Splintered

Scattered Feathers

Germany was fairly gloating as he ended his telephone conversation with America. He had gotten in quite a few gibes about the other's inability to keep track of his own offspring, to which America had responded with a string of foul language that would have withered every green thing on the planet had it not already been blasted away by bombings.

"I'll see you in Saarbrücken," America promised.  "And you better bring them both with you." He slammed the phone down before Germany could reply.  Oh, he was pleased with himself, but it quickly faded into unease when he realised that once America arrived in Saarbrücken, nothing would stand in the way of him and Berlin.

He shuddered.  A burst of noise in the corridor brought him back to himself as he remembered that Washington would be leaving within minutes; with Prussia occupied on the other side of the compound she would be able to escape before he could stop her.  But what the hell was going on out there?  Frowning, he yanked his door open and saw Washington standing in the corridor at
Oregon's door.

Something about the way she stood warned him that she was waiting for him to approach her, and against his better judgement, he did just that, wondering why she was waiting for him.  She turned from the doorway and stared at him.

He flinched.  He had trouble getting his head around the fact that this was the same woman who not an hour ago had looked at him with fire in her gaze as he made love to her.  Now her eyes were chillingly cold and calculating.  He had seen corpses with more warmth in their eyes.

"I can't just leave," she began, "without knowing that my sister understands that I don't want to leave her."

And then he understood that he never should have allowed her to be freed; her fist slammed into his chin once, twice, and he was hitting the floor and she was unceremoniously plucking the keys from his pocket, because of course she would.  Before he could stop her she was dragging him--actually dragging him--into her own cell.  He managed to shove away from her and gain his feet, but he was still stunned from her extremely vicious punches and she quickly grabbed him by the hair and slammed him into the writing table not once but three times, so that he was too dazed to stop her as she slammed the door to the cell, locking it.

"Sorry, Herr Deutschland, but you never should have allowed me to leave," she smirked.  "You should know that I wouldn't ever leave my sister in this fucking nightmare. You actually thought that I would!"  She shook her head and laughed harshly.  "You fucking gullible little child."  She paused, watching impassively as he struggled to pull himself up.  "You should really stay down, you know," she mused.  "Your brother is not going to be thrilled with you for losing both of us."

Oregon whispered to her and she smirked.  "Look, Herr Deutschland, how about this?  I'll leave a note absolving you of any involvement in our escape. Huh? Gimme that notebook," she ordered someone, and she wrote the note with a flourish.  "Leave it on Prussia's desk," she instructed whomever had supplied the paper. Then she looked in at Germany again. "Next time you see me, I'm going to kill you," she promised, and with that she and Oregon were gone.

Groaning, he held his aching head in his hands.  This entire experience had been one mistake after another.  He had not expected her to be as strong as she clearly was, which quite possibly had been his first mistake.  His second mistake had been to pity her, and he had sealed his fate with the third and most grievous mistake, believing that she actually was attracted to him and trusting her not to turn on him.

She was no more trustworthy than her sire Russland, he now knew.

Raised voices signalled Prussia's return to the cell block.  He slammed into the corridor, apoplectic beyond belief.

"Was zum Teufel!" he screamed, glaring at him in outraged disbelief.  He gazed around at the empty cells.  "Ludwig? What in the blue fuck has happened?"

Austria was there suddenly and managed to say all the right things. "She surprised him, Gilbert.  Now I seem to remember specifically warning you not to underestimate her.  You should read this," he added, handing Prussia the folded note paper as he unlocked the cell. Germany staggered out, feeling very lightheaded and nauseated.

Prussia frowned.  "'See you soon, ob....obse...'" he began, squinting at Washington's illegible scrawl.  Germany took the note and scanned it.

"'Obsequious cretins'," he read. He flung the note at Prussia's feet.  "It's for you."