Chapter 23 • The Ailment and the Ocean

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Netherlands floated in the waters of the Academy's Lake Eryrue, his eyes scanned the surface bottom, searching for a particular item— it glistened like moonlight as he glanced around.

The Dutchman stabbed his hand into the sandbanks, digging the decently sized piece of meteor right out of the bottom of the lake. He quickly rubbed off some excess sand that was stuck to the sand, slowly surfacing as he juggled the space rock in one hand and his tools in the other.

Netherlands felt the familiar weight of the meteor fragment in his hand as he broke through the surface of Lake Eryrue. The water droplets cascaded down his wetsuit-clad body as he steadied himself, his gaze fixed on the gleaming treasure he had retrieved from the lake's sandy depths.

With practiced precision, he brushed away the last remnants of sand clinging to the meteor fragment, revealing its smooth surface shimmering like moonlight caught in a still pool. He grinned thinly, pulling himself up and onto the shore,

"Ned! Have you found the shard yet?" The worried voice of his sister— Belgium got closer and closer to his position, the plaid dress she was wearing entered his sights.

"Ja." He answered simply, tossing the precious space-rock into the cryogenic box his sister was holding. "Good, I don't want the heritage organizations going after your head again big brother. Luxembourg already has a lot to worry about."  Belgium whined, draping a long fluffy coat over her brother's tall form. The Belgian's heels made a loud clank as she landed back on her feet from such an endeavor.

"Let's go back inside," Luxembourg piped up from the sidelines, gold collar and dogtag hanging from his neck.







America limped from place to place with a wooden crutch, he didn't break his leg— that was the nearly close at all, By the way! He just... it was a precaution in case he had another one of his 'episodes' mid school day.

His current class was Mathematics, an incredibly boring class even for Singapore— who actually was not present, he found that weird but shrugged it off, inciting for emergencies, probably.

Speaking of emergencies... he hadn't seen any of the ASEAN nations and EU nations at all today, including Germany and Poland as well. Which was a strange occurrence, even for him. If they were in a meeting— he usually would be called to witness as well, along side most of his professors.

Nonetheless, he sat through a decent hour and half of boring math equations and several of his classmates incoherent sleepy babbling. Plus his blunt and ghostly teacher who adorned the flag of Paraguay.

Shifting in his seat once the awkwardly loud bell— gong rang, jumping up and shuffling out of the classroom and into the hallway with his awkwardly injured body.  

The hallway was crowded with other students hurrying to their next classes, most paid no mind to him, others just didn't bother saying anything as they watched him waddle from class to class. Ever since the migraine sent him hurling into a state of disarray physically, he hadn't been able to stand up properly without either toppling over or getting cramps.

Suddenly, he heard someone say his name.

"Oi! América, o que você está fazendo?!" His visions warped to reveal the usual form of a senior he had met during his childhood, Portugal— Son of the Portuguese Empire, a trusted friend and the prince's tutor as a young boy. "Você tem um desejo de morte?!" The older student's native tongue harshly said, albeit with a hint of worry.

"Come on, get up. You know your body cannot handle it well. What ever happened to meu pai teaching you?" The Portuguese hissed, calling over two other boys. "I cannot deal with you right now so Braga and Aveiro will help you to Organização Mundial de Saúde."







And thats how he ended up here, coddled in a plethora of infirmary blankets. He coughed up a thick red liquid before passing out, but not before a glowing red vein seem to wrap around his neck and arms.
















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Translations!

Meu pai (POR) — My father/dad

América, o que você está fazendo?! (POR) — America, what are you doing?!

Você tem um desejo de morte?! (POR) — Do you have a death wish?

Organização Mundial de Saúde (POR) — World Health Organization

This is a bit of a shorter chapter, but I promise chapters 24 & 25 will be longer and cover some important stuff that will eventually lead in with the plot!

Also currently working on the prologue for another story I will be writing! You may find it under the title 'Ballroom of Antiquity' once I released the prologue!

— Author out!

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