They've Returned

You Hurt the Innocent!

Canada awoke with a start. It was dark and quiet. When did I fall asleep? she thought. She sat up and looked around. Everyone was in their sleeping bags. Canada went to hunker down in here when she heard a noise.

A dark figure was opening the window from the outside. Canada's heart began to pound. No-Man, she thought. Who's he coming for tonight?

She figured that she could either take him down herself or wake everyone up and they would group up together to take him down. She decided that it would be better if she tried to take him down herself. She would risk her life before dragging everyone else into it. She hid behind Russia's bed, ready to pounce.

No-Man slid through the window opening, quietly closing it behind him. He slowly walked towards Russia's bed and stopped to look at him. Canada noticed that No-Man was tall again. He reached out a hand, and although nothing was in it, Canada was terrified that he was going to hurt Russia again. She reacher her arm out  to grab No-Man.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed, her voice harsh and her eyes daggers. No-Man didn't reply. He was stunned by Canada.

"Please, let me go," No-Man whispered. "I mean no harm."

Canada was about to spit back at him, but the way he had spoken — softly, terrified, almost begging — she let him go. No-Man sighed in relief.

"Who are you?"

No-Man looked away. "If I told you, I would surely be killed. In fact, if my boss found out I was here, I would be killed that way as well."

"Who's your boss?"

"Do you really think I can tell you that?"

Canada shook her head. That was a dumb question. "Can I see your face?"

No-Man was silent for a bit. Then, he slowly pulled down the black mask down a little so that one eye was revealed.

"Can I see the other eye?"

"No. It would give me away."

Canada studied his eye. It almost seemed to glow a bright golden color. She looked at his skin and gasped. She couldn't really make out the color, but it was not human.

"You're a CountryHuman?" she asked, knowing they were only people with colored skin.

"No," No-Man said, trying to cover his face again. But Canada had already seen it.

"What do you think you're doing, trying to kill the innocent? Why are you trying to kill your own people?"

"I'm not. Please, keep your voice down. You're going to wake the others."

"I don't care. Also, prove that you're not a Country."

"I can't tell."

"Of course you can't. Because you're lying. Now get out of this room before I wake everyone up."

No-Man stood up and hurried towards the window. Before he opened it, he sighed. "You would understand if you were in my shoes."

Then, he opened the window, climbed out, closed it behind him, and disappeared into the cold, Russian night.