Most countries came to accept that no human could truly predict precisely when the world would end. Most accepted that mortality was a human trait. But it is at the end that they come to discover the true nature of plotted chaos as it ensnares them, and they must either fight until their world breaks apart, or join hands to ensure the ultimate survival of their people.
::
The patter of the rain on the window made it difficult for the body to awaken when the mind was so set on dreaming instead. However, the insistent sunshine peering down on the nation’s peacefully resting features served to rouse his consciousness, and his curiosity.
And then, with some passing vision of significance that came with the vivid light shining through his window accompanied by the wind’s howl and the raindrops pelting the pane, Italy opened his eyes.
He gazed up through the window, up into the weeping sky, the foreboding black of the heavy hanging clouds, and the vibrant golden cloak of the morning sun being silenced for good behind them. (Not that the newly wakened nation was aware that it would really be ‘for good’.) He gazed up, and felt his heart sinking in his chest as he pulled himself from bed, padding groggily to the window for a better look.
The last morning on Earth. Italy’s mind was completely unaware, yet the plight of his aching heart told him that something was amiss. He reassured himself, however. Who greets the morning or the day to follow by assuming this will be the last day they have to live on their beautiful planet? As the shuffling sheets forewarned the happily ignorant nation that Germany was now waking up, he hid the silly feelings of apprehension with a warm, pleasant smile, and turned away from the window as the last ray of sunshine was hidden behind the storm clouds.
Germany sat upright in bed, the sheets falling away from his bare, robust chest, and he ran a single hand through his mussed blonde hair, pushing it back away from his face as he flexed his broad shoulders in a stretch before finally casting a bleary, crystal blue stare in Italy’s direction, somehow suspicious that the other nation was already awake.
“Vhat are doink’ avake already?,” came the deep but otherwise calm rumble of Germany’s voice.
“Ah! It’sa’ nothing!,” Italy replied, absolutely filled to the brim with sunshine and joy. It was much too early for that kind of happiness, in Germany’s opinion, but then again.. when was an appropriate time for Italy’s brand of never-ending cheer?
“Ja, vell, better hurry up and get ready, since you’re up.”
“Right!”
::
::
‘…wake up…’
The sound of a woman’s voice echoed from somewhere deep and indescribable. It was as though the wind had forged itself a tongue of reeds and willows as it quietly whispered through the gardens, between the creaky old crevices of the door frames, and decorative tapestries as they gently fluttered against the walls.
‘Wake up,’ the woman’s voice called more distinctly, so that the sweet sound filtered audibly, perceivable, into the sleeping elder country’s mind, though it didn’t quite wake him.
The sheets of China’s bed drew slowly back, leaving him tucking his legs as closely to his body as possible, until finally the slightest touch of a hand pressed against his tightly curled back; it was now that the nation shot up in his bed, his hands flying instinctively into some defensive posture of some ancient fighting style.
After the startled country took a look around his bedroom, and found nobody in sight that could have been responsible for the perceived physical contact, he pondered whether he’d been jarred by a grand shift in the Earth’s Qi, or if the Feng Shui in his house was off somehow, causing this odd disturbance of his rest, until..
’..I know you can hear me..’
“Who is that?,” China spoke up, incredibly inquisitive despite the fact that he was responding to a disembodied voice. It was almost as though he didn’t expect any reply, and was moreso wondering if he’d begun to go senile. He hadn’t skipped over any of his ancient health practices recently, so he was sure that his mind should have still been as sharp as it was in his youth.
‘…muquin…’
At hearing the woman’s voice speak in return, the wise, old nation felt himself very surprisingly dumbfounded; there was no hesitation in the woman’s quiet tone or question that the voice had answered China firmly, and he curled his legs beneath him in thought as he pondered this answer, repeating it to himself as though it would help his mind process its significance. “Mother?”
