Not Over Yet

Part 4

Awkward could not even begin to define what Arthur was feeling seated across from Russia at the very picnic table Alfred and Jackson bolted from, eating his newly acquired ice cream very cautiously. Plus they were simply staring at each other. In silence. Was this what it would have been like if he Jackson had not visited him in the middle of that fiasco? The thought occurred to him that he may have not even got this far. Mental note: Alfred owed him both an explanation and an apology for leaving him like this, then they could get on with the matter addressing Nikki.

"You do not talk much, da?" Ivan mused aloud, "Yet you are a chatterbox at the meetings."

Arthur blinked a couple of times before responding hesitantly, "Aren't you supposed to be the one talking?"

Russia's creepy smile was in full bloom, "Not now. Now we are sitting here enjoying ourselves chatting and eating ice cream, like I would have been with Alfred, Jackson, and Nikki. You are making it up to me. I had been looking forward to it after all."

Arthur managed a shaky chuckle, "I see…"

Russia frowned, "But it is not working. I thought you had a mouth as big as Fredka's."

Arthur did not really know how to respond to that. He supposed he was rather talkative and did not hesitate to say what was on his mind, but he had always put Alfred on a rambling level. Though he supposed that Alfred simply liked to ramble on, it showed he was happy, because he could have a sharper tongue with more clipped words than anyone if he wanted. The thought of both sides made him shudder. He could not rotate from such extremes.

"We can talk about Nikki now, I guess." conceded Russia at last, "What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

"Something that I know."

Arthur sighed, "Start with Alfred finding her then. Or you. However it happened."

Russia paused a moment and then nodded, "Fredka did find her. That I will admit. When he landed on the moon he saw something none of us have, the birth of a nation."—Arthur's eyes widened—"He did not tell me all the details, but I know he said it was a miracle. From there he brought her back to earth. I only found out about her existence from one of my visits to see Jackie."

"So this was back in the Cold War?" Arthur questioned.

"Yes. Fredka had just gotten home from his trip to the moon."

A thought struck Arthur, "Why did Jackson call the Cold War a custody battle?"

"Because it was." Russia stated simply, "I wanted Nikki for myself. It was not fair for Alfred to get another sibling. The space race is what brought her into existence. Without either of us it would not have happened. I think I deserve her as much as he does, even if he found her."

"So she is the personification of the moon?" Arthur clarified.

Another nod.

"Why did neither of you say anything!?" cried Arthur, rising from his seat, "This means so much! There are so few nations and if Nikkita was born from space travel, then why not others?"

"Because it was none of your business."

Arthur was a little taken aback by the words as he sunk back down.

"Alfred and I are the leaders in space. You Europeans have to share a space program and still cannot do what we can. This was none of your concern, and we were already hiding Jackson. Why not Nikki, too? That was what Fredka and Sonya wanted."

Right, Jackson had still been in hiding then, had he not? That explained why it began as a secret, but why had it not come out with Jackson?

"Why did you not say anything about Nikki when you did about Jackson?"

"Many reasons."

"Pick one." Arthur deadpanned.

"The treaty."

Right, Alfred had mentioned a treaty, too.

"What was this treaty?"

"An agreement between the United States and Soviet Russia to hide the existence of Nikkita D. Jones, or the personification of the moon. She would stay in America, but I could visit and see her if I protected the secret. If I exposed it, my country would be fined, substantially. There were also some passages about protecting Jackson's identity." Russia explained, "To complete Jackie's analogy, the final divorce settlement."

Arthur frowned. It really was a fitting analogy and he was liking it about as much as Jackson did.

"Is that all?"

"Where did he hide her? I mean, really. Someone has to watch a child that young or else they run off and end up living in the woods as a heathen like a certain American I know."

Russia frowned at this, "A facility in America."

There was no way Arthur heard that right, "Facility?"

"Yes. The personifications of nations are people and she is the personification of the moon, da? Well there is not always people on the moon. Anything really. So, from time to time, she falls into a hibernation of sorts for years on end. She just woke up recently. Until someone keeps something established on the moon she will do this, and Fredka promised her that one day he would develop her so she could stay awake, but until then she could go to sleep and not wake up again at any time. They monitor her there and keep her on life support, just in case."

Arthur could feel his heart shattering into little pieces. A child so young had to live her life in fear that she was going to fall asleep one night and wake up when everything had changed, or never wake up at all?

"That is terrible."

"It is." Russia agreed, "But she does not act like that could ever happen. She is a happy little sunflower, and I want her to stay that way just as much as I want to be around to see it."—his eyes narrowed on Arthur—"So you are going with me to Alfred's this evening to renegotiate the treaty, and you will keep Nikki a secret."

Arthur's eyes practically bulged out of his head. That sure escalated quickly.

"But she could be so much happier if she met the others—"

"You will keep the secret, da!?"

Arthur could only stare as he watched Russia's face. He wore neither his frown nor his smile, he had his jaw set in a tight line instead. Where he expected Russia's eyes to be empty once more an icy fire of sorts burned in them. Was he—truly angry?

"R-Russia—"

"If you must know," Russia continued, "Nikki's secret was kept for another reason. All of you. Especially Europe. If Nikki became known you would throw all of your money into space technology and begin a second era of colonization. You would try to make more nations, and if that failed you would try to conquer Nikki, not that you would not try anyway. We do not know if space travel will produce more countries because we, nations, may be unique to earth territory, and it is believed that the moon was once the land that was removed from the earth when a meteor hit. That means Nikki could really be the last nation ever born, in space or otherwise, and Fredka and I were not going to deal with the consequences of the rest of you Europeans raging like you did in the World Wars and before, then or now. We were the superpowers this time, it was our business to dictate the future."

Arthur tried to swallow as Russia finally went silent to find he could not. In fact, his throat was burning so terribly that he was choking back a coughing fit he was sure would remove his lungs. The pain was so great that he was begin to tremble and his eyes were starting to water, but he could not let himself be so weak in front of Russia, not after everything he had said. Said Russian had finally returned to his previous blankness.

"Be at Fredka's house at seven or I will take you there myself, da?"

Arthur did not say anything, but he was not getting off so easily.

"Say something if you understand me." he warned, rising out of the seat and to full height.

"Yes." Arthur hoarsely choked out.

Russia paused a moment, almost as if he were to ask, "Yes, what?" but chose to leave instead. He had many things to do after this anyway, which left Arthur alone at the picnic table. The Brit had forgotten his long melted ice cream in the heat of the moment. He had not even finished the chocolate cone, and he could not even bring himself to care at the moment even if the coolness would have soothed his throat. Instead, he curled up into a ball on his side of the seat. Everything hurt. It always did when a rug was pulled out from under you, especially by someone you trusted. Alfred never meant a word he said if he had thought Arthur was a power hungry monster looking to rebuild his empire since the Cold War. Did he think that of the world, too? How would he know either way, when the man was such a great actor? Blind faith in the boy really was not cutting it anymore.