I pulled an all-nighter to write this bone apple teeth enjoy your meal.
*This whole chapter takes place from England's perspective slightly back in timeline (so near the end of chapter three), I wanted to switch it up a bit in case the main characters were getting annoying.
England watched China run down the hallway and gritted his teeth, furrowing his brow. He felt something in his throat twist. He immediately labeled it as annoyance but deep down he knew that he still felt something else beyond that. Pity…? Or sorrow maybe? England knew how it felt to have family, or at least people he saw as important to him, that didn't love him.
Most of his former colonies were like this so he was aware of how China felt.
It felt bad, knowing about the same pain that his enemy did, especially when he had to hide it as well. He had to hide it because it was a weakness, loss and pain were weaknesses and no nation had any business showing either. Family and perceived family were both hard to let go of.
The people they had all lost overtime, human or nation-like, were similar to scars in their lives but they had to get over all of these cuts eventually. When America had declared war on him England had felt more fear than anything else, even if he wasn't scared of the incoming war or of the possibility of loss, (though he did not think he would lose at the time). He felt fear instead of anger because he was scared of losing him. It was the same with most of his other colonies and he assumed China had similar experiences.
Pain was incredibly hard to get over, family left scars, and emotional bonds did more harm than good.
'This is ridiculous…" England internally snorted to himself, what other semi-poetic lines would he think of next? He wasn't a bard, this wasn't his business.
"Pathetic," he muttered aloud before turning on his heel and walking away from the hall and back towards the other nations.
His dress shoes clicked down the hallway as he carefully raised his chin again, returning to his resting snobbish expression and brushing out a few wrinkles in his suit, flicking a piece of lint off the shoulder in the process. He gently combed his eyebrows back into place before rolling his shoulders backwards, hearing his bones loudly crack. Finally, he placed his arms behind his back in a poised but not too stiff fashion, straightening up and standing ever so slightly taller.
Breathing in once through his nose, he entered the meeting room.
Meeting Japan's eyes as the rest of the personifications looked up at him, some cutting off from their hushed conversations to stare, imploring him to give them information, he frowned.
Starting down his nose with partially shut eyelids he glared at them all, "What are you lot staring at? There is nothing I have to tell you."
America groaned loudly and Taiwan frowned, eyebrows knitting together as she visibly bit the inside of her cheek. At first it seemed that everyone else was also annoyed, so England was internally thankful when Japan nodded softly, returning England's eye-contact with a blank stare and a matching frown.
England closed his eyes briefly, bowing his head in Japan's direction, the simple motion conveying a small message. Swiftly, the British man swept past the others and sat down in his chair once again.
Taking the European nation's place as the center of attention, Japan calmly looked down at his watch, looking serene compared to America who was staring daggers at Russia. Japan looked at the faces of the nations around him and smiled slightly, closing his eyes and scrunching up his brow, "It seems that we have run out of time for today, everyone can go to their hotels, if you need directions please ask me. Are there any questions about the current tax rates?"
When no one spoke up Japan nodded, "any questions on the other topics we discussed?"
Again, no one answered, though Germany shook his head and sighed to himself. Hearing this response Japan smiled, "Wonderful, this meeting is over, remember that tomorrow we meet in my capital building. From there I will direct you, thank you all for coming!"
For a short moment no one moved or spoke, which was semi-surprising considering how America and many other chaotic nations were in the room.
But finally, breaking the silence, South Korea stretched his arms above his head, yawning loudly, "Well I'm beat." pausing, he leaned his head backwards, looking over the back of his chair, "hey, Hong Kong!"
Hong Kong blinked once, as if dragged out of a train of thought,"Huh? What is it dude?" the small country tilted his head to the right, turning to his friend in confusion.
"I'm gonna go grab dinner, wanna come?"
A smile spreading across his face, Hong Kong started to stand, "Uh, yeah, obviously!" he pushed his chair backwards and walked over to the Korean man, finally turning to a third country, "Taiwan you wanna go?"
"Oh-!" At first she sounded surprised to be addressed directly, but then smiled as well and violently pushed back her chair, apologizing to Japan awkwardly before continuing her sentence, "O-of course! Let's go!"
They briefly stopped next to Japan, South Korea ginned in a half-teasing way, "Too bad we don't get along, huh Kiku?"
Japan frowned at this but didn't seem surprised when South Korea began to laugh, reaching out and ruffling the shorter man's black hair, "I was just kidding! 안녕히 주무세요!"
Japan groaned, earning another laugh from the taller Asian nation as he passed by, "It's not night time yet Yong Soo..."
Taking her turn, Taiwan bowed to Japan and smiled once she stood, "It's nice to see you, to apologize for his actions." she shot South Korea a teasing glance here, "I can take you to dinner tomorrow..."
Japan blushed slightly at the offer, "Thank you Taiwan, but it depends how busy I am…"
"Of course!" She giggled, waving her hand dismissively, "再见!" one smile later she skipped out the door after the others, leaving Japan slightly pink in the face. Next in line, Hong Kong only bowed his head briefly to acknowledge Japan before moving on, his hands buried in the pockets of his black suit.
Slowly but surely, many of the remaining nations followed the three Asian countries and filtered out the door, muttering their goodbyes to the host. With only five personifications (not counting China) still left in the house Italy decided to stay behind for a few minutes to chat with his friend. Other than him America sat in one corner, staring off into the distance with a slight frown on his face. On the other side of the room, Russia stood silently squinting at the back of America's jacket and crossing his arms.
England waited for Italy to finish talking with Japan, watching as he kissed his friend on both cheeks, eyes softening as he looked him up and down, no doubt thinking about how glad he was that they still got along well.
"Bye Japan," Italy smiled, "I have to go to the hotel, I'm sharing with Germany but he doesn't know yet, I am hoping it will go over well…"
Japan's brow furrowed as he bit his lip, slightly confused, "W-well, I wish you the best of luck in telling him, and please let him know that I'll be happy to have you both over for lunch before tomorrow's meeting!"
"Thank you very much," Italy laughed, "Ciao Kiku!" and with that he turned and joged to the entryway, waving one last goodbye to Japan before opening the door and slipping through it, closing it behind himself loudly.
"さようなら Veneciano!" Japan called after the man, holding his arm out in a hopeful gesture for a few seconds before dropping it, trailing off, and falling silent again.
Russia walked to the door of the room choppily and England stood. Walking to Japan, he tilted his head to the side and sighed, "Hello again Kiku…"
Japan turned to him, bowing and sighing as well, sounding very tired all of a sudden, "またあったね Arthur."
Keeping his eye on Russia, England leaned in closer to Japan and began to explain the happenings of a few minutes before. Japan nodded as he listened, blinking every so often and scanning the room absentmindedly with his eyes. England described what happened cautiously but was careful to avoid the fact that he kind of knew what China felt like, though wasn't going to mention why besides his former colonies.
Once the British man was finished with his explanation Japan stood up straighter, "Thank you, this is very appreciated, if you want you can stay a bit longer…"
"Aah- ah ha, no thank you," England forced an awkward laugh, "I have to get back to my hotel and all, though it was nice seeing you again!"
Japan sighed before smiling sadly up at him, "of course, well, goodbye England!"
"Thank you, and goodbye as well~!" the British man clenched his teeth into a forced smile before turning away and biting his lip, furrowing his brow as he felt his heart start to beat faster. The chanced disturbed him so he quickened his steeping in order to speed up his walk to the door and slip out of it, careful not to shut it on the back of his suit.
Once on the sidewalk he bushed his suit off again, hands shaking uncomfortably. He growled bitterly at this, wiping his sweaty palms on the sides of his trousers and gnawing on the inside of his cheek. He felt something inside him twist, and he did not like it. No part of this situation had felt right, internally he felt sick and hollow and terrified all at the same time. His blood felt cold in his veins just trying to put into words.
China must have felt pretty awful about the nations he had raised, and England knew what that felt like. He too had raised, or partially raised, many countries who ended up hating him in the end. Wrapping his arms around his middle section he tried to create some sort of confirmation for himself that it was okay to feel this way about things that were out of his control.
After all, letting go was the hardest part, after that it was semi-smooth sailing. Of course with the colonies he still got to see them again.
Unfortunately, the colonies weren't the full extent of his current fearful emotions. Oh it was so much more than that.
Loss was certainly a painful concept.
