AN- This is going to be a one-shot! (Or that is the plan...)

HAPPY CANADA DAY and HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY (because yes, this is my Mattie and Al birthday fic. Which is now late and has absolutely nothing to do with it. Ah well).

For those of you hoping for an Owning Up update, this week has been absolutely, positively horrific in nature and life is kicking my ass. I actually cannot think of one more thing that can go wrong, actually wait. Dentist appointment. God damn it. So, you see I cannot seem to bring myself to write what is supposed to be (basically) a romcom. Sooooooooooooooooo, I just kind of sat down and just wrote this, no backtracking allowed (a trend I am now continuing in the AN) hopefully this is okay instead.

I own nothing but my part of the plot

"... regarding the present issue, global warming, I think we can solve the problem by building a big hero together and have it shield the Earth! Also, I won't take any objections!"

"I agree with America-san."

"There you go again Japan! State your own opinions!"

Japan?

"I oppose. How could anyone go with anything so illogical?"

"I disagree with both America and England!"

America? England? What?

Beep.

"Jeez. You guys are so childish! I'll give you some snacks if you calm down!"

Beep. Beep.

"Hey Russia. Do you have an opinion on this?"

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Be QUIET! This meeting will come to order!"

WAKE UP ALFRED!

"PASTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

GET UP OR TURN YOUR DAMN ALARM OFF ALREADY!...OH FUCK THIS!

And the world dissolved around him as he sailed through the air and then hit the ground.

"We've done it. We've found them."

"I hope you're right"

"We don't have to hope, it's them. I know it."

Sitting at the kitchen table, bleary eyed, was a fine American specimen who went by the name of Alfred. He and his brother lived in the Kemen, Aear and Menel apartment complex (in the Menel section) by the coast in New York.

Once again he had had one of those strange recurring dreams. Everyone from their apartment complex (and a few others he couldn't identify) were in one of them at some point or another and they took place everywhere, sometimes they were in a stuffy board room or on the beach or even in Japan! It was sooo cool!

But on the other hand, he woke up feeling like he hadn't slept and very confused. Which wasn't good considering what he was going to be doing today.

He worked at a local law firm, doing his best to help each of his clients as his goal was to be their hero and today he was needing to go in to finalize his case in a large custody case before appearing in court in the afternoon. Whenever he complained about what he had to do for his pay check (he hated custody cases) his brother just laughed and said that was why he could never chain himself to a desk but needed to be outside and free. Then Alfred would point out that he worked as a fisherman and wasn't exactly free as he was trapped on his medium sized boat for weeks at a time...

That reminded him, that episode of Transformers the other night! When there was an Autobot masquerading as a boat and swooping in at the last second. AWESOME! He wished he had a giant transforming robot; he could use it to protect the planet (like in that Anime that his buddy Kiku from the research department lent him).

Protect the planet...giant hero...GAH he was thinking about his dream again!

It was far too early for him to even begin attempting to process the strangeness that was last night's dream and so to get rid of the annoying, confusing thoughts, he slammed his head down on the counter.

Ah...blissful silence now reigned once more in his head.

Alfred was normally considered to be a very happy, energetic easy going person, however this was not normally, this was morning.

"Maaaaaatie."

And in mornings, Alfred was a whiny, lazy, selfish slob.

In Matthew's humble opinion of course.

"Why you push me out of beddddddddddddddddddd?"

"Because you didn't get up when your alarmmmmmm went offfffffff."

"Ma-aaaaatie"

"Al-lllllllfie"

"The sun isn't even up yet!"

"Yeah, well, you asked me to make sure you were up and moving for 5 because you had to be at your office early. Now shut up and eat your pancakes."

Little known fact, Matthew Williams is also not a morning person.

RIGHT!

Quickly looking at the clock, Alfred felt immediately awake as adrenaline kicked in.

He had 5 minutes before he had to leave.

Can you say shit?

Eating his pancakes without really chewing them, he ran upstairs and began changing while trying to comb his hair and brush his teeth at the same time.

Impossible you say? Clearly you have never met Alfred F. Jones!

Rushing out the door exactly five minutes later, he nearly ran over their Cuban neighbour and then past the Ukrainian from the floor above him as he tore down the stairs and then past...a moving truck?

SWEET! He loved it when someone else moved in; it was nice to meet new people!

He tried to see the newcomer for a few moments, craning his head this way and that...

Then his watch beeped at him and he remembered why he had been in such a hurry in the first place.

Work.

He now had only 2 minutes to get to their offices twenty blocks away.

Eh heh heh. Wasn't this just perfect?

As he ran off, he failed to notice the dark green eyes that followed him.

Later in the day, he began packing up his briefcase absolutely drained.

Why oh why did he agree to take on his co-worker's divorce/custody cases when he specialized as a criminal lawyer? He bemoaned for a minute or two.

He hated these types of suits, he had been in the position of the kids who were dragged all too often in by their parents and then got to hear them scream at each other (or their lawyers if it was a better day). It made him feel sick as no matter the result, there was never any real happy ending for any custody battle that made it all the way up to the courts.

Ugh. At least that was the last one that Francis had agreed to take on before his accident.

Then he mentally reprimanded himself for how happy he sounded in that last thought adding in a nice mental smack-down afterwards. He was doing this for a good cause and was being his French cousin's hero!

The reason behind his working these cases was that Francis had been sent to the hospital after being shot at by a man in a suit and falling down a flight of stairs after someone had pushed him down and out of harm's way.

Besides there was nothing new for him to do so he could always lend a helping hand (especially as this time 'round it wasn't because Francis hadn't drunk to much the night before with his Bad Friend Trio).

He should go visit the bloke anyway to tell how the cases today had all broken down and it wasn't like there was anyone at home waiting for him (Matthew had left the Battery (port) with the tide in the afternoon).

Spinning on his heel, he made his way out of his office and down onto the streets, heading to the hospital.

A half hour later, Alfred found himself surrounded by white walls and the smell of sanitizer and soap.

He shuddered, hating the whole perfection of it all. Everywhere was clean, white and smelling of cleaning products, it was freaking creepy. NOTHING should ever be that white or clean, a bit of dirt is healthy for you! (Or so he thought anyway.)

After talking to the receptionist (name-tag read Michael Popper), he found out which room his co-worker was in and was soon standing in front of the door for room 342.

Knocking, he was startled when he was answered by a very non-French, "Come in."

Curious, he opened the door and there in the uncomfortable hospital chairs, was a man that Alfred had been searching for, the man present in all of his dreams.

He had seen him in armour, as a father figure, a pirate, in a red coat in the rain and as an unbreakable spirit in an English World War 2 uniform.

There in the chair sat a man with sandy brown hair, green eyes and a sweater vest, who, despite Alfred never having seen him before caused him to feel like he had known him all his life, eyebrows and all.

His mouth began to move on its own "Engl...?"

However once his mind caught up, he instantly shut it. What had he been about to say again?

Ah well.

As Alfred attempted to process the odd feeling of jamais vu, déjà connu, the other merely raised an eyebrow, took a sip of his tea and asked the question Al was longing to say himself. "Who are you?"

As Francis was sleeping, he and Arthur (as his name turned out to be) began to chat, somewhat awkwardly at first but by the time visiting hours were over, they were nattering away like old friends (and bickering too but that was beside the point).

Over their conversation they had discussed where they were from, favourite foods, books, movies, anything and everything that came to mind. Turns out it had been Arthur who had pushed Francis down out of the way of the gun fire and had come to apologize for accidentally knocking the other down the stairs. They had never met before as Arthur was new to New York.

At this newly gathered information, Alfred offered his cell number so that he could call him in case the British man ever got lost.

Alfred quickly jotted down what he had wanted to tell his old co-worker and wrote down his well wishes before offering to walk the other home after they were kicked out.

They lived in the same complex.

How great was that?

Though Arthur was actually in the Aear section rather than in the Menel one.

Details.

Basically, his new best friend was now less than five minutes away from him and they could get together at any time to play video games or something and he could have company when Mattie was away! This was wonderful!

The next few weeks exceeded Alfred's expectations. When Alfred wasn't working, he and Arthur would meet up and talk. As time passed they began to go all over New York, looking at all sorts of museums and old buildings as Alfred discovered just how much the other loved history. He could lecture for hours alone on one specific piece as if he had been present at its conception and there was nothing he didn't seem to know about. Normally he would find this boring but how Arthur told American history made his heart soar and made him filled with pride.

He could not seem to spend enough time with the Brit, and his co-workers (specifically a Hungarian Bankruptcy lawyer and a recovered French divorced/custody lawyer) were telling him to just fuck him already and stop telling them about him.

They were just jealous, the lot of them.

Even better, Arthur was the only one who seemed to take his pseudo-insomnia seriously and trusting him, Alfred told him about them all while the other just listened attentively. Even after he told him of just who was in them, the other took him seriously.

So, after they had known each other for but a month (though it felt like a lifetime), Alfred decided to take the plunge and tell him his biggest problem with the dreams.

"You know Arthur, it's the strangest feeling. When I'm dreaming it feels like I'm awake and when I'm awake it feels like a dream."

There was a fair pregnant pause before Arthur just looked at him with a relieved smile.

"Nothing wrong with that. Who knows? That might just be the truth of it."

Progress?

It's him. I knew it was him and it was. He's stirring but I don't know if I can keep this up!

Calm down comrade. Keep watching him. We will make our move soon enough.

Right...do you hear that?

What?

Are you sure this line is clean?

Click

Alfred had felt for all his life that he was straight, but now he was beginning to question that. The Brit had become very special to him, more so then any of the girls he had ever dated, so he had decided to take the other on a very casual date.

That should help him sort out his feelings, platonic or a bit more.

However as he was walking down through the Kemen sections on the way to Artie's room, he failed to notice a hand reach out from a barely opened door and was promptly yanked into the room.

As he got over his surprise and his eyes adjusted to the light, he was fairly shocked to see that his kidnapper (or whatever) was none other than the man he was going to go see.

"A-Arthur? What is?"

"I'm sorry love. There's no time to explain really. Do you trust me?"

"What?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes"

"Then jump!"

Grabbing the other's hand, the English man took a flying leap through the window, pulling Alfred down after him just as the door to the room they were in was broken down.

Soon enough they were in what Alfred believed to be the dingiest and sketchiest area of New York and whenever he tried to get a word out of his jumpy, paranoid companion all he got was a shushing that would put the average librarian to shame.

Shesh, what was his deal?

As soon as they were inside one of the most practically condemned building Alfred had ever seen, his patience finally gave out.

"Arthur!" He hissed

"Shush!" was his answer. Not good enough.

"NO! I have had enough of shushing and the 'be quiet's'. Now tell me Arthur Kirkland. What. Is. Going. On. And do not say nothing. You did not just drag me through a window, across town and into one of the nastiest buildings ever, for nothing and I will not go further until you do." He huffed.

The other then turned and gave him an almost apologetic smile before he said "Do you remember what you said to me that one day in the park? That your dreams are more real than your reality?"

At Alfred's nod, he pressed on "Well, there is more to that then just an idle thought. There is someone up those stairs that can answer any question you have ever had on the topic. Now let me ask you again. Do you trust me?"

"Yes. More than anything, though I sometimes don't know why."

"Good, because I would do anything to protect you. Something I failed at long ago as your big brother but that is something I refuse to ever repeat."

"Wha?"

"I will not lose you again. Now please, there is little time. Come on."

Alfred then decided to swallow his anxieties and trust the man who had turned his world upside down, he followed him up the stairs.

They entered a sparsely decorated room, the wooden floors looking as if they barely supported the two chairs and carpet.

A figure in a long black coat stood up from one and turned to the nervous American, offering him his hand.

"Welcome Alfred, I am Morpheus and I am honoured to meet you"

Morpheus? Was all that ran through his mind in that second. The Morpheus that every criminal agency in the world would like to get their hands on and arrest. What have I gotten myself into?

Instead of voicing that, he instead lightly took the man's hand and shook it, all the while given Arthur the most scathing look he could manage.

"Please, sit. I'm sure you have questions. I can see it. I wish I had time to explain the answers to them, but sadly time is against us. So I will be brief. Have you ever felt like you are not control of your life? That there is something beyond you pulling the strings?"

Alfred interrupted and stood to leave. "If I'm here to hear a religious sermon, please save it. I'm not interested in what you're selling."

Morpheus continued undaunted "You feel it. You have felt it your whole life. You feel it as I do. There is something wrong with this world. You don't know what it is, but you sense it. There is something not quite right that you can't put your finger on. You know of what I'm talking about?"

That feeling?

That feeling plagued his every waking moment particularly after one of those dreams.

Wordlessly he nodded and sat back down.

"We call it the Matrix. Do you want to know what it is?"

Alfred wets his suddenly dry lips and croaks "Yes."

"The Matrix is everywhere. It is everything. You can see it, you can feel it, touch it, taste it, hear it and yet at the same time you cannot. The Matrix is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth."

"W-What truth?"

Morpheus leaned forward "That you are a captive, a slave. Bound into servitude and imprisoned within the confines of your own mind. They keep you subdued and ignorant in order to use you for their own ends. However, it is impossible to describe what the Matrix is; you must see it for yourself."

He brought both hands out in front of him and opened the first, showing a small blue pill nestled in the palm.

"You take the blue pill and all of this goes away. Me, this room, Arthur. Everything. You go back to your normal life.

He then turned the other hand up and a small red pill nestled there. "You take the red pill and I will give you the answers to all of your questions."

He didn't want to be here, he didn't understand what was going on! But this stranger said that if he took the blue one that Arthur would disappear from his life so as much as he wanted to tell him to shove that red pill somewhere unpleasant, his hand reached forward and grabbed the red one and swallowed it

Behind him he heard a sigh and the creaking of wood as it is released from pressure, turning I saw a relieved looking Arthur standing there.

"Well then, follow me."

Alfred followed Morpheus into another room, filled with technology beyond his wildest dreams with three other figures in it. A Caucasian woman with short black hair in tight leather clothing and sunglasses, a somewhat-Asian looking man in black clothing, also wearing sunglasses and then...the third man turned around.

The other unknown man from his dreams. "Good to see you again, Соединенные Штаты Америки," he says, smile all teeth.

Before he can answer Arthur ushers me past and gets him to sit on the chair.

Then he found himself hooked up to basically every machine in the room.

Just what the hell was this anyway?

He never had the chance to ask as the wires slowly seemed to melt against his skin and the liquid began to slowly cover his body and then he seemed to lose his ability to speak.

"Going into replication" Came from the Asian man.

Wasn't someone going to tell him something?

"Do we have the signal yet?"

Anything?

"Yes, I found him."

It was getting farther up his body, crawling up his neck.

"Target locked"

ARTHURRRRRRRRRR HELP!

"He's going into arrest!"

His brother always said he was too damn trusting and that it would be his undoing

"Now Link! Now!"

His voice at last working, he let out a hoarse scream as the wire goop made it's way up his face and then down his throat.

The last thing he saw before he blacked out from the sudden pain was a look of absolute anguish on Arthur's face.

Pink.

It's everywhere.

All shades seem to be covered.

Surrounding him.

Drowning him.

It tastes like acid, burning his throat.

There are wires snaking around him, burrowing into his flesh, seeming almost to consume him.

Where on Earth was he?

He shoved his hand up (or at least what he hoped to be up) as he pulled the tube from his mouth and burst out gasping into a vision that would quite possibly haunt him for however much longer he lived.

There were rows upon rows of pods just like his, each with a shadowed figure in it. He was in one of millions, maybe even billions, far too many to ever count or process. Staring out at the space in front of him he could see columns, larger than any skyscraper, each with more rows of pods jutting of them and below him confirmed more of them same. Beside him he saw a man who looked very like his brother without his hair... Oh dear God.

There was no way this was real.

He tried to pinch himself, slap and punch himself, to jolt himself awake but there was no use. The hellish images in front of him remained the same.

Then a robot (a real robot!) came flying up, however it was not the kind of robot Alfred could always envision being created but was rather something from a horror movie or his worst nightmares. The thing looked almost like a giant spider, wires, claws and tubes all of which looked ready to tear him limb from limb.

Just what had Arthur dragged him into?

The thing lifted him by his neck with one of its long tentacle/arm/claw things and it's red 'eye' seemed to examine him for a moment before a voice droned out.

"Needs reprogramming. Send to the Source"

Reprogramming? He didn't like the sound of that.

However, it appeared he was not to be given a choice in the matter as he was dropped back into the pink goop and every tube connected to his body popped off. Then came a flushing sound as the pod began to quickly drain itself of the nasty pink liquid.

Then he was shooting through a series of pipes, going left then right then left again then dropping down before the pipes again took a turn to the left.

Feeling weaker than he had ever felt before, the American stopped even trying to resist the pull of the liquid and just whimpered as his body bounced off the piping walls.

Arthur help me!

Was his last coherent thought before his head was dinged harshly off the wall at another turn and the world began to spin. He barely registered something large burst through the section farther ahead and then warm hands grabbing him.

"Welcome back Alfred to the real world," was all that he heard before the blackness completely consumed him yet again.

Alfred's body was on fire.

Everything hurt.

Pain.

Pain.

Pain.

Pain.

Vaguely he was aware of voices around him, murmuring and then he felt a cool hand on his forehead.

He knew that hand, he had dreamed of holding it for the month he'd known him.

"A-Arthur?"

His weak voice is gut wrenching, even to him.

There was a sound of surprise and the hand almost left his burning skin before a minute whimper from him caused it to return and the hand's thumb to lightly rub his temple.

"I'm here lad."

Alfred struggles to open his eyes and though the light blinds him, he is still able to zero in on the others face.

He manages to croak out, "Am I dying? It hurts so much"

There was a choking sound and the cool hand is removed only for it to be replaced by a pair of soft, chapped lips.

"No love, far from it. You are about to live again for the first time in a long time. Sleep."

The English gentleman looked down on the other, who was now sleeping again and let out a shaky breath.

When they had managed to intercept the American, after managing to break into the most dangerous place on Earth, escape into the tunnels and lose the Sentinels without losing a single crew member, he hadn't been able to believe it was real.

But it was.

He looked down at the prone figure on the bed feeling both delight and worry. At long last he had managed to find him.

His little brother.

That thought alone brought tears to his eyes; he could at last redeem himself for having failed him long ago.

He had nearly despaired when his search for the others seemed to prove fruitless and the members of Zion's council grew impatient. In fact it was only with the support of the One, of Neo (and of course of Trinity and Morpheus as well) that he had been able to go out on this last mission.

And he had found them.

However, he nearly gave up again when he saw that none of them were ready to let go and be freed. They were still oblivious to what had happened, to what had been taken from them.

He had felt a bit of hope when the Frog (of all people!) seemed to remember him and had helped him escape the Agents sent after him but that spark was lost when he was separated from him and when he found him again in the hospital he was distraught to find his memory wiped.

But then, he came.

The Englishman had long thought the American dead but when he came in and nearly said his name, he nearly cried in joy.

Not that he'd ever admit it to the git mind you.

It was probably only because of man's instinctive hatred of being controlled and lied to that he was even able to begin to perceive that something was wrong with the world.

Which was a miracle in and of itself. Not only was the American incredibly dense when it came to reading the atmosphere but the machines were infinitely more careful when it came to pulling the wool over their eyes. They could not afford them fighting, yet despite their efforts it had still failed.

"England! You're needed on deck."

Yes, his America was always prone to fight for his freedom regardless of whether or not he was truly aware it was in jeopardy.

With him free, they could now really begin to fight back.

Truly smiling for the first time in centuries, he left, closing the door behind him.

When Alfred opened his eyes again he found himself in a fairly small room on what appear to be a Murphy bed. Shifting a little, he realized he was wearing some loose hand woven clothing that definitely weren't his.

How much did I drink last night? This wasn't his room either. Where was he?

Slowly sitting up he rubbed the back of his head, then froze.

There was a plug on the back of his head.

Oh dear God, there was a plug on the back of his head.

Before he could really start panicking, there was a light knock on the door then Arthur came into the room.

Gone was the ever present sweater vest and slacks and in their place was the same thing he was wearing, a home spun cream coloured shirt and dark pants.

As the other walked across and sat down beside him, Alfred was astonished by how short he was. Then he realized how short he was.

And the momentarily delayed panic attack was revived and soon Arthur found himself in one of the American's patented Death Hugs as the other tried to begin to figure just what he had done.

After a moment or two, a small childish voice that Alfred barely recognized as his own said "What it going on Arthur? What is happening to me? Why am I small? What is going on?"

The other sighed and patted him on the back, indicating he wanted to be let go.

"That's a long story. One that I'd rather not get into, as I'm sure you can understand. Or, rather, I'd rather not get into parts of it, even thinking about them now..." The Brit shuddered before he continued.

"To start with, why you shrunk. Before I can explain that I need to tell you this, you are an anthropomorphic manifestation of a nation, now before you scoff..."

Alfred interrupted him, confused. "An anthro-whatsis?"

"An anthropomorphic manifestation:" At the still blank look, he sighed and Alfred could've sworn he muttered something about still being the same git.

"Personification."

Al shook his head again.

"No? Um...embodiment?"

That didn't seem to fit with definition that Alfred was familiar with, best for him to continue.

"Avatar? Representation? Incarnation?"

His neck was starting to get sore.

"Ugh, you really need to expand your vocabulary! Since there seems to be no better way to explain, you are the living, breathing land of the United States of America! Each blade of grass to the rabbits to government to economy! That clear?" Arthur huffed

"Not really." When the other glared, he quickly backtracked, "I mean, that's just ludicrous! How can one person embody something so big? Why would such a person exist anyway?"
"Is it really so hard to believe? You've just woken up to find your world has been a lie and AI robots exist. Is it that much of a step?"

"But that isn't that Matrix-thingy based on messing with the brain's interceptors (he had gone to school) and AI machines are technology. Both grounded in reality. This anthropological whatchamacalit is like saying to me that the tooth fairy is real!"

"You interrupted me, rotter. As to your previous question with why the personifications exist, we don't know. As to how can we, we just do, that was how we have always been."

"Well, if we're the land then why do I have plugs in my body?"

"Because nearly all that make up your remaining populations have those plugs."

"...That's not what I meant! Give me some sort of proof then that this is true! That it is real! I trusted you Arthur, you promised me answers but you're doing a piss-poor job explaining!"

"...Fine." Suddenly the miniature version of Arthur was too close to him, emerald eyes inches away from his wide blue ones. "I will."

Then he kissed him.

And in that moment, Alfred would've believed anything you told him.

Pale, chapped soft lips pressed against his own.

He could not believe this moment that he'd imagined was coming true

He was blissfully and utterly useless, all possible motion torn from him as the other then straddled him and pulled him closer.

It was only when a tentative tongue pushed against his lip that he remembered that he should probably do something and he opened his mouth to let the other in...

And his senses were completely overloaded.

As his lip part he can suddenly taste salt and the sea. He can suddenly feel the crash of the salty ocean against the shore and as he places a hand of the other's shoulder in an attempt to right himself, the instant his hand comes in contact he feels the chill at the top of his mountains and the lonely cry of the howling wind. He feels Arthur's heart beat with the strength of those who those who had settled in what had been viewed as uninhabitable and wild and thrived.

With that simple kiss he could feel everything.

He sat there dazed for a moment or two before he realized the kiss was over.

Wetting dry lips and throat he whispers "What are you?"

"I'm the remnants of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland just as you are the United States of America." He said it so calmly too, something Alfred could not understand as his world had just turned sideways on its axis and it should not be normal to say it like that.

"That is why we are small. Your economy is gone. Government? Gone. Population? Humans- greatly decreased, everything else is nearly non-existent. We reflect that. The war with the machines (which I'm getting to) destroyed much of what we were and if we were simply tied to the fate of the humans and their ideas of the planet, we would not be here having this conversation. It is because there are still things growing on our land, people call themselves ours and living creatures still manage to inhabit our earth. The land is still here, so so are we. Just a bit smaller. Clear?"

"I guess."

"Now, onto the Great War of the Machines..."

After telling the tale of the creation of AI, the wrongs committed on both sides and how eventually the humans and machines had formed a symbiotic relation (though it was unwanted on one side), as soon as the boy had processed that, England had taken him to broadcasting room and took him through the Construct, into a computer program.

Alfred had just been delighted that he was his normal height again for a moment or two before he realized just what they were doing and gave England his expected geeking-out reaction.

When he calmed down enough, Arthur showed him their past, drawing on his memories, irrecoverably convincing Alfred of who he had been and at last explaining all the dreams that he had been having.

Then Arthur (as Alfred preferred to call him still) showed him the world as it had become, giving a visual to the mentally scaring tale he had been told earlier. Images of the fields, of the abuse of the machines by their citizens, the collapse of the economies, the fights and the last defiant moment flashed before them showing the guilt of both sides for the end result.

It was only once all the images faded and they were once again standing in the infinite white space did America actually give voice to the thoughts that had been plaguing him.

"Why did they keep us around? Was it because they the 'possessed' the land or what? Why were we put into the Matrix? Would it not have been easier to kill us or whatever it is you do with us?"

Arthur looked anguished as he slowly answered "We were no longer important to them in that sense. We were connected to the land so through us, the machines could tap into the Earth's energy and that of our people. The other more useful thing to them was that, to be blunt, we were a way to easily keep them down."

"What?"

"We were shortcuts. You could find anyone in the system through us faster than sending an agent after them and they could find someone much faster in the real world as well if they looked through the right mind. That and if we are subdued, then the minds of those connected to us are dulled as well and are much more compliant. We were not just enslaved and turned into a power-plant but we were also unknowingly informants."

As they were brought back to reality, Alfred found himself looking again into tired green eyes as the original English gentleman leaned over the cables and chair that he had just been connected to. His last words to him before they were disconnected ringing in Alfred's ears

"A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality. So we shall not rest until we all stand free and then we shall set about reclaiming what has always been ours!"

Alfred couldn't wait.

Guess which movies I recently re-watched?

So yeah, sorry I could only seem to write the darker stuff -_-' so I should hopefully be updating Owning Up around the 14th

Just to be clear, I also don't own The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions or The Animatrix in addition to not owning Hetalia. Nope, I own nothing but (kinda) the plot.

That last bit is a quote from Winston Churchill with my own few words added on at the end :D

Translations

Kemen – (Elvish Earth)

Aear- (Elvish- Sea)

Menel (Elvish- heavens/sky)

jamais vu, déjà connu (Fr- never seen, already known.)

Соединенные Штаты Америки (Rus- United States of America)

PLEASE REVIEW! IT WILL HELP MY NOW BROKEN FOOT FEEL BETTER!