"I can't believe this." I grumbled as I slammed my door shut. Walking down the stairs, I ranted, "Who, I mean who would insist for someone to be at their house at seven? Seven! A M! Had to get up at six! I hate getting up at six! Who makes people get up at six? In the morning?!"

Safi sighed from where she sat at the table pouring tea for herself and Mari. "Leesy come have some tea." She said. "It'll calm you down and make you more alert for the day."

"No thanks." I said through gritted teeth, trying to be nice, as I angrily stuffed a piece of bread into the toaster. Slamming down the toaster handle unnecessarily hard, I turned and crossed my arms. "You only made enough for you two so you can have it to yourself."

"I can make more."

"No, I don't care much for tea anyway."

"Coffee then." Zara said, making a pot of said liquid while keeping pushing Alex away from it simultaneously. Strangely enough the caffeine-filled drink did not affect our most hyper friend, though it did a number on the close second.

"I don't like coffee." I grouched as rummaged through the cupboards for peanut butter. "I don't wanna be dependent on caffeine."

"Picky picky," Alex said, trying to reach over Zara's shoulder and steal the pot. "And that's coming from me!"

"Shut up." I said dejectedly, 'grrr'-ing while I strained to open the new jar of Jiff.

"Then stop being grumpy." Mari said as she sipped some tea. "It's not doing any good."

When the toast popped up, I snatched it, slapped some peanut butter on it and stuffed the end of it right in my mouth as I stomped back upstairs. "I swear I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind." I grumbled through the toast.

"No you won't."

"Yeah I won't." I sighed as my friends disappeared down below. Quickly finishing the toast, I went back into my room to get dressed. "What does 'training' even mean anyway?" I asked myself. To be honest, the aspect of the thing made me nervous. I've never been good at anything physical, and the amount of muscle on my body was pretty much at its bare minimum, which was 100% my own fault. I actually really like sports, but I was never on any actual team. Part of it was laziness, and part of it was not wanting to deal with the drama-queens on our school's sports teams. I did join the swim team with Mari for a couple of years, got pretty good at the breaststroke too, but I could never keep up with the team and never won a race. It was fun while it lasted though.

Eventually I did quit crashing around my room and succeeded in getting ready for the day. It felt pretty weird to be going somewhere in basketball shorts and a thick-strapped tank top, but at least all my friends were going with me. "Alright," I said as my friends and I gathered at the door. "Are you guys ready for this?"

"Yeah let's go!" Mari said in her usual peppy way. "To Germany!"

As we all headed out, I thought of something. "Hey guys," I said as Zara through the door open. "How do we walk to Germany?"

We all froze in the doorway and realized that none of us knew how to do the country-teleport-time-travel thingy.

"Well, the countries said it would just be different for us, right?" Safi said. "So if we just start walking, we're bound to end up somewhere, right?"

"Yeah, but where?"

"I guess we have no choice." Alex said as she stepped outside, then she covered her eyes with one hand, pointed outward with the other, and spun. "I say we go," she stopped spinning and uncovered her eyes. "That way!"

"Good enough for me!" Zara chirped as she trailed Alex out into the woods, Mari and Safi following them.

"Wait, guys," I called, running after them. "Can't we do this more scientifically? Like, head east?"

"Which way is east Lees?" Alex called over her shoulder.

I looked around for the sun. "Um, there!" I located the sunrise. "And Minnesota is to the north so we should go…that way, ish?" I quickly shut my mouth when I realized that that was the direction we were going and followed without another word.

We walked for a long time, trying our best to replicate what the countries had done when they'd taken us to their homes. Too bad we hadn't been paying attention. We figured that, if it really was that simple, if we just thought about where we wanted to go then we would somehow end up there.

"Face it you guys, we're lost." I said as we wandered around. It was really hard to tell if we were making any sort of progress at all, given that there was just woods, woods and more woods.

"No we're not," Mari said, spinning a bit and looking up at the trees. "We're just…not there yet."

"I can't see the sun anymore." I said. Looking at the trees I got an idea, but it took me awhile to find a tree that would work, given that most of the their branches were high above our heads. "Zara," I said when I found a good pine tree with thick, low boughs "Be Bilbo and climb that tree to find the sun."

"As long as you guys don't get captured by giant spiders while I'm up there." She giggled as she swung up and I shivered.

"See anything?" Alex called up into the tree.

"Not yet!" Zara shouted back, hidden from our sight by the leaves. "Almost there-Oh. Uh, guys, I can't go any higher! It's getting to narrow, and these branches aren't going to support me much longer!"

"Don't hurt yourself!" Mari yelled into the tree. "Can you see anything?"

There were some rustling sounds, then she answered, "Not really. I can't see the sun through the other trees."

"Great." I mumbled to myself. "Come on down then!"

After much more rustling, our duck was safely on the ground again. "Well, what now?" she asked as she jumped to the ground.

Safi raised her hand, just something she does since the rest of us are so loud. When we called on her, she said, "I have an idea."

"We're all ears."

Without saying anything, Safi turned from us and walked up to one of the trees. Reaching forward to stroke its trunk, she said in her own soft way, "Excuse me, Mister or Missus Tree, could you please tell us which way we might go to get to Germany?"

I think it's safe to say that our stares of astonishment and confusion were justified.

"Um, Safi dear," Mari said with a nervous smile. "Why are you talking to the tree?"

"I'm asking for directions." Safi answered as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"I don't think it's that kind of anime Saf." I said concernedly.

"Trees don't talk, silly girl." Came a voice from…the tree? "But I do!" Then a bloody body fell down and hung from the tree.

"I DON'T WANT TO BE IN THIS ANIME ANYMORE!" I yelled as my friends and I screamed.

"H-Hey! What's-a the matter?" Said the body. No, wait, it wasn't a body. A very alive boy of about our age hung from his knees on a low branch. He looked like the Italian brothers, sporting an angular curl, brown hair and green eyes and he wore black pants with a green shirt. Even though he was alive, there was a red liquid dripping off his face. "Why are the bellas screaming? Why do people always scream when I hang from a tree and pour ketchup on my face?"

"Dude why would you pour ketchup on your face?" Zara asked.

"More importantly," I held up a hand, then pointed it at the guy. "Who are you and why are you here?"

"I'm-a Seborga!" the guy said with a bright smile, and he attempted some sort off upside down-bow. "And why shouldn't I be here? This is my country after all."

"Seborga? That's right, it's a micronation in Italy. One of us must have been thinking about yesterday." Mari made a face. "Boy, we were way off."

With a shout, 'Seborga' suddenly fell to the ground with an ungraceful THUMP. "Ooooooow," he moaned. I could see how this guy was somewhat related to Italy. What would they be though? Brothers? Cousins? He sprang to his feet and turned to us with an aura of sparkles. "Way off?" he asked cheerfully. "Which way are you pretty ladies headed?"

"Germany." Alex said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Not that it'll be much fun."

"Aw, why are you going to see that stick-in-the mud?" he asked, walking up to us and giving a sweeping bow. "I could take you on a tour of my home, if you like."

Flirt, was the word that entered my head. "Thanks, but maybe another time. We have to get to Germany's by seven, and we're not making good time, so if you could just point us in the right direction that would be great."

"Seven? A M? Seborga asked. "I'm not even usually up by this time, let alone seven."

I sighed. "I know, ridiculous ri-… Wait. What time is it now?"

Mari lifted her watch to her face. "Mm, oh, uh, it's 7:20." She looked up nervously.

Throwing my hands up in exasperation, "Of course it is!" I exclaimed.

"Not to worry bellas!" Seborga winked. "I'll help you out! Germany's that way!" he pointed through the trees.

"Thank you so much!" Safi said as she began to lead us off in that direction. "We really appreciate it!"

"Non c'é problema!" Seborga answered as he waved. "Come back to visit some time! Oh, and try to think about German things! Guns, strictness and stuff! Bouna fortuna!"

"Guns and strictness." I said to myself as we walked away, thinking about how Germany seemed to be. Us being late didn't seem like it would end well. "Non c'é problema."

~~AND A WILD SEBORGA APPEARS~~

"This looks like Germany." Zara said as we entered some sort of grassy clearing. "Mountains right? And rolling hills?"

"Reminds me Heidi." Safi said, happily plopping down in the lush grass to pick wildflowers.

I studied the mountains intensely. There was something I was forgetting. "Yeah," I said. "Only Heidi took place in…" My eyes widened and I spun around as I heard a gun being cocked. "SWITZERLAND!"

BANG! Everyone hit the grass. "Who's hit?!" I called frantically, trying to look around but stay down at the same time. "Did he get anyone?!"

"No."

"Nope!"

"We're fine!"

"I hate guns."

A sigh of relief preceded a rolling wave of anger inside me. I stood up and faced the direction from which the gun was fired. I could see the country himself, specifically his blond hair behind his rifle. "HEY SWITZY!" I screamed at him. "I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR $$!" But before I could even take a step in the nation's direction, a voice shouted from behind me, "Take her down!" I was knocked off my feet and landed on my stomach. I struggled to get up but the weight on my back made that impossible.

"Cool your jets Leesy!" came Zara's voice from on top of me.

"Zara!" I growled. "Let me up!"

"No can do Leesy. Mari's orders. And you're so weak you can't even get up!" she teased.

The real kicker? She was right.

I groaned and cursed into the dirt. "Where's Safi?" I asked, knowing how she felt about firearms.

"Alex's taking care of her." Sure enough, I turned my head and saw the two of them struggling a few yards over.

"Mari?"

"Negotiating."

"If she gets shot you'd better let me up."

"If she gets shot, we'll kill him together."

Leaving it at that, I craned my head around to watch Mari. Sure enough, she was walking towards the country with her hands up, calling back and forth to each other. Thankfully, the Swiss had put his gun down. The only words I could make up were a huge chain of 'I'm sorry's coming from Mari. While I couldn't hear anything else, I could see a lot of pointing.

Eventually Mari returned in one piece (ONE PIECE!) and said, "Mr. Switzerland was just mad at us for trespassing and he didn't realize it was us, but because it is us he'll let us off with just a warning."

"Oh thank goodness." I growled sarcastically.

Mari gave me a look before continuing, "He says that we're almost to Germany. We just have to keep going that way." She pointed in the same direction as before.

"Let's get going then, before I snap his gun in half." muttered a nearly ballistic Safi.

"Can I trust you two to keep your heads on? Well?" Mari asked when we didn't respond.

Turning her head in the grass, Safi looked at me with a question in her eyes.

I let out a puff of breath. "He gets three strikes. That was one. If he actually shoots someone, we kill him on the spot."

Safi nodded.

"Geez, you two need to calm the heck down." Alex chuckled as she let Safi up.

"Come on." Safi said, grabbing Alex and dragging her in the direction Mari had pointed. "Let's get going before I forget how baseball is played."

~~We've been lost for a while huh? Well now to the actual country!~~

"This place had better be Germany," I grumbled as we exited the woods once again. "Or I swear I'm going home."

"VHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

Yup. We were in the right place.

"IT IS EIGHT O'CLOCK!" yelled the rather large, angry German as he stalked up to us. "VHAT COULD HAVE POSSIBLY MADE YOU SO LATE?!"

"CALM-ahem, calm yourself, Germany." I stopped myself, desperately attempting to stay calm myself. I'd promised my friends that I'd try to stay civil, no matter how mad Germany was at us. "Listen. We'd never done this wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey-spacey-wacy*-space-time-travel-thingy you countries do by ourselves before, so it was new to us. We ended up in a few unprecedented places, but we had every intention of coming here on time. I'm sorry that we've, inconvenienced you." I finished with much effort.

Germany looked somewhat sedated, but somewhat confused. Might've been the 'wibbly-wobly-timey-wimey-spacy-wacy'. That usually throws people off.

"Alright. I understand." The country responded. "Do you understand how it vorks now?"

My friends and I nodded.

"Zen please attempt to be here on time in ze future."

"Fine. Guten morgen by the way." Relaxing a bit myself.

Germany nodded, turned and motioned for us to follow him. Ahead of us was a large open field with a quarter-mile track (or, I guess, the European version of one).

Once we got down there, Germany turned to face us with a determined look on his face. He looked ready for training, with a black wife beater (Seriously, why do they call them that? Aren't they just tank-tops?), a green army jacket draped over his shoulders, a pair of green, Um, what do they call those pants that are bigger around the thighs… Oh! Breeches! Also a green cap, black gloves, and boots.

"Today I am going to assess your physical fitness." Germany informed us. "I do not know vhat ze vorld you came from vas like, but here many crazy zings can unt do happen. Especially now zat you are directly involved viz ze countries, it is important to know how capable you are of taking care of yourselves. I vill be assessing you in terms of strengz, speed and endurance. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" we all responded with a salute, somehow naturally responding to the nation's militaristic aura.

"Gut. Now, a five minute varm-up jog around ze track. Go!"

So it begins, I thought as my friends and I took off down the track, praying that it wouldn't be too bad.

I should have known better.

After the warm up, That was only five minutes?!, we did some stretching, in which Safi kicked all of our butts, reaching her hands all the way down the length of her foot to her heels. Alex could touch her toes, so could Mari, and Zara could do it too.

"Sehr gut." Germany told them, then he looked at me. Oh fudge it. "Come on Adaliz. Reach further."

I puffed and stretched till it hurt, but my toes were still a good few inches away. "It's no good." I said, straining to keep the position and talk at the same time. "I'm as inflexible as an out of shape man."

Of course Zara made use of my unbalanced position and pushed me over.

"I'M GONNA WRING THAT DUCK'S NECK!" I screamed as I scrambled up to get Zara, who was already running away, laughing. Just when I had begun my all-out sprint, something caught my shoulder, but my feet kept going, which caused my whole lower body to swing forwards into the air. I was just about to land flat on my back like Charlie Brown when I was yanked strait upwards by the same shoulder, and with a yelp I was dropped strait onto my feet.

"Oi!" (I watch so much Doctor Who I've become an American who says Oi) I protested, but it came out like more of a squeak, which was not what I was going for. "What's the big idea?" I asked as I turned towards Germany, who released my shoulder to look at me with those stone blue eyes.

"No fighting." He said sternly.

"But she-"

"Nein!"

I let out an annoyed sigh. "I know where you live!" I shouted at Zara, who made a face at me and laughed.

"Leesy got in trou-ble," Alex sang softly, making my friends laugh and my face heat up.

"Next is pushups." Germany interrupted us. "As many as you can do in a minute."

"Can we do it on our knees?" Zara asked as she rejoined us.

"Nein. Now get going."

Stifling a groan, I got down and attempted to start. I was kind of cheating since I didn't go all the way down, but I really couldn't manage it. My arms were shaking, FRIKIN NOODLE ARMS, I was already sweating already, Who the heck ever said that girls glow? FUDGING. WRONG, and my face was beet red. It does that when I exercise. People always think I'm going to pass out or something; apparently I look like a tomato. It's quite embarrassing.

Don't notice don't notice don't notice!

Either Germany was a mind reader or I jinxed it; when I looked up, there he was standing over me with his arms crossed over his chest. "Um, heh heh," I chuckled nervously, fully aware of my appearance and my cheating. I got confused for a moment when he knelt down next to me, then something pushed down on my back so hard that my stomach was forced to the dirt with a thump.

"All ze way down." Germany said, and I realized that it was his hand on my back. Then he stood up and walked away.

I took a moment to catch my breath, my arms still in position, before attempting to push myself up. I gritted my teeth hard, pushing with all my might, knowing that simple pushup took way more effort than it should have.

Once my arms, which felt like jelly, were finally straight, I looked up at my friends. Mari and Safi were doing the best out of all of us, but still we weren't a very fit group. Quite the opposite actually. Well, we were a bunch of nerd-girls after all, with Mari and Safi being the only ones with any sort of strength training.

"Adaliz! Don't stop until ze minute is over!" Germany barked.

Panting in effort and exasperation, I focused my gaze back down at my hands and, with much effort, lowered myself. The moment my chest touched the ground, my arms buckled and I landed on my face.

"Leesy are you okay?" I heard Mari ask as Zara and Alex laughed and Safi nudged my side.

"I'm good." I puffed. "Let's try that again."

"Ze minute's up." Germany stated.

"Woo yeah!" I exhaled, spreading my arms out against the ground.

"Not for you."

I lifted my head up, not sure of what I'd just heard. "Huh?"

Germany frowned, well, he was always frowning, at me. "You only did one real pushup. You get anozer minute."

"What?" I exclaimed. "Oh come on!" My head dropped into the dirt. "Have a little mercy for the scrawny white girl!"

"Most of your friends are smaller zen you." he motioned to Zara, Safi and Alex. "They can do more zen you. Unt I don't see vhat race has to do viz anyzing. Again."

Stifling a groan, I got to work, and after another extra-long minute I was finally allowed to stop. Germany was not pleased by the amount I had accomplished.

"Sit ups." He said immediately. "One minute. Go." At least those I could do, but after the minute I still had not met whatever standard the country had in mind. My friends weren't doing much better, but I was still the worst off.

After lots of other strength crap, we sprinted, which I sucked at, and we did an endurance run, which I sucked even more at. By the end of it all, I had side cramps on both my sides, my arms and chest were sore, and my legs and stomach burned.

Hah, hah, I, really, suck at this, don't I?" I panted, which turned into a somewhat crazy laugh. "I mean, I really, really, suck!" Then I flopped over onto my back because I didn't think I could laugh and breathe properly at the moment.

My friends joined me on the ground, d laughing at the all-around un-fitness of ourselves and each other.

Germany stood over us. He seemed to be studying us, his face one of confusion.

"What's up German-dude?" I asked

'German-dude' scowled in response. "You truly are American, aren't you?" he said with a sigh. "I vas vondering vhy you find your lack of strengz humorous."

"I don't know," Mari said through her giggle fit. "We just do."

"Well, if we can't fix it, then why be frustrated about it?" I asked rhetorically.

Germany's brow furrowed. "But you can fix it." He said as we slowly got to our feet. "Training can make you strong."

"Well obviously!" Alex laughed, motioning at Germany's well developed muscles.

"Oh my gosh can you even imagine Zara as buff?" I asked, which sent us all back to the ground in another fit of laughter.

The nation still looked like he didn't understand the situation, but he sighed and seemed to let go of it. "Alright. I vill now give you my opinion on your physical strength.

Sensing a change of mood, (Whoa, we actually sensed the mood?!) my friends and I made an effort to actually sit up for the German's verdict. He sat too, and I noticed that his posture naturally stayed straight like everyone always tells you to sit, but you never actually do.

"Vhen you five first zretoned Herr France," Germany said frankly. "I had my doubts on your physical strengz, but I didn't know it vould be zis bad. It doesn't seem to me zat any of you vould be able to take care of yourselves in ze case, however unlikely, zat somezing bad could happen. In your case, even your chances of outrunning a pursuer are slim. Italy and Japan train here viz me a few days per veek, and you are velcome unt encouraged to come. You all need it, especially you." He pointed at me, and somehow I couldn't help but feel ashamed.

"Aw, do we have to?" Alex asked. "Alex lazy." Which annoyed Mari's inner grammar Nazi to no end.

"Come on Alex!" Zara protested, shaking Alex by the shoulder. "We haven't done anything since we got out of school, and I miss track. Come on, track was fun, wasn't it?"

With a sigh, Alex said. "Yeah, I guess so. Alright, I'm in."

"Safi?"

"I'll go if you guys go."

"Good. Lees?"

"Sure, if we're all going together, why not? I could use the exercise." I laughed, thinking about how much I'd probably regret this later.

"Okay!" Mari said with a smile. "We'll figure out the details when we get settled in."

Germany agreed.

"Whew!" I said, forcing myself to my feet even though my body screamed in protest. "Is there any water around here Germany?"

"You mean you didn't bring any for yourselves?" he asked. "Even zough I specifically said zat ve vould be training?"

I bit back my Shut up! and said, "I don't think we knew we'd be training this hard."

With a sigh, the nation got to his feet. "I'll go get some." He said before stalking off.

"While he's doing that," Zara said as she got to her feet. "I'm going off in search for a bathroom. Alex! Come let's go on an adventure!"

"Alex tired." Alex replied from her place on the ground. "Alex sleep."

"Come on Alex adventurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre!" Zara whined as she grabbed our friend's arm and began to drag her across the field. Eventually though Alex did get up and they went skipping away in search of toilets.

By the time Germany got back with five full water bottles in hand, those two still weren't back yet. "Vhere are ze ozer two?" he asked as he passed the water bottles to us.

After I'd taken a good long swig, I answered. "Dunno. They've went off to look for a bathroom, but they've been gone a while now."

"We should probably go look for them." Mari said as she helped Safi to her feet. "We don't want them getting into trouble."

"Probably shouldn't have let them go off by themselves." Safi added with a sigh.

"Let's get going zen." Germany said. "Before they have the chance to do something stupid."

"Hey now, only we can call them stupid." I said, stretching as I lead our merry little posse in the direction Alex and Zara had skipped off into.

We had been looking for a while, and I was starting to get worried when we finally found them.

"Thank goodness!" Mari exclaimed. "Well, they look fine to me."

"Looks like they didn't find the bathroom." Safi giggled, the two of them having yet to notice us.

Squinting my eyes, since the troublemaking duo were a ways off, I tried to make out what they were doing. Both of them were sitting on the ground, with some small cylindrical things littered around them on the ground. It wasn't until they each lifted one of the objects, smacked them together, and chugged the contents that I realized.

"ALEX! ZARA!" I screamed. "WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?!"

Said girls' heads popped up and towards us when I yelled, but instead of responding they laughed and scrambled to their feet, which Alex was having a bit of a hard time doing.

No. I thought was I broke out into a run towards them. No no NO!

Continuing to cackle like madwomen, Zara and Alex both took off in different directions, Alex having a hard time keeping her balance, but still making tracks, and by the time the rest of us had gotten to where they had been sitting, they had disappeared into the woods.

"Fudgeing fudge fudge fudgity FUDGE!" I desperately tried not to swear as I kicked what I had feared the cylindrical items to be: beer cans. Most of them hadn't been opened, but two had been drained dry. Crap. "How could we have let them-graaaaah!"

"Hei!" Germany protested. "Quit ruining perfectly good beer!"

"Your 'perfectly good beer,'" I soun on my heel and glared at the country. "just made two of our friends drunk and running through the woods!"

"Zey only had one each!" he countered. "How could zey possibly be drunk off of just zat?"

I stared at him and watched the realization spread across his face.

"… Vell, zen, ve'd better go look for zem." Germany said.

"Right, let's split up then." Said Mari. "So we can go after both at the same time.

"Wait-"

"Okay, Mari and I will look for Alex, and you two go look for Zara." Safi suggested.

"Hang on, I think we should-"

"Good luck!" the two of them cried in unison as they ran off into the woods in search for Alex.

"…-stick together." I finished dejectedly. Then I sighed and turned to Germany, who was looking down at me. "Looks like it's just you and me."

With a sigh of his own, the German replied, "Ja." And we headed off into the woods.

We looked for a while in silence, which was quite awkward, but I couldn't come up with anything to say. I'm not a great conversationalist. Alone with a guy again, I thought to myself. Crap.

"Okay." I said aloud, talking more to myself than to my companion. "Where would she hide? Where does she usually hide? … Aw man it's Zara! She could be anywhere! Drunk and absolutely anywhere! Running around in the woods of a foreign country, probably lost, and to top it all off, drunk!" My initial concern with the situation returned and I began to get frantic. "Zara! Zara!" I started calling like the mother of a lost child. "Zar-AH!" I yelped as I was spun around.

"Calm dovn!" Germany said as he gripped me by my shoulders. "Panicking vill not help. Ve'll find her. She couldn't have gone far. Take a deep breaz, it's going to be fine."

Taking his advice, I forced myself to suck in slowly, then blow out. "You're right." I said. "Freaking out won't find Zara. What we need to do is-" I stopped suddenly and listened, cocking my head to the side and furrowing my brows in thought.

"Vhat is it?" the country asked.

"What is that?" I answered with a question. "Do you hear it? Is that what I think it is?"

"Is vhat-Hei!" the German protested when I took off through the forest towards the sound. "Don't you go running off too!"

Not really paying attention to him, I ran until I reached a clearing in the trees and found that I had been right. IN front of me was a huge waterfall, and when I say huge, I mean HUGE. It went down seven, um, what do you call those, oh steps! for over 500ft, and it was absolutely beautiful.

"Holy fudge." I breathed as the nation caught up to me.

"Hm?" he said, looking up. "Oh. Ze Triberg Falls. I zought ve vere in ze Black Forest."

My imaginary anthro-ears perked up. "The Black Forest?" I asked as I turned towards him. "The Black Forest? The one where all those Brothers Grim fairytales took place?"

Germany looked at me, confused. "Ja." he said.

Exhaling, I turned towards the woods from whence we'd emerged. "Mari must be having a field day. Or, she would be, if she knew what these woods were." And with that I turned back around and started heading towards the huge waterfall.

"Vait, vhat are you doing?" Germany called after me.

"Gonna go climb some rocks!" I said, my smile betraying my inner glee as I took my shoes in my hands and stepped onto the cool, wet rock with bare feet.

"Adaliz zat is not safe!" the country protested as I jumped to the next rock. "You are going to slip unt fall!"

"No I won't!" I answered without so much as looking over my shoulder. "I don't believe in falling, remember?"

"Zat didn't work so vell last time."

Unable to contain my giggle at the thought, I said, "Well, this time it's different. There are tons of rocks like this where my friends and I come from, and I've never so much as slipped on rocks." I stooped into an animalistic crouch, studying the distance of stones in the zig-zagged trail naturally laid out in front of me. Then with a huff I quickly darted across them, my feet making a nice pap sound each time they safely landed on a rock. When I reached the end, and almost the other side of the river, I turned back towards the country, rose to my toes, threw my arms in the air and shouted, "Ta-da!"

Germany didn't say anything; all he did was cross his arms and glare at me from the side.

"Oh come on!" I called over to him, shifting my feet to stay balanced. "Nothing?"

Then the German's eyes widened and he stretched out an arm to warn me. "Adaliz look out-!"

-was all I heard before I hit the water with a splash. Apparently there hadn't been as much rock behind me as I thought there had been. The freezing temperature of the water combined with the sudden impact to my rear made me yelp involuntarily. Luckily I had landed in a shallow pool and was in no danger of going over any of the falls, but that didn't make me any less startled.

"Adaliz! Are you alright?" I heard Germany call to me.

"Y-yeah," I stuttered slightly from the cold, and honestly, probably from the shock too. "I'm okay."

"Hang on, I'm coming." The country replied, and I looked up to see him running across the tourist bridge not far from where we'd come out of the woods.

Staggering around in the water, I was finding it a bit difficult to stand with the shivers starting already and the pain in my rear. Thankfully it didn't feel as if my tailbone was broken, but man did it hurt! "Sh-!" escaped my mouth as I slipped on the slimy, slippery underwater stone, throwing my arms out keep myself standing. Resorting to the use of all fours, I climbed out of the water onto dry rock, then I shifted on my weight and sat with a painful splat on the stone bank where I tried to compose myself. I tried to stop the shivering, but Germany isn't exactly the warmest country, not even in July, so my efforts were pretty much wasted.

I heard Germany come up to me as I pulled my squelchy, wet sneakers back on. I didn't look up at him.

"Scheisse frou," he muttered when he reached me. "I told you not to do it."

"I know." I mumbled, fresh out of sass as I pulled my knees inward, trying to retain some of my body heat.

The country sighed and I felt his hands grabbing the sides of my forearms. "Come on." He said, lifting me clean into the air and setting me down gently on my feet, my shoes making a squish sound. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm f-fine." I chattered, try as I might to hold it back.

"You look cold."

"Y-yeah w-well it's m-my own f-fault."

After a second of silence, I realized the jacket that had been around the German's shoulders was now descending over mine.

"N-no, I'll g-get it w-wet." I protested.

"Vell you should have zought about zat before you decided to cross." He stated simply before draping it over my shivering frame.

I was going to insist he take it back, but it was already so warm… I couldn't so much as open my mouth. My hand moved on its own to clutch at the jacket's collar to pull it in closer. Despite the fact that my body was cold, I still felt my face managing to heat up. What the heck?

"Sorry." I said, my voice just above a whisper.

As the country sighed again, I forced myself to look up at him. I hadn't noticed it before, but he wore a pendant on a chain around his neck. Hey, that's an iron cross. A friend of mine who was a big fan of German culture had worn one often. If I remembered correctly, it was some sort of symbol of military strength, like a war medal or something.

"Danke. Just don't do it again. Alzough," he looked me in the eyes, and I was thankful to not find any anger there. "I have a feeling zat you vill probably ignore my varning."

With a small smile, I looked back down again. "Probably."

Sighing for the third time, Germany said, "Come on, let's find your friend before you get into any more trouble." causing me to smile a bit wider as we made our way back through the forest.

~~Um, don't really know what to call this time-skip~~

I swear of all the places I could have expected to find Zara, not one of them was hanging from a blimp.

When a huge zeppelin crossed over Germany and I in a clearing in the forest, our faces changed into identical ones of shock as I realized just who was dangling from a rope beneath it.

"ZARA?!" I screamed up at her. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! YOU'RE NOT ROSE! THERE IS NO CAPTAIN JACK HARKNESS TO STARE AT YOUR BUTT!* GET DOWN FROM THERE!"

"Oh hi Leesy!" Zara called back and waved. Thankfully, unlike Rose, she was not hanging onto the rope with her bare hands. Instead she had it tied precariously around her waist, which of course did not help my nerves. "You guys look like ants down there!" she laughed.

"How the holy heck are we going to get her down from there?" I asked, turning to the German. He wasn't paying attention to me, he was yelling in German over the noise of the blimp into a walky-talky he had probably just pulled out of thin air.

"Wheeeeee I'm Peter Pan!" Zara laughed, spreading her arms and legs out, the rope swinging in a way that made me want to pull my hair out.

Germany put his walky-talky away and shouted over the noise to me, "Zey're bringing her dovn now!" The he looked up and began beckoning to the blimp, and sure enough, the zeppelin appeared to be getting bigger and louder as it descended.

"Aw, is the flight over already?" Zara whined as she came down.

As soon as her feet touched down I undid the knot around her waist, dropped the rope and shook her by the shoulders. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" I screamed at her. "What could you possibly have been thinking?! Why would you EVER in a MILLION YEARS pull a stunt like that?!"

"I saw a rope, tied it around me, and the next thing I knew I was going up!"

"Why the HECK would you just tie a random rope around you?!"

"Oh come on Leesy," Zara said nonchalantly. "It's me we're talking about here. Is it really that hard to believe?"

"G-g-, gewzffffjjjjkkgg!" My throat made noises of exasperation as I clawed my hands and shook them at Zara, which only made her laugh at me. "You know what? I don't give a flying buttress! You are NEVER getting drunk again."

"Drunk?" Zara laughed. "Leesy, I'm not drunk!"

"Don't you start. I saw you drink that beer!"

"Leesy, it was only one beer." She said with a smile. "Do you really think that's enough for a person to get drunk off of?"

My eyes glanced towards Germany, whose look said 'I told you' so clearly he didn't even have to say it. "For you, yes." I said, looking back at Zara.

"Well I don't feel drunk." Zara said, grinning and swinging her arms a bit. "I don't feel disoriented at all! Well, no more than usual anyway. I've got no symptoms!"

"She's right." Germany said, walking up to us and examining Zara. "She doesn't look like she's had anything to drink at all. Completely sober."

Hands moving through the air in large gestures of exasperation and frustration, I said, "What? She tied herself to a blimp! A BLIMP! No? Nothing? You're not gonna chew her out? At all?!"

"Somezing tells me you've got zat covered." He answered.

"You bet your britches I do. Come on, let's go find the others." I grabbed Zara's wrist and began stalking back through the woods, the nation close behind.

~~PS, the blimp was Mari's idea~~

It wasn't long before we found Mari and Safi, and thankfully they'd succeeded in locating Alex. According to them, they'd found her with her head in a rabbit hole, mumbling something about Alice in Wonderland. Now however, she was flat on her back in the grass, waving her arms in the air, mumbling crazy nothings and all around just looking completely wasted.

"Well I can see alcohol's had the expected effect on her." I said as we met up with them.

"Where did you find Zara?" Mari asked.

"Why are you all wet?" Safi asked.

"And why are you wearing Germany's jacket?" Zara asked.

"You," I said pointing at Zara. "Shut it. You," I pointed at Mari and Safi. "Take her." I handed Zara over to them. "And you," I grabbed Alex's arm and yanked. "On your feet."

She laughed crazily as she staggered to her feet. "Hey Leesy, what did you do with Mister-Studly-German-Man while you two were alone?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows and making Zara laugh.

My face became so hot you could fry an egg on it. "You're in big trouble missy. Just wait till we get home." And without another word from anyone I started stalking home, Alex in tow, with no danger of ending up anywhere else because for once that day I had a one track mind.

~~Just so you know Alex, it was pretty much unanimous as to how you would react under the influence ;)~~

The first thing I did when we got home was drag Alex into the bathroom and shove her into the bathtub.

"Aw come on Leesy, it was just one drink! And we were in Europe so it's okay!" she slurred at me with her dopey smile.

And with that I turned on the water, grabbed the holdable shower head, pulled the 'trigger' and blasted Alex with ice-cold water, screaming, "DON'T! BE! DRUNK!"

Third Person POV

Alex's screaming could be heard throughout the house. Mari, Zara, Safi and Germany, who had followed them home just to make sure they got back safe, all stood in the door of the bathroom, watching the spectacle. It didn't take long for Zara to fall to the ground, howling with laughter at the misfortune of her friend.

Safi shook her head and sighed. "I'm going to go make her some coffee." She said, heading into the kitchen.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Mari asked. "You know how Alex gets around caffeine."

"It's good for drunkenness, right?" Safi pointed out as she poured grounds into the coffee maker. "Besides, I think she'll need it."

"Does she alvays react zis vay to people who drink?" the country asked, looking a bit alarmed.

Mari sighed. "No, just with us." She said. "We made a deal long ago that we wouldn't let each other drink, and those who did would suffer the consequences." She gestured towards the door, out of which ran a sopping wet Alex, who screamed "COLDCOLDCOLDCOLD!" as she ran up the stairs, leaving a trail of ice cold water in her wake before disappearing upstairs with the slam of a door.

Not long after, Lees emerged from the bathroom with a major grumpy face on. "You." She said, pointing to the Duck on the ground. "You're next."

With a shriek and a laugh, Zara leaped to her feet and shot back out the front door, with Lees in hot pursuit. However, since Zara still seemed completely sober, she and no intention of being caught. And if Zara is not wearing heels and she doesn't want to be caught, she will not be caught.

Panting from her efforts, Lees gave up and practically fell back through the door. "I'll get her later." She mumbled to no one in particular as she plopped down into a chair at the table.

Seeing that the situation was now under control, Germany decided to take his leave

Lees watched him go, but it wasn't until he was out the door that she realized that his jacket was still wrapped around her shoulders. "Wait, Germany!" she called after him as she ran after him. When she did catch up to the German, jacket in hand, she found she was at a loss for words. "Um," she said, trying to figure out why her voice wouldn't work. She felt there was more she should say, but in the end all she did was hand him the jacket, saying "Danke."

The country looked at her for a moment, and Lees found it hard to keep from squirming under his blue gaze. "You're velcome." He replied as he set his hand on her head for just a moment in a friendly gesture, much to Lees' surprise. "Tschüss." He said before turning and continuing on his journey home.

Lees stood there for a moment and watched him go, lightly touching where his jacket had rested on her shoulders before going back inside, thinking about how cold she was again.

*Three Doctor Who references in one chapter? And England wasn't so much as mentioned? What am I doing with my life!

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