𝑫𝑬𝑨𝑫 𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑽𝑬《 Philippines CountryHumans AU 》

Interlude- Have you been Abandoned?

"The Original Universe"

Martial scans his desk, lined with all kinds of papers and pens that he'd probably already used all up. All of these useless things, (in Martial's eyes that is. These are all nationwide affairs that he needs to sign) were pushed away to the very edges of his round desk, and in the center was a large box wrapped in the most obnoxious gift wrapping.

His brain whispers, "you should probably have left the gift wrapping to someone else," and he wholeheartedly agrees, because what the fuck is this monstrosity in front of him?

But his heart, his big softie heart whispers back, "but it's okay if it looks like this. After all, you made it yourself, and that's what counts!"

He nods to himself, listening to his heart. Yes, he made it himself without anyone's help! (Except for YouTube of course, but even with a step by step tutorial, he'd somehow managed to mess things up. If you turn it a certain way, it kind of looks like a really stretched out duck.)

Martial stands up, looking at his watch and nods to himself. After he delivers his gift to Philip, he'll get ready and start work! The corrupted politicians don't kill themselves after all.

Martial smiles at the thought of his younger brother receiving the gift that he made himself. Oh, how he wished he could automatically skip time and just see the look on Philip's face.

His beloved brother, oh how he cherishes him so much.

Martial walks over to the other side of the hall where Philip and his quarters were. Their room were right next to each other, Martial made sure to tell the construction workers that, so that when Philip ever gets a nightmare of their hardships in the past, his older brother would be there for him.

The country stops at Philip's door, bringing a hand up to knock on the door.

"Philip? Can I come in? I have something to give you!" He says cheerfully, already excited.

1, 2, 3 minutes pass, and no response.

Now, Martial is a patient man, and it's quite early in the morning so maybe Philip's still sleeping. He'd gladly wait until Philip's awake so he can enter his room. After all, he values privacy a lot, so he won't just burst in the roo—

"Wake up sleepy head!! I got a present for you, anddddd you're not here," Martial visibly deflates as he looks around the empty room. His nose scrunches as his brow furrows.

Strange, his brother was a morning person, but he usually wakes up a few hours after Martial leaves for work as a mercenary.

"Phil? Are you playing a prank on me again? I swear if any whipped cream ends up on my hair I'm sending you to Vietnam's place!" Martial calls out. Phil's room is spacious, so it would take forever to clean up.

Silence follows after, and Martial's gut twists slightly. Something was wrong. Phil usually never commits to pranks like this.

"Phil? The joke's over, it's not funny anymore!" The country yells out, looking around the room as he puts the present at the foot of Phil's bed. Something was very very wrong.

Martial looks at the bed, the blanket looked as if someone underneath it just disappeared all of a sudden. Martial walks over to it, frowning, before he tossed the covers over.

His eyes widen.

A note is placed underneath, and his heart hammers in his chest. This wasn't a prank. Philip doesn't go this far.

He quickly takes the note, flipping it around to find a message halfhazardly written, as if whoever wrote it was a rush. This wasn't his brother's writing. In fact, he didn't recognize the writing at all.

Hello, I had to take your brother for a bit.

She won't let him stay for too long, but he'll be back before you know it. She said that he'll only stay there for a year if everything goes to plan!

And if not, you're going to have to make up an excuse when people ask about it. After all, he's adapting to this place quite quickly.

Right now, he's meeting ASEAN. Don't miss him too much. You're gonna have to learn what it feels to lose someone you knew all your life.

It's better than losing yourself after all.

-Phil

What? This doesn't make sense at all! Who wrote this and why'd they sign it as 'Phil?!'

They said ASEAN. At the headquarters? Why would Phil be there?! How did this person even get inside his brother's room without the alarms going off?

Were they part of the staff? Was this an assassination attempt on Phil? Goddamit— Fuck, he needs to go to ASEAN right now!

Martial runs out of the room. Philip stands there, watching him. He brought someone else into his own world, right under this guy's nose.

Tch, he bets this Martial doesn't even care about Philip. At least, he hopes so. Because it wasn't fair that he was treated that way! He wanted a good brother too!!

Philip's eyes flick over to the present at the foot of the bed. He floats over, looking around before carefully opening it as if it was the most fragile thing in the world.

Gentle now, he thinks, this is from Martial.

He pauses, not my Martial.

He continues unwrapping it, but still Martial.

Gift wrapper already on the floor, Philip stares at it's contents— A glass figurine of a sampaguita, most likely handcrafted by Martial himself.

Huh, this Martial used his spare time not to work more, but... to handcraft a present?

Philip almost feels guilty for forcefully leaving him in that world.

...

Maybe he should bring someone else as well.

[Someone else is from the original universe :)]

~Clueless