Chapter warnings: foul language, blood, gore, forced suicide

"Oh, Taiwan~" Canada hummed, clinking his keys against the bars of her cell. The girl looked up, eyes red from crying and her long skirt tattered and blood-stained. Her leg was bandaged to protect wounds she'd received in the explosion and she'd lost fifteen pounds since she'd awoken there. She wasn't able to keep down the little food she was offered and her cell reeked of vomit. "I've got a deal to offer you."

"W-what?" She tried to growl, but her voice shook. She held so much rage within her, a desire to rip this man apart for what he was doing to her and her family, but she felt so weak now. She wasn't sure she'd even be able to stand up if she tried.

"Well, you see," He began, pulling a small envelope out of his pocket and tossing it over to her. She tried to catch it but it fell through her fingers onto the cold floor. "I've been poisoning your dear teacher."

"Yao?" She said, eyes widening.

"Mhm," He nodded with a smirk. "There's proof for you in there if you don't believe me."

She picked up the envelope with trembling fingers and opened it slowly, pulling out several pictures of China throwing up blood inside a tight cage, his body looking frail. The last picture was a close-up shot of his face, dark bags under his closed eyes, his skin a sickly pale and his cheekbones prominent. Blood stained his mouth. He looked already dead.

"Why would you do this?" She said, barely above a whisper. She started shaking worse and her breathing became faster and more desperate.

"I felt like it," He shrugged, calmly watching her hyperventilate. "But you know, you can stop this?"

Her eyes widened and she crawled forward towards the bars. "How?"

"Well, I've got the antidote right here," He said, pulling a couple pills from his pocket and showing them to her. "He's already received a bit of damage but its not too late to save him. I'll give him these pills if you do something for me."

"A-anything, I'll do anything," She said, tears escape from her eyes. "Just save my big brother."

"Alright." He nodded. "I need you to kill yourself."

She stopped breathing and stared at him. "You… w-what?"

"Kill yourself." He repeated. He tilted his head slightly to the side. "You want to save him, don't you?"

"Yes, yes of course!" She nodded.

"Then slit your wrists." He said, pulling a knife out of his pocket and tossing it down in front of her. "Slit your wrists and I'll save your brother."

She reached forward and slowly picked up the knife, its blade glistening in the dim light. She whispered, "I don't want to die…"

"Well, that's too bad." He shrugged. "It's you or your brother. This is how it has to be."

"But why?" She asked, a sob escaping her lips. "Why does it have to be this way?"

"It just does."

"You're the one making it like this! You can change it!"

"No, I can't," He shook his head. "It's got to be this way. You've all got to learn, got to hurt and scream and bleed…"

"You're just crazy!" She screamed before sobbing more, barely able to hold the knife in her shaking hands.

He shook his head. "Slit your wrists, Mei. Do it for Yao."

She sobbed but pressed the blade against her skin. She screamed as she dug the blade into her flesh and ripped downwards, cutting vertically and slicing open her veins. Blood poured from the wound almost instantly, dripping down and splattering against the floor of the cell. Her whole body wracked with sobs and her vision blurred.

"Now the other one," He said as her world began to tilt. She didn't want to waste the time, bringing the blade to her other wrist and cutting it open without a second thought, tossing the blade away from her and curling up on the cold floor, sobbing and clutching at her wrists.

He waited until her sobs faded away and her body stopped moving before pulling out his phone. He snapped a few pictures with his camera and nodded to himself before turning and walking away, leaving her body to rot.

"Stop…" Iceland managed weakly as Matthew dragged his limp body through the halls of the abandoned building. "Stop…" He couldn't feel anything below his neck, and his mind felt sluggish. He'd been injected with some sort of paralyzing drug, he recalled as his vision blurred. How'd he let this happen?

"I can't." Matthew shrugged as he pulled him into the kitchen.

"You can…" He growled. "Let me fucking go…"

"Oh, language." Matthew tutted, shaking his head. "That's not polite."

"Holding us prisoner and cutting off Tino's fingers isn't polite!"

Matthew shrugged. "It's necessary. And I'm cutting off more than just his fingers later." He didn't say anything else as he dragged Iceland to a large fridge and shoved him inside. He turned his head weakly to see Hungary beside him, looking just as paralyzed and disoriented.

"Hungary?" He blinked, eyes wide.

"Have fun you two!" Matthew smiled. "And what's my name?"

"Canada." Hungary hissed before spitting in his face.

"Gross," He groaned, wiping the spit from his face. "But yes, you're right. I'm Canada." With that he slammed the door shut, leaving the two of them alone in the dim-lit fridge.

"Iceland…" Hungary frowned, looking over at him. "He got you, too?"

"He must've gotten everyone at the meeting…" He furrowed his brow. "I'm being kept in a room with the other Nordics, except for Sweden… But Canada says Sweden's okay. Just not with us."

"I'm in a room with a lot of countries." She nodded. "France, Germany, Austria, Latvia, Estonia and Seychelles. Cuba was with us, too, but…"

"But…?"

"He's dead." She said, closing her eyes. "The last time I was in this freezer, Cuba's severed head was in here with me."

"Oh god…" Iceland whispered in shock, starting to feel dizzy. "You can't be serious…"

"I wouldn't joke about this." She replied coldly. "Cuba is dead. Just like the rest of us will be if we can't get out. If Canada's real goal was to make us remember him, he wouldn't have killed anyone. He's delusional, psychotic and sadistic, and going to slowly kill us all."

"We have to escape…" He murmured. "There has to be a way out."

"I haven't been able to think of a single one."

"But there has to be a way!" He said again. "If we don't get out… then we're all going to die."

"Ay, shortie, the awesome me is here!" Prussia called as he knocked loudly on the front door of Finland's house where Sealand was staying. After waiting five seconds he got impatient and headed on inside. "Yo, squirt!"

"Here!" Peter shouted from the other room. Gilbert blinked a few times at the sound of something crashing loudly, then rushed footsteps as Peter ran out to greet him. The micronation was dressed in an Indiana Jones costume complete with a hat and a mini fake whip. "Hello!"

Gilbert laughed. "What're you wearing?"

"My adventure outfit!" Sealand said proudly, puffing out his chest. "For the quest to find where the countries went!"

Gilbert chuckled. "Yeah, okay." He walked further into the house. "Are you hungry? Have you had food to eat or have you been left starving?"

"There's lots of food in the fridge but I wouldn't mind going out to lunch!" Sealand said, going into a different room of the house and coming back lugging a suitcase twice his size.

"Alright, we can stop at McDonalds or something before we hit the airport."

"We're going to the airport?"

"Ja, we're staying in Canada." Gilbert nodded, taking the suitcase from him with ease.

"Where?"

"Canada."

"Who's that?"

"Mein birdie, the second largest country in the world. Blondie, lives right about America."

"Oh! Yes, him, I forgot about him."

"Most people do." Gilbert sighed.

"I wanted to ask him a few questions! He's the only country who was at the meeting who's not missing, he's got to know more than he's telling us!"

"You can try if you want, but Matthew would never keep something this important from me." Prussia said with conviction.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded. "I'm positive."

"Begging isn't going to help." Matthew sighed, looking down at Tino as the Finnish man struggled against his restraints. He was laid out on an operating table, arms and legs spread out in a sort of starfish manner, and leather straps keeping him from being able to move any part of his body besides his head. He'd been trying to stay calm and collected, and he had been succeeding until Matthew had gotten out the surgical saw. Now the reality of his situation was hitting him hard, and panic was setting in.

Matthew continued, "And I thought you were above that. Or at least trying to pretend to be above that."

Tino shook his head quickly. "No, no, just stop, just stop-"

"I'm not gonna stop. Should I saw at the elbow or the shoulder, eh? I can't decide."

It was at this point that Tino started sobbing.

"And now you're crying, great," Matthew said sarcastically, positioning the blade at Tino's elbow. Tino flinched hard, or at least as much as he could in the restrains. His head whipped from side to side in panic and his eyes were as wide as saucers. Matthew waited a few seconds before pressing down, starting a harsh back and forth motion. Tino screamed out as he felt the blade ripping open his flesh.

"You know, Fin," Matthew said calmly over Tino's screaming. "I'm starting to get bored-" he paused as a stream of blood splattered his clothes. "Oh, hit an artery. But, no, really, I'm starting to get bored. I'm gonna have to think more creatively if I'm gonna be entertained by all this. I mean, I know its treatment, but I deserve to be entertained too right?"

Tino bit into his lip to stop screaming, breathing heavily and unable to think. His reality was becoming the feeling of the blade slitting his tendons, the squelches and sloshes of blood, and the strong metallic scent hanging in the air.

"Everyone screams the same. Its only fun to listen to for so long." He sighed, trying to angle his blade so he could slice between the bones instead of having to go through them. A sound somewhat similar to shredding construction paper signalled the ripping of his cartilage and Tino finally had to turn his head to the side to vomit.

"Oh that's gross," Matthew frowned, pausing his cutting. "I'm gonna have to clean that up."

"I'm so- sorry-" Tino managed bitterly between heaves.

"No you aren't." Canada shrugged before going back to sawing. Blood was spilling everywhere and Tino's head was starting to go very fuzzy very quickly, his vision starting to blur and losing feeling in his arm. "Oh dear, you aren't going to pass out now are you? We're almost there. It would be a shame if- oops, nicked the bone, my bad!" He laughed, almost as if he was embarrassed by the slip up. It was the last noise Tino heard as he finally fell into unconsciousness.