And I'm still sick, but I'm doing better. My appetite is still not back to normal, but at least I'm not nauseous anymore.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 146

"There it is!" South Korea cackled. "Wow, I'm impressed. You'd think it would be harder for you to scream if I'm pinning you down like this."

"Fuck… you…" North Korea snarled.

"Aw, that's not very nice. And looks like you still have too much energy. We should fix that. Now, where next?"

North Korea didn't have any weapons on him, or within his reach. The sword he used earlier lay too far away, mocking him. His eyes widened when he felt South Korea grabbing his braid.

"You know, you should really consider modern fashions," South said. "Long hair is so passé."

North Korea gritted his teeth, before he lashed out with his left arm. He smiled in relief when he felt his elbow make contact with the side of South's leg, the one not being used to pin him down. South yelped in pain, before he shifted his position. North took the opportunity to push his brother off and crawled away, getting into a crouched position, where he would be able to either fight or flee.

South Korea also shifted into a crouched position, his face twisted into a snarl. He raised the dagger he had, and North Korea prepared to defend against it.

North's eyes widened when South was blown away by some sort of green energy. He turned towards the door and smiled when he saw Wales.

"Are you alright?" Wales asked, rushing towards North.

"I am now," North Korea said.

North fetched his weapon, wincing when he realised how shaky he was. South Korea snapped to his feet, looking between the two of them. North Korea was pleased to see the nervousness on his brother's face.

"Give up," North Korea spat. "It's over."

South Korea sneered.

"Just because you have help now doesn't mean that this is over," South Korea said. "It just means we have an audience."

South retrieved another weapon before he lunged at North. Wales used his magic to blow South away again. North winced when South collided with the far wall, a loud crack resounding through the room.

South fell to the ground and didn't immediately get up. North watched his brother, not trusting him to remain there for long.

"You're pretty pale," Wales said. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'll be fine," North Korea said. He adjusted his stance, only realising then that he was a bit shaky. "I just need to rest a bit."

"Don't push yourself. So, what do you want to do with him?"

North Korea stared at his brother. He was still expecting South to jump up and attack, but it seemed as though he was either dazed or unconscious. And despite being brothers, there wasn't any love between them. All of the pain that South Korea had inflicted on him surged to the surface, and North Korea's only thought was 'never again'.

"We should probably end this," North Korea said.

He looked towards Wales when he felt Wales grab his hand. The European gave an encouraging smile, before they both turned towards South Korea.

…

Mexico took a few deep breaths, wincing at the pain growing in her chest. She would need to check exactly what was happening, but for now she just needed to focus on calming down and breathing regularly.

She was leaning against the plane, and looked up when she heard movement. Venezuela came into sight a few seconds later, a concerned frown on his face.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She shook her head, wincing when she felt her breath enter in a raspy gurgle. She could already sense a vicious cough coming, and knew that there would most likely be blood.

"Do you think it's Alvora?" Venezuela asked.

"If it is, it's a very swift response," Mexico said. She took a moment to cough, and when she was finished, she indeed saw a bit of blood on her fingers. "And a very destructive response."

"I can launch an inquiry, if you want to be sure."

"Yeah. As much as I would love to punish Alvora, I need to make sure who I need to punish. Don't want to waste all the energy and resources."

Venezuela nodded, already pulling out his phone. The two froze when they heard the sound of a wolf howling. There was something unnatural about that howl, and it seemed very loud and big.

They remained still, and when they finally saw the cause of the howl, Mexico could do nothing more than utter a single word to state her opinion. Venezuela paled and took a step back, before the giant wolf disappeared.

"What is that?" Mexico whispered.

"I don't know," Venezuela said. "It's not one of mine."

A few seconds passed before Venezuela hissed in pain. He shook his head, gritting his teeth.

"It's causing trouble," Venezuela said. "It's going on a rampage."

"Do you think it's safe to say Alvora is responsible for that?" Mexico asked.

"That might be possible."

…

Rwanda was still standing guard over Senegal, but now she was also in pain. It took her a while to understand what the cause was, and she could already imagine the problems that would arise from the situation.

"Are you alright?" Senegal asked.

"No," she said. "I think… Vatican was attacked. And as a Catholic… Damn, that hurts!"

She remembered what happened with the Muslim nations when Mecca was attacked. Well, this time, Requiem couldn't be blamed for that. But did Alvora have anything to do with that?

She looked around. Some of the others were also having trouble, but no one from Requiem seemed too bothered. And Alvora's nations seemed concerned about the nations clutching their chests, but they also seemed confused. So she didn't think that they had anything to do with it.

"So, it's the same as what happened to Mecca?" Senegal asked. "…Requiem wouldn't do that to themselves, and Alvora knows there are too many Catholics that would be affected. What about… The others? I can imagine that Saudi Arabia would like some payback, for example."

"Seems right," Rwanda said. "Timing sucks. And…"

Her eyes widened.

"Shit," she spat. "We've got some extra problems."

More Requiem nations arrived.

…

Romano stroked Vatican's hair. He was pretty sure his brother passed out, but at least he was resting. Italy had gone with some of the others to join the battle in Egypt. Romano decided to stay behind to look after Vatican.

He looked up when someone knocked lightly on the door. San Marino looked nervously towards Vatican before focusing on Romano.

"I did some digging," San Marino said. "It wasn't Alvora that attacked us here."

"Then who…?" Romano asked, before he cursed. "Spain's group."

"It would seem so. The bombs seemed to come from France, but I don't think that he's the mastermind."

Romano groaned, shaking his head.

"We really need to do something about them," he said. "They're far too arrogant for their own good."

"Any idea who you'd like to target?" San Marino asked.

Romano was silent for a moment.

"Someone small," he said. "Someone that won't easily survive an attack. And someone that isn't one of our sleepers."

"I'll go pull up a map," San Marino said. "Feel free to come by when you're ready."

"Si…"

Romano watched to make sure that Vatican would be alright before he left. He didn't immediately go to San Marino, but instead went over towards Bhutan. He needed to know if there was anything else that he should know.

Bhutan was asleep, his breathing fast and shallow and his cheeks flushed. Romano stared at him before closing the door again. He didn't think that Bhutan would be able to help him in any way.

As much as he loved Greece, he had to admit that Greece didn't make the right decision when he forced the drug down Bhutan's throat.

Romano reached the office and stared at the screen. San Marino had pulled up a world map, and zoomed in on a few areas.

"Where do you want to attack first?" San Marino asked.

"It has to be someone in Spain's group," Romano said. "Someone small that we could pretty much destroy in a few hours."

Romano focused on the Middle East, and specifically focused on a name that was basically to the side and not contained within a border. Romano smirked.

"Bahrain seems like a good choice," he said.

"Bahrain?" San Marino repeated. He nodded after a few seconds of staring at the screen. "So, detonation of all the bombs within the country and an aerial strike?"

"Si, that's perfect. And then we'll find out who was the mastermind, and we'll make them pay for hurting our fratello."

San Marino's expression hardened and he nodded. The two looked up when someone cleared his throat.

"So, does that mean someone needs to find out who is an absolute idiot?" Seborga asked.

"That sounds about right," Romano said. "See if you can get close enough to get one of the sleepers. Interrogate them."

"Of course. And don't worry, I'll be careful."

"You better be," San Marino snapped. "We already have one brother in critical condition. We don't need another one."

Seborga nodded again, before he disappeared.

"Let's go ahead and bomb Bahrain," Romano said.

…

Portugal groaned when he saw the arrival of more Requiem nations. Things were already tricky enough, especially after several of the African nations were incapacitated by their onslaught of bullets. Despite their number advantage, Requiem managed to hold their ground.

And now more of them were there, and the newest batch seemed to be angry. What now?

Portugal pulled away from the battle with Nepal, allowing Indonesia to handle him, and immediately defended himself against Italy's attack. Italy's face was twisted into a snarl, and Portugal could already anticipate that this would be a problem.

"So, you weren't happy with the battle here, so you had to resort to a cheap shot?" Italy demanded.

"What are you talking about?" Portugal asked.

"Vatican. You sent those bombs, didn't you?"

"Bombs? You're joking. We're aware of what effect holy cities can have on nations, and while none of our members are Catholic, there are too many innocent nations that would have been harmed. My brother is Catholic, for crying out loud! We're not the ones responsible for those bombs."

Italy narrowed his eyes.

"Then who is responsible?" Italy snapped.

Portugal didn't answer, already knowing the answer. He didn't know what possessed the others to go for this route, but for now he needed to focus on the battle. Italy already proved himself to be a sadist, and he was angry about his brother being attacked. Portugal was on the defensive as Italy launched a barrage of attacks. Rome would have been proud.

Portugal made a mental note to ask Spain about this later. For now, he needed to ward off Italy. A part of him was amused and curious to know what Germany would have thought if he saw Italy now.

The moment Italy started to smirk, Portugal knew that he would need to be on his guard.

"So, how's Brazil doing?" Italy asked.

Portugal narrowed his eyes.

"What did you do now?" Portugal demanded.

Italy chuckled.

"The South Americans were eager to have some fun," Italy explained. "And we had every intention to punish White for being the mastermind of the attack you launched against us a few days ago."

Portugal's eyes widened, before they narrowed. This time, it was his turn to show his aggression against Italy as he hacked and slashed, with Italy defending the strikes.

"Everything you do is just a series of punishments against imagined slights, isn't it?" Portugal demanded. "And worse, you can't even 'punish' the person you're actually mad at. You always have to resort to proxies."

"Of course," Italy said. "Attacking the ones responsible… They never learn. If you want them to think carefully about doing something like this in the future, you attack someone they care about. Besides, White's attack left New Zealand in a pretty vulnerable state. So it's only fair I do the same to her lover."

Portugal gritted his teeth. He knew that this cycle of revenge would never work, and he knew that White would respond fiercely if she realised that Requiem was attacking Brazil. She always was rather protective. And the stress of her brother being missing also would be playing on her nerves, so she wouldn't hesitate to retaliate.

He hoped that he could stop her before she did something really dangerous.

Italy's smirk widened, and Portugal's gaze narrowed again.

"You know, this is a bit of good fortune, don't you think?" he asked. "The two leaders of two opposing groups, locked in battle. Why don't we see which one has the stronger convictions?"

"You and I both know that our convictions won't have any part to play in this battle," Portugal said. "But I agree. It's fortunate that the two of us are engaged in battle like this."

As though to punctuate their points, the clashing swords resounded with a sharp clang.

…

New Zealand sat down at the table, pushing the mug of coffee towards Ireland while he cradled his own mug. Italy still didn't want him to go anywhere near Alvora, so now, all he could do was worry.

"It's not normal for Egypt to send a distress signal, is it?" New Zealand asked. "I mean, he has the gods on his side, so…"

"It might mean nothing if someone like Wales or India is there," Ireland said. "They have access to their gods too, and if Nepal and South Korea can be believed, the Hindu gods weren't too happy after they took India for a while."

"Do you think Feliciano's going to be okay?"

Ireland snorted, a smile blooming on his face.

"Are you kidding?" he asked. "Of course he's going to be okay. Italy's got luck that makes the Irish jealous, and a fierceness that would make demons from hell shit their pants in fear. I think we should almost feel sorry for his opponent. Almost, since they're our enemy and would deserve every bit of pain Italy throws at them."

New Zealand smiled. The two looked up when San Marino came in, looking disturbed. He placed a photo in front of Ireland, and it took him a moment to recognise that it was a satellite image.

Still didn't help him to make sense of what he was seeing, though.

"What is this?" Ireland asked.

"Venezuela and Mexico saw it, before that thing started wreaking havoc in Venezuela's country," San Marino explained. "It's attacking anywhere with a large population, and when it looks like there aren't many people left, it moves on to the next place. It's large and fast, and Venezuela's military already took a beating from this thing. Do you recognise what this might be?"

Ireland frowned before he examined the photo closer. He and the others had spent a lot of time researching each other's myths and legends, and there was one thing that this reminded him of.

"Well, I'm only guessing, but it almost looks to me like Fenrir," Ireland said. "The wolf from Norse Mythology. If it is, then I could only imagine Denmark's disappointment that he's missing it."

"What exactly does this wolf want?" San Marino asked.

"If I remember the story correctly, he's mad that the gods tricked him, and so he wants to get revenge on the gods."

"Would Alvora be able to control it?"

"Well, White's power does involve her turning even the most suspect of myths into reality and twisting them to be loyal to her. So it's possible that she's the one responsible. And the fact that it's happening while Brazil is being attacked makes me think it's probable."

He remembered when they realised the power that lay dormant within her, and he remembered thinking that it would be a devastating ability to have in an enemy. And now she was indeed using it against them.

"There were monsters that attacked me the other day too," New Zealand said. "So I can't say that it surprises me she's using something like that now."

San Marino sighed, shaking his head in disgust as he took back the picture.

"It never rains, but it pours," he muttered. "Things just can't go smoothly, can it?"

Ireland remembered how it was supposed to be. They had done all that planning, made all the observations, all to make things go easily. They were supposed to have half the world under their thumbs by the time anyone realised that there was something wrong. But because of one thing they overlooked, everything was a complete and utter mess.

"I'm going back to my own place, once I feel energetic again," Ireland said. "I need to get to my books and supplies. I think it's time to resort to some old-fashioned curses."

…

Seborga was hovering near the edge of the camp, looking for an opportunity to strike. He knew that he needed to get a sleeper, but it seemed that doing so would be difficult. By now, they knew who the sleepers were, and they didn't allow them to stray too far from the rest of the group.

He perked up when he saw two figures breaking off from the group, and he grinned when he realised that they were indeed sleepers. He followed them until he could be sure that they were alone, and then carefully got closer.

"The trump card loses," he whispered. "The chocolate is sour."

The two came to an abrupt stop. Seborga smirked as he walked closer to Liechtenstein and Monaco. He was pleased to see the blank looks on their faces.

"Ciao, ladies," Seborga said. "Why don't you lead me to somewhere we won't be interrupted, and then you can tell me about everything that's been going on with you, hm?"

They only remained standing for a second longer before they started to walk off. Seborga followed, keeping his eyes and ears open in case someone interrupted them.

This was also a bad week to be South African. Looting around certain parts of South Africa, ostensibly because they were unhappy with Jacob Zuma, ex-president with more than 700 charges of corruption against him, who has shown nothing but disrespect for the justice system, being sent to jail. While he does have supporters (people with absolutely no self-respect or morals), most of them were just a bunch of opportunistic criminals.