The Alex hummed in thought turning her head to look at Maria as she spoke, "We both know that we have to marathon Hetalia now that all these memories are coming up." Those words seemed to spark something in Alex making her jump up in excitement. Giggling and hopping in place a bit she pulled Maria up dragging her towards the house. Maria was still in a sleepy state easily letting herself be dragged along and pushed into her king-sized bed. Yawning she just laid in bed for a moment before sitting up, watching Alex flitter around her bedroom like a hummingbird, searching high and low for the DVD's. Maria was one step ahead of her, leaning over and pulling out her laptop that she kept hidden under her bed opening it and powering it on.

Throwing the DVD case toward her Alex left to go make popcorn leaving Maria to open the DVD case and pop the DVD in. Just seeing the box and the old art made her nostalgic, a dopey smile on her face, remembering the flash games and art she use to look and play religiously. She's just thankful she was never part of that Doitsu cult that took place. She knew a good chunk of the fandom did it as a joke but she was unfortunate enough to meet people that were dead serious about it. She may like Germany but she wouldn't go as far as the serious cultest did.

"LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED MARIA I GOT SNACKS AND DRINKS!" Alex yelled at the top of her lungs, her arms full of all types of goodies. Laying out all their food she eagerly jumped into bed next to her holding the popcorn bowl in her lap.

Hours passed like that, the two laughing and watching the show with rapid attention. Some things weren't as funny as she remembered but still seeing all these characters on screen made her smile. Soon enough though nature called, leaving Maria scrambling to get out of bed and racing to the bathroom, leaving Alexandria with her laptop. On most days that wouldn't be a problem, Alex knew what type of porn Maria had on her laptop so there was no shame in leaving the item with her as she knew all her secrets.

But today would be the day where their lives would take a turn. A turn for the worst or better Maria wouldn't know until much later.

Alex watched the paused screen in boredom, twiddling her thumbs. Suddenly there was a pop up shoving itself right into her face. At first, she was curiously studying the pop-up- "w-wha!" rereading it only caused her to choke on the popcorn she was chewing on.

"Hetaloid sale, 50% off on package deals." She read the line out loud not sure of what to think of it. Logically she knew it must have been some virus of sorts and if Maria was here, she would have tried to exit out of the window. Sadly Maria was not and Alex being curious pressed the pop up and was taken to a website. She scanned through all the "products" that it showed and she had to admit it seemed legit, which was surprising. Whoever did this was really good!

"It's pretty realistic, except it has no pictures of the product only of the canon artwork. At least they used Hidekaz Himaruya recent work and not the old stuff."

Seeing a lone Sweden she smirked knowing that Maria would lose her mind. Alex doubted the whole androids stick was real so it must be a human-sized doll. Without hesitation, she clicked on Sweden and a certain Norwegian adding them to the cart to check out. Alex was quick to type in the information quickly agreeing to the terms of service not bothering to read it- though she decided at the last second to be the one to pay for them. It wouldn't be fair to Maria if it turned out this was all a scam and it emptied her bank or something.

Hearing Maria's footsteps she was quick to exit out of the tab only to find... The pop up wasn't leaving?! In a fit of desperation, she unplugged the laptop and slid the battery out just in time for Maria to walk into the bedroom. Alex froze looking like a kid whose hand was caught in the cookie jar.

"The laptop froze," she blurted out the lie with ease, waving the battery around as if it could prove her innocents.

Maria narrowed eyes, crossing her arms over her chest and staring her down, "Alex, you know that you could've just turned the laptop off instead of taking the battery out."

As expected Alex was scolded for her actions, not that it was bad- it would definitely pale in comparison once the surprise arrived. If Maria figured out it was her who ordered it that is...

The day drew to a close and with a sad goodbye, Maria waved her friend off knowing she had a long two-hour drive ahead of her to get back home in time. She couldn't help but feel as if something was off about Alex today, she was planning something, what it was she wasn't quite sure.

It seemed to be a normal Wednesday, Maria was out in the garden caring for the sunflowers that were near her front porch. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, grumbling at how sweaty she was. There was dirt all over her overalls and sweat stains on her shirt, she was just thankful for learning to wear a hat while she worked out in the sun. It only took getting a sunburn on her scalp once for her to learn that lesson. It took a few times for her to learn to put on sunscreen though after a while of getting burnt she learned how annoying they were.

Hearing the sound of an engine she looked up from her work, taking off her weeding gloves and placing them to the side. Squinting up at the top of the slope she watched as a large truck with a cute green bunny with wings on the side makes its way down the slope. It stopped- smack dab in front of her house, parking in the grass. Warly she watched as a man hopped from the truck holding onto the side of it for dear life.

"Dear God! That was really steep, not as steep as in cal but damn..." Realizing that he had an audience, he stood up straighter pulling the cap off his head and waving it her way. "So sorry Miss Collins! No offense to your home it was just worried. I didn't want to lose control and drive my truck through your house!"

Even if he was all cheer and smiles red flags popped into her head. How did this man know her last name? Why was he even here? With his brown uniform and clipboard in hand, she could already guess that it was a delivery man but she hadn't ordered anything. Not to mention her mail goes into town, the street above her didn't have a name nor a mailbox leaving it impossible to be listed on the mail route. It was too far from their normal routes for the mailmen to get too anyway.

Standing up straighter she subconsciously puffed her chest out, she may not look threatening but she had some muscles on her. Even if everyone mistook it for fat- she was large and imposing always had been.

"Who are you? I didn't order anything, besides my mail, goes to the post office in town. I live too far out for the towns mail route."

Maria might have never been the dainty girl like society wanted, with brode shoulders and large hands but it gave her the power to push her weight around and knock people off their feet. It use to upset her when she was younger, no matter how much weight she lost she was always called fat for her body type.

The guy chucked nervously at her posture a trickle of sweat going down his neck. He was obviously nervous, or the heat was getting to him, it may have also been a mixture of both.

"Well this is a special delivery and the Mint Bunny corporation delivers personally no matter how far out a person lives! That's the beauty of this company, they may be small and starting out right now but they want t give the best customer service! There's no need to worry over it Miss Collins I-"

Maria's eyes followed his every movement, his next words going in one ear and out the other. When his back was turned she stepped closer to the house, in arm's length of the hoe that she had left propped up against the house. She was just being cautious a 'just in case,' people always felt like they could do anything while out in the middle of nowhere, thinking they would never be caught. She remembered when her family use to live here with her grandfather. The dogs were poisoned by the old neighbors. The men had been annoyed by how aggressive the dogs were towards them and she had a suspicion that the dogs followed them and the men were getting antsy thinking of what the dogs could lead her family to something they didn't want to find out. Her family knew they were up to some illegal activities- not that it mattered anymore, her grandfather managed to get them incarcerated and bought the house that use to belong to them.

It was the sweetest revenge, buying them under, owning the land they use to call home, they couldn't do a damn thing about it. It was their own fault for not paying taxes like they should have.

"Just sign here, aaand thanks Miss Collins, hopefully, your Norway unit will be here soon! I once again apologize for its lateness, I'll leave you to it!" With an all too happy grin- that looked to be borderline relief, he left. Jumping into his truck, zooming up the road leaving her in the dust. Maria stood there in shock, blinking owlishly watching the spot where the trunk use to be. She had been so deep in thought, thinking gleefully on the passing of what she would call justice to the two awful men- She had subconsciously sighed for the packages that weren't hers and taken the manual the delivery man had offered her!

"Dear Lord up above what have I done?" she murmured staring blankly down at the manual, watching as her sweat left wet marks on the paper. In a daze, she walked back inside setting the manual down on the kitchen counter- not able to fully process the words she saw on it. Walking towards the bathroom, she stripped jumping into the shower and washing her long brown hair. While washing her body the words "Hetaliod" and "Sweden" repeated over and over again in her mind leaving her in shock.

In the end, she stepped out smelling strongly of lavender fully scrubbed clean, not a speck of dirt in sight. She took her time drying off, taking great care in blow drying her hair then brushing it out. Wandering to her bedroom in a towel she let it drop at the door. Still deep in thought, she grabbed the first thing from her drawer, a white sundress. She hastily put the dress on starting to worry if that thing would wake up by itself...

"I can't believe this- this has to be some sort of joke," she muttered slipping on some sandals and walking towards the front door, taking a detour to the kitchen to pick up the manual on the way. She can't believe that just for a second she actually bought that it was a hetaliod. She's not gullible like a little guppy, that stuff is a hoax, none of it is real at all. AI's were just stuff of sci-fi novels and to ponder over the meaning of being human. Hetalia AI's were even more ridiculous it was just meant for fanfiction!

"Thank you for ordering from MB corp. Here is a list of instructions for caring for your new Sweden Hetaloid. With your new Hetaloid is a few things..."

Skimming over the manual she grimaced at some of the words written. It had an overall creepy undertone to it, one, for example, being setting up cameras to film the "Sweden unit" if he and a "Findland unit" got intimate. That was a disgusting invasion of privacy, why would a person do that? Sure she might like to read nsfw of her favorite pairing but that was just fiction! In this scenario, the manual painted it as filming them without their knowledge. Sure she might have some weird kinks but consent is important.

Now a bit more irritated over the show of immaturity of the manual (or was this just how they were selling it, was this a selling point? Only 13-year-olds and few young adults would think like that) she stomped out of the house with a box cutter.

Scanning the list she opened the smaller box that was obviously not the Hetaloid's box. (She was not mentally ready to open that crate yet, almost afraid of what she would see) Maria's frown only deepened when she noticed a few things were missing from the list. There was no 'Finland Plush' nor "Hanatamago" she was slightly thankful she didn't have anything for a pet at the moment. If the manual would be believed the units acted like real people and needed food to survive. At least the box made up for the missing objects by having multiple pairs of clothes, she wouldn't have been happy if the box was empty.

"Seriously," she hissed seeing a black marker in the box hidden behind multiple cans of Surströmming... (Why so many cans? The manual said she'd only be getting one this was over 20 cans of the stuff!)

"Make your own dambolis, simply uncap the marker and write the word England on this box then tada!" Maria spoke in sarcastic cheerfulness dropping the black marker back into the box. Hearing a rustling sound she froze eyes nervously looking at the large human-sized crate that she hadn't dared to touch.

Straining her ears to listen she was very close to praying for nothing to happen, only to be crushed at the sound of rustling once more.

Her stomach dropped, suddenly felt sick...

With slow careful steps, she walked silently towards the tool shed behind the house to grab a crowbar. She'd rather open the crate for Berwald then have him bust out, who knows how upset he would be for having to be stuck in there... Dammit, she was doing it again, this couldn't possibly be Berwald Maria get it together!

With crowbar in hand, Maria walked towards the crate, carefully and slowly opening it. A loud crack of splitting wood sounded out like a gunshot, scaring the birds in the surrounded area. Taking a deep breath she had readied herself for what she would find- only to be flabbergasted at what she saw.

Instead of a tall blond, she was face to face with a blond teen with no glasses in sight?

"Oh my god," her hands shook staring at a human- a human in a box! A teenager- it was a teenager in a box, A teenage human in a box oh god.

"What the hell is going on?" Maria hissed more to herself than to the boy in the box. She's not afraid to admit she was in full panic mode, somehow someone managed to mess up and send her a person from a human trafficking ring. She's fucked, she'd completely and utterly fucked! They're going to come after her and this person and then they'll try to drag her back in with this trafficking rig to hide their mistake then she'd be missing- No shut up Maria panic later make sure the boy's okay first!

Wait how is she suppose to do that- how, what does she do in this situation? Watching him with bated breath he slowly opened his eyes.

His turquoise eyes stared into her hazel ones, he kept his mouth closed in a thin straight line, the light of the midday sun shining on his blond hair. He was dressed in old clothing, she couldn't pinpoint an age but she knew he was dressed for winter which in the heat of the beginning of summer wasn't the best thing to be dressed for.

Was it because she read that manual that she thought he looked a whole lot like a younger Berwald? It had to be, how else would she be peacing together these similarities to the character on some poor boy stuffed into a box. It was strange- thinking it was an anime character translated to life. A human person, a real-life human person couldn't compare to the drawings that were made. All the drawings had a similar style and look after all while humans were so different in every little way possible.

His nose had a prominent bridge- some would say it was a long hooked nose she felt the description only brought up sinister people to mind. It felt too harsh of a description, then again maybe she should make it mean something nice to her? It didn't look bad on his face, it wasn't the first thing a person would notice about him after all she just happened to be special.

She should really call the police about this... Then again another bad part of her didn't want to get involved. She had finally been settling down into a routine and taking care of this land only for this boy in a box mumbo jumbo to happen! Calling the police and telling them about this would immediately make herself a suspect. She might have nothing to hide but that didn't me she'd particularly enjoy police hounding her to ask if she'd kidnapped this boy!

If she wasn't going to call the police what was she going to do with him? She was a grown woman, 22 years old-if she took him off the farm to go anywhere it'd be suspicious...

Berwald- the kid didn't seem to care for her inner strife, oh no he just continued to stare at her. They had been studying each other this whole time no words passing between them. In all honesty, if she hadn't been lost in thought she'd feel awkward at this exchange. She did a spit take realizing with all the time she spent staring at him she didn't realize this kid had a fucking sword! It wasn't a plastic one either.

Either it was the shocked look on her face that finally got him moving or just him getting tired of standing inside the box. It still felt like forever for him to fully step out of the thing, taking in his surroundings leisurely. He had an air of authority that was palpable, In a nervous tick, her hands went for her long hair combing her fingers in the long strands which were about to her butt in length. Noticing the movement his eyes locked onto her again his eyes seemingly sparking with- some sort of emotion. He put down his sword and shield pushing his cape back to reach out and-

TOUCH HER HAIR!?

Maria stood frozen, a slight breeze making her dress flutter, Berwald seemed content in examining her hair. His fingers combing through the long locks making her shiver at the contact. His eyes seemingly sparkled at how long her hair was.

"Pretty. Smells good too. Has wide hips..." Maria heard him mumble mostly to himself than to her. If this was any other situation she would have already kicked the guy in the crotch for those words and tried to force him off the property. His reaction to her hair though reminded her of her research into Viking culture. Back when she went on her Viking kick due to her love for the fictional Sweden. One of those things she remembered reading being the beauty standers for that time and what they found beautiful for a person, long hair, pale skin, and cleanliness.

She'd never have pale skin but lucky her to have taken a shower beforehand and clean herself up, huh? She mentally rolls her eyes at her own words a sarcastic edge to them.

He seemed to gather himself, letting her hair go to stand up straight making strong eye contact with her, (as if he hadn't been doing that enough already.) "Do you own this land?"

She straightened out of habit and nodded staring back at him as if challenging him to go against her words. "Yes, this is my property. I farm the land here."

He seemed impressed with this, if she wasn't mistaking his lips might have just twitched before introducing himself, "I am Berwald Oxenstierna."

Maria's eyes fell shut as she took a deep breath doing her best to say calm. Her mind, on the other hand, was screaming with vigor raising in pitch at this new realization.

"I'll show you inside then, please pick up your shield and weapons," she spoke politely and firmly mostly to keep her mind from cracking. (It was far too late for that she was going insane she must be) Oh, how she wished this was a hallucination how was she going to take care of him!?

Berwald set his sheld in the box she had previously opened before putting his sword in the strap on his side. Picking it up he followed her inside the house, the wooden stairs on her porch creaking. Stepping through the doorway they found themselves in the living room, he was obviously curious, staring at the walls openly at the many pictures that she couldn't bare taking off the wall.

Finally gathering up the nerve she managed to ask the question since she first saw him. "How old are you?"

"I physically look sixteen... Who is that?" Berwald asked setting the box down on the couch to point at the picture of her grandfather.

'Oh, my god, he doesn't even look that young.' where the first thoughts at what age he was suppose to represent. Him asking about her grandfather was a good distraction if that was his intention, though not the best one. It made a painful pang go through her heart, eyes tearing up slightly as the familiar sadness washed over her. Taking a deep calming breath she let it back out slowly. "That's my grandfather, he passed away recently."

"How did he die?"

The question makes her stomach turn in knots, she felt- angry that he'd ask but she knew he meant no harm from it, he was a blunt man after all or boy in this case.

"He died fighting a deadly illness." She didn't want to go into detail, this was the best Berwald would get from her for now.

Berwald's eyes lowered he muttered something in Swedish (Old Norse? She didn't remember what language it was called before Swedish) before looking back up to her. He sent her a nod, a nod of solidarity his hand clamping on her shoulder. "No need for tears Maria, he rests easily in Valhalla with Odin or with Freya in Fólkvangr. He was a far stronger warrior than most; sickness is the hardest of battles, fighting one's own body in a battle unseen by others."

Maria didn't even know she was crying- his words they touched her. No one else had said anything like this to her, it was always the same thing, the "I'm sorry's" and the pity but Berwald he kept his gaze steady, he didn't look at her in pity. No, it was respect that he held in his eyes for her grandfather- a man he didn't even know.

The next thing she knew his arms were wrapped around her gathering her up and holding her close. She clung to him unable to stop the tears and the sniffling choked sobs that only made her feel gross. He gently rubbed her back his actions caring and soothing completely different to how most people saw him. At that moment she didn' care about any of the things going on, all she needed was to let this go. She hadn't cried properly since the night she came back from her grandfathers funeral... She had been the calm one holding her feelings within herself and stopping her overemotional family from making mistakes they would regret later.

She attempted to pull away from him, cheeks heating up in humiliation at her actions knowing that his cape must have gotten her tears and snot all over it. He easily let her go, his eyes glinting in worry even as his facial expression stayed the same.

"I'm sorry, these past months have been har-"

Before she could fully explain herself- to come up with some reason of why she was breaking down in his arms he cut her off. "Do you feel better?"

Unable to speak due to her throat constricting and the slight shock of his sudden sharp tone of voice she nodded. Not surprisingly she did feel better, freer. Well, she also had a headache but that always happened after she cried for a really long time.

His posture eased, he seemed glad even if it was hard to tell, he was more subtle with his feelings then most...

It was after this tear fest that Maria had finally lost all motivation for the day, emotionally tired. She showed him to the guest room taking his red cape and promising to wash it before leaving him to set his bedroom up. She set the cape gently into the washer setting the cycle to gentle before heading off to her room.

Instead of napping like she wanted too Maria pulled out the manual along with her phone. She was going to get some answers one way or the other. She was quick to dial the number listed at the bottom of the index, listening to her phone ring until someone picked up.

"Hello, this is Monica of Mint Bunny Corporation speaking how may I help you?"

Leaning back against the pillows on her bed Maria nodded, then realizing no one can see her she spoke. "Yes Hi Monica I just called in to say I didn't order a unit and how do I send it back."

"I'm sorry to hear that Miss, let me transfer you to Jarvis," Monica spoke in a kind understanding tone of voice. Now if Maria didn't know any better she would have thought this Monica actually cared.

After being on hold what felt like forever, she almost jumped out of her skin when the voice of a man spoke up.

"Hello, this is Jarvis with the Mint Bunny Corporation I hear you want to send a unit back?"

"Yes please I never ordered one in the first place and I don't know what to do with him."

"I see, can you please give me your name Miss?"

"Maria Collins"

"Maria Collins, Maria Collins... Oh, you're the one we had to get special directions from!"

Special directions? She didn't even give them any directions in the first place! She asked Jarvis to read the directions out to her which he did happily. Hearing them made her stomach drop, it was correct.

"That's correct but- I didn't order him!"

"Do you wish for me to read off the banking information you gave us?" Jarvis asked in a polite tone but one Maria could guess signaled he wanted to hang up on her. She wondered how many people called to send their units back if that was the cause for his irritation?

"Yes please." He read off her supposed banking information. It wasn't her's and she told him as such. She could physically feel him rolling his eyes at her. She knew it was weird- who would use their own money to buy something for some stranger but it was the truth!

"I'm sorry Miss Collins but to order a Hetaliod you must have agreed to the terms and conditions and seeing as this wasn't a mix-up section 5 states there is a no return policy."

Maria wanted to scream, his tone of voice irritated her to no end- sure she could get it, working at a call center had to suck if people were calling left and right but she didn't need to be judged! He didn't even know her and here he was with his clipped tone of voice telling her there's no return policy! She somehow managed to keep her cool enough to ask about why she was sent a teen Sweden. Jarvis sounded flustered at that and mildly surprised to boot apologizing for the mix up once realizing she, in fact, didn't order a teen Sweden or as Jarvis called him the Viking model. Deeply enjoying making him squirm she brought up the fact of how the box she received with Sweden didn't have the correct items in it missing the Finland plush and their dog. An uncharacteristic, "oh my god" left the man as she told him just how many cans of Surströmming she received.

Many apologies later and a promise to send a Hanatamago unit and plush free of charge. Maria was weak to free things, just hearing the word free had her agreeing even if the items in question could cause more trouble for her- at least the dog could the plush not so much. Once made aware that it would be coming with her Norway unit, (she by now stopped trying to deny having ordered it knowing it wouldn't get her anywhere.) the talked moved on to warnings and words of advice.

"Miss Collins I must warn you the Viking model was still in testing and he loves to... claim things. In a few weeks he'll upgrade into his adult form but for now, you'll have a stubborn Viking on your hand."

His hesitance of saying the word claiming confused her for a moment before it hit her like a ton of bricks. She didn't like the way he said it as if the other would- No no, she's not going to think of that Berwald has been nothing but nice if he wanted to do something to harm her he already would have. Those freaks up at the corporations were the ones writing those shitty manuals too so of course, they would say something like this...

"Berwald is fine he hasn't done anything to harm me and right now he's in his guest room." She couldn't help but sound huffy, she felt a strong urge to defend Berwald even if she only knew him for a short time. It wasn't right to blame an innocent person for something they haven't done.

After a few more words Maria hung up leaving her to roll over on her side. By now she had accepted that this wasn't a human trafficking ring. From Berwald's strong air, to the company warning her that he could harm her, that's not normal. As Sherlock Holmes always said, "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." So Berwald being an android must be the truth, then why hasn't the news gone up in arms about human-like AI's?

"Nope, Nope I'm done," Maria sat up throwing her hands in the air before leaning over the side of her bed to grab her laptop. She went straight to youtube clicking on as many funny cat videos as she could. She quickly lost track of time, forgetting about her new housemate and the work she still had left to do.

Authors note: Now the first chapter was short and my notes at the end were a bit ranty so with this chapter I finally got to the meat of the subject at hand.

I want to explore a lot of things and questions with this fanfic that most Hetaliod fics gloss over like the company they come from and what they are doing. Though sometimes when the company is written about it's written off as either a giving place where they give most hetaliods for free (which what's the point of that, that's not helpful for business?) or an evil corporation. In one fic I forgot the name of the fic but damn the ending was so bizarre and had a matrix reference, "which pill will you take? the red one or the blue one?" The girl ended up forgetting her whole life her boyfriend died and her hetaliods were deactivated- only for the cycle to start again since she ended up ordering from the company again?

I think in this fic I'd want to write them in a more neutral way- it's a business after all and what do big business care about most? Their own self-interest. Not that self-interest is all bad, some of it is over the top customer service and all since caring for your self-interest in business is also caring for your customers. What better way to get your companies name out there by having other people talk about nice the deliver was and how much they liked the product.