Not Over Yet

Part 12

Chaos was an understatement for what happened after the meeting. The thought of escape that had occurred to Arthur had disappeared just as quickly as it had entered his mind—So how did he end up making a jail break with all of the nations? He really had no idea. All his memories were a massive blur. Everyone just kind of started running, and it escalated from there. Nations were subdued by their own guards and dragged away, one by one, to some sort of transportation that would take them safely to their own territories. Most of them, at least. Some, like Arthur, actually made it past the onslaught, and, with no clear goal, more or less began to wander. That wandering ended up taking the escapees remarkably close to America and after midnight as well. It was only natural that they would enter the country, and that was why Arthur was trapped in a cab with Matthew, Francis, and, strangely enough, the Netherlands. That chain of events sounded about right, in Arthur's opinion.

The four more or less mutually agreed to head to Alfred's Virginian home under the logic that he had been there on plenty of other occasions, so why not now? The entire plan had been far from fool proof, but they had already gotten this far. However, their luck seemed to run out when they reached the home. Arthur could tell from a distance that Alfred was not in the building. There were no concrete details that told him, but he could not shake the feeling that the home was too dark for any one of the Jones siblings to be within it. His suspicions were quickly confirmed when Francis began his process of knocks and Matthew started searching for the key that Arthur knew was not there. The Netherlands banished any remaining doubt when he busted down the door, revealing an empty, silent, and incredibly lonely home. Apparently even the house itself missed its inhabitants, but Arthur could not really blame it.

"They said Alfred was being punished, eh? Then that is why he is not here, but what about Jackson and Nikkita?" the Canadian questioned, probing the entrance and glancing up the stairs.

"I doubt they would leave him alone by choice." Francis mused aloud, peering into the kitchen.

"But I do not see his boss allowing Nikkita to witness any sort of punishment. She is a little girl." Arthur countered, taking steps into the living room.

The fourth man present was known as a man of few words, but his silence was especially noticed as he went through a walkthrough of the entire first floor and not a sound escaped his lips. He even did the same thing with the second floor before reuniting with the three that had barely left the entrance.

"It is late. We sleep now and search tomorrow."

Even when this man did not stay on the first floor to enforce his order, the finality of it held the three. A slam a few minutes later clarified that the Netherlands had claimed Alfred's bedroom as his own, which left Jackson's room, the guest room, and the living room as the only other options. Arthur could not bring himself to fight for one of the bedrooms, so he merely dismissed the two others with a hand gesture and began his course for the living room. Once alone there, he shuddered. He should have stayed that day. He should not have left until he and Alfred had a proper conversation, much less with Russia still in the house. He had expected that the Russian would leave just as he and Matthew had, with or without a fight, because Alfred had said himself that he had a full day of work ahead of him. The American certainly was not the only person with that on his plate, which only added to why Russia should have left with them. They all had things to do and getting in Alfred's way was not going to do anything to alleviate that, which was why Arthur and Matthew left when they did. Arthur supposed now that it really should have sent up red flags. Too little, too late at this point.

"They all are just too hard to read!" Arthur hissed, clenching his fists before plopping onto the couch, "I mean, really. Why do I have to dissect every seemingly normal situation to find minute details that raise red flags? I know they can all be subtle, but Alfred and Russia sure did not hide their tension in the Cold War."

Arthur immediately glowered at his own words. He supposed that they did actually hide many aspects of it, being that there are different types of tension. Everyone had been deceived by what was on the surface, had they not? Arthur included. The whole globe did not have a clue, but whose fault was that really? The two rivals may have been the ones to keep things under wraps, but others did not really go out on a limb to investigate, either. Did no one care? Well, they cared now, but this was one of those situations where an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure. It was far too late to start caring, now that the two had nuclear weapons and the Cold War was technically over. They had decided themselves what they were going to do with their power, their world, whether anyone cared or not. Maybe it was the nuclear weapons that distracted the globe? They were so concerned with the threat of the two starting a fight with one another that they did not want to see the actual complexity of their rivalry. The older nations may have always preached about experience, but experience told them nothing about how to handle a weapon that could literally destroy the entire world! So, it could have very well been possible that the two were actually disregarded in all of this. They were superpowers, not just nations, and that is all they were: warring superpowers. With that kind of hysteria, how could it have not been passed to the nations themselves? Arthur began to feel sick. What both Alfred and Russia turned into, the power gap that Arthur had left behind was only the beginning of the story, and Jackson and Nikkita were only a couple of its many complex details.

He could not stay in that house any longer. It was like the feeling he had after his first conversation with Jackson. He had to leave, but where could he go? His country was off limits for various reasons, and he doubted that it would be a politically pleasant event if he was found in another country, much less America. Even with these thoughts in his mind, he was rushing out the back door all of the same. The particularly unpleasant memory of Alfred's birthday party hit him, almost sending him back into that oppressive house with its weight, but once it cleared he felt better out in Alfred's open backyard. Something about the boy that Arthur had always known was that he liked room to run, which was why he could never see him in an apartment for at least long spans of time. All of his houses that Arthur had seen had huge expanses of land that were just there, for him to do whatever he pleased with, no matter the terrain, and the Virginian one was no exception. He usually left it undeveloped, or at least a part of it. On this property, after the large stretch of grass that made up his backyard ended, his land developed into a forest. After living with Jackson for all of that time, he could only think about how much the two loved to simply be out in nature there. Arthur could only assume that Nikkita was usually in the thick of it as well. Maybe that was the best place for Arthur to clear his head.

The cool air and the serene surroundings did more for Arthur's nerves than he thought possible. There was just something calming about the forest at night. Even the fact that he did not see any animals only seemed to accentuate that. The only real source of hesitance in his mind was because he had no idea of the layout of the forest. Getting lost would be easily done, and not so easily rectified, which was why he was at least trying to stick to a path. However, as he got further in, that was becoming more and more difficult. When it got to the point that he was about to lose the path, he figured that it would be a good time to head back to the house. Of course, that was before something caught his eye. It was a simple figure, cloaked in shadows, but Arthur immediately recognized it as not being of the human realm. It was staring straight at him, he could tell, even if there were no eyes to see. That was when he noticed that it was pointing somewhere off the path. The figure dissolved into thin air shortly afterwards and Arthur was left debating on what to do. While he was quite aware that America had creatures like his fae back home, the numerous darker ones that he had not only encountered, but that Jackson mentioned, made him hesitant with any magical creature not from his known circles. He had never had much of a chance to explore this country's magic potential, and he supposed it was coming back to bite him now. Should he trust it, or go back? No, he could never trust it, but that did not mean he still could not see what it was pointing at.

In moments the path disappeared completely and he was sorely regretting his curiosity, but the more he travelled the stronger something pulled him. He knew it was his instincts acting up again, but their message was rather ambiguous this round. Was it telling him to see it or fear it? Was the pull natural or not? Those were only some of the questions on Arthur's mind when he noticed that he was sprinting. When had that happened? Even when he noticed he could not bring himself to stop, even as he was starting to bust through foliage, earning various scraps and scratches—until he reached the meadow. It was a rather large stretch of grass without all the trees blocking it from the sky, but what really hit Arthur was that the moment he took a step into it, the pull died. Was this where he was really supposed to be? He could not imagine why. The land seemed empty, and even emptier whenever the breeze rippled the grass. He could not even sense anything of the magical persuasion, so it was not the trap he had expected. He was just alone.

Rustle.

Okay, maybe he spoke a little too soon.

"A rabbit?"

Said rabbit, a clearly wild one from its brown coat color and build, stood still in front of him. It was not a rigid still, however, as its nose and various muscles twitched. Before Arthur could even think of what he felt about the apparently brainless creature, it darted faster than lightning away. His bewildered, green eyes trailed after it, expecting it to disappear into the forest on the other side of the meadow. How wrong he was. He watched it reach the tree line, but then jump into a blue mass. Arthur blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out what exactly that mass was. The details slowly became clearer as he cautiously approached.

"Is that a hammock?" he asked, no one in particular.

At his words, the blue fabric began to shift. He assumed it to be the rabbit, which rose above the edge of the hammock and into his sight. However, it was on the head of someone else.

"Oh, hello Arthur."

"N-Nikkita!?"

Said child abruptly placed a finger on her lips, "Shh! Big brother Alfie and big brother Jackie are still asleep."

Arthur took a couple of steps forward and, sure enough, within the hammock two sleeping forms rested. He felt his heart completely calm at the sight. They just fell asleep out in the woods. Alfred was not in some obscure government holding cell or locked up in Russia's basement, and Jackson and Nikkita were right beside him like they were supposed to be. Arthur could not resist running his hand through Alfred's hair, and then Jackson's. They were real alright.

"You should thank Daisy for leading you here." the black-haired child piped up, the rabbit still sitting prominently on her head, "And that nice mister for pointing the way."

Arthur was curious as to how she knew, but figured that she was at the age where they could all see things like that. A smile crept onto his face at the thought of her retaining the ability as Jackson had. It was only then that he realized how tired he actually was. He had been running on pure adrenaline for hours, and the sun was bound to be coming up soon.

"You can take a nap here, too, you know." Nikki continued, "I am sure my brothers will not mind."

Arthur was sleep deprived enough at that point to believe just about anything without his flowing adrenaline to keep him focused.

"I think I will take you up on that offer." he mumbled, discernably or not was debatable, as slowly slid into the hammock himself.

It was hard to believe that the one strip of blue fabric could support all four of them and a rabbit, but it held up perfectly with Alfred lying in the middle and Jackson to one side and Arthur on the other. Nikkita, due to her small size, was able to curl up between brothers, but, with the addition of Arthur, she decided to claim Alfred's chest to stay in the middle. The rabbit merely remained with her. Arthur, in his foggy mind, was reminded of an ideal scene in a movie or novel, especially as he started to catch rays of sun out of the corner of his eye, and he smiled. He was not going to remember a thing when he woke up, was he?