Before we get started I have some announcements that I feel are important. 1st, I'm sorry ! I know you don't like the accents, but I need to work on them! 2nd, I found a website where I can translate Cyrillic into the Latin alphabet, so I'll be going back and changing all Cyrillic in previous chapters as well as in Siberia.

Erin

"Hallo?" I picked up the phone that had interrupted the long awaited inspiration streak, "Oh! Hallo Litauen!"

"Hm? Sveiki, Erin! Also, how many times must I ask you to call me Toris?"

"At least ein more I think." I joked, "Are you calling to speak vit Rachel?"

"Ne, it doesn't matter, I just need to know if you're both free today. I called Ludwig earlier, and Berlin doesn't have any sort of meeting, so I wondered if I could bring Anya, and Darijus over to finally meet you and Rachel."

"Ja, sure why not?" I said, checking my calendar, "Ja, there's nothing today for me, I don't know about Rachel, but I have a feeling you vould know if anything is happening today in Vilnius."

"Taip… okay when is best? After lunch? Or whenever, it's up to you."

"Ja, after lunch would be easiest. I don't take care of teenagers you know."

"Taip, that's what I thought."

"Ja, okay see you soon Litauen!" I hung up, "Rachel! Get up you lazy-" I stopped remembering the last time I called her that she ran away and I had to pay her portion of the rent for three months or I would have gotten kicked out, "Get up!"

"Tylus! Aš atsisakys jau! Rašiau ..." She yelled from her room.

"I don't know Lithuaisch! Say it in Englische or Deutsch!" I barked.

"I said, shut up, I am awake, I was writing!" She replied as peacefully as Japan would.

"Okay fine, Litauen is coming over, and he's bringing the tvins."

"Are you avare of how similar our accents are, Erin?"

"Ja… it's veird zough because ve veren't born vit zem. Now eat your stupid mittagessen."

"Ka?! But I vant to have shome pietus!"

"Zat's vat I said!"

"Oh…" She smiled like an idiot, "Vell okay den!"

Our constant banter was less angry when we were high school kids, but ever since we got turned into capitals we had accents that were new to us, and spoke different languages, as such we often got on each others nerves.

"Hoi Rachel?"

"Taip?"

"Vat do you tink of zat Ioann guy?"

"Hmm… I don't know really, but that chick, Kamile you know New Imperial Russia, I like her, she's got guts. But I don't like what she said about Ivan."

"You vanted to punch her too, I saw zat look in your eyes."

"Of course I did! Vat is she had shaid dat about Roderich huh?"

"Vat do I care?"

"Vell you're closh to Rod, de vay I am, err… vas… closh to Ivan."

"Vy is it zat our accents are so much ticker zan zose of de countries ve go viz?"

"I don't know…"

Rachel

I heard Erin answer the door and I heard Toris and his kids say hi to her, before Toris addressed me.

"Sveiki!"

"Sveiki Rachel! Kaip jauciates?"

"Puikiai, kluasia!"

"Englische!" Erin yelled as I tried to have a conversation with Toris.

"Fine… vatever! Come on in you guysh."

"Damn… it's weird that you have a such a strong and obvious Lietuvos accent, isn't it?"

"Taip, and I think it'sh odd dat you almost sound like you have an Amerikos accent, ven it vas Erin and I who were born dere!"

"Taip…"

"Allo Aunt Rachel, da?"

"Sveiki Anya, how are you?"

"I'm good, da? Allo Erin!"

"Hallo, Anastasia. Hallo Darijus."

"Hm? Sveiki Erin!"

"Verdamt does no one speak Englische anymore?" She cursed.

"What did she say, da?"

"Don't vorry about it dear." I said, smiling towards were I had heard her voice.

"Hey, I'm over here!" she said, poking my shoulder.

"Oh? Oops…"

"What's wrong with you? She's right there, can't you see her?"

"… Ne… I can't…" I said, "I'm afraid I'm completely blind…"

"Oho! You get around really well for someone who can't see!" I heard Darijus exclaim.

"I know de apartment very vell." I answered, "After all, I've lived here for nearly a hundred yearsh!"

"How did that happen? You move your eyes when you're spoken to, so it's clear that you weren't born blind."

"Zat's very good!" Erin said, "I tink it's time for a good story, ja?"

"Taip!" I said, I actually loved how the whole thing had played out so long ago.

"Oh! Can I start?" Toris asked, "I remember it quite clearly-"

"Nein, it starts a little before vat most of you know." Erin interrupted, "Ven I get to vhere you remember, you can continue, but listen to me for a moment."

As Erin spoke, I listened intently and remembered each scene as she described it.

"Oh come on Erin!" I called, older than me by three years, and by far more gifted at drawing, we had taken a college class in animation and comic writing, "We're gonna miss the seminar!"

"What's so exciting about this anyway?" She asked, sighing at my childish joy, "It's just some-"

"No it's not! I promise I'll get some ideas! Besides, I thought you liked listening to the German accents?"

"I do, but I don't want to sit and listen to a stupid lecture…"

"… I know!"

"Oof!"

"Hoi! Vatch vhere you're goingk girlie!" The tall blond man yelled at Erin, who had gotten knocked over when the two crashed into each other.

"Hey shut up! I'm twenty-four!" She demanded, quickly moving her arm to punch the man.

He grabbed her fist, and whispered at her a phrase I had the misfortune of understanding. "Die junge Hündin lernen sie ihren Platz."

"Hey! Don't you talk about her like that!" I shouted, kicking the man's knees, He went down like a felled tree.

"Hm… you're tough kid. I like zat." He chuckled, "I vill let you off ze hook dis time, don't let me catch you around here again."

Erin said nothing, but she scowled at the man with something I would consider a death glare. When he walked away, I heard her say something I didn't care to ponder.

"So uhm… what do you want to do today?" I asked, trying to avoid getting a fist to my own face.

"I'm in the mood for something to eat." She said quickly, "it's almost noon anyway."

"Right…"

A few weeks later we had moved to Bejing, for a look at some intricate designs, plus I wanted to see a real panda in the wild.

"Oh gott… not you again…" I heard.

"For the love of…" Erin said, she face-palmed and I turned to see what was going on.

There he was again, the tall, blond, blue-eyed German from before in Vienna, staring at us as if we were a curse.

"You know vat… zis is downright odd… I almost never run into people tvice you know!" he laughed, very different from the way he had acted the last time we met.

"… Rachel, we're going."

"Now hold on ein moment." He grabbed her shoulder and she about punched him again, "I have dis veird feeling."

"What? Get off me before I call the cops for rape!"

"Nein zat's Francis." He chuckled softly, "I have dis veird feeling like ve're goingk to keep meeting up like dis, so ve might as vell have each ozer's names."

"I'm Rachel!" I said loudly waving like a little kid.

"Hallo, I'm Ludwig. Now, vat's your name, Miss?"

"Let go of me…"

"Nice to meet you, 'Let go of me'." He teased, I saw a tiny smile grow on my friend's face.

"I'm Erin." She shifted, and pulled herself away from Ludwig's hand.

"Alright zen… … now zen…" He stood up a bit and looked around, "Uhm… by ze vay… do you know how von might get to-"

"I found you Ve~!" I heard a girly voice call, and saw Erin's shoulders fall slightly, "I'm so glad I found you Germ- mmf!"

"Shut up Veni!" Ludwig demanded, cuffing his mouth over the red haired man's mouth.

"… sorry? Oh! … Ciao! It's nice to meet you two pretty ladies!" He flirted instantly, He's Italian… I thought to myself, "I'm Venneziano! But you can call me Veni, okay?"

"Hi! I'm Rachel! Are you from Italy?"

"Si! In fact I am Italia!"

Erin and I both froze. "What?"

"Veni you idiot! They're not like us! They don't understand!"

"Ve~? But our bosses get it!"

"Wait wait wait! I want to know about this!" I said, feeling excited, "Please please please!"

"… Nein-"

"Si of course! Come with me ve~!" He grabbed my wrist and pulled me after him.

I laughed, "Erin come on!"

"… fine…"

Veni took me and Erin to a very, very old looking Chinese palace, he took us inside and I saw a lot of people there, it was weird, there was apparently one person here for most of the countries in the whole world!

"Whoa!" I shouted when I saw everybody sitting talking about very casual things, "There's a lot of people here!"

"Si! These are all countries!" Veni said happily, shortly receiving a light, but disciplinary blow on the head from Ludwig.

"You idiot…"

"Hey what's going on?" Erin asked quickly.

Vein and Ludwig and a few others from the room explained something very confusing in a very short amount of time.

"Okay! I'm caught up now!" Toris said, breaking me from my little moment of memories.

"Fine… go ahead."

Almost a year later we were still travelling looking for inspiration for an anime series we had both set ourselves on creating. We somehow met up with Ludwig, who we learned was the human form of the country Germany, and Veni, who was Italy, and some others who I didn't know right away. Somehow we got ourselves invited to lunch with the group, and we accepted.

"Sorry, but our bosses will be joining us, da?" Said the one who I assumed was supposed to be Russia, "I hope you don't mind too much…"

"It's no problem at all, really!" I said, questioning to myself the heavy scarf and coat he wore, it was, after all very warm here in Riga.

At lunch we talked and had an oddly normal conversation with the countries.

"You know vat?" said a man who was very clearly German, "Germany I vant zese girls to begin attending your meeting each mont."

"Shho?" Russia asked, making an adorable expression of confusion, "You tink dat is a good idea? I mean… dey are humans, after all-"

"Shi! I am agreeing! This might not be a good idea!" Said China, this was the first time he had actually said anything, and that was how I realized he was in fact a man.

"I tink dat he is right." Said the man next to Russia, "It would be good for you all I tink, to interact wit humans."

"Ve~!" Veni said happily.

"That's how we all met!" Toris said, "After a little while, they got their inspiration for that anime they wanted to write!"

"Taip! ve called it Hetalia!" I added.

"Not too long after that some weird sort of sickness went all over the world." Toris said, his voice becoming a little more serious.

"Ja, ve both got sick… somehow zough… Rachel had it a little differently zen I did."

"Hey… You don't look to well, da? Are you feeling okay Erin?"

"Yes… I'm fine… it's just a headache…" She shooed Ivan away.

"… okay…" He turned, and saw me, I was half asleep, slumped over in my chair, "Da! Rachel!"

"Mmmm…" I tried to sit up, but when I did I felt my whole body burn up, "Ah!"

"Oho? Mon ami! What 'as 'appened? Do you feel alright, mademoiselle?" Francis asked, I felt his hand on my forehead, "Zut alors! What a fever you 'ave! Zis is no good my dear! You need to go lay down!"

"But I'm fine, really…"

"Ni! You're very sick!" Katya said, I could hear her voice quivering.

"Shi! You need to get some medicine, aru!" Yao said, quickly. I remembered seeing Japan stand and move quickly to catch me as I fell out of my chair.

"Hey!"

"Vat?" I jumped, Erin had startled me.

"No von knows vat happened after zat except for ze obvious, so it's your turn, okay."

"Taip.. okay…" I thought about it for a second and then started to tell what I experienced after I woke up.

"Aiya! She's awake, aru!" I opened my eyes, I could see, but everything was very blurry.

"Ch-China?"

"Shi!" I felt his hand on my forehead, "Mmm… you're getting warmer…"

"Hm? Do we need to check her temperature, da?" I heard Ivan ask, worry thick in his already difficult to interpret accent.

"Oui!" I felt something long and thin and glass shoved into my mouth under my tongue. I waited a second, and it was taken out and I heard Francis declare "Cent dix-sept degrés!"

"Say it in Anglijskij!" I heard Ivan say.

"One 'undred seventeen degrees, mon ami! Zat is very, very hot!"

"Nani? That is not a good temperature at arr!" I closed my eyes, the unclear vision was making my head hurt worse, "What wirr we do? She might… werr I mean so many of the other humans have… Igirisu! Do something!"

"I would! But I don't know what!" I heard Arthur say quickly, "I mean… I… I could…"

"Could vat?" Ludwig was now scared out of his wits.

"I could make her one of us…" He said slowly.

"Do it!" I heard four or five voices all shout at once.

"I … it doesn't work like that!" He said quickly, "It's a strange sort of a curse! It takes two souls to bind one to a certain place!"

"I'll do it…" I could barely hear Erin as I faded again into a strange restless sleep.

"Ja… I remember zat… I vas very scared…" I could hear Erin's voice change to slightly embarrassed as she interrupted, "Of course, ve had to vait for you to vake up again before England could actually do anyzing."

"hm? She's awake!" I could hear Erin, so I opened my eyes, I guess it was dark because I didn't see her.

"Oh? Good! Okay let's do this then, yes?"

"Yes!" Erin said loudly.

Arthur said some strange words, I couldn't decipher, Erin said something about the capital of Germany, and I said that someday I'd like to live in Vilnius. Before I knew what was happening, my body was filled with a terrible coldness that I couldn't get rid of.

"Vat happent? Vy is she shivering like zat?" Erin's voice had changed, "Vat ze hell? Vy am I… Enlgand!"

"I told you there would be some changes!"

"Erin? Vat… vat ish happening? Vy ish it sho dark in here?"

"Hm? Rachel… vat do you mean? Ze lights are all on…"

"… But… But I can't shee anyting!" I exclaimed, "Ohhh… my head…"

"Lat down, love. You still need to rest, your fever is still rising somehow…" He moved, "Hold on a second…" He put the thermometer in my mouth, "Dear god!"

"Vat?"

"… One hundred and twenty degrees… looks like we did this just in time…"

"H-ho-how can my temperature be sho high, ven I'm fr-freezing?" I asked, trying to curl up in my blanket.

"… I'll explain it when you wake up, so go back to sleep now, okay dear?"

"Taip…"

"I swear to Dievas, that was the longest two days I've ever waited for anything!" Toris said suddenly and loudly, "When something happens in our countries," He began to explain to Anastasia and Darijus, "Especially in our capitals, we get affected. So I could feel Rachel's fever as soon as Arthur tied her to Vilnius. So I had an idea of how awful it was."

"Wow… Maci was it scary?"

"Taip… it was really trying… I think someday soon Alaska is trying to become a nation now right?"

"Taip."

"Well, then you'll be able to more closely feel what is happening in Juneau." He said, "Oh! Sorry Rachel, keep going dear."

"Kehehehe… it'sh alright."

I woke up, feeling a little better, my head didn't hurt anymore, but I was still really cold. "Sveiki?" Huh… since when do I speak Lietvos? "Sveiki? Ar kas nors cia? Sveiki?"

"Rachel!" I felt Erin attack me, "Dank Gott! You're okay!"

"Erin… vy are all of de lightsh off? Ish it nighttime?"

"huh? Nein… it's ze middle of ze day… vat's wrong vit you?"

"I can't shee anything at all, it'sh sho dark." I answered, listening to the strange new sound of my voice.

I stood up and wrapped the blanket tightly around myself, "Erin, vill you pleash turn de lightsh on?"

"Zey are on! Vat… vat's gotten into you?"

"Erin… I can't shee anyting!" I said, staring to panic a little.

"Mein Gott… nein!" She put her hands on my eyes and pulled them open a bit wider, "How about now?"

"Ne! Shtill noting!"

She cursed loudly, and I heard a pair of heavy boots and then the door opened.

"What? Oh! Rachel's awake you guys!" I heard Arthur holler down the hallway, "How do you feel, love?"

"I can't shee anyting!" I yelled, "Vy can't I?"

"Zut alors! It cannot be!"

"Vat?" I heard the harsh voice of Ludwig, everything was really loud or was everyone yelling?

"Ze… ze fievre! Non! Zhe can't 'ave… Oh dear…"

"Da! She… if she can't see… and her fever was so very high, da?"

I felt someone wrap their arms around my waist, "Chey… you'll be okay, right Miss Reicela?"

"Gahhh! Raivis! You can't just go up and-"

"I don't know!" I said suddenly, crying. I turned around and hugged the little Latvian back.

"Okay de end!" I said quickly.

"That's a really sad story!" Anastasia said standing and falling backwards, "Oof!"

"Taip, how can you say that tale with such a bright and cheerful smile?"

"Who knows? But it's really fun, ven I write on de computer, to hear vat typos I made!" I said, giggling at myself, "I'm pretty good at typing, but I mesh up and it can trow off de resht of de paragraph!"

"Ja, It's kind of fun to read vhere you messed up too."

We both laughed at me.

"But… how can you be so … so… so happy? I mean from the way you talk about it, it's like you're happy that you're blind!"

"I vouldn't go dat far… but it hash certainly given me a new… vell I'll shay it… a new look on life."

Toris laughed, patted my shoulder and then said, "Well, I think that was pretty much what these two kids wanted to hear, aciu Rachele."

"It's no problem!" I said, "Oh… give this to uhm… hish name is… err… give this to Po, for me."

"Feliks."

"Hm?"

"Po's name is Feliks."

"Ahh… aciu! He asked me if he could borrow de book after I vas done…"

"Sure thing." He took the book that I held out, "Come on you two, let's go."

"Oh… okay." Anastasia said sighing softly.

"Taip, come on Anya," Darijus said, "we still have to finish our RB battle."

"RB?"

"Rock Band." Darijus said, "It's some video game that Our Aunt Nat 's boyfriend gave us."

"I ushed to play dat vit my… … vit my broters…" I said, suddenly remembering that neither of them would speak to me anymore.

"Oh, cool!"

"Not dat I vould be able to play now, I vas never any good anyvay!" They left and I went to go finish writing.

"Hey, Rachel?"

"Taip?"

"Vat did you do vit ze remote?"

"I tink it should shtill be between de couch cushions…" I said, falling asleep at the desk.

Litauen-German=Lithuania

Sveiki-Lithuanian=Hello

Kaip jauciates-Lithuanian=How are you

Puikiai, kluasia-Lithuanian=I'm fine thanks

Englische-German=English

Verdamt-German=dammit

Die junge Hündin lernen sie ihren Platz-German=The young bitch will learn her place.

Italia-Italian=Italy

Nein-German=No

Si-Italian/Spanish=yes

Shho-Russian=What

Shi-Chinese=Yes

Mon ami-French=My friend

Zut alors-French= shucks (But I used it as whoa! Or whatever else you think of when you see or find out something really surprising)

Ni-Ukrainian=No

Cent dix-sept degrés-French=One hundred seventeen

Anglijskij-Russian=English

Nani-Japanese=What

Igirisu-Japanese=England

Maci-Lithuanian=Mom

Lietuvos-Lithuanian=Lithuanian

Ar kas nors cia-Lithuanian=Is anyone here

Dank Gott-German=Thank God

Mein Gott-German=My God

Reicela-Latvian=Rachel

Rachele-Lithuanian=Rachel