Author's Note- Hey everyone, yes I know this week's chapter is a bit late, but it is harvest festival season and do have a weakness to fresh peaches and caramel apples. Also I want to give a quick shout out to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Thank you mofalle, bookwormally, kaidreavus, rhino, cutter-blizzard, missnoodlechan, and juniper laurel. You guys rock. In addition, a very special thank you to Pruhana for taking time out of their busy schedule to betaing the chapter.

Disclaimer- I do not own hetalia…but I have done aerial photo analysis in geology…

Chapter 8-Perspective

Colorado's taxi arrived at Bethesda Naval Medical center less than two minutes after California's, but by the time the mountainous state had pulled his bags and books, California was long gone. Colorado quickly thanked the driver, tried to balance his bags, and took off after his brother. Despite California's pronounced limp, the state's long legs were carrying him through the hospital at a fast clip. Colorado had to jog to keep pace, and with the weight of his gear, Colorado was starting to get winded.

"Hey Bro, hold up?" Colorado half-shouted, thankfully California stopped and turned, allowing Colorado to lean against the wall. Once the mountain state had caught his breath, he took a good look at California. "How are you feeling?"

"Like crap." California groaned.

"Well I guess that is to be expected…" Colorado said, not quite knowing what to say next. Luckily Virginia chose that moment to peek her head around the corner.

"Finally, you two get here?"

"Hey some of us have to fly half way across the world." California pointed out tiredly.

"And some of us have had to put up with Alfred for the last two days." As Virginia spoke the two brothers looked at each other and shrugged.

"You win." Colorado finally conceded.

"Are we done arguing?" Virginia asked pointedly. "Good, come with me, we have got a room set up with all the supplies you will need."

Virginia then turned and headed down the hallway without even bothering to see if her brothers followed. Colorado and California were forced to keep up with Virginia's pace, and by the time they reached an unmarked room in a rarely used area of the building they were both states were gasping for breath. As soon as the three states were through the door Colorado dumped his luggage in a pile on the floor and California took the opportunity to sit heavily down on one of the chairs and rested his head against the table.

"This will be your office for the foreseeable future. As you know Alaska is one of the youngest states, and unfortunately that means we do not fully understand her connection with the land. Your job is to analyze the available damage reports and see if you can make any connections with Alaska's medical diagnosis. If you need any additional equipment, tell me or one of the east coast states and we will get the equipment to you as quickly as possible." With that brief explanation Virginia turned on her heels and was half way out the door before Colorado spoke up.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to present a briefing to America and the medical team." Virginia explained quickly as she glanced at her watch. "I am already late so I have got to run. I will check on your progress afterwards."

With that Virginia ducked out the door leaving the two states with the small mountain of boxes. Colorado started to read through the labels and quickly realized that most of them were aerial photographs of towns and cities he had never heard of. He finally selected one labeled Seward and set it at his workstation. Then he glanced over his shoulder at California.

"So which box do you want?"

California's only reply was a soft snore.

America had to admit that things began to look better in the morning. He didn't know if it was because of the hours of sleep he had gotten or if it was due to the quiet support of England and Canada, but America felt like he now had the energy to face the disaster that had swept across the western coast of the continent head on. He took another gulp of overly bitter navy coffee and scanned the briefing sheet again.

"America, were listening to a word that I was saying?" Virginia's voice had a hard edge of exhaustion and frustration.

"Um…Yes?" America straightened himself in his seat and tired to look attentive…the act didn't work…

"Then what were we discussing?"

"The big earthquake that happened over the weekend in Alaska."

"Which aspect?" Virginia pushed.

"Um…" America quickly scanned the piece of paper trying to pick out the key topic. "The tsunami?"

"If you had another guess." Virginia's voice practically dripped with sarcasm. America was about to make a retort when the state slammed her hands down on the cheap government conference table. "No, you are not supposed to answer that. I will start from the beginning. But you better stay focused this time."

"Miss Jones?" On the far side of the table one of the doctors was clearly unhappy with the way the conversation was going, raising their hand timidly. Very few people had the courage to outright criticize a state.

"Yes." Virginia answered, and America could tell that the state's temper was barely held in check.

"We, I mean, I would like to remind you that Mr. Jones has withstood several major earth…" The doctor, a Major Warren, America dredged the name up from his memory, began.

"Point noted." England cut him off before the good doctor could finish. "Go ahead, Virginia."

"Here is the rundown. What we were just discussing was the Good Friday's Earthquake worldwide affect." Virginia took a deep breath then started to point at a large multi colored map that was spread across one wall of the conference room. "As you can see on the map we have marked how each state and countries have been affected by the earthquake's aftermath. The entire continent of North America is green, this is because noticeable shaking was experienced by all forty-eight states in the continental U.S. The yellow markers indicate locations which have reported seismic seiching."

"What does seiching mean, again?" Delaware asked tiredly.

"Seismic seiching is a phenomenon when the vibrations of violent earthquakes cause bodies of water to oscillate. This can lead to large often damaging waves to form…"

"Like a tidal wave?" Canada didn't look up from the stack of papers that he was taking notes on.

"Yes and no. Seiching tends to only occur in small relatively enclosed bodies of water, such as a lake or bay. In the case of the largest earthquakes, seiching can cause oscillations in rivers. This is the reason why several bridges were destroyed in Alaska and the Yukon Territory."

"I see." America remarked. "And just how widespread were these oscillations?"

"Seiching in surface waters occurred as far away as Puerto Rico and Australia, and we have gotten reports of ground water seiching all the way to South Africa." Virginia pointed at a few yellow markers on the map, before turning her attention to the blue ones. "The blue markers indicate areas with known earthquake or tsunami damage. As you can see the darkest blue is centered, here around Alaska. Also," she gestured at the other navy blue splotches, "in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii, Mexico and Japan."

"What about the other countries along the Pacific Rim?" This time England spoke up. "Why haven't we heard about the damage that they have suffered?"

"This is because the damage was minimal outside of the Canada and the United States. Mexico suffered some damage to his most northerly ports. Japan measured a ten-centimeter tsunami that was not large enough to affect the country's harbors, though it did damage some of their oyster beds. Japan is expecting a slight reduction in oyster and pearl yields, but otherwise no damaging repercussions. Chile, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, all noted the passing of a tsunami but experienced no damage from it."

"So you are saying that this is a purely North American crisis?" America said in surprise.

"Yes, I am."

"Excuse me, ma'am, what does the red mean?" A doctor asked timidly.

"Oh, those are the communist countries." Virginia said off handedly. "They have refused to inform us if they received damage from, or even felt the earthquake or tsunami."

"So we have the basic data, what do we do with it?" America asked.

"We collect more of it. Right now, we know that Alaska was the most heavily hit, but we don't understand the degree of impact. Unfortunately due to the size of the disaster zone it is impossible to ground map the damage. The military has begun to photograph the cities of Anchorage, Seward, and Valdez, but we need to drastically increase our aerial photography capabilities if we are going to successfully map all of the affected communities." Virginia shuffled through her notes. "There is really only one U.S. agency which can supplement the air surveillance that belongs to the Air Force."

"The USGS can't possibly be saying that we should be deploying the Blackbird…" The shock was clear in America's voice. Virginia glare instantly told America that he had just made a mistake. A really big one, he admitted to himself, I just brought up America's top-secret aircraft in the wrong setting. Luckily Virginia started talking, covering the uncomfortable silence.

"What the USGS is suggesting is that the CIA helps provide the manpower to analyze the high-speed photographs of Alaska. If they are willing, they can add a plane or two to the photography effort, but right now the hang up is there are simply not enough people to analyze the high speed film."

"I think that we can probably arrange for a few more photo analysis techs to go over things." Delaware said thoughtfully. "I will go there this afternoon and see what I can do."

Then the briefing was over. Virginia answered a few more questions, Canada took some more notes, but America's brain had already left the meeting.

"Is there anything else you need me for?" America asked as he stood and stretched. His question was greeted by shaking of heads. "Okay, well I will leave you all to the details. I will be in the next room if you need me."

"This can't be possible."

Virginia wasn't sure if California or Colorado that had uttered the words, but the emotion in the words immediately caught her attention. The two states were bent over a table full of the aerial and ground photography. Both looked extremely unhappy.

"What is it?" She asked from the doorway.

"These images…" Colorado said motioning her to the table. "Come over here, just look at the offset on that fault."

"That has got to be over ten feet." California added quietly.

"I know." Colorado sighed unhappily. "I can't imagine the amount of shaking that would have created a crack like this. I have never seen an offset on a fault. Have you?"

"From one quake?" California looked thoughtful. "It has to be the twenty-one foot slip that occurred on the San Andreas Fault in 1906."

"Looking at these images I think Alaska may have you beat." Colorado shook his head in disbelief. "She experienced both vertical and horizontal fault movement, it is no wonder that Alaska is currently in critical condition."

"Can you two please speak in English?" Virginia looked up from a photograph showing a school that had been torn in half.

"For example that fissure has got to be at least thirty feet wide." Colorado grabbed a photo where a car was being swallowed by a crack. Then, he pointed to another one with a jumbled mess of dirt, snow, and homes. "And you can see here that, how many blocks would you say?"

"Twenty or thirty." California commented after glancing at the photo for a few moments.

"Here, you can see how the about twenty to thirty city blocks slid into the ocean and from what the early reports from the USGS are currently saying, Anchorage is over a hundred miles from the epicenter. I am betting that there was significantly more movement farther south."

"What does that mean?" Virginia pushed for an answer.

"It means in our all our experience, neither of us has ever seen this much land move at one time. Honestly it is possible that no one has ever seen this much rock move in one day." Colorado put down the photos and gave his sister a long, serious look. "One earthquake and every map we have of Alaska just became obsolete."

962 stitches…railroad tracks across pale almost translucent skin. Two eyes practically swollen shut. Patches of burns, cities still on fire, covered her right shoulder. The splotches of bruises discolored every exposed inch of skin. And those were just the visible injuries. The list of internal injuries was even more worrisome: a spiral fractured humerus, a torn rotator cuff, snapped ribs, and bruised internal organs. But the most frightening injuries of all were to Alaska's heart and spine. Seven of the state's vertebrae suffered from compression fractures, and her heart was beating with a slow uneven rhythm that threatened to stop abruptly.

If Samantha was a human, she would probably suffer from permanent disability. Luckily these types of injuries were ephemeral on a nation; most of these cuts would probably heal without leaving a scar. Still the state's critical condition was still no laughing matter. There was not an inch of Alaska left unaffected by this quake. Every city had structural damage; some towns had been completely swallowed by the sea. Alaska's existence was currently on the balance.

"Is there anything else we can do?" England's question hung in the air for a few uncomfortable moments.

"Right now," The voice belonged to one of the doctors on the project. "I think that might be our only option…"

"We could wait a few more days. It is possible that her condition might be more stable then…that I will be less painful for her." Canada spoke, timidly, unsure.

"Alaska might, and I repeat, might improve, but we know that America's condition is simply going to get worse." England replied clearly frustrated.

"And what if he says no?" Canada pushed back.

"Then we will put it up to a vote by the states. If all of us agree than we can veto his decision." Virginia spoke, her voice flat.

America ignored what the others were saying in the corner of the room. If it was important, then they would come over and include him in the conversation. Right now he had to concentrate on his second youngest state. Even unconscious, Alaska's face was pinched with pain. How much more could the state take before her citizens simply give up? How much longer would the idea of Alaska survive? For a few moments, America felt panic rising in his chest, then he forced himself to relax a bit. He had to believe that Alaska would not give up so easily.

"America…" England came to stand before him, slightly crouched so he could look directly into America's face. America couldn't help but see the concern in his former colonial master's face. It appeared that everyone had come to some sort of decision, and America let a slight smile cross his lips.

"What is the plan?"

"The team has decided that it will be easier to treat Alaska's injuries if she is awake. We are planning reduce the amount of pain medication she is on so that we can let her wake up." Canada tried to explain gently.

"When will we start?" America asked.

"Whenever you feel ready."

Usually, America was a ball of movement and energy, but for the past few days he had been quiet and subdued. Canada had learned long ago that he should get worried whenever America became quiet. As children, it usually meant that he was either playing a prank or had broken something. Canada could tell that his brother was really upset about the earthquake because he last time he had seen America this silent, he had been preparing to drop the A-bomb on Hiroshima.

"When is she going to wake up?" Canada asked in attempt break the uncomfortable tension that was building in the room.

"We really don't know, but once the sedative is flushed out of her system, it should not take too much to bring her out of it." The doctor admitted, most of his attention focused taking Alaska's pulse.

When the doctor left, the room sank back to an uncomfortable stillness. America was still perched next to Alaska's bed, shoulders slightly hunched by stress and exhaustion. England was in the corner by the window, head resting against the wall, eyes closed. Canada shifted in his own seat and gave a small sigh.

The doctors had warned them of a laundry list of possible complications. They said that there was a good chance that Alaska's spinal injuries may have left her partially paralyzed. They also warned them that Alaska had experienced a major head injury, and that it was possible that her personality, and essence may have been damaged or destroyed. But the people of Alaska were fighters, Alaska was a fighter. Even now the doctors had to use enough sedative to drop an elephant to keep the state unconscious.

"She's awake." The nurse's words spurred everyone from their thoughts.

"How can you tell?" England asked, rising to his feet.

"Both breath and heart rate have increased." The nurse explained softly to the room of waiting nations. Then she made eye contact with America. "Talk to her."

"Alaska, if you can hear us please squeeze your left hand." America pleaded.

For a few endless moments, all of the occupants in the room sat stared at the state's limp hand. It seemed so small and lifeless cradled in both of America's callused hands. Then one of Alaska's fingers twitched.

"Alaska, I know you can do it, just a little bit more."

As America spoke Alaska's fingers quivered again, and then slowly wrapped themselves around America's hand. Even from the other side of the bed Canada could tell that fingers held no strength, but it didn't stop the action from being reassuring. Then one of Alaska's eyes cracked open. It was bloodshot and glassy, but it was clear that the state was trying focus on them. Everyone in the room let go of a breath they didn't realize they had been holding and America was so relieved that he couldn't help but smile through his tears.

"You did it." America leaned forward and whispered into his state's hair. "You did it."

Historical Note- There is a saying that everything is bigger in Texas…except if you are in Alaska. That holds true to the Good Friday Earthquake. According to the current peer review literature, the Good Friday Quake created the largest one time crustal movement ever document. Over 25,000 square miles (~40,230 square km) was moved both vertically and horizontally. On average the Keinai Peninsula, including an entire mountain range, was move horizontally approximately two meter and dropped one meter. That said the town of Seward moved 47 feet (14.3 meters) and while Valdez was moved 33 feet (10 meters). The movement of the sea floor was even more drastic. On the eastern side of the fault the seafloor rose over 50 feet (15.2 meters) and a nearby island chain was lifted 38 feet (11.6 meters).

To put this in context one earthquake had close to similar amount of crustal movement. This is the 2004 Sumatra earthquake. The length of the slip was about 1000 km (625 mi) with a slip width of 180 km (110 mi). In comparison the Good Friday earthquake did have a shorter slip length of 800 km (500 mi) but a greater slip with of 250 km (155 mi). Add the fact that the continental crust which was moved is four to five times thicker than ocean crust, means that over twice as much rock moved in the Good Friday Quake than in the Sumatra Quake.

End Note- He everyone, thanks for reading. If you have any questions, you liked a particular part, or you found an error that I missed please let me know. Thanks again!

Next Chapter- Lost to the Sea- It has been a week since the earth shook and the grime tally is announced. 106 Alaska's were swallowed by the tsunami and most are still missing. The towns of Gridwood, Porter, Chenega, and Afognak were either wiped away tsunami or being dragged into the sea by tidal waves. With so much lost, America asks Canada and Japan for help moving forward. Also…potato chips are involved…