America rang the doorbell as Canada kept squeezing Kumajirou's paw. They both had no idea what was going on. All they knew on the matter was that England was in a catatonic state and for some reason their assistance was require.
"I still don't get why they need us," America grumbled for the thousandth time, "Seriously, shouldn't Wales and Scotland be enough?"
"Depends," Canada said quietly, "After all, England was also Great Britain. Maybe the dissolution did more damage to him than we originally thought."
"But that was months ago!" America shouted, which drew attention from a few passerby.
Canada glared at America, "Yes, Al, but we both know how long paperwork takes."
The door opened and an orange haired individual appeared. His hair was cut short, but he wore a braid on the right side that touched his shoulder. His eyes were mismatched; one was light blue and the other a light green. He had a zip up sweatshirt on, which was a deep emerald green color. He smiled wide when he recognized the pair of North Americans.
"You finally got here!" he said, pulling them into a great big hug, "It's been too long since I've see you two. And you were so much smaller then."
"Um…" America wasn't exactly sure what to say. While, yes he did recognize this person, he couldn't place a name. And he was almost certain that this guy wasn't this friendly.
"Right, it has been a while since we've seen each other. I'm not surprised you've forgotten about me. I'm Northern Ireland. Call me North. Come on in, everyone is upstairs."
They entered into the building and the ginger closed the door. At the end of the hallway was a staircase going up. "Now," Northern Ireland said, "Turn around and don't move."
Without any other warning, Northern Ireland touched America and Canada's foreheads and said something in Irish Gaelic; the brothers couldn't make out what was said since they understood none of that language. Nothing really changed, though America felt a tingling sensation left where Northern Ireland touched him.
"Sorry I had to do that," Northern Ireland said, "But ever since I heard you two stopped seeing the fairies, I've been wanting to fix that."
America blew air though his nose in amusement and shook his head. 'So this guy has hallucinations too,' he thought.
"Especially since we're going to be together for a while," Northern Ireland finished, not noticing America's reaction.
"What?" America and Canada asked simultaneously.
"Oh, did Wales no tell you about that?" Northern Ireland asked surprised.
"All he said was that England was in a coma," America said.
"Well, best we head up there and explain the situation in full. America, lead the way. It's the door at the end of the hall once we get up these stairs."
They go up the stairs and head to the door Northern Ireland described; America was the one to open said door, followed by Northern Ireland then Canada. On the right hand side, there were three closed doors. Directly in front was a bathroom. On the left was a kitchen/living room common area, where another ginger, who looked almost identical to Northern Ireland, and Wales were sitting at a table. There was also a red creature on the table that looked up when the door was loudly closed shut (much to Canada's embarrassment). America's first assumption was that it was a cat. It came zooming over like a bullet to the group, and tackled America to the ground, knocking Northern Ireland on the way down.
"The hell?" America said, trying to get the creature off him. For a little guy, this thing had a lot of strength because it refused to let America up. It kept pressing its face into the nation, like a cat on a leg. America noticed that this creature had no fur… so it couldn't be a cat.
"That's enough, Taliesin," Wales said, getting up and picking up the creature by the scruff of the neck, "He gets the message. Good to see you again, America. Canada. I wish it were under better circumstances."
"Yeah," America said, getting up.
The only reason America recognized Wales was because he'd seen Wales at the last world meeting, the one right before the dissolution of the UK. Since he looked so much like England, America mistook him for that nation. That was an awkward encounter, but Wales didn't take it personally.
Wales was in a button up dress shirt with a poppy pin on his left side pocket. The creature was wriggling violently, yet Wales was able to keep it in his hands easily. It was only at that moment that America saw that it was a dragon, albeit a very small one.
"I thought dragons didn't exist," America stated flatly, not believing what he was seeing.
Wales gave him a confused look. "They do. They always have. They just don't like being around people. North," Wales turned to Northern Ireland, who had moved on into the kitchen, "What did you do down there?"
"Nothing that major," Northern Ireland assured him, "I just opened up the bit that sees magic and all its wonders. Do you want tea, Canada?"
Canada nodded, and grabbed a seat on one of the couches.
"What about you, America?"
"I'll take coffee," America said.
"Oh, that's right," Northern Ireland realized, "You have a thing with tea."
"I just don't like the taste of it," America said a bit bitterly. It was half true; he didn't really care for tea and never understood why England loved it so much. He completely lost the taste of it during this one time when he was captured and forced to drink tea inspired by Boston's tea party (namely, salt-water tea). It left a bitter impression.
Based on appearances, the other ginger was Ireland. While Ireland and Northern Ireland looked like mirror copies of each other, they were completely different in personality and it showed. Ireland's eyes were mismatched as well, but with deep blue and green. His attire was similar to Wales': a dress shirt colored white. He also had a ring on that had a four leaf clover on it. Ireland hadn't said anything at all, but looked intently at America as if trying to read something.
"Hi, Ireland," America said. He waved awkwardly.
Ireland only nodded his head once, then returned to his book that he had been reading beforehand.
"Where's Scotland?" Canada asked.
"He's with England," Wales said, "And no, he's still not up, but we want to make sure that nothing changes in his condition for the worse. Tell me, what do you two know about ambrosia?"
"Isn't that a thing in a Greek myth somewhere?" America said, taking a seat next to Canada, "What does that have to do with anything?"
"It's not a myth. It was originally made so that the consumer could forget memories, used so that the bad memories could be wiped away, in theory. What it actually does to most people is kill them. But as we are nations, it has a different effect. It's something of an addicting drug. England's gone and overdosed on it."
A hard look washes over America. "Ok, so this is an intervention. Why are me and Canada here?"
"Memories are a delicate thing," Ireland said, not looking up from his book, "You two are a thread of memory that they don't have." Everyone looked over at Ireland for a moment, all of them taken off guard that the nation said "they" and not "we", like he was separate from this situation even though he was physically present. Ireland looked up for a moment with his eyes, then continued reading as if not noticing the room was staring at him.
Wales cleared his throat and explained: "England's memory is going to be hazy and mixed up. We know about some things, you know about others. Besides, with the situation as it is now, when England wakes up, he's going to need to know he has support. He's always been such a stubborn child."
"Well, it certainly runs in the family," Northern Ireland said, handing out the tea and coffee.
"Once we have a better understanding of England's condition," Wales continued, "I believe we'll move out into York. The countryside does wonders for recovery."
"Not to mention there's more space," Northern Ireland added in.
America stared at his coffee for a while as the conversation shifted over to the latest news. Somehow Wales got Canada talking about hockey (and once anyone does that, there's no backing out of it). After a while of simmering with the coffee, America asked "Can I see England?"
Wales looked at America intently for a moment; America got the impression that he was being read. Eventually, Wales shrugged and stood up. "I don't see why not."
Author's Note: More updates will come next week. Until then, please comment. I do read them and appreciate them, even if it is just to say hi.