"Okay, first thing to address is that things between The Soviet Union and myself are no longer tense!" Alfred announced. He was smiling and buffed out his chest proudly, like the hero he always calls himself.

But who am I to disagree? He saved a huge percent of my population by giving them work in his factories, and my population there became so happy; happiness was something that I alone was never able to offer. I had so much fun and light memories at his house, even though I was just a maid.

He motioned for me and the rest of the former-soviets to rise and receive some recognition, and so I did, bowing and smiling on cue, making it seem like I was completely in focus. I happened to glance at Felicks who nodded to me, obviously happy I received indepedence once again from Ivan.

"Now, are there anymore announcements, or do I hear a par-tay!??"

I laughed at Alfred's party invite. His slang is really funny to me, and practically everyone cheered in response and followed him out the door. It left me and Felicks alone.

"You must be excited that you're like, your own country again," Felicks began as he brushed of lint from his pants.

"I am," I said, watching him brush it off, "I'm very happy that freedom is mine again."

Felicks smiled at me and reached out his hand, I smiled in returned, and with our hands connected, we followed the crowd.

It was strange watching everyone communicate with each other normally, since I was so used to tense glares and secret messages, and all of the other negative things along with being a Soviet. I let my mind wander as I spectated all of the commotion.

Arthur and Francis were arguing, with Matthew playing "referee", but I highly doubt they noticed him, Vash was explaining to his sister that the cheese he buys is delicious, even though cheap, Roderich and Elizaveta were just having some shallow chat, but I noticed that someone was missin -

"TORIS! How's my main man?" a voice boomed a few meters away from me. Felicks walked off without me noticing, probably when I was watching Arthur and Francis...?

"Toris? You alright?" the man asked. I nodded and gave him eye contact, only to find out he wasn't really missing at all.

"I'm fine, thank you for your consideration, Alfred."

"That's great! I'm happy to hear that, man!" Alfred exclaimed, putting his arm around my shoulder, and looking out at all of the noise around us. I stood there, silent, taking in his warm arm, and putting my head against his body, slowly dozing off...

"So, has everything been okay since you, uh, left the house?"

I flickered my eyes open realizing it was only seconds since I closed them. Gaining composure, I finally nodded, giving my best reasurring smile.

"Don't lie to me," he softly replied, looking at me with a nearly dark expression. I was taken back a bit.

"Wh-what do you mean?" I asked, actually not sure what he meant.

"I did some research with some of my college students, only to find out that, eh, your suicide rate is unnaturally high."

My eyes were wide open, and then I sighed, looking down. I didn't know why my people were doing that, but I guess it would give a red flag to anyone, even Mr. America.

"I know, Alfred, it is," was all I could utter out. He took a step towards me, showing nothing but compassion behind his glasses, and since he's been in horrible condition during the Great Depression, all I could register was that he could somehow relate.

"Could I be of any help at all?" He asked, putting his hand on my shoulder. When I thought about it, he might have been able to help, but before I could say anything...

"Alfred-san! I have been meaning to show you something."

I look to my left to find none other than Kiku walking in our direction. He didn't even acknowledge me, which had me slightly offended.

"Oh, hey there, Kiku! What is it?"

He was dragged aside, nodding and listening to the shorter, black-haired man, and by his expression, I could see he was in deep thought, and for some reason, I couldn't move my eyes away from him. I watched him walk back with Kiku by his side, his friendly face was once again being flashed right at me, and I could only stand there.

"Oh man, Kiku is a straight-up genius! He's making some really neat technology that can be brought out throughout my arcades! Sweet, right? Even better than that Super Mario one, right Kiku?" Alfred turned to Kiku, still beaming. Kiku nodded with a subtle touch of pride.

"That's very nice, Alfred. I wish to see it sometime," was all I could say. Alfred put his hands on my shoulders and Kiku's, and was in an even happier mood, obviously had some idea.

"That gives me and idea!" Hm, I was right.

"We can invite over a whole lotta you guys, and play Kiku's new game! What do you think? Come on, let's go get Mattie and Arthur!" He pushed us along with him, and I glanced over to Kiku, who just glared back at me. I looked away as soon as possible.

"Yo, ARTIE! MATTIE! Listen!"

Arthur and Matthew turned to him, one being eager to listen, the other in vexation.

"Video games, my house, right now. Coming?"

Matthew nodded excitedly and stood by my left, and England rolled his eyes.

"Oh, all right, I guess I'll go to make sure you don't lose your heads."

My spot was taken by Arthur, which left me in the back of our small clump, walking to Alfred's house. I was crossing my fingers that he hadn't forgotten I was going to, since his closest friends were walking right beside him, and he and I hadn't talked in decades.

The night could end very ugly.