Homeless (a Hetalia Fanfic, Book Three)

Chapter 10~! Begin Repairs

One of the best parts of this safe house was how big it was underneath the surface. Below were kitchens, sleeping arrangements, and a few other necessary rooms. Many needed to be scrubbed down to their foundations, however. This particular safe place hadn't been used in what had to be at least a decade.

"I don't wanna sleep here, Dani," I heard Sarah complain when we were given a tour of the place later on. 

"I'm sorry, Sarah, but we might have to," Dani said apologetically. "But hey, it's like an adventure. You can pretend we're all rabbits sleeping in a big warren."

That made her smile and stop complaining. Rather, Sarah hopped around and began wiggling her nose at everything.

"What're you doing?" Milo asked her amusedly. Sarah hopped over to him and wriggled her nose before replying.

"I'm a bunny rabbit!" He laughed at that and walked next to her, looking every bit the part of a protective big brother. It touched my heart in a gentle, very maternal way. 

Later that evening, I was setting up my sleeping area when someone rather short came to stand sort of behind me. She fidgeted nervously, but when I turned I was only surprised. "Tia? What are you doing over here, hun?"

"Uhm, Mom... You said you were gonna tell me why you left," she reminded me slowly, glancing toward the doorway. I got the picture instantly. 

"Is someone else over there, too?" I asked her while sinking down onto the bed. Tatiana looked back and nodded. 

"It's Evie," she said. "He... He wanted to know, too."

"Evie?" I called out, and my shy angel's head peered around the edge of the doorway. "You can come over here, sweetie," I invited, beckoning with my left arm. He shuffled into view and over to the bed, clinging close to his sister like he was scared. I couldn't blame him, though; my arm was pretty intimidating. I had pajamas on, but they were short-sleeved and left none of my prosthetic up to the imagination.

"Okay, so you want to know why I left," I stated as a sort of introduction. "Well... It's really hard to explain. I didn't leave because I wanted to, though. No, not at all because I wanted to. It tore me up inside to leave you all."

"Then why'd you do it?" Tiana asked, her tone bordering anger. Evan crept over and sat on the edge of the bed, looking between me and my arm.

"Because... I was afraid that I would hurt you all after what happened," I admitted. "I couldn't let myself do that, so I left to keep you all safe."

"But why would you hurt us?" she persisted, sitting next to her younger brother. "That doesn't make any sense. You're our mom."

"I know it doesn't make a lot of sense. But you have to understand that I love all of you so much, and that I really regret leaving," I confessed, feeling the back of my eyes grow hot with pent-up tears. 

"So... Does this mean that you'll come home and be our mom again?" Evan asked in a whisper, clutching a blanket to his front like it was a lifeline in the middle of a maelstrom. He was looking up at me hopefully, and right then I saw the heart-melting angel of a two-year-old that I'd forced myself to leave behind.

When I looked at Tatiana then, she was five years old and still believed heavily in unicorns and fairies.

My heart snapped in two, and I had to palm away a tear that had leaked out of my eye.

"Yeah, baby. Yeah, I think it does," I answered. "If I can get rid of what's making me dangerous, then I'll come home right away."

"Promise?" they asked me in unison, and I nodded, another tear getting away from me. Tia gave a wordless cry of joy and threw her arms around my neck, and Evan crawled in between us to hug me as well.