Rated T for language :P
St. Mattie's Orphanage for all Children was a crowded place where a child was hiding in almost every corner. Two children in particular that day were doing their best to hide from Mrs. Anderson an old lady in her 60's with greying hair that had probably been blond at some point. She had a long, narrow face and piercing whitish silver eyes. All the children were afraid of her because if anybody was caught misbehaving she'd beat them with a long wooden pole until their backs were shining red. These two children had just committed such a horrible crime that they'd be getting hit for the rest of the summer afternoon and the heat wouldn't make their aching backs any worse. These were 13 year old London a thin girl with stringy blond hair, slightly bushy eyebrows and beautiful jade eyes and her best friend, 12 year old Sam Dennis Clark also known as Sam D.C. (As London and D.C. sounded like an extremely fun duo), he wasn't as skinny as most of the kids at the orphanage but only because he was a thief and stole seconds in the school cafeteria something that Mrs. Anderson would have seen as murder. He had darker blond hair than London and sky blue eyes. They both hid under a section of loose floorboards in their bedroom whispering nervously.
"What if she catches us?" London wonders sadly
"You'll get in less trouble" D.C. replies with a sigh "You've got that 'good girl' English accent that Mrs. Anderson loves so much and other than that you're a girl we all know she beats boys harder"
London flinches as if the pole was connecting with her back already "I'll take full blame for this 'heinous crime'"
By now you must be wondering what hideous crime had gotten to two so frightened, it wasn't that horrible at all actually it was kind of sweet. Their frenemy (as she was sometimes a bit of a "whorey bitch" excuse me for the language but that was how London and D.C. saw her) Paris had been sick, she was coughing all day and night and not only was she driving the pair insane by keeping them up all night with her loud coughing fits but they did worry about their friend. So of course they did a friendly thing and stole her some extra fruit to get her health up. Not much, just a few extra slices of tangerine but as you can probably tell already Mrs. Anderson was anything but a rational woman and saw this as a bank robbery. London assumed that maybe they'd get off a bit easier because they stole it for Paris but they she couldn't be certain. Paris was beautiful for a skinny 14 year old no denying it long flowing blond hair, blue eyes, perfect skin, if she wasn't so skinny she'd be a perfect child and Mrs. Anderson practically loved Paris for it. Maybe...She's understand just a bit.
There was a few slow taps on the boards. London and D.C. both stiffen, D.C. whimpers a bit looking on the verge of tears.
"Don't be scared wanker" London says as loud as she dares (which was in fact so quiet D.C. didn't understand a word but "wanker")
"It's just me" Paris's soft french accent flowed through the floorboards and London had never been so glad to hear it
"Has Mrs. Anderson stopped looking for us yet?" London asks softly
"No ma ami" Paris says softly "I will prendre le blâme"
London thought French was an extremely annoying language but what she had picked up from Paris in the last few years was enough to confirm to her Paris wanted to take the blame.
"No" London says
"N-No!" D.C. squeals "But then we'd get out of trouble and she always goes easy on Paris"
"He is right" Paris shrugs her shoulders looking down a bit
"She'll give up looking for us soon" London replies 'And remember people may adopt us before she has a chance to hit us"
Not likely. Nobody had been adopted since the great luck of two brothers named Berlin and Königsberg who like most of the children here were oddly named after capitals of places (though Königsberg was usually just referred to as Kong as it fit with his named and he loved to play Donkey Kong games at the arcade when they rarely had enough money to go). They'd left over 5 years ago, London suspected they sent letters but Mrs. Anderson never bothered to give them to anybody.
"Hurry up damn it! Mrs. Anderson is doing rollcall!" a grumpy italian kid named Rome says as he bursts up the stairs
His twin brother Venice wasn't far behind "Fratello!"
"What?" Rome sighs
"I forgot" Venice looks dreamily up into the air
Rome says "Now hurry up or we're all fucked!"
An overly happy girl that was good friends with Paris (And Kong when he was still around) burst up the stairs, her name was Madrid, she was Spanish, everyone was pretty sure she was in love with Rome (God knows why)
"Rome" she says grinning and pinching his cheek like an old grandmother would (Causing Rome to mutter "Leave me the hell alone!") "We gotta hurry remember D.C. and London are in hiding"
"Oh yeah~" Venice grins "That's what I was supposed to tell you!"
Paris glares at the trio "Shush or they'll get caught"
"Missing roll call will make it worse" D.C. complains
"A-Agreed" London replies getting prepared for her back to glow bright red
Paris gulps "Sorry guys" she coughs "I'm sorry mes amis"
Downstairs Mrs. Anderson gave London and D.C. a sickly sweet smile. London noticed Rome grabbing Venice and Madrid's hands and squeezing them tight as if he was afraid to lose his friends. Paris flinches as Mrs. Anderson begins talking "Bad children need to be punished"
With that London and D.C. and yanked hard into another room. London feels tears welling up in her eyes as D.C. begins to scream as the wooden stick comes in contact with his back.
A few blocks away a big argument is about to break out in a crowded coffee shop. There are only 4 men in attendance at the table, however, 2 tables are needed as one man has ordered enough sweets to feed an entire village.
"America you eat like a pig" an Englishman comments
The America looks up frosting covering his bottom lip "Huh?"
A frenchman laughs and watches and the Brit and the American begin arguing about things that wouldn't matter to normal people. A Spaniard just sat and watched the whole scene unfold confused as to why his friend had brought him here but still amused by the argument between the two people the were obviously in love.
These were the 4 Nations of America, England, France and Spain if you hadn't figured it out and because of this innocent visit to a coffee shop on the way to a world meeting their lives are about to change forever. It all happened because of a spoon, a piece of chocolate cake and an extremely colorful butterfly. As confusing as it may sound it happened quite like this:
America suddenly gagged feeling a deep splitting pain between his eyes.
"A-America?" England asks displaying a slightly unusual display of concern
That's about the time they all realize the sudden headache caused America to choke on the cake he was eating.
In all the chaos a spoon hit Spain over the head who began wildly looking around for whoever dared through a spoon at him (mostly because he was just looking for excitement other than America's life threatening cake issue). That's when Spain saw it. A red butterfly. It wasn't any sort of red though it was blood red. And it was HUGE.
"Look at that" Spain says suddenly just as America spits up bits of chocolate cake
"A butterfly?" France asks failing to see what was so important about it
Spain feeling slightly like an idiot jumped up "I'm going to catch it-" he quickly leaves out that fact he was about to say "Because wouldn't Romano look soooo cute with a butterfly like that on his nose?"
The other 3 nations run after their suddenly butterfly obsessed friend and they barely notice that they're beginning to walk into a slightly darker part of the city.
London flinched as she noticed Mrs. Anderson turning away from the sobbing D.C., it was clear she was angry as D.C. had this whole "hero vibe" about him where he hated to admit he needed help or was in pain, etc.
"S-Sorry" London manages weakly
That the last thing she says before burning pain sears her back.
My god that's a whip London realizes barely moving How did I not notice that before?
The last thing she sees before she blacks out completely (from pain or fear she never figured out) is a blood red butterfly flying through the window and landing on her nose.