Li: Karen doesn't own Hetalia or Avatar.

Me: And I'm posting this while in a hurry, so sorry!

Li's eyes opened a fraction before she closed them as quickly as possible. Since when did light hurt so badly? And why did her head ache like that, why did she feel like throwing up, why couldn't she remember much after Turkey handed her that bottle of raki…?

Oh. Raki. Alcohol. Li didn't handle alcohol very well. That might explain it.

There were a few faint sounds about her, but Li only really cared about the pain they caused. She tried to move her hands to cover her ears, but that hurt too. Why did whoever that was have to make so much noise? Didn't they know she was ill here? Clearly they had little concern for her health…

Someone started yelling, and Li whimpered. Her body instinctively curled into a ball, in a futile attempt to shut out the external world. Why did people have to be so loud? Couldn't they see she was in pain here? That she was seriously starting to need to—

Oh flame…

The realization that she was going to throw up forced Li to open her eyes. She was lying on a nice bed in an unfamiliar room, probably one of Greece's guest rooms. There were two doors in the room: one was partially open, showing a small private bathroom beyond. Forcing her body to work, and wincing at the light streaming in through the window, Li staggered into the bathroom and collapsed on the toilet rim. Her stomach immediately emptied itself.

"Least I didn't eat that animal gut thing…" Li muttered to herself before her stomach heaved again.

She wasn't sure how long she spent throwing up, head splitting from the massive hangover she always seemed to get whenever she drank alcohol. It wasn't like she couldn't drink—she just had to water down anything alcoholic with massive amounts of water, or fruit juice, and even then her friends would joke about being wary of sudden fires. Her brother drank like a fish, but he never seemed to suffer ill effects, that night or the next morning. Li thought this totally unfair, but she never voiced her complaints. Why bother, when her brother would just laugh and say her inability to hold her drink was the spirits' way of answering an elder brother's prayers?

Someone had entered her room while she was throwing up, and as Li tried to spit whatever was left of her vomit into the toilet, they knocked on the open bathroom door. "You should rinse your mouth out with water." Hungary suggested, walking to the sink. She took a cup from the counter and filled it with tap water, then handed it to Li. "Swish it around in your mouth a bit, then spit. How are you feeling?"

"Eurgh." Li gagged, downing half of the water in the cup. She swished it around with her tongue like Hungary had suggested, then leaned over as another fit of nausea manifested. Nothing solid came out, just clear liquid that burned a bit on the going. The rest of the water went down Li's throat, soothing her burning esophagus and giving her stomach something other than its own acid to work with.

"Hungry?" Hungary asked sympathetically. Li nodded, panting, trying to keep herself from throwing up again. There were no lights on, but flame, what was coming in through the windows was practically killing her. Hungary's voice was a bit less painful, but not by much. "I'll get you something for the headache, too. If your stomach settles before I get back, try to get back into bed. You're going to want some rest."

"Nngh…" Li groaned, clutching the rim of the toilet as a fresh wave of nausea emptied her stomach again. Her abdomen was starting to hurt, and she was starting to think she might even welcome some of that animal-guts dish if she could just get some. Who knew throwing up left one so hungry?

Someone started running around on the floor beneath Li's room, then climbed some stairs. Li winced at the pounding, a different tempo than the pounding of her head that only made things hurt worse. Whoever it was clearly didn't realize she was in pain, because the next thing she knew the door to her guest room flew open and Greece and Turkey burst in, almost sticking in the doorway.

"Hey! Kid!" Turkey yelled. "You okay?"

Li's response was a strangled cry of pain, followed by more heaving of her stomach and some very pitiful whimpering. Greece glared at Turkey, and began to mutter something about Turkey's insensitivity, but both were interrupted by a rather painful frying pan to the head.

"Out!" Hungary commanded as both nations rubbed sore heads. "Li needs some quiet! She was passed out for a whole day and night, and I think you can stand to give her some space to recover."

"Aww, I was just worried…" Turkey protested. "You left a bump…don't forget who used to beat you up!" His words were answered with another frying pan strike, and Greece followed his enemy's hasty retreat. Hungary put the frying pan away who-knew-where, then went over to kneel beside Li."

"I have some food and something for the headache." She told Li gently. "The food's as bland as I could get, so do you think you can eat? If not, I'll leave it here until you're feeling better. Oh, and I brought some tea bags and hot water. You like tea, right?"

"Yeah…" Li tried to smile at Hungary, but she felt too weak to make her facial muscles respond properly. "C-can you make it for me while I try eating something? And what kind of herbs did you have for my head?"

"Oh, they're not herbs—they're pills." Hungary pulled a small bottle out of her pocket, opened it, and took out three tablets. "Here. Swallow these. They seem to work pretty well for the German brothers when they drink too much, which is about twice a week in Prussia's case. Feel up to a little bread?"

"Mm…" Li took the pills from Hungary and put them in her mouth. With a little difficulty, she swallowed, then focused on trying to keep from regurgitating them. Her headache didn't change at all after five minutes, and she opened her eyes to see Hungary looking at her intently. "They're not working." Li informed her.

"Well, of course not. It'll take a little while for them to start working." Hungary sounded like it was obvious, but Li didn't think that was fair. Remedies in the Fire Nation—in all of her world, actually—tended to take effect fairly quickly, for reasons unknown to Li. Maybe it was because they were actual plants, not little colored tablets that tasted horrible and were most certainly not made of natural ingredients. Urgh, no, don't throw up again…

"Can…can I try some of that bread?" Li whispered, putting her hands on both sides of her head. Her stomach rumbled loudly, as if to punctuate the request, and Hungary pulled some bread wrapped in some sort of weird, soft paper from her pocket.

"Here." She unwrapped it carefully, and handed the bread to Li. It was a small loaf, with a lightly browned crust that felt a bit rough to Li's fingers. Again, her stomach rumbled, and without hesitation she took a bite.

It was wheat bread, somewhat coarse, with a few nuts mixed in. Normally, Li would have thought it peasant's fare, but right now she ate it like it was a delicacy from the Fire Nation's finest cooks. Hungary watched her wolf down the food, a small smile on her face. Once it was gone, she helped Li over to the bed and offered her a tray with a small salad containing some unseasoned meat—chicken, if Li recalled correctly from the taste. She ate it as quickly as she could, trying to ignore the threatening lurches her stomach gave.

"Thanks." Li whispered as soon as she was done. She realized her headache had dulled to bearable levels, and put a hand over her mouth as a wave of nausea hit. It subsided, and she eased herself back onto the bed.

"I think you should rest for today." Hungary advised her. "The Italies' birthday is tomorrow, and they've invited you to the party. See if you can get better before then."

"What time is it?" Li asked, glancing at the window. The light still hurt her eyes, and she winced. "Ow."

"It's mid-morning." Hungary replied. "Try to sleep. If you're feeling better later, Turkey wants to show you around."

"Why would he want to show me around Greece's home?" Li frowned, covering her eyes with a pillow.

"Well…technically, you were supposed to be visiting him today, so he insisted we bring you to Ankara last night, after everyone else had left Greece's." Hungary explained. "Really, just sleep, honey. Don't worry about it. We all know how hangovers can be. I'll check in on you later. Until then, try to keep that food down and don't move around too much." The kind nation left the room, shutting the door behind her as quietly as possible.

Li stared up at the ceiling. It was white and lumpy, but looked gray in the shadowy areas. A lamp hung in the very middle, a round glass ball with something inside that would presumably be ignited to give off light. The room didn't have much furniture—the bed, a bedside table, a dresser, a mirror on the wall, and that was it. Simple white sheets and pillows adorned the bed.

Well, she might as well try resting. Li's eyes slowly closed, and she fell into her dreams.

England set down his cup of Earl Gray tea and studied the sheet of paper he had in his left hand. It was a diagram for a pentacle, part of a spell he was attempting to perfect. The idea for it had come to him the day of Japan's earthquake, while he was trying to organize aid to be sent to his friend. Once he completed it, it would hopefully help solve the problem of Japan's nuclear meltdown.

However, he was running into several problems. Normally he would have gone to his supernatural friends for advice, but he'd sent them to help Japan days ago. Japan's own supernatural beings were trying to help as best they could, but after years in the mountains their grasp of modern technology was sketchy at best.

And as if to compound his problems, his cell phone chose that moment to ring. England dug around in his pocket for a minute before finally grasping the phone and pulling it out. He stared at the screen, wondering if he should even answer.

Caller ID: Russia.

Not answering would probably be more dangerous than answering, England reasoned, so he opened the phone and pressed it to his ear. "This is England speaking." He said brusquely. "State your business."

"Good afternoon, England!" You could hear the smile in Russia's voice, as if he was merely calling a friend to chat. Of course, England knew better. Years of competition between the two had made England warier of Russia than of any other nation, save perhaps France—although, he was wary of that bloody frog for a completely different reason.

"Good morning, Russia." England glanced out the window, where the sun was barely over the horizon. "Would you mind telling me why you've called? I have a very busy schedule for today, and I really can't talk for that long. Is this about the upcoming meeting?"

"нет," Russia replied, "I simply want to know why nobody invited me to the party at Austria's. It's been a week, and I only heard about it now. Latvia can have such a big mouth sometimes, can't he? Anyways, why didn't anyone invite me?"

"Well…uh…" England tried to think of an answer that would satisfy Russia, and came up with nothing. "I guess…we all just…just assumed someone else had invited you already?"

"Hm, I suppose that makes sense." Russia answered, and England nearly let out his breath in a sigh of relief. "But you all got to have so much fun, and I didn't!"

"W-well, it was really very impromptu, and we weren't using any formal guest list, we just showed up if we heard about it, you know?" England rushed his words, trying to form them faster than they wanted to. "Germany didn't hear about it either, or a lot of other Nations. The Africans and Asians didn't get to come, or Australia."

"Mm, I suppose that's true," Russia agreed. "But you all got to see Austria's guest, and it's been so long since I saw her. She did come to us at my place, after all…doesn't that mean I get to be her friend too?"

"Er…of course you're her friend too!" England said the words without thinking, then nearly smacked himself. Li had been so reluctant to stay with Russia, it was a fair bet she wanted to avoid him. "Um, you'll see her tomorrow, though. Now, if you don't mind, I have a spell to work on—"

"Oh dear, I do hope I don't find myself coming through the floor of your basement again," Russia laughed. He was probably trying to be funny, but the memory sent shivers down England's spine. How was it that summoning the greatest evil wound up bringing Russia? All right, maybe that was a stupid question…

The line went dead as Russia hung up. England held the phone to his ear for a minute longer before putting it down. Just how scary could Russia get?

Wulong paced along a short stretch of ground in the small forest they were resting in. Ru and Huo were lying on the ground a little ways away, sleeping. At least, Huo was asleep: Ru was still awake, no matter how she tried to hide it. Yue had told them to rest for a bit before disappearing. Huo had almost immediately drifted off, tired from the day of searching, but Ru had resisted a bit before finally lying down.

Now Wulong was the restless one, unable to clear her head of memories. She wondered if Ru was having a similar problem: every time Wulong closed her eyes, she could only see Li's face. It was stupid: it wasn't like she actually cared for Li, not that much. If anything, they were acquaintances. Because Wulong would never become friends with a Firebender.

Still, Li was almost nothing like Wulong had always thought of Firebenders as being. To the forest spirit, they were always vague shadows with horns and flames coming from their fists. Wulong's mother, the original Wulong Forest, had died in their attack, but her death had resulted in the birth of her daughter, the current Wulong. Forest spirits were more than a little different from humans, in that Wulong had a few vague memories of the day of her birth. All that came to her when she thought about it was a red sky, flames from the heavens, and dark shadows that weren't clouds. The Fire Lord of that time, Fire Lord Ozai, had been defeated by the Avatar in the stone pillars, just inside Wulong's northern border.

But that didn't help when the memory of the pain struck. Wulong's birth had signified her mother's death, but as a consequence she had felt all the pain of her land as the fires raged. Her priest at the time had thought she would die, and in all honesty, she should have. An infant covered in burns? Who would have bet on her? Even the memory of that time, the agony as the ashes of her land blew in the wind, could make her body twinge all over.

Still, she had survived. Trees had grown again, the ashes of her mother giving birth to a beautiful new forest. The burned infant had healed, and Wulong's body was still covered in scars from that time. Now she was a proud, strong spirit, guardian of a stretch of land more lovely than anything. Her lifespan of 150 years kept her appearing as a child, but she did not doubt that, given time, she would mature into a lovely woman. And of course, as a spirit, she possessed the ability to change into the shape of an animal. A fox, to be specific.

It was a pity Li wouldn't see her fully-grown, to marvel at the power and dignity of an adult Wulong…

No! Stop that thought right there! She did not give a damn about Li, other than the obvious gratitude towards the woman who'd helped save her forest. Li had prevented the Tóngyī ShÌjiè from burning Wulong down so they could build a new capital on her ashes: that was the only reason Wulong wanted to save Li. After she had repaid her debt, Wulong would walk away from Li and never look back.

Well, maybe she would visit once or twice before Li died. Just to see how she was doing. Not because Wulong enjoyed Li's company or anything, because she definitely did not.

Wulong stopped her pacing for a moment to look up. The sky of the spirit world was always the same, a bland shade of blue that radiated light. She couldn't recall seeing a sun or a moon or stars, not once, not even a cloud! Admittedly, she had heard that there was a realm of the Spirit World that was all cloud, but Wulong hadn't really seen much of the Spirit World outside the areas that directly correlated to her forest. It had always been her intention to explore…and it seemed that now, she would.

Amongst the trees, a twig snapped. Wulong immediately snapped her head towards the noise, and Ru bolted up, hand producing a knife from who-knew-where. They both scanned the area, and didn't relax when nothing immediately appeared to explain the noise. Ru would never relax until she knew what it was, and Wulong's own experiences in her parts of the Spirit World had taught her that it was always best to be wary of sudden noises. Not all spirits were as nice as her.

Ru and Wulong exchanged a silent look, and moved towards the area where they'd heard the sound. A glance from Ru, and Wulong climbed a tree as high as she could go, scanning the branches below her for any sign of an enemy. But from what she saw, the forest might as well be empty of all life, save for her, Ru, and Huo.

Huo, of course, was still asleep. His sudden snore gave Ru and Wulong a start, and the two agreed with a look that they would stop actively searching for whatever had made that noise. Ru lay back down on the ground, eyes still open, and Wulong sat in a nearby tree to keep a lookout. Neither of them would get any rest until Yue returned.

In the trees above Wulong, amongst branches so thin one would not even expect a squirrel to be able to perch there, a large mass of brown fur peered at the two humans and their spirit friend.