"I want to fight."

The woman stood on his right; he could see her out the corner of his eye. She had a masculine posture, her feet spread shoulder-width apart, her arms folded behind her, chest thrown forward, and her head raised high. Her long brown hair was untied and flowing freely down her shoulders.

The only thing out of place for her image was her clothing. She was wearing a light blue dress and boots. He excused the boots, for he suspected they had been used during the trek to his home in the snow outside, all of other her winter wraps must have been removed by one of his servants on her way in. But that still gave no explanation for her dress.

If another woman of stronger conviction had said to him the same thing she had said, he would have expected her to be clothed in men's clothes. Such was the norm for a woman fighting for her equal rights.

"I want to stand with you when you face Japan," she looked down at him coldly; her green eyes had lost their usual happiness and were now filled with the desire to have her wish granted.

"Why would you want that?" he turned his head to face her. It was unusual for her to march into his study and demand to leave the country. The stern look on her face made him think twice about acting playful around her.

"Hawaii was hurt. She's one of the West Pacific States, just like me. I was there, but wasn't able to do anything. I feel responsible for her injury," she said all this quickly, like she memorized it or had to repeat it to others before him.

"You don't have to worry about fighting. Your brothers can take care of everything with me overseas. I need you to stay home and look over the people by my boss's side," he sighed, propping his head up with his elbow on the desk. His work had to be put aside for a while, due to her sudden, unplanned appearance.

"I want to fight alongside with you," she shook her head, as if he didn't understand her first demand. "I want to fight with my brothers. Have someone else look after the people."

"Cali," he stood up slowly, shaking his head the entire time. He placed his hands on her shoulders, his blue eyes looking into her green ones. He was a bit taken aback by the spark of determination in her eyes and blinked steadily, struggling to think of something appropriate to say.

"I do care about the people, but many of my people are enlisting. They want to fight. It is my duty as a state to follow them into war. I cannot stay back when my people are the ones calling for war."

"You are not the first to ask that request," she looked startled by this comment. He smiled at her gently and put his arm on her back, turning her around so she walked with him to the window. "I have already spoken to your brothers, Arizona, Montana, Ohio, and Washington. Your sister Colorado was even over here asking the same thing. Imagine, Colorado asking to join the military!" He laughed but stopped when he realized she wasn't joining in.

"What was your answer to them?" her expression was still solid as stone. He sighed again and stuck his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Of course I said no to Arizona and Colorado. Arizona's a bit too young to even take control of his own battleship. And you know Colorado. She still loves that peace and quiet she gets in her mountains. I let the other three join, though I'm making Ohio wait for the second wave."

"I'm older than Montana and Washington!" she burst out, turning to him in exasperation. "You let them go but stop me?"

"I'm not stopping you because of age restrictions."

"Then what?" she demanded, her voice echoing around the room loudly. He could tell it was taking her quite a bit of self-control not to stamp a hole into his wooden floor.

"You're a woman, why don't you become a nurse instead? That way you'll be with us on the field—" she shook her head quickly and angrily.

"I don't want to be a nurse!" she snapped. "You know how many wars I was in! I was only a child when I helped Mexico gain independence from Spain! Texas and Ipersonally fought against Mexico and won. The Civil War? You know what I did there! Even the World War, when I wasn't in complete agreement with it! I fought! You let me!"

"You barely fought in the Civil War. The only time you fought alongside me was when we took the Mississippi from the Confederacy and stopped Texas. And the World War was because of disagreements between the states. You had and still have the largest military, if you hadn't sent your troops then—"

"We might not have won?" she narrowed her eyes. "The war was ending before we even joined. When we did, it escalated again before it ended. And even that wasn't a complete end. It was only a minor ceasefire. Now look at the mess it caused us. We have a depression! Japan just bombed us—look at Hawaii now!"

"There is nothing I can say to you except 'no', you cannot go into war," he shook his head. He watched as the state threw up her arms, disappointment and annoyance flushing across her face.

"Aren't I your right hand?" she demanded.

"Of course—"

"Then I have a right to go with you in case you fall during battle."

"Cali, I trust you completely. Yes, you are my right hand. But you are also my replacement. If something happens to me, I want you to take over. If I go out into battle, Japan will go to me first, and if I'm defeated—as unlikely as that seems—Japan will think America is finished. But it won't be, because I have you to act in my place. You are the second America. Not Texas or Alaska, though I don't know why Alaska would have a claim on it either."

"I still want to fight. Japan sank my battleship. Arizona's went too, so did Utah and Oakie's."

"And if I remember, the Admiral came and told me your ship was being repaired two days ago."

She frowned, but didn't push the topic any further. Instead, she turned heel and marched out of the room, no doubt looking for another state to complain to.

America settled back into his chair and shook his head, already knowing that it wouldn't be the end of her argument. He believed women shouldn't be allowed into war—no offense to Hungary—they tended to be physically and emotionally weaker than the men—without pointing any faults to England either. But they were helping with his personal morale. After the attack, he felt his people surging together, men, women, and children alike.

They gave him enough strength to march over and meet England in his northern state (though he didn't remember a state being called 'Canada' at all) and join him in the war effort against the Axis Powers.

England was short-staffed. He was practically fighting the war alone, in Europe and Africa—and starting to weaken. France—his long-time enemy and ally—had his own country taken over by Germany's forces. He was still questioning his pact with Russia, who was fighting off Germany in the east seemingly alone (though China was aiding him occasionally when Japan wasn't involved).

America was a welcoming headache to the stiff Englishman. He had made plans to send half of the fighting states to Europe and the rest (including himself, of course) to Africa and finish off whatever Italy had left. Germany would run out to save Italy and that would be the end—they would have the two captured and the only thing left to do was take down Japan.

He didn't really need the pretty Californian to worry her head. Yes, she was used to rough housing, having lived with Texas and Mexico most of her life. And the rest of the Western States weren't an easy picnic either. She cared for most of them, including Hawaii.

But she was a woman, and men were not supposed to use women to fight the wars they caused. It was morally incorrect in his way of thinking.

And there was a possibility she was going to be overemotional soon. He knew his boss was planning to send out another executive order, this one aimed at Japan's (former) people—people on her coast.

He knew she liked the people from the East, and he couldn't see why he wouldn't either. They were all hardworking. They took any job,—even the worst ones—never complained about the poor treatment, and were generally all peaceful, having no quarrel with anybody. Such was their nature, but his boss was not taking any chances.

And when she heard this order, she would come marching right back to him, shouting about equal rights and citizenship. It wasn't the time for him to listen to his rebellious state. Japan's attack had crippled another state and he was still feeling the ache from losing all of those people. They were neutral yet they still got attacked.

How many states did he have active as of this moment?

It took him a few moments to count. Hawaii was completely out of commission, she wasn't going to fight anytime soon. She was hurt too. She came to him, tears spilling down her face, begging him to keep the naval base and the airfield base where it was. Of course, he had no intention of moving it—it was perfectly situated where it was. Japan would not try to attack him again on the same base.

Then there was every state that had a battleship moored in his 'Battleship Row'. Cali, Ari, West Ginny, Oakie, Mary, T-see (or "Tenn" as everyone called him), and Nevada. Even Utah and Penny were hit, though they weren't even in clear sight.

The states were only following their ship when it docked. They received orders when it would come in, and they were all with Hawaii when it happened.

The attack left everything in shambles. Ari wouldn't wake up for a full week due to the extent of his injuries, and he wasn't even on the ship when it happened. The rest of the states wandered up and down the docks for their people's bodies. Only they were able to recognize who went where.

It was heartbreaking when he and Texas came to meet them—four hours too late. There were no tears (except Hawaii), only shock as they picked themselves up.

Utah was forever crippled on his side, and Oakie would never fully regain use of his arm. Ari had been injured in both eyes, but the doctors were only able to save one—he would be completely blind in the other.

Though he admitted, the states would have had more severe damage if they were attacked on their land, but seeing them like this was enough. The rest of the states came to pay their respects, even Alaska from the North (whoever that was). Even he was only able to see the states that were only slightly injured, the critically wounded were located in a separate facility. His people took care in making sure his states survived the ordeal.

And this entire crisis had Japan's name written all over it in blood. Just making one of his people a prisoner was not enough. That man was prepared to die when he entered his plane—no, when he stepped onto the carrier. A prisoner was practically useless if they were ready for the pain and death that followed their actions.

Japan was going to pay for this mess.

California was not the only state that was going to try to fight against his orders. She was just more bullheaded than the rest, quoting Tex. He and his boss insisted on no women fighting. They were allowed to join the smaller ranks of human women in the air force or even in the army nurses, but not allowed to fight as soldiers. This was the first time they were being so liberal on women, they could even have jobs in the factories when the men left for war.

He pulled out another piece of paper and prepared to write a pleading letter to the state before she left to visit Spain (despite the fact he was allied with the Axis Powers, he still allowed her to come and go as she pleased, as long as she had no army behind her).

In it, he was writing her duty to him and her people. She was one of his important Sunbelt states. The states with the most sun all year-round. As of now, her increased production and industry was the most important thing on his agenda. If he lost it, there was a sure chance of him losing against the Axis Powers. Maybe not Germany, but definitely Japan.

Perhaps she would listen to that. But as he sealed it and called in the butler to have someone deliver the letter, he wondered how she was getting the money to make the trip overseas to Spain in the first place.

He had a nasty feeling that she was only making Spain a side stop. He stood up quickly and strode out of the room as well, tossing the letter at the butler as he brushed by. He was going to have to move a lot quicker if he wanted to stop her from taking one foot on that boat.

I drew my version of the states. So far, only California, Texas, Alaska, New Mexico, and Arizona have been drawn as of this moment. I have a smal drawing of Utah and Colorado, but that's not quite ready yet. They're both placed on deviantart under chanchi76 the same username I'm using on FFnet.