HELLO PEOPLE OF FANFICTION WE ARE NEARING THE END OF THIS STORY! oops did I say that out loud XD TO THE REIVEWS!

aqaufin: Thank you!

Champion of Justice: Are you sure about that? Because I personally think it's about to get really hectic and heartbreaking.

Elsa: I understand where you're coming from and from an angel I can see what you're saying but with the way they both act I think that they would want to kill each other first before they even consider being nothing more than friends...it would be a very long process and it would have a very slim chance of happening to be honest but thanks! I'm glad people can see the similarities between the two although real life Maddy thinks it's weird. Also I heard of sweet dream but I don't think I've heard that cover...I'll look into it when I get the chance.

Leo: Real life Maddy says no...

Huntress: Thank you for pointing that out. I was wondering when someone was going to say that or if anyone noticed it at all. And frankly I was trying to stay true to ourselves while slightly deteriorating our personalities a bit as their journey continued to show them losing a bit of themselves the longer they stayed slash their slight insanity as a result.

TO THE STORY!

Chapter 28: Life is suddenly so dreary

(France's POV)

I let out a deep breath and watched the smoke rise up to the clouded sky until I couldn't see it anymore. 'How long have the girls been here already?' I couldn't help but wonder.

My niece seemed to have everyone's attention saly, although she doesn't seem to mind. Part of me wants me to push her away and get her back home where she'll be safer and there would be no more problems for her or for us.

The other side however wants her to stay with us despite our issues. She's managed to wiggle her way into our hearts and together I don't see why we can't overcome our problems. I've gotten word that Brittany's friend is going to stay with my little Matthieu while she heads home. I've been meaning to talk to her about it all but everyone won't give her any space. They care for her but it's a little too much for my liking.

Good for Canada though- he got himself a girl. She's a cute one too so that's a plus.

I hope she treats him right.

I put out my cigarette and stepped back into the building. Without much to do I started making my way back to the conference room where everyone seems to be spending their time. At first the walk back was quiet, as I expected but when I made it to the floor where everyone should have been, the first thing I heard was America's voice. "The magic nerds say that they found a way to get you home."

I stopped in my tracks and attempted to follow the voices. "Do I...do I need to be there?"

'What on earth am I doing?' I shook my head and ran away from where they were and rushed to the conference room. I bolted through the doors and found the 'magic nerds' all talking around a table. "Is it true?"

They looked up at me then back to each other. After a few seconds that felt like an eternity- Angleterre sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Blimey- news sure does travel fast, doesn't it? Yes we found a way to temporarily open a portal to what we hope is Brittany's world"

The news hit me like a ton of bricks and I had to sit in one of the nearby chairs. "So this is it huh?"

"What?"

"So this is the end of it all? She now has a way home and we can all go back to our lives as if nothing happened?" I put my hands over my face. 'I just found her after months of searching only to lose her again and forever.'

"Well…" Norway spoke up.

I didn't lift my head.

"That's really all up to Brittany. I overhear her sometimes saying that she doesn't really want to leave but...she's very indesicive. We'll just have to ask her." Then he went silent again. I'm not going to lie though- that was probably the most I've heard from him in one instance.

"So if all we need is her thoughts on it… does anyone know where she is?"

"She went out on a walk with Iceland earlier and she hasn't returned." Canada spoke up.

"Ok...has anyone spoken to her friend?" I sat up in an attempt to find her.

"I'm right here." Her voice sounded as if she was right behind me.

Not expecting it to be that close to my ear I jumped and turned around. Maddy was staring at me with her hands on her hips and an eyebrow raised. "Pardon moi cheri...you can be so quiet sometimes. You treat my petite Mathieu well! Ok?"

She nodded. "Of course I will."

If I were to ask or if someone asked me- she appeared to be a little offended by my comment. I however left it there, my concern for my niece had left me exhausted and I frankly needed to catch up on my beauty sleep. I rested my head onto the table and closed my eyes.

I never got the chance to sleep though. Within a few seconds of my closing my eyes and letting my guard down- the doors were thrown open. "Canada! We need your medical expertise NOW!"

America ran past the table at record speed toward Canada- nearly tackling in the process. I was knocked back onto my senses when I realised that he was carrying an unconscious Brittany. "Amerique, what happened?"

"Alfred! I'll take her the medical room." Mathieu took Brittany away from Alfred after a small struggle- Amerique did not want to give her up.

"Bloody hell! Don't tell me you killed her you idiot!" England shouted.

Matthieu ran into the side room with Maddy close behind and chased the door. My anger started to rise. "What happened?"

"You can run really fast America." Iceland came back into the room, slightly panting. Norway immediately stood up and "walked" to where he was and started talking. Romania only leaned back in his chair and sighed. " Dang, I only knew her for a few moments and then she goes ahead and dies."

"She's not dead!" Arthur yelled. "What happened Alfred?"

"America was not listening to us- it was as if our words went through one ear and out the other. He kept gazing at the door Brittany went through- then to his feet- then back to the door. In a rush or anger and slight desperation I smacked Alfred across the face and demanded an answer.

"I...don't...I don't know exactly what happened." He fumbled over his words. "One minute she was talking to Icy all calm like… like she trusts him and then when I told her that she could go home now...I'm not sure. She looked pale and sick...she started swaying back and forth- it nearly looked like she was going to puke."

We all know that America likes to play hero but this was one of those rare moments where (if you knew him well enough) you could tell he was scared. "She just collapsed on us." He stole a quick glance at Iceland. "I don't know why but it didn't look like she eat or drank anything before hand." 'Does he think that Iceland did something to her?' I started to connect some dots and I could see his reasons for thinking so and to be honest- I started to think similarly.

However that darn England cut me off before I could go interrogate the younger nation. "Francis- go check on Brittany."

"What?"

"Well she's your niece, isn't she?" He crossed his arms. "I would go in myself but-" He then made a motion with his eyes toward America. "-other things need to be taken care of to avoid any more chaos."

I nodded- agreeing with him for a chance and made my way towards the temporary medical room. I tried my hardest to appear calm and collected and used every ounce of my willpower I could muster to not sprint into the room.

"Is she going to be ok?" MAddy's voice reached my ears when I opened the door.

"She's stable…" Canada's voice responded. I slightly shut the door and leaned against it, listening to the report. "It must have been from shock and exhaustion that shut her down. I'll take a look at her blood sample incase it could have also been malnourishment...or other means that caused her to collapse but she should be fine now. Just let sleep for a bit."

My eyes widened. 'She wasn't kidding.' "Exhaustion? Malnourishment?"

The two blonds in the room jumped and turned to look at me. Matthieu nearly dropped the vial he was holding when he exclaimed. "Papa! How long have you been there?"

"Long enough…" I crossed my arms. "Are you saying that no one is taking care of her?"

"We can take care of ourselves for your information...just not in Japan." Maddy stepped in, nearly snapping at me. "There's not a lot of food here- I'll admit that. They make daily trips but it can't be enough to grab the attention of anyone or hint that anyone is here. It's not like Brittany and I can make our own money and get jobs here either...and it's not like we speak the language."

She looked very upset to say the least.

"If I had to choose the most annoying trait about her is that she would take care of others than take care of herself- even if it means putting her health ...or her life at risk." She glared at Brittany's sleeping form. "I can't be too mad at her though...I know I do the same thing. I'll still yell at her when she wakes up though."

A slight chuckle shook though my system and I smiled. "Well cheri, you do that."

Canada soon left to check on her blood sample and I took a spot next to the table Brittany was lying on. She looked peaceful and calm- despite what was happening in her life at the moment. Maddy said that she wanted to talk to her (which I don't doubt she'll do) but I would like to talk to my niece as well. She seems to bottle in a lot of her problems and refuses help. 'Is she depressed? What kind of life did she have in her world? What if she's faking her memory loss?'

As my thoughts started to run wild my fingers found themselves in Brittany's hair untangling the strands I could reach. 'How much of what she says is true? What if she is faking and this is her silent cry for help? I can't let this go unacknowledged. As soon as I get the chance to talk to her I'll see what information I can get and talk to the others.'

"Francis…" Maddy looked up at me.

I looked at her to signify that she had my attention. She had a small smile on her face and she continued talking. "You might not be so bad and if Brittany decides to stay- make sure you do a better job at being her family."

I raised an eyebrow. 'Was that a compliment?' "I'll try?"

"No….no trying, only do or don't." She rested her head against the table, using her arms as cushions for her head. Suddenly she groaned. "Of all the times to fall asleep- she chose now...when we're….she's so close to going home. And despite all these days being here I also got little sleep...Matthew won't stop bugging me about it...I kinda wish I would pass out too."

She seemed to be slower with every passing second and part of me wondered if she even registered that she was talking out loud. In all of my years- despite everything I lived through- I have no idea how to handle this situation...so naturally I said nothing at all and waited it out. "I would have gotten sleep too though...if it weren't for those text messages."

I did a double take.

"They're creepy and keep me paranoid- I think it's from one of the second players. I don't know how they got my number but they say they're also Canadian and….want to have me all to….themselves." She stopped talking for a moment but then she abruptly said. "Michael….I think he said his name was Michael….Michael something." And like that she made no indication that she was even awake.

"I'm going to kill him." Matthieu's voice sounded behind me.

I turned to him and after a while with no one saying anything, I asked. "Did you know about this?"

"About the texts? Maddy did say something about getting texts from a different number at some point but she told me inconsistently and I'm not even sure if she told me everything, saying that I didn't need to worry about it. When I looked into it, they were a different number every time I didn't think-"

"No not that." I shook my head. "That counts but I'm talking about their condition. The both of them...so unstable… why did we assume they were ok?!" I ran my hand over my face. "Traveling through worlds, near death experiences...they don't even appear to be twenty yet."

My eyes pooled with tears of frustration. How could we have been so stupid to allow this and ignore their needs? How could I have allowed this to happen? Both of them having close positions to me...why...how...how could I have been so blind?"

"Papa…" Matthieu glanced at the two girls then back to me. "We'll make this right, you and me would make sure of it."

I nodded and looked him right on the eyes. "Are the results in?"

"Given the equipment here and the amount of progress it has made- I'd say that there's at least another hour before we can get the results of the blood test."

"An hour?!" I jumped up. "We might not have another hour?!"

"What other choice do we have papa?" He snapped at me. I was taken aback at his unexpected outburst and he took the opportunity to knock me down some more. "She has a steady heartbeat and stable income of oxygen and things could get way worse than they currently are. She has people who care for her out there and together things will be ok."

He sighed and put a hand on my shoulder. "Come on, they're clearly both exhausted- let's leave them be."

I slowly came out of my shock as I was led out of the room. 'Note to self: make it a habit to count my blessings' The thing is we didn't even make it out of the room before we noticed there was quite a scene happening on the other side of the door. A few recognisable words floated through the door and my stomach dropped...just enough to make room for the filling dread throughout my being.

Hesitantly I opened the door and the words shared were clearer...not to mention louder. "Finland! Dude! Please calm down! Half of us can't understand what you're saying!" Amerique exclaimed.

I sent Matthieu a glance to which he returned and together we made our way over to the group of nations. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Se on toinen pelaajille! He havaitsivat , että tytöt ovat täällä ja he tekevät matkalla tänne tälläkin yhtenä jättiläinen ryhmä!"

I took a step back in shock at Finland's clear panic. Very few of us actually understood what on earth he was saying but we all got the message that it was dire news. What could have scared Finland so much that he defaulted to speak Finnish?

"Missä he ovat? Tytöt! He tulossa ja minulla ei ole aseeni kanssa me- heidän täytyy lähteä nyt!"

"Come on ol' chap!" Arthur took an uncertain step forward. "Take a deep breath. What's going on?"

"It's the second player's." Sweden spoke up. "They're com'ng"

That would explain the cuts on Finland's skin. He must have had a run in with them on his way here to warn us. 'I wonder how he found out though.'

"What are we going to do?" Alfred ran a hand through his hair. "Brittany's out cold."

"MITÄ?!" Finland stood up only to nearly fall on his face. There appeared to a be problem with his leg. Maybe he didn't have as much luck on his run in than he made it look.

"Maddy too...these poor girls have been at their physical limit. I don't think we would have any success waking them up right now." Matthieu spoke up within the silence- it was one of those rare moments when people heard him.

"This is going to be quite the problem." Norway muttered- eyes the darkest I've ever seen them.

"Do we know which way they'll be entering the building?" Iceland scratched the top of his head.

"If they were smart about it or are -I shourd say- they wourd surround the buirding and enter in arr possibre areas." Japan stepped in.

"Great! Then we would be able to attack in any direction!" Denmark rolled his eyes. Part of me me wondered if he was actually serious about that.

"Where did all the others asians go?" I blinked. Without missing a beat, Japan answered. "Brocking out any and arr entrances as we speak."

"Bloody hell- you lot are efficient." Arthur ran his hand down his face.

"Where's Brittany?" Finland took a deep breath. He appeared calmer than a few moments ago but he was visibly shaking. "I want to see her...and her friend. I need to know that they're ok."

"You can see them on the way to the medical room." Canada shook his head. "You look bad and don't think that we don't see your injured ankle. That needs to be taken care of."

Sweden then picked up the Finnish man and walked behind Matthew to the room. When those were sure to be taken care of, we all sat around the table there and talked about any sort of battle strategy. Most of which was us complaining that someone's idea wasn't going to work and how their own idea would work better. I stayed quiet trying to think of a way to get Brittany and my future daughter in law out of here safely because to my knowledge they were not immortal like we were. They were the top priority.

"That'll never work! They'll take us down in five minutes and get the girls!"

"Why are we putting so much work for these girls to begin with? We barely know them!"

"You barely know them Taiwan but they're important to us!"

I thought of an idea but it wasn't one that I liked. I sighed...there was no other option was there. "If want to get Brittany safely out of here….then we need to send her back home. For Maddy we'll just have to worry about getting her out of here and back into Canada therefore Matthieu would have the jurisdiction to take care of her in his own home."

"But what if Brittany doesn't want to go back?"

That's when the sound of a machine gun sounded off. It appeared below us...most likely to open whatever barrier the asians had put.

"I don't think we have that liberty."

It was now or never.

BEFORE YOU LEAVE READ THIS PLEASE!

OK.. SO my friend Maddy has this story called Flour War..her pen name is Silverfang493. It's a story that kind of goes hand in hand with this one but it was one shot chapters that are from her point of view.

Go read it!

GO SPREAD THE LOVE!

It's hilarious I promise I couldn't stop myself from laughing.

And one more thing concerning my friend. I love that you guys have your own ships for her but she's talked to me and said that she doesn't really like it and although there is nothing we can do to stop you guys please be a little conscious of it.

Thank you!

And please review!