Empire

Chapter 22

England's POV:

Russia and I were called in to a large area which was nicely decorated. It put my mind off of the horrors that I had seen moments ago. Everyone had a set seat, which meant I had to sit away from Russia and next to Austria.

Austria didn't seem to want to talk, he just looked exhausted. I decided to let him be. There was no one sitting on my other side, the seat was labelled 'Deutschland'. I guess Germany wasn't going to be showing up.

About ten minutes later and next to nothing happened. What I thought was strange was the lack of chatter in the room. It was quite deathly silent and made me feel uncomfortable. Suddenly Canada appeared through a door and took his spot near the front of the room.

He stood in front of us and put on the proudest grin.

"Welcome!" He announced. There was no reaction from anyone.

"Today we have wonderful news! My second in command, Ukraine has returned!" He shouted. Some others started mumbling to themselves in approval and eventually, everyone started clapping. I joined.

"Ukraine! Come up here!" Canada called. Everyone went silent, and slowly, one by one, everyone turned their heads to see Ukraine, walking around the chairs from the back with Denmark to escort him.

You would have thought with all the gasping faces that Ukraine was the most amazing sight to behold. Alas, this was not the case.

As Ukraine stood up next to Canada with Denmark standing slightly behind him, you could see every bruise and cut that speckled his face. His arms and legs were covered by a well-made suit.

"Unfortunately, when he was returned to us by the Australian Empire, it was clear that they had not been kind to him," Canada spoke clearly with a grave tone in his voice. I knew he was lying. Ukraine did not look like that when I first met him. I felt like saying something, but Canada spoke before I could.

"And thanks to England, who helped Ukraine get better, England has proven himself worthy as a part of this Empire! England, stand up!" He demanded.

I did as he asked, and as soon as I got to my feet, everyone started cheering for me. I felt like a liar, but I had a bad feeling that speaking would cause more harm than good.

I took my seat again and Canada went back to praising Ukraine, who looked scared out of his mind. I noticed that he seemed to scan the audience, and eventually his eyes fell on the empty seat next to me.

I remembered him asking something about Germany earlier, and I felt more than a thousand butterflies swarm my stomach as I thought about what happened to Germany.

"We have lacked greatly behind my brothers over the last few years. We need more territory and we shall start by invading the Australian Empire in revenge for what they did to Ukraine!" Canada announced loudly. A couple of people cheered loudly in their seats.

America's POV:

"I can't remember the last time I was sent headfirst into a base invasion," Scotland said proudly as we waited for the doors to open. I had organised a group of us for the invasion. Scotland, Brazil, Iran, Chile, Panama, Pakistan and I were the team.

We had been waiting patiently in the bushes for the main entrance door to open. Finally, after several hours, someone walked outside. We took the opportunity while we still had it. We all charged forth and Scotland shot the guy in the knee as we ran passed. As soon as we entered, the alarms went off and I could hear the loud footsteps of our opposition getting into their positions.

We all kept running as fast as we could, shooting those got in our way. We weren't shooting them fatally, that's a war crime and I will never sink to that level. We only shot beneath the hips. If they bleed out, it would be their fault for not seeking medical attention.

Scotland was a natural at this. He never missed a single shot and was incredibly enthusiastic about this.

Suddenly the surrounding doors closed and the only way out was behind us. We stood there, questioning our next moves. Panama suggested we go back and retreat. Over my dead body.

Scotland was running into the doors aggressively, trying to get them open, when suddenly I heard the sound of a vent swing open and something dropped to the floor behind me. Thinking it was a bomb of some kind, I Brazil as a shield.

"It's a kid," Someone commented. I let Brazil go and took a close look at this child. A little girl or woman. It was hard to tell as she was small and thin, almost like she had been starved. She lay on the ground, covering her eyes as if she had given up and was embarrassed.

I couldn't make out who she was. Her flag had become faded and barely any details were visible.

"She must be one of them," Iran commented, poking her.

"New plan, we take her and get out of here," I announced. Everyone seemed okay with that plan except Scotland, who was still trying to break through the doors.

"Enough, we have something of value, we need to go now," I commanded.

"But we need to get Wales!" He shouted angrily.

"We will come back for him later. We could use this girl as leverage," I explained. Pakistan and Brazil were already carrying the girl. She must have passed out when she hit the ground because she wasn't moving.

I managed to convince Scotland to leave with us and before you knew it; we were all back in the van, speeding back home without anyone fighting us.

In the van, the girl woke up and looked around. She seemed worried, but a relieved look came over her face when she saw me.

"I'm going to call you Gray," I smiled at her. She smiled back weakly and fell back to sleep.