Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia

Chapter four

France was a little more than concerned when he received a phone call from Spain then a text from Prussia, both of which about one of their past charges turning into a child. He knew that England was most likely the cause of the strange event, but before he talked to the island nation he wanted to know which of his nations was turned into a child. With this in mind, he called the first past charge he could think of, Seychelles.

"Hi France, what's up?" Seychelles happily answered when she heard France call her.

"Hi, Seychelles, just wanted to check on you. How have you been?" France asked.

"Are you okay France? I'm not exactly a little kid."

"I know, just humor me and tell me how old you are physically right now, okay?"

"I'm roughly fourteen. Why are you asking?" Seychelles asked.

"Never mind, it's not important I guess. Have a nice day," France replied slightly relieved that she was not pulled into this mess. He then hung up and tried to think of who else could have been affected by whatever England did.

After some thought the idea of Canada came to mind, so he called the north American nation, "Hello, Canada, this may be a strange question but can you tell me how old you are physically?"

"Eh, why the sudden question? Last I checked I was roughly nineteen," Canada responded. Before Canada could continue France thanked him and hung up.

So if it was not Seychelles nor Canada who did England turn into a child? He both doubted and hoped it was not one of the other past colonies; he did not know how he would reach some of them. At last he decided to simply go to England himself and ask for both who he turned and to turn him or her back.

A few hours past and France found himself in front of England's house. He was about to walk up and knock on the door when a sudden wail made him pause. The wail sounded like that of a little child, and a sudden dread came upon him as he knocked on the door.

"England? Are you home?" France called out as he searched the stoop for a spare key. His call seemed to make the wail quiet down a little. At last he found the spare key and entered the house. He could still hear sniffling from what he could assume was the source of the previous wail, and followed the noise to England's study.

In the study, he found several books and other items scattered around the floor, and seated right in the middle of the mess was a small child. The child could not have been more than five and wore an adult long sleeved shirt. He had messy blond hair and green eyes which were puffy from crying so much.

"England?" France asked confused.

To the call, the child scrunched up his face, then picked up the nearest object near him and threw it at France. As he did so, the child called out, "What do you want now you Frog?!"

The toss was not strong enough to reach France's location, and despite the danger it tried to show, France could not help but feel a little bad for the small child throwing a temper tantrum. At last he remembered what he was seeing and instead asked, "England, what happened to you?"

"I don't know," England answered with a pout.

"Did you try to turn some people younger? Say, Germany, Romano, and someone else?"

"Maybe…I didn't know for sure which ones it would make younger. I mean, I figured Germany and Romano for Prussia and Spain, but why did I become younger?"

"Who were you thinking would turn little?"

"I don't know, Canada or Seychelles, probably," England answered as he turned slightly away from France's gaze.

"That was pretty immature of you. Didn't you even think about how that would have affected the other people? Honestly, you should know better than to bring innocent people into your little temper tantrums," France scolded.

"I know…," England answered in what sounded almost like a whine.

"But it is rather odd that you accidentally turned yourself into a child. How could you not be sure who you would turn anyways?" France asked.

"The spell just said that it would turn the person's favorite past charge smaller. So again, why did I turn little?" England answered then asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked to France.

"Oh, shoot, it looks like my little secret has been revealed," France answered dramatically.

"What are you talking about? Besides, since when was I your charge?"

France thought for a moment to then answer, "Well, remember when we were kids and my boss was your boss' boss? I guess during that time you were my underling."

A look of realization came across England's face, only for him to then complain, "Not fair! That shouldn't have counted!"

France could not help but laugh at the outraged look on England's face, to then ask, "So if you don't want to be a little kid why don't you turn you guys back."

"You don't think I've been trying?! I can't, that's why!" England shouted back to France on the verge of tears.

"Okay, okay, England calm down. Just tell me why you can't stop the spell," France replied calmly as he walked closer to England. He could not help but feel a little bad for the child about to cry in front of him.

"…It would seem that along with turning smaller I forgot how to read," England whispered as he looked away from France embarrassed.

"What was that?"

England began to blush from embarrassment, now past the point of holding back the tears and cried out, "I-I can't read any of my books. I mean I see the letters and I know what they are but I just can't comprehend what they are saying!"

"Wait, what?! How could you forget how to read?" France asked shocked.

"Well…last time I was this age like most of my population I couldn't read all that well. So maybe that's why."

"Okay…so you cast a spell and now are unable to fix it. Maybe you could figure it out with some help. Maybe one of your brothers-."

"NO!" England cut France off.

"England, if you can't fix this by yourself then you and the others will need help. It only makes sense that we ask your brothers," France persisted.

"No!" England yelled back.

"England,"

"NO!" England shouted once more as he rushed up as if to stop France.

France sighed as he saw that they were not going to get anywhere that way. He then asked, "Okay then, can I at least update Spain and Prussia on what is happening?"

England wiped off his tears with his little hands and finally nodded a 'yes.' Upon seeing this, France patted England on the head and asked, "Alright. It's about lunchtime so after I call them would you like some lunch?"

Again England nodded, then watched as France got up and walked to the kitchen to call his friends.

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