The Day America Opened His Eyes

It had been a horrible night. Insane dreams kept him tossing and turning. Tiny beings flitting around his vision, flames licked at his feet. Was that a flying bunny? Demonic laughter rang around him and America could feel himself sweat in terror. This was like some horrible fevered dream without the fever.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

America sat up in bed. He was covered in a cold sweat and feeling like he had run a marathon. He had not been sleeping well since England had given him that gift for his birthday. HE had said it was a unicorn but it was nothing. He had given a place on his home so as not to hurt his feelings but all the gift had done was solidify England's insanity. America had tried to keep quiet about it but every time he would see England talking to the air he would just feel pity. Had he always been this insane?

America got up and went down in the kitchen walking past the fairy that was in his bathroom playing in the sink. Wait what? He took four steps back and stared at the little thing. It was sitting on top of the faucet singing a Katy Perry song as loud as it could. That is a fairy right? I mean what else would it be, it looks like a tiny person with wings. How did it get here? Why can I see it?

"Uh hey. How are doing babe?"

"Cause baby you're a firework!"

"Hey I'm talking to you. You know the tiny person on my sink. The one in the pink dress with the wings. What are you doing here?"

At this the fairy stopped singing and looked at me with surprise. She flew up to me face and floated there staring me in the eyes.

"Can you see me?"

"Of course I can see you, I mean you are floating right in front of my face. What are you doing in my house anyway?"

"England asked me and a few other fairies to stay here and watch over you so if you got hurt he would know to come over."

"Wait so you mean all this time England has been seeing stuff that's real?"

"Obviously, although I never expected someone like you to get the sight."

"What that's supposed to mean?"

"You are a little arrogant. The sight requires you to accept the fact that there are things you can't understand or control. That there is something like magic. I guess the unicorn gave you the sight in exchange for the great home you've provided."

"That's flippin' sweet. Does that mean I can do magic too?"

"Probably, England started to be able to use magic when he got the sight."

"You said there were other fairies here too right?"

"Of course, my name is Glaed. Follow me and I will introduce you to everyone else."

America couldn't believe what he was seeing. All this time England had not been crazy. England had been spying on him! What kind of secrets had been revealed through his unknown house guests? What if England laughed about the things he did? Well that was going to have to stop. He followed Glaed down the stairs into the kitchen to find two other fairies in the kitchen. One was eating a hamburger and the other drinking one of his cokes.

"Girls! Alfred can see us!"

"No way."

"Yes way. Now would you mind introducing yourselves? I already know Glaed here."

The one eating introduced herself as Fae and the one with the coke was Lyla. Alfred listened to them talk and chuckled to himself as they argued between themselves. He began making himself some pancakes when he stopped.

"Do any of you guys want some pancakes?"

"Of course!" yelped Fae. He was definitely going to like Fae. The other two simply nodded but Fae was now flitting around him as he prepared the breakfast. "You should totally put chocolate chips in there!" Fae screamed. "Dude, there is no other way to make 'em."

When he finished baking the pancakes he had made some large ones for himself and a stack of smaller ones for his guests. He pulled out four plates and the syrup and set the table. He served each of the fairies a pancake and then sat himself down to eat. They all stared at him in surprise.

"What you guys said you wanted some so I figured you would want a plate too. Is that wrong or something?"

"No" Glaed replied, "I guess we are just used to sneaking food from your plate and when we lived at England's house we never ate anything he prepared so it's just new."

"Besides" Fae interrupted, "England hates when I steal his food. Not my fault I'm addicted to human food. Lyla is addicted to caffeine and Glaed loves pop music. It's the reason England sent us here he figured we would fit in better here."

"Speaking of which. Do you guys like report to him what I do? Are you his spies or something?"

"No nothing like that" Lyla replied. "We just live here and we tell him if you get hurt or something. That way he can get over here and take care of you."

"Well that's sweet in a creepy kind of way I guess."

With that question answered he began pouring himself some syrup. The fairies asked him for some to which he dumped a puddle of it on each of their plates. He began eating and watched the antics of his new friends. Fae ate voraciously like himself while Glaed took small measured bites. Lyla would eat a bite and then take a sip of her soda. Lyla really did love her caffeine. So he could do magic now huh? All thanks to England's present. He should probably thank the unicorn for this.

"Excuse me ladies. I believe I have a unicorn to talk to."

"Have fun! DO you mind if I finish off your food since you're done with it?" Fae questioned.

"Sure that's fine."

Alfred made his way over to the stables in his backyard. Ever since his days as a cowboy Alfred had always kept a stable of horses where ever he lived. He had figured at the time to house the "unicorn" in there. He had given it its own stall and kept it full of feed like he did with the rest of the horses. He opened the doors to the stable to the smell of horse. He walked over to the stall that now housed a visible unicorn.

"Hey dude. Glad to know I can see you now."

"Quite, I figured I owed you for giving me such a great retirement. As much food as I want, a warm bed privacy. No humans asking for pieces of me. I gave the Sight as a thanks."

"Much appreciated dude. If you ever want anything feel free to ask. Now that I can see you, I can definitely help you out. I am a hero after all."

"I assure you it is quite unlikely I will ever need anything but if I do I will be sure to call on you."

"Cool dude. Well I've got to get to work so I'll see you later."

With that America left the stable to be hit with another realization. Crap! There's a world conference tomorrow! I should've left over an hour ago to get to Europe at a decent time to find a hotel and get my notes ready. At least it's over at Arthur's place this time. How is it that I always end up forgetting these things until the last minute? I need to start packing now.

America walked back into the kitchen to see all four plates completely cleaned and a very full looking Fae. The other fairies were trying to help get airborne as she was being weighed down by the extra food.

"Fae you can ride on my shoulder if you need. I know how it feels to overeat."

"Thanks Alfred."

She settled down on my shoulder and Alfred felt a surprising amount of weight on his shoulder. He had always imagined fairies weighed less than this. Then again until this morning he hadn't even thought that they exist.

"It totally sucks guys. I just realized I am running super late to find a flight to the world conference tomorrow. I was hoping we could hang out and get to know you guys better. Now I am going to be super behind on everything."

"You could just use magic to get there." Glaed quipped. "I mean you have the sight now. A simple transportation spell should be too easy. Seeing as how this one is at Arthur's place it is even easier since there's already a portal you can use."

"That would be so sweet! I don't know how so you guys are going to have to show me. Also when we get there don't tell England I have the Sight. I want to mess with him."

"That sounds too funny." Lyla giggled.

"Transportation magic is easy. We can teach you it since it's pretty simple. England has a magic circle in his basement so we can send you there." Glaed said in a matter of fact tone.

"Awesome. Glaed you teach me how to do and Lyla why don't you go on ahead and make sure England isn't in his basement. I don't want to scare the living daylight out of him."

"Good plan." Lyla said this as she disappeared into a speck of light.

America listened carefully to the instructions he was given as he packed for the conference. Packing only took ten minutes since his clothing was simple and he didn't need much. Once he finished packing he went to living room to prepare for the trip. HE first drew a circle like the one he had seen in Arthur's basement and then he stood in the center. Glaed had told him to think of Arthur's basement as he said the words she taught him.

"Dimitte me in locum, volo amet porta."

Suddenly he felt a tug and then his mind began to spin. At first he felt tingles up and down his body but then he felt like he was being pulled apart. Each particle was being pulled in all directions and all he could see were insane swirls of color. In an instant everything went black and then he was Arthur's dimly lit basement. Alfred let out a haggard breathe and sat down on the ground to compose himself. Using magic had been exhilarating but exhausting. He looked around happy to see that all three fairies were there along with his suitcase.

"Let's go mess with a British guy shall we?"