The nations went to sleep in extravagant guest rooms in the mansion, besides Romano, Lithuania, and Belarus, who all had their own rooms, and Russia, but they didn't know where he went.
"If his mattress wasn't full of holes I would let you sleep in his room," Zaltana mumbled to him, and he nodded, gazing on as they passed the door before going to a room reserved for 'special' guests. Unlike most of the other rooms, this one was as fine pressed as it was before- the same lucious sheets and cold iron bed frames as there was before.
There was a door to the side of it that led to Dyami's office.
"Thank you," he said, taking his coat off. She was glancing at him, and he went to throw it over the bed frame. She was still looking at him.
"What?"
"Do you still love him?" she looked him into the eyes then, and Ivan realized two things- one, Zaltana still was just as close with her brother, and two, Alfred was still in love with him. That was the only reason to ask that question. Her arms crossed over her chest.
"I don't know," he replied, "I feel something towards him, but he broke my trust by not giving me my memories back at the first chance. The USSR has been gone for thirty years, he should be acting like it."
She nodded, slowly, "Understandable."
She left the room, having to bow slightly to get through the door, and his eyes followed her as the door shut behind her. He locked the door behind her, before sitting down in the bed. He seemed to sink into it, and it made him scowl- he had never gotten used to soft beds.
He knew this room was for visitors with richer tastes, so he left it as it was, taking off his boots and tossing them to the side. In these bigger houses he'd gotten used to wearing shoes, but he knew a lot of the nations would be complaining.
The sheets were thick and soft. He still did not understand the rich.
He dreamt for the first time in a long while.
Kisses trailed along his neck, and he pushed the two of them over. Alfred smiled at him, the devilish eyes seeming to challenge him. His arms were draped lazily around his neck, and he leaned down to kiss him, as deeply as he himself wished, Alfred being as submissive and disarming as he always was around him.
"You're so very special," Alfred had said, against his lips before rolling his hips, "now, are you ready to act like it?"
He grabbed onto Alfred's hips-
He mumbled something, looking up at the ceiling fan. It was turned off in the winter, and he looked over to the clock. It was three in the morning- and he had morning wood.
He groaned, evaluating whether or not to ignore it before getting up and walking to the bathroom.
Illinois was still driving- he was tireless, as Juliana seemed to be thinking from the backseat. Her sister, Abigail, was asleep behind him, having a horrible nightmare about getting captured by the police even though she hardly twitched.
The car was ricity and stolen and the knotted red wires under the dashboard occasionally brushed his leg, which was very annoying.
Ohio was full of the average- snow. And sometimes a tree. Very rarely a building. He had found himself to be in South Western Tennessee, which made the drive much easier, although it was getting to be early in the morning- how was he supposed to know he'd escaped at night? Exactly, he couldn't see the clock.
Juliana was wavering in her seat from trying to stay up, and he looked up at her in the rear-view mirror.
'Go to sleep,' he coaxed her mind, and she seemed to think she should- leaning towards the door on the opposite of her sister before she startled.
"Don't do that," she hissed, and he giggled.
"Sorry," he replied, "but you really should sleep."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because you're a strange man and I'm forced to rely on you," she whispered, and he frowned.
"I'm a feminist, I won't do anything to you. Just sleep," Illinois replied, "I promise."
His hand went to the backseat, and even though his hand was upside down, she still locked picky fingers with him for a moment before he took it back.
"Now rest, we'll be there by daybreak," he said, "and pinch your sister, she's having a nightmare."
The drive stayed boring, but when the sun started rising he had made it to the entrance. There was no way for the average human to get in from here, but he had a special trick- and it didn't involve climbing the mountain.
He stood next to the long, flat surface, made to look a little less artificial than on the inside, and pulled around the moss, trying not to disturb it too much before he found a truly ancient keypad under it all.
'2739194204065871' was what he entered, before it asked for a personal code, '9040'.
The tunnel opened up, not making a noise. He fixed the keypad to be hidden once more- he was sure that only the states and their ma knew about the keypad, and he got back into the car quickly.
He absolutely loved the tunnel, unlike most of the states. It was really cool to him- always had been, since he was a kid and they had to go through this thing on a drawn carriage.
There was a short drive through the forest before it opened up into... fields of crops. He looked over at the dead fields, a pained look on his face.
"Juliana, Abigail, wake up," he said, as the lake came into view. The orchard seemed... fine, but it was shriveling. What was going on? It was only the personifications, wasn't it?
"Whoa," Abigail said. From her view, she could only see the sparkling lake, but Juliana seemed less thrilled.
"What's wrong with your crops?" she asked, "It's not the soil, is it?"
"No, it's not the soil," he said, "there's just been nobody here to take care of them."
Into the town he went. Everyone was gone. It made him gasp, and he looked around. His worry was obvious on his face, and Juliana got nervous. Abigail was still looking around.
"Why are we in a ghost town?" she asked, and he took in a deep breath.
"Because, they took everyone, and all the animals," he replied. His voice made it seem as if he was calm and collected. He drove up the main road, not seeing anyone. Normally you had to take a separate road because it was so packed, but there wasn't anyone.
He drove to the garage, and found all the cars to be in the same neat rows. He parked right next to the door that went to the mansion, even though there was no real parking spot there, and got out. Juliana and Abigail followed behind him as he went over to the sliding doors and opened them, before going into the hallway that led to the house.
He closed the door behind himself. The area seemed just like it was, besides a line of bullets leading to the doors, and somehow he knew they were being shot at her. She was captured as well, unable to get to the cars.
The house was eerily silent, and now he felt bad for all those times he'd wanted the house to be quiet. This wasn't comfortable for him- everything just seemed wrong.
That was before he sensed others in the house. They were too far away to get a clear view, but they were obviously in the same place. He walked slowly over to the frontal sitting room- one of the only two with a window. Juliana seemed to catch onto his nerves, but Abigail only understood she was in a new place that was very big.
She had very serious dreams for a bimbo.
As he got closer, he paused.
He recognized some of the thought patterns from his time as a spy during the early Cold War- when his ma was still known by the government. Poland and Prussia, those two were. Then there was France and England, and Germany! He knew them too. Were they friends here?
Uncle Tolys was here- Auntie Natalia and Uncle Lovino too. They were trustworthy... if they had their memories back.
He tried to listen in on their minds.
They seemed to be thinking about all different things, but he found that his uncles and aunts did have their memories. Juliana and Abigail stood behind him, and he faced them for a moment, before walking into the room.
The conversations shut up, and everyone looked at him. He knew the nations, although he did not trust them himself, understood why when he saw Zaltana in the back of the room.
"Aunt Zaltana," he said, a slight smile appearing on his face.
"Illinois," she replied, before coming forward to embrace him. He almost started crying just from the contact- he was so worried there was nobody left that all his emotions finally crashed like a wave.
"Have you found her?" he asked, softly, and Zaltana pulled away from the hug, shaking her head. His eyebrows furrowed, and she saw the misery on his face for a second, "Have you found anyone?"
"Only Connecticut," she said, "he was the only one that left a good hint. He's unconscious now, they starved him half-to-death."
Illinois scowled.
"Do you know who captured you?" Zaltana moved from in front of him, and Illinois saw it was Germany that asked the question.
"I didn't see a lot, got tear gassed pretty early," he replied, "but it was definitely American. I do know I saw a flag, and you won't catch an American flag out here."
Juliana stood behind him, awkwardly, and Abigail was looking around at all the men. One with large, messy eyebrows stood to face her.
"Who are you?"
"I'm... Abigail Smith," she stammered, "I was taken here... because..."
"I released Illinois," Juliana cut her off, "and I'll be tried for treason if they catch me."
"Who employed you?" Germany asked, taking a firm step towards her as she took a small step back. She was nervous. There was a woman with horns, a whole bunch of strong looking men, and she was in a house she had never been too with a person...? She didn't like.
"The state," she said, "we were doing human experimentation."
The nations shared glances between themselves.
"You do know that is banned," Germany said.
"I was only doing what I was told."
"That's a NAZI defense," Russia cut all of them off before they could speak, "try a little harder to come up with a better excuse."
"We were told he wasn't really a human and it didn't count," Juliana stuttered, glancing around. Some of the nations shared whispers, although she didn't know they were nations.
"No, actually, testing on us is the worst thing you can do," France laughed, he seemed to be enjoying this, much like how he enjoyed every trail, "the punishment is damnation."
"Hanging...?"
"No," he laughed, "endless torture."
"She released me, leave her be," Illinois hissed, and the nations looked over to him. He had dark brown, almost black, hair, and red eyes. He was tanned, with an Italian curl coming off of him. He was wearing dirty white clothes, like the ones they put on people in retirement homes or the mental ward.
The nations shared glances, before Germany sighed.
"She can stay. France, don't touch her."
"France?" Juliana looked over to Illinois for an answer, "Are you guys LARPing as countries... or are you really... like, personified countries? And state. Also, what are you?"
"Personified countries," Russia said, "and state," he motioned over to Illinois, who was looking at him weird before glee broke over his face.
"Dad!" he exclaimed, running up and wrapping his arms around his neck. Russia was startled for a second before the memories set in- holding him when he was little and had a nightmare, having him beside him as Alfred was teaching him to fight, carrying him on his shoulders so he could reach the fruits on the higher branches.
"Hello, Illinois," he said, some fondness creeping into his voice as he hugged him back. He remembered then what Illinois skill was- he read minds.
"I'm a mountain range," Zaltana laughed, rubbing the back of her neck, "and also, a demon, but that's less important."
"I was right she is a demon!" England exclaimed, "Norway, pay up!"
Zaltana stared at him for a moment, evaluating whether or not she should kill him before looking back over to Juliana and Abigail.
"Ignore him," she said, "you need a... fuck, doma-"
"House." Lithuania corrected.
"Yes, a house, correct?"
"Yes," Juliana said, and Zaltana smiled.
"How close do you want to be to the mansions?"
Zaltana took them both out of the room to get settled, and Illinois was left feeling bare. Even with his father behind him, he hadn't seen him in a long, long time, and hadn't thought of him as a father for longer- the same with his Aunt and Uncle's- they were very in and out.
"Hello," Prussia said, looking over to him, and Illinois nodded. There were no obvious emotions on his face, and he glanced around the room.
On the table that the nations were obviously eating off of, he saw his bracelet, and he grabbed it. He looked at the engravement sadly- Mom had given him this bracelet, and it originally said: someone who lives is someone who loves, but he was an edgy bitch and changed 'loves' to 'hates'. He felt bad about doing it now. He clipped it onto his wrist, and the nations seemed surprised it fit- probably not expecting him to have such a small wrist.
"Where's my snake?" he asked, looking around. A few of the nations glanced about, trying to figure out what to tell him.
"We saw it last in the kitchen," Italy said, happily. Illinois nodded, not showing the same enthusiasm as the bubbly Italian.
He walked out of the room, and to the kitchen. He found Ebony tucked under the oven, and he wrapped her around his next before going back to where he last was. He knew they were talking about him- mostly curiously, but some seemed to be questionable.
With his snake wrapped around his neck he sat down. The conversation had silenced as soon as he entered the room. Poland looked over to him.
"So... you're a state," Poland asked, and Illinois looked over to him.
"Yes," he replied, "is there something wrong with that?"
"No, nothing," Poland said, although his voice had some sort of offhanded tone, and Illinois narrowed his eyes.
Poland didn't think there was anything wrong with there being states, he just believed that they should have been known- but, what he meant by 'being known' was being divided up among the European nations so that America didn't control fifty other beings.
"Don't worry," Illinois said, and the nations were confused, "if dad wanted you dead he would have used us to get you already- and also, if you want to take some of my siblings I am all for it- just don't come running to me when someone gets pissed off and breaks your skull."
Poland was taken aback.
"And by the way, Germany," Illinois said, looking over to the aryan, "if you're going to creep around the house, remember that there are cameras recording everything. Well, normally. They aren't turned on right now."
Germany's mouth opened and closed a few times, "You're... a mind reader."
Illinois smiled, and the nations all got a sinking feeling. What was going on? They knew that Connecticut kid had stripes, and they knew that America had something that could slice sheets, but this was something they didn't understand- not even the magic nations.
"What?" England asked, "That's not... that's not an element? Magic is elemental?"
"No," was Illinois' response, as he smiled, "but magic is unlimited."