What is... "Home?" (Hetalia Fanfic, W.A. '13 Finalist)

Chapter 58~!

A soft, almost nonexistent tickle swept across my back, just above where my dress hid my lower back. I stiffened out of an age-old habit, going completely rigid before turning slowly to look behind me out of the corner of my eye. There was no one there, and no one moving past me, either. Had I imagined it?

"Melina? Is something wrong?" Canada asked me worriedly while leaning over the table to look at me more closely.

"N... No, I don't think so," I replied, turning back around and taking another bite out of my omelet. "Yummm."

"Are you sure? You seem anxious," Canada pressed.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Something just seems to be... I dunno, haunting me? I guess?" I sighed. "I feel like I'm forgetting something important, only I can't remember what it might be."

"You mean like you forgot to bring something with you? Or did you forget to do something?"

"Something I need to do," I replied before shrugging it off and conitinuing with our conversation topic. Only... "Um, eheheh, I forget what we were talking about."

"You too, eh?" Canada said with a laugh. I laughed a little too and then found something else to talk about.

Omniscient POV~

"And now zhey're laughing," France said with a small, proud smile on his face. "Zhis date is going well!"

"It would seem so," Kadi agreed. "But what was with that look on her face a minute ago? She seemed almost... nervous."

"Oui, I zhink zhere is something on her mind."

"You two, can't we go now? It's getting cold!" Kylie whined, clinging closely to her older brother.

"You totally wanted to spy on them," Poland pointed out.

"Yeah, but I'm bored now."

"Hang on, what's going on now, dudes?" America asked, unable to see the couple as well as France, Kadi, and Poland since he was without binoculars. "She's going somewhere, I think!"

France, who had looked away for a moment to ask Rayn something, whipped back around and gazed through the visual aid. "Oui, she is excusing herself! Per'aps she needs zhe restroom?"

"She looks uneasy..." Rayn muttered after snitching Poland's binoculars.

"I can sense something isn't totally right..." Kadi muttered a moment later, just as Melina left their range of vision.

Melina's POV~

'There it was again, that whispery brush against my back! Ugh, what is it?'

"Hey, um, Mattie?" I began. "Can you excuse me for just a minute?"

"Sure, what for?" Canada asked. "Is something the matter?"

"I don't think so, I'll just be a moment," I said sweetly as I stood and made my way over to the restroom, which was just across the room. Once inside the room I breathed a sigh of relief at the cool air. It was a little warm in that huge dining hall.

"Okay, now what the hell is making it so hard to keep a train of thought going?" I said aloud while turning around in front of the mirror and peering over my shoulder at my reflection. What I saw made me gasp and instantly want to hide my back.

Just above the top of my dress was a scar, one that wasn't exceptionally noticeable but still obviously there. It curled around in an intricate pattern, half-hidden by dark blue fabric. A flashback thus ensued.

~

"Melina! Melina, where are you?" Selena screamed as she raced up the stairs and into the room she'd set up into a nursery. She flung open the door and was met with a wall of flame that lazily licked towards her. With only the smallest of yelps she rushed through it and found herself on a patch of hardwood floor not yet consumed. "Melina, I'm here!"