Chapter 6

Pocket full of Posy

~o~

Children ran and sang.

They laughed.

He was happy.

Then everything went wrong.

So terribly wrong.

And the bells began to toll.

~o~

Nations filled the meeting room with bodies and noise, creating a nearly unbearable hum of white noise. Each of the nations stood in their respective groups discussing this and that and eating snacks from the table in the corner. Seated at the far end of the room Prussia had waited for his friends.

He had arrived early due to the fact that West was his sole mode of transportation and had insisted on leaving early in order to arrive two hours before the meeting was scheduled to begin. After a near sleepless night (those damn dogs wouldn't shut up!) he now fought to keep his eyes open.

He leaned back in his chair and balanced it carefully on two legs with his feet on the polished tabletop. Carefully ignoring the fact that he couldn't feel the table beneath him Prussia let out an irritated sigh. Where were they? At least France should have been there by then, eager to follow his English counterpart anywhere he decided to go, so why were neither he nor Spain anywhere to be seen?

An obnoxious laugh from across the room drew his attention. Wait a second, he knew that laugh, the annoying "hon hon hon." He'd heard it often. Damn it where was that b*st*rd?

He swung his feet down and stood up with a frown. Steadying himself on the table he waited for the feeling to return to his legs and peered past the bodies. Through the crowd it was impossible to see even the wall, so he stepped forward and pushed his way through, following the laugh as well as what he could now make out as Spain's voice.

Soon he came to the edge of the crowd. France stood leaning against a wall by the door and Spain stood across from him with his back to the room. They were both laughing now. Prussia frowned and strode forward, muscling his way past nations.

"What the f*ck!"

Spain turned and gave a wide grin and a wave. "Oh, hola Gil. Where've you been?"

"What the f*ck?" he insisted.

France's smile wavered slightly, but Spain's face didn't even twitch. Apparently his inability to read the mood had come into effect. He would need to be a little more obvious.

"Where the hell were you two?"

"What do you mean, Prusse?"

"F*ck! I've been sitting over there for the past two hours waiting for you."

France's smile disappeared entirely and he pushed himself off the wall and stepped up beside Spain. "We have been here for about fifteen minutes and I for at least half an hour. I guess we just didn't see you."

Was he really that invisible? "What? Half an hour ago the room was nearly empty; how did you come in without seeing me?"

"Je ne sais pas. How did you not see me when I came in?"

"Sh*t, I don't know, I guess I wasn't watching. But it's not my fault, we always meet over there."

Spain looked slightly confused. "But you've been so busy lately I didn't think you wanted to hang out with me. With us."

"Well, just ask me alright 'cause that seriously wasn't awesome."

"Er, yeah. Sure."

He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "Good." With that he turned, determined to ignore the two for the rest of the day, but as he strode away a stray memory drifted into his thoughts. Birdie.

He made a quick u-turn and walked back the short distance. "Hey France, d'you know where Birdie might be?"

"Who?"

"Canada."

"Oh, mon petit Mathieu. Non, I have not seen him for quite some time. Perhaps you should ask l'Angleterre or l'Amerique. They might have seen him."

"Thanks." And then he walked away, never to talk to France again. Not really, but that's what he told himself.

The meeting began hesitantly and was soon underway. Prussia kept an eye on America and England trying to decide whom to ask. He weighed the options carefully. America, Pros: lives nearby, talks to him more, won't forget who they were talking about every few seconds. Cons: is loud, obnoxious, annoying, distracted, and so on. England, Cons: lives far away, doesn't talk to him as much, will forget him often and thinks himself above Prussia in all matters. Pros: not America.

Right, England it was.

Using his growing invisibility and inarguable awesomeness he snuck a few seats over to where the Brit was sitting fiddling with a pen. "Psst." he didn't move. "Pssssssssssst!" Nothing. Prussia leaned in so that his mouth was right next to England's ear. "Pst!"

The pen broke spraying blue ink all over his shirt and paper. "Bloody hell!"

Everyone looked over, stopping America mid-rant. England cast a quick glare at Prussia before turning to the room. He raised his hands and said "Sorry. Terribly sorry. Broke a pen. Just go back to… whatever you were doing."

They all looked back to America who seemed rather irritated. Germany cleared his throat and gestured for America to continue. His annoying voice filled the room again and England looked back at Prussia.

"What?" he hissed

"Where's Birdie?"

"Who?" He dabbed at his shirt distractedly.

"Canada."

"Uh…"

"Mattie, Matthew, the other kid you raised!"

"Shhhhh!"

"What? No one's gonna hear me. Do you know who Matthew is?"

"'Course I do. What about him?"

"Good. Where is he?"

"What? Isn't he here?"

"Yes, I just want to know which chair he sits in. Of course he's not here!"

He frowned. "Well you don't have to shout. Dear lord, this is never coming out. I liked this shirt."

"Whatever. Never mind."

Prussia straightened up and started to walk away.

"Wait."

He rushed back over and fell to his knees beside the Brit's chair. "Yeah?"

"He called this morning – no idea how he got my hotel number – and said he wouldn't be coming, something about stomach pains. Probably ate too much maple syrup, he always has, eats it by the bucket load."

"Yeah, sure, great, thanks. Listen, if he calls again tell him I need to talk to him, 'kay?"

"Erm, yes. Of coarse. By the way, I'm sending you my dry cleaning bill."

He decided to ignore that last part. "Yeah, thanks." With that he stood up and unsteadily walked back to his chair. His legs had fallen asleep and they prickled with each step he took making him stumble slightly. He fell back into his seat with a sigh and waited for the meeting to end.

America remained at the front of the room for the next ten minutes or so presenting increasingly ridiculous ideas. Everyone had settled in for it, and was expecting the usual, so when he reached page three and became suddenly serious they all sat up with renewed interest.

He leaned forward with his hands on the table and looked at them all over his glasses looking more serious then anyone could ever remember him being. "Walt Disney, one of the greatest minds in the world, made a lot of people happy." His voice was low and serious so that despite what he had just said they all kept their attention on him. "He also created the famous song and ride, It's a Small World. Giving the phrase and the source careful consideration I have decided that we should do what he said."

They all waited for him to fill them in, but he didn't say anything else. Eventually Germany spoke up. "And that is?"

America looked at him incredulously. "Make the world smaller."

England cracked. "What? That is completely ridiculous!" They all sat back again ready for the long-winded "debate" that had already begun.

"I think it makes sense. I mean that ride made so many people happy so in theory so should this."

"Any world where I have to live closer to you is definitely not a happy place!"

Prussia's eyes wandered. In an attempt to keep his mind off of Canada he tried to imagine what each of them were thinking about. Russia stared across the table at the wall without really seeing it making Italy and Japan extremely uncomfortable. For all anyone knew he was thinking of fish-sticks and cranberry pudding being eaten by a unicorn. Poland was obviously thinking of a million ways to kill Russia with his own pipe and possibly a piano string. Pleasant. Germany was probably wishing that the fight would end soon so he could take over the meeting again in that anal way of his.

Prussia continued until his eyes fell on an empty chair. Wait. He looked around and found a second chair empty. One of them was Canada's, but who's was the other? In his mind he checked off each of the nations in his head. One was missing. France. Probably just stepped out for something, he thought. A smirk grew on his face as he wondered what he could have stepped out for. The possibilities that he came up with made the smirk grow into a smile and soon a laugh that he had to suppress.

Just as the argument grew to it's peak and Prussia thought he would burst out laughing there was a crying shout from through the door. Silence ruled for a few brief seconds and another shout broke it. They could just make out the word that was cried. "Help!"

Surprisingly England was the first one out the door at the sound of France's voice. Everyone else followed closely and Prussia shoved his way past them. He reached the front and broke through into the hall. He hurried toward the voice and followed it through the front door and into the bright sunlight. A brick path cut through the expansive lawn in front of the building and England stood behind a bent figure. It amazed him that France's voice had reached the meeting room from all the way out there, but it had and there had to be a reason.

Prussia moved closed to peer over England's shoulder. France's body was still in the way and when the crowd of nations reached them he had no answer to their questions of what was going on. England backed up as France stood, bumping into Prussia who had been pushed closed by the curious crowd. The Frenchman cupped his hands carefully under something small and white and looked extremely upset. In his hands was a tiny bird only slightly bigger then Gilbird, it's wings twitching and it's body wricking with painful spasms.

The others seemed a bit disappointed, but Prussia's love of birds made him more sympathetic. He stepped up beside his friend and watched the bird do its mad dance. "What's wrong with it?"

France shook his head. "Je ne sais pas."

England appeared on his other side, his face slightly confused. "Okay, I'm sorry but I am completely lost. What is that?"

"C'est Pierre, mon petit oiseau."

"Yes I can see that, but… why?"

"He is a part of me. I felt odd, so when l'Amerique began his presentation I slipped out for a drink of water. Something felt wrong. I stepped outside to check on Pierre, make sure he was okay, and when I got to him he was like this."

"What do you mean by a part of you?"

France looked slightly flustered. "He represents some islands that I own just north of l'Amerique."

In Prussia's head something clicked. "So, does that mean something is happening to those islands?"

"Do you mean like an attack? Mon Dieu, it could be. But who?"

"That new fellow, erm-" England looked up as he searched for the name. He snapped his fingers, "Quebec. Doesn't he live up there?"

"Oui, I kept the islands so that I could keep an eye on him and Mathieu. But he would never do something like that. What could he possibly gain from taking the islands?"

Land, thought Prussia, Power.

He left the two of them to toss ideas around and searched the crowd of nations that was steadily growing smaller as they lost interest and went back inside.

If his hunch was correct then it was Quebec who was attacking the islands and that meant those stomach pains England had mentioned were probably not from eating a whack load of maple syrup as his friend was prone to do. He needed to go make sure though.

He and his brother were close enough to Warsaw to drive rather then take a plane and taxi, so Prussia started off for the car. On the way he bumped shoulders with Germany who was hurrying over to a terror stricken Italy. He heard a muttered apology and watched his brother walk away completely unaware of what had just happened. With a smile, Prussia turned and made his way to the car tossing in his hand the keys he had just stolen from Germany's pocket.

~o~

A knock at the door drew Matthew's attention away from his phone call. Several more very urgent knocks came from the front door.

A question came from the phone and he put it back to his ear. "Sorry, what did you say? … No there's someone at the door." The knocks got louder. "I think so… Okay, I'll tell him if it is. Bye."

He hung up and dropped the phone on his desk with a sigh. Nothing was going right. Kumajirou managed to lift his head off his paws and he blinked sleepily as he watched his friend leave the room. He considered going with him, but he wasn't feeling the greatest either so instead he just lay his head back down and settled back into his nap.

The knocking continued nonstop and Canada hurried down the hall. When he reached the door he could see the shadow of a grown man through the windows on either side. The door opened to reveal Gilbert still in his uniform and wearing a confused face. Before Matthew could say a word, Prussia walked in closing the door behind him.

"Sh*t, Birdie, when'd it get cold?"

"W-what?"

"Last time I was here it was hot as hell, but now it's like…"

"Hell froze over?" Canada supplied.

"Yeah. I mean I can see my f*cking breath out there when last time I was sweating bullets."

"You're exaggerating."

"Whatever. All I'm saying is that if it gets that cold in just two weeks then I think you need to do something about it."

"It's September. You were here a month ago, not two weeks. Anyways the people up here are used to the weather changes. There should be another heat wave before October." Gilbert snickered. "What?"

"Dude, you have hot flashes."

He rolled his eyes, turned and walked into the living room leaving his friend to follow. They sat down on the couch and he let Prussia ramble for a while about his epic escape from the meeting and his newfound invisibility making him even more awesome then ever by giving him cool stealth abilities and… Wait a second.

"Wait, did you say invisibility?"

"Uh…" He stopped for a moment and Matthew could nearly see the gears turning in his head as he realized what he had said. "Anyways, that's not important," he covered, "I came here to talk to you about Quebec."

Matthew sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Do we really have to talk about this now? First time I talk to a friend in nearly a month and I have to talk about this again."

"What? Sh*t Birdie, I seriously need to talk to you about this now."

Another sigh. "Fine. What is it, what's he done now?"

"Something happened to France."

That caught Canada's attention and he immediately looked up. "What happened?"

"I don't know. Something about islands, he said they were north of America and I just figured-"

"Maple," he cut in, "Saint Pierre and Miquelon. They were close to Newfoundland. And you think Jean did this?"

"Well, yeah. I mean who else could it be?"

Matthew sighed again and looked down at his hands. "… Yeah, it was him."

"The stomach pain you told Eyebrows about last night… That was him too wasn't it?"

A nod. "PEI. It didn't take very long though. We didn't have the time to get anyone out there so there was no resistance."

"We have to tell someone."

"No!" He looked up into Gilberts ruby eyes, his own eyes wide. "We can't tell anyone."

"Come on! What else can we do? I mean, you're obviously to scared to do anything about it yourself!"

"I'm doing everything I can! Most of my military were on a peacekeeping mission in the Middle East and we've only just gotten them back. I had half an army and Quebec had massive numbers of people fighting for him."

"There's a question. Where did he get those people? It's not like you become a country and then poof! There's an army, have a nice day!"

"I don't know where they came from." Matthew's eyes flickered away for half a second and then he stood up. "I knew he had supporters from the beginning." He began to pace. "But I just didn't know he had that many."

"How many?"

"Lots." he said simply.

"And how many do you have?"

"… More then he does, but-"

"Well then just storm the capitol and demand you're land back! He can't kill all of them."

"I can't do that."

"Why the hell not?"

"I just can't!" He stopped pacing and turned to face his friend. "You just don't get it because you're not a country anymore! Would you attack Germany? No! And why? Because he's your brother, because you watched him grow up and you helped him when he needed it and you can't stand the thought of hurting him! I have brothers too!"

"Ouch." Gilbert said quietly. "Low blow, dude."

Canada's gaze softened as he realized what he's said. He hadn't meant it. But it had hit hard. Uncertain of what to say he just looked down and crossed his arms nervously.

A small clacking sound came from the hall. They both looked over to the doorway where Kumajirou stood blinking groggily. The bear looked between the two of them before slowly making his way over to Matthew. He sat down and looked up at him with beady black eyes. "Who?"

"Canada."

"Oh. Up."

He obligingly leaned over and picked up his friend. Canada looked down at him for a few long seconds and then back up at the man sitting on his couch. Their eyes met briefly and he looked down again.

"Sorry," he muttered.

Prussia gave a strained smile. "S'okay." But it wasn't and Matthew could see that when he reluctantly looked up again. Gilbert's eyes were hard and made him feel terrible about what he had said. He knew that Prussia longed to be a country again and that he was the man's only hope for it. Saying what he did was like saying that it would never happen and it broke his heart to know how much he had really hurt him. It would be impossible to take it back, but he could try to apologize. He just didn't know how.

Although…

"Prussia. On my desk there is an envelope with several sheets in it. I-I still need to finish filling them out, but you can take them and fill out your sections. Bring it back to me as soon as you can."

Gilbert looked up and his eyes widened followed quickly by his smile as he realized what this meant. "You mean…"

Matthew nodded. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as Gilbert's face lit up.

"Yes!" He stood up and pumped his fists in the air excitedly, then charged over snatching Canada up in a big bear hug. All the while he spoke rapidly about being able to count on him and having no more worries ever again and never being sorry about his decision. Then he let out a wild laugh and ran out the door.

The room seemed suddenly so bright and Matthew smiled at it. Nothing seemed bright anymore and no one was very happy. It was good to see a smile again, a true smile.

"Idiot."

He looked down with surprise at the bear in his arms. "Don't say that about him Kumawaro."

"Wasn't talking about him."

Gilbert ran back down the hall, papers in hand and grin on face. He would be a country again! Sure he would never be as big as he once was, but people would remember him and that damn numbness would stop. Even now with the help of his friend his leg was returning to him. It would be great to be alive again.

When he reached the door he skidded to a stop as a thought cross his mind and he turned back to the living room. Matthew was looking down at Kumajirou with an odd expression on his face, but Prussia didn't notice. Instead he slid across the floor and scooped the kid up into another awesome hug and spun him around happily. Canada protested weakly and Gilbert put him down. He smiled insanely and said, "You know, I never did get those pancakes I came here for last time."

"What?"

He put his hands on his friend's shoulders and put on a serious face. "Make me pancakes."

A smile appeared on Matthew's face and he nodded. Prussia whooped and ran for the door. "I'm just gonna put these in the car," he said waving the papers. "Those pancakes better be f*cking awesome!"

"I make no promises."

He ran for the door, already tasting the waffles, and left it open as he burst out into the chilly, autumn air. The car sat on the lawn where the shade would keep it cool (totally unnecessary). He was about to open it when he heard a noise. Muffled music. It seemed to be coming from inside the car and after a moment he recognized it as the ring tone on his cell phone. He must have left it in the car in his hurry to get to the house.

He opened the car door and sifted through the junk he had left in there. Sure it was just a rental, but he had stopped by at a few drive-thru's along the way. Halfway through the filth the music stopped and Prussia paused, listening for it. Nothing. The person must have hung up. Ah well, it was probably just West wondering where his car was, he figured.

So, with a shrug, he dropped the envelope onto the passenger seat and headed back to the house.

When he entered the smell of fresh pancakes greeted his nose and he breathed it in enthusiastically. Damn that kid could cook. He walked through to the kitchen where he found Matthew having a conversation with his bear who appeared to be having trouble remembering who the other was.

"Who?"

"Ca-na-da."

"Who?"

"Matthew, the one who feeds you?"

"Who?"

"Canada! Your life-long friend! Canada!"

"…Who?"

Mattie threw his arms in the air. "Never mind," he said tiredly.

"Having some issues there?"

He turned and smiled at Gilbert sadly. "It happens sometimes. Get the syrup these are almost done."

Prussia obligingly took the nearly empty bottle of maple-syrup out of the fridge and put it on the kitchen table along with some butter where a single plate sat waiting.

"Aren't you having any?"

"No, I'm not hungry."

That was odd. It was well known that Canada was the only person alive who rivaled his brother's eating abilities. He was always willing to eat especially if pancakes or maple was involved. "You feeling okay?"

"Yeah." A lie.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, just some minor economy issues." Another lie.

"How minor?"

"Minor enough not to kill me. Now eat your pancakes."

"Yes, mother." He was willing to ignore Matthew's obvious discomforts for the pancakes that were set before him

The pancakes were golden-brown and delicious. They did nothing to fill him up and just left him wanting more. But he had to go. So he stood, licking the sticky syrup off his fingers, and put his plate in the sink with a clatter. Matthew stood from his place at the table and watched silently, his smile gone.

"When do you think you can get those papers back to me?" he asked hesitantly.

"I dunno," Prussia shrugged, "Sometime soon I guess." He looked at his friend quizzically. "Mind if I ask you something?"

"No."

"If you don't want to hurt him then why are you asking me for an army?"

Matthew looked down. "He's not afraid of me anymore so he doesn't hesitate against my army. I was hoping that he would be scared enough of someone else to just… give in. You know, without too many people getting hurt. It's stupid, I know, but…"

He trailed off and rubbed his arm uncomfortably, unwilling to go on or even look up. After a moment of awkwardness Gilbert shrugged just to show he didn't care, though in truth he really did, and walked to the door with his friend trailing after him.

"I'll see you later. I have to get back to the meeting hall."

"Why do you bother going to those meetings, again?"

Prussia laughed. "Where else am I supposed to find info to blackmail people with?"

Matthew laughed softly in return. "Of course. See you later."

The door closed behind him with a click and Gilbert groaned. What was he going to say to his bruder about the car? It wasn't like he could tell him he went on a ten-hour trip to a hot dog stand. Oh well, he could cross that bridge when he came to it. For the time being he would enjoy the warmth of the pancakes in his belly and the taste of maple in his mouth.

When he got to the car he heard his phone ringing again. Maybe the bridge was a bit closer then he had thought. Gilbert opened the door and searched through the remaining garbage. He found the phone, flipped it open and put it to his ear.

"Bruder, I can explain."

"Salut, Prusse. Finally, I've been trying to get through to you for hours."

A shiver ran down his spine at the voice and all the delicious pancakey warmth disappeared. "What do you want?" he asked with dread.

"Just a moment of your time."


Gasp! What is this? Is it... could it be... It is! It is an update! It is true, I have not given up on it. It would have been out yesterday but nachos happen. I have no idea when the next one will be here so just hold tight.

Yeah I had some issues with this chapter which can probably be seen in it's flow and such. I realized that lately Prussia's been pretty OOC so I tried to fix that in this part. Hope it worked. Tell me what you think. I kinda like it. I also like pancakes :D

The title of this chapter is obviously from the most well known depressing nursery rhyme. And by depressing I mean those nursery rhymes that you think are all happy and nice, but are actually about death, destruction and in this case the plague. I like that too. Not the plague, but depressing nursery rhymes.

So I'm not going to translate every single French phrase because I think you're smart and can figure it out on your own plus I'm lazy. Your welcome.

And one other thing, yes the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon are real and I really want to go there. They use francs and need passports and everything. I kid you not.

One last thing. I don't own Hetalia or the islands (wish I did though)