Aw, I'm glad you all seem to like this so far. I'm still trying to work out a few things for this but till then you'll still get new chapters and updates and whatever. Oh and a heads up My version of the ancient nations will be getting at least one side story because I think it will be funny to have Rome hitting on Bretta. Sadly Shima will not be there as she is not European. She isn't even on the Eurasian continent. I have only gotten one person that correctly guessed who Shima was. I thought that her interest in getting Canada attention would give her away. Anyway, enough with my rambles on to it.
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Once the ice was broken, so to speak, the rest of the day went by rather smoothly. Faye opted to sit beside Ludwig, this left her sitting between Alfred and the German. It also left Judas sitting with the younger nations, who had introduced themselves as Seychelles, Iceland and Sealand.
"Is Sealand even a real nation?" Judas was looking the boy over skeptically. Faye leaned forward to look at him.
"Actually it is an abandoned naval base that declared independence in the fifties. So since it is an independent governing body it would be considered a nation. Though classifying it as a micro-nation would be the most accurate as the population is in the single digits."
The surrounding nations blinked as Faye explained Sealand to the other human in the group. Sealand simply glomped her and started declaring that she was more than welcome to become a citizen of Sealand if she wanted to. Arthur seemed to be a little less than pleased and quickly pulled the boy off of her.
"Please do not encourage him."
After that Faye had struck up a conversation with Feliciano. She found the bubbly nation rather enjoyable to talk to.
Meanwhile Judas had gotten on Ludwig's bad side when he made one too many comments about Faye's assets. This left the boy with not just Alfred's actions deterring him from making advances but the over-protective German that felt that his new found sister deserved better than a horny teenager. Yes, Judas found this to be rather annoying in his plans to get in the pants of a certain albino.
Francis found the situation highly amusing to watch. It seemed that being a girl had not changed his friend very much. She still had a sharp mind and tongue. And while she probably didn't drink in her free time as she was under age, he didn't doubt that once she could legally consume alcohol that she'd drink it like water. He felt some pity for the boy that had come with her and Alfred, but he was certainly not her type. He reminded him a bit of Denmark. Cocky, perverted and a rebel. They might have been able to be friends if he would just keep his hands to himself. There was also a small part of Francis that was rather irked with Judas. He did not like seeing his friend eyed like a piece of meat. It was degrading to her and she certainly deserved the respect of any and all suitors. Francis chuckled to himself, he was thinking of the girl as if she were an old friend. While in a way she was, he needed to keep in mind she really was not the same person. Francis watched her once the game started and saw how she cheered on Matthew. Yes, she was most definitely Gilbert in her actions, even if there were small differences. Francis made a mental note to let Antonio know about this development. Perhaps they could reform the Bad Touch Trio.
The game ended with Matthew's team the victor.
The players exited the locker room and saw the small crowd that had watched them play. Peter ran over to Berwald and Tino. Matthew watched with amusement as Ivan made straight for his brother. The amusement was short lived as he saw Faye standing next to Ludwig and talking to him.
"Faye?"
She looks over at him and smiles, "Mr. Williams. Congratulations on winning. You were awesome out there."
"I, what are you doing here?"
She tilts her head to the side, confused. Matthew notices Alfred trying to hide behind Ivan as she answers, "Alfred brought Judas and I to watch you play. Didn't he tell you?"
Matthew tightens the grip on his hockey stick and sets his bag of gear down. "No, he neglected to tell me he was bringing you." He turns to his brother and the people between him and Alfred clear out like the parting of the Red Sea. Ivan doesn't even stay to shelter the American.
"Aw, come on Mattie. She had fun and I thought it would be great if she could see you in action. And I think you scared Judas enough he may pay attention in your class at least." Alfred casts his eyes around for an escape from his angered neighbor and brother.
"That is not the point here Alfred F. Jones." His voice takes on a darker tone as he steps closer. "You know why this was a bad idea." It must have been like watching a mountain lion stalking a deer.
"Matthew, calm down. You're going to make your brother piss himself." Arthur stepped between them and put his hands up to placate the Arctic nation. "If it helps any, we have learned something about the situation that would have stayed a mystery."
Matthew looks over at Faye, she nods to him at his unasked question. He looks back at Arthur. "I already know that this is what happens to dead nations."
"Actually, it isn't. Well not normally." It was Ludwig that interjected and Matthew looks at him curiously. "We shouldn't be discussing this here."
"He's right. Matthew would we be able to come to your home to discuss this further?"
"Sure."
He picks up his bag and the group splits up. Alfred and Ivan making plans to go out later that week. The Nordic nations heading home, followed by the Baltics. In the end the ones that came back to Matthew's house were Ludwig, Feliciano, Francis, Arthur, Alfred, Faye and Judas.
Matthew had them settle in the living room and brought out some drinks and snacks for everyone before settling down himself. He was still a bit irked with Alfred since he knew that Faye hadn't wanted the others to know about her before because she didn't want to hurt them in the long run.
"So what did you mean that what happened with Faye isn't the norm for dead nations?"
Arthur looks to Ludwig to explain.
"They don't reincarnate. If anything they seem to take on a guardian type role. I don't know if you remember when Rome showed up during WWII?"
"No, I must not have been at that battle."
Ludwig nods, "He also showed up one night at my place to check up on Feliciano. To be honest I didn't know what to make of him at first, but he seemed happy enough that Feliciano was safe."
Faye sticks her hand out to get the attention of the group. "It would have been nice to know that sort of thing before you just yelled at me that I couldn't be Gilbert's reincarnation, but beside that. How do we explain me? I mean its kind of creepy that I seem to be drawn to or attract various things that are Prussian. I mean I was drawing the Prussian Eagle on my notebooks before I even knew what it was."
The nations blink at her.
"You were doing what now?" Arthur interjects, stopping Faye from answering Alfred's question.
"Faye, given that we know more about what happens with dead nations and their role in our lives. We may be able to draw some conclusions. You were born in Canada?"
"Yeah, right near here actually."
"And how did you come to know Alfred and Matthew?"
"Well Mr. Williams is my history teacher at school. I met Alfred after Mr. Williams had me come here to talk about Prussian and his belief about who I was. Alfred sort of confirmed things for the two of us when he and I played chess."
Arthur seems to scowl a bit in concentration before letting out a yelp of pain. "Bloody hell, why did you have to pull my hair!"
Everyone in the room just stared at Arthur as he began to yell at the air, as though he were having some type of conversation with it.
"Oh, great he finally cracked."
"Al! That's not very nice."
"Mattie look at him he's talking to the air. I've seen him do this before, usually when he thinks no one is looking."
Matthew lets his head fall forward into his hand. "Al, you have Tony. I won't say any more."
"Dude you've seen Tony. He's totally cool."
"You're point. Look you can't just outright say that what Arthur calls fairies are not really there, just cause you can't see them."
This caused Arthur to stop arguing with his fairy friend and for everyone to stare at the Canadian.
"What?"
"Nothing, Matthieu. It's just you seem rather open to believing in Arthur's fairies."
Matthew sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.
"Francis, when you found me I was running around in furs as a hermit shaman. I saw all sorts of things that I know you couldn't. And for a while I was even able to see Arthur's fairies, as you put it. I think not being able to see them anymore has something to do with modernization and the loss of older ways. Arthur never lost those so he can still see them."
Arthur seems the most shocked by Matthew's speech. "Matthew, I never thought of it that way."
"You wouldn't have. You never lost your ability to see them, so you never would have tried piecing together why." Matthew looks around at everyone still looking at him. "We're getting off topic you know?" He looks at Arthur. "So what did she tell you. I mean she had to have had some reason to get your attention."
"Er, yes. Well she says I need to look up something in my spell books back home. Something about Faye serving a purpose and needing my help with something. It was rather vague. I did hear something about a deal being made between a few of the ancient nations with Celtica throwing in her support for whatever reason. Ow." Arthur glares at a spot beside him for a moment. "What do you mean its my fault she had to help out?" A pause as he waited for an answer. "I am not a bad parent! I raised Alfred just fine." Another pause as he get red in the face, though not in anger. "I, oh bullocks." He turns to Matthew, "I suppose I owe you an apology Matthew I seem to forget you quite a bit it seems."
"He's sitting in the same room how can you forget him?" It was Judas and he looked at the other nations and noticed most of them had sheepish looks on their faces.
"It's alright Judas. It actually happens more often than you would think. I'm often over looked or mistaken for Alfred."
"That is so not awesome. Mr. Williams, you're like the coolest person I know. How could anyone over look you?" Matthew shrugs at her question. "You're Canada. The second largest nation in the world. You scared the German's into surrendering on sight in both world wars. I could keep going but I don't want to be here all weekend."
"You know she brings up a good point. Why do we forget about Mattie, and Canada, so often?"
The nations look between each other for an answer, finally settling on Arthur.
"Fine I'll add it to what I need to look up. Maybe there will be something in my books back home. Until then we'll just have to wait."
Everyone grudgingly agreed and after a little more talking they decided it would be best to wait to do anything until the next G8 meeting in two weeks. It was also decided that Faye and Judas would be there. Though many objected to Judas coming, namely Alfred, Ludwig and Francis. He managed to get his way by asking if there was any reason he couldn't come. When the only response they got was that he was only wanting to come because of Faye the argument lost any power it had. So he was allowed to come.
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Hey, took me a while to get this written. I got started on the side story for this. It's called Three Phases and what was planned as a one shot will be multi chaptered, so please read it. It's mostly background on the ancient European nations, Shima will not make an appearance as she is from the New World and has no connections to Ancient Rome, Germania and Celtica. I learned something really interesting though while researching dates for that side story. If you subscribe to the Germany is HRE school of thought, then Prussia may be younger than his brother. Seriously I had a really hard time figuring out a founding date for Prussia. Old Prussia is what I'm basing his birth on though so I can keep him older than his little bro. Blah, enough about that, please review.
