Korea spent a tense and awkward day, redoing his chores over and over in order to keep himself occupied. When he could no longer find anything to do, he tried to concentrate on his Japanese handwriting practice, but horrifying pictures of China naked and bleeding kept intruding into his thoughts. He gave up on writing practice when he realised he was writing China's name over and over, and ended up nervously pacing from room to room, waiting for Japan to get home from work. Maybe he was just overreacting, maybe Japan could tell him what had really happened.

He greeted his brother as soon as he walked in the door, dancing nervously from foot to foot, chains jingling as he did. "Japan! Japan!"

"What?" Japan asked irritably, hanging up his coat, not in the mood for Korea's antics. At least he'd found him still in the house.

"It's China, I think something really bad-"

"In Japanese, Korea! How many times?"

Korea swore under his breath (in Korean, as a tiny defiance), and resumed explaining in Japan's own language. "I said I think something really bad happened to China! I talked to him and he-"

"You know you're not allowed to make personal phone calls."

"He called us- I mean me!"

Japan rolled his eyes. "Honestly, does he have no concept of wartime etiquette? I'll have to ask my boss to talk to his ..."

"That's not the point!"

"Did you ever notice your Japanese grammar gets better when you're trying to persuade me it's important? I knew you were just trying to annoy me."

"This is important! I think he was hurt really bad, worse than usual! I think he was r-"

"Shut up!" Japan shouted, flinching away, before Korea had even finished the word. Korea stopped talking, and blinked in surprise. Japan took a deep breath. "China is fine. Nothing unusual has happened to him. Now go put the kettle on, okay?"

"No!" Korea insisted. "He's not fine! He wouldn't be calling us if he was fine!"

"Stop arguing with me, boy!" snapped Japan, hackles rising. Korea noticed he seemed less angry than frightened, but of what he couldn't say.

"... Are you okay? You sound really upset, is it about this?"

Japan shoved Korea away and clawed at his own head. "No! No, no, I can't, they don't want me to, I don't want to remember-"

"Japan, what's going on? What happened? ... What did you do?"

CRACK!

Korea sprawled on the floor, hand clasped to the rising bruise across his cheek. Japan looked in horror at the cane he'd snatched from behind the door, as if he didn't remember picking it up. Tears sprang to Korea's eyes, more from surprise than fear or pain. The cane was one thing - corporal punishment was widely practiced, and honestly he didn't mind it much; it hurt but it was better than waiting for the tension to diffuse. But, except on the battlefield, Japan had never struck him in the face.

"Go to your room," Japan said flatly.

"But I-"

"I said, go to your room." Japan stared his brother in the eye. He didn't look angry. He looked terrified.

Korea fled.

His "room" wasn't much of one, just about big enough for a patched futon with a thin but serviceable blanket. It hadn't bothered him before, but now it felt like a cage. He lay down, and closed his eyes.

"Shit, shit, shit. What did he do? What is he doing?" More tears rose to his eyes, and he sobbed as his stomach cramped again. More people dead, and horribly so. Japan could lie to him all he wanted, he wasn't stupid enough not to recognise the feeling. He'd just been trying to ignore it, not wanting his brother to be responsible for it.

He stared blankly at the ceiling. "We have got to get out of here."

No!

Korea blinked. "What?"

We've tried to escape and it didn't work! And if he did ... that thing ... what'll he do to us if we piss him off too much? He's already shackled us. No, we need to stay here and keep an eye on him!

Korea sat up, wiping his streaming eyes and wincing as he touched the bruise. "So what, be good little slaves and let him torture our people more?"

If we can find a way to stop him, or escape, we will. But he's going to keep closer watch on us now, and probably be worse if we do cause trouble. So yes, we should keep quiet and watch for a chance.

"Okay. That makes sense."

And if it comes down to it, we know where he keeps the knives and matches, so at least we can slow him down a bit.

"Isn't that a bit extreme?"

Better than what he'll do to us, if he really did that to China.

"Okay. Okay, I'll keep my eyes open and see if there's anything we can do. Love you, North."

Korea's curl twisted around like a snake, his eyes glinted softly golden, and his mouth curved into a sad smile. I love you too, brother.