The Allies where in sitting in a tight circle on the floor in the middle of the wide meeting room. England had gathered them soon after Alfred had confronted him about the missing Canadian. Presently, America stood in the middle of the group fully dressed as Canada.
America still felt like crap. His stomach was a guilty knot and his mind was scattered. Every few seconds he had to remind himself of the situation. Canada was gone. Germany took him. He had to fix things. He had too. America shuffled where he stood nervously... He couldn't let the other nations pick up on how weak he felt. He just... He just couldn't. He swallowed and pushed aside all his emotions to focus on what he had to do right now; he had to find a way to fix everything.
"I have a confession." America explained to England, France, Russia and China. At least it felt good to speak in his normal voice instead of Canada's soft one. He heroically flung off Canada's fuzzy jacket and ran a hand through his golden hair so that it fell back to its natural part. Nantucket stubbornly flung back up.
"Must you be so melodramatic?" England mumbled under his breath. He was the only other nation besides America who knew where Canada was, and he didn't like it one bit. England wanted America to hurry up and get to the point so they could help...before it was too late.
"HA! Ohhohon!" France let out the triumphant laugh and pointed at America while shaking Britain violently. "I told you! I knew it! Oh-hohoho, I knew those two-"
"Get off of me!" England slapped France's hand away. England was not in the mood.
"Take it back!" France continued to jab at England, a gloating smile spread across his face. "Say 'Francis isn't a drunk and is extremely sexy'. Dites-le!"
"Francis, if you know what's good for you, you will cease this behavior."
France blinked, disappointed. The lack of anger in England's tone was... dissatisfying. Actually, there was a lack of any emotion in his voice…England sounded numb. France pouted and turned back to America, who was staring at the floor waiting for everyone to quite down. The Frenchman's pout turned into a thin, concerned frown. "What's all this, Angleterre?" France asked quietly.
"You'll find out soon enough." England hissed.
"Fine. You don't have to be so snippy."
"I'm not snippy!" England snapped. Why couldn't France just shut up?
While England and France continued prattle, Russia turned to China with innocent purple eyes.
"What does Mr. America want?"
China blinked a few times before looking at America and then looking back to Russia. "Actually, I do not know. A confession, aru?...Maybe he is trying tell us that…. he is gay?"
"Ooooh, da!" Russia's eyes lit up as he turned back to America with interest.
"Uh... Helllooo?" America decided he had waited long enough. He waved hand to regain order... mainly to silence England and France. "It's true." He paused dramatically. (China's face turned the same shade of red as his flag.) "Canada and I switched places today!"
France give a smug glance in England's direction, but England didn't notice. France sighed and lightly bit his lip. What was wrong?
"Who?" Russia asked innocently.
America ignored the jolt of anger he felt. How dare Russia say something stupid like that now? "Canada. You know... looks exactly like me... says 'ey'... "
Russia stared at America with blank purple eyes.
"Maple syrup?" America tried.
"Oh, da!" Russia exclaimed with a sudden realization. "I know him."
"Right. Well, today, Germany made a clear threat to the Allies. And it wasn't an empty threat, either. He..." America paused to swallow guiltily. He silently scolded himself for faltering. "He nation-napped Canada!"
"Oh Lord..." England rolled his eyes. How could America go from being so serious one second to making up stupid phrases the next? China seemed generally shocked, but remained quiet. Russia looked thoughtful, but disinterested. A dramatic gasp came from France. He looked at England for verification. The gentleman just somberly stared back.
"Mon petit Canada?... But why?"
America sighed. "I don't quite know..." He gained a sudden fascination with the floor. "Germany is under the impression that Canada is me." America hated the guilty surge he felt. "But... but I do know one thing! We need to save him!"
"Of course!" France exclaimed, wiping a tear from his eye. "Oh, what a cruel world! Whatever could Germany be doing to my dearest Matthew?"
America didn't want to think about that.
England was obviously unsettled by Canada's disappearance, and that damn frog talking wasn't helping. "Your Matthew?" Britain's tone was acidic. "I raised him!"
"You took him from me!" France pointed an accusing finger at England.
"You bloody bet I di-"
"Dude! Would you two please just shut up!" America tried to hide the desperation in his voice with annoyance. "We don't have time for this!"
The two older nations mumbled their apologies. England cleared his throat.
"I never thought I'd say this and expect a valid answer, but... What's the plan, America?" Emerald green eyes where lit with an anxious curiosity.
"Well..." America's stomach did a flip. "To be honest, I don't have a plan. Not at the moment, anyway." America kept his eyes glued to the floor as the gears started turning in his head. The other countries were quiet…too quiet. America liked to think that it was out of shock because their fearlessly heroic leader wasn't being very heroic at the moment. He sat back down in the circle of Allies and crossed his arms thoughtfully.
"I could use my magic." England offered after a while, trying to aid America's thinking process. France snorted loudly, then quickly covered his mouth with his hand to prevent any further outbursts.
"Da! Curses are good." Russia's eyes had a terrifying excitement to them at the mention of curses. "I could use my magic water stick as well!"
"I will do whatever is necessary, as long as I don't have to put myself in too much danger, aru." China attempted to helpfully offer.
America put some effort into giving a polite smile. "Thanks guys. Those all sound good..." America rubbed his eyes under his glasses. He needed to pull himself together... He just couldn't think right now, and he was wasting time he didn't have.
"Okay." He announced out loud, mainly talking to himself. "If I was captured by Germany, where would I be?"
"In his home." France answered immediately. "In his cell room, in his basement." France paused, before frantically adding "Not that I would know, I mean, that's just my first guess."
Everyone in the room knew how France knew where the cell room was.
"Okay, cell room it is. We would need to get into Germany's house, get into his cell room, get Matthew and then get out. How?"
"My pipe!" Russia called out in a sing-song voice.
"Why not try to give Germany some bad take-out?" China nodded his head knowingly. "That'll put him out for at least ten minutes. But I make excellent food- perhaps England can prepare food styled after my delicious cuisine, aru."
"Oi! Are you saying my cooking would be used to poison the enemy?"
"Yup." America couldn't help but crack a tiny smile when England glared at him. Old habits die hard.
"Why not try to seduce him?" France suggested casually.
The other countries could only stare.
"What? Romance cannot solve all problems?"
"Uh, no. I think. You talk weird." America's head hurt. He felt so sick…sick of everything. He hated that! Normally he would love meetings like this...
"What am I doing?" America mumbled under his breath.
"Come again?" Britain asked, one bushy eyebrow raised in inquiry.
America chuckled bitterly and shook his head. "What am I doing?" He said again, loud enough for everyone to hear.
When no one responded, America decided to continue through a somber smirk. "I'm Alfred F. Jones- The United States of America. And... And I'm the hero, god damn it." America closed his eyes for a bit, thinking hard. He was the hero, god damn it, and he could never give up hope. He simply refused to. He refused to in 1776, he refused to in 1812, he refused to in all of his darkest moments (and this certainly wasn't one of his darkest).He opened his eyes to see his allies looking at him, concerned. America met their stares with an austere confidence-He refused to give up hope now. "So, how're we going to save Canada?" He asked through a genuinely confident grin. Nothing was ever hopeless.
"My magic." England insisted roughly, glaring green eyes daring France to make a comment. " I could make one of us invisible, or-"
"THAT'S IT!" America clapped his hands together as his mind surged with inspiration. He was a genius! He grabbed Canada's fuzzy beige jacket on the floor and sprung up, putting it back on hastily.
"...what are you doing? This is no time for a fashion-" France was cut off by America enthusiastically running towards the door. He stopped short to look back at his allies.
"Well, come on! Let's go rescue Canada!"
The other four nations stared at America in dumbfounded silence.
"I'll use my Canadian Ninja superpowers!" America explained through a broad grin.
America was once again met with silence. He rolled his eyes. How could they not understand his incredible brilliance?
"I'll dress up like Canada again and sneak into Germany's house to rescue Mattie! It's foolproof."
France sighed as he stood up from the floor shaking his head. "I would not call that foolproof, my friend."
"He's right, for once." England stood up from the ground in a gentlemanly manner. "Dressing like Canada doesn't make you invisible."
"You'd be surprised." America said flatly. The irony was almost insufferable. "So come on! We're going to Germany!"
"That's great for you, aru~." China interjected. "But what are the rest of us supposed to do while you go on a suicide mission?"
"It's not a suicide mission." America's tone was a serious one. He had full faith in himself… He had too. "And for your information, you Russia France and England are going to back me up. I thought that was a given."
A/N
Hi everyone!
*I AM SOOO SORRY ALSKDLASKDJLA;KFN. I didn't mean to take so long in posting this! I had to keep tweaking it until it felt right.. and for whatever reason, that took some time with this chapter.
*Please excuse the anachronism of this Fan Fic. None of this is historically cannon... at all. I'm just making it up as I go : D
*I got a Deviant Art account! I'm AfishLovesAlfred there. Find me! I drew picture of what America and Canada look like switched.
* And...Que Hero-Angst! I hope this isn't dripping with Hero-angst. It wasn't supposed to. This chapter is just extremely fluffy character development. I'm sorry it was short! I have a week off now (Thanksgiving! Nomnom) so I'll be writing like crazy~!
THANK YOU, EVERYONE! This thing has 70 reviews! SEVENTY! That's insane! I don't even know how many views, favorites, or subscriptions this has. You guys are more awesome than Prussia- and that's a crapload of awesome.
As always, Happy reading!
(Oh, and a happy Thanksgiving! Unless your Canadian... or British... or French.. Or.. you know, not American.)
