Ha ha, it seemed as though people thought France was gonna be the second Alice. Right, well thanks to SargentPepper64, Unknown'09, and Sarahbelle Saunders for reviewing on my last chapter! I would also like to thank Sarahbelle Saunders for making me think a little. I originally wasn't going to have the Dream be anyone, but then your review made me think, and I'm going to change what I originally planned. For the better. :D So, without a futher ado, I present the seond chapter!
Oh, and one of my friends brought it up so I should mention it: I don't have a beta reader, so sometimes I make mistakes in spelling and grammar and stuff, so please excuse me.
England
Arthur dropped the box on the ground with a huff and wiped his brow with a handkerchief. He had decided that today he would clean out his attic. While it was tedious work and he was covered in dust, England felt as though he was doing well. He glanced at the clock and noted that it was almost tea time. 'Well…I suppose it won't hurt to take a break early,' he thought.
Just before he started out of the attic, he heard a small shuffling noise and quiet snicker. Arthur glared and wondered how in the world someone had gotten in. He turned around quickly, but he couldn't see anyone. "…That better not be you, you frog," the Brit said, waiting for Francis or someone to come out. The air had suddenly gotten still and he waited for a few minutes for some sign of life. After about five minutes of standing still and listening for more sounds, Arthur relaxed and let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. 'I guess I was just imagining things,' he thought.
Then, he noticed that there was a pile of papers on an old chest. He didn't remember putting those there…England walked over swiftly and picked the papers up to see what they were. "Strange, it's just old sheet music," he mumbled while flipping through the papers. He noticed that they were covered in dust and little specks of red, but he didn't think much of it. "I wonder how they got here," he said. Arthur was quite positive that he hadn't put any sheet music on the chest. He was also pretty sure he'd never seen this particular piece before.
Suddenly, a raspy laugh filled the room causing England to tense. So there was someone here! "Who are you?" Arthur growled, ready to fight off the intruder. The laughing stopped and there was a slight pause. "I'm not really anyone…" the voice said with a slight hardness to it, almost as if was annoyed. "But, that's not important right now. What's important is that I know who you are. You're Alice," the voice said slyly and Arthur scoffed. "Alice?" He asked suspiciously. Obviously, whoever this was was off their rocker. "That's right. Alice. You belong in Wonderland, not here," the voice said and England scoffed again. "Alice in Wonderland?" Arthur asked with a roll of his eyes. That had been written by an Englishman, so he was well aware of that story.
The voice laughed again and the Brit glared. "It's kind of like that…in a way. You see, you're Alice, and you belong in Wonderland, not here," the voice said. Then, the door of an old wardrobe slowly swung open, catching Arthur by surprise. He couldn't see any magical creatures in the room, so it wasn't them. He would have said it was a draft, but the inside of the wardrobe was glowing and drafts usually didn't cause that to happen. With a mixture of curiosity and nervousness, Arthur slowly walked to the wardrobe and entered it.
The first thing Arthur noticed was that he was outside and under a pavilion. The second thing was that it smelled strangely like roses (which brought unpleasant memories of Francis). England looked around and realized that he was in a rose garden, which explained the smell. Then, a small child came running up to him, holding out the sheet music from before. He furrowed his brows at this and took them carefully while scrutinizing the child. Everything about her seemed normal, except that she was wearing a simple black masquerade mask and Arthur couldn't see her eyes at all. He glanced at the papers in his hand and noticed that he now had a blue diamond on the back of it. 'That's odd,' he thought idly to himself.
"Will you sing?" Arthur jumped slightly and looked back down to the girl. "Will you sing?" She asked again and England laughed nervously. "Ah, no. No, I can't really sing all that well and-," he stopped short of his explanation when he caught sight of the girl's face. She pouted cutely and her lip quivered and for a moment Arthur swore he saw bright blue eyes behind the mask. "Please?" She asked again and tugged at England's shirt. "Please, Arthur?"
England bit his lip. This reminded him so much of when Alfred was a little colony and would ask him for things. He also took a moment to admire just how bizarre it was that a total stranger knew his name. "Ah, well, yes. Of course. A song," he said with a slightly flustered voice. The girl smiled while Arthur quickly read over the song. He smiled back at her and began to sing.
As England sang, he could feel his voice getting stronger and louder with each word. He surprised himself by finding that he actually enjoyed this singing. By now, a small crowd of people gathered. All of them wore black masquerade masks. Arthur hit a low note and suddenly he heard a scream from the gathering crowd. He barely spared a glance at whoever had yelled out, but when he did, he saw that someone had struck down a young woman and injured her enough to bleed. Arthur decided that the wounds looked like stab wounds, but he couldn't find it in himself to care and he continued to sing while the rest of the crowd watched on. Apparently, they didn't care that someone had been stabbed either.
England continued on and more low notes started to appear. After each one, more people were attacked in more violent ways and Arthur couldn't care less. Suddenly, he felt something at his chest. He glanced down for a moment only to realize that it was a pistol being held by a man with wild eyes that shone from behind his mask. However, Arthur continued to sing and ignore the screams from the crowd along with the man in front of him.
The Brit hit another low note and he heard a shrill scream from right next to him. He shifted his gaze in the direction and realized that it had been the girl from earlier. She lay on the ground with a deep gash in her throat and stared up into space with an expression similar to a fish on land. She tilted her head slightly and Arthur could see her blue eyes turn dull and dead. Instantly, the thought of a younger America came into his mind and he abruptly stopped, now completely panicked. "Alfred?!" England cried out.
Then, he felt a pain in his chest. Shocked, Arthur looked down only to see red seeped through his shirt. He made a choked sound and looked back up to the man with the pistol. He simply smiled widely with a crazed gleam in his eyes and shot himself in the temple. England took a step back, and fell on the ground with a gasp. He clawed at his chest trying to stop the bleeding, but he couldn't. His vision started to fade and he couldn't focus. Arthur let out a few gurgled cries and felt himself lose consciousness while he heard laughing close by. 'I'm sorry…Alfred…'
Right, so this was a little England/America-ish. I couldn't help myself...
