Welcome to the longest chapter in the story so far. Hopefully you all like it a lot! Also a side note, the schedule 'plan' for the story is every 2 weeks for a chapter. But uh, uni hates me so we'll see how it goes.
Oh boy, wait till those other nations hear about this! Wait until my friends hear as well! Me doing great country things! They'll recognize me for sure after this! Peter skipped along happily, being careful not to jostle the package like the man had told him. He was curious as to why he wasn't allowed to, but decided not to question it in favour of succeeding at his job.
The package was for Ivan and Ivan's eyes only. The man had told him so! Peter was going to follow that through carefully. He was going to follow through, do his job, and then be praised and allowed into the meetings! The young micronation began to hum to himself, a familiar tun, jovial tune.
The building that the nations were staying in loomed above him, and he stopped when some came out of it. The meeting must be having a break, which is good news because that means that Ivan will be in! Peter smiled and walked through the door, being careful not to bump into anyone.
He was silent as he walked into the elevator and jittered nervously as it went up to the floor Ivan stayed in, if he remembered correctly. Why he was nervous? He didn't know. But there was something inside him screaming that what he was doing was the wrong thing. He didn't know whether to listen to the feeling or not though.
"Peter?" Peter jumped as he looked up in surprise, not even realizing that the elevator doors had opened, revealing his family at the door. Not Arthur, but the Nordics that had adopted him into their lives.
Tino looked at him with worry. "What are you doing? What's got you looking so worried? Has something happened?" And looking at the rest of them, he noticed they all looked faintly concerned, except for Lukas, but then again, the Norwegian had never really shown any emotion.
Peter looked at the ground and shuffled his feet. The man had told him not to tell anyone what he was doing, but this was his family. They deserved to know, and maybe they'd be able to tell him where Ivan was. And maybe help him with the strange feeling he had.
"Well uh… Jerk Face kicked me out of the meeting room. So I was just walking around and this man approached me—" Peter missed Tino's expression turning pale and the others looking more worried, "—and he gave me this package here. Told me it was for Ivan and it had been delivered to him by mistake."
"He said that?" Lukas crouched in front of Peter and looked at him calmly, Peter nodding at the question.
"Yeah he did. He knew who I was too, that I was Sealand! Said that this job was a job that only I could do!"
"Did you tell him who you were or did he know who you were?" Mathias questioned this time, placing a large hand on his shoulder, and despite his firm tone, looked as gentle as possible.
"Uh…" Peter tried to recall his conversation with the man and frowned, "I-I think I might have… I don't remember properly. I'm sorry."
"Nah, it's not your fault kiddo." Mathias reassured, "but how about you let Norge and I handle this and you go with the others?"
Peter looked up to see Tino nodding and reaching out a hand for him. Berwald giving a small smile that he usually did seeing him and Emil just glancing at the box suspiciously. He felt someone grab the box and spun to see Lukas holding it, just silently asking for Peter to let go. So he did. He trusted his family and his gut was telling him to let them deal with it, so he let go and grabbed Tino's hand, just letting himself be led back in the elevator and was silent as the group of four descended back to the ground floor.
He heard a sigh and felt the hand holding his start to tremble and looked up to see Tino crying. Peter's eyes widened and he quickly pulled away to hug his mother figure, "Why are you crying? Did I do something bad?"
"No, no, you did nothing wrong Peter." Tino smiled through his tears and kneeled to pull Peter into a tight hug, "I'm just glad you're alright."
"But nothing happened?" Peter was confused about why they were reacting like he had nearly been killed. He'd only been asked to deliver a package after all.
Tino merely shook his head and stood up, picking Peter up to carry him, "It doesn't matter. How would you like to sit in the meeting with us? You have to be quiet though."
"Really?" Peter's previous concerns vanished at the idea of sitting in a meeting, and when Tino nodded, he whooped with joy, "I get to sit in on a meeting! Woohoo! I'm going to be a real country today!"
Lukas looked at the box in his arms and frowned, just glad they'd caught it in time. Mathias was beside him, looking over his shoulder and also frowning. Both were glad that they'd run into Peter when they did, both scared of what might've happened if they hadn't. Although Lukas kept his fear in check unlike Mathias who was wearing it clearly on his face.
"So is it…?" Mathias began, but trailed off, unable to finish his sentence, but went pale when Norway nodded.
"It's a bomb. I can feel it." Lukas sighed, carefully placing the box on the ground and seeing Mathias look at him with a confused look, explained briefly, "Magic. That's how. And no, I don't know how it's set up or how it will be triggered."
"You think that man is the same one that killed America?"
"I would say so. I doubt he's the type to stick around—after all, he did kidnap America to kill him—but it's worth looking around to see if he has."
"Well, I'll go take a look then shall I? Find out what our sneaky nation killer is doing and who he might be." Mathias stood up and made his way to the elevator, "Will you be alright?"
Lukas nodded and stood up to follow his companion, making sure to bring the box with him, "I'll get it outside just in case. We don't want to risk bringing the entire building down." The blond glanced at the Dane and muttered quietly as they descended, "you stay safe you stupid Dane. Don't go dying."
Mathias nodded and flashed him a grin along with a thumbs up just as the elevator doors opened. The Dane looked around the lobby carefully before slapping a carefree look on his face and strolling outside. Lukas exited the elevator and made sure to wait several minutes before walking to the exit. It would be the moment of truth, if whoever gave the package to Peter was watching them.
Your move… what will you do. Lukas thought, adjusting his grip on the box so that he was holding it under one arm. He knew he'd need a hand free. The magic he could always feel around him was anxious. It knew. It knew that something was going to happen and Lukas would be foolish to not admit that it worried him. Briefly, he wondered if his fellow magic users could feel it, but he didn't dwell on it. They most likely did and were probably looking out for those in their care already.
He had to get this box away from the civilians of the town they were having the meeting in. The strength of the explosive was unknown and he wasn't going to risk innocent lives because some nutjob had decided to try and kill them. But why use an explosive after shooting America… does he want us to know he's after us?
Lukas paused in an alleyway just as heard a noise from behind him and slowly looked behind him. Nothing. He waited a moment before continuing, just to make sure that no one was trying to sneak up on him, and then moved on when he didn't notice anything amiss. It was silent as he walked, the only thing he could hear—or rather, feel—was his heart pounding in his chest.
Suddenly, the magic swirled violently around him and he reacted instinctively, pulling up a barrier and spinning around, just in time to see the bullet smack into it and dissolve. In front of him, a man had a gun pointed at him, although he couldn't see any defining features of him anyway.
"God damn it!" The man swore, keeping a trained eye on the Norwegian in front of him, clearly wary of him, "Magic? I knew some of you lot used it, but I never guessed that the almighty Norway would use it. Oh wait, it's Lukas Bondevik though, right? In public at least."
So this is the man that's after us. And he does know our true identities. Both country and human. Lukas knew he had to be careful with this man. This man was dangerous and he didn't need the magic to tell him that.
"Who are you? You seem to know who we are so isn't it fair that we know you?" Lukas asked, taking a step back, the barrier staying in place as it would for as long as he focused.
"Now, now Lukas, if you find out who I am that ruins the fun." The man grinned, following Lukas' movements with his weapon. "Just know that you are going to die today."
"How do you know that? I have yet to meet a human that can see the future."
"How do I know? Well… that little 'gift' you are holding, as I'm sure you are aware, is a bomb. But you probably don't know it's trigger. So I'll tell you… if you drop that package, it'll explode."
Well that makes things a little difficult… Lukas glared at the man, looking from the corner of his eye at the package for a moment before looking back a split second later. And quickly threw up another barrier, the previous one dissipating, just as another bullet came at him. I'm at a disadvantage while he has that gun. Not an ideal situation.
The two stared at each other, in a stalemate that showed no signs of breaking. Lukas could see that the man was getting frustrated with him. Not that it bothered him at all, he was secretly hoping after all that the man would give up and leave. But it appeared that his wishful thinking was just that.
Lukas moved his hand behind his back, to conjure a spell, not breaking eye contact with his attacker. Despite being human, the man was familiar with magic, which meant that research had been done on the nations that could use it. Although he didn't know that I had magic despite knowing my name… so does he not know who the nations that can are, or is it just me?
A split second was all it took for things to go wrong. In hindsight, he would've thought things through more before attacking, but he didn't. As he cast his spell, a fire spell that snaked towards the man, the man fired his weapon. Lukas grunted as the bullet lodged itself in his abdomen and he fell to one knee, instinctively gripping the injury.
The man didn't escape unharmed however, although he tried to avoid the flames to the best of his ability. He silently glared as his skin turned a hideous shade of red from the burns. The fact that he was still smiling however had Lukas worried. Who smiled after essentially being set on fire?
"Well now, that was thrilling. A little scary even. I didn't imagine I'd have to get my hands dirty this much, but I do suppose curveballs will be thrown."
"You got a lucky shot. It won't happen again."
"Lucky? Maybe I did. But it's the only shot I really need." The man's smile grew even wider than before and he reloaded his gun.
Lukas stared, a faint crease appearing on his forehead. Is this how he killed America? With these bullets? "So this is how you killed America then? I find it hard to believe a bullet was all it took to kill him. America isn't a pushover."
"My, my, Lukas. You make my marvellous creation sound so mundane! It took some time to make and I wasn't even sure it was going to work, but it did to my surprise. And I am glad."
"What does it do?" Lukas questioned, slowly dragging himself back to his feet. The bullet made it painful to move, but he wasn't going to let it stop him. He'd had worse after all.
"Oh I think you know. You'll feel it for yourself soon enough."
"Why are you trying to kill us? We've done nothing to you."
"You've done nothing? Oh, my dear country, you've done everything. And are no longer needed in the world. I am simply relieving you of your duties." The man spat in anger, and brought the gun back up, aimed, directly at Lukas' head. "If anything, you should be grateful to me. After all, I have broken the curse of immortality you all suffer from."
"Grateful? What makes—" Lukas threw himself at the ground just moments before another bullet whizzed past him, grunting a little as pain shot through his body. He was confused about what effects he was supposed to be feeling. He felt perfectly fine, aside from the pain of course. Trying to get up revealed to be challenging, though. Five minutes ago, he would've dismissed his sluggish movements as a product of blood loss. Now, he wasn't so sure. And with only one useable hand, it was getting increasingly difficult to get back to his feet.
Lukas winced and bit his lip, finally managing to drag himself to his feet. He slumped to the side slightly as his concentration wavered for a few seconds, only to quickly push himself off the wall to avoid the next shot taken at him.
This time however, he couldn't get his feet underneath him and he fell, the box he'd been carefully holding falling and the lid coming off of it. Lukas' eyes widened slightly, and he heard rapid footsteps fleeing the scene. When he looked to the side, he didn't see the man anywhere. Guess that really was the trigger…
Lukas felt the ripple in the magic as the bomb went off a few feet away from him, and when he didn't feel any pain, he figured he'd managed to make one last spell to deaden the pain. He just wished he could've passed on the information he had learnt.
But his vision went black and he knew no more.
The elevator came to a halt, the automated voice telling them they had reached the ground floor in a language none of them spoke, but still knew what it meant. Tino was quick to walk out with Peter in his arms, and Berwald following behind silently. Emil stayed in the elevator, looking thoughtful.
"Emil?"
Berwald's voice made him jerk slightly, and he went red before leaving the elevator, having no desire to be taken back up to a different floor.
"What?"
"Is something the matter?"
Emil blinked, noting that Tino was also listening and looking concerned. Peter was still chattering at Tino about something Emil couldn't hear properly. The younger nation looked down at the ground, fiddling with the end of his suit jacket anxiously before looking over his shoulder. When he looked back, Berwald was in front of him, reaching a hand out and placing it on his shoulder.
"It was- It is a bomb in that package… right?"
"Yes." Berwald gave a small nod. "Why?"
"Then, shouldn't we tell everyone about it? Start evacuating the humans and everyone else? After all, common sense says that there could be more than one bomb. Lukas drummed it into me after- after Oslo happened."
Emil could almost see the gears turning in Berwald's head, the Swede turning and motioning Tino over to them.
"What's the matter?" Tino asked, his anxiety easily heard in his voice, if his constant looking over at Peter didn't give it away.
"Emil says there could be more bombs. That we should start getting everyone away to safety. I agree with him. We can't continue knowing that there's a bomb and doing nothing about it."
"I-I see…" Tino nodded in agreement, although Emil noticed that he still seemed reluctant to help out if it meant leaving Peter somewhere alone.
"Peter's smart, Tino. He knows something is going on. Just take him with you." Emil suggested gently. They all cared about Peter and didn't want to see him get hurt, so taking him along was the best thing they could do. "I can get the people in the hotel out if you want to go to the meeting room and do all that stuff."
"Sounds good. You'll be safe?" Berwald asked.
"Yes. I will."
Heading back to the elevator, Emil pressed the button and turned to give the two a small, rare smile. That seemed to reassure them enough, and the two left the lobby, leaving Emil on his own. The elevator doors opened again and Emil entered and pressed the button for the first floor.
The hotel they were all staying in wasn't overly large, having chosen to reside in a quieter, lesser known hotel after the incident with America. The older nations had always said that the more rundown it looked, the safer it was when you didn't want to be found. I think they were talking about bars more than hotels though, now that I think about it.
Looking at his watch, Emil noticed that the break they'd been given would be ending shortly, which meant that there was less chance of him running into the nations. But he'd still knock on every door to make sure they all got out.
The first nation he ran into was Lithuania, the normally friendly nation looking rather pensive as he explained the situation. When he had finished, Lithuania gave him a smile, "I'll start getting civilians away. Raivis and Eduard went ahead of me, so I'll go grab them and get to helping."
Emil nodded, waiting for his fellow nation to leave before going around knocking on the rest of the doors. No one answered him, so he gathered that everyone else had already left and moved onto the next floor. Empty. The next floor was the floor he and his family had stayed on, along with the German brothers. And they'd all stayed at the meeting instead of coming back.
The third floor had him running into Ivan, the tall Russian looming over him with a surprised look on his face.
"Oh hello Emil. I thought you were on the second floor?"
"I am. We're evacuating the building though. Bomb threat." Emil got straight to the point. Normally Ivan creeped him out a little, as he did most nations, but now wasn't the time for such feelings. "We're getting the nations to evacuate civilians to safety in case of more bombs."
Ivan nodded, the smile fading from his face. "I understand. That is not good to hear. Well it was just me and my sisters on this floor—and they have gone already—so I will let you finish off."
"Thank you."
The two walked into the elevator, although Emil noticed Ivan hit the button for the floor above before hitting the ground floor. Saves me some time. Once the elevator reached his floor, he left and then stopped, thinking for a moment before turning to face Ivan.
"The bomb was addressed to you. Thought you should know." Emil watched the Russian's expression shift from confusion to thoughtful and then to his characteristic smile.
"I see. Well I guess I better be careful. You be careful too Emil." Ivan gave him a smile and a wave as the doors shut and left him alone on the fourth floor.
He didn't know who had even been staying on this floor, although he had the distinct feeling it was one of his brother's friends and soon received his answer when he was knocked to the floor by a much smaller person.
"Andrei! Watch where you're going!"
Emil blinked and looked up into the wide eyes of the youngest country he'd met, Moldova, and then raised his gaze to see Moldova's older brother, Romania—or Vladimir as Emil knew him. Just behind the two brothers was Bulgaria, who was giving him a look.
"I'm so sorry Emil! Are you alright?" Vladimir's hand in front of his voice brought Emil back to the present and he nodded, allowing the former to pull him to his feet.
"I'm alright. Just surprised. You shouldn't stay long though. Bomb threat, everyone's evacuating and then helping the humans escape."
"Bomb threat? Are you sure?" Vladimir's eyes widened and he glanced back to Bulgaria, who wordlessly glided forward to scoop Moldova into his arms and moved away so he couldn't hear the conversation.
That's not weird at all… Emil briefly thought before answering, "Yes. Peter came up with a package. Mathias and Lukas recognized what it was. They have it now. But we think there could be more. So we're evacuating as many as we can."
"I understand. I have to get Andrei to safety first, but then I can help out." Vladimir moved past him and headed for the elevator, stopping before he entered it. "Arthur and Francis are on this floor with the rest of the family… you should probably leave them for now though. Clear the rest of the hotel before coming back for them."
Emil frowned, internally questioning why he couldn't go tell the British nation to get out, but Vladimir gestured for him to follow so he did. If it worked out better then so be it. He only had two more floors to check anyway.
It didn't take long for him to clear the last two floors and with that done, he headed back to the fourth floor, following the corridor down to the last room on the floor. He was about to knock when he heard shouting.
"He is not dead! You hear me! It's just some elaborate prank of his!"
"Angleterre! It says right there that he is dead! There is no regeneration, no heartbeat, nothing! He's not coming back and you need to accept that!"
There was silence, which Emil took advantage of, knocking harshly against the door. He waited patiently, the door opening a minute later. Emil blinked as Canada stared at him, his appearance dishevelled, his eyes bloodshot, and just looking exhausted. But without a word, the Canadian nation stepped aside and let him in, "I'm sorry… it's a bad time, but it seemed important."
"It is. What's happened though?" Emil was curious about the shouting he'd heard before, although seeing the devastated look Canada gave him, he regretted asking.
"Alfred is dead, that is what's happened." The silky voice of France made both nations jump and turn to the Frenchman. Emil noted that he looked just as exhausted as Canada, if not more.
"But we already knew this…"
"Sort of. How about we take a seat and I can explain?"
Soon the three nations were seated in the few chairs supplied by the hotel, and France disappeared into the bathroom, quietly speaking until he re-emerged with Arthur behind him and dragged him over to a chair.
"Isn't there more of you usually?"
"Kyle and Charles decided to stay at the meeting rather than take a lunchbreak." Arthur huffed, crossing his arms and looking away. Not before Emil could spot the tear tracks on the Brit's cheeks.
"Right… you want answers don't you, Emil?"
"That would be preferred. You already knew that… Alfred was dead." Emil made sure to use the late American's human name out of respect for him and his family, although he couldn't keep the confusion off his face.
France sighed and looked at the ground, clenching his hands together tightly before speaking. "We… we had to see for ourselves. After all, aside from the Ancient nations, none of our kind have died. Even Gilbert is still around."
"So we sent Alfred's body to be examined by a professional. Someone that knows of our existence and agreed to do whatever he could to help." Canada spoke this time, his voice tired and quiet, but somehow strong at the same time. "Although he warned us that the results might not be what we wanted to hear."
Emil nodded slowly. It did make sense for them to have sent America's body off to be examined. After all, it wasn't every day that a strange man came along and claimed that he could kill nations and then proceed to prove it. The pieces began to fit together about the yelling he had heard earlier and what he was hearing now.
"You got the results back just now… didn't you?"
"Yes." France said. "We got them back. There were no signs of life. No heartbeat, no brain activity. And no signs of regeneration from the injury that killed him. He's dead…"
The silence that followed France's words was almost suffocating, and Emil found himself looking between the three countries. Canada looked very much like his world had come to a standstill, unable to function now that his brother was gone. Arthur refused to look at the rest of them, but from the shouting he had heard before coming into the room, he gathered that the British nation was in very strong denial. France looked like he was holding it together the most, but he could see the strain on his face, the way his brow crinkled in worry whenever he glanced at the rest of his family.
The rest of the world had never stopped to think about how America's death would've affected those closest to him, and now Emil was seeing it for the first time. It was not something he liked, nor something he would ever want to experience. Emil also found it hard to speak. How could he talk to these nations, knowing that they'd just had it confirmed a member of their family was dead? What could he do, when he didn't understand the grief that they must've been going through?
What he did know, was that he had to get them to leave the building and go somewhere safe to be allowed the time they needed. But he knew he couldn't rush them. None of them seemed ready to listen.
"Do you—Do you know what killed him at least…?"
"A poison!" Arthur spoke up for the first time since Emil's arrival, his voice angry and full of despair. "A poison that stripped Alfred of his immortality. That tore through his system, leaving him no better than a human to be murdered by that piece of scum that thinks they can get away with this!"
France placed a hand on Arthur's own, gently squeezing it and also asking him to calm down. "Getting all worked up isn't going to help anyone." The Frenchman turned to Emil again, "but Arthur is right. This poison took away his ability to heal, mostly. But the coroner said it was a crudely made poison. Yes, it accomplished what it was created to do, but it has faults."
"Faults?"
"Yes… but keep in mind that Alfred was—is the only person to have gone through this. We don't know the accuracy of this information."
"Does it matter, if it saves a life from meeting the same fate as Alfred?" Emil responded harshly, flinching back when he realised how cold his words sounded.
"No, no, I suppose not." France smiled, a reassuring smile to show that he understood Emil had not meant the words to be harsh. "The basic rundown of what we were told is that the poison is like fire. It ravages the system of a nation, targeting their most vital parts. In this case, their immortality and healing ability. It then lingers in the system for a time before escaping it. Leaving the nation infected with it weakened, and helpless in front of whoever has given it to them."
Emil listened carefully, making sure he didn't miss a single word of France's explanation. This was information that could potentially save a nation's life if they were struck by the poison, and he would be sure to pass it on to any nation. Unless France and the others decided to make an announcement at the meeting after the bomb situation was over.
As he repeated the information through his head again, one part struck out to him. "You said that the poison lingers? How do you know that? Alfred's been—been dead for… a while."
"There was residue in the wound that killed him." Matthew took over from France, Emil having to lean in to hear him properly. "The coroner found an injection site where the poison must've first been injected. And then there was some found in the bullet. It had seeped out into his brain and just… killed him. There wasn't—wasn't enough residue to take a sample he said. It was evaporating into the air the moment he tried to extract any. It sounds strange I know. But we just don't understand it right now…"
"All we need to understand right now is that it's bad." Emil answered. "We're all on high alert so it's not like anyone else is going to let them self be drugged with it."
"I'm not going to rest until the bastard's been found and arrested!" Arthur finally looked at the rest of them, his earlier distress replaced with anger. "God, Alfred may have been dense at times, but he was one of the most well-meaning people out there! He just loved to help as many people he could! He didn't deserve this! And now some asshole just thinks he can come along and take him away? I don't think so! I'm—"
"Arthur, please calm down! We understand you're angry and upset, but we have to get back to the meeting now." France stood up from his seat, trying to calm Arthur down.
Arthur glared at France, while the Frenchman just stared back sympathetically. "I do understand that you don't want to go, so that you can have time to grieve. But we cannot right now. You are not the only one affected by Alfred's death remember. We have all lost someone important, together. And we'll mourn together as well. Afterwards."
The British nation glared for a moment longer, but his expression fell back into melancholy and he sagged against the chair, France sitting back down beside him.
Emil figured that now was the best time to tell them about the bomb threat, loathing to admit that he'd forgotten it in the moment he'd witnessed.
"The meeting is cancelled. That's what I came here to tell you. A bomb threat. We're evacuating everyone."
"Bomb threat? How? Who?" Canada's eyes went wide and Emil found himself explaining for what was hopefully, the last time.
"Peter came up with a package. He told us it was given to him by someone he didn't know and that he was to deliver it to Russia. Mathias and Lukas took it from him and told the rest of us to go downstairs and get out. But we came back to help get everyone out of the hotel and then get civilians evacuated. You guys are the last ones that need to leave."
"Is Peter alright?" Arthur asked.
"He's alright—he's with Tino right now."
"Was it the man that killed Alfred?"
"Excuse me?" Emil blinked, not understanding what Arthur was asking of him at first.
"Did the man that killed Alfred, give Peter the package?"
Emil opened his mouth to respond, but closed it when he realized that he didn't actually know the answer. Peter had said that it was a man that gave him the package, but he didn't say anything else about the stranger. As he thought over the conversation between the micronation and Mathias, he couldn't help the feeling of dread that began to grow.
"Yeah he did. He knew who I was too, that I was Sealand! Said that this job was a job that only I could do!"
"Did you tell him who you were or did he know who you were?"
"Uh… I—I think I might have… I don't remember properly. I'm sorry."
The words rang through his head as clear as day, their meaning clear with the information he had learnt from France.
"I—I don't know if it was him." Emil whispered, "but I believe it's highly possible that it was."
"Emil?"
Emil looked up into Arthur's concerned face, trying to recall when Arthur had gotten so close to him. It appeared that Arthur was waiting for an answer to something though, to which he just hummed in response, not knowing what had been asked in the first place.
"Emil, who has the package now?"
Eyes widening in realisation, Emil's dread turned into horror and he was sure it showed on his face. But before he could answer, a loud echoing boom sounded and the building began to shake. Emil didn't have any time to think before he was shoved into the ground, a heavy weight over the top of him, his thoughts going crazy inside his head.
Lukas had the bomb… but there's no way that it would kill him. He's a nation. He's my brother. He's strong. No way will he let something like that kill him.
He realized after a moment that the building had stopped shaking and he opened his eyes. The room appeared undamaged, only unsecured objects being shaken to the ground. Emil lifted his head, glancing to the side and seeing Arthur kneeling beside him. It must've been him that shoved me into the ground.
"Lukas had the bomb…" Emil repeated his thoughts quietly, but the silence in the room meant that the others had heard it. He also knew that the noise and shaking had been caused by it going off.
Lifting himself into a kneeling position, he hung his head, unsure of how to proceed or even if he wanted to. Worry flooded through his entire being, worry for his brother, worry for the rest of his family, and worry for what he might find if he went searching. It wasn't until he felt himself pulled to his feet that he returned to the present and looked at Arthur, who was watching him with a serious look.
"You alright?"
"Y-Yes…" Emil looked around the room and noticed that France and Canada were gone. "Where are the others?"
"They went ahead. They're going to try and help people that might've been trapped."
"What about you? Why aren't you going with them?"
Arthur didn't speak at first, just grabbing Emil's arm and dragging him out the door and towards the emergency staircase. Emil followed quietly, and it wasn't until they reached the bottom and walked outside that the British nation spoke.
"We're going to save your brother."