By the time France arrived, the dawn was breaking over a camp that, he could clearly see, had not slept- or at least, had not slept well.
Yes, there were still search and rescue teams coming and going, however the addition of a squad of China's own soldiers guarding over one structure near the centre and patrolling the perimeter verified all the things that had been told to him in a frantic midnight call.
(England had to be very desperate, and very drugged in order to call him, and the drugging showed in his voice, and the way that he trailed off and left the line open for an hour. Nothing he'd said had awakened the other...)
"Francis!" Rae's voice called to him, "You've arrived at a good time."
"Rae," France turned slightly to see her exiting one of the shelters looking exhausted, and possibly frustrated. There was blood on her clothing. "What is it? Is there anything-"
"Can you convince Arthur that he needs to stay in bed? I'm afraid he's going to aggravate the sutures, and wind up hurting himself. He'll heal up just fine, if he rests."
"He is stubborn like that." France felt the chuckle nearly bubbling out of his chest. "I have seen him hurt worse, and still manage to attempt to throttle someone who was annoying him."
"He has mentioned that, yes." Rae didn't seem as amused. "But I'd rather not have to worry about Arthur, while I'm tending to Alain."
"Ah yes..." The little bubble of anxiety made itself known once again. How much of what England had said was true? "I gathered from my call that things were serious... how is he?"
"Stable." Rae said with a sigh, and one hand running through silver hair. "He's got that rare blood type, the remnants of whatever flu that hit him in Tokyo, and from what his medical records indicate, he's still got a few potential complications from the attack."
"Potential complications?" France frowned. Of course he knew America, the land was still marked by the attack. "I know of his blood- as does Arthur."
"Alain lost his spleen, among the other injuries. His body... can't defend against infections as well as those who have one. It's one of the reasons I was worried about him in Japan- had that fever lasted much longer, I would've had to send him home." Rae frowned, "The surgeon said he needed to consult with me, and I've been so busy trying to keep Arthur calm without medicating him again-"
"Leave it to me." France said, smiling faintly. A familiar situation, but with unfamiliar questions left. "I've known him for a very long time. You might say I'm like his older brother."
Rae nodded, gestured towards the door, and hustled off towards another of the temporary buildings. Leaving France to take a deep breath, and enter...
...Nearly running over England, two feet inside the doorway, and shaking like a leaf.
"Angleterre," France chided immediately, "Nation or not, you should not be standing."
"I'm quite all right. "
"You passed out because of blood loss."
"That was last night. I'm healing just fine. I don't need to-"
"You need to rest. Even our kind need time to recover from serious wounds."
"I need to see him." England said, with a despair in his voice that made France wonder if Rae had given him something after all. He wouldn't allow himself to be that … openly weak, not with France. "He could die, and I could lose him again, and I don't think I could take that."
"He won't die, mon cher." France slipped an arm around the trembling form, and half forced, half led him back to the nearest cot, which was apparently where Rae had put him. "If he is only a bit worse than you- look, you're nearly on your feet already. And even if he did..."
"He's got no government, no capital." The sweat on the smaller man's face betrayed the obvious effort with which he forced himself to sit up. "If he dies..."
"Despite what you think, England, he will not stay dead. He might be weaker now. But-"
"Don't bloody patronise me, Frog." England's eyes snapped with anger. He wouldn't be down for long. "China explained a lot. If he dies now, there is an enormous chance that he won't come back. He's practically human right now."
"To begin with, you should remain calm. There are many things that China cannot predict. You are being hysterical."
"I can't..." There was an object in England's hand, that he was turning over and over. A pendant of some sort. "He almost remembered something. And he gave me this. This-"
"What is it?"
The object was reluctantly handed over.
From what France could see, the delicate silver knot had seen better days. It was slightly tarnished, and misshapen. Along one of the flatter 'ribbon' surfaces, he could see letters inscribed. If he used his imagination, he might think it said ….
"We were told that all he had left after he was burned was a piece of jewellery. I think Canada and I assumed that it was the cross he hadn't taken off since before the Great War. It wasn't- that's one of my names. And the knot- that pattern- it symbolises 'Forever'." England was very obviously trying not to snatch the piece out of France's hand. "That was what he went to get that night. Why he was out of bed-"
"You said he remembered something." France returned the pendant with a sigh. A romantic gesture that had turned nearly tragic. "What was it?"
"Almost remembered. He called me England. We were interrupted." The gesture towards the bandages that were stretching his shirt around England's middle was casual. "North Korea got me in the back."
"And he is well guarded, so I see." France frowned. Perhaps... "But as for the possible memory. I wonder..."
"Wonder what, Frog?" The snap was back in England's voice. "What have you been up to?"
"Merely doing some research. My boss, however, has been making some inquiries." France gave that shrug that simply screamed of carelessness. "It seems that the government of the country known as the United States is set up a bit …. differently than yours or mine."
A frown, but a curious one warred on England's face as he slipped the pendant back into his pocket.
"I do not pretend to be an expert upon the subject, nor do I have all of the details, however when our petit America's government was being set up, there was to be a sharing of power."
"His government always baffled me, but ours got along after a few decades... what's your point, France?"
"It means," France said with a sigh. "That I should have paid a little more attention to his structure when we were first believing him to be dead."
"What..." England just looked confused now.
"Sharing of power, Angleterre. He did not have one capitol. He had fifty-one. The loss of the Federal capitol probably hurt him badly, however..."
"He won't die from this." England said slowly, "He has a capitol- several of them. Not all of his regions were affected by the bombs-"
"Precisely, mon ami, he is weaker than he once was, but he still has a sufficient portion of his old strength that I doubt this will keep him down long."
"But his memory-"
"I have high hopes that it will return in time. The governor of Hawaii is making a bid for presidency, and Oregon's leaders are competing with another state for the location of the new federal buildings. Matthieu's boss has put forth the proposition that the United States of America be given special status at the UN, while the government formally re-forms itself. There have been efforts to rebuild the nation all along- the movement to be annexed has just been the noisier one." France shook his head. "Things are beginning to fall back into place."
For a moment, just one moment, England looked as though he might burst into tears once again.
"Time and time again we underestimated him, passed him off as an oblivious fool- but he knows, and occasionally... But he's alive, and healing."
"And it seems to be a bit of déjà vu in the air as well. The moment he heard of a resistance to China in Hawaii, Prussia took it upon himself to visit. It seems that he was listening in on Germany's phone calls again."
"But if it was Prussia- then-"
"Prussia only trained them to defend themselves." France smiled. "Tactics. All of the energy and will was purely American. The armies were decimated in the attack- fortunately no one took advantage of that."
There was a flicker of something that solidified to legible hope on England's face.
The temporary door flew open, startling them both. The hope was replaced by a swiftly concealed wince. France patted England's shoulder firmly before turning.
Rae looked a bit … unsettled as her eyes found them.
"Rae? What is it? Is Al all right?" England was suddenly tense under France's hand.
"He's …." Rae said slowly, "He's asking for you."
"Fuck." England was up and unsteadily heading for the door before France could move. "He's all right. He's got to be all right-"
"Wait, one moment, and I will help you." France slipped an arm through England's steadying him. "Rae? What's wrong?"
She shook her head.
"Rae..."
"I could have sworn his medical records said a complete splenectomy, but..."
"Something changed?"
"There must have been something left. It's regenerated itself. The wonders of the human body."
"They can do that?" France asked, feeling the tremble in England's arm.
"They can. Alain is recovering well. No signs of infection- I was afraid I was going to have to airlift him to Tokyo, but now... He'll do until we get the next ambulance out, and I can send the two of you together." Rae led them both through the miniature city that the aid workers had created, past the guarded structure. "I wonder what made him do it." She murmured softly, and France almost missed it.
France caught England's eye, silently confirming the information that he suspected.
"He's a nutter." England said shortly.
"Angry and misinformed." France slipped in smoothly. Yes. North Korea. "The Chinese authorities will take care of him now."
"China had better take care of him, or I will." England growled.
"Now now, Angleterre."
"If he's insane, he needs help." Rae said with a sigh. "Not anger. I may be angry over what he did, however- you and Alain are alive. That's more important. Now- before the medicine knocks him out... and so that you will finally rest, like you are supposed to be doing."
The rest of the way to the main hospital structure was silent, punctuated only by small grunts from England as he stressed his injury.
Despite the early hour, and perhaps despite the lack of activity around the building, the ward was bustling. The smell of antiseptic and blood filled the air, making France not wish to linger longer than he must.
America- Alain was in one of the quieter corners, being monitored by some of the spare equipment, and looking far more pale than he should. He was obviously fighting to stay awake, eyes drooping shut, then suddenly bursting open again- reminiscent of how he'd been as a child, France was certain. (He would have to make a note to the doctors to make certain that this pair could share a bed, because France was quite sure that they, or at least England, would insist upon staying close to comfort and make up for the hours and days and years that they'd been apart...)
"Al?" England said from the foot of the bed, shaking France off. The way Alain's face lit up was something to look at, though the drugged haze in his eyes did indicate that it wouldn't last. The boy- man would be asleep shortly.
"Iggy..." Al's hand groped for England's, and the other clasped it. "Iggy, I... remember-"
"Al- America-" France's breath caught at the words that he could barely hear. "Don't you fall asleep on me yet, you … "
The soft apologetic smile remained on America's face as he lost the battle of the closing eyelids.
V*^*V*^*V
Japan had laughed when America had confessed to him the nickname that England had been so adamant to hear from him.
They had both been guests in Japan's home at the time, giving each other glances when the other was not looking. America acting as though he hadn't a care in the world except making friends with the whales off of Japan's coasts, (And Japan himself, of course.) England had been irritable at his presence, picking arguments- which Japan tried to courteously ignore.
And then came the incident with the sake.
For many westerners, used to the vinyards of France, rice wine was unexpectedly potent. The alcohol content was often twice what a grape wine would contain, causing many to misjudge their own tolerance. Not that England had much of a tolerance to begin with- thus only a short time into their cups, he was completely smashed, and babbling about things that made America's smile twitch.
By the end of the evening, they had to nearly pour him into his futon- and while America was tucking the blanket around the drowsy drunk with a care that belied any of his casual words of disregard from earlier, England's hand caught his arm for a moment, and begged him to call him the name he used to, just one more time.
There had been a flicker of emotion on America's face that Japan could not name, but before the request could be responded to... a loud snore came from their intoxicated ally.
Later, with just the two of them watching the wind toss the cherry blossoms in the courtyard, Japan had allowed his curiosity to get the better of him, and asked.
"What name did he wish for you to call him, America-kun?" Japan glanced at the younger Nation from the corner of his eye, trying to judge if his question was inappropriate. "If you do not mind me asking."
"You can call me Al, if you want. I don't mind," America's gaze was distant, and Japan knew he wasn't seeing the rain of petals that was before him. "He wanted me to call him 'Iggy' again, and I just can't- It- what's so funny?"
"America-kun, do you know how my people say his name?" Japan contained his brief laughter.
"No- I'm still trying to figure out how to ask for the bathroom."
"The word for him is 'Igirisu'." Japan allowed himself a smile. "Which could be shortened to your 'Iggy', if one were inclined to shorten it."
America laughed.
"If you do not know my language, I do not believe that is why you would ever have called him such a name." Japan inclined his head, watching the boy wipe at his eyes.
"No," America sighed, "It's- when we first met, I was small, and there were so many languages in my head that... I couldn't speak his just right. There were sounds that I couldn't quite reproduce in his name at first, so I didn't. And- well. Lots of kids add that sound on the end of words. So the closest I could really get was 'Iggy' for a good long while. And after I could say his name, sometimes I'd call him that, because it'd make him smile. But I haven't called him that in about a hundred and fifty years now."
Japan's mental calculations gave him a date that was suspiciously close to America's revolution.
"Ah. I see."
"I can't call him that anymore. I'm not a child." America's gaze was sad. "Still, I'm surprised he asked. He must have been really drunk."
"He will have a tender head tomorrow." Japan nodded, wondering at the serious expression on his new friend's face. "Perhaps we should retire for the evening."
"Yeah," The sad expression was gone almost immediately, a large smile replacing it. "Tomorrow he'll be miserable. I think I'm gonna be elsewhere- I don't need to deal with his hangover as well as my own."
And again, Japan could find the laughter bubbling up from within, as France explained how England came to be curled up against Alain's side in the narrow hospital bed.
"He remembers." Japan repeated, "How much he remembers is yet to be seen, however, if he remembers that- there is hope."
"What is it that you have been doing, France?" China asked, still gazing at the pair unconscious on the bed. "I doubt that it is shock from this injury that has brought back memories, so what is it?"
"I have done little on my own- his people are the ones who are remembering who they are, thanks to your little invasion. They remembered how to stand up for themselves. Their history. I have merely offered them copies of their founding documents- ones that were given to me after I aided them. They are sentimental trinkets to me, however to them- to him-" France smiled, "I believe I should call Matthieu, and let him know. He will wish to be here when next our cher Amérique awakens."
"And North Korea..." Japan looked at China. "Have you told him?"
"I have not spoken with him yet. I do not know what will happen when I do." China frowned, "If America remembers, I wonder if he will be so forgiving as he was in the conference room. He was speaking from the lack of experience-"
"I cannot speak for my friend, China." Japan allowed a faint reassuring smile, "However, if he can forgive his enemies, and help them rebuild themselves, I will have faith that he can forgive again."
"He may forgive, but I do not know-" China sighed suddenly, "Will North Korea let it go as well? It takes two to argue, but only one to continue hostilities."
"We shall see, China." Japan said solemnly. "If he decides to continue, we shall have to find a way to contain him once more. The world, and America, have enough problems without adding a mad nation."
"We are agreed." France had been so quiet stepping out that Japan had not noticed when he returned. "And I am certain Canada will agree when he arrives. Until then, we should find out why Kil-Dong, our North Korea, wished to continue a conflict that he could not win."