A Waltz in the Dark (Norway + OC Hetalia fanfiction)

Chapter 59

    “It— it worked on him,” Mary said, nodding back toward Arthur and Francis. “Why doesn’t it work on you, then?”
    “The idiot,” Lukas said, shaking his head, “I cast an enchantment. True love’s touch can’t cast me out.” He sneered.
    “If touching you won’t free Lukas, what will?” Mary demanded, gripping the sword tightly with both hands. Lukas laughed and held out his hands.
    “Nothing, you stupid girl!” he exclaimed, staring into her eyes. “Norway is under my control!”
    She took a step closer to him, and his laughter stopped as the sword touched his chest. But he just smiled at her.
    “You wouldn’t really hurt him,” he whispered.
    “There has to be a way,” she snapped back, her voice trembling. He stroked his chin, sarcasm in the movement.
    “Well, I suppose I could let you in to see him…” he said slowly.
    “No!” Mary didn’t look back, but she could hear Arthur stand. “Mary— don’t listen to him, you’re not— you’re not strong enough!”
    “Strong enough to do what?” she said, her eyes never leaving Lukas.
    “She’s stronger than you think, England,” Lukas said, raising an eyebrow as he looked over Mary’s shoulder, “She broke through your spell, after all. And we both know that some mortals can wield powerful magic, King Arthur.”
    “But she’s only known about the existence of magic for a few hours!” Arthur countered, angrily. “Mary, you can’t. You wouldn’t survive for longer than a few minutes in there!”
    “In where?” she growled, her eyebrows furrowing.
    “To see your precious Lukas, of course,” the Snap said, grinning at her. Her heart leapt inside her chest and she bit her lip.
    “I’ll… I’ll do it,” she whispered, not sure what she was agreeing to, but not caring.
    “No, Mary, you can’t!” England yelled. “You’ll die!”
    “England’s right,” Mary glanced to her right as someone stepped forward. He had shaggy dark blond hair and shining red eyes. He leaned upon the shoulders of a boy, who was staring up at him, worriedly. Mary squinted at him, suspiciously, staring into his blood red eyes.
    “You don’t know me, but my name is Soren,” he said weakly. Mary relaxed slightly, remembering Lukas telling her he had a friend name Soren.
    “I am also magical,” the man went on, and Mary thought she saw fangs, “And spirits and souls are my speciality, along with fire and smoke, but that’s irrelevant.” He took a deep breath and looked at Lukas. “England is right. You are young, and only just developing your powers. If you agree to go see Norway, you will only have a few minutes, because then your soul will be ripped from your body, a process that will kill you if you don’t succeed.”
    “Succeed?” Mary echoed, looking back at Lukas. He was grinning, looking quite insane to her.
    “The only way out would for him to agree to come with you,” Lukas said in a low voice. “And if he doesn’t, then, well, I win.”
    Mary considered it in silence for a time.
    “Why would you risk it?” Mary whispered, staring into his eyes. “You might win, but you might lose. There’s a fifty fifty chance.”
    “Your chances are lower than you think, my dear,” he replied. “And the sooner I am rid of you, the sooner I can fulfill my destiny, which you are standing in the way of. Letting you in will kill you quickly, and meanwhile I can continue my work out here.” He gestured toward the other countries. “I am willing to take the risk. Are you?”
    Mary took a deep breath and nodded.
    “No!” Arthur shouted.
    “Mary—“ But she cut Soren off.
    “I don’t care! He’ll kill me one way or another, anyway!” she threw the sword onto the ground and glared at Lukas with watering eyes, “At least this way I have a chance of saving him.”
    Lukas smiled and reached out toward her. Mary tensed and closed her eyes.
    “Mary,” she heard Soren’s voice again, “Beware. You are about to see the state of Lukas’s soul. You may not like it.”
    She opened her eyes, just to stare straight into Lukas’s dark red orbs.
    “Goodbye, and good riddance,” he whispered. And then he grabbed the sides of her head.
    Her head throbbed and Mary opened her mouth to scream, but suddenly the pain was gone. She was surrounded by a murky darkness, and that’s all there was. Darkness beneath her, above her, all around her.
    “Is this his… soul?” she whispered. She looked down at herself. She still wore her light purple dress and Lukas’s jacket, but her skin… it was dark gray. She stared at her hands. They glowed slightly.
    A loud sigh broke her thoughts. She whirled around. Behind her was a tall, intricately designed mirror.
    She expected to see her reflection inside it, but instead she saw a person, sitting on the ground and staring out to the side, at nothing, it appeared. Mary walked toward the mirror, her limbs shaking.
    “Lukas?” she whispered.
    He didn’t acknowledge her, but she knew it was him, though he looked different than from when she’d last seen him. His skin was tainted a light blue color. He had big, dark bags under his eyes, and blood was seeping through his white shirt. Mary bit her lip, staring at the bloody place above his heart. She ran the last few steps to the mirror and sank down onto her knees next to it. She touched the glass with both hands, staring at him. He was only inches away from her, but the mirror separated them.
    “Lukas, I— we don’t have much time,” she said, urgently. “Please, come back with me.”
    “You know, Mary,” Lukas said, and the apathy in his voice hurt her more than anger or sadness would have, “I didn’t hide the truth from you because I didn’t vant you to know. I didn’t hide it from you to hurt you.”
    “Do— do we have to talk about this now?” she whispered.
    “I hid the truth from you because I vanted to vait until I thought you could accept it,” he exclaimed with more force, staring straight ahead, intensity in his eyes as he stared at nothing. “I hid the truth from you because I didn’t vant you to…” He blinked. His lips quivered. And then he covered his face with his hands.
    “I didn’t vant you to reject me,” he cried, hoarsely, pulling his knees up to his chest. “I loved you so much…”
    “I love you, too, Lukas!” Mary cried desperately.
    “How can you?” he yelled, looking at her at last. His purple eyes were filled with tears. “How can you love me? Have you not thought it through, Mary? Don’t you realize vhat I am?”
    Mary stared at him. Slowly, she sat down, but she kept one hand on the mirror.
    “How could you love me?” Lukas whispered, looking away from her again as two more tears leaked from his eyes. “How could I think that anyone could love me?”
    “I… I do love you,” Mary whispered.
    “Nei, you can’t.”
    “Yes, I can!” she said with disdain, “I chose you, and you being an immortal, a country, a magician— it doesn’t change that. It doesn’t change my love for you. I’m sorry that I overreacted when you told me, but… it was a lot to take in and… I’m sorry, okay? I’m so, so sorry.” She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. “I’m still not sure that I completely understand… but you can help me. We can work it out. We can work it out together, I know we can. Now please, c-come back with me.”
    She coughed and took a deep breath, but the air around her seemed thick all of a sudden. She looked at Lukas. His stare was emotionless again, though the trace of tears were still on his face.
     “I… I won’t give up, Lukas. I won’t give up on us,” she coughed again. “How can I just walk away after all we’ve done together? After all we’ve been through?”
    She tried to breath, but it felt like she was inhaling fumes. Lukas didn’t respond. Tears formed in Mary’s eyes as she choked.
    “D-don’t just sit there!” she cried, leaning forward and putting her forehead on the cold glass. She slammed her fist onto the mirror. “I love you and I choose you! Right now, I ch-choose you! And I will choose you again and again, just let me—” she coughed violently, gasping for breath. When she was done she slammed both of her hands against the mirror again, a sob escaping her lips.
    She was dying. She could feel it.
    “Y-you cannot make this decision for me!” she exclaimed, looking up. Frost covered the mirror around her fingers. Lukas turned his head and met her gaze, glancing at the magic she had accidentally done.
    “I love you, a-and I can prove it!” she gasped for air. “Touch the mirror, Lukas Bondevik, and let me show you. Only true love can release you, right? Only—” She wheezed.
    “Mary?” he said. There was emotion in his voice. There was worry.
    She gasped for air, but then her chest constricted.
    Using her last breath, she stared into his eyes and whispered, “I love you.”
    And then she choked. She put one hand on the ground in front of her, leaving the other on the mirror.
    “Mary?”
    She felt life slowly escaping her.
    This is it. We’ve lost.
    Black specks dotted her vision. She closed her eyes, releasing her spirit.
    She collapsed forward, her hand sliding down the mirror.
    “Mary!”