Thanks to MindAboveMadness and AquaEclipse for reviewing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 79

When Singapore gained awareness, she sensed the arms encircling her. She tensed, realising that it meant that Philippines had returned. She heard movement behind her, before the top of her head was kissed.

"I see you're finally awake," Philippines said. "Good morning."

"When did you get back?" Singapore whispered, afraid that a louder voice would betray her panic.

"A few hours ago," Philippines said, squeezing her closer. "Did you have pleasant dreams?"

Singapore nodded. Philippines kissed her head again, before she stood up.

"I'll get to work on breakfast," she said. "Ever tried eggs benedict?"

Singapore nodded. She used to be England's territory. Of course she knew it.

Philippines beamed, before she skipped out of the room. Singapore relaxed when she heard the lock click on the other side. It meant that Philippines wouldn't be coming back soon, at least until breakfast was finished. So, for a few minutes at least, Singapore could relax.

Still, she couldn't help but wonder why Philippines was so happy. Something must have happened to put her in such a good mood.

The nations with Malaysia were all rather glum that morning. Even Brunei, who was still new to all of this and who didn't know everyone well enough yet, could feel the weight of the group's loss.

They, like the others, would be going for Finland's funeral, as soon as they could decide where to bury him. The ideal would have been to bury him in his own country, but they didn't know if it would be possible. Technically speaking, the land belonged to Denmark now. And they'd given them no reason to think that they would allow that respect.

Thinking about it made East Timor's stomach turn. Requiem didn't care who they hurt, or how they hurt them. They just cared about inflicting pain.

Timor looked over towards Malaysia, Sierra Leone and Brunei. The three of them were clearly tired after participating in the rescue, but there was more to it. They didn't know the full account of what happened, but Malaysia especially had a haunted look in his eyes.

Well, the truce gave them plenty of time to explain what had happened. More reasons to hate Requiem.

After the funeral, the Asians would be joining the Africans. They wanted to participate in the attack. They wanted to hurt Requiem as well.

And then… then they needed to find out where Singapore was. Not only because they were worried about her, but because it would be a blow to Philippines. East Timor was still upset over her injuring him and his brother.

Tibet had opted for some walking meditation. He felt a lot better after being tortured, and felt as though he needed to stretch his muscles. And after the dreams he'd had, he figured that his regular forms of meditation just wouldn't cut it.

He could still see it clearly. The dragon planning to consume him whole. The voices of the other Asian nations coming from the beast's maw, mocking him for his weakness.

And then waking up to see Bangladesh lying nearby, whimpering as he was assaulted by his own mind. And Tibet had to remind himself that it was just a nightmare.

It was also sad, seeing India and Israel so close together, but unable to touch. He was actually happy to see that at least some people had found love, and that their love was pulling them through the difficult times. A part of him hoped for something like that as well, but another part realised that it would never happen. No one would want someone like him.

He shook his head. He came to try to empty his mind, not fill it with negative thoughts. With a sigh, he decided to head back to the others' location.

When he returned, he noticed that India at least was up, in a manner of speaking. India was trying very hard to walk without leaning on something, and Tibet felt a jolt of sympathy. Like him, India had been tortured, all for the sake of hurting someone else. The only difference was that India was tortured by people who had a personal grudge against him.

India smiled when he saw him, before focusing his attention on his current task again. Tibet decided to check on Bangladesh, and was glad to see that the other nation was at least awake again.

He sat down across from Bangladesh, who started a bit as he was sitting up. Tibet cocked his head to the side.

"Are you better?" he whispered.

"Y-yeah," Bangladesh said, looking around. "I… I think my ears are okay now."

"That's good," Tibet said, speaking at a normal volume. "Do you know what went through your mind when you, well…?"

Bangladesh flinched, before nodding his head.

"There was this annoying sound," he said. "I just… wanted to block it out. It was driving me crazy."

Tibet nodded his head.

"That place was designed for indoctrination," he said. "It must have been something that affected your subconscious."

Bangladesh was silent for a long moment.

"Myanmar…" he muttered. "He's still there, isn't he?"

"I don't know if he's still at that particular place," Tibet said. "But, yes, he's still in their possession."

"First Bhutan, now Myanmar… What do you think they're doing to them?"

"Hopefully, not what they did to me."

Egypt had stepped out to regard the sunrise. There was a second Washroom, located in the Sahara Desert. It was fortunate that most of his cities and towns were located near the Nile. It left the rest of his territory available for whatever he needed to do.

It was lucky that they had a backup. This was also one of their larger bases, so it could accommodate the others as well. Of course, since Greenland was the expert regarding the Washroom, it had always been preferable to use the other.

But Alvora had intruded far too many times. Even when they tried to make them forget the location, they still found it.

Egypt heard footsteps behind him, and he turned to see Peru approaching. The younger nation leaned into him, and Egypt wrapped his arm around him.

"They managed to capture France," Peru said. "I want to hurt him too. It's going to hurt Spain."

"Of course," Egypt said, smiling. "Where are they keeping him?"

"For now, he's in Vatican's house, but they're thinking of moving him somewhere else. They don't want to risk them finding out that location."

As their central base of operations, it was important to keep everyone far away from that place. So, another location…

"Perhaps a transfer out of Europe," Egypt mused. "The Interrogation Room, the Washroom… I think they might suspect that all our bases are there."

Peru nodded his head.

"There's that one in my land," he said. "It would be fun, wouldn't it? Or, we could ask Rosa to use hers."

"It's your choice, after all," Egypt said. "Spain belongs to you, and so does France. To you and the others."

Peru chuckled, before hugging Egypt.

"That would probably mean separating," he said. "But we'll be seeing each other again soon, right?"

"Of course," Egypt said. "When this is all over – Alvora, and anyone else that tries to resist – then we'll have all the time in the world to spend together."

"It's just a shame they managed to take India. Aren't you going to be bored now?"

"Don't worry. There's still Nigeria and Sudan to finish, and we need to make sure that Algeria is screwed right."

Algeria still needed to be observed to see exactly how her mind had been altered, but cannibalism was definitely part of her character now. And he thought he heard Greenland mention something about playing matchmaker with Algeria and Myanmar. Now, that would be interesting to see.

"I'll discuss the issue with Rosa and the others, and then I'll tell Romano where they could send France," Peru said. "As soon as they all wake up."

"Yeah," Egypt said. "I'm actually surprised to see you up so early."

"Bed was cold."

Egypt smiled. His boyfriend was just so adorable.

Black opened his eyes, feeling heavy. He knew that he had been temporarily killed, and it took him a moment to remember how and why. And once he recognised the 'why', he realised that he could see the wall in front of him. He also realised that he was lying on his side, and lying against his back…

He was being spooned by Morocco. He could recognise the feeling of her arms wrapped around him anywhere, and the sound of her soft breathing echoed in his ears. Carefully, he loosened her arms a little to turn around. He smiled when he saw her sleeping face. And this was how he knew for certain that his vision had fully returned.

He admired her for a moment, before he brought his hand up to brush some stray hair out of her face. Her face scrunched up, before her eyes opened. They widened when he smiled at her.

"Good morning, Imane," he said.

"Themba!" she exclaimed, tackling him and flipping him onto his back.

He was surprised when she started peppering his face with kisses. She wasn't usually this affectionate. It ended with a large kiss on his lips, and he revelled in her familiar taste.

He thought he heard a door open, before closing again. He couldn't be sure. But hopefully, whoever it was saw that they were a bit occupied.

"I was so worried," Morocco said, leaning against his chest. "I am so sorry about what I did."

"You did what you had to," Black said. "The ends justified the means. And I can see you again. Have you grown more beautiful?"

She squealed in delight, before kissing him again. Black could tell that she was very relieved that he was alright.

Tunisia shook his head, his back pressed against the door. His room was next to Black and Morocco's, since his sister wanted to keep an eye on him, and so he was the one to hear her shout. Fearing that something had happened, he'd gone to investigate, only to find out his sister was very relieved to see her boyfriend was awake.

Too early. His brain didn't think logically yet.

No one else had come out to investigate, and he was glad for that. He didn't think he could handle the embarrassment after walking in on his sister and her boyfriend. At least it seemed as though they were only busy with the prologue.

Still… Perhaps now was a good time to get tea or coffee. Just in case.

Portugal and Romania were lying cuddled next to each other in the bed. Portugal was awake, but Romania was not. Sleep was a bit difficult for him. As he brushed the hair out of Romania's face, he couldn't help but think about his arrival a few hours ago.

Seeing Finland's headless body was horrible. Worse than he thought it would have been. At least Moldova had already gone to bed, and Andorra, Czechia and Slovakia weren't nearby either. He didn't think that they would feel comfortable seeing one of the nations that were supposed to protect them in that state.

And seeing Poland lying unconscious next to Finland didn't help matters. Spain told him that Romania revealed that Poland was mortal at the moment, and he didn't know what exactly that meant, or what could have caused it. He just knew that they needed to keep an eye on Poland when he woke up.

They also needed to see if they could get Finland's head back from Requiem.

Romania had passed out seconds after arriving, and Portugal couldn't blame him. He looked absolutely exhausted. At least they were promised a few days of reprieve.

They still needed to find out where they were going to have Finland's funeral.

He didn't think that they would need to decide on a place to bury any of their deceased. He didn't think that anyone would die. At least, that was what they'd hoped before they heard about Requiem. Afterwards, it became a fear, and that fear had just been realised.

Finland's funeral needed to be in a place where he wouldn't be disturbed. A place where the coming war wouldn't affect him. There were a few places, and the best would be…

He picked up the phone, dialling a familiar number. He waited impatiently, knowing that it was a longshot, but…

"Miguel?"

"Matthew," he greeted. "Sorry to wake you. Tell me, how likely are invaders to go to your most remote areas?"

"Highly unlikely, especially further north. Why?"

"I'm trying to find a good location for Tino's grave. A place where he would remain undisturbed for the rest of this war."

There was silence for a moment.

"I can think of a place," Canada said. "And… I wouldn't mind. Also… If anyone else…"

Portugal released his breath.

"Obrigado, Matthew," he said. "I'll tell the others to go to your place immediately. We'll trust you to guide us."

"Of course," Canada said. "How's Feliks taking it?"

"He hasn't gained consciousness yet. I'm worried about him, and not just for the obvious reasons. But I guess we wouldn't be able to tell until he's woken up."

Canada sighed on the other end.

"Keep me updated on Feliks's condition," he said. "He's not going to be happy about the truce."

"I know," Portugal said. "But he'll especially need this time to heal."

"You're probably right. I'll make arrangements. Tell everyone to go to a place called Alert as soon as possible. They're close to where I have in mind."

"Alright. Are you sure it would be isolated?"

"Alert might be close to Greenland, but not even she would go that far north. And above all, she wouldn't think to look for anything there."

"And if she doesn't think that, then the rest of Requiem probably wouldn't either. I'm just disappointed that we wouldn't be able to give him a grave with a view."

"I wouldn't say that. The aurora would certainly count as a view."

Portugal smiled when he realised what it meant.

"Sim," he said. "I suppose you're right. Anyway, sorry to wake you."

"No, it's okay. You wanted to ensure that Tino would be somewhere safe. I'll make the arrangements, and you just pass on the message."

"Alright. Talk to you later, Matthew."

The call was ended, and Portugal started to make another call.

"What the hell?" Romano's voice came from the other side. "Do you have any idea what time it is?!"

"After the things you've done, you'll have to forgive me for not prioritising courtesy," Portugal said. "I called to ask you to return Finland's head."

Vishnu was kind enough to take them to India's private home. At Bangladesh's grumbling over having to sleep on the uncomfortable floor, India asked if he thought his ears would have been able to handle the outside traffic when he couldn't even tolerate the sound of their voices. That caused Bangladesh to shut up swiftly.

The first thing they did was plug in Israel's phone and turn it on. India had gone to the kitchen, and he, Bangladesh and Tibet were all eager to eat a proper meal again. But a curse made in Hebrew had all three of them return to the living room, where Israel was hunched over his phone.

"What happened?" India asked.

"There was a message from Miguel, sent out to everyone," Israel explained. "Tino… They killed him."

India's knees buckled beneath him, and Tibet and Bangladesh had to help him stand. He stared at Israel in shock.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

Israel nodded mutely.

"I'm going to call Miguel," Israel said. "We need to find out more."

India knew that there were two things that Israel wanted to find out. The 'who' and 'how'.

China was a bit surprised to see Spain in the kitchen, simply staring at the table. China sighed, immediately going to make coffee.

"You can't keep sulking, you know?" China said.

"Well, until we know where they took Francis, that's all I can do, isn't it?" Spain countered.

"You can try to figure out where they took him. Most likely to one of their countries."

"Alright. Which one? Because that teleportation of theirs means that they might as well be in New Zealand by now."

China couldn't really argue with that, so he checked to see if the coffee would take much longer.

"They took him, just because they knew that I cared for him," Spain said. "It's my fault they took him."

"I don't think so," China said. "After all, didn't they try to kill France that first day?"

"That was also to spite me."

"Then what about England? Germany? Japan? America? Did they kill them to spite someone else? Or did they kill them because of their influence?"

Spain frowned, before he turned to China. The older nation fixed him with a firm stare.

"In case you forgot, their first targets were the G7," China said. "And I know that Russia and I are high on their list too. It makes sense, actually. Eliminate the biggest threats. France has a lot of influence, and even if he's sometimes hard to take seriously, he has an impressive military history. In the end, your relationship is probably the only reason why he's still alive. But we'll need to find him before that changes too."

Spain nodded his head.

"We'll need to figure out where to look," he said. "Do you think Alvora would help us?"

"I don't want to depend on them," China said. "There are still a few things that make me a bit nervous about them."

Such as the thing that happened with Poland. Because that was not the first time that China had seen something like that.

"We'll be there in an hour," Oman said, before he looked at the others.

He couldn't help but let his eyes linger on the newest addition to their group. He was completely surprised when Afghanistan requested his involvement, but Oman could see her point. Getting a nation that was also a blacksmith on their side could only prove advantageous. If only his current mental state wasn't so… fragile. They could only hope that Syria proved himself trustworthy.