5. The Gunfiring Chapter

...in which the war has its prelude

England lay silently beneath the branches and waited. Most of the mist had disappeared by now. He furrowed his thick eyebrows as he scanned the area. From here he should see almost anything moving and coming towards them. For a moment, he had planned to go further away from the thirteenth line of their formation, but he had given up the idea after deciding he didn't want to get caught by the enemy by accident.

England checked his hiding place one more time, ensuring that he couldn't be seen from any direction. If it weren't for their allies, who had taught them about the characteristics of their enemy, they would have had a hard time planning their locations. Now they just had to trust that their allies hadn't made a mistake. They probably hadn't, since - from what they had learned - the locals seemed to fight about something all the time.

Their formation was a result of the hard thinking of twenty war-experienced nations and it was supposed to keep them all alive for four more days. With the help of their allies, they had been able reduce England's 'decrease points' from all perspectives. Not one of them was an increase point yet, but they were near enough to zero for that it contented England.

.*** *** ***

Germany looked at his map again. Red lines marked their trenches. Blue spots told the places Switzerland would be hiding, two spots behind every trench. Blue lines showed the area of their backup, where four medics at the time were stationed and the two messengers were placed behind every line. And the red circle, far away from their current location, was their headquarters.

Germany glanced to his right. Denmark was still busy thinking where he would carry his axe, since it wasn't really comfortable hanging on his back. Behind him, Sweden was lying on his back on the dirt, gazing up at the sky like he was at a picnic - except for the rifle he was holding, of course. After him, next in line was Poland and the next one, Lithuania, was out of Germany's sight, behind a little corner in the bushes.

The German glanced over to where Russia was pulling a straw of grass in two, looking bored. Between them should have been England, his second-in-command. Germany glanced over his shoulder to the south. He hoped that England wouldn't come back soon.

.*** *** ***

Japan sat calmly in his spot, waiting. He had already forgotten to be nervous. Southern Italy, however, did quite the opposite – he did remember to be nervous. He was lying on his stomach on the moss behind the trench, still cursing his bad luck. Hong Kong patted his back encouragingly, while Spain just giggled on the other side of Japan, but said nothing otherwise. Romano had always been like that when it was time to work, but this time it was more frustrating for him since running was out of question. And it was more fun for Spain, watching him sulk.

Spain's little bouts of laughter made Japan relax a little too. He hadn't even noticed how tense he actually was. Japan took a deep breath; he had to be on his best since he was the right wing commander. All thirteen lines were planned to utilize the changes of the terrain and everyone's strength. The line they currently were in had only the center and the right wing, since on the left of them was an open field. Under the lead of Turkey, they had mined it and set other traps to hold possible trespassers.

Japan sighed. Because of this, the left wing with its commander, China, had been merged with the other parts. With only twenty-two of them, they possibly couldn't do more than that.

.*** *** ***

Hungary nabbed fir needles and fallen leaves from the green moss under her, and followed with her other eye how Australia was teaching Sealand a few more tricks that could come in handy. The young messenger had been in an intense training of both groups until now. Finland had even taught him how to use a handgun if necessary- and Sweden had given a lesson of 'how to avoid the necessity of using a handgun' right after that. The young nation, Italy at his side, had been studying and running a lot by now. And still he was eager to hear more from the Australian, Hungary noted, much to her delight.

Netherlands attempted to gain her attention from her other side, and Hungary turned to answer. Cuba noted something mentally as well, laughing. Hungary was very happy with her unit. Everyone had shown guts and cleverness and had been very calm while everything had progressed. Yes, their commander was very satisfied with them all. She smiled at Netherlands and turned her attention back to the soft moss. The longer she had a change to lie on this certain spot, the better. It would mean they were doing well.

.*** *** ***

Finland sat down at America's side, leaning on his knees and listening to his patient's breathing. America was doing well, much to his relief. He was still sleeping most of the day, but it was better that way for both him and Finland, the latter because America didn't usually want to stay in bed.

At that moment, Liechtenstein returned from her security stroll and noted happily that it was silent and peaceful. Seychelles appeared from the other end of the room and the girls began to chat quietly with each other. Finland smiled at their happy-go-lucky enthusiasm and wondered if it was silent outside because there wasn't anyone there, or because there was someone more skilled with this kind of stuff. He rapped the gun with his fingers and glanced out the window beside him.

It was a peaceful morning in early summer. Yesterday, it had been raining and the ground was still a little wet. To what Finland could see, everything was okay and waiting for the slowly rising sun. What he could understand was a bit different. Turning back to listen the chatter of the girls, America's quiet breathing and Norway's swearing from the other room, Finland tried to hold back the desire to go out to the frontline. The worst part of being the medic was the waiting that he would be needed to do.

.*** *** ***

Germany jumped a little when England dropped down beside him into the one meter deep trench.

"We're at it," England said and Germany nodded, sending a signal through the line. Everyone grabbed their guns as soon as they saw the person next to them getting to the stance. Lithuania sent the signal up to Switzerland, who loaded his gun and started to wait eyes peeled to the forest.

Germany turned to England as they both got into their places. "Any artillery?"

England shook his head. "Didn't see any. Maybe Mrs. Ally One was right when she said that he was too proud to use his full capability against forty unarmed opponents and he would probably test us first anyway. I saw only humans. And I personally don't even believe they'll expect us to be this far from the hut, if to be here at all."

Germany grunted. "Let's hope that way. How many did you see?"

"I didn't actually stay long enough to count," England whispered back. "But more than fifty, of that I'm sure."

"Okay," Germany loaded his gun. "That makes it about two and a half per one of us, right? Doesn't sound so bad yet."

.*** *** ***

"F-Finland!" Latvia shrieked 'quietly' as he opened the door. The Nordic, startled, took his eyes off America and turned them onto the nervous Baltic. Latvia pointed at the main door. "It– it's begun! You can hear it from here!"

Finland rose and followed the young Baltic outside where the two girls already were. It wasn't clear, since the front lines were fairly far out, but since the forest was silent, it could be heard clearly in the still morning air. Gunshots.

Liechtenstein smiled nervously. "We'd better get ready. Don't you think?"

Finland nodded. "Yeah."

Latvia wrinkled the helm of his jacket. "We'll... win, right?"

Finland gave him a little smile and nodded again. "Yeah." This time, he sounded a little cheerful.

.*** *** ***

Germany shouted something to Russia. After that, he could see Russia obey, but he didn't remember what exactly he had said. He just knew it was the right thing to do. It didn't bother him longer than a few seconds. Then he concentrated on the gunfire that hit the ground around him again. They'd caught their enemy off guard, but now the humans were ready to fight back.

Beside him, England swore loudly when a bullet hit the tree near him, causing a small shower of dew drops to cover him. Not that it really mattered; he was already wet from crawling through the underbrush. But it wasn't comfortable either way, so he took aim and shot in the direction that his enemy laid hidden. He hoped others saw the enemy better than he did right now.

The tree Switzerland had chosen was quite far from the trenches, though close enough for him to be deadly. He could see them. He had seen the humans before others did and had been the first to shoot. Now he was aiming for a man that was clearly some kind of an officer, reckoning from the amount of shouting he did at the others around him. The rifle fit in Switzerland's hands so well after only a few days that he didn't need much time to take aim and get rid of his target.

When the second lieutenant croaked, falling to the moss right when he tried to move behind a mound, his companion cursed. They'd been informed that there was a possibility of resistance, but no one had told them about the kind of pros that they were battling with now, and no one had mentioned snipers whatsoever. The sergeant glared at the forest from his hideout, searching for the hidden sharpshooter. He shot in the direction that he saw movement the moment it happened.

Turkey slipped just under a round of gunshots, whistling, and hid himself in the trench for a few seconds before returning the favour.

Taiwan saw Turkey dive to avoid a rain of bullets as he landed beside her. She just made sure that the man was unharmed out of her peripheral vision, before returning her full attention to the bushes she had been keeping under surveillance. She wondered if her enemy was afraid of her. Right when she was about to release the humans from all their fears, someone else did the job for her.

A shriek sounded from the bushes and they swayed once. Lithuania saw the man who fell: a young, brown-haired boy, blood running down his uniform's chest. Lithuania clenched his teeth and crouched down for moment. He hated war. All this idiotic killing without any sense of preserving humanity. This bloodshed on a beautiful morning. This... He stood up and killed another man who showed his head too high over the underbrush.

Poland could sense the anxiety of his neighbour. The blonde didn't blame him, but he too knew what they had to do. He was shooting a spring of bullets towards the group of young trees. The thin trunks shattered in sharp strands and one tree even fell. He could hear shouts the humans hiding behind the trees. He could also tell he wasn't shooting at the direction trees alone.

Korea watched one of the trees fall and congratulated himself inwardly. The man staggered into sight, his eyes filled with blood that ran down his face from a head wound. The young Asian aimed, fired, and let the man follow the fate of the fallen tree.

China was shooting a series of carefully aimed bullets at the enemy lines. Korea, who was beside him, showed some skilled shooting as well. Not one nation had had trouble using the old weapons their allies had given to them. China was holding a Russian rifle from the beginning of the sixties, but it was just fine for him. He moved behind a slightly higher mound and on top of it he gave his enemies a taste of skills of the oldest nation present. His skills hadn't rusted in the long years that they had gone unused.

The soldier shouted out in frustration and shock as his companion got his share of bullets to the shoulder. He turned to help his friend and handed him to a few beginners who were facing their first real war. As they helped his friend retreat, he grabbed up a hand-grenade. The enemy was too far away for an accurate hit, but he was too frustrated not to try.

Belarus shrieked a warning.

Austria was alerted by the warning and dove away from the edge of the trench, taking cover. The grenade exploded a few meters away on his right side, tossing moss and dirt on him, but luckily leaving him unharmed. To the right of him, he could see Iceland and Belarus standing up again after dodging the same grenade. As the orders were, he sent the new information to his end of the line as Belarus sent it to another direction.

When the information of the grenades reached the end of the centre line and Greece, he was already familiar with them. Again, he saw one flying towards him. He threw the fist size rock he had grabbed from the bottom of the trench and it hit the grenade just enough to divert it away from him. It exploded a few metres away from the trench. He had known it would be useful some day; that is, hitting Turkey with the closest object he could find every time he had seen him in past ten years. Greece aimed his gun immediately when the shock that the bomb had caused calmed down.

Belgium was the last in the left wing to receive information about the bombs. They had few of their own, but Germany had told them to be cautious with them, because not a great amount had arrived yet. Belgium crawled a bit out of the end of the trench on her stomach and rolled behind an old tree. His enemies had just seen her in the trench and were now shooting towards her previous position. Belgium saw them now.

But they didn't see her.

France noted somewhere in his mind that Belgium had left his side. But, knowing the girl, she would know what she was doing. France had a currently dilemma with an enemy he couldn't see; and said enemy obviously knew where he was. He had tried a couple of locations by now, but it had been of no good. He needed something with a wider range. France grabbed a grenade from his belt and apologised to Germany for wasting their supplies, but he felt he really needed this.

Japan rolled behind the corner just in time to see France toss the grenade over his shoulder. At that moment a bullet drilled into the tree trunk beside him, and he automatically stooped down to protect himself. He turned to glare at the enemy lines, raising his rifle up and sending a rain of shots into the forest. He saw a few humans trying to charge towards their trenches. Against him, they didn't stand a chance.

Romano crouched down in the trench, clutching his gun and telling himself to get up and shoot. This war fought against everything he usually did. He peeked up from his position and watched the results of their wing commander's marksmanship. One escaped a little further towards them and Romano raised his gun as their gazes met; however, his hands were shaking too much for him to shoot.

Lucky for him, Spain shot the approaching man down and patted Romano's head to encourage him, before he hurried forward to Japan. While running, he took one of his own hand-grenades and threw it out of their trench without pausing in his stride. Clearly, the enemy didn't have the overwhelming superior forces they had been expecting. Spain didn't know about the others, but he was going to make the most of it. And Germany's instructions had been, 'do your best'.

Germany sat down to change the bullet case within his rifle. He had sent word to Switzerland to shoot anyone with grenades in their hands. He had sent Ukraine and Egypt to guard the open field, since it seemed their traps had exploded. He had had to move more people to the left wing to balance the powers. But even with these, they were doing well; Hungary and the back-up group, as well as the messengers, were still in their places, since no major injuries had been reported. Germany stood up and took his place between England and Denmark.

Denmark's axe lay behind the trench in the moss; he was going to take it when they'd have to retreat, or, if he needed it before, it was near enough to grab. Denmark preferred one-on-one battles, especially now when he could hardly see had he missed or hit and how badly he'd been off. He grinned and crouched down a bit, moving just beside Sweden, and to a better position to shoot at the man he saw lying behind a thick tree. The human had been bugging him and the nearby centre wingers for a while with his well-aimed shots. But now Denmark was going to get him.

Sweden gave way to his neighbour, in the back of his mind wondering what Denmark was doing. While thinking this, he saw a grenade flying through the air again and he shifted his stance to shoot it before it landed.

The grenade flying towards Russia exploded to tiny pieces with a loud sound. Russia smiled gratefully at Sweden, but the Nordic missed the gratitude, as he was quite far away from the Russian. Russia then turned his smile towards their enemies. They missed it too, but for a different reason.

That moment a loud, suffering cry rang through the trenches. Shouting was nothing new in itself. What made this cry special was that it rose from their own lines.

After two hours of fighting, the war had claimed its first victim from their side.

A/N:"Their formation was a result of the hard thinking of twenty war-experienced nations" or then it was the result of the hard thinking of one foolish author who has no real life experience in this stuff, but it's still supposed to keep them alive for four days. I hope the fighting part was written well and was understandable, it was pretty hard to describe how it looked in my mind.

I bow to all who commented the last chapter. You made me really happy.

Scott: you're making me very happy as well.