Peter had thought that waiting was the worst kind of hurt he could feel. Now he knows he was wrong. Accepting that he'd never see the people he was waiting for again was the hardest part. It wasn't just his Mama and Papa either. His uncles, his cousin, his brother. They were all gone.

Even his friends.

Jet never told him outright what happened to his sister, but Wy, no, Wendy, was nowhere to be seen, and Jet's face was deep and sorrowful when Peter finally dared to ask him. In the end, Jet didn't answer, only shook his head silently, but that was answer enough. Peter didn't ask again.

He doesn't see Hutt River either. No one knows about Kugelmugel or Seborga, but Alfred assures him that Molossia is fine, just sick. Mathew promises that Ladonia is going to be fine too, once the internet is properly up again, and that he'll definitely help Peter find his brother.

It doesn't feel real to Peter. Everything is distant and broken, like Peter's trapped inside a fishbowl.

He's drifting through everyday, waiting for the moment he finally wakes up, and everything is fine, he's still safe with his family, the world never ended, and everyday is full of mundane troubles and bickering.

He isn't sure he'll ever stop aching inside, not really, but when he's with his new family, Peter feels like the aching gets just a little bit better. Peter isn't scared and alone anymore. He knows there will always be someone there to tuck him in at night and greet him when he wakes up, a warm hug when he needs comfort, and a hand to hold when he's unsure.

When his new found family brings him back to the new temporary meeting quarters for the countries of the world, there's a lot less countries than Sealand remembers. And some of the ones who are there aren't quite right anymore. The kind Lithuania, one of the few who acknowledged Sealand's existence, stares blankly into the air like he's watching a movie only he can see. Russia seems colder than before, and Belarus presses herself into his side, like she's trying to fill the gap from another missing sibling, and Italy walks with a wierd limp, like his right leg doesn't work quite right.

England starts crying when he sees Peter, in a way more similar to regret than relief. Peter's too empty to wonder what England regrets, whether it's forgetting Peter, or creating him, or... That Peter survived when so many others didn't. Or something else entirely. Peter doesn't ask, he doesn't try to hug or speak to England,just turns his head away so he doesn't have to see the tears. England doesn't try to hug or speak to him either.

Molossia isn't the same either, when Alfred finally takes Peter to see him, hoping to pull Peter from his depressive state.

"Hey." Chris greets him normally, and Peter wonders If he's too sick to manage his normal over-the-top tough-guy act, or if he's just too tired of all of this to try.

Peter opens his mouth to answer, but he's not sure what to say. He's not sure he even knows the micronations in front of him anymore. They've both changed so much, when the world ended. Peter wonders if they're still the same people as before. Chris seems to notices his inability to talk, and wheels closer, a hint of his old self in his tone.

"What? I'm not cool enough to talk to once I'm on wheels or?"

And the walls inside Peter crumble, and he stumbles forwards, almost falling into his friend's lap in the urgency for a hug, wheelchair be damned. It's not his family, not even close, and he'd be lying if he said Chris could replace them, but its enough for Peter. Enough to soothe the gaping gap inside just a little, just for a moment. And Chris just silently returns the embrace, sentences they have no words or voice for left unspoken between them.

He doesn't notice when Alfred slips away, for once silent, to give them privacy.

After a few weeks, Jet comes to find him one day.

"Hey, got time?"

He doesn't say what he wants. Somehow, Peter feels like he knows. He follows Jet, unusually somber, to the grave. There's flowers growing on it, ones Peter doesn't know the name of, but they're red. He thinks she would like them. It doesn't feel real, even with the grave in front of him. Jet kneels in front of it, almost like he's praying, and for a moment they're both silent.

"I got sick." Jet admits, finally, quietly. "Not the rain, the vegetables." He hesitates, like saying the words outloud hurts him, but continues anyways. "One day I got better. And she... She was gone." He chokes, a half-strangled noise. "I think she gave up herself to save me." His strangles sound morphs into a sort of groan. "We weren't even that close."

It hurts to see it, it hurts to admit it. Ever since he'd remembered his parents, his memories have flooded back, hundred of years worth, and Peter remembers everything too clearly. The day he first met Wy. The day she shared her human name with him, and he shared his. They'd helped Hutt River choose his together. Liam. He remembers their bickerinf too well, Wendy's haughty attitude. It hurts, not enough to be fair, not enough to Honour her. Peter wants to scream and lash out deny everything.

But he can't, because he's not the only one hurting.

"I should have treated her better, spent more time with her."

Jetvs voice is heavy with regrets, and Peter moves to him, wrapping him in a hug from behind as tight as he can. Tight enough that he hopes the pain from being squeezed will erased the pain in Jet's heart. He knows it won't.

"It's not your fault."

Jet closes his eyes, like he's trying to make himself believe Peter's words.

"Thanks."

The world ended, and it took one more person from both of them when it did.

Peter still has something important to say, something so important he can't wait in silence for the grief to settle.

There's only one grave.

"Liam-"

Jet opens his eyes again, stiffening his back, and Peter sees his strength coming back into him, the strength that makes Jet one of the strongest people Peter knows. The courage to stand back up again, to live through the end of the world.

"He's not gone." Jet says the words with confidence, enough confidence that Peter wants to believe its a fact, and not a groundless hope. "I... I didn't acknowledge him as a micronations, not like my sister. He's still technically my land, and I'm still here, so..."

A chance that's barely fantasy, and yet-

"I'm sure he's still out there. I'll find him, I promise."

Peter wants to believe Jet so very badly.

"Let's find him together."

Jet tears up at Peter's offer, but blinks the tears away, forcing himself to his feet.

"Yeah. Together."

Peter makes a promise to himself. Not just Hutt River, but Kugelmugel and Seborga, and all the other micronations unaccounted for, even the ones he hasn't met yet, he'll find them all. And when the internet is fixed - Mathew says they're getting close - when he gets his brother back, Ladonia will help too. Peter's already lost one family. He won't let himself give up on another one.