Chapter Two – Tea
America and France rushed off immediately. However many thoughts were running through their heads, neither of them spoke. America tugged at the door.
"It won't open! Damn it! I'm gonna rip this thing off the hinges!"
The last thing that he remembered was looking into his violet eyes, just for a second.
"Wake up, Amerika. You are okay, da?"
Alfred immediately tried to sit up, but his throbbing headache made him slam his head down, back onto the bed.
"I assume that you will want to stay there for a while? I'll be back in a moment."
America slowly rose his head from a pillow, propping himself up against a headboard. His heart was pounding and every muscle in his body urged him to leap out of this bed and fight, but he knew that he couldn't risk injuring himself further.
I can do this. What? What can I do? I don't even know. I don't know how I'm going to get out of this. I can't give up. I'm the hero!
Alfred looked out the window and saw the wind whipping the snow across an empty world, just white – white sky and white ground and white wind. It created such an illusion that Russia's house was the only thing left in the world. He then remembered the rest of the world. What had happened to France? to Canada?
Russia opened the door slowly, interrupting his thoughts.
"I brought you tea… England tells me you like it with honey and lemon?"
Alfred stared, silent.
Ivan set two cups of tea on the side table beside the bed. He picked one of them back up and held it in both hands.
"Have it, Amerika."
Alfred inhaled. "I'm not taking your toxic tea. If you think that I trust you, let me tell you right now. I don't, I never have, I never will. You are completely insane."
Ivan's hands tightened around his tea.
"Why are you so afraid of me?" he murmured.
"I just told you. You're one to talk, too. You're pretty damn afraid of me when I'm not sitting here, helpless."
Ivan laughed, softly.
"Amerika… you cannot see, can you? That your future is here, as a part of a new Soviet Union, a new alliance. Maybe you will be the last to join me… but maybe you world rather be the first to join the winning side?"
"The winning side? You've got to be kidding me. You're the one that needs to learn that communism will never win," America responded.
"Maybe you need to look at your people, da? And what they are protesting for? Maybe I need to leave you here to drink your tea."
By this time it was quite dark. He lay down quietly and stared at the tea beside him.
What's going on with me? Why don't I want to leave?
He looked at the tea and slowly reached towards it. The cup felt pleasant in his hands, warming them. The room was so cold.
Just as he was bringing the cup to his lips, the window shattered. Alfred dropped the cup, and it shattered into blades of ceramic on the hardwood floor.
"Alfred, it's us. We need to go," England urged.
Alfred practically leapt out the window, into France's arms.
"I can carry you…"
"No, I'm fine. I can stand," America replied quickly. "I'll follow you guys. We can't risk being caught."
"Are you sure, Alfred?" Canada questioned.
America began to walk away from the house.
The fastest that the four could go was a slow plod through the snow. No one could see more than a couple of feet ahead. America's fingers were completely numb.
Finally, Canada's car appeared on the edge of an unmanaged road. Everything was drenched in snow.
"I can drive through this. I'm used to driving in the snow," Canada mentioned as he got into the driver's seat. "If nobody minds me driving, though."
"Just go, before the storm worsens, mon ami," France responded.
"And go to Germany's place, please. I trust him with this type of siuation."
It continued to snow. The headlights illuminated the spots of white whipping wildly across the path of the car.
France stroked America's hand softly in the back seat, whispering something in French while Alfred looked out the window, hating himself for not leaving on his own. At least he hadn't taken a sip of that stupid tea.
But I would have if England hadn't broken the window when he did.
England was trying to look at a map. Canada was focused intensely on the road.
The road seemed to keep going forever, like there was no place to turn, just more miles and miles through the snow. Alfred drifted in and out of sleep; finally, he awoke fully when the countries had arrived at a gas station.
Canada quickly got out of the car and began to fill up the tank.
England unbuckled his seatbelt and turned around, looking at America.
"What happened to you while you were with Russia?"
"Nothing. He was telling me some crap about communism. He didn't do anything to hurt me besides when he initially knocked me out."
"Do you want to talk about it, Alfred?"
"No. I'm not a little kid anymore."
France added, "Alfred, we will be to Germany's home soon. You can rest there, and figure out what you want to do."
"I know what I want to do! I want to destroy him!"
"America, now is not the ideal time to start a war. Don't get so caught up in a personal conflict that you create a potentially huge disaster," England warned.
"Back me up when I create this potentially huge disaster."
England sighed.
"Haven't we already gone through this once before? Think about the Cold War, Alfred. Are you saying you want that again?" England pressed.
"No. Not at all," America sighed. "Diplomacy it is. England, why do you have to be so rational?"
England flashed a small smile and responded, "Although you're the 'hero,' someone has to be the responsible one."
France laughed. "If you made all of the decisions, well... it's good you don't, oui?"
"Nobody trusts me," Alfred mumbled into the car seat.
Canada got back into the driver's seat.
"It's not that much further to Germany's. Only about half and hour."
As the nations drove, the snow gradually subsided until there were only light flurries. The roads were clear and flat, and by the time they arrived at Germany's, the snow was gone and the sky was mostly cloudy, with a few patches of blue peeking through.
"Mr. Jones." Germany's voice was somehow reassuring after such a hectic drive. "Are any of you hurt?" he continued.
"Other than America's head, we're all fine. America seems to be better now, too," Arthur answered.
"Yeah, I'm good," Alfred said. "Just a little dazed. I'll be fine soon."
"We need to get him to a bed. It's almost one in the morning," Germany continued. "There are places for you three to sleep too. We'll deal with the situation in the morning.
Once Alfred was asleep, Germany called the other nations down to his living room. It was full of nations, most sighing with relief when they saw the three nations that had just arrived.
"America is asleep upstairs."
Everyone relaxed slightly, but their eyes were still filled with nervousness.
"I understand that you all want to go to sleep, but this is a very serious matter. I need to tell you what happened after you left the festival," Germany said, looking at England, France, and Canada.
The three nations looked at Germany intently.
"As you must have assumed, you left everything in chaos. China brought Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, and Lithuania to Russia. I took everyone else here except Japan, who I assumed was with you. The biggest problem we have right now is Japan's absence. Is any nation coming with me to Russia's to look for him?"
England stood up.
"Thank you. Please stay here unless there's an emergency. I'll have my cell phone on if anyone needs to call."
Germany and England left silently, the slam of the door still reverberating in the quiet house.
"Everyone is here now, da?" Russia looked over the group of shivering, whimpering nations.
Yao spoke up immediately. "Yes, Ivan. The nations who you wished for are here, aru."
"Other than Amerika, of course. We'll find him again. For now—"
He was cut off by a knock at the door.
He sighed. "Lithuania. Get it. But look out the window first."
Lithuania, who was clearly the worst off of the nations around him, stood up shakily and walked over to the door. With each step he was obviously in pain, however he tried to hide his wincing.
"J-japan," he stammered.
Yao looked at Ivan quickly. "Please, may I go over and help him?"
China looked away immediately. How he wished he could be with the other nations, safe in Germany's house…
"To do what? Open the door? No. If he can't open the door, why is he here?" Ivan stared at Lithuania intently.
Toris struggled with the lock. He slowly pulled open the door, its squeaking filling the room with a harsh sound.
"China?" Japan's voice slipped into a higher pitch. His hands visibly shook. He tried to inhale, but his breaths came in shaky bursts.
Yao looked at Japan – his worried eyes, his pathetic shaking and stammering.
He comes here, worried for my safety, when I'm supposed to be worried for his. And now he's stuck here, like us.