Rush

"C'mon Maddie!" Alfred tugged the shy girl along with him down the streets of Berlin to where the conference was. Many bystanders turned to stare at the obnoxious American man running down the street pulling a hapless girl after him.

Alfred F. Jones paid the people no mind, letting his bombers jacket flutter behind him, revealing his normal tan uniform. His brown boots pounded the sidewalk as he rounded the corner only a few buildings away from the location the conference was to take place. Madeline Williams, the unfortunate girl stumbling behind the him, wasn't quite as ambitious to arrive there. As she tripped along the road she kept one hand on her red skirt to keep it from flying up from all the movement. Her uniform jacket was unzipped just enough for her small polar bear, Kumajiro, to poke his head out of the opening; also keeping her torso a satisfying temperature, rivaling the harsh temperature of the German streets.

Poor Kumajiro was being jostled so much though, that his small skull was consistently banging into Madeline's. She would have winced, but couldn't as she was too busy panting from Al forcing her to run for close to six blocks. Her legs were aching, and her lungs burning from all the exertion.

Finally the blonde haired nation stopped outside the conference building, letting his grip on Madeline's wrist slip. As soon as he stopped to admire the structure, the girl dropped to the ground, desperately trying to catch her breath.

"You ok?"

Canadian Bacon

Alfred stared at the package, his brow furrowed and gaze hard. Again he peeked beyond the wrapper, observed for a moment then turned back to glare at the outside.

"Is something wrong?" Madeline asked as walked glanced up at her boyfriend from her book.

He turned to look up at her, "This is just ham!"

3. Invisibility

The little blonde bolted across the lawn, laughing as the strange white dog he was chasing rounded a large tree. Alfred giggled and turned the way the bulky dog had gone, still running as fast as he could.

When suddenly he felt something warm collide with him; causing him to crash back into the grass. He winced at the pain, coming from his backside and cracked open an eye to see what he had bumped into.

A girl around his age stood there, holding the strange dog in her arms. Her hair fell just above her shoulders with one long curled strand drooping in front of her porcelain face. Her young, wide eyes were a deep azure and were fixated on him with a very concerned expression.

"You're not hurt, eh?" She asked, an odd accent tingeing her voice.

Alfred jumped to his feet and grinned, "Of course not! I'm the hero after all!"

"T-that's good…" The girl murmured, just barely loud enough for him to hear.

"What was that? You're too quiet! Anyway, sorry for running into you!" He patted her head. "I guess I just didn't see you there!"

4. Unfair

It wasn't like her to sit and stare. It was very out of character for Madeline to take advantage of her invisibility for her own selfish purposes.

But it wasn't fair. Not fair at all.

That stupid Brit…she had him. She would blush and grumble when Alfred would toss his arms around her. She would turn her head away with a burning face when he kissed her cheek, and he'd grin. He would give her that smile Madeline loved so much. The one she wanted for herself.

She didn't deserve him. She didn't need him like Madeline did.

It wasn't fair. Not at all.

5. Rain

The dark clouds swirled above the pair that sat together on the park bench, hands intertwined and knees touching. Maddie peered up at the sky, "We should probably head back; it looks like a storm, eh."

Alfred took his jacket and pulled Madeline up and together they began to make their way to the house. She smiled; happy that he didn't seem to be in too much of a rush to get home for once. Soon she regretted their pace though, as a rain drop hit her nose, making her flinch.

"Aw man, its starting already!" He cried, hastily tugging her along. "Hurry up, Mads, we're gonna get all wet!"

Although, his words seemed to only encourage the angry sky; for suddenly the rain relinquished all it held. The raindrops beating down on the sidewalk where Alfred quickly stripped himself of his jacket and held it over his and Madeline's heads.

They walked swiftly, desperate to make it back to the house before the jacket soaked through.

Unfortunately nature wasn't in a good mood today.

Soon the jacket was leaking more than the sky, resulting in the man flopping the jacket over his shoulder and turning to pick Madeline up bridal style. Grinning wildly and dashing through the rain towards the house.

It only took a few minutes for them to find themselves at the house, drenched and laughing like mad.

6. Canon

"Hey Mads?" Alfred called out from his place on the couch to Madeline, who was preparing hot chocolate in the kitchen.

"Yeah?"

"So I heard something weird on the radio…" She entered the room and handed him a mug.

"And what might that be?" She asked in her soft voice.

"Well…" He sipped his cocoa. "I mean, before what I heard on the radio, I had heard you and Gilbert were a thing…is that true?"

She grimaced. "It was a long time ago, eh; Canada and Prussia don't talk anymore."

"That's cool; it's just that I heard on the radio something about...a, New Prussia?"

7. War

Madeline jumped at the sound of the door suddenly swinging open. Instantly feeling relief when she saw Alfred standing in the doorway. "You scared me…" She started in her whisper like voice,

"WHEN WERE YOU GOING TO TELL ME!" He shouted and rushed in, gripping her hands and letting his head fall to her knees.

"T-tell you-," But he didn't seem to hear her and interrupted.

"HOW CAN YOU JUST DECLARE WAR ON ME LIKE THIS!" She sat in shock and complete speechlessness. Soon she felt her knees become saturated with the man's tears, making her words return to her.

"What do you mean?" She murmured and stroked his shaggy blonde hair gently.

"Y-you…a-a-attacked me…" He managed between hiccups.

Madeline cocked her head, but continued to pet down his untamed mane, "I don't remember doing anything like that…"

He instantly looked up at her, "But you did!" He cried urgently, "You sent Justin Bieber!"

8. Drawing

Her pencil scratched across the paper, fluidly and rapidly. She needed to finish just this one picture and then she would allow herself to go home and rest. But until she did she'd be on the corner of the school building, drawing pictures of the many people she saw everyday. The dozen of people she saw walk by and never take any notice of her.

But when she left her art in Mr. Edelstein's art room he would take it and place it on display on the back table beside the door. Everyone would see her draws, the mysterious art without a signature. Only Mr. Edelstein knew it was her doing it, but he told no one.

She loved to pretend to take a bit longer to gather her things and exit the class just to hear her classmates reactions. Some only glanced, but a majority of them stopped and stared. They gaped and wondered who made them. Honestly curious as to who drew the pictures. They were curious about her.

When she submitted her art, she was suddenly a person, not that ghost like girl, floating amongst the halls, unbeknownst to her school. In her art, she was an artist. With her art, she was more than the invisible girl without friends.

With her art, she was a person.

Lately Madeline had begun to draw portraits of the people in her life, of groups of people. She only drew their faces but she always drew the eyes looking away from the camera. As though focusing on something else, something more entertaining.

She shaded the last part with her finger and stared at the end result of her picture. A smile pulled on her lips; it was done.

Madeline pushed her pencils into her bag and stood up to go to Mr. Edelstein's classroom to give him the picture. She ripped the page out of her sketch pad and carefully placed it in the notebook so she could easily drop it on his desk. She slung her school bag over her shoulder, and began to make her way to the doors that led into the school.

A smile graced her lips as she walked down the halls, feeling the excitement of seeing the people's reactions fuel her. She turned a corner and gasped as a large warm body ran straight into hers.

The pain in her head made her groan as she opened her eyes to see Alfred F. Jones, one of the jocks staring down at her with his arms on either side of her head. She blushed instantly, realizing how he was straddling her.

He grinned and picked himself off of her, "Sorry about that," He held out a hand for her as soon as he had his footing back. She took it and he nimbly tossed her to her feet.

Madeline shook off her dizziness, "N-no, its o-ok." She stuttered out in a quiet voice and glanced around. "my…sketchbook …"

Alfred managed to hear her sound of distress and saw a notebook lying a few feet away. He walked over and picked it up, turning and held it out to her, "Here, is this what your looking for?"

She instantly snapped forward and took it from his hands, flipping it open, searching frantically for something. "oh n-no…" Madeline flipped through the pages again, feeling panic fill her system.

The boy watched her freak out with fascination, "What's the matter?"

The strawberry blonde girl glanced up at him, "I-its just…I lost…a-a paper…"

"A paper?" Alfred glanced down the hall, "like that one," he pointed to a lone sheet of paper. She grew flustered again and started towards it urgently.

But, he wouldn't let a cute girl like Maddie get away from Alfred without teasing her in some way. Thus before she knew it Alfred was sweeping by her, reaching down and scooping up the paper, smiling victoriously as he held it in front of her.

Unfortunately, before she could grab it back she realized the back of the page was to her. Meaning, the picture was in the boy's view…

Maddie snatched away the page and whipped around, trying to run away before he could say something. "WAIT!" Alfred called, "You're the mystery artist!"

She turned red with embarrassment of being discovered and rage, either way, she couldn't help but run as fast as she could away from him.

9. Mysteries

Why was he one of the few that actually saw her? How did he see her in the first place? Why exactly did he love her when he was so loud and happy, but she was quiet and so reserved? How did he still love her even though people always thought they were siblings? Some even mistook her as him! The questions drove her mad at night, causing her to wake up and run to the bathroom to stare at the mirror. To ask herself why?

Why did he stay with her even though Kumajiro once ate his candy stash? Why did he stay with her even when England admitted she liked him? Surely anyone would confirm that England was much prettier than Madeline. After all, Alice Kirkland had such beautiful straight, long hair. Madeline's was shoulder length and wavy. Alice had flawless skin. Madeline had several cuts on her arms from fights with people that hated Alfred and mistook her for him. Alice had a wonderful tan. Madeline still had burns from the last time she tried to tan. Alice had great curves. Madeline's curves were more none existent than simply hidden under a sweat shirt.

She was so weird anyway, she liked hockey, snow, ice and Alfred hated all those things. Why did he love her so much?

Alfred smiled from behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her against him. "I love you because you're Madeline Williams. The most beautiful, wonderful snow princess I know." He smiled into her shoulder as she blushed and leaned into his arms, accepting that as an answer to her doubts.

10. Nightmares

Maddie padded across the room and hugged Kumajiro against her chest. As she approached the bed, she hesitated before poking Alfred. "h-hey…A-Al…w-wake up…" The man stirred in his sleep and sat up, blinking at the girl beside his bed.

"What is it, Mads?" He asked voice thick with sleep.

She blushed and glanced down at Kumajiro, "C-could I sleep in your bed tonight?" The girl blushed deeper as she admitted, "T-the game we p-played gave me a n-nightmare…"

A smile weaseled its way onto Alfred's features as he scooted over and opened the blankets to allow the shy girl to crawl in beside him.