FFN STOP RUINING MY FORMATTING
...On another note, thanks for all the attention this is getting! Every follow/favorite/review makes my day :)
~(Words)~ Canada/Matthew speaking
~(Words)~ America/Alfred speaking
~(Words)~ Finland/Tino speaking
~(Words)~ Belgium/Laura speaking
~(*Words or Action*)~ Sounds or Multiple People Speaking
Finland:
~(So… Um... Hi, Finland here! Now, my story is a bit more complicated than Canada and America's. As in extremely confusing. How am I going to start this? I didn't really think this through.)~
~(Just start on the expedition, and go from there.)~
~(Oh, that makes sense. Thank you, Laura. You listeners are probably wondering were I am, anyways. Well, this is what happened…)~
"Oulo Bossard! How many times do I have to tell you not to talk while riding a horse? This is the third time this month you've nearly bitten your tongue off!"
I rolled my eyes, snapping my gas canisters into place with a click as Lynne lectured Oulo for biting his tongue in the middle of an expedition again, though at this point I didn't know why she even bothered. Oulo didn't take anyone seriously except for Levi, even me.
Still though, today's expedition had gone pretty well. The 51st Expedition outside the Walls had succeeded in its mission: refueling the town of Woodstock. Before the fall of Wall Maria, it'd been a significantly sized village that produced timber. Now, it was just a stop on the "highway" the Survey Corps was paving to Shiganshina. Off to my right, Mike and Nabana, together as always, were moving food crates to one of the abandoned buildings. Behind them, in one of the wagons, Gelgar was double-checking the supply, to make sure no insects or rot had taken hold on our trip here.
Ignoring Lynne and Oulo as they began to fight, I lifted another crate and began to follow Mike and Nabana into the building, grunting as I did so. I was going to have a word with whoever decided to make these crates so heavy.
"Are you sure you got that?" Mike asked. I glanced over at him, just able to make out the top half of his head over the crate, and nodded back.
"I got it!" I called back to my second-in-command. "I didn't become a squad leader for nothing, you know!"
And don't look at me like that, Laura! I was a good squad leader. My troops didn't die.
~([CENSORED])~
~(*"Alfred!" Is shouted in unison from the rest*)~
~(I'm so censoring that. Way too many spoilers.)~
~(Eerlijk gezegd, Amerika! Have some restraint!)~
~(What?)~
~(*Groaning*)~
Anyways, my squad was one of the best, right after the Special Ops and Squad Hanji. I was squad leader, as I said before, and Mike Zacharias was my second. His wife, Nabana, Oulo Bossard, Nifa Ransan, Gelgar Bennett, and Lynne Mykeer made up the rest. Speaking of Nifa…
"Hey, has anyone seen Nifa?" Gelgar called out from his place in the carts. "I haven't seen her since we made camp."
Grunting, I struggled to look past my crate and back to my squad member. Really, what made military rations so heavy? At this rate my back was going to give out on me.
"Levi called her over a little while ago," I replied, setting down the crate with the rest inside the house and popping my back. "He was saying something about finding that 'Italian pain-in-the-butt before I throttle him to death.' His words, not mine."
"Wow, little Feli got lost again?" Lynne remarked. "At this rate he's going to get himself kicked off the Special Operations Squad."
"Don't say that in front of Feliciano," I warned her, returning to the rest of the team. "Not unless you have a death wish."
"I know," Lynne shrugged. "But seriously, I feel for The Corporal, having to deal with that on a daily basis."
"They aren't great terms, are they?" Oulo said, voice slightly muffled from his injured tongue.
"No," I sighed. "No, they're not."
"Squad Leader! I'm back!"
Speak of the devil. I looked up with the rest of my team to see Nifa jogging over to our position. She didn't look too winded, though, so she wouldn't have been running for too long, which was a good sign.
"There you are!" Gelgar shouted. "About time, too! Stop slacking off and help me!"
"You found Feli?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow at the smaller woman. "So soon?"
Nife shrugged. "Apparently one of the newer recruits lost his gear, and Feliciano was helping him back. I didn't leave camp before we ran into each other."
"So he does have a heart," Lynne remarked, before yelping and ducking behind Oulo as I shot her a glare. The soldier tsked, folding his arms. Everyone in my squad knew that the occasional jesting the was so common in the Corps was alright, but there was a line that wouldn't be crossed in my squad. Lynne seemed to have forgotten that for a moment.
"Who's the new recruit," Nabana asked, trying to steer the conversation away from that particular topic.
Again, Nifa shrugged. "I haven't met him yet, that's for sure. It was some kid named Alfred."
I froze, eyes widening. Alfred… I hadn't heard that name in years.
"What did he look like?" I questioned, trying my best to hold in my excitement and hoping against hope that this wasn't one of the universe's cruel jokes.
Nifa blinked, caught off-guard by the question. "Um… I dunno, I didn't pay that much attention if I'm honest. He had blond hair and this weird cowlick, and glasses. Why?"
I ignored her question, slipping off my 3D gear as I prepared to leave. "Where was Feli taking him?"
"To the carts, I think. Why are you—?"
"Mike, you're in charge!" I called, cutting her off. I did my best to ignore how the rest of my squad was looking at me in surprise. "I gotta go!"
Before anyone could protest, I was off, sprinting through the plaza. An involuntary grin spread across my face. Finally! I raced towards the other side of camp, dodging several soldiers and supply crates before the carts came into sight. Excitement welled up in my chest. This was it!
"Hey! Tiny!" I skidded to a stop, turning towards the familiar voice to see Isabel walking towards me, smiling, as per usual.
"What is it?" I asked, impatient to go and find Feliciano and his companion.
"Feli wants you," she replied, crossing her arms as I thanked the gods above for happy coincidences. "He's at the medical cart and says it's important."
"I know!" I replied with a grin. "Nifa told me. I'm heading over right now!"
After what seemed like forever, I finally reached the medical carts. Vaulting over a stray box of supplies, I reached the carts, only to find a very familiar sight with an unfamiliar participant.
Feliciano had trapped America in a headlock, a look of fury on his face, while the latter was turning a pale shade of blue. Canada, a bandage on his forehead, was frantically trying to separate them, all while doing his best to keep the commotion to a minimum.
I couldn't help it. The scene was too hilarious to keep quiet about. I burst into laughter, holding my stomach as I attempted to reign in my amusement. Upon seeing me, Feliciano scowled and let America go, who immediately started gasping for air and massaging his abused throat.
"Very funny, Tino," the ex-nation muttered, looking at me lowly.
"Sorry," I gasped. The apology was hardly past my lips when I was bowled over by a large mass, nearly sending me flying out of the cart altogether.
"Dude!" America exclaimed, crushing me in his iron grip. "Are you alright. We lost you while in that black-hole-thing, and my god, Sweden's gonna kill me…"
"I'm fine," I ground out, trying to politely wiggle out of the superpower's grip.
"He won't be if you keep on crushing him in that grip of yours," Canada observed, rather wisely, and America immediately released me. I massaged my chest, making sure none of my ribs had cracked.
"Thanks," I replied, happy as soon as I had confirmed that I was just fine. "It's so good to see you again! What happened to you?"
"Well, we lost you in the black-hole-thing," America reported. "And then we popped out like 200 feet above ground level. I managed to grab a cord of—what was it called again?"
"3D Manuvering Gear," Feliciano supplied, annoyance seeping even further into his voice. America, as always, was oblivious to the fact.
~(Hey, I'm not that bad!)~
~(What about the time [CENSORED])~
~(You too, Matthew? I thought you'd be better than your brother.)~
~(Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to.)~
~(Either way, I can read the atmosphere, I just don't choose to!)~
~(*Short pause*)~
~(I… can't find fault with that. I'm just going to continue narrating now.)~
"Yeah, so I did that," America continued, and showed off the palm of his right hand, which was still red and blistered from the abuse it had endured. I winced in sympathy. Ouch. "And ended up hitting a tree. Knocked Canada—"
"Matthew," Feliciano corrected.
"Mattie right out. And then bam!" Alfred slapped his good hand on his knee. "This titan wandered by, and Italy and his friends went right up to it and sliced its neck right off and killed it! Then Italy tried to kill me before he figured out who I was and we kinda just ended up here. Then, when Mattie woke up, I was telling him what happened and then someone," he sent a pointed look at Feliciano, who glared right back. "Started choking me."
"He called me insane," the Italian grumbled to himself, crossing his arms.
I sighed. "You can't just kill someone because they insulted you, Feli!"
"This is Alfred we're talking about."
"Exactly!"
I facepalmed. One problem at a time. "Aren't you needed with the Special Ops Squad?" I said, changing the subject. "Go back to your team, Feli, I got this."
Feliciano muttered some choice Italian phrases about Americans under his breath, but did as I suggested, ducking out of the cart and out of sight a moment later. As soon as he was gone, I reached forwards and tugged Alfred's ear as hard as I could, which was very hard indeed.
"Ow!" The younger nation exclaimed, yelping as I gave his ear another tug for good measure before releasing it. "Dude, what was that for?"
"Don't. Ever." I shot back, pointing my finger accusingly at him. "Call Feliciano insane. You're lucky I didn't actually let him kill you."
"I'm sorry!" Alfred responded with a huff. "Sheesh; I didn't expect him to react like that. Italy's never been like that before."
I sighed, calming down slightly with the revelation that he had acted in ignorance, before sitting, motioning for Alfred and Matthew to do the same. "This is a good time to tell you guys one of the most important things you need to know while in the future," I began. "And Feli is a good example of that."
"What is it?" Canada asked, looking worried.
"Any country you meet here—especially ones like Feliciano—are not the same people you knew back in 2007." America looked like he wanted to ask a question, but I held up a hand, silently asking him to wait, and pressed on. "Every single nation you meet has been stripped of their status as a country and has lost a lot of people they care about. The 'Italy' you just met? He's lost Germany, Japan, France—everything, really. Almost all of them died in the war and he was left alone. For a while he had your future self, Alfred, and Antonio, but then you disappeared and Antonio died, and now he only has me. In a lot of ways, he is clinically insane, for what is a nation without their culture and people? But we usually don't talk about that."
Alfred and Matthew stared at me, and I wondered whether I should have gone a bit easier on them. There was no way for them to know, after all. Nations are usually such static creatures, but I had seen first hand how the other nations and even I had gone through while trapped here.
"My future self?" Alfred asked after a moment. I winced (probably should have saved that for later), then nodded.
"Both of you survived the war, and made it here," I explained. "Or so I've heard. You two were the only ones to escape from the New World. For a while, Alfred, you served in the Survey Corps, and you, Matthew, joined shortly after. You bother were quite famous, actually. Feli told me once that you guys were worth an entire army when you worked together. But one day, a few years before I arrived—" I spread my hands helplessly. "You both just… disappeared. Matthew turned in resignation letters without so much as a goodbye and, well, that was the last anyone heard from either of you."
"That doesn't make any sense," Alfred protested, incredulous.
"If anyone has, they have yet to come forwards."
"Wait…" Matthew held up a hand. "Tino, you're acting like you've been here for years. I know you got separated from us while in that portal—"
"Black hole," Alfred corrected, and got a flick to the cheek for his efforts. "Hey! Ow!"
"Portal sucked us in, but wouldn't you have arrived within a few minutes of us?"
I shifted. The dreaded question had finally arrived, and quicker than I had hoped.
"Tino?" Alfred asked, growing worried.
"Don't feel bad when I tell you, alright?"
"How long have you been waiting for us?" Matthew asked softly.
I rubbed the back of my head.
"Approximately 55 years."