"I-I saw someo-one. O-over there." Albion lifted a trembling hand and pointed over to where he saw the lady, without removing his head from Germania's chest.
"It vas just your imagination. Nozhing's zhere." He stroked the boy's hair in comfort.
Albion didn't know who that lady was but now that he thought about it, she looked dreadfully sad. Maybe she was something magical, like the faeries or Flying Mint Bunny. He frowned, maybe she was lost, he'd never seen her in the forest before not even when he snuck out of the house to play with the faeries.
Bunny shuffled under his cloak until his head poked out of Albion's collar, "E-England? Y-you okay?"
Instead of answering, Albion nodded slightly against Germania's chest, holding back a yawn. He didn't think he could fall asleep after seeing that woman, but apparently his body had other ideas. He moved his hand and stroked the green rabbits head, closing his eyes steadily. Albion looked up when he heard another set of footsteps run towards them, it was Rome, he looked relieved as he saw England's green eyes appear.
"There you are! You shouldn't have run off like that." Rome ruffled England's straw-like hair.
"I-I'm sowwy." Albion stuttered, ducking his head down, he felt bad that he'd upset his new friends… or guardians? He supposed so, his Mama was probably away again and wouldn't know he was gone, plus his brother's won't care if he was at home or not, actually they might prefer it if he wasn't. He could always ask Germania if he could come back and visit sometime.
"We should get you back to camp. You will stay there this time, sí?"
Albion shivered and nodded rapidly, clutching at Bunny, pulling him closer to warm up a little. Although, to the elders it just looked like he was wrapping his dirty cloak around him more. They began the short trip back to the base camp; Albion began nodding off in Germania's arms, providing only limited warmth from the cold weather.
"You know Rome, ve have to tell him." Germania looked over at the usually overly cheerful brunet; he frowned when he didn't answer. Rome continued to walk ahead, not saying a word, "Rome!"
"I know, I know. But not now, it would break him." Rome finally replied, a hint of sadness in his voice. He looked down at the small sleeping nation, and then turned to Germania, "You shouldn't get too attached to him."
"Vhat does zhat mean?" He frowned, wrapping his arms around the small boy protectively.
"He's tiny. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't-"
"Don't you dare! He has as much of a chance as the rest of the young nations!"
Rome gave him an incredulous look.
"Vhat about Italy?"
"What about Italy?" Rome growled out, stopping the blonde in his tracks, "He is a descendant of the great Roman Empire!" He exclaimed, then muttered, "He has Romano as well."
"Don't flatter yourself… England vas raised by Britannia."
"Hardly, and he has three older brothers who abandoned him. There is no doubt that they will try and take his part of the country."
"And whose fault is it zhat Britannia couldn't go home? I zhought you vhere doing somezhing about zhat." Germania scowled.
"I am! I'm going to build a wall to separate England from those barbarians in the north." Rome defended, ignoring the first question.
"Rome… I don't zhink that will help Albion with his family…"
"It will protect him, like you wanted."
Germania stumbled around his words until he stormed off, "He's staying with me."
"How dare he put zhe blame on me?" The blonde glowered, ignoring the looks from the soldiers that were still awake. He continued to stroke the boy's head. How could Rome be so inconsiderate? Albion was only a boy; he still had time to grow, to become stronger. He stepped into Rome's tent, quickly picking up the spare bedroll and swiftly left to his own tent. Albion stirred a little as Germania set up the bedroll and placed the young nation down gently, but he didn't wake up.
Albion just needed a little help along the way, that's all. And he's sure one of the other nations will like him too, so no need to worry about him for long.
The journey across the sea to little France's county and all the way back to Italia was tense and very awkward for Rome and Germania. The argument they had had made a crack in their friendship, Albion had noticed and had tried to help them focus on something else, like the different views from the mass of land they travelled, how much warmer it got (he didn't like the change in temperature much), and he had a lot of questions about the different countries too. While Germania responded to him, Rome didn't say much, he would give Albion a couple of glances then went back to being deep in thought. When Albion knew his plan wasn't working, he decided to mull over his new life. Germania said that there were other nations there too, he's never met other nations before, it's only ever been his Mama and his brothers, in fact he's never even considered other nations being out there. They were safe on their island, Mama said so. But now, after wanting to kick himself for being so ignorant, he was nervous about the meeting. He wanted them to be nice, like Germania, but maybe a little happier and not too loud, living in a quiet house he didn't think loud people would be a good experience. Especially when the only loud noises he had to endure were his brothers shouting at him and the battle cries of the warriors fighting not too long ago. And he didn't like either of those.
He sighed, missing the chattering of the faeries surrounded by the chirps of birds and crickets and the wind whistling through the trees.
"England, look! Look at all those people!" Bunny exclaimed from his shoulder. Up ahead there was a massive city with beautiful buildings and people in the streets, clapping and cheering at Rome's return. He's never seen anything like it before. Albion's mouth hung open as he took in the sight of the tall buildings, hovering over his head, and he thought his home was appealing. This place was incredible. He wanted to continue looking at the buildings, however the huge amount of people in the streets scared him, they kept getting closer and closer, they were very loud too. He cringed and hid behind Germania's legs.
"Home, sweet home." Rome, finally after a long journey, acknowledged Albion and ruffled his hair, like he always did.
A new place with new people, he frowned, he hoped he wouldn't mess it up too bad, like he had with Germania and Rome.