Waking up the next morning after falling asleep in a chair is not a pleasant experience. You tend to have cricks and cramps in your neck and back, often leaving you cold and very irritable. When these circumstances are applied to a normally grumpy British man, the results can be disastrous. Prussia discovered this when he went to wake up England, after noticing that Alfred and Dixie had ended up curled together as they slept. (In his defense they both looked very cute)
"Hey, brows!" whisper shouted Prussia, "Wake up! Look at how cute they are!"
England groaned and ignored Prussia.
"Brows, you can't ignore the awesome me," he whined, shaking England, "Come on, wake up and look at them-"
He was interrupted by England's hand around his throat. England was looking at him now, but his eyes had lost the bleariness of sleep. They were sharp and deadly.
"Hwa beþenċest ðu ġewyrċ? Don' you knah i's rude 'o wake 'he sleepin?"
Prussia was very quickly reminded of why this man was once considered one of the worst pirates, and why he was able to manage such a large empire for so long. He very quickly scrambled away, as best he could, from England. Prussia twisted out of his grasp and accidentally tripped over America and Dixie, who were still sleeping on the floor.
"Achhh," grumbled America blearily, blinking his eyes open.
Dixie let out a whine and curled more into Alfred.
"Geddoff me Butternut," complained Alfred.
"Naw. I ain't gonna. Tory."
America jumped up, spilling the blankets, and Dixie, onto the ground.
"That's it! I can't take it anymore! I am not just some pillow! I may have a cuddly personality, but I'll have you know that I am more than a shits and giggles guy. I demand -"
"Oh, will you just bloody shut up for once in your life?" snapped England, finally distracted from his mission to kill Prussia for waking him up. He ran a hand through his hair, though it didn't do much, as his hair was just as messy as before.
"Hey, I didn't say nothin that warn't true Iggy. You're just jealous."
"No, I'm not. Especially with your blatant, and flagrant, misuse of the Queen's English."
Dixie sighed. "As much as I would love to defend my English, we do have things to do today, so if we could get out the door before noon that would be great."
That said, Dixie retreated to the bathroom to clean himself as much as possible. The rest of them packed what they had brought in the night before, and went down to see what there was for breakfast.
Unfortunately, there wasn't any, so they got some snacks and energy drinks at the nearest gas station, as well as some gas for the car, before setting off westward towards Laredo.
~~Four Hours Later~~
The four of them stopped in Laredo for the night. America was a firm believer in a day of peace before war and decided to cross the border in the morning. Dixie gave England and Prussia a quick tour of the town while Alfred went to secure their passage over the border.
The next morning dawned bright and clear, despite the humidity. All of them made it through the border without a hassle. Even the prevalence of firearms, knives, and highly dangerous chemicals didn't stop them from passing through. However, all of their silverware and leftovers were confiscated. England was confused, why would they let guns and explosives through, but not leftover food and forks? Alfred noticed his confused expression and nudged Dixie, who laughed.
"It's cause we had Louis charm the car, so humans won't notice any weapons or potential weapons." noticing England's still confused face, he expanded, "Louisiana."
"Ah. Well, why on earth would they consider food and silverware dangerous?"
"No idea Artie. People are just weird sometimes, I guess."
"Don't call me that, you git."
Texas refused to let California make breakfast the next morning. He didn't care if California refused to tell him what was wrong or acknowledge that there was anything wrong in the first place. He was going to make damn well sure that California came back alive, it was in his contract for god's sake. And Texas would be damned if he went back on his word.
California just sat at the table, silent and seemingly dead to the world. Texas had found him sitting there when he came down in the morning. Aside from attempting to help make breakfast, he didn't move at all. He didn't even react when Texas slammed down a plate of eggs right in front of him.
"Eat, you damn fool. I can't have you passin' out on me when we get outta here. Ya haven't had a decent meal since we got here. I don't even know when the last time you ate was. Please." Texas suddenly looked very disgusted at himself. "God. What am I doin' beggin' like that?"
California did not move or acknowledge that Texas had spoken at all. Texas himself was about to continue his monologue, but Mexico suddenly stormed into the kitchen. Texas jumped up and stood before California as if to protect him.
"How?" snarled Mexico, "How on earth did you tell America where you are?"
"Oh, 'Murica's comin' and you have no way to shake him? Well, bless your heart. What would you have me do?" said Texas, sarcasm dripping off his words.
Mexico let out a wordless snarl and grabbed both of the states, dragging them back to their bedroom. Texas struggled the whole way, but California was just limp in Mexico's arms. Once they arrived Mexico again locked them in, however, both could hear Mexico barricading the door from the outside, preventing their escape.
Texas stormed around the room, trying and failing to find a way out. He had a gun, his lasso, and California had a switchblade. All in all, not much if they wanted to get out alive.
After about an hour and a half of Texas pacing the length of the room, snarling insults that would have had his mouth washed with soap by Romano, California spoke.
"I'm sorry. This is probably my fault anyway."
Texas jerked his head up in surprise, he hadn't been expecting any input from him. California continued anyway.
"You would be gone now if it weren't for me. The contract was my idea, and now you're bound. You can't leave without me. I'm hella sorry."
It was strange, to say the least, to hear the normally so proud state apologizing, especially to Texas someone he spent much of his time trying to inconvenience.
"No. California, none of this is your fault. You didn't ask Mejico to come and take us here. See, we know Jack is here, and if he's here so is Johnny. So we'll probably be home soon."
"No one knows where Spain's house is. They might be in Mexico, but they don't know where exactly we are."
"Wait and see, California, wait and see. I have faith in them. Do you?"
California sighed, and nodded slowly. Texas smiled quietly and moved to sit in the middle of the room facing the door, gun in hand. After about a minute, California sat next to him, his switchblade out on his lap.
Hwa beþenċest ðu ġewyrċ - pronounced 'hwa bethencest dhu gewyrc', in old English roughly means 'what do you think you're doing'
