Rise Again {Countryhumans X Reader}

Chapter 5 - Bitter and Sweet

I had difficulty adjusting to the time zone here.

Yep, it's a thing. The USA time zone was probably a bit behind the time zone of Europe, so I felt jet lagged and shitty for the first few hours of the next day.
I had to adjust fast - I needed to train myself and learn how to control this energy-magic. I wanted revenge.

The magic had kind of shut off after me and Germany had fought Byzantium, its presence a small, glowing pulse in the back of my cluttered mind.
I had tried to summon a harmless spark of energy-magic on the plane, but it didn't work. I guessed that I needed a trigger of some sort to somehow make it appear. I just didn't know what it was yet. I needed to keep trying.

Getting off my bed, I washed and dressed myself in my new, crisp uniform. My belongings were supposed to arrive later this morning, according to Britain, so I was stuck wearing spare clothes. I wanted to keep this set of clothes, though. The black rippling fabric of the uniform suited my mood right now.

Sullen and snarky and snappish.

Carefully tying my necklace back onto my neck and shoving my glittery crystal pen into my pocket, I traversed the base trying to find the breakfast room that I definitely did hear Britain relaying the instructions to me.
Okay, fine. Did not listen. I was lost. Happy now?

Grumbling swear words loudly, I turned another corner and rammed straight into a Countryhuman that definitely wasn't Britain, France or Germany. He caught me by the waist as I keeled backwards, and held me there as if we were in some shit soap opera. His sunglasses glinted in the light.

I immediately started to blush furiously - not because of the Countryhuman's looks. Yeah he was pretty good looking I guess, but the state that we were in practically screamed damsel in distress.
The Countryhuman grinned and studied me intently behind his sunglasses.

"Y-you can put me down now," I managed to say. "Thanks for putting up with my clumsiness." He removed his hand from my waist and I stepped back a few paces.

"No problem, beauty. Where're you off to?" I crossed my arms.

"First, don't call me beauty. Second, to say it plainly, I'm lost." I saw a tapestry of silver-white stars on a patch of dark blue skin near his right temple, while the rest of his face was striped with white and red.
Huh - nice to meet you, United States of America. It explained the drama and sassiness.

"Yeah I get it too. This base is fucking huge - even I still get lost sometimes."

"But dude - you practically live here. How can you get lost in your own house?"

"Well - I don't actually stay here all the time." He adjusted his sunglasses. "Each Countryhuman has at least a few bases, but it varies from Country to Country. The more powerful the Country is, the more bases that Country has. And this pretty much explains why I'm away from this base a lot - we have to keep moving and checking every base to make sure there are no spies and shit like that happening." Yeah, pretty self-explanatory.

"You must be really busy, then." America cocked his head, and I took that as a yes. "You're Y/n, right? The girl with the awesome magic powers?"

    "Eh - I can't even control these powers, sorry to burst your bubble," I said apologetically.

    "You'll be able to control them soon, that's what all the Countries are here for," America said encouragingly.

Despite myself, I grinned at his adorableness. But then my stomach growled like a monster, and interrupted our conversation.

Me and Ame shared a look and giggled. He led the way to the breakfast room, where the other Countries were having their breakfast. Britain was at the head of the table and waved at us when we entered. I slid into a seat next to Germany and America plopped himself in between two Countryhumans, which I guessed were New Zealand and Canada. Australia sat at the far end of the table, feeding a small, cute python that was curled on his hand.

Small talk between the Countries were tossed from topic to topic, mostly about warfare and Empire propaganda news that was circulated from militia officers. But eventually, the topic gradually switched to Byzantium, then to Germany, then to me.

"Was the battle that bad, Y/n?" Canada asked me shyly. His amber eyes twinkled at me.

    "It felt exhausting and scary, I'm not going to lie at this part," I said. "When my powers kicked in, everything felt like slow-motion to me and everything that I experienced felt super weird, like my body was readjusting itself." Canada nodded thoughtfully.

"I hope you rested well Y/n, once your stuff arrives we'll start training right away," New Zealand joined the conversation with a cheerful voice. I nodded and smiled at him and continued eating.

Conversation then tilted to nicer topics, with Australia introducing me to the small python, which sniffed my finger before booping it with its nose. This small gesture melted my heart and I rubbed its cute head.

After eating, the other Countries went back to their offices to get some work done while I went to see Germany off. He was leaving for his central HQ base.

When we turned the corner into a deserted corridor and were alone, Germany stopped and looked at me with a fierce gaze.

"Y/n, promise me you'll take care of yourself when I leave, d'you understand?" I squirmed uncomfortably under his stare, but replied anyway.

"You know I can take care of myself, I'll be fine -"

"Y/n, please." His tone changed, and he sounded more sad and yearning. "Promise me."

I reached and held both of his limp hands in mine.

"Germany," I said quietly. "I promise. Please don't overthink this, I will be fine."
He smiled sadly.

"The German territory won't be the same without your snarky attitude." He hesitated, and said even more quietly, "I won't be the same without you."

I realized the full extent of what he said, and my cheeks started to heat up. He enveloped me in a big hug.

"I'll see you around, Y/n." He whispered into my ear.

My face burned and I fiercely hugged him back. Germany's presence suddenly felt so comforting, I didn't want to leave this embrace.

We finally pulled away from each other and I watched him walk away, Germany's sad smile still inside my head and the phantoms of his hug lingering in the air around me.

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Why do I feel like this is so sappy bro 👀👀👀
As always, thanks for reading.
Cheersssss

~opalico🎉