The United Nations wanted to do scientific research on the nations.

The nation personifications had gone far too long being unexplored from a scientific standpoint, and some scientists associated with the UN and its many organizations wanted to remedy that.

They decided they were going to start with DNA testing of all the nations. This would serve three purposes: to map the nations' genomes, to figure out if or how nation DNA differed from that of normal humans', and to see what familial ties existed between the nations, especially those born from spontaneous genesis.

Erika only cared about the third purpose. The prospect of seeing if she and Basch were actually siblings or blood-related in some way excited her. She also hoped that the test results would shed some light on her own origins. Was there a reason she was born to a fully-human family? Was there something in her DNA or their DNA that caused this? Knowing the answers tantalized her.

The DNA test itself was simple. Erika and Basch traveled to the WHO headquarters in Geneva for the test and were taken into a secure room. There, they were given salt water to swish around in their mouths, to cleanse them and to make a cell sample easier to collect. A scientist then swabbed the insides of their cheeks, put the swabs in some vial, then gave them each a secure username and password for a web portal and told them to expect the results in a few weeks. The whole process was painless and took less than thirty minutes.

Waiting for the results was the most painful part. Erika checked her email constantly for the notification of the results, and she logged into the portal once a day. For four weeks straight, there was nothing.

Erika hated the waiting process. Her desire to find out answers burned within her, and she was growing sick of building her hopes up everyday just to have them burst when she checked her email and portal and found nothing.

She tried her best to distract herself. She spent time outside (it was summer, and in the secluded alpine area where she and Basch lived, the weather was very pleasant this time of year). She accompanied Basch on errands to the nearby town. She did crafts. She watched movies and TV, sometimes by herself, sometimes with Basch. No matter what she did, though, she found her thoughts eventually wandering back to the results of the DNA test.

Funnily enough, the results arrived when she had managed to distract herself. She had gotten into a Stardew Valley binge and was playing the game on her laptop when her email pinged.

She immediately closed the game and rushed to her email, hope flaring up in her.

An email with the subject ERIKA VOGEL DNA TEST RESULTS AVAILABLE greeted her.

Finally!

She let out a delighted squeal, kicking her legs, before going to the portal and logging in, her fingers flying over her keyboard. Adrenaline flooded her as the anticipation built, energizing her, and she couldn't help but wiggle in excitement.

She logged in, found where the test results were, and read the line.

BASCH ZWINGLI - RELATION: FIRST COUSIN, ONCE REMOVED

So she and Basch were blood-related. A smile crept onto her face. Even if they weren't, he would always still be Big Brother to her. Still, it was nice to know that he was family, both by blood and by merit.

She scrolled down.

LUDWIG BEILSCHMIDT - RELATION: FIRST COUSIN, ONCE REMOVED

GILBERT BEILSCHMIDT - RELATION: FIRST COUSIN, ONCE REMOVED

Ah. So she was also related in the same way to Mr. Germany and Mr. Prussia. Considering how historically and culturally connected the Germanic nations were, this made sense.

Erika didn't mind being related to Ludwig. They weren't close, but they always treated each other with respect. Erika always liked how he treated her like an adult at the world meetings. Some of the other nations still treated her like a child, which annoyed her to no end.

Gilbert was one of those who treated her like a child. She stayed away from him as much as she could, since he was also loud and annoying and made her ears hurt. She didn't hate him, but she didn't particularly like him either. She had no idea how Ludwig, such a serious man, put up with him.

She scrolled down again.

And that's when she saw it.

Her heart stopped, turning to stone in her chest. The blood drained from her face, and her eyes widened as she read, and then re-read, the words emblazoned onto the webpage in front of her.

RODERICH EDELSTEIN - RELATION: FATHER

"What?" Her voice was strangled as she spoke aloud to herself, quivering in absolute disbelief.

She moved her mouse to the refresh icon, then clicked it. The webpage reloaded. The words didn't change.

Erika stared at the words. She stared some more. She moved her mouse over the words and clicked them, hand trembling. A text box popped up on the screen.

This individual shares 50% of their DNA with you.

There had to be some kind of mistake. There was no way Roderich was her father. She already had a father. He was long-dead, but he was still her father.

But if it was true…perhaps she wasn't an anomaly, like she thought. Yao was clear about the two methods of nation genesis. He made no mention of any exceptions to the methods. Erika always thought he didn't mention her situation to be polite, but now she didn't know.

Mother's behavior the day Erika met Roderich for the first time sprang to mind. How she acted so shocked when she first saw him. How Roderich frowned slightly when he saw her. How Mother kept looking between the two of them. How she shooed Erika from the room so they could talk about her care.

Oh God. Maybe the DNA test results were telling the truth.

A cold sweat seized Erika. The walls of her bedroom seemed to collapse in on her as she processed this information, turning it over and over in her head. Her lungs constricted, making it difficult to breathe, and she felt ill. Very ill.

She clutched the arm rests of her desk chair, knuckles white, before slumping back in her desk chair, unable to tear her gaze away from the screen as her world imploded around her.

—-

Downstairs, on the living room coffee table, Basch's tablet pinged with a notification.

He walked over to it, picking it up, and reading the email notification that popped up on the lock screen.

BASCH ZWINGLI DNA TEST RESULTS AVAILABLE

Ah. So the test results that Erika had been obsessing over for weeks had finally been released. She'd be pleased to know that.

"Erika, the test results are out," Basch called out. There was no response.

The corners of his mouth curled up in amusement. She probably already saw the email and was checking the results as he spoke. He was sure he'd hear all about it later. Erika could be long-winded at times, especially when it came to topics she was passionate about. She had been talking about this DNA test for weeks, hopeful that it could explain why she was the only nation born to fully-human parents. Basch personally didn't think that the DNA test would be able to explain that, but he kept his mouth shut. Erika didn't need to know that.

He didn't have much interest in knowing his results, other than knowing what his official relationship was to Erika, and that was more out of curiosity than anything.

Sitting down on the sofa, he navigated to the web portal where the results were and logged in. Within thirty seconds, he was looking at his results.

LUDWIG BEILSCHMIDT - RELATION: COUSIN

GILBERT BEILSCHMIDT - RELATION: COUSIN

RODERICH EDELSTEIN - RELATION: COUSIN

Oh great. Those guys were his cousins. Basch rolled his eyes. He didn't mind being related to Ludwig, but he just knew Gilbert was going to be insufferable about this. And Roderich…he didn't really know how to feel about being related to him. Negatively, probably.

He scrolled down.

ERIKA VOGEL - RELATION: FIRST COUSIN, ONCE REMOVED

Bullshit. She was his little sister and would always be. Even if she was his first cousin, once removed by blood. Even if she turned out not to be related to him. His curiosity about her official relationship to him was quenched, though. He had a strong feeling they were related in some way through blood.

First cousin, once removed. Wasn't that the title for the child of one's cousin? That implied that Erika was the child of one of his cousins.

Basch narrowed his eyes at the screen. Perhaps there was a glitch with the results. Erika's parents were humans, and definitely not one of his cousins.

His phone rang in his pants pocket. Basch pulled it out, reading the caller ID. It was Ludwig.

He rolled his eyes again before answering, although he was curious as to why Ludwig was calling. "What do you want?"

"Did you get the results of your DNA test?" Ludwig asked, dodging Basch's question.

Basch narrowed his eyes again. "Why do you ask?"

"The test results show Erika as my first cousin, once removed, implying she's the daughter of one of my cousins, which isn't true. I was wondering if you have the same glitch or if it's only happening in my results."

Basch didn't respond for a moment, processing his words. So this glitch was happening to others, too. "I have the same glitch. It's weird."

"Hm. Interesting."

"I'll go ask Erika if her results are glitched, too," Basch replied, getting up from the couch and setting his tablet aside. Still on the line with Ludwig, he went upstairs to Erika's bedroom, knocking on the door. "Erika? Can I come in?"

No response. He knocked again, once again not getting a response. He sighed, before opening the door anyways. "Erika?"

Erika was seated at her desk. She didn't respond to Basch coming in, appearing to be staring straight at her open laptop screen.

"Can I look at your results?" Basch asked her, walking up just behind her desk chair. "Ludwig and I are experiencing a glitch in the results and we want to see if you're having the same glitch."

Erika turned and looked directly at him, and Basch felt his heart plummet to the floor. Erika could have an intense gaze at times, but this one was more intense than any Basch had ever seen her look before. She looked as though she was being straight-up haunted. Her eyes were wide, her pupils little pinpricks in her emerald-green irises. In addition, she was pale – much paler than usual, and upon closer inspection, Basch noticed she was shaking.

He pulled the phone away from his ear for some privacy. "Erika! Are you okay? What's the matter?" His normally gruff voice took on a tone of concern and care, worried for his sister. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're not sick, are you?"

Erika shook her head, not saying anything, before turning back to her laptop screen. Basch noticed that she had her DNA results pulled up, and Basch leaned forward, seeing what her results said.

And that's when he saw it.

The "glitch" made sense now.

The first emotion he felt was pure shock. His jaw dropped.

"What the fuck?!"

His exclamation was so loud that even Ludwig heard it over the phone. "What? What happened?"

Basch blurted it out without thinking. "Roderich is Erika's father!"

Ludwig gasped. "WHAT?!"

A second voice, Gilbert's, piped up over the phone. "What's going on?"

Basch heard Ludwig repeat the news to Gilbert, who cackled with apparent glee. "Oh, how scandalous! So does that mean Roddy got laid? I'd never thought I'd see the day!" He cackled again.

Basch's shock turned into white-hot rage. "Shut up! This isn't funny!" He huffed, before a thought crossed his mind. "D-Does he know he's her father?!"

There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone, before Ludwig answered. "Now that you mention it, when it was announced we were all going to be DNA tested, he seemed nervous. And when we actually went to Vienna for our tests, he was panicking. I hadn't seen him that grouchy in a long time. He claimed it was because he didn't like how invasive the testing was, but I could tell something else was bothering him. And afterwards, he said he was going to stay in Vienna for a while afterwards, and he hasn't been back home since. And whenever I've tried contacting him and asking him when he's coming back, he dodges the question. So, to answer your question, maybe. And that's why the test bothered him so much."

Erika continued trembling under Basch's touch. He glanced at her. She was still staring at the results on the screen with her haunted expression, and Basch noticed a single tear trickling from her eye. Fresh rage bubbled up in him.

"Oh, that bastard," he growled. "He knew."

His anger simmered over, pouring out of him in a rush of unfettered words. "If he knew the entire time, that means he let Erika's mother's husband lock her inside Liechtenstein Palace for decades! That means he left her with no family for centuries until I came along! That means he left her to die after World War I! He abandoned her! What a shit father, and what a shit man he is."

"You remember how those times were," Ludwig said. "They were rough for him. And society was rough on people who had children out of wedlock. Perhaps there was good reason why he chose to hide this."

Basch's nostrils flared. "I don't care! His selfish actions hurt Erika! And she's all I care about!"

Ludwig fell silent. Erika sniffled, another tear falling down her cheek.

Basch made up his mind then and there. He was going to confront Roderich about this situation. This was not something that he could just do nothing about. Roderich needed to know just how badly he had fucked up.

"Erika and I are coming to your house," Basch declared. "We'll wait a few days and see if he returns, but if he doesn't, we're going to go to Vienna and confront him together."

His voice was low and vengeful. "Roderich and I need to have a little talk."