Uhm. So, I haven't updated for a while, huh...?
My house is a mess right now, so my computer has been out of reach. My beta-reader seems to be dead, so I'm sorry if there are a few typos!
I'll update about once a week. Heh. I'm getting lazier...
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS. THEY BELONG TO HIDEKAZ HIMARUYA.
"Francis! Where are you? Seriously, this is not funny!" I shout and start looking around the big house. England was with me, watching me carefully with worried eyes. My heart sinks for every empty room I walk into. In the end, I didn't find him. Tears began to blur my sight as I crouch down on my messy bed.
"Meeoooww."
"I-I know, I shouldn't be crying." I whispered, tears choking me. "England... What should I do...?" I sniffed and petted the scottish fold.
Then, I heard a knock on the door. I flinched and jumped up from my bed, which made it even messier, and sprinted down the stairs. "Francis!" I shouted. I opened the door, but there was no one there. Only a small letter. I bent down and picked it up. There was a text written on it. 'To Alice', it said. I unfolded the envelope and flipped up a paper.
"Dear Alice.
Your mother will take care of you from now on. Do not worry, I am safe.
I'll leave the house to you.
Francis"
"...WHAT?" I shouted when I finished reading. "That's it? Nothing more?" I turned the envelope upside down and shook it.
There was a small, small, piece of paper that came out of it. I picked it up and stared at it. "Never use violence unless it is for self-defense." it said. England was sitting beside me, as I sat crouched down on the steps made of marble, right outside the house. I was only in my pajamas, but I didn't feel cold at all. The spring breeze was just enough cold to cool my head down. I was angry, but still a bit sad.
"FRANCIS! I SWEAR I'LL BEAT YOUR BUTT NEXT TIME I SEE YOU!" I shouted and looked up in the sky. "YOU IDIOT!" I laughed and sat down again. At least he was safe.
I saw a car pull over, parking on the side of the street. A woman, probably in her thirties, stepped out of it. She had short, fluffy blond hair and wasn't thin, but wasn't that fat either. You could say she was more fat than thin. She wore a cute, fluffy, light pink dress and was pretty tall.
The woman started to walk towards the house I was sitting outside. England and I stared at her as she noticed me. She began to run and was soon a few meters away from me.
"...Alice?" the woman hesitated. I looked her in the eye. Her eyes had a deep colour of emerald, just like me.
My eyes went wide.
"Yes, I am Alice." I said with a shaky voice. I stood up and walked down the steps. I was in front of her now.
The woman suddenly bent down on her knees and hugged me, tightly.
"..You've grown so much!" she sounded happy. She smelled really nice. Kinda like flowers. It was that scent that made your heart melt and make you feel like crying of nostalgia. That scent that made you feel so at home and that reminded you of the warmth of a mother's love.
"..are you.. my mom?" I asked her. My head was spinning with thoughts, and my voice was still shaky.
She lifted her head, with tearful eyes, and smiled.
"Yes, I am your mother. My name is Anne, and I am so sorry for not seeing you sooner."
Her eyes were full of guilt and regret. She gently caressed my cheek and more tears started drop down her chubby cheek. She didn't wear any make-up, she was already as beautiful as she was. Make-up would probably even make her look bad.
I took my hand and carefully wrapped it around my mother's shaky hand. It was warm, but the fingertips were cold. I used my other hand to wrap it around her fingers. She was still holding my hand against my cheek. I looked up at her and smiled.
"No worries. Francis took great care of me." I laughed with tears in my eyes.
Remembering him was not exactly the best thing to do right now.
"I know. I've been watching you, every day. Ever since you met Francis."
I looked at her with a confused face. "You guys know each other?" I asked.
"Yes, He managed to contact me. He's been sending me e-mails and letters with photos of you." she smiled ans stroke my hair. "I've seen you grow up, on the photos. But it's really not the same thing when you actually see it with your own eyes." she chuckled. "I have to thank Francis later." she sighed a sigh, full of relief and pure happiness.
"..but why didn't you come see me sooner?" I asked, a bit sad.
"Oh, honey... I'm so sorry. I was so afraid you would hate me." I could hear guilt in her voice. "I shouldn't have been selfish. I'm really sorry."
"No.. It's okay. I can't bring myself to hate my own mother." I chuckled and hugged her. "But you know, I can't really remember the time I had with my uncle. All I can remember is Francis taking care of me." I buried my face in her fluffy dress and absorbed the sweet scent of warmth and love. "I'm so happy!" I mumbled, feeling more tears roll down my face.
"Let's start over, okay?" she asked gently. I lifted my head up and nodded. "Okay!" I grinned. "Here mommy, I'll show you around the house!" I said and held her hand. She laughed and followed me, our hands locked.
"Hey, do you want breakfast?" she suddenly suggested with a wide smile. I felt the hunger in my stomach. I was so excited to show her the house that I forgot it.
"Yay! I'll help out too!" I said as we walked to the kitchen. "England, come here!" I shouted and saw the fluffy cat jump out of nowhere.
"Oh! What a cute cat!" mom said as England sat down on his chair, and waited for the two of us to start cooking.
We made some delicious pankcakes. We also found some maple syrup to eat it with. It turned out that mommy also liked food. We had a competition, and I won.
"Mommy, can you tell me the story about Cinderella?" I asked her when it was bedtime.
"Sure," she answered. "do you like the story?"
"Yeah!" I grinned. "Francis used to tell me it."
"How wonderful! I also love that story." she smiled.
I was in my pajamas. Mommy sat beside me on the bed and we looked through some photoalbums. She put it down and tucked me in.
"Okay." she started.
"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young lady..."
"...but, why did you leave her like that?" Alfred asked when Francis finished talking. They were now sitting on the couch, Alice in a bed somewhere in the big apartment. The big windows on the wall revealed that it was getting late.
"..Well, I wanted her to make a happy family." Francis started. "And I'm actually not even related to her, so I guess moving out was the best thing to do." he sighed. "At least it seemed to work. Anne sent me letters once a week or so with photos of the girl." he chuckled. "I saw her grow up to become a tomboy. Anne wrote that Alice hated girly things. And that she kept practicing marterial arts after school." he laughed. "She won't ever change, huh..." he sighed and stood up. "Anyways," he started to walk towards a bookshelf, searching for something. "those letters and e-mails ended when Alice went to college. Anne and I kept the contact, though. I see her as the kind, loving mother I never had." Francis came back and sat on the couch, this time with a photoalbum in his hands. "Here, this is Alice when she was a little girl." Francis smiled and handed over the big album.
"Y-you sure I can look in this..? I mean, maybe we should ask Alice first..." Alfred hesitated and looked at the photoalbum. The cover was white and there was a golden text on it. "Memories" it said.
"...are you sure..?" Alfred asked. Francis nodded with a smile. "You are her friend after all. No need to be shy about it. Alice didn't have too much friends when she was younger."
"Well, I'm not sure if I'm still going to be her friend if she finds out that I've looked at pictures of her when she was younger..." Alfred mumbled. He opened the album.
"Woah! Is.. Is this Alice?" Alfred said, surprised. Francis chuckled and nodded.
There was a small girl on the picture. She had a white, fluffy dress decorated with red ribbons. She had one in her hair, too. She was really small there, her eyes were the same emerald green as ever and they were... sparkling. Yes, sparkling. She had a slight blush and a big smile on her pink lips. She was holding a wreath made of lots and lots of colourful flowers.
The background of the picture was amazing too. The sun was just about to set, leaving a yellow sky with slightly yellow clouds. There was a forest behind Alice on the picture. It was green and colourful.
But the most amazing thing about the picture was Alice. She looked so happy and delighted. Who knew that this girl would turn into the bad-mouthed tomboy?
Alfred looked at the next photo. There was Alice, who was crying over something. There was a text under the photo that said "Alice, 5 years old, peed in bed." Alfred immediatly started to laugh.
"Oh my god! Is- Is this Alice? Oh my god!" he laughed. Francis was laughing, too.
"Yes, it is. I woke up and went to her room just to find out that she had wet herself in bed." he chuckled. "She had a nightmare, I think." he laughed. "She was so cute back then~~!" Francis squeeled. "She would always crawl into my bed before she went to sleep. I carried her back to her room, though. And the next day, she dosen't even remember anything." he chuckled. Alfred kept looking at the photos of her. She was either happy, embarrased or angry. Alfred chuckled at each one of them.
"She is cute." he mumbled. Francis looked at him and smiled. "Yes, of course." he said.
"But, I guess she grew to hate me for leaving her without saying goodbye." Francis sighed. "She was such a sweetheart, always did her best to help people." Alfred listened and looked at the photos. "Yeah. She really likes to help people. When we were lost in the city today, a little kid came up to us with teary eyes. She couldn't find her mother and was lost." Alfred chuckled. "Alice helped her, and after a few hours of searching, we found the mother. It all ended happily." he smiled. "I was really surprised that she actually helped the kid."
"Yes, that is very much like her." Francis chuckled. "Oh, and by the way..." he leaned forward and whispered; "...her weakness is her ears and neck."
Alfred, not really sure what Francis meant, just nodded slowly.
"Oh, that reminds me!" he suddenly said. "America! Come over here!" Francis shouted. Soon, a big, white fluff ball came into the living room. It had a fluffy, dark-brown tail, and fluffy dark-brown fur around the neck, making it look like a muffler.
"...wow! Is that your cat?" Alfred asked and petted it. The cat purred happily.
"Yes, it is. I felt that it was a bit lonely in the apartment, so I got this biggie." Francis said and picked up the big cat. "Isn't he cute?" he said and started to play with the cat's paws.
"Yeah, he sure is." Alfred chuckled and went back to the photoalbum. There was one page that caught his eyes.
"Hey, Francis.." Alfred started. "Why do her bruises get more and more serious from this page?" he asked. On that page, you could clearly see that Alice got more and more bruises on each photo. On the first photo, she only had a few scrapes. But on the next one, she got more serious bruises. One of them almost covered her arm.
Francis noticed that Alfred had a deep frown on his face.
"She often got into fights at school." Francis said. "That's why I thaught her self-defense in the first place. I told her to only use it when it becomes neccesary." he sighed. "But, apparently she didn't think it was neccesary when she got into fights at school. She got into fights mostly because she was helping someone out." Francis said and petted the cat. Alfred just stared at the smiling girl on the photos, bruises covering her small body.
It was pretty quiet.
"So... how have Alice been doing in college? Has she gotten any friends? She hasn't got into any fights, has she?" Francis suddenly asked, a bit worried. Alfred chuckled.
"Well, she can memorize things very well." he replied with a smile. "And she got into a pretty big fight yesterday. Hence the wound on her stomach." he paused. "She got stabbed and didn't even notice. I mean seriously, how?" he laughed. "And everyone in school, even the teachers, thinks Alice is a guy." Alfred smiled. Francis sighed with relief. Then he looked up, as if he just realized something.
"But.. if everyone thinks she is a boy, then.. She also shares room with a boy?" Francis asked, sounding a bit protective.
"Oh, yeah, uhm..." Alfred started. "..she shares room with me..." he nervously laughed. Francis's surprised face soon turned into a smirk. "Oh~~ Is that so~~?" he said.
"Wh-what?" Alfred stuttered. He didn't really like where this was going...
"Well, if you guys are just friends, I suppose I can let it pass." Francis said. Alfred heard a teasing tone.
"Wh-what! Of course we're j-just friends!" Alfred could feel a slight heat on his cheeks. We're just friends... right?, he thought. "A-anyways, we should check if Alice's awake. We better get back to school before they close the gates." the younger blond stuttered. "You're right." the frenchman said and stood up. "The guest room is over here." he said and motioned Alfred to follow.
They got into the dark room, which Alice was still sleeping in. Alfred and Francis quietly tip-toed their way to the side of the bed the girl slept on. Alfred could see Francis grabbed something... A camera?
Snap, and a photo was taken. Alfred stared at Francis.
"What the hell are you doing? Isn't that perverted?" Alfred hissed, trying not to wake Alice up.
"Well, I haven't seen her for so long, of course I want a photo of her. She wouldn't let me if she was awake, would she?" Francis whispered back. "And besides, she'll never find out." he said and snapped another few photos.
"Do you think you'll get away with this?" Alfred whispered, trying to shove away the camera from Alice's face.
"Well, of course. If she dosen't find out, that is. I'll give you a few photos when I'm done." Francis said and looked through the files.
"Wha- What? I-I don't want any photos of her sleeping!" Alfred was glad the room was dark, his face was bright red. "And besides, I share room with her, so we practically see each other's sleeping faces every day!" he hissed. "Stop!" He tried, once again, to take the camera away from Francis, but it didn't really work.
"Shhh, just let me take one more photo." Francis said and leaned forwards, getting a good angle of the sleeping girl's face.
"I'm awake."
Alice popped her eyes open, staring into the camera. Alfred and Francis jumped. The girl sat up and turned the lamp on. "I've been awake the whole time, assholes." she hissed and Alfred could feel the suffocating aura around her again.
"I'd love to kill both of you..." she said and walked slowly up to the two men. "...but I don't have any strenght in my hands right now, so I'll beat you up next time." she spat out and sat down on her bed again.
"Francis, you are a pervert." Alice said, really angry. "And Alfred, what time is it?" she asked and looked at him.
"Uhm," he said as he took out his phone. "11:38 pm".
"What? I can't believe it! The gates are closed!" Alice panicked. "Shit, I gotta ask Liz to cover up for us..." she said and fumbled for her phone.
Ring, ring...
"H-Hello..?" a raspy voice answered.
"Liz, the gates are closed now. And we're in the city. Can you please, please, please cover us up? I know you've caught a cold and all, but I'll definetly pay you back!" Alice pleaded. She waited quietly for Liz's response.
"..Okay. I was getting better anyway." she coughed. "What's going on?"
"Uhm. Long story. Tell you later. Get well soon, bye!"
"Thanks, and bye." Liz said before the two of them hung up.
Alice slowly put her phone down on the night table and glared at the two men in front of her.
"Alfred, we're staying here over the night." she said and glared at Francis. "And you, frog, better be okay with that, or else I'll kick you and your stupid french ass out of this apartment." the girl demanded. "I don't care if you are the owner of this place, I'll seriously kick you out." she said, no trace of joke in the tone.
"Well then. I also suppose you would like breakfast, huh?" Francis replied.
"Of course." Alice smirked.
"But, there is one problem... I've only got two beds. One of us have to share beds with another one." the frenchman looked at Alfred, then at Alice. A smug smile suddenly showed up.
"Unless.. Would you like to sleep with big brother Francis like we used to~?" he said and smirked. The next second he was hit by a flying pillow.
"Fuck no! I'm sharing beds with Alfred!" Alice shouted and pointed at Alfred, who was confused. "What? We're staying over? And I'm going to share beds with Alice?" he panicked.
"Yes you are! Now get yourself together!" she said and stood up. "Francis, go cook us something. I'm hungry." she said and walked into the living room. Alice saw something fluffy on the floor. It came running towards her.
"Woah! Francis, when did you get a cat?" she shouted form the living room. The cat, America, was cuddling with her and was happily purring.
"Oh, that's America. I think he'll go well with England." Francis said as he walked across the living room, and into the kitchen. "Uh, no, I don't think so. England's really grumpy, remember?" Alice said and followed Francis to the kitchen. "Alfred! You help out too!" she shouted and saw Alfred walking towards her. "Okay." he said and soon the three of them had started to cook.
When they finished eating, Alice went to wash the dishes. Meanwhile, Alfred borrowed a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants from Francis.
"Hmm, I think this one will do." Francis mumbled as he picked a grey t-shirt. "Here you go." he said and tossed the shirt to Alfred. "Thanks." the American said and put it on. "And here's a pair of sweatpants." Francis said and gave him it.
"Ears and neck." Francis whispered. "...what?" Alfred said before he got pushed out from Francis's room. '..what was that..',he thought and opened the door to the guest room.
"Knock before you barge in, fucking idiot!" Alice said and quickly put on the t-shirt she borrowed from Francis. "Out!" she shouted. Alfred, not really sure of what's going on, quickly closed the door again and waited. Alice hurried and put on a pair of pants, too.
"I'm finished. You can come in now." Alfred barely heard her, but he did, and went inside.
This time, she had clothes on. And she was lying on the bed, playing with her phone.
"Hey, what'cha doin'?" Alfred asked and sat down on his side ofthe bed.
"Internet." she simply replied. Alfred shrugged and stood up. Then he took his shirt off.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing?" Alice said and looked up from her phone. "Why are you stripping?"
"Well, I have to change. Look away if you want, but you've already seen me naked, so it dosen't really matter to me." he casually replied and put the grey t-shirt on. He then took his pants off, revealing his american-flagged boxers.
"Wait! What the fuck? At least go to the bathroom if you're going to change!" Alice shouted and threw a pillow at Alfred.
"What! It's just my boxers! No big deal!" Alfred said and put the sweatpants on. "Anyways, I'm seriously tired. I'm gonna get some sleep." he said and put his glasses on the night table before he went under the covers.
"Seriously? It's not even 3 am. You gonna sleep now? It's Saturday, for god's sake!" Alice said and went back to her phone.
"What, I'm still tired." Alfred replief, half awake.
"I'm not gonna sleep. Hey! Wanna tell ghost stories?" the girl suggested, suddenly full of energy and eagerness.
Alfred groaned and shook his head. "No." he mumbled before he went back to sleep.
"Aww, you're no fun..." Alice said, a bit disappointed. "Hey, hey! Don't fall asleep! I'm booored. It's still early!" she kept coming with suggestions and complaints, dragging Alfred back from sleep now and then.
In the end, Alfred couldn't take it anymore. He was that kind of person who was really grumpy when he didn't get his sleep.
He -unwillingly- popped open his eyes and met Alice's. She stopped yapping when she noticed.
"What?" She said and stared at Alfred, confused. He was a bit annoyed.
"Go. To. Sleep." he muttered before he closed his eyes.
"No. I'm not even tired- wah!" she yelped when Alfred suddenly wrapped his arms around her, whispering in her ear, "Please, go to sleep." he said and smiled at her. "Okay?" he said before he, once again, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
He didn't remove his arms from her or anything. Nope. He was kind of hugging her, and leaning his chin against her head.
Nope, Alice is not getting any sleep.
Not at all.
Poor girl.
Ohonhonhonhon. Uhm. Any suggestions? I haven't planned anything so far... Ugh.
Oh, and please R&R! It's the only way for me to know what you think of the story. It'll help the story get better, and I'll be very happy! I'll maybe even update more! :D
But, guys, do you want me to update more? If so, then the chapters will be pretty short...
Thanks for reading! :D See ya~