Unexpected Changes

Chapter seven: Kanata, Vinland, New France, Canada, and…

Warnings: POSSIBLE HISTORICAL INACCURACY, slight OOC behavior, fail humor, fail British and Australian accents, harsh language, fail try at some type of angsty flashback scene of sorts or something, and protective family members.

Words: Approx 5,700


-Recap-

With new clothes, more information and a mission, Canada attends the world meeting having faith that her invisibility will work to her advantage and make her go unnoticed. Her boss explains her condition must remain secret for Canada's own safety, but apparently, her invisibility didn't work as according to plan…Oh yeah, and she might've accidentally shouted out she's Canada. Whoops…


Aside from Yong Soo's completely expected outburst, the Conference room remained bathed in silence. It was greatly unnerving, as never had total silence reigned over the room while still inhabited by nations before. With every second that ticked by on the clock hanged on the wall behind Matthew's seat, the nation felt that she died a little more on the inside. Her heart was thumping so loudly she was afraid it would jump out of her chest just like Russia's tended to do. Aside from a particularly loud yawn from one of Greece's cats, the silence remained until Taiwan bravely decided to break it.

"Umm…" the sudden looks of every nation in the world directed at her caused the Asian girl's voice to slightly falter, "E-Excuse my asking, but…who?"

As if those were the magic words to un-mute the room, voices once again mixed together, this time asking each other exactly what Canada was and where was it located.

Matthew, Gilbert and Arthur all let out collective sighs, and just this once, Matthew felt glad that she had been easy to overlook. She briefly wondered why she wasn't as 'see-through' as when she was a male, but decided she'd investigate later.

However, it would be virtually impossible for every nation in the world to forget what Canada was, at least, all at the same time. So it was only natural for some nations, such as Netherlands and Ukraine, to still be regarding Matthew with wary eyes, even more confused than the other nations asking away their doubts.

So really, the Canadian shouldn't have been so surprised when her own brother turned and spoke to her.

"…Canada?..." his tone of voice took her by surprise. It was incredulous, as if wanting to confirm in his mind that he had heard her wrong. His face showed denial, confusion and…worry?

In that single second that the North American twins' eyes met, many thought passed through Matthew's mind. She felt guilt, to start. She felt it was selfish to be avoiding her friends and family like the plague because of her condition. Aside from Gilbert, Kumahiru and Arthur, Matthew had no plans whatsoever to make contact with any other nations while in this state. Ever since those years in which Kiku had sealed himself shut in his house, not many other nations had tried isolationism. It definitely would be the safest way; she'd trust Arthur to find some sort of counter potion, she'd have to trust Gilbert wouldn't let anything slip (she had yet to remind him to stay silent no matter what), and she'd stay in her house, alone, with only Kumajirou as constant company, and she would spend her time cleaning or working years of paperwork in advance. And all her other friends or family members would remain oblivious of her until she was back to normal. For however long it took, Matthew had unconsciously accepted that she would basically disappear of the face of the Earth. For her people's sake; for Canada's sake.

But would that really be the best option? Wasn't there another alternative? Wasn't there a better choice? Was there some way to still attend meetings safely? A way for her to still be around nations without there being any dangers hanging above her head?

Matthew still remembered, back when she was still a baby boy many years ago, when similar complications arose. A time when he was alone, with no one to associate with…


The first time he was ever conscious, when he was just recently born, Vikings had crossed the seas and landed on his shores. They found him and took him in as one of their own. They gave him his first words, first sights, first sounds, first tastes…and then, just as quickly as they came, they left. For years he remained alone, wandering all around his vast lands, searching for anyone. Whenever he would find people, natives to his lands, they would run or keep their distance from him, fearing by his appearance and unchanging youth that he was a spirit that would not take kindly upon them were he to be angered. So, he would march on, hoping he would find at least one person to call a friend or, dare he even think it, a family which he could call his own. He spent so much time in isolation, until one day, a ship approached from the horizon, towards his land, and he was surrounded by people again. The boy was overjoyed. Even though these new travelers were not the Vikings who had spent time with him on his first days (Weeks? Months? Years? He couldn't even remember anymore) of consciousness, they were still kind and amiable. An elegant man had taken him in, as if they had been family forever, and as the boy learned to call him 'papa', he had never felt happier. His papa, France, had asked him if he had a name yet. Truth was, he had: Kanata was his birth name, the only word he knew the moment he had been born, and was apparently the name his natives called the land; Vinland had been what the Viking settlers had named him. But whenever he remembered those names, the painful pangs of loneliness would hit his tiny little heart. It would make his chest feel heavy, it would hurt, and he'd feel like crying. Not anymore, he decided. He didn't want to feel like that anymore. He wanted, even if he was only allowed to sit in the sidelines, to be among others again. They could call him what they wanted to; they could change his beliefs and his way of life so far; they could simply use him and keep him around as cannon fodder or a tool to be used. Anything, whatever it would take, but he didn't want to be alone anymore… Thus, his life as Mathieu Bonnefoy, Nouvelle France, began. Eventually, he was lost in war and became Arthur's colony, but even then, he still had his precious Kumajirou. Francis had given him to Mathieu not only as a reminder of his time as France's son, but as a constant companion to have with him as he lived in a new house filled with many other colonies that wouldn't be able to speak French. Kumajirou always had trouble remembering him, probably because the moment the two got acquainted was at a moment went Canada itself was going through an identity crisis at the sudden leadership change, making Canada seem like many different things all at the same time, but Mathieu had never had a more loyal companion to keep him company at nights when he was ignored by everyone or forgotten. A true friend on those nights when he would cry himself to sleep, afraid of all the changes cursing through his lands and his people.

But even back then, he had been truly happy. Even as his mind seemed to split between bilingual thoughts, or even when he was often forgotten when dinner time came around, or when Arthur made it official that his name would be Matthew and not Mathieu, or even he was confused for his erringly similar neighbor-turned-brother, Alfred, he had been happy. He was surrounded by people, and he wasn't alone as he had been years before Francis found him. Even if his troops hadn't received the recognition they deserved during the world wars…even if he wasn't always heard during the conferences…even if he became an independent nation but not many people noticed…he wasn't alone.

And now he…she, was Canada. She had grown enough to take care of herself. She had two wonderfully loving fathers, countless brothers and sisters, an obnoxious but well-meaning twin brother, and friends that have helped her through thick and thin. She might be hard to spot and may have a tendency to fade into the background, but she wasn't alone. She hadn't been for centuries, and she'd be damned if some stupid mistake would take her happiness away! She was Matthew Bonnefoy Kirkland Williams! Second largest nation on the planet! She was perfectly capable of taking a situation and changing it to her liking! She was fucking Canada!

And as all those thoughts, memories and emotions passed through her mind in less than a second, she stared firmly into America's eyes. And before she opened her mouth to answer him, one last, clear memory flashed before her.

"Remember the Hero's advice, Mattie! This is the main rule you have to live life by! If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, then baffle them with bullshit!"


Arthur distantly registered the sound of Francis' body hitting the floor as he let go of the shirt's collar and made his way towards Matthew and Alfred. The room had once again lowered in volume, with only some whispers heard here and there, as everyone watched the two blondes face each other.

"Yes."

Such a simple word, really. One syllable, three letters, has many synonyms…yet when Matthew spoke it, and to confirm Alfred's doubt no less, it made both Gilbert and Arthur freeze up. Actually, Arthur sort of stumbled in surprise (and Francis' conveniently placed foot) and landed on the floor.

'Bollocks, that hurt…'

"Yes," repeated Matthew, posture proud and unshaken, confidence glowing in her eyes, "I am Canada…" It was her next words that made everyone else in the conference room become even more confused that before, "The province of Quebec to be exact."

And Arthur's train of thought crashed in a blast that would've put the Fourth of July fireworks to shame.

"Wha..?" It was refreshing to see the utterly stupefied look on Alfred's face.

"What?" came Gilbert's reply from the other side of the table, still frozen from when he had still been bothering Roderich while Elizaveta's frying pan now hovered motionless, dangerously close to his cranium.

"Wh-But-And-What!?" spluttered and sneezed England from his position on the floor. Seriously, they needed to have those rugs cleaned…

"Isn't that right, Arthur?" Matthew grabbed her father's forearm and helped him stand back up (not before he shot Francis a murderous glare for tripping him in the first place).

Arthur snapped his head at Matthew to discreetly hiss out just what was she doing, but his words caught in his throat with one look from Matthew's eyes. Her eyes showed that she wanted one thing and one thing only from Arthur: his cooperation. Her gaze was firm, unrelenting; quite honestly, Arthur had no idea how he or anyone else could forget the girl when she could hold such raw emotions with just her sight.

"Th-that's completely true…" he avoided the way Gilbert was now looking at both of them as if they'd lost their marbles, "Canada was…too busy to attend…" he trailed off in a nervous laugh before he lowered his voice to whisper to Matthew when he was sure no one would hear "Just what are you thinking?!"

"Just please follow my lead!" she whispered back before turning to everyone else with a bright smile. It was virtually impossible to tell she was lying. "The actual nation of Canada was busy with work back home, so I'll be Canada's substitute representative until Matthew, that's Canada, is able to attend again! It's nice to meet everyone, and I hope you won't mind me being here."

Matthew kept smiling innocently. 'That's right. I can lie as well as Alfred when I want to. And I think I did a pretty good job, if I say so myself!'

Most people seemed convinced by that answer, though many still were confused as to where Canada was located.

"That sounds pretty fishy to me…" everyone turned to the speaker, Alfred, "I mean, that's like saying I was too busy to come here, so I sent Texas instead," he pointed to his glasses to show how absurb he thought the idea was, "I don't even think it's possible for states or provinces to be represented by humans," Alfred was still staring intently at England and Canada, not completely convinced by the explanation.

'Figures the one time he pays attention to me has to be to my disadvantage…' Matthew tried her best not to tell him to be quiet and be happy with her explanation. She was racking her brain to come up with some solid excuse. 'Just accept it like a normally oblivious person!'

"Actually, Alfred-san…" everyone turned to Kiku, "It's perfectly common. Osaka, Yokohama and Kyoto are all cities of mine, and they have human representatives. I don't think Canada-san's province is any different."

'Thank you, Kiku!' Matthew, Arthur and Gilbert were all thinking the same thing.

"But! But!" Alfred flailed his arms, turned to Arthur and pointing at him, "Why would Mattie tell you about this and not me? I'M the Hero and his twin! I should've known first! Besides, I could've taken his notes!"

As Matthew face palmed at his stubborn nature, Arthur drew attention from her away by answering, "Well, maybe because you would've pulled Matthew along no matter the circumstances or something equally irrational. Not to mention all your notes revolve around fast food chains and aliens!"

Canada was slightly surprised by her father's quick and logical response. Maybe he was more than comfortable coming up with lies when it mattered as well. Maybe she got that from his side of the family..?

"Hmp!" Alfred sat down on his chair, clearly not liking that his twin wouldn't have told him about 'Quebec'. It made Matthew feel a little more guilt. If he felt like this now, how would he react if he ever found out about the curse? She gulped, and shook her head. That wouldn't happen. She'd get rid of the spell soon enough. She was sure.

"Well then," Francis had long ago stood and dusted the dirt from his clothes after Arthur dropped him and had been paying attention to the exchange all along. After the superpower had laid subdued on his chair like a child scolded for making a mess, Francis addressed the young 'Quebec', hands staying on sight after the Englishman shot him a rather strong glare. "Might I be the first to ask you your name, Mademoiselle?"

On instinct, Matthew answered, "I'm Matt—eh…" she suddenly panicked, not having thought of a fake name, and almost saying her real one. She turned to Arthur, who had paled as well upon her slip, but seemed clueless as to how to help.

"Matte? What a weird name…" Francis rubbed his stubble in thought.

Canada decided to do what she had been doing for the rest of the day; she improvised. "No, I'm M-Matteh…Madde- Madeline! My name's Madeline. Sorry, I just blanked out there for some reason! Hehehe…" Inside she was smacking herself with the fury of a thousand angry Cubans. 'Why am I so awkward sometimes?...'

She wondered about the way Arthur's face soured and Francis' lightened. "Ah~, A perfect French-like name for a girl~. It might be weird that it sounds so much like Mon petite Mathieu's name, but it can't be helped."

"Ahh…" so that's why Arthur seems grumpy. She chose a French name for herself. She sighed at both her parent's childlikeness.

Before the Frenchman sat down once again, he shot 'Madeline' a wink and merely said "Welcome, Madeline, to the craziness that is the World Meetings!"

'Craziness,' pondered the Canadian. She sat back down in her chair between England's and France's. 'Yup, that sounds about right.'

Once things quieted once more, Germany decided it was high time to continue the meeting from where it dropped off. Netherlands once more took the center and began his report. Things were back to normal once more. There were, as always, a few nations whispering to themselves, some others taking some siestas, and others just plain doodling on their notepads. Like everyone knew, most nations didn't bother to pay attention to these things anymore, and simply looked at it like they would to high school classes: there were many people sitting down, there would always be someone at the head of the class, some students might be interested at what happened, but most would just ignore everything in favor of other things. Madeline—uh, Mathieu, wait Matthew…Canada was perfectly content with this. At least all attention was off her at the moment.

After a few minutes, she felt her skirt pocket vibrating. She secretly pulled out her cellphone and saw that she just received a text message. Since this was quite uncommon, she decided to open it. Lars had called her around two weeks earlier to discuss what he would say in front of the others, so she already knew what he would say and knew she wouldn't miss out anything important from the speech.

From: Alfred F. Jones

To: Matthew Williams

Message: Heeeeeeey Mattie! Yo, izzit true u sent ur luv child or sumding down here n told Iggy but NOT me?! OAO I'm ur BRO! U should tell me dis things!

~The U S of Friggin' A!

Matthew looked a few seats to her side and indeed her brother had his brand new I-phone out, tapping away like crazy. She rolled her eyes and quickly sent out a reply.

From: Matthew Williams

To: Alfred F. Jones

Message: Yes, Al. I sent Madeline to the meeting 'cause I'm busy the moment. And he was visiting, so I told Arthur first.

P.S: I've told you a thousand times already: I'm NOT dating Lady Gaga so stop saying I have illegitimate children and secret dates. I'm starting to think that other nations believe it when you Photoshop pictures with me and her on Facebook. Honestly, just because her boyfriend and I have the same name and are both Canadian...

~Canadian please

Merely two minutes later, Alfred received the text and frowned again. He sent back a simple a reply.

From: Alfred F. Jones

To: Matthew Williams

Message: Fine broski, b in denial. PEOPLE MAGAZINE DON'T LIE! Just dun cry 2 me wen u need a 2012 bonker, 'cuz Im soooo not lettin' u in!

~The U S of Friggin' A!

...And he continued to ignore the meeting.

Later on, Matthew leaned towards Arthur and tugged slightly on his sleeve to get his attention. Arthur sent her a look that showed he didn't believe they should be ignoring the speaker, even though most people were sleeping by now. It was Heracles' turn at the front and he had a tendency to take unusually long to say simple statements…when he didn't accidentally fall asleep while standing. Italy had often said how he wish he could learn to do the same, then maybe Germany would take longer to notice he wasn't paying attention at training ... no one bothered ruining Feliciano's dream by saying Ludwig would still notice, because he was that much of an expert on Italy by now.

Canada leaned in an whispered to Arthur, careful that someone who would tell them to pay attention wouldn't notice she was speaking to him (mainly Germany).

"I wanted to thank you for the support a few minutes ago. I'm sure lying was the only way out…"

Arthur gave her an uncharacteristic, but still honest, smile. "It's fine, poppet. Just took me by surprise for a moment. Don't mention it."

Matthew's face positively beamed and a slight blush adorned her cheeks, "Still, merci beaucoup."

And Francis', who's attention had been taken by Madeline suddenly leaning away and giving a nice yet subtle view of her…'backside'... caught her last line and squealed loudly, not caring that he cut off Greece's speech and caught everyone's attention.

He then launched forward and pulled Matthew in a strong hug, his stubbly chin nuzzling her cheek, "Madeline's French is soooo adorable~!"

"Gott, France! Don't interrupt the meeting for that!"

"V-veeeEEeee! Doitsu is being scaaaaaary!"

"C-chigi! I told you to stay away from the potato bastard, Idiota!"

"Hahahahahaha!"

"Belt up, America!"

"Aniki's breast belong to me, da ze~!"

"AIYAAA!"

"Everyone's having so much fun~! Don't you think so, Latvia? Kolkolkolkolkol."

"LATVIAAAAA!"

"Liet! Like, listen to me when I'm asking you about my shoes!"

"Брат, don't you want to get married to me now? Marrymarrymarrymarrymarry…"

"Go away go away go away go AWAY!"

"E-eek! Francis! Y-your hands!"

"Uh-oh, I think Francis is conquering Maddie's vital regions, Kesese!... Oh shit wait, that's bad."

"Bloody Wanker! Get off her!"

"Angleterre, are you jealous? Why, there's plenty of my amour to go around!"

"Wait, what? What are yo-! G-GET OFF ME, YOU FROG!"

"Eeeeeeeeeeek!"

Thump

"Elizaveta-san, you must get up! This is priceless yaoi material!"

"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GROPING, YOU TWAT!"

"Yong Soo! Let go of me, aru!"

Matthew sighed and made a note to sit away from France for the rest of the meetings, lest her sanity (along with the rest of the world's) suffer. Welcome to the craziness of the World Meetings, indeed.


After Germany personally pulled France away from England, he called a short recess of half an hour, so everyone could walk around and calm down.

It had been rather hard, he'd admit. Francis had already stripped Arthur down to his pants and was slowly making his way towards the underwear when Germany had finally stopped Lovino from throwing profanities, among other things at him. He would've gotten them apart before Francis was pulling off the Brit's Union Jack boxers if Elizaveta hadn't tried to stop him with her frying pan while telling Kiku to take pictures. Luckily, his bruder made a good human shield, though he would probably never hear the end of it once the Prussian regained consciousness.

As soon as the break was called —Arthur muttering curses at Francis while he pulled on his clothes (whether actual curses or swears, Matthew didn't know)— Matthew got up and walked hurriedly outside the room. Her face was rather red after that whole ordeal and she was sure she shouldn't stick around in case another round of chaos broke out.

Already knowing where she was headed, she climbed the stairs to the third floor. The world meetings always took places on either the first or second floors. It was a rule established after a meeting some years ago during the Cold War. Russia and America were getting on each other's faces too much and the hostility could be felt by even Italy, who was unable to read the atmosphere most of the time. After a certain incident regarding Russia almost throwing America off one of the room's windows from the twentieth floor ("We're in Russia dа, the snow will break your fall, America~"), no more meetings were allowed to take place above two stories off the ground. It'd be fun explaining the media why a person was thrown off several stories and was able to survive with nothing short of a minor bruise.

Upon reaching the third floor, the blonde girl walked down the long hall and stood in front of two, almost identical doors. Matthew was about to enter the one of them when her entire body froze. She took two steps back, and carefully examined the signs on both doors, her eyes widening. She would've cried if she hadn't thought it'd make her look like a complete lunatic. She kept walking backwards until her back touched the wall behind her.

And she just stared.

"…Fuck my life…"


Australia walked down the third floor hallway with his trusty pet koala on his back. As he conversed with his sister, Zoe, he noticed his furry friend look somewhere quite intently. When the Aussie followed his pet's line of sight, he found Madeline reclined against a wall, looking as if she was about to cry. He nudged her sister with his elbow and pointed in the Canadian's direction.

"You think something's wrong with the sheila, Z?" Zoe turned to the other girl's direction, seeing her condition. She shrugged her shoulders, equally confused.

"I don't know, Steven…Maybe she's overwhelmed?"

Steven gave Zoe a weird look, "About what?"

"Well," the kiwi crossed her arms over her barely noticeable chest, eyes closed in concentration ('much like Arthur would do when thinking about something on the tip of his tongue,' Steven thought with amusement), "It's her first meeting. Surely she didn't expect things to get so chaotic, right?"

"Ohh…I see your point…" Steven walked to Madeline and placed a firm hand on her shoulder, completely taking her by surprise, "No worries, mate! It happens to the best o' us. It just takes some getting used to. Everything'll come up good!"

"Uhh…" Madeline blinked, stumped about what her brother could mean.

Zoe stepped up from behind Steven and gave Madeline a bright smile. "Don't worry, Maddie! Everyone's first day at the meeting is a bit weird. But we're rooting for you!"

So that's what they meant. "Ohh…Uh, yes. Okay…Thank you for the concern."

Australia and New Zealand simply gave her a reassuring smile and walked on. Matthew was still as distressed as ever. She felt glad they had worried over her, but the meeting wasn't was she was so worried about…

Canada pushed herself off the wall, shuffling a bit forward, but stopping before the dual doors. The one on her right had a drawing of a woman in a pink dress while the left door had a drawing of a man in blue.

Matthew didn't know which bathroom she was supposed to enter…

She could enter the girl's room, but she'd feel weird being in there when in all honesty, she wasn't a female, especially if there were other women in there. Of course, if she entered the boy's room and anyone were to see her…well, Canadian customs would come into question, without a doubt. The bathroom was open to every single person that passed, not only nations, so her plan of simply waiting until the meeting restarted to enter, despite being late, had the other gaping hole. She thought of waiting until she got to her hotel, but the meeting itself took hours, especially when it broke into fights every other minute. And Matthew was quite sure she would burst if she didn't decide soon…It really was bringing tears to her eyes.

While other nations passed by, they all thought the Quebecois' dilemma laid in her first meeting. They had no idea she just needed to use a bathroom immediately.

"Crisse…"

The Canadian was halfway through a prayer to whatever deity had been fucking up her life so far to please give her some leeway when she felt a soft and gentle hand grab hers. She looked up to see Hungary smiling at her. To say Matthew was confused was an understatement. She didn't notice Hungary was pulling her forward until both girls were almost inside the girl's bathroom. Matthew let out a gasp and dug her heels into the floor, though Hungary barely seemed to notice. She only stopped pulling when Matthew opened her mouth to speak.

"Ahh! I-I-I shouldn't g-go in there, I th-think…" Upon seeing Elizaveta's eyes land on hers, Matthew blushed brightly and looked at the floor, thinking the statement made her look weird.

She hadn't even noticed her move until she could no longer see her shoes. Her sight went black as two hands covered her eyes and gently pushed her into the bathroom.

The women's bathroom.

"Wait!" her cries went ignored as she was gently nudged further inside. She heard a sound of something like a stall door hitting a wall from her right and felt Hungary move her in that direction. She let go of Matthew and closed the stall door when she said she could open her eyes now.

'Well,' the blonde thought, deciding it was safe to open her eyes and use the facilities, 'Although that was weird, my problem's solved..?'

After she was done, she shyly opened the stall door and peeked outside. Right there, sitting on top of the marble counter, was Hungary, examining her nails, apparently waiting for the other to finish. When the stall door gave a slight squeaky sound from the hinges, the brunette gazed up and noticed the nervous blonde giving glances around her. Hungary smiled and got of the counter, smoothing the wrinkles of her long skirt. Matthew wondered about just where the Hungarian hid her giant frying pan, when there seemed to be no place to hide it…was that the thing Japan called hammer space?

After her clothes' appearance seemed satisfactory, Hungary turned to the other and smiled. "It's okay, Canada. There's no one else in here."

Matthew's body suddenly felt cold. The room's temperature had stayed the same, no doubt (this was Hungary, not Russia or Natalya), but a cold shiver had racked her body at Hungary's words. She gave a hopefully convincing laugh as she exited the stall.

"Yeah, a part o-of Canada…But you can call me Quebec, it feels weird otherwise…" LIES! But she couldn't exactly deny those kind of thoughts ou loud, could she?

A giggle. It sounded so light and soft…It seemed surreal that this woman standing before her was the same one that fought in countless wars and would protect Austria at the drop of a hat. Gilbert had always called her a 'demonic, pan-wielding witch from the depths of the deepest part of the Amazon', but that seemed greatly misleading. Then again, Canada herself changed personalities whenever she had to participate in a war or a hockey match…

"It's all right." She decided to add to her words when Madeline showed no signs of understanding her yet, "I know the truth, Canada. I know you're Matthew."

The girl's jaw slacked open almost as wide as her violet eyes. All she could think was 'How?'

Apparently she voiced her thoughts, cause Hungary grabbed her hand once more and pulled her out of the bathroom as she spoke. "Gilbert told me. He said I should find you and talk about 'what happened'. Honestly, I didn't believe him at first, but it certainly explains your sudden arrival better." She disregarded the other's blush and continued, letting the hand free after they were quite a ways from the bathroom and away from other people. "I only believed him when he showed no signs of joking. He had a straight face through the whole thing. Though we haven't talked much, I've heard about you from Gilbert and Francis when they're around. They speak kindly about you, y' know. That's rare for them. Anywa—hey…Are you alright?"

Matthew was not alright. One more person knew about her. On her rush to find a restroom, she forgot her mental note to tell Gilbert to not blab to anyone for security reasons. If he told Elizaveta (just why did he tell her anyway? She had no idea), who knows who else he could've told, or could be telling? She had to find him, now.

Turning to Hungary, she gave her a shaky smile, "I'm sorry, but right now isn't the best of times to explain the whole story, and I quickly need to find Gilbert. Thank you very much about your help earlier," she bowed similar to how Kiku would do. Canada had quite the number of Asians in it after all, "I'd like it if you would meet with me after the meeting so we could discuss this better…"

Elizaveta blinked, her eyes a bit wide ('This is Francis' son and Gilbert's friend? He's so well mannered!'). After a quick shake of her head to clear her thoughts, she gave the Canadian a nod. "Of course. I understand, sweetie." She smiled when she saw the blonde's cheeks gain a rosy hue. 'The way he blushes is so adorable as well~!'

She waved as Matthew turned to look for Gilbert. "Oh, Maddie! He's on the first floor!" Not quite sure if the other heard her words, and the blonde woman being too far away already to chase, Elizaveta turned and walked the other way. There were still some minutes left, and she wanted to talk to Kiku about those pictures he took of France's, ah, invasion of England.

She gave a dreamy sigh, more bounce in her step now. She really loved international affairs~.


Gott, West was such a bitch sometimes! Using him as a human shield against Elizaveta's frying pan attacks… She was smiling as she hit him, too! He was sure of it! Luckily, he just suffered from a small headache afterwards. He might not be a nation anymore, but he still healed abnormally fast. Of course, that just made his 'friend' not pull any punches...or kicks...or smacks...or just about anything when she hit him.

With a small sneeze, the albino searched for something to do before the meeting began. Maybe he should find Birdie and talk about that crazy stunt she pulled with Eyebrows.

'All right, then! I should share my awesomeness with the less fortunate, after al-'

"Prussia!"

The next thing Gilbert saw was purple and fur. It took him half a second to process that he had been tackled to the rug-covered floor. It had taken a fraction of that for him to fall from the sudden attack, and it took him two seconds to notice that damn, those rugs needed to be cleaned more often.

Being flipped around, he was harshly pulled to his feet once more before he noticed that Matthew was grabbing onto the collar of his shirt, murder practically written all over her face.

"Hey, Birdie! I was just on my way to-"

"Don't you 'Hey, Birdie' me, you idiot! You told Hungary! You told Elizaveta!"

"Oh, is that what this is about? What's the big deal?"

Canada's brow twitched in irritation as she shook the Prussia a bit harder, hoping something in his brain would shift at the same time so he'd gain some sense.

"What the dea—Prussia! This is serious business! It needs to stay a secret!" Matthew pulled herself away from the other before she did something she would regret later on. At the moment she would love to strangle Gilbert. "Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to be pulled into the bathroom like a toddler and be told that your secret is out after a taking a pee? It's incredibly embarrassing!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Matthew blinked at Gilbert's tone. He looked really serious right now. Did she say something weird again? What was with that look in his eye? She didn't notice she blushed at all. It made her a little uncomfortable to be stared at so intently… "Did you wash your hands afterwards?"

What?

The Canadian felt a fury the size of Nunavut creep up her spine before she launched at Gilbert's collar and proceeded to shake the holy maple out of him. She didn't even notice the other nations passing by, either watching in amusement or staying while munching on a snack, enjoying the show. All she cared was letting out her frustration and embarrassment at Gilbert. It didn't help that, as she had stated once before, she possessed virtually zero upper body strength and couldn't do as much damage as she wanted. Gilbert laughing his ass off at her actions wasn't helping either.

Fuck her life.


A/N: I hope it's not obvious CanUK isn't my second Hetalia OTP...

The dazzle-brilliance, baffle-bullshit line isn't mine. I got it from my English teacher. I can't claim ownership of such an awesome line.

Here's the one liners again: Germany, Italy, Romano, America, England, South Korea, China, Russia, Lithuania (and possibly Estonia), Poland, Belarus, Russia, Canada, Prussia, England, France, England, Hungary (the shriek and thump), Japan (trying to make Hungary awaken), England, and China.