When Matthew woke, it was to Kumajirou's cold wet nose nudging his face. He was loathe to relinquish his hold on sleep for the awake world, but he knew it was futile; once he was awake he would remain so for at least sixteen hours. He opened his eyes to glare at his "friend". There bear was unaffected and merely repeated his motion, pressing his black nose into his skin, this time the crook of his neck.

"Hungry."

"Yes, yes." The Canadian rose to his feet with a groan. He had slept curled up, the side of his face pressed against his knees. He probably had lines in his face now. "Lucky me."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Canada, the one who has yet to decide to feed you." It was a joke, of course, but with the return of his senses came the nearly constant sickness that shrouded him like a black cloud. He sighed and removed his glasses so that he could rub the bridge of his nose. He was hoping to ease the headache that was creeping up, but it wasn't doing any good. Resigning himself to going to the store, for he never did earlier like he had planned to, he replaced his glasses and walked to the kitchen, Kumajirou following behind him.

"Mattie! What do you have to eat in this place? I'm hungry!" Alfred greeted enthusiastically. Matthew was nonplussed, and stared at his brother. "Mattie?"

"Hello, Alfred," Matthew replied, anger beginning to fizzle under his skin. "As pleased as I am to see you, would you mind explaining how you got into my house?"

Alfred, sensing he had done something wrong, froze in the act of going through his brother's cupboards. He smiled winningly at his brother.

"Through the window!" Matthew's gaze turned into a glare, and Alfred hurriedly started to explain. "See, I knocked on your door earlier after I saw Harper leave, but there was no answer. I knew you were home, because he's your boss, right? There's no reason for him to be in your house without you! But when you didn't answer the door, I got worried! You gotta understand, you're so weak and helpless that it wouldn't take much to hurt you.

"Anyway, I circled around your house I tried the backdoor, but it was locked too. The same with all the windows on the first floor. So I went through your garage and got your ladder and tried all the windows on the second floor! Easy peasy!"

Oh, God. He actually broke into his house. Matthew sighed and rubbed his temples in annoyance. "Go on," he said tiredly.

"Really? Okay, so I ended up in your room. Bro, I don't want to seem mean, but you gotta clean." After a pointed glare from his brother, Alfred hurried on to finish. "I came downstairs and found you sleeping against the front door, and you looked so cute and comfortable that I just left you there. I turned on the t.v. and watched movies until about ten minutes ago, when I got hungry."

"Do I want to know why you felt it necessary to break into my house?"

"I didn't break in, I took the scenic route!" Alfred yelled, indignant. "Besides, I was bored, and Tony wouldn't play with me."

"With friends like you, who needs enemies?" the Canadian asked under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Listen, I'm about to head to the store for some medicine. I'll treat you to dinner, if you want." Matthew briefly considered staying mad at his brother, and was sorely tempted to, but in the end Alfred was just worried about his brother. The fact that the American remembered he existed at all said a lot.

"Medicine? Why would you need medicine?"

"I have a headache from the smuggling in Montana and North Dakota," he lied. "It hurts enough to be annoying, but not enough to qualify it as a migraine."

"Then let's go! The sooner you feel better, the sooner we can play!" The fact that he glossed over the fact that it's his fault his brother hurt went unsaid, but that was fine. There was just something about Alfred that drew one to him, and forgive him almost instantly. Of course, there was a line there that he had crossed many times with Arthur, but Matthew wouldn't fuss over his brother's behavior. He'd, as odd as this sounded, broken into his house with the best of intentions.

They headed to the store, with Matthew carrying Kumajirou in a backpack and Alfred carrying on about how his McDonald's fast food restaurants had spread through out the entire world, save for a few places.

"Even you have them!" he yelled, jabbing his index finger at a pair of golden arches.

"Yes, Alfred, you needn't point it out to me," Matthew said wearily. His headache was worse, and he had the feeling that the only reason he wasn't puking right now was that there wasn't anything to puke. It didn't stop that feeling that curled in his stomach, nor did that stop the cold sweat that beaded on his face.

"Are you all right? You look tired."

"Well, that could probably be because Kumahi woke me up, and quite rudely at that," Matthew replied, sending a mock glare over his shoulder to his very unconcerned friend. "That and I spent a good couple hours on the floor."

"Oh, yeah," Alfred said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, do you want to eat first? Or shop?"

"Probably better do the shopping," Matthew said. Hopefully by the time they got out of the store his stomach will have settled. They went into the store and got a cart. As they wandered through the store, Alfred talking nearly nonstop, Matthew pushed the cart slowly. He was dizzy, and very thirsty.

"Mattie?"

"Yeah," he answered slowly.

"Do you wanna sit down? Maybe get some water, or something? You look really bad."

Suppressing the urge to snap at his brother, he nodded and let him assist him to a bench that sat between the doors to the washrooms. He placed his elbows on his knees and cradled his forehead in his hands, trying to stave off the headache and failing miserably.

"Here," Alfred said, handing him a water bottle he had doubtlessly just grabbed off the shelf. Matthew twisted the cap off and took a big gulp. After draining the bottle, he felt a bit better, not so dizzy and his head had stopped aching slightly.

"Thanks," he smiled at his brother. Alfred sat down next to him, concern etched on his features.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked softly, catching the Canadian off guard. The obnoxious, loud and annoying boy was gone, only to be replaced by the worried and far more mature brother. Matthew sighed.

"Not really. I'm just feeling a bit off."

"You look like death."

"Excuse me?"

"Have you seen yourself? Mattie, you're pale as a ghost, you've obviously lost weight, that frankly you can't afford to lose, your eyes look like one huge bruise. You're shaky, you're dizzy, you're running a fever. Is it the economy?"

"It's nothing. My body is just fighting a natural disease."

"I can't believe that. Why is your body susceptible to human diseases, but mine isn't?"

Matthew sighed and leaned back, careful not to crush Kumajirou. "Maybe because I'm not as strong as you." The whisper of his voice was rough as he admitted weakness to his brother. "Maybe I can't handle the stress."

"Stress?"

"You of all people know that I'm easily ignored. Whenever my country's in trouble, I have to shout at you guys for hours, and that's very draining when you're sick. I've tried my hardest to be a stable, healthy Country so I wouldn't have to depend on people who may or may not forget that I exist.

"This illness doesn't feel like there's something wrong with the country. It feels as if there's something wrong with me."


Ivan's hotel room was far from comfortable. He grumbled as he turned the pillows over, again, and tried to fluff them up a bit.

The snow outside was riding on howling winds, threatening to become a blizzard. Perfect sleeping weather. He pulled the blanket up to his chin and clicked on the television hanging from the wall.

He had no qualms about leaving the television on all night; it wasn't his bill to pay. And it just so happened that movies were great to fall asleep to. He watched lazily, not bothering to sit up to see the screen better.

Ivan hoped Natalia left his house soon. He really wanted to work himself in exhaustion in his gym. Get a good work out and clear his mind. He would need a clear mind.


The brothers sat in the McDonald's. Alfred was back to his happy and annoying self, though he kept throwing glances at Matthew. These glances irritated the Canadian, but he swallowed it down, knowing that he was simply worried.

"Order 67! Al!" The girl behind the counter called out their order number, and Alfred rushed to the front to grab it. The tray was piled high with burgers, fries and more burgers. Even if Matthew wasn't sick, he still would have felt nauseous from all that grease. Hidden under all the food were two plastic cups, and Matthew grabbed his and dashed to the soda fountain. He got water for himself and watched as Alfred got a little of every pop.

"Why would you do that?" he asked his brother.

"It's delicious! You want to try a sip?" Alfred offered, holding the cup filled with a purple liquid inside to his nose.

"Um, no thanks." They went back to their table, and Matthew people watched as Alfred scarfed down his food.

"Hungry," Kumajirou said, poking Matthew in his shoulder. "Tell the weirdo to share."

"I'm not a weirdo!" Alfred yelled, spraying half chewed bun and meat. The other customers turned to look at them, watching with disgust as the American slurped at his "pop" and glared at the bear.

"Here," Matthew said, grabbing a burger and unwrapping it. He set it on the chair next to him and Kumajirou climbed down and started eating. "Now, will both of you be quiet?"

The patrons gradually turned away from the brothers. Matthew spaced out, half listening to his brother, until they left. The American was carrying a bag of burgers he couldn't have eaten at the restaurant while Matthew carried his bag of vitamins and some bread from the store.

"Well, I'm gonna be going now," Alfred said when they reached Matthew's house.

"All right. Travel safely."

"Yeah. And try to rest more, okay?" The American wrapped his arms around his brother tightly, letting the embrace show the true scope of his worry. Matthew returned the hug with a small smile.

"I will. I feel better already!" he smiled when they pulled back. Alfred eyed him before releasing him completely.

"I hope so," he called as he walked away. Matthew stood outside of his house for a few more moments with a small smile on his face before heading inside to his empty house. He went to the kitchen and put away his pills and bread before heading upstairs to his room for a shower.

He felt nasty, like grease was coating his skin. But at the same time, he felt better. His upset stomach had all but left and his headache was gone. He was still dizzy if he moved his head too quickly and he had the feeling that he still couldn't eat, but besides that he could convince himself he was fine.

He set the water to as hot as he could handle it, and stepped into the spray. He was so tired all of a sudden.


The hotel room's phone rang, startling the Russian awake. Blinking purple eyes awake, he stumbled to the phone on the little table across the room.

"Hello?"

"Brother! I have been looking everywhere for you!"

"Katyusha," he sighed, relief coursing through him. "I though you were Natalia for a moment. Why have you been looking for me?"

"Natalia called me a couple hours ago, asking to come over. She is here at my house now, so I think it's safe for you to go back."

"Thank God," Ivan sighed, sitting down in the chair next to the table. "This hotel is terrible."

"I believe it. I have to go now," she said, reluctance in her voice. It was obvious she didn't want to cut the conversation short.

"Good-bye, sister," he answered softly, not wanting to end the conversation either. Pushing the sadness away, he quickly checked out and drove home. He was eager to work out, and then plan. He smirked as he reached into his coat pocket, and fingered the piece of paper that held the note to himself. He had a lot of planning to do.


A.N. Oh, my God. You guys are awesome! Thank you so much for the reviews, they really made my day. I say that a lot, don't I. But it doesn't mean it's not true!

In answer to a question I got in a guest review: The reason Canada's so sick is because it's part of the plot. (There's a plot? What is this foreign thing?) All will be answered and become clear...eventually.

Anyways, please review! I get valuable input from you people and it makes me really happy. Even if people don't like it, I want to know. Thank you!