Welcome back, my people! Here's the next chappie! Oh, and a heads up, this one is kind of sad, though I'll try to keep it balanced with some humor.

I also fixed a few things in the first chapter (I didn't like the way the translations were done)

To recap - I DON'T OWN HETALIA NOR THE MANUALS. Though I wish I did.

(~HHQ~)

~Wendy's POV~

"…And this is my room." I opened the door marked two, revealing a brown, white, and silver bedroom, "so, do you have any questions?"

After lunch, I had decided to show my new housemates their rooms, and then give them a tour of the HQ. (It's a very large place; I got lost a few times when I first started living here.) Both already seem to have their favorite spots; Feli liked the art studio – I practically had to drag him out to continue – while Lovi (as I now called him, to his annoyance) preferred the reclusive library.

"Ve~ Wendy, what's in the rooms one and five? Why are those doors locked?" Feli pointed across the hall to said doors.

I froze in my spot, unable to speak for a second. I had not expected that question. The back of my throat went dry; a sign I was holding back tears. Why? Why did he have to mention my parent's room? Just why? It's too soon, way too soon…

"Número uno es la habitación de mis padres y cinco es la oficina de mi papá. Pues, eso es lo que eran, pero eso era hace mucho tiempo." I finally whispered in a forlorn tone; barely keep my voice from wavering.

"You speak the tomato bastard's language!" Lovi exclaimed in surprise.

That caught me off guard. "Yes, I speak Spanish. And what's wrong with speaking it?" I was able to say without attacking the southern Italian in my state of defensive sadness. Spanish was my native language, but I only used when talking to people that understood and/or spoke Spanish, to talk to myself, or when extremely emotional. I hadn't been able to speak it as much as I used to, like I did before the accident, when I lived in a happy family…

The back of my throat got impossibly drier at the thought. Great, now I'm depressing myself… I have to go and talk before I start crying in front of the Italies… I can't let them see me cry.

"Lovi, prendere il vostro fratello al piano di sotto e rimanere lì. Ho bisogno di tempo da solo." I said in my best Italian, hoping that he'll listen more if I told him in his own language.

"Puoi parlare italiano?" Both Italians asked in sync, Lovi not paying attention on how I had addressed him.

"Sì. One of my friends that lives here is half Italian, and she taught me the language." And my father too…dammit, thoughts like this aren't going to help me keep a straight face…. "Now, can you please leave me alone for a while?" I could already feel tears forming at the corners of my eyes. I had to leave, NOW, before the water works start.

So, without another word, I ran upstairs as fast as I could, leaving two now-confused Italians on the second floor.

After finding the room I was looking for – a blue room that had a grand view of the city – I securely locked the door, and sat at the window sill, waiting for someone to knock. When that didn't happen, I curled up into a ball and finally let myself break down completely.

How long had it been since I cried like this? I wondered to myself. I think it was the day my world turned upside down. The day I got that unfortunate phone call…. I can still remember that day like it was yesterday…

Flashback, seven months prior

"Guys, We're back~!" I said, plopping on the beige couch, tired from walking all the way home from the bus stop. The rest of my friends went to their own devices. "Did you three do your homework, or did you 'forget' again?"

"I already did mine, Wendy." Alex proudly lifted his completed worksheets for me to inspect.

I turned my gaze to my siblings on the ivy green couch "And you two?" Both gave me an apologetic look. I sighed, stood up and started dragging them to the homework table, "Come on; get started. While you do that, I'll make dinner. And no complaints this time, I'm in charge."

You see, my parents, my aunt and my uncle were driving over to Louisiana for some three day convention for the health company they worked for. Since school was still in session, they decided leave me and our housemates home alone; Leaving me in charge of everything.

After starting my current playlist – Songs from around the world – I started looking for the ingredients for chicken alfredo. Five minutes into it, however, my cellphone rang from my backpack. Must be dad checking on us again, I thought, pausing the playlist and digging around for my cell. 'Unknown number' was the caller ID on the screen.

"Hello?"

"Are you Joanne?" the voice on the other line asked.

"Yes, I am. Why do you want to know?"

"This is of Good Shepherd Medical Center. Are you, by chance, related to Remigio Castillo, Silvia Castillo, Dulce Ortiz, and Benigno Ortiz?"

Now I was starting to panic; sudden doctor's calls were never good. "Yes, Remigio and Silvia are my Parents. Dulce and Benigno are my aunt and uncle. What happened?"

"There was an accident involving a drunk driver, and they crashed into the car your parents were in." The blood rushed out of my face. "The intoxicated driver and Dulce died on impact. Benigno, Silvia and Remigio were driven to the ER, where Silvia and Benigno died on the way…. Are you still there?"

"Yes, I'm still here. And my father?" I was barely able to form the words with my now bone-dry mouth. This can't be happening! It simply can't!

"He was brought in and was conscious enough to give us this number. He told us to tell you to be strong and that he would always be with you if he didn't make it." There was a long pause, "I am very sorry for your loss. Will you need help with the funeral arrangements? Your father informed us you were not of legal age."

Shaking, I answered, "I will. Thank you and goodbye." In a clipped tone and hung up.

In a daze, I weakly turned off the stove, and then pushed the house intercom button. "Guys, meeting, kitchen, now." I didn't even bother with complete sentences. They would be with me in a heartbeat, knowing I never talked like that unless severely upset.

They ran in like a herd of wildebeests; with Tana and Kas in the front. Once they saw me, they stopped in their tracks and stared for a minute, unable to say anything. I really must have looked like a mess.

Kas was the first one to talk. "Wen, what happened? Is everything ok?" She put one comforting hand on my shoulder, like she's done many times in the past.

That gesture broke down the emotional wall I had been barely keeping up. I grabbed Kas in a death grip hug and sobbed into her shoulder. "Got a call from a hospital. A c-car crash. No one m-made it out a-al-al… Kas, I d-don't know what t-to do!"

A moment of (almost) silence ensued while the others tried to make sense of my sobbed out words. That silence was broken a minute later by a trio of wails; Leslie, Tana and Alex had figured out what I had meant.

I let go of Kas and went to the crying trio – who were crumpled on the ground – determined to hug them until the tears stopped. "It will be ok; I will make sure of it." The sobs dimmed for a few seconds before returning to its previous volume.

"Wendy, I know this isn't a good time," Scott said crouching down next to me. "But where will we go? We have no guardians. None of can keeps the house; we aren't legal adults. The way things look now, the state is going to separate us and put us in foster care."

That got everyone even more worried than they already were. The trio just cried louder, drowning out the others' voices.

"They'll have to drag us out." I finally heard Zoe say with a dangerous edge.

Sara threw her arm around Zoe. "Yeah! We're staying, no matter what the stupid state says!"

"How are we going to do that?" Kas asked. Everyone looked at one another, then at me. "Wen?"

"I don't know." I hoarsely whispered. "I simply don't know."

End of flashback

I don't know exactly how much time passed before I was able to piece myself together, but it was quite a while.

The sky outside was a beautiful mix of royal blue, lavender, sunset orange, and a soft yellow. The same colors that filled the sky whenever dad used to bring me here to talk. 'Como la puesta de sol en las montañas cuando yo vivía en el rancho,' my dad would always describe it.

And, for a moment, thinking about what I had lost, it felt like my parents were there in the room with me. I decided to do something I hadn't done in a while: talk to them.

I quickly opened the window, letting in the warm August air. "Hola Mami, Papi. ¿Cómo están ustedes? y ¿Cómo es el cielo?" I asked softly thru the window, "I've been well. Life here on earth is just as crazy as you left it. We all miss you, and are trying to get everything back to the way things were before, though we know it won't be exactly the same. Leslie and Tana are almost normal again, though."

Scratch, Scratch, Whine! Scratch, Scratch, Whine!

Oh, the dogs want in. "Come in girls." I opened the door just big enough to let Songa, the biggest of the group, in. They went into their usual places: Songa on the floor by the window, Maple on the left side of the window seat, and Shaymin on my lap. I continued my monologue as I pet said Jack Russell on my lap.

"We have new people living with us now, Lovi and Feli. You know, from Hetalia, that anime I love so much? I don't think we made a good first impression though. Within five minutes of opening both crates, we had threatened Lovi twice and had both shaking like leaves!" Now that I thought of it, it was kind of funny that my thirteen year old sister had threatened Lovi with a BB gun. "We have more people coming, mom and dad. These two are already a handful; I don't know how I will handle the whole world. Please send me all the help you can from heaven. This will be harder than what I have faced befo-"

"Wen, are you ok?" Kas asked, her voice dimmed by the wooden door. "Feli and Lovi told us you ran off upset about something."

"I'm fine now Kas. Thanks for asking." I opened the door to find my concerned best friend waiting. Then I remembered the newest additions to our house. "And speaking of those two, how have the others reacted to our new housemates?"

She gave me a huge smile that could rival Hungary's. "Come see for yourself." Then she proceeded to drag me down two flights of stairs.

The sight that greeted me in the living room was absolutely chaotic. Clare and Zoe were glomping-slash-holding back a 'Ve'ing' Feli. Sara was Pinning Lovi down while Leslie pulled his curl. Lovi was trying to get away from the two semi-sadistic teenage girls while sputtering insults at them. Tana and Alex were dragging in Leslie's huge chest of makeup and frilly dress up clothes. And Scott was laughing hard; the video camera in his hand pointed at the crazy scene.

I should have known they would do something like this… "Guys, stop torturing poor Lovi. That's not how we treat housemates."

Leslie stopped pulling Lovi's curl. "But, Wendy, it's fun!" I glared at her. "I m-mean Sara told me to!"

"Don't try to blame it on someone else, Les. I know you would have done that even if Sara didn't tell you to." Kas and I pulled a tomato-red Lovi off the floor. "Now, apologize to Lovi. And you are not allowed to do that again; this also applies to any others that arrive. This also goes for all of you."

Those last two sentences started an avalanche of dialogue.

"There's more of them? Why are they here? How did Lovi and Feli get here anyway? And where in the hell were you?" Zoe asked, letting go of Feli.

Clare also let go of the northern Italian. "Do you know how many more are going to show up? Oh, is America coming? Or China? Or even Germany?" By the end of her questioning, she was giggling as if sugar high.

"I am not living with that potato bastard!" Lovi exclaimed, shooting a WTH look at Clare.

"Ok, well how about Japan?" Scott added casually. "He's sane enough, and so is Canada. Can we get them?"

"Let's hope we don't get that scary one, what's-his-name…" Kas – the only high school-er in the house that didn't watch the series – paused for a minute, trying to remember the name of said character, "oh, yeah, Russia! That's the name!"

Things were starting to get out of control again, so I stepped in. "Enough, guys. Let's just sit down and I'll tell you all I know."

After everyone settled down, I started. "Three days ago, Clare scared me into clicking a Hetalia pop-up." I tilted my head in said person's direction. "I forgot about that pop-up till this afternoon when two huge boxes were delivered. I found Lovi and Feli in said boxes and woke them up. I then showed them around, and Feli asked about my Parent's rooms. I became upset – you know I haven't stepped into those rooms since the accident – and ran upstairs."

"What accident?" Lovi asked with some caution; most likely in an attempt to not upset me again. Huh, there's more to him than the bad-mouthed, uncaring, lazy boy most see him as…

"The one that put my parents, my aunt and my uncle under gravestones." The trio sniffled a bit at the blunt reminder.

That reminded me of something the Italians would need to know if they were going to live here… "All our pasts are tragic in one way or another, Lovi, Feli, and we each have subjects and times we'd rather not talk about. That's why we're here, really, so we'll always have someone to turn to." That was the whole reason why my parents bought a house this big; to take in unfortunate kids with no one left. Like my dad and his six siblings were when he was younger…

"I'm sorry, Ve, ~" Feli hugged me with strength I didn't know he possessed. "I didn't know."

"It's ok Feli, you're forgiven." Then something occurred to me. "What time is it?"

Scott looked at his digital watch. "8:57 PM. Brian and Armando should come back home any minute."

At that moment, the two college-age inhabitants of the HQ walked into the living room.

Alex launched himself at his older brothers, glomping them with enthusiasm. "Brian, Mando, you're home!"

"Speak of the devil, and he will appear. Or in this case, they will appear." Kas jokingly said.

Both brothers laughed loudly. "Are these the new guys?" Brian pointed to the Italians sharing the green couch.

"Yes they are. This is Lovino," I tilted my head at the southern Italian, preferring not to point him out, and then moved my head in the other direction, "and his brother Feliciano."

"Hi. I'm Brian, and this is my older brother Armando." He told the newcomers, and then he faced me. "What did you make to eat Wendy? I'm starving!"

Oh, yeah, today's my day to cook, isn't it…? "I didn't make anything. I kind of got distracted earlier…." I admitted sheepishly.

Feli jumped up from his seat. "I can cook for us! If that's alright with you, Ve."

"That's fine with me Feli. Will you need any help?" I knew he most likely wouldn't, but it's polite to ask anyway. "The kitchen is a pretty bi-"

I was cut off by one hyperactive Italian dragging me into the kitchen. The others staring laughing at the sight. I had to admit, the thought of Feli dragging anyone over the age of twelve made me laugh too.

(~HHQ~)

And now you know why Wendy, Tana, Alex, Leslie, Armando and Brian live at HQ. Sad, isn't it? Losing your family so suddenly must be really devastating for those who have to face that situation. I've never lost a close family member, so I really wouldn't be able to compare this to real life.

Do you guys think my pace is a bit too fast, or that it skips too much? I don' have a beta or anyone else to check for things like this. Tell me if that's the case! I can only get better if you point things out.

Attomic-K, over and out!

Translations:

Número uno es la habitación de mis padres y cinco es la oficina de mi papá. Pues, eso es lo que eran, pero eso era hace mucho tiempo – (Spanish) Number one is my parents' room and five is my dad's office. Well, that's what they were, but that's a long time ago.

Lovino, prendere il vostro fratello al piano di sotto e rimanere lì. Ho bisogno di tempo da solo. – (Italian) Lovino, take your brother downstairs and stay there. I need some time alone.

Puoi parlare italiano? – (Italian) You speak Italian?

Como la puesta de sol en las montañas cuando yo vivía en el rancho – (Spanish) like the sunset in the mountains when I lived at the ranch.

Hola Mami, Papi. ¿Cómo están ustedes? Y ¿Cómo es el cielo? – (Spanish) Hi mom, dad. How are you? And how is heaven?