Where Thou Art, That Is Home (Hetalia Fanfic)

Chapter 86~!

My stomach was filled with butterflies I couldn't control. My nap had been long, almost five whole hours. When I awoke, my stamina had been replenished and my magical energy restored. It reminded me of a video game, almost. The avatar has to sleep, or wait, for a certain amount of time before you could battle again. Something like that. 

When I got up and started preparing for my endeavor, Matthew accompanied me into town while we left the kids with a babysitter.  

Poor Evan couldn't say Feliciano, but he could say Feli or Fifi. He usually went with the latter option.  

"Ciao~" Feliciano called after us while my husband and I were walking down the hall heading to the doors leading outside.  

"Ciao~" I sang back with a wave. I threaded my fingers between Matthew's and we hailed a taxi to take us to the nearest shopping center.  

"Where to, ma'am?" the driver asked.  

I suppressed the urge to snicker at my husband. Of course, I was sympathetic, but it was still kind of funny sometimes.  

"The nearest shopping mall," I replied, sitting back in my seat and buckling up.  

Buckle... Ah! The dogs! 

"Are the dogs gonna be alright?" I asked Mattie frantically. 

"They have Ko and Kumawhoozle. I'm sure they'll feed them," Matthew assured me quickly. I let out a breath and relaxed.  

"Right. Okay. And the dogs won't let them forget to feed them, either." 

~ 

"Okay~! Do-a we want to watch-a cartoons?" Italy asked Tatiana, Evan, and Tael.  

"No," Tia answered with a head shake. "I wanna color."  

Tael remained silent, and Evan nodded his agreement.  

"Okie-dokie! Coloring, coloring..." Italy dug around in the room and rifled through the drawers of the nightstands. Sadly, there were no crayons or coloring utensils of any kind to be found in the hotel-like room.  

The stationary would be useful, but not without anything to color with.  

"Hmm... Well, there-a aren't any coping things, so... What else-a would you like-a to do?"  

"Play a game?" Evan asked, although it came out as "Pway a gem?" with a hard "g". 

Good thing Italy could speak Toddler. "Sì! Let's-a play a game. Which-a one?" 

~ 

"So, what can you remember from last time in... Hell?" Matthew asked when we climbed out of the cab after paying the driver. "You know, to prepare for the mission." 

"It was really hot," I said, pursing my lips as I thought and walked at the same time. "Like, unfairly so. And there were a lot of black walkways sort of suspended above all the pits where souls were burning. It was really gruesome." 

"So, we need to dress you in something that's cool," my hubbie said, dodging a group of teens about to walk right into him.  

"Yeah, that would be best," I agreed. "But Hell is dark, so the clothes have to blend. And since I'm pale, it has to cover me as much as possible..." 

"Okay, that makes sense," he said, pulling me into a shop. "Insulating, easy to move in, darkly colored, and concealing. That shouldn't be too hard to find at this time of year." 

The sarcasm wasn't lost on me, I assure you. 

~ 

Japan was in the middle of sharpening his katana when there was a knock on his hotel room window. He whirled, blade poised to strike, but the face at the window smiled at him and waved cheerfully. Japan sighed and set his sword aside so he could open the window and let her in.