"Hm, it seems they're out." Germany commented, picking up the note Ireland left behind.
"Dude, that's totally OK, I happen to know where Iggy hides his spare keys!" America said (more like shouted), as he walked over to an inconcspicious looking flower pot (shaped like a key) and picked it up.
"Amerika, England hasn't lived here in decades; it belongs to Ireland now. Who's to say that the spare key would still be where you usually find-"
"Dude, it's totally OK. Even if it weren't there, I could just simply break the door down or something..."
"That wouldn't be very considerate." Japan spoke up.
America picked up the keys from underneath the flower pot and shrugged.
"England's never complained before." The others gave America an unconvinced look.
He, Germany, Spain and Japan (and Canada, not that anyone remembered he was even there... A sign things were going back to normal) had decided to see how the preparations were going for the world meeting tomorrow, the South Americans deciding to do a bit of sight-seeing, having not really left their countries, let alone continent, in a while.
They also wanted to continue chatting about the nation-nap mystery, which they wouldn't be able to do around the nations already neck-deep in the situation.
The split from the South Americans served well for Germany, Japan and America, who were still figuring out small details on how to break the news to everyone, on who was dead and who was possibly alive (since, as it turned out, the letters didn't match up to the amount of used pods, containing... dead... nations)
They entered, immediately looking around for the others. China had told them that someone would always be at home in England's house, preparing things, but right now, it was empty.
Japan noticed a note lying on the surface of a nicely placed table, littered with empty picture frames and a lamp. He stared at the empty frames uncomfortably, remembering why there were no photos there any more.
He picked up the note and read it out loud.
"Ireland, I and England are going to go shopping for a few things before the meeting tomorrow (aru). We may be a while, so don't wait up. - China"
"So what are we supposed to do until one of them comes back?"
"We could always raid the fridge!"
"America, stop thinking of your stomach for once."
"Germany, we could always just... "help" prepare for the meeting tomorrow." Japan suggested.
"But we don't know where the room is... England doesn't like having meetings in his house, and when he does, it's only ever meetings about "internal" problems." Spain said, frowning.
"Guys, I know where the conference room probably is..." Canada piped up.
"... Did you hear something?"
"Nein, you're probably imagined it."
"No, I'm sure I heard something!"
"Hai, I must agree."
"Guys, it was me-" Canada said, trying to gain their attention. Everyone turned to him, surprise on their faces.
"Where did you come from?" Spain asked, a smile on his face.
"I-I've been here the whole time..." Everyone stared at him awkwardly, a mixture of "No way were you here the whole time" and "Oh my gosh, he's been here the whole time and I've completely failed to notice!" on their faces.
Canada continued speaking, before they forgot his existance again.
"I think I know where the conference room is... Back in my colonial days, I sometimes was allowed to attend meetings England held here..." Canada explained, slowly.
"Dude, you were also a British colony?" America asked, a hint of surprise in his voice. Canada's face fell completely, his mouth hanging open slightly.
He was about to snap something angrily(well, it'd come out as more of a harsh whisper, not that Canada would ever know, bless the poor guy), when Germany interrupted.
"Could you show us the conference room?"
"... Yeah, follow me." He said softly, and shuffled awkwardly away, leading them to the room.
He's such an idiot. Hungary complained in her thoughts, looking at her phone, lying abandoned on her bed.
Prussia- Er... Gilbert? No, she refused to call him anything but Prussia.
Prussia had hung up on her, just as she was asking if he could give her China's phone number.
He had said something about her being desperate, the guys she was trying to contact being insane and that he wasn't even sure what gender Yao had.
And yes, this made her beyond mad.
Firstly, she wasn't desperate, secondly... No, Prussia was right there. And... yeah... Prussia was right about his third statement...
Though Yao was a guy, there were moments when people questioned his gender.
But the first statement? She was not desperate! And certainly not for them... Ew.
Well, maybe a little bit, but that was normal for a woman like Hungary.
But back on topic.
Prussia had refused to give her the stupid number... And she knew he'd done that mostly to annoy her. (She wasn't sure if there was any other reason, but she should give him the benefit of the doubt)
She sat there deep in thought (more like in rage), deciding she'd have to figure out where China and England were staying and... drop by... She looked at the clock hanging in the living room.
It would probably be of more benefit to wait for Austria and Prussia to come back though... Austria and Prussia were both going to be home in the evening, so she could have a... Talk with them then. Or at least, get them to ditch their jobs for a day.
Prussia should be relatively easy, Austria, possibly some what more difficult... Nah, what's she saying? He's a pushover too.
As much as she'd like to make contact with the others as soon as possible, she realised that this was obviously not going to be the case.
She sighed.
Well, she'd better get cracking at tracking two nations down.
Fun.
Raivis' legs were shaking like crazy, as he quite badly tried to skate over the ice, his arms spread out wide, flailing around like crazy, everytime he moved a tiny bit.
Peter and Yong Soo weren't helping in the least, too busy racing each other across the ice at what he thought were dangerous speeds.
He let out a little wimper, as he tried balancing himself. If he weren't shaking so much, he'd probably make a pretty decent skater, but for some reason, the ice was making him incredibly nervous...
As if he'd had a really bad experience with it... Or maybe multiple experiences?
Lilli appeared by his side, skating gracefully next to him.
"Mr. Raivis, are you OK?" She asked. He stared at her, with big round eyes and shook his head.
"I... can't really move... I haven't actually been iceskating before, unlike Yong Soo and Peter..." Or at least, if I have, I don't remember that. I think I may have, since the ice is, as it looks, subconciously reminding me of something I'd rather not remember...
"That's a very honest thing for you to say Mr. Raivis."
"Gah, did I say that thought out loud?"
"I... Thought you were intentionally doing so." Lilli replied, looking at the ice beneath them. "Anyway, if you wish, I could help you skate." She said, holding out a hand.
Raivis looked at it, a hint of suspicion in his eyes. Before he could accept the helping hand, Peter and Yong Soo both skated to a stillstand next to them.
"Hey Raivis, why aren't you skating too?" Yong Soo asked, having obviously not noticed Raivis' lack of movement earlier.
"Can't you skate?" Peter asked.
"I... Er... No..." Raivis stuttered.
"Well why didn't you say! We'll help! Cause helping people is something totally Korean*"
"Nah, that's an English** thing..."
"I would think Latvian..."
"Isn't it simply a Human thing?" Lilli asked, disturbing the three from a discussion bound to turn into a loud discussion, that then progressed into an agruement.
The three stared at her mutely, before nodding slowly, in agreement.
"C'mon, grab our arms Raivis, we'll promise not to let you fall!" Yong Soo said encouragingly.
"We'll only let you crash into a few walls." Peter added cheerfully, causing Yong Soo to laugh and Raivis to chuckle nervously.
Without anything else said, Raivis found his arms suddenly in a tight wrap between his two friend's arms, as they skated at high speeds around the rink.
He paled, too nervous to let out a scream of fear, not that it would have been heard over his friend's laughter. He could hear Lilli skating behind them, trying to say something, but being too soft and sweet to be heard.
I shouldn't have gone iceskating, I shouldn't have gone iceskating, I shouldn't have gone iceskating... Raivis continously repeated in his head, as he recalled how he had thought ice-skating had been a generally good idea earlier.
Off the rink, in the ice-skating café, Ireland observed the four, as they skated, drinking a particular type of hot chocolate, called "Sailor Ahoy"*** or something. Basically, it had rum.
The reason he was drinking a hot chocolate with alochol in it, was because he didn't like being seen drinking publically. Disguising the alcohol in the form of hot chocolate was a pretty good way to hide it.
You see, he had had an arguement with Wales about his (and the others') drinking habits once, which Wales had unfortunately won too. The Welshman had made all of his brothers go on cold turkey for a year and whenever he caught any of them drinking alcohol before seven, he'd make them go on cold turkey again. Even if they were having the alochol with food (example, red wine with steak).
It was because of Wales that he stopped enjoying drinking at any time of day in public, him always fearing Wales would suddenly jump out from nowhere and yell "AHA! Caught red-handed! That's a month of cold turkey for you!".
Also, the alochol-containing hot chocolate was in small dosage, meaning he couldn't possibly get drunk from one or five cups(not that it was easy for him to get drunk anyway. After all, he remembered quite clearly, how he was always the sober one, taking a drunk England back home for reasons beyond him, after a night out with his brothers, drinking)
He smiled, observing Sealand in particular. He had never thought he'd see the wannabe-nation ever again.
He looked forward to seeing England (and Sealand)'s reaction, when England and Sealand met again. If it wasn't hilarious, he'd eat his hat.
He recalled the first time England had met Sealand. Well, he hadn't actually been there, but England, again for reasons beyond any of the British (well, Irish as well) brothers understandings, had called them shortly after... "Meeting" Sealand.
Sure, it was hilarious to look back on, but when England first called them, completely stressed out and in panic, they had felt... maybe just a tiny winy bit worried about him (by this, he meant a lot).
He smiled, remembering his own reaction to Sealand. Those had been the days... Sealand being a small toddler and puking up all over England. Ah, such wonderful, wonderful memories...
Germany looked around the partially prepared meeting room, with a stern gaze.
It was pretty clear why China and England had gone off shopping. They lacked the necessary flags to label where who was sitting where (it was better to use flags, for several reasons)
The room had recently been cleaned, if the mop and bucket placed messily in the corner had anything to say.
Things had been cleared, but not completely, empty frames still lying around and... Empty frames?
Ah yes, America had mentioned how photos and pictures related with the other nations had 'mysteriously' disappeared.
Sure, they still hadn't found those missing things. but still.
The others had entered the room, Spain picking up an old-looking piece of paper lying on the table discarded.
"Preparing a World Meeting for stupid gits (even ones as stupid as you Am-" He began reading, but America rushed over tearing the paper out of Spain's hands.
America started reading it curiously, so Germany (and the others) decided to ignore him and started looking at other papers lying on the table or unpacking the things they'd brought with them.
America was glad no one really took note of him taking the sheet from Spain so abruptly. Really, the reason why he had done that was because the piece of paper was something he thought he'd thrown away a long time ago...
Several centuries ago, when he was still a young nation (well, thinking about it, he was still considered a young nation...), he was told he'd be holding the next world meeting at his place.
Naturally, being told this wouldn't cause an uproar nowadays, however, this had been the first time America had ever been told that he'd be holding it and with world meetings never having happened in his place before, he knew nothing about preparing one.
He complained about it to Canada, France and a few others, that he was (or still is) good friends with at the time (i.e, Japan wasn't quite a friend back then, no matter how often America had visited him, so America didn't go to him for help). Somehow, England found out about his troubles and teased him about it.
A while later, sometime before the first world meeting held in the USA, England gave him a piece of paper, telling him how to plan one... But America never read it. He only read the title, then scrunched it up and threw it in the bin, annoyed that England wasn't taking him seriously (OK, it was admittably difficult to do that, but that was besides the point).
England must have fished the paper out of the bin and kept it as a... Probably for him, fond memory.
But why leave the centuries old thing on the table? Unless... Nah, they couldn't have forgotten how to plan one, right? (And why hadn't the HCS taken this piece of paper too, along with the photos?)
He folded it neatly and put it in his pocket, deciding that he'd decide whether or not to destroy it later.
Germany asked Spain to see if he could find them and the others something to eat. Spain nodded merrily and left, walking off to see if he could find any tomatoes in the house and wondering whether or not to cook something.
Germany then turned to America and Japan.
"We still need to finalise how we'll break the news to them and when." Germany said, sitting down in one of the chairs.
"Hai, I agree. Actually, I thought we could slowly direct the meeting to that topic... First, we need to bring up the possibility of killing nations, then talk about how the HCS discovered things about us, not even we know about ourselves. Maybe then we could start hinting about the HCS knowing how to kill nations and then admit that nations have been... Killed..."
America and Germany nodded, America continuing. "And you want me to fill them in on what we've been up to in the last few days. Then tell them we know who is deffinitely... dead."
America's mind flipped through the different faces he'd seen, some unrecognisable, some not, frozen in ice and forever in a state between life and death.
Well, maybe not life, but America had seen several films, in which they revived frozen bodies... Who said it wasn't possible to do the same in reality?
The three soon delved into a conversation, in which they specified how exactly the meeting would go, drawing out where speeches would be needed and where pictures and diagrams would be helpful.
All the while, as they planned away, Canada sat there, having been forgotten the entire time, feeling shock at the revelation.
At three o' clock, they had finished preparing the meeting, meaning that England and China would have very little to do when they got back.
The Italies had arrived shortly after three, telling them that the Middle-Easterns and Africans were tired from travelling and so, opted to stay in their hotel rooms.
At four, Sealand, Ireland, South Korea, Latvia and Liechtenstein came back.
Liechtenstein took one look at Germany and smiled brightly at him, before running over and hugging him.**** Germany awkwardly patted her on the head.
"It's nice to see you again." Germany finally said, after Liechtenstein let go. She then hugged Italy (because everyone likes him) and gave America a polite nod.
"I'm so glad I get to see you all again. And I'm glad to see that you can see again Italy." She said.
"Ve~ I'm glad you can speak again." Italy replied, hugging her again. Ireland squeezed passed them and left South Korea, Latvia and Sealand standing awkwardly in the hall.
Latvia, South Korea and Sealand were all giving America odd looks, as if they were trying to place him somewhere in their minds. America shifted uncomfortably.
"Ah, you three, may I reintroduce you to some people you used to call friends... Or at least knew." Liechtenstein said, distracting them. America gave Liechtenstein a grateful look, not that she noticed.
"This is Mr. Germany." All three opened their mouths to say something, but Liechenstein beat them to it. "Please feel free to talk after I introduced you to them." She said.
"This is Mr. America and this is Mr. Italy. Er... Is anyone else here?"
"Ja, Romano, Spanien, China, Japan und Kanada sind hier."* Germany replied.
"Actually, I'm right here..." Canada piped up.
"Did you here something?"
"Amerika, you are imagining things again."
"Do I know you from somewhere?" South Korea asked America, standing next to him.
"Er... Yes... We knew each other in the past..." America started, not really wanting to go into detail about how their friendship started. Though he and South Korea were good friends, the way they met and befriended each other wasn't the most pleasant thing to talk about.**
"You and Mr. Germany both seem like people I should know..." Latvia commented. Liechtenstein took a deep breath.
"Guys, as said, you are actually countries and you've been in contact with both America and Germany (and Italy as well) before." she explained, tired of saying this over and over.
"Yeah... About the country thing... Though it explains a lot, all three of us are still skeptic about it." Korea said. "Nothing against you, of course."
"So they don't remember, huh?" America asked Liechtenstein, who nodded.
"Well, it's still nice to see you all again."
After that, they chatted for a while, before separating into small groups. South Korea, Sealand and America were playing a board game, seeing as England's house currently lacked a lot of stuff, only having been kept in top conditions. Internet had been removed and whether or not England owned any game consoles was anyone's guess.
Latvia, Germany and Liechtenstein were talking, Latvia finding that Latvian history was suddenly very interesting. Germany and Liechtenstein didn't really know that much about Latvian history, but what they did know, they tried to tell him about.
Canada and Japan were both reading a book, Japan occasionally looking up (having felt like he wasn't alone) to notice Canada and pale, then resume reading after a couple minutes of complentating.
What Ireland was up to was anyone's guess. Italy, Romano and Spain were having siestas, all using bedrooms that weren't actually theirs.
China and England got back at five. The first thing that happened, was that America "glomped" them, all three falling over. Korea decided to join in, because it looked fun, Sealand also threw himself on the pile. Italy and Spain came downstairs with Romano (having all finished their siestas at the same time... Weirdly enough... Must be a mediterranean thing), but saw the dogpile and decided to throw themselves on top of it as well.
Ireland, who had been nearby, laughed his head off, the others trying to either pry the nations off England and China or just standing there, gaping.
China briefly thought he was lucky the other nations currently in the UK weren't with them in England's house right now. Or else he and England could kiss their backs goodbye.
After everyone calmed down, America realised that England could see and remember. That resulted with another "glomp", however, it wasn't quite as big as the last one (England managed to keep his footing this time around) and resulted in not just the victim being injured.
After that, everything got a bit chaotic. There were arguements over dinner arrangements, Ireland and Englands' relationship with each other got worse and worse over the course of the evening, Latvia, Sealand and South Korea kept... Staring at people (some longer than others), several nations complained about hearing things (like someone was talking to them really softly or something...) and to top it all off, everyone felt like they were being watched... More than they were being already, that is.
... Like someone was hiding just around the corner, ready to jump out and shout surprise.
It was a miracle that everyone actually ended back in their bed in either England's house or a hotel all in one piece, and actually asleep at a sensible time.
Sealand lay awake in bed however. It was three in the morning and his head was spinning, he was so tired...
But he remembered. He had dreamt, woken up and remembered. He didn't know why, but having dreamt a dream that related with him being Sealand and then waking up with the topic fresh in his mind and having seen England and Ireland...
That finally triggered the destruction of the block, that had been stopping him be a (wannabe) nation and remember.
Everything was fuzzy and he felt sick in his stomach. He felt so useless, not that this was new, seeing as many treated him like he was nothing anyway, but he felt more so than usual.
Everyone had everything under control and he had nothing to say or do. Really, the only reason why he had been picked to escape the HCS was mostly because he was just a child, even though he was at least a century old now.
None of the older nations (or simply put, the ones that are adults) wanted to see a child being tortured, no matter if at some point, that child would be their worst enemy.
And what with nations and humans being treated so differently there, they also forgot their differences and for a while saw each other as a unity and a group of people you could always depend on and trust in.
Obviously, such feelings would disappear as soon as they got out of the struggle and back into normal life, but if Sealand had to think of anything good about being kidnapped by the HCS...
It was being together and feeling you could trust them to help and fight with you. No backstabbing, no secret alliances, because everyone wanted the same goal. They wanted out.
He sighed and got out of bed. Though he hated Jerk England, he wanted some comfort. He wobbled slightly because of his spinning head, but soon walked out of the guest room, to England's room.
"Jerk?" He mumbled. England was already deep asleep. Sealand sighed. He entered the room and crawled into bed, covering himself with the duvet.
He snuggled up to England, like he did a century ago, closing his eyes. Just one night, after this, he didn't need something... Comforting (to a VERY BIG extent!) to help him sleep.
At least, that's what Sealand told himself, as he drifted asleep.
*He knows he's Korean. Or is at least a large fan of South Korea. He cannot claim things are invented in Korea as a human, however, he does claim a lot of things to be very Korean, such as, helping people.
**I doubt Peter Kirkland knows about the wanna-be country called Sealand. Which is why he claims everything English (or British)... However, if he did know Sealand, it'd all be Sealandic... Or something...
***I can't remember the precise name, but I had a hot chocolate once, with a similar name. The hot chocolate was called that, because it had rum in it. And it didn't actually taste as nice as I thought it would.
**** I based Liechtenstein's friends on her resident embassies. I'm not quite sure what a resident embassy is, but it's all I can go on. Any objections? No? Good. ;)
*Ja, Romano, Spanien, China, Japan und Kanada sind hier = Yes, Romano, Spain, China, Japan and Canada are here.
** Referencing Korea's history, from the Japanese rule, to the split between North and South Korea until the Korean War. Actually, reading Korea's history makes me very... depressed... :(
Sorry the chapter was so rushed. I'm not that pleased with it, but I hope you guys enjoyed it anyway!
The reason it took so long to update was because I wanted to prewrite the next few chapters with this one... But I failed, 'cause it's taken me weeks to even get half of the next chapter written... So I thought, Whatever, I'll just go ahead and update. So yeah, I'm not going to try and prewrite chapters ever again. It just takes waaaaay to long. :S
... ~Is still obsessed over the 100 reviews~ :D :D :D