Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 129

"You okay?" Tunisia asked, looking away from the road to look at Morocco.

Morocco nodded as she rubbed the ointment on her arm. They had to stop at one of Libya's towns in order to get the ointment. The rash appeared out of nowhere, and she didn't know whether or not it was as a result of something she was exposed to on the Libyan front, or if it was a side-effect of the potion.

Romania had come by and told her that White was already confirmed to be pregnant, and he used his magic to confirm that with her as well. He wanted to wait a bit before confirming it with Sierra Leone and Angola because of their distance.

They were on their way to Egypt's house, where some of the others were also going, if they hadn't arrived there already. They were almost at the border, and the closer they got, the more nervous Morocco became. Egypt took Black. Did he do anything to him? Did he hurt him? Would they be able to find him when they went to Egypt?

A few minutes later when they crossed the border, an image flitted through Morocco's mind. Black was pressed against a wall. He looked up and his eyes widened. He reached out to touch her, but the moment Morocco reached out as well, the vision disappeared.

She shook her head, feeling tears sting her eyes. What was that? Did Black use his magic to reach out to her to tell her that he was alright?

She closed her eyes and clenched her fists. They would get Black out very soon. And she would not allow Requiem to go unpunished for any pain they had caused him.

…

Black slumped against the wall again. He didn't know what that vision was, but seeing Morocco filled him with both happiness and sorrow. He wanted to hold her again. He wanted to bury his face in her hair and breathe in the scent. Even now, he could smell the rosy incense.

He looked up and glared when the door opened. Egypt and Peru came in, and Peru was glaring suspiciously at Black. Egypt came to a stop in front of him and crouched down, eyes narrowing.

"I want to know exactly what those spirits wanted from you," Egypt said. "And if you don't tell me the truth, I'll search for the answer myself." He smirked. "I'm sure India and Prussia told you all about it by now."

Black's eyes narrowed, and he hoped they masked his fear. However, he couldn't hide it completely when Egypt reached out to touch his temple, right next to his left eye.

"I'm impressed that you managed to undo my spell," Egypt said. "But that won't happen next time. So, tell me what they wanted from you."

Black glared at Egypt for a few more seconds before he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I had to help them reconnect with their former lands," Black said. "I saw glimpses of their lives… and their deaths."

"And how exactly did you do that?" Egypt asked.

Black noticed that Egypt did not acknowledge what he had to say about their lives and deaths. He found himself hating the other nation even more.

"I'm not entirely sure how," Black said. "They're mostly just using me to gain access. Like… The word escapes me…"

"A conduit?" Egypt asked, arching his eyebrow, and Black nodded. Egypt growled. "That does nothing to help. So they're mostly just taking advantage of you."

"I believe that's basically what I told you earlier," Black sighed. "They made me agree because it would be less painful that way, and would make it easier for them too. I'm sure that even you would understand the concept of trying to avoid unnecessary pain."

Egypt rolled his eyes, but it would seem that he understood Black's point. He then focused on Black again.

"How exactly do they go about it?" Egypt asked.

"Not entirely sure, but it seems to be similar to what you did," Black said.

Egypt narrowed his eyes, before he grabbed Black by the forehead. Black hissed in pain when his head slammed against the wall, and visions filled his mind of the last two he helped. Egypt gasped and pulled away. Black smirked tiredly, ignoring the pain in his head.

"Those two I actually enjoyed helping," Black explained.

Egypt swore, jumping to his feet. He turned towards Peru.

"We need to tell Italy and Romano," he announced.

"What it is?" Peru asked, before he suddenly gasped and grabbed his throat.

Black stared as Egypt gasped, rushing over towards Peru.

"What's going on?" Egypt asked. "Diego, are you alright?"

Peru shook his head, and Black's eyes widened when he saw Peru's nose start to bleed. Egypt's hand started to glow as they hovered over Peru, but after a few seconds he snarled in frustration. He rounded on Black with a dark look.

"What did you do?" Egypt demanded.

"Don't look at me," Black said. "I have absolutely no idea what's going on."

"He has nothing to do with this."

The three nations looked up when another voice joined in. Peru's eyes bulged when he saw the owner of the voice and his companion.

"He's only going to get worse from here," the speaker continued.

Egypt growled.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

"It's very simple," the second one said. "This knowledge does not leave this room. You will tell no one about us."

Egypt gritted his teeth before he looked back towards Peru. Black winced when he realised that now, Peru's ears and eyes were bleeding as well.

"Alright, fine!" Egypt roared. "No one else will know. Now, leave him be!"

The two exchanged a look. Peru sucked in a deep breath, and Egypt focused his attention on examining him. The two gave Black one last look before they disappeared. He sighed in disappointment. Death had not been kind to them, it would seem.

Once he was sure that Peru was alright, Egypt stood up and turned to face Black again.

"How long have theybeen back?" he asked.

"They came around earlier," Black said, shrugging. "I think it was after you left. And before you lecture me about telling you, one, you came in to threaten me, so I didn't even have a chance to tell you, and two, you're my enemy, and I'm not going to willingly tell you more than I need to or anything that would harm my allies in any way."

Egypt narrowed his eyes, but didn't say anything. He helped Peru to his feet and sighed, stroking the other's cheek.

"Let's go get you cleaned up," Egypt said.

Black watched them leave, and wondered how long it would be before someone would come to bother him again.

…

"So, you two will be going back?" North Korea asked.

White nodded, and Brazil wrapped his arms tighter around her, minding where his arms were. White was trying hard not to scratch the rash that crept up her neck.

"I don't know how many other side-effects there would be," White said. "It would be better to withdraw before I get a side-effect that would really be a nuisance, or downright dangerous to have if something happened."

North nodded in understanding, before he turned to Brazil.

"You know that it's only a matter of time before the hormones would kick in and she punches you in the gut for not giving her room to breathe, right?" he asked.

"And when that time comes, I will make sure to stay out of arms' reach," Brazil said. "But I won't stop protecting her."

"You do remember that no one can hurt her while she's like this, right?"

"They can't hurt her. Doesn't mean they won't try to take her."

"While a fair point," White said, "you don't have to be so worried. We're going to our base, and if they go there, we'd have fair warning. But there's a chance that I might get annoyed long before the hormones start buzzing. By the way, could you at least move your thumb a bit? It's pressing in."

Brazil adjusted his hold, and North rolled his eyes. He then turned to South Sudan, who wisely decided to remain silent whenever Brazil and White were acting like a young couple in love. And only the first part wasn't valid.

"And you?" he asked. "Are you going back to South Africa, or are you going to join me at Egypt's house?"

"Depends," South Sudan said. "Are you and Wales as bad as these two?"

North Korea smiled. Now that Wales wasn't bound by the Blood Vow, the two could be reunited for more than two hours at a time.

"Well, as far as I'm aware of, neither Will nor I are pregnant," North Korea joked. "So I don't think that we'll be acting like them."

South Sudan smiled while the other two rolled his eyes. As though to prove their point, White snuggled into Brazil's hold while he rested his head on her shoulder.

"That's a relief," South Sudan said, before he looked back at the other two. "No offence."

"Believe it or not, we're far from the worst you can get," White said. "And I've had Chané complain about it enough times."

"And let's not even go into detail on what happened when Miguel found out about us," Brazil groaned. "At least he didn't go straight to The Talk."

"He told me to ask Belgium to explain everything to me. The only time I reached out to her as a family member. Then again, between Netherlands and England, she was the only woman I could really ask. And then I had to explain it to some of the other girls. Well, if he wanted to make sure I abstained for at least a little while, it worked."

"Well, it could have been worse."

"And how do you figure that?"

"You could have asked England."

White shuddered, and even South Sudan winced. North Korea hadn't known England so well, asides from Wales's descriptions. And the story that Wales was the one that had that talk with England, because Scotland and Ireland would have been too crass at that point in time.

…

Greece stared at the map, and one point in particular. He'd been waiting for so long for this war, and now they could do nothing but wait. Alvora had taken up far too much time. He should have been celebrating Turkey's humiliating defeat by now.

It hadn't been a pretence when he had to interact with the elder nation. He truly hated the man. Turkey was the one that had killed Greece's mother. And he didn't think that Turkey even realised that Greece had been nearby, witnessing it all. And the man had the audacity to expect Greece to become his underling and be glad about it?

He felt arms encircle his waist, and he felt himself calm when he breathed in Romano's scent. He felt the shorter nation bury his face against his back before Greece turned around to properly embrace him.

"You're thinking about Turkey again, aren't you?" Romano asked.

"He should be rotting right now," Greece growled. "Whether it's in a cell or in a grave, he should be rotting."

Greece knew that Romano understood perfectly. After all, there was a reason why Romano never liked Germany. The resemblance was uncanny.

"If it makes you feel better, we decided to focus some of our attention on the non-Alvora nations," Romano said. "Those that think they're safe, and those that think that Alvora can protect them."

Greece grinned.

"Does that mean that I can attack Turkey as much as I want?" Greece asked.

"Of course," Romano said.

Greece smirked before he kissed Romano. He could already think of a few ways to go about it. But he wouldn't go for the capital or any of the largest cities. They would first have to find a way to capture Turkey before he could attack those. He wanted to see the look on Turkey's face. And he couldn't ask Cyprus to report on Turkey's reactions. It wouldn't be the same.

…

Spain squeezed France's hand as they strolled through the trees. He wanted to spend time with France, and he knew that France needed both fresh air and exercise.

"Are you still alright?" Spain asked when France tripped for the third time.

"Ouais," France sighed. "I suppose I just need a moment to rest."

Spain felt guilty. If not for him, then France wouldn't have gotten hurt. He helped France sit down and then sat down next to him.

"…This is nice," France said after a while. "I had started to forget what it felt like."

Spain flinched a bit and wrapped his arm around France's shoulders.

"I'm sorry," Spain said. "They went after you because of me."

France sighed and rested his head on Spain's shoulder.

"Haven't we discussed this before?" France asked. "You aren't to blame. Their original plan was to kill me, after all. And I'm the one that got captured, and they used me to hurt you. I'm the one at fault."

Spain chuckled.

"Look at us," he said. "It's like we're arguing over who pays the restaurant bill." Spain's smile fell. "Still, I know about the way they tortured you. It was meant specifically to hurt me."

France sighed.

"I was guilty of that as well," he said. "And when I saw Miguel again… If we knew back then what we know now…"

Spain flinched, and the guilt clawed at his chest. This wasn't a new thought for him. And he knew that this thought would continue to haunt him until he spoke to his brother. This was not a conversation for a phone call, and he didn't think that anyone would be comfortable with the leader of Alvora being in the campsite, which left the possibility of Spain going to Portugal, but he didn't have the courage to ask anyone to take him there via magic.

He was also afraid of raising the issue with his brother. If he brought it up, would Portugal allow his repressed frustration and anger to bubble to the surface? Would Spain be alright with him taking things out on him, or would Spain's own instincts and emotions cause him to fight back and potentially hurt his brother?

"I've been thinking about it too," Spain confessed. "And I wonder if… If I did something like that, and Romano found out back then, and he approached Miguel… If that could have caused Alvora and Requiem to unite."

"Merde, that's not a comforting thought," France said. "Having them as allies instead of enemies would have doomed the world." France shook his head and stood. "I think I've rested long enough. Shall we continue our stroll?"

Spain smiled and stood up. They intertwined their hands before setting off, only for France to freeze.

"What's wrong?" Spain asked.

"Angleterre," France whispered.

Spain's eyes widened and he followed France's gaze. Sure enough, he saw England standing between two trees, watching them coldly.

"He's angry because I was supposed to die that day too," France muttered.

"Let's go back, before he does anything," Spain said, taking a step back.

England suddenly smirked before disappearing. Spain had a bad feeling about it. He tugged on France's hand, trying to get him to run, before pain exploded in his skull. He cried out as he clutched his head.

"Antonio?!" France cried out in alarm.

Spain's arm shot out and he punched France in the stomach. France gasped in surprise before Spain's hand wrapped around his throat. Spain's eyes widened, and his eyes were the only part of him that he could control.

"Listen carefully, Frog," the words spilled out of Spain's mouth. "You will say nothing, you will do nothing, and Spain wouldn't have to suffer unnecessarily. If you try to warn anyone, then I will make sure you watch as your precious lover takes his own life. Or, would you much rather him being fully aware but unable to stop me as I use his body to kill you?"

Spain wanted to scream, but he couldn't. France closed his eyes.

"Alright," France whispered. "I'll remain quiet."

And that goes for you too. Just pretend that everything is normal.

Spain felt himself gain control of his body, and he immediately released France. He slumped forward, trembling in horror at being forced to hurt France. The latter caught and held him.

"Antonio, are you back?" France asked.

Spain nodded.

"H-he's still here, inside my head," Spain explained. "He w-wants me to a-act like things are normal."

"He probably knows that he wouldn't be able to fool the others by pretending to be you," France whispered. "What does he want?"

"I don't know. But I'm afraid to find out."

…

Prussia was sitting next to the bed where Lithuania's corpse was resting. He reached out a hand, stroking the other's hair. He was still in a state of denial.

He looked up when someone knocked on the door. Canada gave him a sympathetic look.

"I'll be going back home," he said. "And… I'll prepare a place for Toris next to Tino. We were thinking that… the day after tomorrow…"

"I don't want to say goodbye to him yet," Prussia said, looking sadly towards Lithuania.

"…I know. But he needs a proper funeral. Do you think you and Feliks could plan it?"

Prussia sighed, placing a kiss on Lithuania's forehead before he left the room. All was silent for a moment, until a shadow moved in the room. The shadow had watched Prussia, and now turned his attention to the corpse.

"You weren't careful enough," the shadow said. "And now look what you've done."

"We need to go," a second shadow said. "There is still much to do. We don't want anyone else to die."

The shadow formerly known as Lithuania sighed before turning to the one formerly known as Finland. Yes, they had a lot of work to do.