"Papa?" Matthew's small voice shook as he called out in the darkness. "Papa!"

The door of Matthew's bedroom opened and candlelight flooded in. Francis's face was illuminated by the flickering light as he traversed the room, candlestick in hand. "Matthieu, what's wrong?"

Matthew sniffled and pulled his knees up to his chest. "I had a nightmare."

The mattress sagged under the added weight as Francis sat down on the quilted comforter. He set the candlestick in a holder on Matthew's bedside table. The Frenchman pulled Matthew against his chest and rocked him back and forth, stroking his hair and singing lullabies in forgotten languages. When Matthew's cries diminished, Francis put a hand under Matthew's chin and wiped the tears from his colony's eyes. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Matthew shook his head, but after a moment said, "I dreamed that my family left me again."

Francis hugged the small child closer and whispered. "They were foolish to leave you, who ever they were. I wish I could take you to see your brother, but Arthur won't let me. One day thought, I promise you will see Alfred agan."

With just a moment's hesitation, Matthew leaned forwards and planted a kiss on Francis's cheek. "Je t'aime Papa." It was the first time since Francis had found him over a year ago that Matthew had said those words.

Blue eyes widened and a slow smile spread across Francis's face. "Je t'aime aussi Matthieu."

"Awwww!" Hungary squealed. "That's so cute."

"You seemed to have had a very close relationship with your colony, Frog." grumbled England. Then, with a questioning glance, he added. "Did you bring him back to France with you?"

France spread his hands in a dramatic fashion. "But of course! I was not about to leave mon petit Matthieu alone in New France. Unlike you, I was ready to put my colony's needs above my own."

"Why you-" England growled, rolling up his sleeves and launching himself at France.

"Both of you, stop!" Germany snapped, stepping between the two brawling nations. "We have memories to watch and everytime you two fight, it's going to take us longer to get through them. Save your quarrels until after the memories have finished."

Grumbling, France and England separated and stood back to watch the memories.

Smiling at his colony, France stood up from the bed and pulled the blankets up to Matthew's chin. France picked the candle back up and traversed the wooden floor to the door. "Goodnight, Matthieu." he whispered, before blowing out the candle and closing the door.

oO0Oo

Matthew ran to the bow of the ship. He grabbed onto the railing and closed his eyes, breathing in the salty air. Wind tousled his hair and blew past him. His long dark blue coat whipped around him and the spray from the sea splattered onto his black pants and polished shoes. He looked older than when the nations had last seen him, probably about six instead of two. Matthew let out a laugh that resonated all across the water and lit up the faces of several crew members. "I'm almost home!"

A chuckled sounded from behind him and Matthew turned to see Francis's laughing, face crinkling in mirth and a sparkle in his eyes. Francis held his hat on his head as he approached Matthew. "I take it you're excited to be going back to New France."

"Oui! I haven't been back here in decades."

More water washed over the bow and Matthew coughed as he got a mouthful of sea spray. He made a face when he saw Francis laughing. "Stop that!"

Suddenly, Francis was knocked down by a wave that hit him. When the water receded, he was soaking wet and sputtering, but his wet face broke out into a grin as he heard Matthew's peals of laughter.

Most of the nations were laughing too. Watching the two wet brothers, they could see that the two of them really loved one another.

Prussia was laughing the hardest. "Francy-pants, karma sucks."

The laughter continued when Matthew tried to run across the deck and instead slipped and went crashing into a pile of rigging.

"Alright, Matthieu, I think it's time for us to go back below deck. The sea looks like it's getting rough." Francis said, picking the child up from the tangle of ropes and hoisting him onto his hip.

Francis walked below deck, stumbling a bit with the pitching and rolling of the waves under the ship. The unlit lanterns on either side of the walls swayed every time the ship moved. Reaching their cabin, he fumbled with the latch before getting the door open and walking in, still holding Matthew. With a sigh, Francis set Matthew down on the bed and collapsed into a chair himself.

Matthew giggled and tugged on Francis's sleeve. "Papa, I'm still wet."

Francis opened one eye and gave a small smile. "Indeed you are. Alright, let's get you into dry clothes."

Matthew walked back over to the bed and sat down on the floor beside it, careful not to get the sheets wet. The sound of a drawer opening and closing could be heard in a space of the cabin out of Matthew's view.

"Come on, then. After this, we can go get the evening meal in the kitchen."

"D'accord Papa!"

oO0Oo

The first thing that Matthew noticed had changed about his home was the noise. The sounds of hammers hitting anvils rang through the streets and the sounds of horses and humans drowned out the songs of the birds and the whispers of the wind. The purple-eyed colony grabbed onto Francis's hand and pressed into his side as they walked the cobble streets of Quebec City, not believing his eyes at what he saw. His home, which used to be filled with trees and flowers and wildlife, had become a city, just like the ones back in Francis's home. Matthew wished he had eight more eyes to take it in. It didn't seem possible that all this had happened in only a few decades. Francis led him to a building a little ways from the docks and unlocked the door.

"This will be our home whenever we come to Quebec." Francis said.

Matthew could only nod, still awestruck and speechless from their short walk to the house from the ship. Francis had taken off his boots and hat and was in the process of removing his coat when he noticed Matthew hadn't moved from the open door. "What's wrong, Matthieu? Is everything alright."

"It's so different. It's changed so much since I left." Matthew whispered.

Spain sighed. "I remember when I was colonized by Ancient Rome. He called me Hispania and took me back to Rome with him. When I was allowed to return to my country many years later, everything had changed."

Canada nodded. "Everything was so different from the home I remembered. Before France colonized me, the loudest sounds you heard was the roar of angry animals or the chants of my tribes around a fire. But suddenly, you had to strain to even hear those. I didn't know how to react. Was I supposed to be happy, because I was becoming like France, or was I supposed to be sad because the home I knew had been taken away?"

Several former colonies smiled sadly, they had felt the same way.

Francis walked over to Matthew and kneeled in front of him, hands on his shoulders. "Matthieu, I understand that things seem to have changed, but not everything is different. Outside of the cities, the forests remain the same. Maybe one day, you can go there."

Matthew nodded and, with tears in his eyes, hugged Francis. He was reminded of what Berwald had told him centuries ago. The land is forever.

Please review if you want me to continue with this story. It will follow Canada from when he was discovered to the present. I will warn you though. I'm Canadian, so the information here is what was in my history textbook and might be a little biased, but I will try my best to not favour one side over another. Many thanks for reading!