CH.4

I still can't believe what I heard…that laughter…it still brings chills down my spine whenever I remember it. Even if now it was only a memory…as I walked I just kept getting caught up in my thoughts, until I bumped into someone, they sweared rather loudly, I couldn't help but start apologizing immediately, something that just comes naturally to me whenever I do something wrong…"I-I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to!" I said frantically trying to help the person I bumped into; I look up to see that it was Britain. Maple…why him of all people, every time he caught me in the halls doing nothing, or having nothing to do he'd put me to work, same with Alice. "No, no it's quite alright dear; I wasn't watching where I was going. But are you doing anything in particularly important? I need you or your sister to dust some things in my study." My eyes grew larger when I heard he needed dusting in his study…No one goes in his study and trust me, no one wants to go in there either. It just reeked of troubled pasts…and pure alcohol sometimes too. And we were usually called there whenever we were to be punished for misbehavior. I stayed quiet for a while, he started fixing his jacket, it seemed he was about to leave somewhere.

"I-I'll do it…S-Sir" I said keeping my head down, I didn't like looking him in the eyes when I spoke, I was there to cook and clean, I saw him as if he were my Boss or my master. I never really considered him any more than that. He nodded and walked past me saying something briefly as he walked by, "Do make sure to clean over the fireplace, it's gotten very dusty and my musket needs some dusting to." And with that he left, the door shutting behind him, I took a long sigh, lifting my head up and walking to the supply closet; I took the duster and walked very slowly to his study. I took a deep breath as I placed my hand on the knob of the door, and gave a quick prayer, just hoping he wasn't up drinking last night…I opened the door and walked in, it was a large study, there were two large shelves against the wall filled to the top with old books, many of Shakespeare. Next to his miniature library was his fire place, with the walls decorated of past treasures he'd won, and paintings and trinkets his citizens made in honor of him, others words Great Britain, everything just showed how old the man really was.

Yet he still kept that gentlemen like presence with him, even when he'd been through so much. There was a greenish rug in front of the fire place in which I found his little orange and white cat…that oddly looked a lot like him. I shooed the cat away as I started dusting the study as he'd asked, his desk was left spotless and I made sure that his elegant Victorian armchair was dusted and polished. I went towards the fire place ready to clean over the mantle as he had asked. But I was just…a bit short. I pouted and looked around for a chair that I could have used to lift myself up, I noticed in the corner of the study was an old chair. It looked unused for ages, and it seemed perfectly fine to me, it was seated next to a nightstand like table, over the table was this jagged twig thing. I wasn't really sure what that was, so I brushed the thought off to the side and lifted the chair moving it towards the fireplace.

When I lifted the chair, it gave me a shock, I pulled my hand away quickly, but I did see red electricity emanate from it when it shocked me…"What?" I tilted my head to the side looking at the chair slightly confused, I shrugged it off and finally stepped over the chair with the duster in hand and started dusting. But the moment I placed my other foot on it, a bunch of red lightning came from it shocking me completely, I screamed at the top of my lungs. I heard the door swing open, but I couldn't tell who it was, everything just went black and I felt my body move backward into someone's arms.

Narrator's POV

America was lounging in the living room minding his own business when he suddenly heard loud screaming coming from Britain's study. He knew that Britain had left for the day to fulfill some deeds the Queen had given him, country duties he wasn't familiar with…yet. He ran immediately to Britain's study, because he had a good idea who was screaming, he stood at the entrance and all he saw was that Madeline was standing on a chair…a chair he's seen Britain use some type of spell on. And quickly he noticed her falling back, he ran right before she fell and caught her in his arms, but when he did he felt a shock come out of him and shock her as well. She was finally knocked out completely, he didn't know what to do all he did was held her and just think, 'what the heck just happened!'

He carried her bridle style and took her to the living room where he once was, and called Alice over to help her. He thought this was something like a physical injury and Alice being an ex-army nurse, thought that she could help her somehow. Alice came rushing in after he had called her and ran to Madeline's aid quickly. She checked her pulse, then ran back to a certain room and took out a first aid kit, one that she used to carry around with all the time. And started treating her, trying to see if what America had explained to her, had a definite effect on her…one in which involved Madeline's death.

Madeline's POV

All I could feel was numbness throughout my body, my brain still seemed awake and I slowly opened my eyes and found myself back in Britain's study, except Alice was there and so was Britain. Did I do something wrong? Oh crud…Alice came up to me and noticed I opened my eyes, placing a hand on my head and smiling softly. I was just so confused, what was going on here? "Is she awake?" Britain had said, his back was turned and he was sitting in his armchair at his desk. "Yes she is, just slightly I think she's able to hear us, not so sure if she could speak to us" She replied sheepishly sitting in the chair next to mines. "Alright then, that's all I needed to know" Britain said turning his chair around facing us two, he got up and took the chair that I had stepped on earlier and moved it to a closet, locking it shut. He returned to us, sitting back in his armchair, he folded his hands into each other and looked at me with a serious expression. One that I always hoped to never see, when it came to speaking to me…

I couldn't move my neck, so I just looked back at him, he gave a sigh and waved his hand to Alice, she got up and he whispered something into her ear, she left the room and came back with a mirror. She sat down with the mirror and waited for Britain to speak. "Well…Madeline, where did you find this chair, that you used to dust the fireplace?" He said raising a brow still giving me the same expression as before, I stayed silent for a while and soon whispered softly, "I found it by th-this table…" I pointed in the direction where I found it. He stayed silent for a few moments; I was guessing he was trying to think of the right words to say. "Madeline, do you remember who caught you?" I attempted to shake my head, but the pain was too much so I just spoke softly to him instead, "non…" "It was America" Alice said quickly, Britain turned to her confused, "How do you—" "He told me, he saw her get shocked by the busby's chair and caught her right when she was about to fall. He told me he fault this shock come out of him and shock her too." She interrupted him, but Britain didn't seem bothered by this, he lay back in his chair and gave a long sigh, he looked back at me, and I could see the worry in his eyes.

"Well Madeline, it seems that the chair had left some effects on you, that has ultimately changed your life completely from this point in time and onwards." I couldn't understand, what was he trying to say by this? "It seems you don't understand…I could see the confusion in your face." He said, getting up from the chair and walking to Alice, taking the mirror in his hands, he walked up to me and reflected the mirror to me, "You're now a country." My eyes grew wide in shock as I looked into the mirror and I didn't see myself, I had bright blonde hair, the same color as Britain's and my eyes were violet. My hair was very wavy, I lifted my hand to touch my hair and it was so soft, I looked at my hands and saw that my skin was so pale, it felt ice cold. And then suddenly I felt my vision to start failing me, everything just looked so blurry. But wait, did he just say I'm a country? "I-I'm what!" I said in full shock and horror, "You are indeed a country now, you'll soon start feeling time just pass by and you won't really show any signs of aging, until decades pass, or until your land grows." I didn't notice Alice leave but she came back in the room, but with Canada, he looked at me in shock and a small smile grew on his face. Britain looked up and smiled to him, and waved his hand towards me, "Meet your new twin sister, lad" I turned around and looked at him and he gave me a hug, I couldn't help but hug him back…but did that mean, Amelia wasn't my sister anymore?

Alice smiled at me sadly she looked like she had just lost a child; I pulled away from the embrace and looked up to Alice sadly. "Does that mean…you're not my mother anymore?" I said, my voice raising slightly, Alice just nodded and wiped a tear away from her face. "I'll always love you as my own, but you're a country now…I have no custody over the Northern Half of Canada…Britain has that authority now." "Huh?" I turned to Britain and he placed a hand on my shoulder, "Welcome to the family."

America barged into the room with Amelia running in to see what was happening, "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!" They both said unanimously everyone turned around to look at the same, Canada and I had the same blank expression on our face as Alice and Britain shared the, 'did we drop you as a baby?' expression. Amelia came to my side and hugged me tightly pulling me away from Canada; mind you my body was still stiff and sore. America pulled Canada away from us and both glared at each other, as if they were ready to pounce if one dared to take a step toward their beloved sibling. "She's mine! I'm not letting her be a country! I'm not letting you take my baby sister away from me! Especially you!" She said pointing at Britain, her face darkened slightly, holding onto me tighter, I felt the circulation to my upper torso slowly stopping…I think. Britain just rolled his eyes, as Alice face palmed; "Who cares! I ain't sharing Canadia with nobody you hear me!" America said protectively as I noticed he was doing the same to Canada, but he was stronger than Amelia, so I can imagine the pain he was going through.

"MY SISTER!" Amelia said, sticking her tongue out at America, he pouted and hugged Canada's head, "MY BRO!" Britain looked like he was about to burst from the annoyance those two were giving off, Alice just shook her head, trying not to show the annoyance she was getting off of Amelia right now. At the end Britain pulled Canada away from America, but he seemed to struggle slightly from taking him out of America's grip. Alice moved me away from Amelia; she pouted and started saying absurd things about this whole, 'I'm a country' issue. Same with America he seemed disturbed how I just became a country all of a sudden because of a shock from a chair. Which little did he know had contained some type of magic…

Britain explained to him slowly what had happened, so he could grasp what did happened, "So basically, because of me catching her when she fell…she became a country?" He said, Britain nodded, "If a normal person had caught her, or she would have simply fell to the ground, she most likely would have either stayed normal, or her neck get paralyzed from the sudden shock." I started rubbing the back of my neck thinking about how I wouldn't be able to move it anymore, if America hadn't caught me.

Amelia looked angry towards America, "ITS YOUR FAULT I LOST MY SISTER!" She screamed at him furiously, hugging my arm. "No its not! I never meant for her to turn into a country, colony whatever she is now! Come to think of it…I guess she's my little sister now right?" He said turning to Britain, he tilted his head to the side pondering what he just asked, "I assume so, she's Canada's twin, thus making her your new little sister." "Awesome!" Amelia gave him a darker glare, and held onto me tighter than ever, jeez I think she's ready to snap my arm off any second now…America turned to her triumphantly, "Hand over the cute Canadian!" Say what? . . . My face started feeling warmer when he said that, but that just caused Amelia to hold onto to me tighter, she practically hissed at him when he said that, "She's mine dammit! No stupid colony is going to take her from me! How many times do I gotta say it, God dammit!"

Alice pulled me away from her for the second time and took me to Canada's side; he held me hand and smiled sheepishly at me. "I guess we're brother and sister now…" "I-I guess so…" I suddenly heard some type of crying in the background, I turned to see Alice, carrying Amelia away by force out of the study, but Amelia was crying. She was crying so much that it made me want to cry, she was screaming and yelling and kicking, like having a temper tantrum, "SHE IS MY BABY SISTER MINE! I DON'T WANT TO GIVE HER AWAY! I WANT HER TO STAY WITH ME!" I hide my face from her and I just started crying silently behind Canada, he noticed and hugged me trying to comfort me…I may have gained the title of North Canada…but I wouldn't have ever wanted it if it meant losing my beloved sister…that was the first time I ever saw her cry..