Prologue

The Creation of the Nations- Chapter 5: The early years

The way countries were born and family ties developed are a odd thing when compared to the straight-forward relation of humans. A prime example of this would be the argument France and England had over the young America (and to a lesser extent, Canada) after they found the young Nation. Brotherhood was not defined by birth or blood, but the strange magic of the land that foretold who would influence and rule the land one day. So in truth, America was the younger brother of both France and England, thus both their claims of physical similarities were valid at the time (sadly, Finland never had a chance). But this is not our main focus.

The reason why this tidbit is of interest to us, is that from the time of being a mere babe, often to the point of toddlerhood to childhood, a nation was left alone by their fellows. They were not born into a house, so they had no mother to catch them. They had no natural caregivers supplied to them by nature. For later Countries this problem was answered by neighboring (or meddling) Countries keeping a close eye on new tracts of land that could have a Nation among it. Due to the gap in time this inevitably left, the result was that humans sometimes cared for their Nation before another swooped in to teach the child what's-what (often, the humans never even knew that the child they cared for was a Nation, only that the abandoned child was finally claimed by some far-off family member).

There are a quite a few standouts against this generality of human care, however. First we have England, who on being born in the land was raised by a motherly Unicorn and some Fair Folk. And a Flying Bunny by the name of Pipperwizzle, but that is neither here nor there. Outside of him there is Ancient Rome (who was said to be raised by a pack of wolves for a time), Japan (who was taken care of by a troop of Macaques until he met China, a secret he would never tell, not even should his precious Dating Sims be threatened. It should be noted, however, that they were the influence behind his love of hot-springs, bathing, and cleanliness), and Sweden (who had been raised by Bears. Which really, explains a hell of a lot). A few more fall into the category of having non-human caregivers, but there is either not enough evidence to support a written account, or the memory of the Nation is too vague on the subject.

But should we dig a little deeper, there is one truly amazing phenomenon that has only happened twice in all of the childhood history of the Nations. Two exceptions that were not raised by humans, or by creatures, but by like-made-beings. We all know of the existence of the physical human forms of Nations, and yet few have questioned if the existence of intangible or incredible things beyond Country's human forms exist.

In order to prove the existence of such a being, I point to the caretaker of our first exception; General Winter, who raised Russia before the future world-power met his older sister. This manifestation of Winter is cruel and fickle, and one can see how him having control of Russia's early years influenced the Nation (and, on a more positive note, gave him enough strength to survive the Mongol's). Their relationship is colored by the harsh testing of Russia's existence, and the timely protection this unlikely Caregiver provides should anyone be stupid enough to march during the frost and snow ridden time of year. Such a strong influence did General Winter have on Russia, that this author wonders what should have happened if someone kinder had taken the young child in. Like maybe a Baba Yaga.

Regardless of such musings, this brings us to ask who is the second exception, and how was this one influenced by the protector of his early years. Like with Sweden, the effects of the step-in parent are very obvious in this second case. Ameri-

The door slammed open, causing the woman sitting on the couch to wince guiltily. Her eyes darted to the archway that opened into the hall, not quite being able to see the door and the owner of the house who had just entered. She stayed quiet, holding her breath while a moment of grumbling and heavy footfalls came in from the entrance. Darkly tanned fingers flew across the keyboard to bookmark and close the window before the reader slowly closed the laptop. A few seconds later there was a beat of silence, and then a loud "FUCK!" was shouted as the person stormed into the living room.

America growled as he swung around the open archway, a baseball bat grabbed from the closet by the door held high as he faced the intruder. "Reach for the sky, ya damn Thie-" He stopped, texas sliding down his nose as he saw the person slowly sipping a mug of coffee on the couch. His mouth flapped open for a few moments, before a bright, wide grin took over on recognizing the thick and high black ponytail and twitching lips of the 'thief'. "Becky! What the hell are you doing here?"

The girl snorted as she set down her mug, her twitching lips turning into a full blown grin that turned into a fit of giggles by the time she had stood up to face the Nation. "Just doing my patriotic duty and checking in on you, sir!" She added a little salute for good measure. "The Alien let me in after five minutes of me trying to pry open the back window on the second floor. Now, can you lower that baseball bat?"

Busting out laughing himself, America casually tossed the bat back into the corner by the door and rushed forward, shaking her hand with a warm squeeze. "Come on, sit down! How's it been?" He paused, his eyes darting to the side and a bit of nerves entering his next question. "How… how is…"

Becky shrugged and sat down, sprawling back in the seat with her arms thrown across the back of it while America sat down next to her with fidgeting hands. It often bothered her, how even after the many meetings they had over the years he still is nervous until they get past that part. "The Professor is fine. Oh, that's the title he want's to go by right now, by the way. I'm not complaining, it's a hella better than 'His Wild Sexiness'. That was the worst week ever." She rolled her eyes as America laughed, his shoulders relaxing slightly.

"Nice to hear the old man still is causing hell, right?" They both shared a grin before Becky sighed, one hand going up to scratch the back of her head.

"Yeah… actually, the reason I'm here… there are no political issues that need your immediate attention. Well, at least no new ones. He just wants to meet up with you, personally."

America froze, his blue eyes focusing on the hands in his lap that had frozen in the middle of a nervous game of thumb-war. He glanced up at the girl, then glanced back into his lap. "He wants to see me?" A choked laugh jerked out from his mouth, him shaking his head as his hands unclasped and he started gesturing in the air. "Yeah, riiiiight. And Artie is suddenly cooking something edible."

"I'm not joking Alfred." He gave a slight wince at the combined force of his human name with her serious tone. "He forgave you long ago, you know. He knows you fought against Andrew Jackson during that time, you couldn't help that he ignored the command from the supreme court in Georgia-"

America stood up and started pacing, looking panicked. "Damn, you're serious? But- shit. What time? When?"

Becky smiled kindly. "For lunch, tomorrow. He's worried about some things- not policies, just you. He still calls you his brat, you know. He sent me to make sure all details and nerves were worked through."

The blond paused in his pacing, taking a deep breath before a smile broke out, excitement lighting up his eyes. "You're serious! Damn, I missed that old Bastard. Don't have a clue about what he is worried about, but I think I could make the time."

Becky stood up, giving the young nation a gentle hug. "Great. I trust that you will find a way to ditch any security, you know he doesn't like being caught on tape."

A groan was let out of Alfred's lips as his eyes rolled upward. "Don't tell me he is still fuckin' around enough to actually get arrested?"

Becky let out a giggle. "Yes. Though hey, so far this year he only has one case of public nudity on file. I think it might be a new record for him."

America just shook his head as he pulled out of the hug, giving the girl a clap on the shoulder. "Well, guess I better get to the place early then. Wouldn't want to ruin his streak by making the great Coyote antsy and bored now, would I? That's just asking for trouble."

*I am pretty much taking a lot of freedom with the Hetalia universe, using General Winter as a excuse. In my mind, if a personification of winter exists, why not the well-known personifications of animals like Coyote, Raven, Reynarde, Anansi, etc? They won't be nearly as important as the Countries, but they make nice background characters/plot points/etc. And sheer awesome. They shall definitely add to the sheer awesome.

*Becky, aka Rebecca, aka the Christian name given to Pocahontas. I figured she would be a nice character to include. I have a elaborate head-canon for why she is still alive and now running errands for Coyote, but it will probably never make it into the fic.

*As quoted from Wikipedia, because I am too lazy to type it out differently -"The state of Georgia became involved in a contentious jurisdictional dispute with the Cherokees, culminating in the 1832 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Worcester v. Georgia), which ruled that Georgia could not impose its laws upon Cherokee tribal lands. Jackson is often quoted (regarding the decision) as having said, "John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!" Whether he said it is disputed." My head canon is that America, the Native Americans being his people as well, probably was on the Supreme Court's side on this and did not agree with the Indian Removal act at all.

*Coyote is the Native American Trickster and Culture Hero, who has done everything from sleep with his own children to bringing fire and art to his people. This whole idea started when I realized how many traits the Trickster's and America had in common. Thus, ChibiAmerica being raised by Coyote! was born. God, would I have loved to get a glimpse into that house.