Hey! I'm back with a new chapter. :D
Sorry it took me so long...again. O.o
Illness in the family...took me a while to feel up to writing again. I was a bit too depressed before. D: But, as you can see from all the faces I'm making, I'm feeling better about it. :3 So! I present to you all...the next chapter of 'Memories!' :D
o_O_O_o_O_O_o
It was a beautiful day. The temperature would have been a little warm, if not for the cool breeze that fluttered through often enough to cool the skin, and not a cloud obscured the sun in the blue sky. The scenery was beautiful. All the green...
Seychelles smiled, looking up at the sky for a moment, shielding her eyes with one gloved hand as she watched a flock of Canadian geese fly by in their signature 'V' formation. Then, she got back to work. Their current base had such pretty little gardens all around it. She'd never known that Canada had such a green thumb.
That morning, Seychelles had noticed that the gardens had needed tending. Without Canada around, the plants needed watering, and the weeds had been starting to get out of hand. So, after finding Canada's gardening supplies, the female nation had volunteered herself for the job.
So, here she was, on her hands and knees in the dirt, pulling weeds from a flower garden in the front yard. It was harder than she'd thought it would be.
The black-haired girl's head raised, eyes wide when she heard a commotion from inside the house. She wasn't expecting an adorable bunny to hop out of the open window nearby, nor was she expecting the front door to slam open.
The Netherlands stood in the doorway glowering. "You!" he yelled, pointing at the rabbit. "Get back here!"
Seychelles blinked, wondering what the rabbit could have done, and was nearly knocked over in surprise when the fluffy animal charged, jumping over her. The rabbit sprinted past Holland, and disappeared into a rather large patch of tulips. With a growl, the Netherlands hobbled down the front steps and over to the tulip patch, before jumping in after it.
'Oh no...' Seychelles thought in dismay. 'Now we'll, never be able to find him!'
Her mind was pulled away from the tulips rather abruptly, when the Rip shimmered slightly. Quickly, Seychelles got to her feet, a little unsure of what to do. No one had called ahead, so she wasn't sure if it was an ally...
The Rip shimmered again, and two exhausted and disoriented countries fell through, gasping for air. Australia groaned, rolling onto his back as he tried to catch his breath, and Canada managed to push himself onto his knees, glasses crooked and blond hair in wild disarray.
"H-hey, Seychelles..." the blond nation panted, and Seychelles grinned, giving a small jump as she clapped her gloved hands together.
"You guys are okay!" she said happily. Canada nodded, the corners of his mouth turning up in a small smile.
"Yeah. Safe and sound, thanks to Ozzy. That was a real close one, eh?" he said, directing the last bit at the country next to him.
Australia gave a noncommittal grunt, then glanced around. "Hey, where's Tulip-head?" he asked. He was sure the other nation would have been out to great them as soon as they'd gotten back.
Both male nations blinked when Seychelles winced. "Um..." she began, trying to think up an explanation. Just then, the tulips rustled. Australia looked incredulous, and much to Seychelles's surprise, it was Canada who snickered softly.
"We'll never find him in there."
O_O_o_O_o_O_O_o
Ludwig was not a happy camper.
The German was currently sitting on the couch in his living room, head in his hands, elbows resting on his knees. His house was only mildly cluttered, since he hadn't had any time to clean, lately, and he wasn't expecting Feliciano to come barging in at this hour, since the Italian was at work.
Thank goodness. The blond was not in the mood for an extra headache.
He really shouldn't have brought the bird home. Ludwig had only realized this recently, though he wished he'd done so sooner. The little thing was a monster.
Slowly, Ludwig raised his head to stare at the small, padded basket Feliciano had brought over the day they'd found It, and a pair of beady eyes peered back at him. With its little wing splinted, the basket plus the bird was absolutely adorable. Even Ludwig had had to admit that, when he'd first seen it. That was before the thing had shown its true colours.
It was loud at odd times of the day and night, and Ludwig was pretty sure he was starting to develop dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep. The thing had a bad habit of pecking the hand that fed it, and Ludwig now had a nice little collection of bandages adorning his abused fingers. The worst part was that it was an escape artist. Somehow, it always managed to get out of whatever Ludwig put it in, causing him to go on a tedious, time-consuming search for it, only to find that it had gone back to the basket on its own. After nearly five hours.
After a while, he'd given up on trying to put the bird in places where he hoped it couldn't escape, and just left it in the basket. It always winded up back in the basket, anyways.
The German sighed, rubbing his face with both hands, then glared at the bird. "Damn thing..." he mumbled, then switched to his native language in his frustration. "Was soll ich mit dir?"
To his surprise, the yellow chick hopped foreword in the basket, and gave a soft little chirp, tilting its head almost as if inquiry. Ludwig just stared. There was no way. Birds didn't understand any human language, much less German. But...that reaction was just too odd.
Ludwig could feel another headache coming on. He'd been getting them a lot since he'd taken the chick in, that and odd dreams that he could never fully remember once he'd woken up. He attributed both to the stress of having to deal with a demon-bird with a broken wing.
"Verdammt...I need some sleep..." he mumbled. The chick had perked up again at the German word, and it hopped onto the rim of the basket, looking up at Ludwig expectantly.
Ludwig frowned. "What do you want now, Bird?" he grumbled. You knew things were bad when you started talking to demon birds. The bird gave a loud indignant-sounding peep, and glared at him. Ludwig groaned. "You are a menace...I wonder if that should be your name..." he mumbled, massaging his temples.
This made him frown. He really hadn't named it. He'd just called it Bird, or It, or Thing. Recently, he'd been calling it monster, though the first three were still rather popular in his mind. If it was going to be around...he might as well name the stupid thing.
"A name..." he mumbled, closing his eyes.
The blond man looked up as an albino man burst into the door, making the man frown and roll his eyes as he leaned back a bit in his armchair. He'd just been enjoying a moment's rest, too...
"Bruder...you're going to break the door one d--" he began crossly, but was immediately cut off.
"Your nagging can wait!" his big brother announced, a huge grin on his face.
"Nagging?" Ludwig mumbled, raising an eyebrow, but Gilbert either didn't notice, or had decided to ignore it.
"I have some amazingly awesome news!" the red-eyed man continued.
"Do you..." Ludwig mumbled again.
It was only then that Ludwig noticed there was something wrong with his little 'flash-back'.
He was still a kid when his brother had died. In this, he was a full-grown man. Wearing...a German military uniform? And from the looks of it...it was from the second World War. He'd seen pictures, but he was pretty sure he'd never worn one himself. Glancing at his forearm, he winced slightly as his suspicions were confirmed.
What the hell? Why did he have a memory of being a Nazi in World War Two? And why was his brother wearing the Prussian uniform...?
Suddenly, he felt a cool hand touch his forehead, and he blinked up at his older brother's frowning face. "Oi, you okay, West?" 'West?' Ludwig thought, but let his brother continue. "You're looking kinda pale. You better not be over-working yourself again, because I swear I will kick your ass if you are," he growled.
Ludwig blinked, then shook his head, pushing the hand away. "I'm...fine, Bruder. Now, tell me what was so important that you nearly broke my door. Again," he said, the last word popping out of its own accord. Apparently, Gilbert did this a lot.
The pale man's face lit up.
"Oh, yeah! Its his birthday!" Ludwig's brother said, making the blond blink.
"...His?" he asked hesitantly.
Gilbert pointed to his head, and to Ludwig's shock, a very familiar yellow chick pooped up out of the messy white hair.
"My awesome Gilbird! Duh!"
Ludwig's eyes snapped open wide, and he ran a hand through his hair, trying to process what his mind had just thrown at him. For a moment, he just sat there, still trying to figure out what had just happened, then he looked at the yellow chick peering up at him from its basket.
"Gil...bird?" he tried hesitantly.
The bird looked up at him with an expression of near-adoration.
Holy...
O_o_O_O_o_O_O_o
He was dreaming, he knew he was. After all, he hadn't played with toy soldiers in years. So he had to be dreaming about his childhood. Problem solved. Wrong. Alfred was pretty sure he'd never worn clothes like this when he was a little kid. And he didn't remember ever living in a house like this either.
It looked old...maybe built before the Victorian age, though the only reason he could figure out this much was from stuff Arthur had taught him during their morning studying in the library.
Confused, Alfred looked back down at the two toy soldiers he held, one in each hand. He was sitting on the floor, the rest of his toy soldiers surrounding him. It looked like he'd been pretending to have a war. He frowned, rubbing his thumb over the red-painted wood of one of the soldiers.
He'd never had toy soldiers like these. Never wood ones, and never toy soldiers dressed like British soldiers from the American Revolution era. No way. He'd gotten all of his toy soldiers from his dad when he was a kid, and his dad had never handed him a boxful of these.
"Alfred?"
The blond boy's head snapped up, and he found himself staring up into Arthur's green eyes.
Back then, he always seemed so much bigger...
The image of a rainy day flashed through Alfred's head, and suddenly he was looking down at a beaten and bruised Arthur who knealt in the mud. Rain streamed down the older man's face, masking the tears Alfred just knew were there.
"Why?" the beaten man croaked, looking up into Alfred's eyes.
I wonder...when did he become so much smaller...?
With a jolt, Alfred was back in that old house again, looking up at Arthur. His body moved on its own, grinning and jumping up to hug the blond man's leg.
"Iggy! You're back!"
A gentle hand rested on top of his head. "Of course I am, Am--"
Alfred's blue eyes shot open, and he gasped at the sudden rush of reality that hit him. He closed his eyes again, trying to relax. What a strange dream...
The nineteen-year-old frowned. Wait a second. What had happened? He remembered walking with Mattie and Leo...then that stupid little kid...then...
Blue eyes snapped open again. He'd been hit by a truck!
"What the hell?" he mumbled, covering his eyes with both hands, wincing slightly when one of his arms gave a twinge of pain. Pulling his hands back, noticed a cast of his right arm and frowned. Funny...it didn't feel like it was broken. He should have been in a lot more pain when he moved it, if it was.
'Maybe its just the painkillers...after all, they've gotta have me on those...I was hit by a friggin' truck!' he rationalized, trying to steer his mind away from the overwhelming possibility of aliens.
There was a gasp nearby, and Alfred turned his head to see a nurse standing in the doorway. Her hair was short, pulled back by some clips, and most of her figure was hidden by baggy scrubs. Most of her figure...Alfred found that his eyes were, despite his attempts to ignore it, drawn to the nurse's ample chest, a faint blush on his cheeks.
Luckily, she didn't seem to notice, since she was too busy staring at him, a hand over her mouth.
"Oh my...but your not supposed to be--!" she began, only to cut herself off as she ran off the find the doctor.
The blond groaned and closed his eyes. Maybe if he just had another nap, all the craziness would end...
–
Done! :D
I finally added in some memory-gain! Sorta...XD At least I managed to fit Germany and Gilbird back in. :)
That part at the top is dedicated to the new APH Netherlands strip! Yes, Holland has a bunny. :) It was in the strip.
Netherlands, tulips. If you don't get it, look it up. (I'd tell you, but my explanation sucks, according to my sister. XD)
Once you get the tulip thing (or if you already do) take a look at Holland's hair. Doesn't it remind you of a tulip? :O XD
Um.....that's all I really have to say on this....sorry if there's any spelling mistakes I missed, I always try to get them all...
Hope you all enjoyed it! :3
