ZaphiraX: I know I haven't written in quite a while. Here's the story. I moved away. I finally moved away with my mum. Dad helped me pack my stuff and put it into my new room. The problem is, the stairs don't have carpet or anything with grip. I was done moving my stuff, but I slipped and fell of the stairs, AGAIN. I broke my fingers. AGAIN. And the worst part is that my fingers weren't completely healed to begin with. I'm so stupid. I'm going to search for someone who can write my stories for me. I'm sure one of my friends has the time and will to help me…

Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia or any of the characters (though I'd love to have England or America)

Chapter 1: Eyes meet

King Kirkland sits at the grand table, surrounded by his children. King Kirkland has four sons and two girls. His eldest child and son is Patrick. The second son is Dylan. Third son and first daughter are Aednat and Bryn, the twins. Second daughter is Alice and the fourth son is Peter.

They are dining, but the king suddenly stops eating and softly hits his glass a few times with a tiny spoon.

'My children, I have wonderful news. Soon, we will have a new alliance. I am going to make a contract with the king of France.'

All the children are puzzled and stare at each other in shock.

The king clears his throat and everyone looks back at the king. 'Of course, that is not easy. We don't really like the French, and they don't like us either. However, they have offered us their prince. We have no choice but to accept. I do not wish for another war.'

'But father, I refuse to marry a frog. Anything but that.' Aednat yells at her father.

'Don't worry, Aednat, for I wasn't thinking about you when they offered their prince.' The king says and everyone looks at Alice, who looks back at her father.

Alice stares at her father with utter shock on her face. 'No. Not me. You've got to be kidding me. Why do I have to marry the son of the enemy? I understand that you don't want any more people to die, but why do I have to suffer instead?'

'Enough, Alice. You will listen to me. The prince arrives tomorrow. Be sure to wear your best dress and look perfect. I chose you because the prince is around your age.'

'But father, there are more men around my age. Why does it have to be the French prince?' Alice is on the verge of tears.

'Because all those other men are peasants.' Now the king is angry. 'I will never allow one of my daughters to marry a peasant. The same goes for my boys. I won't have a single peasant in my castle, other than the servants and maids. Now everyone leave this room. I am in a bad mood.'

All the princes and Princesses are walking through the halls towards their rooms.

'Good job, Alice.' Dylan starts. 'Now dad is angry at ALL of us. Can't you just accept your faith?'

'I wonder how you would behave if you had to marry the French prince.' Alice spat back. 'Haven't you heard the rumours? He's a male whore. He sleeps with anything on legs and he's using tax money in shameless ways.'

All the siblings stop walking except for Alice. She walks a few steps and then turns around with a puzzled face. All the others are staring at her in shock.

'He does?' Patrick is the first who asks

Bryn and Aednat look at each other. Peter slips between his older brothers and sister.

'What is a whore?'

Everyone looks at the youngest with shock. Alice and Aednat are the first to recover, trying to protect their younger brother's innocence.

'You see, Peter… a whore is… ehhhhh…' Aednat starts. 'A man who likes a lot of women at the same time.' Alice covers her sister.

'It's a man who wants to wants to marry a lot of women, but not because he loves them. Only because he thinks they are beautiful.'

Peter looks at Alice in utter shock. 'Don't you love the person you ask to marry? Why does he want to marry you when he doesn't love you? That's mean. Than both of you will never be happy. Don't marry him. Please. I want sister to be happy.'

Alice walks back towards her younger brother with tears in her eyes. 'I'd love to stop the marriage, Peter. But father gives me no choice. Thank you Peter. I love you.' She hugs him before she walks away to her room.

Once inside, she closes the door and starts to cry. She hears a faint knock, so she opens the door while wiping her tears, but they just keep rolling. A maid walks in with short black hair and brown eyes. The maid wraps her arms around Alice and tries to soothe her.

'Oh, Sakura. What am I going to do? I have to marry the prince of France, but both you and I know he is no decent man.' Alice says as she sits down on her bed with Sakura. The maid rubs Alice's back.

'I am sure you will find the answer, Alice. You are so smart, even though you never give yourself credit for it. You will find the answer. If you can't find it today, you will find it tomorrow. I am sure of it.'

The next day:

The king is waiting outside the castle. Alice is standing next to him, while her siblings are standing in a line behind her. Alice is wearing a long green dress. It's a simple dress with flower patterns on it in lighter green. The dress is tight around the upper body, so you can see her curves.

The carriage stops in front of the king and Alice. The carriage opens and a prince with half long blond hair, a little beard and sparkling blue eyes steps out of it. The prince wears clothes the French nobles wear, which leaves the Kirkland family shocked.

'Is it just me, or is that prince wearing purple tights?' Peter whispers to his siblings, who start to snicker.

The king turns around. 'Don't laugh. That's not polite. And no, Peter. He is not wearing tights. Those are socks. They are just a bit longer than that we are used to.'

All of them fall silent, but can't take their eyes from the flamboyant person. The prince walks towards Alice, lifts her hand and presses a kiss on it. Alice flinches as the beard scratches her hand. The prince goes on as if nothing happened. 'My name is Francis Bonnefoy. It iz a pleasure to meet you, miss…'

'Alice. My name is Alice Kirkland.' Alice says as she tries to stare at the man's eyes instead of the big black hat on his head.

The prince wears a long mint green trench coat and underneath is a dress? No, but he isn't wearing trousers, is he? He has his hair in a low ponytail, held together with a pink ribbon. On his head is a big black hat with white feathers on it. He wears long purple socks and brown boots. ( www. Zero chan 1383362)

Even the king starts doubting his choice, but welcomes the prince. He sends away his children who are to wait in the dining room. All children sit at the table and start talking. Alice begins.

'Is it just me or is anyone else also doubting his gender. He was wearing a skirt if I'm not mistaken.'

Aednat starts laughing. 'He looks like a girl with that long hair. I mean, he wears a PINK ribbon in his hair. It's horrible.'

'I can't believe my beloved sister has to marry a man that dresses up like a woman.' Peter says with utter shock.

'This is ridiculous. Don't the French have any shame? Wearing dresses and ribbons. Those are meant for women.' Dylan says while shaking his head.

'Alice, ye might want to talk about this with father. This ain't normal. Ye can't call that a man.' Patrick says with worry in his voice. Alice nods and doesn't talk anymore.

The other siblings are laughing while Patrick and Alice are silent and sad. Everyone shuts up when the king enters the room. He guides Francis to his place on the table and then sits down on his own chair. Patrick first looks at Alice, who just looks down sadly and then to his father, who is smiling and ordering for the feast to start. All kinds of food are put on the table and the family starts to eat.

'Father, are ye serious about this?' Patrick asks when everyone is busy eating and talking. His father looks his way.

'What do you mean? With this, we don't have to fight anymore. We are saving a lot of lives and a lot of money. What is it that doesn't satisfy you?'

Patrick gets a little angry at the mention of money, but calms himself when he starts talking again. 'That frog looks like a girl, no matter how ye look at it. He's wearin' a frickin' dress, for gods sakes.'

'Patrick.' The king gets angry and everyone falls silent. 'If you do not agree with me, then go to your room. We will have this conversation later.'

Patrick looks at Alice. Alice understands and nods. 'Then I will take my leave as well, father. I have the same opinion as Patrick. This is ridiculous. I will hereby excuse myself.' Patrick and Alice walk away together. The king tries to say something, but they are already gone.

Francis looks at the rest of the family. The king is angry, but the rest of the family is smiling. 'excuse me, but what iz zo funny? And what does Alice agree with? She was sitting too far away to hear, Non?'

Aednat and Bryn look at Francis, then at each other. 'It's about something we were talking about before you entered this room, your majesty. You don't have to worry about it.

While in the hallway

'Thank you Patrick. I thought you only want to see me in misery, but it seems I am mistaken.' Alice says while walking towards Patrick's room.

Patrick smiles. 'I just love teasin' ya. But this ain't teasin'. This is punishment. I don't know what ye did to make father so furious but it ain't good.' Patrick turns serious. The two keep on walking and soon arrive at Patrick's room. They enter the room and sit down on some chairs. They talk about Francis, the king and how to solve this mess.

The king enters after ending dinner with the rest of his family and Francis. A maid will show him his room. He opens the door violently. 'What are you two thinking. Are you trying to embarrass me? How dare you talk like that about our guest.'

Alice stands up from her chair. 'I could ask perfectly the same. Are you trying to embarrass me? Have you seen the clothes that frog wears? Give him a more feminine face and it's a princess. I will never marry a man like that. Not until he learns what trousers are.'

The king walks forward and raises his hand. Alice closes her eyes for the impact... but she doesn't get hit. Patrick caught the king's hand. The king is struggling, but gives up when he decides Patrick is stronger after all.

'Go to your room and don't come out until I tell you so.' The king says with fury in his voice. Both of them got a little scared and Alice runs towards her room. 'And you.' The king now points to Patrick. 'I don't want to hear anything from you, you hear me! One more mistake and Dylan will be the next king.'

Patrick watches with utter shock how his father walks out of his room. He will lose his place on the throne. He will be kicked out of the family. "What will I choose? My family or my sister?"

Alice takes a chair and puts it right next to the window. She sits down and looks outside. There is a forest next to the castle. It's a tiny one though. You can see the village that's next to the forest clearly from her tower. Alice's room is in the top of the tower. She looks down and watches the market and people walk around on the village square. She wishes that she could exit the castle and enter the village. To see other people instead of her family and that ugly prince. She asked Sakura what it's like down there. Sakura wasn't very enthusiastic, but then again, she lives there.

Some villagers enter the woods to hunt for boars or rabbits. The castle is surrounded by a channel, then you have a few feet grass and then starts the forest. The water in the channel is clean, so many hunters go to the channel to refresh themselves before they head home. There aren't many men who hunt. Alice knows the faces by now. She guesses about 5 hunters who are good enough to hit something.

Alice looks down and today, another hunter is washing his face. This time, however, Alice doesn't recognise the face. The male is on his knees and splashes the water in his face. He took off his shirt. Alice notices that the man is very muscled and has a tan. The man takes the shirt to wipe his face. He looks up to the castle as he pulls on his shirt. Alice now sees that the man has honey blonde hair and the most beautiful blue eyes. He then pulls some glasses from the bag next to him.

"So he wears glasses. Does he hunt? You can't hunt when you wear glasses, can you? Is he going back already. He sure has beautiful eyes. They are blue like the sky. They seem so free. I'm jealous. I wish I was free like him. Wait a second, does he see me. Ah, now he's smiling. Maybe I should wave?"

Alice waves with a curious look. When the man waves back, she starts to blush and walk away to her desk. She sits down and pulls out an empty notebook. She takes out a quill and some ink and starts writing.

Unknown man.

He has blonde hair and blue eyes like the sky. He is well muscled and has a tan. That only means that he works a lot and that he gets to work in the sun. He wears glasses. I saw him washing his face. He is pretty handsome. (at that, she blushes again.)He saw me staring at him, because when I waved, he waved back.

She closes the notebook, puts down her quill and looks back outside. The man is still there. Their eyes lock and suddenly, Alice can't look away. The man seems to have the same problem, because he doesn't move an inch. Somebody knocks hard on Alice's door. Alice looks back and then hear someone yell 'ALFRED.' She turns around and sees that the man looks away and starts entering the forest.

She turns around and sees Francis enter the room. He has a sly smile on his face as he walks towards her. 'Alice. My lady.' He says while bowing.

'My lord.' Alice says and bows. she slowly walks back as Francis comes closer.

'No need to fear me, My lady.' Francis says with that same terrifying smile. 'You will be mine anyway.' He says and grabs one of her wrists. Alice starts to pull her wrist free, but Francis has a strong grip. He pulls her towards him and forces her to kiss him. Alice's eyes widen in shock and she starts to struggle even more.

Francis laughs. 'Normally, girls would kill to even touch me. You , girl, have a very bad taste in men if you do not want me.' He throws her on her bed and pins her to the matrass. 'I can't believe the foolish king agreed to this marriage. He is a fool indeed.'

Francis' hand starts to slip under Alice's skirt and she starts to panic and struggle even more. 'No, don't touch me.' His hand gets close to her thigh, but she kicks him between the legs. Hard.

Francis holds his manhood with two hands as he whimpers in pain. Alice takes her notebook, quill and ink and puts them in a bag. She wants to exit the room, but looks back one last time before she leaves her room. 'I hope you will never be able to use it again.' She sneers, before she runs away.

She goes to the kitchen, where Sakura is working right now. She calls out to the maid, who happily follows her out of the kitchen. 'Can I help you, miss?'

'Yes.' Alice answers. 'Can I borrow your cloak? The guards will think I am you and let me pass.'

Sakura looks at her princess with shock. 'You want to reave the palace? Why? Never mind why, no, you can't. what if something happens? I will be held responsible.' Sakura is Japanese. She lives in the United kingdom for a very long time, but she sometimes still has some difficulty with the L's.

'Don't worry, Sakura. I won't go far. I won't go past the forest. I just want to go outside for a little while. I feel caged up in here. Besides, I can't go back to my room. I was assaulted by that frog.'

Sakura's eyes slowly got smaller as Alice explained, but were wide again when she heard about the prince. 'What! You should tell the king. You can't ret something like that happen to you.'

'Can't you tell for me. You can say I ran away in tears and that you weren't able to catch up to me, so that you ran to my father.' Alice says with a smile.

Sakura sighs as she gives Alice her cloak. 'You'll be the death of me someday.'

Alice puts on the cloak and leaves the castle. She looks around and eventually finds the place "Alfred" was washing his face. she sits down on a big rock near the spot and takes out her stuff and writes "Alfred" with beautiful letters next to "unknown man". She then rips out an empty page and closes her notebook. She puts the page onto the notebook and starts writing a letter.

Dear Alfred?

I guess that is your name, because I heard someone call you. I noticed you when you were washing your face. Are you a hunter? Do you live in the village? What kind of work do you do? Are there many people in the village? Are all the people in the village nice? I only know Sakura, because she is my maid. She is nice. She knows how to cheer me up and sometimes let me out of the castle.

I'm so sorry to ask you all these questions, but I am so curious. I said to much about myself, so I think you can already guess who I am. My name is Alice Kirkland. Yes, I am the second princess. I am always locked up in the castle because my father thinks I will break as soon as I step outside of the castle. I hate it.

I wanted to ask other men, but the hunters who sometimes pass this place seem so scary. They have these huge scars and they always frown. Some have guns with them, which makes them even scarier. You don't seem scary at all. You look like a very friendly person. Else I wouldn't be writing this letter. I will leave my quill and my ink behind, so you can write a reply on the back of this letter if you like.

Yours Truthfully, Alice

Alice looks at the letter and then crumples it. Why would she write a letter to a total stranger? She takes her bag and puts her notebook in it. She wants to pick up the quill and ink, but she hears sounds in the woods. She runs away with her bag, leaving behind her quill, ink and a crumpled letter.

Alice enters the castle and takes of her cloak. She enters her room, only to find her Father, Francis and Sakura in there. Talking to each other. Sakura is the first one in the room to notice her and pushes her out of the room while the other two don't notice her yet.

'What's going on? Why is father in my room, together with that slimy..'

'Alice, this is not going as we planned. The king thinks I'm rying. The prince is now using his puppy eyes to convince him that he is innocent.' Sakura says, interrupting Alice.

'What? I will give father a piece of my mind. Here is your cloak, Sakura.' Alice gives Sakura her cloak back and enters the room. This time, both notice her come walking her way. 'Don't come near me. I don't care you are a prince. You will not touch me, you revolting…

'ALICE.' The king is interrupts her. 'Don't talk to royals like that. I raised you better than that. I know that you are angry because you have to marry the prince of the enemy, but you have no choice. Do you think prince Francis wants to marry the princess of the enemy? No, but at least he doesn't complain.'

'Father.' Alice begins kind. 'You have raised me very well. I know all the etiquette. I know how to walk the proper way, how to bow the proper way, how to eat, how to speak, how to sleep.' She is slowly getting angrier. 'You have raised me very well. He is the one who hasn't had the proper instruction. He forced me to kiss him and he pinned me on my bed. He even ran his hand up my skirt.'

Francis winches at her voice and the king's eyes widen in shock. The king turns to Francis, who looks away with his hands behind his back. 'This time, I will give you a warning. However, the next time you try and pull something with my daughter, I will have your head. Don't forget you are on enemy territory as long as the two of you aren't married yet.'

Francis turns serious and bows before the king. The king and the prince leave the room. Alice closes the door to her room and locks it. She puts the key on her desk and sits down on the chair next to her window. She stares outside with a bored expression.

Alfred is hunting in the woods. Matthew, his twin brother, asked if he could catch something for dinner. He doesn't mind. He thinks the woods are always somehow calming and he loves to walk around here. It's dangerous, because there are other hunters, but he's not scared. All they're aiming for are wild animals, right?

he keeps walking through the forest until he arrives at a castle. he stops at the channel and notices that the water is clear. He's been walking around for a long time, so decides that it's time to refresh himself. He throws of his shirt and kneels down. He takes of his glasses and puts them into the bag he carries with him. Inside are ropes and a knife to make traps or cut down caught animals. He turns back to the water and washes his upper body and his face.

He uses his shirt to dry his face and looks up. He never saw the castle before from this close. He takes a good look at the castle, until he suddenly sees a girl. She sits next to her window and is staring down at him. He puts on his shirt and glasses.

"She isn't looking at me, right? It only looks that way. It's too much of a coincidence that she notices me" Alfred thinks as he stares and smiles at the girl. Then suddenly, the girl waves at him. He doesn't think about it and just waves back. She walks away and Alfred swears he saw a little blush before she went back to her room.

"No way. She actually saw me?" Alfred thinks as he blushes. She then comes back and before he knew it, their eyes were locked. "Wow. She has really beautiful eyes. They're so green. They're like emeralds." Was all Alfred could think.

He wanted to look at her mesmerizing eyes longer, but from the forest someone screams his name. 'ALFRED.' Alfred looks back. "That was Matthew." He thinks dryly. "What a nice way to ruin the moment." He looks back, but the girl is already gone.

He walks towards his brother. Matthew was standing at the beginning of the forest. 'Alfred, what took you so long? I thought you would only check the traps?'

Alfred sighs. He just can't get the girl from his mind. 'Sorry Matt. We didn't get anything. The traps I checked were empty and like the way I left them a few days ago. There are still a few traps I have to check though.'

'I was starting to wonder where you were.' Matthew says as the two of them walk back home.

Matthew and Alfred are soldiers. Their parents died when they were pretty young. They couldn't get any other job, so after some training, they were allowed to become soldiers. Great Britain has been at war with France for a long time, so they have more than enough money for clothes, food and any other thing they want.

The two talk as they walk back home. 'Matthew, why did you call me when I was in the forest?' Alfred finally asks. 'Were you that lonely at home?'

Matthew blushes. 'No, I wasn't lonely. I just wanted to tell you that we got a message from the king. It seems the French prince is going to be engaged to one of the princesses. The king doesn't trust the French so if something happens, we are allowed to slit his throat.'

Alfred looks at his brother with shock. 'Seriously. Doesn't that mean we'll start another war with France?' Matthew shakes his head.

'The king warned the French king. He knows that the king has given all his soldiers the order that they are allowed to cut down the prince if the order is given. The French say that they are willing to take big risks if it prevents war. It seems that we are not the only ones with money problems.'

Alfred whistles. 'They never gave that order before. They are really serious about this. The prince better watch his steps then. One misstep and I'll personally cut him down. By the way, did they tell you which princess is the unlucky girl?'

Matthew nods. 'The marriage is between the prince and the second princess, Alice.'

Alfred thinks back about the girl he saw in the castle. The way she was dressed, that wasn't a maid. The girl had long blonde hair and green eyes that glowed like emeralds in the light. 'Hey dude. I forgot something back in the forest. Be right back.'

Alfred runs back to the forest. He keeps running until he is back at the place where he saw the girl. He keeps staring at the window, but gives up on seeing her after a little while. He wants to turn back, but sees a quill, ink and some paper near a big rock. He picks up the crumpled paper and reads it. He smiles and picks up the quill and ink.

Dear Alice,

Yes, my name is Alfred. The one that called me was my twin, Matthew. Let me answer some of your questions. No, I am not a hunter. I am a soldier. I do hunt sometimes though. I don't use a gun because of my imperfect vision. I put traps here and there, so you might want to watch it if you enter the woods.

I live in the village and there live many people here. Most people are nice. There are a few that are grumpy, but that's all. There is no need to be scared of the hunters by the way, they only frown because they don't have any luck. I, on the other hand… never mind, I don't have any luck either. I have more luck than they though.

Are you the princess that is chosen to marry the French prince? I heard nothing but bad things about that guy. Everyone in the village are talking about it. Doesn't your father know about the rumours? You can leave a letter or talk to me if you want to. It's nice when you have someone to talk to when you're feeling bad. Think about it.

Alfred.

Alfred reads his letter a few times and frowns. Why would a princess want to talk to him about her problems? She probably thinks he's crazy. Alfred thinks back to the time when his parents died. It hurt so much, but it helped when he could talk about it with someone. He didn't only talk about it with Matthew, but also with people who knew his parents. They didn't mind talking about his parents. It was a big relief for both of them to know that there were people they could talk to and who would understand them, even if it was only a little bit. Alfred wants to become a person like that for the lonely princess up high in her tower.

Alfred folds the letter and puts it back where he found it. He lays the quill and the ink beside it. Alfred threw one last glance at the window when he thought he heard someone scream 'ALICE'. He walks back into the forest and catches one last glimpse of the princess as he walks home.

ZaphiraX: I know. I should finish my other stories first, but I found someone who's willing to help me. She said that she would help me if I wrote her request. Which is this story. She will help me finish the other stories when this one is finished.

Sephie: Sorry everyone. I promise to finish all the other stories once this one is finished. I know I'm egoistic, because I'm putting my story first, but we got so much inspiration for this story. We can't wait around to write that down. We will forget if we don't put it into words.