Since Aldo had become king, Paige had tried and failed to convince his people that they had made the wrong choice. That Aldo would only lead them spiraling into despair. It seemed that for the most part, many of them believed that Aldo was a good man and a good leader. However today, she thought, may be the day they realized that he's not the man they thought he was and it was all thanks to Prussia.

"Speak up!" Paige's lips curled upwards at the demanding tone of her nation. Despite the seriousness in it, she could tell that Prussia was having just as much fun as her. She had often wondered what Aldo's weaknesses were and how she could use them to her advantage. Aldo, however never showed any signs that he had any fears or disadvantages. Well, until now anyways.

Aldo, Paige, and Prussia at the moment were standing outside of the main tent, in front of them were the entirety of their people. After further discussing their problem, Prussia decided that Aldo should inform his people about what they were planning to do; Paige had agreed. Aldo, however, didn't seem too keen on the idea. At the time Paige had passed it off thinking that he just didn't like talking to people. Now she could see that wasn't the reason.

Paige and Prussia stood a few feet behind Aldo, who was closer to their people. Even at this distance she could see their expressions of confusion. Some of them were trying to push past each other to get closer to Aldo so they could hear him better. Paige stifled a chuckle as she watched him sway slightly on the edge his feet while he fidgeted with his hands behind his back. Oh she would give anything just to be able to stand with everyone else and see Aldo's face.

"He's right," she snickered, "I'm only a few feet away from you and even I can't hear." His hands clenched up immediately after hearing that.

"Both of you shut the fuck up." He hissed under his breath.

Leaning forward, Prussia whispered into his ear, "Are you scared?"

Rather than answer him, Aldo only grunted in response. He cleared his throat before setting his gaze back on everyone. "A-As I was saying." Paige snorted when she watched everyone take a step forward, almost in sync with each other. Though she did note that Aldo was able to speak up a bit louder this time. "There comes a time w-when we must come together as a nation and-"He stopped his sentence short as he tried to figure out where he was going with this. The crowd murmured in confusion for what felt like a few minutes before he spoke up again. "And work towards the common good." At the end of that, Aldo found himself relieved thinking that he had at least delivered that part right.

The cackling from behind told him that he wasn't doing as well as he thought. Glancing over, he saw Paige doubling over, trying to suppress her laughter. Prussia wasn't on the edge of exploding like Paige but he was trying to hide his smirk behind his hands. He scowled at them both before looking away.

It wasn't just the awkward way he addressed his people but what he said that Prussia found funny. From the years he spent listening to politicians give speech after speech, what Aldo was saying wasn't anything new. It was pathetic and cliché. "Come on, Aldo the people here have things to do and place's to be. Don't stall them longer." Aldo made a useless attempt to swat at Prussia's head when he spoke up again.

Sighing, Aldo continued. "What I'm trying to say is," He hesitated, finally getting to the point. "I need a total of sixty soldiers to come with me on an expedition across the Itravokian border."

In the time it took Prussia to blink, the murmuring amongst the crowd had stopped to a dead silence. Aldo slowly swallowed a lump in his throat as an uncomfortable feeling washed over his entire body, starting from his head and then down to his feet. Panic began to spread over his mind as his stomach felt as if it was shrinking in size by the minute but the contents of if remaining the same. His eyes widened as he noticed his throat beginning to dry up faster than a drop of water in a desert. It wasn't long before the mental panic he felt in his head turned into psychical pain in the form of a throbbing headache.

"Say something, Aldo. They want an explanation." Prussia's mocking voice was the only thing that registered in his mind at that moment. Aldo, rather than comply with him, simply stood there. Prussia's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he heard not even an attempt to speak come forth. "What the hell are yo-?" He never got to finish that sentence as Aldo whipped around to face him.

"Why don't you say something?" Aldo had looked as if he had wanted to scream rather than choke it out. In that moment Prussia didn't see a thirty-two year old man who had been in battle but a seven year old boy who had seen a monster under his bed.

Prussia narrowed his eyes at him for a brief second. "Fine, I'll just have Paige sp-"

"No!" The two men snapped their gazes to Paige after her sudden outburst. "He's their king," never before in his life did Aldo fear the devious look upon Paige's face until now. "He is the only one who can speak to them."

There was a hesitant pause as Aldo searched for anything in Prussia's expression that would tell him that he hadn't changed his mind. That stopping was an option. He soon found that despite the fact that Prussia wouldn't say it, he did agree with her. "Go on." This was the only thing his nation said.

By the time Aldo had turned back around, the murmuring had begun once again. He could only take a few deep breaths to prepare himself. "T-This mission will prove to be dangerous but it, it is necessary." His sentenced stopped short when the voices of his people grew from whispers to loud jeers of protest. Aldo only wished he hadn't told them just how dangerous Itravokia was when they had first met. "People, we need to-" This time the jeering stopped silent at the same time Aldo did.

His eyes scanned the crowds baffled face's before turning on his heel, away from them. Paige and Prussia didn't bother trying to stop him as he walked back into his tent, shame obvious in his eyes. In Aldo's mind all he did was curse himself and his voice. He was thirty-two for god's sake, how could he let his voice crack in the middle of sentence like a pubescent kid.

For what felt like the longest time, the only sound outside was that of the wind. "I think . . . I have just witnessed the funniest thing in my entire life." Prussia gazed towards Paige as she spoke slowly. "Oh . . . my god." He noted that her expression looked more shocked then ecstatic.

He grunted in a bored annoyance before motioning with his head towards their people. "Looks like you're going to have to speak for Aldo after all." She didn't protest this time, in fact she looked delighted.

Prussia watched her with a careful eye as she stepped up towards them, her hands holding each other behind her back. She didn't fidget with them or sway on her feet like Aldo. Instead she cleared her throat only once before the booming sound of the word 'Everyone' erupted from her throat. He couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the fact that she, Paige, sounded like a true Queen while Aldo sounded like he was still a pitiful foot solider.

. . .

"Ahem . . . You're majesty?" Aldo didn't acknowledge the speaker as he walked into the tent. Once again he was lying down on the dirt covered ground. "A man by the name of Gilbert Beilschmidt requests your presence outside."

Aldo's head moved slightly off of the ground as he craned his neck to look towards the man. He arched an eyebrow at the end of sentence. "Who?" If this man had asked for him then why would he not be familiar with his name? Only well know men and women spoke to him, the rest observed.

He swallowed a lump in his throat before answering. "I-I'm not completely sure, sir. I saw him speaking to you earlier. He had greyish hair and strange red eyes. " Aldo looked away. 'So that's the name he chose to tell them?' He thought.

It had been at least an hour since he had fled from his people. It was easy to tell from the sounds outside that a good number of them were still out there, speaking to Paige. Occasionally he could hear them asking her in an abrupt tone, where Aldo was and why he had left. Much to his surprise, she had refused to answer those type of questions.

However, what he found even more surprising was when he found himself getting up and walking outside to meet 'Gilbert'. He flinched, shutting his eyes tightly at the different lighting between the tent and outside world. To his displeasure, Prussia had caught sight of Aldo the moment he walked back outside.

"Well if it isn't Aldo. I trust you've had enough time to recompose yourself after that little incident." Aldo could only growl in response. He did, though, find it odd that he seemed slightly more smug than usual. Given the circumstances, Aldo had expected him to be frustrated with staggering amount of protest against leaving their nation for Itravokia.

"Just shut the hell up and tell me what's going on." He snapped.

"What? No 'hello Prussia, I'm fine now thanks for asking'." Aldo only rolled his eyes at him, believing that a verbal reaction would only further tempt Prussia's taunting. "You're lucky Aldo, no one but Paige and myself know the truth."

A feeling of electricity skyrocketed throughout his body, speeding up his heart as the world around him slowed down to a halt. The muscles in his arms and legs clenched up while his lips began to tremble.

'How do they know?'

'They can't know it's not possible!'

'He's our nation, he could know everything!'

"The truth about what?" Mentally, he thanked god for giving him the ability to speak up before Prussia could become too suspicious.

God, he hated the way Prussia's lips twisted upwards in the slowest possible manor, savoring the look Aldo made as the anticipation became almost unbearable. "The truth that you're afraid."

'HE KNOW'S!' It was as if a series of piercing alarms were going off inside his head. Swallowing, Aldo spoke up once again. "Afraid of what." He murmured.

Prussia chuckled at what he believed to be denial. "That you're afraid of public speaking of course."

'They . . . don't know.'

"Oh."

The nation raised his eyebrows slightly, disappointed and confused at the lack of reaction. "Oh . . . Okay then." An awkward silence passed between the two. He coughed before continuing. "Paige managed to convince enough people to come with us."

"Good."