Thanks to FerayEs for reviewing.

It's a few minutes before midnight, so I managed to get it on time. I would have posted sooner, but the wi-fi is out and the mobile router has no interest in being useful.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 127

Slovenia grinned when he saw Belarus and Ireland appear in his kitchen, with Ireland carrying an unconscious Herzegovina. What made this even better was the fact that they hadn't even been gone long.

"Things went smoothly, I see," Slovenia said. "I've got a spare bedroom you can put her in. We can wait before…"

He cut himself off when he heard rushing footsteps, and a few seconds later Bosnia appeared. His eyes were wild as they immediately fell on Herzegovina. Was it possible that he could actually sense her presence, and so soon at that? This was something that should perhaps be examined in more detail at a later stage.

"Lejla!" Bosnia exclaimed, before he rushed towards Ireland. "Is she hurt?"

"No, she's fine," Ireland replied. "Just a sleeping spell. She was being a tad stubborn and didn't want to come along with us."

Bosnia smiled, though it was filled with mania, and his eyes weren't quite right. Slovenia just needed to see if this could be twisted to their benefit later.

"She's always like that," Bosnia said. "Stubborn when she has to do something. "But she's here. Finally, we're together again."

Slovenia didn't quite know how exactly Bosnia saw Herzegovina. They were technically siblings, and they were pretty close, but the way Bosnia had been obsessing over Herzegovina the past week or so made Slovenia wonder if there was something else going on between them.

"We were just about to take her to a bedroom," Slovenia said. "Do you want to come along?"

Bosnia eagerly nodded, and Slovenia led the way as both Ireland and Bosnia followed him, while Belarus went in the opposite direction. She would most likely be going back to bed. Slovenia felt just a bit guilty when he realised that there wasn't much of a reason for her to get up, since it went so well.

Ireland placed Herzegovina on the bed. Ireland and Slovenia turned to leave, but Bosnia went to lie down next to her. Slovenia watched as Bosnia turned to his side, propping his head up with his arm. There was a smile on his face as he watched the unconscious Herzegovina. Slovenia made another mental note to keep an eye on the situation to make sure this didn't go out of their control.

…

Samoa made sure to lock the door before he started to get to work. The last thing he wanted right now was anyone asking questions about what he was doing.

He then lowered himself to the ground and started doing push-ups. While the others were mostly focusing on keeping themselves occupied while being unable to go back to their own countries while the war was going on, Samoa decided that it would be better to do some training to be prepared. He chalked it off to being influenced by Germany.

The reason why he was trying to keep quiet about it was because he knew that the others wouldn't understand his paranoia, and he didn't want to get any grief for it. He also knew that Australia would dismiss his concerns, claiming that he would protect them if it came down to it.

The fact that Kiribati was missing said otherwise.

They were islands, and logically Requiem wouldn't want them. But history told of a different tale. All of them had been conquered at one point or another. And if Requiem wanted to bolster their strength before dealing with the stronger nations, then conquering the islands was an easy way to boost their power.

He wasn't going to allow himself to be captured by Requiem. Not without a fight.

…

Elleore screamed as she woke up. She was covered in sweat and she panicked when she looked around, not recognising the room. She tensed for a moment when she saw someone else in the room with her, before she realised that it was Christiana, and he looked at her with worry.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Elleore nodded, hugging herself. It was just a dream. She didn't need to elaborate. Christiana would know. He might have been dealing with the same things.

"We're safe now," Christiana said. "None of those nations would come close to us."

"I'm not worried about the nations," Elleore said. "I'm worried about Seborga. Aramoana…"

Christiana flinched. It was a day that both of them remembered well, back in 1981. The micronations were asked for a meeting by the Requiem nations. Only, the meeting was held by Seborga. And the entire purpose of the meeting was to get the micronations to cooperate. And Aramoana was used as a sacrificial lamb. He wasn't the first micronation that Requiem killed, but among those trapped in the Requiem nations, he was the last. The brutality of the execution was one thing, but the absolute serenity on Seborga's face while blood decorated the visage was pure nightmare fuel. Which was true, considering she just had a nightmare about that day.

She tensed when she heard approaching footsteps, and a moment later a concerned nation burst into the scene. Elleore relaxed when she recognised Canada, who'd brought her late the previous day.

"Are you okay?" Canada asked.

"I-I'm fine," Elleore said. "Just… nightmare."

"It's going to happen a lot," Christiana explained.

Canada frowned.

"Did Denmark hurt either of you?" he asked.

"Nothing compared to the regions," Christiana said. "He mostly just threatened and intimidated us."

"But there were worse people than Denmark," Elleore said. "Seborga, for example."

"That's the Italian micronation, right?"

"Ja. And completely devoted to his brothers' cause," Christiana said. "He's… When one of us proved a bit too… troublesome for Requiem, he was the one they would send to put us back 'in our place'."

"What exactly did he do?"

"He would be the one to kill those that defied Requiem too often. And one time… He killed another micronation right in front of us. He wanted to send a message."

"How could a micronation do that to another micronation?" Canada asked, a look of disgusted horror on his face.

"The one he killed…" Elleore said. "He'd only been around for a year. And they just killed him for no reason. He didn't even do anything."

Canada just shook his head.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore," he said. "We won't let any of them anywhere near you again." He looked down at his watch. "Well, it's about time to wake up anyway."

"Sorry…" Elleore said. She knew that if not for her screaming, then Canada wouldn't have come to investigate, and he could have slept a little longer.

"It's fine," Canada said, smiling reassuringly. "I was up anyway. If you want, I could take you to another place. You could come back with me to my country. Some of the regions that Requiem held captive are there. Otherwise, there's another place in South Africa that I could take you. There's another micronation there, so she could help. And if it makes you feel better, we could also get some of our other micronations together."

"That might be a good idea," Christiana said. "Because there's a chance that Seborga might go after them. And considering how Requiem can be…"

"I understand," Canada said, frowning. "We'll make sure that they're safe. There are other nations around, so Seborga shouldn't come by easily."

"Let's hope you're right," Elleore sighed.

…

"So, where do you think Egypt is?" Central African Republic asked, before taking a bite of his apple. "I mean, it's one thing to allow your enemies to make it through your country without a problem. Another to let them get to the capital. And yet another thing to let them spend the night in your house."

Chad frowned, but he had to agree with the other nation. It was strange that Egypt didn't interrupt them or otherwise tried to stop them. He would definitely have known that they were there. And several nations would be joining them later, particularly some from Alvora.

And speaking of Egypt, Chad knew that the other nation was in the country. The problem was, he couldn't tell where. One moment he seemed to be coming from the east, the next from the west. Sometimes he felt close by, other times he seemed far away. It was like he was everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Chad leaned against the stove, before he remembered that one of the plates was hot because he wanted to cook them some breakfast. Even if the breakfast ended up being nothing other than rations.

Egypt hadn't been there in a while. There wasn't exactly an abundance of fresh food.

Chad frowned when he realised that his hand was against the hot plate. He carefully removed it while CAR was distracted. He examined the palm and resisted the urge to click his tongue. There were a few small blisters already forming.

It had always been a peculiarity of his. Chad had always wondered why certain things would prompt a certain reaction from people. Especially when blood was involved. And at one point, he asked France about it. The European had been concerned about it, and together they strove to find out what was odd about Chad. They eventually found the answer, and Chad was only a little nervous by France's horrified reaction. As it turned out, Chad was incapable of experiencing any form of pain.

He could understand why France was perturbed by the revelation. Pain was natural. Pain was normal. Chad was a freak because he couldn't feel pain.

Observation led him to see that nations could sometimes shrug off pain to some extent. He was told that pain became less noticeable after one got used to it, but it could still affect someone. He still couldn't quite grasp the concept, though. And all he could do was try to copy what he saw from others.

France's response was the reason why he kept his condition a secret. He didn't want to be seen as a freak by the other nations. They had to be in each other's companies for a long time. It wasn't until the twentieth century that he discovered that some humans had a genetic condition that prevented them from feeling pain. With France's help, they did a genetic test on Chad to determine that he was also affected by something similar, though it wasn't identical to what the humans had. For one thing, he didn't know how he would be genetically connected to the humans where this condition was prevalent.

Still, it was annoying. He'd suffered from quite a few deaths because he didn't realise that an artery was cut or that a lung was pierced or that it was too hot out. Temperature was also something he couldn't quite comprehend, and as a result, his body didn't regulate its own temperature.

He finished the breakfast, handing CAR his own while being careful not to show his hand. The last thing he wanted was to explain the situation.

"Merci," CAR sang before digging into his food.

Chad smiled before he started to eat his own breakfast. The humans that accompanied them were spread out throughout Cairo, looking for any humans that lingered around and most likely trying to loot the place. Unfortunately some things couldn't be prevented, but since this place appeared to be deserted, he figured that there would be no harm in allowing them to see if they could find something that they liked. As long as they kept in mind that they would need to travel back.

…

Romano was staring at the map, his fingers drumming as his mind was racing. Things were still too quiet for his tastes. They were so distracted by Alvora that they hadn't continued with any of their other objectives.

And to make things worse, Alvora actually had more success than them when it came to gaining territories. Not only was the majority of Africa under their control, but they also had a few other scattered territories, and the nations that weren't part of either group or captured territories were more likely to trust Alvora, and might even provide aid, should it come down to it. Greece had gotten a few reports from Cyprus where the other nation explained what was going on with their group, and also explained how there was a slight trust in Alvora. Not full trust yet, but it was only a matter of time.

"What's on your mind?"

Romano turned his attention towards the door, seeing his brother standing there. Romano sighed and looked back towards the map.

"Alvora has too many territories, and if they need to, they could ask China's group to help them," Romano said. "By the way, how's Fletcher?"

"He's a bit tired," Italy said. "Philippines is still in pain too, but I think she's too angry at Singapore to care now."

"And then there are the ghosts or whatever too. But we need to focus on Alvora. Better the devil we know and all that. There's the invasion of Brazil being planned, but we need something else."

Italy hummed in acknowledgement, staring at the map. Romano could see the gears turning in his brother's head, and he knew that Italy would be able to see a solution that Romano couldn't. The brothers usually balanced each other out in that way.

"The simple solution would be to start chipping away at all of this," Italy said. "Some minor terrorist attacks in strategic locations. At the very least, it should increase the stress of all the nations, and their stress would build to the point where their relationships are being tested. And we all know what humans are like. Things are changing, and if we can exploit their fear of change…"

"How do you suggest we do it?" Romano asked. "Exploit their fear?"

"We could hijack the media in some way. We can add some of our subliminals to their TVs or radios. Spreading some fake news on news sites might also be a good idea. And the more attacks there are, the more the humans will panic, and the more likely they will be to do something on their own."

Romano nodded, mulling it over. They could control the humans of their own countries' descent, but it would be tricky to manage something on too large a scale. If they could get the other nations' humans to react like that, then it would be easier.

"We can also make the attacks on the Africans a bit more overt," Romano said. "They expect Alvora to protect them, right? So the more attacks directed at them, the more they might start to question Alvora's ability to protect them."

"And asides from that, they might start feeling nervous if these attacks are happening but Alvora isn't doing anything to stop them. Might make them feel as though they weren't a priority, you know? And it might cause enough discord for us to swoop in and take them all out."

"This might take a while to accomplish, but if we keep chipping away at their strength, relationships, patience and sanity, then eventually what they thought were small problems would end up being a colossal mess."

"We just need to remember to call in the patience we used to have when all of this started. But instead of waiting to begin, we need to wait until the odds are in our favour to defeat Alvora. And then the rest will follow."

…

Black stared at the ceiling, his body heavy and his head in pain. He'd been visited by a few of those ghosts by now, and he had no choice but to help them reconnect to their former lands. And every time it happened, he would become an observer to their own memories and emotions. There was a lot of rage from them, but also a lot of sorrow. He'd never felt something like that before.

A lot of the memories he'd seen were of these ghosts from when they were still small children. And he could see that many of them were still children when they approached him. He couldn't help but empathise with them, even though they were damaging his mind and spirit.

Some of the memories were when Requiem took them, and the moment they became disconnected to their lands. He could feel their fear, and it made him want to hug them. And he knew that it was a bad idea. Because asides from their memories, he'd also experienced their intent. And that was the source of his fear.

He changed his point of focus when the door opened. He scowled when he saw Egypt enter, who cocked his head to the side when he saw him.

"You look like shit," Egypt remarked. "Which is strange. As far as I'm aware, no one did anything to you."

Black gave a wry smile. It was actually amusing and ironic that Egypt would say something like that.

"None of your lot came by," Black said. "But you're not the only ones here, are you?"

Egypt scowled, and Black knew that the North African understood his meaning perfectly.

"What did they want with you?" Egypt demanded.

Black couldn't help but smirk, even though he was exhausted physically, emotionally and mentally.

"I know what you did to them," Black said. "And no matter what you say anyone did to you, it's nothing compared to what you put them through."

Egypt lunged at him, wrapping his hand around Black's throat. Black was too tired to offer any sort of resistance as Egypt lifted him to his feet.

"What did they want with you?" Egypt hissed.

"The same thing you do," Black said. "My power."

Egypt clicked his tongue and shoved Black away, before storming out of the room. Black grinned at the victory, even though he had a feeling that he would pay for it later.

"It's our turn now."

He sighed when two other figures came into view, and the two of them touched him simultaneously to draw on his power. However, there was no discomfort or pain from these two, and he felt a jolt race through his body as the two reconnected with their former lands.

He knew them.

There are a few genetic conditions that prevent a person from feeling pain, the most famous of which would probably be CIPA. Ever since reading about it, I've wanted to have one of my characters have something similar to that, preferably an African. And Chad turned out to be the lucky winner of that trait. But seriously, it's actually pretty scary. Since the body can't feel pain, it also can't feel temperature, and so it doesn't think that it should regulate the temperature. A lot of kids with this condition die before the age of three due to heat stress. The people also have to regularly check for cuts and bruises. It's easy to get an infection if you don't know you have an open wound.