A/N: I am basing the states' capabilities off of the max of what a non-humanoid bird can do. So flying at roughly 60mph (but 200mph in a dive) (some birds are way faster but I didn't want to give them too many advantages), comfortably 20,000-25,000 ft up. That's why they're going so fast and why no one on the ground is freaking out staring at them. Also, I base states' ages off of when their territory was created, not when they got their statehood. But they would use statehood dates as their birthdays, the way that America's birthday is the fourth of July even though he was already a teenager when the declaration was signed. It's purely symbolic.

I usually give content warnings on a chapter by chapter basis, but overall, expect some language (rarely) and violence. For this chapter specifically, there are three (3) cuss words, and the states get in a minor fight.

Please note that none of my ocs are good people and they all belong in the trash. If your state acts like a jerk, don't be offended as eventually I will write them all as acting like jerks. These are the states we're talking about, they aren't good

And yes, America's wings are based on a bald eagle.

They got up bright and early the next morning to a breakfast of coffee made in a teapot over a campfire and the last of the preserved meat of a rabbit Indiana shot three days ago.

It truly is a glamorous life.

"You know, if we make good time today like we did yesterday, we'll end up passing right by Knoxville. Maybe we could stop there, see the city. It'd be fun. It's barely even a detour; Knoxville is almost directly in our path," Michigan's voice sped up as she spoke.

She took a big swig of coffee and was answered with silence and shifting glances.

"Mich… We don't go in cities that often for a reason," Ohio finally spoke.

She rolled her eyes. "You're so paranoid. Men in black aren't going to come kidnap us away the second our faces are seen on a traffic cam. They don't even know what we look like anymore, and I doubt anyone is searching all that hard. You're just a scared old man living in the past."

"Okay, first off, we both look sixteen. Second off, it's not government goons I'm worried about-"

"It's the Erasers," Illinois finished. She stared at the fire intently, her voice flat and toneless. "The government is not a threat. Even if they did find us, they can't force us to do anything. They can try hard as hell, but there is always a choice. Erasers, though… Those guys are a threat."

The fire's crackling seemed much louder than before.

"Would… would an Eraser go into the city?" Wisconsin asked. "It's just… We've never seen any there. I'm pretty sure they don't want the public to know about them. Or law enforcement."

"That's… actually a good point," Ohio conceded.

"We could use a day in the city," Indiana said.

"So we're doing it?!" Michigan sprang up.

"Unless someone else has a problem with it…"

"Yes!" Wisconsin punched the air, clapping a hand over his mouth when his voice echoed. The states all laughed.

Spirits were high. Their altitudes were high. For once, the flight south was going well and no one was thinking about being homesick.

Michigan and Wisconsin were babbling nonstop about everything they were planning to do in Knoxville, and their excitement was contagious. Soon the whole flock was caught up in the discussion.

"Is that it?!" Illinois pointed at a town below.

Wisconsin squinted at the map. They didn't usually use a map, instead relying on their own natural sense of direction, but now they were looking for something specific. He had gone into a smaller town and snatched it from a kiosk when no one was looking. "Uhhh, yes! Yeah, that's it!"

"Woohoo!" several of them held their wings back and began to dive.

"Wait! Wait, I read it wrong. Knoxville's still up a ways."

"Less woohoo."

After a little more than three hours of flying, they finally arrived. They landed a little ways outside town. Dropping out of the sky in the middle of the street might cause a bit of a panic. Besides, they always look like a trainwreck after flying.

"Thank God it's sweater weather. I have no clue how we would hide these in the summer," Illinois said, pulling a leather jacket snugly over her wings. They fit under neatly, but tight or open clothing would show them clearly.

"Guys do I look normal?" Ohio asked, a bit frantic.

"You've never looked normal a day in your life, Ohio. Have you seen your face?" Michigan said.

"Can you guys please tell Michigan that I was not talking to her, and that I have literally never been talking to her in my life?"

She mouthed his words back mockingly.

"Your wings are hidden. You're good," Wisconsin said appraisingly.

"Thank you, Wisconsin," he said, staring pointedly at the Mitten State, who rolled her eyes.

"Alright. You guys ready to go?" Indiana asked.

Cities are a very strange and foreign place. The old northwest states had been in them before, of course. Briefly, to get iodine, coffee grounds, and on the rare occasion they could afford it, canned food. Being homeless and living in a tree doesn't pay very good.

Everything was glass and concrete. There was a neverending supply of people coming from all directions. Skyscrapers lived up to their name and looked like they were about to tip over, they were so tall. The states couldn't help thinking how fun it would be to spread their wings and weave all around them.

They decided to do every cliche, touristy thing they could think of. They never did things like this, so it was go big or go home.

They went to a solid four museums. Learned some stuff about other cultures, art, the other states.

They went to the top of the Sunsphere and didn't really see what the big deal was. But then, humans aren't up high that often, and most places cater to humans.

Indiana found a twenty on the ground and they were overjoyed, planning on spending it at a real, fancy restaurant. When that turned out to bit just a bit more expensive than they had hoped, they got fast food instead.

A concert was being put on in the town square after sundown. They were playing mostly bluegrass music, which the states weren't really familiar with, but they were able to recognize the occasional country song. Wisconsin and Indiana would sing along to the whole song, while the others only knew the choruses. Both groups teased each other equally over it.

"This is fun," Ohio said over the noise. Indiana nodded. "We should go into cities more often."

"Illi-," a man with light brown hair and glasses gasped, staring at them with wide blue eyes. Or more specifically, staring at Illinois. "Bex?!"

"Shit," she hissed, turning around instantly and picking her way back through the crowd.

"Illinois? What's going on? Who is that? How does he know who you are?"

She didn't respond, forcing the flock to follow her. The guy was following too, determination etched on his face.

Once they broke free from the crowd, she started sprinting, and the others ran to keep up.

"Bex! Bex wait up! Rebecca!"

"You gonna explain any of this, Bex, or are we gonna die wondering?" Wisconsin snapped.

She shook her head and kept running.

"Where are we going? Do you have a plan? Because that guy is fast," Ohio cast a glance over his shoulder.

"We're going somewhere he can't follow," she said tersely.

She refused to speak again until they got there, saving her breath and energy. When they reached the base of the Sunsphere, understanding dawned. They cursed the lack of stairs and pushed past people, shoving them out of the way to reach the elevator and getting yelled at.

"There are two elevators. He'll get up there right after we do," Michigan said.

The ride up was eternal but not long enough. They could practically feel the other people in the elevator judging them.

The minute the doors opened, they burst out and rushed to the railing. Michigan leapt onto it and used it to launch herself through a glass pane of the dome. She plummeted through the hole, eliciting screams, then snapped her wings out and soared upwards, eliciting more screams.

Three more birdkids repeated the procedure, trying to keep their faces as hidden as possible from all the phones that were now out. Illinois hesitated, the last to go.

The elevator dinged. She turned, giving Alfred a wry, bittersweet smile. And took a step forward.

The flock circled upwards lazily. It was night, the observation deck was at the wrong angle, they were far enough up from the ground. They were sufficiently hidden from prying eyes and cameras.

A missile shot into the night out the Sunsphere, rocketing towards them. It only took seconds to reach their altitude. He spread his wings to halt, unfurling fifteen feet of black silhouetted feathers.

All five states audibly gasped. Fight or flight kicked in, and Illinois was already nudging the group away. But Michigan froze, flapping in place, unmoving.

Alfred drifted forward slowly, hands up and palms out in a show of peace. "I just want to talk. If y'all would just let me explain-"

"Mich, get back here!"

"No. I'm gonna hear what he has to say," she didn't even look back at them.

"Michigan!"

She flew farther away from them over to his side. "You guys coming or what?"

The looked amongst themselves. "Should we…?" Indiana asked.

"Just because Michigan made a bad decision doesn't mean we all have to," Illinois said, looking to Ohio for support. He usually disagreed with Michigan on principal alone.

"Well… regular humans don't have wings. States have wings," he said.

"We've never met a state outside the flock. We need to at least talk to him," Wisconsin said.

"I disagree. We should walk away now and forget this ever happened. That guy is shady and I don't trust him. For pete's sake, he chased us all through the city!" Illinois said.

Indiana peered at her skeptically. "Because you started running when you saw him."

"How can you say that? If we never gave new states a chance, you and Michigan wouldn't even be here now," Wisconsin said. "You know, I don't care. I agree with Michigan. I'll see you guys later."

His wings pushed a gust of wind in their faces as he left. Illinois looked about imploringly, "Guys..."

Indiana laughed. "Later, hypocrite."

Ohio waited until they were out of earshot to speak. "From what it sounds like, you two have a history that would have been beneficial for us to know about. There will be plenty of time to make enemies later. For now, I suggest going with the flow."

The states pretty much do whatever they want. They have no rules. They have no clear leader. They vote on all major decisions, which doesn't really accomplish much. Even fundamentally, there are very few things they agree on.

But they could agree on one rule: never ever ever ever ever ask Illinois about the past.

The rule didn't seem so unitarily good anymore.

Against all common sense, the states allowed Alfred to lead them to his hotel room. Sure, he seemed to be one of them, but he was a stranger and an adult and looks can be deceiving. Technically, if the worst happened, they outnumbered him. But for all intents and purposes, his wings had appeared to be solid walls of muscle much longer and broader than any of their own, and they were fairly convinced he could grind their bones into dust if he wanted to.

Though he didn't look half as intimidating now that he wasn't pulling any angel-of-death moves and they weren't running through the dark like their lives depended on it. He didn't even look that much older than them. He was beaming a lot, but half the time he didn't seem to know what to do or say and kept on rambling about things that don't matter.

He sat the states down in his hotel suite and insisted on making them all iced tea. You definitely aren't supposed to drink things strangers prepare for you, but he had already lured them to a location of his choosing. At this point, if they were gonna get murdered, then they were gonna get murdered and that's just that.

The states all huddled on one couch, refusing to separate. Alfred pulled a chair up to the coffee table across from them. He drummed his fingers together anxiously, then switched to bouncing his leg up and down.

"So I'm guessing you are Tennessee, right?" he nodded toward Indiana.

Illinois snorted, and Alfred blushed slightly. "Guess not. Uh… Oh! Speaking of which, my name is Alfred F. Jones and I am the personification of the United States of America!"

"What?!"

"Did you not figure that out?" he asked somewhat incredulously. "I mean, from everything Illinois must have told you about me, I figured that you would have put two and two together by now."

"Illinois has never told us anything about you, ever. We didn't even know there was a personification for the U.S.," Indiana said.

"Seriously?"

Illinois shrugged. "It's not anything against you. There are a lot of things I don't mention."

"Understatement of the year," Wisconsin muttered.

"So what do you know?" America asked.

Silence. They weren't sure how much they should really give away. Sure, this guy said he was the nation, but...

Illinois sighed. "They know there are states. They know they are states. Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin used to be involved with their governments and were kept secret for security purposes. They picked me and Michigan up along the way. We've been bouncing around between the Great Lakes ever since the '50s. That's why we're down here. We head south whenever home gets too cold to live outdoors."

"Whatever happened to you not trusting this guy? Now you're just telling him everything?" Ohio asked.

"You told them I was untrustworthy?" Alfred asked, resembling a kicked puppy.

"It was a little white- I didn't mean- I just didn't think I'd ever see you again," she mumbled, slouching down into the couch. "I'm sorry. You guys can trust him. You should. He really is America, and he doesn't mean any harm."

"Alright," Ohio said, shooting her a glance that said you better not be wrong. "I am Ohio. You can call me Charlie."

America's whole face lit up. He gave Ohio an enthusiastic, death-grip handshake. "Nice to meet ya, Charlie."

"I'm Eli. Wisconsin," he said, awestruck. There was a nation. He was actually meeting their nation. How awesome was that?!

"I'm, uh, not Tennessee. I mean, um, I'm, you know, Indiana," he rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh! Lawrence. Forgot to say that. My name is Lawrence."

"I'm Michigan!" she said, taking his hand before he had a chance to take hers. "People call me Lucy."

"Quite a grip you got there," Alfred said approvingly.

"Could say the same to you," she smirked.

"My states are tough as nails," he said mostly to himself, taking them all in. "You've been living in the woods all this time? Together? Do you know where the other states are?"

"You don't?" Ohio leaned forward.

He shook his head. "Not a clue. Once Illinois showed up, people scoured everywhere looking for the others. There wasn't a single trace. The only thing the investigation confirmed was that record-keeping in the past really sucked."

"I was the first state he met," Illinois grinned. "I was sorta scared about coming forward, so I waited until things calmed down- er, at least relatively. It was in 1878. Alfred and the president were talking in the White House gardens- I had no clue who Alfie was, I thought he was just some guy-"

"Bex comes flying in and lands right in front of us. She puts her hands on her hips and says 'I'm Illinois.-"

"'Nice to meet you, Mr. President'," they finished together, laughing through their words.

"Why did you never tell us any of this? We should have been informed," Indiana asked. He was suspicious of everything about this. Illinois had to be hiding something. This is not the sort of thing that you just forget to mention.

Illinois faltered. "You know I don't like talking about the past."

"It's one thing to put something behind you; it's another to hide vital information from your flock," he said.

"When I first came into the flock, I tried to tell you guys, I really did. You told me to stop and that I didn't need to explain anything. Those were your exact words, Wisconsin, your exact words," she insisted.

"We went hunting and you had a panic attack after the first gunshot. You looked like you were killing yourself trying to choke out words to justify it. I meant you never had to talk about that part of the past, not the fact that we have a nation and everything we thought we knew about the other states was completely wrong!"

"You mean everything they thought they knew," Michigan said. "Illinois had the chance to fix this mess and didn't, but Ohio and Indiana started it in the first place. They presented all this stuff as if it were fact when they had no clue what they were talking about. You've had us basing everything we knew about personifications off of assumptions you made when you were, what, six?"

"Indy was six, I was seven," Ohio corrected. "We were just doing what we thought was best. And you chose to join this flock! You were completely alone before! You would still be a scared, lost hermit without us."

"No, you know where I would be without you? I would be doing whatever all the other states are doing. I would have figured it out on my own by now, if it weren't for all this unnecessary hiding! And the only reason I joined the flock in the first place is because you two had me convinced that the only other option was to be kept under lock and key and used as a pawn by evil politicians! You dragged us all down with you into this pit of fear and wrong ideas!"

"How come Wisconsin isn't getting any flack for this? It wasn't just me and Charlie," Indiana protested.

Wisconsin laughed incredulously. "Because I was a freakin' baby when we ran away. My territory had only been formed twelve years ago! I couldn't even talk yet, I certainly wasn't involved in the decision. I was practically kidnapped," he paused. "I was kidnapped."

"Okay whoa, that's a very serious accusation to make," Ohio said. "We were trying to do the right thing. We were rescuing you!"

"Rescuing me?! From what? A good life? A sense of security? A community to belong in?"

"It wasn't always like that and you know it-"

"All hail our lords and saviors Ohio and Indiana, who took us in out of the kindness of their hearts and prevented us from leading normal lives or- God forbid- meeting another personification. Who knows what kind of fiends those other states are? They might even be-," Michigan looked around dramatically, lowering her voice to a whisper, "Just. Like. Us. The horror! The scandal!"

"Why don't you shut up a-"

"And God knows we needed to be protected from this villainous nation right here, or who knows what might have happened?! He has not stopped smiling since he met us. He made us iced tea. What sort of sicko," Michigan shook her head.

"I really don't want to be involved in this-," America said.

Illinois snorted. "You certainly never have been."

The others didn't understand the comment, but America flinched at it. After everything that had happened today, it was enough to make Michigan's blood boil. She bolted up and punched Illinois in the jaw.

Illinois sprung away to a more defendable position, wiping blood from her split lip. "You crazy psycho! What is wrong with you?!"

Michigan's eyes burned with fire and she lunged forward, shrieking. Wisconsin and Ohio held her back, barely. America leapt between them, acting as a physical shield for Illinois. Both states were pulled away to opposite ends of the room.

"You okay?" Alfred asked, tilting his head. "Looks like your lip is already healing up."

"I'm fine," she bit out without looking at him. "I need to stop being an idiot and accept when my presence is unwanted. Besides, whatever plan these guys come up with next, it won't be one I want to be a part of. It was all fine and good when we were just flying together, but I don't want to 'become involved as a state' again. I've already turned that down once before."

"Illinois, don't do this, now's your chance to-"

"See, that's the thing! I don't want to be 'Illinois.' I want to be Bex. Just Bex. I want to be a person and have choices and live the life I choose. I was born a state, but that doesn't have to be the end-all, be-all definition of who I am."

The other states had quieted across the room once they heard what she was saying. "You can't just 'quit' being a personification," Ohio said.

"You all did. For centuries. I am not the only hypocrite in the room," she said, hand on the doorknob. "Nobody better follow me."

And the flock was down to four.

"I can't believe she just did that," Wisconsin said.

"I can see her point," Michigan said.

"How," Ohio said dryly, already narrowing his eyes.

Michigan shrugged. "The flock was doing something she didn't support, so she left. She didn't want to get mixed up with governments or the nation or anything like that again, so she stood up for herself and made it happen. Kinda like how I don't want to be associated with known kidnappers."

"Do you wanna fight me or what, Lucy?"

"I always wanna fight you."

"Oh my God," America said suddenly. "I totally forgot to get the mail earlier. I've gotta go do that right now. Don't worry, I'll be back soon." He all but ran out the door.

"We. Didn't. Kidnap. Anyone," Ohio said.

"That's exactly what a kidnapper would say," Michigan said. "Just look at the guilt written all over their faces, Eli."

"I mean, I'm pretty sure that's anger, but okay, sure."

"We have literally never done anything wrong. We were rescuing you. Things weren't always good for states. We were never allowed to go anywhere or meet anyone 'for our own good.' Lawrence and I had to sneak out just to find each other, forget about meeting anyone else. Illinois gave it all up for a reason. Actually, we're lucky we left when we did, before everything got so much worse after that."

"Lucky?! As if we're supposed to be thankful you brainwashed us?!"

"Brainwashed! Are you kidd-"

"Hey," Wisconsin cut in. "I don't know about Michigan, but I'd be willing to forget all this and put it behind us if you two would just admit you were wrong and apologize."

Indiana folded his arms. "No."

"No?"

"No. I won't apologize for that. We were genuinely looking out for everybody's best interests."

"It wouldn't be the right decision now, but it was the right decision then, and that is all that matters," Ohio said.

"Alright then," Wisconsin said. "I guess the decision is final. We're splitting up."

The anger in the atmosphere fizzled out, replaced with bittersweet nostalgia. Just yesterday everything had been normal. Just hours ago they had been having fun together.

Indiana opened the doors to the balcony and stood on the railing, prepared to take off.

"Wait. Lucy, before I go, there's one last thing I want to say to you," Ohio said.

"What is it, Charlie?"

He took a deep breath. "I told you so! The government was looking for us! I was right, and you were wrong, so ha! I'll be so glad when you're out of my life for good and I never have to see you again! Goodbye forever, you two-faced loser!"

"I hope you die in a pit, Charlie! I never want to see your ugly mug again! Why don't you go to hell, you must be getting pretty homesick for there by now!"

"I would tell the devil you said hi, but she's standing right in front of me!"

They both flipped each other the bird, and Ohio and Indiana disappeared off the balcony in a flurry of red feathers.