Chapter 13 of Hetalia: Paint it Black
Once the girls and few boys regained consciousness, they joined the other nations in the conference room. Matea soon joined them as well, and the only one absent was Japan.
"How is he?" China asked.
"He'll be fine." Matea said. "He just needs to rest."
With a sigh of relief, China was then pounced on by South Korea, who proclaimed to have been extremely worried about the eldest nation.
"I mean, you could've DIED!" he wailed. "Seriously!"
All the nations laughed at Korea's antics and proceeded to ask the girls if they remembered anything that had happened on the battlefield. None of them remembered much; except Canada, who was the only one who remained conscious even after he was stabbed by a Daemon; and that Daemon being Yutarou.
And speaking of Yutarou…
"Where is he anyway?" Canada asked, looking around the room.
"I think Ren said he'd head outside for some air." Matea said. "He still might be outside."
"I'm going to go look." Canada said, and headed out with Kumajiro in his arms.
It wasn't long before Canada found the young Daemon perched on a large rock in the garden, enjoying the sight of all the flowers and trees. He was in his child form, wearing the outfit Hungary had made for him that resembled Sealand's; if Canada had had a camera at that moment, he definitely would've taken a picture.
"You like it out here?" he asked, getting Yutarou's attention. The young Daemon nodded.
"It reminds me of Mother's garden back home." He said. "It was very big and filled with flowers of all kinds. Most days I'd just sit and admire them, and some days I'd pick some for her."
"Back home? Where is that?" Canada asked.
"Many worlds away." Yutarou said. "…It's felt like forever since I've been there. But we go back occasionally. Like a vacation."
"What is it like?" Canada asked, sitting next to Yutarou on the rock, Kumajiro wandering off into the flowers. "Is it beautiful?"
"Beautiful doesn't begin to describe it." Yutarou smiled. "But yes, it is beautiful. …And it's dangerous too. Even there, there is fighting and war, but it's mainly waged at us and Mother."
"Why?"
"There are hundreds of reasons as to why." Yutarou said as his smile faded. "There are people who are envious of Mother's power, and want her dead so she doesn't pose a threat. There are others who want Mother's power for themselves, and attack her to try to drain her of her energy. You know, like with what happened with Japan. And then there are a few people who just like tearing her up for fun."
"That's awful…" Canada muttered; Yutarou nodded.
"And no matter how much pain she's in," he continued, "she keeps fighting. She has to. Even if she dies, she just comes back again, sometimes stronger than before. And all to protect us and anybody that isn't personally involved. She isn't permitted to stop for a moment unless the fight is over or one of us is hurt and in need of her attention."
I'm not permitted to stop, even for a moment, little one.
A voice echoed through Canada's head as Yutarou said that.
Go back home where it's safe.
The voice sounded familiar.
I'm sure your parents are worried about you.
Wait…
I don't want you getting hurt, okay?
…Matea?
~0~
As Kumajiro padded along, he spotted a thin figure a short ways ahead of him. Knowing just who it was, he toddled along faster, wanting to ask the figure a few questions. When the bear was just a few feet away, he could see just why the figure was outside. A little bird had fallen from its nest, and the figure was helping it back up.
"You sure are nice, aren't you?" he asked, sitting on the ground. Devon looked at him. "I remember y'know: you were nice back then too."
Devon raised an eyebrow. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't you play dumb." The polar bear wagged his paw at him. "You know what I mean."
After a moment of silence, Devon sighed.
"I didn't think you'd remember." He said. "I thought we were pretty thorough with our clean-up."
"Well you missed me." Kumajiro said. "And Canada's starting to remember too."
"Impossible." Devon said. "She erased his memory herself—"
"Then maybe she made it that way," Kumajiro interrupted, "that he'd be able to remember after a long time."
Devon fell into thought. Could she have weakened the spell that was used to erase Canada's memory back then? It was possible. But Devon knew she'd never admit it. Even he didn't know all the facts and details when it came to her decisions.
"So can you tell me just what happened back then?" Kumajiro asked. "Matea's a lot different from back then, and you should know why."
Devon looked at the bear with a silent gaze. It was true that he knew, but should he really trust the bear with that knowledge? After a moment's thought, he nodded. Knowing Matea, she was probably planning on erasing everyone's memories of this incident.
"Alright, I'll tell you." He said. "But let's get a little farther from the building. I can't afford anyone hearing us."
Kumajiro nodded and followed Devon into the forest. As he padded along, he looked back and remembered that time years ago. And he knew very well that it had happened shortly after Japan had returned home.
~0~
It was a cold day in Canada, obviously, and young Canada was out for a stroll with Kumajiro, who was the same size as he is now. The road was quiet; no cars or anyone in sight. It was peaceful. How either of them didn't hear them coming was beyond them.
Down the road two black figures ran; Kumajiro and young Canada stopped and watched them run. After a second they thought that maybe it was their imaginations, seeing as there weren't any footprints on the snow-covered road. And another question was, why? Why were those two figures running? Neither of them had a reasonable answer, until a young woman, though older than them, came running up the road.
"Excuse me." Canada called out to her. She didn't stop, but instead jogged in place.
"I'm not permitted to stop, even for a moment, little one." She said. "You should go back home, where it's safe. I'm sure your parents are worried about you."
"I was just wondering if you were chasing those two people that just ran by a couple minutes ago." Canada said.
"Yes, I am." The woman said. "And if they're in the area, that means you need to head home. I don't want you getting hurt, okay?"
"Okay…" Canada muttered, and headed back home with Kumajiro, but not before watching the woman run off down the road, after the two figures that had passed him.
Walking up the path that led to his front door, Canada noticed France, his papa, in the window, waving to him. Waving back, he saw France's expression change to one of panic. With a shout of "Canada!", Canada felt a large hand cover his mouth and the cold metal of a blade press against his throat. He heard a loud and gruff voice coming from his captor.
"Don't you move!" it said, pointing the knife to where France now stood in the snow-covered lawn. "Move and I'll cut the kid's throat wide open!"
Canada glanced down to the man's feet. Kumajiro was struggling under the man's large boot, and Canada only grew more panicked as he watched his dear friend be stepped on. Why was this happening? Who was this man? What was going to happen to him? All the questions that spun through his head made the young nation dizzy. Struggling to keep himself conscious, he heard a familiar voice.
"So I see he left a few of you behind to do some damage." The young woman from before came strolling by. The man pointed his knife at her.
"Don't move!" he said. "Or I'll kill the kid right now!"
"Oh please." The woman said, and the man's arm suddenly twisted back in a way it wouldn't naturally go, causing the man to scream out in pain and drop Canada. Kumajiro gave him a bite on the leg before he and Canada ran over to France.
But before they made it to the older nation, a wall of black surrounded them.
"Ren, grab the boy! Devon, take care of the other one." The woman shouted, and two men seemed to have come out of nowhere, one shielding Canada from the wall of black around him and the other knocking France out before dragging him off to the side for safety. The black wall that had surrounded Canada expanded and closed up at the top, forming a dark dome around him, Kumajiro, and the man who had just appeared.
At this moment, Canada was close to tears he was so frightened. All the questions from before were again buzzing in his head, giving him a massive headache. Close to passing out, he looked up at the black haired man protecting him from the wall of black.
"I-I'm scared." He whimpered. The man smiled softly and took Canada into his arms.
"It's okay." He said. "I've got you. You'll be okay."
He then grabbed Kumajiro before forcing his way out of the blackness that had trapped the young nation. But that wasn't the end of it. The wall changed into the form of a person, and continued to chase after them.
"Let me handle this." The man said, putting Canada and Kumajiro down behind him. Forming different symbols with his hands, a bright red circular symbol appeared in the air and formed a shield in front of him. The figure ran into it and immediately degenerated with a loud screech.
Things were finally over after that, much to everyone's relief.
"I had a feeling he wouldn't leave without doing at least a bit of damage." The woman said. "But thank goodness no one was hurt."
The man who had protected Canada nodded his head before shrinking into a sort of black snake or cat or something. It looked up at Canada with large gold eyes. Canada smiled.
"Thank you for helping me." He said. The creature nodded. As Canada reached out to pet its head, he noticed he had a scratch on the back of his hand.
"Oh. Where did that come from?" he muttered to himself. He had probably gotten it when the first man had dropped him or something. Seeing the scratch as well, the creature approached Canada with a bit of caution. Canada noticed and smiled. The creature then placed its chin on the back of Canada's hand. A small blue glow shone from between them and when the creature pulled away, the scratch was gone.
"Whoa…" Canada gasped, feeling the back of his hand in disbelief and amazement. "Th-Thank you…"
The creature nodded and quickly licked Canada's cheek before scurrying back to the woman, draping itself around her shoulders. She petted the creature's head and walked over to Canada.
"Are there any more scratches I should know about?" she asked. Canada looked himself over and shook his head.
"I'm fine." He said. "Thank you for saving me."
"Think nothing of it, little one." The woman smiled, putting a hand on his head. "Think nothing of it."
And with sending a short burst of energy through Canada's small frame, erasing his memory of what had just happened, Canada fainted.
~0~
"And then… I woke up in bed." Canada finished. "I didn't remember anything, and neither did France, so I just assumed I was sleepy and went to take a nap when I got home. I never thought that that was what happened."
"Yeah, Mother doesn't like it when the evil hurts normal people." Yutarou said. "And of course she can't have too many people knowing about her. And—"
"Hey wait!" Canada said, jumping up and almost falling off the rock. "That means that back when I asked you if we had met before, the answer was yes! Why didn't you tell me?"
"Things that happen to me, Mother and the rest of our family…" Yutarou muttered. "It's all confidential information. We're not allowed to tell anybody unless Mother says we're allowed. I couldn't tell you before because I didn't have permission from Mother."
"Oh. I see…" Canada muttered, sitting back down. "Makes sense. She wants to protect you, right?"
"Of course." Yutarou smiled. "It's a mother's main purpose; protect their children at all costs."
~0~
"To answer your question." Devon said after recapping the incident. "It's all pretty simple. The evil that's been following her for years left a few underlings here to cause some damage, like murder or such. At that point she was getting a bit frustrated with not being able to find her shard, so she was a bit straight-forward and bitter compared to how she is now."
"Has she found the shard?" Kumajiro asked.
"Yes, she has." Devon nodded. "That's why her mood has been so mild recently. And I can tell she likes this place very much. That influences her handling of the people here."
"I get it now…" Kumajiro said, rocking back and forth on his bottom. "So what's going to happen next?"
"What do you mean?" Devon asked.
"I mean, what does she plan on doing?" Kumajiro rephrased. "Is she going to stay for a while longer or is she going to leave? Canada might get sad if Yutarou has to leave soon."
"It's her decision," Devon said, "as to when we leave and how we leave. There's a chance we might just up and leave in the middle of the night; or we might make a big farewell out of all of it and have everyone see us off. I don't know what she decides until she tells me herself. Sorry."
"It's okay." Kumajiro waddled over to him. "I'm sure things will be okay. We'll just have to wait. I just hope Canada doesn't start bawling his eyes out."
Devon tried to cover the small laugh that escaped him. He had a feeling that that was bound to happen, whether they left with the nations knowing or not. But another factor was also in play. Would they leave before Japan awoke, or wait until he regained consciousness? Again, it was impossible to tell with Matea. She was impossible to read, and could change her mind about something at any time. Devon could only make guesses.
Hooray! Next chapter is the final chapter!
Review please!