A young boy lay motionless on the beaches of his state, wounded and exhausted. This was the day he would rather forget, and for good reason.

A war had broken out between his mother, uncle, and father, the one that would become known as the War of 1812, and this boy of seemingly one year of age was in the middle of it, his mother being unable to help him because she was in pain herself, and the boy's father and uncle were keeping her busy.

He knew this wasn't her fault. None of it was.

However, when he saw his mother screaming in pain from her hospital bed, all while her brother and former caretaker watched D.C. burn with smiles on their faces, he had never felt more convinced of the existence of demons and Hell. It was that day, August 24th, 1814, that Bernard Jones/Kirkland, or the state of Maine, would understand why his dear mama would want to keep up her facade.

~~~

America also never forgot that day (what country does?), the day that scarred her, D.C., and poor Bernard, the latter whom now has horrific scars all over his upper torso. As a result of the war, D.C. always has to wake up extra early to apply makeup over the burn marks near his heart, and America possessed the same scar, right in the same location.

It only fueled her fear of being discovered and being unable to protect her children. It meant she now couldn't trust her own brothers, but what else was she supposed to do? She didn't grow up with her brothers most of the time, and for all she knows, they might try to inflict more harm upon her if they found out she was a woman, or try to take away the children they also had with her.

Bernard was born in 1799, just before the War of 1812 hit and, sadly, had to experience war at an early age. It shaped him into the protective son and brother he is today.

He wasn't tall or muscular as Texas, but he was close, and instead of wearing a cowboy attire, Bernard wore the attire of a mountain man. He also possessed dark blonde semi-long hair, dark blue eyes instead of Rex's dark brown eyes, and even the beginnings of a mustache and beard. While he shaved regularly, that doesn't stop the facial hair from coming back.

Now back to him being protective, Bernard was a very distrustful fellow, especially of the other nations, his father included, after the War of 1812. While he seemed to harbor some love for England, that didn't mean he trusted him. He was also known to become paranoid if something happened to his family and even become psychotic out of protection.

God Bernard was terrifying. While America was able to stay calm and unafraid of her son, she would be lying if she said that her son didn't take things way too far most of the time. 

It really made America pity anyone who would find themselves on Bernard's victimizing list. The boy had also inherited his mother's monstrous strength, so he can lift an airplane without breaking a sweat with one hand to beat someone to a bloody pulp.

Of course, Bernard has never actually performed that deed, but America knew the idea was too tempting for the boy to resist at times.

"Bernard! That's enough now," America called once when Bernard was about to pound some idiots into the ground for insulting his mother.

Bernard turned his psychotic glance to America. "But I want to tear their lips out!"

"I know you do, but why don't I do that while you continue to do your chores?" America suggested, a dark smile of her own on her lips. "Didn't you say you wanted to get the wood in before it starts snowing?"

Realization dawned on Bernard's face. "Oh right! Thanks Mama!" Then he left America alone with the idiots he wanted to mutilate. America just grinned her own insane grin, which was enough to scare away those people to the point of no return.

However, Bernard did have his good qualities. For one, he was very shy and enjoyed the beauty of nature, just like his uncle Canada, and was the ideal big brother for his younger siblings, but that doesn't mean he's afraid of using his darker qualities in order to get them to behave. America heard a few of her children calling Bernard "Mama's clone", because he often acted like their mother when it comes to them.

Well, as long as it didn't harm anything (for a long while of course), America had no problem with it.