Where Thou Art, That Is Home (Hetalia Fanfic, Part 2)

Chapter 119~!

Alright, so the previous chapter was kind of melancholy. Here's something a little different, and cool!

By the way, can anyone explain to me the significance of Prisoner-America's uniform number? It's the same in every picture, so I have to wonder if it has a certain meaning of some sort... I'm probably overthinking this, though ^_^'

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"Alfred, are you going to search again today?" Rayn asked her husband one morning in mid-December, about a week into the endeavor to retrieve Alice from that unnamed dimension.

All around town, the evidence of Christmas drawing near was clear; shop windows were decorated, carols could be heard coming from the speakers hung in the ceiling of huge department stores, and snow dusted the ground here and there.

Meanwhile, in geographical Oregon, it was pouring down rain almost constantly. Whether that was because Alice was gone or just because it rains a lot in that particular state around this time of year, it was difficult to say.

"Uh, yeah, I think I am," America answered without a good portion of his usual jovialness. Was he tired, or worn down? Possibly.

Rayn frowned, looking down at her tea (which she insisted, for some odd reason, that was manlier than coffee could ever hope to be) and swirling it around in her cup slowly. "... Al."

"S'up?" he asked, resting his cheek on his palm and sticking his elbow against the surface of the dining room table.

"Maybe we should switch today. I go search, you stay home with Louvel," she suggested.

Alfred raised a quizzical eyebrow at her. "Seriously? What for?"

"Because I have this feeling," was her answer. "A... not good one."

"Uhh... You're being awfully vague, hun."

"I know," she sighed, throwing a lock of blue hair behind her ear, the one with an industrial bar pierced though the cartilage. "I... had a dream last night, okay? I don't think you should go search today."

"Waaait wait wait," Alfred spoke up, putting his hands out in a "Stop right there" pose. "Are you tryin' t' protect me? Babe, come on, I'm the hero! I don't need protecting."

"Sometimes you do," she pointed out. "And I stand by what I said. Really, Al, let me go this time. I haven't been there yet anyway, so it's my turn."

He narrowed his gaze a bit at her. "You're just trying to keep me from something, aren't you."

"You don't want to know," Rayn stated firmly, even giving her husband a small glare that said "Listen to me before I beat your ass".

His tapered scrutiny narrowed even more before he shut his eyes, sighed, and leaned back casually in his chair. "Fiiiine. But you'd better take care of yourself out there, or I'll have to come save you like the awesome hero I am."

Rayn managed to smirk before she drained the rest of her tea and took the cup and saucer to the kitchen for washing. To say she was unnerved was an understatement.

'I... didn't think he'd act like that when I suggested I go instead of him today' she commented mentally to herself, the look on her face thoughtful but disturbed. 'What was that?'

'He's normally so happy and carefree. But something's really off... At least I was able to persuade him to stay home today.'

Alice's POV~

I sat up in bed, breathing hard and trying my damn hardest not to cry. That dream... it had been so scary! A ginormous maze, a full-length mirror, butterflies that scorched my skin upon contact... It had been too unreal to possibly be a memory.