Hey hey, it's my second fiction and I just want to say thanks to all those people out there who reviewed and even just read my first one. Just wanting to get my stuff out there really.

So if this is the first time you have read one of my fictions or your reading because you liked my first one, I do hope you enjoy and don't want to bash me when it's all over. ^.^

Dreaming

"Ahhhh…! Stop… st… Stop it! That tickles!" Alfred rolled around on the floor trying to evade the onslaught. But Arthur was bigger and knew exactly where the boy's ticklish spots were.

"Do you surrender?" Arthur laughed and left the tickling aside for the moment to give the boy a chance to breath.

"Never!!" Alfred yelled at the top of his voice. He got to his feet and held an imaginary pirate sword in the air just like Arthur had shown him from when he was a pirate.

Alfred grinned and pounced like a lion upon his guardian with a wild battle cry. Arthur toppled over backwards playfully and pretended to be dieing.

Alfred stopped attacking him and looked at the apparently lifeless Englishman. He poked him in the stomach and forehead a couple of times and got no response.

But just as he became bored and turned away, Arthur shot up and tackled Alfred to the ground in another tickle attack.

"Ahhh! No, no, no! Stop it! OK! I surrender. I SURRENDER!!" The boy's face was bright red and he was extremely flustered from all the laughing. Arthur laughed once again and stood up, taking the weight off of his knees. Alfred got up onto his feet as well though slower than the larger blonde. He rubbed his eye sleepily and yawned as Arthur hoisted him up onto his hip and carried him to his room.

"Can you tell me a story please?" Alfred whined almost instantly of being within the doorway.

"What story did you want to hear?"

"The one where you…" He paused for yet another yawn. "… where you… um, discovered the new world!'

"… But Alfred…" It was the Englishman's turn to pause. How the hell was he meant to respond to this? "But Alfred, You are the new world. You were there."

"I know. But I can't remember it." The blue eyes looked into the English green ones, pleading.

At this point in time, Arthur was laying a struggling and ever stubborn Alfred down and tucking him in. He smiled fondly and so proceeded to tell the story, watching the American's eyes widen in intense interest and anticipation. And eventually, near the end of the story, Alfred's bright inquisitive eyes closed, his breathing evened out and he slipped into his dreams.

Arthur smiled and lightly kissed the child's rosy lips goodnight.

- - -

Arthur's eyelids shot open. He sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Looking around, he confirmed where he was. Alone, in his poorly lit room.

Not a noise could be heard in his entire house. He was completely alone. And his dream and had just re-awoken feelings of when there had been another time when things had been completely different.

Alone in his room, alone in his house, Arthur was shaking violently, the silence undisturbed as he let the silver tears tumble down his face. In an attempt, which he knew to be useless, to stop the shaking, he wrapped his arms around himself in a tight embrace.

The silence was finally broken when a sob tore form his throat. He couldn't take it any more.

For the past year, his dreams had brought painful memories back to life. And it was especially difficult, because he saw the person featured in every one of his dreams nearly every day.

He let himself calm down fully before he pulled back his sheets and climbed out of bed. He then dressed and made his way downstairs towards the kitchen where he made himself a cup of tea. He wasn't up to anything more or less for breakfast.

It could be considered a good thing that he had awoken prematurely on this morning as there was a UN meeting that would begin at 7:00am.

The completely horrible and unfair thing about it was that Arthur would see Alfred there, and that was something the Brit just wasn't up to. Especially since he already felt like complete and total crap.

But some things in the world cannot be helped. And he being England, and England having to attend the UN, just happened to be one of those things.

- - -

Later, though not much later, Arthur was seated at the large table, in the incredibly large and noisy room, where the UN meetings were held.

All the present nations were arguing on a way to combat the effects of global warming.

Regularly, Arthur would join the arguments, often pitting himself against Alfred and Francis and the American's absurd and surreal ideas. These often involved inventing super heroes and giant Japanese constructed robots. And everyone knows how these arguments progress from here.

But on this day, the Englishman stayed silent and still. Lost to his own thoughts and personal problems.

And so, for the next few hours, he sat there silently. He could have even possibly stayed that way forever if he hadn't been alerted to the end of the meeting.

It was Feliciano. Behind him stood Ludwig, Romano, Antonio and Kiku. Ludwig and Romano looked irritable, Antonio wasn't paying much attention to anything except for the south Italian's hand he was holding, and Kiku was as morbid and non-emotional as ever. Everything the way it should be. Everything was normal. Except…

Feliciano was staring at Arthur with his wide chocolate eyes open for once; there was a look of gentle concern across the boy's face.

"Is Arthur OK? You didn't say anything during the meeting." Out of all the people to be concerned for him, the person he least expected it to be was the North Italian. He'd only ever been feared by the boy, as he would admit, he had been a bit of a bully to Feliciano during WII.

"… I'm fine. Just not myself today Feliciano." Arthur forced a small smile onto his face for the brunette.

Feliciano looked up to Ludwig who, after a second, gave a nod and the Italian turned back to Arthur.

"Feli." He said.

"Huh?" Arthur was lost. What in God's name did 'Feli' mean? It was probably Italian for… well for something.

"Arthur can call me Feli." The Italian laughed light heartedly and Arthur saw Ludwig's features soften behind the brunette. And THEN he got it. 'Feli' was an abbreviation of Feliciano. Duh!

"Oh, right, uh… thanks for… for being concerned about me Felicia… Feli" The Englishman said the words slowly.

Romano giggled and his face went the tomato red the Antonio famed him for.

"He called you Felicia!"

Feliciano didn't see the insult or the joke and just looked puzzled at his brother. He turned back to Arthur when Romano settled down.

"Arthur will be safe and he will make sure not to be sad." The little brunette laughed again and surprised Arthur by giving Arthur a… Big… FAT… HUG!!!

Then fairly quickly, Feliciano was bouncing away with a quick wave, his lover and friends close behind him. Arthur stopped Kiku for a moment.

"What's all this about?" the confused Englishman asked.

"Feli-chan was truly worried for you." Kiku answered bluntly, wasting no time, as is the Japanese way. "But he also doesn't want to ever be shot at again and Ludwig-san wants him to become a stronger nation.

Both things are easily achievable and co-existable if Feli-chan befriends and allies himself with as many nations as possible."

The Japanese man smiled with a fondness that Arthur hadn't seen since before the discovery of America, and of course, Alfred.

"You should take more care of yourself as well, Arthur. I will come by this afternoon with a poultice for you before the party." Kiku said fairly quietly, making it obvious that he wouldn't take any objections.

"Party? What Party?" Arthur was just a little bit more confused than five seconds prior to the conversation.

"Oh, yes. Feli keeps forgetting to tell everybody so I've been doing it for him. Tonight he is hosting a 'Fiesta' for what you Europeans call Christmas."

Before Arthur could respond or ask any further questions, Kiku had walked off to rejoin Feliciano's little group. Feliciano himself was talking to Ivan, the three Baltics trembling behind the Russian, but the North Italian spoke to the larger nation with a happy smile and none of his usual fear. He was talking as though he was old friends with Ivan.

Arthur couldn't hear what was going on for the moment, but he could see that Ivan was listening very intently. After a minute or two, the childish grin set in just above his scarf. And then he said loud enough for everyone to hear…

'Feli-chan is my new ally, da? He can be my new friend too." Ivan picked Feliciano up and hugged him. The Italian and Russian laughed with their cheeks pressed together. Feliciano seemed to make friends easier with the tougher nations, i.e.; Ludwig. His weak persona probably provoked the need to protect him in the more powerful nations, whereas the weaker nations just picked on and bullied the twins.

Arthur had to admit, Feliciano had done a good job at taking a load off of his mind. He felt a little better than when he had been alone in his house.

That is until our good American friend, Alfred, stepped into the picture.

Ivan had just let Feliciano regain his feet when Alfred walked up to the Italian.

"Where's my free hug Feli? I hear you've been giving them out."

Feliciano laughed and hugged the American.

'So does this mean I can come to your Fiesta?"

First Chapter finished. Hoped you enjoyed it and that you will continue to read as the story progresses. Please review. I'm not too fussed if it's good or bad. Some tips would be pretty handy as well if you've got any that could be useful. I would be extremely grateful and will thank you all in my novel if it ever gets published. Lol

Lovin' all those out there with a creative and open mind… me, Prussian Mongrel. ^. ^ xo