A/N: Sorry this took so long to get out! But I mean...2,000+ words, is worth the short wait, right? Right! Either way I hope you guys like this chapter!
Having a high crime rate, even if it had decreased several decades ago, was something Illinois found as a blessing and a curse.
A curse because, well, high crime. That doesn't really attract many tourists.
A blessing, because with her old crime rate skills, Illinois could break any lock. Add to that her beautiful landscape, and you have yourself a movie protagonist.
Illinois had been sandwiched between South Dakota and a metal door for literally THREE. WHOLE. HOURS. She didn't mind her sister, but sometimes a girl just can't listen to three hour long North Dakota rants.
Luckily, she had decided to wear Bobby pins that day, a small smirk forming as she felt around her lightly curled golden hair for the pieces of metal. Plucking two out of her hair, she bent one so it could be longer, inserting it to the car door.
Now, most cars have child safety locks, and not key slots. But Alfred made a smart move, using a State proof car to transport...well...States. Illinois chewed on the tip of her tongue as she worked in the second pin, wiggling the metal to push pins into place. Once the door had sighed a soft click, Illinois pulled gently at the handle and felt the door swing out on its own.
Thank god Michigan and Ohio have so much tension in their relationship, drawing all of the attention away from the escaping State with their shouts and shoves. Illinois opened the door of the moving car, inching out to the side of the car, pressing the door gently back into place. Now on the very edge of a speeding car, Illinois tightened her already strong grip on the bars attached to the top of the car.
"One..."
She pulled her muscles in test, taking a few deep breaths.
"Two..."
She deepened her stance, squatting as far as she could stretch and still be safe.
"Three...!"
With that she lifted herself up onto the roof of the car, gripping the side bars like a lifeline. Her eyes slipped closed, taking in the rushing air and billowing scents from healthy farms. Her golden curls were pulled back with the wind, reminding her of fields of Bluegrass and Compass plants bending to the soft breezes. She could just imagine an old fashioned windmill spinning lazily with the winds.
A relaxed sigh slipped from her lips, entirely drowned out by the rumble of the car.
It was peaceful on the roof of a car.
-Inside the car, 1 hour and 3 minutes later-
"What do you mean 'Illinois is missing'? We're in a moving car!" North Dakota huffed loudly, checking her rearview mirrors...just in case.
"For being the 'better' twin you sure as hell have a low intelligence." South Dakota snapped back, her turquoise eyes shining with malice towards her sister.
"At least I'm not located in the middle of nowhere." North Dakota gripped the wheel a bit too tightly, making the car begin to drift into the other side of the road.
"Uh...guys?" Kansas started, glancing out the windshield with wide, panicked eyes.
"Then I guess that makes you just North of nowhere." South Dakota crossed her arms in challenge, eyes still locked with her twin's through the mirror.
"...guuuuys..." Kansas tried again, catching the blink of headlights in the distance.
"At least North of nowhere actually exists." North Dakota hissed in reply.
"You only wish you had Rushmore!" South Dakota shouted. Meanwhile Wisconsin turned to Minnesota and held up some cheese with an eyebrow wiggle. He mouthed the words 'for the show?' Minnesota just rolled his own eyes.
"FIGHT ME!" North Dakota shrieked letting go of the wheel and scrambling over the seat divider, already clawing at her twin.
"GLADLY!" South Dakota shouted back, hopping over the middle seats to begin shoving at her sister's face.
"GUYS!" Kansas shouted in panic, hands flying to the wheel, Nebraska whimpering softly from being squished down.
"WHAT?!" Both Dakotas turned to Kansas with frenzied eyes, one with their face being pushed away by a foot.
"WE'RE DRIVING A SPEEDING CAR! PAY ATTENTION TO SOMETHING OTHER THEN EACH OTHER FOR ONCE!" Kansas screamed, taking several deep breaths as his rage at almost dying due to a sibling's fight.
North Dakota huffed, shoving the foot from her cheek, now crawling back to the driver's seat and taking the wheel once more.
"Aw...boo! It was just getting interesting!" Wisconsin booed taking a quick bite of the rejected cheese. Minnesota smacked his brother upside the head, albeit softly. "Whaaaaat?"
"I find living more interesting than a fight, Wisconsin." Kansas replied, going back to taxing cloud shapes against the window.
"Okay, now we seriously need to focus. Somebody call Alfred, maybe he knows something about where Illinois disappeared to." Missouri spoke up from the end of the car, arms folded over one another in thought.
Indiana brought out her spare flip phone, already fiddling with the contacts list. Once it had started ringing, she placed the phone up to her ear.
"Hey, Indiana! Wassup, dude?"
"Hello, Dad. Um...we can't find Illinois..." She fidgeted with her bottom lip, glancing up at the two States sitting in the trunk with her.
"...what?"
"She just...ah...disappeared...and we don't know where she is..." Indiana heard a pause on the other line, a hand belonging to Ohio resting on her shoulder.
"But...the car...it-it's moving! And I had keyhole locks!"
"This is Illinois..." Indiana sighed into the phone.
"...hold on, let's regroup at the next truck stop...maybe she's...I don't really know to be honest! Heh...yeah..."
"Bye, Dad."
"Bye, Indie."
Indiana smiled softly at the nickname, flicking the phone shut. Missouri poked her head over the seats, one eyebrow raised expectantly. "He said we should pull over at the next truck stop to take a good look."
Missouri nodded firmly, turning to pass the message forwards up the car.
A truck stop finally appeared, North Dakota bringing their long vehicle to a halt. The red Chevy truck that they had been following was already parked, Alfred pacing by one of the benches. His eyes trailed to the car with a bright smile, though when his eyes traveled upward he seemed to sigh and slump.
Suddenly, before any of the States could even unbuckle, a humanoid shape slid down the gods of the car before running over to Alfred for a hug.
Ohio burst open the trunk door, jumping out and bolting for her sister. "What were you thinking?!" She demanded, placing her hands on her hips.
"I was thinking that rants on other States are boring. Get me out." Illinois replied teasingly, sticking her tongue out with a smile.
"You're sitting in the middle this time!" Missouri called out one of the windows, eyebrows knitted together.
Illinois huffed out a sigh, waving goodbye to Alfred before replying. "Yeah, yeah..." The States shuffled their seating arrangements in the car to minimize fights. Missouri was driving with Kansas and South Dakota upfront. In the middle row, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin were placed together again. The last row of proper seats housed Illinois, Indiana, and Nebraska. Finally in the trunk was North Dakota, Iowa, and Ohio.
The next 11 hours consisted of the front three States switching out of the drivers post, and all the others entertaining each other while avoiding fights.
Eventually they had arrived at the large conference building, white pillars and old stone decorating the outside. All of the twelve States gripped a special uniform given to them by Alfred, who claimed that it was 'required'. He flashed a toothy grin, pulling them all into a big group hug. "OOOH! I love you guys! Well, I gotta go in there now, but don't worry! Just get changed quickly and I can totally intrude you all to the rest of the world!" He barked out a laugh, "literally!"
The Midwest chuckled softly, the group already shuffling into the building and heading straight for the bathrooms. Yelling was already floating through the building, shouts in different languages along with English whispered what the Countries might be doing.
"Do ya think I could convince Switzerland to a cheese tasting?" Wisconsin asked, straightening out the uniform he had been given.
"Mm...maybe..." Kansas replied uninterestedly, threading golden buttons through several slits in the fabric.
-Meanwhile, in a busy conference-
"Amérique, we're all getting restless, non? Where are your children?" France pouted, arms crossed over his chest as he glanced around at the other Nations. Murmured agreements traveled among the other six Countries.
"France-dude, relax! They're right outside the doors!" America replied with a short laugh.
"Ugh, you bloody git! You've just been wasting our time!" England huffed, snarling in America's direction.
"Aiyah! I can't believe this!" China chimed in, obviously upset.
"Alright, alright! Chill, guys! Lemme just call 'em in!" America replied, patting his hands downwards in an attempt to calm the gathered Nations. He stuck his head out of the door and began whispering to the gathered States. His head popped back in and he grinned, winking assuredly at the other Countries. Germany sighed and rubbed his nose.
The first State to walk in had shining blue eyes like her father and dusty blond hair cut to her shoulders, slightly curling in towards her neck. She wore a forest green military suit, black strips traveled down the side of her pants and encircled her wrists.
Golden buttons traveled down the center, and a firm military hat of the same forest green sat atop her head. "Hello, I am Ohio. Oldest of the Midwest."
She sidestepped and allowed another State to enter wearing the same uniform. It was another girl, pale blue eyes and elbow length blond hair, looking almost like strands of wheat. "Second oldest, Indiana." She tipped her hat in greeting.
"I'm Illinois! Third oldest, here to make your acquaintance." She greeted, dusty blue eyes and slightly curled golden hair toppled over her shoulders.
Another female walked through the doors, her skin tanned with dark waves radiating from the top of her head. She smiled warmly at the other countries. "Missouri, fourth state of the Midwest."
A male trailed in right after her, cropped dark blond hair, and eyes a deep blue like the waters of a lake. He wore a sure smirk, hands crossed on his chest. "And I'm Michigan, just like the lake, number five." He winked at the end, before sliding into the line of siblings.
Next came in another male, his face calmed and serious, dark brown hair pulled back into a low ponytail, although several strands had come loose and framed his face. Dark green eyes peeled out from the hat. "Iowa, sixth state."
An all too happy state bounded in, a grin plastered on his face while having slightly windswept brown hair fall over blue grey eyes. "And I'm Wisconsin, seventh state to join the Midwest! Hey, quick question!" He gathered the Nation's attention, ignoring the groans from his siblings. "Do you guys think me and Switzerland could ever get together?"
A soft voice chimed in from the hallway, "it's Switzerland, and I," it hissed.
Wisconsin began bouncing over to the gathered States, rolling his eyes playfully. "Ooo, look out for the grammar nazi!" He teased back. Germany visibly bristled from his spot next to Italy.
A male stepped in next, sighing softly, he had wavy blond hair and pale green eyes. Bearing a striking resemblance to Canada, only this boy looked younger and had a spray of freckles on his cheeks. "Sorry, Germany...whichever one of you that is...I'm Minnesota, eighth state to join the Midwest." He bowed curtly in apology again before shuffling off.
A boy with auburn hair stepped in next, bored green eyes expressing his sigh for him. "Name's Kansas. Ninth state to join the Midwest. It's a pleasure." He said, even though his voice said he was completely uninterested.
The last male stepped in, messy light brown hair poking out from under his hat. His blue eyes took on a more cerulean shade. "I'm Nebraska, the Corn State, and the tenth to join the Midwest." He cast a knowing smirk over to his siblings, practically hearing the shouts that were definitely coming after this meeting.
Finally two girls stepped in side by side, each with caramel colored hair tied into medium length pigtails. They both had pale green eyes fixed on each other with a scowl to match. "We're North and South Dakota." One of them spat out, purposely bumping against their twin. The other growled in reply.
America jumped in front of the huddled group with a wide smile. "So yeah! There's my 12 Midwestern kids!" He announced, taking his seat, although he was interrupted.
"Ugh!" France scoffed, pressing a hand to his chest in offense. "They weren't originally yours, Amérique!"
America stuck his tongue out in reply, almost challenging the romantic Nation. "Yeah well too bad, they're mine now!"
"Originally, I too had a few states," Germany piped up, his steely expression narrowed in on the gathered states, trying to pick out which ones he used to have.
"Hiiiiii daaaaaad~" Wisconsin on waved to Germany, his hand immediately being slapped down by Minnesota.
"Germany!" America nearly whined, frowning at the other Country. "I just got most of them to call me Dad! I'll have to start all over!"
"Sorry, Alfred! We'll just let you all get started with your meeting, please pay no attention to us while we have a...talk..." Missouri piped up, already beginning to heard her siblings toward the corner of the room.
America waved his arm after Missouri with pleading eyes. "See what I mean?"
Germany sighed through his nose, looking to his left and feeling a wave of relief that Italy was still dozing peacefully.
"Mm...do you think that the states will cycle through again? I'm sure little Alaska would love to see me again, da?" Russia turned his all too cheery question to China, mind wandering back to a few months ago. The tallest Nation began chuckling to himself as a dark aura started dancing around him.
A/N: I had no idea how to end that...sorry...but yes! A few of the Midwestern states have Germainic roots! It should also be common knowledge that 7/12 of the states have French roots...Louisiana Territory anyone? Also I got the uniforms from Google. I just searched up 'Midwestern military uniforms' and picked one that seemed right. So, yeah. Maybe all the future chapters will be this long? Probably not though. Also, sincere apologies if I didn't get a Nation right! With that, thank you for reading, review if you want. And thanks a whole bunch! -Cornonlecob