Medicine = Magic [RoChu Fanfiction]

Prologue Part 3

Next to him an arrow hit the ground.

How had he gotten here? Why was he on the ground, was that... blood?

The nation's view was mildly spinning, and his head ached. He was clearly still on the battlefield, he could hear the groans and screams of the warriors around him easily, even if he was dazed by his fall. He felt as though he should get up but something was definitely wrong, even beyond the obvious death nearby, so he stayed on the ground.

Sneaking a quick glance at the arrow embedded in the mud next to him, China raked his mind for what else could possibly be wrong. He had a headache, maybe from hitting it maybe from stress, he didn't have enough time to decide. There was also a cut on his cheek somehow, and with a jolt he realized that his helmet wasn't on.

Careful to stay down, the nation looked around him, searching for the metal armor piece among the bodies that lay here and there and the legs of other people fighting. It was nowhere to be seen so he guessed that either someone had taken it or it had gotten kicked away in the sea of warriors.

No point in trying to look harder.

Seeing a pair of warriors coming his way the Asian country struggled to roll the side, avoiding the feet that cracked the arrow where it stuck. But then suddenly it struck him, he was with child, or at least he hoped he still was.

His throat seemed to tighten, eyes stuck between squinting and widening, not sure how to express the emotion or rather the instinctive shock. That was what was wrong, his stomach hurt, hurt as if he had gotten hit very very hard, maybe stepped on. It is true that usually getting hit in the stomach does not affect an unborn baby, but perhaps if it had been hard enough...

China took in a deep breath, now laying on his side where he had rolled to, bloodied cheek in the dust. The air caught in his throat in an uncomfortable way as he tried to think of other possibilities. What if he was misinterpreting a chest pain as if it was lower down? Maybe it was just cramps? A ridiculously painful bruise?

Though all of these options were far more attractive than the truth, China knew they couldn't be right.

He was now sure of it, he had lost the child.

A knot seemed to be forming in his chest, the pain settling right at his sternum. A worry that sent waves of freezing cold terror through his bones and to the very depths of his soul. It was like needing to cry in a room full of government figures but far worse because all he would be judged by was himself. Not even his child, since they were now dead.

There was virtually no one else who knew, he couldn't explain this pain to anyone, it just wasn't possible in their eyes. This was a fear that should have only been saved for the very least fortunate women, no man should have ever had to deal with the pain because no one deserved it.

The horror of losing a child.