Out of the Shadows

V

Acting on impulse is an unknown concept for Germany. He was one to think, not twice, not thrice, but a thousand times over before actually acting.
"Then why did you do that?!"
Germany sat in France's living room, staring at the floor, cowering away from his disappointed glare. France stood up in front of him, wearing his pajamas for it was late at night. He crossed his arms like an angry mom lecturing her child after they misbehaved. Belgium and Italy were also there after they heard of what had happened. "Do you understand the weight of your actions?!" France kept raising his voice with each word. As he kept getting louder, Germany's eyes started to water, which Italy noticed.
"France, that's enough." She said, putting a hand on France's shoulder and trying to push him away from Germany. "Enough?! He put us all in danger by raising the alarms in the Eastern block!"
A tear slid down his cheek as the phone went off. France grunted in annoyance and went to pick up, leaving Germany, Belgium and Italy on the living room. The Italian immediately sat down besides Germany and put her arm around him, trying to comfort him. Belgium also felt bad for him but opted for going after France, perhaps to talk to him into not being so harsh on the German. After all, he's only a kid.

•

Germany sat in the car with his seatbelt on, griping the steering wheel. His eyes dropped slowly, the silence in the car made him feel all the more drowsy so he decided to turn on the radio. After scanning for a station, he stopped at a news station reporting about an incident involving an armed lunatic in Münich. "Three casualties, with a whole family of four hospitalized."
Germany listened intently, but he already knew all about the incident. He was there after all. His daughter was there with him.

And if it wasn't for a security guard who jumped in front of a bullet, she wouldn't be here anymore.

He jumped a bit when the passenger door opened and Italy stepped inside. She remained silent and they both looked out of their respective windows to avoid looking at each other. Italy soon realized about the news report on the radio and quickly changed the station. A gentle love song played on the new station which caused the air to tense up even more until Germany decided to turn the radio off. Italy crossed her arms at this. They both looked like angry kids but at least they weren't yelling yet.
EU stepped out of the house and locked the door behind herself before getting in the car and silently adjusting her seatbelt.

The car ride was mostly silent. EU had popped her earphones on and was listening to Beethoven on full volume. Italy focused on the streets and passerby. Germany kept his eyes on the road, yawning once in a while. His eyes would water everytime he yawned or sighed, and he would try to quickly blink the tears away. This was a good strategy until the car in front suddenly stopped in its tracks. Germany was quick enough to realize and slam the brakes, only lightly tapping the other car's bumper. "Germany!" Italy yelled, rubbing her nose after being pushed forward and slamming against the glove compartment. Germany rubbed his eyes and was about to step out and confront the other driver but, as soon as he looked up, he saw the car already turning down the road.
After a string of Italian curses and complete silence from the backseat, they arrived to the EU headquarters.
EU went to her office and Italy went to get a first aid kit for her now bloody nose. Germany simply took a seat on the big, still empty meeting room and tried to get a few good minutes of sleep.