"Where the hell are Kiku and Hyun-Jae?!" Osaka shouts, running into a house belonging to one of the US states.
"Where the hell are our siblings?! They're all missing!" Virginia shouts back. Ontario places her hand on his shoulder to calm him down.
"We were told people would be coming here. All of our siblings are missing too." Bavaria says.
"We heard from Hebei that China is missing. So are Hong Kong and Macau." Kyoto adds.
"Shit... Now what?" Almería asks.
"We can try calling them." Puebla says.
"What if we can't contact them?" Mackinac asks.
"Do you think the other nations had something to do with this?" Maranhäo asks.
"Maybe... You've seen how he is after returning from meetings!" North Texas says.
"What if they kidnapped him?!" South Texas adds.
Several of the non-North and South American nations purse their lips and back away slightly from the angered siblings and cousins.
"Heeyy~ How about before we start blaming our siblings, we try calling them first?" Pavia says awkwardly.
"Yeah, let's do that." Shiga says. He pulls out his phone and types in Japan's number.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Romano, Centro, and Veneziano all pull Seborga into a random bedroom. Seborga seems nervous as his siblings stare him down.
"Well, Sebo? What are you doing here?" Romano asks.
Seborga looks down at his feet, doing his best to not make eye contact with his older siblings. He feels as if something is caught in his throat, not letting him speak.
"Sebo?" Centro asks.
"I-I- uh..." Seborga trails off, not sure what to say to them.
He suddenly stands up and makes a break for the door. Veneziano, Romano, Centro, and San Marino aren't able to stop him as he darts out of the room.
The nations look between each other in concern before trailing Seborga. It takes several minutes of running, but they finally find the room that Seborga escaped to.
"Sebo, what's wrong?" Veneziano asks, softly. He crouches next to the micronation, who is sitting in a fetal position, and places a hand on his shoulder.
Seborga looks up to his brother with tears in his eyes, causing his siblings to look at him in concern.
"Oi, Seb. What's going on? You're never this secretive." Centro asks, also crouching in front of Seborga. Romano and San Marino also crouch next to them.
"I-I-I'm... I'm-!" Seborga trembles as he begins to sob again. His siblings quickly embrace him, allowing him to sob into their chests.
"It's okay, Sebo. Just let it out." Veneziano smiles.
It takes a short while, but he finally manages to run his tears dry. The triplets calm down as Seborga's trembling stops.
"See? Everything will be alright, Seb. We just want to know why you're here." Veneziano smiles.
Seborga takes a deep breath before looking back at his older siblings, his eyes still glossy.
"I wanted to be recognized as a real nation, like you three." He admits. The triplets back away slightly, but have an expression of pity rather than anger.
"So that's what it was." Romano sighs, softly ruffling Seborga's hair. "You know just wanting to be recognized as a nation isn't something to give everyone a heart attack over."
"I know. I'm sorry. You all just seemed against it when I first brought it up, so..."
The triplets flinch. It was true, they didn't want him to become a nation. But not for the reasons he thought they had.
"You're right, we don't want you to be a true nation." Centro says. "But it's not because we don't think your worthy of being a nation. It's because we've been nations for a long time, we've seen what comes with it. It can be an amazing experience, but it comes with a lot of pain. You meet people that you think are amazing, but it's more than likely you'll just end up outliving them. Other things like wars are also painful. It's not because we don't think you deserve it, we just don't want you hurt in the ways we've experienced."
Seborga looks up at his sister in surprise. "Sorella..."
"Come on, up now." Romano says, grabbing his brother's forearms and pulling him onto his feet. The triplets quickly capture him in a hug once he's standing.
"I'm sorry." Seborga whispers.
"Seb..." Veneziano smiles.
"Sorry..."
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Wy and Molossia stood awkwardly as their siblings and cousins stood around them, practically staring into their souls.
"Wy, you wanna explain?" Australia asks, his arms crossed as he looks down at his sister. Wy only purses her lips awkwardly as she avoids eye contact. Molossia does the same with Canada, America, and Greenland.
"Sealand roped us into it." Wy answers. Australia places his hands on his hips as he looks down at the two micronations.
"... We wanted to be seen as true nations like the rest of you." Molossia sighs. Canada blinks at his answer.
"... Of course..." Canada mutters. He slaps his hand to his forehead in frustration. Why else would they sneak in?! If a nation wasn't seen as a true nation, their personification was wired to do everything to be seen as such. They had no control over it, it's just part of being a personification.
The other nations also seemed to realize that, as well as the tribes. They remembered very well how restless their, now modern nation, younger siblings could be before the time of colonization. They didn't want anything bad to happen, but that urge to be a true nation would always be there no matter what.
Damn nation wiring.
Greenland sighs. "Sorry, Molossia. We all know how nations are wired to be restless when not seen as actual nations. We should've known better than to handle you and the other micronations the way we did.
Australia smiles awkwardly and nods. "She's right. You're as much a part of this family as everyone else. Part of the reason we didn't want to acknowledge your nationhood-."
"You didn't want us to be pulled into the whole political world and other messes that come with being nations." Wy finishes. New Zealand nods in confirmation.
"Right. But you're still family, you can come to us with anything. You don't need to hide when we do something that upsets you. We'll do whatever we have to to regain your trust." Canada states, the other nations nodding.
The micronations' eyes begin to fill with tears. They couldn't hold in the joy that they were receiving thanks to their siblings and cousins.
Cree and Panama smirk and give each other a look before turning back to the group. "Now that that's outta the way..." Cree begins.
"FAMILY HUG!" The two nations tackle their siblings and cousins into a tight hug. Laughter filled the little room along with the sound of several people falling and hitting the floor.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
"Peter." Scotland begins. The boy looks down at his shoes awkwardly as his brothers look down on him.
"We told you to stop sneaking into meetings. Why do you keep doing it?" Ireland asks.
"You know why!" Peter snaps, quickly covering his mouth as his brothers flinch back. They knew he was going to be upset, but they weren't expecting that outburst. And based on his reaction, neither was he.
"Peter... Can you please explain it to us? We can't truly help if you refuse to tell us what's going on in your head." England says.
Sealand twiddles his fingers awkwardly, not wanting to make eye contact with his brothers. He remains silent for a moment before finally taking a deep breath and looking up at them.
"I just wanted to be seen as a true nation." Scotland gestures for him to continue, as do his other brothers. "You're all seen as these cool, true nations, and I'm just this little... thing out in the middle of the ocean.
England finally sighs, crouching back down and gently placing his hands on Sealand's shoulders. "Peter, we're all sorry."
Sealand looks up at him and their other brothers in surprise. "Wah-?!"
"Sealand... Peter... honestly." Ireland sighs. "Let's be real; none of us were ever very good older siblings. With all the conflict that's happened between us, we weren't prepared to be able to handle another younger sibling. It's been so long since we haven't been fighting with each other, we forgot how it was. You deserved better than us. I'm not saying that to guilt trip you into forgiving us. I'm just saying it as it is."
Sealand's breath hitches as tears begin to fall from his eyes. Wales quickly crouches down in front of the boy and cups his face, wiping away some of the fallen tears.
"You don't need to forgive us right away. We'll all work to be better. And please, don't be afraid to come to us if something's wrong." Wales says.
Sealand looks around at their other brothers before making eye contact with England. England nods affirmingly, making Sealand begin to cry harder. The boy brings his forearm up to his eyes as he cries.
"Okay!" Sealed hiccups. He is immediately enveloped in a hug warmer than he'd ever had before.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
The nations that left for their conversations have finally made it back to the kitchen and gotten their dinner. The remaining tension in the air had faded and everything was peaceful as they ate.
At least until Japan's phone went off, signaling an incoming call.
"... I think that's for you." Choctaw mutters. Japan just raises an eyebrow before accepting the call and putting the phone up to his ear.
"Moshi moshi."
"Kiku-nii!" Japan flinches as Shiga shouts through the phone.
"... Shiga?"
"Where are you, Hyun-Jae, and all the other nations?" Shiga asks. "A bunch of states, provinces, and everything are freaked out. Some of the micronations also disappeared!"
"Um... It's a long story. We're all safe though." Japan attempts to reassure him, raising an eyebrow when Shiga sighs.
"So you weren't kidnapped?"
"No."
"And you didn't get into a huge martial arts and magic showdown? And no one got jiu jutsued by Brazil...?"
"... No?"
"And you weren't forced into some dramatic, anime type betrayal and left to see the looks of sadness, betrayal, and anger directed at you before everyone finally fell unconscious and you and a few other nations were knocked out by the rest so you weren't stuck with the guilt of betraying your best friends and some of their family against your will with no way or turning back with tears in your eyes as you fell unconscious as the other nations took the victims away?"
Cue Japan having one of the funniest and most amazing "wtf??" faces the nations in the room had ever seen on the man's face.
"... HUH?!" Multiple nations jump at Japan's uncharacteristic outburst. Japan was just wondering how the hell anyone came up with... whatever that was.
"Alright, so Texas was just being paranoid... Well, we're just making sure everyone's okay. Mata chikaiuchini o ai shimashou!" Japan moves the phone away after a click signifies Shiga hung up.
"So... What was that about, Keeks?" America asks, eyeing said nation with concern. The other nations were doing the same, since they couldn't hear Shiga.
"... Our family members have some... interesting ideas of what we're up to. That and something about the Texas twins..." Japan continues to look down at his phone in confusion.
"Well, how about we all finish dinner so we can get ready for continuing on reading that journal tomorrow?" France asks, putting his hands up awkwardly.
The nations sigh and nod before finishing their dinner. This was something they could worry about in the morning. For now, they would finish eating and get ready to fall into an unsteady sleep.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Unbeknownst to the nations, the Ancients were able to hear Shiga. All of them were standing around, awkwardly. Especially Native North America.
"Your kids get some... I interesting ideas. At least they look out for each other so much." Jōmon smiles. However, his smile remained awkward and confused.
The Ancients nod in agreement and look at Native North America with concern. She remains zoned out.
"How are these my kids? I know where it's coming from... But, holy shit, I'm not that bad... Am I...?"
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
That's the end of this chapter, sorry it took so long to get this out.
Anyways, have a good day/night, stay safe, wash your hands, don't do dumb shit that puts yourself in danger of Coronavirus-
I'll get the next chapter out as soon as possible!
Edit: 9/13/22- This took forever to rewrite and I'm sorry. I got stuck in summer school in June, was distracted by other stuff, went to a pow wow sometime in August (and didn't interact with anyone cause social anxiety), had band camp stuff, school started, I'm four weeks in and may or may already have gotten sick with a fever (I'm at lunch at the time of writing this bit)
Anyways, I'm sorry for slacking on this for so long.
Translations-
Sorella- Italian- Sister
Mata chikaiuchini o ai shimashou- Japanese- See you later