Madison looks up and sees the one person who could help her feel better.

Alice Kirkland, Arthur's twin, and probably one of the most ruthless women in the academy. It was her, Chiara Vargas, and Elizabeta who were three of the toughest women to walk in the academy. She helps Madison up, and brings her to a small cafe.

"Here, drink this..." she gives Madison a soothing cup of tea. "And don't worry I asked them to put maple in it, just the way you like it." She winks as she puts the bottle of syrup Madison carries in her bag away.

Contrary to the tough girl image, Alice was also very nurturing to those she cares about, and so she was going to make sure that Madison was calmed down first.

"T-thank you..." Madison is still shaky as the warm liquid glides down her throat. She drinks a good portion of it before resting the cup. "I-I...I was having a good day..." she sniffles. "And then...G-gil...he..."

"Gilbert? What did that bloody git do to you now?" Alice frowns at this. She always was wary of him and the bad friends trio.

"He...he forgot about me...and was making out with some girl..." she tears up again, and is startled when her phone rings. With a sigh she picks it up. "H-hello...?" the color drains out of her face. "N-no Ivan...I wasn't feeling well...I...I may have picked up a stomach bug...alright I'll see you later." She hangs up, and breaks down into tears again. She knows that Ivan is going to find Gilbert and make him pay, and so she cries for pulling her friend into her problems.

"Love...please calm down. It's not your fault."

"You...you don't understand it...I try to be a good person, and get great grades...but when I get high honors, Alfred gets the party for having a a few b's" she sniffles. "Nobody remembers me...my own brother walks by me, and Ivan sometimes sits on me...I hate it all so much..." her fragile form is shaky, and her sobs sound more choked out. Alice does her best to comfort her, but so much of it is in vain. "I want people to notice me...I want people to like me...but it's so hard..."

"Well love, you're trying too hard..." Alice trails off. the be yourself speech was no use to Madison and would just make her more upset. "Do you think I care about what people thought? Oh hell no...and now look at me." She grins. "Those gits don't try to mess with me." She takes a sip of her own tea. "You just need to explore yourself, but don't try to please everyone. Just think about it, promise?" She has to leave, making sure that Madison goes with her. She brings the crying girl back to her room, and after everything, makes sure she goes to all of Madison's teachers to tell her that Madison got sick during lunch and is resting in her room.

Madison sits in her room and hugs her feels so empty and hurt inside. She keeps Kumajiro close to her, and even talks to her best friend, even if there wouldn't be a reply back. It was the comfort in being able to console in something that was important to Madison, and if she could she would wish Kumajiro alive like how another stuffed animal was.

Her phone rings again, and this time it's Alfred.

"Yes Al..." she wearily answers.

"Woah Mads...you do sound bad." Alfred sounds really surprised."I hope Ivan didn't get you sick with his commie germs..."

"Al...please stop that. Ivan is nice...and in case you forgot Russia isn't like that anymore..." she sighs. "It hasn't for a very long time..."

"Yeah whatever, but look, I'm going to be back late. Artie is making me help with the dance budget, but the hero will make sure it's fun." and with that he hangs up.

Madison sighs as she lies on her bed while cuddling her favorite stuffed animal. All she wants was someone to notice her, and to care for her. She felt a small pain in her heart whenever she sees those cute couples out. She wishes for someone she could hold hands with, and to cuddle with. She wishes for someone who would love her, and see her as more than "Alfred's shy sister". She wants so much to have a guy like Gilbert, who would smile at her with that confident smile she finds so attractive, and dare she say...sexy. She wants to get those texts where he writes how he wants to leave class and be with her.

All of it feels like a lost dream, or in more depressing terms like trying to collect water with her fingers. She can feel the liquid flow down, back into the ground, and even if she has it within her hands, the fluid slips between the smallest of spaces in her fingers, and so with each time she feels closer to her goals, is when they slip further and further away.

She sits up and looks at herself. Her face is red and puffy from the crying and her hair is a little disheveled, but other than that she looks how she normally does.

Alice's words echoes through her mind, and that's when she decides that she doesn't like the way she is. She doesn't like to be the one that others walk over like a staircase. She doesn't like how Alfred manipulates her into doing his assignments, or how the times Gilbert did remember her, he talked her into doing all of the work they were assigned to work on together. Above all else she hates how in her years at the academy, all of her hard work was barely noticed.

She wants to change.

No...she needs to change.


The first thing Madison does is go to the closest hair salon. A few heads were turned, but not much attention was given to her. She frowns and goes to the front desk and is greeted by the fake smile that every business plastered over their plastic employees.

"Welcome miss, and how can I help you?" She talks to Madison in this happy, go lucky tone that makes her feel a little sick. Life was far too harsh for her to be this generically happy.

"I want something done with my hair..." She pauses to think what she wants. "How much will it be to get it straightened out?" That was the first drastic change she could think of.

The lady gasps, and looks like she's tryingto say something, but all she can do is open her mouth, and close it.

"Miss...your hair is naturally curly, and so many would kill for those soft curls." She leans forward and touches them.

"Then cut them and give them to someone else...I don't care." Madison coldly replies. the only good out of her new hair was she was going to donate the natural blonde curls to someone who would need them.

"Are you sure you want to do this?...you're so cute that I can't bear to let them be butchered like that." Now her sweet cheery attitude was melted away, and she was trying to talk Madison out of it.

"No...I want them gone, and after I'd like some colors added in. Maybe some reds or neon pinks..." Madison muses at what her new look was going to be, and decides she wants to dye her hair too.

This sent the lady at the help desk into a figurative heart attack, and she went on about how many woman would kill for such lovely, well kept natural light blonde hair. Madison wasn't hearing any of it and had decided that she was going to change.

With each strand that has cut Madison felt a small pain in her heart. No her hair wasn't going to be really short, but it was going to be a noticeable change. She watches as the long strands are put into a big to be shipped off to make natural wigs for cancer patients or whoever needed them. She looks at her hair so far and it does a lot shorter, but then she remembers that it will gain some length back when the strands are straightened out. It takes a little while, but soon Madison is staring at her new hair. Without the curls that she and Francis both shared, she looks a lot more like she could pass for a female Alfred. The soft flow of the elegant curls is replaced by more plain and almost crude looking strands.

Next was the important part: the dyes. She was handed a small chart of what feels like endless colors of reds and pinks. Just exactly how many shades of reds did Madison look at? That's the million dollar question.

Madison chose a mixture of a dark blood red, and a deep cherry red. Some strands would be darker, and some would be brighter.

Luckily for Madison her hair is already light enough so she never had to use bleach. The only problem was how temporary the dye was. In a few months she would have it washed out completely and back she was choosing a new color.

Madison is antsy with waiting and so she uses her phone to send browse some new clothing styles. Goth felt too much for her, and she couldn't see her doing that. She doesn't want to copy Alice either so there was another style out of the way.

Then it hit her.

Madison always dresses like the perfect girl with her modest version of the uniform. There isn't a requirement for the measurements, but Madison feels comfy with a longer skirt.

Or rather felt comfortable with a longer skirt. She makes a mental note, to wear short skirts, but should she wear fishnet stockings, or is that asking for too much attention?

Madison decides that she wants to stand out, and so she makes change after change to her modest but cute uniform.

After what feels like an eternity Madison walks out with her new hair. Instead of having curls with a nice even flow, she has choppy straight strands that had a wild feel to them. If her hair used to go to the middle of her back, then her new hair would go to her shoulders, or maybe a little front section of her hair,is mostly the dark red, with the tips being the brighter cherry red, and they look more like bangs. Madison doesn't even bother to do any homework, and she collapses onto her bed, and sleep quickly takes over.


The next day, Gilbert slinks into class, and sits down, feeling like something was missing. He didn't exactly remember Madison, so she wouldn't be the first thing that came to mind. He picks up his phone and is about to go to sending a text, when the door swings open.

There's Madison Williams-Jones, except so much is different. Her bag is a little smaller, but that's not what stands out. When the teachers saw her, she would wear proper length skirts, but now the one she wore was shorter, showing off her toned legs. It want above the knee, and was short enough that if she wanted, she could just barely flash her panties to someone. Her hair isn't tied back into the proper pigtails, and instead has a more rough feel to it. She frowns at Gilbert, who was not so discretly checking her out. She's wearing a red lipstick, that gives her more of an edgy feel to her. The room silences, before going into a fit of small whispers and murmurs.

Ivan stares at his best friend in shock. He always has and always will have a soft spot for the petite innocent look she perfected, but now, now she lost that. He frowns deeply, hoping that she will sit next to him and talk about what happened, but she walks by him, and sits down in her own seat.

Madison lets out a small yawn, feeling a few bored tears smudge her eyeliner a bit, but at this point she can't care less.

Now her plan began.

The novel that they were starting on for the next assignment was something a bit different from the last assignment that Mrs. Bonnefoy assigned before. She required that the students did a bit of research on the author Jack Keroac, and to have an open discussion about his life.

As expected, Madison was expected to talk about it first.

"Madison, what did you learn about him?" She starts by looking at the girl, even if she was startled by the new look.

"Honestly I didn't bother." Madison shrugs. "He was completely boring to look up, and the bio lost me when I realized it would be just as fun to read about a hobo." She leans back in her chair and yawns. "At least the hobo down the street is somewhat more interesting."

The room falls deathly silent, as Mrs. Bonnefoy looks at her, as if she just uttered every curse in existence. Madison continues with her look of indifference, which was like the bait that reels Gilbert in closer. He moves to the seat next to her, and with a soft grin, writes on a piece of paper.

Hey, how could I not notice you before ;)

Madison looks at the paper, and raises an eyebrow. Now was her turn to reply. Was she going to play it safe, and innocently brush off his mistake, or was she going to take the risk, and make a flirty reply?

With little hesitation she takes out her pink pen, and starts to write, sliding the paper back to Gilbert.

Didn't see me, eh? And you call yourself awesome lol

She giggles at his shocked look that soon turns to a confident smirk, and as if attacking the paper, he writes his reply. He glances over at her, and then writes a little bit more.

Or maybe I was far too awesome to see you? ^v^ but I can't ignore those strong words frau. Do you know of the old abandoned building?

He slips the note to Madison, who glances at it for a moment. A long time ago there was an art building, but over time the area became neglected, and so it was just there. Nobody really knows what it's kept for, but some speculate that it's to preserve the many sculptures and murals kept.

Madison feels herself blush, as she knows the area is a well known place for couples to go, and not to appreciate the art...

Maybe ;)

He looks at her reply, and softly chuckles.

Then we'll have to go there together, ja?

She looks at the note, and feels her eyes widen in surprise. Not only was she talking with her crush, but he's into her. She regains her composure when he chuckles. Now it was her move. She puts the pen down and turns to face him.

"Does this answer your question?" She leans in and whispers in his hear, before slowly moving to his cheek, and kissing it in a teasing lips were so close to touching his own that when he smirks, she can feel it. She looks over at the clock and notices that class is ending so she leans back. "Just don't keep me waiting...or you'll see why I can hold my own against the scariest guy in the academy." And with a teasing smile, she stands up and walks out.


Classes feel like a blur to Madison, until finally it's time. She sneaks out of the last class, and puts her bag into her dorm, before heading out, only to be met by Gilbert.

"You followed me to my dorm?" She blushes as he chuckles at her. "I don't really like spending much time in it, since my brother and Arthur are all over each other." She covers her mouth, as she realizes what just escaped her lips. "I mean...arguing over the budgets...it turns into an ugly fight."

"I knew it." Gilbert laughs as he takes out his phone. "Hold that thought..." he dials a number and waits. "Hey Francey pants~...Yeah I know...but dude I have unawesome news. Remember big brows? Well he's been making visits to florida if you know what I mean...kesesese..." his smirk turns into a small frown. "No, I got it from a reliable source...who?...I think this is your cousin?" He turns to stare at Madison. "Yes...it's her...sorry Francey...well go to Antonio...yes he can cheer you up...no, he broke up with her..."

Madison lightly frowns as she waits for his phone call to finish. Just how long could a guy like Gilbert take on a cellphone? Was he trying to break the world record that was obviously set by Feliks, or so the rumor was...

When she hears him turn his phone off, she almost lets out a sigh of relief, but she couldn't come off as too desperate.

"Ready frau?" He takes her hand, and starts to walk. Madison felt a little strange as he practically dragged her across the courtyard and to the art building, but at the same time, something about how he guided her felt right. She only held her brother's hand, and Ivan's hand before, and Alfred's always felt like the food he ate, slightly greasy with that leather texture. While Ivan's was an eerie cold that when she held his, it felt like his cold would overcome her warmth. With Gilbert, it wasn't greasy, or leathery, or cold, it just had that right amount of dominance going on.

They soon make it to the building, and Madison feels a little lost as he guides her to a staircase in the back past the ancient looking statues, and oddly enough a room with a the Italian flag painted onto it. A while ago, the Italy sisters' grandfather used to live in the art building, and so a lot of his work was left over. He ran the place, so maybe he left the old place up as a monument to his old work? Again, nobody really knows.

Gilbert stops and gestures for Madison to sit down. She does so, and he is soon joining her. The awkward silence is soon stopped, when he turns to her.

"So...frau, it's just you with the awesome me~" he grins softly. "What are you going to do?" He teases her with a smirk.

She leans in, and presses her lips against his own, even if she was incredibly nervous. He grins at her, and kisses back, wrapping an arm around her waist.

Everything about it felt right. He always was the one she wanted to be with, and now, this feeling of being on a cloud, cloud nine hits her. It gives her a nice unreal feeling that was like the happiest memory. His lips feel like they fit perfectly against hers, further intensifying this blissful feeling.

As expected, they have to separate for air. She leans back and softly smiles at him.

A voice calls out, startling the two, and with a small gasp, Madison curses her bad luck. The two people she was hoping to avoid found her, and now there stood her brother, and his boyfriend, Arthur. Alfred looks ready to punch Gilbert in the face, while Arthur is both annoyed, and confused.

"Bloody hell Gilbert, what have I told you about making out in the art build-Madison...sweetie is that you?"