[IC] Countries as people: World War One

[Bluetommy]

An Unknown Location

Raindrops

The mist was already thick when the rain began, every step from the horse causing a meaty splash of soft muddy ground. The beast itself whinnied softly, barely legible over the pattering of rain. The only other sounds were a metallic clacking as the saddle moved about slightly, and the howling of the wind, sounding like a war-horn blaring out to command a march. God, the days when that was necessary were far gone. Still, it was far too obvious that war was standard for humans and their pets, how utterly lovely.

"Serbia!"

Thank Christ, I've been followed, I had absolutely no chance of doing this on my own whatsoever.

Serbia pulled up on the reins and tugged the horse around to look his younger brother in the eyes, brows down but chin up as to portray disapproval as clearly as possible, he assumed that Montenegro would have understood, they had always seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to each other's intentions.

Montenegro

Montenegro gave a similar scowl back, but with his chin lowered into his chest. He almost looked... angry. Serbia hadn't exactly seen this before, they had been inseparable and always listened to the other ever since they'd been freed. Serbia's glare faltered a moment, one of his eyebrows managing to push itself up for a second in confusion.

"Serbia, I know that this is what you planned, and I know well enough how deep this rabbit hole goes, but I'm not going to let this happen," he said, determination etched onto his face and into his eyes. Serbia's glare had completely faded now, all that was left was confusion. Montenegro had attempted to aid with every step of the plan, and now he was standing, stone-faced in opposition to a plan that he had a hand in creating. Serbia's mouth hung slightly agape, he had to force himself to sit up as a slouch had begun to force itself onto him. Montenegro however, remained unchanging, not even removing his glasses as water washed over them, leaving them cloudy and covered in hundreds of water droplets.

"I don't understand, you aid me, I get what I want, and then you attempt to stop me? War is inevitable, Montenegro! Whether it's me who starts it or not, what matters is getting ahead, and with Russia's help I can finally end outside influence over the Balkans. If you stop me, we'll be dead within weeks!"

"You're lying to yourself, Serbia, murdering Austria won't change a thing!"

Serbia barred his teeth and snarled, rainwater matting his hair to his forehead.

"I have never lied, not to you, not to anyone! Accuse me of anything you want, but I am no liar!" Serbia screeched. It was around this time when the wind began to pick up more than ever, and thunder began to echo weakly in the distance.

"Always quick to anger, brother. Is that what this is about? Some pathetic desire to get revenge on everyone who's done you wrong?" Montenegro responded, gesturing wildly as his hair madly spun about in the breeze. Serbia's snarl suddenly disappeared in response, and when he spoke next, his voice was calm and yet still tipped with acid.

"Yes," he stated smugly. "That is all I've ever wanted."

Montenegro's eyes shot open in response to Serbia's statement, his mouth opening and closing madly as he tried and failed to think of something to say. He removed his glasses with one shaky hand, and stared at Serbia, sweat beginning to mix with the rain that poured down his brow. Serbia stared at him in response, and for one long moment, they simply maintained eye contact, neither moving an inch. It was the first argument they'd had since Montenegro's foundation, and it seemed as if Serbia was simply too convinced in his own righteousness to change his course.

Finally, Serbia had enough, pulling his horse around with one last glance at Montenegro. Kicking his heels into the beast, he rode forth, prepared to start a war, leaving Montenegro alone, fist clenched in frustration and mind alight with fear and worry. Serbia didn't think twice about it, the Slavs would be free, even if it cost half the continent.

[Nerevarine]

@Dannyrulx@bluetommy2@SillyGoy

Russia's eyes blankly fixated on the wall behind Britain as she listened to him speak. It looked like She and France would have to carry most of the weight of this battle on their shoulders. Russia spoke up as Britain finished talking.

"Without doubt, she will go for France first." the slav spoke as she pecked lightly at the dish before her, barely eating anything. It wasn't to her liking, and it was clear she was putting the absolute minimum effort into attempting to be polite about it.

"My plan is simple enough, when Erika makes her invasion into French lands, I'll jump while her back is turned." She spoke while raising her hands as if to draw her plan of attack in the air. "She likely won't see much of a threat in this coming from a nation that is not as...avanced as herself, but an invasion can more than be made up with a significant force of manpower."

"I'll bring forth an army to occupy East Prussia, and turn it into a base of operations for an eventual attack on Berlin, which I will promptly take and burn to the ground." A slight, cold smile formed on Russia's face as she recounted her idea. "The invasion and occupation one would be a massive blow to Germany's ego, and with the inevitable fall of her allies, and her capital, I have no doubt in my mind she will lose the will to fight. The destruction of her production capabilities will certainly help too."

Russia turned to face Britain directly. "But I'd need you to do something for me, Anglija. And that is to keep the Turks busy." Russia frowned as she spoke, "What I don't need is the distraction of Ottomans in Ukraine, and Turks rousing up Caucasians in the mountains. I'd rather not have to diverge attention away from Prussia's lands to deal with the Islamic mountain men."

"The Turk is no doubt bitter over your presence in Egypt, and will spring to attack you. Do what you must to keep her away from me"

[TalijaKey]

Belgium's House

Austria was prideful of her act, it surely would distract the other female nation. What she didnt await was the reaction of her niece. The words spoken with pure raw power and the unbelievable amount of will holding that power back, it send shivers down Austria's spine. She couldnt help to look after Erika as she left the room, marveling at the control she possessed and pitying the fool who makes her snap. One day she will be the greatest power who ever existed, and with the war coming closer that day may come that much closer. How lucky they were family.

Maybe she overdid the acting bit, made it too believable.

Austria mind planning how to get the other german cheerful up again as she started to mix the eggs and butter, they didnt get to work much as another arrival came interrupting.

America.

What was he doing here? She moved closer, and it appeared the bird brain didnt notice her as he gave over a letter for Belgium.

"Aww, is it a love letter? I bet it is, you should read it, I heard that for some birds it mating season maybe he wants to impress you." Austria supplied, and the day went on. Surprisingly to her she didnt get to see her niece again. She would have peeked over Belgium shoulder if she tried to read the letter, or urge her to open it. As they cook, Austria shared gossip and listened to any tib bit the other nation gave her. A bit of tease a bit of sweet words. The german nation would say it was a enjoyable day regardless of how many surprises it held when it all started.

With the cake in hand the day passed and Austria made her way home. Once home she set to write a letter and cut a big piece out her cake made with Belgian chocolate and her artistic skills. She ordered Czechs to deliver them both to Germany. It went without saying he was better not bump the package on the way there. It was a sweet art piece. There wouldnt be any forgiveness if he showed incompetence. At least he was good at following orders.

She poured herself a good beer and sat in her garden, the night falling. The words she wrote to her niece still playing in her mind.

Liebe Nichte,
The first piece of the cake I made today, like you wanted. Hope its pleases your taste...

She included all the things she managed to learn from her visit and found relevant to their plans. She didnt exactly apologise, she had some pride to say sorry for such a blatant misunderstanding. Instead she complimented Germany abilty to notice her acting and give her the time alone with Belgium. Offhandedly she wrote that she would love to enjoy a good opera together with her at some point in time.

She sighed watching the flowers swing in the wind. "Indivisible and Inseparable" she whispered to the flowers, as if telling them a well guarded secret. "If you want peace, be prepared for war."

The moon raised without noticing, she made her way back in the house. There was some movement, she assumed it to be the maids. She changed her mind when she entered her chambers. On the table was a half eaten piece of cake. While the bed was covered with a lot of lovely flowers she recognized from Slovenia's gardens.

Two hands wrapped them self around her waist. A kiss was placed on her neck. She hummed, but didnt move otherwise.

"Hello my beloved wife."

"You smell of chocolate."

Her husband nuzzled her until she gave in and turned her head to face him. "Well whose fault is it that they left a delicious and perfect cake all alone. " Austria reasoned it was kind of made for him, so no real problem. There were other things she wanted to know rather.

"I have been awaiting you back for a while. What took you so long."

Hungary wasnt letting go of her as he dropped his head on her shoulder and groaned. "After the Romanian talk, and I will say I tried to be nice. But its impossible Romania could never be an ally to me. Transilvania is mine, and they do not get that." The lady nodded she awaited that, that would not work, but it was sweet he still tried.

"After that I went to Slovenia, we had several days of really annoying talk."

"Let me guess, they every other sentences was I hate you Hungary." Her husband laughed and released her from his hug, to switch to holding her hand and guiding her to their bed. Now Austria was wondering if Hungary even asked for those flowers or if he simply took them to irritate the other nation.

"Worser."

"Worser?" She sat down on the soft sheets, while he kissed her hand and it brought a smile on her lips. It was bad news than.

"I caught the slavs planning and whispering behind our back in their twisted languages. Croatia looked fuming, while the others looked torn."

"And? What were they talking about?"

There was silence and she rubbed the bridge of her nose as her husband gave her a apologetic expression with an overdose of big eyes and sweet I love you touches. Thsoe touches were really soothing after the time alone. It didnt make her voice any less disapproving when she spoke up. "You dont know, because you still reject the idea to learn their languages."

"You know my stance on that, I am not going to indulge them."

"It would have been useful if you had. You could have eavesdropped." Her shoes have been undone and strong hands started to massage her tired feet. She did spend the whole day standing with Belgium. The attention was really nice.

"I am sure it was about Serbia. Which made me think about the Serbia issues.Which made me wonder how things went with you?" Hungary pressed the right place and she couldnt help the pleased sigh that left her lips.

"I was granted to speak in Germany name." Her husband hummed, encouraging her to continue as he moved to spoil her other foot as well. "Turkey is preparing, and I have prepared the proposal for Bulgaria. Should be meeting with them at Turkeys home soon. I didnt want to raise too much suspicion... Oh thats good~... In case any of the other european nations are keeping an eye on me. I would do that if I were in their shoes. So I went to Belgium for making a cake. Told her we had a spat, a bit love drama and such."

Hungary hands moved to undo her hair, allowing it to fall down freely. " And the cake was a make up gift?" The amusement in his voice, was pleasing to her. She nodded reaching out and pulling her husband down in a kiss, savouring the taste of sweetness on his lips. He broke the kiss and spoke in a low tone.

"Well, it worked, the make up cake fixed the non existent spat we had. What was our spat about?" Fingers playing with her hair, caressing the back of her neck.

"I have no idea, but you have yet to tell me about Bosnia. Dont think you are succeeding in distracting me yet. "

Hungary pouted, whispering in his tongue about how he will try harder. Still he obeyed her and told her how Bosnia was behind on his german language homework and how he wasnt doing that well in any other subject. How he appeared to be distracted and jumpy.

"Franz wanted to visit Sarajevo. I think, I will accompany him. He did asked me to do so a while back. I will have to prove a point to Bosnia so the boy finally understands what his position is. I will not risk his loyalty to be tainted with ugly nationalism." Austria spoke enjoying how her own fingers were making her husband shiver in delight and eagerness.

"Good idea, but I still think his attitude towards Croatia and Slovenia are too soft." The night was a sweet one, and Austria enjoyed becoming the center of her husband attention and love. Being worshipped and having him obey her every whim. That night she didnt felt lonely at all.

Sarajevo

A bit of time passed And Austria was at Bosnias home, it was a small one and as he spend a lot of time at her own home it didnt look as well taken care of as it could be. She made a mental note to take care of that. If they were to visit this city more often it would be a imperative to have a proper place to stay one befitting her. At least the view from the house was a nice one, overseeing most of the city and the river.

She found herself staring out over her city, it held a beauty in it. A raw one like a unbrushed gem, waiting to be cleaned of the impurity to let it shine truly. What kind of ruler would she be if she didnt answered that call. It reminded her a bit of a much younger Croatia. She chuckled enjoying the wind for a brief moment before she turned back to the house in question and walked up to the door.
She didnt knock when she came to the door. She simple pushed the door and walked in.

"Bosnia I am home. How have you been?" She called out as she walked in like she have build the house and owned it fully. "I heard you had some trouble with your homework? I could help you out with it."

[Bluetommy]

Sarajevo

Bosnia was having a crisis, a crisis of identity, already he had been a patchwork of different tribes from long ago, but now he was under Austria's wing, and now that Osmani was their friend, he was starting to feel like he had no reason to be. His neighbors were all weak or... Hungary, Austria's husband. It was easy to lose himself in his confusion, obviously. When Austria entered, he was busy lying on the floor and staring at the crackling flame. When Austria entered, he shook and almost let out a yell before realizing who it was.

With a bead of sweat dripping from his forehead, he smiled and bowed slightly in greeting.

"Lady Austria! I wasn't expecting you, I was just thinking to myself, I haven't... been doing any homework," he admitted bashfully. "I've been... having some problems... it's hard to explain."

A horse whinny far in the distance eluded both of their ears, but a few moments later, Serbia approached the house. With a sad look, he absolved Bosnia of what he was about to do.

You won't understand, but you're going to be free. I promise.

Serbia stared at the house a moment longer, pulling a locket from his pocket. A brown picture greeted him as he opened it, and immediately he felt a wave of emotions wash over him. It was their family. Byzantium, Greece, and Macedon in front, a proud father and his favorite sons, the happiness on Greece's face as he beamed towards the camera was enough to shoot a hole through Serbia's heart. To his right were the twins, Cappadocia and Pontus, Pontus visibly holding tightly onto his brother's neck as Cappadocia pulled on his hair. They deserved better than to die fighting Seljuk and his children. Behind them was Albania, who seemed disinterested. He always was, bastard didn't even come to Byzantium's funeral. Serbia swore to never forgive him, and yet he could barely stop his face from twisting into a crying gurn just from the thought of it.

To Byzantium's right was Wallachia, always stalwart and dutiful, he'd always considered himself separate, Serbia was glad he had become free along with his Romanian brothers. Alongside him were Sicily and Granada, the first two to leave Byzantium, Serbia had never forgiven them either, but distance nullified his opinion. Judea and Africa were off on the wings, they were always ill, Serbia knew that they hadn't long, but cried when they died just the same. In the back were the four of them, Serbia himself, Bosnia, Montenegro and Bulgaria. They were smiling with arms wrapped around each-other. How things changed, Serbia thought grimly, staring once again at his own smile, completely content with his life. They were all happy, except for maybe Albania, and the fury that Serbia felt against those who had torn them apart for their own gain had driven him to drink, to swear off his religion and finally submit to the Ottoman witch. What else was he to do? It was only after he was again free that he noticed the cross, that hung from his father's neck in this very picture. He realized then that religion was all he had left, aside from Montenegro, and now that Greece would rather remain to himself and Bulgaria swear off all things Byzantine, Serbia was the eldest left who still believed in their family. He took back up the cross, swearing to fix this, if it was the last thing he did.

For my family. He whispered, before climbing his way into a window.

He was hiding in a corner as Bosnia finished speaking, pulling a pistol from his belt and holding it up, prepared for that fateful shot. Finally, Bosnia moved out of the way, and Serbia pulled himself around the corner.

"Die, for all those who you hold imprisoned!"

---

...

BANG

...

---

[TalijaKey]

Sarajevo

Once thinking back Austria wondered if that day had to end how it did. If she just didnt plan to go directly from the train to Bosnia personally, things may have turned out differently. If she just accepted the offer of Grede and took some of his policeman as her guard, it may not have happened. But how could she show that Bosnia was hers, under her care, if she surrounded herself with policmen. Maybe if she delayed the visit she would have witnessed the grenade and be aware of the situations. If she just didnt underestimate the determination of those peoples, maybe she could have saved them.

Many things could have been, but they didnt. Instead one man can change the course of history.

Sometimes a single man can impact nations with their actions.

Maybe she couldnt have stopped it.

---

Two ravens landed on a tree in front of Bosnias house letting their cries be heard, as Austria listened to the response the boy was giving her. She frowned. Maybe if she had paid attention to the omen and messengers of death and betrayal. Maybe then... Instead she ignored the birds, having a bit of a disapproving tone as she started to lecture the nation in her care.

In the same time closer to the center of the city the driver of the prince and his wife took a wrong turn. Uniformed about the changes for their safety General Oskar made. The mistake was noticed. The driver hit the brakes.

"Now its not acceptable to miss out work. How are you to grow proper working habits if you dont do the work. " She smiled, trying to be more gentle and have his trust. She let her fingers trail over the table as she moved a bit closer to the young torn looking nation. Dust clung to her fingers from the table. It was another proof of the poor state of the house.

"Even more so, it is not acceptable to fail to search out Hungary or me if you had problems...Even those hard to explain. We would help you solve them."

She didnt like the sound of problems hard to explain. To her ears it sounded more like thoughts you wouldnt approve off. It had to be the ugly nationalism, infesting the boy's mind and ideals. He should be grateful she took him in, trying to please her and work hard to show she isnt wasting her time with him. Instead here he is questioning the day away. If that was truly the case she would have to take more appropriate measures to combat it.

The driver of archduke Franz began to reverse. In doing so the engine stalled and the gears locked. The car stopped once more.

Bosnia moved away from her and to the side, avoiding to meet her eyes. Austra didnt get to even wonder if he was at least feeling guilty about it, as behind the corner Serbia stepped out gun ready and pointed to her.

"Serbia!" She called out. Rage and disbelief were her momentarily reaction as the Slav spoke. How dare he be here.

The shot was fired. The bullet ripped into her chest.

She could feel at the same time a phantom bullet rip into her neck. Cutting her breath and voice out. She staggered back hand attempting to grip the table for support. Her archduke was dying. Yet it wasnt enough... A second phantom shot bored itself thought her abdomen, Austria mind vibrated from the many sensation, she knew his wife Sophie was dying.

Austria was on her knees, vision swimming barely holding up the fight against the darkness, she was leaning on the table leg for the smallest of support. Her hand growing weaker and colder, only moments separated her from slipping fully down to the floor. In those moments she focused all her will against the pain and the lingering touch of death she was experiencing to give Serbia a glare.
In that moment no one would doubt she was a German.
It was the same glare Prussia had when their enemies freeze in spot on the battlefield. The glare that made nation's avoid and fear Germany in these peaceful times. The same glare of power and promise of destruction was focused on Serbia. It was a wordless promise that his existence was counted.

She felt cold, her body in shock, her eyelids closing against her will. One hand curling against the increasingly growing blood spot on her chest. Before 11 o'clock her hand gave up supporting her and Austria body slide down to the floor.

Heart still beating, but getting slower.
Blood freely leaking, spreading on the floor.

---

Outside two ravens fly up and away, being witnesses to what has transpired. The driver smoking in front of the car Austria took to arrive here, looked up towards the house up ahead. It sounded like a shot was fired. An unease started to spread in the man. Slowly he dropped the half smoked cigar. He walked the path up to the house straining his ears to hear what is going on. Probably he was just imaging things.

He knocked on the door, still unlocked since Austria had entered. "Hello?" He called out and walked into the home. Steps slow and shy as if he feared to interrupt something. The human attitude changed when his eyes took in the scene in front of him. With a startled call he dropped by austria's body, turning her over to see the blood puddle she was laying in was indeed her own. The man pressed against the wound. There was no one in the room, and the man in Austrias employment picked her up and carried her to the car, tripping over his own steps as he was doing so.

He didnt hear or saw anything beside the road, not even a third of the way back to the city a police car stopped him. The General Oskar has send them to pick Austria and inform her of the incident that happened. Instead now the police was driving the nation to the hospital. It was the worst day in Oscars job and life.

By the end of the day all nation heard about what transpired in Sarajevo. All hearing how Austria was grievously injured.