The Secret

Chapter 8

Alaska wouldn't verbally admit that she was frightened of the many man throughout the halls, but her grip on her dad's hand gave her away. Se held her sketchbook tightly to her chest. America made sure that Alaska walked close to him through the government building.

Finally arriving at the end of the hall, Alfred knocked on the heavy door. A quiet voice could hardly be heard, beckoning them to enter. America opened the door and stopped into the room with his daughter. The door closed behind them.

At the head of the room was a wooden desk with a few folders on top of it, papers scattered within them. Alaska looked around the room and eventually came to see the same couch her dad had already knelt down by. On the long couch, Russia was asleep. His arm was draped over his stomach, his feet resting on the arm of the sofa. America slid his bag from his back, putting down to rest against the couch. He brushed his hand over Russia's forehead, pushing his bangs aside.

"Is he okay?" Alaska asked softly.

America placed a gentle kiss on Russia's forehead. He looked back to his daughter with a soft smile. "He's just sleeping. He's okay."

Alaska sat in front of the couch for an hour or so, sketch pad on her lap and pencil in hand. Her pencil was dull by the time she looked up from her work. Her dad was still asleep on the couch. She wondered if he was going to wake up before it was time for dinner. There had been several times when he had given a small moan or had readjusted himself, and each time she wondered if he would wake up, but he never did. She turned her head to see her other dad shuffling through papers on the desk. Alaska looked back to her dad, asleep on the sofa. She put her pencil and sketch pad to the side and crawled over to the couch. She laid her arms on the cushion of the couch and let her head rest on her arms. Her eyes drifted closed, and when they opened again she could hear two voices. She found herself laying on the couch, her dad gone.

"You don't have to stay here," America said in a quiet voice. "You're not trapped here, anymore."

"I want to, I don't want to raise any suspicion. Running away so soon after the Union has collapsed," Russia said. "How would it look if we suddenly started living together? I don't want anyone to harm her."

"I guess you're right."

Alaska slowly sat up and looked to her dads. Russia sat on the edge of the desk and America stood in front of him. "You're not coming with us?" They both looked up to her. Russia slowly shook his head, his arms were loosely crossed over his chest. Alaska stood and ran to her dad. She threw her arms around him and she felt arms wrap around her. "I missed you," she said quietly.

"I missed you."

She held him tightly, not wanting to let go. "Why can't you come with us?" She got a thought. She pulled back and looked up to her father's violet eyes. "I can come with you! We can stay here with you," she suggested.

"That can't happen."

"But-" She turned to America who only shook his head. "Why?"

"Rose," America started. They both walked with her to the couch where they sat down. "You know that being a personification is important. You're different than humans." She nodded. "You know that Papa and I are very strong countries."

"Yeah, you can do anything!"

"We have weakness, though," Russia continued. Alaska waited for them to continue.

"You're different than the other states and territories," America explained. "You're our daughter. For two personifications to have a child of their own isn't common, but it is rare. If the wrong person were to find out that you are our daughter-"

"We just want to protect you, Rose."

A certain degree of understanding registered to her mind and she nodded. "I can still see you, right?"

"Of course," Russia said. He put an arm around his daughter, a smile on his lips.

"How about we go get some dinner," America suggested.

"That sounds good," Russia agreed.

"Oh! I made some things for you!" she suddenly remembered. She jumped from the sofa and ran to her sketchbook, racing back with it. She sat back down and opened up just the front cover and pulled out the many loose pieces of papers covered in graphite. Alaska proudly showed off each of her drawings to her father, including the most recent one that she had drawn of him as he had slept.

-

On the screen, the heavy door opened as the three personifications walked out. The door closing behind them, they all three continued down the corridor with smiles on their faces.

"And, may I ask, how did we come across this feed?" Germany asked.

"That's not important, Lutz," Italy said. He stood at the head of the table. A hand on his hip, his other hand swung out to the screen. "As you can see, we have all that we need."

"Luciano, are you sure we need to attack her? She's just a child," Spain asked. "I can only imagine the hell that they will rain on us if, and when, we are caught."

"That's why we have what you call a plan, Andres."

"But, how did we get this feed? It is live, isn't it? It must have been some work getting it," China questioned.

"Not at all, An," Italy said. "With recent events, it created a sort of tear that made it extremely easy to pull this feed through. Right, Kuro?"

Japan only gave a slight nod, saying nothing.

"And that shall conclude this meeting. We will all meet next week."

There was a great shuffle as the nations stood and left the room. "What exactly is the point of all this, Lucicano?"

Italy turned to see Japan, he smirked. "Chatty today, aren't we, Kuro?" Japan kept quiet, his eyes not giving anything away. "You'll find out soon enough. Come. We have work to do."