The day it happened was what should have been another normal World Meeting. They were meeting in Finland for the first time in a hundred years, so Finland was rather happy to be able to show the other nations where he lived, even if there wasn't much time to sightsee.

The World Meeting carried on like any other, with France and England automatically disagreeing with whatever the other said, America presenting crazy plans which always featured him as the hero and Japan supported, and Germany slowly getting more and more exasperated by the antics of the others.

No one could have been prepared for when the world ended.

Finland had long since stopped paying attention to whatever America was saying; he had been attending long enough to know that it was probably going to be nonsense. Instead, he used the time to wonder how Sealand was doing. Sweden and he couldn't bring him into meetings after… the last time. We already have several children in here, he thought, glancing over to Denmark, who had, like Finland, lost interest in the meeting. Unlike Finland, he was a lot less subtle about his disinterest, sitting on the floor building a Lego tower.

He felt a little bad for Denmark when Norway swiveled in his chair and kicked the Lego tower down. But only a little.

"Get back into your chair. The meeting is still going on, Danmark," Norway said in monotone to the pouting Dane. After sulking for a minute, Denmark eventually stood back up and sat in his chair. Iceland was slowly scooting his chair away from the scene, as if he didn't want to be associated with the other Nordics. Finland tried his best to hide the giggles racking his body.

That's when everything went straight to hell.

His concealed laughter was replaced by a not-concealed-at-all screech as pain coursed through his whole body. It came from nowhere, and all at once, and nothing was immune from the pain as he clawed uncontrollably at his chest, at his heart, where the pain was centered at. The pain caused his body to seize up several times, and Finland would have probably fallen out of his chair if Sweden hadn't instantly rushed to his side, wrapping his arms around him and pulling Finland's clawing arms away from his chest. Ah, he was gagging on bile. He didn't want to get it on Sweden, but he didn't have much of a choice as it came up, mixed with blood.

Immediately, the meeting was in chaos. Finland couldn't see straight, his eyes fogging from pain, but from the incessant noise and the rapidly shifting blur his vision had become, he could tell that he had probably ruined the meeting. And they were trying to get America to pay his debt to China, too…

He was barely aware of anything but the pain, which just continued to escalate until-

Until-

The pain slowly enveloped Finland, swamping his being. Black spots started dancing in his vision, and he slowly started to lose consciousness. He was barely aware of the screams joining his own.

When he woke up, his body was numb, and he could barely open his eyes. He was lying on his back on the ground, his chair tipped over. A heavy weight was laying across his stomach. It took him a moment to realize what was causing the weight- an unconscious Sweden. When he saw who he was, he sat up a little, about to move to shift Sweden off his body when he froze.

He and Sweden weren't the only ones unconscious; no, it was far from that. From what Finland could tell, every nation had collapsed. A few, like him, were starting to stir, but the majority were still collapsed on the ground.

A sudden wave of panic hit him. Sealand! He started to shake Sweden, willing for the taller man to wake up.

"Su-san! Su-san! Please get up! Please, dear, wake up; we have to get Sealand!" Finland wasn't exactly sure what had happened to them, but if whatever just happened affected all the nations, then that could include Peter. Even it didn't, they couldn't just leave him alone! Eventually, Sweden began to stir, groggily opening his eyes.

"Fi… Fin?" he murmured quietly as he slowly sat up, surveying the mess around him. "Sea."

Finland nodded. He felt a lump of worry forming in his throat thinking about the young boy, alone. "We… we need to get Sealand… and then check the news." That was more said to himself than anything else. He knew Sweden had to already be thinking the same. They both stumbled to their feet, tripping several times before they regained some balance. Finland tried to push his headache out of mind as they hurried to leave the meeting building, silently apologizing for leaving the others behind.

As they stepped outside, they stopped. Finland's heart skipped a beat as he let out a loud gasp, followed by choking sobs. No… No… He felt paralyzed, shock overriding his entire system.

Sweden wasted no time in wrapping his arms around Finland, murmuring quiet words of comfort.

"'M sorry, Fin… 'M s' sorry."

And they stood there in shock, barely aware of the other countries slowly coming out, joining them in their disbelief.

What had once been Finland was now a ruined wasteland. Entirely devoid of human life, the city around them was quiet, the buildings falling apart.

"But… I couldn't have… we couldn't have… it was only a few moments…" he sobbed, burying his face in Sweden's jacket. "Su-san, it wasn't that long, right? Su-san?"

"I… don' know."

Never before had Finland felt so helpless before. His people… what happened? Where were they? Were they even alive? He couldn't tell. Was that bad? He felt empty. Lifeless. Like every human soul in his country had simply vanished.

"S-Su-san… you get Sea, I'll get the others, okay?"

Sweden nodded, giving a last squeeze to Finland's hand, before running towards the hotel. Finland watched him for a moment before hurrying back into the World Meeting room.

Complete chaos. The few nations that had wandered outside with Finland had come back and spread the news of what had happened.

"Taiwan, Japan, get over here, aru! No, Hong Kong, stay here!" China was desperately trying to at least get the other Asian nations in check- to little success. Hong Kong had already started to wander off.

"I'm just, like, going to find Ice," Hong Kong replied, scanning the panicking crowds, before spotting Norway rushing to some corner of the room. He must have found Iceland, who had never been the best at dealing with crowds. Finland was glad that he would have some people looking after him in the chaos. Now if Sweden would come back soon with Sealand…

"YO! MATTIE?! BRO! DUDE, WHERE ARE YOU?!" America screamed as he ducked to look under the meeting table for Canada.

"I'm, ah, I'm right here, America…" Canada happened to be standing right beside America, trying to get his twin's (?) attention.

"How about you BLOODY GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU GIT! I can assure you that I can handle MY OWN AFFAIRS!" England was trying to leave the meeting room, presumably to go back to England, but France was clinging onto him, preventing him from leaving.

"But L'Angleterre!" France cried before shifting into rushed French, and Finland could no longer understand what he was saying.

"Ger-Germany! What's g-going on?" Italy sobbed, clinging onto Germany's arm. "W-what happened to Finland? Is this h-happening to us all?" Well, at least someone was concerned for him, Finland noted with a small sigh.

"Ugh, I don't know…" Germany sighed. Finland felt a little bad for him; he already knew that he would take on the burden of getting the other nations to stop panicking. Just as he predicted, Germany took a deep breath before he started to yell.

"EVERYONE! BE QUIET! IF YOU CONTINUE TO PANIC LIKE THIS, WE'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO FIGURE OUT EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO US! NOW PLEASE, CAN WE ACT DIGNIFIED FOR ONCE?! WE ARE NATIONS, FOR GOD'S SAKE!"

Slowly, the meeting returned to some sense of order, with the exception of China almost-quietly trying to get Hong Kong back over with him, and Hong Kong ignoring him completely to help Norway and Denmark calm Iceland down (1) and get him out of the corner. Finland almost went over there to help, but decided against it as Germany cleared his throat while setting his chair back upright.

"Now, everyone, please listen to me. What exactly happened, and please, everyone raise your hand before you speak and let me call on you," Germany said, stiffly sitting back in his chair and patiently waiting for the nations to return to the meeting.

There was a moment of silence where the other countries moved back to their seats, righting the ones that had fallen over. A few of them murmured condolences to Finland, who could only nod without crying. Denmark nearly tackled him to the ground, sobbing. He only was able to stand upright thanks to his abnormal strength.

Eventually, everyone was settled back in their seats and calm, for the most part.

"Alright, can someone tell me what happened?"

Germany was met with silence at first, before a voice came from the back of the room.

"I could tell you what happened."

First chapter!

(1) It's my headcanon that Iceland has Ochlophobia- the fear of mob-like crowds. He can stay calm in most situations, including crowds, but if it's too violent or wild, he would get panic attacks.

Thank you for bothering to read this! This story was born out of a dream I had about Sweden, Finland, and Sealand having to live through the apocalypse; hopefully it's a little interesting, at least. I would really appreciate it if you told me what you thought of it so far!

~Vio