THE END IS NEVER THE END II Countryhumans AU

5: I CALL SANCTUARY!

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....Where in the bloody Earth–

"Oh, good. You're awake. I thought you actually died... I would've been able to get away with murdering England too, dammit..."

I-

What–

...Everything is still such a blurr. I slowly opened my eyes only to be greeted by my children who look like they're about to break down crying and my ever so great older brother, Scotland. But on the bright side, it seems that we're back at Sanctuary a-okay.... Either that, or I'm just absolutely losing my mind, I died, and this is all some weird middle place. I immediately grumble. "Did I just hear what I think I heard?"

"What? About England?"

"Mhm."

"Oh, yeah, that. I, uh, didn't mean it."

I roll my eyes at him. "Yep, totally. You definitely didn't just tell me that you were going to kill him."

He grumbles back and punches my shoulder, which... Is already in pain before he did. "Whatever, ya twat. Get up. Your kids won't stop pesterin' me whether you're alive or not."

And with that, he walks away without a hint of concern or whatever. And they say I'm the grumpy one, clearly that man is a constant mood that woke up day to day with violence. But then again, he's always been like that. I don't even know why I still bother reacting to him always plotting Iggy's death. On the other hand, as I was about to slowly sit up, I have been ambushed by my three beloved idiots. Their voices were all overlapping, I could even barely try to understand anything that they're saying at all. "Ay, easy now. One at a time, yeah?" I tell them, which surprisingly calmed them down. New Zealand jumped at the opportunity to go first and aggressively whispered, "We thought they caught up with you." Oh yeah, I almost forgot that actually happened. Everything just felt like some weird drug-crazed fever dream.

"Well, since I'm here, they didn't, right?" I don't even know what I'm saying. I'm still in a bit of a daze of what actually happened. Just thinking about it makes me sick. It was so mesmerizing in such a traumatic way..... If that even makes sense. "What even happened back there?"

Sealand, being the obvious smallest, nudges New Zealand away and sits on my lap and aggressively whispers just as his brother: "...W-We found you passed out by where the artefact was. You were out cold."

"I was?"

New Zealand frowned a little. "You really don't remember?"
"Would I be acting like this if I do?"
"Fair point."

I happen to roll my eyes. "...Anyway, this.. Artefact thingy-majig." I aggressively whisper back. "...You guys got it, right?"

Australia suddenly sits beside us. "Yep. It's, uh, wrapped in this here blanket." He motions to the lump wrapped in a small blanket that he probably got from another scav who's smuggling goods here into the Sanctuary. "Very sensitive to touch, it is. Makes a good heat source too." Well, he did get that bit right. I couldn't help but stare at it for a little while. It's as if there's something in me that's gravitating towards it. I don't know if it's the pain it caused me or some otherworldly feeling of sorts. I gaze back up to Aussie. "Well? Didn't you... I dunno, try and make magic with it or something?"

They all look at each other as if they were just about to drop some bombshell news. "Well... There's a bit of a problem." Kiwi goes. Knew it. Sealand grumbled a little. "The artefact isn't actually, well, in tact?"Australia heaves a sigh. "What they meant to say was that this isn't even the real deal - only half of it. A small percentage, even. What we found down there was just a shard."