Chapter 24: Éloïse

When I woke up that morning I had an anxious feeling in my stomach. I couldn't put my finger on what it was but it could have been something with mine and Magda's late night excursion to the library two weeks ago. No one had found out but I couldn't help but feel like someone would. I trusted Magda to not tell anyone but I also knew that she wasn't good with pressure and if someone even got the slightest suspicion and questioned her she would tell them everything and we would be in so much trouble.
I was going to the first meeting since then and I feared that someone would say something about a breaking and entering. Not that anyone would know it was us. We were careful and it was not like they could see that we were there since we didn't take anything.
"Are you ready to go?" Ukraine asked me. She had let me borrow one of her dresses. It was a red dust bowl dress with long sleeves. It was an improvement from the 19th century and a lot more comfortable.
"Oui, just a second," I said and made the finishing touches on my hair. I decided to keep it simple with a braid.

The way to the world meeting house wasn't too far, it was close to Netherlands house and it was a sunny day so the walk didn't feel that bad. I let Ukraine walk the rest way by herself because I and Magda had decided to walk in together.
"Goten tag fräulein," Prussia greeted when he opened the door. I had hoped to not meet him but it seemed like he knew exactly when I was coming over.
"Where's your sister?" I asked not in the mood for courtesies.
"Someone is rude today," he said but let me in anyway.
"Only for you," I said and walked to Magda's room. It was strange that she wasn't ready to go. She was always ready to go. I knew for a fact that she had a bag under her bed with thing necessary if she ever had to leave as soon as possible. I knocked on the door and heard something fall to the floor.
"Just a minute," Magda said from inside. I could hear her walk around in the room and then she went to open the door.
"Hi," she said. She was still in her pyjamas and it looked like she had been up all night. Doing what I wasn't sure of but something must have captivated her mind. Her room was very messy. Dirty clothes lay on the floor and plates with old food was piled up on her nightstand. A strange smell reached my nose and I didn't want to stay in there for too long. Last time I was here it was clean and it didn't smell like something had died. She went over to her wardrobe and was going to choose something to wear. Not able to stand the smell any longer I excused myself from the room and went into the kitchen. Prussia was eating breakfast much to my dismay.
"She's been like that for about two weeks," he told me. Since the night we broke into the library then, I thought. Had something happened that I wasn't aware of and she had become crazy.
"Do you know why?" I asked him. He shrugged his shoulders.
"Nein, I barely see her anymore she just sits in her room, reading books." I sighed out in relief. At least she hadn't told him.
"Do you know?" he asked and looked at me with suspicion.
"Non," I said. It was the truth. I had no idea why she all of the sudden had stopped caring about cleaning her room. The thing in the library must have made her more shaken that I first thought.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Oui," I snapped. He smirked at me.
"Calm down, I was just wondering. I'm worried for my schwester," he said and he really meant it.
"I'm sorry," I said. He looked at me with surprise. It was quite shocking for the both of us. Me apologizing to him. It had become a strange world indeed. A few minutes later Magda comes out dressed and her hair doesn't look that bad anymore. She looked like a sane person.
"Are you ready to go?" She asked me. Then she looked at Prussia.
Sie haben gut zu ihr gewesen?" she asked.
"I've been very nice to her," he replied. "Haven't I?"
"Let's go," I said and dragged Magda out of the house.

"So spill. What is it that have occupied your mind that you have forgotten about personal hygiene?" I asked. She smiled at me.
"It's a wonderful day today," she replied.
"You're ignoring the question," I pointed out. She shrugged her shoulders and I knew that she wouldn't tell me no matter how many times I asked her. If something she would only become cross. Instead I would have to think about possible reasons. I remembered the night in the library. She hadn't been very interested in looking through the books but she did show me a page with a circled sentence. Was that what she had been so obsessed with? To see it had something to do with those who burnt down my house. It wasn't like her to obsess over details. It was most likely just a coincidence. I wanted to know if she had found something or if I was right. But we was too close to the world meeting building now and I didn't want anyone to find out that we have been sneaking around the library during night time.
Spain walked up to us when we walked into the meeting room. He hugged Magda and kissed her cheek. She just smiled at him before walking to her seat, leaving Spain utterly confused. It was strange and I wondered if something had happened between the two or if it was another part of her new personality. I went over to sit on my usual seat between Italy and Brazil. I could sense a tension in the room. It was stronger than usual and I had a feeling something would happen today and I wasn't sure if it would be for the better.

Monaco walked into the middle and held a piece of paper in her hand.
"First order of business. The construction of Greece's house is nearly finished and he will be able to move in soon," she read from the paper. "There will also be a collection in order to finance the rebuilding of Dorné's house." Several whispers went through the room and I could sense more than one pair of eyes looking at me. I just held my head high and acted like it didn't affect me.
"About the destruction of her house, America will now present what he have found out during his investigation." People clapped their hands while America walked inside the circle. I didn't know what he was going to say but I was certain that it wouldn't end well. All he would say was that Russia was the responsible one.
"People, we have been threatened," he began. "Our peace have been threatened by the work of a mad man who wants another war to break out. We can't let this person go free without a punishment." By then everyone was looking around in the room. Trying to pin out who the guilty one would be. I was fairly certain of who he would say it was, although I was quite sure he hadn't done it. Russia was smiling and didn't seem to be affected by everyone looking at him. I wondered if he knew, probably. Hopefully he did and wouldn't be too offended by it. If it came down to it I would defend him.
"It's with a heavy heart that I tell you all that the responsible is…," that was all he could say before I loud bang sounded and I was flying through the air. I could hear screams and see smoke filling the room. A bright blue light is all I could remember before the world turned dark.

When I woke up later I could feel a sharp pain in my leg. When I opened my eyes I saw that I was laying on the meeting room floor. Around me there was people looking as confused as me. At least half of the people wasn't there anymore.
"Are you okay?" a voice asked. I looked up at Mathias. He reached out his hand and he helped me up on my feet.
"What happened here?" I asked.
"Nobody knows," he replied. "There was a loud bang and a lot of smoke."
"Who did this?" I asked.
"I know as much as you do," he told me. I looked around, looking for Magda and my brother. I could see Francis on the other side of the room and sighed out in relief, at least he was safe. Other than me, Mathias and Francis there were few left. The Nordics and The Baltics were all there, so was Netherlands and Belgium but other than that everyone else was gone and I wondered what could have happened to them.
"Antonio?" I heard Magda's voice piercing through the room. I was glad that she was still there but she seemed to panic as she couldn't find Spain. Me and Mathias walked over to her and I put a comforting arm around her shoulders.
"We will find him," I assured her.

Those of us who were left gathered around in a circle. No one of us were gravely injured only shaken.
"What happened?" Belgium asked. No one knew.
"You should probably see this," Finland said and held up a note. In red letters someone had written a message. The beginning of the end has begun. The end of your reign. This is our time.

That was the last chapter of the first part. As you might have notice, this will change the direction of the story and things will change drastically from now on. At first it was just meant to be a short fluffy story for my best friend to read... but fluff is not really my thing so my mind took the story somewhere else entirely. I will most likely upload the first chapters for part 2 in a a day or two.