Operation Red Herring (Countryhumans Alternate History)

Chapter 35

It was amazing how much pretending to be fine worked, and Canada was continuing to be amazed by this newfound fact. Forget how nervous he actually was, if he pretended to be invincible, his likelihood of success seemed to skyrocket. The past months had been proof of this. Even with his grandmother living with him, Canada still managed to pretend he was the best thing to grace the earth. And with that came a newfound confidence that seized his very being, turning nervous stuttering to excited chattering, a terrified pulse to an electrified heartbeat. It came to the point where Canada wasn't even pretending anymore. A part of him actually felt like he was one of the better people to walk this earth. Certainly (better) no less than who he had originally aspired to resemble, his sister.

Speaking of his 'darling' sister, she had ordered a land invasion of him.

So yeah... He was a bit upset about that. In fact, he had almost had a conniption when he had heard the news. Because it was one thing to pretend to be America, but to go up against her one-on-one? He had never done that before. Even back in their youth, he was always teamed up with his father against her, him only backing up the Brit in their pursuit of the young country. Actually, if he thought back far enough into their childhoods, he could probably think of a few times the two had wrestled each other one on one with the sort of sibling-ferocity that would make any wildcat seem like a domesticated tabby. Then again, he was fairly certain that he had lost those tussles, or at the very least been evenly matched. Even with his height advantage, Canada did not have the same drive America had. She fought like a girl, and Canada believed whoever thought that up that phrase as an insult had clearly never fought one. She bit and pulled hair and dug her claws into whatever she could. Little girls were oddly tough like that.

Either way, that had been when they were children, and that wasn't war. Canada had only ever faced her in warfare alongside his father. But his father wasn't around at the moment. Canada hadn't seen him in months. A part of him wondered if he was even alive at this point, an idea he only kept at bay by remembering the fact that if he had been killed, his grandmother would have been able to feel it. Since she was a member of the United Kingdom, she would have felt the union's death (and probably celebrated her newfound freedom, but that's besides the point). So he was definitely out there somewhere- either hiding from or being hidden by the enemy.

Either way, Canada was doing well without him. As horrible of a thought as it was, he had grown a-lot these past months now that he didn't have his father's shadow to hide in. He was making his own decisions, controlling his own military, and essentially leading his family. He felt like not just a man, but The Man.

He walked down the hallway, boots thumping against the floor. He made sure to strut like he owned the whole building. Which wasn't hard for two reasons. One- he actually owned this building. Two- he had been practicing walking like he belonged for months. And it worked! People noticed! They saw him as confident and collected (or in his grandmother's case, oddly flamboyant, but she blamed his French heritage for that)! It felt good to have people look at him like an individual who belonged. He wasn't America's brother or Britain's son.

He was the Dominion of Canada. If he felt like he belonged, then he did.

Self fulfilling prophecies were truly amazing, weren't they?

Canada was at the border- specifically in Ontario. Niagara Falls could be heard in the background, its thunderous roaring ever ringing in his ears. Canada was at first a bit confused why the falls would be used as a meeting place, but once he thought it over, it made more sense. Neither side wanted to harm such a (profitable) beautiful (tourist attraction) wonder of nature that (made both countries a huge amount of money) graced their shared border. So it was almost guaranteed that neither side would dare to incite a battle there.