The next morning Alfred groaned in pain as he woke up, writhing around as he tried to sit up. Looking down at his body, he noticed the countless bandages covering his body. He could feel that the wounds hadn't healed yet.
Dragging himself out of bed, he started walking forward a few steps before curling over as pain shot through his chest. Right, his ribs were broken. Slowly he raised himself upright and and walked to the bathroom, holding back winces.
Just as he closed the bathroom door his bedroom door opened, Natalya standing in the doorway with a plate of food.
She stared at the empty bed in alarm as she stepped into the room and set the plate down. "Alfred? Are you in here?"
"Yo!" He loudly called out from the bathroom. Natalya immediately calmed down at the sound of his voice then took a seat in his bed. "I brought you lunch," she yelled back.
Alfred sighed as he finished and flushed the toilet. "Half my day wasted, terrific." Natalya heard the disappointment in his voice, so she decided not to mention that it was already past 2:00 p.m.
After cleaning his hands he walked out of the bathroom, seeing her sitting on his bed with a plate of food on the desk next to her. He walked over and reached out for it, absolutely starving, but had to stop and clutch his side.
Natalya picked up the plate and held it in her lap while pulling him over to sit down on the bed as well. As he sat down Natalya placed the plate in his lap. He was so hungry, no way a few panini could fill him up.
"We have more downstairs, but it's impossible to fit them all on a single plate so we're trying to figure out how to get it up here," she explained as she stood up. "So eat those slowly while I try to get the rest."
Alfred set the plate to the side and stood up as well. "I can just come downstairs. It's not that big of a deal."
Natalya put her hands on her hips and frowned. "Absolutely not, you are injured. Stay here."
That angered Alfred, he doesn't like being babied around. "You don't need to take care of me. I've got it."
When he took a step forward, however, his leg gave out as a white-hot pain shot up his thigh. He fell back on the bed with a yelp and held his leg while gritting his teeth.
Natalya looked on sadly at his pained face. "Just eat your lunch, I'll be right back."
Only a few minutes later Alfred heard the sound of something heavy hitting the steps. Every few seconds it repeated and got louder as it neared his room.
Natalya came in pushing an improvised food cart full of panini. As Alfred began eating through all of it he stared at Natalya, who decided to take a seat and patiently wait.
"So what are you going to do today?" He asked after swallowing a bite. She stared off blankly for a minute before giving him a teasing smirk. "Taking care of you."
Alfred wasn't amused at all. He lowered the panini from his mouth and had the sudden urge to crush it. "I can't believe the last day before I have to go off to Russia and I'm stuck bedridden the entire time. Why can't these damn injuries heal?!"
"Well for one, there's many of them. Two, it takes energy to heal but you were already exhausted beforehand. And three, there's a chance I didn't clean them all properly so you're possibly fighting off an infection," she explained matter-of-factly.
Alfred only grumbled more as he inhaled another panini. "Speaking of which, finish up soon I need to replace the dirty bandages," she added.
"I'd rather just let it heal then take them off myself," Alfred argued as he got more comfortable in bed. Natalya pointed back at the food cart with her thumb. "In that cart is the rest of that cake and a tub of cookie dough core ice cream, let me change your bandages and it's all yours."
He looked over at the food cart with skepticism, then his gaze softened as he started eating again. "I'll be done in a minute."
Natalya smiled as she got up to grab clean bandages and something to clean the wounds with. When she returned with the supplies, she found he was done and waiting for her.
"Alright, sit up I'm doing your arms first," she instructed. As he did as he was told she sat down at his feet and took one of his arms in her hand.
Slowly she began to unravel the bandage from his arm, each new layer a darker red than the last, until she finally made it to his actual arm. It was covered in gashes, and especially for this one, bites. They were everywhere, with entire chunks bitten out in some areas, though those appeared to be healing up nicely.
Setting a large pot of water on his nightstand and taking a washcloth out of it, she wrung it out and began wiping the dried blood away. As she continued cleaning it she glanced up at his face, which was concentrated on her cleaning. "So... tell me more about these wendigo things."
She could see Alfred visibly tense at her saying that word, though as he calmed down he decided to answer. "There is an old Native American legend that originated in the areas surrounding The Great Lakes and up in Canada. During the winter months it would become brutally cold, causing many people to go hungry and freeze to death. Some would become so desperate that they would eat others to survive, sometimes their own families. The evil and greed that came from the act corrupted the individual and cursed them forever. Forever to live as a horrifying monster hungry for more human flesh."
As Alfred finished the story he snapped out of his serious story-telling tone to look at Natalya, who had paused her cleaning to keenly listen. Seeing him looking at her made her stop staring and begin to rub disinfectant on his arm. "Is there anything else you can tell me?"
Alfred raised an eyebrow but thought about more to say. "Well... most people know of the legend, but today they just all assume it was a story the Native Americans made to scare children away from the woods and deter people from eating each other. Obviously no one has actually seen a wendigo, and if they have then they're either dead or no one believes them."
Natalya stared wide-eyed at him as she paused in rewrapping his arm. It confused him for a moment, until he remembered that she liked scary things. "So what about the axe and the flamethrower? Couldn't you just use a gun or something?"
"I could, though it would only pose more problems for me. Their skin is really tough, so most guns won't do much to them, only snipers and other high caliber weapons. Because of that it would be really difficult to use when dealing with multiple, which I was, and I didn't want to scare Peter awake unless absolutely necessary," Alfred explained.
Natalya nodded along as he continued. "The axe is useful because I can put my super strength into it, and also because it was my mom's, which she also used to hunt wendigo. And the flamethrower is for after I kill them, it's basically a "cleanse the soul" sort of deal, as fire is the only way to set the people free."
Finished with the first arm, she moved onto the second one, unwrapping it and observing the dozens of scratches. "So what do these things actually look like?"
"When a person first becomes a wendigo they look just like anyone else, though they may start to become afraid of sunlight. Kinda like rabies. But as time goes on they get super skinny due to being permanently hungry."
"Are you sure you're not a wendigo?" She joked. Alfred couldn't stop himself from snickering. That made her all warm inside. Making him happy was her new favorite hobby.
"No I'm not. But back to what I was saying, due to living up in cold regions like The Great Lakes and Canada, their skin becomes gray, hairless, and hardened like leather, it's actually kinda gross. Another gross thing is that they adapt to better hunt and eat humans. Their fingers get longer and their nails turn into claws, same with their feet. Their teeth also get sharper, which I'm sure you could figure out from my arm. Their limbs get significantly longer, so they can grow super tall. Oh, and they are also super fast and can climb trees, so they can stalk you, which is totally horrifying."
He paused his wendigo description as he felt a hand on his thigh. Looking down he saw Natalya about to unwrap the bandages on his leg. He watched on for a moment as blood pooled in his face, then as he came to his senses he jumped back and protectively covered his leg. "I can take care of this, you don't have to do everything."
Natalya frowned at him for rejecting the help. "Quit being so stubborn and let me help you," she argued. Alfred stared back at her with an odd look, but after a couple minutes of hesitating he moved forward again and allowed her to continue.
Slowly she grabbed the end of the bandage, which started all the way at his ankle, and unraveled it. The farther up his leg she got the stronger her blushing became, even while covered in gruesome lacerations, tears, and gouges, it was still incredibly alluring.
'Such thick muscle,' she thought hungrily. Maybe she was a wendigo, because she definitely wanted to chew on that. 'I can't believe I'm actually jealous of a bunch of cannibalistic monsters because they got a chance to bite him before I could.'
As she removed the bandage fully she could feel the hearts forming in her eyes. She grabbed the washcloth and placed it on his upper thigh, causing his breath to hitch. Slowly she started rubbing up and down his leg, feeling her lust for him growing exponentially.
On the other hand, Alfred was trying everything in his power to suppress it. He was putting his mind in some dark places just to prevent himself from showing off his Florida.
Both had grown deathly quiet, Alfred stuck staring at her face while she eyed his leg. The look in her eyes was something that perplexed him greatly. They seemed very focused on something, but he couldn't make out if it was on cleaning his leg or ogling at it. Eventually she removed her hands from him and started putting on new bandages, which relieved him greatly.
Next she moved onto the other one, which luckily for him, but sadly for her, had no bandages up on his thigh. That gave him enough levity to continue talking about wendigo.
"Y-Yeah, so the scariest thing about wendigo is probably what happens over time. As they eat more people they begin to change. Besides growing more powerful, they also grow significantly larger, and eventually get fur. Their faces go from looking like a human's to more like the skull of an elk's, as they start to get bone growths and horns."
"So if around for long enough would they eventually turn into elk?" She wondered as she finished up on his other leg, much to her misery.
"I'm certain that they don't, but if they did then I don't want to know where all the original elks came from," Alfred joked.
"Right. Anyway, raise your arms I need to take off the ones wrapped around your body," she instructed.
As Alfred did so, she crawled forward and sat extremely close as she reached around him and found the end of the bandage. It looked like they were both in some strange no contact hug.
When it came off they looked down at his torso and stomach, which had the worst of the damage. Natalya nearly gasped at the absolute carnage dealt to his body. There were bites, hundreds of scratches both large and small, giant crescent-shaped stabs in the middle of his abdomen, and two massive dark purple bruises that stretched all the way from the bottom of his pecs to his hips. Widthwise they went from a little behind his back to almost meeting at the middle of his shallow abs.
Alfred was the complete opposite, he stared down at his body with sparkles in his eyes. "Duuuuuuuuuuude."
She looked up at his mesmerized face in anger. "How can you be gawking at yourself at a time like this?! Look at you!"
"I know, I look like a gladiator or something," he said with childlike innocence. Natalya frowned and slapped him gently in the side. She didn't like hurting him but he needed a reality check.
He clutched his side and collapsed on the bed with an exaggerated gasp of pain, obviously to guilt trip her. "You're evil lady!" He yelled with an accusatory point of his finger.
Natalya sighed and looked at him sullenly. "Alfred you broke all your ribs except for one. If we hadn't patched you up when we did you would've bled out. Please take this seriously."
Alfred lowered his arm and laid on the bed with a flat expression. "I'm not gonna let myself get bogged down over some dumb monsters. Even if I died I would've just woken up the next day and gone after them again."
A tick mark appeared on Natalya's forehead. "And what if they dragged you back to their lair? You would be a constantly regenerating, endless buffet for them. Even if you did kill them and came back, could you really live happily knowing what it's like to get eaten alive?"
"Yes," he answered immediately, throwing her off guard. "What... are you insane?!"
Alfred shook his head and looked back at her with all the seriousness she was lookin for earlier. "Us nations go through terrible crap throughout our extremely long lives, it's almost inevitable we'll have at least one traumatic experience. If I think about all the bad stuff that's happened in my country then I'll end up as moody and jaded as everyone else. The world needs some light, some little fraction of optimism to keep everyone else going. And I may not be the one that should be doing that, but I'm doing it because I know no one else will."
Natalya opened her mouth to argue, but shut it again when she couldn't refute his point. "Just... turn around I'm cleaning your back first."
Alfred took that as him winning the debate so he gladly began to move, but as he twisted around to lay down on his stomach he felt sharp pains all over his body.
Natalya watched as he froze in place, then frowned as he exhaled slowly and began trying to move again. "You're in pain, please let me help."
He held himself up for a few more moments, then grunted as he lowered himself down onto his stomach. It really hurt to breathe in this position, but at least he was down.
"Why are you so against getting help?!" She whined in extreme agitation. Alfred grumbled and pushed himself up by his arms to alleviate the pain in his chest. "Because I don't like making people worry."
"I'm worried now!" She complained. Alfred smirked as he turned to look back at her. "Since when have you been so emotional?"
'Since I fell in love with you, you dolt!' She thought as her face became flushed. On the outside she crossed her arms and glared down at him. "Because you're being a fool and hurting yourself. Now shut up I'm cleaning your back."
"But you were also ta— AHH that's cold!" He screamed as she rubbed the washcloth across his back. She giggled as she dragged it across the long cuts, making him tense and shiver.
She purposely went extra slow in her washing just to torture him a little longer. As that side was finished, she dried it off and directed him to flip over. In one movement he rolled over onto his back with a grimace.
All pain left his body as Natalya placed a washcloth-covered hand onto his chest. For a moment he grew just as nervous as when she touched his thigh, but something about this also brought a sense of comfort.
The way she was tending his wounds, how her delicate hands drifted extra lightly over the cuts and bites as to not hurt him, and the touch of softness on her ever stoic face. It was all so proper and caring.
That's what he saw, for Natalya she felt like a time bomb about to burst. 'This is the first time I've touched his chest while he's awake, and he looks completely unbothered by it.'
As she inched her hands down to his abdomen, she felt her hips unconsciously trying to sway side to side, like a cat revving up to pounce on their target. 'I want to kiss him, I want to kiss him so bad! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!'
All Alfred witnessed of her fight against her obsession was a single exhale of hot breath, which resulted from her struggle to keep the blood out of her cheeks.
After a few minutes she finished and wrapped his body up. Then handed him the ice cream, cake, and a fork and spoon as she left the room with the bowl, washcloth, and food cart.
As she entered the kitchen she prepared to dump out the slightly bloody water from the bowl, but stopped and stared into it. Suddenly her heart started to speed up as she looked at her own reflection in it. This bowl is full of Alfred, the washcloth is soaked with Alfred, her hands are covered in Alfred.
It was like she was cradling a little piece of him. A little piece of Alfred all to herself.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" A voice called out. She snapped her head over to the noise, seeing Molossia standing near her and holding dirty dishes to clean. "You've been staring at that bowl like it's your job, what's up?"
"It's nothing, I was just distracted," she excused as she dumped out the bowl. Before Molossia could ask anything else she sped off to throw the washcloth in a laundry hamper.
As she went back upstairs, she started to go to Alfred's room but then stopped. She suddenly got a thought, a very dirty thought. She looked back at her own room then down at her hands, the hands that still held Alfred's scent.
Heat gathered in her face and chest, then traveled down through her stomach and into her crotch. No longer able to deny her lewd thoughts or the tingling sensation in her privates, she ran off to her room to discover what Alfred-coated hands could do.
She didn't return to his room for nearly half an hour, and when she finally did Alfred instantly noticed the difference in behavior. She seemed... more relaxed, like way more relaxed. Was she ripping a bong right before this?
She strolled over to his bed, noticed the empty plate and ice cream tub, set them on the nightstand, then sat down next to him like she owned the place. "What's going on?" She asked him.
'Man, even her voice sounds weird. It's like... super lax, wasn't she annoyed with me when she left?'
'She was... hmmm. It's like she's on ecstasy or somethin'.'
"I'm watching the news. Every time I hear a lie or an exaggeration I shoot the tv with a nerf dart," he explained to her while trying to balance his conversation with Confederacy.
'How do you know what ecstasy looks like?'
"But I can't even see the screen," she pointed out. Alfred laughed and shot as he heard another lie. "Exactly."
'When we were at dat one concert wit da Dane and albino I saw a girl take a pill. She went wild after dat, pretty sure she carved out a gloryhole or twerked on a band member or somethin'.'
'Oh damn,' he thought as he shot the screen again. "So what do you want to do for the rest of today? We can watch movies, or play something, or whatever thing you can think of because I'm honestly stuck on what to do."
"What games are left that we haven't played?" She asked. Alfred thought for a moment. "There's battlefield 1, but that deals with WWI so it often brings up bad memories."
"Then a movie sounds fine," she stated as she brushed some hair away from her face. It was then that he noticed some strands were matted to her forehead in sweat.
"Were you outside or something? Your face is covered in sweat," he pointed out, to which her eyes widened while she tried wiping it off with her sleeve. "I was cleaning around the house since you can't. It's nothing to worry about."
"Oh, well... ok. Anyway... yeah we can watch a movie," he said as he reached out to the nightstand for the remote.
After removing all the nerf darts off the tv, it didn't take long for them to find something to watch, as Natalya was fine with anything as long as she was with Alfred.
For the rest of the day they simply hung out, watching movies, eating popcorn, and doing random things in between.
In one instance Natalya was sitting up while Alfred was laying down, and out of curiosity she removed his glasses. For a split second Alfred looked alarmed as the glasses were removed, but he quickly calmed down as he saw her holding them.
"Remind me again why you wear these if you can see just fine," she asked, already aware of what the answer was.
"Well there's multiple reasons. They represent Texas for one, they make me look smarter, and it's like Superman, how he is Clark Kent with them on but when he takes them off he's a superhero," Alfred said as he pumped a fist in the air.
Natalya eyed them weirdly before turning them around and sliding them over her own face. There was no magnification in the lenses whatsoever, they were just flat pieces of glass.
Alfred could barely keep down a grin as he stared up at her. The glasses were way too big for her face, so she had to keep it from sliding off her small nose or falling off her little ears. It was unbelievably adorable.
"Well they make me look smart and a hero, but on you they make you look like a dork," he joked.
"A dork you say? Give me a moment," she said cryptically as she tossed a blanket over his head and got off the bed as she searched around for a moment. After finding what she wanted she ran to the closet, grabbed something else inside, and ran to the bathroom.
After hearing her leave, Alfred removed the blanket and looked around in confusion. In a few minutes she returned wearing his full garb: the bomber jacket, the glasses, the tan suit and boots, and she even tied her hair in a bun while folding and clipping in a small strand to look like his cowlick.
"Am I a dork now?" She asked while putting her legs out wide and placing her hands on her hips, striking his same hero pose.
Alfred stared on with his mouth on the floor, then he laughed hysterically as he finally realized she was making fun of him. "The biggest in the world."
She exaggerated a march over to the bed as she sat down to watch the movie once again. Alfred couldn't stop laughing, even if it was to spite him. Though after a few minutes passed and she was still wearing the clothes, he began to get nervous being separated from Texas.
"So... can I have my stuff back?" He requested. "Mmm, I don't know. I'm feeling heroic like this," she said while pushing up the glasses, a seemingly random glimmer coming off of them.
"Can I at least have Texas back," he asked, growing more panicked. Natalya picked up on this so she took them off and slid them back on Alfred's face. Instantly he stopped freaking out and slowly inhaled a calm breath. "Thank you."
Natalya watched curiously as he triple checked that they were fixed to his face. "You're really attached to those things, huh?"
"They're my second largest state, I don't know what I'd do if I lost them," he responded seriously. Remembering what she read about the Civil War, she decided to keep quiet on the subject.
When night finally came Alfred tried his hardest to fall asleep, he had to get up early tomorrow if he wanted to get to Moscow in time.
As midnight came and went he rolled over to glare at the ceiling, making Natalya stare at him in pity. "This sucks. How am I meant to fall asleep while fully awake?"
"Is it even that big of a problem? With how jet lag is, it might actually benefit your sleep schedule," she noted. Alfred raised his head and looked at her. "What do you mean?"
Natalya did some math for a second before explaining. "Right now it should be around 7:00 a.m. in Moscow, sure you'll probably begin to get tired when you arrive, but by that time it will already be approaching night."
"So you're saying I should leave right now?" He asked. Natalya shrugged. "You don't have to, it's just a suggestion. I don't even know how much you've healed."
"I think most of my ribs are healed. But anyway this sounds like a good idea, thanks Nat," he said as he dashed off to get ready.
Natalya's mouth dropped in instant regret as she slouched forward and put a hand on her chin. Great, now he's going to leave before she can do her routine sleep cuddling.
After a while she heard frustrated cursing coming from the bathroom, so she got up to investigate. Once she opened the door she found Alfred in a black suit while he struggled to tie his tie. He looked positively dazzling.
"What are you doing?" She asked as she walked up to him. Alfred glanced at her then back at his reflection as he sneered. "Apparently my boss wants me to wear this damn monkey suit," he snarled while yanking off the tie. "I hate these things."
"Why are you even doing this now?" She questioned. "The flight will take hours."
"I'm just trying to get used to it," he answered while bending his legs. "This suit is all tight in the worst places."
Natalya chuckled as she picked up the tie and wrapped it around his collar, tying it properly and pushing it snug to his neck. "If it's worth anything, I think it makes you look handsome."
Alfred's breath caught in his throat and the tie felt like it was choking him. He wasn't expecting something like that to come from her. Awkwardly he coughed into his hand and adjusted his tie. "T-Thank you."
That made Natalya giggle childishly. She just straight up flirted with him, and he thanked her for it. This must be true love, there's no other way of explaining it.
As Alfred left the bathroom to pack, Natalya wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes, such intense passion flowing through her.
Next thing she knew he was ready to go with his briefcase and suitcase, he looked like a husband going on a business trip. Oh if only it was appropriate to kiss him goodbye.
As they walked together down the stairs and to the back door, he paused to turn back to her. "I guess I'll see you in four days."
"I suppose you will," she responded as she clasped her hands in front of her. She gripped her hands so tight that she could feel the blood leaving them.
Not able to hold herself back any longer, she ran forward and wrapped tight around his chest. "I'll miss you."
Alfred grunted in pain. "Nat some of my ribs are still broken." She ignored him and only squeezed tighter. He bit back a groan then sighed in defeat, wrapping his own arms around her and patting her back. "I'll miss you too."
Eventually she let go and apologized for crushing him. He waved it off and gave one final goodbye before leaving.
'That was...'
'Clingy?'
'I wouldn't say that, at least it's not her kicking down my door and calling me big brother.'
'This could be da beginnin' dough.'
'Maybe... though hugging her feels nice,' he thought as he entered a car and drove away to the airport.
As Natalya watched him go she nearly slapped herself. "God damn idiot, you nearly blew it!" She cursed herself all the way up to her room, swapping all of Alfred's clothes for a nightgown. Then she stomped back over to Alfred's room, bomber jacket in hand as she flopped down on his warm bed and rolled under the covers.
'This is impossible, the emotions are just too strong,' she grumbled while burying her face into his bomber jacket. 'I don't know how long I can keep going before I do something really drastic. Though he didn't seem too bothered about the flirting or hugging, so that has to mean something, right?'
Despite the great possibility of a connection between them, she found herself disbelieving. 'No, he's probably just being polite while I'm making him uncomfortable.'
This balancing act with him was the worst, there was no way she could do a repeat of what she did with Russia. Centuries of waiting? Even a few months waiting for Alfred to reciprocate sounded painful.
'Please come home my love, I can't stand being separated from you,' she pleaded as she curled into a ball and slowly fell asleep into his jacket.
Nearly twelve hours later Alfred arrived in Moscow, tired, irritated, and just wanting this day to be over.
After finding the meeting building, a group of American government agents suddenly appeared out of nowhere to escort him inside.
From there he went to the room where the rest of the government officials were, not bothering to look up at any of them as he went straight over to fill out attendance and the proper forms for the next three days of meetings.
After an excruciatingly boring hour or two of that, he left to find a hotel, paid for a room, and crashed face first into bed. Lazily he kicked off his shoes and clothing, but was only able to take about half of it off before he passed out.
The next morning he woke up bright and early, full of energy and not completely miserable about having meetings with Russia for three days straight.
Getting out of bed, he removed the rest of the suit and took a quick shower, in which he found that his wounds were now fully healed. Good, if something bad happened between him and Russia he needed to be at top performance.
After leaving the comfort of the shower, he forced himself back into the uncomfortable torture chamber of a suit. England made him wear these kinds of things all the time, but no matter how many times he put a suit on he never got used to it.
Looking in the mirror, he tied the tie just like Natalya did and straightened everything out. 'Does she really think I'm handsome?' He wondered as he took off his glasses. He didn't really understand what she saw that would be considered handsome. Surely it was just some joke or something, since he looks the least like himself when in a suit.
He put his glasses back on and left the bathroom, not wanting to think more into it than he already is. From there he walked all the way to the meeting building and entered the conference room.
There were already some people there, like his and Russia's bosses, which were conversing quietly with their interpreters close by to translate.
Besides them it was just the nameless officials here for security and all sorts of boring things he doesn't care to learn. Taking a seat near his boss, he tried his best to block out all outside noise. How he wished he could be back home with his three friends, probably doing nothing... but at least he would be doing nothing with them.
Instead now he's here in a boring meeting, waiting for his biggest rival to arrive so they can spend way too many days talking about nukes. Inevitably it'll end in some level of argument, whether it will stay as passive-aggressiveness or turn into a physical altercation is still yet to be seen.
Speaking of the commie bastard, where the hell was he? Putin is here, surely Russia came with him. Even if he didn't, how would Alfred get here before the actual country he's in? Actually now that he was thinking about it, was Russia even there yesterday?
Thinking back to yesterday, Alfred couldn't remember seeing Russia anywhere. If he was then he didn't say anything, which was even weirder. He may still be screwed up over the whole thing with Natalya, but he would still try to appear strong when in front of his boss and the rest of his government.
As the minutes passed on Alfred began growing antsy. Something about Russia's absence was extremely unsettling, especially as Putin didn't appear any less patient.
Eventually it became too much and Alfred had to figure it out. He stood up and walked over to a different part of the table, where a few American diplomats were talking. "Hey dudes, do you know where Russki is? This meeting is kinda important."
"Ah sorry America, we're not sure," one of them spoke up, to which the other nodded along. Alfred smiled warmly as to not make them feel disappointed in themselves. "Don't stress about it, I'll figure it out."
One by one he went around the room asking everyone, both American and Russian, whether they knew where Russia was. All he got were apologies, no's, or "that's none of your business. Quit bothering me."
With no one else to turn to he looked at Putin himself. 'I'm so gonna regret this,' he thought as he walked over and wrapped an arm around Putin's shoulders, making everyone in the room tense up.
Putin remained unmoving as Alfred began speaking. "So, Putin bro. Do you have any idea where your nation is? Cause this is like, an important meeting to be at. He does know there's a meeting today, right?"
The interpreter nervously repeated what Alfred said, to which Putin sat still for a few moments more before sighing away his irritation and brushing off Alfred's hand. "He won't be attending today due to family matters, when he will return is unknown. Now, go back to your seat," the interpreter told Alfred, to which he complied.
As he sat down he downed a large glass of water. Better to get hydrated now when he still knows the water is safe to drink.
'Family matters, huh?' He thought. That didn't make him feel any less anxious about the Russian's whereabouts.
(Hours earlier)
As Russia sat in his room, eating some food he ordered from room service, he was suddenly alerted by a call on his phone.
Picking it up and seeing the ID, he realized it was his boss. He accepted the call and put the phone to his ear. "Sir?" He addressed in Russian.
"Russia. I know you have been dealing with family matters as of late, so you cannot attend tomorrow's meeting. But if you can, try to return and attend at least one of them," Putin requested.
"Da, of course. I will return as soon as I can," Russia responded. He completely forgot about the meetings he's supposed to be having with Alfred.
"Good. I expect to see you back soon. Goodbye," Putin said as he hung up. Russia put the phone away and finished off his food. 'I am supposing it is finally the day.'
He stood up and looked over at his two agents. "Be packing of your things. Today I bring my sestra home."
Minutes later, the micronations were interrupted from their movie as they heard the doorbell ring. Peter perked up and looked at the other micronation. "Who is it?"
"Probably the mail, don't bother pausing I'll be right back," Molossia said as he stood up and left the living room.
As he walked toward the door the doorbell rang a few more times, agitating him more and more. "I got it I'm coming, don't get your damn panties in a..." he trailed off as he angrily swung the door open.
Slowly he moved his head up to look at the tall figure ahead of him, their wide and looming stature casting a dark shadow on both of them. Their face was almost completely submerged in darkness, except for two bright purple eyes and their freakishly curved smile.
"Well well, it brings me the great pleasure to finally be meeting you," the figure spoke in a low, thick Russian accent.
Molossia shook in fear at hearing the voice of the nation he's heard so much about. The only nation who could contend with Alfred and really push them to their limit. The cold-blooded nation that permanently screwed up the Baltics and terrified Eastern Europe. The nation that had arrived just as Alfred, the main line of defense against him, had left.
Molossia did his absolute best to push down his fear as he balled his hands into fists and gritted his teeth. "Russia," he spoke through his teeth.
At having this mystery nation address him with the same glare and bravado as his main rival, Russia couldn't help but curve his small smile upwards and let out a childish little chuckle, while his eyes hardened in a look full of malice.
This is going to be fun.