Four more states. Four more states had seceded. Lincoln had suggested that calling 75,000 volunteers to aid against the rebellion would put an end to it, and Alfred agreed with him, because what better than a quick end to this before it got more out of hand than it already was?
Problem was, Alfred rarely thought of the consequences before he acted. Of course such an action was seen as an act of war, and that it certainly was not going to end that easily. Four more states seceded from the Union within one month. Alfred wasn't sure if he could describe that peculiar feeling of emptiness to anyone. Other countries had gone through civil wars, right? Was this something they all experienced, or was this something unique to him? He didn't even want to think about it. He just wanted to distract himself. If it wasn't the emptiness, it was a vague feeling of dread.
He'd taken to distracting himself with letters. He hadn't ventured out of the house much in the past few weeks, and thus his only connection with the outside was through correspondence. He was in the process of penning a letter to President Lincoln when a voice cut through the air.
"Well hello there. Didn't think you could avoid me forever, did ya?"
Alfred tightened his grip on the writing utensil within his hand. It was a wonder that he didn't break the thing, especially taking his strength into consideration. He clenched his teeth, letting out his next statement in a low growl. "Go away. You don't exist."
The owner of the voice laughed. It was a taunting laugh, one that made Alfred's blood boil just hearing it. "Don't exist? C'mon Alfie, we've been through this already. Not only do I exist, but I'm more powerful than ever! Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina...tell me, do you miss 'em yet?"
That was one step too far. There was a loud crack as Alfred threw the two pieces of his writing utensil down, turning toward the source of the voice. "With all due respect...you can go to hell."
His doppelganger smiled, moving forward toward Alfred. "I don't think so, North. See, I'm hardly the type to go down without a fight." Alfred wanted to wipe the cocky smile right off of his doppelganger's face. Their features were so similar, with a few scattered differences. Both men had blue eyes, but the blue in Alfred's eyes was accented, while his doppleganger's eyes had an unmistakable grayish hue to them. More noticeable, where Alfred had a prominent cowlick near the front of his head, his doppleganger's hair laid flat. To top it off, a pair of glasses were settled on the bridge of the doppelganger's nose, noticeably absent from Alfred's own visage.
The man was now less than a foot away from Alfred, and Alfred reacted instinctively. His fist collided with his doppelganger's nose, and his doppelganger stepped back. Alfred watched as the other man cradled his injured nose, his fingers taking a reddish tinge. An amused grin came across Alfred's face once he saw that he'd successfully broken his adversary's nose. His triumph was short-lived, however, as his doppelganger came flying at him.
The fight soon erupted into an all out brawl within Alfred's sitting room. At least a few objects ended up broken in the melee (including a rather nice vase given to Alfred by Martha Washington - this resulted in a black eye). One blow in particular sent Alfred to the ground. Preparing to ascend to his feet and join the fight once more, Alfred was surprised to find a foot on his chest, pinning him to the ground - And the barrel of a gun pointed straight at his face.
Alfred shot the other man a glare. "That's not fair, bringing a gun to a fist fight."
The doppelganger laughed, a laugh that sounded eerily like his own. "Whoever said I was playin' to be fair? I'm playin' to win. And it looks an awful lot like I'm winnin' right now, don't ya think?"
Alfred never had the chance to answer. At this moment, both parties heard a knock, drawing their attention from each other toward the door. "Shit..." Alfred muttered, his eyes going wide.
The other man let out a throaty chuckle. "My my, you didn't tell me you were expecting visitors, North! Who is it? If it's Lincoln, I'd like to give that that bastard a piece of my mind..." The man snarled, putting Alfred on edge.
"It's...nobody. They can come back later..." How could he forget that he'd invited someone over today? How could he let anyone see this?
"Where are your manners, North? I say we let 'em in." The man proceeded to raise his voice. "Come on in!" He called out in his characteristic Southern drawl, before looking back down at Alfred. "This oughta be a fun little meeting, don't you think? I look forward to meetin' all of your friends! I must say, your Southern sta...ah, I should say, former states absolutely love me."
A fun little meeting indeed. For, to the bystander, there were not two men in the sitting room, one sprawled on the ground and one pointing a gun menacingly in the other's face. Instead, the bystander would see one man, with a broken nose, black eye, and various other cuts and bruises sprawled out on the floor, pointing a gun to his own head.
This is another one that actually started off as an RP post, though edited slightly so that it made for a better oneshot.
To those of you who read and/or follow my fanfic What Did I Get Myself Into, I apologize you've been waiting so long for a response. I was crazy busy during the holidays, and at the end of January happened to break a bone in my hand (needless to say making it a lot more of a challenge to type). My hand is mostly healed up now, at least.. Just thought I ought to update everyone on that bit. Hope you enjoyed!