Chapter 10: Solitude

Since the day of the battle, France has been sitting at his place by himself. He did not allow any visitors. Anyone who came were asked to leave. He was in no mood to socialize. Like the other countries, he wasn't feeling himself.

"Oh, what's wrong with me! I feel like a depressed old man." France looked in the mirror where a five o' clock shadow was beginning to grow. He felt stressed and upset for no reason. Even wine didn't make him feel better. Wine usually always made him feel better. He even tried reading romance novels but they only made him feel worse.

He looked through the drawers of his kitchen and found an old cigar he got as a souvenir from visiting Cuba. He grabbed a lighter and placed the cigar in his mouth. He lit the cigar and felt the inside of his throat smolder. He never smoked anything before. It felt nice. He felt it took some of the pain away. He breathed out smelly, black smoke. But it was his only cigar.

"I need more of these." He grabbed a bland black coat from his closet and left the door. He walked to the nearest convenience store, avoiding eye contact with anyone on the street. He knew the store wouldn't have high-quality cigars, but simple cigarettes would due.

He bought a few boxes, brought them home, and immediately started smoking them again. His house began smelling like a factory from all the smoke but France didn't seem to mind. Francois was taking control over France. The more he smoked, the more purple his eyes became.


China also secluded himself from others after the battle but instead of sulking in depression, he was thinking. He plotted and schemed. He wrote and drew various war plans against many different countries. He planned an invasion on Japan that was perhaps the most strategic plan China has ever created. He spoke to no one about his ideas. He didn't brag like he used to. He just kept all his extremely successful plans to himself.

"Japan will not be expecting an attack from me if I attack at the East end of Honshu," China spoke to himself. "It should be an eighty percent aerial attack. They should be first to attack and hit the center of Tokyo. Then my ground soldiers could take the resources of the surroundings since Japan will be too busy tending to the millions of injured and dead at Tokyo."

Deep down, China felt like a demon for creating such a deadly, heartless plan against his brother but Yang had more control over China's body then he did. He hid his face with a military cap he kept from long ago. The only thing visible were his glowing ruby eyes.