The Expecting America

Chapter Four: Fever Dreams

Alfred was floating in a black abyss, his world was completely silent. He looked around the scene that consumed him, scared and confused as to why he was there. He would turn in every direction only to see the same thing: black nothingness. He realized he didn't have any type of footing below him, so he shifted himself around. He began to levitate around, smiling a bit. He liked the freeing sensations that floating around gave him. He laughed as he did flips and barrel rolls. Though, after a while, he became bored. He wanted to do something other than just play in this world with no gravity. 

He kept floating around as he tried to find something that could make use of any of his senses. There was literally nothing: no smells, no sounds, no sights, not even anything to touch. This world was just empty. 

His head seemed to spin as he soon found himself smelling the coppery scent of blood. Alfred's heart began to pace as the smell got stronger and a ball of white light formed ahead of him. Alfred was desperate to see something other than darkness, so he quickly levitated over and let the light consume him. The light became too much for Alfred's sensitive eyes, so he sealed them tightly shut and waited for the light to die down. The scent of blood was still prominent in the air, making Alfred begin to sweat. The light did eventually stop and Alfred felt it was safe to open his eyes. Oh, how wrong he was to do so.

The scene was awful! He witnessed fighting between the nations, his family against his enemies. Alfred looked for himself in the dream and found him swollen, most likely to full term. He saw how both Ukraine and France had protective arms around him, as Latvia stood in front of the group with a blade.

He saw Germany, Prussia, and Iceland had machine guns.

He saw Denmark and Spain with their large battle-axes.

He saw England and Japan with swords.

He saw Estonia with a baseball bat, Hungary with her frying pan, and Canada with a hockey stick.

He saw Lithuania, Belarus, and Romano with knives.

He saw Italy, Finland, and Sweden with snipers.

He saw China with his wok.

He saw Norway's hands glowing.

Lastly, he saw Russia, his Russia, with his pipe.

All of them stood guard in front of America, the rivaling nations growling. Alfred couldn't tell which nations they were, they simply looked like black shadows with devious smiles and red eyes. He assumed they were nations because it looked like a world summit might have been taking place: papers were thrown everywhere, files had been scattered, pens and laptops were broken on the table, and there was writing on the whiteboard that America couldn't make out.

"I won't let you hurt him!" Alfred shot his head to Latvia, who had yelled the bold statement.

"None of us vill!" Germany added, aiming the gun.

"Jou will 'ave to pry Amerique from my cold dead 'ands!" France hugged him closer. The voices echoed around America as if the scene wanted him to hear what he was going to cause. Alfred began to tremble and shook his head, covering his ears.

"STOP!!!" Alfred screamed at the dream, but his mind didn't care. Alfred watched tear-filled as the black shadows laughed and attacked the other nations. The dream Alfred faded and was replaced by him, a ball of fear huddled on the ground.

IN THE WAKING WORLD

Ivan woke up at four in the morning, feeling uncomfortable. His eyes slowly peeled open but widened as soon as he saw Alfred in bed. His cheeks were bright red, his breathing was heavy, sweat was pooling from his face, and tears were trickling down his cheeks. His fingers and body were also twitching, the sudden jerks making it look more like a seizure. Alfred whined in pain, his face scrunching up with every motion. Alfred wasn't just having a nightmare; he was having a panic attack while he was having a nightmare, all while he was running a clearly high fever. Ivan shot out of bed, quick as lightning, and got the first aid kit from their private on-suite bathroom. He opened it impatiently and turned on the nightstand lamp for a little light. He took the thermometer from the kit, it fumbling in his hands a little bit, and quickly took Alfred's temperature: 105.8 Fahrenheit or 41 Celcius.