"America!"
Someone was shaking him frantically, calling his name repeatedly. He went to push them away, but felt oddly drugged. His limbs weren't moving properly, even if he had been sleeping for awhile.
Slowly, he eased his eyes open, to see Madison's concerned face. Dolley was at his side, a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Thank God…" Madison whispered as America stirred, Dolley holding her hand to her mouth in relief as she let out the breath she had been holding in. "We thought you were dead."
"I told you Nations don't die easily," America groaned, struggling to sit up. Madison helped him, as Dolley slipped a pillow beneath him to help him stay upright. "Where am I?"
"We're at the house of one of Dolley's friends," Madison began. "Mistress Henrietta Bentley? I doubt that rings a bell."
America shook his head. What had happened? The last thing he remembered was…
Canada. He'd burned down the Executive Mansion…willingly? The image was burned into the eye of America's mind, but he still couldn't believe what had transpired. "What…?"
"Washington has been burnt to the ground, more or less," Madison answered the half spoken question with a sigh, rubbing at his temples. "I can't imagine what those troops were thinking, running like that. We must look absolute fools. But to answer your inquiry, once we realized you were missing, we set out to look for you. We thought they had taken you hostage or something of the sort, but then we saw you…passed out cold on the ground. For all the world you looked…dead."
"Oh…" America muttered lamely, looking down at his hands. "I just…why did Canada…"
"It was only to be expected," Madison stated, matter-of-factly.
America looked over at him, perplexed. "What do you mean?"
"We burnt down York before. An eye for an eye and all…"
"We what?" America's expression changed from confusion to horrified comprehension.
"Our troops looted and burned the area after they got in," Madison shook his head. "Much as the British…"
He trailed off, catching America's appalled countenance. "Did you not know of this…?"
"No, I…" America felt anger choking his words. "Of course I didn't! I never would've went along with that! I would've tried to stop them with everything I had! I would've—"
"I know…" Madison placated patiently. "Now that I think about it, you were, ah…resisting the war effort at that time. I only wonder how you did not hear…"
"I haven't spoken to Canada..." America's regret was tangible in his voice. "I haven't talked to him in so long. It's all my fault…" He could feel the tears burning in his eyes, the steady ache in his heart becoming more pronounced.
"Oh, dear…" Dolley moved forward to place a hand on the young Nation's head. "Don't think that way, you're not to blame. Oh, sweetie, don't cry…"
But the tears had escaped and showed no sign of stopping. Dolley inched forward to wrap her arms around the boy, still stroking his hair comfortingly.
Madison stood by awkwardly, leaving America to his wife. After all, comforting children was her area of expertise.
Historical Notes: When the British burned Washington during the War of 1812, Madison and Attorney General Richard Rush stayed with Caleb Bentley—the first postmaster of Brookeville, Maryland—and his wife Henrietta, a longtime friend of Madison's wife, Dolley. (I don't know if Dolley was actually with them or not, but she worked out so nicely in this scene, I just had to include her…)
The Battle of York took place on April 27th 1812, and was one of the first American victories on land during this war. The original American military plan included an attack on the port of Kingston, however, Major Henry Dearborn, the one in charge of the American invasion of Canada, felt that Kingston was too strong. Instead, he decided to attack York (now called Toronto), on the north western shore of the lake. York, despite being the capital of Upper Canada, was poorly defended. After the Americans won the battle, they soiled their victory by looting and burning York.
It was this affair that led to the retaliation in the form of the burning of Washington. Much thanks to Kaiamara for bringing this up :] History books are sometimes horribly biased, and my book left the entire event out, making it seem like Canada just attacked out of randomness :/ Way to make him seem like the bad guy when America really started it. However, I couldn't believe that America would be okay with that, so in my mind he was left out of the loop. I hope it turned out all right ^^'