So, I've had this idea for a while. I also have One Anthropology class, Two Geography classes, One World Politics/International Relations class, and One History class. I have no idea which one it was that gave me this idea, but if I had to guess I would say that it's a toss-up between the World Politics class and the History class.

Either way, I felt like writing something angsty since humor's more of my specialty.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia: Axis Powers or World Series. These wonderful series belong to Hidekaz Himaruya-sensei.

Rating: T for brief use of language. And because apparently it is physically impossible for me to write anything below T…

Maps.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary's Definition:

(a): a representation usually on a flat surface of the whole or a part of an area.

(b): a representation of the celestial sphere or a part of it.

…

Nation-equivalent Definition: …

If you were to ask a nation, any nation in the world, what they thought of maps you would get two answers.

Maps, in general, show a layout of some kind. They show were things are located, and they show a general scale of distance between two or more objects. For many, many years, maps have been helpful to humans for many different reasons. Maps have shown where things are, what belongs to them in terms of land, and, of course, they have shown the way back home. But for nations, maps have always been a double-edge sword.

"England! You came back to visit me!"

"That's right, America. I also brought back some presents, just for you."

"Really? Oh boy, what are they?"

"Well, there's the Philosphiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica…"

"Yay! Drop dead, England!"

…

"What's wrong, America? You look sad."

"This just isn't the kind of present that I want, England."

"Oh? What were you looking forward to?"

"Well… I was wondering if you had brought over the latest maps from Europe."

"Oh, that. It's nice to see that you're getting excited over learning about the current affairs of Europe, but I hesitate to bring you over any more maps. You just glance at them and then never use them again. If this keeps up, I'll have to start taxing you over them, ah ha ha~!"

"Drop dead, England! …But, it's just that…I don't see myself on any of them. When will I be added to the maps, England?"

"Hm? But you are there, America. See? I'm over here, stupid France and stupid Spain are over here—be sure to avoid them whenever you can, there's a good lad—and all the way across the pond here is you!"

"…"

"Is something the matter, America? It's not like you to be this quiet."

"No. I'm fine. Hey, England! Come out to the forest with me, I want to show you this cool rock formation I found recently!"

America wonders whywhywhy it's taking so long for him to be recognized on the maps as 'America' instead of 'The Thirteen British Colonies'. He's so young, and it's taking sososoSO long to appear on the map.

He wonders if he'll ever appear. His greatest dream, now, is to have nothing but maps full of himself. Maybe then, stupid England and the rest of the stupid world will be on his map just as much as America is on theirs.

Maps are a source of comfort for nations. It shows that they exist. They live. They are HERE. Their borders are clearly put in place on the map (at least, they are on the more accurate modern-day maps), and they know exactly where they are.

For some nations, it's easy enough to spot themselves on a world map. Japan and England are island nations, so their borders are clearly defined. Italy is a little trickier, since the Southern Half can be seen clearly as a peninsula, but the Northern Half is somewhere up with the rest of the land mass. America and Canada have this problem, too. Their outline is very visible, since together with Mexico they make up a continent. However, it get's difficult to figure out where one ends and the other begins at a glance. Australia probably has it easiest of all; he's not only an island nation, he's also a continent by himself. No matter where you look, he will always be visible as himself.

England was very proud of himself. Here he was, at the top of his game, with an empire that spread across a third of the globe. France never was able to accomplish that. Hell, England stole at least two of France's colonies away for himself, definitely increasing the size of his empire. The fool didn't know what he had with Canada until he was gone; the boy was easily the second largest country in the world.

And he was now solely England's.

Spain never was able to accomplish this. Oh, he was very proud of his little Spanish Empire, and the fact that for a short while he had almost complete control of a continent. Well, England actually does have control of a continent—Australia. He's a good lad, too. England very rarely actually has any serious problems with him. And then there was Spain's armada. Well, England took care of that. Now Spain is left with very few colonies, if any. Wait…doesn't he still have Cuba? Oh well. England has the Caribbean. There wasn't much that the two empires had in common anymore. One was still here. The other was waning fast.

Though, both by this point had lost their most favorite, precious colonies.

China never was able to accomplish this. Sure, for several centuries, and even now, China had had a firm control over a large portion of Asia. He was sitting very pretty on his thrown for quite some time. After all, he was 4,000 years old. He had to have picked up a few tricks in that amount of time.

But now England had Hong Kong, and several other countries had control over different parts of Asia, including China.

What's more, even the great Roman Empire was never able to accomplish what England has now. And Rome was powerful; definitely one of, if not the best empire in the entire history of the world. And England isn't afraid to admit that. After all, quite a long time ago, he had been a part of that empire himself. But now…now, England has perfected, you could say, what it means to be an empire.

Smirking to himself, the Superpower leans back in his chair. He looks over at the wall, where several painters are making a world map. Things have changed since the Middle Ages. There were definite boundaries now, and more accurate representations of the world. In fact, the world has been discovered. There aren't any hidden places left, or if there are they will be discovered soon enough.

And they will join the wall. They will join up with the rest of the world, plotted down on England's World Map. He sighs in satisfaction as he sees the painters shade in the parts of the world that belong to him. England feels a thrill of excitement at that. Those very places… that large area of shaded in countries and nations, hell, even a whole continent (he knew Australia was a good idea), all of it belongs to England. And he couldn't be happier.

But, he won't just stop there. Oh, no. That was the mistake that Rome made. And England learns from mistakes. He won't just be content with what he has. That would be suicide. The only way to stay alive in this world is to conquer and expand. England doesn't care if he's hated, like how he knows that India hates him. He doesn't care at all about how others see him.

If it means reaffirming his place in the world, of making sure that he stays alive, then England is willing to do anything.

Maps are also a source of sorrow. While they show those that are there, it only emphasizes those that no longer exist.

Lost friends, loves, family, acquaintances, enemies, brothers, sisters, parents, guardians, everyone; they no longer exist in this world. There are too many to name. And what's worse is that eventually, as everyone knows, their names will be forgotten entirely. The only way to avoid this is to make yourself last as long as you can, and to make yourself memorable.

But, in the back their minds, they know that this doesn't always work.

There wasn't much that Italy could say that he hated. There were, of course, things that he didn't like. He didn't like it when people yelled at him, he didn't like fighting, he didn't like scary people or situations, he didn't like it when there wasn't enough pasta, and he didn't like it when people picked on him.

But there was one thing in this world that Italy could say without a doubt that he hated. And that was the constant reminder that the Holy Roman Empire didn't exist anymore. It was painful to think about. He still remembered when France came over to tell him the news. He remembered Austria's pale face and Hungary's silent sobs. He also remembered his brother coming over and awkwardly patting him on the back in an effort to comfort him. Italy remembered thinking that it was silly of Romano to try to comfort him when Prussia could easily be heard in the next room cursing France with his every breath in between the horrific wailing of sorrow he was consumed in. If anyone needed comfort at that time, it was Prussia. But, Italy mused now in hindsight, that's probably what Spain was there for.

Because Prussia definitely didn't want to see France.

But for Italy, it didn't really sink in that Holy Rome was gone until the map makers came. As calm as could be, much too calm for Italy, they re-drew the border lines of the countries. One, an elderly man who was probably reminded of his grandson, even drew Italy closer so he could see where the new countries were. He pointed out all the pretty pictures and talked about which pretty colors would go with which picture, and wouldn't it be oh so lovely to see when it's finished?

Italy felt like a sword was just plunged into his heart. He couldn't be consoled, and he wouldn't come out of his room for several weeks, no matter how much Austria threatened to revoke his pasta-eating privileges.

But, after a month of mourning, Italy came out, just as cheerful as ever. He had mourned long enough. Right now, he had other things to think about. He had to make sure that Hungary knew that he was okay, and that he would do his chores now. Italy had to be a good little colony.

If he didn't, he would get the same fate as his grandfather and his first love.

Of course, if a nation still exists even after they are dissolved, then maps are even harder to bear. It was rare, but situations like that did happen. Poland was a perfect example. He had been dissolved, his lands split up, his people scattered. It seemed for a long time that he would never come back. In fact, France, who he was chilling with at the time, would look at Poland in pity, 'knowing' that he would never be a nation again. Well, Poland showed him wrong. He showed everyone wrong. But, there was a price to pay; in exchange for becoming a nation again, another nation must take his place. When he heard who it was that was going to be dissolved, Poland almost laughed out loud. Instead, he merely smirked victoriously at Germany, and then Prussia, both of whom had threatened his survival more than he liked. It was just deserts, he said.

There was no way that he was going to let West die, Prussia knew. Not after last time; damn, he knew France had it in for him. Twice was enough; but now, Prussia had used his last trump card. He let himself be officially dissolved to save his brother. Did he regret not being a nation? Hell yeah. But did he regret saving his brother in exchange? You must be crazy to think that. The only thing that really worried Prussia now was that he worried that if this happened again, Germany wouldn't be able to be saved again. The first time had been some sort of fluke, a gift from God that Prussia knew he would never be able to repay. The second time had been far scarier, mostly because everyone was really gunning for punishing Germany in some way. That was when Prussia jumped in. It was what big brothers do, after all. He just hoped this didn't happen again; Prussia didn't have a third time in him.

But, now that he was looking at West's world map hanging in his study, Prussia couldn't help but feel hollow.

It was almost as if history was trying to re-write itself to get rid of all traces of what was once the glorious Kingdom of Prussia, formerly the Teutonic Knights. The lands that he used to occupy, if you could call it that, belonged to other people now. When he looked at maps that showed the time when he was still around (don't ever let it be said that Prussia wasn't a vain son-of-a-bitch. Wouldn't you be, if you looked as good as he did?), his name was never mentioned. Instead, it was the Germanic Empire. Not even a mention of Prussia, the most awesome nation in the world. No, instead he was lumped in with his little brother, even before he was Germany. It was still the Germanic Empire.

Was he that unnoticeable? Should he have invaded more regions, taken over more lands? He was already a war-like nation with a deep-seated love of fighting and himself. What more could he have done? He was already disappearing from everyone's memory. Soon, would he join the others who had been dissolved and fully disappear? Would he, too, be a vague memory with even his own brother forgetting his existence? True, that had happened once but it was alright now. Or was it? Was it really?

Is this what happens when one disappears fully from the map?

For some nations, this question about the map haunts them. Nobody wants to disappear forever without being known. And yet, too often this has happened. Everyone knows this. Just like how everyone knows someone, at some point in their lives, who disappeared just like this. And worst of all, you know that no matter how kind or how awful they were to you, you can't remember their name or face. Pretty soon you start to wonder if that nation even existed.

If this keeps up you start to wonder if you, too, will become a memory.

Russia was afraid. He hated that he was able to say that multiple times throughout his life, but when you get invaded frequently by those around you, and bullied, and pushed aside like garbage with your only family striped away from you, then you would be able to say that you were afraid, too. Still, Russia did not like this. After spending so much time alone, with no family around while still getting invaded, he had finally had enough.

So, he started adding people to his House. It was really simple, actually. And the principle was sound, too. If you had so many people in your House, then you would never be lonely. There would always be someone there to care for you, and in return you could care for them. Russia tries his best to show his caring side to the others in his house, but it never seems to work out right. Then again, he had been on his own for a long time, and he wasn't too familiar with what one would do to show others how you care.

"Russia~ Big Sister will give you this nice warm scarf, if in return I get the rights to Kiev~!"

"Big Brother, Big Brother, Big Brother…"

Russia muses that it's not really his fault he turned out the way he did. So, he asks his bosses what he should do, and they all tell him that the best way to make friends is to use force. Russia doesn't really get this, but if his bosses say so then he doesn't really mind.

Another great reason for bringing so many people into his House is that it makes it harder for those that used to bully him to do so again. After all, who (other than that obnoxious America) would even bother to confront Russia now that he's so big and has so many people in his House?

…The fact that when he looks at a world map and sees almost nothing but himself bearing down on the rest of the continent doesn't hurt, either. In fact, it makes Russia giggle, he's so happy. Who would have thought that Russia would ever get this big~? Certainly not those who used to bother him all that long time ago. Also, that Prussia, one of the ones who used to bully Russia so much back then is now forced to live with Russia and away from his brother is like icing on the cake. This would be good for him, too. Maybe his stay with Russia will teach the Prussian some humility, along with what it really means to be separated from your family for so long.

Because if there's one thing Russia knows, it's loneliness. And that's one thing the map shows quite well, with all of its separate borders keeping everyone from each other. But it's Russia's dream, that if he's big enough then all borders will disappear. Everyone will become one with Russia, and everyone will be together. It was the perfect dream.

Until that time, though, Russia would just have to sneakily grow his borders and engage in that staring contest with America, knowing that neither one would back down until their goals were achieved.

There was a darkside to maps, one that every nation knew of in the back of their minds. It was a danger that all tried to avoid. If one focused too much on the map and its influence in the life of a nation, the nation would go crazy. Am I big enough to survive? Do I have enough land to put in between me and others that would hurt me? Am I strong enough to fight against other nations? Am I too weak?

Too much thinking like this leads to insanity.

None of the older nations mention it, but it is generally agreed upon that this is why Rome died.

In the World Conference buildings, in the designated rooms that were set aside for the wild and crazy conferences, there was always one wall that was sectioned off, blocked from any construction. This wall had a World Map designed on it. But this map was different from others. The outlines of the land masses were made out of strips of metal. The landmasses wouldn't be changing their shape, or at least not by much and usually only in freak accidents, so they were outlined permanently in metal. The actual countries on the inside had their own special borders.

These were made of string and pins. The countries borders were always changing, though not as often as they used to. The string showed the outline of the countries but it also showed, in a twisted, potentially psychologically scarring way that most likely wasn't intended, the fragility of these borders. They could always be changed, and very, very easily at that. Nations could gobble up other nations, taking their land for themselves. There could be a civil war and a country would be split in two. If one looked closely, they would still be able to see the faint marks from where Sudan was one country before South Sudan broke free.

As everyone files into the conference room, they inevitably end up looking at the World Map. It gave them both a sense of comfort (I'm still here, I'm still here, I'm still here) but it also reminded them that they weren't necessarily as safe as they had thought (Is that nation looking at me longer than necessary, is he/she going to attack, oh God, they are, aren't they? I have to save myself, I have to make precautions, I have to…).

Either way, the map is always a reminder of what could be.

Maps.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary's Definition:

(a): a representation usually on a flat surface of the whole or a part of an area.

(b): a representation of the celestial sphere or a part of it.

…

Nation-equivalent Definition:

(a): means of maintaining one's existence in the world.

(b): seeing one's life and death flash before your eyes.