Author's note:
I have a really really really good chapter for you this time. I'm really proud of this one, I want to know what you guys think.
Zaaze, ooooooh clever guess! It can't be Russia though for another reason too. Reread "A Haunting Memory", you probably forgot. It's been a while.
Alice was too stunned to reply. But in the moment that Alice Kirkland was cluelessly gaping at her, Amelia studied her surroundings. There were two levers, each at opposite sides of the stage. She discreetly scans her eyes to see what they were connected to.
Amelia secures Alice's captured wrist in her hand and yanks down, twisting in a manner that sent Alice doing a backflip over Amelia. In the half a second Alice's head was over Amelia's shoulder, Amelia quickly whispers in her ear
"Just follow my lead"
SLAM
Alice was laying on her back on the opposite side of Amelia. The all-American girl does a cartwheel to the front of the stage just as if she were a jester and sticks her left leg and arm out in a silly manner to impress the audience.
"All right, folks, now here's the part of the show where we ask a volunteer to come up onto the stage. I need someone who knows a thing or two about being a cowboy" Amelia's accent had shifted to thick country towards that last statement.
Alfred was beaming. Perfect.
Hands behind her back and taking long and loose strides up the audience aisles, Amelia pretends to be interested in all of the other candidates raising their hands. She slowly but surely makes her way towards Alfred F. Jones who was ecstatic to be chosen.
"Giddy up, goofball" she teases as she drags the stumbling man to the stage.
Amelia yanks the tall man down for just a few seconds so his ear was in front of her mouth. "Now listen here, it does not matter what I say on that stage. You are going to lasso that lever near backstage on the right side. You heard me?"
The confused but obedient American man nods in reply.
The two Americans step up on stage where Alice was rubbing her back, trying to get on her feet after that move Amelia pulled on her.
"This is our lucky volunteer, Al" Amelia shouts to the crowded audience.
Alfred waves like a happy fool to all the people in the sea of oohs and ahhs.
"You know how to lasso, Al?" Amelia questions him.
Alfred bends down to the microphone piece clipped on Amelia's bomber jacket.
"Oh yes! Ever since I was a little boy!" Alfred proudly announces to the audience.
"Let's see what you got" Amelia continues in her country accent. "This girl ain't from around these parts" she gestures towards Alice who now perked her head up to look at her. "We're gonna show her how we roll. Mr. Al is going to compete against me to see which one of us can lasso her first!"
"WHAT?!" Alice was fuming.
Amelia narrows her eyes at her, as if trying to convey 'trust me' in a threatening manner.
Alice sighs, her face still red and folds her arms as Amelia steps back on the left side of her and Alfred steps back on the right side of her.
"3..2... YEE HAW!" Amelia counts down and at that moment Amelia and Alfred both throw their lassos in the opposite direction of Alice. Two levers are yanked down at the exact same time which causes many nets above the three to break open and start pouring down balloons and confetti.
"GRAB HIM" Amelia hisses to Alice.
Each girl grabs one of Alfred's arms and the three race off the stage.
"Let's split up to find Arthur and Peter, they should be somewhere around town. Then the five of us will meet at the nearest airport STAT" Amelia huffs, gasping for breath as the three of them sprint out of backstage's EXIT door.
Yao Wang jumps off of the public bus, riding back across town after the Chinese government meeting had ended.
Busy
Busy
BUSY
He rushes down the street juggling a different set of scrolls under his right arm as his hands are busy fooling with a plastic cup of chow mein he had hurriedly ordered for dinner. He pauses as he spots that girl from earlier. Why isn't the monkey girl dancing?
Still in the monkey costume, her face was hidden because her head was bowed down, the monkey ears drooping. She was seated at the edge of the road. Even her tail looked sad. An empty coin cup sat in front of her.
Yao smirks. It's about time she found out that she can't make a living doing her foolish entertainment.
He walks past her but right as he steps in front of her she looks up and he could see her face streaming with silent tears.
Yao's heart skips a beat. His pause prolongs. The stubborn man tried to push himself to keep walking along his way. He takes two swift steps forward as the monkey girl stays silent.
Then he pulls himself back to her and puts his cup of chow mein in her empty coin cup. Embarrassed by his kind deed, he tries to get away quickly but the cute girl pounces on him and huggles him to the ground to sit next to her.
Meanwhile, in the dead of night, the five of them squeezed into a hidden corner at the airport, Amelia and Alfred were shocked. Arthur and Alice had just shown them the Atlas that they still had checked out from the Oxford library. Peter Kirkland had never seen this either but he was more excited than surprised.
"Wait, this is for real? We can go to these places?" Amelia wasn't quite sold yet.
"There are more than 50 states?! Dudes, this totally rocks! Let's go!" Alfred grabs the map and scans it with eager eyes.
"They're not STATES, you moron" Arthur takes it back and smacks him across the head with it. "I'm still not quite sure what 'states' actually are" the annoyed British man admits.
"Yeah, the whole concept is confusing" Alice Kirkland nods her head in agreement. "But anyway, at least from what we've discovered so far, these places seem to be very different from each other. The way the people sound when they talk, and the way they do things is very different. And it even makes me very uncomfortable."
A wide eyed Alfred and Amelia nod slowly as the Brits glare at them. Having no idea that Alice was referring to them, the two Americans aren't the sharpest tools in the box.
"ANYWAY" Alice rolls her eyes long and hard. "I don't want to go back to the United Kingdom, in case the news traveled there. After all, our citizens know who Captain America is. I'm wondering if there's maybe a place on here that's not often checked up on. Some place where we could feel safe laying low for a little while, until the news story has long blown over or at least until we can think of a good plan."
"I hate your crazy schemes, but I'm relieved at the idea of laying low for a while. It takes some stress off of me" Arthur comments.
Amelia chimes in "I see. Okay, so all we have to do is look at this map and think which one would be the last place that anyone would think of checking up on."
The five of them put their heads together and search the map. They suggest a few things but they are all still pretty wary of coming to a consensus.
Then Peter speaks up. "I know! What about this place?" He reaches up to point at a certain land mass on the map.
"Huh" Amelia furrows her eyebrows and rests her chin on her fist.
Alfred scratches his head in confusion. "Oh I didn't even see that there"
"How peculiar. I didn't notice it either" Arthur agrees with Alfred.
"Wow. Good eye, kid" Alice compliments the proud sea boy.
Natalya Arlovskaya walks through the streets of Belarus after her visit at the cafe. She still had that comic con catfight on her mind. Those girls are pretty ridiculous. I would never go that crazy over a man. All of a sudden, a group of children run up to her and chain their arms to make a big circle around her. "Na-na-na-na-na-na-na Na-na-na-na-na Na Na Na Belarus!" They sing and spin around her, making her dark colored skirt flow and twirl big in the air.
"They're singing for you!" Some mothers happily announce to her and it makes Natalya smile even though she doesn't understand it. The people here are very nice.
One of the small boys gives her a large sunflower he had picked for her.
Natalya stuffs her nose in it and breathes big, getting on her tiptoes to signify her pleasure.
Natalya thanks them all, bows and gets on her way.
It is now early morning on a bright and snowy day. Travelers are bustling into the Canadian log cabin hotel.
"I have to pee!" Alfred F. Jones practically leaps over his four friends, trying to race into the hotel first.
"We were JUST at the airport, why did you hold it?" A perturbed Alice snaps at him and squints her right eye with a grimace as the large man grips his hand onto her pigtailed scalp, trying to get through her.
Alfred darts through the hotel lobby, accidentally smacking a Canadian man in the face in the process.
"I'm so sorry!" Matthieu apologizes to Alfred even though Alfred's the one who hit him.
Alfred doesn't even see him. He skids to a stop in front of the men's room and then runs inside.
Arthur and Alice walk into the hotel with Peter in the middle of them, holding each of their hands and swinging himself between them as if the three were a cute little family. They go to the front desk to check in.
Alfred, Arthur, Alice and Peter had been so excited to get to the hotel they left Amelia in the dust. The poor girl begrudgingly carries everyone's stuff into the hotel. Granted, since all of them traveled a lot they really didn't have many things for her to lug inside, but still. Collectively, the five of them produced a hefty amount of carrying.
"ALFRED!" She screams as she trudges into the lobby until she thinks she spots him bent over a table.
He wasn't responding.
"ALFREEEEEEED!" She screams louder. Still nothing.
She grabs Matthieu William's arm and twists his body over to face her, scaring the daylights out of the Canadian man.
"Why are you ignoring me?! You're the biggest out of all of us, YOU should be carrying our bags! I had to trudge these through the snow. Get your lazy fat self up those stairs!" Amelia barks at him. She hands the shocked man about half the load.
"Yes, ma'am. I'm so sorry" Matthieu quivers.
Seeing how innocent he looked, Amelia blushes and her heart drops a little with guilt. They slowly ascend the stairs together.
After a long silence, Amelia pauses midway up the stairwell. "Hey... did I scare you?" She shyly asks the man she thinks is Alfred.
"Oh no not at all" Matthieu lies politely.
Amelia cocks her eyebrow in confusion. "Then why are you whispering?"
"Why are you yelling? Are you okay?" Madeline asks an extremely confused Alfred who was standing in the opening of the men's restroom.
Rewind five minutes earlier
Alfred had swung the bathroom door open after relieving his bladder to find a sweet little pigtailed girl with glasses and a red beret smiling up at him.
Alfred's expression was a mix of scared and awkward.
Was she listening to me pee? Some chicks are crazy.
"There you are! The towels need folding and some customers need more in their rooms, we're way behind so I was wondering if you wanted to help me fold. We could sing a song while we work!" She beams at the man she thinks is Matthieu.
Oh man this girl is psycho. But how do I say no?! I guess I'll escape later on, or if I can spot Amelia or one of the others I'll wave like crazy, they'll save me.
"Um... sure" Alfred replies with an awkward smile.
"Why are you yelling? Are you okay?" Madeline asks an extremely confused Alfred who was standing in the opening of the men's restroom.
"Um... I'm fine?" Alfred scratches his head in utter disbelief.
Madeline happily grabs his arm and leads the nervous man away with her.
Amelia and Matthieu lay everyone's bags on one of the beds in their hotel room.
"So you wanna go eat?" Amelia asks.
"You want to go eat, right now?! With me?!" Matthieu is astounded at the question.
"You're not hungry?!" Amelia looks at him as if he had committed a mortal sin.
"Ummmm I guess I could take an early break. I have to admit, I am craving pancakes" he replies.
"Oooooooh yum, you're getting creative. I love it! I'll tell the others" Amelia takes a step away.
Arthur and Peter were using the shower and Alice walks in through the doorway just as Amelia announced she would tell them. All of a sudden, Peter darts out of the bathroom in just a pair of shorts, his skin smudged all over with the complimentary green facial mask the hotel offers in the bathrooms.
"I'M FLYING MINT BUNNY!"
"WHY WERE YOU LISTENING TO ME TALK IN MY SLEEP ON THE PLANE? GET BACK HERE YOU BLIMEY LITTLE..." a very wet Arthur Kirkland races after him in a pair of shorts.
The two run past Amelia and Matthieu and zoom past Alice in the doorway who noticed Peter was wearing a certain bowtie of hers.
"HOW DARE YOU! THAT WAS THE EXACT BOWTIE MY FAVORITE DOCTOR WORE IN SEASON..."
"Doctor... who?" Peter cranes his neck to tease her as he runs out of her line of vision.
"GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE..."
The door slams as Alice and Arthur had left Amelia and Matthieu alone, chasing Peter through the hotel.
"You know what, we can go just the two of us..." Amelia rolls her eyes and leads Matthieu out the door. "Those three eat like birds anyway"
Amelia and Matthieu leave the hotel and hitch a ride on the public bus to get to the nearest breakfast joint.
While they were waiting on the bus, Amelia was eyeing Matthieu skeptically. "You look different, it's weird" she comments.
The Canadian raises a very confused eyebrow, wondering how he could have all of a sudden looked different when she's only known him about fifteen minutes.
She continues "I don't know it's just... your hair seems longer. And it also seems a lot blonder. Maybe I just haven't gotten this close of a look at you before" Amelia takes a lock of her light sandy brown hair and pulls it over to compare next to a lock of Matthieu's hair. Strange, she always thought they had the same shade.
Matthieu Williams is thoroughly creeped out.
The door to the laundry room of the log cabin hotel was left wide open as Madeline and Alfred get to work folding the towels.
"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" A little boy zooms past the room, playfully yelling Dr. Who references.
"GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE..."
"I SWEAR TO YOU, I WILL..."
A pair of angry British adults runs after him.
As soon as Alfred F. Jones notices them he flings himself onto a laundry bin near the open doorway to desperately try to get the Brits' attention but he was too late. The three of them ran so fast.
"Are... you okay?" Madeline asks the crazed American man whose body was slouched on top of the laundry bin, a pair of socks in his mouth. "You're acting weird" she tells him, concerned.
Alfred's eyes narrow. How dare she call him weird. He gets up from the undignified position and smooths out his clothing. "Look. You seem like a sweet girl. And I know you're really into me, I can't blame you, all the ladies are. But can you totally like... dig me from afar? You know what I'm saying? Just so I can have a little space?" Alfred tries to offer politely so he doesn't hurt her feelings.
But that failed. Madeline's feelings were definitely hurt. "Wait, what? You think I like you?" She's stunned.
"Yeah" Alfred replies nonchalantly.
"Wait... this entire time. I mean all this time. You only hung out with me because you felt sorry for me because you thought I liked you?" Madeline was going berserk.
"Yeah" Alfred replies bluntly.
Tears are streaming down Madeline's face. She couldn't even understand her feelings right now. This is the worst day of her life. "Matthieu Williams, you are the most conceited jerk I have ever met in my entire life!" she storms out of the laundry room.
"Matthieu Williams? Who?" Alfred asks himself after she leaves. "I'm glad I don't know that guy. He must be a real jerk."
Author's note:
The song the children were singing to Belarus is based off the song Skadipirate chose in her APH Belarus Youtube video. The song sounds like children are singing it!