Chaos

Me and my friend Ukraine(we were countryhumans)were in a movie theatre, waiting for the lights to turn on. Ukraine was basically a person, but her skin colour was blue on the top of her head and the rest was yellow. The Ukrainian flag. They flickered on-and then they turned back off. I exchanged glances with Ukraine. I also had a flag: pink on the right, blue in the middle and gold on the left.  "I wonder why that happened, Atlan?" Ukraine said. Atlan was my nickname; Atlantis was the full one. "Probably someone accidentally turned off the lights, or a power outage," I replied. Suddenly everything went dark.

When I woke up, everything was still dark. I wondered where Ukraine was. Probably not close by. “Ukraine?” I called. No response. Of course. I sighed. Where am I? I thought. The lights then turned on. I could see that I was in a tiny room, tied to a lumpy, uncomfortable bed. Who would do this to me? I thought. I then realised that it must have been Russia(aka Rus). The door was tiny. I would barely be able to fit in there. But, I noticed, Crimea would. I heard rapid, tiny footsteps. The door opened, and sure enough, Crimea appeared in it. His face had the Crimean flag on it.  He was about half its size, but that did not change the fact that both the doorway and Crimea were tiny. He looked up at me. Crimea was perhaps half a foot tall. “Atlantis,” he whispered. “Yeah?” I whispered back. “We have to get you out of here, because in an hour Rus is going to make me interrogate you!” Crimea said in a low voice. My eyes widened slightly. “And how are you going to get me through that door? Oh, right; my magic. Where’s Ukraine though?” I asked. “He’s in a nearby room. Rus has a lot of cameras though, so you’ll have to be quick,” Crimea said imploringly. I used a touch of magic to undo the bonds and then to shrink myself to the level of the door. Crimea muttered, “Good,” under his breath and then we started walking silently along the hallway. I noted that there were distant sounds of singing. “That’s Russia,” Crimea explained. “We have to change our route. I know my way around here.” he added. I nodded absently, humming quietly. 

Five minutes later we came upon a door. “Is this Ukraine’s room?” I whispered. Crimea merely nodded. “I’m going through the door, okay?” Crimea asked. This time I nodded. He slipped through and I heard conversing in Ukrainian. Crimea was explaining that I was on the other side of the door, then asked me(not switching languages)to come in. I did so. Ukraine stared hard at me. “Why are you small too?” “My room had the same kind of door. And then I wanted to see what this would be like, being only a half foot.” I added. Ukraine sighed and I used another bit of my magic against the bonds. Moments later all three of us could fit through the tiny(now huge)door. I reminded myself that I had shrunk and the door had stayed pretty much exactly the same size. We got down another hallway-seemingly taking years-and came upon another door. “This is the exit,” Crimea breathed. The crack under the door was big enough for us to slip under. We did it and then Crimea checked the time. His eyes widened. “We have to go now! Russia must be heading our way!”

Thirty seconds later, as we were desperately stumbling through the surrounding forest, we heard the door open again. It was Russia. He had the Russian flag decorating his face. He didn’t notice us. He just wanted to enjoy the scenery. We continued on our way more quietly. I then took the lead, having a map in hand that Crimea had handed to me. I magically made it so that it was centred on the map, moving with us. It also showed nearby people and countries. No one minus Russia. As we made our way forward I noticed a dot appearing on the map, coloured green. That meant a human who had no intention of harming us. I notified the others and we quickened our pace. We wanted to get away from Russia as quickly as possible, and then to get help to bring him down. He was getting dangerously close to attacking Pol, and I knew that if he did so I would lose it. I didn’t want to. I knew that it would spark an all-out war. The green dot stayed motionless relative to the trees surrounding it, then it started moving. I realised this was just a trick of the eye. We were within fifty feet and we were panting. We suddenly crashed straight into the clearing. They didn’t notice us. Crimea said “Hello,” very nervously. The person jumped and looked around. “Oh, hi, I didn’t notice you, why are you guys so small?” they asked. Only another minute later we’d introduced each other and then we’d gotten the question answered. Then I asked, “Why are you out here in the woods?” Maria mumbled an answer and then asked us the same question. Ukraine explained why. “Okay,” Maria replied. “Can you look away for a moment?” She nodded understandingly, turning around. I returned Ukraine and myself back to our ordinary sizes. Crimea hadn’t changed. “Okay, you can look back now.” She turned around. I was slightly prideful to notice that me and Ukraine were both taller than her. “Oh! Why didn’t Crimea change though?” “That’s his ordinary height.” “Oh, okay.” Maria replied. “I noticed you guys are taller than me…” I explained why. It had to do with the land the country had. Bigger in total area meant taller, and I was the second largest European country-Rus was the biggest by a significant fraction. I sighed to myself. He was notoriously land-greedy. I knew I was not. Maria broke the uncomfortable silence. “Do you guys think that we should try and stop Rus from attacking Pol?” I had told her about it. “Yeah!” we all replied in unison. “He is my friend after all,” I added. “Okay, cool!” Maria said. Luckily, I had my phone with me, so I was able to play music. I played Stefania: the map showed how far you could hear the sound, contemspating for objects in the way, and I was relieved that only the four of us could hear it. I suddenly noticed that there was a tiny red triangle headed towards us. It was labeled “Russia”. I froze.

Maria and Ukraine looked around to see what was going on. I heard the distant sounds of pursuit and they noticed. Crimea was asleep in Maria’s arms. We sped up considerably, but Rus was still getting nearer. I made a decision and pulled everyone behind a bush. Only thirty seconds later Rus barreled past. Crimea rubbed sleep from his eyes. Ukraine silenced him instantly, stepping out from behind the bush to see what was happening. Rus disappeared from view. He slowed down in the map view. The text on the side of the map told me that Rus was muttering, “Did I lose their tracks again?” I told the others as Rus came back into view. I made all of us invisible(again, with magic)and waited tensely. He passed by several times before we started heading away. He never noticed us. I sighed with relief. Rus could be brash and arrogant sometimes. I hated that about people. They always had to invade privacy. I glanced at the sky and noticed a helicopter going by. We continued trekking until we came upon another building.  It didn’t look fun but not boring either. Maria whispered to me, “Are any unfriendly countryhumans in there?” “No.” I replied. “Oh good.” Germany, America and Japan(respectively, the American flag, the German flag and the Japanese flag)were the ones there. I sighed and folded up the paper. We went inside. We could hear the multilingual mess of a conversation they were having. They were arguing over where me and Ukraine were. We crept quietly up to the door and I told the others to wait nearby. I opened the door and they were on a couch, Ame ready to start playing Fortnite but Germany wasn’t having it. “I wonder where Atlan is,” Japan complained. “Hi,” I said sarcastically, scaring them out of their skins. “Atlan!! What are you doing here!?” Ame said. “I wanted to know why you guys were arguing over me and Ukraine,” I replied shakily. That glare of Ame’s was unsettling. “You’ve been out for two days, and where’s Rus?” Germany asked. “Nearby.” I expanded the map and showed them. “Barely a thousand yards away.” I added. Ame trooped out and I made sure that the others were invisible. They didn’t make a sound. “So, uh, do you want to watch some animé?” Japan asked. “Uh, sure!” I said. “Can it be Hetalia?” I asked. “Sure!” We watched Animé for around thirty minutes, and then Ame came back. “Hey guys, whatcha watching?” He then noticed that I was the only one awake and I was absentmindedly looking out the window. “Animé,” I said boredly. The view wasn’t exactly vibrant. Ame turned off the TV, waking up Germany. He suddenly realised something. “I gotta go work,” he said, leaving. Japan woke up too. “So I think we should start planning on what to do with Rus. Also, do ya know where Ukraine is?” On cue, I made her visible again. She was asleep on the couch. Ame jumped out of his skin. “What are you doing here, Ukraine?” She woke up. Ame suddenly realised what must have been going on and glared at me. I calmly returned it and he flinched. He had probably not expected that from me. Normally I was reclusive and chill, but the times forced me to stop being like that, for the time being. I also wanted to read. I wanted peace, but no one would let me have it. Ame plopped down next to me. “Are you daydreaming again?” I murmured; “Yes.” I looked out the window again. “Well, we have to go and stop Rus.” Ame said, grabbing my shoulder. “I have to get some paperwork done first!” Germany yelled from the next room. I decided to reveal the other two just as Ame was turning around. They were in the doorway. Ame yelped. “Where did you come from?” he asked. I explained and he narrowed his eyes at me. I ignored him and went out into the hallway. Maria and Crimea were happily chatting. I wanted to explore this place. I found the front window to this place and immediately saw Rus, sneaking in plain view. I called for Ame, making sure it was loud enough for Rus to hear. He looked around and stared right at me without seeing me. I realised that the windows must be tinted. I heard Ame coming down and seeing Rus. Rus kept on creeping quietly. Ame slammed the door open and I saw Rus running off. My heart had nearly stopped. I sighed as Ame followed Rus to deal with him. Ame was always arrogant. I left to check on Germany. He was working, as usual. I went on and saw a light flickering. I didn’t think much of it. I wandered on and encountered Maria. She was heading somewhere. I went past, heading right back. Ame was scribbling something on paper. I didn’t bother to see what he was writing. I just wanted to stare out at the empty open expanse around us, and the forest as well. There was a feeling of suspense. I did not like it at all. I sighed and grabbed a book.

Roughly an hour later I heard Ame approaching from down the hall with Germany. “Atlan, we gotta get moving!” I noticed he was dragging along Japan and Ukraine. He dragged me along too, me protesting, and after a short while we arrived. I got to have a decent look at the fort. It was large and silvery. Ame snuck in, refusing to give me any information. Why him? He would just create a commotion. Then we would all get caught. I sighed and went to sit under a tree. I’d only stopped to toss on a hoodie, and I pulled up the hood. I then pulled out the book I’d brought and started reading. I did that to pass the time by until I felt Japan’s hand rest on my shoulder. I instantly came back to reality. I put the book away, stood up, adjusted my hood slightly and walked into the castle, infusing my map with magic. It showed me the route that Ame had wanted me to take. Rus was sleeping in his room. I was happy about that. My part of the plan was setting up a simple, deceptive trap in front of his bedroom, praying that he would not wake up and catch me in the process. It barely took five minutes and then I went back outside to contemplate what to do next. Reading seemed the most appealing. I was actually doing so until I heard a horrible yell of pain. Sounded like Rus had fallen into my magic-infused trap. I would never in a million years have done such a thing. Unless Ame had, of course, forced me to either do it or called me a traitor. I would never accept that kind of shame. Japan started doing her part. I ignored her, continuing reading. I had to ignore her-I had been specifically instructed to. I stared up at the sky, enjoying the clouds. There were distant sounds of struggling. I sighed. Ame was probably fighting Rus out of the building. I sighed and pulled out s0me paper to start drawing. I sketched for some time and then noticed that Rus was in front of the building, knocked out. I also noticed a helicopter rolling in from the distant horizon. It was probably UN’s. Ame had called him in to pick up Rus. I kept sketching the comic. I knew that I would be interrupted mid sketch, so I finished the comic and stood up. The helicopter was making a commotion, blowing around branches and leaves. It actually woke up Rus. He looked around in confusion for a moment, noticed all of us staring at him and yelled. I merely glared at him and then turned to look around at the forest. It was shaking under the wind the helicopter was making. I heard Japan yell something in Japanese. I glanced around and saw Rus running for it. I blocked his way and he growled under his breath as UN came out of the helicopter. He went and stuck Rus inside the helicopter and they were off. I sighed. At least that was taken care of by now. Now I can go back home. 

At last, I was back in my cozy, small house, in the middle of the woods. I shared it with Canada because of course I wanted a little bit of company. As Ame dropped us off, I noticed UN standing in the living room. I curiously entered the room. He merely smiled and disappeared. However, I had a feeling of protection wash over me, and with that I decided to take a nap.