Hello, readers. Thanks for choosing this story. :] I posted this mainly to announce something important, which I will mention at the bottom. Yeah, you're probably gonna scroll down to read it now...

Those of you who are still with me, this story was not inspired by RomaHeta, because no, I have never watched it before. This story was, in fact, inspired by a fanfiction inspired by RomaHeta. I'm guessing that the main idea of RomaHeta is similar to this fanfic's.

There's nothing more I have to say, so enjoy. :)

part I: the game

Chapter 1: Crimson Dancer

Crimson Dancer

Owner: Alfred F. Jones

World Three

Type: Double-edged flaming longsword

Slashing damage: 7000

Heat damage: 3000

Kiku Honda was Japanese and lived in the heart of Tokyo. Unlike your average teen, he was very quiet and extremely polite, speaking only when necessary. A boy of sixteen, he had a slight figure, dark translucent eyes that gave away nothing and black hair that fell into those eyes.

He had enough friends. They came over to his place occasionally and joked with him at school, but it was nothing special. Kiku's best friend, the one he was truly fond of, lived ten thousand kilometers away in the faraway land called England. He would get in touch with this friend, Arthur, through Skype and email. The two were of the same age and shared many interests.

Arthur Kirkland was British and lived in London. He was the president of the student council at his school, despised by some and admired by others. His most distinct trait was his amusingly thick eyebrows that hung over sharp green eyes. They would furrow when he was confused or thinking hard, rise when he was surprised or delighted and sink when he was angry. Arthur was very good friends with Kiku, and they often talked and fought together in online RPGs that the Japanese boy had created.

In one particular game, Kiku's favorite of all he had invented, there was a tower that neither he nor Arthur could enter. It was guarded by a dragon that woke whenever a foe approached. Being the creator, Kiku had good knowledge of the RPG and knew all its secrets; however, he could not seem to land a single blow on the dragon and the key to the gate would shatter whenever he tried to use it. He concluded that it must be a glitch.

Arthur watched his friend struggle with the obstacle, unable to be of any use. "Try a different weapon," he suggested in the chat box.

Kiku frowned. "No, I've already used the strongest in this game."

He couldn't think of any solution but his trump card. That would result in disaster, however, perhaps even ruin the game system. But it could allow them to pass through.

Just as Kiku was about to type in the code, someone appeared on the screen. He was a Knight and had set his role in the RPG as "hero."

"'Sup, dudes!" the Knight greeted them, and turned to Kiku with interest. "Hey, aren't you the creator?"

"Yes," Kiku answered. "My name is Kiku, and this is my friend Arthur."

"Hello," Arthur said to the Knight.

"I'm Alfred, the hero," Alfred said. "I came here to try out this new weapon I got. It's got up to 10000 attack power. Sweet, huh?"

Kiku blinked. That wasn't possible. The strongest weapon in the game could only do 6000 damage, and there was only one, which he owned.

Alfred brought out a huge sword etched with neon blue designs. Crimson fire licked at the blade and the edges were deadly sharp. Brandishing the sword, he took a swipe at the dragon.

In one clean slash, the dragon exploded into a million golden shards.

"Impossible," Kiku said, amazed. "I never designed such a powerful weapon. Where did you obtain this item, Alfred?"

"I killed the Shadow Lord," the Knight replied. "You know, the one that lives on the 77th floor of the Fire Tower."

There is no Shadow Lord, Kiku thought. The 77th floor has nothing but ghosts.

"It might be a glitch," Arthur said. "This game is very complicated."

Alfred looked down at the sword. The flames had turned bluish-green. "Nah, this? That can't be. What kind of glitch would cause the game to create such a badass weapon?"

"It could be that the system is developing on its own," Kiku said thoughtfully. "Technology has no boundaries."

The self-proclaimed hero grinned. "Whoa, seriously? Way cool!"

While the three players were talking, a second party was hiding behind the trees listening to their conversation, one of them carrying a weapon much more powerful than the Knight's.

. . . .

In Milan, Italy, there lived two brothers named Feliciano and Lovino Vargas. The pair were polar opposites; the younger brother, Feliciano, smiled constantly and never failed to be optimistic. His brother Lovino, on the other hand, had a dirty mouth and scowled as much as the younger smiled.

Feli had discovered the RPG Seven Faces of God, made by Japanese high school student Kiku Honda, in an online gaming magazine. He'd told his brother about the game and, because of its positive commentary and remarkable fame, they tried it out for themselves.

The rules of the game were simple. There were seven worlds, connected to one another by six gates. In the seventh world lay the seventh gate, and past that was the infinite world Heaven. The goal was to make it to Heaven and face God. No one had ever gotten that far, so no one knew what happened after Heaven. Because Kiku hadn't confirmed that the game was won if players made it to Heaven, everyone assumed there would be a great secret or something amazing on the other side. That was the reason why the game was so addicting and its players so determined.

Feliciano was one of those players. Lovino said he only played because there was nothing else to do during summer break, but Feli had caught his brother sneaking out of bed to play into the depths of the night more than a few times.

The Vargas brothers' parents had gone on a month-long business trip and hired someone to bring groceries once a week. Feli and Lovi had the entire mansion to themselves and absolutely nothing to do.

"Seven Faces?" Lovi asked, as he half-heartedly browsed through food magazines in the study.

"Okay," Feli agreed, and they headed to the gaming room. In Seven Faces of God, or SFoG, the brothers were currently in the third world; impressive, since many could not even pass to the second. World Three was medieval-themed. Looming castles and towers could be seen in the distance and vast forests blanketed the realm. Daytime and nighttime were thirty minutes each, and when evening came the moon rose high into the sky as the main source of light.

Feli was a Priest and Lovi a Mage. Lovi didn't understand why his brother chose to be the weakest of classes, but Feli said it was because Priests helped those in need and did good things. There was nothing the older could say to that, so Feli remained a Priest.

The brothers were traveling south to the Fire Tower. In the medieval world, there were five main towers, each consisting of 100 floors. The Ice Tower was in the north, the Wind Tower in the east and the Earth Tower was in the west. In the middle was the Sky Tower, where the gate to the fourth world lay. On the 100th floor of the Wind Tower, Lovi had obtained a powerful wand that could do 26000 magic damage. He had been able to kill all the enemies he'd met so far using the wand, as well as some really high-leveled ones.

As the two made their way out of a semi-large forest, a new conversation appeared in the chat box.

"...new weapon I got. It's got up to 10000 attack power. Sweet, huh?"

There was a soft whoosh and the sound of something exploding was heard. A dragon scale landed at Lovi's feet.

"Impossible," another player, Kiku, said. "I never designed such a powerful weapon. Where did you obtain this item, Alfred?"

"Isn't Kiku the creator?" Feliciano's eyes widened in surprise and delight. "Wow, I can't believe we found him!"

"Must be one cool bastard," Lovino said. "But did he just say he never designed such a strong weapon?"

Both eyes moved to Lovi's on his screen.

"Glitch," Lovi decided. "We were lucky, that's for sure." The brothers grinned at each other.

In the distance, the Sky Tower suddenly brightened, its light spreading through the night and blotting out the stars. The sky crackled with electricity and directly above the tower, a whirlpool formed, similar to a portal.

"What's going on?" Feli asked.

"It's probably an update or something," Lovi said, fascinated by the sight.

Everything was perfectly fine until the alarms in the house went off.

ERR ERR ERR ERR

EEEOOO EEEOOO EEEOOO

They sounded simultaneously, wailing and screeching their warnings. The screens in the gaming room began flashing ERROR in red block letters. Water exploded from the fire sprinklers; the windows and doors flew open and the lights blacked out, sending everything into darkness except the screens, which were still flashing red.

"What's going on?" Feli asked again, with fear this time.

"It's probably the fire system breaking down or something," Lovi answered uncertainly. "Did you burn the pizza again?"

"Hey, last time was an accident!" Feli protested. "What do we do now?"

"I don't know. Wait?" Lovi's eyes shifted to the gaming screens. "Something's wrong with the computers, too."

The alarms screamed louder, frightening them. And when the ground began to shake violently, they could only grab on to the nearest thing to steady themselves and pray for the earthquake to pass.

It didn't. Instead their world brightened, until all they could see was a blinding light, and that was when they felt the pull and the invisible hands that grabbed their arms and legs, when they saw the portal and knew that everything, everything, was going to change from that moment on.

End of Chapter One

How do you like it? If you've read my previous stories, do you think my writing style changed? I sort of feel like it did. I mean, I never type long paragraphs. They're kind of annoying in my opinion.

If you're reading this because you read to the bottom, yay. :D If you're reading this because you skipped to the bottom, well, okay. So, here's the big news:

*drumroll*

Geirdriful, my FF buddy, and I are making a Hetalia RPG! It's going to follow the storyline of this fanfic. She's doing most of the art and I'm doing most of the programming. Our awesome friends are helping us with the music. If you would like to help make some art and music, send me a PM. Of course I'll say yes. =D

Most of you have probably heard of Dreamtalia. It's cool, huh? A little while before I heard about it, I dreamed of making my own Hetagame. But then I thought, meh, that'd be impossible. After I learned about Dreamtalia, though, my idea began to seem more real. And thus, a new project was born.

That's about all I have. PM me if you want to help support it. Please promote our game and tell your friends about it! We'd appreciate that very much. ^^ Otherwise, wish us luck! :)

See you next time~

...x Whitlinger x...