The last thing I saw was the ceiling.

It felt like hours before I could open my eyes again, but it was most likely just a couple of minutes. I lifted my eyelids to see nothing. I tried scanning the area, but there was nothing but darkness. I knelt down, and ran my hand against whatever I was standing on. The ground was bumpy, and something tickled the palm of my hand. Grass? I stood up and stomped my feet, I could hear leaves crunching under my feet. I was definitely outdoors, but why can't I hear anything besides my own movements? I paused, there were no crickets, or animals, or any sign of this area being populated. I didn't hear any cars, or people. I tried looking around again, there were no signs of light anywhere. If I was outside, then where is the moon? I reached down and snatched the first thing I touched, it was cold and hard. I felt it fall apart as I squeezed it in my hand. It was definitely a leaf, confirming that I was outside. Why was I outside? Last thing I remember was laying on the couch, ready to give up my memory. Now I was outdoors somewhere, with the inability to see where I was, or hear anything around but me. I tried testing a couple more of my senses. I twirled around with my arms outstretched. I fell to the ground with a thump as my hand scraped against something. It was very rough, and textured. Bark possibly. I pushed myself up, and carefully reached my hands out, searching for anything but space. I took a step forward, to quickly find the large object I bumped into. I ran my hand over it, it was definitely bark. Was I in the woods? I felt a sting in my hand and soon felt liquid dripping from me. I drew my hand very close to my face, I still couldn't see a thing. I ran my tongue across my hand to soon turn away to gag. It was blood, and blood does not taste that good. That damn tree must have cut me. I took off my jacket, and tore a piece of my shirt off. I wrapped the strand of fabric around my hand, I probably didn't need it, but I didn't know how bad my cut was, it's nice to be safe. I bent down to grab my jacket, and wrapped it around me. When I glanced up, darkness was not the only thing that I saw.

There was a bright ball of light that floated towards me in an almost magical way. I narrowed my eyes for I knew now what was happening.

This is a fucking dream!

"You just figured that out? Great detective work," Someone said in my voice. I tried speaking, but my mouth wouldn't even open. I gripped my lips, and tried ripping them apart. "You shouldn't do that, I figured that you would be smart enough to know that you are going to hurt yourself if you were to try that." I couldn't bring myself to talk.

Where the fuck is this person, and why can't I talk?

"I am nowhere, and you can't talk because I took your voice," It stated calmly.

You took my voice!? Wait... you can read my mind?

I never took my eyes off of the floating light, I knew what it was already, but that didn't stop it from almost being impossible to remove my gaze from it.

"Why yes I can. Don't worry, you'll get it back by the time you wake up. While we're here, can I have your name too? I don't have one. Alfred just has a nice ring to it, I see why you picked it." Even though it was using my voice, it sounded completely different. The voice was completely calm, cool, and smooth.

What? No!

"Well then, somebody's getting a little defensive. I can't say I blame you though, I guess having a name would make you feel like a person, I wouldn't give it up either."

What are you?

I waited for the voice to respond as the light dimmed, revealing it's true identity. A stunningly beautiful red rose landed in my hands. This time I made sure not to take my eyes off of it.

"Same thing as you, barely an existence."

XXX

I tapped my foot impatiently as I watched America's limp body for any signs of movement. "Why the bloody hell can you not speed things up, Tony?" I asked.

"Do you want me to give him some mental disorder? Dealing with things as fragile as this takes time," The silver cause of my impatience said.

"How long is this going to take? It's been thirty minutes, all you have to do is find his memory, and drag it in the place of Alfred's memory. It can't possibly be that hard!"

"Do you know how I find his memory? I have to go through all the data he has mentally stored. Do you know what happens if the smallest bit of that data becomes out-of-place? Everything is ruined, and we just have a brain-dead body. Something as small as the date of a friend's birthday can set this off. This is one dangerous game of pick up sticks."

I stared at him gaping, "If I knew that before you knocked him out, I would have never allowed this!" I glanced over at Canada, "Did you know about this?"

Canada gave me a nod, "Tony explained that part to me, but we are looking at the best of the best here. It may sound hard, but Tony knows what he is doing. America is his best friend, I doubt that he would ever let anything bad happen."

I stood from my seat, "That does not make me feel better! Tony said it himself! Just the smallest of mistakes can kill America!" The thought of America's cold dead body laying in front of me made me choke up a little. I plopped down in my seat and covered my face in with my hands.

France stood from his seat and put his hand on my shoulder. His usually playfully bright blue eyes contorted into a hardened deep gaze, "Britain, stop it."

"Stop wha-"

"Don't play that game with me, I know you too well mon ami. Everytime you are in a situation where you do not have any say in what happens you doubt whoever is in charge. Just because you cannot predict how this is going to turn out, doesn't mean that it's going to turn out for the worse. Will you please have a little hope instead of scaring yourself? What would America say if he saw you like this just because he went into surgery?"

I let out a groan, "Out of all times, why is it that you only make sense when I don't want to see the truth?"

"That is because you always do it to me, I might as well return the favor."

"So what will happen once America regains his memory?" Russia asked.

"Well after he regains his memory, I suppose that I will only be in charge of Canada once again." Canada said with a thoughtful look on his face. "I will probably stay with him for a month or two until he gets back on his feet. He has a lot of catching up to do, but then once he is caught up I'm sure that everything will go back to normal."

I nodded, "I would be more than happy to help America get back on his feet also."

"Same here," France said raising his hand. "It would be my pleasure to."

Italy jumped in after France, "I will help him too!"

"Hai, I will also help, America and I are great friends."

"I should help too da?"

"The awesome Prussia will also help, because I am awesome!"

Germany sighed, "I guess I can help out a little."

Everybody in the living room turned to Romano, who kept his arms crossed defensively. "What? Do I even have to say that I'm going to help? Whether I want to or not, which I don't, Italy is going to drag me into it sooner or later. So yes, I will eventually help America."

I looked around the room with a smile. Maybe this situation was the one thing that could bring us all together and more or less force us to be friendly toward each other. After all, we are all so different that we can barely agree on anything. Yet here we are, not only agreeing to work together, but agreeing to help another nation. Usually, alliances like this one were made to destroy other nations. If only every country got to live the experience that we were living. Would they understand that it's better to heal than hurt? If every country understood that one simple concept, things would be a lot better. Maybe things are changing, what if the United Nations could be as close as the G8 currently are.

It will be hard to stay like this though, I know that the smallest thing can set us off and we will be arguing like there is no tomorrow. However, maybe after each argument, we can work it out and come up with a solution for the problem we were dealing with. After all, isn't that the main goal for programs like the G8, and United Nations? I glanced over at America, he was the one that tried to start programs like these. He's the one that suggested the formation of the League of Nations after World War One. Was that what he had in mind when he started the program? Maybe he started doubting that it would work, and that was why he refused to join the program later on. I observed his body, his breathing seemed stable. He wore a peaceful expression, and the only noise that was coming from him was the beeping from the wires in his ear. If he were snoring, and druling like the large child that he is, I would have thought that he was simply sleeping and not in some complicated surgery.

XXX

The red rose flew from my hands and started to float away from me. I reached out for it, but it wandered further and further away. I stared off in confusion, until it stopped in the darkness. It was as if it were waiting for me to follow, it hovered in on spot up and downwards, almost teasing me. I cautiously shuffled towards it, making sure that I didn't bump into any trees. As I took a step forward, the flower floated a foot further away. I took a step back, just to test it. The rose floated towards me a little bit.

If I chase this thing, will it stay the same distance away from me?

"That is for me to know, and for you to find out," Came the voice again.

I let out a growl of frustration, this is just going to lead me into a wild goose chase!

"Are you sure? What if it leads you to something important?"

I sighed, What in the world will it lead me too? There is nothing here! I am in the middle of nowhere!

"I thought that you already confirmed that you were in some forest, and not in the middle of nowhere."

Don't use my previous thoughts against me! Why the hell can you read my mind anyway?

"Who do you think I am, God? I don't have the answer to everything, I have no idea why I can read your thoughts."

I decided to ignore the voice for now, communicating with it was getting nowhere, I decided to direct my attention back to the rose. I ran towards the rose, only to have it start floating away. I ran faster, dodging trees, and jumping over what appeared to be logs. I couldn't see anything but the rose, yet for some reason I knew when there was a tree in my way, or a long to jump over. It was as if I were in this forest before, running. I was getting closer, I knew that I was. A glared at the flower in determination. It once again appeared to be teasing me, it was as if it were slowing down just for the fun of it. The rich red pedals sparkled magically, and the bright green stem glowed. I kicked up dead leaves as I sprinted towards the taunting plant, diving towards it I crashed on the ground. I let out a victorious cheer as I felt the flower in my hands. I moved to a sitting position and unfolded my hands that tightly kept the plant from moving. The flower sparkled under my gaze, except something was off. The blood red flower that I was chasing was slowly changing color. I watched in amazement as the red rose slowly transformed into an almost blinding white.

Why is it-

My thoughts were cut off as my body jerked forward for a split second. I stood there dazed, unsure of what happened. Then I felt a warm liquid drip down my neck. I let the warm liquid drip on my fingers as my ears started to sting. I used the flower as a flashlight to see what it was. Blood. I dropped the white plant and covered my ears with my hands as a wave of pain flowed through my head. A painful scream escaped my lips, and I closed my eyes. I was pretty sure that my ears were on fire, and my brain was being torn in two.

XXX

We all sat around the room silently, keeping our minds occupied. Out of sheer boredom, Italy got up from the floor he was sitting on, and glanced over Tony's shoulder, "Wow Tony, this looks like a lot of work you have to do!" Tony hummed in agreement.

"Italy, leave him alone, he has much work to do," Germany said sternly.

"No, it's fine, earthling. He is not bothering me," Tony said in that annoying robotic like voice.

Italy pointed at the machine, "what does that blinking red light mean?"

Tony glanced at it in concern, "Blinking red light?" It's eyes widened, "Oh no."

I stood from my seat, "Oh no? What is the matter?" The others glanced up from what they were doing.

"He's dreaming."

"Is that a bad thing?" Japan asked.

Tony was typing rapidly on the machine, "Dreaming is one of the signs that it's going wrong."

"Well then fix it!" I ordered urgently.

Suddenly, America's body jerked forward, causing us all to jump. Everybody paused for a moment, not daring to move out of fear. I jumped into action once blood started streaming from his ears. I jumped from the couch and ran to his side. "Somebody get some tissues!" I ordered. Romano and Prussia, who were the ones closest to the door, rushed out of the room to find tissues.

Italy was in hysterics, "It's my fault, it's all my fault!"

"Germany, and Japan, Calm him down!" I had to yell over the loud beeping from the machine.

Germany pulled Italy away from Tony and patted his back, "You didn't do anything."

"Hai, if you didn't point it out, then who knows what could have happened."

"Just look at what's happening now!" Italy sobbed.

I didn't have time to pay more attention to them, Romano and Prussia ran back in the room with a box of tissues. "Get the blood off of him!" They knelt down, and started wiping the bright red substance that was soaking into his hair, and now running down his neck. Suddenly his face scrunched up and he let out a scream that made everybody flinch. I turned to Tony, who was still typing away. "MAKE HIM STOP!"

"I'M TRYING," Tony yelled back. "EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING SO FAST, IT'S HARD TO CANCEL EVERYTHING AT ONCE!"

"WELL FIND AWAY!" I turned my attention back to America, who was now shaking violently, and still screaming continuously. Those who weren't doing anything, were pacing around the room, not having a clue of what to do. He started flailing his arms and legs around and turned over on the couch. I moved to pull those damn wires out of his ears.

"DON'T DO THAT!" Tony called noticing my actions. "YOU WILL LITERALLY RIP HIS INSIDES OUT THROUGH HIS EARS!"

"WELL THEN STOP THIS MACHINE!" I tried to control his movements when his fist collided with my jaw. I collapsed to the ground to soon be picked up by Canada and France. "HELP ME HOLD HIM DOWN!" Canada, France, and I held his arms and legs down as his body flopped around like a fish out of water. Suddenly I heard a loud crash and for a moment, the room lit up like lighting.

XXX

Everything was rotating, I lied on the floor in some sort of daze as I felt unbearable pain. I whipped my arms up and down in panick, trying to find anything to grab hold of. I couldn't even locate the rose as my body flopped around like a fish. I felt something grab hold of my arms and legs as I desperately tried to move around. I was burning, stinging, and being electrocuted all at once. I didn't know what to do anymore, so I just continued to scream. The more I moved, the more pain I felt. I couldn't stop though, everything hurt so bad that I couldn't stop moving. What a vicious cycle I was in. Suddenly, I heard a crash louder than any kind of thunder can produce. I opened my eyes to see a blinding light.

XXX

The beeping stopped, and Tony froze. I glanced over to see Russia crouching on the ground, shakily holding a metal pipe in his hand. On the other side of the pipe, was the machine that he most likely bashed. "You hit the machine with a pipe!?" I asked.

Russia nodded, breathlessly. "Then the fucking machine electrocuted me," he said between breaths.

My attention once again landed on America when he sat up gasping for air, "America?" America shook his head, "Alfred?" America nodded. His eyes were completely round in fear, his chest was rising and falling drastically from his lack of air, his sandy hair was matted in blood, his neck was caked with dried blood, and his ears were still bleeding.

"It... didn't... work. I... still... don't... remember... being America," his voice was hoarse, and he winced as if it hurt talking. From the way he looked, it probably did. "I'm... s-sorry." I couldn't believe that after what happened to him, he was the one that was apologising. We almost killed him!

"America, are you alright?" Prussia asked. I glared at him for asking such a stupid question.

That one question was apparently the thing that made him lose control on his emotions. He broke into a sobbing fit and tears ran down his face. "No! Everything... hurts. It even... hurts to... cry!" His shoulders shaked and he buried his head into his hands. Loud sobs escaped his lips, and he winced with every noise he made.

"Tony, get those wires out of him," I ordered gently. Tony started to gently untangle the wires, but just the lightest touch made him cry out in pain. The rest of us watched in sympathy. Italy even began to cry from seeing America like this. I didn't want to admit it, but I was tearing up as well. Once Tony got every wire out of his right ear, I placed a wad of tissues in there to stop the bleeding. He murmured something close to a thank you while whimpering from Tony detaching another wire in his left ear. "Canada, it is getting dark, will you please prepare the guest rooms?" I asked in a calm voice. Canada nodded and quickly left the room.

"I'll go help him," Prussia murmured, most likely feeling guilty from asking the question that made him cry.

"Please do," I said. From the way that America was acting around Tony, he most likely remembered everything before the surgery so we don't have to convince him that he's a country again.

"AHHH!" America screamed as Tony pulled out the last wire. He now reduced himself to sniffling and whimpering.

"Japan, will you please prepare a bath for America?"

"Hai, I can do that."

"Thank you."

We stood there in silence as America was slowly starting to breath normally, he looked around the room, "I'm sorry," he said once again.

"Don't be," I said. "You have abso-bloody-lutly no reason to be sorry."

"B-But I-"

"You can't remember," I finished for him. "That is not your fault, actually it is us who should be apologising to you."

"You didn't do anything wrong," America claimed.

"Are you kidding? Take a look at yourself and tell us we didn't do anything wrong! We could have murdered you!"

"You didn't though."

"We hurt you quite badly though!"

"You don't have to remind me," America said while looking down. He was right, I probably went too far.

"Sorry. Just don't you dare try to blame this on yourself."

America nodded as Japan walked into the room, "America, your bath is ready."

I turned to America, "Can you walk?"

America shrugged, "I have not tried it out yet." He gripped the couch cushions as he tried to push himself up. His arms shook violently before he gave up and plopped down onto the couch. "I-I can't." I have never heard him sound so defeated before, even when he was at his worst. I guess he was always quick to hide it though. America had too much pride to sound as defeated as he was at times. I put his arm around my shoulder and tried hoisting him to his feet. I was almost there before he let out a shriek from pain and I dropped him onto the couch.

"Here, let me try," I moved aside as Russia walked up to the pain filled American. He made one quick move, knowing that the quicker it took, the less amount of time he was in pain. America shrieked, but Russia did not drop him from fear of hurting him. Russia carried him bridal style out of the living room with Japan following close behind.

Once I could no longer hear their footsteps, I turned around to face Tony. "Do you know what you could have done to America?"

The alien nodded, "I really didn't mean to-"

"But it happened anyway! You should have just stayed in Canada and watched the talking polar bear this whole time! You sure are better at that than performing a mental surgery."

"I was just trying to help you fucking limey! Go suck on some limes!"

"For the last time, I am not a limey! Why don't you go back to your own planet were that contraption actually works!"

"STOP FIGHTING AND SHUT THE HELL UP!" Germany screamed. Tony and I paused and turned to him. "Look, I know that what just happened is a tragety, but can we stop pointing fingers at each other and search for the positive things that happened today? How about instead of pointing out all of the bad things we have done today, we focus on the good. Britain, you did a very great job when the surgery started failing. You took charge when nobody else knew what to do. France, You, Canada, and Britain did a great job at holding America down. Without your help, America probably would have fell on the floor and gotten more hurt. Romano, you and Prussia reacted quickly and wiped away a lot of the blood. Russia did a good job at stopping the machine from causing more damage. Japan and I did a good job calming Italy down. Italy," Germany turned to Italy who whipped from tears from his eyes. "Without you pointing out the blinking light, nobody would have figured out that something was wrong in the first place. Also, I know that we all want to blame this on Tony, but remember that he was able to control the machine and made sure that America was not mentally damaged."

I wanted to point out that if he didn't come here in the first place, none of this would have happened, but everybody seemed to be in a better spirit because of Germany's little speech. I decided this time to keep my mouth shut.

The guest rooms are ready, " Canada said quietly while walking into the room.

"Thank you Canada," I said.

Russia came into the room also, "Japan is cleaning him, I leave to avoid making him feel awkward."

I nodded while fighting the urge to correct his grammar. I let out a sigh, "this has been a very long day." Without saying anymore, I left the living room to try to get some sleep.

XXX

Author's note: Alright so I decided to help insanelaughtler out. She is trying to get as many writers as possible to update or start fanfictions on the week of New Years. So this is a request. If you have a story, please update it as close to New Years as possible. If you didn't write a story, or if you have and you want to start a new one, please start a new story as close to New Years as possible. Thank you! Flowers of Red, White, and Blue and Painting Over the Harsh Words will be updated on New Years day. I'm still having a problem with updating The Proper Adventures of England and America so that will not be updated on New Years... I'm working on it though. insanelaughtler is being awesome and is trying to update all of her stories on New Years so you should read some of her FanFictions!

For this chapter, I decided to switch between America's and Britain's point of view, but that was only when America was dreaming. Sorry if it confused some of you, I tried to make it obvious.

This is my last update for the year and I would like to tell all of you readers how awesome you are. You have constantly been reviewing my story and telling me how great it is. Thank you so much! Without you guys I would barely have motivation to write, so you guys are the real reason for the somewhat quick updates. I smile with every view, follow, favorite, and review. I really try to reply to every review. but sometimes I just don't know what to say, so I'm sorry if you have reviewed and I have not replied. Just thank you so much! :D

Next chapter will still be in Britain's view!