Chapter Nine

"Hey, Britain," America said, yards away from England. "All I want is my freedom. I'm no longer a child, nor your little brother. From now on, consider me... INDEPENDENT!" England glared at America. Clutching his rifle, he charged after America. With one swift move, he knocked America's rifle out of his hands.

"I won't allow it," he said. "You idiot, why can't you follow anything through to the end!" "Ready! Aim!" shouted one of the American soldiers. Breathing heavily, England pointed his gun at America. Then he slowly lowered it. "There's no way I can shoot you," he said. "I can't!" England dropped his gun and fell to his knees. He covered his face with one hand to try to hid the fact that he was crying. "Why?" he sobbed. "Damnit, why! It's not fair!"

America stood there, looking down at the man he used to call his older brother. The one who he used to admire. "You know why," he said quietly.

America quickly sat up in a cold sweat. He started crying at the horrible memory. England had stayed over that night, and he woke up to the sound of America crying. "America? What's wrong? Why are you crying?" he asked, slowly sitting up. America didn't answer for a while. "America?" America stared at the wall. "I understand now," he finally said, trying his best not to sound sickly. "What do you mean?"

America took a deep breath. "That day. That awful day. On the battlefield." America hugged his knees and hid his face in his legs, crying even more. "I never knew how much it hurt to lose the one you love."

England could feel the tears forming in his eyes. "But now I do," America continued. "When that branch was breaking, and you didn't grab my hand, I thought I was gonna lose you. Out on that battlefield, when you fell to your knees and cried in front of me, that's how you felt. Wasn't it?" England nodded, covering his face with his hands. America hugged him as they both wept.

"When I was crying in front of you," he started to say. "I wanted to tell you then how I felt. I wanted to tell you why I didn't want you to become independent. But I couldn't" England cried harder. "I knew that one day I was going to have to let you go, but I didn't know how hard it was going to be. That's why I fought back."

Tears rolled down America's cheeks as he listened to England, who could no longer speak. The memory of the war was too painful. "I didn't know how much I was gonna miss you, until it was too late," America said. "And I didn't know how much I loved you until seven years ago. But I have one question Iggy." England looked at America, a few tears flowing from his eyes. "Why did you treat me like shit after I became independent?"

England sighed. "I was trying to hide that fact that I loved you, and that I missed you. I wanted to make myself believe I was over you by being completely awful to you. I thought it would work, but it never did. My love for you was too strong to forget."

America smiled. "I now know I've picked the perfect person to marry." England stopped crying and smiled back at America. "I have something I want to show you," America said, wiping the tears from his eyes. He got up and made his way to the closet.

America rummaged through his stuff. "I know they're in here somewhere!" It took him five minutes to find what he was looking for. "Ah ha! Here it is!" He took down a beautifully decorated box. It had a lot of scratches, so it was obviously old. England gasped when he saw the box. He knew exactly what it was.

"Oh my God!" he said. America smiled as he opened the box. "America! Those are the toy soldiers I gave to you!" America nodded. "Indeed they are." A smile spread across England's face. "But... how... how do you still have them!?" "I had them in my storage room, and when I was cleaning it out, I thought I wanted to get rid of them. But then they brought back so many memories. So I decided to keep them."

A tear rolled down England's face as he kissed America on the cheek. "That's so sweet of you," he said. "Yeah, well they were my favorite toys. Plus, they were the only thing that made me think of you... I mean, so did the gun, but that brought back memories that I don't want to think of." The smile on America's face was wiped away.

England looked into his eyes. He gave him a gentle kiss on the lips and smiled at him. "Hey, don't be sad. I'm here now. I'll always be here. That's what this is here for," he said, pointing at the ring. America chuckled. "I guess you're right." "Of course I am. Now, let's get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow. We've gt some planning to do, and we've got to announce our engagement!"

America smiled as he climbed back into bed. He kissed England goodnight, and fell back asleep. This time, he dreamed of what life was going to be like. He even smiled in his sleep.

Telling everybody was pretty easy, and they all seemed pretty excited about it. Except for Belarus. The moment she heard America and England were engaged, she jumped off the cliff England tried jumping off of, killing herself. When Russia heard the news, he ran into the empty street yelling, "WOOHOO! THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!" But obviously, Ukraine wasn't too happy about it. She spent three days crying, while Russia spent those days partying. Other than that, everybody couldn't wait for the wedding!