Hetalian Protectors

The Beginning of the End

Last Time:

Luna's POV: I wanted to stay a bit longer. Ignoring the sensation, I pushing into the very center of the crowd of insects. Laughing joyously, I watched pleased as one of them landed on my out-stretched finger, grinning like a fool.

The sound of knocking made my eyes snap open. Rolling over, I buried my face in my pillow, disappointment and a slight twinge of fear building in my throat. "Luna? Are you awake Bella? Germany has made breakfast~"

Sighing, I barely raised my head enough so that my response wasn't muffled, "I'll be out in a minute Feliciano! I've gotta get dressed!" I heard a happy hum on the other side of the wood.

"Alrighty~ See you in a few!" His retreating footsteps were the sign of his departure. Groaning, I turned back over onto my back, staring up at the ceiling. Instantly, a flash of green caught my eyes, a tiny tapping sound coming from my window, and I glanced over, already knowing what I would see. A large, florescent green butterfly was trying to escape the confines of my room, ramming itself repeatedly into the glass.

Shaking my head, I got to my feet. "Not again..."

*****

Luna's POV: The towel was already heavy around my neck and water dripped onto the floor from my clothes, the droplets shiny against my skin and the tile. I was sure I was leaving foot prints, but I didn't really care. I'd come through the back door, so one: I was closer to my room. And two: We'd done stuff like this before and the staff never complained, though that was probably because we always cleaned up after ourselves. I just wanted to get into some dry clothes first.

I wouldn't lie, though, after the last few days I had been extremely irritated, so when Arwen suggested sparing I wasn't going to say no, even if it was raining. I mean, it was just water, despite everything Kyoko said about the weather messing up her hair, and at the end of the day it cooled me off better than anything else would. Rain had always been calming to me, especially thunderstorms. It was like the entire Earth was proving that it could survive anything with every crash of thunder and every strike of lightning.

However, I wasn't a fan of how the countries had come out to watch, but it wasn't their fault. It just reminded me of my time in the League, and I'm sure the others felt somewhat similar. We'd been forced to do unspeakable things to each other in front of the rows of scientists whose only task had been to take notes on what made our powers come out more. Getting stabbed or shot? Electrocuted, drowned, or set on fire? There were just so many things for them to try.

And that's probably what led us here. A harsh throb made my gaze move to where a bandage was now partly visible at my waist line. First Canada gets taken and now our wounds weren't healing completely? My broken rib still hadn't set itself and no matter what we tried nothing worked. I had even considered going to see a normal human doctor before Scarlett talked me out of it, saying that if even Kyoko's magic couldn't heal what had been done, we'd need to focus on a stronger version of science then what had gotten us into this situation.

It still surprised me that none of the countries had figured us out yet. Kyoko limped half the time and Scarlett was always having to watch he side. Arwen had such bad headaches now that it took her a while to get ready in the mornings. We were all getting weaker by the day as well. It didn't take a genius to realize what the League had been trying to accomplish. They were making it so we couldn't fight back when they came. So, we couldn't protect those closest to us.

It wouldn't be that easy, though. We wouldn't let it be that easy. Kyoko was searching for a cure and the tests were going by fast enough that every one of them bought us ever closer to the truth. No matter what we found at the end, we weren't going to stop. We'd already lost too much to give up.