Moscow, Russia
December 14th 1949
4:21 PM
Ivan shut the door softly, the sound of the voices in the common room muffling out. The lights weren't turned on, it would be bad if someone caught them here alone. The room was barely lit, a strange ominous feeling swirling around the empty loft. All that Alfred could feel standing in that cold dim room was the rage inside him that kept his body warm. He couldn't pinpoint where that rage was meant for. Was he angry at Toris for hiding his injuries, or was he angry at himself for not finding out any sooner? His eyes thinned, eyebrows furrowing as his breath paused. Or was he mad at the fact Ivan kept him in the dark? The sound of the wind whooshed harshly against the lone window of the room, snow collecting onto the ledge. He turnt to it, as the noise of Ivan locking the doors jingled in the background. All he could see when he looked from it was a mysterious endless blanket of white, fading into a dark grey over the mountain tops, signs of a bad snowstorm drifting towards them. How much has Ivan been hiding him?
"Ahah." Ivan giggled quietly. He walked up from behind the American, wrapping his arms around his waist. "How have you been my dear." He bumbled happily, resting his head on top of his.
Alfred shook, startled from his touch. "Oh. I've been doing okay." He muttered. Gently, he removed his hands off of him, causing the other to frown. "Are we not going to talk about what just happened?". He walked forward a bit more, turned, and sat himself on top of the long wooden table. Glaring at Ivan, he folded his arms in defiance, facing away from the window. His eyes glowed a bitter cyan, illuminating from his face. He didn't seem like he was in the mood to mess around.
Thunder rumbled from behind them, large circular clouds rolling towards them from behind the glass window. The faint light of lightning brightened up the room, fading as soon as it came. Ivan shifted his stance, seeing the amount of ferocity hiding behind Alfred's eyes. He knew that he couldn't escape this one with small talk and whispering to him sweet little nothings. Alfred was going to fall so easily, he just had to give him a push. 'Very well' he thought to himself. 'Two can play at that game.'
"There is no need to worry, he will be. I assure you." Ivan smiled, taking a step closer to him.
"He obviously wasn't, what the hell was on his fu-" Alfred yelled, only pausing a bit after realizing he was about to cuss. He sighed and continued calmly. "I mean, his back." Ivan glared at him, the thought of him being yelled at was unthinkable. "And that yellow stuff.. What was that yellow stuff that you threw at him?"
Ivan's menacing look disappeared as soon as he mentioned the vial containing the yellow liquid. He smiled coyly, looking off to the side and chuckled. "I don't know if I should tell you, it was going to be an anniversary present."
Alfred looked up at him, questioningly. "Anniversary?" That was going to be in about three months, what takes three months in advance to plan?
A giggle escaped the Russian's mouth. "I suppose there's no use hiding now."
The eyebrows on Alfred's head furrowed in uneasiness. "Hiding what?"
Ivan took a step closer, placing his hands onto Alfred's elbows, his shaggy white hair covering his glowing purple eyes. A smile tugged at his lips, sadistically unraveling in front of him like a banner. "I found a way where we can finally be together." He whispered, holding the smaller nation in his arms tightly.
A struck of confusement hit Alfred's face. There was something about that twisted grin on his face that didn't feel right, it didn't look as innocent as it would usually. The way he looked down at him in joy, excitedly waiting for his expression to mirror his. 'Something isn't right.' He pushed the Russian back a bit, meeting his eye. In a worried tone, he said "What do you mean by that?"
"We have been preparing a serum that could speed up the process of healing for nations, though there are some side effects." Ivan explained happily, pulling out another yellow vial. "Of course, we have another serum that decreases a nation's health, unfortunately not enough to kill them-" He continued, pulling out a vial containing some clear liquid. It rolled around in his hands delicately, like he was a cat playing with its toy. "-but enough to stop their immune system from functioning." Slowly, his eyes drew back up, meeting the American's widened pupils. "Isn't it amazing?"
Lightning crashed down again, bringing light to the room. Alfred stared back at him, a sick feeling filling his gut. "Wait.. How do you know these symptoms of the vial?" He asked, mind flashing back to the gruesome image of Toris's back attempting to stitch itself back together. A sudden pang of pain shot through his head, making his stomach even queasier than before. 'You know how.' A voice whispered into his ears, the pain being almost too harsh to comprehend. They were too deep for any human to create, but not clean enough for it to be anything else. There was only one person who could do that sort of damage. His eyes scrunched up in disgust as he tried to process this information.
Ivan peered down at him, noticing the change of expression in the American's face. He smiled once again and mused, "It seems like you already know."
A mixture of pain, anger, and bewilderment brewed inside of Alfred, he wasn't sure which one he was to lead with. He was absolutely mortified, the fact he was standing in front of someone who did that to his friend made him want to punch him in the face. His hand clenched into a fist, shaking with rage and he stared into those warped innocent eyes. If it were anyone else, he wouldn't have hesitated in knocking their lights out. But even still.. His hand lowered, along with his head the feeling of those emotions swaying in him like an ocean in a violent storm. There was something holding him back, an emotion far more stronger than any amount of pain, anger, bewilderment placed together.
As much as he hated to acknowledge it, he knew that he was scared of what would happen next.
"Why?" He choked, his voice sounding much softer than before. Ivan smiled widely at the display in front of him.
"Don't you understand Fedya?" He beamed, clasping his hands around his. "With the new discovery, I can finally claim this world as mine! Even with our combined power, they'll all just fall to our feet like dominos. And then, then we wouldn't have to hide."
There were times Alfred questioned his relationship with Ivan. Where he would feel some distance between him and his spouse. He always just assumed it was their beliefs, but now he only just realized it was much more than that. Like Ivan stood on a pedestal, the limelight focused on him while he just stood faceless, indistinguishable from the rest of the crowd. Although he was getting a bit of fame, it would only take so long until the popularity would be extinguished and people would move on. He glanced back up at the Russian's face, seeing the guiltless expression looking down at him. Ivan seemed to have also known that Alfred would only be acknowledged as a small moment in history, and seemed to be using it to his advantage.
The words of bad omens from the President repeated in Alfred's mind. 'This is no longer war Jones. This is a game of chess, where your board is the world and your pawns are your followers. If you want to win this game and trust me you will, then you can no longer be the child you were before this. You've now entered reality and as soon as the recovery plan is launched, it'll only be a matter of time for either one of our countries to fall, do you understand?' At the time, he only brushed it off as a warning, to keep his head high. But they knew, they all did that something was going to go sour between the two. It was only a matter of time.
Alfred pushed Ivan off of him suddenly, realizing what he was hinting at. He was at a loss of words, the idea of even doing something like that shook him to his very core.
"Are you shocked? Isn't it such a wonderful idea?" Ivan asked, walking back to him. He gave an unrelenting aura, looking for a positive reaction. He wasn't even phased by the push. There was this psychotic, desperate look in his eyes, begging for acceptance.
The sounds of feet pounding against mud-filled trenches, the whistle of bombs soaring through the air and the explosion following after echoed into Alfred's mind as he grasped tightly onto his arms. Dying gasps of his fallen soldiers whispered their final wishes into his ear, death and the metallic smell of blood filling his nostrils. A prickly sensation of cold soggy boots reattached themselves onto him as he realized how cold the room really was, drowning in the memories. Worst of all, the image of his friends all stuck in hospital beds resurfaced in his mind. He remembered how pale and blue their bodies got, every single time they were shot, how much effort they all put in surviving.
He didn't want to see them all go through that again.
"No.. That's absolutely horrifying." He muttered under his breath, still shivering at the memory.
Ivan softly let out a tch before sighing. "It may seem hard to do, but it really isn't when you get used to it." He glanced at him and continued in a disappointed tone. "Though I suppose you still are quite new when it comes to this."
Alfred glared at him, feelings of malicious intent swirling in his mind. "How could you just do that to Toris? What makes you think that I'd be willing to do that to my family?" He mumbled, voice getting increasingly louder. Usually, he was a very vocal person, able to say whatever he thought. But now, he realized how at a loss of words he was. The idea, the concept was unbelievable,
Ivan's ruby purple eyes glinted brightly as another stroke of lightning lit up the room, the sound swirling in with the crowd's chatter outside. "Why do you care?" He asked, getting closer to him. "He belongs to me now, you shouldn't be looking into things like this." The words seethed out of his mouth, like a snake hissing at its prey. Alfred froze, clenching his arm tighter.
"I know deep down inside of you, this is what you want. All you have to do is follow my plan and they'll be under us like dirt in no time." He persisted. Alfred looked away, a bit of fear lingering in his expression.
Ivan looked at him, waiting for a response, but there was nothing. After waiting for a couple more minutes, he sighed and turned for the door, muttering, "I should've expected this from you, of all people."
Alfred's eyes shot up, watching the man reaching for the door, a new flame lit inside him. "What do you mean by that?"
"I think you already know what I mean by that." Ivan responded, shooting him a look that made Alfred take a couple steps back. He looked down at his watch and back up at him, the smile deprived from his face. "You're too soft. If you want to survive in this world, you need raw power.'"
Before he could respond, Ivan shut the door with a silencing bam, the clicking of his boots echoing down the hallway. Alfred stood there, shuddering inside the icy cold room and the suggestion of being an accomplice of world domination prancing in his mind. Slowly, his trembling hand hovered over his mouth, his sight going a bit blurry as his irises fell in and out of focus. He slammed his other hand onto a table to balance himself as the image of Toris's back reappeared. The pain, and agony he cried out in while he squirmed on the floor like a dying animal. Those dull, colorless eyes that he used to look at Alfred, assuring him he was okay reminded him of his dying soldiers. Soldiers that had family, friends, loved ones, all waiting for them while they sacrificed their lives for people they didn't even know. 670,000 people, wiped away just like that from his country. He wasn't even the one who got the worst of it, and yet he still remembered the slow trickling drain of his soul during the war. All that pain Toris had suffered back there in the hotel room, would double if he was placed into war again.
Another thunderous roar rained from the sky, shaking the American soul. His hand moved to his stomach, the other clamping over his mouth. 'God, the thought of it makes me feel so sick.' He lurched over, a nauseous wave rushing over him. The ground was swirling beneath him, a numbness settling into his arms. Quickly, he dashed out the door, and ran into the restroom, hurling into a toilet as soon as he spotted an empty stall.
He continued, the sounds of the multiple warfronts he had been forced to visit folding over each other in his ears as he continued to puke. He couldn't handle it, all the moving and the constant guarantee of someone's life ending he had to endure. The widows and broken families that roamed the graves, unable to continue on without their loved ones. The spiraling despair the world would fall into as another war broke out. Was it just him who didn't want it?
After a while, he stopped. His dizzy head laying between his arms, thin streams of tears that streaked his sickened face. Causing wars, killing millions, taking over the world? He couldn't have that on his conscience, it was the exact opposite of what he was trying to do. If he didn't put a stop to Ivan, then the experimentation would only continue. Ivan was a perfectionist, he always was. If he was to find the correct formula that would be the key to instant regeneration..
'All of humanity would be doomed.'
Slowly, he got up, wiping the tears from his face and flushing the toilet. He walked towards the sink, washing his hand and looked back up at the mirror. His smile cracked in amusement, realizing this was the same place he stood at just over four hours ago.
Four hours ago, he was so excited to meet Ivan and brimming with happiness. Now he was more or less the same, just with a slightly different approach. His eyes looked up into the mirror, that stained version of himself looking right back at him. He had to do something about this, but he wasn't too sure if he could how he would approach it. He turned away from the mirror, a fist clenched tightly in his left hand. All he knew was that he was pissed as fuck.
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Hello hello hello! I mean I did say there was going to be a third part, but I swear it's the last part alright? I'm not dragging it out, I just wrote way more than I thought I would but I also don't want to cut it out because then it'll be crappy. But at least you got this chapter a week early yeah? I don't lose motivation that easily! Stay classy and much love.