Chapter 19

Traveling

"Got everything you need?" Mathias looked at the nations gathered in front of Lukas house with their bags packed and ready to go. The morning passed peacefully with the only problems being lines to the bathroom and keeping Mathias and Matthew separated. They would be driving to Copenhagen today which would take them about 7 hours and the only thing left to do was getting into the cars and get going.

"Yes! I hope so at least!" Tino was in a very good mood and was skipping towards the car carrying three of their bags. "Let's go!" Emil led Lukas to the car and helped him into the front seat before he hopped into the backseat right behind. Berwald sat in the middle with Tino to his left and Mathias was the one behind the wheels. They were driving Lukas car while the others took Mathias car and they were both soon moving down along the road.

"Are you okay?" Mathias looked at Lukas that was leaning back with his eyes closed. In the backseat, Tino was speaking to the others without pause while Berwald nodded at him and Emil was listening to music in his headphones. They could talk pretty much in private.

"I guess" Lukas kept his eyes closed since there was no reason to open them, everything was dark anyway. Mathias gave him a worried glance before he focused on the road again.

"What do you remember?" The question had been haunting him for a while but he hadn't asked it, both because he hadn't gotten the chance yet and because he was afraid of the answer.

"Not much. You, Emil, fragments. It's all jumbled up. I recognize Tino and Berwald, their voices and their names, but I don't remember them. It's just a familiar feeling" He leaned back and rubbed his forehead in an attempt to clear his mind. He couldn't see anything and a big part of his mind was just as black and empty, it scared him. "I think I'll sleep for a bit"

"Sure" Mathias looked in the rearview mirror when he heard how a silence had settled back there. Tino had fallen asleep, apparently he wasn't as awake as he had seemed, and was leaning on Berwald. Berwald was slightly blushing as he tried to sit still so he wouldn't wake him up. Emil was looking out the window and seemed like he was far away in thought. Mathias looked back on the road and relaxed. They had an idea about how to fix this and they were on their way to do it, only a few more days and this would all be over.

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"No!" Lovino jolted awake from his own shout and saw how multiple heads had turned his way. He had fallen asleep at the airport while waiting for the plane and had once again had one of those weird dreams. This time he had been running through a vaguely familiar town and he knew that he had to hurry. But why? The details was slowly fading from his memory and it was as if they slipped away even further as he tried to reach them. He remembered the heat, there had been fire. A lot of other people had been there, staring at something. The one thing he remembered the most was the furious screaming and a laugh so obviously belonging to someone that lost control long ago.

"Passengers traveling to Copenhagen can now board the plane. We wish you a safe trip" A soft but tired voice was heard from the speaker system and Lovino stood up and gathered his things. He hadn't slept properly during the night because of the dreams and he felt himself stumble from exhaustion as he walked through the corridor that lead to the plane. Hopefully, he'd be able to get a few hours of sleep on the plane as long as the dreams would leave him alone.

"Just for a few hours" He only needed a few hours to get his energy back. He thought that if he got some rest, maybe he'd feel more like himself again. At least, that's what he was hoping for.

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Francis and the others had gotten a small head start and therefor they turned up in front of the meeting hall before the others. The car ride had been spent in silence, mostly because Alfred couldn't say anything while the others were too deeply lost in thought to make a sound. They exited the car and stretched out their stiff bodies before they sighed and looked at each other. Alfred held up his whiteboard again. "What now?"

"Let's go inside and prepare. Mathias said that it would be unlocked" Arthur yawned and pointed towards the entrance. "I think he mentioned food too" Alfred was practically halfway to the door at the mention of food while the others followed him right behind. They left their bags in the car since they would be living in a hotel that Mathias had booked for all the nations visiting. The doors opened just as promised and they were met by a smiling young girl that showed them through a door into a dining area.

"Go ahead and eat, Mathias and the gang should be here shortly according to the text I just got" The girl smiled and pointed towards the table. Francis nodded at her while the others rushed towards the table.

"You seem pretty familiar with them." The way she spoke made it seem like she had known them for a long time.

"Ah, well. I've been working for Mathias for a few years now, so I know the others too of course." She smiled at him "Let's just say that I was following the wrong path in life but he led me onto the right one." She smiled even brighter "He says that he'd rather have friends than coworkers so I became his friend!" She suddenly got a very smug look on her face "And of course, I later became his lover…"

"Hey Sofia! Don't go around spreading lies again!" Mathias had suddenly emerged in the doorway with the others close behind. "I got into some real trouble last time!" Sofia pouted and looked at him with innocent eyes.

"I'm just having some fun, that's all" Her eyes suddenly grew wide and she darted over to Mathias "Ah, so soft" While she was feeling Mathias ears and tail, Francis noticed how Berwald slowly tried to sneak past them, but with no luck. She quickly turned her head and narrowed her eyes towards him. "Don't think you'll get away."

"Oh no" Before Berwald could escape he was lifted for the who-knows-how-manyeth time in just a few days. She twirled around with him while she laughed before she gave him a big hug.

"You're even cuter than Mathias described, Ber-Ber!" She chuckled and twirled around once again before she turned towards the others, now holding Berwald under one arm "Well, you should all go eat before it gets cold." With a look towards the table she added "or before those guys has eaten everything."

"Yeah we will, just give us back Berwald and we'll eat" She smiled and nodded before she raised her hands and threw the now small nation towards Mathias that easily caught him. She bowed slightly before she backed out of the room. Mathias shook his head "She might be like that but she's a real help when push comes to shove."

"Hey" Mathias looked at Berwald that was tugging at his sleeve. "Let me down"

"Oh right" Mathias put down the obviously embarrassed Berwald and looked back at the three half-awake nations behind him. "Wake up! It's food!"

"Food?" Tino rubbed his eyes and suddenly got an actual look at the table. "Food!" He rushed past them and was soon eating just as eagerly as the others and the rest soon joined them. Mathias took a seat as far away from Matthew as possible and the dinner went on smoothly. Soon, they were all leaning back in their chairs tired from the long car ride and a lot of food.

"Well then" Matias and sighed and stood up "Should we go to the meeting hall?" The others stretched and followed him through the big building into another room that was much bigger than the last one. A huge window was giving them a grand view over the town and a big table was placed in the middle making plenty of room for everyone that would be coming. Because of the size of the room, it took them a while to realize that someone was sitting at the far end of the table but just as they did, Sofia poked her head through the doorway.

"I forgot to mention, you weren't the first ones here" She grinned before she quickly disappeared again to wait at the door and welcome all the others that would arrive. Mathias sighed again and shook his head, Sofia had been working as his assistant for many years and she had been the one looking after the most important parts of his work while he'd been looking after Emil these past few weeks. Even though she could be a pain sometimes, he trusts her just as much as he trusts Lukas. He flinched when he noticed the look Tino was giving him, as he often did when it came to Sofia.

"I know, I know. I won't get too attached." Mathias smiled at him while Tino nodded carefully.

"I just don't want you to get hurt" Tino turned his attention to the person sitting at the table and started walking to see who it was with the others close behind. They heard soft snores as they closed in and soon they were right beside him. "Yao? Is it you?"

"Ah! Stop following me!" Tinos soft voice startled him and made Yao suddenly sit up in his chair. His eyes slowly focused on the confused nations "Oh, you're finally here!" He suddenly got a suspicious look on his face "Because you are real right?"

"Yes?" Mathias answered questioningly.

"Oh good" Yao stood up and smiled at them "You all look strange so I got a little worried."

"What happened to you?" Tino was a bit worried since Yao didn't look completely convinced that they were real.

"I've been hallucinating for days! I see things everywhere that I can't explain and I think I might be going insane." Arthur pushed himself to the front of the group and grabbed Yao while he stared at him intensively.

"What do you see in here?" His sudden glare startled Yao that quickly looked around to answer his question fast.

"There's this girl with a tail walking around flirting with people, a few small men that sort of look like little Santas, there's some big green thing floating behind Lukas and is that a unicorn?" Yao looked right beside Arthur and pointed while looking utterly confused. Arthur released his grip and took a step back. He sighed and sat down.

"How should I explain this…" While Arthur tried to convince Yao that he wasn't hallucinating but actually seeing living creatures the others, except Emil, sat down in the comfortable chairs and looked at each other.

"Well, I guess we'll just wait for the rest then." Tino sounded cheery as Emil walked over to the big window and looked outside. He saw people passing by one by one, all hurrying home after a long day at work. The view was really grand, they were on the fourth floor after all and therefor he could see above the rooftops of most other buildings. He saw how the birds flew past and how the wind caught on to a hat, making it fly away. He saw how the clouds slowly passed over the sky and how a dark shape was slowly making its way closer. Emil narrowed his eyes. What was that? The shape slowly grew bigger and bigger, it looked like some sort of bird. It wouldn't change direction but was steadily making progress towards him.

"What is it Emil?" Mathias noticed how Emil took a startled step back and wondered what could have happened. Without answering, Emil suddenly ran up to the window and threw it wide open before he once again took a quick step back. The nations around the table stood up as a person very suddenly, and fast, flew through the window and crashed right into Francis.

"So sorry! I haven't gotten the landings under control yet!" Elizabeta stood up and brushed off a bit of dust from her dress. "So, is it only us this far?" No one answered, they were all too busy staring at the big white wings that was sticking out behind the smiling nation before them.

"You look like an angel" Tino walked up to Elizabeta and reached out a hand to feel the soft wings. She looked surprised as she saw him but realized pretty quickly.

"Tino? Is that you?" He nodded as he continued to feel the soft feathers. She looked around at the others one by one and took in their new looks. "So I'm not the only one who grew some new body parts?" Elizabeta walked over to Mathias to get a closer look, almost knocking Tino down in the process, but turned back around when she noticed Francis standing up again after being knocked down. Her eyes grew wide in surprise when she saw him. "What happened to you?"

"Laugh all you want, I can't fix it anyway" The fact that Francis looked really down about this made Elizabeta hold back the chuckle that had been growing within her. It was just too ironic. They heard how Arthur continued his chat with Yao. The atmosphere slowly calmed down again and Elizabeta looked around.

"So, what happened to you all?" She crouched down and pinched Berwald in his cheek "I mean, except for the obvious ones" Berwald backed away and hid behind Lukas which earned him a small squeak from the winged nation. Mathias chuckled and pointed towards Emil.

"Well, for starters, Emil got healthy again." Emil nodded in agreement as Mathias continued. "Lukas here lost his memory and because of some things that is all behind us now, he also got blind" Lukas narrowed his eyes towards where he believed she would be. He didn't recognize her voice so he felt a bit suspicious towards her. Mathias sighed "Lukas, you can trust these people"

"Hmm" He didn't sound completely convinced but relaxed a bit. Mathias shook his head and pointed towards Alfred.

"Alfred lost his voice, let's say the last few days has been pretty quiet" His comment earned him a glare from the nation but he just smiled and went on "And then there's Arthur…" He trailed of and his smile fell when he realized. "I don't know" Many pairs of eyes turned towards Arthur that visibly tensed.

"We never asked" Francis sighed deeply and sat down.

"It's nothing important, really. Not to you anyway." They could barely hear the last sentence being mumbled as he nervously scratched his neck. Just as Francis was going to angrily question Arthur the door suddenly opened and through it came Antonio. He seemed a bit tired but kept his usual smile.

"Hello! I'm not late, right?"