Iceland: We really have to stop finalising chapters in the middle of the night.

Finland: But this one turned out okei... Anyway, Chapter Thirty-Six, readers! I hope you all like this one even though it's a little short.

No, I'm sure that loop Finland and I saw was real. Latvia did die in that particular loop.

But... if Latvia died...

Who on Earth went back in time, then?

Lithuania decided that was one of many other mysteries they'd have to solve. Turning to Latvia, he posed a simple question. "Hey. How exactly do you go back in time? Do you use that book or something?"

Latvia took a few moments piecing his answer together. "Well... There is this huge clock somewhere in the house. All I have to do is find it and reset it."

"Is that clock always in the same place each time?"

"No... it would always move to a new spot every time I rewound time. Every time I couldn't escape with all of you, I would slip away to find it."

"Like, hold on one second," Poland cut in, "You mean you like, leave us alone to die while you go reset that clock every time someone is like, killed?"

Latvia blanched. "That's not what I-"

"Carry on," Lithuania prompted.

The petite Baltic took a shaky breath. "Right. Every time I failed to save someone by the time we were able to escape, I'd find the clock and turn time back again. You know... give us all another chance at escaping. All those loops you saw... someone died in every single one of them. Sadly, this is the only sure way of surviving this mansion for as long as we can."

"You mean for... everyone, right? Does that include yourself...?"

Latvia caught his breath. "Oh... um... well, I..."

Lithuania sighed and shook his head. "This won't do, Latvia. You can't help others if you can't help yourself, you know?" He paused for a moment. "Tell you what. Remember that question I asked you back in the Study room? I asked you if you were hurt anywhere."

Latvia nodded. "Yes, I remember."

Lithuania chuckled lightly. "I'm glad to know that you remember that one detail. Now, I will change my question."

"O-okay..."

"Is there somewhere you want to be?"

"...Wh-what?"

"Please... give me- no, give us an answer, Latvia."

"I..." Latvia squeezed his eyes shut, trying to stem the flow of emotion leaking out of him. "All along, through all these time loops... I wanted to be with all of you. I hurt everywhere but I don't want to stop trying, but I can't find a way for this to stop either...

"However... can I say this now? I want to be with you, Lithuania. You... you were almost always the first one to go and I want to escape with everyone..."

Lithuania raised his arms. "Come here."

Latvia obediently stumbled over to his fellow Baltic. Lithuania gently enclosed him in his warm embrace.

"I want to be with you, too... I don't want to know how many times you've seen me die first but I know that was because I wanted to protect you so much. More than Estonia, more than everyone else here... I would have done anything to protect you... and I will continue doing that until we escape."

"Lietuva..."

Latvia wasn't the only one crying. Several other nations had also broken down in tears of joy.

"Oh, you two are just too sweet," Ukraine sniffed, unashamedly allowing her eyes to overflow. "I wish I could be that close to my siblings."

Belarus just huffed and turned away but even her gaze clung onto the two Baltics for a fleeting, wistful moment.

Estonia sobbed loudly and joined in the hug. "I- I want to protect you too! I'm sorry I always slipped away every time you got into trouble with Russia. I'm so sorry... I'll try my best to make sure everyone stays alive and well, okay? I don't want to lose any one of you either..."

With a flying tackle, Sealand threw himself among the three Baltics. Finland was about to stop him but decided against it, opting to simply gaze at him while simultaneously weeping into Sweden's shoulder.

"Bloody hell, Latvia! Why didn't you tell me before? We're best friends, right? We promised we'd tell each other everything! You could have told us what happened. We would die less at least because we'd know what's going to happen!"

The storm of gloominess that had been surrounding the mansion since the group had entered began to dissipate for the first time. The Baltics just stood there for a long, blissful moment, holding on to each other the way they always did in Russia's house, when it was bedtime and nobody was around to tell on them. Eventually, the generally stoic Nordic group succumbed to their emotions and joined in the group hug.

Right in the centre of all the love and friendship, Latvia finally smiled since a very long time ago. "Ahh... It's so warm... I wish this moment could last forever..."

Lithuania suddenly tore away from the group, drawing his sword with a loud shiiiiink!

"I'd hate to break up the heartwarming moment I just started, but... we have company."

The entire group scattered to face... a very familiar foe glaring at them down the corridor.

"AIIIIIIEEEEE! What is that?!" Ukraine screeched in horror.

Denmark actually had the nerve to laugh. "See, now that's a normal reaction. Steve doesn't scare us anymore, y'see?"

"Shut up." Norway smacked the Dane once again. "We're about to-"

There was a heavy THUMP as another Steve dropped out of the ceiling and touched down on the other end of the corridor.

"THERE'S ANOTHER ONE!" Ukraine screamed, pointing frantically at the second monster.

"How come nobody told me there were, like, TWO of them?!" Poland exclaimed incredulously, waving his spear around in what he thought was the most intimidating spear-waving technique he could think of.

"That's not important." Lithuania waved that detail aside. "Let's finish them off!"

Thus began yet another long, hard battle between the nations and Steves.

Iceland: Cliffhanger. Put it here.

Finland: Yeah, good idea! Let's cut it off here. See you next week and review if you can!