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

Chapter 147~!

RECAP:

'What? That isn't true!' I shouted at it in my head as I whirled to explain to the hallucination of my husband what was going on. I would tell him the truth, though, and not that ridiculous lie that I didn't love him.

The sight I was met with, however, was enough to send me to my knees.

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"Alice! Alice, open your eyes!" China's voice shouted to me, and with an air-hogging gasp my eyes shot open as I fell backwards. I lay there, arms out at either side, as I tried to catch my breath.

"How was it, aru?" Yao asked me, but I shook my head and sat up.

"No... That was... That was bad. Really bad," I admitted, putting my head in my hands. "No..."

I felt Yao's hand on my shoulder and didn't shrug it off. "Come on, stand up. Tell me what you saw."

I struggled to say it, but I told him. About Canada... impaled on a stake and stuck to the outer wall of the building. Blood had been everywhere. Each and every detail had been so realistic, I couldn't help but believe what I'd seen.

"... It looks like we'll have to work a lot more with this, aru," China told me with a tone of sadness in his voice. Well, it might have been disappointment, but at the moment I was too preoccupied to ultimately care or listen closely.

"Sorry. I really don't... want to do that again," I said to him.

"I know you don't, but you have to learn to see past illusions so they don't affect you."

That thought made me want to just curl up and cry myself to sleep. I hated those terrible visions so much! They could all just go away for all I cared. "Do I have to...?"

He blew air out of his nose as if that had amused him. "What kind of a question is that? Of course you have to. You want to win your battle, don't you?"

~

"Haaa~" I sighed as I reclined in the onsen later that night. Yes, we were in China, and yes, Japan was only visiting to help train me, but I had the sneaking suspicion that China had borrowed the idea from him (like so many other things China refused to admit to plagiarizing).

Still, I had the onsen to myself, and even though the night air was cold (frigid, even), I still enjoyed the steaming water and the peaceful sounds made by the water lapping at the rocks.

"This is so goooood!" I all but sang as I stretched my legs out under the water and delighted in the feeling of my sore, aching muscles loosening. "Mmmmm... I'm feeling sleepy, haha!"

And, of course, nothing very good can last. I'd only managed to get really comfortable when, out of the blue, I heard a whizzing sound and barely had enough time to duck into the water. I managed to avoid getting a throwing star in the face, but the fact that it happened was bad enough. My head broke through the meniscus and I struggled to wipe my eyes free of water as I searched for who was attacking me.

"Wah!" I screamed when another one flew past my cheekbone and nicked the skin, barely drawing blood any at all but sending a tiny starburst of pain signals to my brain. "Ah, hey!"

"Find something to fight with!" Taiwan's voice shouted at me, and another shuriken was thrown, this time nearly slicing into my forearm. "Hurry up!"

"I can't believe this," I grumbled as I hauled myself out of the water and searched for something to cover myself with. Sure, it didn't really matter that much when my life was in danger, but--