There are a couple of Ocs in this one, but it's sort of necessary.

I don't own Hetalia! End/AN/

Holding Facility B – 8:23 AM

By now, most nations sat huddled together in groups. They hadn't seen the alien since about six hours previous, and some of the original panic had started to wear off.

Sealand had taken up a spot next to Sweden, with Kugelmugel's head in his lap while he played with his braids. Kugelmugel was a strange micronation, and he liked having his hair played with; he was sort of like a cat or something, Sealand thought.

All of the micronations in the room were sitting with Sweden, minus Seborga, who sat with his brothers. Ladonia sat with his laptop balanced on his knees, the thing closed and running in sleep mode to conserve battery power. He had not been able to reach the outside via the internet; there were no bars.

Sealand wondered if the other micronations were fine. He wondered if every other nation on earth had been taken, and they were somewhere else.

"Sweden?" He turned from looking at Kugelmugel's head absently, looking in the blue light at Sweden's pale face.

"Hm?" Sweden was not a person of many words, and for some reason he scared other nations, but by now Sealand could recognize a lot of Sweden's facial expressions and cues. Right now, he had his full attention.

"We can fight the aliens, right?" Sealand felt pretty confident in his ability to knock people out. Being made of concrete and steel gave a person a mean punch, no matter the size.

Sweden seemed to think a moment, and before he came up with an answer, Ladonia had one.

"I'm pretty strong," Ladonia's voice seeming to suggest he was as strong or stronger than Sealand, "We just got to hit him hard."

"How do you know it's a him?" Kugelmugel asked, purple eyes closed.

"Nothing that ugly could be a girl!"

"Ugly animals have girls too."

"Guys!" Sealand cut off their argument, still toying with one of Kugelmugel's braids.

"You shouldn't fight it." Sweden gave his say, piercing eyes squinting without his glasses; they were looking at Sealand's face, but not quite directly eye to eye.

Ladonia gave a huff, but said nothing.

Sealand's eyes widened, as he said, "But I could knock it out! I could save us all!" What was wrong with Sweden? Didn't he see that there was only one way out of here?

"Not fighting it," Sweden said more firmly, his hand landing on Sealand's head. He looked like he wanted to say more, but all he added was, "Could get hurt."

It was hard to understand. Sealand bit his lip, wanting to burst out a bunch of questions and demands at once; once he narrowed it down, he demanded, "Why not? If America were here, you'd let him fight the alien."

"You're a child," Sweden said, and now he'd turned towards Sealand, hand slipping from on top of his head to pat his cheek. His eyes looked about 10 times as piercing as ever. "Can't. I can't see that."

"Sweden!" It was Denmark, who cut in before Sealand could feel even the beginnings of frustration coming on. The energetic Dane was leaning down into Sweden's face, and Norway, Iceland, and Finland flanked him.

"Denmark," Sweden greeted, and it would have sounded like he could care less about meeting Denmark, but Sealand knew better.

Denmark sat down across from Sweden, and the others set up a sort of half-circle about him. "So me, Nor, Ice and Fin have been talking. We need to do something to get out of here."

"Not safe," Sweden immediately said, a frown on his face.

"Well, things aren't always going to be safe," Finland said, and he had a look on his face that seemed so different from the cheery man that Sealand knew. It was like he had seen many things that were 'not safe' and had come out stronger.

"Fin's right. We have to do something while we can; who knows, maybe they're going to freeze us or make us drugged up. This might be our only chance," Denmark said, eyes sparking with energy.

Sweden seemed to take a moment to draw a number of words out of himself. "We don't know enough."

"He makes a point," Norway said coolly, "there may be hundreds of aliens here."

"Nor, I thought you were on my side!" Denmark said, looking sort of appalled.

"Don't be childish," Norway replied, hitting him on the side of the head. It was pretty typical with them; Norway never hit hard enough to cause any real damage.

"I can help! I can fight!" Sealand volunteered, eager to side with Denmark.

"I'm sure you can, buddy, but this is a grownup problem," Denmark said, giving him a sympathetic smile. It was as though he saw Sealand as a drooling tot that tried to say a big word, and got it halfway right.

Sealand glared back. Denmark wouldn't treat Iceland that way.

"I think we should get together the strongest in the room and rush the alien when the door opens," Denmark said, oblivious to the glare. "At least we'll get out; we can make up the plan from there."

"What if they have us bugged?" Iceland spoke up, his white brows creased in concern. "What if they already know what we're planning?"

Norway nodded in agreement. "We don't even know how the door works."

"Sure we do, it's just all watery and it opens," Denmark replied, crossing his arms. "All we have to do is get through it, we don't need to know how to work it."

"But what if we're bugged?" Iceland repeated, looking a little irritated.

Denmark seemed at a loss for that. But Finland had a response.

"It's better to fight back and lose than not fight at all. And besides, just because we don't know the odds doesn't mean they're bad."

Sweden watched them. His eyes seemed to dart over towards the micronations every so often, as if he were considering something about them. He put his hand on Ladonia's head, saying, "We could hurt the others."

"You think they'll punish us?" Denmark said, but he was already dismissing it. "Come on, one alien against at least twenty or thirty of us. What could go wrong?"

Sweden was silent.

"Well, who's in?" Denmark looked around the circle.

Sweden caught Sealand's arm, as if he knew the micronation would volunteer.

"I'm in," Finland said.

"I am too," Norway sighed.

"I-"

"Not you, Ice, you're too young," Denmark cut off Iceland, but he was looking meaningfully over at Sweden.

"No," Sweden said, and his grip on both boys seemed to tighten a bit.

"Fine, be that way. We'll get enough people without you." Denmark stood, and Finland and Norway followed suit. "Watch Ice, since you've got a daycare going."

Iceland looked indignant, snapping, "I can watch myself!"

Norway patted his head, but didn't say anything. The three moved off, looking to get others in on their attack.

Holding Facility A – 9:02 AM

People were getting hungry.

At least, that was what America assumed, since his stomach was growling. The Latino nations were grouped together in several clumps, all chattering in Spanish, as if to spite him. And god, there were a lot of Latino nations. He felt like he was trapped in a group of mildly hostile strangers.

Fortunately, Canada was there, and he wasn't preoccupied with Cuba or somesuch.

"Hey bro," America said, sitting Indian style with his arms crossed.

"What?" Canada looked up, and America could tell he was already stressed by all this, the uneasy lip-gnawing giving him away.

"We got to stick together, you and me, okay?" Because America did not have a lot of people on his side in this room. Sure, he got along okay with some of the nations, but there was a bit of a divide, with Latino on one side and him and Canada, the pasty Anglo-nations, on the other.

Canada hesitated, but said, "Sure. Whatever you say." He obviously didn't think it would come down to them against the world or something like that.

"I hope they feed us soon," America sighed, thinking of burgers and fries and all sorts of bad-for-you yummy things.

"Maybe they eat once a day and think we do the same," Canada offered, shrugging. It was like being hungry didn't even get to him.

"Yeah, well, one of them had better figure it out soon. I'm starving," America said.

Canada rolled his eyes, saying, "You are not starving, you've eaten within the last day."

"Yeah, well, I'm really really hungry, then," America said, grinning a bit at Canada's response. Of course he would be picking at actual word definition.

Canada looked about the room, saying, "Don't go, you know, being embarrassing about it, okay?"

America raised his eyebrows. "Since when am I ever embarrassing about food?"

"Are you serious?" Canada looked at him like he wasn't sure if America had just told a joke or not; he must have decided he hadn't, because he continued, in dead serious tone, "I mean it. The other nations here, they're not as well of as you, and-"

"Oh come on! Like I ever rub it in," America said, surprised that Canada was even saying things like that. What, was it going to be The Hunger Games now? Yeah right.

"America. We have to get along with these nations, okay? Don't be obnoxious," Canada insisted, tucking his arms against himself and leaning against the iridescent wall.

"Whatever, Canada," America sighed, rolling his eyes. As if he was going to be obnoxious in a situation like this. And so what if they didn't like what he said? If he didn't mean to insult anybody, they should just let it go.

Canada watched him, but said nothing more.

Holding Facility D – 9:35 AM

The nations for the most part were calm. Everyone sat silently, or murmured quietly to each other.

Hong Kong didn't even notice the tension in one corner until he happened to glance in that direction. And when he did, his heart nearly stopped.

Israel had been classified among them, evidently, because he sat in a crouch by himself, glaring as though he would kill someone and eat their liver if they so much as came with a meter of his space.

Only a bit more than a meter away, several of the Middle Eastern nations glared back, and the tension was palpable.

Hong Kong wondered how long they had been sitting there like that. He certainly hadn't been looking around to see who all was there.

Iran twitched, and Israel twitched in reaction, face seeming to dare Iran to try it.

"China," Hong Kong murmured, not entirely sure the situation should be allowed to go on. China looked over from where he'd been sitting, eyes shut, face amazingly calm for the situation.

"What is it?"

Hong Kong gestured, and China sighed as he saw.

His face seemed to say that he should not have to deal with this, he was so far from the Middle East it wasn't his problem; and yet, now they were all stuck in a room together, so it made it everyone's problem.

"What are you going to do?" Hong Kong wanted to know. China had made himself the leader, and so it fell to him to try to keep things calm.

"Aiyah..." China sighed, obviously thinking of something.

He walked over, Hong Kong trailing behind him; Hong Kong figured he could use the backup, if things went sour.

None of the nations involved looked up as China approached.

"You can't fight here, aru," China said, standing in between them. Hong Kong had to applaud his bravery.

"We're not fighting," Israel said, body tense as a coiled spring. "Unless he starts it."

Iran looked back at Israel through disdainful eyes, saying, "If he provokes us, you can't blame us for retaliating."

China kept a serenely calm face. "There will be no fighting. Israel, move to the other side of the room."

"Why do I have to move?" That was one thing that seemed to be a defining trait with Israel; stubbornness. But it wasn't as though asking all the other Middle Eastern nations to move was a more viable option.

"To keep a fight from happening. You can sit with Japan, aru," China said, and Hong Kong could see he was straining to remain serene.

But it seemed Israel had been reached. He stood slowly, never taking his eyes off of Iran. It was like a hostage situation, as he slowly eased himself towards the other side of China without breaking eye contact or turning his back.

It was a relief when they walked away. Hong Kong felt himself release a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

Japan was not a big fan of Israel, but he wouldn't pick a fight. He didn't show any outward signs of displeasure at Israel being seated with him, but Hong Kong could imagine he didn't consider it exactly a good thing.

For now, peace reigned.

/AN/ Gah, I hope you like it. I wasn't sure if I was going to bring in Israel and Iran and that whole Middle Eastern stuff, but it seemed highly unlikely they would be in a room together and not have a problem of some kind.

I'm having a ball with this story. It's so much fun not to have to do extensive amounts of research on every little thing (though of course, had to wiki China-Israel relations and Japan-Israel relations).