The gunshots had scattered the festive crowd. Maria and her friends ducked for cover. Some ragtag terrorist cell had made an attack, but what disturbed them even further was the flag the attackers had carried.
A red flag, with seven golden stars in a circle around a globe with a sword plunged into it. The Hegemony was making itself an official entity before their very eyes. The three hid themselves as the attackers cleared the plaza and made their way towards them.
America was raring to fight them off, but Japan held him back and pointed to a building, or rather, the man standing atop it.
He was the most breathtakingly beautiful man he had ever laid eyes upon. Sleek, flawless blonde hair cascaded down to his shoulders, spilling onto an impeccable blue suit with a white vest. He was standing on the railing, contemplating a rose in his hand. Without warning, he leapt towards the rebels.
"He's not gonna fight those thugs with a rose-"
"He isn't, look!"
The man had begun dancing, rose petals swirling, and the men were being entranced into dancing along, as if spellbound. The crowd danced wildly away back into the woods where they had come from.
"Bienvenue, mon amie. Apologies for ze rude welcoming party" said France.
"You were immaculate in your timing," said Philippines.
"Merci beaucoup, mademoiselle. But it appears even my colonies are becoming too unstable for our presence. I trust you are still with that dissociative fugue of yours, mon fils?".
"Uh, yeah" said Alfred. "But it's slowly coming back together. We were told to meet you here"
"I arranged for no such rendezvous. Who told you to come here?"
"It was-"
"Ah! That does not matter. Well, you're here, and I shall see you get to Peru, as Arthur recommends".
"Thanks a lot!"
"But first things first. You cannot undergo the ritual on an empty stomach…"
France had brought them to a little chateau overlooking the coast. It was France's HQ in the New World, a faithful replication of the Petit Trianon back in Europe. He served them a bountiful luncheon that would've made Marie Antoinette contemplate dieting after seeing it.
Maria was of bigger stomach than the legendary cake-eater, and did not notice she had been so famished she had stuffed down four broiled chicken breasts, lamb's kidneys in mustard, a charcoute platter and some Pommes de Terre Duchesse. Kiku was more restrained, nursing scrambled eggs. Alfred wasn't so hungry.
"It was a match made in heaven when you two first locked eyes," declared France. "Here is a woman who possesses all of your vices and pardons the rest of them. The cream of the colonial crop".
"I won't stand to be patronized as a model minority, Tio. We're through that," replied Maria.
"Oh, but zhat does not mean you should hide the light of your accomplishments, ma cherie," replied France. "The rest of the world owes its current liberal state partly to you".
Maria cocked her head. Alfred was interested. Kiku didn't know what to say.
"Back in the 1800's, if you told a European an islander of the Spice Archipelago was capable of attempting the feats of literature which we have always foolishly based our claims of superiority on, he would've laughed at you. Your other father, Alfred, dear, was also guilty of this"
"I remember him boasting that a single book in English was more intricate than all the books made by the nations of the South Asian subcontinent," said Japan.
"Well, zey weren't laughing when this brilliant girl submitted for our scrutiny some of her works. There was a boarding school for colonies, if you recall. All the colonies were attending it, with the foolish goal of indoctrinating zem in Western concepts. It was her that made us all stop and think."
France continued. "At first it was ze paintings. Then the novels and stage plays. Even Arthur was forced to reconsider his racist stance. Do you remember when he looked after you for about a year, Marie?"
"I do. I remember asking him for some paper"
"Ah, he said, I imagine you want to draw or scribble to pass the time, my lass? and I said, No, Senor Angleterra, I wish to write a stage play. It is how I pass my time. He laughed, good-heartedly, mind you, and secured my promise to let him view my play when I was done."
"Later that night, I called him down to the living room, where his colonies were. I had made friends with them, co-opted them to star in my play. He was struck dumb. 'My word, Maria, you don't mean to tell me you wrote a play in several hours?' I replied. 'I did, sir. It has to be ready by night, we stage a new play every night back at Senor Baltazar's theatre". He was even more stuck by the play's complexity, its wit, the piercing gaze I held over the foibles and follies of human society. He later asked if I had, and found out that I had not, read the books of Jane Austen or the Bronte Sisters, or any of the Shakespearian plays. 'I know only my father's plays, and my mother's stories', was my reply"
"The next morning, I saw him shaking his head at the breakfast table. 'You should've been my colony, sooner, my lass. Such talent is wasted on that churlish oaf of a father Antonio is. Think about it, think! Your works deserve to be toured in the West. Think how they will shake their heads at the foolishness of this 'burden' we insist, myself included, for I do not pretend to be above the stagnant pool of humanity, my child, upon which to justify our holds upon you and all the black and brown nations of the Earth."
"It never happened. Father Spain recaptured me a few days later".
France took over. "Yet, even then, the works of Monsieur Rizal would continue to haunt the West, mocking it with its deflating dreams of superiority. You weren't the only one, but you were a nail in the coffin of colonialism, my dear. For that, the world owes you a salute."
America clapped his hands. "Changing the world. Icon behavior."
"Really, now, I'm not special. Chile, Mexico and Brazil were churning out literature as well. I'm not the Golden Child among the colonies, I was just a girl trying to do the right things."
"You are much more than a golden child, you are part of the New Prophecy. You must rise and take your long-deserved place among the nations"
"I can't even get my politics act together. Have you seen who's running this year? It's a fucking circus!"
"We are more than our politics, child. We are our culture, the influence we wield, and the values we stand for. There is a reason you were chosen, Maria. Don't be afraid to wield your power…"