"Close your eyes-they're exceptionally heavy." he cupped my cheek, and my eyes fell shut, as if lead lined my lashes. "Keep them closed," he said in a voice soft and lush, and he pulled my body towards him. "Your lids are now stuck together. Try opening them."

I couldn't.

"Good. Very good. I am now going to stroke the back of your neck with my free hand, and each caress will send you deeper and deeper into hypnosis." He rubbed his palms down the base of my neck, over the topmost vertebrae. "Do you feel that sense of relaxation?"

"Yess," I whispered from somewhere inside a deep pocket of darkness.

"Now, listen carefully, you will not listen to people like Third Reich that make you feel as though you're lesser than they are."

"I. . ." I tried to reach my fingers up to America's hand on my cheek, but my arm was built out of limp plastic.

"Will you promise, Soviet? Don't let people like him make you feel like garbage."

"I promise."

"Your mind will remain your own, these voices in your head will go away. You will not reply or hear from them."

"Yesss."

I heard him swallow. "I am going to wake you up now. Are you ready?"

I nodded on the unstable hinge of my neck.

"I'll count forward to ten—we'll take it slowly. One . . . two . . . three . . ."

My face tried to scrunch up, but the muscles barely moved. Instead i slurred out, "I want . . . to make sure . . . you're going to be . . . alright, too."

He lowered his hand from my face. "Pardon?"

My eyes were shut, too thick and dense to uncover, and my tongue remained heavy and cumbersome. "I feel . . . the need . . . to tell you this . . . Waking up might change . . . my boldness."

"It won't."

"You're only . . . twenty-two. Hospitalized . . . Chest pains. Fatigue. . . Cancer . . . in throat . . . and lungs . . . lumps on arms and chest . . . Collapsed. Just twenty-two. I can't . . . be with you . . . need to be . . . on my own. But I care . . . about you."

"I'm alright."

"No. Am not convinced."

He was silent, and for a moment I just stood there with my arm dangling by my sides like noodles, relaxing in the mesmerizing hold of peaceful darkness.

"Are you ready to wake up now?" he asked.

"Swear . . . you'll take care . . . of yourself."

"I—"

"Swear. Let me speak . . . with less heaviness."

His thumb traced my jawline. "Alright. You're easing upward to a lesser stage of relaxation. Keep rising up . . . up . . . up. Your tongue is no longer heavy. You can talk with clarity and freedom."

My tongue loosened inside my mouth.

"What did you want to say?" he asked, hesitating at first.

"There's beauty in this world, US, and not everyone has to die young. There's so much hope. There's so much work –ridiculous amounts of work, really– but above all, hope. I've seen it out there, alongside the darkness. Look at Poland and see what she got through. Look at the times we had together."

He didn't answer. His hands trembled against my face.

"USA?"

"I'll count forward," he said, a quaver in his voice. "Slowly, so you can come up gently. One . . . two . . . three . . ."

"Were you listening to me, USA?"

"Yes."

"Will you put yourself back together?"

"Да." he said in my fluent language. For me.

"Обещать?" (Promise?)

"Обещаю, Soviet." –he emitted a weak flutter of a laugh– "are you hypnotizing me while under hypnosis?"

"We're partners, remember?"

"Yes, I definitely remember. We are партнеры, которые целуются." (partners that kiss)

I chuckled lightly, like a feather. "Then let my words persuade you to become the type of person you are not afraid of looking at in the mirror. If you think life is farce, USA, then change it."

"Alright. I'll fix myself up."

"Promise?"

"Yes. If it means that much to you, then . . . yes." a self-relaxing breath loosened his voice. "Um . . . where was I?"

"Four," I said. "And I wanted to open your eyes, too, when we get to ten. Five . . ."

"Alright." he took another breath. "Six . . ."

"Seven," I said.

"Eight . . ."

"Nine . . ."

He removed his hand from my face. "Ten."

We awoke, and I took a long look around me. Passengers and porters hurried about, and the subway hissed with impatience.

I reached down and kissed his lips, which faltered beneath mine. We clasped our arms around each other and bear-hugged instead, and America whispered in my ear, "A hui hou kāua."

"What does that mean?" I whisper back.

"Until we meet again, Soviet." America pulled back and smiled. "I will see you again when the time is right. Now you have a train to catch don't you?"

I nodded and turned around to see Russia and Ukraine getting off the bench and walking over towards me. I turned back around to face the American, but he was gone. I looked around quickly, but the constant movement of hooded and hatted human heads bustling around made it impossible for me to spot him, especially when they kept running into my shoulders making me step around in blind circles. I sighed and looked back over to my sisters. They grabbed my arm and led me to our train.