Canada listened to his assistant, Greenland talk to him. Canada frowned - he accedently told one person about a third party, now there was a huge uproar about this.
"Countries want to know if you were lying or not," Greenland stood in front of Canada's desk.
"Of course I wasn't lying!" Canada slammed his hands on his desk, irritated, "I saw her! In the woods! Blue and yellow! Torn clothes! Flower crown! She doesn't has the Restoration symbol on her coat! We never rescued her! She doesn't exist in the book!"
Greenland nodded, taken aback. Canada never acted like this. He almost seemed protective. And he mentioned the book that they used to document countries and their descriptions - Greenland would go through the book today, check if a blue and yellow country with torn clothes was there or not.
"I'll go and check," Greenland confirmed as Canada sat back down in his seat. He wandered outside, the camp almost identical to America's except a little bigger, with countries who were bruised but resilient speaking with eachother all through the camp.
"Greenland," A familiar country tapped on Greenland's shoulder, causing him to stop and turn around. It was Iceland, his brother. "Is Canada still saying the third party exists?"
"He is," Greenland hesitated, "I'm checking the book if the country he described is in there. I need all the proof I can get to send a search party out."
"Fair enough," Iceland followed Greenland into a small but well preserved building, bookshelves and books lining the walls. They did have children here and the younger ones needed to be educated, after all.
In the centre of the room stood a lectern with an old book placed atop of it, Greenland opened it and began to flick through country descriptions. Blue and yellow matched a few, but those few had very different descriptions.
"So.." Greenland murmured, reading the last description, "Who he described doesn't match anyone."
"He could've been hallucinating?" Iceland suggested, Greenland shook his head.
"He says in these exact words; 'I was taking a walk in the forest as I do every morning, then a country sprinted past me and bumped into my shoulder while running. She turned around and apologised before she disappeared again'," Greenland recited like he'd heard the story a million times. Iceland sighed.
"Are you going to tell Canada that you can send a search party out?" He asked, "I mean, it could resolve the rumours?"
"I think I have to," Greenland huffed, "I'll send two people from this camp and another two from America's camp."
Iceland nodded as he watched his brother make his way to Canada's area, a small building, but a building nonetheless.
"So?" Canada asked, staring down at his desk and awaiting an answer. Greenland began to speak.
"She doesn't exist in the book, you're right," Greenland said in defeat as Canada cheered himself on, "I can arrange two search parties? One from this camp and the other from America's camp?"
"Do it," Canada grinned, "See who America wants to send, but you see who wants to go in this camp."
"Yes, sir," Greenland confirmed, backing out of the room, and beginning to ask around.
"Do you want to join a search team to look for a-"
"N-no, thanks.."
"Excuse me, sir, do you want to-"
"Not really."
"Ma'am, could you help u-"
"I can't, I have children."
Greenland sighed in defeat. He was ready to tell Canada that nobody wanted to join the search team. He wasn't sure what to expect - Canada had seemed unlike himself for the past few days, ever since he saw this country.
"Nobody wanted to join?" Canada frowned to Greenland before he even began to speak. Greenland hesitantly shook his head. Canada smirked, "I'll go then. You're in charge."
"But sir, is that nessessary?" Greenland stuttered, "Who else will you take?"
"Oh, I can take.. uh.." Canada thought for a moment, "I'll have a look. Someone who knows how to navigate."
Greenland nodded. Canada stood up, inviting Greenland into his seat. Greenland jumped, he hadn't expected to fill in for Canada this soon. He eventually sat down as Canada ran off into the crowd.
Canada searched - he knew a few people who were good at navigation. He knew Norway was great at navigation, but unfortunately, he was in the Restoration. He wasn't a poor country. Nor were his brothers, but his brothers wanted to join the FA.
His second choice was Poland - he knew his way around the forest well, he just hoped Poland was actually in the camp at that moment.
"Poland!" Canada called, "Poland! Are you here?"
"Yes?" Canada swivelled around, Poland stood behind him, grinning. Canada sighed a breath of relief.
"We're making a search party, and I need a navigator," Canada repeated, Poland got what he was trying to say. Poland giggled, and nodded.
"I'll help you find the third party," Poland nodded, "By the way, it was kind of pathetic watching Greenland asking countries. He missed me, though. I tend to blend in."
"Greenland's in charge right now," Canada snickered, "But anyway, we need to stop by America's camp. We should probably get going before it's dark."
Poland nodded as he turned around and began to walk. Canada stood still for a whole second before following Poland away, small trees brushed against his shoulders because of his height.
Poland seemed confident in where he was going, Canada however, barely paid attention to his surroundings. It got darker and darker, and they still weren't there - until they saw a faint orange glow in the distance. It got bigger and brighter with each step, and voices began to get clearer.
"Dude, don't thro-" A voice echoed, pausing, "And you threw it. That was a good stick, come on!"
Canada and Poland stepped into the clearing, a large bonfire roared in front of them. Around the bonfire, they saw several figures, and found it strange how this camp had barely anyone in it.
"Oh, hey, bro!" America waved, standing up, still short compared to his younger brother, "What are you doing here? It's late?"
"You've heard the rumours, right?" Canada questioned, America nodded, "That was me who saw the country. The third party exists, and we're building a search party. Two search parties."
"Dude, come on," America shrugged, "The third party doesn't exist! There's only the Restoration and the FA! The good guys and the bad guys! There's no in-between!"
"But there is," Canada protested, "And I wanna go find them."
America stayed silent. He looked back to the other countries beside the campfire, then to Phil, with dried tear tracks down his cheeks. He looked at America hopefully.
America growled, "Fine, I'll do it. I need someone else for this though, I'm assuming?"
Canada nodded, America looked back to the others. Germany groaned and stood up.
"I'll come," He sighed. Poland stepped back the slightest bit and looked away, Germany noticed that and nodded, "Figures."
"You guys should sleep here tonight," America said, "It's too late to try and look for this 'third party'. Sit down, we're not doing much."
Canada and Poland watched America sit beside Philippines and Germany, Poland decided he'd sit down further away. Canada, however, sat nearer to America, leaving Poland on his own.
Germany looked over and saw Poland a decent ways away, he huffed. It was because of him, wasn't it? He felt bad, Poland would probably not forgive him for what his family did in the past. But then, on the other hand, how would Poland forgive him if he never properly introduce himself?
After thinking for a bit, Germany shook his head. He didn't want to make Poland uncomfortable. He stood up, looking down towards the others.
"I'm going to bed now," He stated, shuffling to a building. He heard footsteps behind him, but ignored them. He stepped over the mattresses lining the floor and chose to sleep on the mattress in the corner, sitting down and pulling out a book wedged between the mattresses. It was barely light enough to read, so he gave up, placing the book back where it was. He was about to take off his glasses when he saw a nervous figure standing in the doorway.
"Oh, hallo," Germany waved, they waved back, "Come in if you want. I'm not stopping you."
They hesitantly stepped inside, having trouble in choosing a mattress. They seemed like they had too much choice in where to sleep.
"Poland, there is no reason to be afraid of me," Germany said out of the blue, Poland seemed to jump, "I'm not going to hurt you, I hope you understand that."
"It's hard to let go of torture," Poland hugged himself, "Even if it was a long time ago."
"I'm not asking you to let go of what my father did to you," Germany said, "Or what my grandfather did to you. So you know what? I'm going to apologise on their behalf. Even though they're.. not alive any longer, I'm going to say I'm sorry."
"I.." Poland didn't know what to say. Instead, he sat on a mattress near Germany.
"Name what you'd like me to do," Germany looked to Poland, "I'll do what you like, I.. I really want you to know how sorry I am."
"You've apologised, and that's enough," Poland finally said, "You don't need to do anything for me. But don't expect me to be your best friend, okay?"
Germany grinned.
"Okay," He nodded, "I can respect that. But really, tell me if you need anything. I don't even like my family either, just so you know."
Poland didn't say anything for a short while.
"Goodnight, Germany."
"Sleep well, Poland."