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

Chapter 156~!

As I lay there in bed, hugging my husband around his bare chest as I kept my breathing deep and slow, I couldn't even think about falling asleep. It was close to six in the morning, and I had caught a few hours before waking up wiht a cold sheen of sweat all over my naked body. Another nightmare... If it hadn't been for the training, I would have awoken Matthew with my shouting and gut-wrenching sobbing I was tempted to do.

Yet Matthew was seemingly none the wiser as he slept on, content after our night spent together and the time we'd had the day before. But I knew better, and that was why sleep wouldn't linger very long for me. 

No. Today was the day that would decide the world's fate, and I had run out of time to prolong my time with my family. 

'Please...' I prayed to whomever happened to be listening. 'I don't want to leave my family. I don't want to die, and I don't want the world to fall to pieces like it did in that one dimension. Please... help me win.'

 With all that aside, though, perhaps it was best to live in the moment and relish it for what it was. So I closed my eyes and feigned sleep for a little while longer so I could stay by Matthew's side for just one more precious hour.

~~

London, England, y'all~

"Jerk England!"

Arthur groaned loudly and leaned back in his office desk chair so he wouldn't have to look at the young boy standing in the doorway. "What do you want, Peter?"

"What I've always wanted: recognition!" the micronation exclaimed, pointing a finger at Arthur. "Why don't you just recognize me as my own nation and make this easier on yourself?"

'I'm going to regret this, aren't I...' Arthur thought, feeling a headache coming on. "Just go back to your own country, Peter, and leave me alone. I have work to do, something you wouldn't quite understand because you're so young."

Sealand gasped happily, his eyes shining. "Did you just say what I think you did?"

"Did I stutter?" Arthur shot back, sitting up straight again. 

"Yes!" Sealand cheered, rather than acknowledging Arthur's rhetorical question. "Yes, you said it so now it's true! I'm a real nation!"

And he ran out of the house with his fists in the air. Peter blew past Joy, who was coming in through the front door. She laughed, waved and called "Hello!" to him as he went by, but then went to her husband's office to ask him what had just happened to make the micronation so happy.

"I may or may not have made a huge mistake just to get him to go away," the Englishman replied in a sigh. "My God..."

"He already comes to the meetings anyway, so what's it matter?" Joy reminded him. "It's not so bad."

"I sure hope so," Arthur answered.

~

Still in London~

"Okay. Okay. Calm down, Aila. You can do this. It's not so important... Even though you've got your entire team riding on your shoulders-- Stop it! Quit doing that to yourself! Okay... You studied hard for this, you won't lose the War and you'll help your team do well. Now you just... have to get out of the bathroom stall," Aila muttered under her breath as she stood with her back against the stall door.

Yes, it was the day of the Student War, and she was currently having a little bit of a mental breakdown. It was like everything she'd studied so hard was flying out of her brain and away forever!

"Come on... Come on. Pull yourself together, eh? This is no time to be chickening out..."

And that was how she managed to exit the "loo" after splashing water on her face and washing her hands to help clear her mind a little. Priscilla, the fourth member on Aila's team, was waiting for her in the hall just outside the bathroom door.