So according to google translate (the most reliable source in the world, right?), podsolnechnik is Russian for sunflower. I don't want to italicize it in English because it's a nickname. Just a heads up :D


I looked around Carolyn's new room, which was kinda crowded. She had reduced it to three times less than its original size. The room was pretty small, very modest in size. There was a twin-sized bed pushed up in the far corner, and a desk next to it against the other wall. There was just barely enough room to walk between the two. A small bookshelf was up next to the desk. The desk had a little lava lamp on it and her laptop, and it was covered in papers and other junk. The desk had three little drawers, the first filled with duct tape, the second filled with candy and snacks, and the third with other random assorted junk. The wall the door was on was painted to look like a giant world map, with different colored pins marking where Carolyn had been and where she wanted to go. The wall opposite that was a giant mirror, and the other two walls were a light brown. There was a window by her bed, which provided most of the light. There was an old, rickety fan on the ceiling. The floors were wooden, and between the desk and bed was a cheap rug thrown carelessly on the floor. The place wasn't very nice or grand, but it was the kind of room that made you feel like you were home.

In another word, it was breathtaking. How something so simple made you feel so at ease.

"It's... it's..." I said, searching for the right word.

"Awful?" Carolyn asked nonchalantly.

I facepalmed. "Enough with the self-depreciation, already! I was going to say perfect."

It was. Seriously, all I needed was some popcorn and some hot chocolate.

"Hey guys watcha- oh wow it's small in here." I heard Dakota say from the doorway.

"Coda! Are you feeling better already?" I asked, and we turned around to look her. She was holding a bouquet of sunflowers in one hand and knife in the other.

"...Should I even ask?" I said, gesturing towards said sunflowers and knife.

"Hmm? Oh." She looked down at the items in her hands. "The sunflowers are for Russia and the knife is for Belarus!" And with that, she skipped off.

"We should probably, you know, yeah."

"You're probably right."

Carolyn and I followed closely behind Dakota. At first sight of Belarus we were going to hold her back.

"RUSSIA!" Dakota sang as she skipped along. "I want to become one with Mother Russia!"

The Russian accent was back. Oh, joy.

"Wait a second, Dakota. Are you sure? I think it's a bit early to move in and get comfy. We're not even sure what's going on yet." I pointed out.

"Podsolnechnik, did you say you want to become one with Mother Russia?" I heard Russia say from around the corner.

"Da!" Dakota said, and zoomed out of mine and Carolyn's line of vision.

Bad. Carolyn and I whipped around the corner.

... Not bad. When we turned the corner (along with discovering that Russia was not the only one there; Belarus, France, Em, and Penelope were with him), we saw the most adorable scene ever.

Dakota was holding onto Russia, and she had what our group had dubbed the 'Italy Face' a while back, basically where you were smiling with your eyes shut. Russia was hugging her back with one hand and holding the sunflowers in his other hand, and he had his cute little innocent face going.

Aww.

Then Dakota opened her eyes. The irises were rimmed with purple.

"Dakota, what's wrong with your eyes?" I asked, slightly freaked out.

She pulled a mirror out of nowhere and studied them. Even though they were slightly creepy, they were really beautiful.

Dakota shrugged, putting a finger up to her face while smiling. "I don't care, they're pretty!"

Belarus came up behind them and put a hand on Dakota's shoulder. I tensed up, ready to spring into action if things took a turn for the worse.

Their eyes locked, and the tension in the air was so thick that you needed a chainsaw to cut through it.

Then Belarus did something that surprised us all - she smiled.

And then she pulled Dakota into a hug.

And said, warmly, "Welcome to my family."

Whaaaaaaaaaaat?

Then the apprehension dropped from Dakota's gaze, and she hugged her back. "Yay! hugs!"

Everyone's (except for Dakota and Belarus) jaws were resting on the ground as we stared at the scene that shouldn't have been possible. Seriously. The universe was about to explode or something.

Then they stopped hugging, and the world returned to normal.

Penelope started talking with Em in French, and France decided to join their conversation. I returned to the topic of Dakota's eyes.

"So... When you become one with Mother Russia you get purple-rimmed eyes?" I asked, and Dakota smiled.

"I guess so!" Dakota said. "They're not boring old blue anymore~!"

I was slightly upset. I had always thought Dakota's vibrant blue eyes were shockingly gorgeous. "The inner part is still blue. And what's wrong with blue eyes?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess they are. And-" she giggled. "Oops. Nothing is wrong with blue eyes."

I crossed my arms. "Much better." then I looked at Russia. "So all you have to do is say that you want to become one with Mother Russia? That's it? No ritual, no blood sacrifice, nothing?"

"Da, that is it." Russia said with his smile, which had turned creepy again. "Now you and Carolyn will become one with Mother Russia, da?"

I shuddered. "Thanks, but no thanks. One, I like my eyes just fine. Two, it's too cold in Russia, and I don't do well in the cold. And three," I said, lowering my voice and turning to Dakota, "I'm worried about Belarus. Earlier, you two were clawing at each other's throats. Now she's acting all buddy buddy? It just doesn't add up. I'm sorry, Coda, but I don't think you should trust her just yet."

Dakota's shoulders drooped. "Aw..."

I felt sorry for her. Dakota prefered to be friends with everyone.

I patted her shoulder. "Well, at least she's acting like she likes you for now. That's better than her being aggressive, right?"

She sighed. "Right..."

Dakota was sad for the rest of the evening, which put a damper on everyone's moods. If Dakota wasn't happy, everyone felt it.

So everyone was upset for the rest of the night. The end.


The Next Morning


When I woke up, I felt something squishy on my left shoulder.

It was Italy's head. He must've fallen asleep last night. I vaguely remembered the seating order on Em's huge couch:

China

Russia

Dakota

The Baltics

Carolyn

Ukraine

Belarus

Japan

Germany

Italy

Me

Chugoku

Em

America

England

France

Then I was aware of a similar squishy object on my right shoulder. Without looking I could tell it was Chugoku, the familiar scent of vanilla was there. Plus, her hair, which had come undone from its braid, was all in my face.

My internal clock was ticking, and according to what it was telling me, it was 12:48 in the afternoon. I mentally shrugged; that wasn't bad at all. It may have felt like the wee hours of the morning, heck, it may even look like the wee hours of the morning (from what I saw through the window it was still dark outside), but least I didn't wake up super freakishly early. In fact, why was I the only one awake?

It took my groggy coffee-deprived brain to remember the time zones. We were somewhere near France if not actually in France, so that was about six, seven hours.

That meant it was 4:48 or 5:48 in the morning. I groaned.

Let's just say I'm not a morning person. I'm really, really, really not a morning person.

I closed my eyes and tried to fall back asleep, but Maru Kaite Chikyuu was stuck in my head like a demonic little alarm clock.

Maru kaite chikyuu, maru kaite chikyuu, maru kaite chikyuu, boku hetalia!

Oh, my gosh. Shut. Up.

A second's pause, and I grew hopeful.

Nee nee papa wain o choudai, nee nee mama nee nee mama!

I hate my brain.

Since I clearly wasn't going back to sleep, I began to devise a plan to get off of the couch without waking Italy or Chugoku.

Hm... This would be difficult... I subconsciously began thinking about last night while coming up with my plan.

(Last Night)

"So, since you guys are all in an anime, let's watch it!" Em said, trying to cheer everyone up.

Dakota shrugged, still in a bad mood. Carolyn also shrugged. So did Chugoku, but she let out a small "Okay."

So that was how we shrugged our way to Em's movie room. She pulled up Hetalia: Axis Powers on her phone and put it on the projector screen. Why she used an old-fashioned projector like the ones we had in elementary school instead of just pulling up Netflix on a TV was beyond me, but oh, well.

At least it was funny. The countries only knew about half of what was going on, and the other half they claimed never happened.

I, like always, didn't last halfway through. I wiped out after ten episodes or so. Now I was in this predicament.

In the end I just took Italy's head and pushed against Germany's shoulder, and then pushed Chugoku's head up against Em, who was leaning against America.

Bored, I walked around Em's huge house, looking for something to do. Hmm... there was a pool...

Nah, it was too early for swimming. Plus it was still dark outside.

Maybe I could raid the kitchen...?

I dismissed this idea also as I didn't know where the kitchen was.

Waaaaaiiit a second. I thought, looking around. I didn't recognize the hallway.

Great. Now I didn't know where I was.

I slowly turned around in a circle, then decided to just follow the hallway until I got somewhere. All the hallways would eventually lead somewhere. Hey, it was just a house... Mansion... Estate...

Who was I kidding? It was a castle, and I was gonna die in one of these halls.

Luckily for me, I stumbled across a door right after I had finished writing my Last Will and Testimony on my hand. I opened it up, and inside was the ballroom.

Yay! I knew where I was! I wasn't going to die!

I skipped around the ballroom happily, then remembered my phone was still in the corner charging. I ran over to it and unplugged it, and quickly checked through all of my mail and stuff.

Messages- seventeen

Missed calls- twenty-nine

Voicemail- two

I decided to check through my messages first, wondering why there were so many.

I didn't have to wonder for long, though. One of them was an ad, but the other sixteen were from Jason. I felt like I had been stabbed in the heart.

hey nora sorry i freaked out. chris told me he called to tell u what happened. i tried to call but i guess youre busy having fun :) love you, call me when you can

i'm staying for the whole week, right? just making sure

hello?

hey, just checking in. it's really chill at chris's house, and his parents are super nice. but i'm worried. pls text me back asap

we went to a park today and had a picnic. it was nice, but it was like 40 degrees. after that, chris and i went to the shopping center and there was an arcade. i kicked his butt, lol. are you guys having fun? pls text back.

nora?

please text me back. im worried. i need to know youre okay.

nora please. please be okay. please respond.

The texts got more and more panicked as they went on. I swallowed and checked the voicemail. Jason's voice came on, worried and franctic.

"Hey, Nora, please call me back once you get this. I've called like five times and you haven't picked up and I'm really worried."

"Nora. Please pick up. I'm getting really scared."

I paused the voicemail, tears springing up in my eyes. I had forgotten about my brother.

Some of you may think, "Girl, me too. You forgot your brother. It's no biggie," but I have never forgotten him. Ever. He was my sole priority all through high school, and now, I was his guardian. He was my best friend, and I loved him with all of my heart. And he thought something bad had happened to me because I had woken up in Hetalia and forgotten all about him.

What kind of a sister was I?

I quickly hit the call button and waited while it rang. I didn't wait long though, seeing as how he picked up on the first ring. "Nora! What the hell? I was so worried, and I thought something bad had happened to you, and-"

I interrupted him. "Whoa there, watch the language, kiddo. I'm okay. I'm so sorry that I missed all your calls. My phone's been on silent and I've been... distracted. But I have big news. I'll call you back in a little bit, okay?" I didn't want to spring this whole "country" thing on him just yet. I needed to find a way of returning to our world first before I told him.

I heard him let out a big sigh of relief. "You have no idea how stressed I was, Nora! Don't ever do that to me again!"

"I'm sorry, kiddo. I really am. But I'm alright, okay?"

"Okay, okay. But what's the 'big news?'"

" I can't tell you right now. Just have fun with Chris, okay? Tell them I said hi. I love you."

"Will do, and I love you too. Bye." He said. I hung up and put my phone in my back pocket.

I hummed and wandered around the giant ballroom, trying to kill time and take my mind off of Jason until the countries woke up. I was scared that I wouldn't even be able to get back to him at all. You know how when there's something that scares you so much, something that you never thought would be a possibility, you have trouble feeling like it's real? That, mixed in with the whole "being transported into an anime" thing was mixing up one heck of a reality complex for me.

I opened the beautiful glass doors, careful not to smudge them, and walked outside to explore the garden. It was huge, just like everything else in this castle. There were statues and fountains every ten feet, and a few flowers were blooming despite it being late winter.

At least, I assumed it was late winter. The night of my birthday was February twenty-first, which meant it should be the... twenty-third? Twenty-fourth?

I found a little stone bench in a clearing of trees and sat down, still humming my tune.


My eyes snapped open to the sound of footsteps approaching. I must've dozed off.

Germany appeared through the trees. He nodded to me. "Guten morden."

I stifled a yawn. "Morning."

He set off running briskly on the path. After a moment's hesitation, I decided to follow him. He glanced at me as I caught up with him.

"You don't mind, do you?" I asked, trying to keep pace with the fast German.

He shook his head. "Nein."

We ran in silence for a few minutes before Germany spoke up. "You and your friends are going to have to choose sides, you know."

I tried to catch my breath enough to speak without wheezing. "Sides in what?"

"The war," he said as if it should be obvious.

"What war?" I asked, shocked. There was a war going on? Why did no one tell me?

"World War Two." Germany said.

"World War Two?!" What?! How could it be World War Two? It should be February twenty-fourth, 2016!

"Yes... why are you so surprised? You say we are in an 'anime,' shouldn't you have known this?"

"But... isn't it supposed to be... wait a second. What's today's date?"

"February twenty-fourth, 1945."

"B-b-but... i-it was... supposed to be... when we... Holy fudge crackers with peanut butter..."

We came to a halt. Germany stared at me, probably wondering about my strange choice of words. He crossed his arms. "Compose your thoughts and then speak."

I guess that was his weird way of telling me to calm down.

"Well..." I trailed off, taking a few more seconds to think. My thoughts were flying by a mile per second. How was it 1945? "The night before we appeared here, the five of us were at Carolyn's house, having a sleepover to celebrate my birthday, which was on the twenty-first. The thing is, the year was 2016. And I thought it was 2016 when we got here, too."

Thought was the keyword there. When we had woken up here, I hadn't paid attention to the scenery, just yelled at everyone for waking me up. And then I had fallen back asleep, so I hadn't seen anything around us OR what the car (I had guessed it was a car) that took us to America's house looked like. And I had pretty much stayed inside America's property. But being in 1945 would explain why Em had to use a projector last night... and maybe why the flat-screen TV I tried to summon exploded.

So we were in 1945. I didn't know how to feel. It would have been a dream come true for a history nerd like me, but there was a war going on. And not just any war! World War Two!

Germany looked at me with interest. "So you know how the war ends?" He asked.

I couldn't blame him for wanting to know. I certainly would. But I had this feeling that if I told him then the universe would be knocked out of order or something.

I sighed. "I'm sorry... I do, but I don't think I should tell you. Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect?"

Germany nodded stiffly.

"I'm worried that even if you only have the knowledge of what happens, things will go terribly wrong. The main point is that everyone ends up as friends. But that's all I think I should tell you. I'm sorry."

"I will respect your decision." Germany muttered, but I could tell he wasn't necessarily happy about it.

Germany and I jogged back to the house-castle-thing in silence as I thought about having to choose sides. Em would definitely be an Ally. Hetalia aside, she was the most patriotic person that I knew (I mean, I don't know a lot of people, but you get my point). That was why her favorite character was America when we started watching Hetalia. "He's my favorite thing personified. How could I not be in love with him?" she used to joke.

Chugoku wanted nothing to do with any kind of war, but since we couldn't stay out of it, she would be an Ally for sure. If there's one thing she dislikes more than violence, it's senseless, prejudiced violence. Not to mention she was Jewish.

As for Dakota, she would be an Ally. She was the second most patriotic person I knew, and WW2 made her feel the same way 9/11 did. Her parents may not have died in WW2, but millions of innocent people died horrible deaths.

Carolyn, as you can tell, loved to joke about taking over the world and being evil. As she liked to say, "Capitalism is the greatest evil of all." But those jokes aside, she would still choose the Allies over the Axis any day.

So that just left me.

From a moral standpoint, I would choose the Allies without a second thought. But when I was younger, I used to dream about being a hero in random situations. One of the situations was World War Two. Naïvely, I thought that if I was on the Axis, I could convince Hitler to be a good guy and sign a peace treaty. As I grew older, I realized how ridiculous that was.

Now, however... getting a peace treaty signed from the "bad" side didn't sound like such a bad idea.

But that wasn't something I would just do willy-nilly. That was something I would have to talk to my friends about so they knew what was going on. I mean, how stupid would I be if I just blurted out, "I'm on the Axis," expecting them to understand what was going on, but failing and almost completely shattering their trust? Man, that would be crazy.

Still... being on the Axis, whether I had good intentions or not, wasn't something I wanted to do. I wouldn't want to be separated from my friends. What if getting a peace treaty signed didn't work?

But, Nora, a small corner of my mind whispered to me, Japan is on the Axis...

Yeah, that's true. I nodded to myself. Then I shook my head furiously. Wait, what? I'm NOT joining a FREAKING GENOCIDE because I might have a puppy crush on some guy!

Germany gave me a questioning look. I smiled nervously.

All of that aside, what if we didn't have a choice? What if our countries were already on sides, fighting this very second?

We reached the doors to the ballroom, and I tried to put those thoughts away for now. We were surprisingly greeted by the scent of breakfast. My stomach rumbled, but even the tantalizing smell of bacon wasn't enough to distract me from the feeling of impending doom. The possibility that I would have to fight a war against my friends terrified me to no end.

There was a large table set up in the middle of the ballroom. Everyone was seated around it, some of them still wiping the sleep from their eyes.

Em waved me over. "Hey, Nor! We didn't really wanna walk all the way to the dining room, so we set up breakfast in here."

Carolyn smiled and patted the seat next to her with a barely detectable wink- she had organized the seating so that I would be seated between her and Japan.

I forced a smile, knowing that it could all shatter in less than a second.