Cognizance (Hetalia)

Chapter Four

"Oh, f–"

"Are you two okay?!"

A few backstage managers and nations rushed around, brushing past Arthur. He had only heard a loud thump from behind him, quickly followed by another one. As he turned around to look, ne noticed a few stage hands crouching down just behind him. There, on the ground, was Francis, and less than a meter away Alfred. Even though Arthur was right next to Francis, he made no attempt to help him.

"I-I'm okay," Alfred stuttered, waving off the hands and attempting to get up on his own. It was clear he was struggling. Francis, on the other hand, stayed curled up on the floor, clutching his stomach.

"What happened?" Matthew asked worriedly. He had rushed over to Alfred when he collapsed and was now wrapping his elbow underneath his brother's armpit, helping him up, but he seemed to to stare towards Francis. Arthur crouched down next to the Frenchman; he supposed he should probably help. Arthur was definitely feeling a few riots himself, and had been since halfway through the reveal, but knowing Francis's people he could only imagine what he was going through.

"Just a few riots, nothing major," Alfred strained to say. Gilbert was also crouched next to Francis now, apparently trying to get his attention. It wasn't working well.

"Where?" Miguel asked.

Alfred sighed. "Capitol Hill, NYC, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Las Vegas, San Francisco–" Arthur looked over to Alfred, now being fully supported by Matthew. Did he say Capitol Hill?

"Mein Gott, already?" Ludwig interrupted. Alfred nodded weakly.

Arthur looked back down to Francis. "Where are you dying?"

"Paris, Nice, Lyon, Rennes, Nantes, Bordeaux, et Lille," he struggled to get out.

"I've got a few, but they're not too bad," Arjun said.

"Me, too," Fabio piped up. "Nothing really 'collapse on the ground' worthy, though."

Alfred scoffed. "Lucky."

"How did you manage to keep it together for so long?" one of the stage hands asked. All the nations turned and looked at her.

"Riots are nothing, ma'am," Alfred slurred weakly. Even though he was clearly still in pain, he was slowly easing off of Matthew and relaxing. Whether the pain was lifting or Alfred was just getting used to it, Arthur didn't know. He only knew his own riots were definitely not getting better. "Compared to all the shit we've been through, riots are just a minor discomfort. The hardest part is more pretending we aren't–" He winced suddenly, collapsing slightly onto Matthew. "It's fine, ignore that."

Arthur rolled his eyes and turned back to Francis, still curled up on the ground. He didn't feel like dealing with this. The nations couldn't deal with it, not right next to the stage.

"Alright, come on, get up," Arthur said, pushing lightly on Francis's shoulder. "We need to get going."

"Je vais bien, je vais bien," Francis muttered as he struggled to push himself up. Arthur offered his hand, which Francis took, and after a few seconds and with the help of Gilbert, they were able to pull Francis to his feet.

"Alfred!" A voice shouted. Arthur looked towards the direction of the voice, seeing Alfred's boss shoving through the crowd of people. "Gather everyone up and get them into the cars. Riots are breaking out on Capitol Hill, and everyone's saying we need to move." Shit. Arthur had heard Alfred right. Arthur slipped Francis's arm around his shoulders to support him.

The reveal was on Capital Hill.

"I noticed," Alfred mumbled.

"Does it look like Alfred's in any state to do anything?!" Jett raged. "Much less take orders from you!"