one Perla sees.

That nightmare… again? She felt the same feeling. That fear…. That very scary feeling… Her cold sweat continues to flow.

"Mi hermana, are you hurt?" A short haired blue guy in Mexican Cowboy clothing is also there in her side.

Perla, grasping herself to reality, seems to be in a white hospital room and wears a patient's clothing. The dextrose tube is also in her right wrist. She notices the time and it is already morning, 10:00 AM to be exact.

"Mei! Kuya Alejandro! What are you doing here?"

"We're worried about you! When you arrived here, you were unconscious." Mei, the personification of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), told her.

"Mi hermana, what exactly happened to you? Jefe is also very much worried about you." He refers to Spain, their former colonizer.

Then, she remembers that very shocking event in the helicopter.

"Umm… I-I don't want to talk about it." She blushes and turns away her sight to her brother and sister.

"Uh… Alright… Maybe it's the fatigue…" Alejandro, the personification of Southern Mexico, didn't insist his question.

"Anyways, Perla, didn't you know America and Germany fought each other last night?" Mei told her about the last night incident in the island.

"Huh? Really? Why?"

Mexico groaned while Perla is waiting for Taiwan's answer.

"I don't know really, but they said it was rather personal. Maybe they are fighting for a girl."

"Uh… I don't think so…" The Philippines knows the real reason and it will make sense that they will fight because of that shocking incident.

"Oh! North Italy is also with you that night, right? Maybe I'll ask him!"

"Uh… You better not…"

"But Per-"

"Please… For everybody's peace of mind…"

"Alright… If you say so!" Mei reluctantly agreed to her.

Meanwhile, someone has entered Perla's room. It was Alfred.

"Hey Babe!" Alfred quickly enters the room with a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

"YOU! BASTARDO! Don't ever talk to my sister!" Alejandro stops Alfred.

"Kuya… Just let him… Besides, I have to talk to him about something." Perla pleads to Alejandro.

"But Per-"

"Please…"

South Mexico sighed and gets out of the room. While Taiwan felt also the need to get out as she thought it will make things clear. But part of her wants to stay to be on the loop. Once Perla's visitors are out…

"Um… Alfred… I-"

"Don't talk… Me first…" Alfred stops Perla "I-"

"MATE!" The two turned as someone's happy and accented voice crashed their moment together as he enters the room.

"Dan! Nice to see you, kaibigan!" Perla greets a deep browned hair Australian guy that looked like a Jungle Caretaker. For some reason, he also has a bandage in his upper part of his nose.

Alfred groaned and glares at the Personification of Australia. Daniel… You… He is grinning his teeth.

"Oh! Nice to see you too, love! But there is more important news that I'm gonna tell you guys!" Daniel suddenly turns serious.

"Huh? What is it, bro?" Alfred also changes his mood. It must be important.

"I got an awful word that all of us nations are gonna be isolated here. We will only go back once everything's settle down."

Perla and Alfred widened their eyes in hearing another bad news.

"That's bull! Is my boss still there?" Alfred asks Daniel.

"I believe so. All of our bosses are in a meeting together for that reason." Daniel remarks.

"Then I should talk to them!" Alfred hurriedly gets out of the room.

Daniel tries to stop Alfred but he is too late.

As always, he will always interfere… I hope, this time, it will change things… I believe in you, bro… He smiled.