CW for physical violence and downplaying said violence!
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Canada looked... pale as he stared down the hallway with wide eyes. His breathing was quick and his limbs shook. Sweat dripped down his forehead while Canada made no attempt to wipe it off. What the hell happened back there?
Australia was getting worried. He stepped towards his brother to get his attention.
Canada snapped his head towards Australia, who flinched back at the sudden movement. He suddenly gagged, as if he was about to vomit, and keeled over, slapping a shaky hand over his mouth. He continued to gag as his brother quickly rushed to his side. Canada didn't like being touched, but he made an exception this time.
"Nada? Holy shit— Are you alright?" Australia stammered out as he held Canada to stop him from falling. Obviously he wasn't alright. He turned to look at the hallway he saw Canada emerge from. "What did you see down there? I'll check it out—"
"Don't you dare!" Canada rasped out as he grabbed Australia's arm with a tight grip, stopping him. "It's... please don't go there— I heard the territories speaking."
Australia stared at Canada for a few seconds, confused and skeptical. Countries used to be able to hear their provinces and territories speaking to them as disembodied voices. Used to. It's been years since any country has been able to hear them now. And nobody knows why. They just... suddenly vanished.
He didn't fully believe Canada, but decided that was a conversation they'd have later.
"Alright, alright." Australia responded as he helped Canada regain his balance. "Let's cut this investigation short. I'll inform the others."
"Sorry about—"
"Oh shut it, will you? You look terrible. No need to apologize." Australia crossed his arms as he looked at Canada. He really did look terrible. "What you do need to do is lie down."
Canada nodded and said nothing else.
Australia began to walk to look for the others, while Canada followed behind. He noticed that his brother's movements were a bit... wonky. He was walking as if he were delirious, constantly tripping and failing to walk straight.
Australia considered helping him walk, but decided against it. Canada didn't like being "babied" or whatever he would call it. He'd most likely just get annoyed at Australia. Instead, Australia opted to hold the shoulder of his brother, to lead him and to catch him easier if he falls.
Fiji was pretty easy to find, as he didn't stray far from the group. He turned towards to two as he raised an eyebrow, concerned.
"What in the world happened to him?" Fiji asked Australia, before turning to look at Canada, who was still incredibly pale. "... You look like shit."
"Thanks. I feel like shit too." Canada rolled his eyes as he frowned at Fiji.
"We're cutting the investigation short. Something happened to Canada." Australia sighed as he gestured to his brother. "I'll explain it to you later."
"Alrighty then?" Fiji hummed as he nodded. "Well, at least we can get out of this creepy ass house. Is it a house? I dunno... hm..."
-----
"He heard WHAT?!" New Zealand exclaimed loudly as he widened his eyes.
"Lower your goddamn voice for once, will you?" Canada growled out as he drank a cup of cold water to soothe his headache.
"Sorry, sorry. It's just—" New Zealand paused to regain his words, clearly surprised by all of this. "It's just that it's been years since we've last heard from our provinces! Are you sure that you weren't hallucinating or something?"
"I remember it as clear as day. They told me to get out of whatever hallway I was in, and I felt this... strong sense of dread and danger so I just began to run." Canada nodded as he explained further. "I felt sick. I wanted to vomit, I had this horrible headache and I couldn't think clearly. That's when Australia found me."
"Huh... Did they say anything else?" Fiji asked as he scratched his scalp, deep in thought.
"They told me that 'he knows you're here' or something along those lines. I still don't understand." Canada replied as he took another sip of his cold water. "Who is 'he?' Why did they feel threatened by 'him?' Hmm..."
"There was someone else there?!" New Zealand shrieked out, concerned. "Oh thank God I didn't go in there with you guys."
"You would've left us to die in that abandoned house?" Australia sighed dramatically as he leaned into his chair.
"I didn't say that!" New Zealand immediately rebutted. "Besides, I would've been able to alert UN where you guys died instead of dying with you guys and leaving our deaths a mystery."
"Hm... Perhaps we should alert UN of the location of the building,?" Canada suggested. "Oh, did you guys send the evidence over to UN as well?"
"Yep! I got Germany to do it for me because I couldn't find UN anywhere!" New Zealand nodded as he smiled.
"Good, good." Canada sighed in relief as he finished the rest of the water in his cup, gulping it down. "How abou—"
There was a sound. Three knocks in quick succession at the door. Everyone in the room turned towards it as someone opened the door and peeked inside.
"Oh! Ame! You're finally here." Australia smiled at America, who only gave him a cold glare back.
"You idiots. Are you alright? No injuries?" America asked, observing the four other people in the room, before suddenly snapping his head towards Canada and quickly walking towards him. "You. You didn't even bother to alert me that you were going to some... creepy abandoned house!"
America grabbed Canada's chin, moving and tilting his head around to check for injuries. Canada snarled as he swatted America's hand away.
"America, America. I'm fine." Canada assured his brother as he sighed, frowning. "No need to coddle me."
"I am not coddling you—"
"What's that in your hand?" New Zealand suddenly spoke, pointing at the folder America was holding in his other hand.
"Oh. Right, I forgot to hand this to you." America nodded as he gave Canada the folder. It had nothing on the covers to indicate what it was for. "It's from UN."
Australia quickly moved to look over Canada's shoulder as he opened the folder to see what were the contents of it. The first page had a list of the events UK had recently been to, and whatever he reported to UN about them. The most recent was a meeting between France, Germany, and the Nordics. What they were meeting about was expunged, but this gave them a lead.
"Oh... This is big. We have suspects now." Canada widened his eyes as he looked up at America. "Thanks for bringing this to us."
"Eh, I'm part of the investigation, I don't have a choice." America shrugged. Can't this guy just say 'you're welcome?' Whatever. Australia knew America was always like that.
Canada just rolled his eyes as he and Australia continued to look through the folder. There wasn't any more relevant information, as they were all just information on where UK lived, places he often went to, and details on his behavior. It was a bit creepy that UN managed to compile all of this, but he always was a bit of a control freak.
Well, actually, there was one thing that was relevant, and that was an entire file that tells them the Nordics definitely couldn't be responsible for the disappearance, as multiple witnesses had seen them immediately leave to a party after the meeting. That crosses them out of the list.
"We have to get into contact with those who UK last met with." Canada sighed as he looked at the others.
"Wow, what gave you that idea?" Australia rolled his eyes as he elbowed Canada.
"Shut up, alright?" Canada smiled as he shook his head, amused as he elbowed Australia back, though a bit softer as he was still feeling a bit weak. "Let's just get this over with."
Australia got up, and so did Canada. He turned to look at Fiji and New Zealand, who were busy talking about... bugs? He didn't know. He couldn't hear much.
"Kiwi, we'll go ahead and continue the investigation." Australia informed his brother, who looked up a him at the mention of his nickname. "Just stay here. We're going to interview a few other countries."
"Oh. Really? I wanna come with." New Zealand got up from where he was seated and took Fiji with him. "We should bring Fiji too!"
"Alright, alright." Australia slowly nodded as he laughed, before turning to leave.
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"I'm sorry, but I have a meeting later." Germany apologized as he shook his head.
"Maybe you should attend our meeting instead. It's cooler than yours." Australia tilted his head as he crossed his arms.
"Okay, how about I rephrase this." Canada deadpanned as he sighed, irritated. "UK is missing. We've been appointed to look into the disappearance. You're one of the suspects."
Germany froze as he stammered out, surprised. He stood there for a moment, his eyes wide as he tried to find the words.
"UK is missing?" He narrowed his eyes. "I recall having a meeting with him a few days ago! He—
"That's why you're one of the suspects." America responded, standing behind Germany. Germany jumped and turned around, having not realized America was literally right behind him.
"You're gonna have to come with us."
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"I didn't do anything!" France stammered out as he took a step back.
"Yeah, yeah, that's what every guilty person ever says." New Zealand rolls his eyes as he looks at France, who was looking confused and panicked. "And don't you hate his guts? That's pretty good reasoning to suspect you did it."
"I don't hate his guts! He's just annoying to me. Too eccentric!" France shook his head. Australia noted that he was pretty defensive. "I've got no blood on my hands, alright?"
"We never mentioned blood." New Zealand crossed his arms. "Suspicious!"
"... We're still gonna have to bring you in to interrogate you." Canada responded as he adjusted his glasses. "You're one of the suspects."
"Listen, I have some work that's past it's deadline, and I need to complete it today. EU's gonna kill me if—"
"Should've done it earlier." America hummed.
"Oh you are in no position to talk about this, United States of America—"
-----
Australia sat on a couch in his own office, looking through his phone. He was bored. America and Canada were busy interrogating Germany and France somewhere in the building. He forgot where it was honestly. It was so easy to get lost in here! Such a pain to navigate!
He never even memorized the full layout of this place, since he tended to stay in only one area of the UN Headquarters. Kiwi definitely didn't either.
Speaking of Kiwi!
He turned to look at New Zealand, who was curled up next to him, asleep and snoring loudly. Australia wondered how he was able to sleep near such a loud snorer in his childhood.
He looked so peaceful. It was almost strange, seeing such a serene expression when Australia was used to seeing him with a mischievous look, always looking for an opportunity to (playfully) cause chaos.
Looking at the face of his sleeping brother, he felt oddly sleepy too. There wasn't anything for them to do right now, so why not take a nap too?
Australia got up, making sure to not disturb New Zealand. He began to look for some blankets, but found nothing. He huffed in disappointment, and decided to use some of the extra couch covers he kept around just incase he spilled something.
He placed the couch cover on top of New Zealand's sleeping form, before moving under the cover as well and grabbing a pillow to hug.
He closed his eyes.
-----
"Listen, I'm trying to... fix things between us! Alright?" UK narrowed his eyes at Canada. "I'm trying!'
"And it will never be enough! You can't reverse what you've done!" Canada responded, hissing out at UK as he crossed his arms defensively, while America hid behind Canada, clutching his bruised arm. This was the first time UK had physically hurt one of them on purpose. "Have you truly changed? Or are you just pretending? Cause judging by what you did to Ame, it seems the latter is true! Maybe you've gotten worse, actually!"
"Oh please, it wasn't even that bad." UK shook his head as he looked down at America's arm. "There's barely a mark."
"But you still hurt him!" New Zealand spoke up, after hours of staying silent in his little corner. "When are you gonna get it through that thick fucking skull of yours?
"Watch your language. I am still your father." UK snarled in response as he looked around at the four of his adopted sons. "My God. You would not survive a single day if you were raised the same way I was!"
"Don't you dare call yourself our father!" Canada cried out as he took a step back, gently taking America's hand in his as he turned to leave.
"Don't turn your back on me—"
"UK— please. Just— leave us the fuck alone." America growled out, his voice raspy from sobbing just a few minutes ago. "Kiwi, Aussie... Let's just go."
New Zealand nodded and immediately followed, while Australia did so much slowly, turning to look at UK.
UK didn't meet his eyes. He was looking down at the ground with an unreadable expression. He then turned to head upstairs.
Australia bit his lip as he went back to following the others, slamming the door shut behind them.
They stayed in the forest near the house for a few hours, Canada trying to tend to America's wounds, which turned out to be more than just a bruise, to the best of his ability, despite his limited resources. New Zealand tried to cheer up America by speaking to him about bugs, while Australia stayed silent, not saying a word.
He didn't say a word for a week after that.
-----
"Wakey wakey."
Australia groaned as he opened his eyes, seeing New Zealand's face right in front of him. He jumped as he pushed his brother away.
"Ew. First thing I see when I wake up is your disgusting face." He playfully teases as he rolled his eyes.
"Okay, fuck you. You're being mean." New Zealand pouted in response. "Canada and America are done with the interrogation, by the way."
"Did they say anything about it?" Australia inquired as he stretched his back, hearing the bones cracking.
"They can't be responsible for the disappearance. Their testimonies supported each other, and Canada gained access to some security footage which shows footage of them going to the same party the Nordics where at, while UK was walking all alone." New Zealand explained. "So! We're back to square 1!"
"Great..." Australia mumbled ass he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Where are Canada and America anyways?"
"Eh, probably asleep. It's...." New Zealand looked around, trying to locate the clock in Australia's office. "12:57 AM."
"Oh what the fuck— I fell asleep for that long?" Australia immediately sat up, wincing at the feeling of tiny needles pricking the skin of his legs. Jeez, must've slept in a bad position.
"I suppose we should say goodbye to our normal sleep schedules?" New Zealand laughed as he leaned back in his seat. He recalls falling asleep around... 5PM. "Damnit. I just recently fixed mine."
"Same." Australia giggled as he leaned against New Zealand. "So, what should we do now?"
"Wanna hang out at my house? I recently bought a new videogame. I'll tell you what it is later." New Zealand suggested as he stood up.
"Of course." Australia nodded. "Just give me a moment. My legs are literally dead right now."
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Canada closed the door behind him, making sure to lock it, then stretched his back. Even if he had just spent 3 or 4 hours in there, it felt like he had been there for an entire day. He guessed that he was just used to his normal, boring life routine. He placed the folder down on his counter and sighed.
"Was UK really missing?" He wondered, walking into the kitchen to grab himself some coffee as he was planning on finishing some of the work he had to do. Sure, the deadlines are all due a week or two later but it was best to do them early.
Canada took a mug, feeling the cold, smooth porcelain surface on his skin. He placed the object aside and took the instant coffee mix and coffee creamer in both of his hands. As he did so, he felt a strange feeling behind his back. As if someone was watching him.
He quickly turned and, as expected, he saw nobody.
He poured water into the Thermo pot, still cautiously checking behind him a few times. He turned it on, watching as a red light flicked open and a hissing sound could be heard coming from the device. He stepped back, looking at the rest of his kitchen before—
Someone was in his home.
There he saw Him. A tall man with a fedora covering his eyes. Canada observed his suit. It seemed to be a suit one would wear in the 1920s. He didn't move or react to Canada's presence.
Canada asked who he was. No response. Canada asked how was he here. No response. It was almost as if he couldn't hear him at all.
And then he was back to reality. Canada found himself lying on the floor, with a head-splitting headache. He winced and looked around, a few papers were now scattered on the ground with his glasses not too far away. He felt something crumbly on his lip that ran down his chin and moved a hand to wipe it off. He looked down at his fingers and his eyes widened at the sight of dry blood.
He stood up, shuffling a bit in an attempt not to lose his balance, and looked at the Thermo pot. It was turned off now. He stumbled towards it and moved a hand near the metal to check if it was still warm or not. It wasn't warm at all. in fact, it was very, very cold. Unusually cold.
He turned to look on the counter and his eyes widened as he saw his phone on an active call with America.
He took it from its spot and lifted it to his ear. He listened to Ame call out for him but he felt like he shouldn't respond.
"Canada? Hello? Are you there?" America asked, his voice concerned. He had never heard him this worried before. It bothered him. "...I can't really hear you. Hello?"
Canada didn't respond. Instead stared into the distance. His gaze was fixated on a tiny crack in his wall—a small imperfection. He stayed silent as his brother continued to speak. That is until he heard a small beep, indicating that the one on the other side had hung up. He finally let his hand fall limp to his side and kneeled over to grab his glasses. They were thankfully unharmed by—what he assumed to be— his rough fall. He placed them on and looked around, everything was clearer now.
He guessed that he had passed out—evidently for a few hours even if it had just felt like a couple of seconds. As he began to pick up the fallen papers, he pondered, his head still aching.
...What just happened?
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Just want to emphasize that UK didn't physically abuse them, but emotionally neglected them. The flashback was the only time he laid his hands on one of them out of rage.
Anyways! I'm back! my apologies for not posting after a while! life got pretty hectic because of school. i'll make an effort in posting earlier once my summer break is here!
im planning on making some changes to the book, like changing the cover and getting rid of those fancy and rare words that i use for the titles. maybe use song lyrics for the titles! bonus points to whoever guesses where those lyrics come from. perhaps i should change the name of the book too! what are your thoughts?
edit: by the way! next update im posting a little concepts book! you'll get to see the full designs of the countries over there plus some extra art!
Thanks for reading!
3150 words