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everythingismagicTitle: You Can't Take the Sky from Me [FF.NET Chapter Twenty-Seven] [ Writing Journal Previous Chapters ]
Pairing: AmericaxEngland, PolandxLithuania, GermanyxItaly, SpainxRomano, Belarus---->Russia, PrussiaxSwitzerland, GreecexJapan, HungaryxAustria. Future pairings: SwedenxFinland
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance/Humor/Drama/Action+Adventure/Alternate Universe
Word Count: 4,310
Summary: Ace pilot America is on a mission for the World Military when a chance encounter with a group of sky-pirates leads him to team up with their captain, England, against a malevolent group that wants to fill the sky with zeppelins. [USxUK- Steampunk AU]
Chapter Summary: “I know you want a world without heroes or whatever, Lithuania but…” He clenched his eyes. “This isn’t that world, okay? There are really awful people and there are good people and… okay maybe there are even a few people who aren’t bad or good, really.”
“America…”
“So let ME be a hero, okay?” he continued. “It’s what I want to be, all right?”
Author's Note: Um basically this chapter is even bigger than the last one, and it's also the first chapter of this fic to reach (and surpass) 4k? I hope that extra length makes up for the delay in updating. Even though this chapter has been planned in detail from the beginning, I struggled a lot with writing it. A couple of fanworks: First, this gorgeous AmericaxEngland by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
socialholic. Secondly, several months ago a group of APH fans asked if they could cosplay the story! You can see their TOTALLY EPIC PHOTOSHOOT here.
“America I…” Lithuania bit his lip. “I can’t ask you for help. You’ve helped enough in letting me tell you all this information.”
America frowned. He stared resolutely at the other man. “Look, I’ve got… a friend. England, you know? He can take you aboard his ship. I know he will. I know that you don’t feel like you can leave the Kosmider, but if you go back and they have found you out…” he finished his sentence with a shudder.
There was a tick of a clock, and America glanced over to the far wall. Nine ‘o’ clock. He wondered if he could radio England now. He’d definitely still be awake…
“But Poland…”
“He can take Poland too! I mean he already knows him, so I’m sure it will be fine,” America added. “Just get in my plane with me, and I’ll take you to England’s ship. Then you can radio Poland and pick him up wherever he is.”
Lithuania shifted and pulled out of America’s hold. He turned his face and closed his eyes, and America could tell that he was debating.
“If…” he spoke after several moments, “it’s true that I’ve been found out, I’ll do this.”
“And if not?”
“If I’m mistaken and Russia doesn’t know what I’ve been doing,” he sighed, “I’ve got to go back to the Kosmider.”
America pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them. He wanted to tell Lithuania not to, that he should come with him no matter what he found out, but he knew the other man wouldn’t listen. At least, not after what he’d told him before about why he stayed with the Kosmider. “How do you plan on finding out if you’re safe? What if you go back and Russia captures you before you can escape?”
Lithuania shook his head. “If I can use Hungary’s radio, I’ll use it to contact Estonia. He’s a Kosmider member, and he’s usually in charge of manning radio contact…”
“So he’s on your side?”
“Yes. I… told him recently what I was up to, and he’s pretty good at tracking and masking radio signals,” Lithuania explained. “He can tap into just about anything…”
America cocked an eyebrow. “Sounds pretty useful. You could use that against Russia, right?”
“Sure, we could… but Russia doesn’t trust Estonia as much as he does me, so he’s almost always got someone breathing down his neck while he’s working,” Lithuania answered with a sigh.
The aviator frowned. “But what about Belarus?”
“Russia will keep a hawk’s eye on her if he knows that she tried to chase me down,” Lithuania said. “I mean, if he thinks I’m innocent, that is. He… favors me a lot.”
America raked a hand through his hair. “I don’t want to send you back. I feel like kind of a crappy hero just… letting you go back into danger.” He exhaled. “But I guess you have your own heroics to perform, huh?”
Lithuania chuckled lightly. “I wouldn’t say that, exactly but… yes, I need to go back if I can.”
Nodding, America pushed himself off the bed and stood up. “All right, let’s go use that radio then…”
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“Thanks for loaning me your jacket,” Lithuania said. He and the aviator were sitting across from each other at one of the pub’s rustic wooden tables. America traced circles in the wood, his lips forming a pout.
“No problem. Even with your jacket off, it’s obvious you’re wearing a uniform… didn’t want anyone to recognize you as Kosmider,” America answered. He, by now, had stripped down to just his dress shirt and pants.
Lithuania swished the liquid in the glass he held, frowning deeply. “Well it’s good that Estonia says it’s clear…”
America bit his lip, resting his elbow on the table. “Y-yeah… I guess so.”
They’d come downstairs to use the radio, and Lithuania had simply asked Estonia “is it safe for me to return?” It was non-descript and easily explainable if someone asked. America thought, that they must have discussed this potential situation before.
“This Estonia guy knows, huh?” America leaned across the table and whispered. Lithuania merely nodded. “He’s trustworthy?”
“Extremely.”
“Good…”
The silence that fell between the two was awkward, full of unspoken words and anxiety. Please don’t leave, America wanted to say. I don’t want to go back, on the tip of Lithuania’s tongue.
Austria played the piano, a melodic ballad as the remaining patrons, their number dwindling smaller, bustled about the Világfa. America finished off the last of his mug of ale, while Lithuania continued to sip his slowly.
“Stay the night here?” America offered, breaking the silence. “Just… one night away from the Kosmider, it’s the least you deserve…”
Lithuania’s green eyes widened. “That’s very nice of you, America but… the sooner I return, the less suspicious he’ll be.”
America’s brow furrowed. Quickly, he reached across the table and gripped Lithuania’s upper arms in his hands. “I just want to know that you’re safe,” he proclaimed with conviction. “What if Estonia was forced to say that or something?”
The other man inhaled sharply, closing his eyes in thought for a moment before replying, “The Világfa will receive a radio then, which will be relayed to you. ‘I’m sorry I forgot to pay my tab,’ means safe. ‘Did I pay my tab?’ means unsafe.”
He whispered the words, leaning forward toward America’s ear, but in a manner that resembled a natural movement, as opposed to something intentional and indiscreet.
“If you’re unsafe, I’m going to rescue you, just so you know! Hero’s honor,” America said.
Lithuania shook his head. “Don’t risk your life for me. You’ve got bigger fish to fry. If I’m unsafe though, that means Poland is. That’s who you need to help.”
America narrowed his eyes. “No way. You’re getting rescued even if it means I have to face Russia himself,” his voice had the intonation of a shout, despite it being hushed. “I know you want a world without heroes or whatever, Lithuania but…” He clenched his eyes. “This isn’t that world, okay? There are really awful people and there are good people and… okay maybe there are even a few people who aren’t bad or good, really.”
“America…”
“So let ME be a hero, okay?” he continued. “It’s what I want to be, all right?”
Lithuania glanced down, his eyes half lidded. He stared at his hands in his lap, twiddling his fingers. “I see why Russia was so threatened by you… there really is no stopping you, is there?”
America’s mouth cracked into a grin at this. “Hell no there’s not.”
Lithuania stood up, pushing the chair in behind him and walking over to America. He slid out of the aviator’s bomber jacket and handed it over. “I hope that, when this is all over, we can be friends.”
America took the jacket in his hands and folded it across one arm. “Can’t we be friends already?” he asked, hesitation in his voice.
The other man’s cheeks flushed. “I’d like that very much.”
Standing up, America reached up and patted Lithuania’s shoulder. “Awesome. I’ll see you later then. Promise!”
Lithuania smiled, wide and true. “I’ll see you as well, America.”
And he turned around and walked away, exiting the pub and leaving the door swinging in the late night breeze.
America didn’t go to sleep that night until Hungary received a radio, informing him in their decided code that Lithuania was safe.
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Piloting on less than eight hours of sleep was something that America normally didn’t like to do, but despite only getting about five, he felt awake and ready to take on the world when he stepped up into his plane the next morning.
Lithuania was safe. He had new information on the Kosmider. The military (and even the General!) would be ecstatic. There were specs and names and locations and he even knew a lot more about Russia himself now.
He had not been able to tell him where the Kosmider’s largest citadel was. He confirmed that Russia considered his ‘base’ to be his own personal zeppelin, but informed America that there was somewhere else, an enormous building that he used as a zeppelin factory. “I can tell you that it’s snowy there, cold as ice and just as bitter. The building is enormous, but it’s white and blends in with the snow almost perfectly. It’s… somewhere in Northern Medved, but Russia doesn’t allow us to know the location, not even me. The zeppelin pilots do, but everyone else has to leave the cockpit when we get close.”
That was a start, at least.
But there were two other strongholds, scattered throughout Medved, and he knew the location of both of them now. If he could get the military there, they’d surely be able to take them out and thus put a dent in the Kosmider’s power.
Maybe he could ask England for help, even. They’d agreed to do this together…
The Kosmider zeppelins were nowhere in sight, America observed, as he soared through the sky. “They must have left during the night…”
Once America was quite a distance from Habicht, he resolved to radio England. Carefully, he grabbed the crank radio from under his seat and placed it in his lap. He could have just used his normal radio, but then he’d have to keep the contact short--- and… he kind of didn’t want to do that.
He’d missed his date with England, which he was still pretty put out about, and so he at least wanted to be able to talk to him for awhile.
And plan another date.
America flushed at this, shaking his head and turning the radio to England’s frequency. It was early enough that America had hopes he was still in his room, just waking up or even asleep. “Hello, hello?”
A bleary “Hallo,” greeted him several seconds later.
“Hey England!”
England made a noise in the back of his throat, and there was an audible shifting of what sounded like bedsheets. “Git, you woke me up.”
“Ah yeah, I guess it’s pretty early…” he laughed, “but I had to head back as soon as I could, you know?”
The pirate yawned. “Quite all right, I suppose. At least this time… glad you radioed to be honest.”
“Really? Awesome,” America replied, pleased. “I… it sucks about last night. Damn Kosmider…”
“Bloody obnoxious at the worst times, aren’t they?” England grumbled. “I was… rather looking forward to it.”
“Yeah, me too.” He bit his lip before continuing, “We’ll have to plan to meet up again.”
“Y-yes… I---“
“Once I get back to the base, I’ll look at my schedule and we’ll figure something out right away,” he interrupted. “I mean I have some stuff going on, but I’m sure I can make room. It shouldn’t be a problem. I just have to--- “
“That sounds perfect.”
America carded a hand through his hair. “I have so many things to tell you, England. I mean I wanted to radio you and let you know I was safe and stuff… but a lot happened last night, and it’s good stuff, I promise!”
“Things you’d rather say in person?” England queried.
“That’s exactly it!” America replied. “I… know this frequency is private and all, but it’s still sort of risky, if you know what I mean? Well, maybe you don’t but I think maybe it could be, so keep it vague… I’ll explain what I mean later.”
That the Kosmider might just have the ability to tap into secret frequencies…
He realized, that this was the first time he’d really spoken to England since he’d acknowledged that he had feelings for him. Maybe that’s why he felt like he was sort of… babbling to him, making things wordier than they needed to be and overall acting rather nervous. It probably sounded pretty un-awesome to England, and he had to get used to this talking-to-England-while-being-in-love-with-him-thing anyway, so he may as well do it now.
He took a deep breath to calm himself, hoping the heat in his cheeks would dissipate as well.
“I’m always careful, America,” England countered.
“Good, great!” he exclaimed. “Hey ah… I’m… just sort of flying right now, and you’re in your bedroom so…”
“Hmm?”
“Do you want to just talk?” he rushed out. “I don’t care about what, but… if we can’t hang out, we could at least keep each other company over the radio.”
England chuckled lightly, and America found that he very much liked that unfamiliar sound. “That sounds like a plan.”
“Awesome!”
“Shall I tell you what Prussia did the other day? It was the most ridiculous and idiotic thing he’s done yet… I swear…”
And so they spoke, conversing and telling stories and generally getting to know each other even better than they had before. America only got off the radio to refuel and eat in Luong, and England vanished a couple of times to grab a bite to eat and check in on the going ons at top deck.
America relaxed as time wound on, his nerves calming as he just fell into a content and comfortable banter with the other man. He also thought that, even though this wasn’t a date, it was still pretty damn good.
It was as if the clouds were parting for him, so blue was the sky and so high were his spirits, as he flew back to the base.
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Lithuania had bathed, changed into a freshly pressed uniform, and gone over what he wanted to say in his head several times. He had to tell Russia about Belarus. She had tried to attack him after all.
But despite the manner in which he reacted to Belarus’s amorous advances, she and Russia had a past of some sort. He knew little about it; only that Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were the first three members of the Kosmider.
He swallowed a lump in his throat. He’d half considered not telling Russia at all, but decided that if his own safety was at risk due to Belarus’s unhinged nature, he might not be the only one. The steam powered engines of the zeppelin were a dull hum beneath his feet, in rhythm with the sound of his heartbeat.
Lithuania knocked on Russia’s office door.
Within moments, Russia opened it, beckoning Lithuania inside with one of his strange smiles, half gentle, half foreboding.
Lithuania entered, sitting down on Russia’s by now familiar maroon velvet couch. He closed his eyes and willed his nerves to calm.
“Ah, good evening Lithuania,” Russia said, reclining next to him.
The shorter man heaved himself off the couch and rounded on Russia. “Last night… when I went down to the village, I was chased and almost attacked by Belarus. I only just escaped,” he managed.
Russia merely raised one eyebrow. “Is that why you were out so late?”
“Yes, Sir. I waited a while until I felt like the coast was clear.” He stopped himself from twiddling with his fingers, a nervous habit.
“Ah well…” Russia tapped the side of his cheek. “I’m wondering why you were down in the village in the first place.”
Lithuania’s eyes grew large. “Because y-you told me to, Russia, sir. I--- was supposed to get some supplies down there, but everything was already closed and--- so I took a small craft down and… I was only following orders!”
Russia looked up at him from the couch, his bangs half-shadowing his eyes and a quirk of a smile on his lips. Lithuania wanted more than anything to run, but his feet were frozen in place, and he knew, that if he did, his life would be in even more danger. This was the expression Russia wore when he knew something that you did not, and it was one that Lithuania saw often. But here…
Had Russia found him out after all?
He managed to back up a bit, the backs of his legs whacking against the small coffee table. He winced in pain.
“Good job, Lithuania,” Russia finally said.
“W-what?” Lithuania gaped.
“On following orders, of course,” he continued. “Belarus followed her orders very well also, from what you’re saying.”
“I don’t understa---“
“Others have done their part as well, Latvia… for example,” Russia said. “But you and Belarus, your missions last night were so very important.”
“Russia, sir… is getting supplies really that important a mission?” Lithuania queried, although pushing at the back of his mind, was a niggling voice telling him he knew better than that, that getting supplies had never really been his mission in the first place. That in actuality, his mission had been---
Russia laughed lightly. “You didn’t complete that mission, yes? But no, what you did last night… had nothing to do with that. It had everything to do with the man who saved you, the… soldier?”
Lithuania gulped. “H-he… I didn’t ask him to, he just… came out of nowhere and…”
“Which is just as I’d hoped,” Russia interrupted. “Belarus wasn’t attacking you, so I have no need to reprimand her. She just did as I told her, you see. A false chase that led to an unnecessary rescue, by a certain ‘hero’ in the vicinity, of course.”
Lithuania gasped, his mind screeching to a halt and his blood running cold. “I--- he----“
“You, Lithuania…” Russia reached up, running the back of his hand across Lithuania’s cheek. “Are so sweet, you always have been; so trustworthy and kind as well. Who better to use than you?”
“To use for what?” Lithuania asked, his voice a raspy whisper. He knew though. He knew what he had done. In his attempt to do good, to help fight the Kosmider, he’d---
“You did so well on your mission, Lithuania,” Russia proclaimed sweetly. “Thanks to you, America Jones will finally be out of the picture.”
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America ran, shoes scuffing against the sidewalks and the concrete and the wet, rain soaked grass of the base. He passed hangars and offices and jumped fences, all in attempt to get back to his own hangar as quickly as he could manage.
His heart was pounding in his ears, and he couldn’t hear anything except for it, the sound of his ragged breaths, and the memories of just minutes before replaying in his mind.
“Captain Jones, the following allegations have been brought forward by superior officers in the World Military…”
His colonel’s words echoed, reverberating through him as he continued to run, finally reaching his hangar and reaching to open it with shaking, sweat soaked hands. His precious fob watch banged against his leg as it clattered on his chain, and he clenched it to stop its movement.
“Seventeen days ago, a Kosmider attack occurred at the same time you were returning from a reconnaissance mission, your involvement in the attack was noted.”
“I was helping fight the Kosmider, I already sai---“
“I believed this at the time, but further evidence began to cast doubt on that, Jones…”
Upon opening the hangar, he dashed inside, his feet clattering across the floor. His dorm was housed in the hangar, and he quickly headed toward it. He was short on time.
“You deviated from a flyover mission several days before that, and intelligence has revealed that the Kosmider may have used that extra time to move the last of their forces away from the area.”
“My plane broke down!”
“And you deviated again when you reattempted the mission two days later.”
“But I completed it…”
He stuffed a few changes of clothing into a duffel bag, and glanced over at his nightstand. There was a small photo album, which he grabbed, and his prized issue of The Aquila Avenger. He picked up the comic, flipped open the cover, and shook his head, frowning.
He tossed it aside.
“Ten days ago you left for over twenty-four hours, saying you were going to look for intelligence, but coming back with only useless zeppelin diagrams that we already had.”
“You said at the time you didn’t!”
“I was incorrect.”
“But you promoted me at that time! Obviously you thought I was doing something right.”
“That was before we had the full picture… Jones.”
After scribbling a short, vague note, America cinched his duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder. It was mid-evening, and luckily, none of his unit members were in the hangar. He gave one last sorrowful look at his dorm and sighed, closing the door behind him.
“There were two attacks on merchant ships while you were gone…”
“There are LOTS of attacks on merchant ships. That’s what I’m trying to stop!”
“Your constant… excursions, often coinciding with Kosmider attacks, continued, even to the point that you participated when your own crew was there, missing your rendezvous with General Wang’s contact at the Babako.”
“I didn’t attack anyone that day. I saved someone. My crew can vouch for that!”
“Your crew is not in trouble, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”
“I didn’t--- I meant to say that they know I was helping---“
America jogged past the dorms, pausing to slip his note under Canada’s door. He knew his cousin would share it with France and Japan. He felt a pang of guilt as he stood back up from doing so, remembering that the last time he’d spoken with Canada, had been their explosive fight.
“You had direct contact with a member of the Kosmider at the Babako.”
A small piece of paper, slammed down onto a desk.
“This was found in your pocket, on your person. And another military officer witnessed the encounter…”
“Who--- I don’t even remember…”
A flash of a young man that he’d crashed into, one with a thick accent that rather resembled Lithuania’s.
“Colonel, I can’t even read this paper.”
“It’s in Medvedian, Cyrillic. And I think that you can read it, considering that you followed up on it…”
His plane, and dammit, it was still his plane, sat in the hangar, illuminated by the gas lights that lit the room. America glanced at her before running over to a large weapons locker. He undid it with his combination and grabbed a pistol. He was going to need this.
“Plan meeting with Lithuania Lorianaitis. And then of course, My Vlasteliny Nebes. You know that slogan well, don’t you?”
“I didn’t plan any meeting with him. I ran into him but---“
“Yesterday, you leave again and you’re spotted all the way over in Habicht meeting with a Kosmider officer. Exchanging information and spending hours together, with full knowledge of who he is.”
“I was getting information against the---“
“Silence! Cease speaking out of turn to your commanding officer, now.”
Lithuania had been set up, hadn’t he? Russia had someone on his team that could tap radio waves, and he’d tapped into America’s and discovered his rendezvous with England, and then interrupted it. Therefore making what that note that had been slipped in his pocket true.
Dammit. He cocked the pistol and, taking a page from England the third time they’d met, neatly fired a bullet at the radio. He cringed at intentionally damaging any part of his plane, but shrugged it off, jumping in the cockpit and bringing the pistol and his duffel bag with him. The Kosmider could seemingly tap into his crank radio when he was using it, but the military wouldn’t be able to track his plane, at least.
“We have known for weeks that there is a leak in the military, giving information out to the Kosmider…”
“Well—“
“I had always been so proud of you, so talented and strong and young, and so much potential, unlimited, even. I would have suspected almost everyone on this base before you.”
“I—“
“Stop interrupting. But overwhelming evidence and orders from my commanding officers have put me in this unfortunate position.”
America started up his plane, piloting it out of the hangar and onto the tarmac. Within moments, an alarm would probably sound throughout the base. But he was fast and he was good, and he would be up in the air before they could catch him.
“You will be tried before a military court for your suspected crimes, and if you are found guilty, you will be jailed on these very serious charges.”
He was not going to be tried for crimes he didn’t commit, and to hell if he was going to go to jail. He’d been framed, that much was obvious to him, and it was the Kosmider itself that had done it. There’s no way those bastards were going to let him win that trial.
The alarm did indeed go off as he ascended into the air, but he was too high up for them to hit by the time the soldiers had gathered to attempt and shoot him down.
“But in the meantime, you are, as of this moment, stripped of your rank and expelled from the World Aviation Force.”
Captain America Jones was just America Jones now, civilian on the run. He rubbed his eyes as he flew, unable to fight the salty tears that were escaping them. This is where being an honest hero had led him, huh? The day that had started out so filled with hope and soaring through the sky with spirits high, had turned into this?
He’d stolen a plane and fled his accusers. He wasn’t even a deserter. He was… he wasn’t sure if he was better or worse than one for what he was doing now.
But what he did know, was that there was only one place he could go. His vision blurry from tears as he continued to fly, America cranked the portable radio and waited in hope that the man on the other end of the frequency was still in his cabin.
Pairing: AmericaxEngland, PolandxLithuania, GermanyxItaly, SpainxRomano, Belarus---->Russia, PrussiaxSwitzerland, GreecexJapan, HungaryxAustria. Future pairings: SwedenxFinland
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance/Humor/Drama/Action+Adventure/Alternate Universe
Word Count: 4,310
Summary: Ace pilot America is on a mission for the World Military when a chance encounter with a group of sky-pirates leads him to team up with their captain, England, against a malevolent group that wants to fill the sky with zeppelins. [USxUK- Steampunk AU]
Chapter Summary: “I know you want a world without heroes or whatever, Lithuania but…” He clenched his eyes. “This isn’t that world, okay? There are really awful people and there are good people and… okay maybe there are even a few people who aren’t bad or good, really.”
“America…”
“So let ME be a hero, okay?” he continued. “It’s what I want to be, all right?”
Author's Note: Um basically this chapter is even bigger than the last one, and it's also the first chapter of this fic to reach (and surpass) 4k? I hope that extra length makes up for the delay in updating. Even though this chapter has been planned in detail from the beginning, I struggled a lot with writing it. A couple of fanworks: First, this gorgeous AmericaxEngland by
socialholic. Secondly, several months ago a group of APH fans asked if they could cosplay the story! You can see their TOTALLY EPIC PHOTOSHOOT here.“America I…” Lithuania bit his lip. “I can’t ask you for help. You’ve helped enough in letting me tell you all this information.”
America frowned. He stared resolutely at the other man. “Look, I’ve got… a friend. England, you know? He can take you aboard his ship. I know he will. I know that you don’t feel like you can leave the Kosmider, but if you go back and they have found you out…” he finished his sentence with a shudder.
There was a tick of a clock, and America glanced over to the far wall. Nine ‘o’ clock. He wondered if he could radio England now. He’d definitely still be awake…
“But Poland…”
“He can take Poland too! I mean he already knows him, so I’m sure it will be fine,” America added. “Just get in my plane with me, and I’ll take you to England’s ship. Then you can radio Poland and pick him up wherever he is.”
Lithuania shifted and pulled out of America’s hold. He turned his face and closed his eyes, and America could tell that he was debating.
“If…” he spoke after several moments, “it’s true that I’ve been found out, I’ll do this.”
“And if not?”
“If I’m mistaken and Russia doesn’t know what I’ve been doing,” he sighed, “I’ve got to go back to the Kosmider.”
America pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them. He wanted to tell Lithuania not to, that he should come with him no matter what he found out, but he knew the other man wouldn’t listen. At least, not after what he’d told him before about why he stayed with the Kosmider. “How do you plan on finding out if you’re safe? What if you go back and Russia captures you before you can escape?”
Lithuania shook his head. “If I can use Hungary’s radio, I’ll use it to contact Estonia. He’s a Kosmider member, and he’s usually in charge of manning radio contact…”
“So he’s on your side?”
“Yes. I… told him recently what I was up to, and he’s pretty good at tracking and masking radio signals,” Lithuania explained. “He can tap into just about anything…”
America cocked an eyebrow. “Sounds pretty useful. You could use that against Russia, right?”
“Sure, we could… but Russia doesn’t trust Estonia as much as he does me, so he’s almost always got someone breathing down his neck while he’s working,” Lithuania answered with a sigh.
The aviator frowned. “But what about Belarus?”
“Russia will keep a hawk’s eye on her if he knows that she tried to chase me down,” Lithuania said. “I mean, if he thinks I’m innocent, that is. He… favors me a lot.”
America raked a hand through his hair. “I don’t want to send you back. I feel like kind of a crappy hero just… letting you go back into danger.” He exhaled. “But I guess you have your own heroics to perform, huh?”
Lithuania chuckled lightly. “I wouldn’t say that, exactly but… yes, I need to go back if I can.”
Nodding, America pushed himself off the bed and stood up. “All right, let’s go use that radio then…”
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“Thanks for loaning me your jacket,” Lithuania said. He and the aviator were sitting across from each other at one of the pub’s rustic wooden tables. America traced circles in the wood, his lips forming a pout.
“No problem. Even with your jacket off, it’s obvious you’re wearing a uniform… didn’t want anyone to recognize you as Kosmider,” America answered. He, by now, had stripped down to just his dress shirt and pants.
Lithuania swished the liquid in the glass he held, frowning deeply. “Well it’s good that Estonia says it’s clear…”
America bit his lip, resting his elbow on the table. “Y-yeah… I guess so.”
They’d come downstairs to use the radio, and Lithuania had simply asked Estonia “is it safe for me to return?” It was non-descript and easily explainable if someone asked. America thought, that they must have discussed this potential situation before.
“This Estonia guy knows, huh?” America leaned across the table and whispered. Lithuania merely nodded. “He’s trustworthy?”
“Extremely.”
“Good…”
The silence that fell between the two was awkward, full of unspoken words and anxiety. Please don’t leave, America wanted to say. I don’t want to go back, on the tip of Lithuania’s tongue.
Austria played the piano, a melodic ballad as the remaining patrons, their number dwindling smaller, bustled about the Világfa. America finished off the last of his mug of ale, while Lithuania continued to sip his slowly.
“Stay the night here?” America offered, breaking the silence. “Just… one night away from the Kosmider, it’s the least you deserve…”
Lithuania’s green eyes widened. “That’s very nice of you, America but… the sooner I return, the less suspicious he’ll be.”
America’s brow furrowed. Quickly, he reached across the table and gripped Lithuania’s upper arms in his hands. “I just want to know that you’re safe,” he proclaimed with conviction. “What if Estonia was forced to say that or something?”
The other man inhaled sharply, closing his eyes in thought for a moment before replying, “The Világfa will receive a radio then, which will be relayed to you. ‘I’m sorry I forgot to pay my tab,’ means safe. ‘Did I pay my tab?’ means unsafe.”
He whispered the words, leaning forward toward America’s ear, but in a manner that resembled a natural movement, as opposed to something intentional and indiscreet.
“If you’re unsafe, I’m going to rescue you, just so you know! Hero’s honor,” America said.
Lithuania shook his head. “Don’t risk your life for me. You’ve got bigger fish to fry. If I’m unsafe though, that means Poland is. That’s who you need to help.”
America narrowed his eyes. “No way. You’re getting rescued even if it means I have to face Russia himself,” his voice had the intonation of a shout, despite it being hushed. “I know you want a world without heroes or whatever, Lithuania but…” He clenched his eyes. “This isn’t that world, okay? There are really awful people and there are good people and… okay maybe there are even a few people who aren’t bad or good, really.”
“America…”
“So let ME be a hero, okay?” he continued. “It’s what I want to be, all right?”
Lithuania glanced down, his eyes half lidded. He stared at his hands in his lap, twiddling his fingers. “I see why Russia was so threatened by you… there really is no stopping you, is there?”
America’s mouth cracked into a grin at this. “Hell no there’s not.”
Lithuania stood up, pushing the chair in behind him and walking over to America. He slid out of the aviator’s bomber jacket and handed it over. “I hope that, when this is all over, we can be friends.”
America took the jacket in his hands and folded it across one arm. “Can’t we be friends already?” he asked, hesitation in his voice.
The other man’s cheeks flushed. “I’d like that very much.”
Standing up, America reached up and patted Lithuania’s shoulder. “Awesome. I’ll see you later then. Promise!”
Lithuania smiled, wide and true. “I’ll see you as well, America.”
And he turned around and walked away, exiting the pub and leaving the door swinging in the late night breeze.
America didn’t go to sleep that night until Hungary received a radio, informing him in their decided code that Lithuania was safe.
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Piloting on less than eight hours of sleep was something that America normally didn’t like to do, but despite only getting about five, he felt awake and ready to take on the world when he stepped up into his plane the next morning.
Lithuania was safe. He had new information on the Kosmider. The military (and even the General!) would be ecstatic. There were specs and names and locations and he even knew a lot more about Russia himself now.
He had not been able to tell him where the Kosmider’s largest citadel was. He confirmed that Russia considered his ‘base’ to be his own personal zeppelin, but informed America that there was somewhere else, an enormous building that he used as a zeppelin factory. “I can tell you that it’s snowy there, cold as ice and just as bitter. The building is enormous, but it’s white and blends in with the snow almost perfectly. It’s… somewhere in Northern Medved, but Russia doesn’t allow us to know the location, not even me. The zeppelin pilots do, but everyone else has to leave the cockpit when we get close.”
That was a start, at least.
But there were two other strongholds, scattered throughout Medved, and he knew the location of both of them now. If he could get the military there, they’d surely be able to take them out and thus put a dent in the Kosmider’s power.
Maybe he could ask England for help, even. They’d agreed to do this together…
The Kosmider zeppelins were nowhere in sight, America observed, as he soared through the sky. “They must have left during the night…”
Once America was quite a distance from Habicht, he resolved to radio England. Carefully, he grabbed the crank radio from under his seat and placed it in his lap. He could have just used his normal radio, but then he’d have to keep the contact short--- and… he kind of didn’t want to do that.
He’d missed his date with England, which he was still pretty put out about, and so he at least wanted to be able to talk to him for awhile.
And plan another date.
America flushed at this, shaking his head and turning the radio to England’s frequency. It was early enough that America had hopes he was still in his room, just waking up or even asleep. “Hello, hello?”
A bleary “Hallo,” greeted him several seconds later.
“Hey England!”
England made a noise in the back of his throat, and there was an audible shifting of what sounded like bedsheets. “Git, you woke me up.”
“Ah yeah, I guess it’s pretty early…” he laughed, “but I had to head back as soon as I could, you know?”
The pirate yawned. “Quite all right, I suppose. At least this time… glad you radioed to be honest.”
“Really? Awesome,” America replied, pleased. “I… it sucks about last night. Damn Kosmider…”
“Bloody obnoxious at the worst times, aren’t they?” England grumbled. “I was… rather looking forward to it.”
“Yeah, me too.” He bit his lip before continuing, “We’ll have to plan to meet up again.”
“Y-yes… I---“
“Once I get back to the base, I’ll look at my schedule and we’ll figure something out right away,” he interrupted. “I mean I have some stuff going on, but I’m sure I can make room. It shouldn’t be a problem. I just have to--- “
“That sounds perfect.”
America carded a hand through his hair. “I have so many things to tell you, England. I mean I wanted to radio you and let you know I was safe and stuff… but a lot happened last night, and it’s good stuff, I promise!”
“Things you’d rather say in person?” England queried.
“That’s exactly it!” America replied. “I… know this frequency is private and all, but it’s still sort of risky, if you know what I mean? Well, maybe you don’t but I think maybe it could be, so keep it vague… I’ll explain what I mean later.”
That the Kosmider might just have the ability to tap into secret frequencies…
He realized, that this was the first time he’d really spoken to England since he’d acknowledged that he had feelings for him. Maybe that’s why he felt like he was sort of… babbling to him, making things wordier than they needed to be and overall acting rather nervous. It probably sounded pretty un-awesome to England, and he had to get used to this talking-to-England-while-being-in-love-with-him-thing anyway, so he may as well do it now.
He took a deep breath to calm himself, hoping the heat in his cheeks would dissipate as well.
“I’m always careful, America,” England countered.
“Good, great!” he exclaimed. “Hey ah… I’m… just sort of flying right now, and you’re in your bedroom so…”
“Hmm?”
“Do you want to just talk?” he rushed out. “I don’t care about what, but… if we can’t hang out, we could at least keep each other company over the radio.”
England chuckled lightly, and America found that he very much liked that unfamiliar sound. “That sounds like a plan.”
“Awesome!”
“Shall I tell you what Prussia did the other day? It was the most ridiculous and idiotic thing he’s done yet… I swear…”
And so they spoke, conversing and telling stories and generally getting to know each other even better than they had before. America only got off the radio to refuel and eat in Luong, and England vanished a couple of times to grab a bite to eat and check in on the going ons at top deck.
America relaxed as time wound on, his nerves calming as he just fell into a content and comfortable banter with the other man. He also thought that, even though this wasn’t a date, it was still pretty damn good.
It was as if the clouds were parting for him, so blue was the sky and so high were his spirits, as he flew back to the base.
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Lithuania had bathed, changed into a freshly pressed uniform, and gone over what he wanted to say in his head several times. He had to tell Russia about Belarus. She had tried to attack him after all.
But despite the manner in which he reacted to Belarus’s amorous advances, she and Russia had a past of some sort. He knew little about it; only that Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were the first three members of the Kosmider.
He swallowed a lump in his throat. He’d half considered not telling Russia at all, but decided that if his own safety was at risk due to Belarus’s unhinged nature, he might not be the only one. The steam powered engines of the zeppelin were a dull hum beneath his feet, in rhythm with the sound of his heartbeat.
Lithuania knocked on Russia’s office door.
Within moments, Russia opened it, beckoning Lithuania inside with one of his strange smiles, half gentle, half foreboding.
Lithuania entered, sitting down on Russia’s by now familiar maroon velvet couch. He closed his eyes and willed his nerves to calm.
“Ah, good evening Lithuania,” Russia said, reclining next to him.
The shorter man heaved himself off the couch and rounded on Russia. “Last night… when I went down to the village, I was chased and almost attacked by Belarus. I only just escaped,” he managed.
Russia merely raised one eyebrow. “Is that why you were out so late?”
“Yes, Sir. I waited a while until I felt like the coast was clear.” He stopped himself from twiddling with his fingers, a nervous habit.
“Ah well…” Russia tapped the side of his cheek. “I’m wondering why you were down in the village in the first place.”
Lithuania’s eyes grew large. “Because y-you told me to, Russia, sir. I--- was supposed to get some supplies down there, but everything was already closed and--- so I took a small craft down and… I was only following orders!”
Russia looked up at him from the couch, his bangs half-shadowing his eyes and a quirk of a smile on his lips. Lithuania wanted more than anything to run, but his feet were frozen in place, and he knew, that if he did, his life would be in even more danger. This was the expression Russia wore when he knew something that you did not, and it was one that Lithuania saw often. But here…
Had Russia found him out after all?
He managed to back up a bit, the backs of his legs whacking against the small coffee table. He winced in pain.
“Good job, Lithuania,” Russia finally said.
“W-what?” Lithuania gaped.
“On following orders, of course,” he continued. “Belarus followed her orders very well also, from what you’re saying.”
“I don’t understa---“
“Others have done their part as well, Latvia… for example,” Russia said. “But you and Belarus, your missions last night were so very important.”
“Russia, sir… is getting supplies really that important a mission?” Lithuania queried, although pushing at the back of his mind, was a niggling voice telling him he knew better than that, that getting supplies had never really been his mission in the first place. That in actuality, his mission had been---
Russia laughed lightly. “You didn’t complete that mission, yes? But no, what you did last night… had nothing to do with that. It had everything to do with the man who saved you, the… soldier?”
Lithuania gulped. “H-he… I didn’t ask him to, he just… came out of nowhere and…”
“Which is just as I’d hoped,” Russia interrupted. “Belarus wasn’t attacking you, so I have no need to reprimand her. She just did as I told her, you see. A false chase that led to an unnecessary rescue, by a certain ‘hero’ in the vicinity, of course.”
Lithuania gasped, his mind screeching to a halt and his blood running cold. “I--- he----“
“You, Lithuania…” Russia reached up, running the back of his hand across Lithuania’s cheek. “Are so sweet, you always have been; so trustworthy and kind as well. Who better to use than you?”
“To use for what?” Lithuania asked, his voice a raspy whisper. He knew though. He knew what he had done. In his attempt to do good, to help fight the Kosmider, he’d---
“You did so well on your mission, Lithuania,” Russia proclaimed sweetly. “Thanks to you, America Jones will finally be out of the picture.”
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America ran, shoes scuffing against the sidewalks and the concrete and the wet, rain soaked grass of the base. He passed hangars and offices and jumped fences, all in attempt to get back to his own hangar as quickly as he could manage.
His heart was pounding in his ears, and he couldn’t hear anything except for it, the sound of his ragged breaths, and the memories of just minutes before replaying in his mind.
“Captain Jones, the following allegations have been brought forward by superior officers in the World Military…”
His colonel’s words echoed, reverberating through him as he continued to run, finally reaching his hangar and reaching to open it with shaking, sweat soaked hands. His precious fob watch banged against his leg as it clattered on his chain, and he clenched it to stop its movement.
“Seventeen days ago, a Kosmider attack occurred at the same time you were returning from a reconnaissance mission, your involvement in the attack was noted.”
“I was helping fight the Kosmider, I already sai---“
“I believed this at the time, but further evidence began to cast doubt on that, Jones…”
Upon opening the hangar, he dashed inside, his feet clattering across the floor. His dorm was housed in the hangar, and he quickly headed toward it. He was short on time.
“You deviated from a flyover mission several days before that, and intelligence has revealed that the Kosmider may have used that extra time to move the last of their forces away from the area.”
“My plane broke down!”
“And you deviated again when you reattempted the mission two days later.”
“But I completed it…”
He stuffed a few changes of clothing into a duffel bag, and glanced over at his nightstand. There was a small photo album, which he grabbed, and his prized issue of The Aquila Avenger. He picked up the comic, flipped open the cover, and shook his head, frowning.
He tossed it aside.
“Ten days ago you left for over twenty-four hours, saying you were going to look for intelligence, but coming back with only useless zeppelin diagrams that we already had.”
“You said at the time you didn’t!”
“I was incorrect.”
“But you promoted me at that time! Obviously you thought I was doing something right.”
“That was before we had the full picture… Jones.”
After scribbling a short, vague note, America cinched his duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder. It was mid-evening, and luckily, none of his unit members were in the hangar. He gave one last sorrowful look at his dorm and sighed, closing the door behind him.
“There were two attacks on merchant ships while you were gone…”
“There are LOTS of attacks on merchant ships. That’s what I’m trying to stop!”
“Your constant… excursions, often coinciding with Kosmider attacks, continued, even to the point that you participated when your own crew was there, missing your rendezvous with General Wang’s contact at the Babako.”
“I didn’t attack anyone that day. I saved someone. My crew can vouch for that!”
“Your crew is not in trouble, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”
“I didn’t--- I meant to say that they know I was helping---“
America jogged past the dorms, pausing to slip his note under Canada’s door. He knew his cousin would share it with France and Japan. He felt a pang of guilt as he stood back up from doing so, remembering that the last time he’d spoken with Canada, had been their explosive fight.
“You had direct contact with a member of the Kosmider at the Babako.”
A small piece of paper, slammed down onto a desk.
“This was found in your pocket, on your person. And another military officer witnessed the encounter…”
“Who--- I don’t even remember…”
A flash of a young man that he’d crashed into, one with a thick accent that rather resembled Lithuania’s.
“Colonel, I can’t even read this paper.”
“It’s in Medvedian, Cyrillic. And I think that you can read it, considering that you followed up on it…”
His plane, and dammit, it was still his plane, sat in the hangar, illuminated by the gas lights that lit the room. America glanced at her before running over to a large weapons locker. He undid it with his combination and grabbed a pistol. He was going to need this.
“Plan meeting with Lithuania Lorianaitis. And then of course, My Vlasteliny Nebes. You know that slogan well, don’t you?”
“I didn’t plan any meeting with him. I ran into him but---“
“Yesterday, you leave again and you’re spotted all the way over in Habicht meeting with a Kosmider officer. Exchanging information and spending hours together, with full knowledge of who he is.”
“I was getting information against the---“
“Silence! Cease speaking out of turn to your commanding officer, now.”
Lithuania had been set up, hadn’t he? Russia had someone on his team that could tap radio waves, and he’d tapped into America’s and discovered his rendezvous with England, and then interrupted it. Therefore making what that note that had been slipped in his pocket true.
Dammit. He cocked the pistol and, taking a page from England the third time they’d met, neatly fired a bullet at the radio. He cringed at intentionally damaging any part of his plane, but shrugged it off, jumping in the cockpit and bringing the pistol and his duffel bag with him. The Kosmider could seemingly tap into his crank radio when he was using it, but the military wouldn’t be able to track his plane, at least.
“We have known for weeks that there is a leak in the military, giving information out to the Kosmider…”
“Well—“
“I had always been so proud of you, so talented and strong and young, and so much potential, unlimited, even. I would have suspected almost everyone on this base before you.”
“I—“
“Stop interrupting. But overwhelming evidence and orders from my commanding officers have put me in this unfortunate position.”
America started up his plane, piloting it out of the hangar and onto the tarmac. Within moments, an alarm would probably sound throughout the base. But he was fast and he was good, and he would be up in the air before they could catch him.
“You will be tried before a military court for your suspected crimes, and if you are found guilty, you will be jailed on these very serious charges.”
He was not going to be tried for crimes he didn’t commit, and to hell if he was going to go to jail. He’d been framed, that much was obvious to him, and it was the Kosmider itself that had done it. There’s no way those bastards were going to let him win that trial.
The alarm did indeed go off as he ascended into the air, but he was too high up for them to hit by the time the soldiers had gathered to attempt and shoot him down.
“But in the meantime, you are, as of this moment, stripped of your rank and expelled from the World Aviation Force.”
Captain America Jones was just America Jones now, civilian on the run. He rubbed his eyes as he flew, unable to fight the salty tears that were escaping them. This is where being an honest hero had led him, huh? The day that had started out so filled with hope and soaring through the sky with spirits high, had turned into this?
He’d stolen a plane and fled his accusers. He wasn’t even a deserter. He was… he wasn’t sure if he was better or worse than one for what he was doing now.
But what he did know, was that there was only one place he could go. His vision blurry from tears as he continued to fly, America cranked the portable radio and waited in hope that the man on the other end of the frequency was still in his cabin.
