'Hey, Union wake up. It's time ta go on da hike,' Confederacy reminded him.
Alfred groaned and buried his face in the pillow. 'My very own alarm clock, yippie.'
After a couple minutes he raised his head and looked around the living room, seeing Molossia and Peter still sleeping on the couches.
Last night Alfred had a movie night with Peter, then when Molossia strolled by, Peter asked if he wanted to join. Molossia of course refused, complaining about how it was stupid, but for some reason he sat down anyway and watched with them.
Now he had to interrupt their slumber, feeling a little bad since Peter is probably jet lagged like crazy.
"Hey, Peter you gotta get up," he requested while shaking him slightly. Peter opened his eyes and squinted at him. "Huh? Why?" He asked faintly.
"We're going on a hike today. Now come on we have to get ready," Alfred told him. Instantly Peter's eyes shot open and he hopped to his feet. So much for being jet lagged.
"Well why didn't you say so?" He wondered before running over and pulling on Molossia's arm. "Come on Molossia, you have got to get up!"
Molossia grumbled and rolled over into the couch, so Peter shook him harder. Molossia waved him off, and mumbled something incoherent.
Peter stepped back and looked at his hand. It appears he has to resort to drastic measures. Molossia would be fine, he's Alfred's micronation after all.
So using his hard-as-steel hand, he raised it up and brought it down hard against Molossia's cheek with a loud clap. "I'm up!" He shouted as he shot upright.
Alfred chuckled at the two before walking off to wake up Natalya, though when opening the door he found her sitting on the bed already.
They stared at each other for a moment, then Alfred waved and shut the door again. He turned back around to the two micronations, who were either thrilled for or dreading this day.
"Alright, we've got to get you guys some warmer clothes," he announced.
At the store, Alfred made sure to pick up winter clothes that would fit Peter. Molossia wouldn't need anything new since he could just fit into Alfred's clothes.
He ordered Peter to collect the clothes he bought and put them in the RV, meanwhile Molossia and himself went to a wardrobe to grab their own.
Alfred grabbed a coat, snow pants, thick winter gloves, a hat, and a big wool scarf.
Molossia, being the desert nation he is, grabbed a shirt, jacket, two sweaters, and an overcoat. Two pairs of pants and snow pants. Wool gloves and bigger waterproof gloves. A ski mask, trapper hat, scarf, ski goggles which would go over his already present shades, and three pairs of wool socks.
He carried the massive pile out to the RV as well, leaving Alfred to go over and see how Natalya was doing.
As he went for the doorknob, the door swung open to reveal Natalya in her traditional black dress, small gloves, and leggings. All she had in her hands were a light jacket and an extra pair of pants.
Alfred looked both perplexed and severely worried. "You sure that's enough? You do realize the top of the mountain is bitter cold?"
"Da," was her only response as she walked passed him and out to the RV. Alfred stayed back for a second to grab a couple extra coats and pants, and then they were off.
It was only a little drive to the base of the mountain, but with how large it was it still felt like they were far away.
Natalya quickly slipped on the jacket and pants, but as she was about to leave the bedroom she paused at the door.
Outside she could see Alfred knelt down and helping zip up Peter's coat. He had his usual goofy grin as Peter steamed in abashment.
"I'm twelve, I can zip up a coat myself," he whined while flailing his arms around. Alfred laughed and let go of the zipper. "Alright kid, zip it up then."
Peter took the challenge and reached forward for the zipper, but the thick sleeves of the coat stopped his arms from bending all the way, so he was left standing there with his arms sticking straight out in front of him.
Alfred snorted as Peter continued struggling against the sleeves, growing more and more aggravated. Eventually Alfred ended his suffering and zipped up the coat the rest of the way.
"You can zip up your own coat when you hit a growth spurt, little dude," Alfred told him with a warm smile as he rubbed the top of his head.
Peter blushed and hid behind the scarf Alfred just put on, followed by an adorably large hat that covered 90% of the remaining half of his head.
He pushed up the hat and lowered the scarf to speak. "Well how can I do that? Molossia is younger than I am but he's an adult. Why do I age so slow?"
Alfred shrugged. "I don't know, but you shouldn't feel bad about being a kid. You can live your life without any worries or responsibilities, unlike all the old farts at the world meeting. Trust me, every nation wishes they could go back to being a kid at one point. So just enjoy your childhood, because it won't last forever."
"I guess so, but I really wish I was big and strong like you guys!" Peter whined. Alfred grinned again and got to his feet. "You will kiddo, you will."
Natalya continuing peeking at them from the crack in the door. She had to admit that the resemblance between them was uncanny, Alfred truly looked like Peter's father, acted like it too. She never thought he could be capable of that.
With Peter ready, Alfred put on his own clothes and the two left her line of sight, going off somewhere probably to assist Molossia.
Natalya finally decided to leave the bedroom, turning to find Alfred and Peter helping Molossia shove his boots over the triple layered pair of socks.
Molossia cursed to himself while a giant vein grew on his head. 'It's the middle of the fucking summer and we're putting on goddamn winter clothes? What the fuck?!'
After that struggle, they all left the RV and walked outside, getting hit with a blast of cold air. Alfred grinned and put his hands on his hips while walking ahead of the group.
"Alright, where we're going is all the way up there!" He announced, his voice echoing all throughout the land. The other three followed his finger all the way up to a peak that was far, Far, FAR away.
Natalya was emotionless, Peter was jumping up and down in amazement, and Molossia was holding his head low and sulking.
Alfred hoisted a large backpack onto his back and looked forward to the mountain. "Let's head out. Base camp is at 7,000 ft."
So began their journey to the peak, starting all the way at the tail end of Kahiltna Glacier.
Natalya quickly took the front, since she was unaffected by any gusts of wind and snow that happened to go by.
Alfred followed behind her, with Peter right by his side just so he was extra protected. Then at the back was Molossia, who was waddling around due to the sheer amount of clothing, and defensively taking shelter behind Alfred's back so none of the wind would hit him. Even though he already had a full face mask and goggles.
Alfred frowned and turned around when he felt Molossia bump into him. "You alright dude?"
Molossia responded, but the scarf and ski mask were covering his mouth so everything came out as muffled gibberish.
He would remove it, but his arms were fixed at his sides, giving him a penguin-like appearance.
"I'm not sure what you're saying but I'm gonna guess that you're mad," Alfred assumed. His assumption seemed to be right because Molossia flapped his arms up and down and made some strange noises.
"I like him better like this," Natalya commented, making Alfred chuckle and Molossia get angrier.
He marched right up to her and flailed his arms, before stomping away from them to continue up the mountain.
"Hey, slow down dude! Are you trying to get lost?!" Alfred panicked as he bounded after his micronation.
The other two followed after them, but at a slower rate. There was no need to rush, they're on vacation.
Peter awkwardly looked up at Natalya and gulped. He didn't bring any candy, nor did he know enough about China to insult him, so he had to improvise to get on her good side.
"Sooooo, you've been hanging out with Alfred for a while, huh?" He asked, trying to strike up a conversation.
"Hmm," Natalya hummed. Peter looked at the ground, not expecting to be shut down so fast. "How did that happen?" He wondered.
Natalya was silent for a while, then looked down at the small boy. He was looking up at her with such large and hopeful blue eyes, no way he wasn't related to Alfred.
Just like the puppy dog eyes, Natalya couldn't deny the stare he was giving her. Despite her resisting she eventually let out a sigh in defeat. "My brother and China were annoying me, so I left. I ran into Alfred now here I am."
Peter smiled and swayed his arms back and forth while he walked, glad this conversation was going somewhere. "Alfred is really nice."
"I guess, but he is more of an obnoxious child than anything else," Natalya proclaimed.
Peter was surprised she would say something like that. "What? He's totally cool. He can be serious if he wants to, but that would just make him boring like jerk England."
Natalya didn't like that argument. "Being slightly better than that fool isn't much of an achievement."
That bewildered Peter even more than her last statement. "What are you talking about? Alfred's way better than that jerk. He buys me stuff, he spends time with me, he always makes sure I'm happy, not to mention his food is actually edible. I'm unsure how you don't think the world of him."
She frowned immensely, mostly because she was pissed that all the examples Peter gave were all things Alfred did for her, but also because of the assertion that Alfred is someone to be admired. She's read his journal, he's no saint.
Peter waited for her to respond, but grew impatient when she left him hanging. "Come on, surely you can say something nice about him."
Finally she acknowledged him again by way of a chilling scowl. "No I can't. He's tolerable at the very best, I have nothing good to say about him."
That was the biggest lie Peter ever heard. You don't call a nation by their human name and go on vacation without being friends. 'Tolerable? Yeah I don't think so.'
He didn't really need her to say something nice, Alfred already confirmed they were best friends when him and Peter were out shopping.
"What's with that smug face?" She suddenly asked him, to which his smirk dropped as he looked at her innocently. "What do you mean?"
As she began to respond, they were interrupted as a strange noise began coming toward them, growing louder and louder every second. It sounded... angry?
They looked up the mountain just in time to see Molossia, lying on his back and sliding down the mountain headfirst. There was a loud grumble coming from under the scarf as he flew by and further down.
Right behind him was Alfred, sprinting as fast as he could after the micronation. "Flip onto your stomach! You can stick your hands and feet into the ground that way!"
Peter laughed while Natalya sighed. "Absolute idiots."
They continued up the mountain, Alfred eventually catching up with Molossia being dragged behind by a rope and harness.
For nearly a mile there was an indent in the snow where Molossia had slid down, which made Peter laugh more.
In a few more miles they had made it over the steep slope, allowing Alfred to release Molossia and walk for himself.
"Never thought you would be knee deep in snow in the middle of July, huh?" Alfred joked.
"Well I live with the Nordics, so I actually see this every so often," Peter admitted. "But I've never hiked up a mountain like this."
"I've hiked up a few. Everest is insane, it's sometimes a little unbelievable to imagine being almost 30,000 feet in the air," Alfred said. "This may be a very large peak for my country, but it's nothing compared to Nepal and some of the other Asian nations."
"Yeah, my nation is only 23 meters tall," Peter added.
"Hmm?" Molossia's muffled voice questioned. Alfred understood the miscommunication and turned to him. "78 feet."
He turned his head over to Natalya and smirked. "What about you Nat, what's the largest peak in your country?"
"Dzyarzhynskaya Hara, 345 meters," she answered almost instantly, neglecting to mention that it is only 12 steps tall. Alfred furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to rack his brain around the pronunciation. "You seem to really like "Y"s, huh?" She was unamused by the joke.
"Anyway, let's pick up the pace. We should plan on getting to Camp Three by nightfall!" Alfred noted as he began marching faster.
The others sped up as well, covering the remainder of the distance in about three hours. When they had finally reached Base Camp, they decided to take a half hour break.
Molossia and Natalya spent their break sitting around doing nothing, meanwhile Alfred and Peter played in the snow.
"You wanna build a snowman?" Peter asked the taller nation. Alfred crouched down to Peter's height and gave him a huge grin. "Heck yeah little dude!"
He then lifted Peter up to put on his shoulders as they left to find a good spot for their snowman. Once they were a fair ways away from the others, Alfred set Peter down and began digging in the snow.
He pulled out a handful and compacted it into a nice ball, then set it down and rolled it around to get it bigger. Once it was roughly three feet across, he started pushing it back to where the other two were. Peter helped him push it, not that he needed it but it's the effort that counts.
"So how big do you want this?" Alfred questioned. Peter shrugged. "I'm not sure, let's just keep pushing it until it seems right."
Alfred nodded and continued pushing, going a little overboard since by the time they made it back, the base of the snowman was about fifteen feet across.
They walked away again and started on the midsection, ending with another large sphere Alfred had to carry up the base to put on.
Peter threw piles of snow at him to use to connect the two parts of the snowman, to which they would have to repeat for the head.
The only problem was that it was way too high for Peter to send the snow up, leaving Alfred to do the laborious task of climbing up and down a 36 foot snow giant.
By the time the break was over, the two had just finished putting on eyes and a smile made of rocks.
Molossia and Natalya walked over to them and looked far up at the top, where Alfred was standing on top of its head.
"Is this awesome or what?!" He yelled down to them. "You built this in half an hour?!" Natalya yelled back.
"I know right? I didn't think we could do it! Guess we're just that cool!" He boasted, patting himself on the back for the awesome work.
"Well get down, it would be inconvenient walking the rest of the way if you cripple yourself," she scolded.
Alfred rolled his eyes and prepared to climb down. "Ok mom. No need to be so uptight."
She didn't appreciate his little comment, so she made a snowball and waited for him to begin climbing down.
Just as he placed a foot on a little notch of snow, Natalya threw the snowball at it and broke it off, causing Alfred to slip and plummet to the ground in a big cloud of snow.
Molossia got protective and tried swinging an arm at her, but his stiff body went with it and caused him to face plant.
"Ow..." Alfred wheezed. Natalya trudged forward and grabbed his arm, pulling him along as she started the hike again.
Peter helped Molossia to his feet and the two followed, though Molossia was fuming. He's stuck in a damn straight jacket while Alfred gets hurt.
In a few minutes Alfred had gotten back to his feet, though he was still hunched and rubbing his back like an old man. "I thought you didn't want me to get crippled."
"Feelings change when you give me sass," she stated. Alfred was a little amused by that statement.
'I'm so getting you back for that,' he thought mischievously.
He slowed down until Peter and Molossia caught up with him, crouching down next to the smaller micronation to begin conspiring against Natalya.
Peter nodded along to the plan, excited for the fun that was going to ensue.
They picked up the pace and headed for Camp Two, hoping they could cut down on some time and have more to set up their scheme.
After a couple hours they passed Camp One, and in a few more miles they were coming up to the Kahiltna Pass.
Alfred stopped the group and dropped his backpack onto the ground. He dug inside it and pulled out rock climbing ropes and trekking poles.
"Put this on," he instructed while handing everyone an end of a rope and two trekking poles. "It's gonna be crazy steep from now on."
They attached everything and got in single file line again, as they started the 2,000 ft walk up to Camp Two.
"We're making pretty good time. We should reach Camp Two at about 3:00 p.m." Alfred announced.
"G-Good, the air is starting to get a little thin," Peter sighed in relief.
Alfred was the first to the top of the hill, so he set down the poles and began slowly pulling on the rope to assist the others.
When all of them were at the top, they removed the ropes and went over to the flat area of Camp Two.
"So we can get used to the altitude we're gonna take an hour break this time," Alfred said. Peter looked up at him in confusion. "Doesn't it usually take days to acclimate?"
"Yup, but that's if you're a normal person. We've got sick healing powers, so we should be used to it in a few minutes," Alfred explained.
"Oh. I guess that makes sense."
"Yup," Alfred agreed with a thumbs up. "Now come on, we've got a snow fort to build," he whispered the last part.
Peter nodded and the two walked away to look for a good spot. Once they found one, they pushed armfuls of snow into one spot and formed a wall out of it, then got through about half of the second one before they had to stop due to exhaustion.
"Wow, the air is really thin!" Alfred huffed. If only his body would catch up, then he could make this fort. After a five minute breather they did the rest of the second and third walls, and forced their way through making the fourth wall and door hole.
At this point they were properly acclimated, so Alfred decided to add onto the fort with shelves for snowballs and a long series of trenches, which he easily plowed out with the help of his super strength.
Something about this was giving him some crazy nostalgia, or PTSD, call it what you will. So he also dug under the thick layers of snow and made fox holes and punji pits, without the deadly sticks of course.
It was like preparing for an actual battle, which wouldn't be much of an exaggeration, since the second they piss off Natalya it's war.
Sneaking back to his backpack, he pulled out two snowball makers and fled back to the safety of the fort.
He handed one to Peter and they began digging into the pile of snow they collected. Now with the shelves lined, ammo all on the floor, and a safe fort to hide behind, they were finally ready for Natalya's fury.
They took one final look at each other before both of them stood up and lobbed a snowball at Natalya in the distance. She had her back turned, so she got hit in the back of the head and right on the ass.
Her whole upper body snapped backwards to glare daggers at whatever fool had hit her, discovering an entire garrison with the two blonds poking part of their heads out of the top to stare at her determinedly.
"Did you two just throw snowballs at me?" She demanded to know. The larger blond lowered their head for a second, followed by another snowball that flew only inches away from her face.
She looked down at where the snowball landed, then back to the two with a look of pure infuriation. "I swear, you do that again and you're both dead!"
Peter and Alfred shared a look, looked at the massive pile of snowballs between them, and grinned.
Out of nowhere a rain of snowballs fell from the sky and pummeled her. The overwhelming number pushed her to the ground as all she could do was curl in a ball and block her face.
"Stop it!! That's enough! I'll kill you!!!" She screamed as she got more and more buried.
When it had finally stopped, everything but her head was covered. However, Molossia who had caught sight of the action, decided to use this to get some revenge by dropping two armfuls of snow directly on her face.
'Fucks sake, I'm just minding my own business then I get harassed by these three buffoons?!' She thought as she sat in the darkness.
For a few minutes there was dead silence, the three staring intensely at the pile of snow on top of her. Peter and Alfred had their arms cocked back with two more snowballs they made.
It was extremely tense, who knew when she would pop out. Though as the minutes went by Alfred began to grow worried. The two lowered their arms and scratched their heads. "Yo Molossia, can you make sure she's alright?!" Alfred called out.
Molossia lowered one of his stiff arms and brushed some snow away, but grew pale when he found nothing. He crouched down and dug more and more, and that's when he saw it, a tunnel deep in the snow pointing directly at the fort's location.
Molossia jumped up and began waving his arms frantically, trying hard to get the attention of the others.
"What's he doing?" Peter asked. Alfred shrugged and tilted his head at the bizarre dance. "No clue, he's just... flapping like a bird. Wait, now he's pointing at us, and the ground, back at us? Does he want us to go over there?"
"She could be hurt, maybe we should go," Peter suggested. Alfred nodded and the two stood up, but just then Alfred heard something to his left. He turned slowly to the side wall, at the same time a hand latched onto the top of it.
The second Natalya's face emerged above the fort, Alfred jumped and screamed on the top of his lungs.
Peter freaked out at the sudden noise and turned to him, only to scream as well when he noticed Natalya.
Suddenly he found himself being picked up and carried out of the fort. Alfred had broken out into a full sprint and was zigzagging through the trenches.
Peter lifted his head and looked behind them, alarmed when he found Natalya still on their tail. "She's gaining!"
Alfred ran up to one of his traps, punching a support that sent snow tumbling down and blocking the path.
With that small window of time before she got to them, he dived into a tunnel and began climbing away to another part of the trenches. It was also at this point that Alfred let go of Peter and the two split off.
Once at the other side, Alfred crouched down and crawled under the cover of the tench walls. Peeking over, he could see tracks where Natalya had climbed over the obstacle he made. She was still close.
He crawled a little further, listening extra close for footsteps. The only problem with making trenches was that Natalya could hide behind them too.
Peeking over the walls once again, there was still nothing, until Natalya jumped up and threw a snowball into his face.
He was temporarily blinded with the snow covering his glasses, but he could hear what sounded like her running at him, then another snowball impact, followed by her scurrying away.
Wiping the snow off, he caught a glimpse of Peter on a hill as he ran away in a panic. What followed was the shrill screeching of a prepubescent boy somewhere out in the snow.
He got to his feet and ran toward the noise, coming up to Peter who was buried in the snow with his hat pushed over his face. "She came out of nowhere."
As Alfred reached forward to pull him out of the snow, a chilling voice and warm breath tickled the back of his neck. "I wouldn't pick him up if I were you."
Alfred spun around and prepared to throw the snowball, but was met with no one. How did she do that?
"You should realize by now that the snow was where I was born. I'm in my element here," she spoke menacingly. 'Where the hell is she? It's like she's throwing her voice around.'
'Use da Anaconda Plan. Block her in, keep mobility limited,' Confederacy stated.
'Got it,' Alfred understood as he made more snowballs and began chucking them at all the snow traps. They all fell down and blocked off the trenches, bringing Alfred's attention to one as he heard a very faint "dammit."
'There!' He thought as he vaulted one of the snow piles and threw a snowball at Natalya's chest.
She hissed and jumped over another mound, but not before getting another snowball in the back.
With her on the run, Alfred went back for Peter then fled, crashing through a few snow traps to get there. In the distance he could see Molossia waddling around and looking down into the trenches.
He crawled to him, startling him with his presence and almost making him fall over. "I need you to have our back, when we get attacked by Nat again I'm gonna need you to distract her real quick, k?"
Molossia did his best to nod and waddled off. Alfred and Peter went back into the battlefield and entered another tunnel.
Suddenly they paused and Alfred covered Peter's mouth. Pointing to the ceiling, he directed Peter to the sound of walking directly above them.
Quickly they crawled opposite directions and entered two fox holes, with little square snow covers on the top. They burst out of them and chucked at the location of the footsteps, hitting Natalya two more times.
As she turned to them they went back under and went to different ones, repeating the process multiple times as they pelted Natalya.
It was building up her aggravation until she lost it and punched the ground, collapsing the tunnel and revealing the two in their little holes.
This time she went directly for Alfred as he struggled to get out, but was stopped when Molossia and his chunky body tackled her to the ground and laid on top of her.
The other two were able to get out and go after her again. "Get off you heavy bastard!" She yelled while punching Molossia, but his multiple layers made them ineffective.
He let out a muffled but maniacal laugh. "Hmhmhmhm- hmm?!"
She lifted Molossia off of her and held him above her head. Alfred and Peter froze in place and stared in fear as she looked dead at them.
Without time to dodge, she threw Molossia at Peter with all of her might. The poor boy got pinned under his heavy friend, who could only wiggle in a feeble attempt to get off.
That only left Alfred, who looked all around for an escape like a corned animal. No, he had friends to avenge, he has to stand his ground.
He stopped darting his eyes around and stood strong before her. She was actually surprised since he sprinted away last time.
She bent down and picked up her own snowball, as the two stared each other down. At the same time they threw the snowballs, which collided in he air and disintegrated before they could hit their target.
Alfred ran and dived into a fox hole, coming out behind her a few seconds later with two more snowballs, which he threw and hit her both times.
He went back into the fox hole and climbed around, but a hand suddenly busted through the ceiling and pulled him back out.
Natalya grabbed his collar and pulled on it, before shoving a handful of snow down it and onto his chest. "AAAHHH!!!" He shrieked in pain.
She followed up with pushing him back into the snow and burying him in it. As he lifted his head out, he looked up in shock as she jumped down at him with a watermelon-sized snow boulder.
It connected with his face and broke the ground underneath them into a tunnel. He laid on the ground and groaned at the stinging cold all over his face, but that was short-lived as she grabbed his collar again.
"No!" He almost screamed as he slapped her hand away and got to his feet. He jumped back and started rolling and bouncing around to avoid a flurry of snowballs.
He retaliated and threw his own snowballs, starting a sniper battle as he got farther and farther away. When that went nowhere with few hits on either side, Natalya ran at him once again.
He jumped back again, and continued backpedaling up a steep hill until he felt his foot slip. He caught himself and looked behind at the sheer drop to the ground about thirty feet below them.
He smiled and looked back at Natalya, who was a few feet below him. He spread out his arms and frowned sadly at her. "It's over Natalya, I have the high ground!"
She balled her fists and glared up at him. "If you think you're about to win then you must be brain dead!"
Alfred watched as she took a step forward. "Don't try it."
His suggestion was ignored as she ran at him. 'Oh shit she's actually trying it!'
He held his arms out wider as she approached, wrapping them around her the second she crashed into him. The two fell off the cliff and dropped to the ground far below. Alfred was of course the one to hit the ground first, but the large amount of snow kept him from getting seriously injured.
The two were latched onto each other in a tight ball as they tumbled and bounced down the mountain, the occasional grunt or groan coming out from one or the other.
On one roll Natalya broke free and sat on top of him as they slid for another twenty feet or so. As they finally slowed to a stop, Alfred stopped gritting his teeth and slowly opened his eyes.
He removed his arms from around her and took off his glasses to get the snow off them and his face. "That stung."
"Quit whining, this was your fault," she accused. He looked up at her dumbly. "How?"
Her eye twitched slightly. "Maybe because you and those other two pelted me with snow. Ringing any bells?"
"You started it," he clarified while jabbing a finger at her face. "If you didn't knock me off the snowman I wouldn't have gotten you back. You do realize you can't do these things to me without expecting retaliation, right?"
She frowned but remained silent. Hopefully that meant he got the point across. But now there was a new problem, she wouldn't get off.
"Uhh, Nat?" He questioned, but went silent when he looked up to see her with a blank expression and another handful of snow.
Knowing what was to come, he tried wiggling out from under her, but she stopped him by crossing her legs under his back, so she was fully straddling him.
He froze and looked up at her, then drifted his gaze down to her waist and legs, which where tightly fixed around his stomach.
It brought up a strange feeling in him, a fiery blaze in his chest. It was the same feeling as the time this happened at the meeting where this all started, but much more intense. It was... way more awkward, and he didn't know why.
"W-We s-should probably get going, I need to make sure the other two are alright, r-right?" He stuttered, due to an embarrassing warmth on his face and a large lump in his throat.
She still didn't move, just continued staring at him with the snow in her hand. It was like she was trying to intimidate him and wear him down, which to her appeared to be working.
His head was turned to the side, but he couldn't help but glance up at her. He bit his lip at the dull look he received, and finally gave in to end his embarrassment. "Dammit fine!" He grumbled as he tugged the top of his shirt down, his cheeks burning hot. "Just do it!"
Natalya's empty look finally changed, as it shifted into a terrifyingly evil grin. "If you insist."
From back up the mountain Peter and Molossia listened as a loud scream echoed throughout the land. Both groaned as they heard their savior get vanquished.
A few minutes later the two nations returned and helped Molossia off of Peter, but they saw something off about Alfred, he was shivering uncontrollably.
"L-Let's g-g-get moving," he said shakily, tucking his arms against his damp chest.
After putting on the ropes and trekking poles again, they all took one last look at the battlefield they made. Even if it was all to spite Natalya she could still admit it was a somewhat enjoyable snowball fight. And torturing Alfred was a nice bonus.
So began their final trek for the day, which they were all dying to finish. Alfred was freezing, Natalya was bored, Peter was tired, and Molossia couldn't wait to have joints again.
They all went as fast as possible that wasn't a run, basically speed walking and climbing for miles.
Once they neared Camp Three, it was maybe around 8:00 p.m. though until they checked their phones it was nearly impossible to tell due to how Alaska was, plus the fact that they were on a mountain where sun would shine on for the most time.
Alfred nearly kissed the ground when they reached the flat area, he was so unbelievably cold. Hastily, he took out the tent and set it up. Stuffing the inside with sleeping bags and rolling into his.
Molossia entered the tent as well and got Alfred's assistance to shed some layers. "Holy hell, I forgot how good it felt to bend," Molossia said a little too loudly as he bent his arms and legs.
Peter came in a little later and sat on his own sleeping bag. "Do you think we could have dinner now?"
"Knock yourself out kid," Alfred said as he tossed the backpack to Peter. He dug inside and was surprised at the amount of food inside. "How do you even fit everything in there?"
"Lots and lots of organizing," Alfred mumbled as he covered his head with the top of the sleeping bag.
"Do you think in a little bit we could build one of those igloo things?" Peter wondered. Alfred poked his head out and smiled at Peter. "Of course little dude. I just gotta warm up a little bit."
"Oh, also could you bring that out to Nat and see if she wants anything?" He requested. Peter nodded and hauled the backpack out of the tent and over to Natalya.
"Do you want anything?" He asked as he lifted up the backpack for her to see inside. She reached in and pulled out a sandwich and some other little snacks. Peter grinned and skipped back to the tent.
She took a bite of the sandwich and sulked. She really missed potatoes.
A while later the three came back out of the tent to begin making an igloo. Natalya joined them as well and in no time they made the little dome house.
Alfred and Peter peeked out of the door hole at Molossia, who was waddling around near the top of a hill and looking out at the beautiful view. He was as stiff as a board, a snowboard.
The smiled evilly and crept out into the snow, slowly stalking closer and closer to the micronation.
Once they were right behind, Alfred tapped on his shoulder to get their attention, but as they turned around Alfred and Peter tackled and started sledding down the hill on top of them.
"Hmm?! MMM!!!!" He screamed as they flew down the hill. Peter and Alfred burst out laughing while Molossia thrashed under them.
Natalya saw the whole thing happen, and simply sighed in annoyance at their immaturity.
"HAHAHAHA!" Alfred laughed hysterically, but as his eyes focused on where they were actually going the blood drained from his face. They were heading right for the edge.
He slammed his hand onto the ground but it did little to stop them as they flew off the edge with an abrupt scream.
Natalya's eyes widened as she saw them fly off the edge. Without knowing it her legs began running down the hill on their own. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest and her legs felt weak, but why, why was she suddenly panicking like this?
At the edge of the cliff she fell to her knees and leaned over the edge in worry, a huge wave of relief hitting her when she found the three of them still hanging on. Or rather Alfred was hanging on.
He was gripping onto a small ledge with one hand, and using the other to hold Molossia by the foot, while Peter was clinging on for dear life around Alfred's leg.
Molossia was screaming in terror as he swayed back and forth, his head pointing straight down at the ground far below.
Peter was crying and burying his face into Alfred's snow pants. "I don't want to die! I don't want to die!!"
"Are you guys alright?!" Natalya yelled to them from about ten feet up. They all quieted down and looked up at her. "Oh uh... hi Nat. Yeah we're just, hanging around."
"Alfred this isn't the time for jokes! Here, I'm coming down," she said as she began climbing down, but as she stepped on the ledge it began cracking under the weight of four people.
She reached out and clasped Alfred's hand just as the ledge gave out, which made Peter and Molossia freak out more.
Alfred stared up at her in surprise, seeing her serious face and hand gripping hard to his. In one swift motion she swung all of them up and onto the top again, then climbed up herself to meet them.
Molossia and Peter were panting heavily while trying to calm themselves down, while Alfred stared blankly and silently at Natalya who sat beside him. He couldn't believe what she did.
"You... saved us," he spoke quietly. Natalya snapped her head up to him with a beyond pissed face, and started rapidly hitting him in the arm with soft punches. "You idiot, you almost died!"
Alfred continued staring at her blankly, then gave her a soft smile and caught her hands. "What's the big deal? You had no problem chucking me off the last mountain."
She pulled her hands back and leaned her whole body forward to yell at him. "You didn't have a child with you that time! Do you want to explain to Finland, Sweden, or England why their kid fell off a mountain on your watch?!"
Alfred slightly shivered and rubbed the back of his head. "Not really, no." Sweden was menacing, but Finland on mom rage would be catastrophic.
"Then never do it again!" She yelled one more time before crossing her arms and looking away. "Idiot."
Alfred's smile grew as he wrapped an arm over her shoulders and pulled her close. "I don't have to worry about that as long as I have my heroine with me, right?"
She turned her head and looked up at him. He looked down at her with a big smile, making her face heat up. Staring for too long made her feel like she just got shot in the lungs. His face was so close.
That smile was too strong, the way it raised his cheek bones and made him look truly happy, happiness directed at her. And the way it curved up his soft, succulent lips that brought a sense of youth to his face. Everyone else seemed ancient in comparison.
She wondered what they tasted like, probably sweet like candy, or salty like all that junk food he eats, or maybe a delicious mix of both.
They got about half an inch closer until they snapped to their senses, peering at Alfred with wide eyes and a half-opened mouth. She sat still for what felt like hours, stunned with her own actions and anxiousness as she felt boiling warmth rise from her chest to nearly all of her face.
His smile lowered a little and he raised an eyebrow. "You alright Nat?" He asked in concern, rubbing a thumb on her shoulder for support.
She blinked and focused on his face, shooting upright from Alfred's arm and biting her lip. "D-Da I was just... I'm angry with you for being so foolish!" She excused while crossing her arms again.
As Alfred tried speaking to her she darted away and sped over to Peter, helping him and Molossia up and leading them back to the tent.
Thank God Alfred was oblivious at that moment, since he just shrugged and got up to follow them.
When they got back Natalya quickly disappeared into the tent, leaving Alfred outside with the micronations.
"Hey Molossia, I just wanted to... y'know, apologize for tackling you down a hill and off a cliff.
Molossia was still a little peeved and mumble-swore at him, but accepted the apology. Peter on the other hand looked traumatized.
Alfred knelt down and put his hands on the kid's shoulders. "Hey little dude, I shouldn't have dragged you along with my plan, that was really stupid of me. I promise you, you tell me something you want to have or do, and I'll do it in an instant."
Peter's dull eyes lit up with childlike wonder once again. "Do you think we could watch the new Hamilton musical? I heard this one is really good."
Alfred smiled back at him with the same level of excitement. "Of course. We can take all that candy we bought and make it a movie night."
Peter liked that idea, and seemed to completely forget about almost dying. Alfred pet his head and looked at Molossia, "Anyway, we should probably go to bed as well."
The two agreed and all three entered the tent, dodging Natalya who took a center sleeping bag.
They removed their winter clothes and laid down slowly, thinking she was asleep, but as Peter laid down he saw that her eyes were wide open.
He smiled and scooted forward, abruptly hugging her waist tightly. "Thank you for saving me."
Natalya freaked out and tried to shush him to keep him from blowing her cover, but it was too late. "Oh, I didn't realize you were awake," Alfred said.
He laughed a little as she rolled onto her back and laid with her arms tucked tight at her sides. She looked very uncomfortable, almost as uncomfortable as Alfred getting snow shoved down his shirt.
"You're not the only one she saved," he fake whined as he hugged her as well, pressing her face into his chest and wrapping his arms around her neck and shoulders.
Her cheeks felt like two hot coals as she squirmed to get away. "S-Stop it! Both of you!"
Alfred laughed more and hugged her tighter. "No way, the heroine deserves hugs!" Peter giggled and held her tighter as well.
Molossia lifted his head and observed the other two, growing jealous at being left out. So he moved closer from behind Alfred and joined the hug.
Natalya struggled for a little while longer but stopped when that proved futile. After a couple minutes the three boys had fallen asleep, leaving her in their warm and comforting embrace. It made her sleepy, further lowering her chances of escape.
She looked to her left at Peter, the small boy burying his face into her side with a small smile. Then to her right and behind Alfred was Molossia, who was frowning and scowling but hugging all the same.
Then right next to her was Alfred, who had a smile of pure bliss with those nice lips of his. She trailed her eyes down to the arms behind her neck and over her shoulders, they were holding her so tight even while he slept.
These three idiots were hugging her, willfully. Even Molossia who claims they hate her. They all cared about her, she was their friend, her only and best friends. She would never say it but it warmed her heart.
She grabbed the arm around her shoulders and held it tight. They wouldn't let her go, and neither would she.