ADMIT IT.

YOU GUYS THOUGHT THAT I'D NEVER EVER REVISIT THIS.

BUT GUESS WHAT.

I DID.

I'm very happy. Have you noticed?


"Well, shit." commented America.

"I concur." said Taiwan. They stared at the handcuffs and the nine-only nine!-links of chain joining them. They had tried everything to get them off short of guns-which they had unanimously agreed was too damn risky. In the end, England had made them stop, firmly smacking them upside the heads and saying that the cuffs were magical and special and if they kept trying to destroy his bloody handcuffs he'd never free them.

Obviously, the tripe about magical handcuffs was disbelieved. But the fact that they had to survive who knew how long with each other was enough to make them beg on their knees.

Unfortunately, England was not in a good mood that day after sustaining multiple injuries by a heavy metal wok, and didn't heed them. He'd bundled them out of the meeting room so that he didn't draw attention or have to see them and he walked off muttering about various balms for his soon-to-be impressive bruises. He eventually woke up in the morning with a plethora of blue and purple striping his stomach and back. England couldn't move for a few days.

Taiwan and America watched him go. Saying that they weren't pleased was an understatement;. Taiwan because she wanted her weapons back as soon as possible; America because he was chained to the one person in the world that he was supposed to ignore, and at the very least publicly. He'd had three legged and three-armed races before, and those had required both people to cooperate. Plus, China, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan had been forced to hang back when they'd gone out of the Meeting Room. If looks could kill, both America and England would have been smoking piles of ash.

This wasn't going to go down well.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned.

Taiwan's fist smashed into his face, and he stumbled backwards. The unfortunate side effect was that Taiwan stumbled with him (owing to the chain being so short) and crashed headlong into his chest. Now, Taiwan was not as dainty as she looked, and really did have a fair bit of muscle on her and so having her crash into you was not like being pelted with delicate flowers. They nearly fell; but handcuffs were unbearably tight on their wrists, bringing them up short, causing America to wince and tears to spring to Taiwan's eyes.

"The hell was that for? Heroes don't deserve to be punched!" he whispered angrily, nursing his wounded cheek.

"That's for getting us in this mess!" she hissed.

"Hong Kong aru. Do you hear something aru? I'm sure that it's not two Nations who are not supposed to talk to each other aru." A voice floated out from around a corner, steadily gaining volume as its owner got closer.

America, to put it simply, panicked.

He scooped up Taiwan (ignoring her protests) under his arm so that it looked like she was a package. He sprinted as fast as he could around a corner, through a few halls and finally into a deserted room. It looked a good deal like the meeting room they had left, but smaller and more ancient; Ivy grew up the walls and the windows looked out onto a small garden, while the table was made of plain, dark, polished wood. There weren't any whiteboards; only one completely bare cream wall with a few sticks of charcoal lying about on the ground. In one corner, there was a bucket.

"I think that they might've gone somewhere over here! Hey, Japan, didja see how fast he ran?"

"Be-wheeze-quiet."

"Awww, you were winded that easily? How pathetic is that? I mean, running fast was invented in Korea! Obviously you haven't picked it up yet! And how is China going to get his hands on those two treaty-breakers when you're practically dying on me?" Korea chattered on endlessly as he and Japan passed through the hallway outside of the room.

America and Taiwan silently stared at each other, completely nonplussed.

"We're so fucking screwed." groaned Taiwan.

"No we aren't! I'm a hero and I'll help maidens in distress-"proclaimed America.

"HEY! Japan! I heard something! Let's go back through here!"

Taiwan put a (non-handcuffed) hand over her mouth, eyes widening. She put one over America's too since he looked like he was going to say something stupid.

Running footsteps echoed through the corridor, completely bypassing their room again. Following it was a slew of Japanese, chanted rather fast and with fear.

Taiwan bent to pick up a piece of charcoal. She tried, anyways. America was still standing quite solidly and so she made a pitiful grasp at one. She dragged both of her hands down and succeeded in tipping America over and landing him on his face. Stick of charcoal in hand, she quickly wrote in rounded, neat handwriting.

Look, bastard, let's just get through this alive. I doubt that you'll be able to fend off all four of my brothers. Write small. I don't know if the charcoal can be smeared off.

America squinted at the tiny print. He started to write, and his scrawl was so bad she made him write it again.

Look, I (sorta kinda not really) invented English, so I should write it better than you. The hell are you so poky about.

You're just sore because I have better handwriting. Besides, bastard, I'm not the one who nearly cut off my weapon supply.

What are you talking about?

You mean China was wrong?

Do ducks swim?

He told me that you were going to stop supplying me with weapons!

America stared at the sentence. He turned to Taiwan and started to say, "Are you-"

Sound only meters away from their door made them stiffen.

"HAHAHAHAHA! I HEARD THEM, USING MY AWESOME HEARING!"

"Korea, stop getting carried away! How could you have heard them?"

"BUT I HEARD THEM. Didn't you hear me? Or them? Obviously awesome hearing originated in me. Those two lovebirds are somewhere near!"

Taiwan resisted the urge to break her skull against the wall. She relieved her anger by drawing little arrows piercing a charcoal Korea's body one by one, starting with feet, and making spouts of blood come out.

You know, wrote America, making a little arrow at Korea's body, it's almost as if you aren't basking in my hero-ness.

Taiwan indulged herself and head met wall. It made a reassuring thunk, as if reminding her that the world was sane;. It was just covered in layers of crazy. Relax, she told herself. The bastard is just a by-product of when physics stopped working for a second. Da Ge and Hong Kong and Korea were never sane to begin with. Pan-kun'll understand.

She pictured Japan when she was herded out of the meeting room. Her hope died.

Her musing was cut off by someone poking her. Over and over.

She gritted her teeth and lifted her head off the wall, looking squarely at America. For someone she had deemed idiotic, he sure didn't seem to be. In fact, he looked almost…sorry? Nah. The bastard wasn't capable of being sorry.

Could you please stop poking me before I kill you?

Someone's unhappy.

I'm being hunted by my brothers! China's going to kill me! Or worse! Maybe he'll raise the tariffs on my exports! Maybe…

Taiwan's hand trailed down, the charcoal drawing a loose line. Then she drew a picture of a missile. She didn't realize how much of an impact this would have on her. China had just begun to loosen up, and she'd just signed a treaty with him. It didn't seem fair that all that work was set back because she made the mistake of lo-

It's probably nothing. She forced herself to write.

She noticed that America was still staring at the missile. She rubbed it out forcefully, black staining her fingers and creating an ugly grey smear on the board.

She looked away.

"Taiwan…I'm sorry." America murmured, sagging against the wall. "I-I just mess everyone up. I want to be a hero, but lately…no matter what I do, it's like I can't do anything right." Memories of the oil spill flashed between them. The seagulls and fish, petrified in black liquid and dying slow, horrible deaths.

Taiwan felt herself soften. She reached her hand out to place on his shoulder. At that moment, Korea, finally homing in on their position after running up and down the corridor dragging Japan after him like a sled, burst through the door.

The first thing she did was grab the bucket and throw the water in it at the wall, erasing their words. America, panicking again because god-damn-it-his-boss-was-going-to-kill-him, tucked Taiwan under his arm and barreled past Korea and Japan, who were staring dumbfounded at the fast-moving man.

"Which way?" he shouted, having no idea where he was. It was the African part of the building, wasn't it-

"I have no idea! Idiot! We're in the bloody European section!" she yelled back at him. She was feeling rather uncomfortable being carried like a package.

"What? Isn't it the African section?" he asked, panicking.

"No! Oh honestly, why would I know which way to go in the African section? You stupid egotistical-"

America skidded to a stop when Hong Kong and China rounded the corner and spun around, hurtling down the corridors. Almost none of the countries were around since there was a meeting going on, but out of the corner of her eye Taiwan saw Monaco peek out of a door, a disapproving look on her face.

"There! There!" screeched Taiwan. America, seeing Monaco, practically flew through the door and landed in a heap on the ground. Monaco closed the door and they listened to the pounding of feet as, in various languages, Taiwan's brothers were groaning, cursing, and shouting death threats.

Taiwan squirmed out from under America and was faced with Monaco glaring at her.


SHOCKING TWIST!

Because out of all the Europeans, the one I picked randomly was Monaco. May God have mercy on us all.