History Fanfic / Outcast

A ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' HighschoolAU fanfiction, in which the totally normal, completely average Finnish teenager Tino Väinämöinen is invited to attend the mysterious St. Hetalia Academy for Boys: a prestigious and secretive school for the best and the brightest students from around the world, a school where the movers and shakers of tomorrow rub elbows while they receive their education... not that Tino has ever so much as heard of the institution.

At this strange school, students are only referred to by the name of their [[HomeTownNickName country of origin]], with Tino christened "Finland" by the school's Student Council. On his first day at St. Hetalia's he finds himself inexplicably drawn to Sweden, a student shunned by his classmates and rumored to be under a dark curse.

* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler: Berwald/ Sweden's fate, if Ancient Scandinavia takes control of his body for good. Normally Ancient Scandinavia can subdue Berwald's consciousness completely (which is why Berwald can't remember any of the previous murders Ancient Scandinavia committed while in control), but Tino's involvement has given Berwald the strength to fight back and remain conscious during these bouts of possession... not that it makes much of a difference against an ancient and extremely powerful spirit hell-bent on vengeance. Ancient Scandinavia teases Tino by saying that Berwald is like "a mouse trapped in a glass cage" at the back of his own mind -- conscious of everything the malevolent ghost doing with his body, but unable to do anything to stop it.]]

** Denmark's family fostered the orphaned Sweden as a child. Sweden [[spoiler: fell in love with Denmark's little sister Maren, but the ghost of Ancient Scandinavia possessed Sweden and drowned her in a creek. Denmark tried to kill Sweden in revenge, but failed]], and still holds a deadly grudge.

* AnAxeToGrind: Denmark is allowed to bring is family's heirloom battle axe [[AxesAtSchool to the Academy]], and it's his weapon of choice both whenever he goes into combat (despite a number of factors that would ordinarily make it difficult or impossible to wield it):
** When Denmark was just thirteen, he used the axe to [[spoiler: attack Sweden after the drowning death of Denmark's sister, Maren]]. The other boy nearly bled to death and was left with a massive scar on his chest.
** Despite the axe being bolted to the wall of his dorm for safety, Denmark [[spoiler: rips it off the wall (bolts and all) when he grabs the axe to attack Sweden again]].
** After Denmark uses his axe at the Academy, Russia snaps the handle and mangles the blade. Denmark is allowed to keep the axe as a reminder of his misdeeds, and later uses it [[spoiler: to intervene when the Spirit of Ancient Scandinavia is trying to kill Tino and smash the Foundation Stone]]. It might not be able to slice, but it still works great as a hammer.

* ThePinIsMightierThanTheSword: [[spoiler: The Golden Arrow Pins granted to student council members serve as [[AmplifierArtifact Amplifier Artifacts]], buffing the wearer's inherent qualities to super-human levels]].

* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler: Berwald/ Sweden's fate, if Ancient Scandinavia takes control of his body for good. Normally Ancient Scandinavia can subdue Berwald's consciousness completely (which is why Berwald can't remember any of the previous murders), but Tino's involvement has given Berwald the strength to fight back and remain conscious during these bouts of possession... not that it makes much of a difference against an ancient and extremely powerful spirit hell-bent on vengeance. Ancient Scandinavia teases Tino by saying that Berwald is like "a mouse trapped in a glass cage" at the back of his own mind -- conscious of everything the malevolent ghost doing with his body, but unable to do anything to stop it.]]

* ElaborateUniversityHigh: The St. Hetalia's campus is dominated by a towering lakefront castle/ mansion, with dorms, classrooms, and the school library all located in the same building. Meals are served buffet style in a large, fancy dining hall with mahogany tables and crystal chandeliers. There's even a subterranean hot spring, which has been converted into a spa-like facility for the students to make use of. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that there's a massive underground complex housing the nigh-immortal founders, totally hidden from the rest of the school. It's outfitted with a hospital ward, indoor stadium, and a trolley system to help them get around their expansive subterranean compound. There's also an airplane hanger with an exclusive private jet hidden somewhere on or near campus.]]

* TheBerserker: [[spoiler: During his fight with the spirit of Ancient Scandinavia in Chapter 14, Russia is revealed to be afflicted by "Blood Rage" -- a condition that re-wires his brain during intense combat. It can magnify an average man's strength and stamina by a factor of ten, and there's no telling what it will do to Ivan under the [[AplifierArtifact effects of the Golden Arrow Pin]]. The Rage also makes him unable to stop the match until his opponent is killed or Russia is knocked unconscious.]]

* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil: In a traditional sense, the seven members of the council are the only students who interact with the school's administrators; thus all official pronouncements and policy enforcement must go through them. In a more literal sense, membership in the student council (and consequent possession of a [[AmplifierArtifact Golden Arrow Pin]]) grants a council member [[spoiler: an extraordinary boosts to their natural abilities -- Russia's increased strength allows him to fold the head of an axe like an origami napkin, America's courage and charisma make him the sort of leader people ''want'' to obey, and England's familiarity with dark magic gets amped up to the point that he can talk to the dead and monitor the whereabouts of students in the school]].

* AmplifierArtifact: [[spoiler: The Golden Arrow Pins]] amplify the wearer's natural abilities to a super-human degree, making them better able to serve the school in their role as [[spoiler: Student Council Members. Russia is made strong enough to fold metal with his bare hands, England's "black magic" becomes powerful enough to contact the dead, America's charisma, courage, and confidence are boosted to make him an uncontested leader, Japan's self-discipline and efficiency are enhanced, Germany's organizational prowess and memory are augmented, and France's "aesthetic sensitivity" (i.e. his good taste) is magnified, and China's wisdom is heightened.]]

* HighschoolAU: The personifications of the world's countries are re-imagined as human teens living at an exclusive BoardingSchool beset by supernatural phenomena.

* {{Curse}}: Sweden is rumored to be cursed. Denmark is the one to tell Tino that Sweden's parents died in a house fire, his childhood sweetheart drowned while they were out on a picnic, and his roommate committed suicide. [[spoiler: Sweden is actually the [[DemonicPossession unwitting host]] of a malevolent spirit called "Ancient Scandinavia", who takes control of Sweden's body from time to time. All the "mysterious deaths" were murders committed by Ancient Scandinavia.]]

** The school is still run by [[spoiler: the superpowered, nigh-immortal Founders who established the academy five hundred years ago, and they live in a secret underground complex hidden from the student body.

* ForgottenFirstMeeting: Technically, Tino has met both [[spoiler: Sweden/ Berwald]] and [[spoiler: Ancient Scandinavia]]. Tino recalls that as a young child he nearly froze to death while lost in a Lapland blizzard. He still has nightmares about the incident, nearly a decade later. As the story progresses his dreams become more detailed, involving a mysterious figure who saves him from an icy fate. [[spoiler: When he falls and hits his head while exploring the cave where Astrid's tomb is hidden, he remembers that a young Berwald was the one who saved him from the blizzard, dragging the half-frozen Tino to the very same cave -- which is also where Berwald was possessed by the ghost of Ancient Scandinavia.]]

An Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia HighschoolAU fanfiction, in which the totally normal, completely average Finnish teenager Tino Väinämöinen is invited to attend the mysterious St. Hetalia Academy for Boys: a prestigious and secretive school for the best and the brightest students from around the world, a school where the movers and shakers of tomorrow rub elbows while they receive their education... not that Tino has ever so much as heard of the institution.

* {{Shoutout}}:
** To Literature/AliceInWonderland, Literature/HarryPotter, and Literature/TheWizardOfOz, all in the space of a single sentence in Chapter 1.
** To Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe, Franchise/SherlockHolmes, Series/MagnumPI, Film/{{Rocky}}, and Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom in Chapter 11.

** [[Myth/KingArthur Morgan la Fay]] is mentioned in Chapter 13, as is Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk. [[spoiler: Evelyn]] also calls America a "gormless, Yankee, [[Literature/HarryPotter muggle]]" to upset England.

* ExtranormalInstitute: St. Hetalia Academy for Boys might at first glance appear to be a normal (if not ultra-exclusive) BoardingSchool out in the middle of the woods, with strangely insular [[HomeTownNickname traditions]] and an AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil, but Tino soon discovers that there's a lot more to the Academy than meets the eye. [[spoiler: The school is still run by the superpowered, nigh-immortal Founders who established it five hundred years ago, and they live in a secret underground complex hidden from the student body. The key to their immortality rests in the cornerstone of the actual school building and 14 magical pieces of jewelry, 7 of which are given to the teenage student council members to grant them superhuman abilities. Tino's high school crush is [[DemonicPossession possessed by the vengeful spirit]] of the only member of the Founders to turn their back on physical immortality, and another classmate is revealed to be [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld a shapeshifting Founder in disguise]] who has been attending the institute continuously since its inception.]]

** The same is true for France's heavy french accent:

%% * ExtranormalInstitute:

*** [[spoiler: In Chapter 17, when Ancient Scandinavia is about to destroy the Foundation Stone (good!) and kill Tino (very bad!) with a single hammer blow, Denmark saves the day by smashing the stone with the twisted remnants of his axe.]]

--> "Big as a castle, it was build on a massive foundation of suitcase-sized stone bricks. But above that there was no unified style. Some parts were made of brick, others of wood, and others of what looked like concrete. Likewise, there were elements that seemed to originate from very disparate parts of the world, Greek columns alongside Chinese corbels and gothic buttresses. But oddly, it all flowed seamlessly and blended into what could have been mistaken for the architecture of some great fictional civilization."

----

%%* PunctuatedForEmphasis:

* AllChinesePeopleKnowKungFu: [[HomeTownNickname China]], the only student from China, is able to intervene when [[spoiler: Ancient Scandinavia takes over Sweden's body and nearly kills Tino.]] Although China initially uses a [[PaperTalisman spell tag]] to disable [[spoiler: Sweden]], Tino mentions China "standing over him in a kung fu stance." China later assures Tino that he could defend himself in a fight, as he's had [[spoiler: hundreds of years]] to study the martial arts.

* Shoutout:

* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil: In a traditional sense, the seven members of the council are the only students who interact with the school's administrators; thus all official pronouncements and policy enforcement must go through them. In a more literal sense, membership in the student council (and consequent possession of a Golden Arrow pin) grants a council member [[spoiler: an extraordinary boosts to their natural abilities -- Russia's increased strength allows him to fold the head of an axe like an origami napkin, America's courage and charisma make him the sort of leader people ''want'' to obey, and England's familiarity with dark magic gets amped up to the point that he can talk to the dead and monitor the whereabouts of students in the school]].

* NeckLift: [[spoiler: When Tino first awakens Ancient Scandinavia, the malevolent spirit uses Sweden's body to choke Tino and dangle him over a cliff near the school.]]

* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil: In a traditional sense, the seven members of the council are the only students who interact with the school's administrators; thus all official pronouncements and policy enforcement must go through them. In a more literal sense, membership in the student council (nd consequent possession of a Golden Arrow pin) grants a council member [[spoiler: an extraordinary boosts to their natural abilities -- Russia's increased strength allows him to fold the head of an axe like an origami napkin, America's courage and charisma make him the sort of leader people ''want'' to obey, and England's familiarity with dark magic gets amped up to the point that he can talk to the dead and monitor the whereabouts of students in the school]].

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: [[spoiler: China and all the other Founders have been alive for over a five hundred years. While the majority of the founders have retreated from the limelight to run the school from the shadows, China has been pretending to be a student (and holding the position of Historian on the student council) for centuries. He's "graduated" from the school over a hundred and fifty times.]]

* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil: In a traditional sense, the seven members of the council are the only students who interact with the school's administrators; thus all official pronouncements and policy enforcement must go through them. In a more literal sense, membership in the student council (nd consequent possession of a Golden Arrow pin) grants a council member [[spoiler: an extraordinary boosts to their natural abilities -- Russia's increased strength allows him to fold the head of an axe like an origami napkin, America's natural charisma makes him a charismatic leader people ''want'' to obey, and England's familiarity with dark magic gets amped up to the point that he can talk to the dead and monitor the whereabouts of students in the school]].

* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil: In a traditional sense, the seven members of the council are the only students who interact with the school's administrators; thus all official pronouncements and policy enforcement must go through them. In a more literal sense, membership in the student council and consequent possession of a Golden Arrow pin grants a council member [[spoiler: an extraordinary boosts to their natural abilities -- Russia's strength allows him to fold the head of an axe like an origami napkin, and England's familiarity with dark magic gets amped up to the point that he can talk to the dead and monitor the whereabouts of students in the school]].