CHAPTER SIX

FATIGUE

The countries had assumed that Charm may had been joking about the noodles, Storm's exuberance matched with Charm's sly smile had almost made them smile at the 'joke'. Until the girls had quickly escaped into one of the adjoining rooms, metal and bare except a wooden table with several mismatched chairs surrounding it, with a large pot of steaming noodles in the center. Bee's groan echoed through the room once more, one they usually would have echoed…except the fact they had been surviving on everything that was in their pockets for over a month, so desperation overruled the echoing complaints.

"It was the only thing we had enough of to spare and from their stomach growls that gave us away all day we needed a ish ton of food," Charm snapped, hands on her hips, "and none of you complain about anything, we are giving you our shelter and food and we will expect you to help us in return."

The group nodded obediently, watching as Charm stirred in flavor packets that would probably turn the bland noodles into tasting like over salted, mushy chicken. "Sit down…if you guys can all fit…" Bee trailed off counting the number of men compared to seats, noting that they were lacking at least four for everyone.

"Don't worry we can stand or sit on the floor," Ludwig explained with a casual wave of his hand, doing his best to ignore that they were about to be served noodles on McDonalds plates by three virtual strangers out of a pink pot no less.

"I know the plates are ridiculous, right?" Bee said, appearing next to him suddenly.

He cleared his throat awkwardly and she flashed him a knowing grin, "It was the only ones that survived the hassle," she laughed, watching as he blushed.

"I don't see you complaining when you eat off of them!" Storm grumbled, arms crossed over her chest with a pout on her face.

"Yes, you do," Charm disagreed, scooping the noodles out and onto the plates with a steady hand, "almost everyday."

"Not in front of the guests!" Storm scolded, taking the first plate and plopping into a chair.

"Why not? We do it any other time," Bee quipped, walking forward and swiping the plate from in front of Storm and snagging a bite.

"It's true," Charm agreed, smiling as she began to actually pass around the plates.

The countries found themselves smiling, which they almost found odd. They had known at times over the past weeks of this happening they had pretended to be normal, smiled and joked, sometimes they fought, but everything made them upset in reality. Now, in the middle of complete madness, seeing what would have been one of Alfred's own citizens consumed, just had a large argument about the people being gone and almost been attack and yet they were smiling true smiles.

Maybe it could have been they the exhaustion from their lack of sleep over the weeks finally reaching their brains when they now had a safe place to sleep or the fact they were finally eating. Then as they thought more on it as they sat around the table, Alfred, Ludwig, Ivan and Gilbert perched on the edge of the table, that it was the girls. The three of them sitting around in a normal fashion, eating dinner like the college students that they probably once were and stealing bites from each plate like they were all something different to enjoy, that made them happy. It made them feel as if hope was not lost, just hidden.

"What are you guys staring at?" Bee asked bluntly, gathering all three of the girls' eyes on them.

"Uhhh," Alfred was the first to respond, his hand going back to rub at the back of his head, "nothing dudes…it's just we've never seen you guys act so chill, ya know?"

"You didn't think that we could always be 'on it' right?" Charm questioned, lowering her chin slightly and raising a brow in disbelief.

"Well…" Alfred felt himself blush.

"From the way you guys usually act, heck yes," Gilbert broke in, saving Alfred from his utter embarrassment, "I mean all day today you guys have been on us and barking orders, necessary orders, but still orders."

"What did you expect us to do, let you run around like idiots?" Storm asked sharply, "I mean seriously, you guys would have been like chickens running around without their heads."

"Hey!" Lovino puffed up his cheeks, "We wouldn't have been that bad!"

"You would too!" Bee disagreed, "You didn't know about Clickers so you would have been running around screaming and gotten yourselves killed."

At the mention of the Clicker everyone grew silent. That was the needle that popped the bubble that had been the idea of normalcy, that there were not people outside of the door trying to kill them. "Do you think that the normal people have a chance?" Feliciano whispered, looking down into his serving of noodles, suddenly not at all hungry.

"As long as there are people there is always a chance," Charm said bluntly.

"People always get counted out if something like this happens, like on the movies or something, ya know?" Bee agreed around another bite of noodles.

"People are just stubborn, we'll pull through," Storm smiled, looking down at her cleared plate a little mournfully until Bee suddenly places her own on top with a disgusted face.

"I do not know how you still enjoy this crap," she groaned, leaning back in her chair, "We'll defiantly have to look for something not cardboard resembling next run."

"I'll make sure to put that on the list," Charm chuckled finishing her own plate and looking around the table at the men doing the same, "You guys are doing the dishes."

"What?!" Gilbert whined suddenly, making Bee jump and elbow him in the stomach.

"You heard her, dishes, do now," Storm handed him her plate before escaping the room quickly with her friends.

"How is this fair?" Arthur complained, puffing out his cheeks.

"They did make the food," Frances sighed, gathering some plates, "We should get it done."

"Si!" Antonio cheered his agreement, jumping up, "with all of us washing it'll take us no time!"

"Shut up tomato bastard," Lovino snapped, crossing his arms across his chest, "let's get it done so I can take my siesta."

"SIESTA!" Feliciano cheered rushing into the kitchen, "Let's hurry!"

"Feli! We don't know where the stuff is!" Alfred called attempting to call him back.

"You'll figure it out!" Charm shouted from the other room.

"How?" Ivan asked back.

"Your problem!"

"Of course it is…"

It hadn't taken the nations long to wash the dishes, well, not long for them. They were exceedingly grateful for the fact that the plates were in fact plastic…very hard plastic that was in fact impossible to break. By impossible of course they all meant the fact that they had been thrown against the walls, hit over Frances's head and then thrown in the sink.

"I hope none of those were broken," Bee said, pulling out some free blankets from another side room and tossing them at each of the countries.

"Storm is a little attached to those," Charm chimed in with a chuckle, "Those are her plates that she had for…too many years."

"They survived," Arthur grumbled, almost seeming disappointed as Frances looked over and stuck his tongue out childishly.

"He hit me in the face with them!" Frances complained, jerking a fluffy, pink blanket around him.

"Oh yeah they are very good for that," Bee told Arthur, "when one of these two get sassy I just bop them on the head."

"And then Charm threatens to send me to hug her and we are even," Storm calls out from her cot with a smile, looking up from a book that had no dust jacket so it lacked title.

"Hugs…are threats?" Feliciano asked his voice quivering with confusion.

"To introverts they are," Charm sighed, plopping down on Storm's cot and taking the book from her hands, "It's almost bedtime.''

"Correction, it is bedtime," Bee called, tossing Ludwig the rest of the blankets for him to pass out to the others before lying in her own cot and pulling on her blankets.

The countries looked at the floor, Ludwig pointing to spots on the floor and naming were each country would sit, hoping that he was placing the correct countries next to each other to avoid fighting. They all sat obediently, Ludwig giving them blankets as they sat for their seats. The girls hadn't brought them pillows, Ludwig hadn't expected them to even have extra blankets let alone pillows, he was just happy that they could be warm. "Thank you," Ludwig said sincerely looking up at the girls that had suddenly pulled their mattresses together.

"Da nada," Bee yawned, rolling onto her side and pulling a pillow next to her chest.

"You speak Spanish?" Antonio asked, sitting up, suddenly excited.

"Fairly well," she agreed, "I took three years in high school, two semesters in college. Storm took French…"

"I speak remedial French, aka, I suck but I can read it and understand it when I can hear it," Storm stretched, leaning back against the wall.

"I speak Japanese," Charm volunteered with a smile, "I took it in college too."

"It's good…to find someone who can speak my language," Kiku smiled back, though his voice was full of sadness, "I thought I wouldn't get to use it again."

Charm's smile suddenly dropped, she guessed that she wouldn't have understood what it was like to not to be able speak her first language. She honestly hadn't even thought about the fact that some of these guys probably didn't know if their families were still alive or if anyone from where they were from was alive either…that's when it hit her, that pang of pity for them and the thoughts that they may not have a home anymore…they were just like them.

"You could probably help me get a lot better then," she told him brightly, attempting to help him find a bright spot.

"I would love that," he felt something in his chest tighten suddenly as the girl watched him.

"Sissy, bed time," Storm groaned, throwing herself over her own mattress and onto Charm's lap, "Stop flirting with the guy we found in the woods."

"Well, it's your turn to turn off the lights," Charm scolded, shoving her lightly, "I'm waiting on you."

"MOVING?" she groaned, rolling over on the floor dramatically.

"Yes, moving," Charm agreed, kicking her lightly.

"Fine," she pouted, jumping up and swiftly turning off the lights and rushing back to the mattress and throwing herself on it, "goodnight!"

"Goodnight!" the two called back, several of the countries answering in their own native languages before silence enveloped them, quickly followed by sleep.

It was silent for hours, completely silent except for a few random noises of shuffling and snores that were echoing from the sleeping people. The hours were passing quickly, though the girls unused to company awoke every so often from a too loud snore or a shuffle that didn't come from one of them. Then there was a small shout that echoed through the darkness jerking Charm out of her sleep.

She didn't move, her hand reaching under her pillow to clutch her shiv, she knew that she wasn't specifically good at hand to hand but in an emergency... Suddenly an echo of sniffles joined the snoring. Charm sighed, releasing her grip on the shiv and sitting up to stare into the darkness in the direction of sniffs.

She knew the high-pitched noises…or rather she had a great guess on who was crying in the corner. Standing, she wrapped herself up in her blankets around her, and willing herself to move silently between the mattresses, it seemed that both Storm and Bee were still sleeping soundly…they needed the sleep after today. Moving quickly to the man's side, side-stepping any people that were littered in her way and then plopping down next to him.

"Feliciano?" Charm questioned softly, making sure that he was really the one crying.

Sure enough a weak voice answered from under his blanket, "I didn't mean to wake you," he sniffed again loudly.

"Oh yes," Charm sighed, attempting to see the man in the darkness (dramatically failing but still attempting), "I care terribly."

"You need your rest, go back to sleep, bella," Feliciano attempted to order her away.

Charm shook her head at the pathetic attempt that Feliciano gave to sounding brave and strong, sighing loudly. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and pulling him to her side, "Did you have a nightmare?" she asked, not allowing him to wiggle away from the sudden hug to her side.

"It was horrible," he whispered the affirmation into the silence, "it…it hurt my friends…they aren't…"

She felt him bury his head into her neck much like he had done to Storm's chest earlier that day…well yesterday she supposed. The giving of comfort was natural to her, she knew that but she was growing a little anxious at the access breathing on her neck during this time, then again she refused to push him away. "I can only imagine," she responded, rubbing her hand over his arm in a comforting gesture.

"I'm sorry, I'm being cowardly," he whined, turning his face away from her skin to look down (she was ignoring the sudden rush of relief at the movement), "it's just…I was always scared when things were normal…if my friends had left me…if they had moved on and left me somewhere they would go so much faster…I might get them killed…"

"They wouldn't want that," Charm snapped slightly, tightening her arm around him, "they are your friends."

"But…before they used to tell me to be brave and stop running away and now this… my brother is braver then me or at least he is trying to put on a brave face anyway," Feli whispered, his mind flashing back to wars that she had no idea that he was part of. Of himself surrendering in countless situations and crying for Germany whenever anything happened…how could he be brave about this when he wasn't brave against normal people?

"That was before," she consoled, rocking him slightly, "they might have told you to be brave before but they would never want you gone, it would kill them to see you gone."

"Yeah," a new voice broke in moving close to Feliciano's other side and surrounding him with warmth as she circled him with her arm, Storm smiled at him through the darkness, "you might cry but that would never mean that your friends wouldn't want you. My friends still wanted me after all the crying."

"Shut up about that," Bee ordered, sitting in front of Feliciano, "and no one would want you gone, you are adorable. You just saw a zombie, a really freaky zombie for the first time, you are going to have nightmares."

"You'll get used to it, after you learn how to deal with them the fear won't be so overwhelming," Storm added.

"And until then you can always wake us when you have nightmares," Charm said sternly, giving him one more firm squeeze before pulling away.

"We told you this isn't a personal relationship and that still stands," Bee said in a firm voice, "but you are our partners for now, don't hesitate to tell us if you are scared or something."

"We need you well taken care of," Charm agreed, sitting back on her cot.

"And if you want to stay with us tonight you can," Storm offered, "but it's not an every night offer."

"Can I really?" Feliciano asked brightly, he stood with a smile and grabbed his blanket.

"Just tonight," Charm agreed, sounding much like a mother giving into her child.

"Yay!" Feliciano cheered quietly, snuggling into a free place on someone's mattress.

Suddenly something was shoved into his arms; a long and soft pillow, "What's this?" he asked, squeezing it to his chest.

"That is also just for tonight," Storm told him, "That's my special body pillow, sometimes it helps to cuddle with something."

"Thank you bellas," Feliciano whispered, burying his face into the pillow and drifting off into sleep.

The countries had been awake, Lovino the most considering how close he had been sleeping next to his thrashing brother. This had been a hard process, especially for Lovino considering he always had been compared to his brother and his fear of the others turning that into choosing to save his brother and leaving him behind. When his brother started to thrash around, crying in his sleep it was odd…then again they hadn't had much sleep since this started.

When his brother had awoken and started to cry he had almost moved to comfort him…then he heard one of the girl's move over to comfort him. It wasn't odd that Charm had done so, she seemed to be the most…calm, if that was the right word of the group, but then the others had joined her he had felt himself go into basically shock.

Then what his brother had said…did he really think that they wanted him gone? That he was slowing them all down and they would have been better without him? While he couldn't deny that his brother drained him a little, that he was always too loud and attracting attention…but his brother, he was his brother. He kept everything light, giving them a laugh when they needed it. He was important; didn't he know that?

Then the girls actually said his thoughts, pointing out that he was wrong and then offering him a spot with them in sleep. It made him relax a little, because if anyone had a bond with them, they would probably protect them and his brother needed all the extra protection he could get…it made him feel bad when he suddenly thought that they would probably not done the same for him.

He felt his eyes start to water slightly and he sniffed, he hadn't expected the sound to be so loud in the darkness. He flinched, it had only been ten minutes since the silence fell over them again, they could still be…

The shuffling started again, not as graceful as Charm had been the first time, though that could be because this one was actually asleep. The shadowy figure suddenly bent down next to him, placing a hand on his head, flashing a smile Storm started to talk again. "Do all Italians cry?'' she giggled, he usually would have taken offense but she didn't seem to mean ill by her words. "if you want, you can come share my mattress with me. Your brother is sleeping with Charm so you can sleep with me and Blackbeard, you could even cuddle with him."

Lovino blinked in shock before sitting up, "Would you really sleep with me?" he whispered the question.

"Of course!" she nodded, "I don't just offer Blackbeard to anyone and you are scared!" She suddenly paused rubbing the back of her head, "I'm not as good at comforting as my sissy, I'm not always so good with words when I'm tired…or in general."

"I…would like that," he answered, puffing out his cheeks and huddling into himself, "I would like that a lot."

"Come on," she waved him forward, pushing him down on the mattress and thrusting a small animal in his hands, "Take Blackbeard, he always helps."

"Blackbeard is this?"

"He's a pig, now go to sleep," she ordered, turning over and cuddling with a pillow, "Goodnight."

Lovino paused, a sudden emotion hitting him…he had never thought that he would have a chance to share a bed with someone again, someone that didn't want something from him. "Buona Notte," he whispered.

"Wake me if you need me."

"I will."