Disclaimer time: yea I own nothing, as usual, that makes me so sad… oh well…

Dear Matthew,

As you well know, the world conference has finished, so I will be setting course to the colonies to check up on the empire. I know this letter will reach you shortly before I will as I have matters to settle in Parliament before I take my leave.

As you may or may not have heard, yes it is true that your brother attended the meeting for the first time. The idiotic child thought that he would be able to keep up with the worldly affairs and made a fool of himself as well as those he was acquainted with. Now the world knows how much of a child he still is and treats him accordingly. He has gained no sympathy from the countries present. Perhaps this embarrassment will teach him a thing or two. How he expects to prosper as a country without alliances is beyond me. I tell you, this little American Experiment of his will fail; he will not last longer than a decade, mark my words. And when he makes a fatal error for his country and his people, he will have no one there to help him, least of all the British Empire.

But enough about your ungrateful brother, I hope things are doing well for you. It has been far too long since we have had a conversation together. Now that everything has settled down, I will be coming over to check up on all the colonies more often than before to make sure that everything is as right as rain.

Sincerely,

Arthur Kirkland

Matthew looked at the letter and suddenly the letter sent from Alfred made more sense. In an attempt to keep their bond as brothers alive, even though he was the United States of America and Matthew was still a British colony, Alfred started a new tradition of going up to Matthew's house in Ottawa, every Fourth of July. This was not to gloat over his independence as one would think in the situation; but to re-affirm their relationship. Not many knew that before the "shot heard round the world", Alfred had snuck away from the rebel meetings to trek to Matthew's house to try and persuade the Canadian colony to rebel with him. Even though Matthew had no reason to leave the Empire, he was still touched that his brother cared enough to try and do what he thought was the best for their combined peoples. Though European powers had divided them; neither brother wanted to leave the other. They had already suffered the loss of many of their siblings, and they didn't even look like the rest of the family anymore. But that is another story, for another time.

Going back to the letter, Matthew was acutely aware how badly the world conference had been for his younger brother. Alfred had left the conference early because he had not been able to gain allies and for some of the meetings he had been locked out. Alfred had taken the first ship back to the New World, in the middle of the three week long conference. Since the conference had been several months ago, Alfred had been able to send a letter to basically complain to him about the disaster. It was a hard blow for any of the other New World siblings that even had the passing thought of pursuing independence. Or on the flipside, it might be used as a catalyst for the road to independence from the European empires. It was obvious that Europe did not take the New World seriously, even though Alfred's people had used European ideas and procedures as the basis for their call for autonomy.

If both Alfred and Arthur's letters were accurate, and the Old World was going to consider his brother as a child, he would not be surprised if his brother did pursue isolationism as Alfred's letter implied. No doubt he was the only person in the world that knew of Alfred's plans. Matthew could already see the implications, even if Alfred was blinded by self righteous patriotism and Arthur was blinded by carefully hidden hurt and betrayal. Alfred would cut all ties with the world and move westward. He had been hearing whispers of France planning to sell territory to his brother, so he knew it was only a matter of time before Alfred would try to make his place as large as possible, maybe perhaps to the sea. Then Arthur would see it as ungratefulness on Alfred's part and make things hard to talk to his brother which would lead Alfred to believe that he abandoned him too. Now Matthew was getting a massive headache from the implications.

Knowing this was the second tangent in the last twenty minutes, according to his new clock, Matthew looked over at the letter Alfred sent him. Even though he had a vague idea of what to expect in the next few years, he started to re-read Alfred's letter. Some of the words were blurred by drops of what Matthew assumed were Alfred's tears. But he could understand the basic message.

Dear Mattie,

I hate those damn Europeans. I thought England was bad, but he was BETTER than some of those other hoity toity aristocrats. Now I see why England was so eager to visit. I miss him. But he was acting like a bitter old codger at the meeting. I don't think he understands why I … revolution. I felt so alone, I wish you were there with me. I don't know what I'…posed to do. No one wants anything to do with a brand new country. And France is still upset that I didn't help him in his Revolution, how could I? I was still broke from m…lution, and my government wasn't …, there was no way I could have been able to help him, even if I wanted to. Everyone was mocking me, Mattie. Saying how stupid I was for breaking away from the British Empire, … the same? Are their people strong enough to be able to break away from the strongest Empire the world has ever seen since the Roman Empire? I BEAT the Empire, I BEAT it. With a rag tag group of "uncivilized barbarians who don't know ...ght a proper war." How any war can be proper is beyond me…

You know what I'm going to do Mattie? I'll show them. I'll show them all what the New World can do. I'll make it, and I'll be the greatest country in the world. I'll be so great I'll find a way to fly to the heavens, I don't k… but I'll fly. And one… you left England, I'll …me. We'll explore the heavens together. Do things the Old World never thought would ever be possible. Like that one … my house from Europe, I'll become a model for the entire world. Then they're going to be so … me off at the conference.

Europe can go to hell, I'm going to focus on my house….wants to sell Louisiana to me and my boss has been negotiating the New Orleans port. That'll help out my economy or lack thereof…

I'm not giving up on you though. I want you to be independent. I want all o…the New World to be free from Europe. They don't deserve any of us. Come on Mattie, say you'll reconsider. I was able to break free from England, you can too.

Sincerely,

Your brother, Alfred F. Jones

P.S. I love my new last name, it's so capital.

Re-reading his brother's letter, he had more questions than answers. He was scared. He was angry at his brother for leaving Arthur, but he didn't want Arthur to hurt his brother. Fearing the worst, but hoping for the best, Matthew put both letters in a small box where he kept his most important correspondence. No matter what would happen in the years to come, he would always love his little brother and he would always care for Arthur. As he pulled out some parchment to respond to both letters, he thought of everything he had already been through, and dreamed about what the future would hold.

Present day:

Matthew looked over from where he was whisking some maple pancakes over to his family. Arthur was attempting to discipline Alfred, who was ignoring the Brit for his new videogame. Outside, his provinces and Alfred's states were playing a large game of hide and seek. Francis and Quebec were checking the food while gossiping away in French.

Suddenly little New Brunswick came in holding an old box with letters poking out. She was holding one of the older ones in her little hand and Matthew recognized his brother's letter from the disastrous World Conference that spawned the isolation of the United States. Matthew smiled gently while taking the box out of her hands and encouraged her to play with her siblings and cousins.

Looking at the letter, Matthew felt a wave of old painful memories until he felt someone looking at him. He turned to look at the questioning glances from Alfred and Arthur and smiled warmly. All three of them went through some very hard times, but they got through it all, and he was proud to consider them family. Unlike the last time he had read the letter, he knew that they would get through whatever the world threw at them, and they would get through it together.

Author's notes: failed 18th century english and 18th century slang is a fail... ah well. I tried to make this as accurate and as ambiguous as possible. If there are historical inaccuracies oh well. Another stupid drabble, that would leave till I wrote it. And if the characters seem OOC, that's cuz I thought they would be a little different at this time period but whatever; it works for the story.