"I've should have seen this coming," I said in a meek tone as I sat at my velvet window seat. "The new luggage, the international gift cards and the foreign money," I hid my face in my hands, "I'm so stupid."

"Sweetie you're not stupid," Mom sat herself beside me to rub my back. "You just don't seem to catch foreshadowing."

"That doesn't make me feel any better."

"What's going on?" Alyce mumbled as she rose from the air mattress. Valencia yawned beside her and Gael rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, "is it time to go home?" he asked.

"Nah," Roman yawned, "we're not leaving till the twentieth."

"I don't want to go," Lali whined.

"No, the only person leaving is Amy," Melissa proclaimed as she packed more of my clothes and toiletries into my trunk styled luggage. The kids had once again used my room as their sleep over hangout. Alyce, Valencia and Gael slept on the air mattress while Roman, Lali and the twins slept in my bed.

"Where is she going?" Blair asked.

"Germany, China, Australia, where ever the hell they want to send me; I have no say what's so ever." I mumbled.

"Watch your language," Mom said through gritted teeth.

"I wonder," Melissa looked at my recently cleaned bathing suit, "will you be swimming? What's the weather like in Europe during the summer?"

Mom checked her phone. "The highs are usually in the seventies or eighties."

"Wow that sounds absolutely amazing, we've been in the high nineties for weeks, almost the hundreds." Melissa tucked in my blue one piece bathing suit along with my new clothes from Johnny and Celine.

"Do I have to leave now?" I grumbled, "I mean what about my summer?"

"Yeah, you were going to let us ride some more," Gael proclaimed.

"You also promised to take us to the beach," said Valencia.

"And take us camping," Roman added.

I nodded, "yes, yes, I know. See," I turned to face Mom, "I have obligations."

She sighed, "We tried to persuade Isabella to let you stay till September but she said that her hands were tied."

I narrowed my eyes, "by that, does she mean they had something to do with it."

Mom and Melissa nodded.

Damn them, I thought to myself.

"I need to pack your sari, I found out you'll be visiting India," Melissa smiled as she walked out of the room.

"Oh that reminds me. I bought you some new underwear with matching bras," Mom announced as she followed Melissa.

The children giggled, "It must have been awhile," Alyce grinned.

"Cochina," Valencia exclaimed, and that comment earned her a couple of laughs from the others. The word means nasty in Spanish.

"Ha, ha, ha. I'll have you know I wear clean underwear very day."

She rolled her eyes, "sure you do."

I rose from my seat and packed in a pair of simple toe open sandals, along with my worn out tennis shoes and black converse. I opened up my carry on and slid in my makeup bag (I usually only wore lip gloss, but who knows when I needed to be dolled up.) I then added a few more t-shirts, two pairs of jeans and a brown cross the shoulder purse that carried all the international gift cards and foreign money from the party.

"Are you really leaving," Lali asked as she gave me the wounded puppy dog look.

I sighed, "Yeah."

"But why?" she whined.

I ruffled her hair, "Sweetie I have to."

"How long will you be gone?" Roman asked.

"Two years," I answered.

"Two years!" they exclaimed in sync.

"Will you be back on holidays?" Alyce asked.

I shook my head, "I don't think so."

"But what about our Christmas traditions?" she exclaimed.

"Whose gonna tell us stories about Santa Claus?" Lali whimpered.

"Most importantly, whose gonna bake us cookies?" Gael asked.

I laughed, "Guys you'll be fine, besides just think about all the cool presents I'll send you."

"You'll send us gifts! Really?" Valencia grinned.

"Of course," I handed Alyce my smartphone, "here, plug in your addresses and add your birthdays into the calendar, that way I won't forget."

"We're getting presents! We're getting presents!" Lali sang as she jumped on the bed.

"Not yet come on," Roman picked her up and carried her to the velvet seat where the kids had gathered around Alyce as she typed in their birthdays.

I placed my camera into a side pocket and packed in the cord that would connect the camera to a computer. I mentally crossed off items in my head; I had my tooth bush, hair bush, passport, IDs, phone charger, and a European wall plug so my electrics would work. I roamed through my nightstand drawer, searching for anything else I might need. I stumbled upon my grandfather's leather bound journal. This journal was filled with stories about Grandpa and Alfred, it sure came in handy when the nations came knocking on my door. I flipped through the pages; I haven't read any entries since April, mostly because I was too busy with prom, finals and graduation.

Still, I was curious. What was Alfred truly like? The only peak I had into his mind was his will (which was paper clipped into the pages of the journal.) I had made a plan to take a trip to Charlottesville, Virginia in the fall, but clearly that was put on hold. Before I could second guess myself, I dropped it into the carry on.

"Aunt Amy," I turned to face Blake.

"What is it kiddo?"

He held up the dream catcher from my window, "You have to take this."

"The dream catcher?" I lifted up and caressed the small wooden animals that daggled from leather strings, along with crystals and feathers. But new stones were recently added into the web of the catcher thanks to Blake. Two months ago he had cut out the old web and replaced it with new string. Which was first soaked in cactus juice, mixed with lavender scented water; he then threaded small pieces of stone into the string. 'Stones for protection' he had said. Amber, black onyx, blue chalcedony, topaz and peridot were scattered over the web and every time the dream catcher moved the stones would wiggle.

"Blake, you worked so hard on this, I don't want to lose it."

"But you have to take it with you."

"I want it here."

"But you have to admit you've been sleeping better ever since I fixed it."

"True but-"

He caught my hand that held the dream catcher and moved it to my chest. "Please Aunt Amy, take it with you. It will protect you," his dark pleading eyes made full contact to my blue. "Please," he begged in a soft tone as tears formed in the corner of his eyes, "please."

My heart squeezed. "Sweetie, don't cry I'll take it with me."

"You will?"

"Of course," I smiled.

He held up his pinky, "Promise?"

I curled my pinky around his; "promise." I then wrapped the dream catcher in tissue paper and placed it into the carry on.

He wiped his tears away with the back of his hand as Blair leaped onto the bed with a knowing grin on her face. "Told you crying would work."

Blake grinned back, "She's so easy."

My jaw dropped, "you little con artist, you faked it?!"

The twins answered with laughter as I narrowed my eyes at them.

"Aw, what a touching moment," I looked up to the door where Michel and Jamie stood.

"What do you want," I asked in a monotone.

"Don't be such a sourpuss," Jamie walked in and held up a worn out spiral notebook. "Remember this?"

My eyebrows rose, "No way," I took the notebook into my hands. "Where did you find this?"

"You don't remember, we buried this in the back yard and promised to dig it up when we were eighteen."

"This notebook symbolizes our faithful promise to travel the world together," Michel's voice grew emotional and dramatic. "After you made your remarkable recovery from the Recession, we stated that we would make your number one wish come true. The wish that gave you hope for tomorrow, the reason you kept clinging to life-"

I rolled my eyes, "Are we getting somewhere drama queen."

"What he means is," Jamie said, "this is your chance to fulfill the wish of your childhood self."

"But we were supposed to do this together," I proclaimed. "We were supposed to party in London, drink wine in Rome and shop for those funny little hats in Paris."

She simply smiled, "Amy, we were ten when we buried this. Plans change. We have school to think about."

"Right," I sighed gloomily.

Michel wrapped his arm around my shoulders, "Hey now, no need to be sad. Who says we can't reschedule."

I gave a small smile, "I'm gonna miss you guys." I hugged him tight.

"I got you a journal," Jamie placed a simple blue graphic notebook into my carry on. "Make sure you write about all your adventures."

"And all your sexy romances," Michel wiggled his brows seductively.

I shook my head, "is this so you guys can count up points when I come back," I asked this more as a statement than a question.

They both nodded happily and I sighed. "I'm gonna see if Mom still has her old Kindle." I walked out the door and left them alone with my carry on. I was going to regret that.

The airport was crowded as I was shuffled in through the check in line. I confirmed my ticket along with tagging and checking in my luggage. Once I was done, (forty minutes of my life I will never get back) I headed over to Security. I lingered behind the lines and turned to face my parents, who came to see me off.

I dropped my bag to the ground, "so any final words till I'm sent off to hell."

Dad shook his head but he still carried a smile on his lips. He slipped his hand into my hair and pulled me to his chest. He wrapped his arm around my back and kissed the side of my head, "be safe and if anything happens call us. No matter what Isabella has said, if you feel like your life is in danger, you can call us and we'll wire money to get yourself on a plane back home."

I smiled and tightened my hold on him, "thanks Dad."

"And I swear to God if Russia tries anything-"

"I'll kick his ass and come straight home," I grinned.

He smiled, "that's my girl."

When Dad released me, Mom pulled me into a rib-crushing embrace. "Be careful, I mean it."

"I know," I nodded.

"No mouthing off," she continued.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Be respectful and clean up after yourself."

"Mom, I'm not a kid anymore."

She combed her fingers through my hair, "I know," she sighed as she blinked back tears, "I know."

I kissed her on the cheek, "I have to go, they'll be boarding in an hour."

She nodded but still she lingered. Dad came from behind, placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and pulled her back. She wiped her eyes and laid her head into the nook of his neck. "Go on Amy," Dad gestured to the line, "just remember, no matter what, you'll always have us. You'll always have a home to return to."

Mom nodded but carried a sad expression. I gave her a carefree smile, "Don't worry momma cougar your bear cub will be just fine." She smiled back and I walked through the Security line.

When I reached Boarding I met up with Ludwig and Gilbert.

"Morning," I greeted as I yawned.

Ludwig nodded as Gilbert grinned mischievously, "Well, well, it's about time you finally pulled yourself away from your mother's nipple."

"Ha. How long did it take you come up with that joke. Hold on I already know the answer, centuries."

"Centuries, yes the amount of time that will take you to reach my level of awesomeness."

"Dude, you can take your so called 'awesomeness' and shove it up your-"

Ludwig stepped between us, "Enough. Brother, please don't taunt her and Ms. Hawkfeather please show some self-restraint."

I rolled my eyes, "righty-o Captain," I gave a mock salute.

"I'm a Generalleutnant, a Major General," Ludwig narrowed his eyes at me.

I lifted an eyebrow, "What's the difference?"

The brothers shared a look till the elder grinned, "we're gonna have a lot of fun with this one."

"Attention, Flight 304 to Berlin, Germany is now boarding," a female voice announced over the intercom.

Its official, I hate flying.

The chairs are small with no elbow room what's so ever. They gave me nothing to eat besides cold chicken, some nasty stale peanuts and warm, gooey jello. You practically have to beg your flight attendant to get you a cup of water and the bathroom lines were dreadfully long. But the absolute worse was being crammed in the middle of Ludwig and Gilbert for nearly seventeen hours.

Ludwig sat in the aisle seat as he entertained himself with a book and didn't bother to make small talk. Gilbert had the window seat and amused himself with a game on his iPad.

"You actually know how to work one of those?" I asked.

He cracked a wicked smile, "I may be old but I'm not stupid."

"You could've fooled me."

His brows rose, "how about we settle this with a game of chess." He opened an app and brought forth a digital chess board with the usually white and black game pieces.

I smirked, "you're on."

Within the first hour, the score was thirty-six to zero. Clearly chess wasn't like checkers.

"Checkmate," Gilbert proclaimed as his knight took my king.

"But-but I took your pawns and your piece with the cross thing."

"My bishop, yeah you did. But you left your king open; the whole point of the game is to take the other's king."

I groaned, "And this game is popular why?"

He reloaded a new game, "such a childish thing to say." I glared as he gave a superior smile. "Are you done playing then?"

"No," I hissed, I wasn't about to give up, not until I wiped that smug grin off his face.

Surprisingly we played chess for another two hours. My score remained at zero and Gilbert was not about to let me forget it.

"Checkmate," he grinned as his bishop and knight cornered my king, "the score is seventy-four to, what was your score again?" He asked with an evil smile.

"Zero," I mumbled.

He chuckled. "You know, I'm going to be nice. Let's play something you might have chance at winning."

I bit my tongue back from saying a snappy comment as he brought out recent games. We played UNO, ZombieSmash, Clash of Clans, Candy Crush Saga and every version of Angry Birds we could find. This scenario of non-stop gaming lasted for hours. We only stopped for meals and bathroom breaks. The scores were pretty even but I totally crushed him in UNO, thank you family game night.

After dinner Ludwig suggested we take a break from the games, mostly because we were disturbing his reading. Mom allowed me to borrow her Kindle Fire HD; she even gave me money to purchase books and paid a year subscription to Netflix. My mom is so awesome. Gilbert got nothing on her.

I skimmed through the TV shows and movies, deciding wither to start something new or re-watch an old show. Gilbert looked over my shoulder, "anything good?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I'm tempted to re-watch Once Upon a Time."

"That girly fairy tale show," he snorted, "I asked for something good not something that would drive me to claw my own eyes out."

"Then maybe I should watch it," I smirked.

He flicked his fingers over the tablet, "Let's see, do you have anything from Germany?"

I pulled the electronic away from him, "I don't know, check your iPad."

"The battery is dead."

"And whose fault is that?"

"Yours," he said, "you couldn't accept the fact that I was awesome in everything."

"Did you forget my UNO scores; fifty-nine wins baby," I grinned.

After twenty minutes of arguing we came to an agreement of watching zombie movies. We started with the classics, Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland. Then we found Detention of the Dead, which was about a group of random teenagers that would never hang out together outside of detention (you know, a geek, a goth, a cheerleader, a jock, and a happy go lucky drug user). The entire plot is about teenagers having to put aside their stereotypically high school roles and work together to survive as zombies attack their classmates and over run their school. It was as if the Breakfast Club and Shaun of the Dead came together for a dunked one night stand and this was their sloppy love making. Spoil alert; the geek and the goth lived. Well, somewhat, the cheerleader becomes a zombie and attacks the geek at the end of the movie. We don't even know if he lived or died, but it was hilarious.

Don't get me wrong the movie was horrible but it had its moments and some redeemable scenes. My all-time favorite quote would have to be by the goth girl Willow: 'Looks like Rob Zombie raped the entire cast of Gossip Girl and this is their angry love child.' Now I would like that on a t-shirt. Gilbert and I had more fun making jokes about the movie rather than watching it.

"Americans seem to make anything into a movie," he said as he shook his head.

I nodded, "sadly yes, but we do have our moments. You can't forget the Marvel franchise."

"The only good movies were the first Avengers and the second Captain America."

"What! The second Avengers movie was epic."

"Can you two shut up and go to sleep," Ludwig hissed at us.

"Why bother, it's going to be like ten to eleven in the morning when we land," I remarked.

"Think about everyone else," he narrowed his blue eyes at us, "Now; turn off the tablet and go to sleep." He ended the conversation by turning his back to us and readjusting the blanket over his shoulder.

Gilbert gave me a side way glance, "are you tired?"

"Nope; want to watch The Notebook? That movie always seems to put me to sleep," I offered.

The longest I every stayed awake for The Notebook was an hour and twenty-six minutes. Jamie had gone as far as to time me. It's her favorite romance movie and she usually had to beg Michel and me to watch it with her. Michel was a good sport about it, but I was completely bored with the movie. No matter how many times we tried, I always fell asleep.

Ten minutes into the film, and I was already yawning. I laid my head back and curled the airline blanket around my shoulders. My eyelids were dropping and before long I was out cold.

Gilbert yawned, he was only thirty minutes into the movie but he no longer had the strength or desire to keep his eyes open. He stopped the film, logged out of the Netflix account and turned off the tablet. He tried to reach for Amy's carry on but it was completely under her seat, so he decided to store the tablet in the pocket of the airline seat that was in front of him.

He relaxed into his seat and draped the blanket over his lap. He was seconds away from an awkward positioned sleep until Amy's head fell onto his shoulder. He glanced over to find her kissable, petal colored lips inches away from his face. In an instant, energy surged through his body at the thought of her lips on his. He moved closer to tease himself with a simple brush of their lips. He froze when she stirred but her eyes remained close and her breathing was steady.

He brushed aside her hair to reveal her smooth cheek and at that moment a wicked idea came to thought. He reached into his back pack for a marker and began to write on her face.

"Attention everyone this is your pilot speaking," a deep male's voice awoke me from my rest. "We'll be landing in Berlin, Germany in fifteen minutes. Please secure your items and buckle yourselves in for landing."

I yawned as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I made sure the Kindle Fire HD was placed back into my carry on and slid it under the seat. I buckled myself in, folded the gray blanket and handed it to our flight attendant. When she turned to face me, her eyes widened slightly but she remained polite as she took our blankets and walked on.

Ludwig buckled himself to his chair and brushed his blond hair back. He glanced to me and his eyebrows rose. I frowned at him, "what?"

He was hesitant but he must've thought I wouldn't notice, "Nothing." He moved his arm around me to shove his brother, "Wake up!"

Gilbert jumped slightly and rubbed his face with his hands, "What?"

"Did you," he spared a look at me before he continued, "do something you shouldn't have done," he said through gritted teeth.

Gilbert grinned, "Maybe."

Ludwig said nothing else, merely groaned and massaged his temples.

"What did he do?" I asked.

The younger brother quickly said, "Nothing."

We landed at Berlin Tegel Airport at11:46 a.m. and the airport was just as crowded as it was in Santa Barbara. It sure was easier to get through Security but people were staring. I mean, Ella told me once that if a European man was interested in someone, they would make it known by staring at the person but I was pretty sure not every man, woman and child wanted to go on a date with me. I grew very self-conscious. I glanced to my clothes; I was wearing a pair of comfy jeans that I had cut to stop at the knees, a purple tank top and pair of worn out silver colored sneakers. I didn't seem to be violating any dress codes, but still, young men would chuckle as they walked passed me. Women shook their heads and mothers averted their children's eyes.

Okay, seriously what is up everyone?

After we gathered our checked luggage; I followed Ludwig and Gilbert to the front of the airport where a cab was waiting. The cab driver grabbed our luggage first and when he moved to take my carry on, his eyes darted to my face and he smirked. I knitted my brows as I tightened my hold on my bag and he turned away quickly.

Ludwig ushered me to the backseat as Gilbert sat in the passenger seat next to the driver. "Take us to Inselstraße," Gilbert told the driver in German as he glanced at me through the rear view mirror. He smirked, his red eyes shining.

I rolled my eyes and turned to my window, I was about to plug myself into my iPod till I noticed something dark on my cheek. I focused in on my reflection and found 'I Suck Cock' written along my cheek bone with a penis drawn near the corner of my mouth.

I instantly connected the dots and leapt at Gilbert, "You son of a bitch!"

Before he could react I smashed my fist into his cheek. The blow caused him to crash against the window. He groaned and tried to unlock the door. I was climbing over the driver as Ludwig sprang into action.

He gripped me by my shirt and pulled me back. "Control yourself!"

I took deep calming breaths, "You're lucky your brother was here to save you. If not the cab driver would have to spend his entire day just to scrape your brains off the seats."

Gilbert opened the door to spit out blood and turned to the driver as he slammed the door shut. "Gehen wir," he gestured to the road but the driver didn't move. He was more concerned about Gilbert and me getting into another fight. Gilbert grew irritated, "Let's go old man!"

The driver nodded and drove us into traffic.

As we drove, I grabbed some wipes from my carry on and began to scrub harshly into my skin. I used the window to clean myself but it was hard to tell if I got all the ink off. I turned to Ludwig, "Hey did I get all of it?"

He nodded, "yes it's fading."

To be safe, I added some makeup remover to the wipe and cleansed my cheek with it. I was able to catch Gilbert rubbing his wounded cheek. I narrowed my eyes at him, asshole. I shoved my used wipe into my jean pocket and faced the window to do some sightseeing. The driver took us down south, along the edge of Berlin. He took us down swift roads with street signs and buildings scattered on both sides. We drove on, continuing straight onto highways 111 and 110.

Half way through our drive the buildings were soon replaced with tall trees. "Where are we?" I asked.

"We're in Grunewald," Ludwig answered, "it's a national park and quite a large one too."

"And where are we going? I thought we would stay in the city," I said.

"No, it's too crowded. We're going to Inselstraße, think of it as an island on a lake. We have few neighbors there and enough room for your training. You can even entertain yourself with the lake on your days off."

Finally, we reached Inselstraße and it's just like Ludwig described. An island on a lake filled with trees and few houses. Before we crossed the bridge, there was a boating dock for people to store and ride out their boats on the dark colored water. After crossing, some houses stood close, but as we drove further into Inselstraße the large houses were spread out with massive plots of land. There was only one road and it wrapped itself in a loop around the entire island.

The Beilschmidt brothers lived on the northern corner of the island, with the most trees covering the front of their estate. I could barely see this so called house. The cab driver parked the car in front a black iron gate with towering trees shading the entire sidewalk.

Gilbert paid the man as Ludwig climbed out of the car and I followed after him. He pulled out our luggage and headed to the gate. I slid my carry on strap over my shoulder and adjusted my luggage to roll behind me. Gilbert grabbed his bags as the cab drove away and he followed behind us. The sidewalk and street roads were made with worn out gray brick. The sky was clear and the sun was streaming light through small openings of branches. I had to take a moment to scan my surrounds. The branches were long and covered the land in an endless sea of shade. Further along, the trees scattered with more fields in between. The leaves were bright green, matching the fresh cut lawn. Colorful flower gardens complemented the yard and were planted around the front area of the house.

Now the house was three stories with six windows on the first two and four on the third. It was big, but more modest than Austria's house, almost like an old manor house you would see in an old mystery movie. The first floor was built with white brick, the second floor was red and the top floor was black with a slight spacing in between of gray. In the center of the manor was a small stone porch that outlined two windows on top of one another above the two white painted doors.

"This seems cozy," I remarked.

I was met with silence as Ludwig unlocked the door and walked in. The inside was old fashion yet mixed with modern items. Paintings framed the walls, along with wooden floors and tasteful furniture. The living room had a flat screen and lazy-boy leather seats. The kitchen was bright and had plenty of windows facing the left side of the yard.

"America," Ludwig called out to me, "follow me, I'll show you to your room."

I lifted my luggage by the handle and followed him up the stair case to the second floor. He leads me down the left side of the hall to the last door on the left, "I made sure to put a lock on the door, so no one would disturb you."

The room was filled with natural sunlight, thanks to the one window in the front and two on the side. The walls were covered with blue flowered wall paper and the floors were polished wood. There was a large chestnut colored wardrobe in the middle of the two windows and a matching set of night stands stood on each side of the bed. The bed was queen sized with the same wooden frame as the furniture and had light blue covers and pink pillows.

"Thanks," I nodded to him as I walked in.

"If you would, please leave your things and come with me for a moment."

I followed Ludwig and Gilbert to the basement. Every nerve in my being was practically screaming for me to run in the opposite direction, for if I reference every horror movie I've seen, nothing good ever goes on in the basement.

But through this old fashioned stone spiral stair case was a very modern looking gym. Complete with weights, mats, punching bags and dummies, and a climbing rope. The brothers head over to the stack of mats and set a few on the floor. Ludwig then removes his jacket and rolls up his sleeves. He turned to face me, "Are you ready?"

I knitted my brows in confusion, "For what?"

"Your training," he proclaimed, "I have to see where you are to estimate the level of endurance." He held up his fists, "attack me."

My eyes widened, "Really? Now?"

"Ja, come on," he gestured for me to move forward.

I hesitated, not really sure on what do to.

"Just see if you can land a hit."

I moved on to the mat and shuffled myself to the balls of my feet. I lifted my fists up to my face and shot out my right arm. Ludwig gripped his hand around my wrist to push my fist away from making contact. He then tripped me with his foot and shoved me to the floor, all in one swift move.

I was dazed, it happened so fast.

"Try again," he spoke as he prepared himself into his stance.

I sighed, "Can't we rest first?"

"No!" he barked, "now get up!"

I groaned as I rose to my feet and held my hands up. Ludwig wasn't going to make the first move; it was my skills he was analyzing. I decided to surprise him with a high kick aimed to the face, but he saw that coming. He grabbed my calf and tossed me to the floor without even moving from his spot.

Gilbert laughed, "She's as weak as a kitten."

My face heated in embarrassment and I snapped at him, "Did you forget what I can do to your face!"

"How about you show me America," Ludwig smiled smugly.

I ground my teeth together in frustration. Here I was in the outskirts of Berlin, barely had any sleep, learning how to fight in the military and yet not by the US army. But by the nations, who took me away from my last summer with my friends and forced me into a two year training boot camp.

The anger was finally coming to a boiling point and before I could even think. I jumped to my feet and charged head on. I threw a series of punches but Ludwig easily weaved around them. Dodging or blocking every move I made. As my fists began to slow that was when he went on the offense. He elbowed me in the gut, threw me over his back and slammed me into the mat.

Pain shot up my lower back to my rib cage and it hurt to breathe.

Ludwig sighed, "we have a long way to go."