Rise Again {Countryhumans X Reader}

Chapter 9 - Wish Upon A Dandelion

The Countryhuman decided to slowly break the silence.
    "Hey, little one..." the girl whipped round to him, their eyes locking. She furrowed her brow a little, and motioned for him to continue speaking. So he did.
    "Little one, do you know what happened here?" The girl glanced at a slightly smoking piece of debris near where they were. She then stared at the ground, and forlornly shook her head. A single, crystal-bright tear traced its way down her grubby face.

Germany gently wiped it away with his finger. She flinched a bit at the contact, but didn't move away. He continued speaking softly.
    "Surely you can remember something...? Anything at all?" She shook her head, more firmly. She seemed adamant on her answer. The scout from earlier, who had confirmed that the girl was alive, bent down and took the girl's hand.
    "It's fine that you can't remember, miss. We can wait until the shock wears off, then you can start telling us what you know.  No pressure at all." The girl relaxed visibly and nodded.

A while later, when they had all grouped up, Germany walked the girl back up the hill away from her village. All her belongings were destroyed, so there was no point in retrieving any of them.
She gripped onto the Countryhuman's hand tightly, finding small comfort in the warmth of his palm. After a while of walking, she found the courage to speak.
"S-Sir?..." Germany looked at her, his eyes calm behind his glasses. She continued talking. "I.. don't seem to remember anything at all. I don't know how I came to be in that village."

She was visibly distressed now, frustration and sadness boiling in her eyes as she tried to recall memories that were out of reach.
    "Even simple memories like favorite things are gone."

The girl looked at the ground beneath their trotting feet, hopeless and overwhelmed. The Countryhuman beside her squeezed her hand comfortingly.

Even though she wanted to break down entirely, the girl kept talking in a shaky yet determined voice.

"I can only remember one thing now. It's - it's my name."
Germany gave the girl an encouraging smile, then introduced himself.
"I'm Germany, nice to meet you. And you are?"

The girl hesitated for a second before a soft smile showed itself on her face and she tossed in a response of her own.

"I'm Y/n L/n."

—————

    "Y/n, you in there?" A few knocks were rapped on my door. I scrambled up from my bed and hurried to open my door.

Britain stood there, fidgeting a little with his monocle. He smiled an easygoing smile.
    "Hey Britain." I returned his grin. "Can I help you with anything?"
"I came to tell you that there will be a few Countries that are coming to fill me in on the situation in Europe. And all the Countries that are currently in this base except me and France will have to move to their other bases to continue their duties. They've already told me that you've been faring excellently in your training sessions."

I suppose that was true; those sessions had been the highlight of these few days. And in every session, I improved at honing my skills.

Firing mini crystal cannonballs? Easy.

Hanging onto my spear in midair? Almost no effort at all.

Conjuring bubbles to make objects float? I was working on lifting bigger and heavier objects now. Canada had commented that if I put my mind into it, I could even lift one of them Countries.

I shakily levitated America halfway into the air before losing my grip and flinging his screaming ass into a gymnasium mat in response. He countered this with somehow getting Kiwi and Aussie onto his side and they started chasing me with my own spear. I was too busy laughing and trying to get away from them to realise that I could have yanked the weapon away from them by controlling the magic inside it.

"Yeah, I think I've improved a lot," I said with a straight face.
"That's great. Keep practicing Y/n, you'll master your magic in no time." Britain smiled warmly, then abruptly switched the topic back to the first. "Mind if you come down and meet the arriving Countries with me in a couple hours? I gather you might want to say goodbye to America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand."

I had forgotten what Britain had said earlier about them moving; I kind of didn't want them to go and leave me with unfamiliar Countryhumans with only Britain and France as the only ones that I were acquainted with. But I also didn't want them to choose me over their duties. The war against the Empires was more important than me.

I forced a smile.
"I guess I'll do that first. When are they leaving?"
"They're leaving at 7:30. You might be able to make it to them before the traveling jeeps go."

I said goodbye to Britain and raced down to the main entrance of the base. All four Countryhumans were there, surrounded by a dozen officers who were helping them gear up.

They all jolted when they saw me.
    "Y-Y/n?" Canada stuttered. "What are you doing here?" I looked into his amber eyes. They were startled and... sad.
"You guys didn't tell me you were gonna go.." I shifted, feeling the familiar heat spread across my cheeks when they all looked at me. "I um, heard from Britain that you were leaving - "
America took tiny baby steps towards me and stopped in front of me.
"It's just... saying goodbye to someone you really care about is hard."

It was my turn to jolt.

    "You mean a lot to us, Y/n, and we wanted to leave without saying goodbye because we didn't want to see you disappointed." I stared at the ground.

    "Guys, I wouldn't be disappointed at all."

Meeting every pair of eyes, I affectionately grinned at the Countryhumans. "You've helped me unlock and improve my magic, plus maintain your duties too. You've done so much for me, it's time to move on and help others like you helped me."

Lacing my fingers with Aussie's, I fixed them all with a teasing stare.
    "Once you've completed your rounds, come visit me, will you?"

Kiwi laughed through his teary eyes.
    "Of course, Y/n. We'll always be there for you."

We all hesitantly waved goodbye, and America muttered something I couldn't catch.
"Ame, did you say something?"

The American smirked and leaned closer.
"We found an old song in an Ancient Era archive yesterday, and we couldn't help listening to it. The mood of the song described our ... I'll say feelings quite accurately."
"Well, what's the song?"
"If you go to our usual training room, you'll know. But," he shyly clasped one of my hands in his, "there's a certain sentence in that song I want to say to you. Actually, all four of us wanted to, but they thought it was too cheesy. But I don't care."

He whispered the words into my ear, and my eyes grew wide.

America pulled away from me and waved one last goodbye. Then the Countries all boarded a traveling jeep and it trundled away. I was left standing there, mouthing the sentence America had murmured to me.

"Praying to God that one day you'll be mine..."

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I am, in simple words, very sorry abt my disappearance
Hope y'all are doing well

~opalico🎉

P.S. I'm writing a new collection of short fantasy stories. Will publish shortly.