'ᴛʜᴇ ɢʟᴏʙᴀʟ ᴊᴏᴜʀɴᴀʟ' || ʜᴇᴛᴀʟɪᴀ

8

Gilbert threw his phone at the desk in blind fury and moved away from the computer screens for a moment. He needed to calm down. Ludwig had declined his call, which for once, was actually extremely urgent and not just some piss-take! He huffed, gathered his thoughts, and moved to the microphone.

"Hey, squirt?"

"Yeah? What's wrong? What was that noise?"

"Don't worry," Gilbert replied, "I just knocked something over. I didn't set up feeds for you covering the entire site of the meeting area, did I?"

It was a statement, really. Gilbert had decided to set up a few extra cameras around the hallways and gardens of the building that the meeting was taking place in, for the sake of keeping an eye of everything that was going on. Prussia looked back at the left-most computer screen on the hotel desk and he bit his lip anxiously.

"No. I only have access to the main room and the audio." Peter answered. "Is something wrong? I want to know-!"

"Worst case scenario right now is that I might have to barge into the conference room and kick everyone's asses into gear..." Gilbert sighed, scratching his forehead as he thought.

Then suddenly, an idea came into his head, and he hastily scrambled through the desk's drawers, looking for a device he was sure he'd put there somewhere for safe-keeping. Peter asked what all the loud noise was, but Gilbert didn't pay attention. Eventually, he retrieved a pay-as-you-go mobile phone; one he'd bought in the preparation stages, specifically for emergency use only.

He turned it on and opened up the Messages function, before typing out a short, anonymous text and sending it to one of the nations in the meeting. Someone who wouldn't suspect it was him, but perhaps someone who will understand and care. As it sent, he sat back down and told Peter to stay quiet for a second, and he watched the central computer screen ardently.

Back in the centre of London, one of the nations felt a buzz in their pocket, which none of the surrounding personifications had heard or acknowledged, thankfully. Cautiously, they pulled it from their pocket and held it under the desk out of sight from the others, and frowned slightly in confusion when they saw they had a message from an unidentified number. They opened it.

'Rear gardens, centre of hedge maze, go now and go alone.'

Ivan was now even more confused. Someone, somewhere, had just ordered him to leave the room and go outside. Why? He didn't know if it was a trick, or if someone wanted to speak to him, or if he was just dreaming up something more exciting. Apparently he'd been unfocused for too long, however, and he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Wakey wakey, Russia." China said. "Are you really that bored?"

Ivan thought about the message, and shook his head. "Nyet, I am not bored... But I do need to be excused for a few minutes."

"Is something wrong?"

"This is Earth. Something is always wrong." Russia responded with a smile as he left his seat.

When the door closed, Ivan had left, and only nine nations remained in the room, Yao cleared his throat and decided to continue with the entries. It was why they were all there, after all, and it was already nearing the middle of the afternoon.

"So, the Magic Trio." Yao began. ."If anyone could take over the world (if they wanted), it'd be these three. England, Norway and Romania are powerful in their own rights and more than anyone probably knows, so it would be wise to respect them and what they do more."

"Hear that? Wise words from the book." Arthur said smugly. "So, the next time you want to take the piss out of what I do in my free-time, think twice."