«I'm planning to kill someone you hate, are you interested? »
The voice was mechanical, unearthly, distorted beyond recognition, for obvious reasons, and he bet that if he tried to track the signal his cellphone had received, he wouldn't find anything.
His mouth dry, shaking so ever slightly at the thought, he answered:
«It depends, who do you have in mind? »
The smile of the other remained unseen, but, had it been, it would have been enough for the nation to take back his words.
«Damn it all! » he shouted, barely resisting the urge to throw away his PlayStation's remote through the window and into the night.
How could he, the Hero, lose to some Nazis in a shooting game? That was complete bullshit! Things didn't even happen that way back then! Oh, he could remember it all so well. He was there, facing billions of enemies all by himself, yelling insults as they all fell under the assault of his awesomeness, just as he freed all the poor oppressed people!
That game was obviously broken.
«Sucker! » Tony's voice boomed in the house.
Damn, that alien of his was really loud. He could barely hear himself rant on his past heroism with all that noise!
Geez, what was it with people and their lack of recognition in his glorious actions today? Afghanistan had blew a few fuses during the world meeting and started going on how he was just a fraud pretending to be a hero.
Alfred's expression darkened considerably. He was a Hero! No one had the right to contest that after all he was doing for the world!
«How dare you pretend to be a hero when all you do is spread war on people that refuse your ideals? » that blasted fool had screamed in the middle of the world meeting.
At that time, the nations had been frozen in stupor. Oh, it was a common occurrence for people to yell in that particular room. What was more shocking was the venom dripping in Afghanistan's voice.
It was horrifying how much broken he looked. Tears were raining down from his face as the tan man was glaring at Alfred. Those eyes looked made to kill, to destroy what had destroyed him. If he had been in the wrong, surely the American would have felt unease, maybe even shame, but he was right! It was stupid terrorist's fault!
Instead of an apology, he shouted with indignation.
«WHAT? I'M THE FREAKING HERO! I'M DOING EVERYTHING I CAN TO HELP YOUR GOVERNMENT AND WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN YOUR PLACE! »
Of course, that was followed by a collective groan of exasperation for the majority of the nations. Quite a few, Russia among others, failed to have a proper reaction and acted as usual, but two others, Canada and Australia, looked struck with sadness.¸
«Liar… » Afghanistan muttered. «Liar… liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, liar, LIAR! YOU'RE JUST A LIAR! YOU'VE DONE NOTHING BUT BRING WAR TO ME! »
«I'M NOT A LIAR! » Alfred replied, just about ready to lunge at the damn nation.
A pair of arms wrapped around his torso just in time to stop him. They were slightly tan and he recognized the sleeves, but it was truly the voice that sold Australia away.
«Don't do it, mate! » he pleaded, desperately trying to stop Alfred from doing something he'd probably regret later.
«You bloody git! Can't you resolve anything without fighting? » England commented.
«Ah, l'Angleterre, you are always so fixated on the poor boy. Why don't you let me make you forget about him for a while? » was France's immediate flirty reply.
Predictably, England repelled the sexual assault while being as red as a tomato and feeling like beating up a certain Frog. The fact that it took place right after his comment on America's violence left a few nations thinking about how much the two nations were similar.
Distracted by the little scene pulled by the two European nations, the attention on America was lessened and that was a big mistake on Australia's part. No one was strong enough to hold him back when he was in this state, especially not if they weren't putting it their all!
He broke free of Australia's grip and jumped on the man that had dared said that, that had dared doubt how much of a hero he was!
Another pair of hand came in between the two fighters, this time much softer, but at the same time, stronger.
«Stop it, both of you! » came the unusually loud voice of Canada.
Okay, it was totally because a hero listens to his brother from time to time that he stopped and NOT because that arm was really preventing him from moving, no way. As if Mattie was as strong as him! He was way too soft for that! Seriously, he was carrying a polar bear, a damn baby polar bear, in his arms, all the time!
Alfred, of course, failed to take note that Kumajirou was much heavier than he looked, but that's just a detail. Why would heroes bother with details?
For a moment, it seemed as if the fight would be stopped at such an early stage.
Alfred was no longer trying to attack Afghanistan, which was quite a feat for the shy boy to pull.
It was just a shame that he had failed to take into account someone's grudge.
«You hypocrite! How can you look at yourself in the mirror? I'm a peacekeeper, yet I support every one of my brother's stupid wars! » the tan man spat at the Canadian.
Shaken, Matthew backed away, eyes tearing up.
It was that last thing that really made Alfred snap, not the insults, not the part where he denied his obvious heroism, it was the fact that he made his little brother cry!
In a scream of rage, he threw a punch at Afghanistan and felt with a savage satisfaction the man's nose breaking under his fist.
Right after that, things degenerated. Some tried to separate them, only for them to be thrown back against other nations which immediately took offense to that and started fighting as well. Of course, Russia took it as his signal to take out his pipe and things pretty much hit rock bottom. Soon enough, the whole room was caught in a massive brawl, save for a few sane ones (though Germany was starting to question how long he'd retain his sanity).
Thinking about it made Alfred cringe in spite. That had nothing to do with the few sore spot on his body. No, the fight had been totally one-sided and he absolutely saw the commie bastard come from behind him to smack him with his pipe. With the strength all his heroism was giving him, he had crushed his opponents in that battle, though maybe he shouldn't have beaten up Prussia. Mattie was quite fond of the albino for some reason.
He shrugged. Meh, it wasn't his fault the guy had started a fight with him spouting about his awesomeness (which, minds you is nonsense, the only one awesome in that room was Alfred… and MAYBE, just maybe, Mattie). Plus, he'd survived. When you live through the dissolution of your country, you could live through anything.
Once more, his character died at the hand of the machine.
«What? »
His Playstation was a cheating bastard! That was the only explanation! And it needed to pay!
The machine was spared from his wrath by the sounds of his cellphone going off.
«Huh? Who could be calling this late into the night? »
«Alfred? Did I wake you up? » Matthew asked softly.
«Why would I be asleep? » he replied, frowning in confusion.
«It's three in the morning, Al. What have you been doing? »
This time, something sounded wrong, so very wrong about his little brother's voice. It was filled with… fear.
«Mattie? Are you alright? » Alfred asked, concerned, since, of course, that's how a hero acts.
«Y-you stayed in your house, right? Y-you haven't gone around and wandered around the place where we hold the world meeting, have you? »
«Why would I do that? That's so suspicious, totally un-hero like! »
A sight of relief was perfectly audible from the other side of the line.
Now, Alfred was seriously worried. Why was his brother acting like that? It's as if he was worried for him, you don't worry about the hero!
«That's really great, Alfred! » Matthew continued, ignoring his brother's demands for explanation. However, his tone returned to being shaky when he announced the reason of his call. «Germany called for an emergency meeting. »
«Huh? Why? »
«He'll explain everything when we get there. Stay where you are, I'm going to pick you up, okay? »
With a bad feeling, Alfred agreed.
Luckily, his place was not too far from the one they held the world meeting. Being the host nation, he should have stayed in the same hotel as everyone else, but, after the fight that had erupted, he had stormed to his house and pretended to kill Nazis until Matthew called.
As he was being driven to the place (Matthew never let him drive him anywhere! Tch, blow a fire hydrant once and no one will let you forget! ), he had noticed the concern on Matthew's face as he shot him looks when he thought he didn't notice. What was the deal with that? He was acting as if the Hero that he was was in trouble.
Alfred would have eaten his words right there if he had known.
When they arrived, the atmosphere was tense and heavy. No country was acting like they usually were. They were all serious – how was that even possible? – and their expression were grave. Even the most happy, aka oblivious, nations like Feliciano were not smiling. This couldn't just be the lack of sleep.
As soon as they noticed him, the silence got heavier, thicker. The way they were standing created a barrier between him and the building. From that formation, only he and his brother were absent. For a moment, nations only stared at each other, trying to find read one another. A few looked quite disturbed. After a few minutes, Germany cleared his throat to speak.
«Ah, America. We were waiting for you. » he said, hiding something unreadable behind that apparent calm.
Once more, Alfred frowned. Huh? What was that?
«Of course you were! Explain the situation to your Hero! » Alfred flashed them his most famous grin.
He caught a whispered «Bloody git… » as England looked at something that Alfred still hadn't noticed.
«What was that, Iggy? » he asked innocently, knowing that would make the gentleman angry.
Before things could get out of hand, Germany buried the protest with another intervention.
«This is no time for fighting! We are facing a crisis! »
Alfred blinked. A crisis? No wonder they were waiting for him to arrive!
Germany led him through the ranks of his fellow nations. Quietly, they moved out of his way, unnaturally might he say. Belgium even shrieked when his shoulder brushed hers.
Okay, it was probably just the fact that she was not used to touching a real Hero like him…
In the back of his mind though, he was starting to have doubts on that. Too many things didn't add up.
Germany then pointed to him a spot on the ground and everything froze in place.
Afghanistan was lying on the floor.
He was covered in blood.
Way too much blood.
His throat was opened and his eyes were lifeless, forever staring at the sky.
«W-what happened? » Alfred turned to Germany.
«We do not know, America. Someone found the body and called the police. Our leaders took care of it from that point on. »
«Why? Who would do such a thing? »
Germany had nothing to answer. He simply stared intensively at the American. Feeling a strange feeling in his guts, Alfred turned around to face the other nations.
«Why are you looking at me like that? »