Chapter 7
"Matvey heard my voice?" Russia murmured, his voice causing the flustered American to stop pacing for the first time since Germany's cellphone had shut off.
"Uh..." America hesitated for a moment, wondering if he actually wanted to tell the Russian the truth. He sighed and nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, don't know why though..."
Russia's face brightened.
"So Matvey must care about me too, da?" he asked eagerly.
"Look, I don't know," the American snapped, already regretting his decision. No way in hell was he letting the commie bastard get anywhere near his little brother. "Geez, we don't even know why we hear the voices..."
"I thought you said that we hear the voices of the people we care about," Ivan pointed out, enjoying the younger country's discomfort. "That is why you heard England, da?"
Alfred blushed and glared at the Russian.
"I- shut up!" he growled. "I don't need to talk to you about that."
"So, why don't you tell him how you feel?" Russia continued, ignoring the American's words. "Surely it would be simpler to tell him, would it not?"
"No way, I would never do that to him," Alfred muttered, forgetting for the moment that he had sworn not to talk to the Russian about his relationship with England. "Ar- England hasn't loved me since before the Revolution, and even then he only thought of me as a kid... It would only hurt him if I told him how I felt."
"Ты такой идиот, " Ivan said cheerfully. "If he doesn't love you, then why did he hear your voice, Америка?"
"What are you-? Okay, can we stop talking about this?" Alfred grumbled. "Why the hell do you care about my social life, commie? Better yet, why do you care about my brother? Since when have you even noticed him?"
Russia frowned, seemingly deep in thought.
"I'm not sure," he admitted.
"I mean, you were sitting on him a few days ago, so it's not like you've been in love with him for ages, right?" America insisted.
"Da..." The Russian admitted, his brow still furrowed. "I don't know," he admitted. "I just know that lately I haven't been forgetting him like before... Is it the stress that's getting to me?"
"How the hell should I know?" The American snapped. "I'm not a freaking expert on relationships! God, why does Mattie have to keep attracting the weird ones? It's bad enough that Prussian bastard keeps stalking him..."
"Prussia?" Russia interrupted, his violet eyes abruptly alert. "Prussia is in love with my Matvey as well?"
"I'm not saying he's in love with him, I'm just saying he keeps showing up at Mattie's house at all hours. And what do you mean 'my Matvey'? He's not your anything!"
"Wirst du den Mund halten?" a deep voice snapped, interrupting the two nations. "Mein Gott... Even Italy isn't this annoying!"
The two nations whirled around, their eyes focusing on the German as he struggled painfully to his feet.
"Where are we?" Germany demanded, his blue eyes fierce. "And where is Italy?"
Japan stopped a few feet away from the barrier, his brown eyes staring sightlessly through the glowing wall. He flinched when France's voice called out England and Canada's names a few feet away and unconsciously slipped deeper into the shadows of a nearby tree. He supposed he was also looking for the missing countries, after all he owed it to Germany to find the clueless Italian that had become their mutual friend over the years, but at the moment he couldn't bring himself to move. Too much had happened in the past few days, and this latest development had nearly overwhelmed the quiet nation. Of course, it couldn't be enough for the heavens to take away most of his siblings. No, that hadn't been enough for the gods. They had had to take away his closest friends, had left him lying awake at night worrying about the fate of another quiet country who hadn't been mentioned by the others, whose absence had barely been noticed by anyone other than the Japanese man.
Kiku sighed and leaned back against the tree as weariness overwhelmed him. It was too much... he couldn't take this anymore. He wondered dimly how long it would be before he actually snapped from the stress. Would he break down into hysterics or would he simply go on a murderous rampage until Switzerland shot him down? Kiku was almost hoping for the latter- even if he couldn't truly die, it would be worth the pain to get a few blissful hours of oblivion before he regenerated...
"Meow."
Kiku blinked and glanced down in the direction of the cry that had broken through his dark thoughts. A calico cat stared back at him, its green eyes strangely alert as it pawed at the nation's pant leg. Japan's eyes narrowed and he knelt down until he was face-to-face with the cat. He hesitated for a moment before reaching out to pet the animal.
"Where did you come from,ちょっと猫?" he murmured.
The cat mewed quietly and arched its back, causing something to slip off of its slender shoulders. Japan frowned and picked up the object, his eyes widening when he saw what it was. He brushed his shaking fingers along the edge of the silky red-brown cat ears, his mind immediately going back to when he had last seen it.
"Am I... Am I a cat now?" Green eyes met brown tentatively beneath mussed dark hair as the two nations watched each other.
Kiku felt his cheeks burn and ducked his head in a nod, his eyes locked on his companion to see the other country's reaction.
The Greek smiled and reached up to brush his hands against the ears.
"Cool," he murmured.
"Heracles..." Kiku whispered, his voice almost cracking as he allowed his lover's name to slip from his lips. What did this mean? Had the Grecian country been captured after all or was this merely a sign that Heracles was safe?
The Japanese man turned back to the cat, his brown eyes narrowing as he stroked the animal once again.
"Where did you come from?" he whispered.
The feline mewed and darted out from under the tree towards the barrier. It paused a few inches from the barrier and glanced over its shoulder at Kiku, its emerald eyes expectant.
"You want me to follow you?" The nation wondered. He hesitated for a moment before taking a step towards the cat.
"Japan!"
Kiku jumped and turned around, his gaze zeroing in on Switzerland as the blonde country detached himself from the trees.
"What are you doing?" The Swiss demanded angirly.
Japan motioned towards the cat that was still waiting patiently beside the barrier.
"The cat was sent by Greece," he murmured. "I'm going to find him."
"We can't leave here, it's not safe," Switzerland snapped.
"Vash," Kiku sighed. "We can't stay here forever. England, Canada, and the Italians realized that, and it's about time that the rest of us stepped up. We can't just leave our fellow countries to the mercy of aliens, especially those that we love."
Vash's cheeks reddened slightly and he looked away, his eyes narrowing.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he growled. "There is no one besides Liechtenstein that I-."
"Actually, I was talking about myself," Japan interrupted, slightly amused. "But I suppose I should have remembered your feelings for Roderich..."
"Shut up," Switzerland growled. He sighed and ran a hand through his hand. "I want to go after the others as much as you do," he admitted. "But... I can't let Lila get involved. She's not a fighter."
"Neither are the Italians," Japan pointed out quietly.
Vash glared at him and sighed.
"Fine," he muttered resignedly. "Where is that cat going to lead us?"
"No idea," Kiku admitted. "But it's our only way of finding the others."
Vash nodded and looked back towards his house.
"We need to tell the others," he murmured. "China and France will want to come with us."
"And your sister?" Japan prompted.
Vash flinched and turned away.
"I- I need to keep her safe," he murmured. "She will stay here, whether she wants to or not."
"Where is that bastard Spain?" Romano growled.
Prussia rolled his eyes and continued to push ahead through the trees. Damn, he had almost forgotten how annoying the Italian could be.
"He'll catch up," he snapped. "We need to keep moving."
"Ve~ where are we going?" the younger Italian wondered. "We're supposed to be looking for Germany!"
"West can take care of himself," Prussia growled. "We need to worry about ourselves for the moment."
"Pr'ss," Sweden muttered. "I h'r s'mth'n."
"What?" Gilbert glanced around them, his hand tightening on his silver pistol. "Where?"
"Th'r," the Swede pointed silently at a copse of trees ahead of them just as a dark-haired Spaniard stumbled into their path, his hands clutching a bloodied silver battle ax as if his life depended on it.
Spain smiled tiredly at the other countries, his tanned skin coated in dirt and dried blood.
"Hola," he whispered hoarsely. "Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah-" Prussia began, only to be interrupted by a furious cry from the eldest Italian.
"Spagna!" Romano yelled. "Bastardo!" The angry Italian launched himself at the Spaniard, his arms wrapping around the other country's waist in a death grip.
Spain staggered and glanced down at Romano in surprise, his green eyes suddenly soft.
"Ah, mi tomatito, Lovi!" he murmured. "Were you worried about me? It's okay, I'm fine!"
"Shut up," Romano growled. "I wasn't worried about you, bastard. And I don't believe you, you never tell anyone when you're hurt."
"He's right," Prussia interrupted. "You look like hell, Antonio. What happened?"
Spain grimaced delicately and glanced down at his soiled clothing in embarrassment.
"The aliens found me while they were looking for you," he admitted. "I held them off for as long as I could to give you time so that you could get away."
"Bastard," Romano growled. "What the hell were you thinking? Why didn't you tell anyone you were okay? Fratello and France were worried sick about you..."
"Ve~ Romano was worried too!" Italy interrupted. "He's just too shy to say it."
"Shut up, Feliciano!"
Antonio beamed and pulled Lovino closer to him, ignoring the pain that lanced through his wounded side at the movement.
"Esta bien, Lovi!" he sighed. "I'm so sorry that I made you worry!"
"Bastard..." Romano muttered, his cheeks red with embarrassment. He glanced up at the Spaniard, his eyes narrowing when he saw the country wince. "You are hurt, aren't you? Bastard Spagna... Just tell someone, will you?"
"We should keep moving," Prussia sighed. "Romano, since you obviously won't be able to keep your hands off of Antonio, you help him. The rest of you, keep moving."
"I would like to know exactly where we are headed," England snapped irritably from behind Canada. "I know we need to stay safe, but Germany and America are still being held captive."
"So is Russia," Canada added.
"Right..." The British man glanced at the Canadian and shook his head before continuing. "I won't leave them with those bloody aliens much longer, Prussia. I'll go alone if I have to, but I'm getting America and the others out of there."
"Don't you think we all want to do the same?" Gilbert snapped, his red eyes flashing dangerously. "Do you think that you're the only one with a loved one missing? My little brother is being held captive with your boyfriend, and Sweden doesn't even know if Finland is still alive."
"Si, and Gilbert is worried about Elizaveta, too," Antonio added, his voice cracking slightly with pain as Lovino helped him to his feet. "Gracias, Lovi."
"Elizaveta?" Canada repeated. "Hungary?"
The albino blushed and glared at Spain, who smiled at him innocently.
"Ja, he muttered. "I'm looking for Liz, too."
The Canadian nodded slowly, remembering the times that he had caught Prussia watching Hungary argue with her ex-husband during the world meetings.
"Why didn't you ever tell her that you loved her?" he wondered aloud.
Prussia's blush deepened. He looked down at his feet, refusing to meet anyone's eyes.
"Couldn't..." he grumbled. He cleared his throat and pushed forward again, his expression hardening. "Come on," he growled. "We're heading in the direction of the aliens' mother ship. Sweden here said that it came back here once the bastards realized that they had missed a few countries."
"What do they want with us?" England hissed.
"Your power."
The countries jumped as a new voice joined in the conversation and turned around to face the newcomer. There was dead silence for a long moment as they stared at the man that seemed to have materialized out of nowhere. Then:
"Opa?" Prussia gasped.
Germania looked at his grandson, his blue eyes unreadable.
"Hallo, Preußen," he greeted flatly. "Rome told me that you would need my help."
Yeah... don't own the awesome Prussia, Spain, Germania... Man, I don't own any of them...
Okay, so I don't know if I'll be able to get another chapter in before I leave (I'm going to visit Arthur in a few days, hahaha!), but I'll see what I can do. And, I got my driver's license yesterday! Yes! Help me celebrate, show your love for Hetalia and review! Hahaha! (Yes, I just had an America moment). And, of course, let me know if I'm doing anything wrong. Also, as you may have noticed, I'm adding pairings other than RussCan and USUK. These are all of my favorite pairings, so sorry if I make anyone angry, it's just what I prefer.
Thanks to all of the people who read/reviewed this story! You all rock!
Translations:
Ты такой идиот- You are such an idiot
Wirst du den Mund halten?- Will you shut up?
ちょっと猫- Little cat
Esta bien- It's okay
Gracias- Thank you
Hallo Preußen- Hello Prussia