Where Thou Art, That Is Home (Hetalia Fanfic)

Chapter 79~!

The cages were filling up fast. All six of them were housing a kid of at least one country or something similar.  

First came Nekochi. Next was Milo. After him, the remaining four arrived in pairs: Devyn and Mikhail, Andi and Jean. Three girls, three boys. All of varying ages, all related in some vague, convoluted way because country family trees are confusing as hell.  

Nekochi finally got to gaze upon the face of her captor, or at least one of them. She was shocked, however, to see the face of her own father leering back at her.  

Well, it would have been her father if her father's hair was charcoal black and he had a curly horn on either side of his skull. Not to mention the wings, the tail, the fangs, the black eyes, the pale skin, etc.  

Andi had been a piece of work when she was hauled into the room with all the cages. She'd kicked and screamed, throwing little rays of light in every direction. The devil impersonating Nekochi's father had to put some sort of bracelet on her to keep her from using her magic. It acted as an inhibitor, blocking her ability to access her magical energy reserve.  

Devyn huddled in the corner of her cage beside Nekochi's. The poor fourteen-year-old was terrified of what she was seeing: her cousins locked up like animals all around her, though she was among those "animals".  

Jean was rather numb, not quite sure what to do. He wasn't a strong type of person. He never played sports, and he never took part in excessively active events. To say that he was afraid he would be an easy, weak target was an understatement.  

Andi lay sleeping on the floor of her cell. Her energy had been spent on her tantrum. She looked rather like a redheaded angel with the way her face looked so peaceful. It was ironic, really, giving her current predicament.  

Mikhail had long since lost his voice after shouting nonstop for his release. The air in this place, wherever it was, stank and burned like no other. He was listing to the side, loopy from the heat and lack of clean oxygen.  

Milo was keeping it together rather well for a boy his age. He wasn't crying out anymore whenever his skin was burned by the hot metal of the cage, but he still flinched and drew back sharply. His cheeks were reddened, like everyone else's, and his flushed skin was dampened with sweat. 

Yet Nekochi, having been in such a punishing place longer than any of the other children, was taking a terrible toll. Her symptoms seemed familiar to her: she knew what was happening to her, but what was the name? Hot skin that wasn't even sweaty anymore, definitely a fever, some gentle hallucinations that made her think flowers were springing up at her feet...  

The answer, unknown to her, was simple: heat stroke.  

She may have blacked out once or twice. Nekochi wasn't usually one for the heat, but then again this hellish place was swelteringly hot. The image it brought to her feverish mind was of a convection oven slowly cooking her.  

~At the impromptu world meeting~ 

The phones were finally working again, although nothing was ever really wrong with them in the first place.  

With that being said, everyone had been reached and a meeting ensued. No one was really prepared for it, but then again there was only one issue on everyone's minds: the kidnapping of their children.  

"We have to find out where they are!" Vale was saying strongly as she slammed a hand on the tabletop. Russia was in agreement, hefting his faucet pipe and tapping it into his other palm almost meditatively.  

"When I find the ones who took Mikhail, there will be lots of fun time with the magic cane~" 

"I agree, we have to find them and rescue them!" America announced. "This is my daughter we're talking about here!"