Ugh, my creative ADD is acting up again. Why can't I focus on just one project?

Oop, well, in chapter 7 of "What a Way to Fall", I wrote in the Author's Notes that I was going to make a "side story" thing, consisting mainly of scenes that I couldn't include in the main story for reasons including time constraints, pacing issues, and just not really knowing how to fit them into the narrative. And a couple other scenes that I wrote out purely for self-indulgent purposes (like this one).

This scene here takes place right after Chapter 6 from the main story, "Sorry Isn't Good Enough."

Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan made story. Hetalia is owned by Studio DEEN, Funimation and Hidekaz Himaruya. Please support the official release.

Any original characters are mine though.

Side Story 1: Never Make a Mother Mad

"You never learn, do you?"

Arthur turned around to face the speaker, almost vomiting at what he saw. Standing in front of him was a woman with deep brown skin, long flowing black hair, and a toned athletic physique. She would have been attractive if not for the fact that her eye sockets were empty and infested with maggots, and the rest of her looked almost like a zombie. Despite her eyes being gone, Arthur could still see the rage on her features.

He knew her too. A nation of old times, who lived long before the modern era, and died due to circumstances far beyond her control.

"My God, Korrina?" Arthur asked in shock.

Korrina, otherwise known retroactively as Native America, was the first embodiment of most of the North American continent. She had been suspicious of Arthur, Francis and the Scandinavians when they first arrived at her shores, though that didn't stop her from having Alfred and Matthew later on. No one, even Korrina herself, was sure who the boys' father was. It didn't matter to her that her boys had fair skin, yellow hair, and blue eyes however; she loved them no matter what, and tried to protect them for as long as she could.

Eventually she died from a combination of several different diseases that were carried over from the Europeans. The people that she embodied had no immunities to the pox, the consumption, the fevers. Much to her sadness and pain, she was no longer able to look after Alfred and Matthew, and was forced to place them into the care of Arthur and Francis. The day after she had to give her sons away, she died. Her body disappeared and Korrina became nothing but a whisper in the winds.

But now, she was a hurricane and a tornado combined into a destructive force of nature, and nothing was going to stop her from achieving her goal.

"Yes, Arthur. Long time no see. But I'm not here to catch up. I'll get straight to the point: I know what you did to my sons, and I must say I'm very disappointed with you," she snapped.

Arthur knew she would be. After all, she only gave him and Francis the boys when she knew she would die soon, and it hardly shocked him she would be wanting to avenge her son. He was still utterly frightened though. Her appearance alone was enough. He tried to run away from her, but Korrina materialized in front of him, stopping Arthur in his tracks. Even though her eyes were missing, he could still feel her vicious glare tearing into him.

Korrina continued, "You see Arthur, as angry as I was for what you and your men did to my people, I was willing to forgive you. After all, you did keep your word. You raised my sons with the love and compassion I was no longer able provide them and taught them to be strong and prosperous countries. And you didn't know that you had wiped my people out with your diseases. It was a different time, and I was willing to let bygones be bygones and move on."

The look on her face then grew angrier as she viciously said, "But then you had to go back on your word. What you did to Alfred was cruel, barbaric, and had no good intentions. My son made a mistake, but did he do it on purpose? Did he really wish for your stocks to fall so low? What kind of solution is that, to kick a man when he's already down? Would it have really solved anything? And then you dragged poor Matthew into the mess, destroying his own trust in you. And then there's poor little Kenna..."

Arthur tried to deter her somehow. "I know what I did was wrong, Korrina! Please believe me, I didn't know it would end this way!"

"NO!"

Korrina's shout was massive. Arthur could feel the echo reverberating in his bones, and his eardrums felt like they had just burst. She sounded like a legion of demons speaking in unison.

"YOU KNEW EXACTLY WHAT YOU WERE DOING. A REAL MAN DOES NOT TURN HIS BACK ON THOSE HE CARES FOR. A REAL MAN DOES NOT GO BACK ON HIS PROMISES. ALL YOU HAVE SHOWN ME IS THAT YOU HAVE NOT LEARNED A THING OVER THESE CENTURIES, AND YOU CALLED ME A SAVAGE?! YOU, ARTHUR KIRKLAND, ARE NO MAN, BUT A MERE WORM!"

Suddenly a bow and a flaming arrow materialized in her hands, and before Arthur could escape, she shot. The single arrow somehow turned into several arrows, and they struck Arthur. Two for each of his hands, another two for his legs, and one in his torso. He was pinned to the floor, and despite his pain, he was still alive. The flames burned at his body, scorching his skin off.

Arthur didn't even bother trying to struggle away; he knew it was futile. The agony was unbearable, and Arthur had no sense of time in this world. It felt like he was trapped here for years.

Suddenly, a large and very ugly brown cockroach appeared and started crawling all over Arthur's body, the eerie tickling sensation of its legs walking all over him unsettling him.

"Auugghhh, get it off me! Arthur cried out, trying to struggle again. He hated bugs more than anything.

But Korrina was not merciful. She floated next to Arthur and whispered in his ear, "Is it torturing you Arthur? Does it feel like an invasion of your personal space?"

Suddenly, more cockroaches appeared and began scurrying all over Arthur, who screamed in horror, "PLEASE, GET THEM OFF ME! PLEASE! HAVE MERCY!"

Korrina only scowled and said, "They show no mercy, because you showed no mercy. Who is the true savage here, Arthur?"

Arthur awoke, startled and utterly shaken. He panted heavily, tuning the light on. He checked himself. He had not a scratch on him.

"It's just a dream, it's not real," Arthur kept telling himself, as he stumbled to the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. Just for safety, he also mixed in some special sleeping powder into his tea. A little magic should be enough to keep those nightmares away. Once he was done drinking it, he hesitantly returned to bed. He felt sound enough once he fell back asleep.

"Liar. Murderer. Rapist. SAVAGE."

She returned when it was too late for him to wake up from this one.

Admittedly, this one came about after I came to feel like Arthur's "Kenna gets revenge" nightmare was way too simplistic and not quite punishing enough. This is solely my personal catharsis factor (since Arthur did cross the Moral Event Horizon in a biiiig way around the last pages of the comic). So who better than Mama Native America to get some long overdue payback on Artie?

And this is just the first of many nightmares Arthur will be going through. Some of them are genuine ghosts, others are just his guilt getting to him. I'm so sadistic.

Quick note: "consumption" was the old name of tuberculosis.