China was angry. Very, very angry. And he was sure that the other nations at AB2 were too.

The HCS base was deserted. In fact, every single base was. No one was there. All was gone. He growled, causing several Humans around him to move away in fear.

Oh, he was very, very angry. Not only did his government cooperate with the HCS (they had probably bought some weaponry from them, if the rumours were true), but the HCS had gone.

Where could he take his aggressions out now?

He sighed and decided that anger wouldn't help him any more. He turned to one of the human leaders, looking at him with a neutral expression, pretending to be a normal human soldier.

Why was China pretending to be a normal human soldier? Well, you see, not all governments agreed to help them with the HCS, their excuse being that the HCS had never seemed to affect them in any bad way and therefore wasn't their problem.

However, many still wanted to help take over the bases, with or without the government's help, so the nations, that were chosen to go to the HCS bases, were smuggled into the armed forces as average humans.

Japan concluded that they'd probably find most, if not all, prisoners in AB2, simply because it was the second largest HCS base they knew about. He couldn't say for sure, so to be on the safe side, there was a least one nation checking out an HCS base elsewhere.

Most of them were checking out the AB2 base however.

China sighed, fiddling with his sleeves nervously, a silly habit he'd had since his early childhood. He hoped he'd find them. The prisoners. He hoped they were OK.

Pain. It was all that kept being repeated over and over again in her mind. What kind of pain? She wasn't entirely sure. Mental pain? Physical pain? Spiritual pain? Soul pain? Poetic pain? She didn't know. Was the last even real pain? She still didn't know.

Had it been a day, a few days, a week, weeks or merely a few minutes since her tormentors last burdened her?

She didn't know that either.

Prisoner 11. That's her. She'd been in this torture chamber since she could remember. Well, that's a lie. While her memory was blazy, she was pretty sure that the room she was in now, was different to the one she used to be in.

Or was she fooling herself?

If only she knew how long it had been since she'd last seen a tormentor. What if it'd been years? She didn't know. She knew that if it had been years, then they must have forgotten her.

Were they finally trying to kill her? By starvation? No, otherwise they would have killed her long ago.

Didn't they whisper that she wasn't like them? Well, of course she wasn't, she was a prisoner and they were her captors. Yes, that's it. They're her captors. How can it be any other way?

No.

Pain. How did her thoughts always return to pain?

She flinched.

Wait, why did she flinch? Was there a cause for her flinching? Why did her eyes hurt? She crawled backwards, her eyes widening and lip quivering.

Had they returned? Had they returned to hurt her? No, they hadn't right? She would have preferred being forgotten forever than being found.

No wait, she knew why she'd flinched. Light. She was surrounded by it. Was she hearing voices? No, she wasn't. Was she?

The light that surrounded her; was it good light? No, it was bad light. It was cold and empty. It looked comforting at first, but then it revealed it's true form.

Did she see shadows in the light? Yes, but they were only shadows. Or were they her tormentors? Maybe they were, maybe they weren't, she wasn't sure.

But they must be. Unless she was dreaming of happier times again, which she couldn't be, since the light was hurting her, she assumed it had to be her tormentors.

She wimpered, as she flinched away from the light and the blurred shadows and curled up into a tight ball.

She opened her mouth to beg them to go, to leave her be, but as far as she knew, they'd only ever come to hurt her.

So why change now?

Pain. Ah, she knew which pain she felt. Fear of pain. Oh no, no, no, they were moving towards her. The shadows were moving towards her!

She heard whispering. Just whispers. All around her. Come home, stay away, make a wish, die. Mixed whispering, good and bad. Which ones were really being whispered, which ones were in her mind?

She didn't know.

She opened her mouth to ask them to go away forever, but nothing came out. She curled up tighter in fear. Oh no, oh no, a shadow had reached out for her.

Leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alone... She repeated over and over inside her head. Oh no, oh no, the shadow had touched her.

Immediately she reacted aggressively. Red. Why was she surrounded by red? Why had her hands turned red. Red. It's written on the walls.

It's everywhere. Written. Laughing at her. That she hadn't been stronger. That she hadn't been braver.

Braver than what?

Go away, go away, go away... Her mind screamed, as she curled up into a corner, away from the light. Go away, go away, go away!

A shadow came close again. She wimpered; it was getting too close. She screamed. She didn't know why, but she screamed, as loudly as possible, while trying to defend herself, from being hurt.

Go away, go away, go away!

The shadows went away. The light vanished. She was alone.

She blinked. She blinked again. They left? They'd never done that before. Maybe they wouldn't hurt her any more? Yes, that would be nice.

But no, they wouldn't stop hurting her. They love hurting her. Yes, but they must have decided to stop hurting her; they left without doing anything. She heard laughter fill her little room.

Laughter, loud and clear laughter. Happy? Sad? Angry? Maybe insane...

From where did it come from? She didn't know. She fell onto the floor and started rolling around, holding her stomache. Why was her breathing so difficult suddenly?

Oh... She was the one laughing. Why was she laughing? Oh, of course. They'd left her alone. Wonderful. This was wonderful. No more pain.

Oh... Now she heard screaming and crying. Why? Oh. Now she knew. She was afraid. She was scared. At least, she thought she was.

Her hands hurt. Her body hurt. Oh. She was attacking her room, throwing herself against walls and punching them with her fists, even though she was crying.

Let me out, let me out, let me out...

She fell to the floor, cuddling herself and burrying her face in her knees, sobbing as loudly as she could.

Let me out, let me out, let me out...

She woke up. She looked around. Pain. That was all she felt. She wasn't sure which pain she felt. She looked up. Her eyes were clear. Everything was focused; yet she heard and felt nothing. It was like everything was unreal and just a blur. How much time had gone since she last saw her tormentors?

A day, a few days, a week, weeks or merely a few minutes? She didn't know. She looked up, seeing the cold light enter her room again. She didn't flinch. She looked at it emotionlessly, as if nothing was in her.

A gasp.

Was that herself?

No. It was a shadow. Or maybe a few. They raced to her, they talked to her, but she heard nothing. She just stared at them emotionlessly. A shadow grabbed her wrist. She resisted and freed it. Leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alone...

Her captors were behaving strangely. Was this another trick? The shadow, which grabbed her wrist, touched her gently on the arm, rubbing it gently, as if to mockingly comfort her.

She felt fear; she scooted away. The shadow was talking. She heard whispers. Mixed whispers, all mixed... But... One whisper was louder and clearer than the others...

A voice she hadn't heard in a long time. Though she had seen clearly, she still felt like a curtain had just been opened before her very eyes.

The shadow sat down next to her, and continued talking, wrapping an arm around her and gently rocking her back and forth. This time she didn't resist. She didn't struggle.

She looked up at the shadow. She recognised him. She didn't know who he was, but she recognised him. A word floated in her head, but she only caught fragments of the word.

"Angel?" The shadow, which seemed to stop being so dark and started becoming colourful and warm, looked at her in amazement.

The shadow then laughed and shook his head lightly. He started talking again, as if she could understand him. But she couldn't. She simply looked dumbfoundedly at her knees. She had knees? How hadn't she noticed?

She felt confused. The shadow was talking again... No, this shadow wasn't a shadow. Not this one. What could she call it instead then? She'll have to call it Angel.

Angel was talking again, to what must be another Angel. She cuddled up to Angel. Angel picked her up and left the room.

She felt fear.

She had only ever left the room in order to have something more painful happen to her. She started shaking. Maybe she should kick. Oh. She had.

She was on the floor. She was running. She stopped.

Why was she running from Angel? Angel wasn't going to hurt her. She looked back. Where was Angel? She only saw Shadows.

She was scared. She screamed. She sat on the floor and cuddled up.

Someone was holding her. Who was holding her? She looked up. She saw a shadow. She screamed. The shadow screamed.

She looked at the shadow confused. A shadow had never done that before. She smiled. This shadow wasn't scary. This shadow seemed sweet. It must be an Angel too. She was confused. She doesn't understand the shadows.

Angel has turned up again. Angel smiled at her worriedly and sits down. He started talking to her again, but she doesn't hear anything.

She was scared. She wanted to hide. She looked up at Angel. Suddenly, something clicked inside her mind; that she could trust him, at least, she could for a little bit.

She reached out to him, holding her arms out, as if to ask him to hold her. The other Angel smiled. She trusted the other Angel too. He was nice.

Angel picked her up. He was talking to her again; this time she was able to hear bits of what he was saying.

Go to sleep. It's OK, you're safe now, just go to sleep. Shh... It'll all be over soon... You'll see everyone again!... Shh...

She trusted him for now. She rested her head on his chest, as he carried her off, while talking to other Angels. She yawned and closed her eyes. Was she safe now? Was she safe? She didn't know. Angel was here. Other Angels were here.

...But are they shadows in disguise?

She felt new fear, but Angel started speaking to her softly again, holding her a bit closer to him to comfort her. She looked up at him.

His eyes were pretty. He was nice. She nodded and drifted to sleep, deciding not to think about it. About anything. After all, there was no need to fear.

No need to fear, no need to fear, no need to fear... Sh...

"How are they?" England asked, seeing Germany about to enter the large chamber, containing the once-prisoners of the HCS. Germany looked at him, then sighed deeply.

"Physically, they are completely healed. A few have some scars, but in general they're OK. However... Mentally... I don't know. From what you said about Seychelles, and what I've heard from the others, I really don't know..."

England sighed too and nodded. "Has anyone woken up yet?"

"Nein... Leider. Shouldn't you be resting, like the others though? You did just travel down to the South Pole and back again."

"I tried, but can't. Well, I can't get back to sleep anyway... I'm sharing my room with loud snorers, you know? There's a reason why I prefer being by myself!" England half-joked, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"England, you should try to at least get some sleep. When the new day starts, who knows what kind of hell will be let loose on us. Currently, everything is one big, huge mess. Tonight's the calm before the storm."

"I-I know, but it still doesn't change the fact I can't sleep. Besides, since I currently lack an official title, none of the problems of tomorrow concerns me." England replied, shrugging.

Germany frowned.

"... Shouldn't you have changed shifts by now?" England asked, after backtracking his words, but deciding he was too tired to correct them.

Germany's only reaction to this was a slurp from his coffee. After a pause, Germany finally decided to say something as well.

"Ja." He admitted.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"Ja."

"... Are you going to?"

"Nein."

"... OK." England replied, shuffling passed Germany and entering the large chamber. He noticed that he wasn't the only one awake in the room... The ex-prisoners were cuddled up on large, soft beds, that Germany had bought while the others were out rescueing them. They were sleeping peacefully, some even having a small smile on their faces.

England looked around. There were so many nations in this room that he wanted to sit next to and quietly comfort, that he didn't know where to start. Sighing he decided to go to someone he was actually related to.

He went over to Northern Ireland, who was sleeping peacefully, cuddling the stuffed Unicorn that England had given him earlier, during the day.

One thing, that all the rescued nations had in common, was that they all fell asleep before they left the base and didn't stir since.

England smiled at him. Pretty much all his brothers were dead. He only had the Irish brothers now. But somehow, knowing this didn't depress him.

Maybe it was because he had somehow accepted Scotland and Wales' deaths. Who knows.

He picked up Northern Ireland's hand and held it, putting the blankets over their hands, so that no one could see England's sensitivity towards his younger brother. No need for the world to know after all.

He looked around the room. South Korea was sitting at North Korea's bed, keeping some distance from his brother, obviously feeling the political tensions between their two countries. He was reading to him in Korean, occasionally reaching out to hold North Korea's hand for a few short moments, before letting go again.

Canueda... Er, sorry, Canada, was sitting between Cuba and Ukraine, leaning on Cuba's side of the bed, sleeping. On his lap was an open book.

Japan was with Greece, thinking deeply into space, while petting a cat sleeping next to the Greek man. The last other nation around, was Latvia, who was hovering between being with the last of the Nordics and the only other Baltic left, Estonia.

You see... Lithuania... was dead.

England frowned, his hand clenching. Too many deaths. Too many people who didn't deserve it... He leaned onto Northern Ireland's bed, closing his eyes tiredly.

Honestly, that stupid HCS. Oh, if only they'd still been there when we got there! I would have shown them what the wrath of a former pirate is like! Oh yes, I'd already planned a billion and one deaths for them, and they had to be gone, those bloody wankers... Ugh, I must be tired, not thinking straight... I should go to bed again. Being with North isn't helping me.

He was about to let go of Northern Ireland's hand, when the younger Brother's hand clenched, forcing England to continue holding it. Surprised, England looked up, to find that the younger brother was still sleeping.

He smiled, then half-cuddled up to his younger brother.

Strange... Even though so many tragic things have happened recently, it seems I've been smiling a lot more anyway...

"Where am I? Who are they? Who are you? Are you going to hurt me? Please don't hurt me, they hurt me so much, please don't, please, please, PLEASE, PLEASE!"

"Calm down, calm down! I'm not going to hurt you. I swear... Look... Look around you. Do you recognise these people?"

"Ou-Oui... B-but... Tormentors... Captors..."

"Sh... We've taken you away from that place. You're safe here."

"... Wh-who are you?"

"I'm Canada."

"And who are they?"

"They're your friends... Look, calm down, OK? You're safe now."

"O-OK..."

"Do you remember who you are?"

"I'm prisoner 101."

"Yes, but do you know who you are?... Your name?"

"I-I don't have any other name."

"OK, do you know who that is?"

"That's Prisoner 11."

"... OK, then you can recognise all prisoners?"

"Oui."

"... But you don't recognise me?"

"... You look familiar, but I don't know."

"Uh... Do you remember Prisoner 2?"

"There was a Prisoner 2?"

"... seriously?..." Ugh, it seems it doesn't matter what my name is, everyone'll forget me anyway.

"Oh yes, yes there was! Wait a second... You're..."

"I'm Prisoner 2, yes. But I'm not. My name's Canada. Do you remember me? As Canada, and not as Prisoner 2?"

"No-non..."

"It's OK if you don't yet, you just need to trust me for now, OK?"

"Oui. I... I... Oh my..."

The woman leapt forward suddenly and wrapped her arms around Canada. He jolted back in surprise, but then awkwardly patted her on the back. She started crying uncontrollably into his shirt, crying and crying. He sat down on her bed and wrapped his arms around her properly, letting her bury her face into his shoulder as she cried and cried.

"Shh... It's OK, you're safe now. I'm here and so are the others..." Canada said comfortingly. "Shh... It's OK Belgique... Tu est à la maison."

"Hm..."

"Hm? Is that all you're gonna say? Hm?"

"No need to be rude America-san. Examining a dead body isn't exactly pleasant. Besides it really doesn't help if it was someone you... knew."

"So?"

Japan sighed, massaging his forehead. Oh, America could be so... Not-reading-the-atmosphere at so many really bad times.

"From what I can tell, these bodies aren't just frozen. From a few blood samples, I found that the HCS has also injected the bodies with several chemicals. One is recognizable as a mixture of several deadly poisons, from which one drop could probably kill hundreds of men and another chemical that I almost overlooked... I couldn't recognise it though. I'll need to have all the information on us that the HCS has gathered. It'll probably help me find out what the mysterious chemical is. I already have an idea on what it could be, but I don't want to make any hasty conclusions." Japan explained wearily.

"... OK. I'll ask Spain. He said that the base in the Amazons had had a lot of information about us in it. He'll probably have the paperwork."

"Hai, thank you America-san." Japan said tiredly. America nodded and left Japan alone in the office room. Japan sighed and let his head rest on the desk. He, along with Germany, had worked through the night and all hell had been set loose that morning.

With a lot of rescued nations, most mentally and emotionally unstable, waking up at the same time, fear and disorientation being their largest emotions, saying things were a little chaotic would be a gross understatement.

There was a knock at the door. Wearily, Japan said "Come in." All Japan wanted to do was sleep, but with so much going on, minus what was happening politically in the world, Japan was already completely exhausted. He'd hate to think what Germany felt like right now.

"Hello Japan aru. I and England thought you might like some tea. I brought you some aru." China said, entering. Japan looked up.

"Er... Thank you China-san."

"No problem." China replied, sitting down, opposite Japan. He wanted to ask Japan what he'd found out about the... dead... nations, but seeing how tired Japan was, he decided to refrain from speaking.

"After this, I want you to go to bed aru." China suddenly ordered, after examining Japan's physical body posture carefully for a few moments.

"Huh? But-"

"No buts, whens, or whats aru. You're going to bed. England just sent Germany up. And if you've been up all night to, which you probably have, then I should send you up right away, but that'd be a waste of tea aru." China half-explained and ordered again.

Japan, for a while, contemplated arguing back, but then realised that China wouldn't let him not sleep. He nodded and drank his tea quietly, secretly thankful that some nations could be so... Forceful at times.

After finishing it, he gave China a quick nod of thank you and goodbye, before heading to his room. There, peaceful sleep welcomed him and he drifted away from the world for a while.

"Se-Sealand! Have you seen England anywhere?" America asked alarmed, shaking Sealand by the shoulders.

"Er... No..." Sealand replied confused.

"Korea! Have you seen him?"

"England? No."

"Ah, this is terrible, this is horrible!" America said in despair.

"Why? What's wrong America?"

"Belgium asked England to get her something to eat! And I can't find him anywhere! This place has got nine kitchens, I've only been able to check three so far..."

"Oh no, this really is terrible! We must stop England from getting Belgium something to eat." Sealand declared. South Korea was a bit confused, not really having been confronted by England's cooking before, but decided it had to be bad if America and Sealand said so.

"He's probably using the kitchen a couple doors away. He's been to that one several times... Have you checked it yet?"

"No."

"Then we must go immediately da-ze!"

"Agreed!" America said, bolting down the corridor, seeking out the mentioned kitchen.

Canada, Spain and the two Italies stepped out of a living room, to see America, South Korea and Sealand bolt down the corridors.

"Oh no... Whatever they're doing, it can't be good." Canada commented, as they watched the awkward three rush down the hall.

"Did you hear something?"

"Ve~ You must be imagining things. I wonder why those three are running down the hall so fast? Better follow them." Italy said. Everyone agreed and chased after the three nations.

Somewhat depressed, Canada ran after Spain and the Italies, who ran after Korea, America and Sealand.

Liechtenstein and Latvia left their bedrooms, to see the group of now six (... Liechtenstein could have sworn she counted seven, but Latvia said she must have imagined things) run down the corridor, like they were being chased by something scary.

Without thinking, Latvia ran after them, making Liechtenstein run after him.

"Hey, wait! What's going on?" She asked, but received no reply.

Finally, America got to the kitchen, but immediately wore the face of defeat. England was already rumaging in the cupboards. It was only a matter of time before England became unstoppable in his need to cook.

"Ah! England! Stop! Stop what you're doing!" America crie out. He then ran up to the Brit and tackled him, both nations crashing to the floor. England gave out a pained cry.

"Ow, ow, ow... What was that for you bloody idiot!" England demanded, pushing America off himself, only to find that he couldn't, because Korea and Sealand were helping America keep him down.

He struggled in frustration.

"Let me go you damn gits!"

"Don't cook Iggy! We just saved Belgium, we don't need her to die from your cooking after all this!" America exclaimed, hugging (more like squishing) England tightly. Liechtenstein, Italy, Romano, Spain, Latvia and Canada finally arrived at the kitchen, surprised to find England sort of half-pinned to the floor.

Only... It didn't look like he'd be down for long.

"... What did you say about my cooking?" England asked slowly, an aura almost as scary as Russia's forming around him.

America, Korea and Sealand slowly got up and backed away, as England sat up and glared at them.

"Er..." Sealand mumbled, somewhat scared now. In the blink of an eye, England was on his feet.

"I. Will. End. You." He declared, his eyes glinting with pure anger.

And then everyone was running again. This time, they were running away from England though, who was nows chasing after everyone, despite Spain, Canada, Liechtenstein, Latvia and the Italies being completely innocent in all this.

None of the innocents thought of stopping to talk with England calmly and rationally, in order to resolve this, but that was mostly because England had found and therefore became weaponed with a random rolling pin and his wand. And everyone knew, there was nothing more dangerous than an Englishman with a random rolling pin and a wand.

All the while, Ireland and Prussia, who had quite happily been talking with each other, looked at the fiasco confused.

... England was just getting some cookies out... So why did America claim him to be cooking...? Didn't he realise that they would have stopped England?... So why...?

Both looked at each other dumbfounded.

"I'm awesome!" Prussia then at seemingly random said, causing Ireland to lose his balance on the chair and fall off. Lying on the floor, Ireland decided not to try and figure out what had just happened.

What's up guys? By the way, this is by far the longest chapter I've ever written ( over 4'500 words!), but I think it makes up for last chapter being so short.

Also, the last part of the chapter was added in to lighten things up a bit. I've realised that my latest chapters have been a bit depressing recently, with absolutely nothing or barely anything to make up for it. So voila! Say "Bonjour" to usual, daily stuff that'll happen between nations on an average day. :)

And sorry for some parts of this chapter being a bit unsmooth. After reading this for the third time, I just got a bit fed-up. I think I'll get a beta reader, I hate rereading and editing DX