Chapter 2: Talking To Each Other
England walked into the break room to find America furiously pacing back and forth. America stopped to face England, anger and shock written on his face.
"England! The Axis?! Merger agreement?!"
"Let me tell you something," England said calmly. He proceed to tell America a story that Scotland once told him. "Once, there was an ancient kingdom in Scotland-"
America groaned dramatically. "Ugh, England. Stupid ancient kingdoms…."
"Its name long forgotten," England continued, taking a white king chess piece from the chessboard on the table. "Ruled by a wise and fair king who was much beloved." He took four pawns, three white and one black, set them on the table, and placed the chessboard on top, balancing it on the pieces.
"When he grew old, he divided the kingdom among his four sons, so that they should be the pillars on which the peace of the land rested. But the oldest prince wanted to rule the land for himself," England indicated to the black pawn. "He followed his own path and the kingdom fell into war and chaos and ruin." He pulled the black pawn out from the chessboard and it fell to the floor, pieces scattering everywhere.
"That's a nice story," America commented sarcastically.
"It's not just a story, America," said England. "Legends are lessons; they ring with truths."
"Dude-"
"I would advise you to make your peace with this," said England. "The Axis Powers are coming tomorrow."
"It's not fair!" snapped America.
England rolled his eyes. "You git, it's a merger agreement. It's not the end of the world." He walked out of the room and America angrily slammed the door behind him.
France walked into the conference room to see England stressfully packing the meeting papers into his suitcase. He could hear him muttering under his breath.
"You're muttering."
"I don't mutter, frog," England grumbled.
"Oui, you mutter, Angleterre," said France. "when something's troubling you. I take it the talk didn't go too well?"
"Stubbornness," said England. "He's inherited that trait from me." He sighed, putting his head in his hands. "I don't know what to do."
"Speak to him," said France.
"I do speak to him!" said England exasperated. "He just doesn't listen!"
"Come now," said France. "Pretend I'm America. Speak to me. What would you say?"
England hesitated. "I can't do this."
"Sure you can." When England gave him a hard look, France said, "There! Right there! That's the grumpy Englishman I know! All right, here we go." He took a deep breath, and in the best American accent he could mimic (that wasn't very good) he said, "I don't want to be involved in a merger! I wanna be a free country with all of my resources and technology and stuff! I don't need anyone's help; I'm the hero, dudes!"
England smirked at the almost accurate imitation, before regaining his composure. "America, all this work, all the time spent preparing you, raising you, giving you everything I never had….I ask you, what do you expect me to do?"
"Call off the meeting!"
America walked around the empty break room, pretending to talk to England. "Would that hurt anything? You represent part of the United Kingdom. You take control sometimes. You could just the Axis, 'America doesn't want to go through with this plan. In fact, he might not ever want to go through a plan like this. So, that's it! See you later! We'll expect your declarations of war in the morning.'"
"I understand how this must all seem unfair," said England. "But we are countries, this is what we do. We can't just avoid things that make us who we are."
"But it's my country. It's…" America sighed. "I just don't think this is right."
"I think you would see," said England. "If you would just-"
"I think I can make you understand," said America. "If you would just-"
"Listen."
"Listen!"
America looked around at the emptiness of his room. "This isn't gonna happen," he thought rebelliously. "Not if I have any say in it."