Chapter 36:
They group was completely horrified after Alice had told them of her predicament. François shakily got to her feet and put her hands on Alice's cheeks, staring into her eyes even though her own were filling with tears. Alice had no emotion on her face, but her eyes were dark and clouded as if they were just dark voids. Françoise continued to look at her, then, after a few moments, she embraced Alice with all her might. Alice was surprised by the sudden touch but slowly raised her hands and embraced François back, though she was still looking forward.
England continued to sit on the floor, his hands covering his face with disgust, his only thought being that he was the cause of Alice's suffering. France stepped next to him and put an arm on his shoulder, signaling him to stand up.
"I'm sorry Alice, forgive me." England squeezed out as he wiped the tears off of his face.
Alice turned towards England's voice and felt for his arm. When she found it Alice grabbed onto his hand and gripped it tightly with both of her own. She was fighting the urge to pass out as she continued to stand, though it looked more like England was about to fall from despair, relief, self-hatred, and almost everything else you could think of. Alice looked straight into his eyes, even though her own were clouded, and smiled.
"What is there to forgive?"
England looked at her with his eyes widened then lunged into her arms, embracing her like Françoise had earlier. He snuggled his face into her shoulder and continued crying, though it wasn't as dramatic as earlier. France looked at Alice, afraid to touch her in fear that she would break apart in his hands. Even though he felt this, all he wanted to do was hold Alice and tell her it would all be alright even though it obviously wouldn't be.
As England finally let her go, she closed her eyes and collapsed back onto the ground. The others scrambled around her and France was quick to pick her up, holding her like a princess. She remained limp in his arms though he could feel the warmth radiating off of her body; he held her close and started to walk back to the direction of the portal, afraid of anything else happening to her.
The others followed in his lead and walked back to the portal, but as they neared the area where the portal was, they didn't see anything glowing or moving. It was just concrete and shelves. Nobody panicked until they searched the entire place twice, leaving nothing untouched. After that Italy completely broke down and started clinging onto Germany while he cried.
"Doitsu, Doitsu, what happened to the portal?!" Italy cried.
"I-I don't know." He answered back to Italy, almost too shocked to say anything.
The group looked at each other, their faces each resembling a different version of horror and worry. Amelia looked over at Alice and allowed a single tear to fall down her face, worried of what would happen to her mother…friend if she stayed here in such condition.
"We need to find out where we are." Feliciana didn't want the group to fall into a state of despair just yet, though she could feel their spirits weakening as they continued to stand.
"Maybe if we can pinpoint our location, we can find a base, hopefully one with medical supplies."
Amelia looked up at Feliciana and nodded. "She's right, if we don't get to safety soon, those monsters are going to find us, and we're in no condition to fight."
"B-but..Alice." France stammered.
"We can't help her in this place, so the best thing to do is to keep moving." Feliciana looked over at France as he continued to hold Alice close to his chest.
"England, do you know any spells that could help us right now?" Amelia looked over at the still teary eyed England.
He thought to himself then his face lit up. "I know a spell that can make us invisible. Does that help any?" He felt pretty proud for remembering such a spell since it had been so long since he used such magic.
"That's wonderful!" François smiled as she hugged England. "That'll make getting around much easier."
"Let's find a way out, though keep your guard up. England, how long can you make that spell last?" Feliciana asked.
He thought for a moment then murmured back to her. "I think it could last up to a few hours, is that enough time?"
Amelia pondered it and replied. "It should be if we hurry, though I don't know how far the next base is. If we ended up in a dead man's area, we could be in more trouble than we can handle."
"Dead man's what?" Germany looked with question.
Amelia, François, and Feliciana exchanged looks, and then Feliciana looked at Germany with a straightforward face. "A dead man's area is an area completely obliterated due to nuclear attacks and daemon overload. There are very few places like that but there are some in what used to be large populated areas like New York, Copenhagen, and Venice."
"That's awful." Italy was shocked at the thought of Venice being completely desolate.
"It is; luckily we've taken back a lot of that land in the past year or so." François tried to perk her friends up a little; the thought of the death toll due to this was to wounding to even think of again.
There was a silence then Japan spoke up. "So, what do we do now?"
Amelia put her arm around Japan and pointed her finger at his face. "We're going to get out of here, find a base, help Alice, and get back to American base 12 so we can return back to your guy's place."
"Uhhhh" Italy's became spaced with the thoughts going through his mind.
"We'll work out the details when we figure out our position." François patted Italy on the shoulder.
"Then let's get out of here." Feliciana started walking through the hallways in search of a way out.
The others followed her, Alice still in France's arms. They walked on until reaching the end of the long hallway where they were met by a large wall with a single door in the center. Feliciana grabbed the nob and slowly opened it, the anxiousness growing in the group. She opened it and they peered outside, the warm wind hitting their faces in a gust of heat.
"Is this…?" Feliciana stuttered, the view of the outside breathtaking.
Japan, Italy, England, and France all exchanged looks in confusion, than it was explained. "It seems we've ended up in Seychelles." François rejoiced.
The girl's normal serious and intense faces melted away into smiles and awe. They all took a step out onto the snow white sand and looked around at the most spectacular of beaches.
"The last paradise on Earth" Amelia breathed out.
-Sorry for not getting to this sooner, I'm just starting Marching Band and it's been killer. I promise that I'll keep up with this through the end though.
-Sorry for the boring chapter, I was wiped while writing this.