"What are we gonna do now?"
That was the million dollar question. What were we going to do? Our kids were kidnapped by super-fast, super-cunning devil versions of ourselves.
"The kids are being held in Hell," Kadi said matter-of-factly. "We should go rescue them."
"That's sounding more and more difficult by the minute," I groaned, frowning at the table. We'd brought it back inside the meeting room and the remaining kids were milling around. I think James was on the verge of going into a coma... His brother and the girl he loves were both taken. I would go into shock if I was in his place, too.
"First of all, we need a team to be pieced together to get them back," Kadi continued, standing up from her seat. The chair legs protested when they scooted back along the floor.
Looks like she was taking charge of the meeting, for once.
"Preferably, they need to be stealthy. Or have magic. But it would best that if any parents are going, one spouse stays behind from this mission." I don't think Kadi had to explain her reasons why one parent would stay behind.
If something happened to one of us, it would only be logical if the kids... still had at least one parent to look after them.
A grim notion, but it made sense.
"This will be dangerous." Kadi didn't like sugar-coating things. "But this won't be a sort of "rush in with guns spitting bullets" kind of operation. The way I envision it, the team goes in through a portal, finds and retrieves the children if possible, and sneaks everyone back through the same portal. No mess, no fuss. Get in, get out with everyone in tow."
"Who vould be on zhis awesome team?" Prussia inquired, leaning his cheek against his palm with his elbow against the table.
"I was gonna ask for volunteers, first," Kadi replied. "So, is anyone interested in going into Hell?"
... Not a great way to phrase the question, but whatever. I raised my hand languidly, rolling my eyes.
"I'll go."
"Eh?" Matthew yelped, looking over at me with wide eyes. "Alice, no!"
"You aren't changing my mind," I stated firmly, folding my arms and looking away from my husband. I heard him slump in his chair.
"Stubborn American..." he grumbled, which made me smile just a little.
England raised his hand next. "I'll go as well. I want to make sure my daughter gets home safely."
Joy looked troubled by something but didn't speak up. Christian bit his lower lip, the book in his hand forgotten for the time being.
"Dudes, whatever it is, I'm in!" America declared as he and Rayn came back inside the meeting room and took their seats. "What's goin' on?"
I rolled my eyes again. "Good Lordy, don't agree to things you don't know anything about."
"It's the American way," he shot back mirthfully. I stuck my tongue out at him, which he mirrored.
"Ladies, ladies," Kadi interrupted. "America, we're doing a reconnaissance mission to see if we can retrieve the kids. Sneak them out from under the devils' noses."
"We aren't rushing in with guns spitting bullets?" America asked almost disappointedly.
"No, we're not."
"Darn..."
"Please tell me you're joking," England said to America exasperatedly.
My brother smirked. "Totally."
Disturbing... The conversation was getting away from us, though.
"Anyone else?" Kadi asked. Most of the room was hesitant, indecisive. "I'll start assigning people if we don't get at least two more."
"Why aren't-a you going?" Romano asked the Basque territory.
"I will be maintaining the portal to Hell," Kadi answered. "Otherwise, everyone who goes in will be stranded until it opens again."
"I guess I'd be a good person for this mission," Vale piped up without raising her hand. Russia looked over at her with a bit of a proud smile that was partially hidden by his ever-present scarf.
"You would," Kadi agreed with her daughter.
Silently, one more hand went up in the air. Heads turned, some eyes were a bit wide.
"You too, Japan?" America asked in an almost cheer.
"Hai. If you are rooking for stearth and speed, I suppose I would be a good candidate," Japan explained.
I grinned. 'Ninjas~'
"That's five people," Kadi stated. "England, Alice, Vale, America, and Japan. If no one else wants to go, I think we have our team."
"... Count me in," Rayn said suddenly without looking at anyone in particular. She seemed to have a sort of epiphany, almost.
"Uh, Rayn, if America goes you have to stay here," I said to her.
"Do I really, though?" she asked me rhetorically. "I want to teach these demons a lesson. A damn fuckin' good one, too."
"Language," I reminded her sternly, clapping my hands over Evan's ears. He was sitting in my lap, after all.
"We're not teaching them a lesson, anyway," Kadi spoke up, making Rayn turn toward her. "We want to avoid contact with the demons as much as possible. Think about it this way: the only way Alice was able to have a chance at fighting one of them was because she nearly overused her magic on a swiftness spell." This earned me a light glare from the ancient country.
I chuckled weakly and rubbed the back of my neck. "Eheheh, yeah..."
"And even then, she didn't win the fight."
"He called it off before I got the chance to finish him off!" I corrected. "I would've won..." This I grumbled like a pouting child.
"Sure, you keep thinking that," Kadi said with a smirk. "The point is, barely any of is would have a chance against the demons if it ever came to a fight. We have to take every precaution." Rayn opened her mouth to speak, but Kadi cut her off with a strong sentence. "And if you're in such a state of anger and yearning for revenge, you wouldn't do the mission any favors."
Rayn shut her mouth and sent Kadi a long, hard glare before leaning back in her seat with a sigh. "Yeah, whatever."
"When can we get going?" I asked.
"You aren't going anywhere until you get some proper rest," Kadi told me with a finger aimed my way.
"What?" I whined.
"Didn't you hear me earlier? Your magic is too low, and you're weak even if Vale and I did heal your wounds. If you don't rest for at least eight hours, you're not going to Hell."
Wow, she was getting bossy! I quietly grumbled something incoherent and definitely not suited for children to hear.
"The same goes for you, too, Bushy-Brows," Kadi said.
"What? What did I do?" England demanded.
"You're under stress right now, I can almost see it rolling off of you in waves. Your magic won't be any good if you're too frazzled about your kid. In fact, I suggest that the entire team rests up before anything else is planned.
"I suppose that's it."
~~
Omniscient POV~
"Wow, I'm surprised you decided to join the team, Japan!" America said loudly as the countries made their way out of the meeting room.
"Werr, if it herps get the chirdren back, I wirr do what I can," Japan replied calmly. He had gotten a good bit of practice handling America's loudness over the last two decades.
"But... I am wondering something, America-san," Japan said to his friend.
"Go for it," America prompted brightly, clapping Japan on the shoulder in a friendly way.
"Werr... Why did Rayn-san run out of the room before?"
America looked a little unsure but tried to laugh it off. "Girl stuff. I don't really try to understand it, haha."
"Ah, I see." But Japan wasn't fooled for a second. There had obviously been something much bigger going on with Rayn. Still, his ability to read the mood and refrain from speaking was as sharp as ever, and he kept his mouth shut about his suspicions.
"Anyway, I'll talk to ya later, Japan," America said when they came to one of the "hotel" bedrooms the meeting building was equipped with in case meetings ran longer than they were supposed to.
"Sayonara," Japan replied courteously with a shallow bow in farewell.
The bedroom door shut and Japan continued on in search for his own accommodations for the rest of the day. Kadi was correct in saying the reconnaissance team should get plenty of sleep. The mission ahead sounded like a treacherous one that would put a lot of strain on both the body and the mind. And if they were to actually engage in battle... Let's just say that every advantage they could gain would be necessary.
The devils had proven just how strong they were in a fight. Winning would be mostly by a stroke of sheer luck, not so much skill and stamina. This would be very difficult, indeed...
Alice's POV~
"Sleep time," I sang, falling onto one of the single beds in my two-bedroom "hotel" room. Tatiana, Evan, and Tael were whispering to each other before nodding and grinning. I didn't see them climb up onto the bed, but I definitely felt it. All three kids laid down around me like puppies and shut their eyes, feeling exhausted.
"Aw, this is cute," I commented with a giggle that Tatiana matched.
"Nap time, Mommy," she told me.
I leaned over and pecked her forehead. "You're right. Nap time for everyone."
"G'night, Mommy," Tia said, yawning and relaxing as she fell into slumber.
Evan crawled up to my chest and leaned over, puckering his lips eagerly. I couldn't help laughing as I kissed him too and gave him a squeezy hug.
"'Night, Momma," he whispered, yawning just like his sister did as he shut his bright green eyes that matched mine so perfectly.
Tael had his back to me and he was feigning sleep, but I knew better. The peck on his slightly scaly cheek surprised him, and he sat up to look at me with wide teal eyes.
"What?" I asked. "It was your turn."
He didn't say anything. His expression melted into a bashful smile and he laid back down, facing everyone else this time.
When his eyes closed, I ended up studying where his scales lay on his skin. His cheekbones were lightly doused, as were the sides of his neck and tops of his shoulders. Of course, I couldn't see his shoulders through the fabric of his pajama shirt, but I knew they were already there. His shirt was riding up on his stomach just a bit, exposing the trail of darker, tougher scales on his flank. The tops of his feet were peppered with the scales as well, leaving the bottoms and between his toes clear.
My curiosity was still not satisfied. I wanted to know how the devils had made Tael into what he was today. The matter with his souls still intrigued me, not to mention the fact that he seemed to have permanent markings that spoke of him dying and coming back to life.
Did his death and resurrection have anything to do with it? Probably...
Also, who were his parents? My suspicion was resting on America and Rayn, but I didn't want to think they were his biological parents. After all, I could remember a conversation I'd had with Rayn a while ago. Many years. Eleven years, if I wasn't mistaken.
"Rayn, don't let this get you down," I said to my friend of nine years. She looked like a wreck. Her hair was messy and unkempt. To put it simply, her overall look read "I don't care anymore."
"I still don't understand how you even found out," Rayn grumbled angrily without looking at me. She was lying on her bed, the blankets and sheets tangled around her, with her back turned toward me.
"Well, you were supposed to be announcing the name of your baby a little while ago. I just put two and two together," I replied. She flinched, but I didn't let that deter me. "Rayn, you of all people should know well enough that there's so much more than just giving birth to children."
"Sure." She sat up and gave me a poisonous look. "And when you lose a baby, you can come talk to me about how it feels."
"I don't think I can have children," I said strongly, giving her a glare right back. "If anything, I'm jealous of you. You still have Nekochi to think about, you know."
I guess that struck a nerve with her, but in a way that worked to my advantage. She fell back on the bed, lying spread-eagled and inert. "I know... I know. But..."
"Alfred's not in the best of moods, either, you know," I reminded her. "It hurt him as well. I think... I think the best thing you could do right now is let things go back to the way they were."
Rayn didn't reply. I furrowed my brow, stood up, and started clapping my hands in a steady rhythm. "Up an' at 'em, ladies! Up, up, up!"
"What are you doing," Rayn asked dully.
"You are going on a mother-daughter date with Nekochi. Right now. Up, up!"
But back to the present, I could see a few tiny features in Tael I hadn't recognized before. His nose looked like Rayn's, if just barely so. Even if his hair and eyes were different from America's and Rayn's, the eye shape was akin to America's. No ahoge, but then again Nekochi didn't have an ahoge, either. Louvel sort of had one...
'What if Tael really is their son?' I wondered.
Alright, let's face it. I've grown attached to him. Heavily so. And I was fiercely protective of him, just as I am with people who are mistreated. But it wasn't the mistreatment that was making me protective of him.
'I guess... I think of him as one of my kids.'
The bedside creaked and I felt a hand on the side of my hair. I jumped and turned my neck to see Matthew looking at me with a sad, sad expression.
"Alice, why are you always being so reckless?" he whispered.
"I don't try to be," I replied just as quietly. "I just do what I feel I have to."
He sighed, one corner of his lips turning up into a half-smile. "I guess that's a good answer. Do your best, alright?"
"Always," I promised, smiling up at him genuinely. Our lips met in a chaste kiss and he went to lie down on the empty bed, seeing as how the bed I currently occupied was filled with kids. But Tory and Triss clambered up and kept him company as he turned on the TV, muted it, and used subtitles to watch while the four of us rested.