50 States: Chapter 10
AN: Firstly to Artisiano, thanks so much for the corrections! You really did help me and you have my sincerest gratitude.
The capitals entered the dining hall in silence. They had a variety of expressions. Some appeared hostile, others looked afraid, and the rest looked curious. Each capital sat from across their native country and it took a moment or two for some of them to make eye contact.
It was Vienna who had been the first to break the silence.
"Guten tag, Herr Osterreich." She greeted, formally. "I am Vienna. It is a...pleasure... to finally meet you."
"Erm... likewise." Austria replied, a little put off at her last comment.
Vienna's conversation with Austria seemed to give the capitals a little courage to speak with their countries.
"Bonjour Monsieur France." Paris gave a light smile and extended her hand. "My name is Marianne Bonnefoy. I am Paris's personification."
"It is an honor to finally meet my beautiful capital in person." France smiled, taking her hand and placing a kiss on it. It was clear though that the French capital was really offering a handshake.
"So you're London?" England asked, nearly leaning over the table. The English capital had her blonde hair tied into pigtails and wore glasses. Her outfit consisted of a blue long-sleeved shirt, a white skirt, and black heels. She held a professional posture but there was a slight hostility in her eyes.
"Yes. I am." She answered, her voice neutral. Her mouth twitched when Paris nudged her with her foot. "My name is Elizabeth Kirkland."
"Desole, Monsieur Angleterre." Paris apologized. "She is just a little...nervous."
But London clearly wasn't nervous in the slightest. She was fighting the expression of someone who was face to face with an intruder in their home.
"You must be Berlin." Germany stated, observing the woman sitting across from him.
"Ja, Monika Beilschmidt. Pleased to meet you, Herr Deutschland." Berlin said. "Although, I am truthfully West Berlin. My sister became the East after Prussia was dissolved."
"That was horrible." Vienna said, softly. "I thought we were going to lose both Gilbert and Julchen."
"Indeed. I still don't know how we can repay Alfred for what he's done." A blonde girl sitting across from Switzerland sighed.
"Vhat do you mean by zhat?" Germany asked, suspiciously.
"Well, you know how you gave up part of your land to bruder Gilbert yes?" A young boy seated next to the woman asked. " The contract agreed to make Prussia East Germany but Konigsberg wasn't included. Alfred arranged the documents to make Prussia's capital the other half of the German capital, Berlin. That is why schwester Julchen is still alive."
"That is horrible, Vaduz." Liechtenstein said, sympathetically. "Herr America must be very good to you."
"He is." Berlin agreed, gazing fondly at the next table where America was chuckling at something Canada and Ottawa said to him before taking a bite out of lobster. "There are no boundaries for Alfred's kindness."
"Zhe states said you had reasons for leaving our countries." Germany said. "Vould you mind telling us?"
"Yes, I would also like to know why you never revealed yourself." England added. The capitals seemed too loyal to America for his liking.
"What could have possibly made you leave the country of 'l'amore?" France asked. The five capitals looked at each other. After a moment Berlin sighed and addressed the nations.
"World War II." She said.
"The French Revolution." Said Paris.
"World War II." Bern and Vaduz said at the same time.
When London was left she looked directly at England. "King George III."
Germany, England, and France couldn't get anything out of them after that.
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"I shudder to think of what might have happened to us had Toris not helped us get out of Europe." Riga explained to Latvia who looked astounded at the news.
"Anya is also to thank." Tallinn cut in. "She's Moscow. She sent a letter to Toris before the Soviet Union came into power. He got us passes to board a ship sailing to America."
"Miss Moscow helped you?" Latvia asked, bewildered.
"Yes, Latvia. Ivan convinced Anya and their brothers to leave as well." Tallinn explained. "The Bolsheviks would have targeted them because they were rich so they had to flee."
"Anya sent a letter to Toris and then he arranged our voyage." Riga continued.
Meanwhile, with the Nordics.
"No way! You're Copenhagen!" Denmark exclaimed, loudly, causing Norway to pull on his tie.
"Ignore him, he's an idiot." Norway said, blankly. The Scandinavian capitals merely blinked at the interaction before smiling.
"Nice to meet you." Copenhagen smiled pleasantly. "My name is Mikaela Kohler and yes, I'm Copenhagen."
"I'm Stockholm." The Swedish woman said with a dazzling smile, causing most of the Nordics to feel heat rising to their cheeks. "But you can call me Beatrice if you'd like."
"I'm Taika. Helsinki's personification." The Finnish girl introduced herself with a jovial smile, similar to Delaware's.
"I'm Oslo, or Lovise Bondevik. Pleased to meet you." Norway's capital said, politely. "And this is-"
"Reykjavik." The Icelandic girl said, smiling similarly to her sisters but had a trace of mischief in her eyes. "Or I suppose you can call me Lara."
"Or Pest." Oslo muttered causing a 'Hey!' from Reykjavik. "Well it's true."
"Lovise," Mikaela intervened before an argument could break out. "Would you rather sit with Nikolai?"
Oslo's eyes softened before giving a nod and standing up from her seat. She glared at her younger sister who started making kiss faces.
"Stop it." Lovise growled before walking over to America's table. She stepped behind Belarus's capital, Minsk, and kissed the crown of his head. Minsk then grabbed her chin and gave her a chaste kiss before seating Oslo in his lap.
"No. Way." Iceland breathed.
"Oh my!" Finland gasped while Sweden only raised his eyebrows.
"HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!" Denmark shouted before suddenly being choked again by Norway.
"Shut it, Dane." He growled before addressing the capitals. "When did that happen?"
"Well," Beatrice started. "Minsk arrived with Kiev and Moscow in 1917. Even we had to admit, Nikolai was-no- is dashing. Lovise offered to show them around with Del and Jersey. During the tour, the two just started talking."
"They began to see each other every day." Mikaela added. "They got along so well and when Alfred got involved in the World Wars, Nikolai and his brother signed up for the American army. After he completed his training, Nikolai and Lovise got married."
Norway looked in the direction of his capital where Lovise and Nikolai were feeding each other. Both laughed when Oslo got a little sauce on Minsk's cheek. Lovise rubbed her husband's face with a napkin before feeding him a spoonful of mashed potatoes. Clearly she wasn't as jaded as her nation.
Norway barely knew Belarus, having only heard rumors of her being insane and trying to marry her older brother. But Belarus was seated next to America in front of her capital and Oslo eating and talking as if she were completely normal. Russia sat on his sister's other side, unafraid that she was next to him, and he was talking to Moscow who sat in front of him.
Norway wasn't sure how to take the situation so he just helped himself to some food and listened to the Scandinavian capitals talk with their countries. From what he could see, the capitals were very different from their nations. He had to keep himself from laughing at his little brother's expression as Reykjavik talked about her experience as a pilot and her many escapades. Helsinki loved traveling and she was showing Tino a new passport case that Michigan had given her for her birthday. Stockholm didn't stumble over words like Sweden nor did she call Helsinki her 'wife' and while Copenhagen liked to talk she kept her voice at a normal level and gave the other person time to speak.
They are definitely not what I expected them to be. Norway thought. They only take after us in appearance.
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Poland and Hungary gasped at Warsaw. She looked like an exact copy of her country but with longer hair. If her hair was cut then she could pass off as Poland himself.
"You are like totally cute!" Poland exclaimed, startling the Polish girl at the sudden statement before giving a half smile. Warsaw wore a red dress with matching heels and a white long sleeved sweater. On her right hand was a golden ring with a ruby and had matching earrings. On her other hand was a diamond ring. Budapest had his arm wrapped around Warsaw's waist and used the other to shake the countries hands.
"Welcome to the Jones Residence." He greeted. "I'm Budapest, or Dániel Héderváry. This is Warsaw, or Felka."
"It's good to finally meet you." Hungary smiled at her capital before suddenly becoming serious. "I've been wondering this for a while."
"Let me guess, you're wondering why we came to live in America." Budapest stated. At Hungary's nod he sighed.
"I first came to America during the Great Depression in search of work. I had received a letter few weeks earlier from Alice. She's Rome. America could offer me a job at his house so I could earn a little extra money. Alfred was very generous and I adore the children."
"I came here in 1932." Warsaw said. "I could no longer deal with the horrible things that were happening in Poland so I boarded a ship to America and Alfred took me in."
"I'm sorry you had to endure so much." Hungary said, sympathetically. "The Depression was hard on everyone. Even me."
"I know things were hard at the time. Believe me, I hated it too." Poland added. "But everything is different now."
"We know." Budapest and Warsaw said at the same time. The two blushed and laughed awkwardly before Budapest continued.
"We've thought about going back to your countries but..." He trailed off and looked down. "Something terrible happened. I'm afraid it's not my place to say what it is."
Felka's eyes suddenly glazed and she gripped her left forearm. Hungary noticed her sudden change in behavior.
"Are you alright, Warsaw?" She asked in concern. "You look a bit pale."
"Felka?" Budapest looked at the Polish capital in worry. His voice seemed to snap Warsaw out of her trance and pressed her hand to her head.
"Sorry. I'm fine." She mumbled. "Excuse me."
Warsaw got up and hurriedly walked out of the dining hall.
"I better go check on her." Budapest muttered before hurrying after Warsaw. Poland and Hungary watched him leave in bewilderment.
"What was that about?" Poland wondered out loud. Hungary shrugged. New York, having seen Warsaw and Budapest leave, went to sit in front of the confused countries.
"Sorry about that." He apologized. "Ciocia Felka suffers from a little PTSD."
"Why?" Poland asked. Adam suddenly had a sad look in his eyes.
"Sorry but I can't tell you." He replied. "That's up to her."
Feliks frowned and turned in the direction where his capital disappeared. He and Hungary shared a look. Something was wrong and they were determined to find out what it is.
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Tokyo and Beijing didn't show any emotion as they were seated in front of their nations. They just tried to ignore the fact that they were there but Seoul gave her country a slight smile.
"It's nice to meet you, South Korea." She greeted. "I'm Seoul. My name is Im Soo Jin."
"You don't have to be so formal! Just call me Yong Soo." South Korea said, shaking her hand. "And it's good to meet you too!"
"So...you are Tokyo?" Japan started. Tokyo didn't look at him.
"Hai. I am." She said, simply before slurping her udon.
China wasn't having much luck either.
"Why did you never reveal yourself?" He asked Beijing.
"I didn't trust you." Was her reply.
"Why?"
Beijing gave no answer.
Meanwhile, with Italy and Spain.
"Ve~ you're so pretty, bella!" Italy exclaimed. Rome gave a polite smile.
"Grazie, Italia." She thanked him. "Do you like America's home?"
Italy nodded. "I do! Even though the trap doors and some of the states are really scary."
Rome laughed. "When you live here you get used to the odd ways of living and all the states mean well. They just need time to get to know you."
"Okay! Oh, I know!" Italy exclaimed. "I can make pasta for them and then we will be best friends!"
"Eh?" Rome did not know how to respond to that and Italy rambled on about pasta.
During that time, Madrid only politely greeted Spain and then went to sit at America's table with Mexico and her states, much to the Spaniard's bewilderment.