Empire

Chapter 38

Wales' POV:

That didn't work, but I have something to tell the others now at least. I felt a little shaken up by meeting Mr NZE unexpectedly. I walked down the hallway, I was going to go back to Angola since my tasks were done.

I had gotten a bit of blood on my shirt though, so I had to change. Back in my room, I unbuttoned my shirt and looked for a clean one, but I didn't have any spares.

I only had one idea where I might get a clean shirt. I walked over to Madagascar's side of the room and opened her draws. Only, the first thing I saw was her underwear. I quickly shut the draw and questioned why I thought this was a good idea. I opened the next draw, but suddenly the door opened. Madagascar walked in.

"Wales! What are you doing!?" She shouted. Her face was bright red. I looked into the draw to see it held her bras. I quickly shut the drawer.

"It's not what it looks like!" I shouted back.

"Why are you shirtless and going through my drawers?!"

"I'm gay! I swear I'm not into that!" I shouted. I felt the heat emanating from my face as I the embarrassment settled in.

She just looked at me shocked.

"I'm just looking for another shirt," I explained.

"O-oh," She stuttered.

"Yeah," I said awkwardly.

She walked over to me and opened the bottom drawer. She pulled out one of her shirts and handed it to me.

"Never go through my drawers again," She said.

"Of course." I muttered. I slipped on the shirt. It surprisingly fit alright.

"By the way, I would keep quiet about your sexuality if I were you," She sighed.

"Oh, is this how things are?" I asked myself.

"I know, it sucks. But they put ones like us together because they know we won't make moves on each other," She explained quietly.

"You're ga" She cut me off with a nod.

"Yeah, her name is Mali. I miss her, she is so beautiful," Madagascar smiled to herself.

"Oh, I guess that would make sense why we are sharing a room," I sighed.

We stood there for a couple of awkward moments before I left the room and headed towards the lab where Angola was waiting. As I walked in, I was trying to get over what had happened.

"Hey Wales," Angola smiled. I waved over to him and he walked over to me.

"What's that?" He asked as he pointed to my shirt. I looked down, confused as to what could be on my shirt. I found a small pin.

"I don't know," I said as I unpinned it from my shirt. It must have belonged to Madagascar. I looked at it a little.

The badge had a nice little daffodil engraved into it. It was quite pretty, but even stranger, I noticed something engraved around the daffodil.

Mae symbolau hunaniaeth yn gryfach na'r genedl sydd wedi torri.

But, that's my language. Why would Madagascar have something in Welsh?

"What does it say?" Angola asked.

"Symbols of identity are stronger than the broken nation," I read.

Japan's POV:

I regret marrying Australia. His stubbornness and disinterest in everything other than revenge was something I hated. I married him because he was the only person who wasn't like my father.

Australia was never vengeful and would do anything to get what he wanted when I first met him. I love him for that. He always listened to my stories and made time for us. But he is not like that any more. I miss him.

I spent the whole afternoon adjusting the machine like he ordered. I was really tired, I just couldn't get it adjusted right. I didn't want it to turn out like it did last time. It was a horrifying scene that is burnt into my head.

An afternoon isn't enough time to adjust the machine. The thought that I could sabotage the machine came to me, but Australia would know and blame me. Even though he wouldn't hurt me, he would ignore me.

Why am I so reliant on him!?

"Argh! Stupid machine!" I shouted as I dropped a screwdriver.

"Mrs Japan, are you okay?" I heard Laos ask from behind me.

I turned around to see her. She looked concerned. She was a good friend of mine and knew more than what I told her.

"I'm okay Laos, just annoyed." I sighed.

"Did you want help?" She asked. I nodded and she would help me when I needed her.

"Does coldness always follow you?" I asked, feeling the room become cool.

"It seems to be so," She sighed.

"Strange," I mumbled.

I got her to pass me tools as I tried to readjust some of the gears. But as I stood up to get a drink of water, I noticed the familiar bottle of painkillers poking out from her pocket.

"What are you doing with those?" I asked.

She looked down to see the bottle and pulled it out. She shook it to prove it was empty.

"Sri Lanka had a headache and there were only two pills left so I just took the whole bottle," She explained. I had a feeling that Laos was lying, but she was helping me so I couldn't be bothered pointing it out.

"Would you like some water?" I asked as I walked over to the jug that sat on the table in the corner.

"No thanks," She said. I poured myself a glass and drank it quickly. I filled the glass again and asked Laos to move away from the machine.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

I walked back over to the machine and poured the water onto the activation panel. It sparked a little, but not very much. Perfect.

"Your machine!" Laos exclaimed. She looked so shocked.

"If you keep quiet about this, I will keep quiet about what you really did with the pills," I explained.

"Oh, okay," She agreed. She must have known I was on to her.

"Now, I need you to forget about this and tell my dear husband that I'm going to the main base," I explained.

"What are you planning?" Laos questioned.

"To take a nap, I'm exhausted after fixing the machine," I explained.

She nodded and walked away.