Alfred F. Jones was his name, and hide-and-seek was usually his game, now, however, he was enjoying a simple stroll through the woods after a long day of doing chores around his house. The day had been particularly hot, and even though Al had gotten used to the frustratingly hot summer, he was just glad that he could finally get away from working and take a much needed walk.
Dusk was starting to fall and the temperature of the day had dropped from a grueling heat to a pleasant warmth when Al finally noticed that he had strayed drastically from the path that would lead him back to his house. Al began to run in the direction that he had came but found himself traveling in circles around bushes and trees that all looked the same to him. In the daylight, the youngster knew his way around the forest well, had it memorized on path and off, but during the nighttime hours everything seemed spooky, like the trees moved and ghouls that couldn't show their faces during the day time ran free.
The child stumbled over a rock that he could have sworn he upturned earlier and fell flat, landing in a pile of leaves that were so old they smelled like mildew and... something else, something incredibly strange that Al couldn't pin down as a smell that belonged in the woods. Forgetting about the smarting cuts on his knees or the burning of his hands where he caught himself on the forest floor, Al stood, looking about himself. The placed he was in was different from the rest of the forest he knew; it was a little meadow that fell directly in the path of the glow of the moon, smelled of spices and herbs that Al recognized from the kitchen in his house, and was lined with candles. It was different, something that Al had never seen before in his tromping through the forest during the day, he could have sworn he never saw anything like this... ever.
"Wh-What are you doing here?" Out of the corner of his eye, the American boy could see another small figure, seemingly a child, like himself, who held all sorts of different things in his small arms. Though the figure was still a kid and Al could barely see him, he was significantly taller than Al himself, letting the American child guess that the other was far older than him. "You shouldn't be here!" The other hissed, his voice a strange accent that the American hadn't heard before.
Al staggered to his feet, shocked and frightened at the same time. He was alarmed, under pressure, and the only thing that he could do was burst into tears, suddenly reminded of his burning hands and knees from where he fell, and the anxiety in the others voice was alarming and put stress on Al that he hadn't felt before. He wasn't supposed to be where he was, and he was afraid of that. "I-I'm sorry!" Al sobbed, sniffling and doing his best to wipe the tears and snot away from his face, though never prevailing.
The newcomer to the meadow dropped the things in his hands, alarmed that the other had started to cry. "H-Hey now!" He stumbled forward to the crying child, panicking, and grabbed him by the shoulders. "There's no need to cry now, I'm sorry for scaring you like that, here, let me help with your cuts, just calm down, please!" His sentence was rushed and now, more than ever, Al was confused by his strange voice and how muddled his speech was because of it.
However frightened he was, Al nodded, and even though he was still crying he followed the other boy to where there was a small circle carved into the ground, strange symbols surrounding and inside of it. The older boy sat Al down inside of the circle and knelt in front of him, smiling reassuringly. "Stop crying now, it'll be alright, I promise..." He muttered before crawling over to a place between two bushes where a pile of books sat.
The other boy, Al could finally see him better now that his tears were no longer blurring his vision as bad, and the two of them were closer to the edge of the meadow where the candles could cast their glow better on the two, had short blond hair, similar to Al's, and strangely large eyebrows. Beneath the bushy things Al could see shining green eyes, both set in determination to find the right page in the book that he was currently flipping through. "Here we go..." Al heard the boy mumble before sauntering over to the younger child, the heavy book laboring his steps.
"This won't hurt a bit..." The older boy muttered, sitting cross legged in front of Al and plopping the book in front of the circle. "I just need you to sit still for a while, okay?" Beneath his bushy eyebrows, the boy looked up at Al and smiled reassuringly. "I promise it will all be over quickly."
Alfred nodded and sat stiller than he had before, not moving a muscle. He listened intently as the older boy began to chant something under his breath, steadily getting louder into a mantra Al was thoroughly confused about. The child had been concentrating so hard on the chanting of his older companion, however, that he hadn't noticed the strange tingle in his hands and knees that had ended once the green eyed boy had stopped his chant and closed the book. It was when the sensation had ended that Al noticed it, and upon looking down at he realized that his cuts had been healed.
"Th-thank you..." Al muttered in awe, staring wide eyed at his hands that no longer had cuts or scrapes from when he fell. "How did you do that...?" He looked up at the green eyed boy in awe.
"It's nothing really..." The boy responded with a shy smile. "I mean... it was just a little magic, nothing too serious..." He rubbed the back of his head, and Al could detect a trace of a light blush across the boy's cheeks. "Back to what I asked though!" The boy's tone firmed up and he looked up at Alfred with a stern expression. "What are you doing here, you're not supposed to be in this place!"
Al winced at the sudden stern tone but couldn't object to the question, the boy had already healed his cuts, he was in no place to object to the strange boy. "I've never been in this place before..." Al muttered, looking down at his knees where his hands now rested. "My house is just on the other side of the forest, and I was taking a walk through the forest earlier, though I hadn't realized how long I had been out..." He blushed now, frowning at his foolishness. "I strayed from the path and got lost, and when I realized I had it was already dark and I got scared, I started running and fell into here..." Al's blush was furious by now, embarrassed as he was, however, he managed to look up at the older boy. "My name is Alfred... I'm... America..."
"America..." The older boy muttered, his expression contemplative now. He extended a shy hand, however, after a moment of thinking over this title. "Arthur Kirkland..." He stated in his strange accent. "I'm England..." He smiled when Al tentatively took his hand. They shook, and both managed a shy smile at the other. "I think we'll be good friends, America..." Arthur stated.
"The best," The younger boy agreed.