Thanks to EternalNexusWarrior, AquaEclipse, vexey1999, Lonely Islands, HelloThereHowAreYou, H20Flame for reviewing! Sorry again for the wait. Again, this chapter took a long time to write. I had to rewrite it twice. Now, on with the show!
Cameroon had found himself wracked with mixed feelings over what had happened the past day.
As a good soldier, he was content with the result, ignoring his damaged pride at their defeat in battle. That did not matter, the mission did. By all means he should be immensely pleased that despite what had happened; they were victorious from the start. He was pleased. He even credited Switzerland for his plan, despite the trickery and the risks. Switzerland took those risks because he had faith in their abilities.
If anything, it would be more humiliating if Switzerland's faith in them turned out to be misplaced. But Cameroon's feelings did not matter. As long as it helped their side's victory, Cameroon didn't care what he had to do. And so he discarded his chagrin and accepted the outcome.
But as a comrade, and a friend, he... wasn't content with what occurred, most of all the actions he took. He, who could control his own emotions so well, became blinded by fury and his desire to tear France to shreds with his bare hands, so much that he forgot the promise he made to Morocco. Overall, Cameroon felt that there should be consequences for what he did.
And now, his wish appeared to have come true.
"What were you all thinking?!"
Cameroon had been surprised when Switzerland abruptly came in that Austria had wanted a word with them. Not necessarily at the fact that it was Austria. Switzerland had told them that he and he alone would go to send in a report after the near-arson with Nigeria, no doubt to get away from them too while he's at it. But rather it was at the apparent fact that Austria wanted to talk to them.
In hindsight, he clearly should've seen this coming.
The entire group was too stunned for words, even Morocco's serenity had vanished and he ended up flinching at the sudden shout. Cameroon felt bad for Haiti, who was merely sitting in his spot next to Nigeria looking clearly uncomfortable.
Cameroon will not shy away from this. What did irk him, however, was the blatant smugness on Switzerland's face, obviously enjoying the show.
"I… I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled." Austria apologized breathlessly and it was followed by a bit of mumbling, then after inhaling sharply, he spoke again with a much cooler edge than before. "That was just unprofessional."
Cameroon would've liked to assure him that it wasn't, but he sensed that Austria wasn't done speaking yet.
Austria took in another deep breath. "You did a good job overall, but you still made mistakes. And when you look at those mistakes or poor choices and the consequences that followed them, we are truly lucky that Switzerland was clever enough to think of a backup plan or else this would have been a loss for us."
"We… have become aware of that." South Africa's face looked a little blanched.
"And have accepted it," Morocco added.
"It's the only reason why this house is still standing," Nigeria grumbled, which did not go unheard from Switzerland judging from his glare.
"Oh, you have? Good, good… But at the same time, to hear that people whom I trust, whom I have faith in to perform well spite of their bloodthirsty nature," Austria's voice became more strained with each sentence. "Failed in putting the mission first and their sadism second, which put their own lives in jeopardy, is... not nice."
"He sounds upset." Nigeria whispered over to them, and Cameroon gave him a look.
"It's almost upsetting... No, wait, there it is. I'm upset. Vash, I'm upset."
"Oh dear, he is upset." Morocco murmured.
"Would you like me to put you on hold while you go to the piano?" Switzerland asked dutifully, taking a short break from relishing the Africans' 'impending doom'.
"Nein, nein, that won't be necessary. That would just be petty. I don't need to be upset; I need to be a leader." Austria stated with a strong conviction. "And so, as a leader and one of the people responsible for supervising your behavior, it is my responsibility to ask you what went wrong and make sure it doesn't happen. Let's go over this one by one, all right?"
Cameroon will not shy away, and he spoke for everyone else as well. But hearing that calm voice he's so used to hearing tinged with disappointment bite out those words, clearly detesting that he needed to vocalize them to people he thought he could always trust, with Cameroon's very ears instead of in his own mind, made the tall man's stomach twist uncomfortably.
"Now Morocco," Austria began calmly enough, and the aforementioned nation snapped up to attention. "I know how much you want to have Tunisia to yourself but I question your decision to leave the scene in favor of having your way with your brother, instead of say, helping out."
"I would never abandon the others, Roderich." Morocco's voice was admirably level. "That was why I had Abarshane stay and hold off Algeria, and he did succeed in preventing her from interfering despite the... painful outcome. I was confident that I wasn't needed…"
"It doesn't matter that you had the others' permission or that you were confident that you weren't needed; it was still irresponsible to leave the scene with your brother in tow so you could spend of the event torturing him." Austria's voice was surprisingly soft as he said this, though his displeasure was still evident. "The practical thing would be to kill Tunisia, temporarily of course, hide his body and return to help your allies. Or at least only talk to him a little before doing that. You'd have plenty of time to persuade him later. What energy you used to try to coax your brother, you could've used to help your friends or prevent anyone from rescuing Mauritius."
Morocco's shoulders seemed to slump as Austria finished, though if he was extremely disheartened by this, he was doing a decent job hiding it. Regardless, his face was clearly a mask. A frown on his lips, his brown eyes trailed over to the side and he held his arms, clearly contemplating.
"Now let's talk about you, Cameroon, and I'm sorry to say that I am disappointed in some of your actions as well." Those calm words cut like a knife, and unlike how he'd feel if it was literal, it hurt. "First I want to let you know that I do not think it was a bad idea for you to have had helped protect Morocco. It was wise. And you have clearly thought it through, as one would expect from you. You would've gone ahead and make sure no one got near Morocco, helping guard the house while you were it, while the impundulu made up for your absence. But then it was all thrown into disarray when you just couldn't let France go."
Yes. He failed. Cameroon knew that well. But then at the same time, if Cameroon had elected to remain in the same place, he would have eventually have come face to face with Egypt, freshly exhausted from his fight with Nigeria and dying from venom. He could have killed Egypt, taken him by surprise just as he did to Romania.
"I am aware of what I have done." Cameroon was aware of how dull and resigned he sounded. He wringed his hands as he fought the urge to tear them. "I was foolish, angry. I realized too late that I forgot about my priority. I left France and tried to remedy my mistake…"
For what good it actually did.
"And it makes me happy to know you have acknowledged it and tried to fix it. You have done your best, but in the end, it couldn't be helped."
Cameroon was caught off guard by that, but appreciated the statement nonetheless.
"I can assume that you blame yourself for other details, correct?" Austria's perceptiveness was impeccable. Cameroon nodded, trying to ignore the frowns from the other Africans. "From what Switzerland had informed me, Egypt went back to the fighting after Anubis killed Nigeria, but he was weakened. However, you had no way of knowing this, so this was not your fault. Focus instead on how you killed Romania. Ah, now that was impressive. But the point is, don't let this irrationality occur again."
Cameroon mutely nodded.
"Now let's go to you, Nigeria." Austria's voice suddenly became a lot tighter, restrained, and Nigeria visibly winced. It gradually increased in volume and intensity as he went on. "Oh, Nigeria, what the hell happened?"
Nigeria looked about ready to respond to that, but Austria obviously wasn't finished.
"You know that with each bit of your soul you remove, you lose your humanity and your ability to care about most anything. And I know it was in the heat of battle. But what made you think that using part of your soul to create a snake a big snake when you had already recently chipped off a piece of it wasn't a risky plan?!"
There weren't many times that Cameroon could count where Nigeria had ever appeared truly ashamed, his maniacally cheerful nature wouldn't allow it. But now he could add this occasion to the list. Nigeria flinched and shrunk at the scolding, and he fidgeted his fingers, his expression a mixture of embarrassment, guilt and self-frustration. Nearby, a frowning South Africa put a hand on his shoulder in comfort.
"Now, I'm not chastising you for the idea. That was a good move. Egypt clearly wasn't expecting that. Then again, who would? But it worked. But you should've used a smaller portion. Or even better, you should've killed him there when you had him trapped instead of taunting and gloating long enough for Anubis to kill the impundulu and come to Egypt's rescue, or at least only taunt him a little before putting him down. Regardless of the fact that he was bitten, he still lived and had the energy to fight until the end! And you died! To a god!"
Nigeria's remorse became more evident with sentence growled by Austria, but he ended up wincing at the last part. What was implied by the last sentence went without saying. Nations were one thing but gods were a whole other level. They could easily crush any of them.
That must be why Nigeria didn't even try to defend himself.
Anyway, that only left one nation. And South Africa was already grimacing.
"And South Africa, you...!" But Austria ended up trailing off just as South Africa braced himself for an onslaught, he began to stammer, "A-Actually, now that I think about it, you didn't do anything wrong."
"Oh, now that's a sentence I don't hear oft-" Then South Africa did a double take. "Wait, I didn't?"
"He didn't?" Switzerland gawked, smirk falling off his face.
Cameroon was caught off guard by the sudden turn of events for his eyes to widen a fraction. But he cast off that surprise as soon as it had appeared and began reviewing South Africa's actions in his mind, and he realized that Austria was right, their group leader wasn't guilty of anything.
The others were similarly nonplussed by this… twist? Not by the fact that South Africa wouldn't be receiving reprimands. No, they're not petty fools. In fact, Nigeria was the first to shake off his daze and unsurprisingly he began to beam.
"Well, of course he didn't do anything wrong," Nigeria pouted and then smirked wrapped an arm around a still surprised South Africa. "He probably worked the hardest out of all of us in that fight."
That was indeed… very true.
"Ja, quite right, Nigeria." Austria readily agreed, to said nation's delight. "You clearly went through a lot of effort for something with low stakes. For the sake of the mission and the safety of your comrades you summoned many impundulu, many of which ended up dying. I'm… sorry for your loss by the way."
"Th… They'll be avenged soon enough."
"Ah, of course. How silly of me forget. Anyway, you summoned a lot of impundulu, even in the middle of battle. You went up against Russia and beat the shit out of him, which is always welcome. Though you lost, it's still an impressive achievement. You continued fighting to the very end and helped heal everyone in the aftermath... To summarize, you did a lot and you did not screw up."
Yes... South Africa had truly outdone himself, hadn't he?
Cameroon had to grin. How could they be anything but proud?
But then he reminded himself that he was (technically) in the presence of his boss. He would not disrespect Austria. And so Cameroon pushed aside his thoughts for the time being as he rested back into his normal stoicism and returned to paying full attention to the conversation.
"If anything, you performed admirably." Austria's tone indicated he was more than pleased. "Of course, not perfectly, but… still impressive."
"Oh... I guess I did." South Africa blinked, then a pleased smile spread on his face with a blush. "Why, dankie, Austria."
"Although..." Austria sounded pensive. "I have to wonder why you didn't simply send an impundulu at Russia so that you could help your allies."
"We needed all of them to slow Anubis down as long as possible. Even taking away one impundulu could've cost us dearly, great leader." South Africa responded politely, still smiling wide.
"...Good point." Austria admitted without any issue, and quickly went back to a more jovial mood. "My apologies. In that case, once again, good job, South Africa."
Cameroon felt a small smile on his lips. This clearly demonstrated why they considered South Africa their leader. He clearly had his head in the game. And if it wasn't for the impundulu, Anubis would've most likely have killed more than a few of them.
"As for the rest of you..." Austria's voice took on a darker tone. "There won't be any penalties for your actions. Despite your actions, it doesn't change how dedicated you all were and how well you all fought, even in the face of a god. A literal god. This, as well due to other reasons, I will let you off with only a warning that this poor decision-making won't be tolerated again. If any of you risk compromising the mission again in the future, there will be consequences. I know you're all so much better than this... Besides, that'd just be embarrassing."
"We learned our lesson. It won't happen again." Cameroon stated monotonously while cracking his hands, leaving little doubt that he meant those words. The others gave their agreement.
"I hope that will be the case." Fortunately, it sounded like Austria meant those words. "Oh, and one more thing: How come Liberia isn't with you?"
Oh… Oh! Cameroon had almost forgotten about Liberia. It did feel kind of odd without the whole group together.
"Our dear kleintjie went to visit America's house." South Africa answered with a fond smile, which quickly turned charmingly mischievous. "But as we discovered in the whole France incident, it turns out that he's away on a mission."
And it had been far too late to warn Liberia. Though, Liberia should've probably called instead of deciding to 'surprise' America.
"Poor Liberia. It must've been quite disappointing." Morocco remarked sympathetically.
"Ja, Alfred is currently making preparations to invade Russia…" Austria mentioned a little off-handedly. "That's strange. How come I haven't heard about this?"
"Well, that might be because Liberia seems to be having quite a lot fun with whatever he is doing." South Africa said, and he looked as if he could barely keep himself from chuckling at the possibilities.
"When we called him to ask if he'd like to join us, he refused. He was too busy doing something that 'definitely won't get him grounded.'" Cameroon added in his semi-permanent deadpan tone and face with finger quotes.
"…'Doing something that definitely won't get him grounded'?" Switzerland repeated in what had to be the most unimpressed tone in history. Yeah, Liberia was never really known for subtlety in their tightly-knit group.
"He always was the one of worst at lying…" Haiti mumbled disappointedly under his breath, echoing Cameroon's thoughts.
"…Hm." Austria hummed pensively. "I'll look into it. Well, gentlemen, this ends our conversation. I'll be going back to work now. Those humans aren't going to get things done themselves… they never do…"
They said their farewells, and Switzerland terminated the call. Cameroon released a breath he didn't realize he had been holding.
Now then, it's time to proceed with their plans. And they will be sure to not disappoint this time.
/ / / / /
"Hm. It appears I was right. They do have him on guard." Prussia mused while his hand was on his chin. "Attacking their hideout won't be appear to be a good option in the foreseeable future, I'm afraid."
Lithuania frankly couldn't agree more.
Here's the short story of their situation: On their way to their target's location, with Lithuania admittedly getting so lost in thought and giddy over his upcoming confrontation to really focus on much else, Prussia abruptly stopped and made him do the same.
"Death. A god is here, on the lookout for enemies."
Lithuania had stiffened right then and there. There's only one god that could be here on the premises, and that would be Anubis, Egypt's dog.
It was a little odd that Anubis hadn't seemed to have noticed them already. Though Lithuania wasn't sure how omniscient gods truly were. But Prussia's sure that if they took more steps further, they'd inevitably catch Anubis's attention and if they don't react fast enough, they'll both earn themselves a one-way trip to the Egyptian Underworld for all eternity.
Wonderful.
Their plan wasn't to show themselves right at their front door. They're not idiots. Bulgaria would be stupid enough to think it'd be fun to just knock at the door and be greeted with a punch at best and an onslaught of bullets at worst, but they're not. No, at first they needed to verify who was in the enemies' unofficial hideout before carrying out their plans. For all they know, Russia could've gone out to buy vodka.
Now that wasn't possible. Luckily, Prussia knew that something like this would happen, so they have a few backup plans in just case.
"Not an option, unless we get the gods on our side to lend a helping hand," "Haiti had recently asked one of his loa to attack them, correct? And the Baron managed to hold his own well against Anubis."
"I could call in favor from one of my gods, but I don't think it's worth involving them over this." Lithuania said solemnly, a small frown on his face. This only concerned himself and Russia.
Lithuania ignored the spark of tension that came with bringing up the subject, along with the usual frown that appeared on Prussia's face for just a split-second. He refused to comment on it, because there wasn't any point, despite what Prussia thought.
Lithuania, like a lot of nations, wasn't always Christian. He was a pagan, a heretic or whatever name those obsessive idiots had for people who didn't share their way of thinking. However, one thing led to another, and his nation converted to Christianity. And Prussia… was one of the people responsible for that.
Except Lithuania no longer cared.
Personally, he was sick of religion, Christianity, paganism, everything. For all his life it's been nothing but a source of unnecessary pain. Christianity eradicated Lithuania's old ways and changed his very identity against his will and gave him a big migraine back with his old arguments with Poland. But even as Lithuania tried to hold on, what have the gods gone to stop this? Absolutely nothing. It's better to trust in yourself and those around you than beings that seem to exist to use the Earth as their playground.
But not all of his fellow, former polytheistic Order nations agreed with him. Haiti and Nigeria still worshipped their gods and spirits. Despite having largely moved on, America still strongly honored his old ways and possessed a strong relationship with the Hawaiian deities. The Scandinavians, just as they refuse to move on from their so-called 'savage' ways, they also refuse to leave the Nordic gods too.
It's not like Lithuania begrudged them for it or anything. It wasn't his business. And if those gods were helpful and considerate of their lives, then good! Better for the Order. He just didn't really the point of it.
He'd be an idiot for criticizing them anyway. This might make him sound like a hypocrite, but no matter Lithuania wanted to, he just couldn't… let go. He couldn't up and shed his old pagan ways behind. So he kept his connections, he refused to forget, and in return the gods didn't forget him. But as a consequence, it… brought back memories that Prussia wasn't proud of.
"Ja, I don't believe it's necessary to go so far as to ask the gods for our help." Prussia was saying, snapping Lithuania out of his thoughts, and he mentally kicked himself for getting distracted in the middle of a conversation. "Like you said, this is small matter compared to, for example, our invasion on Russia."
Lithuania nodded his head in fervent agreement. Oh, he hadn't forgotten about that. How could he? Logic dictated that he should be with his people, helping prepare for what's coming. But he needed this. He needed to have this to himself, just a few minutes of fun, nothing more.
"Speaking of which, we should hurry up." Prussia appeared genuinely concerned and he looked at Lithuania with a hard gaze. "You may have already told your armies to mobilize, but they still need you."
Lithuania was well aware of that. "So, what are we waiting for? What should we do first, Gil?"
Prussia looked at him, his expression focused as his brain got to work, "Well, first of all, it's clear that we should get yet another person to help us. I suppose we'll be asking Jamaica's help after all. We can further minimize the risks with him involved."
"Do you want me to give him the call?" Lithuania offered.
"Nein, it's alright. I'll do it." Prussia assured him, putting a hand on his arm. "In the meantime, you can help prepare one part of the plan. Do you have your whistle with you, Toris?
For the first time since the conversation, Lithuania's smile returned. "I'm so insulted that you imply I wouldn't."
Prussia cracked a small smile and chuckled softly "My apologies. Now, what say we rehearse what we'd like to say when we call our enemies?"
"Sounds like fun."
/ / / / /
Germany had left the task of explaining 'the incident' in necessary detail to Hungary and to an extent, Japan. He was kind of still in the middle of recovering from the battle and from having his government body wiped out when Japan had (belatedly) told him all about it so he might not recall everything. He'd be lying if he said that the small 'break' wasn't appreciated.
Not that it much difference in the end. Everyone still reacted exactly as anyone who just heard that members of the British Royal Family had been brutally murdered or at best, injured, by Bosnia after he broke into the residence screaming like a madman.
To put it simply, there was an uproar.
It was less at the fact that the humans have been murdered and more at the very fact that Bosnia was the culprit, as well as how he did it. And how he managed to do it. And most importantly, why. Germany had found himself bombarded with questions which he clearly didn't have the answer to. How the hell was he supposed to know?! He didn't even know what the hell was going on with Bosnia!
And it continued long over they stopped hounding him.
"They said that Bosnia hurt children?" Ukraine's eyes widened, looking nothing less than horrified.
Despite having known longer, it was worrying how distressed Hungary was. "It's not his fault! It's- It's his other personality. He'd never do this out of his free will!"
"I don't understand how this is possible! You mean to tell us that Bosnia just waltzed in and started shooting everyone in his way?" China yelled, loudly incredulous.
"Well apparently Bosnia did, da? How curious." Russia commented in a tone too nonchalant for the current situation.
"But how did he even get in there?"
"To be fair, the security at Kensington Palace might not be... top-notch." Monaco pointed out. It sounded as if she hastily thought of that last word.
"Da, you'd think they'd have better security nowadays." Romania gave his dry agreement.
"Would you guys knock it off?!" Canada suddenly exploded, catching everyone off-guard, and he scowled at them. "Arthur got attacked by… by someone – they tortured him and left him to suffer. And now some humans from his royal family got slaughtered, a-and even kids were hurt! Why do you guys don't seem to care?"
"Well, we just had at least one too many bombshells dropped on us yesterday and today," Romania's fanged grin was painfully forced. "And I think I speak for all of us when I say that we're still a little pissed off at England for nearly screwing us all over, so you'll have to forgive us if we're not too sympathetic to his plight right now."
Germany suppressed the urge to groan "If we're done arguing again, I think now would be a good time to discuss what we should do about… this."
This one hell of an international incident…
"He can't stay there, but England's government is never going to let him out of custody," Hungary fretted as she rubbed her forehead, looking like she was either about to cry or tear her hair out. "And to make it worse, this might make the, probably suspect that he's the one who attacked England."
"I don't know, hag." Romania frowned in thought, hand on his chin. "For all we know Bosnia was the one who left England all mangled."
Hungary sent him an icy glare. "But we don't know that."
"Either way," Germany wisely decided to cut in before a typical argument could break out. "Bosnia is in serious trouble, though that might be an understatement."
A big understatement, maybe.
"Well, we can't just let Bosnia stay there." Hungary protested, turning her glare at Germany. "The humans won't be able to help him if they're interrogating him about why he did something he probably doesn't even remember! Germany, please, wherever he is, we have to get him out of there."
"It's not that simple, Hungary," Germany eyes' narrowed, he wasn't sure how to break it to her gently. "Regardless of what's going on in his damn mind, it doesn't change the fact that Bosnia killed people from the Royal family. England's people aren't going to let this slide or release him just because we say so."
He wished it could be that easy, in all honesty.
"And let's not get into what England himself is going to react when he finds out about this."
"It's just going to make things worse…" Canada's quiet voice said solemnly.
Hungary gritted her teeth and refused to back down. "We have to do something! If we leave him there, there's a chance someone from the Order might come after him!"
"I don't see why we need to help him." Came Russia's eerie voice, drawing everyone's attention to the smiling nation.
"What do you mean? Bosnia needs help." Was Hungary's heated response, furious that Russia even said such a thing. "He's probably come back to his senses by now and doesn't remember a thing!"
"Why?" Russia's tone was almost mockingly innocent, and knowing him, it wouldn't be out of the question. "What has he ever done in the entirety of the situation except give you heart attacks and us headaches? And his actions clearly warrant suspicion. Would it not be better to lock him away?"
"We're not abandoning him!" Hungary snarled, and there was an intense fire in her eyes.
Russia raised an unimpressed eyebrow at this. "So you'd rather he remain a threat and a liability then?"
"He's not a liability. He needs help!" Hungary's glare intensified.
Russia looked more amused than anything else. "Really? And how do we know he can be helped, da? And the Order nor Bosnia is not willing to explain problem."
"If they don't want to explain it- then maybe it's because they don't want us to figure out how to help him!" Hungary shot back.
"Or perhaps they don't want to reveal that Bosnia is a spy of theirs, da?"
"He's not a spy! He clearly doesn't know what's going on!"
"Um… Are we sure about that though?" Monaco's shaky voice piped up.
Hungary looked taken aback by the question. "Wh-What?
"I think I have to agree, something's just really off about that guy." Belize's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"You know," Romania began with a contemplative look. "It was pretty suspicious when Bosnia vanished in the middle of that whole debacle in Paris and then showed up again with no memory of what happened and a knife that'd made him go ballistic whenever one of us tried to take it away."
Hungary's glare was murderous, but her rival only shrugged.
"You let him keep a knife?" China practically screeched. "Are you stupid?"
Germany recalled with dread that, yes, Bosnia did in fact have a knife. He's even sure he recalled him inspecting it with odd interest a couple of times. That…
"You haven't seen how possessive he is of that thing." Hungary said defensively. "And- And, if it kept him sane…"
"You can't be serious." Algeria scowled in derision. "You might as well say a flamethrower will keep him from murdering anyone."
Hungary burst into painfully fake laughter. "Ha! Well, you sure did a good job trying to convince us to not let him keep it by doing absolutely nothing!"
Algeria flushed in anger. "I had a lot on my mind. I was worried about France. Besides, it shouldn't have taken my-"
"So you didn't do anything to take while Papa was recovering from having been tortured?!" Canada cried out.
"If all of you would please stop deviating from the main issue at hand, comrades…" Russia's chilling voice entered the discussion again, and all the commotion vanished in an instant. "Ah, thank you. So you say it's not a ruse. But if it is, it changes little. Either way, he is still only going to cause trouble and put us at risks if we keep him around."
"That doesn't mean we should abandon him." Hungary fired back. "There could be a way to save him but you want to spare yourself the annoyance. And if we're judging everyone by their behavior and their contributions to the group, then we might as well kick Italy out of the group or throw him to the Order to save our own asses."
Italy flinched as if struck. "V-Ve!"
Germany's eyes narrowed in anger. He may be still a little angry at him, but that went a little too far. "Hey, Hungary –!"
"Ah, so quick to misinterpret and anger as always, Hungary." Russia's tone was gleefully condescending. "This is more than getting rid of an annoying pest. This is for our well-being, da? Look at Bosnia's behavior. It is clearly getting worse by the day. First he attacks you, then he vanishes, then he acts mean, then vanishes again, and now he has personally assassinated royal family members. At this rate, it is only a matter of time before he kills one of us, or tries to. Think of how little it would take for him to the little ones, like Moldova, da?"
Romania shot up from his chair, glaring daggers at Russia. "Okay, I'm not disagreeing that we need to do something about Bosnia, or just anything instead of sitting on our asses. But you've got some nerve trying to use my little brother to get points from me for your plan."
"You know that it's a real risk, Romania." Russia responded easily.
"That's enough, Vanya!" Now Ukraine has entered the argument, wearing an expression that Germany thought looked terrifying on someone like her. "Listen to yourself! How could you be so quick to abandon someone?"
Russia looked hurt at his sister's words. "But Katyusha, I'm just trying to guarantee our survival! What if he tries hurt you?"
"I know that, and I don't necessarily disagree with you. But what do you know about what's happening to Bosnia, other than what Hungary has told us?" Ukraine demanded.. "Have you observed him, talked to him? What makes you so sure that we can't help him, and that the poor man is better off alone with no one to help him?"
Russia became stock still. His expression was frozen into that of surprise. He had no answer.
Alright, this had gone on long enough. Germany was willing to stay silent in order to hear both sides' arguments, though it wasn't very easy with one of the partipants being Russia, and he decided that. This was his chance At this point they'll just continue arguing forever. Determined to diffuse the argument, Germany took in a deep breath and prayed he had the lungs for this.
"That's enough!
Per usual whenever Germany had had enough of shit, the room immediately fell silent and all their attention was on the fuming European.
"Both of bring up good points but need to get something through your heads," "Hungary, I know you care about Bosnia, but you can't deny that he can't be trusted.
"And as for you Russia," "You have a point when you say that Bosnia is more than likely dangerous, but Ukraine is right. We shouldn't decide whether Bosnia should be given a prison sentence or not when he hasn't even been put through proper questioning yet.
"Let's talk to the British government," Germany suggested helpfully. "Convince them to let us interrogate Bosnia ourselves, bring out this supposed violent personality if we have to. I think we'll better luck with him than they will. Then, after that, we'll decide together whether we should allow him limited freedom or throw him in a cell. Any objections?"
No such thing came. Germany was satisfied with this.
"However, I can't deny one thing," Germany leaned forward, "We can't afford to continue being passive. The Order is just launching attack after attack and we're not doing anything to push them back. It's time to strike back."
"Are you saying we should invade?" Belize inquired, blinking, before a smirk slowly formed. "Because, like, I'm totally down for that."
"I, too, am itching to finally counterattack." Russia's smile grew unnervingly wide.
"Count me in too. I want to avenge Feliks, and we need to make sure no one snatches his land."
"Ve! Invade?! I'm not ready for this!" Italy fretted, already trembling like those small Mexican dogs. "I don't want to fight."
"Don't be ridiculous. You never want to fight." Nicaragua jabbed, rolling her eyes.
"Exactly!"
Germany stared at them blankly. He supposed he couldn't really blame them for immediately jumping for that conclusion. Hell, he's eager to finally do more than just prevent everyone from killing each other. But still, he couldn't help but sigh.
"I'm saying we can't keep sitting on our asses, I didn't say we should just go straight to invading them." He couldn't help but deadpan. And he crossed his arms. "We wouldn't be any smarter than England. Remember, we're the only ones who know the truth. If we attack now, the rest of the world will just see an unjustifiable act of war, or risk the members of the Order play the victims. They could end up blaming us for everything; Spain, Belgium, France..."
That last possibility made Germany want to vomit. He wouldn't put it above them to do something like that, when they'd already done so much shit. No, first they need to get the rest of the world on their side.
Romania heaved a long sigh. "Why do I feel like they easily could pull that off?"
"Erm. Because they have deceived us all for centuries, and are technically currently still deceiving everyone?" Japan offered, completely innocent in his remark. Germany could have sworn he heard someone facepalm in the background.
There was no way to properly describe the deadpan on Romania's face. "…Da."
Before they could risk veering off-topic again, Germany cleared his throat. "Ja, right, exactly; which is why we need to get the hell on with it and have a meeting. And fast."
Before any more 'unfortunate incidents' happen.
"I've been told that some of you had already started making calls, but we still have a long list of people to go through. The sooner the better," Germany paused to take a breath before turning toward Hungary. "Elizaveta, Japan had told me that you had something in mind...?
What was it again? It wasn't that long ago. Maybe his government having been brutally destabilized was messing up his head.
At the mention of that, Hungary perked up and smiled wide. "Right! I was thinking we could have the meeting in my country, in Budapest."
"Your country, hag? The one that's right next to Austria?" Romania said skeptically, quirking an eyebrow at his rival.
Hungary gave him a typical look of annoyance. "Yes, Pasty Stake Bait, that country."
"Ooh, is this one of those plans that's so dumb that the enemy won't expect it?" Honduras's eyes gleamed with excitement, and she clapped with childlike glee. "I love those plans. Is it one of those plans?"
"…Of sorts," Hungary's eye twitched, but she kept her smile. "But come on, think about it. It's a good plan! My country's close, which means we won't have to worry about getting nuked in the middle of a boring plane ride. It wouldn't be one of the first places in anyone's list. And let's be honest, who's going to expect us actually having a meeting right next to Austria?"
That got everyone thinking, Germany included. The more he thought about it... It's not the best reasoning, but at the same time, it's not a… terrible idea. A convenient location, not at the top of a list of someone's guesses...
But on the other hand, this was still an option that posed incredible risk. He wasn't fond of these types of plans. They rely entirely on the possibility that the enemy will be 'too smart' to expect such a move from them. And they don't exactly have a measurement for just how ridiculously intelligent the Order was. Oh, but then there's the possibility that the Order was indeed smart enough to deduce that they would expect them to not believe that... Oh. Oh no, no, no. He was not going to get a headache over this.
"There is a much better idea," Russia spoke up with a dreadful excitement.
"What, you want us to have the meeting in your country instead?" Romania seemed immensely more annoyed at that option compared to the other.
"I don't see why not." Russia's smile was broad and most notably, excited, as he shrugged his shoulders. "My country is massive. They would not have easy time finding us. My government and the General Winter will happily provide us with a lot of protection…"
Romania made a sound that sounded awfully like a guffaw. "Because if there's anyone we can trust right now, it's your goddamn government."
Russia's smile became horribly strained. "Does every single thing coming out of your filthy mouth have to be mean insults, complaints or sarcasm?"
"Someone has to the witty voice of reason."
"Hey, I thought I was the witty voice of reason!" Belize squawked indignantly.
"You are too, just girlier and cuter." Romania assured her with a smirk and a lazy wave of his hand.
Belize was instantly won over and blushed, sniggering, "Aw, thanks!"
"If we would stop before we go off-track, please," Like before, it was impossible to miss the underlying threat in Russia's voice as he kept his smile. "I believe we were talking about why going to my country is the better idea?"
"No," Was Hungary's blunt response, and the woman had her arms crossed while giving Russia a pointed look. "They're probably expecting us to do it in your country because it's the 'safest' option we have right now."
"But perhaps they're not. And if they are, they would not get us so easily. The General can–"
"Who says the General Winter can protect us?" Hungary challenged, eyes narrowed. "Who says they don't have some plan to– to put down the General?"
Russia frowned at this. "They wouldn't have found a way."
"Have you forgotten, Vanya?" The bitter voice of Ukraine interjected, and the woman was nothing if not resentful. "They killed Natalia right under the General's nose. You said did not realize she was dead until you told him. If he- If he couldn't protect her, how can you expect him to keep us all safe?"
"We can also do it in my country, aru." China suggested with an annoyed scowl, though he honestly didn't sound too confident.
"But China-san, aren't Leon and Macau currently rebelling against your rule?" Japan tentatively pointed out.
China huffed indignantly and snapped, "I'm aware of that, aru! The headaches love reminding me every hour or so! We'll do it somewhere far away from those brats."
"Si, just put a few more hours of distance between us. That'll stop 'em. I'm sure they won't happily drop whatever it is they're doing once they find out you're in the Mainland." Belize's words were dripping with sarcasm as she sent a wide grin and a thumbs-up at China, who didn't appreciate the way she put it.
Japan, God bless him, cleared his throat. "Sh-She has a point, Teacher."
"Except that's not the only issue," Hungary's tight smile made a brief return. "If you count Hong Kong and Macau, that makes four unfriendly neighbors we'd have to worry about, one of whom I feel should remind everybody is a nuclear nutcase."
And here they were about to go into yet another argument… again. This time Germany couldn't prevent himself from sighing and have a hand slide down his face. Well, look it at this way, at least they're arguing about what would be the best option for their survival instead over petty matters. That's definitely an improvement.
"Alright, quit it!" Germany barked, it was nowhere near as loud as last time but it was more than enough to silence the room. "How about instead of arguing, we determine the risk first?"
When no one objected, Germany let out a sigh and stroked his chin.
"All right, first of all… How many members are there in Europe again?" Germany decided to ask. He thought that might be a good place to start. "An area where the Order might not have a lot of influence can be a good place to hold meeting."
Possibly. Maybe. Hopefully.
"Didn't we have an album or something filled with the names and photos of all the members?"
"We do. We got it from that weird guy Germany met back at my house, remember?"
"I-I have it right here, actually!" Seychelles exclaimed a bit loudly, holding up a brown bag. "I… I thought it might come up, so…"
Germany nodded his head in gratitude. "Would you show it to everyone?"
Seychelles nodded jerkily and hastily opened the bag and took out the album in question. Opening it, she looked up at Germany, "So, which one would you–"
"Tell us the names of the Order nations in Asia, please." Germany asked politely. Hopefully it's not as bad as they think…
Seychelles complied and turned two pages before her eyes widened a fraction. The way a little bit of color left her face caused a bit of dread to pool into Germany's stomach.
"Oh, there're a lot of them in Asia… Th-The whole continent, I mean." Seychelles shook her head and leaned forward to scan the contents with a worried frown, and she began saying the names out loud. "Th-There's Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran in the Middle East, i-if you'd like to count them; Hong Kong, Mongolia, North Korea and Macau in East Asia… and lastly, the Philippines and S-South Vietnam over in Southeast Asia."
Damn, how many did that make? Ten? Germany scowled briefly as he felt a surge of frustration, then it morphed into something more thoughtful yet stressed as he further went over the information. And that is if they could fully trust that the information was reliable… or not outdated.
"Most of which probably want to topple down the greedy old man here." Belize stated wryly, lazily gestured towards China, who was less than flattered by the nickname.
"This isn't the time for petty insults, brat!" China snapped, his face flushing in anger, but thankfully, he calmed himself. "But now that you mention it, perhaps meeting in my country would be dangerous, especially with what Hong Kong and Macau are doing."
"Oh, now you realize what a bad idea it is." Belize grumbled, which fortunately went either unheard or ignored by China.
"How is that going, anyway?" Algeria asked.
"We're making some progress." China answered briskly. Germany had a feeling that there was a lot more to it than that. "Aiyah, but they're so stubborn. I'll have to discuss it with my boss. But the point is, let's stay away from my country, aru."
"I… I also believe that Hong Kong, North Korea and the Philippines may want revenge against me." Japan added in an usually quiet voice, frowning and shifting in discomfort. "Gathering in my house may not be the best idea either."
A lot of the others murmured their agreement.
"So, not in China or Japan then," Germany decided, at least everyone was in agreement. "What about in Europe? How many members are there here again?"
Seychelles shakily turned back a page and her face was further drained of its color. "The members in Europe are the Nordics, Switzerland, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Austria and Prussia."
Germany grinded his teeth together, not taking the new information well to put it mildly. Shit. That's… what, ten nations, and in just about every region in the continent too? That's not any better than in Asia!
"Dios mio, I've practically forgotten that we also have Vikings to deal with." Honduras said quietly, leaning her cheek on her hand, her expression twisting.
"I haven't," Nicaragua growled, a hand going to her stomach as she grumbled something no could quite catch. "…still hurts."
"I'd… I'd rather not see the Nordics again." Costa Rica admitted fearfully, looking rather queasy and pale. Panama frowned at this.
So… ten members in Europe, which include crazed Vikings and the leaders of the their enemies, and nine members in the entirety of Asia, or six in Asia if they're only counting the ones who'd be most likely to pose a threat if they hold the meeting in either China or Japan. Germany held back a grimace. Dammit, the Order had just about all the regions of the two continents covered. Neither continent was anything remotely safe.
The Americas and Africa practically belong to the Order. Oceania's the only one who didn't seem to have a single member there. So if they want to hold a meeting as far away from the Order's reach as possible, they could ask Australia or New Zealand's help. But if they do that, they'd leave their countries even more vulnerable…
"My country is in Eastern Europe, far from where the Nordics are." Hungary provided in a not very subtle manner. "Sure, Lithuania and Bulgaria's lands are located in the East too, but Austria's the only one I share a border with. And Romania's in the middle of me and Bulgaria."
"Oh wow; so I'm nothing but a shield to you. How nice of you, nag." Romania hissed. But then something appeared to have down on him, and his scowl morphed. "Then again, if it means there'll be a higher chance I'll get to see that bastard again soon…"
Germany tried not to the look on Romania's face unnnerve him. He's sure it won't nearly be the most terrifying thing he'll ever see in his life.
Hungary ignored her hated rival and continued, "There's no better option at the moment. We don't even have to stay there for long. We'll just gather everyone in Budapest, inform them of what's happening,"
Germany wondered about that. With all this said, it did make the option of going to Hungary's house appealing, despite the risks that remained.
"I… suppose if there's no better option…" He finally relented and nodded to Hungary. "We'll have to discuss it together with your first."
"Of course."
Alright, alright… this was good. Now on how to gain a better edge...
"Algeria, Tunisia, Seychelles? What do you know about the state of your governments?"
The three African nations were mildly startled at having their names called after spending a large portion of the conversation mostly silent, but the sudden question made them thoughtful.
"I'm sure my boss is still alive, but I don't know anything else." Tunisia frowned, scratching the back of his head.
"Me neither." Seychelles admitted weakly, and then looked at Germany in puzzlement. "Um, what are you getting at, monsieur Germany…?"
"I'm asking because I'd like to see if any of you can offer aid for the war effort," Germany explained. "Armies, weapons, anything, just as long as it can help us against the Order."
Seychelles was Algeria and Tunisia exchanged a look, and then the former looked again at Germany skeptically. "We'd be happy to do that. While it'd be nice to see what's happening, you know that for that to happen, we'd have to go back to our countries, right?"
The unspoken words 'right back to the continent we escaped by the skin our teeth' lingered in the air.
"I'd like to go back home too," Seychelles murmured quietly while fidgeting her fingers. "Even if it's just to see things are okay…"
"I know it's dangerous," Germany nodded, "Which is why you won't go back alone or use conventional means of transportation. Romania can help you after he's fully recuperated, Egypt can help too once he comes back, and I'm sure we can convince England to help once he gets his act together."
"Except England's in no condition to… do anything at all." Romania pointed out dryly.
"We'll have to snap him out of it when he's all healed up then." Germany decided bluntly. There's other way around it. This had gone on enough.
Germany felt beginnings of a plan began to form in his mind as he pondered on what else they could do to increase their advantage. They'll have an edge soon. But he shouldn't get his hopes up too soon yet.
"Now that we all have sort of settled, here's what we're going to do…"
/ / / / /
For the first in ages, CAR didn't wake up with a pounding headache or greeted with the voices screaming at each other.
Nothing came. No pain came.
He blinked, slowly being off put by this strange change. But the weirdest part was his hunger. The hole in his stomach felt a lot less unbearable than usual… In a way, he felt… fulfilled? But he still felt so hungry? He distractedly wondered why any of that was.
And… he felt… calm even though he's almost as tired and weak as ever. Like there's nothing wrong at all. It felt wonderful.
It didn't stay that way for long though, because he soon realized his situation as he awakened from his trance. His heart nearly stopped.
He was on a couch, a really soft comfy one at that (then again, most stuff would be comfortable compared to...), in the middle of a room he didn't recognize. The sun peeked through the curtains. It all looked so pleasant, but this wasn't right.
He's somewhere unfamiliar. He's somewhere unfamiliar. Paralyzing fear gripped his heart as CAR paled in terror. How did he get here? Why wasn't he so hungry anymore? Where's… where did DRC go? CAR looked around frantically, but he only saw that he's all alone.
Memories of what happened yesterday were blurry and eluded him as he tried to grasp them for answers. Well, it wouldn't be the first time CAR woke up somewhere unfamiliar with no memory of how he ended up there. He didn't have a good memory. Dread filled his being at the thought. The question was who took him this time, to this... B-But that couldn't be... something's not right. This house was too... nice to belong anywhere in his country. Too European.
Come on, think! What happened to you? This wasn't normal! You know what DRC told you to do whenever something like this happened! Just don't panic, take a deep breath, try to find something you can use to hurt while you think back to what was the last thing... you... re...
Wait... wait... DRC... fuller stomach... tasty...
It all hit him. Staring blankly into space, CAR remembered everything. He recalled when DRC visited with South Africa and Nigeria, the last two smiling at him and promising him things that CAR had long lost hope of over attaining. He remembered what they brought him and how CAR couldn't hold himself back. He was so hungry. Strangely, he didn't regret it a bit. And most of all, CAR remembered what he did.
He ate humans again, so many more than last time. Slowly, CAR smiled, licking his lips. They tasted delicious.
A noise escaped his lips, a giggle. He was giggling. CAR was shaking from the overwhelming sensation enveloping him. It made him giddy and giddy until he broke out laughing.
It was just like before. There's that wonderful warmth blossoming in his heart that he had long forgotten, the butterflies in his stomach, how light he felt. It's like he never had to worry about anything again. This was pure happiness. He never wanted to let it go. He wished he could feel this way forever.
CAR whipped his head around in search for the familiar face, a safe person. Years of living in his hellhole of a country made him crave the relief of safety. DRC meant safety. DRC meant that he wasn't alone. DRC meant that he wouldn't be abandoned.
DRC wouldn't abandon him.
"Dikembe?"
But where's DRC? What happened to him?
"Dikembe…? Dikembe, where are you?" He called out like a lost child. "D-Dikembe!"
He didn't want to be alone.
A silent sob wracked through his body. DRC couldn't have left him. He always came back. He always came back! Tears began to blur his vision, and CAR raised a hand to wipe them off when footsteps reached his ears.
Terror seized his whole being and the words DRC would often repeat to him about finding a weapon echoed in his mind, so in a panic CAR scrambled and scoured the room frantically for something he could grab as his heart hammered against his chest. He couldn't find anything. His breath hitched when a figure came into the room, but he gasped when he was who it was.
"D-Dikembe...?" CAR whimpered.
DRC had frozen in surprise as soon as he laid eyes on CAR. Then the surprise turned into relief as a rare smile crossed DRC's face. "CAR, you're awake!"
And then it was CAR's turn to smile. His heart exploded in joy that he wasn't alone, that his friend was here. "Dikembe, you're here! You're here!"
"Of course I am. I… I'm sorry for worrying you." DRC almost stumbled out. He's back. He's hack. "I'm happy you're awake. Did you rest well?"
"Fine… slept fine… I didn't have any nightmares." CAR slightly stuttered as he answered. It almost hurt how much he was smiling.
DRC's own smile broadened slightly as he sat down in a nearby chair. "That's good to hear, Gabriel. And how do you feel?"
"My head doesn't hurt. I don't hear any voices. Dikembe, I don't hear any voices!
"I was hoping for that. Let's hope it stays that way, oui?" DRC made a sound that was probably meant to be chuckle. Even with CAR, he wasn't used to any kind of laughter. Neither of them were. He looked at the teenage nation expectantly. "Is there anything else?"
Now. That odd feeling in his "I… I… feel… strange."
This piqued DRC's interested, and he leaned closer. "Strange how exactly?"
"I feel… calm. But it feels so warm and nice…. And I'm still hungry, and the only thing I can think about…" CAR trailed off, shivering in pleasure and subconsciously licked his lips at the memory. He abruplt snapped out of it, and then cast a nervous glance all around the room. "W-Wait… Wh-Where are we, Dikembe?"
Oh, how could it take him that long to ask that question?
"We're in a house in Belgium. You fell asleep on the way." DRC explained calmly, and then frowned. "Wait. You do remember everything that happened yesterday, don't you?
CAR nodded slowly. He struggled to search for the memories, but he found them quickly enough for him to beam. "Oui, oui! Y-You… brought South Africa and Nigeria… You… You told me that they'll help me and then they gave me food. And then they said I could have all the meat I want if I join them a-and I did and then we went to Belgium and… I… ate."
Another giggle escaped him. He wanted more. He wanted so much more. He wanted to eat so badly until he never felt the horrible pit in his stomach ever again.
"I-Is that right?" CAR asked hopefully.
DRC visibly relaxed, and he leaned back with another small smile. "That's completely correct. So you have a good recollection of events, that's a good sign."
CAR was delighted to hear that he was right, and he unknowingly slipped back into his euphoria. "I- I still can't believe... I ate so much yesterday."
"And we couldn't have been happier with your work." DRC told him, and CAR felt a hand on his shoulder. "You deserved that meal, Gabriel."
"You think so…? I ate humans, so many of them." CAR murmured dreamily. But somehow, he couldn't bring himself to really care. He frowned as another memory flashed in his mind. "I almost hurt you."
"You deserve to be happy for than any number of those worthless humans combined, Gabriel." DRC hissed with a strong fervor. "And I already told you that it was okay. You weren't in control of yourself. Forget that and be happy."
CAR almost didn't want to, but it was impossible to ignore the joy. "Oui. I'm so happy, Dikembe. They were so tasty. I never knew humans could be so delicious! And I feel stronger…"
DRC smirked. "Perfect."
CAR didn't know how he could ever repay DRC for helping him give him this. "Thank you, thank you so much."
"You don't need to. I am here for you. The world is changing, and our time standing idly by as we do nothing but suffer is over. I wouldn't leave you behind for anything."
Hearing that caused something in CAR to break and he sobbed. What had he ever done to deserve a friend like him?
"I wouldn't want to… to leave you either."
"I know." DRC reached out and took CAR's hand into his gloved one. "Neither of us will ever suffer again."
He didn't even care to notice how DRC's glove was stained with blood.
/ / / / /
Molossia's still having a lot of trouble believing this shit was happening.
He and Liberia were a team now. Well, yeah, no, that might be stretching it a little. The micronations were a team; Liberia's just happening to tag along and help out with a large chunk of the planning. And Molossia was letting him. And not complaining too much about it…
Moving on now…
And now they're about to start with phase two of Liberia's 'master plan'. Not gonna lie, Molossia's still not sure if he's completely on board with going out authorized again. They're already tredding on thin ice with what the shit that went down in Sealand. Wouldn't be smart to make things worse if they do get caught.
The Boss was the goddamn world superpower, Austria's one of the leaders of the organization they all work for and had the authority to dish out terrifying punishments, and Sweden's… well, friggin Sweden! They're not guys ya wanna go around pissing off, even if the idiots who were doing it were their little brothers.
But dammit, Molossia's deep desire to go out and prove him, and more importantly, help the Boss won out in the end. He just prayed to the spirits the Boss always told him about that they won't end up regretting this for the rest of their lives.
"I swear, if we end up getting grounded because you…!"
"You wound me, little brother." Liberia said overdramaically as he pouted in faux-hurt. "Don't be so pessimistic. You'll be miserable all your life if you go on like this."
Molossia could just feel a vein bulging in his head. "I'm not pessimistic, you moron! I just want to make sure you won't get us in trouble."
"Well, it's too soon to judge when you haven't heard the full details of my plan yet. Speaking of which, huzzah!"
Liberia was then proud to present all the long, really long, details about his plan. He used a board and about a dozen cheap doodles to illustrate his point. Molossia had to wonder how the hell Liberia could memorize all that crap about his plan, but the turd couldn't even bother to remember when Molossia's birthday was.
Ugh… But anyway, Liberia told them the plan, every single detail of it. Yeah. And… boy, it was something.
Get a load of this shit: Apparently one of the early drafts steal a golf cart from one of those lame-ass country clubs filled with shitheads and old people, kill all the shitheads and old people so there won't be any witnesses, bring a megaphone and lots of guns, so they could drive around Essex shooting everyone in their way and scream into said megaphone while Queen's 'Another One Bites the Dust' played from a stereo held by the poor bastard unlucky enough to draw the short straw.
…But then Liberia immediately scrapped that idea once he realized how fucking colossally stupid it was (though it sounded way cooler than Molossia would ever admit and he won't ever admit it), and that he really shouldn't brainstorm ideas on how to help the New World Order while high on adrenaline or homicide or half-asleep.
Well, what do ya know? It looks like Liberia finally grew a brain cell or two. About damn time, if you ask him…
Oh, right, sorry. He's supposed to be nicer to Liberia now. Eh, sorry about that, Old habits die hard.
Anyway, after that embarrassment, Liberia just laughed it off (boy, he tried to laugh it off) and quickly revealed his final new and massively improved plan that's 'completely guaranteed to work' apparently.
And guess what? It wasn't… bad, it was pretty intriguing actually. No, seriously. No sarcasm there. Just like with the last plan, the little shit- I mean Liberia put some damn good thought into it. What what made it even better was how the plan wasn't just 'cause of a vendetta, if they do this they could be doing the Order a favor, however small it might be. They'd be really, truly helping out the Boss and the others.
Not like they didn't do the world a favor snuffing out Sealand. But how could Molossia ever resist the idea?
It's a pain admitting it, but Molossia was once again impressed. He's up for it. It's fucking unbelievable how 'not skeptical' he was of this, but Liberia's proved that his half-decent brain was good for something other than torture, cannibalism and annoying the hell out of everyone.
Just you wait.
…But if this stint landed them in the punishment tower, there'll be hell to pay.
/ / / / /
Indonesia's going to kill him, Australia just knew it in his bones. She's going to march to his house, killing every poor critter or guy unlucky enough to stand in her way, knock down the door, and hit him a gajillion times with that bloody horrible bamboo stick. It'll be like that time she got real cranky when he definitely didn't spy on her showering or in her bathers. She's really bloody terrifying sometimes.
She'll do it. Ya know what? She's prolly on her way to his house right now, right after noticing that she hadn't gotten the mandatory message assuring her that East Timor's dandy. He just knew it.
Or... uh... Australia would completely totally know for sure, if Indonesia was actually answering any of his messages and calls.
Ya see, it went a little like this: He had decided to man up, not be a wuss bit instead be responsible and call Indy to tell her about how East Timor was nowhere to be seen, because dammit East Timor was one of his favorite people and Indy had more than a right to know, but also that he had absolutely nothing to do with it. But Indonesia never picked up, never sent a message back, nothing.
Part of him was bloody terrified that Indonesia had somehow heard that lil' Timor's not home and she's too busy on her rampage to be reasoned with… but the more he thought about it, the more Australia began to think he shouldn't have eaten those mozzies…
Come on, she couldn't have missed the hundreds of texts and voicemails promising in the name of Kyle the Koala that it wasn't his fault East Timor turned up missing when he showed up, could she?
Oh, wait, what if her battery died? God, poor Sheila…
But then again, she could be busy… Uh, didn't she mention that she's been getting a lot of paperwork? Eh, could be that, could be another earthquake. But in all honesty, Australia hoped that she'll answer and maybe knew where East Timor might be, and if she didn't, that she wouldn't kill him. He's genuinely worried about the kid. Australia already called up some people to try to find her, and they better do it fast.
Australia ought to go out and find her himself, but his boss, damn dipstick, made it crystal clear that he didn't want Australia actively involved in the 'unauthorized investigation' and that they'd take care of it.
…
Well, while the inevitable is delayed...
Ain't nothing wrong with having fun to get his mind off things in the meantime, yeah? Like hell he'll stay here bored shitless.
But what type of fun? What could he do for fun right now? Yeah, he wanted something unusual, something that he hadn't done in a while, and something really sick.
How about he go visit Hutt River? Australia perked up slightly. He hadn't done in a long time. Hmm... no. The faint smile crossing his face turned into a frown. Australia didn't feel like seeing him. That bloke's doing just fine with his car and dollars anyway, he just knew. He loved them just as Australia loved his animals. 'Sides, he wasn't exactly Australia's ideal definition of 'fun', but wow, was he funny.
Fun... fun... Ooh, what about Wy? Australia quickly brightened up again. He hadn't seen her in a while. And he remembered that little Sheila complaining (as much as she denied it) that she's been feeling bored and lonely lately with whatever going on. Maybe he could use that to convince her to let him visit and not complain about it too much...
Australia was then hit with a wave of giddiness as an idea occurred to him. Wait, wait, even better. What if he surprised her? Aw yeah. You know, he could show up at her house completely unannounced and be there lift the cutie right onto his shoulders when she opened the door. Ha! The look on her face would be hilarious! He burst out laughing. That'd be gnarly! And then they'd have all sorts of family fun together
Then maybe he could finally convince her to paint a wolf spider for him. Australia grinned to himself. This was becoming a better idea every second!
Sniggering, he swiped the TV remote and plopped down onto a recliner, his mind already coming up with lots of new details for his genius plan.
He browsed through the channels, mildly frowning in annoyance as he impatiently searched for his favorite channels that but he stopped dead when he saw that a news channel was on, the reporters were talking about something serious.
Curiosity piqued, he lowered the remote and watched attentively to what the humans were saying.
There was a massacre in Germany yesterday? And the victims were the chancellor, the parliament and everyone else in the government? Huh? They were all gunned down apparently, but they have no idea who's behind it. The people over there sure were freaking out. So Germany's whole government had been wiped out?
Australia blinked twice, his eyes widening only a fraction and quirking an eyebrow, before he reached for the remote and changed the channel.
Eh, who cares about that? He got his own problems to deal with. Like finding out if he needed to board up the house or not... and if Wy would appreciate getting new art supplies…
/ / / / /
Saudi Arabia chuckled as he watched from behind a corner, invested in what he was watching. "Ah, look at them. Aren't they so cute together? It almost makes you better"
"Should we continue watching?" Iran asked curiously, not really taking his eyes off the scene. They were spying on Turkey and Bulgaria having a tender moment together. No violence, no sadism, nothing.
He wasn't really sure why they were doing it. Saudi Arabia was bored, and admittedly, so was Iran, so… why not?
Saudi Arabia gave a devious smirk. "We can, if you want. It's only a matter of time before the best part begins. It's not like Turkey has ever minded having an audience before, and I doubt Bulgaria will be paying much attention to his surroundings. Besides, Turkey is always so creative with his cruelty."
"Of course you would want to stick around for that reason." Iran snorted, before giving him a sly smirk. "Unless this is also because you'd like me to get into the mood too."
Saudi Arabia burst out laughing. "Ha! I love you, Amir, but not that much."
Iran raised an eyebrow, amused but acting disappointed. "Does that mean you love Morocco more than me?"
"A little, maybe. He isn't presumptuous like you. And he's much better-looking too."
"You're still on with that?"
"And leave you in the pitiful state you are now? No thank you." Saudi Arabia scoffed. "But perhaps we should leave; it would be rude to interrupt such a tender moment."
Oh, now you feel like being polite. Iran rolled his eyes but then smiled, "Yes, let's."
He followed Saudi's lead out without a word, mostly so that he wouldn't risk drawing the ire of one Bulgarian. And once they were somewhere where them speaking wouldn't disturb anyone, Iran decided to talk about something that's been on his mind.
"It's a shame Bedisa's going to be leaving soon to help invade Russia," Iran sighed, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "I would've loved working with her more."
It would've been nice, ah, 'catching up' with her. Make up for the entire deception. It was already a pity that he wasn't on the same team with her, not that he begrudged America for it or that it ruined the fun of the attack in any way, mind you. But it would've been fun working together.
"I'm sure you'll get a chance, Amir." Saudi Arabia assured him with a smile. "This will be a long war, full of opportunities. Hell, officially, it hasn't even started yet. You'll have plenty of time to catch up and work together on killing our enemies."
"I suppose you're right."
"Of course I'm right." His longtime friend snorted. Always count on Saudi Arabia to be modest. "Besides, I hope you haven't forgotten that we also have our own mission that'll be keeping us quite occupied for days. So even without the invasion, there won't be any time for socializing now."
It took an embarrassing ten seconds for Iran to realize what he's referring to, but he soon felt and smirked. "Ah, right, the great cleanup of the Middle East."
"Exactly, I'm glad it hasn't slipped your mind." Saudi Arabia said satisfied, and he smiled viciously. "According to the daily report from our esteemed boss, our enemies are or will be starting to round up allies, and I imagine they'll want to be quick in getting the ones least likely to believe them."
"And the places where the Order members have a lot of influences in." Iran added with a proud smirk.
"Indeed. Because who would my dear brothers and sisters choose?" Saudi Arabia said in a mockingly soft voice as he held out his hands. The man who had looked out for them for centuries, despite what failures they are, and the fiend slowly worming their way into their some of their hearts? Or the man who gave up the fight to destroy Israel?"
"And meanwhile, we'll just do what we always do?" Iran asked slyly. He knew the answer, but it's nice to see Saudi Arabia excited.
"You mean keep the Middle East further divided and easy to conquer? Of course. It's always been child's play for the both of us."
"Agreed." Iran chuckled. Who knows? It might be so easy that it'll end up feeling boring.
And it was an easy plan. They'll gather their fellow Middle East nations first before their enemies could, telling them not to trust Egypt or other nations for good measure and fun, and when they do, Saudi Arabia and Iran will accuse each other of being the enemy with Turkey making things even more chaotic while the other Middle East nations start to pick sides. The rest went without saying.
Although, if Iran would be honest...
"They might become a little troublesome when they find out the truth, you know." Iran remarked, though not really with much concern, "Especially the ones who are truly loyal to you."
As hopeless their chances were against the New World Order, the Middle East's current order wasn't going to go down quietly.
Iran almost felt a little bad for them. Almost. Not nearly enough to stop him from snickering. Oh, Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, and even Yemen whenever he's in a good mood, despite all their faults they genuinely loved Saudi Arabia. Oman was a good girl too. But they all made their choice long ago, and he's going to enjoy seeing them fall to the Order.
"Oh, you know that won't be a problem, Amir. The useless ones will be disposed of and the others will be kept in line." Saudi Arabia waved his hand dismissively and his tone was perfectly nonchalant, but his grin was borderline feral. "And by the time we're through with my favorite brothers, they'll be more than happy to serve the Order."
Iran could barely contain his excitement. He didn't doubt Saudi Arabia one bit. If there's anything he knew about his longtime friend, was that once Saudi Arabia had his mind set on something, there's little one could do to deter him or even change his mind.
It had helped inspire Iran not to give in to his humans' influence and seek out his own answers and opinions. It was even Saudi who kept trying to set him on the right path, no matter what arguments they had his friend never gave up on him.
And so Saudi Arabia had no intention of letting the members of his family he had a soft spot to remain bitter prisoners forever, even if the method was more... forceful.
But a good elder brother should help set his younger siblings in the right direction.
Hope you enjoyed! There'll be even more stuff happening and characters showing up next time. Please review, if you have a minute.
