They've Returned

Another Attack

The sweet aroma of pancakes soon filled the noses of everyone in the room, including Russia's. Canada walked in carrying three heaping plates of pancakes. Breakfast. She placed the plates on a small coffee table. She pulled out a bottle of syrup from her flannel jacket and put it on the table. "Breakfast is served," she announced. Soon, everyone was helping themselves to gourmet Canadian pancakes, drenched in homemade maple syrup and butter.

Russia looked hungrily at the pancakes which were just out of his reach. Canada, reading his face, placed a plate of chocolate-chip pancakes on the stand near his bed.

"Are those for me?" he asked. Canada nodded. So, Russia reached over with his uninjured arm and took a bite out of the pancakes. The sweet, buttery, chocolate taste seemed to melt in his mouth. Russia didn't chew. He didn't swallow. He let the delicious taste of the pancake sit in his mouth. Eventually he swallowed it, but shoved the rest of it in his mouth.

Canada smiled. Everyone loved her pancakes. While no one was looking, she picked up the bottle of syrup and took a quick sip. She absolutely loved the taste of maple syrup. She'd always loved it ever since she was little. It was so sweet, gooey, and sticky that she just couldn't help herself. She had thought that nobody had seen her. But someone did.

Russia's eyes widened in surprise. Did she just drink that straight out of the bottle? he thought. Nice.

Russia didn't care that Canada had done it. He had to agree that maple syrup was good. It wasn't his favorite, and he wasn't on her level to drink it out of the bottle, but whenever something he ate was drenched in syrup, he made sure to eat every last drop. In fact, the thought of syrup was making him more hungry.

"Can I get some syrup over here?" he asked.

"I'd like to, but you'd get all sticky," Canada replied.

Russia pouted. "In Russia, sticky get you," he muttered, popping his accent to sound more Russian.

All of a sudden, the calmness of eating was disrupted by the sound of shattering glass. Everyone backed up in shock. There, standing near the window, was No-Man. Everyone ran and formed a protective circle around Russia. Even Poland and Kazakhstan defended him from above.

"If you want to hurt Russia again, you're going to have to get through us," Japan hissed, her ears lying flat against her white hair.

No-Man didn't reply — which was starting become annoying — and looked around the room. Then, he stopped. Italy could feel No-Man's gaze boring into him. Italy, not being known as the bravest, gulped but stood taller. No-Man, in reply, aimed a revolver at him.

"NO!" China and Spain screamed. They ran towards No-Man and pushed his arm. At that moment, he had fired the gun, but China and Spain's movement of his hand screwed up the aim. Instead of the bullet hitting Italy in the heart, as No-Man had intended, it hit his arm instead.

Italy's eyes widened and he cried out in pain, clutching his arm. No-Man pushed Spain and China to the floor and aimed his revolver at them. He fired, but nothing came out. He pulled the trigger again, but still nothing came out. It was a case of Russian Roulette, but no matter how many times No-Man tried to fire, it was a blank. Eventually, becoming frustrated, he opened the barrel, only to find that it was empty.

No-Man muttered something inaudibly. Then he backed up a little. "Congrats. You've won this time," No-Man growled quietly, slamming the revolver to the ground and breaking it. A plume of smoke filled the hospital room, and when it cleared, No-Man was gone.

Everyone rushed over to Italy who was biting his lip to keep from crying in pain. Spain used his bandana to bandage the wound, the blood beginning to run down Italy's arm. Italy bit his lip harder as Spain wrapped the red and yellow fabric around his arm. France held his hand, and Italy gripped it tightly. "It's alright, chéri, it's alright..." She repeated gently.

Russia could only watch in dismay at his friend. "Are you alright... comrade?" he asked.

Italy gave a weak smile. "Not really," he replied painfully.

America had called a nurse to take Italy to another room to be treated and bandaged properly. Soon, the nurse came and helped Italy out of the room. "Get better," Russia whispered.

"What just happened again?" asked Poland, who was still in a little bit of shock from what had happened.

"Well, as a recap, No-Man returned and we thought he was for Russia again, but this time, he was coming for Italy," summarized Ukraine.

"But why Italy?" asked Brazil.

That was a question that no one had a clear answer for. But Russia had noticed something.

"Did anybody you notice that No-Man was shorter this time? When he attacked me, he was a lot taller than me, but this time, I saw that he barely even came up to China's chin." He also sounded like a man this time, he wanted to say, but kept it to himself.

"Now that you say it, he was shorter than China," Britain noted.

"I wonder why," Germany added.