thump Thump THUMP BANG "LEESY GET UP!"

If you've ever had the-well, I wouldn't exactly call it a pleasure-but the experience of jumping a foot in the air while you're flat on your back, you know how it felt to be me early that morning. Placing a hand over my heart in an effort to slow its beating, I caught my breath and looked down at the form of Zara standing in my doorway. "Zara," I said, rubbing my eyes slowly before lowering them and looking at her again. "How on earth would waking me up in the loudest, most sudden way possible BE IN ANY WAY A GOOD IDEA?!"

Of course then I had to cross my arms and wait for her to quit laughing in order to receive my explanation. "You-" she gasped for breath. "You gotta come see this!"

"See what?" I asked suspiciously.

"Just come and see!" Zara grabbed my hand from where I sat in my loft bed and began tugging.

I sighed, relenting. Facing outwards, I backed down my ladder, jumped to the floor and followed Zara down the hall and into her room. The rest of our friends were already there, their eyes trained on Zara's loft bed before I entered the room. "What's up there?" I asked cautiously.

Alex giggled and Mari looked stuck somewhere between multiple emotions. Safi took my hand, led me over to the ladder of Zara's bed and pointed upwards. I looked at her, up the loft, and back at her. Safi nodded. After glancing at Zara for permission, I began to scale the rungs of the ladder as quietly and without shaking the bed as much as possible. Once I made it to the top, I could clearly see that the bed was occupied. A large, human sized lump dwelled beneath the blankets, rising and falling softly with sleeping breath. Carefully crawling around and over the lump, I made my way to the pillow, where the person's head lay also under the blankets. Reaching over, I very daintily gripped the corner of the blanket. I looked down at my friends, who all nodded, before proceeding to draw back the covers to reveal-

"… Italy?"

Sure enough, the Italian with the wacky hair-curl, and much else besides, was sleeping in Zara's bed as contentedly as if it were his own. He had a blissful look on his face; his eyes closed with sleep rather than their usual extreme expression, and uttered a little "Ve" with every breath.

Slowly returning the blanket to its previous position, I backed down back to the edge of the bed and down the ladder to the floor, not completely sure how to react. I looked a bit like Jack Sparrow in my confusion, gesturing in a wavering sort of way without speaking until I finally found words. "How…did he get there?"

"I found him there when I woke up," Zara said softly, for her anyway. "Just sleeping next to me. Nothing pery, just…sleeping."

"We don't even need to whisper." Alex said at normal volume. "This dude is one heavy sleeper."

"Okay, so what do we do?" Safi asked.

"Wake him up I suppose." Mari murmured, gesturing towards the country in question. "It's your bed Zara."

"Aw, do I have to?" Zara whined from where she stood at the side of her bed, peeking between the mattress and the edge at Italy's face. "He's so adorable when he's asleep." She looked at us, and by the looks we gave her we didn't have to say anything for her to groan dejectedly and say, "Fiiiiine." Not bothering to be quiet of careful, she set her bed shaking as she climbed to the top, crawled over and began shaking Italy's shoulders. "Hey Italy, time to get up."

The nation shifted and moaned softly beneath the blankets, but didn't come out. Except for his arms however, which pushed out from under the covers and groped the air for a second before grabbing onto Zara and pulling her down with a yelp.

I was up the ladder in a flash, just in case, but Zara was already laughing her head off when I got there, not at all bothered by the fact that Italy was cuddling her like a teddy bear in his sleep. "I can't move!" she gasped between laughs. "I can't get out!"

"Well this is a great turn of events." said Alex who had basically popped into existence beside me on the ladder, smiling pervily in a way that only made Zara laugh harder. "Where's my camera?"

"Come on," I said, grabbing her shoulder to keep her from descending. "Help me get her outa there."

With a shrug Alex crawled up onto the bed and plopped beside Italy and Zara, who said, "That's okay. I like it here." and snuggled closer to Italy.

I shook my head. "I swear, do you just not have an awkward mode? For anything?"

"Nope!"

Alex's hands latched onto Italy's arms and pulled, gently at first, but with more and more force when the country's arms didn't give an inch. "Geez," she said, puffing a bit when she stopped to rest. "Dude's got grip. Help me out here Lees." So we each grabbed an arm and pulled and pulled and pulled. It wasn't until we pulled with everything we had that we were able to part the Italian's arms just enough for Zara to be able to slip out.

"Zara," Alex grunted as we strained to keep Italy's arms spread. "Get out of there!"

"No!" Zara refused, gripping Italy tighter.

"Are you kidding me?!" I yelled at her, my hands beginning to slip. "Let him fudging go NOW!"

"I can't hold him-GAH!" Both of us let out loud exclamations as our fingers slipped and lost hold.

"Okay." I panted with the effort. "New plan."

Alex and I half-dropped off the back of Zara's bed to regroup with Mari and Safi to come up with a plan, but it seemed like Safi already had one. Standing up on her tip-toes, she leaned into the side of the bed by Italy's ear and whispered. "Italy, would you like some pasta?"

"PASTA!" The reaction was immediate. Italy sprang up in bed like a springboard and looked around rapidly, his eyes still closed but with expression this time. "I want pasta! Where is it? Where-Oh! Ciao bella!" he said, looking down as if just now noticing that he was holding Zara. "Would you like pasta too?"

"Italy!" I interrupted. "Could you let go of our friend please?"

As if just now realizing that he was holding her, Italy looked down at his arms and said, "Oh! Sorry bella!" and let go.

"No problem!" Zara chirped. "Did you sleep good?"

"That's well-OW!"

"Si! I slept molto buono!"

"Do you want some breakfst?"

"Ve, will there be pasta?"

"Why not!"

"Yay! Pasta pasta pastAH!" Italy screamed as he tumbled off the edge of Zara's bed to the floor.

Everyone gasped and ran over to help him. "Are you okay?" Safi asked anxiously.

"Veeeeeeeeee~!" Italy...well...made that noise. "Vedo stelle!"

"Oooookay," I said. "I think we need to get him downstairs." So the five of us picked up the Italian and precariously made our way out the door, down the hall and down the stairs. Once we reached the bottom, we shuffled over to the living room and tossed Italy onto the couch, which woke him up, causing him to shoot upright and cry, "GERMANY HELP ME I'M BEING ATTACKED!", which in turn caused Mari to jump a foot in surprise.

"It's okay Italy we're not attacking you!" Safi tried to calm him down as Alex laughed on the floor at Mari, who was yelling "It's not funny!" while Zara headed for the kitchen.

"I'll get the pasta!" she said over her shoulder.

"Stop!" I told her. "Do not pass go, do not collect $200. We're not having pasta for breakfast."

Both Zara and Italy turned to stare at me with shocked, pleading eyes. "But, but lady," Italy whimpered. "Why not?"

"It's not a breakfast food." I stated oviously.

"But Leesy you loooooooooooove pasta!" Zara protested, grabbing my hand. "Come to the dark side Leesy. We have pasta and cookies!"

"I'm aware." I said, my mouth watering at the mere mention of the food. "but it's not meant to be eaten for breakfast."

Their faces were so despondant that I could habe just told small children that Santa Claus isn't real.

I sighed and looked at the clock. "But after noon," I smiled at Italy. "you're allowed to feed us as much pasta as you want."

"YAAAAAAAY!" Italy jumped uo, grabbed Zara's hands and they started dancing around the room.

Flopping down on teh couch as I watched them dance, I realized that I was already tired. If this is just the begining of the day, I thought. What will the rest be like?

~~MINECRAFT-TIMESKIP (because I can)~~

"Benvenuti in Italia!" Italy declared once we entereed his country.

Now it's been a dream of mine to visit Italy for a long time, so I was absolutely extatic, but I have to admit that I was a little bit worried. Our guide wasn't exactly, um, on track...about anything. Italy had the attention span of a squirrel, and Zara, who was quite the distraction to him, was no better. So I did my best to keep everyone together (we didn't want to repeat our fiasco in London) because I wasn't so sure about how well Italy would do at keeping track of us. However, that didn't mean that I wasn't going to enjoy it thoroughly.

"Tell me you remember the Coliseum fight*." I said to my friends when we stopped in Roma at said location.

"Of course!" Mari replied with a smile, then she changed the pitch of her voice and quoted "I hate Wonder Bread."

"Yes!" I exclaimed, touching one pointer finger to my nose and pointing the other at Mari. "Oh! I got an idea. Okay, um, Otis!" I said, pointing at a confused Safi. "Ephialtes!" I pointed to Zara. "And-oh, uh," I stopped at Alex, who didn't know the books. "You…come over here." I lead her a little ways off from the group and whispered something in her ear. "Got it?" I finished.

Alex grinned with mischievous anticipation. "Got it."

"Good! Now Mari, run!" I exclaimed, grabbing her arm and running away across the arena. While the floor of what was once a great stadium wasn't exactly battle-ready anymore, I had decided to make the best of it.

"Ve, what are the ladies doing?" I head Italy ask behind us.

"Not sure," Zara replied. "But I've got a pretty good idea."

Stopping not all that far away, I dropped suddenly to the ground, taking Mari with me. "Hey!" she yelped. "Lees what are you doing?"

"We attack together," I quoted, ignoring Mari's question in the hopes that she'd catch on. "Otis first, because he's weaker. Take him out quickly and move to Ephialtes. Bronze and gold together-maybe that'll keep them from reforming longer."

Mari's eyes widened in realization, but not for the reason that I'd hoped. "Oh no," she said. "I am not being Jason!"

"Oh come on!" I whined out of character. "I'll let you be Percy next time!" I didn't want to be Jason either. While it was true that we were warming up to him, Jason was never Percy, Jason is not Percy, and Jason will never be Percy. Besides, it was cannon that Percy was more powerful; Hazel had said so herself. He totally would have won that showdown in The Mark of Athena.

"Rock Paper Scissors for it?" Mari suggested.

I hid my smirk as I got my hands ready and said, "Sweet." A little known fact about Roshambo is that if you say a word that starts with the same letter as one of the three, your opponent is much more likely to put up that one. I've tried it and you wouldn't believe how well it works. So if I said 'Sweet', then I did Rock…

"Flip!" Mari 'cursed' when she came up with Scissors, which I beat with my Rock-fist. "Best two out of three?"

"We're waiting!" Zara called from where she stood.

"No time!" I said, unable to hide my grin. "Say your line!"

Mari sighed, grumbling a bit, but then said, "Why not? But Ephialtes isn't going to stand there and wait while we kill his brother. Unless-"

"Good wind today, and there're some water pipes running under the arena."

"On three?"

"Why wait?"

When we burst out of our imaginary trench, a strange thing happened. You know how in shows when a character imagines something, the watchers can see it? Well it was like that, only we could see it. In our minds the arena was repaired into its original battlefield glory, ringed with thousands of cheering ghosts. Safi and Zara stood before us, looking the same as they had before, only twelve feet tall (and thank GOODNESS they didn't look like the twin giants from the story. Talk about mentally scarring.) Together they lifted a plaster mountain over their heads. But before they could throw it at us, I raised my hands and made a water pipe explode under them as Mari airbended a blast of wind against Zara, who fell with the plaster mountain landing on top of her.

"Hey Otis!" I yelled before Zara could recover. "The Nutcracker bites!"

"Ahhhhhh!" Safi screamed softly and threw her spear, which Mari deflected with her golden gladius into the nearby lake. She and I backed towards said lake, slamming ballet as we did so, which caused Safi to barrel (Safi barreling? Never thought I'd say that. Oh wait BARRELS!) towards us unarmed in rage. Too late she realized her mistake and tried to stop, but Mari and I rolled to the sides, and Mari used the wind to knock Safi into the lake.

"Sorry!" she cried out of habit, but still kept up with me as we attacked as one, launching at Safi and driving our swords into…okay the ground on either side of her head. Even in pretend we still couldn't hurt Safi, who made a 'poof' noise as she exploded 'into powder on the lake's surface like a huge packet of drink mix' as Rick Riordan would say. I churned the lake with my wanna-be-Percy-powers to keep Otis-Safi from reforming, and Jason-Mari blasted her head to bits when she tried to reform.

BAM! A plaster mountain crashed behind us, and Zara made a very convincing Ephialtes, screaming and smashing around angrily as she came towards us.

Mari struck Zara with lightning, but Zara only deflected it with her spear. Together, Mari and I attacked, fighting with sword skills we don't have, Zara deflecting them with spear-skills she doesn't have. "I will not yield!" she yelled, unable to keep from laughing. "You may have ruined my spectacle, but Gaea will still destroy your world!"

I used the bronze sword Riptide (not gonna lie, wish I had it) to cut Zara's spear in half, but she only whacked me with one end, which sent me flying in the opposite direction of my sword. Mari tried to stab but was still blocked, then Zara kicked her backwards, sending her and her sword away from each other too.

As I lied on the ground in mock pain, I made a hand gesture that I hoped caught a certain someone's attention, and sure enough, a shadow began to rise over Zara. Safi tried to warn her, but all she could get out between the swirling waters and trying to reform was "Uh-umh-moooo!" which almost made me quote another Percy Jackson book, but I saved it for another time.

"Don't worry, brother!" Zara said as she loomed over us (Zara looming-HA!) "I will make them suffer!"

"Actually," I said with a smirk. "Look behind you. NOW!"

Mari and I rolled out of the way just as Alex leaped onto Zara's back, bringing her to the ground with a thump. For some reason, she was not in the form of a giant flying war-ship. "I have been told that I am the Argo II!" Alex proclaimed as she stood on Zara's back. "Fear the amazing-ness that is me! Ta-da!" she took a long, sweeping bow.

"Yay!" we heard cheering and one set of hands clapping, which snapped us back into reality. Once again we were just five anime girls playing in the dirt, with a happy Italian applauding our theatrical efforts.

"Whew!" Safi said, standing up with a grin. "That was fun!"

"Alex get off!" Zara grunted from her place on the ground, looking for a fight the moment she was released. "You!" she said once she'd staggered to het feet, pointing accusingly at Alex.

I was just doing as I was told!" Alex laughed as she put her hands up. "Don't shoot the messenger!"

Turning to a new victim, Zara saw me and said, "YOU!"

With a shout of laughter, I ran as Zara chased me around Mari, who was laughing too hard to do anything. Thankfully, someone else got to Zara before I lost speed. It was Italy, who enveloped Zara in a hug she couldn't escape from if she'd wanted to.

"Ve, that was really good bella!" Italy exclaimed. "You were really scary!"

Zara made a whining noise at the back of her throat and looked at me. "You get out of it, this time." She said, sinking into Italy's hug.

"Let me guess," Mari said to Italy, recovering from her laugh attack but still grinning. "You have no idea what that was."

Italy beamed. "Not a clue!"

~~VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM~~

"Oof! I can't make it!" I wheezed.

"You can do it Leesy!" Safi cheered me on.

"Yes come on Leesy we're almost there!" Mari joined her.

"How do you even know?" I grunted.

"I don't!"

"Pick up the pace or I'll hop on too." Alex chuckled threateningly.

"Yeah faster horsey!" Zara exclaimed.

"I swear you had all better shut the heck up or so help me I will gag you with your own socks!*"

"Ve, why is the horsey-lady being so mean?" Italy asked.

Alex snorted. "Yeah horsey-lady, be nice or else."

"We were just trying to help!" Safi and Mari said in mock-hurt tones.

"I hate you all."

"No you don't you love us!"

Grumbling, I continued the stagger forward with Zara on my back. She had demanded a piggyback ride in compensation for my sicking Alex on her, even though she know full well that that's how the story goes. Still, I was used to giving her piggyback rides, just not for so long. It's not that Zara is heavy, no not by a long shot, but I had skinny noodle arms and not much endurance. Most of the time Zara hopped off when I got tired, but this time she had insisted that I carry her all the way to our next destination.

"Italy," I puffed. "There's gotta be a faster way to get there!"

"Well," Italy said thoughtfully. "We could use the car… But Germany told me not to!"

"Ah screw him!" I said at mention of the angry German. "He's not here, and my muscle-less body is about to collapse, so can we please use it?"

"But but I don't want to make Germany mad!"

"ITALY!"

"Ah! Okay! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Don't yell like that! Wait here pretty ladies! I'll be right back!" and just like that the Italian sped away.

I was a bit confused as I watched the dust trail accumulating behind the Italian. I felt for yelling at him, but I honestly hadn't expected him to be so afraid of me. It wasn't like I was scary or anything.

"Can I please put you down now?" I panted up at Zara.

"Only if you say you're sorry." She replied.

"Oh HECK no!" I exclaimed, promptly dropping Zara, which backfired when she didn't let go of my neck, bringing me down to the ground with her, landing flat on my back with my head in her lap.

"Ow!" Zara laughed. "Aw now my ***'s sore!" she complained, earning a 'Language!' from Safi and me.

I groaned. "Yeah well I hurt my…everything."

Italy pulled up in a red convertible while we were laughing. "Ve! Hop in pretty ladies!" he called to us, beeping the horn happily.

"SHOTGUN!" Zara called, hopping up so quickly that I didn't have time to lift my head so it flung forward then fell back onto the ground.

"I…am going…to kill her." I moaned on the ground, unresisting as the rest of my friends helped me up and we headed for the car.

Immediately I noticed a problem. Italy's car was significantly smaller than America's and the back seat had barely enough room for three passengers, let alone four. "Um, how are we going to do this?" I asked.

"Get in the trunk Leesy." Alex suggested teasingly.

Gulping, I turned and eyed the trunk dreadfully. It wouldn't be impossible to fit me in there, but I'd never make the drive in a place that small. No, I was too claustrophobic for that.

"Just lay across their laps like you did that one time!" Zara offered from the front seat.

"I vote Plan B!" I said quickly, raising my hand. My friends had no objections, so with Mari on the left, Safi in the middle and Alex on the right, I took a deep breath and lied down across their laps, trying my best to distribute my weight evenly over the three of them. When my head landed in Mari's lap I crossed my arms over my chest like a mummy and pulled my legs in so that my feet were pressed up against the car door.

"Alright, everybody ready? Let's go!" Italy exclaimed, and without warning the car launched forward incredibly fast, the sheer speed rolling me onto my side and pressed up against my friends with a yelp. Just as suddenly, the car braked neck-snappingly fast, and if the car hadn't been so small I would have rolled off my friends and onto the floor.

"What was that?!" I gasped, looking up at my friends, but I didn't receive any answers. Alex and Zara were too busy laughing, Safi stared out of Alex's window wordlessly, and Mari just smiled and nodded, her eyes betraying inner panic.

"Ve, where is the highway?" I heard Italy ask, then the car lurched to the right, making me bang my head on the door. "Oh there it is!" The car sup to the left, the sheer G-force sending the blood out of my face as my feet squished against the door.

Swallowing a scream, I looked up at Mari, whose breathing had become faster. "Mari," I said, commanding her attention. "Mari look at me. It's going to be okay. Take deep breaths. Breathe Mari, brEATHE!" My words turned into a screech as the car went over a bump way too fast, sending me airborne. In slow motion, I looked around the car as I seemed to levitate. Italy was driving down the highway alright, but I've never seen such reckless driving! Barely able to keep strait, accelerating and braking spasmodically, and going wayyyyyyyyyyy faster than he should be, Italy careened down the highway like the victim in a car chase, or the bus from Speed.

Snapping back into real time, I landed with a THUMP back down on my friends, who all shouted in response.

"Wow you're a really bad driver ItalyYYYYY!" Alex screamed and laughed as we drifted through another turn.

"Everyone says that," Italy said as he turned around to look at us. "But I've never had an accident!"

"Italy look at the ROAD!" I yelled in a panic.

"Whoopsie!" Italy said cheerfully as he turned back around. "We're almost there-Oh! That was our exit! Hang on!" No one could contain their screams as the car did a huge turn at high speed, which was even less encouraging when it straightened out and my friends continued screaming.

"What's happening?!" I yelled over the screams, unable to see due to my current position.

"GOING WRONG WAY!" Mari shrieked. "GONNA CRASH!"

She had been scared into illiteracy.

We were going to die.

"There it is ladies!" Italy shouted. "Here we go!"

You could hear the screams rise in volume as my friends saw the upcoming exit, then the car swung around, and all you could do was close my eyes and pray that we would make it. When the screams stopped, I realized that we had either made it or we were dead, but soon the car erupted into cheers.

"We made it!" Mari sank back in her seat out of exhaustion. "We're alive!"

"That was AWESOME!" Alex screamed. "Let's do it again!"

"NO!"

"I knew he'd make it!" Zara laughed, clapping Italy on the shoulder. "You're a pretty good driver Italy!"

"Ve, grazie bella!" The country responded. "That's the first time anyone has ever told me that!"

Safi didn't say anything, but she released the death grip she'd had on Mari and Alex's hands, leaning back and doing what I believe was some sort of yoga deep-breathing method.

I, meanwhile, was attempting not to throttle the Italian. "Mari," I said through gritted teeth. "Hold me down."

Her eyes widened and luckily enough the locked herself around me just before I attempted to spring into the driver's seat. Safi and Alex did the same. "YOU-" I managed to get out before Mari very smartly covered my mouth with her sleeve.

"Whoa Lees," Alex laughed as she clutched my legs. "What's got you so steamed?"

"Italy?" Safi interjected. "How much longer until we arrive?"

"Actually, we have arrived!" Italy said, braking with a massive jerk and parking the car. When all of us filed out, I guess my friends figured that I had calmed down by then.

They were wrong.

As soon as they released me I immediately charged up to Italy and yanked him down to my level by the collar of his shirt. "YOU COULD HAVE KILLED US!" I yelled, blowing the hair out of his face. "If you EVER put my friends in danger like that again so help me I will-"

"Adaliz!" a chorus of voices shouted behind me. I turned my head to look at them, and in that instant I realized what I'd done. Instantly I was worried that my friends would be mad.

"You can drop the overprotective-father mode now Lees." Alex said, smirking but in a nice way. "And you might want to let go of Italy."

Immediately I turned back around and released the country, who was now blubbering incoherently in fear. "I-I'm sorry Italy." I said, stepping back. "I didn't, I mean-"

"It's okay Italy." Zara stepped in, hugging the Italian to calm him down. "Lees isn't really angry at you. She doesn't yell when she's really angry."

"But but, she was angry when she yelled at Germany!" the nation whimpered.

"She wasn't really angry then," Zara told him. "Protective mode again." She turned to me and smiled. "Right Lees?"

Examening my feet, I scratched the back of my head sheepishly and said, "Yeah… Sorry Italy. I promise I didn't mean it, I-" I was cut off by a Safi comfort hug.

"It's okay Leesy." She told me. "We know you worry."

"Just try not to take it out on a nation next time." Mari said with a friendly smile.

I sighed. "Right." I said, then went up to Italy, offered my hand and said "I apologize. No hard feelings?"

Instead of shaking hands, I was suddenly engulfed in a huge Italy hug. 'I accept your apology!" Italy said cheerfully as he let me go. "You're not so scary after all!"

There was no stopping the smirk from spreading over my face. "Really?" I asked. "RAH!" I jumped up right in his face and grabbed Italy by his shoulders, scaring the living daylights out of him.

"Lees!" half my friends scolded as the other half and I laughed our butts off at the country who'd just run away screaming. "Come on," I said through my laughter. We'd better catch up before he gets too far.

~~TOMATOMATOMATOMATOMATOMATOMATO~~

"Mm-mm, hmhmhmhmhm, tomato-mato-mato buon appetito!" Italy hummed, swinging his empty basket as he walked. We were on our way to a garden to gather ingredients for the homemade pasta sauce Italy intended on making us for dinner, which was much anticipated.

"Say, what's that song Italy?" Zara asked him.

"Ve, just a little something I made up."

I think he was about to sing the rest out loud, but he was interrupted by some very angry yelling. As we entered a large tomato garden, I caught sight of two people already there. The one who was yelling what seemed to be profanities in Italian, Spanish and the Countries' Language, was Italy's brother, the Southern part, Romano maybe? The second I remembered to be Spain, who was just laughing good naturedly at the fuming Italian, continuing to pick tomatoes.

"Hey! Hey fratello!" Italy called over to them, waving wildly to get their attention. "Hi there Romano! Hello to you big brother Spain! Me and the pretty ladies have come to pick tomatoes for pasta!"

Both of them looked up and we started heading towards them. Spain waved back with a big smile on his face, but Romano facepalmed and muttered something about 'my idiot brother'.

"Hola, chicas bonitas!" Spain said friendlily. "It is so nice to see you again! Como estas?"

"No speaky Spainish!" Alex protested, making Spain laugh and Mari twitch. "We be Frenchies!"

"Lo siento-ah, my apologies miss." He replied as Romano muttered something under his breath about hating France. "I was asking how you are."

"We're fine, thanks." Said Mari. "And you!"

"Muy bien, gracias!" Spain said, and I figured the Frenchies could guess that much. "Romano and I were just talking about you, weren't we Roma?"

"Don't call me Roma, *******!" 'Roma' protested, the redness in his face darkening along with his anger. "No we were not!"

Spain slung his arm over the very resistant Italian's shoulders. "Oh, come on Romano," he said, rolling his R's. "Don't you remember? We were just talking about how you and las chicas got off on the wrong foot the other day. You were quite rude to them, especially since they're girls."

Romano let out a sigh, and angry one but he still relented. "Fine." He mumbled before turning to us. "I'm sorry I was such an *** the other day razagas. I didn't mean to come across as so, so…"

"Hostile?" Spain offered.

"You shut the **** up!" Romano yelled angrily as he shoved away Spain, which only made the Spainyard laugh. Again, the Italian sighed anrgily, then he said, "Yeah, what he said. Could we start again, per favore?"

My friends and I smiled. "Sure!" Safi said nicely. "Thank you for apologizing, and it's okay, you seemed like you were having a rough day."

"No, that is just him." Spain leaned in and said.

"I'M GOING TO-A KILL YOU YOU SON OF A *****!" Romano screamed as he shot of furiously after the Spainyard, who just ran away laughing.

As my friends, Italy and I watched them run, Zara leaned over and said to me. "I think I ship it."

"Ship what?" I asked, then pointed towards the entertainment. "Them?" I gave an exasperated sound. "You can't just go shipping real people! This isn't Tumblr! Besides, wouldn't that be incest?"

"What do you think?" Zara was ignoring me and asking Alex. "Ship it?"

I rolled my eyes and groaned like a major teenager, then walked away from the shipping center to start picking tomatoes. After a while, everyone followed my example, including the two running around the garden. Romano wasn't fast enough to catch Spain, who was practically toying with him, and eventually gave up on his chase. Spain was very nice about it-he smiled but didn't gloat-but Romano was still Mr. Frowny Face when they got picking.

When we'd all been picking for a good amount of time, I started to notice that there was a catchy tune drifting through the air. I couldn't really pinpoint from where it came from, but it was becoming louder.

"Hey, Spain! We're gonna be able to harvest a **** of a lot of tomatoes again this year," Romano called over to said country, seeming a bit more calm now. "*******." Never mind.

However, then he surprised my friends and I (though Spain and Italy didn't act as if anything was different) by breaking out into song almost happily. "Buono! Tomato, buono! Tomato/Buono buono, ooh! Tomato!/Red on the bottom and green on the top, toma- toma- tomato! Hmph!/There are tomatoes in my pasta!/And tomatoes on my pizza!/My charming red treasure, how I love tomatoes!" Then his face twisted back into frustration. "But/Wurst and potatoes are heretical things!/My brother eats them and just gets more- more- and more macho!/What is a Napolitan doing with Japanese cooking, you traitor!" He swung his head around at that last part and yelled it at Italy, startling the poor country into screaming.

At that point he turned around and saw that standing right behind him was Alex, who decided on a whim to make a pervy face, making Romano scream in an almost PDSD way, "Aaaah! It's a French! Protect me, *** **** *******!" Then he turned back to his tomatoes and whined, "Don't leave me alone with that son of a *****!" Then he perked up again. "I'll give you another one! I'll give you a beautiful one!/Eat a delicious tomato and come dance with me!/Amore!/Buono! Tomato, buono! Tomato/Buono buono, ooh! Tomato!/Ci Vediamo! Ah, Romano!/I'm South Italy!" Pressing his hands against his back and bending backwards, he groaned, "Aaah... I'm starving! But this isn't close to over, ****!" but he sprang back up and continued, "Buono! Tomato, buono! Tomato/Buono buono, ooh! Tomato!/Red on the top and green on the bottom, toma- toma- tomato!Hmph!/Spain brought some! He brought some from America!/My country's national treasure, how I love tomatoes!/But/This isn't just for reciting words of love/The wine glass in his hand is always twink- twink- and twinkling/And when I was an adorable kid back, when I was ignored, that ****!"

Just then he became the victim of a flying tomato from a tomato fight Zara and Alex had started. "AAAAAAAAAH! *** **** it! I'm always the one being targeted!" Bending back to his tomatoes, he whimpered, "Spain, you bastard, come rescue me already!/Buono tomato, buono!/Tomato buono buono, ooh! Tomato!/The Mediterranean Sea too! O sole mio!/I'm South Italy!/I may not be useful with chores/And brother may be better with art and trade/And sometimes I may be as dumb as a bird/ But I...! But I...!!" He got frustrated to the point where he screamed, "CHIGIIIIIIII!" But sprang up again and sang, "Buono! Tomato, buono! Tomato/Buono buono, ooh! Tomato"

I couldn't hold it in any longer, and apparently neither could anyone else. "Buono! Tomato, buono! Tomato/Buono buono, ooh! Tomato!" we sang the fade that we somehow knew was there.

Romano looked very surprised at being joined, but in a pleasant way, and he couldn't stop a small smile from crossing his features. "Buono! Tomato, buono! Tomato/Buono buono, ooh! Tomato!"

"Buono! Tomato, buono! Tomato/Buono buono, ooh! Tomato!" We echoed enthusiastically.

Romano threw back his head and sang, "Uno, Due, Tre, Dai!/I'll give you another one! I'll give you a beautiful one!" He tossed a tomato to one of my friends. "Eat a delicious tomato and come dance with me!/Amore!" I couldn't tell when I'd started, but it was now that I looked down and realized that I was dancing, and I didn't want to stop. "Buono tomato, buono!/Tomato buono buono, ooh! Tomato!/Ci Vediamo! Ah, Romano!/I'm South Italy!"

The peppy music that really had come out of nowhere went on for a bit more before coming to a natural stop, then as mysteriously as it had started, it was gone. Geez, I thought to myself. We really must be in an anime.

Romano was panting slightly, but he was smiling genuinely, if a little bit sheepishly, when it finished. "Thank you for singing along." He said. "That was actually kind of-" Romano stopped, his eyes focusing on something behind us. Those same eyes widened, screamed one of the most girly screams I've ever heard, and leaped into Spain's arms Scooby-Doo style. "KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! IT'S A TURTLE!"

"A what?!" I exclaimed, more startled by his sudden outburst more than anything, and whirled around. Sure enough, in one of the tomato ditches behind us, there sat a little baby sea turtle. "Oh my GOSH it's ADORABLE!" I exclaimed, stepping quickly to the baby and scooping it up gently in my hands. "It's okay baby," I said, cradling it as my friends gathered around. "What are you doing in here?"

"Ve, it probably just lost its way to the sea." Italy said, leaning over and squealing over the turtle higher than I could make my voice go.

"Um, are you okay Romano?" Safi asked the other Italian, who was shaking in the Spaniard's arms.

Spain, who as trying desperately not to laugh, answered for him. "Oh, he'll be fine." He reassured us. "Awhile back there was a bit of a turtle pandemic, and poor Romano never quite got over it. He's got a bit of chelonaphobia now."

"Shut up, you jerk!" Romano shouted at him. "I'm not afraid of no turtle!"

"Really?" I asked, holding the baby turtle out towards him a bit.

His reaction was immediate; with a shrieked Romano suddenly changed places in thin air, and was no longer in Spain's arms but clinging to his back, peeking over his shoulder. "Aah! I surrender! Okay! Okay! I'm afraid of turtles! Are you happy now?"

Spain laughed. "But I love turtles! Can I hold her?" he asked, stretching out his cupped hands, making Romano yelp and scream profanities at him when I complied. "What should I name her?"

"You can't name things you throw back!" Romano barked.

"Once you name it," Zara said, smiling at me. "You start getting attached to it! Now put that thing back where if came from, or so help me-!"

"Put that thing back where it came from or so help me!" I joined her in singing and dancing in a very bad Mike Wazowski impression. "So help me, so help me, and cut! Heheh."

"She's out of our haaaaair," I sang dramatically, sending everyone who got it into laughter. "Da da da da dair," I said when I couldn't remember the words. "Da da da da dair, oh contraire, you're my freinnnnnnnnnds, I love you." Then finished with a big dramatic. "She's out of our haaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiir!"

"We should probably get her back to the sea." Mari inerupted our laughter, trying to keep back her own. We all agreed in a sad fashion, except for Romano, who as more than willing to show us the way.

"By Tortuga!" We called after the turtle as she swam away into the sea. "See ya later dude!"

"Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude." Zara and Alex echoed, bobbing their heads in a hippie-ish fashion.

"**** you girls are weird." Romano commented. "Well at least that's over."

"Ah, there's my happy Roma~!" Spain said teasingly as he pinched the cheek of Romano, who pushed Spain away but seemed more annoyed than angry.

"Ve, we've got all the tomatoes we need for the pasta!" Italy said happily. "But I still have more to show the pretty ladies! Fratello, we'll see you at dinner, okay? You too big brother Spain!"

"Wouldn't miss it!" Spain replied for the both of them. "Hasta luego chicas!"

"So, what do you think?" Zara asked as Italy lead my friends and me away. "Ship it?"

"What?" I asked, caught off guard. "Them? No!"

"Oh come on Leesy!" Alex protested. "You have to ship them! It's adorable, isn't it?"

I sighed. "Well, maybe just a little."

~~ITALIANOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~~

I leaned back in my seat and sighed deeply, or tried to at least. "I can't eat…another bite."

"Mmf, you guys are weak." Zara said from the table, where she and the Italys were still going at it. The rest of my friends, Spain and I had all bailed out when are stomachs had reached their maximum capacity and were now lounging lethargically in the living room.

"Zara," Safi groaned. "You're gonna…throw up."

Said Ducky just popped another forkful in her mouth. "Don't' care."

"We really should be getting home." Mari rose slowly to her feet. Italians eat late, and it was dark out already. "How are we going to get home? We're not much for walking at this point."

Alex's head popped up from where she lied upside-down on the couch. "Let's have Italy drive us!"

"NO!"

Spain laughed really hard at this. "I can see that you've already had a taste of Italian driving, sí?" he said when he could breathe again. "I will drive you home if you like."

"Do you drive like an Italian?" I asked nervously.

The Spaniard laughed again. "No, I do not."

"We should really get going then, if you don't mind." Mari said as she headed for the door.

"Aw, mom do we have to?" Zara asked Safi as Romano dropped to the ground behind her.

"I'm not your mom and yes we do."

"Grr. Bye bye Italy!" Zara said as she hugged the country, the rest of us echoing her. "Thank you so much for everything!"

"Ve, you're welcome bella!" he smiled and hugged back. "We should do this again sometime, yes?"

"Yes, but we'll walk next time." Mari said with a grin.

"Bye Italy. Be sure to check for monsters under your bed before you go to sleep." I said as I walked out the door.

A scream emanated from the house as we entered Spain's car. "Ah! Monsters? I don't-a like monsters! They're scary! Fratello! Fratello wake up! There's monsters! Protect me! Germanyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"

"What did you do?" Safi asked tiredly.

I grinned. "Found a new hobby."


*This whole scene is from the Percy Jackson series book The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan, so I own none of it!