"Shit…" Alfred muttered to himself. The second he saw the person in front of him, he felt paralyzed, like he couldn't even move. Before him, he saw the spitting image of the girl from his village that had a crush on him. Before him was the girl that had drowned herself in the lake in his village because he said he didn't care for her like that. This was Abigail in her long-blonde haired and brown-eyed glory. This was the Abigail that Alfred hadn't seen in half a year.

"A-Abigail?" he squeaked as the woman moved towards him. This wasn't like the old Abigail, this one had a lot more confidence.

"Surprised, Alfie?" she asked teasingly as she came up close to Alfred. She gripped onto the collar of Alfred's tunic and lurched him into a kiss. She immediately slipped her tongue into his mouth and Alfred could feel his eyes widen. He couldn't move. And he was absorbed with a feeling that nearly made him faint. It was like how he used to feel with Arthur, but a million times stronger.

She separated them, pulling out a massive grin that made her look cocky. "It's so great to see you," she said slyly and looked over to Alfred's left, where the rest of the people had lined up. Mathew was to his right. "And who are your friends?" She spoke and Alfred could have sworn he saw her eyes flash yellow. She went down the line, stroking their chins, lingering on Francis more than the others. Alfred still couldn't move from the shock.

Abigail was dead. How was she here? How was she touching and kissing people? Where did this confidence come from?

"And Mattie!" she said happily, hugging Mathew. "How nice it is to see you!" Alfred couldn't help but notice that Mathew's knees went weak the second she touched him and he looked like he would have fallen if Abigail wasn't holding him up.

Arthur cleared his throat. He was the first of the group to talk since the kiss. "So your name is Abigail?" he asked.

"Oh, your accent is so cute!" she swooned and went back over to Arthur. She looked into his eyes for a second before pulling him into a lip lock, too. Alfred could barely see that she was shoving her tongue inside of his mouth, too. This snapped Alfred out of whatever stupor he was in.

He quickly pulled Abigail away from Arthur and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Abigail," he growled at her, almost like a warning.

"Why are you here and not in the village?" Mathew asked, a little breathless.

"And how are you still alive?" Alfred demanded and Abigail giggled.

"This is her?" Arthur demanded. "The girl they found in the lake you told me about?"

"That wasn't me, silly!" Abigail spoke happily. "That was a doll!"

"A…a doll?" Alfred stuttered.

"Well," Abigail smirked. "I figured that since you were friends with so many witches now, you should know all about it, right, Alfie?"

Alfred released Abigail and backed up slightly. "Wh-what?"

"Alfred, what do you mean by 'still alive'?" Mathew muttered out quietly.

"I told her I didn't like her the way she liked me…" Alfred stuttered. He still couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"And then I put a little doll in the lake face-first," Abigail spoke happily. "Then I escaped from that stupid village."

"How long have you been here?" Alfred asked.

"According to these people?" Abigail looked around at the others like they were beneath her. "My whole life."

"But in reality, a few months," Arthur crossed his arms.

"Well aren't you special?" Abigail returned her attention to Arthur. She stroked his chin delicately before holding onto the bottom part.

"So what kind of witch are you?" Arthur asked, keeping a straight face, which was more than could be said about Alfred.

"What?" Abigail grinned, using mock surprise in her voice.

Arthur rolled his eyes. "It's obvious you aren't a normal witch. So, what kind are you?"

"Well that's my little secret," Abigail grinned slyly.

"When did you gain all of this confidence?" Mathew asked quietly. "Last time I saw you, you were a shy girl with a silent crush."

"And last time I saw you, you were lying to everyone's faces," Abigail moved over to stand in front of Mathew. "The outside world changes you, honey. Well, at least it did that for me." Mathew stayed quiet. "So I see you haven't changed. Though you have grown up a little. Are you still telling that lie that you're two years older than Alfred?"

"No," Alfred finally had enough courage to speak up, thankful that Abigail's attention turned to him. "We fixed that situation."

"Awe, isn't that nice?" Abigail chuckled. "Are you two all buddy-buddy now? Even after he abandoned you two years ago?"

"Shut up," Alfred said through clenched teeth.

"You know, I'm getting tired of not talking," Gilbert finally blurted out. "Who the hell is this bitch?"

Abigail's eyes flashed with anger as she wheeled around to face Gilbert. "What did you just call me?" she growled, but it didn't seem like that was her voice. "You've come here to start a new life just like the rest, correct?"

"Yes," Gilbert said, obviously not threatened.

"Well, I can ruin you in this town. One more insult like that, and you could wind up hanged," Abigail threatened.

Gilbert tilted his head and grinned. "You have no idea how many people have told me that. I've been hanged about 4 times. You don't scare me."

Abigail snorted. "You should." With that, she turned on her heel and returned to Alfred. She stood on her tip toes to get up close to his face and she placed her hands on his chest and stroked him lightly. "I never knew why it was that I like you so much…" her eyes flashed yellow again. "But now that I know this… You're far more attractive than ever." She pressed her lips against Alfred's again. She seemed to attack his lips with a fever and, when they separated, she was gasping for air. Alfred, on the other hand, wasn't. He hadn't participated at all. All he did was stand there. That was all he could do, he felt like he was about to pass out from Abigails' touch.

"Oh, come on, Alfie," Abigail teased. "You could at least play along with me."

"Um, no," Alfred moved her hands off his chest and put them together into one of his hands. "I've told you before I don't like you that way. Or any way."

"You say that now," Abigail grinned. "But it's only a matter of time before you're all falling over me."

"And what are you implying?" Antonio asked.

"It's only a matter of time…" Abigail hummed to herself.

"You know, I must say," Francis finally piped up. "I believe I am already falling for you now."

"Oh, dear God…" Arthur muttered.

"You are French, oui?" Abigail asked him, not moving from her spot, but looking over at him. Alfred saw her grin evily, but no one else could. She was planning something.

"Oui, je suis," Francis spoke eloquently.

Abigail hummed to herself. Then she grinned, "Well then, I guess we will just have to see if you are a true Frenchman, won't we?"

She walked off to the left and Francis followed her like some kind of lost puppy.

"Abigail…died," Mathew said after they left, and then glared at Alfred. "And you didn't tell me!"

"It never came up," Alfred shrugged. "Now how about we find the person that owns that land?"

"No," Mathew crossed his arms in front of himself.

"Look," Alfred sighed. "You've hidden a lot of things from me, too."

"For your own protection!" Mathew interjected.

"But I didn't think it would hurt anything!" Alfred argued. "I thought we would never have to see her again!"

"I clearly asked you how she was doing," Mathew countered. "And you lied to my face."

"Okay, fine then!" Alfred snapped. "So we're genetically good at lying! Does that satisfy you?"

"No, it doesn't," Mathew continued glaring at him. "I will not have my own brother lie to my own face!"

"You're not older than me anymore!" Alfred glared now. "We are the same age, which means that you can't talk that way to me. And, you know, I didn't take it very well when I learned that my own brother lied to me about his age for our whole lives! You're mad at me for telling a small lie, while you lied for your whole life!"

"I would not call what you did a small lie, Alfred," Mathew said.

"And then you lied to the rest of the world, too!" Alfred continued. He knew that this was bad territory, and he didn't know why he was going here. "How many witches did you hide, again? 100! How many of them do you think cause harm in this world! And then you kept on lying after that, when you were being punished for lying!"

"I have made my peace with that," Mathew's eyes were fiery, but his voice wavered.

"Well," Gilbert spoke abruptly, which made both Alfred and Mathew jump, "this seems like a family matter. So I'm just gonna go leave and find that land owner. C'mon, Toni." Both Gilbert and Antonio departed quickly, away from the arguing siblings.

"You haven't even made peace with your past!" Mathew argued.

Alfred felt his eye twitch. "You have no idea what I've gone through!"

"How can I know when you won't tell anybody!" Mathew yelled at him.

"Mathew, Alfred, please calm down," Arthur's voice rang out, but he was well ignored.

"You don't know the torture I've been through!" Alfred yelled at his brother.

"I went through an entire year of torture!" Mathew's voice wavered a lot now and it looked like his eyes were about to water. "You can't say that you've been through worse! I've experienced it all!"

"I've felt what your pain was like before!" Alfred countered. "I fell to the ground screaming because I felt your pain! And I can honestly say that I've been through worse!"

"You haven't even been in the real world for 3 months!" Mathew shouted. "I've been out here for 2 years. So I can honestly that that you haven't even seen anything yet!"

"Obviously you haven't either!" Alfred yelled. "Considering you were locked in a dungeon for a whole year!"

"Sh-shut up!" Mathew nearly screamed. He closed his eyes and held his head on both sides.

"What's wrong?" Alfred crossed his arms in front of himself victoriously. "I thought you said you made peace with it. Or is a whole year of beating too much for you to handle? At least I've stopped complaining about what happened to me!"

"S-stop it!" Mathew screamed again. His voice was wavering a lot and he forced his head to look at the ground. It was obvious he was in tears.

Alfred stopped, his eyes wide. He had just realized what he had done. "M-Mathew…"

"D-don't talk to me!" Mathew wailed as he ran past Alfred and into the forest.

"Shit, Mathew!" Alfred called out and tried to run to the forest, but a hand clamped around his wrist stopped him. He looked back and saw Arthur, solemn faced. "Arthur, let me go. Now!"

"I can't do that," Arthur stated. "He needs to cope with this on his own. And I have a feeling that him seeing you will only make things worse at this point."

"How do you know?" Alfred snapped at him.

"I want you to remember this," Arthur spoke solemnly. "You are both only 17. You have been through far too much before you were even mature enough to handle it. And it has only been 2 months since it happened. You may say you are at peace with it, but that is far from the truth. It was too soon for you to bring that up."

"Since when are you so wise and all mighty?" Alfred snapped. "Last time I checked, you're about the same age as me."

"Yes, and I've been out in this world longer than both of you. And I've been through more than you. I still haven't made peace with all that I've done. It still haunts me and it obviously still haunts Mathew."

"You don't think what I've been through still haunts me?" Alfred heard his voice crack.

"I have no doubt in my mind that it does," Arthur said. "Which means you should be able to understand his pain and not cause him any more. Everyone that came with us has had more than their fair share of pain which we do not wish to re-live. You need to understand that you did not encounter the worst and do not try to prove a point by bringing up anyone's past."

"I wasn't proving a point," Alfred stated.

"That's sure what it looked like to me. And everyone else in the village, who overheard your argument," Arthur sighed. "I know seeing that Abigail has arisen some kind of emotion in you, but I would like to kindly ask you keep it to yourself. You're lucky that none of them were listening to you two talk. It would have blown a lot of things for us here."

Alfred was about to say something, but he stopped himself and stayed quiet, looking at the ground.

"I'm sorry…" Alfred muttered.

"Save that for when Mathew decides he wants to see you again. I have no need for an apology," Arthur stopped for a moment and then he used his forefinger to lift up Alfred's chin so that he would look into his eyes. "I am sorry about what has happened to you, I want you to know that. I can feel your pain with you, just as long as you aren't a brat about it. I want you to know that I care for you, Alfred."

Alfred showed a weak smile. "Thank you," he mumbled. "I care for you, too."

Arthur grinned. "Just don't kiss me in front of Puritans, okay?"

Alfred laughed slightly. "No problem. But I can do as I please in the forest, right?"

"Whatever makes you happy," Arthur chuckled. "Should we go find Antonio and Gilbert?"

"Sure," Alfred nodded.


Really quick, this Abigail is not the Abigail from the real Salem. Because that Abigail was a little kid. And this one's 17. If you think about it, she could be the Abigail from the Crucible, just minus the affair bits.

And...ta-da! Chapter 2! I plan on having this story be basically an internal conflict inside of Alfred, sped up by the rest of the world. And Arthur proves to be his voice of reason. And Mathew is there to remind Alfred that he is in the real world and how he affects everyone else. Ergo: their argument. The Bad Touch Trio are there for one: comic relief, and two: motivation. You will see what I mean later. And Abigail is there as the Antagonist! And proof of a little story moral! The real world can change you, choose what you do and who you meet wisely. One way, your Alfred with a sexy British boyfriend touring the world. The other, your Abigail, who's slutting around and made of evil.

This chapter was a little hard to write at first, I don't know why, but once I got going with it, it was so very easy. And I hope you enjoyed!

Please review so that we can make this get really interesting! I have a lot of things lined up and ready for this story and I hope that you're as excited as I am for it!

Germany is more likely to get over his OCD than I am to own Hetalia.