China woke up with a weight on his torso and almost panicked before realising it was Korea. The boy's arms were wrapped firmly around China's waist, his face nuzzled into his chest, and he'd drooled copiously in his sleep. China poked him in the side, causing him to wake up with a yell.

"What- oh. Sheesh, don't scare me like that!"

"You scared me." China looked at the wetness on his bare chest. "Ewww. Seriously, were you not breastfed as a child?"

"Well, since I was mostly raised by you and I don't know if nations really count as normal mammals, wouldn't it be more worrying if I was?"

"Nice to see you didn't lose your sense of humour."

"Heh, takes more than that to keep me down," said Korea, forcing a laugh. Wild giggles bubbled up in its wake, soon turning into uncontrolled sobs. China hugged him and patted his back, waiting for it to pass. Korea's weeping finally died down, and he giggled again. "It's sort of funny. We went to Shanghai because we thought we'd be lost in the crowd. Got caught stealing food, and it wasn't even for us. I was trying to sneak it to some street kids. I figured if we were living off your land I should do your people a favour. I'd always got away with it before. We got caught. They were really nice the first few days, actually, fed us and let us take a bath, all we had to do was fill out some stupid tests. Then they must have run out of things they could do with us feeling normal. Next thing I knew we were strapped on a table and ... and ..."

China let Korea talk, anger bubbling up inside him as he heard each new detail being forced out between sobs. Usually a nation's "deaths" were shrugged off as a human would a splinter, but usually they came one at a time. Korea had died nearly every day for months, and the methods had been horrifying. He talked about the endless surgeries, the shooting and drowning and burning and choking and crushing, the times they'd tried to infect him with one lethal disease or another.

"We didn't tell them anything about us, we didn't let them know what we are, I swear!" he said eventually. China winced; the boy had been through all this, and he was afraid he'd be in trouble for it? "Well. Sometimes the stuff they injected us with sent us kind of trippy. I know I babbled something about us, but they didn't believe me. Didn't stop 'em injecting us, though. Heck, even when they made me ... y'know ... they took another sample with a needle. Maybe they just liked to stab me. I'm glad the, uh, stuff wouldn't be any use. I heard that if it was they were gonna use a girl subject and ... get more of me. Ugh. And later one of them tried to do something to Balhae, but she didn't let him." He squinted upwards, scowling, as if trying to glare at someone inside his head. "If I'd known I'd have done it for you, sis. I really wanted those painkillers ... Yeah, I know, but I'd rather feel like a whore than a jigsaw puzzle! Anything's better than the fucking lab!"

China shuffled away slightly. "Okay, this thing with Balhae is rapidly getting scary. Are you sure you're as well as you could be expected to be?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure we'll both be okay eventually."

China gave up.

Korea's stomach gurgled, reminding China that the poor kid had eaten literally almost nothing for months. Not to mention he was still wearing the bloody labcoat. China decided both problems needed to be rectified immediately, and left Korea to try to find some clothes that fit while he, now in a clean bathrobe, started making soup.

The phone rang, and China picked it up, fully prepared to scream at whoever it was to leave him alone. Before he could, the caller spoke; the very last voice he wanted to hear.

"China? It's Japan, I've found a lead on K-"

"I'm going to ask you one thing. Did you know?"

"... Did I know what?"

"Korea. Did you know what happened to him?"

"Well, I've heard rumours he was last seen in Pingfang. Apparently someone said something about 'sending' him there, but that might be a misunderstanding, I specifically said he was to be brought home. Did you hear about that?"

"Did you know what they were doing there?"

"... A lot of things. It's a big place. Oh, do you mean the lab? Huh, can't get anything past you, can I? But I don't see what an animal-testing lab has to do with looking for Korea."

China was silent.

"If it's that big a problem why didn't you just tell your people about it? I wouldn't be angry, it's just part of the job."

He sounded truthful. Somehow that only made China angrier.

"Japan, do me a favour. Go look up someone called Doctor Ishii. He'll tell you what you need to know. Don't come after us. And I want you to know, if I ever find out you were lying to me just now, I will kill you. I won't ask if you understand me, because I know you do. I mean this. I will bring your final death, I will dye the straits between us with your blood, and I will ensure nothing ever grows or breathes upon your land again."

He hung up. The phone started ringing again almost immediately, and he unplugged it. He growled in the back of his throat and left marks in the table with his newly-regrown fingernails, and the table was in pieces and bloody knucklemarks on the wall before he realised he was now shouting. The echoes of his cursing pounded through his head.

He stopped, breathing heavily, when he realised the front door was open. Shit, he couldn't have scared Korea away!

What was that sound? Was that Korea ... laughing?

China looked outside to see his brother dancing and leaping around the patch of grass outside the house, tears of joy streaming down his face, laughing like a child.

"What the-?"

"I'm OUTSIDE! Finally, we're outside again!" Korea whooped. "I can see sky! Isn't it great?"

"Heh, yes, it's great. We're on a mountain, you're going to either freeze or get sunburn, you know that?" China said, allowing himself a smile.

"Who cares? I can isee/i the sun! We haven't so much as seen a window since midsummer!" Korea sprang into a cartwheel, jumped to his feet and twirled around the little garden. "We can move again! We're free, we're finally free!"