I told myself that if I got at least three reviews, I'd post up the next chapter earlier. And here they are! I actually got a fourth, which makes me a very happy person. Thanks to canadian princess, Zaphodiap, Dinarzade and witchjuliana12, I really appreciate it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia, or any of its characters.

Chapter 1: The Lily Princess

Lily did not really know what was going on outside her land. But based on what her older brother would accidentally let slip now and then, she knew that it probably wasn't pretty. She caught words like "planes", "bombs" and "bastards", and came to the conclusion that something bad was happening to the other Nations. But her older brother had told her that they mustn't get involved, no matter what.

"Lily, we have to keep our neutrality! It's the only way we can keep our people safe, and ourselves as well."

That's what brother said, and that's what she would do. Of course he was right. Lily herself didn't have an army, what could she accomplish if she decided to set off on her own? And her people had been through enough, she had been through enough. The last war had brought her to the brink of death although she had played no part in it. She had merely been an afterthought, collateral damage to the major players in Europe. It was no new thing really. Throughout her life, she had been seen as nothing more than a bargaining chip in the game to be the number one power in Europe. What happened to her as a result of it was of no importance to the warring Nations.

"I don't want to go hungry again. I don't want to hear children crying. I don't want to see people dying," She whispered to herself, her hand gripping her dress tightly.

She sat on the bench by the lake, enjoying the feel of the breeze caressing her skin. The green grass rippled and leaves danced with the wind. The sapphire blue water sparkled under the sun's rays. The sweet smell of her lilies filled the place as she relaxed in the warmth of the sun. She had been reading a story outside. The title of the book was "The Lily Princess and the Dragon Prince." Her older brother had bought it as a present for her the other day, and she smiled to herself as she flipped another page. "You need something to do, while I'm away." He had told her as he handed her the book.

Her brother was very busy these days. His visits were getting less and less frequent, and for shorter periods of time. And sometimes when he thought she wasn't looking, he'd just stare outside at the moon, frowning. Lily was worried for her brother. He worked so hard for her, but he should take care of his own health as well. She made a mental note to make him a quilt to keep him warm at night.

As she read the next line in the book, her own conscience started to pick at her again.

"How can you enjoy this day while your brother is working hard to protect you?" A voice scolded. Another piped up, hissing at her.

"There are people potentially dying out there, and here you are daydreaming about princesses and dragons?"

Lily frowned slightly and firmly told herself, "There is nothing I can do. I just want what's best for my people." She hated arguing with herself, but she didn't have anyone else to talk to these days. Her older brother had forbidden her to have any contact with any other Nations. "It's for your own safety Lily. Things...aren't safe. It's better this way, just trust me." Lily had noticed how her brother had refused to look at her as he said those things, and she knew that there were tons of things that he wasn't telling her. Like why her neighbour, Mr. Austria, no longer visited her anymore. She enjoyed his company, and sometimes he would even play the violin for her. He made the days without her brother bearable. It was uncanny how different, yet similar, the two men were. But it had been a few months since he had last came calling, and when she asked her brother, he had merely muttered something along the lines of "...don't care...that idiot...should just die..." before stomping off. She never brought the matter up again, but it was a bit depressing how lonely her days were getting without Mr. Austria or her big brother.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard footsteps behind her. She whirled around, excited. He was a bit early, but she didn't mind. "Older brother, I'm so glad..." Her voice trailed off when she realised that it wasn't Vash. Her eyes widened with apprehension when she realised she didn't know who he even was.

Dressed in a formal suit, he wore a brown bowler hat over his blonde hair, which seemed to stick out in all directions. He wasn't as tall as her brother either, and the scowl on his face frightened her. However, Lily found that she couldn't shift her gaze away as her green eyes met his. They were such a pretty shade of the colour. They reminded Lily of the green grass all around her, full of life and energy. And while he looked young, his eyes spoke of wisdom and experience. The emerald fire inside them scared her, and at the same time drew her closer. The stranger also had one of the thickest eyebrows Lily had ever seen in her life. Even as she stared, one of them was already raised quizzically at her.

"Miss, is there something on my face?" He asked, his tone brisk and clipped. Lily found herself shying away slowly from him. He sounded like the sort to get angry really fast, just like her older brother. Vash had never lost his temper with her, but she had seen how he'd quickly gotten out his rifle whenever that naked man came through his territory at night, and it scared her more than the streaking Italian did.

"It's not polite to stare, you know."

Lily quickly looked away, her face burning red with embarrassment. "S-sorry, sir." She whispered back.

She heard him sigh. "Whatever. I'm afraid I need your help, Miss...?" Lily didn't realise that he was waiting for her name until he walked over to her and snapped his fingers right in front of her. "Are you listening to me!" he demanded. Startled, she squeaked. "I'm sorry!" and bowed her head apologetically. Inwardly, she panicked. "I...I don't know who this man is! Older brother said that I can't talk to strangers, but if I don't tell him who I am, he might get angry!" She continued to focus on the ground, wringing her dress in distress. "What do I do? What do I do?"

A hand on her chin gently nudged her face upwards. When she looked up, she was relieved that the scowl on his face had relaxed into a small frown. "There's no need to keep apologising." He admonished her. "And when you speak with others, you look them in the eye. It's only proper."

As his light green eyes gazed down at her disapprovingly, she gulped, before stammering "Ye-Yes sir. I-I'm s-sorry, I-I-"

"I thought I said that there was no need to keep apologising," he interrupted her impatiently. She swallowed her voice and nodded mutely. He seemed satisfied with that. "Good." Removing his hand, he then asked "Now, what is your name? Come on, speak up, we don't have all day," he added impatiently.

Lily replied softly, making sure to keep eye contact with him. "I-I cannot tell you, sir. My brother tells me not to trust strangers."

The man smacked his forehead. "For crying out loud! Is everyone in this country a paranoid gun-totting hick!" he snapped. Lily jumped at his reaction. She tried to remember the basic moves her brother had showed her just the night before, but everything her brother had taught her about self-defence had flown out of her head. Slowly, her hand inched down towards the hidden pocket in her dress, where a tiny pistol lay hidden.

She flinched when the annoyed stranger returned his attention to her. "Well, if you're going to be so disagreeable about it..." Lily felt a bit of anger at that comment. Who was he to say such things? He had intruded on her home, intimidated her, and was now bossing her around. She barely caught the remainder of his sentence. "...can you at least tell me where I can find Mr. Vash Zwingli?"

Without thinking, she opened her mouth. "You...you know my older brother?" Immediately, her hands clapped around her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. "I just gave away my identity!"

Likewise, the stranger's reaction was equally as shocked. "That trigger happy idiot...has a sister!" he let out incredulously. Lily refused to say another word, although her right hand was once again slipping into her pocket. His eyes scrutinized her now carefully, before a look of realisation came onto his face "Good Lord! You must be Liechtenstein!"

Immediately, she whipped out the pistol and aimed it right between his eyes. Her sudden movement knocked the book out of her lap, but she didn't notice. Her eyes were on him, as his expression had changed from triumph to shock.

"Please leave!" she cried out. "I do not want to hurt anyone, but you are not supposed to be here. I am a neutral Nation, and I don't want any part in the war!"

The seconds tick by as neither makes another move. She, sitting on the bench with a pistol, he, staring at the muzzle with surprise. Lily tried to hide the fear she felt, trying to appear as brave as her older brother, but her hands were shaking, and she knew that she was fooling no one, not certainly this fierce person who could potentially be one of those Nations that her brother had warned her about. The ones who wanted to take and use her.

The silence is broken as the man chuckled softly. Lily tightened her grip on the gun. "I'm-I'm serious! I'll shoot!" She threatened, but her voice betrayed her as it quivered. "If only I could be as brave as my big brother!" she thought despairingly.

The man rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Calm down. I'm not going to rip your head off, you know." His voice had lost some of its bite, but Lily wasn't going to take any chances. "Pl-please go away!" she begged. By now, she was hoping that her older brother was on the way back home to rescue her.

"And I certainly don't want to drag you into the war."

"Huh?"

He shook his head, a small smile on his lips and his hands on his sides. "You're a small principality, nestled between Switzerland and Austria. You don't have an army of your own, and you're completely reliant on Switzerland. You don't manufacture any sort of weaponry either. There's no benefit in having you on my side, and the extra costs that I'll have to incur to protect you from the Axis Powers, seeing as you're next door neighbours with that bloody aristocrat, would be tremendous. Money doesn't grow on trees, you know." Lily didn't know whether to feel relieved that he wasn't here to drag her away, or to feel insulted that he clearly didn't think much of her.

He cleared his throat and stated more seriously. "Anyway, please remove the gun from my face. Nations do not try and shoot each other in the face on diplomatic missions. Well, except if you're the Soviet Union. Or your barny older brother."

Lily bristled at the insult, but kept her pistol firmly aimed at him. "How do I know you're not lying?" She put on her most confident voice. It was easier, now that he had claimed that he wasn't going to try and separate her and her brother.

He rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You're definitely that twat's sister." His hand reached into his coat pockets. Lily immediately tightened her grip, her finger on the trigger. However, she was relieved when he withdrew a piece of paper instead. "Here, read it." He offered the document to her.

With one hand still on the pistol, she took the document from him and briefly glanced through it. She felt a huge wave of relief when she saw her brother's official seal there, and she relaxed. Unfortunately in the process, she accidentally dropped the gun. It hit the floor and went off with a loud BANG! She screamed, and fell off her bench. Meanwhile, she heard the other man yell out.

"Bloody fucking hell!"

She looked back at him, and her face paled when she saw the blood on his hand. She got up and ran to him. "Sir, we have to get that looked at!" she said quickly. He glared back at her, and she immediately shrunk back at his withering gaze. Lily felt like she was the princess in her story, and had just come face to face with the angry dragon. Where was the prince then? She silently screamed for Vash to get here, and soon. The other Nation's eyes were flashing with anger as he gripped his bleeding right hand with his left hand, and the snarl on his face was very menacing.

"I don't think I require anymore of your assistance, Liechtenstein," He remarked icily. "But I will make sure to mention to Switzerland exactly what I think of your hospitality."

Lily cowered as he continued to mutter a string of curses. How could she have been so careless to let her hands slip like that! And now she had clearly gotten this other Nation, who was here on a peace mission no less, injured! She bit her lip as tears started to well up in her eyes. What if he wanted to invade Switzerland now? What if she had messed up an important meeting between her brother and this man?

She was only causing trouble for everyone. For her big brother, for her people, for this man. She was useless and unable to do anything on her own. Her guilt from the past few months started to build up within as the accusing voices started again, coupled with the fear of invasion. She squeezed her eyes closed as they bombarded her from every angle.

"You're just a burden to everyone."

"You can't save your own people."

"You're pathetic!"

"Weak!"

"You should just leave!"

"Just die already!"

"He-Hey! What's wrong?"

Confused, she looked back up and saw him staring at her with worry, his tone switching from anger to shock. Then only did she notice that there was a cool sliding motion on her cheek. She reached for it and felt wetness. "Am I...crying...?" She panicked. "Older brother told me to not cry! And I can't even do that!" Her newest failure added to her despair, and she couldn't stop the tears as she buried her face into her hands and wept.

How was my first attempt at writing tsundere England? I feel a bit bad making him so mean to Liechtenstein, but basically the war has started taking its toll on him, and he's not in the best of moods either.

Please read, and send my any comments on my writing! Thanks!