Late late late! But better late then never! Big thanks to all my reviewers and a special thanks to AnimeFanGirl167!
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia.
Chapter 5: A Message to Deliver
The World Meeting Hall was packed. That was predictable. The World Meeting Hall was noisy. That too was predictable. The World Meeting Hall was packed and noisy, with nations butting heads and shouting over each other while not listening to anything the person sitting next to them said. Anyone who had attended enough of theses meeting could have told you that this was nothing out of the ordinary. The only time the place was quiet (Other than that time when Poland had put sleeping pills in everyone's drinks) was when it was completely empty. What was out of the ordinary, however, was the atmosphere.
"I'm telling you, I knew nothing! I still know nothing!" Romano was shouting across the table at Greece, who had already turned to someone else for information.
"Don't look at me! He never said a word about this! Honest!" Thailand exclaimed in response to the grilling he was receiving from several nations.
"Can some please just explain to me what this is all about?" Seychelles demanded at everyone.
England could feel the nervous energy unleashed from each nation in the giant room as he closed the door quietly behind him and hurried to his seat. Some wore their emotions like neon lights, such as South Italy and Seychelles. Others like Germany and Greece appeared outwardly calm but he could almost feel their trembling. Russia sat in his usual spot, his usual smile on his face. He was the only one who seemed entirely unaffected by the new situation. England had given up trying the read the northern giant's thoughts a long time ago though. In their shouting and bellowing very few noticed his arrival until he pulled out his chair and sat down. The few that did see him did not acknowledge his presence aside from a small wave or nod of the head.
"Outrageous! Unacceptable! I will not stand for this!" China bellowed loud enough to grab everyone's attention. The nations hastily quieted themselves as he banged his first on the polished wood. "What do you know, aru? Are you two planning something? Tell him I am going to rip his head off unless he releases those two immediately!"
Korea, the recipient of China's furious tirade held up his hands as if to ward off the blows the larger nation might inflict upon him. "Hey, hey! I don't know nothing, Aniki. Honest! He told me he was coming over for the usual stuff but he never showed up. Next thing I know he's on the news and conquering everybody!"
"You really expect me to believe that, aru?" China demanded.
Korea lowered him arms, growing bolder as he quickly thought up his response. "It's the truth!" he insisted. "I mean, seriously, would I have come here wanting to know what was going on if I was already in on it?"
China paused at that while the reasoning worked in his mind. Silence reigned as the rest of the hall also thought it over. There did seem no logical reason for Korea to be with the other nations if he was partners with America. And he did seem honestly baffled by everything as well. At that moment China chose to look down the table until his eyes fell on England. "You." He pointed at the island nation. "Just what do you know?"
England bristled at the accusing tone in China's voice. "I was going to ask you the same thing." He said coldly. China ignored his tone.
"You're his mentor and friend." The larger nation pressed. "I know he has to have said something to you! You tell him that he has gone to far this time! Now he's just asking for a fight!"
"I can't get a hold of him!" England snapped. "I have not spoken a bloody word to him all week! Why don't you tell him yourself?"
"I refuse to speak with that backstabbing son of a dog until he pulls out his entire army out of Asia! I demand that he do this!"
The sound of the huge entrance doors slamming against the walls as they opened caused China, England, and the other nations to suddenly turn their heads. Standing there was the late arrival to the meeting. The tall western nation, his glasses slipping down the bridge of his nose, was leaning over with his hands on his knees to support himself. After several seconds of just heaving for breath he looked up and opened his mouth, "I'm sorry, I –"
"America!"
"What?"
"America! What is this?"
"Wait, what?"
"America! What the hell is this is all about?"
"Hold on a minute!"
"Goddamn, America, what do you think you're doing?"
"No, you got this all wrong!"
"America, I am going to rip your head off if you don't answer for this right now!"
"I. Am. Not. America!"
England blinked a few times before his brain registered that his eyes were indeed not looking at America. Before the assembled nations stood instead, in a rather twitchy state, the other tall, western nation from North America with glasses. Canada took another deep breath before composing himself. Fixing his glasses and running his hand though his hair in a feeble attempt to make himself presentable, Canada quickly walked over to his chair beside England's. Not used to having hundreds of eyes on him, he kept his head down, trying not to let others see that his face was turning red. When he made it to his seat, Canada kept his eyed low. Then he looked up and around and, seeing that over a hundred eyes were still fixed on him, looked down again, suddenly fascinated by his twiddling thumbs. Silence reigned again for the next ten seconds. Those ten seconds felt like ten hours for many of the nations until China spoke out again.
"Well?" the ancient nation pressed from the head of the table.
Canda brought his head up, his face not longer red but the nervous pale that everyone else seemed to share. "I don't know anything." he said calmly. "I just heard about it on the news yesterday." Seeing China and several others about to open their mouths he added, "I tried calling but he won't answer his phone."
"You're his brother, aru! You live right next door!" China exhorted. "You really expect us to believe that?"
The implication that he was lying caused Canada to grow defensive. "Look, if I said I haven't talked to him then I haven't talked to him! You think I can just waltz over to Washington D.C. whenever I want?"
"Actually, you can." France pointed out. "You do so on a regular basis."
"Well I can't anymore!" Canada snapped. "The border was sealed off!"
All noise froze again as everyone took in that new bit of information. Uneasy looks were exchanged around the table. Canada and America shared border sealed? How was that possible? The two shared the longest undefended border in the world, something the two brothers occasionally liked to brag about. For it to be sealed was unthinkable. It just was.
Canada seemed abashed for his outburst and looked down again while saying nothing more. The inner frustration he was feeling was evident to England though, his old ward's emotions easy for the older nation to read. After the long moment of stunned silence whispers began circulating among the nations. Whispers became louder and talking resumed.
China looked livid once more. "Has anyone talked to him at all?" he shouted at the crowd.
"What about E-mail?" asked Estonia. "Anyone try that?"
"Does he have a land-line?" wondered Vietnam.
"How about talking to his government?" Egypt offered.
"Regular mail might work." said Spain.
"Anyone know Morse Code?" put in Hungary.
"What about a messenger pigeon?" said Kenya.
"I can chat with him on X-Box Live." Poland mentioned.
The meeting quickly devolved from there as everyone's excitement and nervousness got the better of them. An idea was offered, someone mentioned how stupid the idea was, proponent of the idea snapped at the insulter, friend on the insulter snapped back, and everything became a large bicker fest once more. Not even China could rein it in (Though that might be because he was shouting with the rest of them). England rested his chin on his arm while wondering, despite the gravity of the situation and not for the first time, why they ever had these meeting since this is how they all ended up anyway.
Suddenly a loud and shrill whistle pierced through the room and everyone shut up again. Some winced while others covered their ears. Regardless, everyone turned their heads to the direction of the noise; the front doors of the hall.
Satisfied that he had everyone's attention, America removed his fingers from his mouth. He gave everyone a beaming smile then waved. "Hey. Sorry I'm late!" The nations of the world continued to stare at him in stunned silence. America ignored their stares and strolled up to the table. "You seriously wouldn't believe the traffic jam I had to go through to get here." He said nonchalantly as he moved past the nations seated near the end of the table on his way to his own seat. Which was quite a walk. Though no longer at the head of the table, America's chair at the long table was among the top twenty. "And my AC broke down too. In the middle of traffic! Worst ride over here ever!"
England and the others continued to watch dumbfounded as America kept moving to his seat. Many were wide-eyed. Some were open mouthed. England was both. China in particular seemed on the verge of saying something but no words left his lips. America stopped suddenly behind the chair of Morocco. He dug into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out an envelope.
"From my boss to your boss. Make sure it get to him." He said as he placed it in front of the startled North African nation. Before Morocco had a chance to respond America went on his way. There was something scrawled on the front of the envelope but England was too far away to see what it was.
"You know, I was thinking." The blonde nation started as he reached his chair, "Maybe we should move the Meeting Hall somewhere else. This place is too dead center in the middle of a big city. We could use a more relaxed atmosphere, ya know?" He pulled out his chair but rather than move into it America pulled it out of its place entirely and began pulling it behind him as he made his way back across the room.
"You know what would be cool?" he said with stars in his eyes, "And I seriously just had this idea like ten minutes ago. You're not going to believe it: An underwater Meeting Hall!"
The nations whose heads' had turned as they followed America to his seat now went backwards as America headed closer to the end of the table near the entrance.
"Think about it!" he exclaimed. "It would like our own personal Atlantis! Well, as personal as so many people can make it. We'll have all the sea food we can imagine and the biggest aquarium ever! We can take submarines to get there. And we'll have and indoor pool!"
When he reached the end of table, directly opposite of China, America set his seat in front of it and sat down. Leaning back, he at last he looked around and seemed to notice that everyone had been staring at him without a word for the past minute or so. He stared at all of them in return and when nobody said anything he said:
"Is silence in style all of a sudden? What's up with all of you?
That did the trick.
"America! What is this?"
"America! What the hell is this is all about?"
"Goddamn, America, what do you think you're doing?"
"America, I am going to rip your head off if you don't answer for this right now!"
America quickly held up his hands in a similar fashion as Korea did earlier. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! One at a time!" he shouted over the hundreds of voices. He looked across the table to see China shouting among the rest. America pointed to him. "China, why don't you go first."
Now that the source of his wrath was actually in his sights, England noticed that China seemed to be at a loss of words. Standing, leaning over the table with his hands gripping the edge as if he might tear it off, he was clearly struggling to form a coherent sentence in his anger. America looked on with a smug expression.
"The deal was that she would be independent." China growled finally. "In exchange for her recognition you'd remove you bases in Japan and Korea! That was what we agreed on! You promised."
"Yeah, well promises are cheap." America returned. "I have a different goal to pursue now."
"I can't believe this!" China slammed his hand on the table. "Do you want a war?" he bellowed.
"Do you?" America said calmly. "I'll remind you that on the first day of our negotiations we went over what would happen if I had to go hostile to make this happen. We both know how far we're prepared to go."
It was almost comical how the heads of all the nations collectively turned to whoever was speaking at the moment. Although seated at opposite ends of the long table, the two giant nations could hear each other just fine since everyone else was keeping their voices in low whispers.
"Deal? What deal? What did they go over?" Canada whispered to England.
"I have absolutely no idea." England murmured.
"You cannot simply invade my siblings!" China continued.
"Why? You do it all the time." America pointed out.
"That's different. We're not playing for keeps!"
"Well then you've been playing the wrong game."
"Are you toying with me?" China raged.
"No, I am trying to make a point." America's smile disappeared. The playful twinkle in his eyes dimmed as he again scanned the faces in the room. Some he barely glanced over. Others he paused momentarily, England and Canada among this later group. Russia also earned himself a long, hard stare which he returned gamely. America rose from his chair and when he spoke his voice took an unfamiliar, hard tone.
"I am the Empire of America. I am not the United States anymore. What I have done is cast off my old identity and start anew. Together, me, Japan, and Taiwan will begin our rebirth as a prosperous and happy nation."
England, China and the others looked on in disbelief. America waited for anyone to say something. When nothing occurred he continued.
"Our take over was peaceful. We have no intention of making war on anyone. The US, Japan, Taiwan, that is three nations who will never be the cause of conflict ever again. I will not permit it. We can all rest a little bit easier now if you ask me. And that is all I wanted. My territorial ambitions are at an end."
America suddenly grinned and the twinkle in his eyes shone brightly once more. "And its not like I'm not still me or anything! Come on! I changed how my government worked, that's all!" Thinking on that, he added; "Okay, Japan and Taiwan's government too, but that's all! And its not like they're going to disappear, they're living at my place now! You can come visit whenever you want, our door is always open!" he said brightly.
"Now, who is with me on turning the World Meeting Hall into Atlantis?"
America looked around expectantly. When nobody made a move in support of his last words he frowned. "Jeez, a little conquest and you guys go ballistic. Not like you all haven't done it before." He muttered. "Fine. I'll do it myself. The Empire can do anything."
With that America got up and turned towards the door. Without even a glance back he opened the doors and left.
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