I don't own Hetalia! end/AN/
7:35 AM Norway
They marched through endless evergreen forests. Sealand was being carried by Sweden now, and he kept glancing back at the only tiny one left: Moldova. Luxembourg was gone, Ladonia's battery had run out, and Kugelmugel... He shuddered.
Sweden's big hand tried to rub some warmth into him, assuming he was suffering from the cold.
Moldova's teeth were chattering; his feet may have been wrapped in Romania's sleeves, but his face was alarmingly pale. Slowly, Romania was falling behind because he kept stopping to try to rub warmth back into his little brother.
"Sweden?" Sealand asked quietly. Sweden's head turned towards him, a sign he was listening. "Maybe... maybe you could carry Moldova? You could keep him really warm in your jumpsuit, right?"
"What 'bout you?" Sweden said, though it sounded less like a question and more like, 'I can't lose another one.'
"I'm fine, I'm not really cold," Sealand said, adding, "I could even do jumping jacks or run, if you want."
"Don't want it," Sweden replied resolutely, not letting Sealand down.
Sealand wriggled a little, but it did no good; Sweden's hands were clamped onto his legs, keeping him on his back; it was as if Sealand had suggested swimming in this weather.
"But what about Moldova?" Sealand insisted, "He's colder than me. He looks so cold. And I'm really not cold, and you're probably warmer than Romania, cause he's skinnier and not used to it."
"No," Sweden said, though Sealand could pick up some pain in that one word.
Sealand could still see that dead-inside look on Austria's face; Hungary, his one time wife, and Turkey, his many times enemy, held each of his hands, keeping him moving.
"Sweden," Finland said softly, "We're only five kilometers away from the town; it'll be okay, I promise."
Sealand felt relief, mostly for Moldova's sake. The little guy would make it after all.
Sweden nodded, not saying a word, and Finland put his hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sure Ladonia's all right," he said, Ladonia's laptop tucked under his arm. "He's just on the internet again, knowing how he works." He didn't mention Kugelmugel.
"Mm," Sweden agreed. He didn't shrug off Finland, but Sealand could tell he was still upset. He lumbered on, holding Sealand's legs tightly.
That was when there was a shout from the head of the group. "Germany! Poland! Where are the emergency workers?" It was Slovenia who said that, a brunet that Sealand was only vaguely familiar with.
As Sweden got closer, Sealand could see the looks on Poland's and Germany's faces; it did not speak of finding civilization at all. Before Germany could cut in, the significantly calmer look on his face promising carefully chosen words, Poland shouted,
"We're trapped! There's a huge wall thing that goes up into the sky, the aliens put it there, WE'RE TRAPPED!"
There were gasps, cries of alarm; Scotland and Netherlands, who had been taking a turn carrying Norway, exchanged glances. Scotland spoke. "There's no way this one will survive being here more than a few days; he needs a doctor!"
"No, no no no!" Romania said, having caught up enough to hear. "That can't be true!" Panic was on his face; Moldova looked a lot sleepier than his brother. His face was very white, and he seemed a little slumped against his brother's chest.
"Everyone stop, right now!" Germany barked, trying to take control. "There's no reason to think we can't still make it out somehow. Perhaps in the other direction-"
"Mountains," Norway said, a sort of moaning tone to his voice.
"The South-" Germany started, but Norway said, "So many kilometers... the town is not near anywhere else."
"What about the North?" England said, and Norway shut his eyes.
"Same problem."
There was silence throughout the group, as if there was a death knell going throughout the group. They stared at each other, and Romania said, desperately, "There has to be something we can do! We should go South, at least if we go South, it will get warmer, right?"
"It was at a South-south-east angle that we found the wall; South isn't an option," Poland pointed out grimly. He seemed to have mapped everything out in his head based on what he'd seen. He said, apparently much calmer now that he'd incited everyone else to nearly riot, "We're like, going to have to go North, cause it'll be worse going into the mountains."
"But... what about Norway?" Finland said, voice soft but easy to hear.
"What about Moldova?" Romania demanded.
"Wh't 'bout Sealand?" Sweden said more quietly.
"We'll just have to hope they make it, and that there is a way out," Germany said grimly.
France spoke up then. "What if it is as I suggested?What if they intend us to kill each other?"
"No one's going to kill anyone else!" Lithuania snapped, surprisingly angry. He glared at France, saying, "That sort of talk is dangerous, stop!"
"I'm not saying we should," France said calmly, "But what if it is what they want? What if they intend to keep us here until enough of us die?"
There was silence. No one wanted to contemplate such a horrible idea.
"No one believes that, frog," England said shakily.
"Suit yourself," France said. "But if they that's what they want, we're wasting time to come up with a plan of some sort."
"Shut up!" It was Romano, and he swore angrily. "That's not fucking true, so stop it!" Spain put a hand on Romano's shoulder, but the Italian was clearly furious.
Everyone seemed to be of the same mind, and they all decided not to even consider the idea. They all voted to move North and look for a break in the wall.
Sealand could see fear in many nations' faces. He wondered what was going to happen to them.
8:01 AM
The nations stared in dumb disbelief. China pressed against the see-through, rainbow-hued wall; it didn't give. China was breathing heavier, Hong Kong could tell. He seemed to be panicking a little.
"This can't be," China said, and he slammed a fist into it; it didn't bend in the slightest.
It occurred to Hong Kong this must have been what Mongolia saw. Even without his glasses, he seemed to have sharp eyes. Currently, his head was lolling against Russia's shoulder, and he didn't look like he was much aware of anything else.
Russia had stopped smiling. He kicked the wall, and shook his foot, clearly feeling it was very solid.
Israel cursed. "The aliens have trapped us. Figures; they obviously want us dead."
"Maybe it's a zoo!" South Korea said, and he flinched when Israel turned to glare at him.
"We're here without food or shelter; if they're so advanced they'd try to make a zoo out of us, don't you think they'd try to help us survive? I bet it's a hunting range..."
Alarm spread throughout the group.
"No, they can't do that!" Taiwan squeaked in fear.
"We need to stay calm; everyone, deep breaths," India said, trying to spread his relative calm to the group; it wasn't working too well.
Poor Afghanistan had started hyperventilating, near tears at this. She wasn't the only one, but she was the most apparent to Hong Kong.
"Everyone, stop! Panicking isn't going to help!" China said, even though there was panicked energy in his own eyes. "We are Asia; our cultures have stood for hundreds, for even thousands of years, and we will not be brought down by this!"
"This is America's fault! He brought down the aliens on our heads!"
Hong Kong couldn't see who said it. He strained to try to see, but he didn't know every nation in Asia all that well.
"It's not America's fault!" Israel snapped, "A lot of nations have ventured into space, Russia and China included!"
"Who all did it?" came the demand.
It was as if South Korea couldn't read the situation. "Me, Japan, Israel, and India too! Oh, and Mongolia!"
"Korea!" China snapped, a sharp tone that made South Korea flinch.
"Don't call him Korea!" North Korea shouted, clearly incensed.
But the fear had captured the crowd. Iraq shouted, "If we kill the ones who made the aliens angry, they will let us go!"
Afghanistan and Iran exchanged looks, fear evident on their faces. Malaysia had gone completely pale. Vietnam and Syria both schooled their faces instantly.
Something told Hong Kong that there were more nations that had been to space than South Korea had named; his blood felt it had gone through a freezer.
"That's ridiculous!" China shouted, "The aliens aren't mad at us because we've been in space! Listen to me-"
"Kill him!" Came the shout from someone, somewhere; again, Hong Kong was fairly short.
To his shock, Iran and Afghanistan chimed in. "Kill the ones who have angered the aliens!"
Russia smiled, saying to China, "We may want to run."
"You can't do this!" China shouted at them, saying, "India, Russia, me, we're the biggest countries, you can't do this!"
But they surged towards China. Russia took off, Mongolia barely holding onto him, and North Korea instantly took off after him. They were some of his few allies, after all.
China screamed, and Hong Kong felt like he might faint. Macau grabbed his arm, shouting, "Run! Run!"
The pair of them took off, unsure if they were targets or not, purely by being a part of China. Macau could run faster, with his longer legs, and he nearly dragged Hong Kong along; as Hong Kong looked back, he could see South Korea break away in one direction, running for his life; India took off in the other direction.
Japan and China could not be seen.
He felt like he was in a dream- no, it had to be a nightmare.
It had to be.
He could feel the tears slipping down his face as he gasped for breath. One thing was for sure: they were in danger.
And there was no China to protect them.
8:21 AM Canada
Puerto Rico knew he shouldn't be afraid; Cuba, Haiti, and Dominican Republic were like his brothers. They had all been together long before the Spaniards, the French, and Americans came. Jamaica had been with them too; they had been the Taino peoples, and they had lived a relatively good life, if Puerto Rico wasn't letting the past be seen with rose-colored glasses.
But he was afraid. He was an American territory, and he wondered if he would be the next to be killed, solely because of that. He thought Cuba, Haiti, and Dominican would protest, would come to his aide, but fucking hell, he just didn't know.
Molossia was gone. There were no others that belonged to America here.
And so his skin crawled with icy sweat, as he followed along as they scoured the forest. He personally thought that America would get so much farther, that the fear would give him wings. He thought there was nothing that could get America to turn around or be caught.
At least, he hoped it was the case.
He had only kept contact, really, with Dominican Republic. He feared that Cuba and Haiti did not care about him.
It was all he had been allowed to do.
The sticks snapped under their feet, easily warning anything of their presence. Puerto Rico shivered, sun-kissed skin a poor match for this climate. He wished they at least had shoes; he swore he had never been so cold in his life.
Many of the other nations had already complained about it, so he kept his mouth shut.
"Where is that bastard?" Mexico muttered to himself.
"He has Canada with him; he hides too well," Guatemala said, her dark hair in her face. She normally wore it in more of a bun, down at the nape of her neck, but she had no hair tie. Puerto Rico thought she looked more scary with hair hanging on either side of her face, like some kind of ghost.
"Too bad we don't have Canada," El Salvador put in, speaking rapidly and almost too fast for Puerto Rico to understand. "He'd make very good bait."
El Salvador's head turned, eyes landing on Puerto Rico. "Isn't he one of America's?"
Puerto Rico's heart seemed to stop. He froze, blinking rapidly and trying so hard to think of some argument against killing him or using him as bait.
"Yes, he's America's," Guatemala said, though her tone was a bit more uncertain.
"He could be used as bait," El Salvador surmised to Mexico; much to Puerto Rico's dismay, and horrible, almost vomit-inducing fear, Mexico looked like he was considering it.
"Hey." It was Cuba, his large hand settling on Puerto Rico's shoulder. "You want to lay a hand on Puerto Rico, you go through me, got it?"
Puerto Rico wanted to hug Cuba, to just cry into his chest and that it would be all better. He felt like his knees would buckle from the relief.
El Salvador looked ready to challenge it, saying, "We don't need to hurt him, only tie him up and threaten him, like with the other one-"
Haiti seemed to just appear, night-black skin making him stand out among the green pines. He put a hand on Puerto Rico's other shoulder. "No. Don't touch him."
"We wouldn't hurt him," Guatemala said softly, trying to make it sound more palatable.
"I said no!" Cuba snapped, and Puerto Rico knew enough to know that this would put the other nation in a smoking mood; he would be irritable from nicotine withdrawal very soon, if he wasn't already. Scratch that, he probably was.
Mexico stepped in then, saying, "Friends, there is no need to fight. We are all in this together, and we don't need bait; America can't hide forever."
It chilled Puerto Rico to the bone, but he numbly nodded as the others did.
Then the three, Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador, continued moving forward.
Haiti's hand squeezed Puerto Rico's shoulder, and he said, "It will be all right. Canada said we are not far from a town; if we reach that town, the hunt will be over. We will go home."
It had been a long time since Puerto Rico had heard Haiti's comforting tones; Puerto Rico had always been closer to Dominican Republic, purely because of literally being closer, but Haiti had been a caring older brother for a long time.
Cuba cursed. "I hope that bastard America pays for what he did. He deserves it." He added, as a softer afterthought, "I hope Canada's okay, though."
Puerto Rico nodded. They moved on slowly, following after the fanned out crowd.
He had no doubt America would be found.
/AN/ I know people aren't that big on OCs, but I feel like it shouldn't be almost all Canada's perspective. Plus, I would bet that Puerto Rico doesn't show up in any stories on here. Hopefully, y'all don't mind the use of OCs.