Thud, Thud Thud….
'Someone is coming.' was Arthur Kirkland's first thought in the morning. He cracked one bloodshot eye open and stared at the door with hatred. 'Who would dare to wake me up this early?' He could hear the footsteps getting louder and louder with each step. "Fuck" the man mumbled and fixed his best glare, ready to greet the unfortunate person who was about to open the door.
"Arthur~~!"
It was none other than France.
England mentally snorted. Right, who else would dare to enter his private quarters without permission? He was only person in ship who did not respect him nor fear him, even though he was currently a prisoner. The bastard was lucky they had to repair the hull, otherwise he would be rotting in his cell.
"I have great news!" his stupid rival stated with his stupid sing-song voice. "Do you want to hear them?" The man gave him a smug smile and a wink.
"No, drop dead or go away." Arthur replied with a sneer, one of his hands slithering under his pillow. Francis did not move and even had the audacity to chuckle. "I am serious, go away or I will kill you."
As always, the blue eyed blond ignored him. "I will tell you anyways." The French nation continued, ignoring the death threat. "Someone just yelled 'Land Ahoy!' and the navigator said we will be arriving in half an hour."
"Finally," the Englishman exclaimed with relief. It had been a very long trip and their provisions were dangerously low. "But I still warned you." A 'clack' was heard coming from under Arthur's pillow, the same sound of a gun being charged.
"Oh! Come on, Anglaterre…" Francis tried to placate the captain, but still stepped backwards due to the threating glare Arthur was sending him, that and the possible gun hidden under his pillow. "O-Okay just calm down and get dressed. I'll be preparing the breakfast" The Frenchman left the room.
Arthur gave an annoyed sigh and got off the bed muttering curses to Francis in a mix of old English and Celtic. 'Damn it! One of these days I'm going to kill him for real!' he vowed to himself as he finished dressing.
He picked up his coat and hat from the floor and left the room, heading towards the kitchen. He headed to the kitchen, following the tempting smell of food. Arthur will never EVER admit it but he liked Francis's cooking, it was the only reason he let him stay on the ship instead throwing him to the sea. The breakfast was served on the table: Bone soup and ale, the last edible and drinkable things on the ship.
"Arsehole" he mumbled, feeling a bit jealous of Francis culinary talent. The damned soup was made with rotten veggies, small pieces of rotten meat and bones but it was still delicious. He drank the mug of ale in one row and without losing any more time; he left the room as a random crewmate picked up the service. England went upstairs, heading the main mast and started climbing it until he reached the crow's nest.
He jumped in and stood there for some minutes resting his hands on his hips as he breathed deeply. The view was magnificent. They had already stopped at a little beach; the sand was white and the water was deep turquoise. Above a small cliff was a beautiful prairie full of different species of wild flowers, most of them yellow and red. Next to the prairie was an enormous forest. England smiled. He loved forests; they were the only place- besides de the sea, of course- where he felt safe. Arthur's thoughts were interrupted as he felt someone behind him. He didn't even bother to turn around; he was pretty damn sure that it was Francis.
"What do you want, frog?" Arthur spat at him, annoyed.
"Oh~ Arthur you're so mean with me~" Francis whined playfully "Are you enjoying the view?"
"Yes" he answered before violently turning around, his impressive eyebrows furrowed in anger "I was enjoying it… until you came here" the most powerful pirate of Europe grabbed a nearby rope; he tangled his hand around and with confidence, he jumped out of the crow's nest. This action left France speechless as he watched Arthur land gracefully on the deck, startling some crewmates. He looked up where Francis was staring at him, his mouth a little open "Well, are you coming down? We are about to reach land"
"Exhibitionist idiot" France mumbled as he started climbing down the mast, not risking performing such a dangerous manoeuvre like England did. Some minutes later he finally managed to reach the deck, the British nation was making some last minute preparations for leaving the ship. The crew had already dropped the anchor and now were putting down a row-boat that would take them to the beach.
"Captain Kirkland! The boat is ready!" Arthur's first-mate announced as he threw a wooden ladder overboard so they could get on the boat.
"Good" England praised the men and started climbing down the ladder. He stopped for a moment and glared at France "Hurry up, frog!"
"I'm coming, mon petit lapin!" France exclaimed before starting to climb down the ladder too. A few men who knew French snickered when they heard their terrible captain called 'my little bunny' by none less than his prisoner and biggest rival. Francis jumped on the boat and a blushing Arthur smacked him in the head.
"Don't call me like that, you great git!" England yelled at France before lowering his voice until it was only a whisper "At least not in front of my crew. I have a reputation to maintain"
"Oui, Oui, as mon captain says" France laughed as he sat down and got a hold on the rows before starting rowing until they reached the beach. Arthur was the first one to get down the boat, a satisficing feel of relieve full him as he stepped on the sand. Finally he could get away from the frog a few hours.
"Come on, bastard!" England hurried the Frenchman, who was dragging the boat further into the beach. France came jogging where England was "Okay. Finland said that the prairie and the forest are our best options; we'll separate and try to find him."
"Yeah, sure" Francis said carelessly before walking uphill, towards the prairie Arthur saw earlier on the crow's nest. England wanted to go to the forest, which was inconveniently next to the prairie. The Briton sighed as he started walking next to France. It took them a few minutes to reach the prairie.
Arthur was about to leave France and to get into the forest, but he stopped when he heard some giggles not far away, "Hey, frog! Did you hear that?" He asked as he tried to concentrate more on where the giggles came from.
"Yes I did, mon cher" he answered, moving his eyes side to side searching for the source of the giggles. He looked at Arthur; the Briton's gaze was looked on something in front of them. There he was, a cute little child around two or three years old. The kid was playing with a white little bunny, who was tickling the poor kid.
'MINE' both men thought before looking at each other with hatred; all friendship bounds were left aside, this was business. Arthur was the first one to take out his sword.
"Don't even think about it, frog. He's mine" Arthur hissed at France, who was taking out his sword too.
Francis made a disgusted face at Arthur's threating words, "Yours? Ha! He will be mine!" The man made a fighting pose.
"You're my prisoner" England stated as he approached to France with the intention to kill. "You'll do as I say"
"Well, Arthur," Francis interrupted him with a cocky grin "I don't give a fuck!" with that the Frenchman swung his sword at England and the fight began.
They fought and fought for many hours but none of them wanted to give up.
Without being noticed the child had placed the bunny on its lap and was sitting down a few meters away from the European nations to watch the fight. He was curious about those strangers, it was the first time he had seen people like him so close, though he was also scared.
"Fighting is not driving us anywhere!" England shouted as he noticed how long they have been fighting without getting any results "We should let the boy choose" he said, having noticed the kid halfway during their fight.
France scratched his chin and gave England a thoughtful look before grinning "I agree" he said with confidence, he knew he was way more charming than Arthur. He would win this.
England rolled his eyes, trying to look cool and confident, but internally he was scared of being rejected again. He tried to look as gentle as he could but the nerves betrayed him "Come, America, come… Don't you want to play with me forever?" he said with a sadistic grin and a tenebrous aura surrounding him. America started to cry and England lost all hope to win.
"Sacrebleu! England, stop that! You're scaring the poor child… you're even scaring me!" Francis yelled at England before approaching to the boy and kneeling in front him with a gentle smile "Don't be scared, mon petit" he said in a softly. He took out a plate of French food from only-god.-knows-where and showed it to America, who stopped crying almost instantly, his curious eyes getting bigger and brighter "Come with me and you'll eat delicious food like this every day…"
America stopped paying attention to France despite the good smelling food he was offering; instead he stared at Arthur, who was sitting on the ground not far away from them. He was hugging his knees, a gloomy aura surrounding him. His shoulders were shaking letting him know that he was crying; this made America sad. His bright blue eyes looked at England with pity and he approached to him, leaving France talking alone.
"Are you okay?" the little nation asked as he patted England's shoulder "I'll chwoose you but plwease, don't cry" he said with teary eyes. England looked up and stared at the child with surprise, but then let out an honest and warm smile. He picked the toddler up and started spinning while laughing with true happiness; America started giggling alongside England, both of them ignoring France when he dramatically said "Mon dieu! I've been rejected!" and returned to the shore.
A few seconds later England tripped and fell to the floor with America on top of him, they laughed and laughed but finally they both calmed down enough to start a little chat.
"So, America…Do you have a human name?" Arthur asked as he stood up, taking America in his arms and rocking him slowly back and forth. The toddler shook his head "Oh well….I shall name you Alfred, Alfred Kirkland!" he exclaimed with happiness.
"But my name is Amer…" he started to say shyly, but he was interrupted by Arthur.
"Oh, my human name is Arthur; Arthur Kirkland" he stated ignoring America's little voice "You must call me by this name when we are around humans, alright? It is dangerous for us to let humans know what we are."
"Yes, Arshur!" America replied as he hopped down England's arms and started running away.
"Hey, America! Where are you going?" England exclaimed and started running after him, but stopped abruptly a few meters away from Alfred, who was dangerously close to the biggest buffalo Arthur had ever seen "Don't worry, my boy! Your big brother is going t-t-to s-save…" Arthur's jaw dropped to the floor before he could finish his sentence. The little nation, America, had lifted up the buffalo without any difficulties and started to spin him around, only to throw him away with such strength that it disappeared from their sight within seconds.
"Engwland! Did you see that?" America asked with proudness and excitement, his big eyes shining like stars "It's the first time I get to throw him so far!"
'Dear Lord' was the only thing Arthur could think for a few seconds before recovering from the shock and realising he was so lucky America had chosen him, the boy's potential had no limits. Besides with all this strength he would be able to live on his own without any danger "Well done, America! You are very strong!" he praised the excited boy, who was running back to him "Oh boy, you are all dirty" Arthur said, looking at Americas muddy hands and dirty face. He picked him up again and started walking back to the ship "Come on, I'll give you a bath"
"Engwland, what is a bath?" America asked, innocence written all over his face. Arthur let out a sigh and started explaining Alfred what a bath was. Alfred asked more and more questions, each one of them answered patiently by England, but some time later the kid grew bored and started talking about his land the few people that habited on it.
Within the talk America started yawning and rubbing his eyes with his tiny firsts. England noticed how sleepy America was and began humming a lullaby to the kid still in his arms. Arthur stopped humming when he noticed America was way too quiet.
"Oh, did you fall asleep on me, poppet?" he said to Alfred and chuckled. England stroked his hair with one hand, curling his cowlick around his finger again and again. Some minutes of curling later America let out some kind of purr on his sleep. England's eyes widened as he stopped curling his cowlick, the purring stopped. He started curling it again and the purring continued. England laughed quietly at the kid's reaction and without even noticing it they arrived to the beach. One of his men was waiting for him on the boat to row back to the ship.
"Hey Captain! You got the kid!" the man greeted him as he got on the boat "I just saw the frog leave on another ship. He was mad as hell"
"Glad to hear that, Smith" he said, his smile widening even more. Arthur had a small chat with Smith about supplies and the French ship that arrived earlier, luckily everything went fine; the ship just came to pick up France and left. They were also lucky to find all the supplies needed for their return.
Once they reached the ship, another man threw them a ladder. Smith went up first. Arthur had to climb the ladder with one hand as he did not want to wake America, but the kid woke up anyways because of the rough movements Arthur made.
"Arshur?" America asked giving England a confused look as he kept climbing the ladder "Where are we going?"
"Hush, America. I'll answer all your questions on the ship. Understood?" Alfred nodded, still looking confused. Finally, Arthur reached the deck and left him on the floor, where the whole crew was waiting for them with smiling faces.
"Here we are, Alfred! This is my ship and this is my crew!" Arthur said kneeling next to him and putting one hand on his shoulder "We are going to England and they'll help us to get there"
"Oh!" Alfred exclaimed with excitement. He was going somewhere new! "Hi!" he greeted them waving his hand vigorously, the crew smiled and waved back for some seconds before returning to their duties.
Arthur gave the order to depart, and then guided Alfred to the bathroom; he was still dirty from the throw-the-buffalo game. He commanded the boy to undress himself after while he went to pick some towels and water.
A couple of minutes later, England came back. He left the buckets of water next to the bathtub and hanged the towel on a hook. "Ok, now we have everything to start!" The man exclaimed and turned around to face America.
A second later a loud and very manly scream was heard all over the ship. The whole crew ignored it as they were used to their captain's mental attacks.
"Y-Y-Y-You" Arthur mumbled as he stood up from the floor; he had fallen after letting out the very manly scream. He pointed with his index finger at Alfred, who was staring at him with the fear and confusion clearly written on his face "Y-You are a GIRL!"