Egg Nation- Your Brother's Keeper

The parallel yet different similarities between Black Confederate and America were unsettling to say the least. The air of strength that naturally surrounded Alfred was intentionally boasted by the Character transformation, successfully intimidating his opponents. The familiar confident, almost to the point of egotistical, smile wired onto his face had a twitch behind it that nudged and hinted to you about the twisted scheme turning in the cogs of his mind. His heroic posture was held not to inspire others with his ideas of justice and freedom like it usually did but to enforce his deformed take on these beliefs. And Ikuto, his spirited and mischievous blue eyes had lost their gleam with the occupation of the dulling haze. Ikuto, under the control of Black Confederate, tilted his head over a shoulder to see the X Egg eagle joyfully thrashing Kukai violently about by the hold it had on the boy's cloak and ordered the creature to discard its ragdoll with a stiff raise of his hand. The bird of prey stubbornly held onto its prize, but this defiance was rewarded with Ikuto aiming his bayonet riffle at it. After one last drawn out lashing; the eagle unwillingly tossed the boy, who to its disappointment landed safely on his feet. Once Kukai was released the bird begun healing itself with a new wave of bubbling dark energy as Ikuto secured his mount of the creature by pointing his riffle at his opponents and boldly daring them in a conceited brag, "Any ya'll try fightin' me, ya fellers should know I've got the best damn gunslinger in the world a-pullin' the trigger."

By the end of his brief ramble Ikuto had made it atop the eagle, which was fully recovered at that time, and slowly hovered off of the ground and rocketed back into the dim sky. Hidden by the gloomy presence of the unnatural clouds, Utau and her group hesitantly each took their own defensive position as they waited for their airborne enemy to attack. While they dealt with and narrowly avoided guerilla shots ambushing them from the veil of darkness, Amu and Tadase struggled to keep up in their own battles. Amu now hung by the scruff of her blue uniform's collar and soon was delivered a devastating punch to her gut by a more than pleased Lovino. After the hit, he let the fabric bunched up in his grip slip and savored the light thud as she fell to the ground. Amu landed on her hands and knees; then shakily picked one arm up to hold onto her bruised and aching stomach. From there Lovino gently placed one of his boots on top of the girl's back; and in sharp contrast to this first soft gesture he roughly pushed her down, letting Amu roll over a few times until she toppled with her back against the cold, gritty roof. And as the country stepped over to the fallen girl, he tapped one of his enlarged tomatoes with the tip of a foot which weakly spun the produce into her. When South Italy arrived he silently bent over to retrieve the tomato soccer ball and stood back up wordlessly; he only hatefully glared down at Amu, who reflected a look of weary sadness in her squinted eyes at him. This response prompted an irritation that resulted in the spiking of his tomato at her. Once the red ball had transferred a painful wave of energy it hopped back up into the air; awaiting a securing catch from its master but disappointedly fell onto Amu again, and then the tomato tipped off of her. Instead of catching his weapon Lovino yelled in a voice fuming with rage, "Goddamn it Veneziano! Where are you? Come out, you fucking idiot!"

"F-fratello…" Amu breathily stuttered as she dragged herself up off of her back, staggering into a stand that was bent slightly over with an arm wrapped around her midsection. The single word, considered to Lovino inappropriately used by her, met with a swift stinging slap from him across her face. This action had enough force supporting it that Amu stumbled back a bit before straightening herself out. She looked at him with remorseful, trembling golden eyes that reminded him of his brother's as they balled up beads of tears on their sides. Realizing the resemblance Lovino became disgusted at the mere sight of her that he spat into the similar face and threateningly lifted her up by the front of her jacket as he warned , "You have no business calling me that, little girl. Now undo the magic or whatever the hell you did and bring him out!"

"Fratello! It's me…Feli-Feliciano. And I'm so sorry! I didn't do… I never did anything! Even now I didn't call or try to come home for dinner. I left you there, all alone. Lovino, please forgive me!" But when these words reached Lovino the girl's voice had faded and according to his ears the apology had come from Feliciano in his own voice, and it was his own body that he now distinguished in front of him. Instead of the pink-haired stranger, South Italy saw his little brother daintily wiping tears with the back of his hand. And in this moment; when Lovino's mouth was paralyzed for any words or curses Feliciano constricted himself around Romano in an admittedly reassuring hug. Lovino then, without realizing it, welcomed the hug with one of his own and joined his brother in shedding a generous amount of tears. After each large drop fell, another painful emotion slid down his cheek and evaporated away. Soon those salty tears washed away his dull yellow orbs, leaving sparkling eyes after their cleaning. The tomatoes hissed as a foaming fizz eroded them out of existence; and the haunting images that once surrounded Lovino disappeared, leaving only the two brothers in an embrace.

"R-really, you don't have to be so sorry. I mean I did just beat you up pretty bad and destroyed your hou- …On second thought, this is all your fault. Idiot!" Lovino started sheepishly; before ruining the mood with his embarrassment as he quickly reassigned blame and pushed himself out of the hug, his face completely red with blush. Especially now that his senses were distributing proper information, and he could see that Feliciano was once again just the strange girl.

'Wait, Lovi! What did you do- Ah! Germany!' At Italy's cry Prussia's sword swatted the gun and ammunition Tadase was reloading into it out of his hands, tracing a fine cut along his gloves that only dug lightly underneath the boy's skin. But there was still a fierce biting pain that swelled from this new wound. Tadase did a mental assessment, counting his injuries: the entire front of his body from Utau's Nightmare Lorelei, his shoulder and most recently his hand; the last two resulting from Prussia and his sword. When he first transformed into Platinum Germany a surge of adrenaline-like power pulsed throughout his body; suppressing any pain he'd previously felt, but now that energy was wavering and spurts of anguish sparked off randomly. With that and the lack of weapon, Tadase's situation didn't look promising. But he had witnessed Amu's method of bringing the Italian out of his manipulated state and whispered through his heavy breaths, "Sh-should we try what they did?"

'To be honest even if I did want to, I don't think we'd be able to get near him while he's still armed.'

"Well… that was fun while it lasted, but the awesome me has claimed victory once again." Prussia gloated as he almost paraded; taking over confident and celebratory steps toward Tadase, who could only attempt to put up the fierce façade and inch away with each advancement Gilbert made until he was up to the roof's railing. After being denied further ground to tactically retreat on; Tadase's burgundy eyes became a blur as they darted around in desperation, looking for an escape. But before he could find one Prussia had the sword pointed at the tip of his nose, and the dissolved nation squeezed every drop of sick enjoyment out of the slow strokes he kept hovering over Tadase's face before finally raising his sword to strike. Then, just as Tadase was about to dodge the sword he expected to come hurtling down, the blade and its wielder turned to block a ricocheting bullet fired by the hidden Black Confederate. More careless shots rained down, and seeing Prussia preoccupied with deflecting these wild bullets brought some hope to Tadase as he nervously eyed his own gun and ammunition sitting nearby. But as he started to creep away; a foot stomped on one of his fleeting ones, and Tadase was pinned up against the railing by Prussia's free arm. Then the nation turned toward the blank, dark clouds and yelled in an outlandishly angry voice, "Hey! Watch it with those things, you could've unawesomely hit me."

"Peep peep"

"What is it now?" And then the answer to Prussia's question came fluttering disoriented into his mop of white hair. Tadase joined his adversary in a long and puzzled stare at the new arrival. He accessed the creature as a yellow chick or some other type of small bird. Whatever it was definitely had a hypnotic effect on Prussia, who remained paralyzed under its joyful bouncing and chirping. With his initial shock worn away, Tadase took advantage of his opponent's loosened grip and squirmed away. This brought Prussia out of his immobilized state in time to watch Tadase retrieve his gun and ammunition. Then in a fit of rage Gilbert slapped the chick off of his head, which fell to the ground and dejectedly scuttled away toward Tadase. Once it was received by him the chick disheartened, slowly scaled up his arm to cry softly into the crook of Tadase's neck. Before he could become analytical and ponder as to how a chick could possibly cry; Tadase finished reloading his rounds with a firm click, and then curiously cocked his head down at himself for an explanation.

'This is Gilbird, and he's more of a friend than pet to my brother.' Germany diligently answered as soon as the first quizzical line creased across Tadase's brow. After acquiring that knowledge the boy patted Gilbird with a gentle and consoling hand, to which the receiving party nuzzled graciously. Once most of Tadase's attention wasn't invested in comforting Gilbird; Germany continued speaking and asked in a grave voice of realization, 'Tadase, did you also notice how Gilbird's presence neutralized the mind control Prussia was under?'

"Yeah… you'd better run away, coward!" Prussia unsurely yelled before Tadase could give Germany an answer; completely aware of the lag between Gilbird's retreat and his words, he seized any space for the boy to comment on this fact with a hearty laugh. When his laughter had finally awkwardly silenced itself he resumed a fighting stance, with a gleeful smile of the battle's continuation on his face. Tadase lifted his head as a serious stare intensified his features; he mimicked Prussia's slow and careful steps, the two rotating across from each other. Prussia was the first to take the initiative in cutting the distance between them, sliding closer as he circled along with the boy. Tadase followed the example and inched toward him as well, his firearm raised and aimed at the Prussian. Gilbird quivered on the boy's shoulder but having picked up his owner's arrogant attitude, the chick stood and held itself proudly as it fearfully shivered. Then Tadase lost his tense expression when a flash of empathy shined through his pale red eyes. This sign of weakness prompted Prussia to end their seemingly endless circling by dashing forward in an aggressive charge. But the closer proximity Tadase now shared with Prussia only increased the volume of the words that'd gained his compassion. The feeble yet determined speaker in the nation's heart repeated what shattered Tadase's composure again, "Gilbird… Freundchen, du hast mich abgekommen auch!"

Gilbird forgot about any attempts previously planned to maintain its fearless appearance and fell back from the force of his master's words. Once the chick rolled off of its back, Gilbird looked at Prussia with tears welled up in its eyes. It then prepared to take off and fly back to Prussia, chirping apologies it knew he'd never understand, but the deafening bang from Tadase's gun halted the chick in its tracks. The firing of the boy's weapon did nothing to stop Prussia from advancing, but the small ring from the collision of two bullets pecked his curiosity enough to veer his attack and finely evade any contact with Tadase. Again another shot was fired; but this time it was from the hazardous Black Confederate, Prussia instinctually raised his sword to shield himself from the stray bullet. However nothing came except that odd ring, and when Prussia turned to face his opponent a fresh plume of smoke was elegantly streaming from the gun's barrel. It didn't take long for Gilbert to piece two and two together, but when he did the nation couldn't comprehend why Tadase would waste precious ammunition to save him, an enemy. And before he could react to anything else going on around him, Prussia was pushed over by a glimpse of blurred blonde and green while another bullet's screech rang. Then a light object toppled off of the blur's shoulder, whose image slowly became coherent enough to distinguish that the hazy figure was Tadase kneeling next to him, and Gilbird was the weightless object affectionately cuddling itself against his chest. Though Prussia's first reaction would've been to flick the chick off him and try to decapitate Tadase right then and there, he found himself unable to do anything with the chick's cheerful chirps chiming in the air. Then Prussia lying flat on his back was confused as to why he so desperately wished for the boy's eyes to be blue; Tadase sighed in a weary but relieved voice, "Bruder…"

"Nein! Ich habe kein Bruder. Keine Freunde. Nichts" Tadase was left speechless as both the true Prussia whispering from within and the one he'd been dueling against sighed these pessimistic words. After each distinctive voice breathed out the last word; Prussia sat up and weakly shoved Tadase, who effortlessly endured the ramming. His arms trembled and hands clenched into tight fists as Prussia's desire to move them and their unwillingness to comply with him opposed each other. Gilbird grabbed onto the front of the nation's shirt in a panic when the incline of his torso drastically increased and climbed up the fabric until it was safely atop the familiar shoulder. The yellow chick happily perched itself there, leaving Prussia only to steer his head toward Tadase and mask the turbulent array of contradictory feelings with a deathly angry scowl. But when he faced the boy the burgundy eyes Gilbert planned on starring furiously into were the exact shade of icy blue Prussia wanted so badly to see, immediately cooling his rage with one glance. Then it finally occurred to him that it wasn't that Tadase's eyes were now blue that calmed him; it was the fact that the boy wasn't by his side, but instead the one kneeling next to him was a young man he vaguely recognized. Prussia sifted through his memories or at least the ones he was allowed to remember while under Easter's control and during each of those painful recollections he felt a faint impression on his head from when Gilbird had nestled there. Every time Prussia thought of a battle he'd lost or saw Austria and Hungary happily together, sure enough the little fuzz ball was there. But what was even more curious was the foggy appearances the young man made in his scattered memories. Then Prussia was torn away from his ponderings when Germany placed a hand on his unoccupied shoulder and said in a genuinely gentle and loving tone rarely heard from him as he hesitantly brought Prussia into his arms with a hug, "No. You're wrong, Bruder. Gilbird and I are your friends, your family, and we will never abandon you."

"…"

"…Germany?…Kesesese! West you look so serious and sappy and… and… and very awesome. I mean seriously, you were so cool! It's obvious where you get it from but still. Kesesese!" After a brief silence Prussia shed the husk of haze present in his eyes, leaving the gleam in those blood red irises to bounce along with his snake-like laughter. The elder brother also returned the embrace tenfold with additional hard pats on the back and enthusiastic noogies, purposely messing up the other's carefully slicked back hair. Gilbird soon joined Prussia in his celebration by excitedly flying around him and Tadase before gladly resuming to perch on top of the Prussian's head, sounding off a triumphant tune as the chick snuggled into its preferred sitting position. Then all jovial acts from Prussia ceased as he felt the sword he held disintegrate into a pile of black, glittering dust only to be blown away by a passing breeze. He grumbled about the loss of such a fine weapon, and after witnessing the destruction of the blade faced the person he expected to be Germany but was surprised to find Tadase smoothing his hair back into its previous state. Prussia released the boy from his grasp and stood abruptly as he coherently mumbled, "I guess you were kind of awesome too kid, sorry for hacking you up…yeah. And for hugging you. I thought you were someone else, but you are in a way and- Ugh, never mind! The awesome me doesn't need to explain myself!"

Tadase took the attempted apology with a slightly overwhelmed smile and nervous laugh before bringing himself up to stand, but when the boy did he could have sworn he heard the wispy voice of Prussia's heart fading away as it managed to whisper one final word, "Danke."

"Tadase!" At the call of his name from the eagerly approaching Amu he turned toward her and returned the girl's greeting with an exuberant wave of his own. When she arrived the two exchanged pleasant smiles reassuring their success and safety; Tadase's was a little more strained than his friend's, but he was able to convince her not to worry about it with an affirming nod. Lovino followed behind her with his arms crossed and already sporting his infamous irritable attitude once again. He was accompanied by a depressed Japan; who hung his head low in shame while cradling his already bruising face in one hand, and the rest of the other characters discouraged over their failure to protect America. But before either of them could inquire the incoming characters about anything a startling cry from Ami echoed through the vicinity. This scream brought their attention to Utau and her group, who were by that point almost completely exhausted from blindly throwing attacks while also dodging wild bullets. And now Black Confederate had boldly swooped down on the X Egg eagle, snatching Ami right off of the ground.

"Amérique, you brut, take this! Rose Thorn Barrage!" Kukai was somehow able to yell with enough force behind his words to come off as threatening but at the same time curl his powerful tone into a lulling purr. After the attack was named several small thorns appeared and took root in the roofing's ground; and immediately growth sprang from them in the form of giant rose branches, bearing not only a multitude of colorful roses but their thorny stems as well. The flora jetting from the level surface soon covered the entire battlefield that lay before the children and tangled in on itself through the surrounding air. With prey firmly grasped in its talons, the eagle started to return to the protective veil above but was compelled into a series of aerial stunts just to avoid being skewered by the thorny branches. And just as the bird thought it had succeeded in out maneuvering the branches' random spurts, a fresh line of spiked flora suddenly reached out into its path. With no time to avoid the sweetly scented barb the eagle flew into and caught itself on the prickly stem; while the bird thrashed about frantically, Black Confederate grabbed his bayonet rifle with both hands and began to slice at the foliage. But when the X Egg eagle initially collided with the branch it subsequently released Ami, who was quickly caught by a fast reacting Utau. And while Utau struggled in flying through the thickening rose bush herself, Ami added an unnecessary element of difficulty as she wiggled within the other's hold in order to stretch her arm out over Utau's shoulder and open her spell book to the familiar tattered page. Once she achieved these Ami read aloud the incantation in that powerful ancient voice, "Elemental summon: Fire!"

The text responded more hastily than the first time she cast the spell and glowed like the soft ember it created right at the end of her exclamation. The flicker of hot light also evolved more rapidly than her earlier conjuring, expanding into its final fireball state by the time Utau returned the new magician to the floor safely. Of course it didn't take long for the flame's tongue to lick at the nimble leaves twitching under its hungry breath and discover it preferred the flowering plant over the tasteless air. The wildfire spread along the twisting and turning branches, consuming everything it came across. Under France's influence Kukai was on the brink of tears as his gorgeous masterpiece charred, which only made it harder for England and Ami to control their scoffing giggles. In a matter of time the entire plant was engulfed in flames, which freed Black Confederate and the eagle of their constraints but left them cornered by the wall of fire. Amu and Tadase had sprinted over, along with the entourage of characters and nations, and now stood with everyone in a horrified awe of the potentially deadly spectacle being performed in front of them. Amu was unable to restrain herself from crying out in a scarred yet concerned plea as she started to rush to their aid, "Hurry everyone! We have to help them."

"Allow me, da. Icy Frost Extension" Yaya calmly announced; halting Amu in mid stride, but there was an unsettling coldness in her tone and no one perceived the girl as relaxed at all. Nothing happened at first except for the notable chill that became present in the air despite there being a raging fire nearby. Then a rumble roared from the dark clouds hanging over them as the black puffs shifted, making room for the new grey wisps that shed delicate snowflakes. The weather manipulation left Yaya's friends in a speechless amazement, but the white specks carelessly drifting down widened her childishly cruel smile enough to see the peaks of her dimples poking out over the large scarf. She lifted her hand she wasn't using to hold onto the faucet pipe out in front of her and let it stay suspended in the chilling air. A fog of icy wind was blown from there into the thicket of fire, and instead of shrinking away into a puddle of cold water it slowed the flames' dancing until their jumping silhouettes were captured and suffocated under the ice formed in their place. When the fire was extinguished all that remained were abstract ice sculptors depicting the last leaps of the flames and trapped in the clutches of the natural art were Black Confederate and his feathered companion. Unfortunately Black Confederate was only trapped from the waist down, leaving the upper part of his body and the rifle to do as they pleased. The eagle squawked a hair-raising call, crying out in desperation during what it recognized as it last moments. But as soon as it had let the cringing screech out the bird retracted it when Black Confederate fired two rounds, commanding attention from all present. The split second of eerie silence after the booming bang was immediately broken by painful screams from Utau. Then on the peak of both wings there was a placid dark red flow slithering through her heavenly white feathers. She elevated her head to look at her brother with a face of restrained tears; teetering on the tip of her eyelids and then in a hushed and croaking voice Utau muttered, "Ikuto, how could you?"

A/N: Darn! I wanted to publish this on Canada day as a gift. And I know I said this was supposed to be the last chapter, but I got really carried away with the length. I hope I don't jynx myself when I say that I got my mojo back. I'm a typing maniac again! Really I am! I've already finished the last chapter, what now? So you can run and tell that, homeboy! References aside. Sorry for having a kind of weak cliffhanger, these last two chapters are really one big split into two parts. And now to translate the German because I know you all must be curious about what Prussia has to say. Again all German and translations are from our friendly neighborhood Spider- I mean Kurisuten-chan. (But seriously wouldn't it be cool to have a German Spiderman kicking ass and taking names!)

Gilbird… Freundchen, du hast mich abgekommen auch!- Gilbird... My friend, you've abandoned me too!

Nein! Ich habe kein Bruder. Keine Freunde. Nichts- No! I have no brother. No friends. Nothing

And now to semi-awkwardly peace out.

Peace~! -MagnifiedSun