"No!"
Blue eyes opened wide as the bang rang out.
"NO!!!"
Blood trickled down pale skin.
"No, Ethan, no!"
His knees gave out and he collapsed.
"Please, no!"
Someone cradled him before he hit the ground.
"Please, God, please!"
Tears dripped onto his bloodstained cheeks as his sister, his little sister, curled over him and cried.
"You can't die!"
He tried to speak, to comfort her. Blood bubbled in his throat, making him cough.
"Don't die.... please!"
He could hear footsteps outside.
"In here!"
The door burst open and Alfred, his niisan, gasped.
"Alaska!" "Comrade Ethan!"
America and Russia hurried to his side. His papa's blue eyes brimmed with tears and his comrade's violet eyes burned with hate and rage.
"Who did this, comrade Ethan?"
He couldn't answer. The words stuck in his throat, as if stuck in the clotting blood. Hawaii was still crying.
"Get him to a doctor, he needs help..."
The words that reached his ears were quiet, dull, lifeless. He was dying and he knew it.
"Ethan..............ear me?"
His vision was edged with black and his hearing was fading in and out. He could hear Hawaii start crying harder.
".......than.....................on't die.................lease!"
He moved his lips in a feeble attempt to tell Hawaii.... that he loved her and that he.... he wanted her to please, please stop crying. Nothing came out.
"..........................lease................"
His vision faded to black.
---
Alaska has witnessed 32 assassination attempts, surviving all and accumulating many scars.
On November 12, 2019, an assassin disguised as an ambassador from Spain attacked young Ethan with a Russian revolver, hitting his heart.
The young state died three minutes after the attack.
Shortly after, the body of the assassin was found beaten to the point of being unrecognizable. The cause of death was blunt trauma, presumably by a solid iron rod.
The nation of Russia was charged and found innocent of murder, later evidence proving him clearly guilty.