Author's note:
I'm trying to be creative with the chapter titles... it's not working. Polly Little, thank you for the review. To answer your question, and I'm sure a lot of people were wondering the same thing, both physical and emotional pain. There's a lot that goes into being a nation. There's the culture, economics etc., but such a big part of it is the people themselves. Each nation is built off of its people and thrives off of its people. If someone is hurting or being treated unjustly, the nation suffers. (I believe this would be true not only in a Hetalia sense but also in real life.) Basically, she is feeling everything that the homeless man is going through because he is part of the citizenship of the whole nation.
The University of Oxford in England
A British man named Arthur Kirkland had just a few years prior acquired a position as head librarian for the Oxford Library. This man has for a few centuries been working different jobs, and essentially roaming the United Kingdom, trying to find his place. He seems to encompass every attribute a foreigner would assume the average British person has, although he doesn't realize it. He values his tea time, he is always reading, even behind the desk on the job, he dresses prim and proper, he has a very dignified manner about him although he is usually very grumpy. Oh, and those eyebrows… yeah, he's British. The students at Oxford treat him with an enormous amount of respect, but he doesn't notice because he just assumes that is how everyone in authority is treated, or at the very least it is how he deserves to be treated.
Let's meet Alice Kirkland. She enjoys the whimsical worlds of Harry Potter and Alice in Wonderland, and the way she looks could give that away, but her personality is anything but whimsical. Alice is equally grouchy, but in a feminine kind of way. She has long blonde pigtails and wears black framed glasses. She usually dresses like she is at the Renaissance festival but now that she is a Literature professor at Oxford University she tries to tone it down, just a little, and leaves the costume-like fashion for the weekends.
In the few years that Arthur and Alice have actually had these jobs at Oxford, they've crossed paths several times, but have only ever shared brief glances. They've never said a word to each other… until today.
10:45 AM, Alice Kirkland is standing in front of the classroom, finishing up her lecture. She is wearing a white button up shirt and a plaid skirt, a black tie… and an apron, because she couldn't help it.
"Class dismissed, turn in your assignments to me before you leave if you don't want a zero" her black heels clack to her desk.
The grouchy woman with pigtails raises an eyebrow over one beautiful green eye as she scans all the papers that are being dumped in front of her. An angry expression comes over her.
"Tom!"
A male student who was just about to leave stops in his tracks and walks over to her desk.
"The assignment was to write a research essay on famous literature that is set in a non-fictional setting" she yanks the Captain America comic book out of the paperclip attaching it to the essay, and thumps the comic on the desk in front of Tom. "The United States of America is not real."
Arthur Kirkland barely lifts his eyes off of the book he was reading as a raving pigtailed woman in heels storms into the Oxford Library.
"WHAT is an ATLAS" she demands at Arthur's desk.
A perturbed Mr. Kirkland barely mutters "I don't know" before he looks back down at his book.
"One of my STUDENTS called me IGNORANT" she fumes
"That…" Arthur slowly turns the page of his book "is not my problem"
"There should be a book in this library called an 'Atlas' and I need you to help me find it!" Alice finally explains.
England lifts his pinkie, takes a long sip of Earl Grey while staring at Alice and then gently puts the teacup back down. "Ah, now, that's what you should've started with." He logs on to the computer stationed at the side of him and searches for the call number of an Atlas. "Come with me."
Arthur leads her through the massive library until they find it. "This…" he lifts it out of the shelf. "This… this is… an Atlas" he struggled to find the words because his brain kept stopping as he was staring at the long book labeled "World Atlas" and seeing the whole earth for the first time. "What a peculiar…."
Alice flips through the pages with him as they both stare with mouths half open "What is this?" she whispers.