We Are Zodiac (Hetalia Fanfic)

Chapter Twenty-Four

The picture on the side is the third place winner for the fan art contest! Thank you, DiaSwitzLove!

------------------------------------------------

"Wait... What do you mean, 'fascism'?" England demanded. "What brought on that deduction?"

"Our-a weapons... And there's-a the fact that no one really wants-a to talk to us," Romano said. "No one's-a behaving normally, either. I talked-a to this-a one girl earlier, and she was telling me things about-a this-a place." 

"Things like what?" America asked him.

"The jobs, they're assigned to people. They don't have a fucking say in what work they do. And why didn't they ask for our weapons when we got here? Maybe so we wouldn't fight, ah? I'm telling you, it doesn't feel right to me." He crossed his arms, a firm frown set on his face.

"Well, I think it's a bit early to start claiming fascism is what we're facing here," England said logically. "Just because some people can't do what they want doesn't mean this is a totalitarian system set up in this haven."

"A-All zhe same, ve should make sure ve keep our eyes open for anyzhing like zhat," Toris piped up a bit timidly. "Romano vould know it if he saw it, after all."

The Italian's frown deepened, but he didn't speak out against the truth. 

"I don't really like zhe idea zhat somevone can just come into our houses und take our zhings from us vhen ve're not here," Germany said with a frown as well as his arms folded over his chest. "I zhink ve need to ask for zhem back."

"It's not like we need them here," England reminded them all.

"I don't like not having zhe reassurance zhat I can protect myself if anyzhing does happen," Germany answered. "Und anyzhing can happen. Never forget zhat."

"We can go ask about our stuff in the morning, dudes," America said around a yawn he didn't bother to cover with a hand. "For now, I'm just tired." 

~

"Hey, so, last night we found that our weapons had all been taken while we weren't around. What's up with that?" America asked Dr. Andrews the next day. 

"There's a no-weapons policy for everyone except the guardsmen," Dr. Andrews replied as he finished shuffling his papers around in search of a single sticky note. "Ah-ha. Here are the assignments the boss laid out for you and your crew."

"Oh, cool," America replied. "What'm I doin'?"

"It looks like you're going to be working with the research facility. You and your friend Arthur, in fact. He's Mr. England, isn't he?" 

America nodded. "Yeah, that's right. Everyone I came with, and that guy Felyks, they're all countries 'cept for Mary. She's a human, but she knew about us 'cause she was dating one of the other countries before all this stuff happened."

~

"Okay, so, what has been discovered about the virus so far?" Arthur asked later that day, after he'd received his assignment with the other scientists. He wasn't exactly a scientist, but he had some exclusive data on the Zodiac beings and would be a valuable consultant in the matter.

Andrea, the scientist that had tried to make Alfred leave the day before, turned to look at him from her spot in her spinning chair. "Well, we know that it's not from Earth at all. We also know that the active, living form of the virus died out months ago."

"Wait, come again?" Arthur asked incredulously. "The virus is dead?"

"It doesn't come from Earth, and it only survived for a little while before dying out from a lack of something Earth's atmosphere doesn't have," she explained. "At least, that's what we've theorized. It seems to have held water this entire time."