I said it would be longer. It is not longer. But hey, Belarus :P
The door to the closet opened and Ethan flinched violently at the sudden light. The figure in the doorway crouched down. "You are alone."
The words drove spikes into Ethan's heart and he twitched. The figure sat down and he glanced at it; Belarus. She was probably going to give him away to Russia, then he would… wait, what would he do? What if it was just locking him in a room or something, and not the overreacting thoughts on torture?
"I am not good at consolation, but I know what it is like to be alone." Belarus had a far away look in her eyes. "That is why I want to marry big brother. So I will not be alone."
Her words were met with silence and she felt unusually awkward. Was she doing this right? Was she suppose to bring chocolate or something? Belarus wasn't sure, having no experience in this situation. Ukraine was better than her, and her ways of cheering one up were a little abnormal.
She shifted and almost stood up when Wisconsin spoke. "You should tell Russia that."
She stared at his curled form. His head peeked up from behind his knees and his red-rimmed murky green-blue eyes peered at her.
"Tell me what happened," she all but demanded, but Ethan didn't seem to mind. He wiped his nose with Alfred's sweatshirt - the thought of which only made him feel worse - and began.
"I was trying to call my brothers, including big bro 'Murica. I just want to go home to my farm, and my family would help me escape. But none of them answered except for Southern California, and he told me he wouldn't help me unless I… did something I don't want to do. Not even Alfred answered his phone, and it's always on him. I just… Belarus, I'm always alone, why does it hurt so much right now?"
She contemplated his inquiry silently. She knew what it was like to have a family and what it was like to be completely alone.
"Because they are not there for your worst." She finally answered, uncertain but steady. Wisconsin considered this and seemed to accept it, coming out of his ball of misery if only slightly. He blinked a few times and gazed at a few of her old, dusty dresses before moving his stare to her eyes.
"Can I… can I hug you?" he said nervously, unsure on how she would react.
"Why would you want to hug me?" she seemed merely curious but it only made him feel more awkward.
"Because… that's what people do when they want comfort. They hug people." His answer was mediocre at best, but she understood what he meant.
"Okay." She shrugged, seeing no problem with this, and moved, opening her arms as an invitation. Ethan moved slowly at first then nearly collapsed in her arms, squeezing her torso tightly as if it would make all of the problems go away. She slowly brought her arms around his figure and returned the hug.
Ethan felt the warm feeling of a mother hugging him, even though he knew Belarus couldn't even be considered a friend yet. She felt warm and good and comforting.
Her grip tightened on him as footsteps sounded. Wisconsin didn't look up, but he knew that the owner of the heavy footfalls could be none other than Russia himself. His eyes were already closed but he squeezed them together as if it could make him unaware. It only made his eyes feel constricted and see dots.
"Belarus! You found the small!" His voice was delighted. "But I am confused. Why did the small run?"
Belarus prodded him to answer the question and he squeaked embarrassingly. "You're scary and I thought you would hurt me!"
There was silence, and all Ethan could hear was their breathing. Then Belarus spoke up and asked, "But I am scary too, and you are hugging me."
He didn't think much about his answer. "You're less scary!"
The two countries were quiet for so long that he thought he had broken them. Finally Ethan glanced at their expressions, the tense situation becoming more awkward as seconds wore on.
Russia was staring at him like he had grown two heads while Belarus had conflict flickering through her eyes. Ethan swallowed and scrambled away from Belarus. "Um, forget I said anything…"
Russia seemed to do just that and started forwards to close the larger-than-Ethan-originally-thought space between them when his head jerked forwards slightly as if hit by something. His expression turned curious and dark at the same time which Ethan found interesting, albeit scary.
There was a moment of nothing when another object pummeled into Russia's turned cheek. He was still, in a contained anger, calm sort of way. Ethan felt his heart plummet for whoever was going to be on the receiving end of his rage.
The spherical object rolled to his feet and his face paled considerably. He recognized this and the meaning it entailed. Belarus gazed at it curiously and picked it up, turning the baseball-sized object in her hands.
It was an orange.
And Wisconsin knew there was one person who loved oranges.
"Wisconsin, your heroes have arrived!" cried the unmistakable tone of Wisconsin's nightmares.
Southern California.
Oh, and it looked like Florida was with him, which explained the oranges. Then again, California was pretty crazy about the fruit, too.
"Wisconsin, who are these lowlifes?" Belarus questioned him lightly with a dark undertone, raising her eyebrows in contempt.
"Who're you calling a lowlife?!" California exclaimed indignantly.
"You, stupid." Florida nudged him with a smirk.
"Hey, who's side are you on?" California asked incredulously. Florida snickered and tossed another orange up and down in his hand, seeming to contemplate whether or not he should throw it.
Russia was reaching slowly into his coat to pull out something - who knows what he kept hidden in those heavy pieces of cloth - and Belarus was straightening with her knives twirling around in her hands. California had bright eyes and an America-like grin plastered on his face with dual pistols suddenly appearing in his hands, making Ethan go even paler than normal. Florida rolled his eyes and pulled out a revolver from his back pocket and Ethan felt all oxygen leave his body. The last thing the little farmer state wanted was a full out gunfight (well, guns vs. knives vs… was that a pipe?).
And if things weren't crazy enough, a flash of green smoke accompanied by a bang! poofed into existence behind Ethan. He almost didn't want to turn around, but his curiosity won out and he peered over his shoulder at whatever was behind him (in all the confusion, he was still sitting on the ground… probably with red eyes from crying, too).
It was England.
Ethan wanted to laugh and cry all at once.
"What in the bloody hell is going on here?" he exclaimed in his trademark british accent. Florida and California gaped at the incarnation of the country America had rebelled against. The stories Alfred told were very exaggerated but it was still interesting to see the man himself, no matter how many times they had eavesdropped through a door on the important country-to-country conversations America and England would be having (usually consisting of lots of yelling, so the eavesdropping wasn't really necessary).
"We are having a standoff. You will not interrupt, da?" Russia innocently challenged England.
England raised an eyebrow haughtily. "You think I'm so old I've lost my sense of fun." Ethan coughed and England ignored him, opting to allow a strangely sinister smirk to stretch across his face. "But now you have the help of magic on your side."
Ethan felt faint as he finally stood up. States vs Countries? They didn't stand a chance.
He suddenly blinked, having miscounted the states. Or maybe those two just appeared. Somehow.
Then again, it was Massachusetts. She was a little touchy if you talked about Salem but never denied her affinity for magic. Unfortunately her powers were a bit limited, fortunately (for everyone else, not for her) that power was teleportation, leading her popularity among the states as an escort. Normally she shut down anyone that came to her for traveling purposes (except for a few of her neighbors and friends, of course) especially if they were one of the big-shots- the smaller states had created the group title and the big-shots themselves had no idea.
Regardless, when California and Florida had come to her with the predicament, she knew she had to extend an olive branch to them for Wisconsin, a state who had always been polite to her.
She was also bribed. But hey, whatever works, right?
Beside her was a state Wisconsin hadn't seen in awhile. They were a bit awkward but incredibly proud of their academic achievements and often misunderstood, especially with their state in the middle of America and partly farmland.
"H-hi Wisconsin…" Iowa said softly, as always awkward in front of such an important crowd.
"Er… hi, Iowa…" Ethan frowned, wondering when was the last time he had explored the state of Iowa with his old friend.
"I see you have another magician among your ranks." England eyed Massachusetts carefully. She shifted, putting on a strong front even though every state present knew she could do nothing against the strong country with a rich magical history.
Ethan shook his head. This was spiraling out of control incredibly fast.
"So let us begin, da?" Russia clenched his pipe, more excited about an unforeseen fight than keeping Wisconsin. It had been a while since he had fought against unknown opponents. Belarus grinned creepily to herself. Maybe she could prove herself to big brother and he would marry her in compensation. Then she would give him a wedding present like Wisconsin recommended.
Florida and California got their guns ready and Florida pulled out a knife from his pocket. It wasn't his favorite weapon but he had only brought his revolver. The four most violent leapt at each other and Ethan flinched away from the sudden sounds of a fight. He wished for his rifle.
Massachusetts and Iowa suddenly appeared in front of him, Massachusetts with a blank expression and Iowa with a smile twitching onto their face. Their shoulder-length hair was a mixture of dark, ruddy brown and lighter chestnut of which many states were quietly jealous of. Massachusetts had dirty blonde hair verging on light brown that she dyed a lighter blonde with a streak of red on the right side of her face.
"You really got yourself into a mess this time, Wisconsin." Massachusetts cracked a smile. She had been on the receiving end and the observer's end of many of the midwestern state's pranks. Wisconsin screwed up his face in indignation but never got the chance to respond.
"I'm not going to let you take him." England was suddenly in their little circle with flashing green eyes.
She responded instantly. "You can't stop me." Massachusetts' eyes flashed in challenge and Ethan felt a weird sensation sweep through his body and the hallway of Russia's house faded away in a swirl of colors. The confines of the hallway melted away to show a medium-sized room and Massachusetts furrowed her eyebrows. Iowa glanced about themselves in confusion.
"Er… Massachusetts, where are we?" they asked.
"I… don't know…" her face twitched in annoyance.
"Of course I can stop you. You are so untrained it's simple work to tweak a destination to my whims." England was still there and Massachusetts wrinkled her nose in frustration. England smirked. "And now you can see the full extent of what magic can do. What do you say, witch? Want to be burned at the stake?" His hand enveloped in fire at his words and Massachusetts had just as much fire burning in her eyes. Wisconsin blanched, staring at the flames dancing in England's palm. Iowa observed silently but a nervous expression wormed its way onto their face.
"I'm not afraid of you," Massachusetts spit at him. Both Wisconsin and Iowa thought it was foolish and simultaneously agreed in their heads that she had a special kind of screw loose.
"Oh, but darling…" England's poison colored eyes darkened dangerously. "You should be."
"No... not fire..." Iowa glanced between the flames and Wisconsin, fear starting to show more obviously on their features.
Wisconsin flinched as the fire in his hand grew larger. He was completely unaware that with Massachusetts standing in front of him and Iowa that if England unleashed the flames at them then he would have to move. (Later he was glad he had taken off his sweatshirt and had handed it to Iowa otherwise he would have been in an awkward situation.) The fire was so… so…
England shot the flames at Massachusetts and she easily dodged out of way via teleportation. Iowa dove, but Wisconsin was frozen. The fire somehow, miraculously, did not burn him to a crisp. Unfortunately now he was surrounded by the flames of England's magic.
"It's spreading! They say this is the end! There's no way we're getting out of this unscathed!"
"Jump in the river, in the wells! We can escape there!"
"Wisconsin! The fire, it's getting to him!" Iowa cried out. Neither Massachusetts nor England heard the little state and he stared helplessly at the blaze getting closer and closer to the dairy state, who was staring but not seeing.
"Help! The fire, it's swirling, like a whirlpool, like a…"
"Tornado! It's a fire tornado!" He screamed, feeling the flames eat into his skin. He was nowhere near the fire but as a personification there was no escape.
England and Massachusetts finally noticed once Iowa literally threw themself in front of the two hotheads. They frantically spoke to the two and gestured to the raging wildfire that surrounded in silent and stoic state.
People were drowning and dying of hypothermia in the river. People were burning beyond recognition. So many were dying there was going to be nobody left to identify the dead. Where was America? Where was Alfred? Where was his brother?
"What in the bloody hell is he doing?" England was stumped and Massachusetts racked her brain for information. Iowa attempted to find a way to put out the fire.
There he was. America, the self-proclaimed hero and hero to most of the states. He breathed a sigh of relief before being overcome with coughs from smoke. He felt new burns appear over his body and it was scathing.
"Wisconsin!" America called out, coming to his state's side. Wisconsin doubled over in pain.
England dispersed the flames best he could, but they were magical and didn't want to stop burning. By the time he managed to stop the fire Wisconsin's shirt was burning and they had to strip it off the unresponsive state lest he be burned by the smoldering bits of cloth.
"There's a fire in Chicago!" he heard from someone. Illinois was suffering the same thing, but Chicago was so much more important…
"Leave!" Wisconsin choked out, pushing America away. "Help Illinois!" America stared at the state, insides twisting as he complied, knowing the economical importance of Chicago. Wisconsin was left moaning in pain on the ground as his land and people burned.
Massachusetts paled and England's hands stilled and Iowa was unblinking. Maybe they had prevented the burns of now, but the scars of the past shone blatantly on Wisconsin's skin. He suddenly blinked, seeming to come back to the world of the living opposed to the ghosts of the past.
His gaze was void of feeling as he slowly looked down at his bare chest, bringing his hand up to touch one of the many burn scars covering his flesh. He looked back up at the three beings before him, having stopped fighting for the time being.
They were all silent as the fire continued to rage behind Ethan's eyes.
-x-
"Good thing we're good at running, huh?"
"Shut up, Cole."
-x-
America took a deep breath and massaged his temples. This was ending up to be much more stressful than he had originally thought. Wisconsin was in an unknown place (stupid BTT, never tell him anything) with unknown countries and he had failed at his caretaking title. He was as bad as England; he had forgotten to visit his states.
A small dinging noise broke him from his thoughts and he drew out his cell, blinking at the text he had just received. Speak of the devil and he shall appear.
From Iggybrows [14:23]: A lot has happened and I believe it's time to fill you in on the events. We have all found ourselves in an interesting predicament and it involves your state, Wisconsin, along with a few others who I have forgotten the names of.
Alfred fumbled with his cell in his haste to reply.
From McAlfred [14:24]: wisconsin? where is he ? i need to save him still!
From Iggybrows [14:26]: Well, as of right now he's in decent shape. However we are in the field behind the Netherland's house, though the Netherlands himself is not here. I'm not sure how your state knew to teleport here, however, this is where all of us ended up.
From McAlfred [14:26] : teleport? wtf how did massachusetts get there? an in a field
From Iggybrows [14:28]: As I stated before, your state, Massachusetts it seems, teleported all of us to the field. And she seems to have done all of us a favor and left Russia and his crazy sister in Siberia. While your states are annoying (which is not surprising in the least) your Massachusetts is something interesting.
From McAlfred [14:30]: ok first off keep your hands off massachusetts. Secondly WHY TF WERE YOU IN SIBERIA Y WAS WISCONSIN IN FRICKIN SIBERIA
From McAlfred [14:30]: and I'm coming over
From Iggybrows [14:31]: You'd best be coming, America. Your states are in various states of disarray.
From McAlfred [14:31]: i thought you said they were fine
From Iggybrows [14:33]: They are safe as of right now, yes. Oh, and I asked the names of your other states. It seems that Florida, California, and Iowa are here alongside Massachusetts and of course Wisconsin.
From Iggybrows [14:41]: America, are you still there?
From McAlfred [14:43]: tell cali he's grounded
this could have been longer but it would have included *forced angst* so i didn't want to distract from the fire. I also may edit that to be more dramatic because damn the Peshtigo fire was bad.
History time! The Peshtigo fire was the deadliest fire recorded in American history and happened on October 8th, 1871, the same day as the Chicago fire. Obviously, Chicago is more important, so Peshtigo's story was all but forgotten. People were throwing themselves in rivers to escape the fire and they would either A. survive, B. drown, or C. die of hypothermia. The fire was going on 110 mile an hour winds and was "at least" 2000 degrees F. 1500 to 2500 people died, as there weren't enough people to identify everyone who had died so it's an uncertain number.
In short: it was a big-ass fire that killed a lot of people :) (and was forgotten)
And look! States! :D (review/dm me if you want to see a state make an appearance, but I can't promise it'll be big :P)
This is going to be a long af A/N sorry XD
deadlydaisy808: thank youuu :D I was struggling a bit with russia knowing everyone likes him to be just a "big teddy bear" but like,,,, he's Russia so the "rabid" part is there too XD I do love Russia tho so he's not the "bad guy" just a little scary XD
Guest: low-key just gonna... nurse my wounded pride here... nah I don't keep track of college football, but thanks for the tidbit! and thanks for reviewing :D
MisfitMadhatter: ahhh thank you :D I hope you enjoy the update and thank you for reviewing!