England stood at the front door of America's (massive) colonial house in Virginia. The idiot hadn't showed up to the meeting and England (along with Germany, France, China, Russia and Spain) had come to fetch America before going to look for the Italy twins and (surprisingly) Japan, who had also skipped the meeting.
"Having doubts, Angleterre?" France asked silkily. "What? No, you damn Frog!" England snapped, rapping sharply on the door with his knuckles. They waited, and waited…and waited for someone to answer the door. Finally, China growled, "Aiyaa~ he's being so immature, aru! We can tell he's at home; his car is in the driveway, aru! He must not want to own up to his responsibilities, aru!" China marched up to the door and knocked sharply at the door before trying the doorknob. Surprisingly, the door was unlocked. "Well, let's go in since Америка so kindly left the door unlocked, da?" Russia asked, smilingly creepily.
"R-right," England muttered, stepping in after China. Once they were all inside, they realized that it was perfectly silent, almost eerily so. "America? We know you're here, you git!" England called, looking around the well lit room. After a moment of looking around, England saw a panel on the wall, covered with buttons, each colored coded with specific instructions. "What are these?" he wondered, approaching it.
He quickly checked all of the instructions that hung off to the side. One in particular caught his eye. It was color coded to a blue button. "Press this button if there is no one in the front of the house; it will send an alarm to the back of the house so that anyone in the front of the house can either be kicked out or assisted, depending upon my mood.' So let's see, this one here, I think," England muttered, pressing the only blue button on the panel.
There was a pause, before England sighed. "It figures that idiot would have a non-functioning panel of buttons," he sighed. However, he was proved wrong after a few minutes when there was the distinctive sound of feet on the floor above. America came down the stairs quickly, hair messy and cheeks flushed. "Hey! Sorry I didn't get the door; I was in the back of the house!" he exclaimed, pushing his glasses up his nose.
"America, you git, why weren't you at the meeting today?!" England snapped, as the others turned their attention to the panting American. "What? That was today? Sorry you guys! I had stuff planned for today, so I must have forgotten all about it!" America laughed it off easily. England's face hardened. "Even so, you should have gotten our calls and texts, you fool!" he snapped, his face reddening slowly. China snorted. "Like he would have answered anyway, aru! He just wanted to get out of work, aru!"
"Da, that does seem normal for him, seeing as he's such a lazy ass," Russia agreed, smiling still. "Oui, you should have answered, Amérique," France chipped in, smirking. Germany and Spain remained mostly silent, but their expressions told America all he needed to know. "So, why else are you guys here?" he asked, his normally broad smile tightening a bit. "To get you and begin looking for the Italy twins and Japan! All four of you skipped the meeting today!" England snapped again. America blinked at him before rolling his eyes. "I already told you, Iggy—"
"Don't call me that! And besides, you already said you forgot! Bloody hell, you're such an idiot! The email informing the Nations of the time and place went out two days ago! Why didn't you remember? You would have if you'd checked your email once in a while you fat-ass!" just as England was about to launch into a fierce lecturing tirade, a cheerful voice from upstairs cut in.
"Ve~ quello che sta succedendo, amante? Chi è?"
It was Italy's (North Italy's) voice. "Non è niente, l'amore. Proprio in Inghilterra, Germania, Francia, Spagna, Cina e Russia." America called back, pushing his glasses up once again. For the first time, the visiting Nations realized how disheveled looking America was. His hair was coated in white powder and he wasn't wearing his bomber jacket or anything they normally saw him in; instead, he was wearing a pair of loose jeans with a pale gray t-shirt, both dusted with the white powder.
Italy appeared at the top of the stairs and bounced down, moving quickly over to America. "Ve~ Cosa vogliono, amante? Sono essi essere maleducato?" he asked, wrapping his arms around America. "No, solo le solite stessi, l'amore. Ci vogliono in occasione della riunione, a quanto pare, che a oggi." America replied smiling happily at the grinning Italian. Italy laughed, kissing America's cheek. "Ve ~ bene, tutti sono nel retro attesa! Se hai fretta, Amante, si può arrivare a godere realmente noi stessi ancora di più! Ricordate, questo dovrebbe essere un giorno per noi per rilassarsi e godere di noi stessi."
Italy smiled at America before heading back to the stairs; however, before he could, Germany spoke up, glaring. "Italien! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the meeting!" Italy turned back to the glaring German. While he still considered Germany a friend, he no longer felt quite as close to him as he had during World War II due to the fact that not only did their relations fall apart after that war, but Germany was just as guilty of verbally harassing America as the rest. Doing (almost) nothing didn't mean you weren't partly at fault; in fact it was almost as bad.
"Ve~ well, I'm here because we're enjoying ourselves! A vacation!" he chirped. Spain looked curiously at Italy. "Does that mean that my little tomate is here too?" he asked, his usual smile creeping over his face. "Ve~ Sì! Fratello's here too! And so are Kiku and Gilbert! Not to mention Toris, Natalia, and Matthew!" Italy answered, smiling brightly at the Spaniard. America rolled his eyes when he noted that except for Russia (who recognized three of the names), Germany (who recognized Prussia's human name), and France (who had come here looking for Matthew), none of them had any idea who they were talking about except that Romano was there too.
Spain brightened. "Can I go see him? I think I'd need one of you guys to help me though…" he asked, trailing off when he realized that the house was rather big. "Ve~ I'll take you back there, Big Brother Spain! Come on," Italy volunteered before pausing and looking at America. "Ve~ Amante, non prendere troppo tempo, ok? E giocare bello!" he stated happily and led Spain up the stairs. France smirked. "I hope you don't mind me coming along, little Italy. I came to find mon petit Mathieu." He added, following. "Ve~ that's fine!" Italy replied, and the trio headed off to the back of the house.
"Well? Aren't you going to show us why you didn't come to the meeting today?" England asked sharply, green eyes hard. America raised an eyebrow before removing his glasses and rubbing at his eyes. He could now remember how England had gone blind, how all of them had been so close… after that night several months ago, he had slowly regained his memories of that place alongside Matthew before he had finally confronted his love about it; after that had been resolved (with quite a few tears on Italy's side and some on America's), the rest of their group (Gilbert, Kiku, Natalia, and Toris) had slowly begun to remember their parts in it as well.
Romano, being Italy's older twin brother, had explained that he had remembered because Italy still remembered, much like how Alfred (America) and Matthew had slowly remembered together. Seeing all of them, the ones who had been inside that place, fighting that thing, together like this made Alfred's heart ache for the easy, understanding camaraderie that they had shared inside that place. It had been nice to be able to look around the former Axis and the former Allies and think 'these are my friends, my companions' and be able to know that he could trust them with his life. Now that they had forgotten, it was like that place had never happened, and it hurt to know that so much progress had been lost.
"America? You git, answer me!" England's voice broke through America's reverie. "Huh? Oh sorry, just got lost in thought," America waved it off, but he could barely conceal a flinch at what China said next. "Must be unfamiliar territory for you to get lost so easily, aru," the Oriental nation commented, sniffing in a holier-than-thou fashion. America's smile became fixed as the rest of the nations present (barring Germany, the guy just didn't seem to like smiling) began to laugh at China's comment.
But he wouldn't show them that it hurt, that their comments hurt. Because that was a weakness, and they would attack a weakness, especially China and Russia; just because they were in a time of peace didn't mean that he got a rest. Instead, more pressure was placed upon him as the world began to blame him, as the world superpower, for their problems. America smiled woodenly, trying to keep up what they saw as the 'normal' him.
England huffed. "Since the meeting obviously won't be going anywhere today, let's just continue it tomorrow. We've already wasted enough time getting here and getting your attention, you git," he grumbled, turning to leave. China sighed. "Aiyaa~ you're being so immature, aru." He muttered as he joined England outside. "I have better things to do today than worry about a lazy-ass American, da," Russia stated as he, too, left; he was more than glad to leave his younger sister here—he didn't want his sister to chase after him again, chanting marry me, marry me, marry me.
Germany was the last to leave, his blue eyes focused on America. He seemed to assess him, eyes unreadable. Then, he sighed. "I'm sorry, America," he said quietly. America blinked. "Huh?"
"My behavior has been deplorable concerning you. I've just…" Germany trailed off. "Been worrying about Italy?" America guessed. Germany nodded, meeting America's eyes. "And…a little jealous, I think. Before, Italy would always run to me for help, and now…"
"He runs to me." America's voice was quiet, just like Germany's. "Ja. And then I worried about what you might do, because he's rather naïve, and who knows what might happen to him if he's so close to the world superpower! But, when I saw how he looked at you earlier, I realized something, America. He cares for you very much; I haven't seen him so happy since World War II, when he, Japan, and I were usually together. And if it makes him happy…" Germany looked away, blue eyes unreadable still. "I'm willing to let him do what makes him happy. And if you make him happy, then that's his decision. But, if you hurt him…" this time, Germany trailed off with a faintly threatening expression.
"Yeah, I know. I've already gotten the 'if you hurt him I'll kill you' speech from Romano. I wouldn't be surprised if I got it from Spain too, today. Feli seemed pretty set on getting them to realize just how much it would mean to him if they were a little nicer." America replied, running a hand through his hair. Germany quirked a small smile before turning to leave. "Oh, and Germany?"
Germany turned back, looking at America.
"Feel free to stop by anytime you're in the area, okay?" America smiled at him, blue eyes shining brightly. Germany nodded. "Of course. Danke, Amerika." America waved it off, grinning now. "It's no problem. Besides, it would make Feli happy."
Germany nodded, turning away and leaving. As he got inside his car, he allowed himself a tiny smile. While his long-time crush had gotten away, he realized that Italy was far happier with America than he had seen the cheerful Italian in a long time. Maybe he would take America up on his offer some time…
Meanwhile, inside the house, America was cowering slightly as Spain nearly towered over him, his green eyes serious as he delivered the 'you hurt him I'll kill you in the most painful way possible' speech. While this was done, the rest of those present (Feliciano, France, Lovino, Natalia, Toris, Gilbert, Matthew, and Kiku) all smiled and laughed at the scene. Feliciano smiled happily as he watched, glad that their little group had expanded once again. Hopefully, the rest of the former Axis and the former Allies would eventually be converted and become part of the happy group; but for now, he was happy to know that much of his family (both by blood and extended family) was together once again.
Who knew? Maybe they could one day be able to rely on one another, trusting each other just as they had in that place. But for now, with the other nations' stubborn behavior…Feliciano sighed. As France (Matthew, and Alfred) so often said:
C'est la vie.
/End.\
Yes, since this is the sequel to Remnants of the Mansion, there are references to HetaOni in here. Don't expect it to become a really major element in these one-shots. I've just become a little obsessed with the game, and Remnants of the Mansion does feature HetaOni, I felt the need to include references to let people know that, yes, Alfred does now remember, as does the rest of their surrogate family excluding the newest characters to be added in (France, Spain, and Germany). I don't know if I'll have all of the main characters remember the Mansion, but Prussia, Japan, Belarus, Italy, Romano, Canada, and Lithuania all remember as does America. Oh, and a quick shout-out to 91RedRoses:
Thank you! I never expected a fellow ItalyxAmerica shipper to follow me! Kyaa! You are incredibly awesome! In fact, you can go ahead and suggest a topic for the next one-shot, if you want(nothing M-rated though, I don't write M-rated stuff whatsoever for the moment)! Sorry I couldn't PM you, but unfortunately one of the conditions for me to get an account on Fanfiction (as stated by my Mom) is that I can't have PM turned on. I might be able to get her to change her opinion on that by 2014, 2015, but it definitely won't be happening very soon. She doesn't want me to come into contact with potentially suspicious characters (which I kind of doubt, but okay), so I can't PM anybody until I can convince her to let me use PM. Sorry! Anyway, thank you so much!
P.S. I really like a lot of your stories!
Translations:
"Ve~ quello che sta succedendo, amante? Chi è?"—"Ve~ what's going on, lover? Who is it?"—Feliciano, speaking Italian.
"Non è niente, l'amore. Proprio in Inghilterra, Germania, Francia, Spagna, Cina e Russia."—"It's nothing, love. Just England, Germany, France, Spain, China and Russia."—Alfred (America), speaking Italian.
"Ve~ Cosa vogliono, amante? Sono essi essere maleducato?"—"Ve~ What do they want, lover? Are they being rude?"—Feliciano (Italy), speaking Italian.
"No, solo le solite stessi, l'amore. Ci vogliono in occasione della riunione, a quanto pare, che a oggi."—"No, just their usual selves, love. They want us at the meeting; apparently that was today."—Alfred (America) speaking Italian.
"Ve~ bene, tutti sono nel retro attesa! Se hai fretta, Amante, si può arrivare a godere realmente noi stessi ancora di più! Ricordate, questo dovrebbe essere un giorno per noi per rilassarsi e godere di noi stessi."—"Ve~ well, everyone's in the back waiting! If you hurry, lover, we can actually get to enjoying ourselves even more! Remember, this is supposed to be a day for us to relax and enjoy ourselves,"—Feliciano (Italy), speaking Italian.
"Ve ~ Amante, non prendere troppo tempo, ok? E giocare bello!"—"Ve~ Lover, don't take too long, okay? And play nice!"—Feliciano (Italy), speaking Italian.
"Mon petit Mathieu."—"My little Mathieu."—France, speaking French.
"Danke, Amerika."—"Thank you, America."—Germany, speaking German.
C'est la vie—essentially meaning 'oh well' or something along those lines; French.
Ja, Da, Oui, and Sì—All mean 'yes'; from left to right, German, Russian, French, and Italian.
Amèrique—America; French.
Angleterre—England; French.
Америка—America; written in Cyrillic, Russian.
Italien—Italy; German.
Tomate—Tomato; Spanish.
Fratello—Brother; Italian.
All translations (except for the really simple stuff) are off of Google Translate. I apologize if something's wrong, and if something is wrong, let me know and I'll try to fix it!
Ja ne, Minna-san!
~Happy Camper27