Thanks to FerayEs for reviewing.

Sorry again. Deadlines are coming in this Friday, so hopefully I'll be returning to regular updates on Friday soon, though things might still be busy this week.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 126

White was already asleep, but Brazil opted to lie there for a while, simply staring at the girl he fell in love with. The woman carrying his child.

He still couldn't believe it was happening. Even as a child when he first started to realise that he was developing feelings for the girl that had always accompanied him when Portugal first brought him to the Old World, he imagined them growing up and having children together. He actually told Portugal about it in his teen years, and, after a very painful talk about birds and bees, Portugal explained that nations could not have children in the same way humans could. It simply could not be done. So Brazil had settled for merely being with her for as long as they could, which he hoped was forever.

And now everything changed.

When White told him that she and three others had drunk a potion meant to make it possible for them to have children, he was ecstatic. All of his old dreams seemed to look as though they could become real. And when that goddess told them that she was indeed pregnant, he was torn in two. He was excited to become a father, but he was terrified because Requiem knew too.

So far, they hadn't come to demand the secrets of how it was done, or to take White away in order to perform experiments on her and the child. It was the fear of that possibility that had caused him not to let her out of his sight since they found out. Requiem would do something about this, he could feel it.

He leaned over and placed a kiss on her forehead, his hand trailing towards her abdomen. It would be too soon to confirm her pregnancy under normal circumstances, even with the best technology. But he knew that the first stirrings of life were occurring inside her. He wondered how long it would take before her body started to show, and how long before he could feel his child underneath his hand.

He wondered if humans felt this excited at the thought of becoming parents. And he wondered what his child would be like. Would they have their mother's hair? Their father's eyes? Would the child be a boy or a girl? Did it matter?

Nine months seemed like such a long time. Even to someone who had lived a few hundred years, this would be a long wait.

…

"What were you doing out on your own?!" Taiwan demanded.

"Tai chi," China sighed.

While he knew the reasons behind it, he couldn't help the small twinge of resentment towards Tibet for telling the others about his meditation session earlier in the morning. Or about the ones that had been watching them.

"And why did you have to go out on your own?!" Taiwan demanded. "Do you have any idea how stupid it was? What if something happened again?"

"Mei, I already scolded him," Tibet said. "Doing so now is only going to frustrate him and cause him to ignore us even more."

Taiwan huffed, crossing her arms. But she didn't pursue it farther.

"I'm still worried about those ghosts you saw," Inner Mongolia said. "They didn't attack you at all?"

"They wanted to," Tibet said. "Looks like we need to thank Haiti for those enchantments. But Yao is safe from them. They have absolutely no interest in hurting him."

"I still want to know how you know that," China said. "And you most definitely aren't."

"…I don't know how to describe it. It's like… In that brief moment, we had a connection to each other. I've never experienced so much anger and hatred and sadness before."

"And based on that, you realised that they have no intention of harming me?"

"Again, it's hard to describe, but they have absolutely no intention of hurting you, Yao. And even if they target us, it's less to do with you and more to do with us."

"What do you mean?" Ningxia asked. "What did we do to them?"

"We're alive."

There was silence as everyone absorbed that piece of information.

"So… they hate us because they're dead and we're alive?" Hong Kong asked. "How is that even fair? I mean… it's not like it's our fault that they're dead."

"It doesn't matter to them, remember?" China sighed. "The dead are jealous of the living."

"But why are they taking it out on us and not the ones that killed them?" Taiwan demanded.

"They might be. But they're going to target all of us. We should try to be careful, and the moment we see one of them, we should get away as soon as possible."

"If we can manage that," Hong Kong said. "I mean, look at Kazakhstan."

China winced. It had freaked everyone out when Kazakhstan couldn't breathe, and it truly scared them all that she couldn't even slip away into unconsciousness or a temporary death. Being able to do something like that…

"Do… do you think that we should call Macau to warn him?" Taiwan asked. "I mean… If there's a chance that they would target any of us, then they could target him too."

"What about Alvora?" Tibet asked. "I thought we decided not to let them know about it."

"Do you honestly think that Spain wouldn't have told them by now?" China asked.

"…Fair point."

"I'll call him," Hong Kong sighed. "If they don't know already."

The group looked up when they heard footsteps. Turkey grinned as he approached.

"Alright, so we're going to start training," Turkey said. "Are you going to join us, China?"

"No," everyone except China said.

"He's not allowed to do any exercise except tai chi, and only with supervision," Taiwan said.

China grumbled, but he was glad that he could at least do tai chi. So that wasn't completely forbidden.

He glared at Turkey when the younger nation started to laugh at him.

"Hard to believe that you're the older brother here, huh?" Turkey teased.

"Keep in mind that Greece is a member of Requiem," China said. "And we all know that the two of you hate each other. And all it would take for you to end up like me is for Greece to have one bad day where he decides to take it out on you. And if you're not careful, then Karma might decide to give Greece a bad day."

Turkey's only response was to arch an eyebrow.

"Is that supposed to be a threat or something?" he asked.

"Not a threat," China said. "Just a warning that if you end up like me, you shouldn't expect any sympathy from me."

Normally, China wouldn't be saying things like this, especially since they were in the middle of a war and they couldn't afford any infighting. But this wasn't the first time that Turkey teased him about his younger siblings being so strict with him, and after already being scolded several times that morning, he wasn't in the mood to deal with that now.

"Maybe we should just get going, before the two of you really start fighting," Tibet said.

"No one's fighting," Turkey said. "But whatever. Saudi's joining us today, so I think you'll only have France for company."

China sighed. He'd had a lot of experience with France over the years, especially during World War Two, and at least he was more bearable than America. And regardless, France would be far better company than Turkey.

…

Ireland jumped when the alarm went off. Bulgaria groaned, burying his head into the pillow. Ireland shut off the alarm and sighed, running his hand through his hair.

The plan was to go to Canada at six in the morning, which was half an hour away. He would need to get ready.

He was feeling a bit jealous of Bulgaria at this moment, who was allowed to sleep a little longer.

He quickly got dressed before going towards the kitchen. He was surprised to see that Belarus was up before him, but was relieved to see that the kettle was already boiling, and that two mugs had been brought out. He smiled before he added some instant coffee and sugar to one of the mugs.

"You're an angel," Ireland sighed.

Belarus shrugged.

"I figured that we'll need it," she said. "This is way too early in the morning."

"Unless someone is a night owl, this is the best time to go after Herzegovina," Ireland said. "And while I'd like to repay my brothers for that little stunt yesterday, we need to focus on our priorities."

"How mature of you," Belarus said with a wry smile. "If we had to do something and my siblings were nearby, I don't know if I'd be able to resist the temptation of torturing them. I could even let Latvia attack the two of them."

"But won't your brother not hesitate to attack Latvia? In fact, aren't you and Ukraine the only ones he'd hesitate for?"

"Fair point. Scotland wouldn't hesitate for you, though, right? So I guess I'm lucky in that regard."

Ireland winced.

"Yeah, my brothers and I have been at war with each other so many times, and we fight a lot, so… I mean, Wales might hesitate sometimes, but I don't think he'd do so anymore with me. And before all of this, the only ones that would get the occasional bit of mercy would be North and Wales."

"I see," Belarus said. "Do you think that Wales being an exception to your general rule was planned by him? After all, I did a few things that would manipulate my siblings, should we ever battle."

"No, I don't think Wales tried to manipulate us. He's always been the nicest person among us. And even in the middle of a war, he would fuss to make sure that we're alright. England was mad at him that he helped take care of me when I had a cold while I was fighting for my independence."

"So… Is that why Wales is one of the last people that you'd want to hurt?"

"I guess you could say that."

Ireland proceeded to pour the water into both of the mugs before he sat down across from Belarus.

"Are you nervous?" Belarus asked.

"Not really," Ireland said. "I mean, they should all be asleep. The odds of us running into someone would be slim. And if we do, it would most likely be someone just going for some water or going to the bathroom or something. Scotland and the others should be asleep, considering the time difference, and I don't think any other magic users would be there, or at least not someone that would be able to fight. So at least we have an advantage over anyone we might encounter. And you?"

"No. It's just… you look off."

"You can probably blame it on the ungodly hour, not to mention the fact that I had to change time zones."

Belarus shrugged.

"Fair enough," she said.

The two paused when they heard footsteps approaching, and a few seconds later Slovenia entered the kitchen. He paused when he saw them, eyes trailing towards their coffee mugs.

"I was just about to see if you'd like some," Slovenia said, before yawning. "Sorry. Had to press 'snooze' a few times on my alarm."

"Completely understandable," Belarus said. "But what are you doing awake?"

"It would be unfair of me to expect you to go out while the rest of us are sleeping. So why don't you think of me as mission control or something?"

"That could be nice," Ireland said. "Especially if it means we're not suffering alone."

…

China was watching the others go through their training exercises while watching France out of the corner of his eye. France was subdued and his eyes seemed to go blank from time to time, and it worried China. Never before had he seen the other like this.

He decided that watching the others training was boring, and so he turned his full focus on France.

"Are you alright?" China asked.

China had never felt so guilty about asking a question before. France jumped, and his head swivelled around to face China.

"W-what?" he gasped.

"I asked you if you were alright," China said. "I'm going to guess that you're not."

France flinched, averting his gaze.

"This isn't the first time I've been captured and tortured by enemies," France said. "And yet… this feels so much worse."

"What exactly did they do to you?" China asked.

France was silent for a long moment, and China was worried that he'd slipped into the darker recesses of his mind. Eventually France sighed, closed his eyes and leaned back.

"They made me relive some of the tortures used and developed during the Middle Ages, and especially the Ing," France explained. "Ways to punish heretics and apostates. They were used by Spain, by Portugal and by myself. And some of the things they did to me were things the Spaniards did to their people. It was chosen specifically to torture Spain. The reason why I mentioned Portugal is because he's Spain's brother, and we recently found out that he falls under the category of people that would have been punished like that. They used a potion to allow Spain to feel all of my pain, and to experience my last moments."

"I know," China said. "That's the main reason why Spain didn't do any of the training exercises until yesterday. We all know. Except the potion part. Can they use it to affect other pairs of nations?"

"No, it's specifically designed to affect those involved in a romantic relationship. They used me to harm Antonio."

"And you feel guilty about it. That's what they want from you. Spain doesn't blame you, and neither should you."

"It's not just that I feel guilty. I'm worried about the psychological effect that particular series of tortures might have on Spain, because I can't stop thinking about it. And it doesn't help that I was rescued by Portugal, and that I spoke with him. I was too afraid to tell him exactly what I went through."

China was confused for a moment, until he truly understood what France was talking about. Portugal would have been forced to torture and kill people who were similar to him, and he had to allow his humans to do so. He might have lived with the fear of his humans doing the same thing to him, if they ever found out. Or worse: his brother and other surrounding nations. And naturally there was the issue of being reminded about all of this, especially for Portugal, and potential tension could arise between the brothers, and France would have been in the middle of it all.

"You're worried about how it all could go back to Spain," China said.

France nodded.

"One thing I learned about Requiem is that they do not forgive the past," he said. "I think they believe they never received justice for their worst experiences, and it turned them bitter. They're stuck in the past, and it drives them to do what they do. That, and they want to conquer. That is another thing that's unfortunately in the nature of a nation."

China wanted to argue against that last part, but considering his history, size of his land and their current location, there was no way he could pose an argument against that without sounding like a complete hypocrite. So instead, he focused his attention on the first part of what France said.

"I hope they're prepared to be on the receiving end then," China said. "No one's told you of the latest issue on our side, have they?"

France frowned.

"No, I don't think so," France said.

"First, did someone tell you that I received a nuclear attack to my capital, and a few other major cities?" China asked.

"Oui, Antonio told me about that. I see you are well enough, at least."

"At least someone sees it. Anyway, while I was unconscious, I had a conversation with some of my former family members."

"Former? You mean, dead?"

China nodded. He'd hoped to avoid that word, but now it didn't matter.

"Requiem and Alvora have triggered something," China explained. "You know how Requiem experimented on the regions? Well, their spirits are out for revenge. And unfortunately for us, they're not limiting themselves to Requiem. Kazakhstan was attacked the other day. She couldn't breathe, and she couldn't die or even pass out."

France frowned.

"I think I heard something similar from Alvora," France said. "East Timor was attacked by a spirit, and apparently so was Philippines. Italy called to demand an explanation, and Portugal was angry enough to see the state East Timor was in that he didn't care about the fact that their enemy was on the other side of the line, and Malaysia and Indonesia had to explain to the leaders of both organisations what happened."

"Any idea what happened?" China asked. "What was done to them?"

"East Timor was essentially forced to drown in blood, while apparently Philippines's body was twisted in an unnatural way."

China winced at the description, before contemplating France's words.

"Do you think it might be relevant?" China asked. "I mean… They were experimented on…"

France shuddered.

"If they did anything like that to my siblings…" France said.

"I have no doubt in my mind that they would have," China said. "Especially since I already know what happened with at least one of my former provinces. He was begging to be killed in the end."

"…Monsters."

…

Living with Bosnia, Herzegovina had gotten used to waking up abruptly. However, she'd never woken up because of a hand pressed against her mouth before. Her surprise was immediately replaced by horror as she screamed, proving why the hand was necessary.

"Hello there, Herzegovina," Ireland whispered. "Are you ready to be reunited with Bosnia? Because he's been dying to see you again."