"One day, I fell asleep…"
Sealand yawned and jerked his head up again for the hundredth time during dinner. His food was only half-eaten, but Sealand just didn't feel like eating anymore. No, now all he wanted to do was sleep. He excused himself from the table and trudged up the stairs to his room. He opened the blue door to reveal his room. The walls had little boats and fish patterned onto them. His bed covers had anchors and bubbles which were covered when he plopped down onto them after stripping and pulling on his pajamas. Too sleepy to even turn his head to breathe, Sealand slipped into the land of dreams.
It was black for some time, and Sealand got scared. He wanted to be back home with Momma and Papa, not lost in the endless shadows. He walked, and walked, and walked some more, but nothing happened. For hours, he wandered, wondering if his ma and pa were even alive somewhere in all of the darkness. His fear grew with each step along with his speed until he was running from some unknown enemy. He ran, and ran, quickly losing breath. He slowed to a stop and rested his hands on his knees. Knowing that there would probably be nothing, but hoping that his parents would be there, Sealand looked around.
Sealand blinked in surprise and straightened up. Right there in front of him was Uncle Norway's fairy friend. There was a dim glow coming from it and Sealand winced at the light after hours of darkness. Sealand rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The fairy was still there. It beckoned him to it. Sealand stumbled towards the light with a hesitancy that surprised him. It was as if his body was afraid of the little fairy. Still, Sealand went to the fairy as if in a trance. The closer he got, the farther the fairy floated away. Sealand frowned and jogged towards it.
It was no use. No matter how fast he moved to the fairy, it was always the same length away. He followed it faithfully, slowly getting more and more tired. Eventually, he collapsed to his hands and knees, but still the fairy called. Sealand began to crawl after it. There was a stitch in his side and he was having trouble breathing, but he followed it all the same. Sealand followed the fairy farther and farther, thinking that it was going to take him back to his family, and Sealand did notice that it was getting lighter.
Off in the distance, Sealand could see a change in scenery. There was what appeared to be an endless river that, if the fairy continued its path, they'd need to cross. When they got closer, Sealand's eyes widened. The river was black!* There was no bridge in sight and Sealand had no idea how he was going to get across. The fairy then held out a hand, and Sealand could see a little white flower that he could identify as a Vit Näckros. There were a few of them back home in the pond by his house. The flower floated to him and he took it in his hand. Suddenly, it grew larger than him. Sealand backed up in surprise and the flower landed in the river. Somehow, it wasn't being swept away by the raging current and Sealand realized that he was supposed to cross in it. Tentatively stepping into the middle and making himself comfortable, Sealand wondered how the flower would cross without something to push it.
This was solved as the flower began to move on it's own, swiftly closing the gap between the other side of the river and him. For some reason, Sealand felt a deep foreboding and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was at the other side and an endless forest was in front of him. Sealand fell back in surprise, nearly falling off of the flower and into the river. Thankfully, he didn't. Sealand shuddered to think of what would have happened to him if he had. The fairy once again beckoned for him, and Sealand got out of the flower. When he looked behind him to glance at it one more time, it was gone.
The fairy led him into the forest. The trees were black and dead-looking, and they filled Sealand with fear. Did his parents really come this far? Only time could tell. There were a lot of thorny bushes that Sealand kept getting caught on. After detangling himself from yet another bush he pushed past the next one and into an open clearing. It was filled with fairies, and there was a throne in the middle. Norway's fairy led through the other fairies, who moved out of the way as he past them, and straight up to the throne where the fairy stopped. The throne rotated until Sealand could see who was sitting in it.
The fairy in the throne looked very familiar, and Sealand finally recognized it as one he'd seen when he was younger, at England's house. Norway's fairy bowed to it and held out something. It was the flower from earlier! Except now, it was back to a normal size. The fairy in the throne took the flower and inspected it for a bit. Then suddenly it open it's jaws very wide and ate the flower whole. It's teeth were huge and sharp, and there were a lot of them, like a shark's. The fairy finished chewing, and turned to Sealand. He could feel it's hunger. Sealand just knew it was going to come for him next, so he ran. The fairy gave chase. The other fairies stayed out of the way and laughed little tinkling, chiming laughs.
Sealand ran, and he ran, and he ran through the forest, the thorny bushes not giving him any trouble this time around. However, the fairy ran, and ran, and ran after him, getting bigger with each step. Weren't fairies supposed to be tiny? Still, Sealand ran, even when the stitch in his side came back with a vengeance, his lungs screamed for air, and his limbs grew weak. Soon, Sealand was suffocating while he was running, but at least he was still running and not in the fairies mouth. His heart pounded and his legs ached. He wished that his parents were here to protect him, and that he was back home in his bed, and he just wanted to play with Hanatamago again.
He started to cry as he ran, the hyper-ventilations only adding to the stress on his lungs. Suddenly, he couldn't hear the thudding of the fairy behind him. He continued running for a while in case it was a trap, but he still couldn't hear it following him. It was gone. He collapsed on the ground and breathed deeply, trying to get his bearings. Sealand stilled. He could feel the presence of something else in the forest. He knew it in his bones that it was waiting for him, but it wasn't hungry like the fairy. His fear grew at that. If it didn't want to eat him, what was it after?
When he felt he could walk again, Sealand got up and carefully crept to where he could feel the presence. He found a door. Sealand walked around the door, but there was nothing behind it. It was just a door, but Sealand could tell that the presence was coming from it. There was only one thing to do. Sealand took a deep breath and put his hand on the knob. What if his parents were there when he opened it, waiting for him with Hanatamago and the rest of the Nordics. Feeling much better, Sealand turned the knob and opened the door.
Sealand had to shield his eyes. After being in that dark, dark place for so long, a bright flash of light in his face was painful. When he could look, he gasped in both awe and disappointment. His parents were not, in fact, waiting for him, but someone else was. More than one someone, too. There was a tall, broad man that kind of reminded him of the Italy brothers standing in front of a blond man who looked like Germany with long hair and was holding a child that also looked like Germany. There was a woman off to the side who was wearing a blanket and had grass in her hair, a man with a lot of gold stuff on next to her. Sealand looked up with wide eyes at the big man who looked like the Italies when he walked over to Sealand. The big man crouched down to Sealand's height and said with sad eyes, "Welcome home, kiddo."
"…and I never woke up."
A/N: Okay, so this was inspired by 'Never Woke Up' by Katy Towell. I really wanted to write a story using the video as a sort of base, and my muse decided that Sealand was going to be the "little girl." This was my first try at horror, but I don't really feel like it was in any way horrifying.
*According to Wikipedia, the Finns believed in an afterlife called Tuonela, or sometimes Manala. In most traditions it was situated underground or at the bottom of a lake, though sometimes it was said to exist on the other side of a dark river. Tuonela was ruled over by the god Tuoni, and his wife, the goddess Tounetar.
I don't know why I chose to use that. I just thought it'd be a nice effect. If you didn't realize who was at the end there, it was Rome, Germania, HRE, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Egypt. And if you were wondering how Sealand died, it was from suffocation. Yeah, I know people move around in their sleep, and they'd probably wake up if they were suffocating, but screw logic, okay?
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia or Never Woke Up.