Forgive me

Allison didn't understand. She was supposed to make him feel better, and somehow, she had only made herself feel worse. Part of her remembered the word she associated with fallen sheets and a half empty beer bottle. The word that always made her weary of wearing any sort of skirt or v cut blouse. The reason that she was quick to smash someone's face in if they so much as looked at her wrong. She felt cheap.

Traffic conspired against them, and she was forced to make small talk. Arthur wouldn't even look her in the eye. She needed a smile or at least a warm glance to keep her going. And yet, she knew America would have long ago given up and ignored him. That's what made this so frustrating. Arthur wanted her to act like America, but she couldn't, not really. America enjoyed toying with him and going about her business until he approached her. Allison needed the attention to live, but it seemed Arthur was determined to deny her existence. She could probably replace herself with a plastic doll, and he wouldn't notice.

"Arthur, pay attention to me."

He tensed up like he might deliberately crash into another car simply because she was there. Instead, he clutched the steering wheel for dear life and kept his eyes on the road. She turned on the radio because that's what America would do and decided to stare out the window. Amazingly, he sighed and actually spoke to her. She felt pathetic for feeling happy about it.

"I'm sorry. I know you aren't exactly made to understand complex human emotion, but I just can't-"

She turned off the radio and gave him a dead serious look. He insulted her intelligence just because she was a freaking robot. Idiot. Arthur picked up on her sudden animosity and reluctantly took hold of her hand. Her circuits sparked with life and warmth spread throughout her body. The electricity coursing through her as efficiently as blood. The brief hand holding did what he wanted it to do. He distracted her long enough for her to forget her sudden frustrated feeling. This annoyed her, but she was so attuned to others emotions they came and went without much consequence most of the time. So, she turned around again and watched the cars pass by. Arthur sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. She tensed wondering why he only seemed to pay attention to her when she ignored him. Then, it dawned on her. Oh . . . America had him conditioned.

"Don't be angry with me. It's going to take me a while to . . . adjust. You're not exactly what I need right now," Arthur said, making her flush with anger. He had certainly needed her last night, but now, he was suddenly aloof and distant. Then again . . . he'd also been crying hard. Gah, she was so confused. Japan hadn't prepared her for this.

Actually, now, that she thought about it. Ivan and Kiku were using her as emotional black mail to force him to accept a body guard. Maybe, she could live off the occasional obligatory hand holding so long as he was still breathing. After all, she was a body guard first and a companion second. And, if he didn't want the company . . . she could adjust too.

"I'm not mad. You were never all that nice to me in the first place."

Eyes wide, she froze, unsure where that had come from. Allison checked her files and found the bitterness came from the America program that Arthur had so helpfully told her to install. She wanted to change the subject, but the damage had been done. What normally would have made him defensive and spiteful practically crushed him into tiny pieces. He quietly looked ahead of him like an old-timey robot and didn't respond.

Allison couldn't stand this depressing silence. So, she explored her new personality a little bit, scrambling to find something that would make him feel better. What could she say that would sound remotely comforting but still sound like something America might say? The answer didn't leave her with a lot of confidence, but she figured it was worth a shot.

"You wanna to stop for burgers?"

He looked at her like she was crazy. Allison wondered if she had made yet another mistake. Remarkably, he actually took them through a Mc Donald's drive-through. (It's one of the few fast food places that survived the sudden health food craze and political attack on obesity. America had cried when the legislation passed. ) He ordered two double cheeseburgers, a soda, and a salad. She had assumed the salad was for her and reached for it, but was surprised when he handed her the two burgers instead.

"These are for me?" Allison winced, knowing she sounded artificial. She needed to correct that. They ate in the car, or at least, Arthur did. She watched him pick at his salad. He seemed to like eating the little croutons first. There's something about the methodical way he ate his salad that kept her from looking away. Whatever hazy cloud he'd been under lifted momentarily, and he answered with little difficulty.

"You always order two burgers."

Again, she was torn. Allison was both glad and worried that he was playing along. She was made to be America's replacement so treating her like America made sense, but at the same time, it couldn't be healthy for him to pretend America was still around. Allison finally looked away and just stared at the two burgers, willing herself to eat them. They were America's favorite food. This shouldn't be a problem. It's not like she could get fat, and burgers didn't taste as bad as Francis said they did.

"Are you not hungry?" Arthur asked. He kept watching her, and it was starting to feel like a test. One, she was about to fail.

She took a bite, worried she might depress him because she was so unlike the real America. The greasy tangy taste was pleasantly familiar, and she consumed it at near inhuman speed. She licked her fingers. Oops, she probably ate that too fast. Arthur didn't seem to mind, and the old America probably did scarf down her burgers like there was no tomorrow. Allison ate the other one just as fast, and was disappointed when she finished the second burger. She found herself craving a third. Taking a generous sip of her drink, she absently thanked Arthur for paying for her food. The rest of the drive wasn't so bad. Arthur's mood had improved considerably after the short trip.

But, they were late, and judging by looks on everyone's faces, this was an unspoken crime. She sat down next to Arthur and tried not to look at Ivan or Kiku. And, she wasn't even sure why. The America program said something along the lines of cows giving away free milk. There was a lot of muttering in the crowd.

Eventually, she forced herself to take a quick look around the room. These were her top suspects for Arthur's potential assassination after all. She dismissed Ivan and Kiku almost immediately. They wouldn't have made her if they were interested in killing him. Even if Ivan was a tall white haired man who for many years had scared the majority of the people he surrounded himself with, America's account of things showed that he'd mellowed out since their first confrontation. Kiku also hadn't succumb to his previous unsavory behavior for at least three centuries, and to America, he was usually above such suspicions.

Then, there was the left over twin Veneziano. His profile said the auburn haired ditz usually had his eyes closed while doing and saying silly things for his own amusement and was rarely an actual threat to others around him. Under recommendations, Ivan even suggested she try his pasta, provided Germany wasn't around to hog it all. According to her implanted memories, most of the time he was happy go lucky, but there were also small signs of a darker personality underneath the cutesy facade. America seemed to think it was coincidental as she sometimes sounded darker than intended as well.

Now, Arthur had fought Francis bitterly for centuries. However, both the information Ivan provided and her own personal archive showed the rivalry had ended sometime ago, and it was unlikely to be rekindled anytime soon. Ivan did recommend stopping potential spats before they started as their lack of cooperation sometimes derailed efforts to keep things efficient.

Yao's record again showed that his past enemies weren't particularly interested in destroying him. If anything, he was on better terms with Yao than almost everyone else in the room other than Kiku and Lugwig. Any troubling elements influencing Yao had long since been eliminated. There was no information about who had done such a thing, but Allison felt reasonably reassured by what info she had managed to gather that he wasn't currently a threat.

Germany she noted was an interesting case. Since WWII, their relationship had actually returned to its previously amicable state. Even before then, Germany's admiration for him was no secret. So, she again discarded the idea that he might be the killer, particularly when the America file didn't recall ever seeing them interact outside of the group for very long. Besides, the only arguments they had later were the usual political issues that plagued them all. In every sense, the relationship was rather vanilla.

Then, there was America's brother Canada. He again would normally be above suspicion, but her notes were contradicting. In the past, Canada wasn't particularly known for causing anyone else problems. When he did go to war, Britain or America were almost certainly the one who called him to take up arms. Later on, however, Ivan did make some vague reference to Matthew taking a very strong leadership position in the now dissolved United Nations along with its military program NATO. Stranger than the extremely brief note on Canada's not too distant past was America's justifying Canada's later acts as necessary without actually referencing any image files. All records of Canada's actions in the last few hundred years also seemed to have been wiped from the online records. Allison knew better than to outright accuse the leader of the group and simply made note of the suspicious cover up. What really made Allison nervous was that Arthur and Matthew were listed as witnesses to America's death and that both had refused to testify, leaving America's fate forever a mystery.

"So glad, you finally decided to join us Arthur. Were you talking to your little faeries again? You know what will happen if you start talking nonsense, right?" Matthew said, taking an abnormal amount of pleasure seeing Arthur squirm. This so contrasted with what was on file, Allison watched dumbly, wondering if this was something she was allowed to interfere with. The American part wanted to lash out, and the robotic part told her to stay put and not interfere with official business. The robot part won.

"I go to the insane asylum. I'm well aware," Arthur replied quietly. No one seemed to care. Most eyes were on her. She was the topic of gossip, and it seemed that this was rather routine. Canada eyes met hers briefly, but he was quick to look away.

"Okay, let's get started. We'll talk about your conduct later, Arthur. Commissioner of International Relations, do you have any problems to report? "

Francis who had been chatting amiably with Veneziano answered with his usual superfluous flair. He might as well have been talking about a restaurant he liked.

"There is the occasional skirmish in the outskirts, but life in the city is divine. We've had no problem taking out the low lives that wish to destroy our good fortune. I require no help as of yet."

Francis reply immediately bothered her. He was brushing off people from highly volatile areas in favor of the upper class divisions. That didn't seem right. She checked everyone's reactions to see if she was the only one. They all seemed apathetic to the situation. England was doodling on his paper, a bunch of faeries and the like. No help there. She found Veneziano and Germany's reaction odd. He made a paper plane and threw it at Ludwig's head. Ludwig took the plane out of his hair and unmade the plane to look at the papers contents. He scribbled something down in his notes before crumpling up the paper up and throwing it in the bin. The rest simply sat there and nodded because again this must be normal. She didn't like it one bit. Allison raised her hand. Again, all eyes were on her. She smiled uncertainly, looks like she broke yet another unspoken rule. Matthew grit his teeth and clicked his pen repeatedly as he looked her over.

"Yes?"

Allison tried not to get intimidated. Arthur was uncharacteristically alarmed and shot her a look. The robotic part of her wanted to say never mind and let them move on to the next issue. The American part wanted them to discuss what was going on and not act like psychopathic monsters. The American part won.

"Shouldn't we do something to improve the lives of the people in those areas so we aren't always using force to subjugate them?"

Matthew frowned, not at all happy with her suggestion. The earlier mutters increased ten fold and even more paper air planes were strewn about. He didn't ask her to leave as she expected and instead indulged the question.

"What would you do that would magically improve what we call the hell hole of the union? We give them water. They try to turn it into bombs. We give them food, and they chuck it back in out faces. Those people don't want to be helped Am- Allison. So, I suggest you shut up, and let those who know what they are talking about speak."

Allison did find the situation rather bleak after Matthew explained it. Then, a bunch of contradicting files from the America program made her erupt like a shaken soda bottle with the top off.

" Those are all lies. You're a liar, and you've been lying to us since you took this stupid job. You poisoned the water supply and drugged the food because you didn't want to deal with them." she shouted, panting heavily when she was done. They looked horrified, but that look of horror was directed at her. Veneziano tried his best to smile and calm her down.

"Maybe, you should wait outside."

Toxic. This whole place was toxic, and they were inhaling the fumes. She was about to explain why he should shut it when Arthur took hold of her hand. He wasn't looking at her this time either.

"Go now."

Two words and she clammed up like it was the end of the world. He sounded so serious, and they were looking at her like she was the problem. She was about to walk out when Matthew cut in.

"That won't be necessary. She can't help it. The thing is defective, and we'll deal with her after the meeting. Now, would the Commissioner of Energy please report?"

Germany spoke, and much like before he reported that the interior was fine while the exterior was suffering from frequent blackouts. He avoided saying everything was fine for fear of making her lash out, but Allison was no longer interested in the meeting. Was she defective? Yelling at Arthur's potentially homicidal boss probably wasn't helpful. She was letting the America program influence her more than she should. Listening to that program was only going to get Allison killed just like the real America.

"Okay, let's see. Ah yes, would the Food Commissioner please stand up."

Arthur looked up from his drawings, startled. He obeyed, and the rest of the group appeared uneasy. Matthew adjusted his glasses and searched the stack of papers. Finding what he needed, he passed it to Arthur.

"Fill out this form, we need your permission to reallocate the food supply in light of recent events."

Matthew waited patiently. Arthur took out his reading glasses and checked the document. He frowned and ripped the paper in half.

"No, if I let you do this, people will starve."

Matthew sighed and shook his head. Again, his gaze drifted to Allison before responding.

"I don't think it's the starving people you're trying to impress. We'll talk about this later. Would the Commissioner of Technology please report?"

Kiku stood, a little flustered by the recent drama. Yao tugged his sleeve and whispered in his ear. After that, he seemed to understand he wasn't required to stand up, but Kiku still didn't sit down. For the entirety of the meeting, he had been staring at Arthur and Allison as if trying to fit pieces of a puzzle together. His face paled after Allison broke eye contact with something akin to shame. Did he know?

Kiku ran out of the room. Allison blushed and hid her face. Yes, he did. Matthew if possible became more irritable. He snapped his pen in half before clearing his throat.

"While the Commissioner of Technology comes to terms with the horrors of creating life, why don't we move on? Commissioner of Peace please speak."

Veneziano straightened his tie and took out a chart. The chart consisted of two intersecting circles. He pointed to one side of the graph.

"These are the people happy with the current government."

He then put a frowny face sticker on the other side.

"These are the people who want to cause trouble and destroy our wonderful way of life."

The crowd snickered, and Matthew smiled in spite of himself. Finally, Veneziano addressed the intersecting area.

"And, these people don't like what is happening, but no longer care enough to complain. On the bright side, we haven't had an official war in five centuries so I say we're doing pretty good."

The other commissioners clapped, and it vaguely reminded Allison of school recitals in the old days when she would randomly attend her kids plays. People would clap no matter how much the kid sucked. The whole spectacle made her heavily aware that they knew there were problems, but they honestly didn't care enough to fix them.

"Finally, taking over for America , we have China joining us as the Commissioner of Freedom. Have there been any complaints?"

Yao was in the middle of a Sodoku puzzle, but briefly stopped to nod. Matthew tapped the remainder of his pen impatiently.

"And?"

"There were a few dissenters, but the nails that decided to stick out have been hammered down. There are no more complaints."

They all clapped again, and Allison found herself turning red for different reasons. She flipped the table over and lifted Yao by his collar. She would not let this stand.

"That is not what you're supposed to do, you idiot. Where do you get these people? Arthur shouldn't be in charge of food. Veneziano shouldn't be in charge of peace. And, this man shouldn't be in charge of freedom. When did all of you become so warped?" she shouted, throwing Yao back on the ground. Matthew smirked and got out of his chair.

"Well, that was different. Meeting dismissed. I'm sure the Commissioner of Security has nothing to report."

Ivan wore his usual big old smile, hitting his own hand lightly with a crowbar. Allison found herself wondering what happened to his old pipe.

"No one can break into my buildings but me. And if they do, I take out the rats quickly."

Ivan gave Arthur a meaningful look, but he wasn't in any condition to respond. The group scattered after Matthew gave Ivan an obligatory nod of approval. To Allison, they appeared to be running away from her, but why? She wanted them to see that something was horribly wrong. They had to have noticed how anything unpleasant was dismissed as soon as it was brought up.

"Arthur, Allison, I'd like to see you in my office."

Arthur didn't move, still clutching his papers. Allison walked over and tapped his shoulder. Somehow, his brain hadn't quite caught up with what happened. He pointed to the mess of scattered papers and flipped over table.

"You did that."

Allison nodded and helped him up. He put away his reading glasses and walked with her.

"Don't do that again," he said.

"Yes Arthur."

Why should she? The only thing she had accomplished was making herself look unstable. The hallway seemed to stretch forever, and Allison hated that they followed Matthew blindly. She even started to imagine the doors they passed contained grotesque experiments and unspeakable horrors. Flitting images of such things passed her mind, but she ignored them. She need to focus on surviving the now before worrying about the outside. They took a right turn that led to the lobby and directly in front of this lobby was Matthew's office. The walls, carpet and furniture were varying shades of white. The chairs inside Matthew's office were egg shaped, and Allison found them quite comfortable. Overall, the place was the exact opposite of the smoky black architecture outside. Matthew looked at them both wearily.

"Arthur, I'm afraid I can't have anymore of these outbursts and brazen acts of defiance. You're only hurting others when you deny people what they need. I assume that's why they gave you this pitiful excuse for a robot."

Arthur nodded, almost mechanically. Deciding he needed a little boost, Allison held his hand. Not only did he let her, he clung to it desperately. Letting out a shaky breath, he faced Matthew.

"I'm still not signing the papers."

Matthew broke another pen. He seemed to have packets of the stuff in his desk. Taking out another, he smiled warmly. Filling out a few forms, he handed them to his secretary before giving Arthur a white slip.

"Very well, we'd still like you to take a vacation then. Unless you're willing to undergo treatment in the asylum, this is the best we can do for you. The countries and I agree that you haven't quite been yourself since the incident." More like the other countries didn't care enough to protect one of their own. They seemed to have lost the will to function as originally intended once integrated into a homogeneous environment. They were just cogs in a machine now, and the mechanic was far more concerned about protecting the status quo than making sure the machine was running properly.

"You would know, Canada. Come on Allison," Arthur answered, taking the white slip. She stood, more than ready to get out of city center. Before they could go, Matthew blocked their path as if suddenly remembering something that had slipped his mind. Allison cracked her knuckles and prepared to clear the way.

"About that, we feel that due to her violent temper and unfortunate resemblance to America, she should be shut down. I'm sure you didn't want her in the first place. I trust this won't be a problem?" He asked. That may have been true yesterday, but Allison didn't think Arthur would comply. She knew everything America did, and Arthur wouldn't betray her like that. Or she didn't think so until he let go of her hand.

"You can have her."

"But Arthur-"

She tried desperately to reach out to him, but Matthew immediately held her back. Allison knew she had been deliberately designed not to be able to take on a country at full strength. (Russia had held back for reasons unknown to her.) She instinctively stopped struggling when Matthew whispered some code in her ear that told her servers that she was in the custody of a country and should comply. In the end, she could change nothing. Only her image was powerful, a reflection of what once was and would never be again.

"Sit down and relax." She complied, but the chair didn't seem so comfortable anymore. She lay there limply, glaring at him. Matthew sat in his chair and stretched, comfortable now that Arthur was out of the picture, and she was properly restrained. This was not the brother that America had described. And yet, the longer he watched her, the less at ease he seemed to be. Finally, he had to look away. Shaking his head, he poured himself a glass of scotch.

"They shouldn't have made you."

He took a tiny sip and dared to look at her again. Allison attempted to sit up and keep her dignity but found she instantly fell back down as compliant as a rag doll because of her overly relaxed synthetic muscles. Her body was completely worthless so long as he could take over with one simple word. Allison could protect Arthur from nothing if she couldn't even protect herself.

"You're making a mess of things. Why am I always the one that has to clean up after you?" Still struggling to get up, she scowled. Was he trying to confuse her? He couldn't possibly consider them one and the same.

"I'm not America. I'm Arthur's bodyguard. Please let me go."

To his credit, he seemed perfectly aware of this. He laughed as if she'd said the stupidest thing in the world. Matthew was simply blowing off steam and talking at her. But soon enough, the real reason he was keeping a steady eye on her became clear. He took out an electric zapper and turned it on. She froze, realizing what exactly was happening. He'd been working up the courage to kill her. That thing would wipe her mind completely as soon as it touched her head. He took his sweet time getting to her, letting her struggle as he slowly moved closer to Allison's nearly immobile body. There was a knock on the door.

"I'm busy." Matthew said, about to let the zapper touch her forehead. The door was knocked off it's hinges, and Ivan came inside. He turned it off and sighed. Allison released the breath she'd been holding. Business came first, apparently.

"What do you want Ivan?"

Ivan immediately stepped between them. Being fairly large, Ivan blocked her view of the confrontation. She could only see Canada's clenched fist from where she was seated. Allison stopped trying to get up, thinking Ivan's huge body was a better deterrent than however much distance she could put between herself and Matthew by crawling away.

"I received an anonymous call that someone was murdering their robot. I thought I'd check it out."

" That's ridiculous. It's not murder if it's a robot. What are you doing?"

Picking her up, Ivan turned around. His usual plastered smile was replaced by a thin mocking one.

"I am in charge of security. I'm returning her."

Matthew tried to make himself look taller and poked his chest.

"He handed her over to me. Besides, Allison is a freaking robot. She doesn't have feelings . . ."

Allison stuck her tongue out at him. He turned the zapper back on and tried to electrocute her. Ivan grabbed his wrist and leaned in.

"New rule. This one does. "

Matthew dropped the zapper on the floor, and Ivan let go of his hand. Backing off, he sat back down in his chair and downed the rest of the scotch.

"I see. Tell Arthur to stop bringing that thing to work then."

Ivan's usual smile returned. Walking to his desk, he smashed the scotch bottle and pointed the jagged remains at Canada's neck.

"Her name is Allison. Please remember that."

Wet and confused, Matthew nodded. Ivan stared him down, narrowing his eyes.

"Repeat it."

"Allison."

"Good, Ivan will go now."

Allison wasn't sure why he went to the trouble to defend her, but she appreciated it all the same. She waved bye to Matthew, and he waved back albeit mostly to keep Ivan from snapping at him again. He carried her back home. Allison didn't mind being carried. Ivan released enough body heat to keep her charged for days. So, even if America would insist on walking, her self preservation kicked in. After all, Arthur tended to be rather . . . cold.

Arthur waited for them outside his apartment. Ivan set her down, and she ran over and hugged him. The hug she received in return was stiff and awkward, but she was glad to receive it nonetheless.

"Thank you. I wanted to avoid a scene."

Ivan rubbed his neck sheepishly.

"Ivan did not avoid scene."

Arthur muttered unintelligibly, rubbing the bridge of his noise (which he seemed to find quite hard to do while being hugged.) He sighed, accepting something happened without honestly wanting to know about it.

"Well, thank you anyway."

Ivan punched Arthur's shoulder. He winced but continued sporting a fake smile.

"Smiling does not suit you."

Arthur's eyebrow twitched, but he showed no other outside signs of being offended. Allison let go of Arthur and hugged Ivan. He patted her head.

" I'm glad to see you're growing fond of each other. Now, I really must go. Kiku called. He locked himself in the bathroom."

Allison laughed awkwardly.

"Tell him, I'm sorry I lost my honor, and that I don't think robots can marry humans so please don't ask."

Ivan began to laugh in a much more boisterous manner. He punched Arthur again, much harder than before and whispered Bliad. Allison kept laughing to cover up the increased awkwardness. Ivan gave her one final hug and left. Arthur sighed in relief and rubbed his arm.

"I don't like him."

"Of course not, he thinks you're a whore."

Arthur avoided her again. At least, this time she understood why.