I'm going to be completely honest: I got caught up in the MCU fandom and completely forgot about this. To anyone reading, I am sincerely sorry. As an apology, the next chapter should be up on Momday or Tuesday.

Review:

LadyoftheChicken—You'll just have to wait and see, won't you? ;)

Names:

Utah—Ryan Jones
Colorado—Cody Jones
Nevada—Nathan Jones
Hong Kong—Li Xiao

Chapter 13: Siblings

March 18, 2029, 7:00

?

"So, this is him?"

Hiram nodded, gesturing to the baby boy in his wife's arms. Deseret moved closer to the child, who was only a baby, maybe around ten months old. He had dark skin and curly brown hair, which contrasted sharply with Hiram and his wife's much lighter skin and hair.

"We think he's one of… your kind," Hiram continued. "We found him in the dead of night, and adopted him, thinking that he was an abandoned Indian child. That was three years ago."

Deseret nodded, letting a breath pass through his lips. This would be the sixth child like him that he had discovered in the past three decades. Though he was physically fourteen, he already felt like an old man, trying to control Cody and Nathan whenever they got together…

He shook himself. No. Nathan had left him a long time ago. He missed his little brother more than he could ever imagine, but he had duties as Nevada now. He had tried to visit, once, but…

He was an outsider. He may not be the most social person around, but even he could tell when he was being talked about behind his back. He hadn't gone to visit his so-called 'siblings' after that. And Nathan had forgotten him soon enough anyways, but he wasn't to be blamed for that. He had only been six when he became Nevada.

Deseret shook himself, and held out his arms. "May I?" he asked, referring to the child. Hiram nodded and his wife passed the child to the teenager. The baby squirmed for a moment, but didn't cry. He opened his eyes, staring at Deseret, before cooing and laughing. The teen smiled gently.

"Yes," he murmured, knowing what to say and that it was true. "This child is of my kind. I'll have to take him—only with your permission, of course."

"It's quite alright," Hiram nodded. "We've said our goodbyes. We'll grieve, but move on eventually. It's his destiny, isn't it? You can raise him much better than we ever could. And live long enough to see him grow into the virtuous man we know he'll become."

Deseret nodded. "What's his name?"

"We called him Manuel."

"Manuel… I like that." He made a funny face at the child, causing him to clap his hands with glee and laugh. "I'll always make sure you're safe, Manuel. You can rely on me."

Ryan, or the state of Utah, woke up crying. He blinked and brought a hand to his face, confused. Sitting up in his bed, he tried to recall the contents of his dream, only to have it slip through his fingers. He frowned, then sighed, hurriedly wiping at his eyes and guessing what the dream had been about. Manuel again, probably. He'd gone missing in the battle of Benghazi two days ago. Things hadn't been the same since.

"Ryan? You alright?"

The sixteen-year-old state blinked and hurriedly rubbed the last of the tears out of his eyes, turning to face his younger sister. Colorado, or Cody, looked at her older brother worriedly, her dark red hair spilling out in waves around her light brown eyes. Ryan steeled himself and nodded.

"Yeah," he replied. "Just a bad dream, Cody. How long was I out?"

"A while," his sister shrugged, deciding to put off her questions. She put away the manga she was reading[1], and pulled up the television screen installed in the back of the seat in front of them. "We have, like, an hour left."

"Finally," Ryan sighed, stretching as much as he could in his tiny seat, feeling his back pop a couple times. "We've been travelling for almost a day now."

"Mm-hm," Cody hummed, before turning back to him. "Ryan, are you sure you're alright? You've hardly even spoken about Manuel since we heard the news, and you two have always been so close."

Ryan bit his lip and looked out the window of the plane, folding his arms and sighing. He wasn't the only person who was close to Manuel, and it frustrated him slightly, how everyone was trying to pamper him about his brother's disappearance. Then, again, he tried to see things from their point of view, and had to agree that he did seem extremely close to Manuel.

And that was true. Back in the 1800s, when he had been born, he'd been the first of what his siblings had nicknamed the 'Mormon' states. Born on July 24, 1845, he had grown rapidly even for an American state, actually aging as fast as a human in his first ten years of life before slowing down (that had actually lead to some complications when he'd stopped aging, but that was a story for another time). He'd ended up finding and raising six of his siblings after he hit his twelfth year.

Colorado had been the first, in the late 1850s. Then it was Idaho, and after that Nevada. He'd found Wyoming a couple years later, then Arizona, and finally New Mexico in the 1880s. He did have to admit that he'd doted on Manuel a bit more than the others, but that was mostly because he was considered the baby of their little section of the family. And though they had separated a bit after 1900, they still managed to get together every year or so. As such, New Mexico leaving and then disappearing had hit them all hard. But everyone had only been focusing on him and how he was feeling, at that left him a bit frustrated. What about Arizona? She spent much more time with him than he did.

But he waved off his frustration and answered his sister. "Fine, I'm not. But none of us are. We'll get him back eventually." He did his best to pull a reassuring smile. "Don't worry too much."

Cody nodded and turned back to her manga, blindly accepting his explanation. Ignoring the curl of doubt in his stomach, Ryan did his best to force Manuel out of his mind turned on the TV in his own seat and checked the time. Yep, 57 more minutes until they arrived. He couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment at missing the view over Japan and South Korea, but he'd seen it before on other trips, and he'd hopefully see it again on their way back.

It'd been a long two days. After Benghazi's fall and New Mexico's disappearance, America (their father, not the country) had gone into panic/rage mode, but still being off in Europe, had been restricted to forbidding his children to travel anywhere and stay at home where they were safe. The CIA had been sent to enforce that promise with the threat of house arrest if they didn't comply, courtesy of Virginia[2].

But that hadn't stopped Cody. Witty beyond her years and with little sense of self-preservation, she'd simply snuck out when her guards had their backs turned and run off to Utah with a plan. One that Ryan personally felt tempted to smack her upside the head for, but even he had relented eventually at the prospect of actually succeeding. A visit to Nathan[3] had gotten them two false identities and a ticket to Beijing. After that they'd flown out to San Francisco, and from there a twelve-hour flight to Beijing, China.

"You know, Cody," Ryan muttered. "This plan of yours better work. Virginia knows we're gone by now. It won't be long until she gets the truth out of Nathan, and then we'll be dead."

"Aw, you're such a goody two-shoes," Cody rolled her eyes. "Live a little!"

"The only reason I'm coming is because you need me," Ryan huffed, crossing his arms. "I'm the only state who speaks Mandarin Chinese fluently."

"Along with, like, sixty other languages[4]," Colorado shot back. "You're useful."

"Fifty-four, Cody. I'm still learning Nepali."

"Oh, just learn how to take a compliment!"

March 18, 2029. 10:00

Beijing, China

"So, where are we going now?" Ryan asked. They had disembarked from their flight several hours ago, but it had taken a couple hours to get through customs. They had taken their luggage—only a medium-sized suitcase between the two of them, to not attract attention—and sat down near the entrance on a bench, resting their sore feet.

"I'm calling the guy who's going to pick us up," Cody huffed, pulling out her cell phone. "He should've been here by now. I think he's just running late."

"Well, he better get here soon," Ryan muttered, eyeing a suspicious-looking man as he passed them by. "Hurry up, or we're going to be asked why two kids are out in an international airport on their own. And we don't have an answer for that, you know."

"I'm working on it!" Cody huffed, tucking a strand of dark red hair out of her face. "Oh, I'm getting a call right now…"

"Oh, we never should have done this," Ryan moaned, putting his face in his hands. "We're dead. So, so dead."

"CORALINE EMMA JONES! WHERE IN THE—" Ryan winced at the very colorful vocabulary in multiple languages spewing out of Cody's phone once she clicked 'accept.' "ARE YOU?!"

Cody jerked the phone away from her ear as if it was spewing fire (which, in a way, it was) and hurriedly hung up without a word, chuckling nervously at the strange looks other people passing by gave them.

"I didn't check the caller ID…" she muttered sheepishly as Ryan buried his face even deeper into the palms of his hands. "Oops. That was probably Virginia."

"You think I didn't notice?" Her older brother shot back. "We're dead. You ride is never going to show up. We're going to be stuck in this darn airport until Dad comes to skin us alive! We're dead. Very, very dead."

"Ryan…"

"Why do I ever listen to you? I raised you! I should know better than this!"

"Ryan!"

The black-haired teenager felt a punch hit his arm, and he shot up, rubbing it and shooting Cody a defensive look.

"What was that for?!" He exclaimed.

"You were panicking again," Cody shrugged. "Besides, our ride is here."

"Wait what?"

"Yo."

Utah's sight shot past Colorado to find a teenager just a couple years older than them, around eighteen or so, approaching them. He was dressed in a burgundy… duangua, the word for it finally popping into his head. He had choppy brown hair and the same color of eyes. He had a single hand raised in greeting.

"Ah, Li Xiao!" Cody grinned, raising a hand for a high five. Still emotionless, the teen, Li Xiao, slapped it. The American state grinned. "Thanks for this favor, bro! This is my older brother, Ryan. Don't mind him, he tends to be a goody two-shoes."

"I do not," Ryan muttered to himself, discreetly kicking Cody in the shin. "I'm Ryan." He stuck out a hand politely. "And you are Li Xiao, correct?"

"Like, of course," Li Xiao responded, one corner of his lip twitching upwards. "From Hong Kong."

"Utah."

"Ah, yes. Cody's, like, talked about you a lot. Mostly complaints, but, like, you sounded alright."

"I'm not surprised. How'd you two meet?"

"Oh, Li Xiao and I are anime and gaming pals," Cody shrugged. "We've been switching manga for, like, years, and we've recently started gaming together. This is the first time we've actually met in person, though."

"So, you're here to help out?" Ryan asked. "Did Cody tell you the plan? She tends to forget important details like that."

"Like, totally," Li Xiao waved a hand dismissively. "Come with me. I got a cab waiting, then I'll take you to Aniki's. I managed to get Japan and Korea over, too. You, like, totally owe me one for this. I told them that they were meeting your dad today, so, like, I'm going to be grounded for eternity once this is over."

"Right! The next five video games are on me, dude!" Cody laughed, sound a bit too much like her father. Ryan sent her a warning look. "Thanks so much!" the redhead quickly added.

Li Xiao lead them out of the airport lobby, where, sure enough, there was a taxi waiting for them. Li Xiao then asked the driver to take them to the suburbs of the city in Mandarin, which he then paid for, and hopped into the front seat, leaving Ryan and Cody to sit in the back.

"It'll, like, take us a little over an hour to get to Zhongnanhai," Li Xiao announced. "That's where Aniki, Japan, and Korea are, anyways."

Cody nodded, pulling out another manga to reread (she'd gone through her stash twice during their flight), while Ryan pulled out his phone awkwardly, plugging it into the charging port to get its battery back up to full power. He knew that Li Xiao was taking a huge risk for them. He just had to hope that his sister's plan would work.

The hour passed slowly and was filled with more than one awkward silence, but they managed to get through it. Despite his outward appearance, Li Xiao was actually quite sociable. They talked for a little while, about the war and New Mexico, before the topic turned to their home lives and the hazards of living in a chaotic family—that Ryan could relate with. He could definitely see how Cody had struck up a friendship with the Cantonese teenager.

But before he felt anywhere near ready, the taxi had pulled up around a half-mile or so from their destination, unable to take them any further without clearance. They walked the rest of the route, making their way through security with Hong Kong's help. The meeting was due to start in fifteen minutes by then, and Li Xiao showed them into his own private room, where Ryan changed into his best suit, Cody into a white blouse, a suit jacket, a skirt that went to right above her knees, and black tights, and Li Xiao into a traditional Chinese black button-down shirt and pants.

"So…" Utah let out a breath as Cody finished her change, exiting Hong Kong's room. They now stood in the hallway, which was empty. "I guess it's my turn now."

"Yep," Colorado grinned as they began to walk into the meeting room. "You know I couldn't do this without punching someone's nose in. Just charm them with your Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean. That worked last time."

"That was only to get China to meet Dad! This is going to be a lot harder."

"Hey, you're Utah. Like, the only person besides Iowa, Maine and Georgia who Dad trusts not to wreck the house when he leaves."

"That's not really much of an achievement."

"Just do your best," Hong Kong put in. "Aniki and Japan like noodles and new types of food, South Korea will join your side quickly since he's, like, close allies with your dad, and North Korea will follow whatever South does. Aniki will be the hardest. He's stubborn, but the allure of food usually gets him to agree with you."

Utah let out a long breath, and they lapsed into silence for the rest of the way into the meeting. Again, Hong Kong used his status to get them past security, and then they were in front of the doors to the room.

"Alright," he murmured to himself, pausing before they entered. "Ryan, it's like you're just going to ask Dad to become a state again[5]. Easy peasy."

"Good luck," Hong Kong added from Utah's right. "Like, you're going to need it."

And then he opened the doors.

It was a simple meeting room, with a circular table with the four expected nations around it, with several bodyguards in the background. A man with a large curl was talking animatedly to a similar-looking man with a similar curl, though he had much longer hair pulled into a thin braid down his back. That's North and South Korea. A man with think black hair was reviewing his papers reservedly, pointedly ignoring a much older nation, probably in his late 30s, who wore his hair in a ponytail. The one in the ponytail is China; I remember him. So that means the last guy is Japan.

As he and Colorado entered (Hong Kong just scooted off towards the side) all attention turned onto them. China scowled as South Korea gasped, looking surprised.

"Who are you, aru?" China questioned sharply, standing up. "We're here to meet with America, not some kids."

So he doesn't recognize me. It's been a while, after all, and we met so briefly. Even so, Utah couldn't help but feel a stab of bitter disappointment. He'd been hoping China would remember him so that he'd be trusted just a little bit more. Oh, well. He made eye contact with Colorado, who flashed him a reassuring smile.

He took a deep breath, and summoned every last scrap of courage in his body, suddenly feeling very out of his depth in front of these millennia-old beings.

"My name is Ryan Jones of the State of Utah, acting on behalf of the United States of America and NATO. I am here to ask you to help us in our efforts to destroy New Abyssinia."

[1]- According to , the top five nerdiest states, in order, are Utah, Alaska, Wyoming, Idaho, and Colorado. Seeing as Utah raised three of the five and he's in the top spot as well, I'm guessing that he's rubbed off on them a bit.

[2]- The CIA headquarters are in Virginia, so I imagine her as the law enforcer

[3]- Out of the six states he'd be the most likely one to have stuff that's illegal. Plus, come on, considering what stereotypically happens in Nevada, I think he'd have some of this stuff ready to go on him.

[4]- Taking after the Mormon missionaries, Utah's gotten a knack for languages. He tends to learn them in his free time.

[5]- Utah tried—and failed—to become a state for almost fifty years, from 1848 to 1896.

Word News (March 17 to March 19, 2029):

1) Australia and New Zealand refuse to participate in the war due to lack of concern but will provide moral support for the allies

2) Pakistan, Iran, the Philippines, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, and Tanzania join the Allied Powers.

3) East Turkestan and Tibet don't recognize the problem