Dixie Dilemma

Am I drunk or just hearing things?

It was night out and the pub they were in was nearly empty but for the few employees and stragglers. A small pen of being a country (or representative, however you see fit) is the 'handy' ability of a much higher alcohol tolerance (so as to not potentially ruin the entire countries reputation) and with that came long drinking nights.

Sometimes after a meeting, sometimes for a celebration and even just to drown the sorrows of whatever painful problems was happening currently in your country. As being directly linked to it came with perks and ...disabilities, one could call such a thing, one could feel the heart and scorches from forest fires, the inability to breathe from impure air or cracks from things like tornadoes and earthquakes.

Regardless it also meant that they could last much longer than humans when out having a "good time". The, almost, unnecessary need for necessities such as sleep and food meant boundaries for their bodies were far pliant.

Currently said countries were drinking together after a long emergency meeting that was mandatory to all, in some ways it was a type of 'tradition', to go out for drinks after partaking in world meetings. In others it was simply a way to relieve stress especially if it had been a stressful topic that had been up for discussion.

Some of the other countries had splitten up into other groups towards the middle of the night, leaving a small group at the current bar. It was specifically done of the main countries; America, Canada (surprisingly), UK, France (who was currently attempting to -incredibly drunkingly- flirt with the latter and failing), Spain, Russia, Germany (they managed to keep him with and then long enough for him to get properly drunk and then he sorta just stuck with them), Japan, and a few others.

Canada was in a corner talking to Japan who -thankfully- hadn't drunken as much as the others and wasn't currently dancing on tables or singing horribly, America was standing on the table ,practically making a total fool of himself as usual, as he sang some random song that had begun to play on the speakers and Russia and Germany were -most likely- on the verge of passing out from the genuine mass amount they had ingested of alcohol straight from the bottle, and were dancing around the table talking in some slurred together mix of languages. It was safe to say combined it was quite the scene to witness.

Suddenly the song America has been singing along to finished and another began however as he began to sing it he realized something crucial about his current predicament. He was near the edge of the table and just as he was about to move away one of the other countries slammed their fist against it unbalancing him and causing him to land unceremoniously on the floor with an incredibly dramatic fall to accompany it. Groaning he peeled his face off the floor, pushing back the urge to vomit his entire stomach right there and then in front of him, and attempted to pick himself up off the floor before more countries in the group could see him and begin laughing as well.

It was unsurprising that there was laughter, armrest from those who had noticed his predicament, but there was something wrong about it. Along with the voices of those he knew there was something else, something that his foggy mind couldn't currently decipher, but as he picked himself up and haphazardly dusted himself off to the best of his abilities in his drunken state. He heard it again and this time whipped his head around to find the source, narrowly avoiding whiplash from the speed at which he turned.

However as he glanced around he realized there was no one actively laughing or talking directly at him, even though he could hear the laughter, lower pitched and gravelly, but the thing that caught his attention was the way it seemingly glitched. Not in a video game or TV way but a radio static way, he could recognize it, even in his intoxicated, frazzled state he could still remember the voice that accompanied that horrific witch-like cackle of a laughter that mocked him.

It made him freeze in place for a plentiful amount of time, or perhaps Americas sense of time had simply been dissipated by his drunken state, with it moving as he stared at a specific anal dot on the floor seemed to dance over his vision in a million directions as his broken brain attempted to find a -suitable- way to deal with this sudden unwanted discovery. It was potentially the absolute most horrendous time this situation to happen, not that he ever thought of this situation even though he new it was practically certain to happen.

Some of the others noticed his uncommon behavior and gave him confused looks, but he didn't respond, frozen in shock and fear from the impossibility of the situation.

The cackles slowly died down, instead moving to surround him in an uncomfortable feeling. After a couple moments they stopped completely but just as soon as he thought he was safe a small murmur, a quiet whisper of "Boo~" in his ear, caught him completely set him off completely, a loud Yelp leaving his lips in response. That however turned quite a few heads in confusion at the scene. His eyes were glossed over and he still felt the euphoria of the alcohol running through system but he suddenly felt way too sober for the situation.

He felt bare, stripped of all privacy and on show for others to see -not far from the typical- yet this time it was different. It was from eyes he couldn't hide from no matter what he did, constant judgement waiting for the smallest slip up to unleash the most foul laughter.

It certainly wasn't the first this had happened however he'd been certain he'd managed to get rid of it despite the small part in him that had begged to let the horrid being stay.

———————————-

The morning after was certainly...something, one could say. The headache that over to his day -even being a country- was incredibly painful, the work he should've been doing lay on his desk to the side, discarded with little care, as its owner sat with their head in one of their hands and their feet lying on the table in front. The worst part of drinking was for sure the next morning, painful headaches that beat at your head with a baseball bat and the constantly overwhelming urge to vomit always present. Though that wasn't what had the country in a pained head lock, it was that even despite right after having chugged two bottles of alcohol he could still remember the small voice that had come back after so long being void of it. What stumbled the American was why, why out of all times would he come back?

"...You never fail to annoy me in the most uncanny ways, huh? What do you want this time?" The final words but back on his tongue as he sighed, as much as he wished, there was no way his brother would visit him just to "say hi".

For a few moments there was silence, not unexpected, but painful and strained none the less. It seemed to stretch on for what felt like an intangible amount of time before he finally heard something, a grumbled murmur to his left. There was no doubt who it was but if he could, he was going to prolong the inevitable for as long as possible.

"I-I-I k-know y-you-u can h-hear me-e." He was correct but America wasn't ready to face his once loved brother . Eventually he gave up, swinging his head back to discard his glasses with the rest of his body as his eyes got adjusted to the bright life of his office.

"Hello brother. "