"Vietnam!"
Vietnam fluttered her eyes open, wincing at the bright sunlight shining down on her face. After a couple of moments staring up at the sky, she started to feel the bitter cold beginning to seep into her. She struggled to get herself up from the snow-covered ground, but it seemed that she had absolutely no energy to even blink much less pick herself up.
Come on Lien you can do this! You went through countless wars, and you're going to let this stop you?
With a fresh wave of determination overcoming her weariness, she somehow managed to prop herself up with her elbow.
"Ok Lien," whispered Vietnam, "just a little bit more."
Not noticing a petite figure sprinting towards her like a charging bull, Vietnam was finally able to stand up though shakily.
Bam!
After all that effort, Vietnam was knocked back down onto the cold, unforgiving ground thanks to none other than Taiwan herself.
"Noooo," cried Vietnam underneath the many layers of Taiwan's outfit.
Her ability to speak was cut off as soon as Taiwan pulled Vietnam into a tight embrace. Not a moment too soon, Vietnam could feel Taiwan's tears drop onto her head.
"W-why did you have to disappear like that?" questioned Taiwan, "Did you know how worried all of us were for the past two days? Don't even get me started on Big Brother. He was so worried that-"
Vietnam cut off Taiwan with a rare hug of her own, and the two just sat there in peaceful silence.
A few minutes later, Vietnam pulled away from Taiwan and said, "So, you want to know why I disappeared without you being all loud?"
"Yes please," eagerly answered Taiwan with curiosity and worry in her dark, brown eyes.
"Well, it all started with two idiots and a piggy back ride..."
And so, Vietnam retold the tale of how she and the other group of countries ended up getting lost in the snow-covered forests of Northern Sweden.
After Vietnam finished off with her disappearing into nothingness, Taiwan was left stupefied with awe and somewhat angery. She couldn't believe that this whole mess was due to the competitive streak of Prussia.
Taiwan inhaled the crisp, cold air to calm herself down. As much as she wanted to punch Prussia's face in, wherever he is, she was just grateful that Vietnam was alive and okay-ish.
"So," said Taiwan after she calmed herself down, "we better get into the house before you catch a cold."
She noticed Vietnam's sodden, blue ao dai and damp hair, and she decided the next best thing was to practically give Vietnam a piggy back ride.
"What are you doing Mei?" questioned Vietnam who was already being carried on Taiwan's small back. "We're going to end up in the hospital if you keep this up! Honestly, I'm too big for you to give me a piggyback ride."
Taiwan just ignored Vietnam,and continued to sprint across Finland and Sweden's front yard, not noticing Prussia who was lying face flat on the ground and obviously passed out.
As soon as Taiwan reached the front door of the cottage, she immediately was welcomed into the cottage by a concerned-looking Finland.
"Are you two going to be ok?" inquired Finland who noticed that Taiwan looked very out of breath, and that Vietnam looked like she was about to puke her guts out.
"Y-yeah w-w-we'll be fine," replied Vietnam who shakily slid off of Taiwan's back, and was trying to regain her balance.
"Vietnam!"
Upon hearing the sound of her name being shouted out, Vietnam swiveled her head in the direction of the source of the voice, only to see that the very source was a blue and white blur running straight towards.
Willing herself to move, she managed to take one step until the blur pulled her into a hug. Forcing her head up from the bunches of white fabric, she looked up to see that Korea's bright eyes were brimming with tears. Vietnam suddenly felt shame wash over her when she thought about how the others were worried about her for the past two days.
"Why did you disappear like that Vietnam?" whimpered Korea, pulling her closer to give her an even tighter hug.
"Well," began Vietnam, struggling to breath, "we can start off with you letting me go."
"Right," said Korea with a sheepish look on his face.
After she was released from Korea's bear hug, Vietnam once again recounted the story of how she ended up disappearing.
"And that's how I ended up getting lost," concluded Vietnam, lazily lying around on the sofa finally feeling replenished.
Looking over to see how Korea was doing, she saw that Korea had a still, calm look on his face almost too calm. Vietnam felt a prick of surprise in her chest seeing Korea like that. The only time she saw him with that air of absolute calmness was the moment when he and North Korea announced to the world that they weren't a unified country anymore.
She was shaken from her thoughts when Korea approached her with eyes filled with absolute rage.
"Hey Vietnam," began Korea with no hint of laughter or cheerfulness in his voice,"do you know where Prussia might be?"
"Yeah!" interjected China who jumped out of his hiding place behind a conveniently placed potted plant. "Show me where the idiot is! Oh I can't wait to see how he will look like after I introduce my wok to him."
"Same here," said Hong Kong who popped up from his very own hiding spot with Thailand looking all murderous . "I hope he likes a healthy dose of punches."
"Yes, I can't wait to use my muay thai to good use ana."
Vietnam could literally feel the comfy atmosphere turn into something full of darkness and rage. She nervously shifted around her seat, not knowing what to do with a room full of countries who were ready to kill.
"Hey you guys," said Taiwan who rushed over to the living room area, "even though Prussia was idiot and all that, don't just kill him outright. You all know that it wasn't just Prussia's fault. No offense Vietnam, but you kind of agreed to get lost too."
Focusing her gaze on the immaculate, white carpet, Vietnam just shook her in agreement, not wanting to meet anyone's eyes or say anything else to make the situation worse.
"We know but-," answered China who was cut off by the front door being forcefully slammed shut.
Everyone present in the living room twisted their heads to see what other commotion has come about.
"Hey losers," shouted Prussia with clumps of snow stuck to his face, "the awesome Prussia has arrived!"
While Prussia was looking all shiny and sparkly, four bloodthirsty countries came at him at top speed. Korea with a longsword that he pulled out within the sleeves of his hanbok, China with his gigantic wok, and Hong Kong and Thailand with their respective martial arts styles.
This is not going to be good. thought Vietnam, giving Prussia a look of pity. She knew that inevitably, he was going to get beaten up by any of those four the moment he stepped foot in that cottage. As much as she wanted to help the poor sap out, those four were too fast and angry to deal with especially in her current state.
Everything seemed to be all in slow motion as soon as the first punch was made on Prussia's sparkly face. She could practically see the waves of impact on Prussia's cheek. After that, everything went downhill for Prussia. Vietnam turned away from the violent scene, not wanting to look at the process of how Prussia gets beaten up by four guys.
Glancing over at the staircase, she saw that Taiwan was huddling next to Japan who had his arms wrapped protectively around the trembling nation. Vietnam could hear the faint reassurances Japan was giving to Taiwan amongst the number of profanities and grunts coming from the front door.
Noticing that Vietnam was too close to the action, Japan quickly beckoned her over to the staircase. She immediately complied, and in no time, she went over to help Japan with Taiwan.
"Mei," began Vietnam, looking down at Taiwan with a look of concern, "it's going to be alright. You know that we don't die so easily, so be brave."
Upon hearing Vietnam's reassuring words, Taiwan nervously looked up from Japan's chest, and gave the other female nation a reluctant smile.
"Now there's the smile we all know" said Vietnam with a soft smile gracing her face, "let's get going before everything starts to get out of hand."
The two other countries both nodded their heads in agreement, and they quickly went up the stairs. As Vietnam followed suit, she looked over at the situation for one final time, and she winced at the amount of damage the others did on Prussia.
His body was covered with all sorts of bruises, slashes, and patches of blood. Even with all the wounds, he was still braving each attack as if they were the light punches of a flailing baby. She searched his face to see if he even felt any sort of anger towards the group of countries beating him. In the end, she only saw a look of absolute resignation on his face.
Vietnam saw that Prussia noticed her, and she was now looking into the ruby, red depths of his eyes. She didn't see any hint of resentment or anger towards her. Rather, his eyes had a slight gleam to them. Vietnam didn't know what that meant. Instead, she gave him one last apologetic look, and made her way up the stairs feeling ever so guilty.
As she continued her trek towards her room, she noticed that Japan and Taiwan were still hugging each other. Vietnam could feel her inner fangirl trying to takeover, but she quickly suppressed it, not wanting the others to see her act like a squealing Justin Bieber fan.
"Are you guys done with your hugging now?" asked Vietnam who was awkwardly shifting from one foot to the next.
Looking up at the two, she saw that they both had light pink blushes taking over their cheeks, and Vietnam couldn't help but inwardly smile at how cute they were.
"Uh Vietnam," questioned Taiwan who was know Japan-less, "are you alright?"
Shaking away at the dopey look on her face, Vietnam replied, "Yeah Mei, I'm quite alright thank you very much. We should probably get in."
"Err yeah."
The two awkwardly shuffled into their room, and went over to their respective beds.
Plopping onto the mounds of plush pillows, Vietnam asked, "How worried was everyone?"
"Well," began Taiwan who was settling into her bed, "China was cursing everything from the forests to the world economy. While Italy was blubbering in a corner, and Romano was cursing more colorfully than Big Brother. Finland kept going on and on about how this whole mess was his fault, and Sweden was there comforting Finland with his weird stares. Oh, and everyone else went out for a search party for a total of eight hours of nonstop searching. So yeah, pretty worried."
"Pretty worried? More like extremely worried sick." Vietnam decked underneath her covers, trying to block out all the shame with darkness.
"Hey," said Taiwan, sitting onto Vietnam's bed, "don't be like that. It's not like everyone will form an angry mob at you,and chase after you with pitchforks."
Vietnam tensed up when Taiwan gave her a hug, but gave up after a few moments, not wanting to waste anymore energy on this.
"All better?" questioned Taiwan after their sisterly hug.
Vietnam poked her head out of her covers, and gave her terse nod before leaping off of the bed.
Taiwan was clueless as to why the Vietnamese nation leapt out of the bed so suddenly, but her questions were soon quieted when she saw what Vietnam was after.
It was none other than her long lost paddle that Vietnam assumed disappeared back in the forest. After finally having it in her arms once again, Vietnam couldn't help but simply hug her beloved paddle.
"I can't believe it was here all this time," whispered Vietnam incredulously. "I thought I lost it out there in the forest."
"Alrightie Vietnam," began Taiwan who couldn't help but feel a little weirded out about Vietnam's attitude towards her paddle, "I think it's best to go out,and see if everything is ok for now."
Taiwan could see Vietnam visibly tense from the thought of seeing the very people who were worried sick about her.
"Do I really have to go?" questioned Vietnam apprehensively, "I'm afraid no one would want to see my face after what just happened."
"Nonsense Vietnam," reassured Taiwan who was pushing an unwilling Vietnam out the door, "I know that everyone will be very glad that you are safe and sound."
"Pfft yeah right. I bet that they're all waiting for me, ready to pounce on me for I made them go through."
Exiting out of her room, Vietnam was shocked to see that everyone was standing in front of her room, and surprisingly, with relieved looks and happy smiles, not pitchforks and torches.
"Ohonhon. Did I hear pounce on? I would gladly pounce on you mon chérie."
"Shut up you bloody frog!" shouted England at a smirking France,"God, why do you have to be so damn perverted?"
Feigning shock, France replied, "What do you mean perverted? Why this is merely a declaration of love!"
"How the hell is pouncing someone a declaration of love?"
"Could you two just fucking shut up!" interjected Romano whose face was turning into a lovely shade of red. "I fucking swear, you two keep bitching about the stupidest shit."
"Eh Lovi," reprimanded Spain, "don't curse like that. It's not good for you."
"Oh shut the fuck up you tomato bastard," responded Romano, " and don't call me Lovi!"
"Aww you're turning into a little tomato! I just want to pinch your cheeks."
"Sh-shut up!"
"I love pasta!" shouted Italy out of no where.
"Ok ok," shouted Vietnam who was almost fed up with everything, "what is going on here?"
Quickly walking up to her with a tray of fresh cookies, Finland replied, "Well since we are all so glad that you came back, we decided that we should welcome you back with hugs and cookies."
He promptly placed the tray of aromatic cookies into her hands, and gave her a warm smile.
"Wait," began Vietnam, confusion beginning to cloud her face, "you guys aren't mad at me?"
"Why should we mad at you?" questioned Finland with an equally confused look gracing his face. "If anything, we should all take care of you with hot soup, and DVDs of Moomin."
"Yeah," agreed Sealand who was holding his own tray of cookies though slightly burnt, "Me and Mum should take care of you, and then you can recognize me as a country, I mean so you can get some rest."
The crowd of countries also reassured that they weren't mad at Vietnam at all. Just knowing that everyone wasn't mad at her made Vietnam feel slightly better about the whole situation.
"You guys," said Vietnam with tears in the corner of her eyes, " I thank you for your efforts in finding me, and yes America and France, you too."
She looked over at the two said nations to see that they were sniffling like they were seeing the moment Jack died in Titanic.
"Group hug!" shouted Italy once again.
As everyone started to come at her with open arms, Vietnam immediately switched herself out with Taiwan, thus freeing herself from even more bear hugs.
"You owe me big time Vietnam," sputtered Taiwan who was trying to regain her breath.
"Yeah yeah," replied Vietnam with a hint of laughter in her voice, "I owe you one."
After the hug fest was over with, everyone decided to get some much needed rest for the new day.
As soon as Vietnam heard the final door closed shut, she quietly crept towards the staircase. She was nervous as to what she will stumble upon in the living room. Thoughts of a dead Prussia kept popping up in her erratic mind. Those thoughts sure helped with how she stealthy she was.
Finally reaching the bottom of the stairs, she saw the most strangest site she has seen out of all the events of today.
Indeed it was so strange that it will be explained next time~
How do you love that nice cliff hanger? XD Anyway, I'm so sorry I haven't updated in like...a month! I had so much to do since I'm just a student managing with all that school crap. Well, I'm free now free from a horrible study schedule, so that means I'm able to post new chapters every week again! Also, you can expect three more updates by the end of this weekend that's for sure. So, have a beautiful day and night, and see you in a couple of hours. :D
