Homeless (a Hetalia Fanfic, Book Three)

Chapter 30~! Cracks Of Doubt

Countries are prone to having nightmares, but for some reason I didn't have one. When I woke up, I turned over and couldn't help but smile softly at the sight of my wife sleeping peacefully beside me.

'Where would I be without her, truthfully?' I had to ask myself, though it wasn't like I was asking myself this for the first time. Far from it. Every morning and every night, I had to wonder how I, a gigantic storm cloud over the world, had managed to fall in love with a ray of sunshine that loved me back.

I reached out and took up a strand of her long brown hair, playing with it a little bit until I got the notion to split it into three strands and begin braiding it. I was just about done with it when her eyes flickered open, and Joy smiled up at me.

"Hello, love," I greeted her. Joy stretched her arms out to me and linked them together behind my neck, effectively pulling me down right beside her.

"I had a dream that didn't really make sense," Joy said brightly. "But I was eating gummy bears in bed, and you came in and told me I wasn't allowed to. I threw one at you and it came alive and just swallowed you whole, which was just... really weird."

"Well, I suppose I'll simply have to let you eat gummy bears in bed," I joked lightly. "For my own safety, of course."

"Of course!" she answered, pushing back a thick strand of her gorgeous brown hair. "Besides, why wouldn't you want to eat gummy bears in bed?"

"You've got me there, love."

~~

Later that same day, Scotland groaned angrily and rested his forehead against his palm, which was propped up by the elbow on the desktop. Papers were strewn around in front of him, and though he tried to concentrate on his work, he just couldn't.

A knock on his door suddenly made him look up, and he went over to open it and tell whomever it was to leave him be unless it was an emergency. Only when he looked down did he see who it was.

"Sarah?" he asked, crouching down and swinging the door open a bit wider. "What're ya doin' here?"

"I wanted to say hi!" she said cheerfully, crushing her stuffed sheep doll to her little six-year-old chest. "Dani doesn't know where I am~"

"Oh, tha's naughty of ya, Sarah," he chastised her gently. "How come?"

She came forward and hugged him around the neck unexpectedly. "I just wanted to see you, Scottie!"

Like a father, he returned the embrace and patted her on the back a couple of times. "Okay, wee lass. Thanks fer comin' ta see me. Ya should probably run on back to Dani now, though."

"But I don't wanna," Sarah whined. "Can I stay and play with you instead?"

"Nah, lass," he replied. "Ya have to go tell Dani where ya are, or else she'll be mad at ya."

"Oh... Okay," she agreed reluctantly. "And then can we play together?"

After a moment, he agreed. "Aye, Sarah. We c'n play then."

"Yay!" she cheered, hugging him again before dashing off to go find Dani. The stuffed sheep trailed behind her, its paw trapped in one of her hands.

Allistor rose to his feet and watched her go; only when she disappeared around the corner did he shut his door.

Oh, how hard it had been for him to lose his wife. Sera had been the steady rock in his life, and when she was gone, it was like he drifted on the open sea, with nothing between his body and the crashing, unrelenting waves. Though he would never admit it to anyone, Allistor saw bits and pieces of Sera in Sarah, who was aptly named after Euskadi herself.