When the sun arose the next day (and was quickly partially blocked by the many thick clouds in the sky), the inhabitants of the house awoke with a feeling of anticipation in the air. Uni was running about the downstairs hallway, prancing up and down impatiently; Tinkerbell had fallen off her makeshift 'bed' of handkerchiefs and cotton that she'd constructed in an old birds nest in the hollow of the largest tree on the property, and ended up flying around in a daze for an hour or so, scattering fairy dust all over the house floor when she came inside. Captain Hook, who had arisen early, was sitting in the parlor room with a bottle of gin and singing sea shanties, and Flying Mint Bunny woke up snuggling next to Alfie on the pillow next to England's head.
At about 9 o'clock in the morning, everyone had managed to get up (England had been dive-bombed awake by Alfie, who was sitting atop the back of Flying Mint Bunny) and get dressed, and two suitcases were sitting by the door. Nearby the suitcases was a small satchel of dark chocolate-colored leather with many compartments and pockets (since the top of the satchel housed a rather spacious compartment with an adjustable top flap to allow easy access, it had been deemed the mochi's traveling carrier, and had been cushioned on the inside with the magically-shrunken quilt from the bed upstairs.). England, who was at the kitchen counter, was sipping a cup of tea and recounting some of his pirating days to Alfie, who was happily munching away on a thick piece of buttered toast (it was sharing breakfast with Flying Mint Bunny) and hanging onto every word.
The antique clock on the parlor room mantelpiece suddenly began chiming; all heads turned to see that it was now officially 9 o'clock in the morning. The flight England had booked to Japan's country had been reserved for 10:15, and it took about 45 minutes to an hour to get to the London Heathrow Airport considering the morning traffic, and then another 5 to 10 minutes (if lucky) to get a parking space near the airport. There was also checking into the airport, going through security and depositing the baggage (Alfie would be taken aboard with England in the satchel, considering the bag was small enough to pass the '1 personal item per passenger' policy), and then actually getting settled on the plane...
If they didn't hurry, they would be late, and possibly miss the flight. 'Blast all, of all the days...!', the British nation thought, pulling on his trench coat and hurriedly finishing off his tea. Uni let out a soft whinny of farewell, and Captain Hook waved with his hook from the parlor room. Alfie let out a squeak of horror as it looked at the panicking Englishman and realized they were going to be late; hopping off the counter, it hurried over to the satchel (Tinkerbell, as she waved good-bye, was kind enough to open the top flap for it to get inside) and jumped upwards, quickly shoving itself inside the compartment (Tinkerbell shut the flap), and snuggling into the quilt, nudging it into a sort of nest shape. 'It's not as good as England's hair, but it's still comfy...', it decided. Within a few seconds, the tiny rice cake had fallen asleep, and was now off to dreamland.
England, meanwhile, was checking the suitcases to ensure he had all the clothes, documents, papers, and writing utensils he needed. As he finished up inspecting the last suitcase, he remembered he had yet to make sure Alfie had gotten into the satchel, and quickly pulled to flap open to check; a sweet sight met his acid green gaze. Nestled within the folded up bunches of a patchwork quilt (which now resembled a sort of lopsided blanket-bowl) was the peacefully snoozing mochi, letting out soft snores and murmurs every so often as it dreamed. The steady, gently breathing caused the cowlick atop the little whiteish-grey blob to flutter with each inhale and exhale, the quilt fabric becoming slowly messier as the mochi shifted occasionally.
Smiling slightly to himself, the British nation gently closed the flap, shutting it firmly before carefully pulling the satchel on, securing the straps at his shoulders so the satchel wouldn't bounce; it wouldn't do to wake up his friend, after all.
Waving good-bye to his friends as he reminded them again to mind the house during his absence, England got into his car and headed off down the road, starting off the journey to the airport.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~HALF AN HOUR OF TRAFFIC LATER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It had been only 30 minutes since they'd left, and England was already wishing to turn around and go back.
The morning traffic in Central London was terrible this morning, with several traffic accidents blocking the road he was currently on (though on the bright side, no one was dead, and the injured were in a nearby hospital), and the car he was driving was boxed in between two double-decker buses, one of which had (in honor of the new tours of the Harry Potter film sets) somehow been painted in the same explosive shade of violent purple as the infamous 'Knight Bus'. The crush of noise around his car had both given the personification of the United Kingdom an increasing headache, and caused him to put up a silencing spell around the inside of the car so that the noise wouldn't wake up Alfie.
As the steady stream of traffic grew to a great river of clogged cars, buses, and motorcycles, England began to fervently wish to turn around and go home, but, as a nation, it was his duty to go to the meetings, and that meant getting to the airport. However, since there seemed to be no end to the huge blockade of vehicles, the sandy-blonde wondered if he might be able to enlist some 'magic' to aid in getting to their destination faster.
Looking at the 'Knight Bus' next to his car, England was suddenly struck with a crazy, mad, wonderful idea.
~~~~~~~~~5 MINUTES AND 1 ANIMATION & TRANSFIGURATION SPELL LATER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The newly commandeered 'Knight Bus' was unaware of the Briton's plans for its use until a there was a great 'BANG!' and the whole bus suddenly shuddered, its occupants falling out of their seats from the shaking as they looked about at one another in confusion. The bus doors up front suddenly opened up with a hissing noise, and the bus driver (who had been trying to calm the passengers) looked up in shock to see a sandy-blonde man, looking to be in his early twenties or so and carrying a leather satchel slung over one shoulder, standing on the bus steps with a faint smirk on his face as he said, "So sorry to bother you, but due to recent circumstances beyond my control, I find myself obligated to commandeer your vessel."
The poor driver only got a second to formulate a response before England stepped aboard, turned around to face the bus doors, flung his hand out and shouted "Colloportus!". The doors slammed shut. The Londoners present blinked; surely this stranger wasn't pretending to do magic? The bus may have been done up in imitation of the Knight Bus, but to take it this far...England, meanwhile, had gotten to the dashboard and was waving his hand over it as he chanted rapidly in Latin. The surface began warping itself, twisting into the ensemble of the Knight Bus's additional dashboard buttons and levers. A large red button with the words 'London Heathrow Airport' popped into existence up near the front.
The bus driver, who both refused to believe that his dashboard was being magically mutated and was convinced his newest passenger was crazy, tried to grab him and drag him away from the controls. England, however, merely smiled, before reaching over and pushing the big red button near the front of the dashboard. The result was instantaneous: the bus gave a great shudder, before there was another 'BANG!', and suddenly the bus was mobile, hurtling forwards with such speed that the passengers were forced to grab hold of the ceiling handles, support poles, and each other to keep from flying backwards and hitting the back seats. The British nation laughed maniacally as the bus shot forwards through traffic, weaving in and out of the mess of cars like a snake through grass; some of the younger passengers noticed this, and immediately thought of the actual Knight Bus, which was decidedly as terrifying to ride as was described by the books. If one actually stopped screaming in fear, however, they may have also heard the tiny shrieks of delight coming from England's satchel (the sudden speed increase from the bus had woken up Alfie, who had promptly fallen in love with the insane ride and started laughing just as maniacally as England was.).
About 5 or so heart stopping minutes later, the bus came to a stop in front of the London Heathrow Airport front entrance, the tires smoking faintly from the magical wear and tear; the passengers stumbled out in a daze, several of them laughing just as madly as England had as they gleefully compared the ride to roller coasters, daredevil sports, and the actual Knight Bus, while others were shaking and paler than milk, muttering that the bus, and the man who stole it, was evil. The driver was among these people.
England jumped off the bus and ran towards the terminals, flashing his identification to the registry desk before hurrying through security. Alfie decidedly didn't like this part, as the scanning reminded it of its own trip through security. It hunkered down in the satchel and stayed quiet. The rest of the baggage went through without any issues, save for when the rather large packet of emergency tea was found and checked to ensure that it was actually tea and not drugs in the packets (Being a nation, England got away with bringing along enormous quantities of tea.). When the security officers looked inside the satchel containing Alfie, thankfully they only saw a quilt and what seemed to be a stuffed toy.
Finally, after all was said, done, and prodded with scanners for good measure, the strange duo had gotten onto the plane and were sitting in the back, next to a window. Not wanting to risk the flight attendant confiscating Alfie if she saw the little mochi trying to come out of the satchel to explore, the Briton had told his friend to stay quiet inside its compartment whenever she passed. Drowsy from the hectic events of earlier, the mochi agreed, and settled down for a nap in the quilt-nest.
A few hours into the flight, night time had fallen and the passengers were either engrossed in electronics, talking to one another, asleep and drooling on an unfortunate neighboring shoulder, or watching the horror film that the plane staff had put on. In retrospect, the film had not been chosen by consent of the majority, but in truth because the other films had somehow either disappeared or were ruined due to water being spilled on them by a flight attendant who had lost her grip on a large pitcher of water from the refreshments cart. The horror film was the only one left dry, so it had been screened.
England was glad he was in the back and thus farther away from the largest film screen on the plane, as Alfie (who had gleefully cuddled into the Briton's hair once the lighting had been deemed dark enough that it wouldn't be spotted, or would be thought of as either a lumpy pillow or odd hat) had been proven that it was just as terrified of ghosts as the human America. The little rice cake was quivering atop the Englishman's head, squeaking in fear as it hid its face in the sandy-blonde hair. England sighed softly. 'Silly creature', he thought fondly. 'Just as scared, though it technically has more reason to be scared...'
Indeed, being younger, smaller, and far more vulnerable (since it, after all, had no arms or legs to fight with), Alfie had far more reason to be afraid of the movie...no matter how cheesy the stupid film was. As he absentmindedly patted the mochi to give it some comfort, England noticed the half-eaten rueben sandwich from the supper served earlier, and found himself with a possible distraction.
Gently lifting the mochi from his head, he placed the rice cake on his lap, and then the rueben sandwich in front of it. Confronted with food (which, in proportion to the mochi, also conveniently blocked the its view of the screen), Alfie quickly discerned which subject required more of its heroic attention, so with a quick mutter of "Thanks, England!", it focused all its attention upon the sandwich for the rest of the movie.
England fell asleep soon after, Alfie cuddled up in his arms, listening to the Briton's heartbeat as the hours gave way from night to day.
