Like a Phoenix

Chapter 8

Poland sat on a stone wall staring out across the grassy plain. He held his arms tightly around his legs that were pressed up against his chest. The wind started to pick up, blowing his blond hair in front of his face. But he continued to stare. For some odd reason, Poland just couldn't accept it. He couldn't accept the plane crash. Even if he did see it happen.

Poland tightened his grip around his legs as he brought them closer to him. He rested his head down onto his knees and continued to stare at the dancing grass plain.

"Why is it that the grass is like, dancing?" Poland murmured to himself.

"Feliks, sir?" responded a voice from behind.

Poland slowly turned his head to its side to stare at whoever spoke out. It was his boss's twin brother. He blinked and turned his gaze back towards the dancing field.

"It's totally not fair." Poland sullenly remarked.

The boss's brother walked over and sat down next to Poland on the cold stone wall. He sighed and looked over at the grim boy. He was a mess. Underneath his green eyes lay dark circles and his face was a ghostly pale. Even after being released from the hospital he was a wreck.

"I know how you feel, Feliks. Believe me. He…he was a great President. A great leader. A great friend…and a great...a great…brother." The twin finished.

Poland shifted his head to face his boss's brother.

"Of course I'd be crying right now…but I just don't have any more tears to shed. We…we were so close. I…I loved him so much! And now…now it just feels like a part of me is…is missing…"

Poland turned his head back out to the grass field. He closed his eyes and began to speak. "I know it's hard…especially for you. But I like, know your pain. And everyone else's in the like, country. I can feel them and all of their sorrow. It fills me with despair and drains every like, happy thought out of my mind. It hurts. My heart. That's…what hurts the most."

The boss's twin brother had his full attention focused on the boy. He took in everything he said and tried to image the feeling of the country's sorrow on your shoulders. Poland turned his head back to the twin and weakly smiled.

"But you know what? A very dear like, friend of my mind said that we've risen from our like, ashes and to hold our flag high with pride so we can be born anew. Now, I've been thinking about this for the longest time now. And it like, totally made me realize something."

"And what would that be?"

"That together, united under our flag, we can totally overcome anything the world like, throws at us. And looking back in the years…I would totally say that to be like, true."

"I'd have to agree with you on that, Feliks."

Poland turned his attention back to the dancing grass weeds. The boss's brother stood up from the stone wall and started to walk back up the hill that led to the stone wall.

"How are things coming along for the like, funeral?" Poland shouted out, not bothering to turn around.

The twin brother spun around and his face softened. He thought for a few seconds before saying, "All the preparations are just about finished…I'll take it that you contacted the other countries and their bosses?"

Poland simply nodded his head and remembered back to him sitting next to a pink phone.

"Poland, I'm so sorry, aru. It's so tragic, aru. My best wishes to you and your country and I will be attending the funeral, aru."

"Thanks, China. I'll like, see you there then." Poland hung up his pink phone and sullenly started at the list of phone numbers. He sighed and dialed another number.

"Hello? Am I like, speaking to England?"

"Yes. May I ask whom is speaking?"

"It's Poland."

"Poland! Oh my! How are you doing? Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine. I just like, called to see if you were coming to the funeral service."

"O-oh! Of course. I will be attending."

"Thanks, England. I'll like, see you there then."

"Alright. Good day to you…and try to get some rest, Poland."

Poland hung up the phone and rested his head on his desk. This was pure torture. He didn't want to talk to anybody at the moment. His body ached and his heart was filled with despair. Poland looked out his window as he dialed another number.

The twin brother turned around and walked back up the hill disappearing out of sight. Poland closed his eyes as he let the grassy field dance around him.

. . .

"ARGH! I can't believe Norway and Denmark did that! My own brother! And what happened to me? Oh I don't know…maybe get betrayed!" Iceland screamed out as he paced back and forth around the seashore. His puffin stood on top of a rock staring curiously with its black beady eyes at Iceland. The silver-haired boy ran over and punched the rock the puffin sat on causing the bird to squawk out in surprise. Iceland quickly recoiled his hand and winced in pain. He opened his purple eyes to find out his knuckles were scrapped up leaving a dark crimson red in place of the freshly torn skin.

Iceland turned around holding his bloody hand tightly against his chest and leaned against the rock he punched. He slowly slid down until he met the ground underneath him.

"Why did this have to happen to me?" Iceland choked, trying to hold back the hot tears he felt behind his eyes.

"Why am I….the one who has to deal with this….by myself….Why? WHY?" Iceland shouted as hot tears streamed down his cold face. All of a sudden a loud sound burst through the air, popping Iceland's eardrums. Iceland quickly stood up as he felt the ground shake under him. Tears continued to fall down his face as he stared off into the distance inland. He squinted his purple eyes only to see a red-ish yellow flame burst into the air. Iceland gaped and realized that his volcanoes were erupting.

"D-did I cause this?" Iceland questioned himself. He wiped off the tears on his face with his brown jacket sleeve and started running towards the volcanoes. His puffin squawked again and jumped off the rock following after his running master.

"Not good. Not good at all!" Iceland reached the base of the largest volcano. He looked around and realized it wasn't just one of them. It was a couple of different ones going off at the same time.

"Get out of here, sonny! The ash is going to smother you if you stay here!" An old lady yelled out behind Iceland. He turned around to face her.

"A-ash? W-what?" Iceland asked confused.

"Look around you boy! That grey cloud covering the entire sky is an ash cloud! And look! It's beginning to rain ash! Quickly! There's no time! Follow me to my home or else you'll be killed!" The old lady shouted, motioning for Iceland to follow.

Iceland was confused and frightened as dark ash started falling from the sky. What exactly did he just do? He scooped up his puffin and ran after the old woman towards her house.

. . .

"Alfred, this is Norway's boss. I want you to escort him around New York City for the time being. He'll be staying here until the Polish President's funeral. Understand?" America's boss explained.

"Yup. But…if Norway's boss is here…then where's Norway?" America asked confused.

"Norway stayed back in his country. It's much easier for him to stay there and have his boss come over here. Now… I trust you'll escort him properly, Alfred?"

"Yeah! No problem! Just leave it to me, boss!" America grinned. Norway's boss held out his hand and America took it and shook it. "You can count on me, sir!"

"Alright. Let's go. I've had a very long flight and I'm just ready to relax in my hotel." Norway's boss complained.

"You got it!" America exclaimed, following the boss out the door.

"Alfred, you had better not mess this up…." America's boss muttered under his breath.


A/N: OH GOD THIS IS LATE I'M SO SORRY. I'm so lazy. Please forgive me. BUT BUT BUT. YAY ICELAND. Okay so it's probably really confusing with Iceland right now but just go along with it. It'll all make sense later on in the story. So yeah….well thanks for reading! :D