Power gets to the mind

"Did I do something?"

Nothing could have prepared the nations for something like this. It was just so, sudden, and many had begun to blame each other for the cause of this. A lot of the nations were suspects, thinking that the influence that... some had on the blonde North American resulted in him acting in a way which put even the toughest of nations in a state of disquietude. It was true that, for a while nations such as Russia were kept an eye on for most of the time.

Countries have been corrupted before, but there was always a reason. It never really took long for the others to know why, either. But with America, the world didn't expect his government to be the reason of his lack of mentality. Power gets to the mind, doesn't it? Most suspects were dropped, but there were still a few that the nations didn't trust. The main issue was trying to find out how America was to go back to his normal self. Most nations suggested an institution cell specially designed to keep him inside. One nation suggested killing him and wait for him to come back in hopes that he'd be thinking right again. Countries could not completely die unless their lands, and the country as a whole, falls, so even at times of death they would still come back to life at some point... but the idea didn't go through, as the nations did not agree on it, no matter how many people had a grudge against the American.

The cell had soon been built and it was a struggle to make Alfred step in. No one liked the condition they saw him in, but nothing else could be done. Nothing that the nations of this world trusted. Many of Alfred's actions were recorded. A lot of what he said was documented. As the days went by no signs of his behaviours were shown to lessen, if anything, he just got worse. Professionals were brought in to try and help him, but since human and nation minds worked slightly different, and with the cause being power getting to Alfred's head through government, they couldn't do much. Nations such as Germany tried to hold off America's government from gaining more power. Though the country knew what was causing it's representative to act the way he was, the U.S government didn't show any signs of giving up power. The government was stubborn. As many problems as this caused, no one could do anything. Some nations were forced to act against the government, as their own governments were starting to fear the possible things the personification of America would do. Places where Alfred would have been seen most of the time were invaded by military, and people were advised not to go to such areas.

Many thought adding special forces from other nations was a bit too extreme with the current situation at hand, but... that judgement was soon overruled after the more mischievous Alfred got. The more harm he was starting to bring to his own people to get the way he wanted. They had to stop him, and while Alfred was kept in a cell, they thought he wouldn't be able to get out and cause more problems.

 This was soon shown to be wrong.

- - -

Something Stupid was Alfred's usual way of doing things. Even with his current condition, he carried Kotya and waddled his way around the house as if nothing was wrong. Of course, with no vision, not everything was perfect. He'd already searched whatever he could in the kitchen, having accidently dropped a glass after trying to inspect it for any clues or info on his whole situation. He himself started to wonder why he chose a small, fragile glass to have had something to do with anything but when out on a hunt for information, he was going to check everything.

Alfred wandered around the room cluelessly, as his vision not being much use to him, putting down the large Siberian cat on the floor. Going upstairs and navigating his way to Ivan's room was somewhat of a challenge, bumping into things multiple times and stepping into the wrong rooms. Eventually though, Alfred could figure out which room was Ivan's, thanks to the bed and other personal belongings Alfred was able to get a look of that he was familiar with.

The bedroom wasn't all too big, and it felt cosier than the rest of the rooms. It was probably how Ivan liked it to be. Alfred felt kotya rub itself against the American's legs, making cat fur stick to the guy's pants. He watched as a mostly grey blob moved around his legs, then started walking over to the Russian's bed, laying down. A sigh escaped Alfred's lips as he scanned the room, finding a desk placed on the opposite side of the room from the bed. Walking over to the desk, Alfred placed a hand on the surface to feel its texture. Wood, which for some reason surprised him.

Carefully, he looked down at the desk, seeing the various papers scattered all over it. They looked like documents to him, though he couldn't make out the writing. He assumed it was from his lack sight, and that they were most likely written in his boyfriend's mother tongue, Russian, of course. Whatever was written on the papers didn't really attract Alfred's attention. What did though was a small, journal-like book that was sitting on the other end of the table. He moved over to the other side, avoiding the wheelie chair that was tucked in neatly into the gap that the desk had. The blonde touched the book, feeling the leather cover it had, as well as a round metal button on the opening side of it. The brown, slightly run-down book didn't look like all much, and anyone could pass it off as just another writing book.

Pushing back the chair, Alfred carefully took a seat down. He was sure to be careful when pressing his back against the rough yet comforting surface of the chair, as to not have any part of his body ache from too much pressure. He dragged the book closer to himself, having it positioned in front of him, opening it up. The feeling of the paper that was used to make this book was rough, and from the details he could make out it looked old. Very old. He feared if he did anything too aggressive it might break. But the cover was in good condition, making him think otherwise. Ivan must be very good at keeping things in good condition.

Thinking about Ivan, he still wondered why he wouldn't say anything about past events leading up to Alfred having to have resulted in such a state. Nor could Alfred himself recall most of the events. He was remembering somethings, but nothing that helped him explain his whole situation. The nation's train of thoughts were broken when he heard a thud behind him, spinning the chair slightly to see what the source of the sound was. It was just kotya, hopping off the bed and leaving Alfred alone in the silent room.

The American sighed as his eyes followed the cat, then eventually making their way back to the journal. What could Ivan have written in this? Something that'd help him out possibly. He didn't know. The blonde squinted his eyes, as if it would help him see the words written permanently on the pages with ink, a moment of trying to tell whether or not he could actually see or if this would just be a waste of time. Upon closer inspection, he could make out that most of the text was in Russian, making the nation have a frustrated sigh escape his lips. He really should've taken the time to pay attention to Ivan whenever he'd try to teach him his native tongue.

Alfred flipped through the pages, nothing but Russian writing and occasional doodles was all he could see and make out. The honey blonde tried his best to understand, to decode the writing, and find meaning in the scribbles that covered mistakes and doodles Ivan had written. He sighed heavily, losing hope in this book. Alfred continued to flip through anyways, maybe there was a pocket, or a slip of paper, or maybe even a photo that could help him.

sure enough, there was. At the back end of the journal, there was a black pocket that blended with the cover it was stuck to. If Alfred hadn't felt around for an opening of some sort, he wouldn't have known the pocket was there. Inside he felt something thin, presumably more paper, in the pocket, deciding on taking it out. There was a picture, which was the first thing that caught the American's attention, while under the photo was a folded slip of paper. Picking up the image he brought it closer to his face to get a better look. He recognized a pair of violet eyes, knowing them to be Ivan's. He looked like he was laughing, or obviously very happy as the bottom of his eyes were squinted, probably from smiling. He looked like he was holding something, a figure of some sort. Alfred moved his eyes away from Ivan's, only to be met with his own. Ivan was hugging him. He didn't have to see all that much to know he himself looked equally, if not more, happy in the picture, his signature Hollywood grin present on his face brighter than ever. The photo itself looked like it was in good condition, having been taken care of dearly. From the small blobs and colors, he could make out, Alfred smiled to himself for a few moments, just admiring the two looking happy together. He was wanting to remember the day this photo was taken, but alas he couldn't. He shook his head, allowing his train of thoughts to return to the main reason he was here. He put the photograph to the side, now interested in that paper that came out with the picture.

Alfred took hold of the white slip, unfolding it to reveal a document-like style of writing. He didn't think he was going to make it through reading the whole thing, but what interested him was that the paper was addressed to Ivan, except it was more formal, using both the country of personification and full human name. What was more, England happened to be the one to have sent this paper to Ivan, as it was signed by him at the end.

"Addressed to Ivan Braginsky, Personification of the Russian Federation," He read out loud. The text was a bit bigger than the one underneath, making it slightly simpler to read the sentence. He skimmed through what he could and couldn't read, "... and due to the... present?... no, recent- problems... regarding...? America...?" Alfred stopped his attempts to read, confused. He looked up for second, trying to think. "Problem? What problem?? Did something happen?" he asked himself in the quiet room, starring back down at the paper. Obviously he knew something must've happened to make him end up in this state, but now he was wondering if he was the reason he was like this... "Did I do something?" he added. Before he could read any further, he heard a door open from downstairs, and it opened as loud as it did after he woke up, making him jump.

"Alfred! I'm back!" He heard his lover's voice call out, which instantly made him panic. He didn't think Ivan would be very happy to come up and find out this dorky American was going through his things, desperate to find out something, even when he said he shouldn't. He quickly folded up the paper along with the picture, putting them back in the pocket along with the and slamming the book shut, and slide it across the desk to where he remembered it being before. "Uhh... I'm up here!!" He called back to the other, as he didn't want Ivan getting worried if he didn't get a response. He could already hear Ivan's footsteps coming up the stairs. Alfred pushed back against the desk, causing himself and the wheelie chair move back as well, trying to use a little pressure against his back and leather chair as much as possible as he did. Before he could turn and get off the chair, Ivan had entered the room.

"podsolnukh?" Said Ivan as he walked into the room only to see the American seated on his chair. Alfred looked at the tall figure, a confused expression on his face, one Ivan picked up on. ".. it means 'sunflower'" he sighed a little, walking up to the smaller male in the room only to see Alfred getting up. "What were you doing here?" he asked, helping him up. "Exploring the house of course! C'mon- you didn't expect me to just sit on the couch the entire time, did ya?" Alfred replied with a smile, having no intentions of bringing up his actual reasoning for leaving the comfort of the couch downstairs. Ivan looked at him with slight disbelief but shrugged the feeling of suspicion off. "You didn't do anything to hurt yourself, did you?"

"No I'm fine! Just- bumped into a few stuff on the way here. It's a little hard to walk without vision,"

"I can tell... you shouldn't be trying to explore the house right now, let yourself heal for a bit," Ivan insisted, bringing Alfred to sit on something more comfortable than the chair, his bed, only to have Alfred wrapped into his arms for a gentle hug, a warm embrace that the American was fond of. "Yeah, I know... but- but I don't like just doing nothing! Besides, it got boring to sit there and wait for myself to get better." Ivan sighed to himself heavily, stroking the soft tufts of Alfred's honey blonde hair. He wasn't surprised by what Alfred said, he knew his American wouldn't want to sit there like a bystander, helpless. Still, Alfred had to understand that in some situations it was alright to stand by and wait. He's just missed him a lot, and the stress and worry that he's had over him had really worn him out.

"How was the trip to town?" Alfred asked in the sweet bliss of silence the two were having, snuggling into the Russian. The ashen blonde looked at him, sighing a little. "It was alright. I got some medicine for you, and got a call from my sister," he said briefly. "Sister? That's... uh... Belarus and Ukraine, right??" The blonde asked, looking up towards the other, or rather just his eyes, earning a nod in return. "Natalya had called. She and I... well, she's 'helping' me find you," said Ivan.

"She must suck at helping. I'm already with you," Alfred thought out loud, hearing Ivan let out a faint chuckle. "Well she doesn't know you're here right now. I just needed her to be at your place for a bit,"

"What for?"

"I found you at one of your houses in the country, and it was... a somewhat challenge to make you come with me. I just want to make sure no evidence of our presence was left there so I'm having her check the place out thinking she's helping me looks for you.""Why don't you just go check up on it?"

"Well, I couldn't go back knowing you were at my place now, I had to take care of you. Besides, your government security is patrolling and checking up on the area themselves. No country can be there right now," he explained, combing through the others messy hair. "I would've gone myself otherwise. I just hope nothing that would give us away is left there." Alfred hummed, realizing that this was a concerning matter to the Russian. "So I'm guessing Bela is some sort of secret spy?"

"In a way, da," Ivan smiled.

"...So, the only reason you made your way up here was to just explore?" Ivan asked, looking down at the younger nation, before then moving his eyes around the room to see if anything had changed. He looked towards his desk, the area he was most certain Alfred looked through, though anything that was important was mainly written in Russian. It shouldn't be that big of a problem. "'Course I was dude! What, you have something hiding in here??" Alfred shot a question back at him, in a joking manner.

The Russian stared, still smiling. "Nyet, just making sure," he chuckled.