~Canada's PoV~
Darkness.
That was all I saw.
The world was dark, black, cold.
And it surrounded me from all sides.
The air felt tight.
It was squeezing me.
Trying to confine me, to the point I couldn't move.
There was something peeking out of the darkness.
I tried reaching up to it, but I couldn't control my body.
I tried screaming at my arms; move!
I tried screaming at my legs; walk!
I tried screaming.
Nothing happened, though.
I felt hollow.
As if there were nothing in me.
I've felt this before.
Once...
Long ago.
Very, very long ago...
Why do I feel it again?
How long ago did I feel it, though?
Maybe it wasn't all that long ago...
Personifications...
What does that mean...?
I thought for a moment, trying to place the word.
Then it hit me.
Countries...
We're... The human embodiment of countries…
I searched for a name.
Anything to place alongside that.
I'm… Canada…
But who's Canada?
I couldn't answer that question, no matter how hard I dug.
My head started pounding whenever I tried.
England…
France…
America…
Odd names I couldn't understand waved around in my head in a vicious, merciless, uncontrollable wave.
Why…?
What are all these…?
Why can't I understand them…?
I know them, but…
I can't…
Place…
Them…
Then things started falling into place, one after the other.
Things were coming together.
Like a puzzle piece.
My mind was one massive puzzle piece.
Faces paired up with names.
Australia…
Hong Kong…
Norway…
Iceland…
We're all countries…
Why didn't I remember them?
Why were there still faces that I couldn't place a name with?
Why couldn't I move my arms?
My legs?
Why couldn't I control my body?
I wanted to.
I wanted to move.
I wanted to escape this total darkness.
Al must be worried sick.
I need to go.
I need to talk to him.
I needed to talk to the Provinces, the Territories.
I don't even know Nunavut, or Newfoundland and Labrador.
And they were part of me.
They've always been a part of me.
And I've been asleep their entire time with me.
With us.
I needed to wake up.
Somehow.
There had to be a way.
A way to get my limbs to move.
To obey my will.
Something…
Something was there.
I felt something.
On my shoulders.
It felt… Like a hand?
Arms?
What was it?
I needed to know.
I needed to find out.
Why the hell can't I control my own body?
I desperately tried again.
I mentally lashed out with my arms.
My legs.
My chest.
My head.
Even my fingers.
Again.
Nothing worked.
It was like I was encased in cold, solid ice.
And there was no escape.
It felt like I was there for hours.
Until…
Until a thought resonated through my head.
One that sounded familiar.
Somehow, I managed to place it.
What it was…
Scared me.
So much.
I was terrified.
All from that one thought.
It was Alfred's voice.
A memory.
Small, but still a memory.
And what it was rattled me to the very core.
People always say that when you're in a coma, you're still aware of what goes on around you. That you can still hear people, still feel them. Sometimes, if you were lucky, you could even see them.
I prayed constantly that was true.
Praying was the only thing I could do for him.
And I've never felt so helpless or lost as I have been this past century, even during World War Two.
I saw the world through his eyes.
I- He was staring down at me, our hands entwined together.
In what I assumed was the hospital I had woken up in.
Why that?
Why now?
Am I really…?
Again…?
Is that really what people said?
If only that were the truth…
What those people don't know is this.
You can hear.
You can feel.
You can sometimes see, when you try hard enough.
But it's empty.
Dark.
Emotionless.
You feel blind.
Constricted.
Helpless.
You feel like the whole world was never there.
You feel alone.
You feel like there's no hope left.
You feel the struggles of your body as if you were awake.
You feel the pain.
Yet,
You feel nothing.
Nothing at all, yet everything at the same time.
And it drives you insane.
I shook myself again.
I was desperate.
The darkness felt like it was swallowing me.
And it was too familiar.
Too familiar to that one time.
I wanted…
I wanted to get out.
I wanted so badly to just get out.
Get out this prison I had already spent so long in.
Get out of this cold.
This darkness.
This emptiness.
But.
I.
Had.
No.
Idea.
How.
A/N: Annnnnd, nine scrapped chapters later, WE ARE BACK IN BUSINESS! With a STILL VERY CRAPPY CHAPTER! But I went "screw it, I need to get something up," so HERE WE ARE.
YEAH.
*sigh*
Just so you guys know, I've started editing this fic. Currently I've done up to chapter three (if the title change didn't give that away…). So if you want a more… Enjoyable. Experience. Reading those bad boys. Go ahead and reread it. I've changed up some lines and just overall cleaned up grammar and ADDED SPACES BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS. Which I don't even KNOW why I didn't do that at first.
…
Yeah.
Welp, as always, hope y'all enjoyed!