The next day, the meeting took place. Everyone arrived the day prior, so many still suffered from jetlag. Thinking about it, the meeting wasn't very well organised, but most had forgotten a lot on how to properly and successfully prepare a meeting of any sort, whether it was just a simple chat on a few minor problems, or a large world meeting on gigantic, huge world problems.
Also, not all nations were present, "not all nations" being only New Zealand, whom Germany, America and Japan were supposed to get. Oh well...
At the head of the table sat Germany, with Japan to his left and America to his right. This was all that was important to know about the seating arrangements in the room.
You see, no one had actually bothered sitting down in the seats chosen for them (apart from Germany, America and Japan, that is), even though China and England had delibrately gone out shopping the other day to get some flags, marking where everyone should sit.
A lot of nations weren't even sitting at the table. In their sleep-deprived states, several just lay on the floor, in a state of half-sleep.
England hadn't bothered sitting in his own chair, which had originally been placed next to America. He was sitting at the other end of the table, in what should have been one of the South American's chairs (said nation lying on his tummy on the floor; his face in a pillow), as far away as physically possible from America.
The reason why England sat so far away, was mostly because he was still annoyed with America about the whole glomping experience the other day.
Because of the two glomps, his back was killing him and to show his annoyance, he was "blanking" America, or quite simply put, ignoring him... Which would have been quite a hard feat to achieve; what with America being... America; but said nation was oddly quiet and withdrawn today.
Well, it was one headache less to think about. The other was Sealand.
England woke the whole house up, shortly after waking up himself, by screaming (how would you react if you go to bed one night and wake up the next morning to find you're sharing your bed with someone you weren't sharing it with the night before?), then spending an awkward half hour explaining himself, telling Sealand off, hugging the boy to pieces when he found out Sealand remembered and a lot of other emotions just splashing up and out from nowhere.
It had been very tiring, but a lot of other nations who had watched the spectacle, said it was hilarious (and he was pretty sure he saw Ireland with a camera).
Later; he and Sealand talked about whether or not Sealand would be allowed to attend the meeting. As far as England was concerned, only nations were allowed, and since Sealand wasn't officially recognised as a country, England was against him taking part.
Sadly, Sealand talked him out of it (which surprised England a lot) and now, during the meeting, Sealand wouldn't stop going on about how he was just a step away from full recognition, since this was his first official meeting (not that it was official, seeing as the governments of the planet hadn't organised it this time round).
He sighed, and watched as the meeting went on. Most nations, even if they looked like they had died on the floor, where paying full attention and listening to Germany for once, who was currently explaining the situation to them.
England was mostly not paying attention, seeing as he was a little bit busy with something else.
Something important.
And no, it wasn't the growing headache called Sealand.
No, he was trying to remember the coordinates for the location of the HC bases, but his mind was like a teenager's room. You knew something you wanted was there, but had no idea where to look for it, since the whole place was one huge mess that only a teenager could make.
Also, if he hadn't mentioned it yet, Sealand was making his search for the AB-Coordinates far more difficult, by being a huge nuisance.
He sighed, and continued thinking deeply, blocking out as much noice as he could.
Come on England, you can remember. You didn't survive this long for nothing. Come on, remember!
"... And... That brings us up to the last few weeks..." Germany finished, sighing. "Amerika, will you take over?" America nodded and got out of his chair, clearing his throat first.
"Now, some time ago, I invited some of us to a restaurant at my place called the "Blind Sense"..."
"!" Spain suddenly screeched, falling out of his chair and crashing onto the floor with a loud thud. All nations turned their heads towards him, some annoyed and some confused.
"What's your damn problem tomato bastard?" Romano asked, slightly annoyed.
"H-h-Hungary." Spain said, pointing out the window. And indeed, as random as it was, Hungary was in fact standing outside.
But not alone. Prussia and Austria were with her. However, no one actually noticed them, because everyone was distracted by Hungary and her insanely happy grin.
She realised everyone had noticed her and was staring at her. If possible, her smile widened and she waved enthusiastically.
The reaction to that was (after a short pause) an awkward wave back from everyone (except Italy, who had actually fallen asleep as soon as the meeting started).
She took out a frying pan from apparently nowhere and pointed at it, then tapped on the glass.
Everyone stared at her dumbly, not understanding what she wanted. Some nodded confused, but not actually knowing what they were agreeing to. She nodded in reply and slowly swung the pan back.
It was at that moment that everyone understood what she was about to do. Almost immediately, both Ireland and England shot out of their seats and shouted "No don't!"
Hungary looked at them, a small frown on her face. She mouthed "spoilsports" at them, then started pouting as the two made their way around the conference table to open the window.
During this, it should be noted that England and Ireland kept quite a distance from each other. Stupid political tensions.*
"Oh my goodness, I'm so glad to see you all again!" Hungary said, hugging the first two nations she came in contact with... Which happened to be Ireland and England, seeing as they had opened the window to stop her smashing it open.
Both gave an indignant squawk.
Germany stood up.
"Hungary!-"
"Are you having a conference meeting? Without me?" She asked.
"... I knew I forgot something aru..."
"Miss Hungary, we are sorry we forgot you... You were mentioned, but not as someone who remembered-"
"Well, I remember now."
"OK, everyone, let's just continue the meeting as if nothing has happened! Hungary, you came just on time by the way!" America inturrupted (and somewhere else, a planet exploded. After all, for America to be the one keeping order, a world had to end).
Hungary nodded with a smile on her face and sat down. Ireland and England both recomposed themselves.
"Hey, you two, don't you want to come in too?" Ireland called out, noticing Prussia and Austria. Both seemed to jump and turned to look at him, pointing at themselves.
"Yes you! Come on, we haven't got all day!" Ireland called. Well, technically, they did, but whatever. Ireland turned to Germany and Liechtenstein.
"It's Prussia and Austria." Germany was sitting in his chair again, however, didn't get up in excitement, seeing as that wouldn't be typically him. However, his eyes did widen with excitement.
All nations subconciously leaned forward or sat up straight, looking forward to seeing an old friend (or something old anyway) again (aside from Italy that is, who was still sleeping happily in his chair, the only difference now being that Hungary was sitting next to him).
Prussia and Austria climbed through the window, Austria feeling awkward and Prussia awesome.
Both felt like they were crashing an important meeting they shouldn't be in. Which they technically were.
It didn't help that every eye was glued to them.
However, before either could breath a word, Hungary ordered both to sit down, giving them a wonderful look of "disobey and die a slow and painful death" Ireland closed the window and sat down again.
Everyone blinked momentairily, before the meeting continued.
"... Anyway, hello Hungary, um..."
"They don't remember." She said helpfully.
"OK, we'll have to... See to that later... We're going to discuss possibilities on how to regain memories faster later anyway."
"Anyway, so we were at my place, in one of my new restaurants called "Blind sense"..." America continued.
Prussia and Austria were both frowning, feeling uncomfortable.
However, fifteen minutes into the meeting everyone relaxed again, Prussia annoying Austria and Hungary giving them annoyed looks.
After the recap on how everything happened up to the present, Hungary was then asked to give everyone a fill on her story.
Gilbert sighed. Everyone in this room was insane. It was an awesome kinda insane, but still insane. And being insane, no matter how awesome that kinda insane was, was deffinitely unawesome.
His eyes studied everyone in the room. There was that "England" guy from earlier... And as it seemed, a lot of other people were convinced about this whole country thing, including Elizaveta...
He hadn't expected that from her... Maybe this whole situation did hold some truth? No, that'd be absurd. And he couldn't honestly say he considered her completely sane (certainly not any more anyway).
Then his eyes landed on a man with blonde hair slicked back and ice cold blue eyes. Most would be intimidated by such a man, but when Gilbert looked at him, he didn't see a scary henchman-kinda-looking guy; no, he saw a little boy, that took life too seriously and needed to "loosen up".**
He couldn't help but gawk just a little bit.
The man looked at Gilbert briefly, then quickly looked away, sinking into his seat.
Gilbert looked away too, deciding that staring at a man intensely wouldn't explain why the man reminded him of a small boy, that took life too seriously.
He closed his eyes and focused his thoughts, blocking out outside noises. Unknown to him, several other people in the room were doing this too, namely people more commonly known as Latvia, (South) Korea, Austria and England, the latter however concentrating to remember a few numbers, not a whole past.
No one was really paying attention to any of them, because Japan had stood up and started saying something else, seeming to have shocked everyone.
Even England had come out of his thoughts and looked surprised.
Gilbert didn't listen but concentrated.
And then it finally came. Like a dam being broken, his memories flooded back into his mind, all slipping into where they belonged. He didn't suffer flashbacks or brainfreezes or any of the other symptoms nations who had tried to remember previously suffered from.
It didn't change the fact that when he looked up again, he was completely awestruck.
He looked at everything as if he'd seen it for the first time.
He was about to stand up and announce how the awesome Prussia had returned, when he picked up on the conversation.
"... We... We know which nations are... are deffinitely dead."
Prussia's mind, along with a lot of other minds, went blank. America stood up and took out a briefcase, emptying its contents onto the conference table.
Nations, that were previously lying on the floor, were now standing next to the conference table, those seated leaning forwards.
Letters. And quite a few at that. At least fifty****. Japan, Germany and America kept their gazes low, not daring to look the others in the eye, silently listening to what would happen.
Several nations hesitantly reached out and picked up random letters. Then a few more nations read a few more letters. Then some more. And more. Until every nation had picked a letter up and read it.
The tension in the room was so thick, you could probably cut it with a slab of uncut and blunt rock.
Slowly, one by one, nations stood up and left, mumbling an excuse. America, Japan and Germany did nothing to stop them.
Everyone left slowly, wandering off somewhere to hide. To be by themselves. Nations dealt with their feelings and emotions alone after all*.
The three nations left in the room looked at each other and sighed deeply at the same time.
"That was hard." America said after the three had stared at the pile of letters for a while. Japan and Germany said nothing. America coughed awkwardly and stood up slowly.
"I guess the meeting is adjourned until further notice. I'm gonna go... I'm just gonna go. See you later." He said and left too.
After America left, Japan turned to Germany, a deep frown on his face.
"I guess the most difficult part is over." He commented, sinking into his chair.
"Nein. I'm afraid the most difficult part is yet to come." Germany replied, his mind remembering the rage he felt or was still feeling, when he found out about the extent of the damage the HCS had inflicted on the nations of the Earth.
He felt sorry for the HCS. Because they'd released something so powerful, not even he could stop it.
New Zealand blinked around his room. He blinked. He felt like he was missing out on something big. His pet sheep, that was asleep next to him, woke up too and baa'd at him.
He smiled and petted it.
He then fell asleep again, soon forgetting that he felt like he was missing out on something.
A few Letters from the dead nations
Dear anyone who reads this,
I guess I've been sentenced to death. This is my last letter before I die. I think this can be considered the most shocking letter. From what I look like, many would scream I'm too young. I was "born" in 2004, so the last time I checked, I was officially 8 years old, though I look older than that. I guess I am too young to die. I spent most of my life in a hell hole, a whole century in fact... If I counted correctly. Thing is, I don't think I really understand death. What is it? Though I have a basic concept of it, I don't think anyone truly knows what death is like, until you meet someone so precious to you, you couldn't imagine living without them and then one day... They're gone and you have to live without them. I admit, maybe I haven't lived long enough to know what death is (come on, only eight years!), so... If I think positively it's just another adventure. Don't mourn me brothers. No point in crying over spoilt milk. Death comes sooner or later anyway, we'll see each other again, perhaps.
Love, Wy
Everyone, don't cry for me. Because I can't bear to see your tears. I'm sure I'll be able to watch you from where ever I'm going. So promise me to always smile. Don't cry for me. Because it'd sadden me to see you cry.
Love, Prisoner 4 (The Republic of China; ROC)***
Mes chers, it is my time to die, even if it is not yet my time. C'est la vie. Je vos aime.
Prisoner 100, F.B.
Schwester, don't cry for me. You know tears are pointless. I hope you will not hate me for not escaping with you. I'm glad you managed to leave. Enjoy your life and don't let go of friendships easily. Ich liebe dich sehr. And remember; tears are pointless. Don't cry.
Love from V.Z. Prisoner 52
Keep off the alochol, control yourselves, will you stop with the bloody swearing already (I'm about to die, I'm allowed to contradict myself!) and try and repair our broken relationships for me. I tried when I was around, but you guys had to insist on being difficult! Though I won't admit it in your faces, I love you all. I'm afraid I no longer remember your names though. Sorry brothers. Know that I love you though. Tell my friends that I will miss them dearly.
All my love, Wales
There is a lot I regret in my life. To list them all would take forever and more paper than I have. Besides, I no longer remember everything, everything I should know is becoming a faded memory, blurred and unclear. The only thing that I know I deffinitely want now, is a stiff drink and maybe a cigarette. There are many other things I want too, but I no longer remember what.
Scotland
I don't understand what is going on. I don't know what's going on. I don't know where I am. I don't know who I am. I don't know what I am. I'm lost. I'm scared. I'm lonely. Help. Anyone?
Prisoner 10
*Quick reminder that this is set in the fictional 22nd century. Though it looks and sounds a lot like the 21st, this is the 22nd. In this setting, there's a high tension between Ireland and the UK and as England gradually becomes England again, both England and Ireland start to feel the high tensions between their countries. Though it doesn't do much plotwise, it's there.
** I can imagine that Germany, as a boy (and not following the HRE theory, that Germany is the HRE), took life far too seriously and certainly didn't act like a boy should. Prussia helped little Germany find his "inner-child" or something. In other words, he annoyed the heck out of little Germany by not acting his age. XD Just my head-canon
*** Doesn't remember she's also called Taiwan...
**** That's like 1/4 of the nations being dead (there are roughly 200 countries on the planet, not including the micronations...)
*Er... eh... Um... o_o I'm not very open about my feelings and emotions towards people I don't really trust... I guess this shows here. Sorry. ^^;
Sorry if Prussia and the whole bunch of other nations come off as OOC.
Sorry if you find this incredibly disappointing.
Sorry if I made you incredibly depressed... May I suggest reading fluffy cuteness?
Reviews mean a lot to me. Please R&R. :)