"Hey, kumajikchi san, do you think that we may have missed the party?"
"Who are you?" The bear asked.
"Canada, your master." Canada answered softly, glancing around. The whole place was empty and quiet, not even his loud brother, America could be heard. Where are they?
"Kumajamu san, why am I always being ignored?" Canada asked as he sighed.
The bear, who was really called 'kumajiro san', simply kept quiet and stared. He was not think of a good answer for his master's question, but simply forgot who this person in front of him was.
"Who ar-"
"Canada." Canada answered before Kumajiro could finish his question.
A lone leaf flew pass them.
While China was having a heartwarming reunion, the other group had it hard.
First, France was almost killed by Belarus for being 'an eye sore' and Italy was so scared that he started running around aimlessly, giving Germany a very hard time trying to catch up and calming him down. As for our hero, America just looked at them and laughed along with Russia.
Then, Italy decided that the situation was not messy enough and had to activate a trap that England had missed earlier.
"Da, is it just me, or is the celling getting lower?" Russia asked as he used the pipe in his hand to hit the celling.
"Ahahaha! Maybe we are just all growing taller!" America burst out laughing, obviously ignorant of the situation they were in.
"N…Non, Big brother thinks that the celling really is getting lower. It must be a trap!" France's carefree face showed rare signs of panic.
"This is bad, if this goes on, we will all be squashed!" Germany, the only one with a normal mindset, figured.
"S-Squashed?" Italy suddenly had the mental image of one of Spain Nii Chan's tomatoes getting squashed by Romano, except that this time, Germany and he would be the tomato.
"Germany! Germany! Help me! I don't want to be a tomato!" Italy cried, dragging Germany's arm.
"Tomato?" Germany gave Italy the blur look, he never did understand this guy's mindset, but a tomato?
"Ahaha, this is just like a hamburger, except that we are the meat patty." America still had the humor in him at a time like this.
"O… Oui, but that is not the point here. We don't want to be the patty, so let's quickly find a way out of this." France suggested and looked around.
The part of the celling that was sinking was about 10 meters, at the end of the 10 meters, was the completely safe walkway with the tall celling. If they could all make it there in time, they would be safe.
Germany, also able to see the solution, pointed to the safe end and ordered every to stay low and start crawling towards it.
As they got closer to the safe end, the celling was getting lower, almost pressing down on Russia and America, who were relatively tall even when they were crawling.
But since the both of them were the first two to get to the safe end, they were spared from becoming tomatoes and meat patty. Following Russia was Belarus and France. By now, the celling was already so low it was almost impossible to keep moving on their knees, and if this went on, both Germany and Italy would not make it.
"Ve! Germany! Help! I don't want to become tomato sauce!" Italy panicked.
"Then hurry up and move! Bring out your inner soldier and advance without fear! We will make it in time!" Germany encouraged behind him.
"Ve- Ve! Inner soldier?" Italy hesitated, wasting more time.
Germany facepalmed and decided that normal encouragement won't work on Italy. Instead, he adjusted his position, and gave Italy a kick strong enough to send Italy straight to the safe end. Now that the path was clear, he quickened his speed.
Meanwhile, the celling's sinking rate suddenly increased and Germany was forced to stay flat on the ground, advance with great difficulty. But time was not on his side, and just as he thought that it was over for him, the celling suddenly stopped moving.
Looking up, he was America and Russia supporting the celling at the other side, one with his hands and sheer strength and the other with his pipe.
"You can thank me later! This is what the hero, I should do." America smiled brightly, as if supporting the celling was as easy as carrying Englan- cough, I mean, carrying a pile of paper work. Then again, for a person who was able to lift a full gown bison with ease when he was just a kid, the celling was probably just a tad heavier than the bison.
"It won't be fun if you die now, so let's hurry up and find England kun. Then we can continue this." Russia gave Germany his usual grin.
… Continue this? Germany's eye twitched.
"Germany! Hurry and grab my hand! This time is my turn to safe you!" Italy shouted as he stretched to grab hold of Germany.
"Italy… You saving me?" Germany found this hard to believe.
"Um, we are friends remember? Friends help each other." Italy gave Germany one of his reassuring smile and with the help of France and a certain unwilling-but-did-it-because-her-brother-told-her-to Belarus, succeeded in pulling Germany to the safe side.
Right after Germany was completely free, Russia's pipe snapped with a clear sound and the celling closed up completely. It was finally over, and glad to say, all the countries were still alive.
"Ahahaha! That was fun! Let's do it again!" America raised his fist in the air and exclaimed.
Everyone gave him the 'are you mad' look except Russia, who simply agreed that it was exciting, and Italy, who was just too tired from the thrills earlier.
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Back to the story~
"Hong Kong, did you hear that?" England looked up and glanced around, panting at the same time.
Hong Kong simply kept quiet and listened, but he did not hear anything besides their panting.
"Not a thing. Are you sure your brain is not lacking any oxygen?" Hong Kong finally replied.
"Mind you! If it wasn't for me, you would have died, squashed by that rock!" England snared.
"Well who was the one that triggered it in the first place?" Hong Kong simply turned his head to another side and replied in his deadpan voice.
"Why you… But I swear I could have heard America." After raising America, England figured that he would not be able to mistake America's voice with anyone else.
America again?
They were underground and America was probably still enjoying the party! How could anyone be able to hear someone from such a distance? It was just England after all. After so long, he still could not forget America, always thinking about him, always speaking of him.
"Why?"
"Hmm?" England looked down at Hong Kong, who was resting on the floor.
"Why is it always America?" Hong Kong lowered his head.
"I don't -"
"Why is it not me?" He sounded a little mad now.
"Hong Kong? Why this all of a sudden?" England bent down to look at Hong Kong, who avoided eye contact.
"No matter how hard I try, you would still choose him. What did I do wrong? What does he have that I don't? Why do you care about him when all he do is hurt you?" Hong Kong's voice was trembling, along with his body. He could not take it anymore. For once, just this once, he refused to keep quiet.
"Hong Kong, are you alright?" Feeling worried, England gently lifted Hong Kong's face, only to find Hong Kong in tears.
He felt his heart jumped.
"I am fine! Leave me alone and stopping giving me false hope! I don't want to be hurt again!" Hong Kong snapped England's hand away.
For a moment there, England almost did not know what to do and just stood there, speechless. Since when was the last time someone cried for him? More importantly, why did he not notice how Hong Kong was feeling all these time? Was he really that blunt? The Hong Kong in front of him was so much bigger than when they first met, and yet he was crying like a kid, it was all just so… Shocking.
England sighed and sat down beside Hong Kong, who inched away from him. Smiling helplessly, he stretched out his hand and pet Hong Kong on the head.
"You really are just kid." He grinned.
"What? Since when was i-"
"Keep quiet, I am trying to create a moment here." England cut into Hong Kong's words.
"I really don't know you felt like this. But it hurts to see you cry. So stop, ok? I am sorry for hurting you." England gave Hong Kong a warm smile and hugged him, leaving him stunned and his eyes opened wide as a ping pong ball.
"You did nothing wrong. In fact, you are almost perfect. Comparing you and America would make him look like a fool, and I loved you very much. But you should understand that China love you too, even though that guy never told you this, but you should have seem how proud he was whenever he talked about you. So it was not my choice, trust me, I was really temped into making you stay. But China needed you more than him." England looked into Hong Kong's eyes.
"Never doubt yourself. After all, I raised you, and that is already a great advantage. As for America, I took care of him since he was young, and I love him just like how China loves you. It is a different kind of love." He winked and kissed Hong Kong on the forehead, causing Hong Kong to blush big time.
England… Had always loved him…?
Realizing that his face was red hot, Hong Kong quickly turned his head around to hide it. But it felt great, it felt as if a huge weight was lifted off him and all his worries were suddenly gone.
"Now then," England stood up and pulled Hong Kong up, "let's get out of here."