Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia or any of its characters, nor do I claim to.

Please Note: This story is also on my DeviantART account. If you see it on that website, and the artist's username is SymphonicNevermore, that's me. Just letting you know.

Author's Note: There are some cheesy "futuristic" things mentioned in this chapter, and later on throughout the story. It's what came to mind, and I know it isn't overly original. That said, I've at least attempted to make it a generic version of things, instead of existing things from other fandoms.

This isn't too different from the first version, but some parts have been condensed or changed.

As usual, feel free to point out any errors. I do go over what I've read, and I use Spell Check, but it's always possible to miss something.

Constructive criticism/critiques welcome.

Chapter One

*Beep Beep Beep*
*Beep Beep Beep*

Emil grumbled in his sleep, for once in no mood to get up at the sound of his alarm. Rolling over, he stretched out an arm and fumbled around, smacking his palm on the top of his nightstand for several minutes, until he heard the automated voice ask him what he wanted to do.

"Alarm, turn off." He said.

The automated voice replied, "Alarm off. Do you wish to reset the alarm for tomorrow morning?"

"Okay. Whatever."

"Sorry, I could not understand you. Do you wish to reset the alarm for tomorrow morning?"

"YES!"

"Processing…your alarm has been successfully reset for tomorrow."

 Emil sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. On the one hand, he liked the organizer, especially the voice-recognition system that prevented people, such as Mathias or Lukas, from messing around with it, but on the other hand, it was rather annoying at times. Seeing that he was now fully awake, he stretched once more before heading downstairs. When he reached the kitchen, he saw his brother Berwald. He was standing at the oven, cooking some bacon and eggs, judging by the scent in the air. Not in the mood to eat, Emil decided to head into the dining room and worry about his own breakfast later. There, he saw Tino sitting in the far seat, eating some porridge and listening to the Finnish Morning News on his pocket holo-player.

Tino looked up as he walked into the room and paused the program.

"Good morning, Emil!" he greeted cheerfully.

"Morning." Emil replied blandly.

"If you're wondering where the others are, Mathias is in the shower, and Lukas is still in his room."

"Okay." Emil mumbled.

Tino's face fell slightly. "What's wrong? Didn't get enough sleep?"

"No…I had a…bad dream. I know it sounds stupid at my age, but…" Emil said.

Tino looked as though he didn't fully believe him, but decided against pursuing the subject.

"Oh…I'm sorry to hear that, Emil. And no, it's not really stupid, we all have bad dreams every now and again; even the oldest nations do, so don't worry about it too much, okay?"

Emil nodded and took a seat next to Tino. "Thanks." He said quietly.

"No problem." Tino replied, resuming the program where he'd left off.

Emil sat there quietly, staring at the surface of the table. He didn't want to reveal that the real reason for his lack of sleep was not a bad dream, but another dream about their sister. He and his brothers had come to an agreement over time that their sister was not to be mentioned during certain times, such as first thing in the morning. Not because they didn't want to talk about her, but because they wanted to ensure that they were fully awake and sober to do so.

To this day, all five of them blamed themselves for her running away, and wondered if they would ever see her again, and if so, what her reaction would be. Emil easily remembered the day she was born. He had been very happy, because it meant that he was no longer the youngest. Their parents had tasked them (or Mathias and Berwald rather, as they were the oldest) with looking after her where and when they could should anything happen to prevent them from doing so, and they had agreed almost immediately.

But they had failed, and drove her away, all because of a curse.

None of them knew who had cursed Runa, or why. Their parents said that they didn't know much either, but that due to said curse, Runa would "wreak havoc, destruction, and devastation upon the world, the likes of which had never been seen." After their parents passed, they were left to care for Runa and help out until her nation could stand on its own, but the thought of the curse weighed heavily on their minds. In the end they had decided that, for their sister's sake, as well as the world's, they would have to send their little sister away. Hopefully that would prevent the curse from coming to pass.

Mathias had initially been against it, arguing that Runa had no control over what had happened to her, and that sending her away was unfair. Berwald, who first suggested the idea, countered by saying that if they could stop the curse from coming to pass, it would save the world, but acknowledged that it would likely put Runa's life at risk. Or more at risk, if the curse wasn't already doing so. Mathias eventually agreed to at least try sending Runa away, but demanded that it only be for a short time.

"Curse or no curse," he had said, "Once the time frame is up, I'm going to bring her back, because I still care about her."

That caused another argument. Berwald had gotten angry that Mathias had, whether directly or not, implied that he only suggested sending Runa away because he didn't care about her. Lukas had tried to join in, only to be ignored by the two, so he dropped out and continued eating with Emil. Tino, who hated it when his brothers fought, tried to intervene, but they weren't listening to him either. He had pointed out that Runa was with them, and that their yelling would likely wake her up, and was proven to be right when she stepped out of the tent.

Runa had apparently been awake for some minutes, and had heard part of the argument, as the first thing she asked was why she had to go away. Mathias and Tino had tried to explain to her their reasons for wanting to send her away, but all that accomplished was further convincing Runa that she was no longer wanted. Then that idiot Mathias had to go too far, which had confirmed it in her mind, for Runa had then attacked Mathias with her powers, causing him to drop her, and ran off into the woods. They had tried to follow her, but as they were in her land, she had the advantage and easily lost them.

They never saw or heard from her again. One day, word reached them that Atlantis had disappeared. Naturally, each of them had traveled to Atlantis to see for themselves, and found the rumors to be true. Atlantis was gone. Not collapsed or conquered, but gone. The land, the people, everything. Although none of them were 100% certain, they suspected that Runa had something to do with it.

Emil had been lost in thought for so long that he hadn't noticed that Berwald had come out and finished his breakfast, and that he and Tino were trying to get his attention.

"Emil…Emil…EMIL!" Tino called.

"Huh? Wha-?" Emil shook his head as he pulled himself out of his thoughts. He looked up at his brothers and soon realized that he had spaced out.

"Oh…sorry." He said. "I didn't get much sleep last night, so I guess I'm still tired."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Berwald asked.

"Yes. I'm fine, really." Emil said. "Sorry to worry you guys."

"Well… if you're sure." Tino said cautiously. Emil nodded. "All right then."

It was silent again for a few minutes, until Berwald spoke again, changing the subject. "You should go get ready, Emil."

"Why?" Emil asked.
"There's a World Conference today. In Geneva." Berwald explained.

Emil blinked at him. "Another one? So soon?"

"I know, I know, but there's nothing we can do about it, really. The UN called it, and you know how he gets."

"Oh."

"Yeah. It starts at midday, so we'd better leave soon if we're going to get there on time."

"Alright. I'll go and get ready now." Emil said.

He headed upstairs and down the hallway, passing Lukas who had just come out of the shower, went back into his room, and quickly gathered everything he thought he'd need, cramming it into a duffle bag. Once he was ready, he headed back downstairs and rejoined his brothers.

"Ready." He said.

"Good. We'll just wait for Mathias and then we'll be off." Berwald said. Emil nodded and leaned against a wall.

"Runa…please forgive us."

Cast in this chapter:

Emil Steilsson – Iceland
Berwald Oxenstierna – Sweden
Tino Väinämöinen – Finland
Lukas Bondevik – Norway (mentioned)
Mathias Køhler – Denmark (mentioned)
Runa (OC) – Atlantis (mentioned)

When I say "mentioned" next to a character's name in the cast list, I mean that they're one (or more) of the following: (Examples are given for added clarity.)

Seen or mentioned but has no dialogue or other interactions. (Example: "If you're wondering where the others are, Mathias is in the shower, and Lukas is still in his room." Tino said.)

Only given dialogue during flashbacks/memories. (Example: "Curse or no curse," Mathias had said, "Once the time frame is up, I'm going to bring her back, because I still care about her.")

Mentioned by another character, but otherwise unseen. (Example A: "I saw (character 1) the other day." (character 2) said, "but (he/she/they) didn't say anything to me about the situation."
Example B: "(Character) called me this morning." (character 2) said. "Really?" asked (character 3). "Yeah, (he/she/they) said "I'll catch up with you later. I have some business to attend to first." (character 2) replied.)