Ivan looks on wishing he could help me, but he isn't very good in these kinds of situations. He looks to Matthew in hopes that he would know how to handle the situation. Matthew helps me up and comforts me.

"I know it is shocking to learn countries are personified and that you are one t…" he starts but I cut him off with the shake of my head.

"It's not that. That I am fine with. Hell I am talking to two of the places I want to go!" I laugh. "I always planned on traveling to Canada first, you know. Closest to home. I love the world and I want to see it all, and hated that we can't see it all due to not enough time. Countries being people is the coolest thing ever!" I smile at him.

"Well that isn't a reaction I've ever had before," Matthew muses. Ivan stares shocked at that declaration. "What's wrong then?"

"Turns out I am one too. They never told me. I used to be a country…" I say and can't continue because what do you say? I have flashes of memory and no clue who I am now.

"You… used… to be…?" Matthew says and stares at me shocked.

"Turns out I dissolved 44 years ago."

"Maybe she is like Gilbert?" Ivan wonders. Matthew just slowly nods his head. The next thing I know Matthew and Ivan are hugging me and I feel hands over mine. I look at them and Matthew is trying to pry my fingers off of my coin. I realize then that I had gripped it so hard my fingers were bleeding.

"Hey, it's ok!" Matthew tells me. He looks at my hands and then goes out for a moment, leaving me with Ivan. He holds me again and looks at me.

"If you are a country, then you can be seeing the world, da? We don't grow old so you have all the time you want for traveling!" I look at him and nod. Matthew returns with paper towels and takes the bottle of vodka I had been drinking.

"What are you doing, Matthe.." I ask then wince when he pours a bit on my hands to clean the wounds. Ivan makes a pained noise, but not because it looks painful; he is thinking what I am thinking. "Matthew! That's a waste of perfectly good alcohol!"

"I don't care. Why were you gripping that coin so tight in the first place?" he asks me and I just stare.

"It's a stress thing, I guess. I've always done it."

"Well, it can't be good for you if you hurt yourself!" he exclaims. He grabs the coin to wipe off the blood. "What kind of coin is this anyhow?" Ivan walks over and hugs Matthew from behind and looks at the coin as well.

"No coin I have ever seen. What is a 'Celeston'?" Ivan muses. Matthew giggles as he hands me the coin back.

"I don't know, Ivan, but it sounds like a fancy tuna brand!" I snatch the coin back as they laugh and put the leather cord back around my neck. The familiar coolness of the coin on my skin soothes me a bit.

"It's not funny!" I snap at the two and the stop laughing and look at me shocked. I feel bad now and immediately apologize. "Sorry! I don't know why that irritated me so much." Ivan looks at me and then tilts his head.

"If you do not remember being a country, maybe it is your currency, da?" Matthew turns to him and smiles.

"Hey! You might be right!" he exclaims and pulls out his phone. "How is that spelled?" Ivan recites the letters from the coin and then Matthew holds out his phone proudly. "It is!" Sure enough there on his phone is a Wikipedia page and sitting proudly on it is my coin.

"Well, I'll be damned," I say in awe. I take his phone gently and read the wiki article that is apparently about me. I focus on the short article and can faintly hear Matthew and Ivan talking to each other.

"I am thinking we should introduce her to Gilbert, da?" Ivan chuckles. "It may be doing him some good as well as her." Matthew throws his arms around him and kisses him deeply.

"This is why I love you; you always have the best ideas!" Matthew starts then goes slightly sad. "However, you know my history with him…"

"He will not be trying anything, if he does I have the solution," Ivan says. Matthew knows he is referring to the pipe he carries everywhere. Matthew just shakes his head in disbelief and looks at me.

"Are you ok?" he asks me when he notices that I am just sitting there. He gets closer and sees I am shaking, have taken hold of the coin, and completely freaking out. He takes his phone back and sees that I was reading about myself. "You got some memories back, didn't you?"

"No is not the time, Matthew," Ivan says pulling him back. The Russian knows a thing or two about bad memories and hands me the bottle of vodka that was half empty. "Here, it does help some." He pulls back when I don't take it and takes a step back. "She is still in her head…" he states and pulls Matthew into an embrace. "You may not want to watch."

"Why? What is happening?" Matthew asks and starts for me but is pulled back by Ivan.

"She is remembering, and by looks, not good things," he tells Matthew, and as if to prove his point I start to scream. Ivan holds Matthew away from me as I fall over in an attack that only I know about.

"Don't! Please don't! Stop!" I plead with the ghosts of my pasts. Tears stream down my face and I curl into a fetal position to protect myself from attackers that were no longer there. In my head I can remember each blow, kick, cut of the knife, and insult thrown my way. Matthew breaks away from Ivan and grabs hold of me and it shocks me back. I cling to him like a drowning man clings to his life raft and he slowly rocks me back and forth. Once I have calmed down some Ivan hands me the bottle again and I nearly inhale it. I thank God they don't question me; I don't want to talk about it.

"Celestia?" Matthew asks and I look to him. "How would you feel about meeting another country?"

"Prussia to be exact, da. He is like you, no longer a country," Ivan states. I jump at that.

"Wait, so there are others like me? I'm not going to disappear?" My mood instantly improves.

"Yes, and we wouldn't let you disappear!" Matthew states nervously. He doesn't have the heart to tell me Prussia was originally thought to be the only one in existence, and that was only thanks to his little yellow bird.

"When can we leave?" I practically yell. "I want to meet Prussia!"

"His name is Gilbert, and we can leave first thing tomorrow. How does that sound?" Matthew asks. I nod enthusiastically and then run off to tell my boss I was taking the night off; they had tried to get me to take a week off for a while now.

"Where are you going?" Matthew asks and I as I run off I yell an answer back.

"To use some vacation time!" When I come back, they had already left the room so I head outside and see them waiting with the coolest looking Mercedes-Benz I have ever seen.

"We are going to go to Matthew's place. I believe we should celebrate da?" Ivan says and we all get in.

"Yes! Party time!" I exclaim, hoping to get some more of that badass vodka. We ride for about five minutes before pulling up at a modest house. "I didn't know you lived in America!"

"It's a vacation home," Matthew blushes. Ivan runs in before we even get out of the car.

"What's his problem?" I ask. Matthew just shakes his head and shrugs. When we get in, Ivan holds out a glass of what looks like maple syrup. I ask about it and sure enough, it is. "You really are Canadian!" I tell him and laugh as he drinks the entire glass. Ivan them slaps him on the back and smiles when Matthew coughs.

"You spiked this, didn't you?" Matthew asks in horror. "You know that bastard comes out when I am drunk!" I get confused to this statement. Little did I know in a few minutes I would meet said bastard.

"I was thinking you could handle it," Ivan smirks and hands me a bottle of vodka and I take it willingly.

"Yeah, Matthew. You can't be that bad," I begin but then notice his face has gone strange. "Hey, you ok?"

"Oui, mon petite lapin. Bonjour," he says and Ivan freaks out some.

"What are you talking about? Your little rabbit?" I ask confused. Ivan laughs nervously and looks to me.

"Remember how you said you were having the multiple personalities?" Ivan asks and I nod. "It is a country thing. Matthew has French and British personalities in him, and when he is drunk…" Ivan looks pointedly to the now French Canadian.

"So he gets like this if he is drunk? I can fix that!" I walk up to him as he turns to Ivan and starts to flirt with him. "Hey! Frenchie!"

"Oui, lapin?" he begins and I slap him. Next thing I know I hear a loud gasp and feel a hard blow to the head. All I see next is black.

When I wake up, I feel strange. I look around me and I am in an empty room and I hear a small laugh. Then I notice I can't move my body; yet my body is moving anyhow.

"Bonjour, mon cher!" I say. I realize that I have switched personalities and find myself shocked that I am French too. Ivan looks to me terrified and then looks at Matthew. I hold out my hand to him and ask, "Would you care for a dance?"

"Non! He is mine!" I hear and Matthew comes up to me angrily. "Mon petite lapin, I however, would love that dance." I take his hand and Ivan slaps it.

"Oh, ho! The hard to get game, no? Makes this fun!" I say and lean towards him. "However, I wish not to stand between two loves!" I take a small bow and turn to leave. "I have a nice black dress and a town to paint red, so I shall leave you to each other, no?"

I run and find the dress and change and then start to leave. I pop my head back in on them and find them kissing.

"Goodbye, you two! Do everything I would do!" I tell them and leave laughing. Once on the street I have no idea what to do. Then I think of the bar and remember that it does have a dance floor. French me laughs and runs to it, while inside I am screaming to be let go.