[log] and I know, I know that I did you wrong [closed]

[keepscalm]

Characters: England, America, Ginger
Location: Building 4
Date: Morning 265
Summary: The nations return to their human friend, much worse off than they were when they left.
Warnings: Discussion of mind control, surgery, torture, and body horror related to the event. Specific content warnings will be added when necessary.

[England comes to in a bed. He feels groggy and disoriented at first, but slowly the details sink in; this isn't a nice bed, there are no lights on, and this looks more like a bedroom than an office.

And there are people next to him.

England sits up like a shot, his heart racing and his head swirling with his last memories.]

Comments

[lacecase]

[Movement beside her causes Ginger to wake, too, and as she sits up she looks rapidly back and forth--assessing that England and America are both there beside her, and immediately without thinking there are tears in her eyes.]

You're back! Oh, thank God! I was so scared--so scared for you!

[Without thinking Ginger has her hands on Enlgand's face--since he's the first one who called her attention, almost like a concerned mother checking for a fever. All she can think is how much she wants to hold them both. Maybe if she hugs them really, very tightly, they can never be taken away from her again.]

[fifty]

[America's movements are quick and sharp, his whole body twisting in bed as he looks at England and Ginger and adjusts to what's happening. He can only watch Ginger fuss over England, tongue stuck in his mouth, gaping in silence.]

[keepscalm]

[England faintly registers Ginger's touch; a cold sweat has broken out on his face as he tries to calm his rapid breathing so he doesn't either pass out or have a complete meltdown. He feels America shifting around beside him and scrabbles around with one of his hands to reach for him.] We're back. [And then again, a little less distantly:] We're back.

[lacecase]

[She doesn't even have anymore words to say that she hasn't already said. As America moves, too, and England reaches for him, Ginger shifts to try and wind an arm around both of them. A group hug is the only way to go.]

I'm never going to let anyone take you away from me again.

[She doesn't even register that she's said it when she finally does speak. She knows she can't protect them from anything, but that doesn't matter, because she will. It's a promise. Her poor, poor boys.]

[fifty]

[When England and Ginger reach for him, America clings back, eager for any sort of affection even though he doesn't feel like he deserves it. They're back. He has no idea how Ginger can say something like that after what they did. Maybe she didn't see. He hopes she didn't see.]

Are you okay?

[keepscalm]

[In such a disoriented state, everything they went through almost feels like a bad dream. He holds fast to America and Ginger and tries not to think too hard about it, lest the dam on his faraway emotions finally give way.

He swallows thickly and asks what America doesn't.] You didn't see it. Did you?

[lacecase]

[She doesn't want to answer. She's afraid anything she says is going to make them feel worse than how they have to already feel. But she doesn't want to lie to them, either, and act like she's that out of the loop.]

Only for a minute, but it wasn't either of you. I wasn't really sure what...I was watching.

[But she couldn't keep watching, that much goes without saying.]

I'm just so happy you're both back.

[fifty]

[America wonders what she saw. Not them, but all of them must have been awful. He's glad and guilty at the same time that she didn't see them. He can remember how he acted while he was torturing Stephen and Magenta, and he doesn't want Ginger to see him like that. Still, he can't help but feel like if she knew the truth, she'd never want to see him again.]

You shouldn't've had to see anything.

[keepscalm]

[England takes in a sharp breath, like someone's just unexpectedly jabbed him with a needle. He bows his head to hide his face, finally overwhelmed with the shame that was just an undercurrent before.] It's better that you didn't see too much.

I'm glad you're safe.

[lacecase]

[Ginger takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. She hugs them tighter and tighter, and then finally eases up so she can sit back and look at them--but still, she keeps a hand on each of them, like she thinks they could vanish the second she lets them go.

And then she smiles at them as best as she can, because they've probably missed smiles.]

What's most important is just that it's over now, and, like, everyone else must've gotten out safely, too.

[fifty]

Did they? [America's confused by a lot of things right now, and he's trying to get his thoughts in order, so it's a moment before he finishes the thought.] The ones--the people we had stuck in cells, are they okay?

[keepscalm]

[England does watch Ginger's smile, captivated by the sight after everything that's happened.] We got them all out. [He's not sure if he's telling America, Ginger, or himself. He rewords it with more insistence.] We should have gotten them all out. I remember...

[lacecase]

I'm not sure. I just, like, assumed...because you two are back...

[But she hopes that it's true. She's tried to keep updated as much as she can, but the longer she's stayed in this house the stranger she's felt. It's hard to keep up.]

What do you two need? Just, like, say the word, okay? You two take it easy after what you've gone through.

[fifty]

Yeah, you're right, we're back, so they have to be. [The words fly out of America's mouth because he doesn't want to make her feel like she should have checked for them or something. For America, anyway, saying the optimistic idea makes him feel more like it's true even if he isn't really sure.] You don't have to worry about me, have you been here the whole time? [He's pretty sure this is where they were before everything happened.]