Very special thanks to the amazing and wonderful melovesanimeforever (love that name! And your pic!) for being the first person to review this story and my fist ever reviewer! You have no idea how much that means to me. You're the only reason I continued. Anyway, I named this chapter 'Oleander' because it means 'caution.' R & R people! Enjoy!
Chapter 2: Oleander
After she had introduced herself and the other Allies and explained away America's absence, England learned the whole story. Her 'other self' "-just call me Liv, Poppet~!-" had been dared by France's other self, Jean to use her magic to open a portal to another world, just to prove she could. Apparently the countries from her world believed she had magic, they were just a little sceptical about her ability to control it.
Arthurine shot a glare at Francis, "what?" He asked as Olivia chattered to the countries from her dimension and Yao and Ivan murmured to each other in Russian.
The blonde female sniffed and turned away from Francis, "her France believed she had magic." She said, folding her arms.
A brief smile flitted over France's face. "I was wrong alright? I am sorry Angleterra."
Britain glared, "you'd better be! I remember when-" She broke off. She'd nearly said, 'I remember when you told me that only evil, corrupt monsters had magic,' but luckily she stopped herself just in time. That particular fight, though many hundreds of years old, was still a sore spot for both of them. England bit her tongue and sniffed again.
Luckily France wasn't paying that much attention to her; he was watching the 'other' nations. "They really do look just like us. Don't they ma cherie?" He murmured.
"Of course they do you dolt! They're another version of us! And don't call me that! I'm not 'your' anything you bloody Frog!"
"Aww!" Olivia came out of no-where and hugged her other self, "you are so cute when you snap and snarl like that!"
"Isn't she!" France agreed obnoxiously as Arthurine fought her other self off.
Britain brushed off the knee-length skirt of her pale blue 18th-century style dress once she'd managed to make Olivia let go of her. "Well, until Olivia and I figure out how to get you all back where you came from you'll all stay with this world's version of yourself. Tell no one about your coming here; we don't need any unnecessary trouble."
Yue Chung, the 'other' China, glared at Arthurine from where she was seated on the floor. "Why? Who're you to be giving the orders Gongzhu?" She demanded. Arthurine didn't back down. China might be a world power now but England hadn't been afraid of her when they'd met and she wasn't afraid of her now. Especially not this 'China.'
"I'm the reason you are the way you are now, and if you cross me I'll kick your ass now just like I did back then. I don't care how powerful you think you are." Arthurine said bluntly.
Olivia smiled sheepishly, "my bad." When Jean rolled his eyes at her she shrugged defensively, "how was I supposed to know she'd become this addicted to it?"
Yue's head jerked up, "addicted to it? Addicted to WHAT?! I'm not addicted to anything! Bug off!" Then her eyelids fluttered and her head lolled to the side, "damn I'm tripping out." She murmured. Vadim nudged her tentatively then jumped away when she jerked upright again.
Arthurine rolled her eyes. She was glad Yao had enough good sense not to turn out like that.
"Everyone just take your other self home. I'll call you when I know something." England promised.
Yao, Ivan and Vadim, carrying Yue Chung, went one way as they would all be travelling home together. Arthurine, Francis and their other selves went the other.
They were in England now and the blonde's house was not far from the place the meeting had been held. They were all silent on the ride back to England's house, except for one request from Jean for Olivia to stop bouncing in her chair. Pouting, she complied.
Arthurine sat in the back between Jean and Francis and noticed Jean shift his legs to the left so her skirt wouldn't touch him. He then hurriedly pulled his left leg in so it wasn't touching Olivia's skirt either. He pulled his elbows in and hunched his shoulders, making sure not to touch the two females on either side of him.
Olivia didn't seem to be bothered by proximity and ruined his efforts by snuggling up beside him, wrapping both of her arms around one of his and ignoring Jean's repeated efforts to shrug her off.
Eventually he gave up and just sat there looking uncomfortable; this seemed to be nothing uncommon for him though so Arthurine and Francis left him as he was. Olivia released a contented sigh and rested her head against Jean's arm. She pulled her feet up underneath her and shut her eyes, humming slightly.
Jean reached down with tentative fingers to ever so slightly touch her pink locks. His fingers came into contact with short, soft, silky-looking strands. He looked slightly disgusted. Arthurine snickered silently; she'd kill to have her France be that conscious of personal space.
The ride was short, all four of them jumped out of the car as the driver went to park.
Olivia looked up at Arthurine's mansion. A huge, pristine white building with a large grey fountain with sparkling blue water out the front. The endless driveway wrapped around the fountain and ended at the front steps. Flowers grew right next to the house in orderly rows and on either side of the driveway were acres of endless green lawn. Out the back of the house where no-one could see Arthurine had mounds of rosebushes and other flowers as well as endless trees of every kind growing wild and free the way she liked them. But the front of her house was neat and pristine and orderly.
Olivia wrinkled her nose, "your house is a little boring don't you think luv?" She asked her blonde self. "My house is bright pink! And my fountain is yellow! With pink water! And my grass is orange!"
"And you still wonder why I don't visit." Jean muttered, Olivia ignored him. She seemed to have selective hearing.
"How on earth did you manage to make your water pink and your grass orange?" Francis asked Olivia, smiling.
She beamed back at him, "with magic of course!"
"Yes France. With magic. Because she can do that. Just like me." Arthurine said, folding her arms and glaring at her France. Jean snickered.
Francis smiled and rolled his eyes, "I said I was sorry mon amour." He said, wrapping an arm around England's waist.
She elbowed him in the ribs, "back off you bloody Frog, like I said before, I'm not 'your' anything!" France groaned melodramatically and released her.
"Aww!" Olivia looked disappointed, "I'd give anything for my France to call me 'my love'." She clasped her hands together and batted her long eyelashes at Jean.
"Don't hold your breath." He advised.
Francis winced, poor thing. He glanced at Olivia and saw the flash of genuine hurt and disappointment pass through her eyes, fast as lightning. The moment after the sad look was there, it was gone and Olivia plastered her usual smile back on her face.
She loves him. France realized. This was interesting; their England loved their France while he obviously didn't care for her at all. While in Francis's world he loved Arthurine and was perfectly aware that she had eyes only for Alfred. He wondered how Olivia felt about her America.
Arthurine had been watching Olivia, by chance; when Jean told her that he wasn't going to call her his love any time soon. The blonde female thought she saw a look of disappointment and hurt flash through Olivia's watery-blue eyes. But it was only there for a split-second so Arthurine couldn't be sure.
She unlocked the door and allowed the other three nations into her house. They all stepped inside.
Francis didn't say anything; he'd seen it all before.
Olivia bounced inside and twirled around, "there's so much space! Imagine what you could do with all of this! You could put in a pool table! Or a game centre! Or a dissection table like I did!"
"Err, no thank you." Arthurine said delicately, Olivia was kidding about the dissection table, right?
Jean whistled, "Not bad." He glared at her, "that's the highest compliment you'll ever get from me, understand?"
"I don't care." Arthurine told him truthfully.
Olivia stopped spinning, "you've never told me my house 'wasn't bad'." She said, troubled.
"And considering your interior is a frankly alarming shade of pink, I probably never will." Jean said honestly.
Jerk, Arthurine thought. He was as bad as Francis with her scones. It might be true, but there was no need for Jean to stomp all over Olivia's hopes and dreams.
Between Arthurine and Francis that conversation would have been enough to start a fight on a good day but Olivia just shrugged. "Guess I'll have to try harder then." She said and continued spinning.
Arthurine cleared her throat, "I was thinking that it would be too much of a bother to keep an eye on the two of you separately. And I'm sure the two of you would like to keep the company of someone you know so you can both stay here with me if you'd like."
"Yay!" Olivia grabbed Jean's arm and hugged it tightly, "we can stay together!"
Jean looked from the flowery blond Frenchman opposite him and the pinkette clinging to his arm, who would he rather put up with? With a mental shrug he decided putting up with Olivia was probably the less of the two evils. Better the Devil you know, Jean thought. And he did mean Devil. He nodded at Arthurine wordlessly.
"Alright then," she turned to her France, "you can go home if you want to." She told him.
"Can I stay here too?" He asked.
England shrugged and nodded, one more person to watch these two, she figured.
"Now then I-"
Whatever she'd been about to say the other three never found out. At that exact moment the door burst open and a blond whirlwind named Alfred. F. Jones zoomed in. "Britain! Baby! Guess what?! I got out of my meetings early!" America whooped, ecstatic to be out of those boring meeting rooms at last.
He ran straight to Arthurine, not even seeing France and the two otherworlders. He picked her up as easily as if she were a doll and swung her around, ignoring her protests. Only when he had set her on her feet and turned to greet France (who he apparently had noticed after all) did he spot the two newcomers.
"Hi guys! I'm Alfr-" he stopped abruptly as he took his first good look at the two.
Olivia smiled and waved, Jean just glared.
America looked from the two of them to England and France, then back again, confused.
Arthurine sighed; she needed a cup of tea. "Come on into the sitting room Alfred and I'll explain."
Make that several cups of tea.
Next up; the Russia's, China's and ? Hope you enjoyed!
