"Chicago Police Department, Homicide Division Chief Katherine speaking, how may I help you?"
"Th-there's been a shooting... By the a-alley connecting S-South Main t-to Western Avenue..." the person broke into sobs.
"Alright, just calm down. We'll be there in a moment." Katherine hung up the phone, then shouted, "South Main's alleyway! Shooting! Two squads, get moving!" she strapped her pistol to her hip and hopped into her car.
About ten minutes later, she got there. The others were there, pulling a body from the alley. "Miss Katherine, what should we do?"
"Get Forensics here. They'll know. I have a bit...of investigating to do here."
Aki walked into the adjacent alley and was violently pushed against the wall. She just barely kept a grip on her pistol.
"You bitch! How the hell could you just leave us like that!"
"A-Akiko? What are you doing here?"
"Tracing Natalya duh. Now if you excuse me." the other girl turned and ran off into the shadows.
"Idiot," Katherine said to no one, walking over to the Chicago River and sitting down by the only clear part. She took the bullets from her gun and threw the gun itself into the water, while placing the bullets into her pocket.
Just then, three people ran by. A light brown haired girl, a brown haired boy, and a blond boy.
"Alfred get away from me with that!" she screamed. The brown haired boy carried a hot dog and seemed to be trying to get her to eat it. "I don't eat meat, you know that!" he tackled her and they landed in a puddle.
"ALFRED! YOU GOT MY COAT DIRTY!" anger rang through her voice.
"Sorry sis." he mumbled. She sighed and stood, removing her coat.
"It's fine. Come on let's drop this off and then get to the meeting." Alfred helped his sister up, then glanced over towards the river. "Hey... Who's that? She looks sad..."
"That's exactly the reason you looked over there, I'm sure...git."
"Arthur!" the girl smacked the blond boy aside of his head. "Be nice!"
"Ow! Ok ok... Sorry, Mona..."
"Well she's cute too," Alfred admitted, walking over. "Hey!"
"H-huh?" Katherine asked, turning slightly to look at him. "Oh... Hello," she said, a slightly sad look in her eyes.
"What's wrong? You look sad, dude."
"I always look like this..."
"Oh well..."
"ALFIE LET'S GO!" Mona called.
"Coming! Well bye I guess."
He hurried over and Katherine watched them leave. "Bye..." she said softly.
"Come on!" Mona shouted, not waiting to see if Alfred followed.
He didn't.
"Hey, dude, what's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong..." Katherine answered, not raising her eyes from the river.
"You look so sad, though, dude..."
"Leave the poor girl alone, git!"
"But..."
"You're going to piss her off more! Let's go!"
"It's fine," Katherine said. "You should go to your meeting."
"Alright...Bye dude!" They left, leaving Katherine alone. She went back to the station then.
When Alfred and Arthur caught up with Mona she was extremely pissed.
"Stay for a girl...Mon Dieu, you two."
"She was so pretty..." Alfred said, blinking.
"Bloody git..." Arthur replied.
"Let's just go..." Mona led the way back.
"Where in Gott's name were you!" Ludwig demanded as soon as Katherine got back.
"Does it matter? We don't have any calls."
"Well, ja, but still..."
"Don't tell me what to do, when," she said, sitting in her chair and putting her feet up on her desk, "I'm your boss."
"Ja...but..."
"No buts, Luddy," she grinned and lit a cigarette. "How's Veneziano?"
"H-he's fine..." Ludwig looked away, blushing faintly.
"I'm late!" he shouted as he glanced at the clock and running out and reaching the meeting right before they closed the door.
"Look at that Germany is actually late." "Shut up, I had to work."
"I heard," Romano said, "that the potato bastard works for a sixteen year old girl. Rumor also has it that the chica is pretty and she's like us."
"Ve, ve! I heard the same thing, except Germany told me!" Italy added.
"Everyone, be quiet! Let's just start."
Along with that meeting, Katherine had a meeting as well. Her meeting was a bit more...illegitimate.
"Aki, you've got ten seconds to explain."
"Akiko, this was Kiku's idea you know..."
"Liar!" Akiko shouted.
"Perhaps, perhaps not," Katherine, or Aki as Akiko knew her, scowled, "This is a waste of my time. Next time I see you, I'll be arresting you."
"Go to hell."
With that Akiko was gone.
"Ugh!" she screamed as soon as she was back at the ware house and threw her gun aside.
"Akiko? What's wrong?" she didn't even bother to turn and see who it was.
"Just go away. It's nothing." Katherine went back to the station, very aware of the two people following her. "Luddy!" she called, irritated. "Go get food, it's your day!"
"Gott verdammt!" the German called back, "Fine!" He hurried to the small cafe bumping into Akiko.
"Watch it why don't you." her voice was quiet and reminded him greatly of Japan.
"Sorry. You are?"
"Tokyo. And you're Germany right?" "Ja," he said shortly, picking up the usual food and leaving. He walked back to the station and plopped the food down on Katherine's desk. "There."
"Huh? Oh good~," she said, sipping a soda.
"Happy?" he asked, walking back to his desk.
((Character: Akiko))
"Explain. Why? How?" Akiko sat in front of Japan sadness filling her eyes.
"I'm sorry Tokyo. I can't. Not right now. You'd be smart to stay here." She wanted to stay so badly but she had a gang to lead. Her heart was torn. Her city or her gang. Family or somewhat friends.
"Kiku?" she never called him dad he wouldn't let her.
"Hai?" he looked at her, all grown up yet he still saw the little village girl.
"I want to stay. Natalya's grip is getting tighter as it is." he smiled and for the first time in decades he hugged her.
"I need to get back, though. Gomen ne, Autumn," he said, sighing faintly.
"Why do you work for her?"
"She's a very good police officer, Akiko."
"Ugh. Whatever. I'll see you, then, Kiku."
He nodded and stood. Flicking a wave, he left the warehouse, going back to the station. Akiko walked to her old room and changed into her kimono.
"I'm finally home." she smiled and soon fell fast asleep.
"I'm back, I'm back," Kiku said, walking into the station and adjusting his uniform. "Gomen, Gomen..."
"It's fine. Katherine's preoccupied anyway."
Kiku was about to ask, "with what?" but before he had the chance...
"What do you mean we're out of soda!" Katherine's voice rang out. "And coffee too?"
"So-sorry! I-I'll go get more!" the intern shouted at a look from the senior officers, before running out.
"Don't scare the poor kid, ja?"
"Shush Luddy."
Two cells phones rang then. Ludwig and Kiku answered before hurrying out. An emergency meeting had been called about two cities. Chicago and Tokyo. It was time for them to meet the others.
"Katherine! Calm your ass down!" Ludwig shouted.
"What? Why? Do we have a call?" she asked, shifting nearly instantly.
"No. It's just...rather important."
"Something to do with...?" she trailed off, her meaning clear.
"Ja."
"It's time you meet the others Akiko" Kiku said, having headed back. She nodded sleepily and stood. "Hai Kiku-san" they hurried to the meeting. Akiko trying her best to stay awake.
Katherine shifted her weight from foot to foot, obviously worried a call would come. She had the work phone with her, the one that calls came through. She had refused to shut it off.
"What the Hell is /she/ doing her?" Akiko yelled as she spotted Katherine.
"I could ask you the same. I really don't have time for this..." Katherine sighed, her exhaustion apparent.
"She betrayed me! Aki! You traitor!" Akiko shouted, trying to punch Katherine. Click.
"Go ahead, Akiko. I can always put a bullet through your eye..." Katherine replied, placing her finger on the trigger.
"Chicago," America cut in, "That's quite enough... Oh!" his blue eyes lightened, "I know you!"
"..." Katherine sighed, flicking the safety on on her pistol. "Quite..." she replied, shoving her hands in her pockets.
"Alfred you're an idiot." Monaco laughed. Another walked in then.
"you two." Katherine and Akiko turned.
"Hello Natalya."
Katherine sighed, leaning back against the wall and toying with her coat's buttons. "I'd better not get a call..."
"I haven't done anything." a phone went off then. Monaco checked her text and stood.
"I've gotta go. I'll see you back at the hotel." she kissed Spain's cheek & hurried out.
"So... Can we make this quick, please? I've actually, shockingly, got something to do tonight..." Katherine said, toying with her buttons still.
"Of course." they started the meeting then. Monaco was at a meeting of her own.
"How much Amara?" she asked.
"50 mil. New York City."
"I'm in."
"Even at risk of Antonio being hurt?" Brazil replied, pulling bullets from the gun then sliding them back in.
"..." Monaco hesitated.
"You can't do it, can you?"
"N-non... I can't hurt him..."
"Then you aren't in..."
"Give me a sec." Monaco pulled out her phone and dialed. After a short conversation in French she hung up.
"I'm in. He'll be fine. When do we leave?"
Brazil grinned; Monaco was back. "Tonight. I'll come to the meeting hall at five. Be there."
Monaco nodded and stood. "see ya soon."
The other meeting had just been adjourned, leaving Katherine to run back to her office to puzzle over several cryptic letters. They'd been sent at random times over a year or so and written in Latin. After an hour she gave up.
Before Monaco knew she and Brazil were in New York. Dressed in beautiful ball gowns and walking into a masquerade ball.
"Oh dear. This is cumbersome," Rio mumbled, tugging at her dress. "It's so heavy..."
"Shush, Amara. You'll get us caught."
"No I won't... This is heaaaavy..."
"Amara." Rio was silent as they pulled their mask on. They scanned the room looking for their target.
"There. Red tux." Brazil grinned, tugging a small pistol from her dress's folds and letting the shot ring out. The man fell and in the resulting chaos, they fled. They only stopped long enough to drop the pistol into the subway tunnels.
"I missed this." Monaco said as she slipped out of her dress and into a pair of jeans and a top.
"Si si~ Well then, someone needs to stop being such a worrywart." Monaco laughed.
"I know. Call me next time you get another job." they both laughed then.
"I'll do my best, chica. See you. Give Antonio my regards~," Brazil grinned, before stepping onto a train.
Ring... Monaco picked it up.
"Alfred's flipping. Some scary movie. Come shut him up will you?" Chicago asked.
"yeah." she dialed another number and climbed to the roof of an old building. A helicopter waited. Soon enough she was back.
"WAAAAH GHOOOSSSTTTTSSS!" Alfred shouted.
"Hi..." Chicago greeted, smoking a cigarette. "He's freaking out. I'm soooo tempted to scare the fuck outta him."
"Don't." Monaco sat to America and turned the movie off.
"It's just a movie. You aren't seeing anything. It's oaky." she finally calmed him down and got him to fall asleep. "The reason he's so afraid is because he can see them."
"Yeah, and? I can't even sleep at night. So yeah... Whatever." She stubbed out her cigarette on her boot. "I'll see you." She walked out.
"Hey Iggy. Why you looking like a love-struck moron?" Monaco asked.
"I-I am not. I wonder..." he picked up his jacket, walking to the door. "If she's ok. I'm going to go check. Cheers~." He walked to Katherine's small flat, knocking.
"It's... it's open," she mumbled. The delicate clinking of glass greeted him.
"Kat...?" he asked, walking in. "What's the matter?"
"I'm tired and I can't sleep unless I'm in a drunken stupor so... Cheers," she said, pouring out a shot of Jack Daniels and toasting him, before knocking it back.
"Why?"
"Nightmares."
"About?"
"You'd have a heart attack if I told you."
"Try me, lass."
"Fine. I have nightmares of all the murdered people I've ever seen. And they ask me, 'why can't you help us?' and I can't answer them. What am I supposed to say? And sometimes I see the killers, recently released and coming after me. They stab me, or shoot me, or hang me, or drown me... Once, I was lit on fire..."
England was silent not knowing what to say.
Katherine paused just long enough to swipe tears from her eyes and laugh bitterly. "I'm clinically depressed, bipolar, and possibly schizophrenic. I have trust problems, I'm an alcoholic, and I'm a chain smoker. The only person who can tolerate me is trying to kill my brother, who hasn't cared for me in years." She stopped, tears bright in her eyes. "Are...are you happy now? Go tell him...tell him I hate him... Tell him I hope Aus kills him..." She tucked her knees up to her chest, shaking.
"L-lass... I...I don't know...what to say.."
"Then don't say anything. Just...just leave. Like everyone else."
He didn't leave. He couldn't let her alone. He sat next to her and hugged her. She tensed, letting her legs slip off the couch. Tears slipped down her cheeks and he softly wiped them away.
"S..Stay w-with m-me...?" she asked, pressing her face into his chest. He was warm, safe, and there. There. That was what it was.
"Of course lass..." he replied, gently smoothing her hair. He subtly pushed the alcohol away, and as her breathing became regular, his did too. They slept on the couch and probably would have slept all afternoon if not for Vegas.
"CHICAGO!" she stormed in.
"What Vegas?" she asked tiredly
."I need to borrow money."
"No. Now go away."
"Oh. My God. You're cheating on Austin!"
"Can't be cheating on someone I'm not dating." England blinked awake then.
"Vegas what are you doing here?"
"Need to borrow money."
"Monaco?" "Maybe," she replied, "So Chi gonna cough up?"
"No. Because I know you won't pay me back."
"Fine I'll get it someplace else." then she was gone. Chicago and England were both silent, just lying there in content silence.
"What was that about Austin?"
"Neh... DC's being stupid."
He was about to ask another question, but her phone rang.
"I've gotta go." she left before England could stop her.
"I'm here, I'm here," she said, slipping her jacket off.
"New letter, new vic."
"What?" he handed her the letter.
"More Latin."
"I can translate." a voice came. Chicago turned, Monaco stood in the doorway.
"I'll call you if we need any help, Mona," Chicago said, her voice light but cold.
"Why are you still so cold to me, Kat?"
"You know why."
"I respected his wishes. I wanted to be here. I wanted to help."
"Nevertheless, we don't need any help.'
"I beg to differ."
"Well, you're wasting investigation time. And the longer we dally, the more children will die."
"Children?" Mona asked sharply.
"Yes."
"Then you need my help." and before a protest could be made she was translating letters.
"Um, miss, that isn't legal."
"Oh, of course..." Mona said, stepping away.
"Yes, thank you," Katherine said, pushing the letters into a folder. Monaco's phone went off then. She picked it up.
"Bonjour...of course...I'll be there soon...au revior."
"Bye..." Katherine said shortly.
"see ya." Monaco left and hurried home.
"We're going dancing?" she smiled.
"Yep~! See, she dances too. And I figure," America smiled, "We can dance too!"
"Ok...?" just then Tokyo appeared and kissed Alfred's cheek.
"Konbanwa Monaco."
"Hey Tokyo." she said.
"Sorry for stealing your partner." Monaco laughed.
"It's fine. Let me change." They arrived at the small, underground dance hall and were greeted by fervent cheering. They stepped into the seating area and recognized Chicago, smiling and dancing. She danced, a combination of isolations and ballet, finishing her routine to thunderous applause.
"I've...never seen her smile..." Monaco said.
"Ha! I can beat that!" Tokyo said, climbing onto the raised stage. "Hey!"
"Oh? A challenger!" cried the announcer.
"Akiko." Chicago said.
"Hey." They challenged each other back and forth back and forth. Dubstep began, the whole hall shaking with the bass. Back and forth, back and forth they went. Finally it came down to a vote. Bias? Maybe, but Chicago took it.
"I call bias!" Tokyo shouted.
"Well, love, you don't challenge me in my city..."
"I've done it before. What's to stop me now?" and then before any sort of fight could happen Monaco and America were there.
"Not the place. Not the time. You both know that." Chicago and Tokyo looked they wanted to kill each other. .
"Fine." Tokyo finally said and she and Monaco left.
"Kat."
"Mhm?" she asked, holding her hairband between her teeth as she fixed her hair.
"You know better, don't you?"
"According to my psychiatrist, I don't~ And also according to you~!" she smiled, pulling her hair into a severe ponytail. America sighed and followed after the girl's.
"Sorry about that." Akiko said. "It's fine. Come on the others are waiting at the studio."
"You rented out a whole studio?" Monaco asked.
"We gotta remind them how to dance don't we? "
she laughed.
"'Cause you know... We haven't danced together since 1925."
"Oui, I recall."
"Do you dude? Cause there's a swing comp today." Monaco's face lit up.
"Of course I do." her voice was happier and she nearly dragged him to the studio. They practiced for hours and hours, finally going to the competition. They were shocked at who was there, her legs crossed, in a sleek red dress, her silver-blonde hair perfectly off-setting her indigo eyes.
Indigo...?
"Aren't her eyes blue?" Tokyo asked Monaco softly.
"KAAAAT!" DC shouted, hugging Chicago.
"Oh...?" Chicago said, her voice softer and sweeter, more...seductive. "Hello, Austin..."
"H-hi." he said. Monaco knew what had happened.
"Austin!" her strict voice snapped him out of it and walked back over. "Stay with your dance partner. Sorry about him Akiko. "
"It's fine." Monaco walked over to Chicago, hissing, "You should be ashamed."
"Ashamed of what, love?" she purred.
"He loves Katherine and you're messing with his mind." her eyes turned a few shades darker before returning to their normal blue.
"But love, Katherine doesn't love him..." she stood, twirling away, and subtly gesturing for Austin to meet her later. He nodded back ever so slightly. Mona never noticed.
"Mona come on. We're up next." Alfred called. She smiled and walked over.
"Let's show 'em how it's done." They danced, finishing to much applause as the next couple stepped up. They were...sub-par at best. After all the couples had danced they stood waiting for the winner to be announced.
"And our winning couple tonight is...Alfred F. Jones and Mona Bonnefoy!"
"Alright!" he shouted. Mona laughed leaning against her brother.
"Now~! For singles! Contemporary, ballet, anything."
"So that's way she's here." Mona didn't hear though she watched Austin as he slipped away. She followed him, removing her pistol from her bag.
Katherine smiled, stepping up, and dancing to Hey Sexy Lady, by Skrillex.
"Austin!"
"What?"
"Where are you going?"
"just meeting someone." then he ran off.
Mona went back in, just as Chicago slipped away.
"We should go." America agreed and they left. Monaco slipped away easily, quickly finding Chicago and DC. She watched as a blue glow came from his mouth and Chicago took it in. He fell.
BANG
Monaco pulled the trigger and a bullet grazed the other girl's cheek.
"I warned you in the twenties didn't I? I'll still take you down if I have too." She wiped away the blood, smiling faintly. "Why yes... You did... But I never listen, love... Hard to control a demon no? A cardinal sin..."
"I can control mine."
"Can you love~? Avartia~ Avartia, come out to plaaay~~," Lilith called, as Mona shuddered from the fight. Her demon's true name having been called.
"Merci Lilith."
"Of course, Avartia... It was no trouble, love, none at all."
"I don't know how she keeps beating me. It's quite annoying."
"There's a way to weaken her..."
"what would that be?"
She picked up the revolver, and placed it to her temple.
"Bang."
She nodded, twirling a knife in her hand. They lapsed into silence as the rain soaked them through.
"One favor. Leave Antonio be. I have plans for him."
"Mm... I'll do my best, love."
"good." and then she too was gone
"Such a night..."
A mile away another stood a long sword in her hand.
"What's wrong Artie? Afraid of your little sister?" her tone was mocking, her Hungarian, British accent strong. He merely looked at her, shaking his head.
"So sad isn't it? You worked so hard to raise her, teach her right from wrong. And then she just leaves you." her words stung him. He paused, before hissing,
"Leave, demon."
"oh? Who's going to make me?"
He glared at her, darkly, before muttering a spell, driving away the demon.
"A-Artie?"
"Leave, please..."
"what's wrong?"
"Just go..." his tone suggested he wasn't talking.
"No. I'm not leaving when Viku's demon's out. He's hard to find."
He blinked, "Ask Alexa. She's good with tracking."
"Oh, that's wise. Go talk to the Romani bitch who ruined my life..." she turned away, sighing. "Fine, whatever. She's not gonna be able to do anything though. She's fucking useless."
"And Jessie? Be careful."
She nodded and left, walking quickly. The temperature dropped as she neared the Romanian's home, and she knocked, calling: "Open up!"
"It's open, already!" another voice called back, sounding strangely distant.
Jessica walked in, idly curious despite herself. She walked into a library, where one of the shelves had slid back, and walked down a spiral staircase.
"Damned draconul..." she heard the other girl mutter, wiping off what seemed to be a combination of blood and soot off her hands.
"Romania..." Jessica said, trying to keep her voice light, pleasant.
"Hm?" Romania looked up from what seemed to be boiling sparkling grape juice, "Oh, salut, Jessica."
"Yeah, yeah... The hell is that?"
"This?" she gestured to the 'grape juice', "This is just an ah... potion I'm working on."
"Potion. Ok, great, whatever. Can you track someone?"
"Most likely yes, unless they've put some sort of protection on themselves to prevent magic from tracking them."
"Oook...? So, you can track down Viku?"
"Da, probably, provided you've got something of his."
"Here..." though Jessica was loathe to hand over her twin's rosary, she did. Romania nodded, wrapping the rosary around a small crystal and setting it to spin over a map. It spun and spun, and though it made Jessica dizzy, she kept watching it. As it slowed and stopped, Jessica slipped a small sketchbook out of her bag onto a table, then turned her attention back to the crystal.
Finally, it stopped, pointing to a small building, an abandoned warehouse.
"Köszönöm," Jessica muttered, running out.
"Desigur," Romania replied, picking up the sketchbook and flipping through it idly. Pictures of rabbits, of trees passed by. At the very middle of the book, there was a picture of her though, titled "Big Sister Alexa." She smiled and closed the book.
"Come out come out sister. I know you're here." Viku called watching Jessica as she darted through the shadows.
She didn't reply, but his gun found her stomach.
BANG. She fell gasping out in pain.
"B-brother p-please." she begged. he pulled the trigger again, hitting her arm. "p-please." he laughed, coldly before leaving .
"Help! S-Someone!"her cries went unaided. In a city of rapists and murderers, cries go unheard. She lay there for what felt like forever until a familiar voice came.
"JESSIE?"
"T-T-Toris." she called.
"oh lord..." he breathed gently picking her up. She surprised him then, the strong, brave girl he knew and loved started crying into his shoulder. He took her to the hospital, checking her in and running to the police station.
"Hello, sir, what can I help you with?" a delicately accented Midwestern voice asked, her feet up on her desk as smoke crowned her head.
"I-I'd... Oh god, how do I even phrase this?" he asked, flustered.
"Sir..." she sighed, pulling her feet down and standing up, leading him into her office and shutting the door, "Now, just start with the beginning, sir."
"O-ok. I heard a girl's cries..."
"Relationship to said girl?" Chicago cut in, sensing he was hiding something.
"Sh-she's my girlfriend..." Chicago nodded, as Lithuania continued. "And I found her, bleeding from two gunshots in her stomach and on her arm..."
"How did you recognize they were gunshots, sir? I know these questions are seemingly unimportant... But they aren't..."
"I-I know, ma'am. I have some experience with weaponry and such. S-so I took her to the hospital."
"Is that all? Nothing struck you as strange?"
"N-no..." he sighed, "Thank you, ma'am..."
"Of course." he nodded explained more to her and then hurried back to the hospital. By then everyone else was there.
"Mona's with her. Alexa's on her way."
"Thank... God..." he said, falling exhausted into a chair. A disheveled Romanian girl ran in, "T-Toris! What happened?"
"J-Jessie... shot..." he said, standing and crying into his older sister's shoulder. Instinctively almost, her arm wrapped around him, and the other petted his hair.
"Shh, dragoste, shh... It's ok..." he nodded. The door of her room opened.
"Alexa you're here. She wants you."
"Hm? Is she like...strung out?"
"A-Alexa, be n-nice," Lithuania muttered.
"She remembers." Romania hurried in then, Lithuania behind her.
"A-A-Alexa, you came." She sat by the bed.
"Of course iubit." she smiled at her younger sister.
"Wh-why?"
"You asked me to..."
"t-thought you h-hated me."
"Of course not." Lithuania watched before silently slipping out. Letting the sisters being alone.
"Merely you hating me doesn't spur more hate... I'm not one to hold a grudge, iubit..."
Jessica nodded. "d-d-did you see t-the sketchbook?"
"da I did." she brushed her little sister's hair back. Neither of them noticed Hungary in the doorway.
"Traitor!" she hissed, "How could you believe this Romanian whore?"
"Eli. Control yourself," Romania said, her voice soft but indicating she wanted no arguments.
"Traitorous bitch!" she screamed at Jessica.
"y'know Viku did this." Monaco said from behind her. "Well his demon."
"LIAR!" Hungary shouted, storming out. She left Jessica in tears. Monaco shut the door and walked in.
"Poor girl. It's okay Jessie."
"N-n-no it's not..." Jessica said, pressing her face into the pillow.
"Jessica Danilov look at me." she turned her eyes meeting Monaco's. "She left you alone in the snow. It shouldn't matter."
"B-But it does..."
"Jessica..." Romania sighed, "It doesn't. When she hates you, it takes ten lifetimes to fix anything."
"oh." soon she fell asleep.
"Time flows, nobody knows, the years...go by..." Romania sang softly as she watched over her little sister. Monaco sat not say anything. A phone rang then and she pulled a shiny black IPhone out of her bag.
"Bonjour...Kat slow down...what?...I'm on my way...au revior." she stood and ran out. Straight to the Police Station.
She walked in, at around 11:30 pm.
"This fucking bastard!" Chicago shouted, not noticing Monaco, "He's fucking well playing with us! Murdering fucking kids, stringing them up, sending me god damn fucking Latin letters!" She sighed, pulling on the ends of her hair, sinking behind her desk and dropping her head onto it. A loud, thunk, emitted.
"Kat...? Why'd you call me?"
"Because," she said, "if someone's not here, I'm going to go out, nab our only viable suspect, and shoot him. Right between his eyes..."
"KATHERINE. You cannot do that."
"Sure I can..."
"Non you cannot!"
"I can, but I won't..."
"Good." she said sitting.
"And because there's something I need to tell you." she had suddenly gone business like. Yet there was something sad in her voice. "There was a gang shooting. One of ourgangs. And there was a death." Monaco tensed her eyes held no emotion.
"Who Kat?" even her voice held no emotion.
"I think you know, Mona. And don't call me Kat. It's not as if you know me."
"...fine. I do know."
"Because you shot him, yes?"
"Perhaps."
"Yes or no, Mona, it's a simple question."
"I was there but I did not pull the trigger."
Chicago merely rolled her eyes, not believing. "Evidence doesn't lie," was all she said.
"Excusez-moi?"
"We pulled your prints from the gun." A bluff, but her eyes concealed it.
"That Brazilian bitch!" Mona shouted, "Amara... You little whore..."
Chicago smiled, flicking her phone closed. "Thank you, Mona..."
Monaco's eyes widened. She had just ratted out a girl that could kill her.
"You see, love, I work in a rather... unorthodox way. We'd pulled prints from the gun, but they didn't match anyone in the database. But we also picked up this..." she pulled out an evidence bag, containing one light brown hair. "See? So I figured you knew. And you did."
"Indeed."
"Quite easy to read you..."
"Shut up! Just shut it!"
"Oh no... Have I angered you?"
"Go to Hell Katherine." she hissed before standing and walking out.
She laughed, calling up her officers in the field. "Amara Catalina. She's our unsub."
"Alright."
The search for Amara started but Monaco had found her first.
"Better get out of town."
"Oh? Did you rat, Mona?"
"She tricked me. Just get outta here Amara." and then she left. Unseen as always.
"Tch..." Brazil walked away, slowly, leisurely. She knew she was being watched.
Krzrt.
"I don't think she is..."
"Whatever... Just get back here."
"Alright. "
He went back. The sun set, the moon rose, leaving Chicago alone in the station. America came by a few hours later.
"Chiiii~?" he called.
She didn't reply, almost as if she didn't hear him.
"Chiiii~!" he called again.
She took the ear buds out of her ears. "What?"
"Hi. I got bored."
"So you came to a Police Station?"
"yeah!"
She shook her head. "Well, go be bored someplace else. I'm having a bad night." She gestured to a new file, lying innocently on her desk.
America didn't open it. He knew the atrocities hidden within. For all his happy-go-lucky attitude, for all his immaturity, his blue eyes hid wisdom.
"alright." he smiled and left.
Faintly, imperceptibly, she began to shake. Hallucinations came and went, voices.
"N-no... Go away..." she whispered, her eyes haunted as visions assailed her eyes. "I don't want this anymore... This gift... I just want to be normal!" she shouted at nothing. "I'm sick of it! Being able to see ghosts, being able to hear people's thoughts! I just want to be a normal girl! Is that so much to ask!" she screamed at the ceiling, curling up under her desk and shaking, ghosts of the victims, hallucinations of the murderers assailed her.
She gave up.
She let them attack her, abuse her.
She curled into herself tighter, moaning helplessly.
Years, months, weeks, days, hours.
Who's to say how much time passed before she fell into a tortured sleep?
In her nightmare's landscape, the ground was black and twisted. Burnt, as though the apocalypse had come and gone. Murders of giant crows stood on signs drawn in blood.
Neither sun nor moon, nor stars shone on this tortured place.
Screams rent the air. The people who made the sounds of agony were never seen.
It smelled only of burning. Ashes floated in the air, making it nearly impossible to breathe.
And through the insanity, a lone blonde girl runs. Her shadow is split in seven. A man with no face, and a weapon in his hands pursued her.
In this instance, it was a chainsaw. He caught her, sawing her in half at her waist.
She screamed, a long drawn out note. Acapella agony.
The dreamer herself floundered her way from the dream. From the terror.
"Katherine!" her eyes hardened at the sound of that voice.
"French whore..." she muttered to herself, tucking her knees in closer to her chest.
Tap, tap tap, tap. Monaco's characteristic knock. When she received no answer, she jiggled the knob and, finding it unlocked, walked in.
"Go away," Chicago immediately said, looking as though she'd been a victim of attempted murder.
"Kat? What's wrong? The dreams again?"
"Don't speak as though you know!" Chicago burst out, "You don't! You don't..." she mumbled, as though trying to convince herself.
"You've finally lost it huh?"
A hollow sounding laugh. "To lose something, one must first have it. Now go away."
"Fine. Be careful Katherine." with that she left. Going to see Spain and tell him the truth about herself.
"You say you care," Chicago said, just loud enough for Monaco to here, "But you don't even try..."
"What do you mean?"
"You know nothing... You think me merely another insane girl, a girl who has lost her mind. A girl who cares not for her family. Sans cœur..." (No heart, Heartless)
Monaco winced. Her thoughts had just been voiced. "How...?"
"I know a lot, Mona..." she said, "Insanity stems from knowledge."
"Whatever." and with that she left, this time getting away. Meeting Spain at a small cafe.
"What did you need to tell me Belle?" she sighed and told him all about the twenties.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner." he took her hand, looking her in the eye.
"I don't care what you did back then. I'm happy you told me. Te amo Mona." she smiled.
"Je t'aime trop Tonio."
Her phone rang then.
"Mona!" her anxious brother shouted. "Mona, Mona, Mona!"
"Alfie, calm down. What is it?"
"Her house. It's on fire."
"What! Who's!"
"Who do you think, dude? Chi!"
"I'll go over..." Mona sighed, snapping her phone shut. "Gotta run, mon amour."
He nodded and she ran to Chicago's home. Blackened already from previous arson, new red flames jumped out.
"It's pretty, isn't it?" asked a small, blonde girl innocently.
"Katherine M. Jones! What did you do!" Monaco said, scolding.
"It's pretty..." she smiled. "Besides... now the ghosts can't bother me..."
"Katherine dammit what the Hell is wrong with you?" she turned the smaller girl so she faced her. "Well?"
"It's pretty..." Monaco slapped her. Hard, across the face. The smaller girl's face jerked roughly to the side, tears teased from the surface.
All she said was, "Rainer says hello..." With that, without so much as an explanation, she walked away. Mona was so stunned, she could barely pull her feet up to run. She ran, finally, after the blonde girl.
"Katherine Marie Jones! Explain yourself!"
"That isn't my name..." she said softly.
"What do you mean!"
"My name... is none of your concern..."
"Not about that nonsense! About Rainer!"
"They can't bother me if they can't find me..."
"Dammit tell me!" Chicago stopped and turned.
"I can see ghosts... Your twin says hello and that he misses you dearly." she smiled. "Perhaps you can join him now."
"Wha-what?" she fell to the ground then, bleeding from a bullet wound in her stomach. They didn't know America had been watching.
"Mona!" he hurried over, Katherine grinned and left.
"It'll be okay sis. Don't worry." he picked her up and rushed her to the hospital. The doctors worked for hours. When they finally came out to deliver the news England, Spain and France had shown up as well.
"I'm sorry sirs. She may not make it." they all looked at the doctor at the same time.
"She will. Mon Petite Princesse doesn't give up."
"He's right. My Belle's a fighter." England didn't seem to hear them.
"Can we go see her now?" he finally asked.
"No she's still asleep. Waking up to a person or people will put her into shock."
"No that'll happen if she wakes up alone." the doctor sighed.
"Fine go ahead. It can't hurt anyway." they filed into her room. She was bandaged up, hooked up to about three machines. England walked to her bed first.
"Mona? Lass?" she heard his voice and blinked awake. Smiling softly when she saw everyone was there.
"Don't look so worried. I've been much worse."
"Who...?"
"Who do you think, Iggy?"
"Kat... She wouldn't..." America breathed out, despite having been there. Monaco rolled her eyes.
"She needs major help Alfie, you need to find her." he nodded and left.
He found her easily, sitting by the river. Her sleeves were rolled up, the multiple scars on her wrists plain in the dying sun. He winced, visibly. "Kat?"
"What is it?" she asked in an empty voice.
"Areyouok?" his words came out in a rush.
"Depends. Are you willing to believe I am, like you always are?"
"No. I want the truth."
"Then no I'm not okay. I'm never okay," she said bitterly. She jumped slightly when she felt him hug her.
"Kat..." he said, his eyes hard, "I just..."
"Think I'm disgusting. That I'm a horrible, heartless bitch."
"Wh-what? No!"
"Yes you do..." she said, having gleaned that from his thoughts. "You always thought I was... Even as a child..."
"H-how did you?"
"I've always been able to. Tell Mona, Rainier misses her and loves her dearly."
"How do you..."
"If you cared, you would ask as though you did. If you cared, you would have asked long ago, when I first went mad."
"Kat.."
"Just go back to your precious older sister," she said frailly, as if about to break. "You never stay a-anyway..." her voice broke on the last word as she turned and walked away.
"Kat.. Wait!" he shouted, his eyes still not softening.
"No. Go a-away! Y-you don't.. mean it... You don't mean a-anything..."
"Kat..." he knew there was nothing else to say, he turned and walked back to the hospital.
"You never care..." she whispered to herself, brokenly. "Never ever..."
Only the wind, the rain, the cold heard her words. The wind whisked them away. She shivered slightly, wrapping her arms around herself.
"It's cold..." she said frivolously to no one. Soon she came to the hospital, sighing she walked in. Easily finding Monaco's room. She was awake and alone.
"H-he... misses you. It must be nice... To be wanted. To be loved," she said childishly, her hands clasped in front of her, her blond hair in her face.
"Cut the shit, Chicago."
"...what...? It's true... Rainer does... he misses you... No one ever misses me. They just want me...gone...dead. Who would care?" she asked herself quietly, "For one little crazy girl..."
"Austin certainly seems to."
"No... He... sees me merely as a challenge..."
"Non he doesn't."
"He does... I would be better off dead... I should be dead..."
"Katherine don't say that." she coughed and mumbled something in French.
"Why not? To speak the truth... is it still such a crime? It matters little if at all... I'll be gone in a few days' time..." she sighed, "Not by my hand, before you say that..."
"Kat..."
"It isn't as though you care... You haven't cared since I nearly burnt to death..."
"I did care..."
"No... You stopped then... I think you know it too..."
"You blamed Rainier, I couldn't believe he'd do that."
"But he did... And you knew that I wasn't lying... At 12, I wasn't capable of that kind of deception..." she sighed and left, shivering in the cold.
"Hey..." a man said, raising an eyebrow.
"What?"
"You're... that gang leader..."
"I was... I'm not any longer."
"You killed my father..."
"Did I? I can't recall..."
She sighed and walked past, back to her loft. She didn't know another had been watching her and the man.
"She did kill your father, but she wasn't a leader then."
"How would you know?"
"She was one of mine." Tokyo sighed and walked to Chicago's loft.
"Aki! OPEN THE DOOR!"
"Go away," she mumbled through the door, her back pressed to it.
"Aki come on, open the door."
"Go to hell, Tokyo..." came the response, tired.
"Aki. I will break this door down."
"No. Go away, Tokyo..." she said moving away from the door. It flew open then.
"The fuck's wrong with you!"
"Everything..."
"Aki..."
"Everything and nothing," the blonde girl laughed, musically.
Insanely.
"Aki...what happened?"
"Merely pure lunacy dissolving sanity's grip on life."
"I should have killed you when I had the chance"
"Yes... You should have... But you didn't... No time for regrets..."
"N-nani desu ka!" Tokyo asked, noticing the butterfly knife in Chicago's hands.
"This isn't for you... It's a present for my brother..."
Tokyo tensed and ran out. Straight to America's house.
"Always assuming the worst..." Chicago whispered, placing the knife down and tying a blue ribbon around it.
Back at America's, DC was trying to calm down a hysterical Tokyo.
"Kat never kills him, no matter how far gone she is. Never."
"B-But..."
"Never." she nodded, calming a little.
"Ok?"
"Ok."
"Good, now you it's dangerous for you to be running around."
"Why?"
"It just is."
"Alright...?"
"If Kat's gone like last time..." she just nodded, yawning.
"You understand?"
"Hai..."
"Good."
About a mile away, said "gone" girl was working in her home. It was being softened it seemed almost.
"Kat," Mona said. "Let the act go, will you?"
Katherine sighed. "Fine, Mona, fine... It's always been fun and now it's an expectation."
"Kat, are you sure you're just a city? I have this...suspicion, you aren't..."
"You mean, I'm...a country? Like you?"
"Oui, but I don't know who. Ludwig said that a girl... by the name of Luxembourg went missing around the time America found you..."
"Luxembourg..." she said slowly.
"It explains the light accent..." Monaco said softly.
"I... suppose so," Katherine replied, picking up her phone and dialing in a number.
"Germany...?" she asked slowly, "Am I... Luxembourg?"
"..ja..." he replied, just as slow and soft.
"And no one told me! Why!" she shouted.
"Ah... We um... weren't supposed to..."
"What!"
TBC IN: Porcelain Problems
((Sorry it jumped around so much. It's called Yachting_Gambling_Princesse_19 likes to jump around. She wrote this with me, but Luxembourg is my character. As such, this story is mainly written by myself. Cheers.
~Kikusui179))