In what was once America's mindscape, one lone figure stood, knife in hand. Gazing around the void, he waited. But he was waiting for far too long. He heard a whisper in his ear. Actually, a series of growls would be more accurate. It yearned. The figure's eyes narrowed to slits as he gradually understood its call and its frustration, feeling the same anger and frustration building up inside himself.
He wasn't here.
The lone figure's eye twitched and, baring his teeth in an ugly scowl, yelled out, "THAT FUCKING BASTARD!"
--x--
Hearing America's blood-curdling scream, pure horror and concern flooded Russia as he quickly separated from their hug to see what was happening. By the time he did that, however, America fell limp and Russia felt his heart drop, quickly recognizing what was happening. Quickly setting America down so that he could help, Russia started yelling for help and quickly looked around at the floor to make sure there was nothing dangerous, getting ready to perform CPR. Just as he was about to go through the steps, however, Russia was trampled over by someone, being pushed back towards the wall. Where there had been no one other than America a few seconds earlier, there were now about fifty people. Their heights varied drastically, but they were all much shorter than Russia, generally being around the height of most European countries, with only one exception.
But what scared Russia the most was that he couldn't see America's body anymore. But, who were these people? Realization dawned on Russia. America was a union, right? Then that must mean that these people made up his union. Russia was pretty sure Canada called them states. Seeing a familiar blue box among the crowd, Russia shoved through the states, reaching America, who was unconscious on the floor, a few nearby states freaking out, unsure of what to do. Now that he had gotten close enough to properly see America, Russia felt his heart drop further.
America didn't have any stars on his flag
...And he wasn't breathing.
Hearing the door slam open, Russia hurriedly turned to see a terrified Canadian. Russia growled out in a mixture of fear and pain, "Get a doctor, America isn't breathing!" His eyes widening in fear, Canada quickly nodded and ran out to get a doctor.
Russia, putting his left hand over his right hand, began to start compressions. The states around him watched in fear and concern, not knowing how to help. Suddenly, a state let out a loud yelp as a certain island shoved past them, barreling into Russia and successfully knocking him down.
Russia angrily looked up to see what seemed to be a frustrated yet determined inverted Cuba. Several nearby states quickly leaped into action, collectively dragging the island away and pinning him to the ground while yelling, shouting, and bickering incoherently. The island territory struggled for a bit before realizing it was no use, yelling out, "You're all stupid if you think this is it!"
A frustrated expression on his face, Russia quickly turned to go back to giving America CPR, hearing the door open as Canada and a human doctor entered the room. But, to Russia's surprise and confusion, America wasn't on the floor anymore.
In fact, America was actually standing up, cracking his neck and knuckles with his eyes closed. Russia, though surprised and insanely confused, let out a breath of relief, standing up himself. Still, an unexplainable worry pricked at the back of his mind as he said, "America, are you okay?!"
One of the states happily remarked, "Look, his cracks are gone!"
Russia smiled and looked back at America, "I suppose you really are o..." But his words dried up. No... no, no, no, something about this wasn't right. Russia wasn't sure why, but he had this intense feeling...
That something was wrong.
America's expression twisted into a grin and Russia's heart dropped.
This isn't America.
Russia furrowed his brows and stood up straighter, feeling tension and unease prick at his mind like how a cactus would prick your finger, "You aren't America, are you?"
"America's" grin grew wider at the comment and he opened his eyes, revealing pitch-black eyes with red pupils that seemed to glow faintly. He smirked, the colors of his flag shifting and swirling before settling on a red background, a blue "x" with a white outline on top of that background, and thirteen white stars on the "x."
He spoke, his voice low, like something you would hear in your worst nightmares, "You've never been more right, Russia."
Many states froze upon seeing him while many others bristled, one of the southern states shouting out, "Get rid of those stars, bitch! We don't work with you anymore!"
His gaze raked over all the people surrounding him, taking a close look around him before settling on the state who shouted that out, Tennessee. His eyes started glowing an even brighter red as he started walking towards Tennessee threateningly, "We'll see about that, hm?"
Russia, quickly realizing he should probably protect America's kids, growled and punched the nameless guy right in the jaw, knocking him down to the ground. He had to protect the states. If he can just get them to merge, then America will have come back! He can't risk any of them being hurt. His heart was barely staying together as it was, and losing America forever... that would shatter it, "Who are you and what have you done to America?!"
"My name is the Confederate States of America, but you can call me 'boyfriend killer.'" Confederate smirked, gingerly touching his punched jaw before standing back up. His smirk became smug in nature, "Oh, wait, no, that's what I would've been called if I had given you the time to respond to America's 'confession.' Oops, sorry about that."
Russia felt anger flood him. This fucking bitch. Blinded by rage and anger, Russia went in for another punch, this time aiming for Confederate's throat.
Confederacy, however, noticing how much at a disadvantage he was, raked his gaze across everyone in the room, looking for an escape. He couldn't beat a world power without all of the states.
... Oh shit, the states!
He has America's body! So that means... Confederate grinned. That means he can just force the states and territories to unite with him! As long as they touch physically, of course.
Man, this'll be like stealing candy from a baby.
Quickly dodging Russia's punch, Confederacy ran around him, straight towards the largest group of states. DC, who was near that cluster of states, seemed to be following Confederate's train of thought, however, because his eyes widened and he hastily yelled out, "Run! He has America's body! He can force you to join him!"
Confederate scoffed. Of course. There goes his element of surprise. The cluster of states, looking partially torn between staying and running, chose to scatter, revealing a now freed Puerto Rico. Confederate mentally shrugged, Puerto Rico will have to do, I guess.
Plucking Puerto Rico up from the ground by the collar of his shirt, Confederate ran to the window, sparing a glance behind him to see an enraged Russian chasing him. Feeling whatever fragments of his demented heart clench in fear, Confederate jumped out of the window, shattering the glass, landing successfully on the pavement, and terrifying the nearby pedestrians.
Scoffing at all the terrified "Yankees" around him, he ducked into an alley, making sure to take the most confusing route through them as he could.
--x--
Russia was about to follow Confederacy out of the window when he felt someone yank on his sleeve. He turned to see a state who was slightly taller than Greece, his flag blue with an intricate center design. The state remarked, "The city's alleyways aren't a place for a foreigner like you to track someone down in. You won't find him even if you try, it's a waste of time."
Russia scoffed, shaking off the state's grip, "How would you know?"
The state looked at him, confused, before saying, "This is my land and my city, of course I'd know more about it than you, idiot," The state walked off after saying that, visibly pissed. Then, someone whose height was around Liechtenstein's walked up, Canada following closely behind, at a loss for words. Canada looked around, able to recognize some of the states, but not most of them. He vaguely recognized California and Texas while he vividly recognized the original thirteen.
The new, short fella whose flag was white with two red stripes and three red stars spoke, "Hi, Russia. I'm DC, District of Columbia, and I run this show with the help of the original thirteen, Cali, and Texas."
Russia narrowed his eyes at DC, "Is this the part where you explain everything that just happened to me to further the plot of the story?"
"What?" DC questioned, confusion flickering over his face.
"What?" Russia responded, quickly becoming confused as well.
DC blinked for a few seconds before shaking his head slightly and saying, "We are all of America's states and territories, and I'm America's capital. If the states look at you weirdly or call you 'commie' behind your back, ignore them. They don't- can't, if I'm being more accurate- keep up with what happens in America's personal life."
Russia raised an eyebrow before sighing and rubbing his temple, "What even happened back there? Why did all you fall apart like that? And..." Russia trailed off, unable to put his desperate thoughts into words.
DC frowned, but a taller state who looked like Chile- and had about the same height as Chile- answered for him with an enraged and frustrated look, "If you wanna know, commie-"
DC clicked his tongue and muttered, "There it is."
Texas simply gave him the same frustrated look he gave Russia, continuing with accentuated diction, "We were forced apart by that shit-eating ass, Confederate."
"Rather painfully, too," Michigan shuddered.
DC winced, as did many of the other states. None of them could put into words how painful that split was. It wasn't natural- they didn't want to be separated. It felt like they were being ripped apart while simultaneously being set on fire. If that's how bad it was for them, it must've been so much worse for America.
Russia frowned, "What about America? Can you reform?"
DC cast an unsure look at the states and territories and commented, "I'm... not sure. We're missing America's body, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, and Hawaii."
A determined look settled on Russia's face, "We have Rhode Island and Hawaii downstairs."
Many murmured in surprise and relief at that. If you looked hard enough, you could see North Carolina silently start to cry in relief as South Carolina pat his back consolingly. However, DC vehemently shook his head, "No! They aren't conscious or aware of anything right now! Forcing them to unite with us could overwhelm what's left of their brains and kill them! No way!"
Canada cast a surprised look at DC, "Wait- how do you know that? I thought America said that you guys can't see what America's doing, just feel the state of the country and check up on your own states."
"Well," Georgia answered, placing her hand on her chest, "We can't see what America's doing in the real world, but DC can. Since he's a federal district and is technically more a part of America than we are, he can understand and connect with America on another level."
"Because of that, he can look in on what America's doing and let us look in on what he's doing, though it tires him out," Minnesota joined in.
"We usually don't watch with him, though, because we're too busy doing our own thing," said Nebraska.
"And by that, they mean that the states are causing pure chaos and Texas is probably starting another rodeo and releasing Longhorns into the house," U.S. Virgin Islands grumbled.
"Hey! That was uncalled for!" Texas complained.
"We will try to form America without Hawaii and Rhode Island," DC concluded, preventing his siblings from rambling on for the next hour. Russia nodded in response, hoping it'll work and also partially overwhelmed by the number of unfamiliar people speaking.
DC turned to the states and territories. After a few shared glances, DC laughed and said, "Group hug?" Several states laughed as well, and they huddled together. Gradually, they began to glow white, the glowing light merging and shifting into a human shape. After a few more moments of shifting, the light faded away to reveal America.
Russia felt relief wash over him. America looked at Russia and then Canada blankly before his face seemed to melt. Horror instantly replaced Russia's relief. America glowed again, turning back into the white light, before aggressively shifting and moving around, before "popping" to reveal the states and territories, all of them bickering with each other.
"What the fuck were you guys doing, we were making it work!" Texas shouted out.
"You were the one messing it up!" Virginia yelled back.
West Virginia scoffed, "Oh, you're one to fucking speak."
Kansas yelled out, "Oh my god guys, stop arguing!"
"You're not helping!" Arkansas replied.
"Oh, shut up, Ar-Kansas." Louisiana retorted, purposefully saying the name wrong.
"Shut the fuck up yourself, Louis-sianna," Mississippi remarked sourly.
Cali, nearly at her wit's end, yelled out louder than she ever has been before, "Can all of you shut up for five seconds!"
The bickering, sour, and angered states quickly shut up, shocked by their sister's outburst. Cali, exasperated, said, "Thank you." She sighed, "DC, problem report."
DC, who was heavily in thought despite his loud sibling's bickering, jumped at the sound of his name, turning to face California. Cali repeated what she said, "Problem report, DC."
DC bit his lip, "There's nothing wrong with us, it's just that..."
"Spit it out," Russia muttered, growing frustrated and tired of the states already. How is America even able to handle them?
DC cast a quick glance towards Russia before looking expectantly at his siblings, "Do you guys remember Dad's emergency plan?"
Several states responded at the same time, the loudest being Texas and Cali, with Cali saying, "Of course I remember the emergency plan," and Texas confusedly asking, "The whosit whatsit?"
Cali looked at Texas in disbelief, "Please tell me you're kidding."
Texas pursed his lips before doing finger guns and clicking his tongue, "I wish I could, darlin'."
"Never do that again," Cali warned, an annoyed and slightly weirded out look on her face. "You're going to encourage Alabama and I don't need that right now."
"What? I wasn't doing anything!" Texas protested, motioning with his hands as he spoke.
"Alabama won't see it that way, you know that."
Alabama looked up at the two of them like they were both idiots, which, let's be honest here, they probably were, "You guys know that I'm standing right here, ri-"
"Just explain this 'emergency plan' that apparently existed," Texas huffed, crossing his arms and effectively cutting Alabama off. Alabama, realizing they couldn't see him because he was shorter than them, went to go cry in the corner.
DC looked at Russia and Canada, "Yeah, explaining it is probably for the best. Those two have a right to know."
"What?" Texas protested, "No, no, no, I'm not letting that commie know our plan. He's going to betray us down the line, I just know it."
"America loves him, he's staying," DC calmly responded, causing many states to yell out "what?!" and "I knew that Dad had a boyfriend" and "So does that mean we have two Dads?" For the record, most of them yelled out an angry and surprised "WHAT?!"
"Either way," DC continued, gesturing for his siblings to calm down. When they didn't calm down, he just said dismissively, "This is what you get for screwing around in America's mind. Just ask Russia later, I'm sure he'll explain it to you."
Russia gave DC a puzzled look, "What? I didn't sign up for this-"
DC cut him off, "Doesn't matter, we have a right as his kids to interrogate you. Anyway, I believe it was around World War II when Dad first told us about his emergency plan."
"We were scared as hell then," Oklahoma commented.
"Yeah, so Dad told us about this emergency plan he created. I'm pretty sure it was supposed to calm us down, though plenty of us got freaked out about it anyway because of the possible implications," DC continued, only to be rudely cut off again.
"We thought he was gonna die. You know, kapooey," Washington clarified.
"Guys, please stop interrupting me," DC asked. Seeing his siblings nod or giggle, he continued his explanation once again, "So, he said-"
"-Very anxiously-" Alaska cut in, laughing to himself. Several other states giggled. Russia raised an eyebrow. He didn't know why, but Alaska looked eerily familiar.
DC's eye twitched a little bit, "I swear to god-"
Alaska laughed and held his hands up in fake surrender, "It's not our fault you keep hashing over important details!"
"That was 'important' to you?!"
"Why, of course, it was." Alaska responded 'professionally.'
"God, I hate all of you," DC rubbed his temple and a few more states laughed.
Someone shouted out, "Love you too!" And DC grumbled, murmuring, "Yeah, yeah."
He continued, increasing his volume to show his frustration, "America 'anxiously'" DC spat the word out, glaring at Alaska, who looked like he was desperately trying to hold in laughter, "told us about how serious the war- especially in Asia- was getting. Because of the way we united, with his consciousness as his own and not made up of an amalgamation of ours, if he died, he would be dead forever, unlike other unifications throughout history whose minds were made up of their pieces- Austria-Hungary, for example. He realized this and told us that if he went under so much mental or physical trauma that we split and he died, his mind would be split between us so that he wouldn't actually die- even if his body did. If that makes any sense. Once we split, we could just remerge straight afterwards, alive body or not.
"We could, after all, just create a new body with our shared strength," DC continued, "It was a foolproof plan, really- as long as every one of us is there and alive, we could reform America whenever."
"Oh, I do remember that," Texas remarked.
DC nodded, "But... that's the problem, it only works if we're all there to unite in the first place. We're missing someone right now."
"Rhode Island and Hawaii?" Canada suggested.
DC simply shook his head, "No, it isn't them. They split off early, so they wouldn't be the missing pieces. If they were, we would've all split when they did."
Illinois's eyes widened, "Holy shit, you don't think..."
DC grimaced, nodding "Yeah, I do. America wouldn't know about his betrayal, and he's the only person we're missing right now other than Rhode Island and Hawaii..."
California's eyes widened, "Wait a second, what if Confederate figures this out?"
Texas glanced at her, "How should that matter?"
DC felt his heart drop, "Oh god, Cali, you're right. What if he figures this out?"
Texas narrowed his eyes, "How would he find out?"
Cali rolled her eyes, "He's been watching us for years. It's only a matter of time before he figures it out, he knows us better than we would like to admit... He was able to take us down, after all."
Texas scoffed, "Surely he'd have enough human decency not to-"
"We don't know how much they trust and rely on each other, it's a possibility that we can't ignore," California interrupted.
DC started biting his nails, "If Confederacy found out... do you really think he would be willing to kill his only ally for a silly grudge?"
"Oh, he's a spiteful bitch, he totally would," Cali growled.
The states, catching onto what they were getting at, worriedly started talking over each other in hushed, fearful voices.
Russia, feeling sick of being left out, loudly asked, "What's going on?"
DC, suddenly remembering that Russia and Canada existed, frowned, fumbling with his thoughts and words. Finally grasping the right words, he said, "We're missing a piece of America's mind, and the only person who could reasonably have it is Puerto Rico."
Delaware grimaced, nodding, "And, if we've learned anything over the years, it's that Confederacy is more spiteful and deceiving than anyone we've ever met."
"Long story short," Oregon fiddled with his fingers, "If Confederacy figures out Puerto Rico has the final piece of America's mind that we need to reform..."
Cali's eyes glinted with anger and hatred as she clenched her fists, spitting out, "Then he wouldn't hesitate to kill Puerto Rico just to ensure that Dad never comes back."
~~~~
These past few chapters have been fun, haven't they? Honestly, this chapter, in particular, was just a really big plot dump. I do, however, have an official drawing of Confederate's design for when he's in control of America's body, so do with that what you will.
(Also, yes, I am aware that I missed a few stars. Shush, I ran out of space)