Chapter 8:

The first thing that Canada thought of when he woke up was that all, if not most, of the nations were here or, at least, in their way. Things looked like they were going greatly, but they weren't. It didn't give Canada enough time to do what he wanted to do. He needed to think of a plan, and he needed to think of it fast.

Things seemed to be getting along better. Raivis seemed to be in a better mood. Danica had gone back to reading the symbols on the small hole next to the gazebo. Peter and Gilbert messed around with each other, and Raivis would watch quietly. Katyusha stayed inside the gazebo, thinking.

Danica stood up after a few minutes and sighed. 'That's just great,' She thought sourly. She looked at the guys and muttered, "I better not tell them now. They don't need to know now." She sighed again and looked at Katyusha. As selfish as it might sound, Danica was glad to have another girl here. She was getting tired of hanging out with all the boys. She dearly did hope that no one else came here. She couldn't stand another innocent person being here. It just wasn't right.

Katyusha seemed to be in a sad mood. Danica felt like she could literally see it. "Kat, are you okay?" She called out and started making her way inside the gazebo. Katyusha looked up. There were mixed feelings in her eyes, but Danica could see they were all negative.

"Oh, I'm fine. Thank you for asking, Dani dear," Ukraine gave a small laugh.

Danica pouted, "You're not fooling anyone, Kat." She entered the gazebo and sat next to Katyusha, "Tell me what's on your mind."

Katyusha looked at Danica for a few seconds and remained quiet, but then she looked down. "Please tell me the truth. What's going on? Where am I? Why is it that I don't feel pain? My back doesn't hurt anymore…"

"Kat…" Danica put a hand on her friend's shoulder. Katyusha looked up a little. Danica could see the tear on the Ukrainian's eyes and how she was biting her lower lip, like if she was trying to hold back a sob.

"Matvey… What did he do to me? Why do I feel so betray? So angry, and yet so sad…? Why… Why do I feel pity for both him and me?" She looked at Danica and a tear fell from her eye.

Danica looked down. "Kat… I guess there really isn't any sense in hiding it anymore," She looked at Katyusha with a serious face, "Kat, you're in the middle of Heaven and Earth. Canada… He took your life away."

Katyusha's eyes widened, and she looked away. "No, it can't be. I thought… I thought he was my friend," Katyusha put a hand over her mouth as tears fell down her face.

"Yeah, Gilbert also thought he was his friend," Danica said softly, "and looked where he is now." She opened her mouth again but quickly closed it. She was about to mention Alfred, but she remembered that nobody had mentioned Alfred being here to Katyusha.

Katyusha didn't say anything. It seemed like she didn't hear what Danica said. "I'm dead," Katyusha mumbled, and Danica nodded. Katyusha looked at Danica, "We all are. Gilbert, Peter, Raivis, and you… all murdered…"

Danica nodded again, "All by Canada…"

Katyusha's eyes hardened, "Why? Why did he do all this? Why us? Why anyone for that fact?"

Danica couldn't remember the last time Katyusha got this worked up. She stayed calm though, "These are questions I cannot answer, Kat, for I don't have the answer."

Katyusha calmed down a bit, "Yes, I'm sorry I asked you so many questions. I wasn't thinking straight. This all just, came at once, you know." She chuckled sheepishly.

Danica nodded, "It's understandable." They both stayed quiet after that and looked at the boys play. The atmosphere had change to autumn, and the leaves of trees were falling. It created a lovely feeling. Gilbert and Peter were throwing leaves at each, and Raivis looked at them play. He would laugh every once in a while.

Gilbert had thrown a ball of leaves to Peter, and it exploded on the smaller boy's face. "Hey!" Peter had cried.

"Ha-ha! Suck it, loser!" Gilbert laughed at him before being attacked by Peter.

The whole interaction made Danica giggle. "We're trying to make the best of our situation here, Kat," Danica still had a smile on her face. Katyusha looked at her. "None of us are very happy that we're here, but there really isn't anything we can do. We can just come back to life, you know. But, well… What can we do? We try to have fun. We try to keep up with what's currently happening on Earth. We try to get along," Danica sighed, "we all have one thing in common right now: hope. Hope is all we have. Hope that those back home will notice absence. Hope that Canada will get captured. Hope that, soon, we'll get out of here and go to a better place." Danica grinned.

Katyusha smiled, "Yeah… I guess you're right."

Danica stood up and offered her hand to Katyusha, "Yep, so… would you like to join the boys in their game?"

Katyusha let out a small laugh, took Danica's hand, and stood up, "Sure, let's go." They started to run towards the boys.

It was about ten in the morning when Canada finished eating his breakfast. He had decided to make some scrambled eggs for France to eat. After all, he didn't want France to die just yet. The eggs were done carelessly. They were a bit burnt and salty, but Canada didn't care. He wasn't the one eating them in the first place. Before he left the house, he placed some sea lion meat in the living room, where Kumajirou slept the night. That was rare, since Kumajirou always seemed to come upstairs and sleep on Canada's bed, or at least room. Canada had decided to not think much about and left it alone.

After he was done, Canada went back to the kitchen, grabbed the scrambled eggs, and headed out the door.

"Wake up. Wake up, Papa! Wake up!"

It sounded all muffled at first, but then it got clearer. France slowly fluttered his eyes opened. He blinked a couple of time so his vision could get clarified. When his vision didn't clarify, he gasped softly. He had completely forgotten about his damaged. Either that or he hoped it was all a dream. He looked up at the extremely blurry figure that was Canada. He couldn't see the boy's facial expression, or if he even had glasses on. It deeply scared France.

Canada kneeled down in front of France, "I made you some breakfast. Be lucky I decided to be that nice." His tone of voice was as cold as ice. France nodded. He didn't want to make Canada angry. He wasn't up to it. He was tired and exhausted, and he just wanted to go home. He was hungry and thirsty. He felt icky and disgusting. He has not taken a shower in how long? He would bet that his stubble wasn't even a stubble anymore.

"Open up," Canada did neutrally, and France obeyed. He was fed something disgusting. It was salty and burnt. It was almost as bad as England's food, but France swallowed it nonetheless. He was starving, and he was done disobeying. He ate every bite. He thought to himself that he could get used to it. He was already (almost) used to this disgusting place. He was already used to sleepless nights filled with nightmares. He was used to the horrible smell, tearless cries, and the constant fear of death… The list could go on. This was nothing.

Canada stood up. "Okay," He said. "You have gained some favour by obeying me, but you're still on thin ice. I still won't forgive you for trying to escape," He grumbled the last part. With that, he walked away. When France heard the door of the shed close, he took a deep breath and coughed it out. Suddenly, tears started falling out of his eyes, and he didn't know why. He didn't feel like crying. France brought his knees close to his chest and rested his head on them. He didn't make a sound. Instead, he just let these tears fall.

Canada entered his house and sighed. He was happy France ate, but he was sad that France didn't talk to him. It kind of sucked. Canada shrugged, 'Whatever…' He went to the living room and sat down on a chair next to the window.

Canada started to think about what he could do to keep what he was doing going. Canada spared a glance towards Kumajirou. The bear still had not woken up. It made Canada sigh. 'At least, he's not bothering me,' He mused. He then kept thinking of a plan.

It took him about thirty minutes to finally accept a plan. It had been bouncing in his head since the beginning of thinking, but Canada thought it was too stupid for anyone to believe. Then after minutes of thing, he had given up and had decided to go with the plan. He'll just delay the meeting three weeks. It was a piece of cake. And besides, nations will believe anything. Nations with jetlag will believe even more.

Not willing to really speak to anyone today, Canada took out his phone and sent everyone the same email. It was simple yet professional. He could do the small details later. He could ignore the complains from all the nations. For now, he kicked his feet up and relaxed.

England had just entered his hotel room. He was purely exhausted. He threw his things to the side and threw himself to the bed. "Oh God, I'm so bloody tired," He groaned and hugged his pillow. "Last time I get on a plane with a bunch of strangers," He mumbled, completely knowing that he was lying to himself. He didn't have the energy to think about what will happen in the meeting. He was too tired to care.

When he was about to completely fall asleep, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. England groaned and took the phone out of his pocket. "Message from Canada, blah, blah, blah, world meeting, blah, blah, blah, moved? Um, okay…? 'The world meeting will now be held three weeks from now…' Blah, blah, blah…" England read the letter and let go of his phone. The phone fell on the bed with a small thud. The email didn't really say why, but like it was said before, England was too tired to care. He could go ask Canada later. Yeah… After a five minute nap, he'll go talk to Canada.

It was around three in the afternoon when Canada heard a knock on the door. He had put the book on the sofa next to him and went to open the door. It was England on the other side. "Oh, E-England, I didn't expect y-you here," Canada put on the stuttering, shy façade.

"Oh, yes, I meant to call," England looked down, "but I'm afraid that didn't happen."

"Oh, no, it's okay," Canada smiled. "Please, come in. Would I interest you with something?"

England walked into the house, "Some tea would be lovely, thank you."

Canada nodded and smiled, "You're welcome. Please make yourself comfortable and sit down somewhere in the living room."

England nodded, "Okay." He started walking to the living room, and Canada went to the kitchen.

Canada came back with two tea cups to the living room and gave one to England. He then sat down a chair across the Brit, "So what can I help you with, because I'm pretty sure you didn't come here casually?"

England took a sip of his tea, "It's true. I just came to ask you some things."

"Ask ahead then," Canada motioned him with his hand.

England nodded, "Okay. Now, why is it that the meeting was held back?"

Canada shrugged, and with some hesitation, he said, "My boss told me to hold it back. I'm not sure why." It was a pretty good excuse.

England narrowed his eyes, "That so?"

Canada nodded, "Yeah, I have no reason to lie." He then narrowed his eyes to England, "Anything else?"

England nodded and took a sip of his tea, "Yes, any idea where America might be? I've been trying to contact him for a while now?"

"No," Canada took a sip of his tea and focused on it, "I have also been trying to contact him for a while, and I have no luck."

England nodded and put his tea down, "You know Canada. Most of the time, I can tell if someone's lying to me, and I don't like it."

Canada frowned, "And?"

"You're lying," England murmured. "Your voice would get high, hesitation, avoiding eye contact… I could be wrong, but… I doubt it. So what do you know? What's the truth?"

Canada stood up, "Excuse me for a second." He started walking past England and out of the living room. He was not planning on doing this. England was not really on his list, but now he is in first place. Canada couldn't have anyone suspecting him of anything, and now England was, and that was a bad thing.

Canada headed to the garage and took an old bat he had there. 'I didn't want to do England,' Canada thought as he walked back into the house, 'Not yet at least.' He slowly headed back to the living room. He knew he would not have any problems with taking England out of the house. When Kumajirou woke up, the bear decided to go upstairs and do whatnot. If Canada was fast enough, Kumajirou would not catch him.

He entered the living room and saw England drinking tea. Canada was facing England's back, so England probably didn't know he was in the room. Step by step, he moved closer to England and put the bat in position. Once he was close enough, Canada swung the bat just as England noticed there was a presence behind him and was turning his head.

The Brit probably didn't know what hit him, because as soon the bat made contact with his head, a crack was heard and England fell to the ground unconscious. Canada laughed and walked to England. He kicked the older nation twice to make sure he was unconscious. After that, Canada grabbed England bridal style and head out the front door.

What's this? Two chapters of the same story in one week? What kind of sorcery is this? Surely a sign of the apocalypse!

Hehe… I've gotten recent inspiration for this story. I wrote this chapter all last night until four in the morning. Each chapter is supposed to be at least one thousand words long. This chapter went way over that limit. I think we might be past the middle of the story. Either that or we're very close to it. I'm proud of myself.