About a month had gone by. Natalya recognized that she had been staying at Alfred's place much longer than she had originally intended, but she didn't mind. She was enjoying herself much more than she had ever before.

Alfred didn't mind either. It was such a blast to have someone he could show off his country to, someone who didn't mind like his brothers might've. After the first week, he proposed they travel around his country a bit, and she agreed apathetically.

It became more apparent as they travelled though that she was enjoying it and that she was actually glad she agreed.

They had also begun to share the bed they slept in the second night she was with him. The horror movie terrified him. Natalya had every intention to just let him suffer alone that night, but she found that she couldn't sleep with him screaming at every little sound.

So, she had just gone into his room and climbed into his bed beside him. For just a moment, she braced herself, expecting him to violently kick her off just as her brother had done so many times before. When it didn't happen, she looked over at him to see him smiling at her. He whispered thanks and closed his eyes, ready to try to sleep once more. She rolled her eyes before closing them as well.

After that night, Alfred proposed horror movies every night. She didn't exactly mind. It was kind of nice to sleep beside someone for the first time in her entire life. When she visited Alfred as a child, Arthur always made them sleep in separate rooms. Paranoid old man, was all she could ever think about him when she found herself remembering this.

Alfred was a bit of messy sleeper though. She'd wake up to find his legs and arms all over the place, the blanket pulled only over him, and his pillow (sometimes hers as well) on the floor. It never once woke her though. They were both deep sleepers, unable to be woken once fast asleep.

They were in Colorado now. They'd gone horseback riding a few days ago and were planning to try skiing later that day. They'd visited lovely places like Pike's Peak and Garden of the Gods. He'd taken her to different restaurants each day, giving her so many things to try.

They were simply visiting the zoo today while they were there. They were originally going to visit tomorrow or the next day, but Alfred heard that there was a new baby red panda, and he wanted to be the first to see it.

He had the entire thing planned out so they could see all the animals and still go skiing. Alfred kept up a quick pace as they wandered around, seeing what there was to see. He fawned over all the animals there, calling them adorable, cute, and even complimenting some as a "perfect animal sidekick to a hero."

He had even tried to convince her to pet a snake that the zoo staff had at one of their little at some point, promising her ice cream if she did it. She was truthfully a bit nervous about doing it, but the fact that all these human children could do it easily, convinced her there was nothing to be worried about.

Now they sat eating ice cream in one of the little café like places there. According to Alfred, the weather in Colorado was a bit unusual. There should've been piles of snow everywhere, but instead it was just a bit cold. Natalya wasn't going to wear even a sweater, but she was convinced that even if there wasn't snow, it was still fairly cold.

She took a bite of her vanilla ice cream. Alfred had chocolate, but he already ate all of it.

A soft ringing got Alfred to stop talking. He quickly checked his phone then sighed, "I didn't think it was mine. Not my ringtone."

Natalya was about to shrug it off when she realized how close it sounded to her. She checked her pockets and found her phone in the right one. She looked at it; it was ringing and flashing at her. She almost forgot she had bought a cell phone since no one ever called her.

She quickly looked up at Alfred, afraid to miss a call she so rarely got. Before she could even decide how to ask him, he was already smiling and waving to the phone, "Go ahead and answer it, dude. I can wait!"

A soft smile was her thanks to him. Smiles had become much easier for her recently, and they no longer felt forced.

The phone was flipped open, and she pressed the glowing green button. Instantly, she brought it up to her left ear, "Алё?"

"Belarus? It's Ukraine."

She was unsure of how to feel about her sister calling her. It didn't make her sad or angry, but it most certainly didn't cheer her up any. "Oh, sister. How are you? Why are you calling me?"

She could see her sister flinching at the phone through her mind's eye. A month ago, she wouldn't have cared, but now she realized how much fear she created in her sister.

"S-something's happened, something I think you should know…" Her voice trailed off towards the end, and Natalya could hear the sobs that Ukraine was trying so hard to keep back.

Worry quickly went through her, "Are you alright? What's happened?"

"I'm fine, it's Ivan…"

Although Natalya didn't recognize this name, she felt something go through her and make her sick, "Ivan?"

"Yes, Ivan. That was Russia's human name…"

Russia, her brother. Something happened to her brother. Anger, rather than worry, went through her. "What happened? How come you know his human name and I do not?"

She choked out another sob, "Please, I didn't know before this… I swear, he never told me!"

Across the table, Alfred shot her a worried glance. She ignored it entirely. "What happened to brother?" she demanded loudly.

"He s-signed the documents…"

"Documents? What documents?"

There was a long pause from Ukraine's end of the phone as she attempted to gather herself together. She took a deep breath in and then breathed it out, "He's no longer a country. He's human, Belarus."

Natalya was stunned for a moment. She stared at nothing and felt her jaw fall a bit. Her brother, the love of her life, was human now? There was no chance for them any longer, unless she became a human too. Once that was done, there was no becoming a country again. Those were the rules.

This had to be a lie. Her sister wanted her out of the picture to have Russia all for herself. Yes, that was surely what it was.

"You liar. I'm going to visit him right now. I'm going to Russia right now." For just a moment, she pulled the phone from her ear and glared at Alfred, "Take me to the nearest airport this instance."

Before he could reply, she put the phone back to her ear just in time to hear her sister cry, "not a liar!"

"You are! You are expecting me to believe you and become human so I cannot be with brother, but it will not work. I am going to visit him right now, and I will prove that you're lying." She hung up without another word.

Alfred stared at her, "We can't just go to the airport right now! We don't have tickets or stuff! And who knows when the next plane to Russia leaves!"

She stared back coldly, "Not we. Only I am going to Russia. I stayed here too long. I was foolish and thought that I could enjoy the happiness you always have, but I can't. I live in a world of hurt and lies and pain, not of endless joy. I cannot act like a child."

He physically recoiled at her harsh words. His eyes softened, "I'm not a child. I don't have endless happiness, Natalya. My world is constantly filled with hurt and lies, but I can't dwell on them. If I always dwelled on the bad things, I'd never be happy, and heroes can't be depressed all the time. I dwell on the good things instead, like having you here. Don't push me away again; I don't want that hurt again."

She froze, "Push you away? I've never done something like that to you!"

"Yes, you have, Natalya."

"I haven't!" she yelled loudly, more in an attempt to convince herself than anything else.

People began to stare, so Alfred stood up and motioned for her to come outside with him. She did, although she didn't want to.

"Can you remember when we stopped hanging out entirely?" He didn't look at her, but at the seals across from where they had ice cream.

"When you stopped visiting me," she answered bluntly.

"You didn't visit me either," he pointed out. "I couldn't come visit you because you wouldn't let me. You suddenly turned your obsession for your brother into infatuation. You wouldn't even let me in the same house as him, even when you were there. You got violent, Natalya."

She thought back on it, "It was your fault."

"I can see how parts of it would've been my fault. I made a little joke, but you took that to extremes, Nattie."

"You can't call me that." She remembered the joke in question, but she had trusted Alfred so well, that she assumed it was advice of some sort.

"Look!" She held her hands out to Alfred. A ribbon with a bow on it lay on the palms of her hands.

"That's really pretty! Did you buy it?" He had looked away from the microwave for just a moment to look at what she held in her hands. England wouldn't make hamburgers for him, and he wasn't allowed to use the stove, so he learned how to make hamburgers in the microwave. He made them each time Natalya came over. She had really grown to love them as much as he did.

She shook her head, "Nope! Brother gave it to me!" She jumped up and climbed onto the counter beside Alfred, where they always waited for the hamburgers to finish cooking together. "Can you help me put it in my hair?"

He smiled, "Yeah! Turn around!" She turned her back to him, swinging her feet up onto the counter as well. He positioned the bow on the top of her head and tied the ribbon under her hair. "You know," he began. He was going to say something about how he kinda liked her, but he remembered how England always was around France. Obviously, you can't just tell someone you like them. England always made France think he hated him. He didn't want to hurt her though, so he just said something to make her think he didn't like her, "If you love your brother so much, why don't you just marry him? I mean, you're cute and all, you'd look good with whoever you married."

A big smile popped up onto her face, "Really? Do you think so? Do you think he'd marry me?"

Alfred laughed, "Totally! What's not to love about you? You two are destined to be together!"

Her most trusted friend thought that she had a chance at marrying her brother; thought she should marry him. That meant something to her, and that would stick with her for a while. As well as another thing that happened that night.

France came in closer to the end of the day, "Oh? Is Belarus spending the night here again?"

England looked up from the book he had in his hand, "Yeah. She is."

"Oh that's just so adorable! At this young of an age, America already has a lady friend over!" He grinned and winked at England, "Do you think they'll get together when they're older?"

A bookmark was slid in between the current pages England was reading, and then the book was promptly slammed shut. He tossed it at France's head, "That's sick! Even if it does happen, it's none of our bloody business!"

He ducked just in time and a smirk crossed his face, "Oh fine, ruin my fun. You're going to have your hands full tonight anyways!" He left the kitchen and went to the living room where the small countries were playing a game of tic-tac-to.

"What the hell do you mean?" England yelled from the kitchen. When he didn't hear France answer him, he went to check what he was up to.

There, he found France telling the children a story of monsters that come in the dark. They hugged each other in fear.

England rushed France off quickly, but that night neither child could sleep alone. England bought both of them teddy bears to make up for it, something to this day neither could sleep without.

Within moments, she had a knife at Alfred's throat, "You fucking lied to me. My whole life, everything I did was for my brother. Every bit of hurt came from him. Don't tell me this is your fault."

His eyes widened a bit, "How the fuck did you even get that through security?!"

She pressed the knife against his throat a bit, "I have my ways."

He gulped, "Please, come on! Relax! We were kids, I honestly didn't think that at the time, you'd take what I said so seriously! I had a bit of a crush on you, okay? So I did what I thought you were supposed to do when you had a crush on someone, make them think you don't! I was doing what England did, and that was so fucking stupid of me, I get it!"

She stared at him for a moment, and even though killing him wasn't possible since he was a country, the thought of cutting his throat open appealed to her for a moment.

But she turned around and left instead. This time, for good.

I'm gonna be honest, I don't think I like how this chapter turned out all that much.

I used some headcanons from littleaphheadcanon's tumblr. I loved them.

Also, even though it wasn't that painful of a chapter, it hurt to write about them because they're my otp /3

Two updates with only one day in between! Record! :D