Special thanks to Haddyskelly and Dontmezwitme for the absolutely wonderful reviews!
Right: I suck. That is all XD; Sorry, folks.
The Element: Part Three of Three
She maneuvered the shift until it was placed in Park and then ignored the whining of the engine as she jerked the keys in a twist and then forced them out of the slot despite their threatening to not give to the command. When all was said and done, she was still not completely satisfied.
Grunting, she kicked the stubborn door open and swung her feet over to the side before leaping out of the high truck, and the stack of old books she had positioned perfectly in her chair.
By the time her feet could touch the grass and she could hear the sound of her faithful friend neighing in the horse trailer, she knew something was amiss.
Her blue eyes narrowed and she spun around on her dirtied heels until she faced who she considered to be the worst of all her arch nemesi. The musky haired girl, looking no more than nine, pointed a thin finger at the boy as her bucked teeth bit into her bottom lip.
The lanky boy just gave a casual smirk to her.
"Red!" she hissed. "You weren't supposed t'be here this weekend!"
"Howdy, Ashland," the brother responded. "And no, I wasn't."
"Call me 'Kent,' you yella' bellied son-ova-bitch!" the little girl shrieked before stomping her way over to the boy. She raised up on the tips of her toes, aspiring to get in his face, but her nose reached no further than his chest. The boy sarcastically bent over so she could get in his face which only caused a furious shriek.
"I hate you, Tennessee! I hate you so much it keeps me up at night!" the girl screamed.
"Aw, Kentucky," he chuckled. "It's nice t'know you think about me."
She released an animalistic cry, ignoring as the Thoroughbred behind her whinnied in what could only be described as a horse fit of laughter. Her eyes narrowed and she pointed at him again.
"What are you doin' here?"
"Pa isn't at the plantation this weekend," he responded with a shrug. It caused her to look around the property in doubt, hoping to prove him wrong. "There's somethin' or the other goin' on in Australia—if ya happen to know where it is, Kent—and he went to it."
When there was no one else on the property to be found, Kent released an irritated noise which sounded remotely like the chattering of a bird. Her mouth continued to keep its persistent scowl. "Then why are you here?"
"I figured you'd be the last one on the map to find out," Tennessee smirked and placed his hands in his pockets. "So I thought we could hang out for the weekend, we haven't gone crawdad fishin' in a while."
Before he could make a more enticing offer, Tennessee found himself doubled over, clutching his newly punched stomach. He laughed through his newfound pain and shook his head as he listened to the stomping of tiny feet followed by the cry of an exasperated engine.
Gradually losing the strength to pull his brother around, Matthew settled for the corner at the end of the hall and released a groan before turning. Alfred just looked at him expectantly with those half-opened eyes.
"Jet lag, man," Al muttered. "It's a killer."
Still trembling from the amount of energy it took to escape the earlier situation, Matthew just shook his head at his brother. He then adjusted Kumajirou in his arms before turning his violet eyes at the older twin. It was enough to make America blink and take notice of something besides himself.
Alfred made a small noise, the same he made when they were children and he did something wrong. "What?"
"Do you go out of your way to try to pick fights?" Matt questioned, his voice coming out much more like a whine then he originally intended.
"Of course not," Al said before shaking his head. "I just end them." He then cocked his head to the side and gave Matthew that tight little pouty frown of his and put his hands in his pockets. "What's the matter, Mattie? I wasn't trying to say that I was only worried about the new bomb."
"But that's all anyone heard, Al," Matthew groaned. "This is the problem you keep having over and over again. You're just way too eager to have new weapons under your belt. My boss even predicted you'd be jumping the gun! When stuff like this happens you have to just take your time and … and breathe for a second, eh?"
Alfred rolled his eyes at this. "Okay, thank you for that wonderful advice, Canada," he scoffed. "You're just the forefront of the military world, aren't you?"
"Militaries aren't everything," the younger twin responded in defeat.
He was beginning to lose the precious few moments of his brother's attention he had. Matthew groaned inwardly, he wasn't even sounding convincing in his own mind.
"At least try not to step on Arthur's toes today, Al," he pleaded. "He's already stressed out today and—"
"He's just going to have to remember that we're not his little colonies anymore," Alfred interrupted with a nonchalant wave of his hand. "We're his equals now, and we can make our own decisions and blow our own shit up if it's what we want to do. After all, Cody'll learn from this and he has two awesome older brothers like us for him to look up to."
"But Cody didn't want this, Al," Matthew heard himself whine. "That's the whole problem. His government and these companies were doing it without telling him. This 'new' element isn't just dangerous, it's illegal and the whole world is already finding out about it."
Al's brow furrowed and at last some signs of realization came across his features.
"I can talk to some of the G8, see if I can keep him from being sanctioned as a nation," Al responded quietly. "I know I can convince most of them to understand the situation, God knows that Ludwig's been in it his share. He shouldn't be tried for what these agencies did."
Matt sighed with relief. He knew all along that behind his bone-headed exterior his brother was a helpful sort. He just wished America would make it to where the rest of the world could see it so clearly, too.
A dangerous flash was in Alfred's eyes, however. It made Matt draw a hand away from cuddling his pet and instead brush through his bangs nervously.
"They'll have to show us the details on creating this element, though," Al said, more to himself than to his twin. "I'd like to have some people go over it before we show it to the likes of China and Russia."
"Al," Matt muttered, part of him knowing it was too late to deter him. He knew that look in his brother's eyes all too well.
Wang Yao had been in a meeting when the news first became international. Immediately he had bit back on his tongue and hissed "North Korea" under his breath as his boss and several higher ranking officials from his government scattered to both gain information and form a contingency plan.
Nuclear war was not a desirable outcome for any nation or continent, but to have an attack so near Asia was too much to ignore or lose reaction time on.
Nearly a day and a half later, the People's Republic of China sat in the study of his house, reflecting on the silence of what had once been a filled, bustling home.
It was quiet without anyone there, as it had been for what felt like centuries.
He frowned to himself as he looked out the opened screen door. Perhaps it had been centuries. It was so hard to judge at times, especially for a nation as ancient and interwoven in history as China was.
Sighing, he wished to himself that at least Hong Kong would bother to stay with the older nation more often, he still, after all, was a part of China unlike so many of the others. Even if the ever silent and vigilant Li Xiao did not say a word the entire time he was in the home, Yao could not help but think that would make this business in Australia less unnerving.
Closing his eyes, he could capture glimpses of the old times and push the events of the day before aside. He almost found peace in the moment when the hum of plastic against hardwood drew his attention back to his desk.
With a quick sweep of his hand, Yao took the cell phone and answered with, "Nĭ hăo."
The other end of the phone replied with, "Privet·stviya, comrade."
The corners of the nation's mouth tipped downward and he inwardly questioned how he did not anticipate this call from his friend and ally sooner. If anyone was ever aware of the progress in the world's nuclear warheads or the such, it would be Ivan Braginski.
They discussed their current knowledge on the Australian warhead. Yao set aside his schedule for the next week. The end of the week would be an emergency World Conference between himself and the rest of the nations over how to place restrictions on and punish those responsible for breaking International Law.
The beginning of the week was set aside for Russia to come and visit China for discussions on how this would affect their own diplomatic relations.
The flowers were a bit much.
Pennsylvania thought that as soon as he purchased the small bouquet of roses from the first floor gift shop. He could not even remember his thought process as he chose to walk into the hospital that day. All he remembered was yelling at his father for running in the halls and then deciding it would be wisest to just give up any hope of keeping up.
Just because the young man was a state of his father's did not mean he had his speed or general athleticism.
He paused just at the door of the Principality's room and flashed his identification card to a skeptical looking soldier before entering.
Samuel stopped and looked at the tan skinned micronation who sat in the bed before him. She gave a tight furrow of her bushy brows and cocked her head to the side as she studied him more.
"Hello, Principality of Wy, on behalf of the United States of America, I would like to give you this bouquet and hope you get well soon," he said very matter of factly.
"Well, aren't you just a show pony," she quipped. "If you're trying to woo me, you'll have to outdo Seborga."
She then waved her hand over to the table beside her on which hundreds of flowers, Italian desserts, and stuffed animals were stacked one over the other. The common theme was hearts, an oil painting hanging behind it all had more than enough surrounding the self-portrait of the Italian principality.
Perhaps the flowers weren't enough …
Pennsylvania froze and eyed the huge assortment of gifts before finally shaking his head, nearly knocking his bifocals off of his nose. He swiftly, almost instinctively, shoved them back to their proper spot, however, and looked desperately to the young girl before him.
"No, no, no. I'm afraid you're misreading my intentions, Miss Wy," Sam said with his face feeling as though it were on fire. "While you are quite a lovely young nation, I am merely wishing you well in regards of my Nation while he is currently visiting with your older brother down the hall."
Her green eyes scanned him once more before hardening. "What did you say your name was?"
"I didn't," he corrected as politely as possible. "But if you would like it, I'm Pennsylvania."
There was little to no recognition on the principality's face. The young nation, if Penns had recalled correctly, had never come to America yet and as such probably had not run into either him or his siblings. However, this theory soon faded, as a twinkle grew in her eye and Wy smirked at him knowingly.
"Oh, I've heard of you," she said with a slight chuckle escaping her badly parched lips. "You're America's whipping boy."
"One of," he said nonchalantly. "And the term for this century is more along the lines of domestic assistant."
It was true. Penns had developed the phrase for himself and whatever other state at the time felt it was their turn to take the burden of working in their father's office with him. He had even gone so far as to make a business card for himself with the title, but his father had sat him down and asked him if he wanted to be shoved into a locker by bullies for the rest of his life.
"So you've not been angry enough yet to declare independence or something?" she asked before coughing into her fist, the sardonic façade she had been using was beginning to fade the longer the conversation went.
He observed her somewhat closer before allowing the corners of his lips to fidget into a very forced smile. He was so awful at international diplomacy, why hadn't he told York to get off his ass and come instead?
"That would be treason," he said in short, clipped terms. "And I couldn't fathom a large enough reason to leave the Union, especially after the Civil War business has been settled for something along the lines of one-hundred fifty years."
She blinked at him. "Really? All it took for me was an unpaved driveway."
Not sure how to respond to that one, Samuel shook his head and walked cautiously to the table by the bathroom and rested his rather humble bouquet alongside some more stuffed animals, all falling short of the near-shrine which resided at the bedside. Penns began to make mental notes, the first being he should brush up on his international affairs.
"Say, Penny-sale," she said rather casually, causing the boy to question if she had genuinely mispronounced his name or not, "wouldn't that be your Big Brother? What's he doing?"
He turned enough to look out the door over his shoulder, his eyebrows hiding in his bangs as he looked expectantly. Indeed, America walked by, his face in a stern frown and his arms crossed across his broad chest as none other than Canada followed with a concerned look and a sigh being all he had to his name.
"Uh, that would be my father, actually," Penns responded before looking back to the young principality. "As for what he's doing, well, I can't be for certain but I would almost always place my bet on 'showing the world his ass.'"
She gave him a strange look before frowning.
"Americans are a strange bunch."
He held back a laugh and the urge to say you don't know the half of it.
Arthur sat back in what must have been the most uncomfortable chair ever to be created and closed his eyes in thought. There would be a lot of strings he would have to pull in order to make sure the other nations did not overreact to Cody's new problem. He would have to work even harder to prove to the others that he wasn't the one in fact responsible for the issue to begin with.
After all, the only official nuclear testing to be handled in Australia had been at his government's hands.
Grunting to himself, he brought up his hands and gently massaged his forehead before sighing. "Oh, what a bloody mess," he mused quietly.
It was a good thing that Sealand had been staying with Finland and Sweden for the past few weeks. It gave the elder nation one less concern to freight over. The thoughts of his tiny principality brought him around to glancing over Cody's sleeping form, and Arthur did his best to only pay attention to the uninjured half of Australia's body.
It seemed like only a short time ago it was this young nation running around the London home, making a nuisance of himself and catching random animals to show Britain proudly.
"You all grow up so fast," Arthur sighed as he crossed his right leg over his left and allowed his thoughts to switch to another of his former colonies on accident.
The door flung open again, causing Cody to jolt awake and Arthur to leap to his feet in absolute rage.
"Have you never opened a door before, you git!" Arthur howled at the American.
"Whoops!" Alfred responded before turning his head more toward Cody, his mind not giving the door or the new dent in the wall a second thought. He instead smiled eagerly at his younger brother and made his way to the bedside, receiving a smile from Australia in response.
Arthur groaned and then looked to the other twin who sighed and shook his head in response to his brother's shenanigans. By the time Canada finally looked at him, the Englishman had folded his arms expectantly.
"You couldn't keep him out of the room for a while longer?" he demanded, the back of his mind trying desperately to remind him that what America did was not his twin's fault. "God forbid that he let Australia rest or anything."
"Sorry," the other muttered, his violet eyes darting around the room as he squirmed under Arthur's gaze.
"But like I was saying," Alfred continued, bringing the elder nation around to realize he had been chatting the entire time, "I'll see what I can do about the other nations off your back, but we've got to figure out what kind of nuclear … thing we're dealing with first."
That just brought Old England's blood to a boil as he glared at America.
"Now see here," he snapped, causing both Alfred and Cody to look back to him. "I will handle the other countries, they'll be expecting my involvement anyway. And as for getting more information on this nuclear catastrophe we have here, you might as well as forget it, Alfred. You can learn about it as the rest of us do. The more your military sticks its nose in this, the more enemies Cody is going to receive."
This caused the American's look to sour and he stood straight, as if to remind his former mentor that he was taller and stronger than he was all those years ago.
"Why would they expect you to be involved? You're not his master anymore, Britain," he spat. "And my military has to be involved due to ANZUS. If anyone was going to accuse me of having a hand in this, they've already came to that conclusion anyway."
They locked eyes as the remaining two nations remained quiet. As usual, this argument had nothing to do with either Australia or the current state of world affairs. This argument was much older than that and it was one that would seemingly never go away.
"Not that my opinion matters," Cody suddenly croaked from the bed, "but I'd rather you both help me out with this."
They remained quiet but knew they would have to work together, whether they liked it or not.
[Notes]
*Okay, on this two-person team I am pretty much the "East Coast" person. I am from Eastern Kentucky. "Kent" is not based on me in any way, nor is Tennessee-tan based on anyone I know. However, their interactions are based on a bit of fact. I've heard plenty of stories about people living on the Tennessee-Kentucky border having their cats/dogs dyed or tattooed in the colors of each other's main university (UK and UT of course). So, yeah.
*Australia is a member of the Group of Twenty (G20) which is pretty impressive in the international sense. However, it is not a member of the even more influential Group of Eight (G8) which consists of Canada, Federal Republic of Germany, French Republic, Italian Republic, Russian Federation, State of Japan, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and United States of America
*"Nĭ hăo" Chinese. "Hello."
*"Privet·stviya, comrade."/"Приветствия, товарищ." Russian. "Greetings, comrade."
*In this series, the states work as "domestic servants" sort of, allowing the "parent" nations to maintain focus on international/diplomatic relations. This, however, is a more recent development, particularly for America who has a history of isolating himself, particularly before the World Wars and during the McCarthy years.
Right: I know, I know. Everyone's sick of me. But I have a second arc and then it's Left's turn, I swear XD;
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