Where Thou Art, That Is Home (Hetalia Fanfic, Part 2)

Chapter 118~!

"Where are we going?" I asked, following across the sand this bizarre person who looked just like the woman I loved. She called herself Melina after saying some long and complicated word that might have been what 'Melina' was short for. I tried to say her full name, but I butchered it and gave up. There was no real point, anyway.

'There's almost no way I'll be able to get back down there again, unless Melina here is willing to help' I thought, the irritation I felt showing on my brow. 'So I should use the pen, if there's any paper nearby.'

Currently (see, that was a pun...) we were stumbling across the beach toward a beach house just like one out of a Disney Channel movie. I say stumbling because my legs were aching and sore while Melina was working on getting her land legs back after being in the water for a while, I assumed.

"House," Melina answered my question, pointing to the structure for emphasis. "Get dry. Clothes."

"Oh, okay," I replied, feeling the sand stick to my shoes and get inside my socks more and more with every step I took. My hair, slightly longer than I usually wore it, was plastered to my skull unattractively and dripping rivulets of sea water down my cold, unprotected neck. I shuddered and shuffled on, following my rescuer of sorts.

'Countries don't die so easily, so why was I worried down there?' I wondered, remembering the absolute terror that made my head pound and my need for air worse.

'We're not connected to our land so well in other dimensions, so it makes sense why I would be even more scared' I rationalized. 'Of course, I wasn't thinking about that at the time... Only the fear of drowning was there.'

"In, in," Melina said cheerfully as she ushered me into the cabin and shut the door behind me. I looked all around, trying to get familiar with the place. The decorum of this particular house seemed... foreign. That was probably the best word I could have used to describe it at the time.

There were paintings on the walls. Paintings of the ocean. They seemed to be moving, almost, like a snapshot does in the Harry Potter universe. What furniture there was was a bit threadbare, dilapidated even. 'Were these salvaged from a junkyard, or something?'

"It not much, not like your house," Melina said, coming up behind me. "By the beach, back there. Why are you here?"

"I'm looking for someone," I told her (didn't I do that already?) from where I stood, dripping ocean water onto the floor. The steady patters reminded me that I was soaking wet, and I yelped. "A-Ah, do you have something to help get these clothes dry?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Melina answered, moving to stand in front of me. Her arms were outstretched expectantly. "Clothes, please."

"N-Now?" I asked in disbelief. It didn't seem so normal to just strip, but then again this version of Alice wasn't as shy as my Alice. 

"Yes," she replied, still smiling. "Gimme your shirt, pants. Get them dry, yes I will."

'I guess there's nothing for it' I thought, stripping down to my underclothes and blushing slightly. Damn me and my shyness...

I handed them to her and watched as she walked away, disappearing down a hallway. 'Is a laundry room that way?'

No, I was mistaken. A bright flash of light later, I smelled the undieniable scent of vanilla and the purest of ocean water. Melina came back, and the scent grew stronger with her presence. Was it coming from her?

"All dry," she announced, holding them out to me. I took them back and my eyes widened. They really were dry! Soft, too, and the irritating sand in their seams had been discarded.