Is this the quickest update I've ever done on this site? I think it is... Don't get used to it though haha!

This is Canada's first chapter and I tried my best to have him as martyr-ful (new word?) as possible. There's a reason for it of course and we'll see soon enough where this will lead the story to...

Oh yeah, I think I should have written this earlier, but I think you already know that this is a fan fiction about countries but it doesn't mean that I'm an American hater because of the way I'm writing America and same goes for all countries. This is just a fan made story guys, I don't hate any countries (only when they beat us at the Olympics or at world hockey championships... See? I'm SO Canadian!) Also I think it's just for safety measures, but I do not own any of these characters, although honestly I think that writing this on a fan fiction website is kinda pointless since no one really owns the characters on this website anyways... but yeah, I've said it xP

This chapter does have some bad language, so beware.

Matthew did his best to catch his breath. From not that far he could hear the sound of steps coming his way, and all he could think about was not to get caught.

After running all through the third and fourth stories of the building he had decided to hide inside an office, not even looking on the door to see whose office he had gone in. He looked around and found refuge underneath the massive desk that took almost half of the office's space.

He had done it wrong again, and he didn't want to be punished like he had been last time.

"Canada! Oh, Canada! Where is Canada hiding?" He heard the words of his chaser in the hallway.

He grabbed his hair with both his hands, trying to hide the sound of the steps approaching with his arms over his ears. How could he have been such a klutz and do the same mistakes he always did?

A sudden creaking sound was heard and Matthew knew he was too late; his chaser was now inside the office lurking towards the office desk.

"Canada?" the chaser whispered with a voice that made Matthew's skin crawl. It was too late for him, he thought.

"Russia? What in ze world are you doing in my office?"

Matthew gasped as he realized where he was now. France's voice was the superhero Matthew has somehow desperately needed, and hopefully nothing bad would come out of this…

"Why isn't it my friend France!" Russia laughed. "Tell me, have you seen little Canada?"

Matthew listened in closely, praying and hoping that somehow Russia's footsteps would walk out of the office.

"Why would Canada be in my office, dear Russia? Perhaps you are only pretending to be looking for him and rather want something else from someone, huh?"

"Oh! No, thank you creepy blond guy!" Russia stuttered. It made Matthew chuckle to know that Russia could be easily freaked out by France's behavior. "I will be looking away now. Bye bye."

When the door closed Matthew waited a moment, not sure if Francis had stayed inside or had left along with Russia.

"It is okay mon ami, you can come out now."

Matthew's heart jump as he opened his eyes and saw that Francis was standing in front of him, a hand up to help Matthew get out of beneath the desk. Matthew accepted the hand and got up, blushing red as fire.

"Erm… thank you."

"No problème! We all know that Russia can be… comment dire… bothersome? What happened with zim this time?"

Matthew had never truly had a conversation with the guy before, and it was amazing how it felt to be recognized for once. "I didn't get the right documents he had asked for from the library downstairs and he wanted me to have a taste of his cold shashlyk."

It had sounded childish of him, but somehow he felt good about being able to share with someone for once. In reality the only one he could really talk to at work had been Russia, but only because he worked under him and did whatever he was asked to or else he would have to pay the price somehow.

France's laugh brought him back to reality. "Ah, I see. Well then feel free to come and hide in my office any time you wish my friend." France gave him a pat on the shoulder before walking away towards the door. "Now if you will excuse me, I have a romantique date with the plus que wonderful Seychelles!"

The man left his office, leaving behind Matthew who didn't seem to understand what had just happened. Sure, France had just saved him from a scary Russia, but what now? Surely their friendship had not blossomed in a matter of minutes?

I wish it had thought, he thought with his smile suddenly fading away. He decided that it was better for him to leave the office of the French before he came back – with possibly a woman at his arm – and decided to head downstairs where his desk was.

Matthew didn't look around him as he went down the stairs. Instead he decided that it was better for him just to keep being a lay-low profiled country and being ignored by everyone. He did though see something that bothered him as he reached the second floor and saw two small blond figures walking as fast as they could down the stairs, their eyes swollen from possibly crying more than they were used to.

Could he dare ask Switzerland and his little sister what had happened to them? He didn't know much about those two countries, but he did remember that some time ago Switzerland hadn't been afraid of much. Things had changed though, but trying to be out of major conflicts as he could (unless Father asked him to) Matthew didn't dare get informed on what was going on, and why everyone at the working building seemed to be afraid to cross the office at the end of the second floor hall.

No, instead of trying to find out what had happened Matthew had done what he did best: look away as the couple of siblings continued their way down the grand staircase to the exit. It did break his heart not to courageous enough to go to them, but last thing he needed was more trouble right now.

"Canada! I've found you finally!"

A cold shiver passed through Matthew's body as he turned around and saw that Russia wasn't far behind him. Matthew thought he could faint at the sudden touch of Russia's hands on his shoulders, but he tried his best to stand up still.

"Mister Canada's been pretty bad again. Why did not you finish the report I told you to finish for me?"

Shit. Matthew's heart raced inside his chest and it scared him to no end to know that whatever he would ramble wouldn't be enough for Russia. "Well… erm… you see Sir, the documents you requested were not at the library like you said they would be and so I thought if I would bring you the documents I gave you instead you'd still be able to finish your report and.."

"Ah ah ah! It is not what I asked of you. You can be punished later when you will walk up to my office again later, 'kay?"

Matthew didn't know what was scarier: the serious tone in Russia's voice or the grin he had on his face. He knew what it meant, and this time it wasn't the leftover cold Russian cuisine that he would have to deal with.

He remained still as Russia waved him goodbye and walked back upstairs. Matthew didn't know what to do at the moment. He knew that if he walked up those stairs he would probably have a hard time coming down from them, and if he ran away…

I could run away! Playing hide and go seek had worked well for him the first time, what if he could hide somewhere on this floor and never come out again?

Once he was decided he began to run towards the nearest door. He could care less what happened to him if he would get into another stranger's office; as long as it wasn't Russia he knew he would see daylight in the morning.

He ran with only one eye opened to see where the door was. The last thing he needed was to hit a door so hard it would break his nose. When he got to the door he turned the door knob quickly and pulled the door, getting inside as quickly as he had done upstairs inside of France's office. Leaning against the door he quickly breathed in and out until he was able to catch his breath from running, and it was only then that he opened his eyes to see where he was.

The room was dark, with only one lamp turned on at the desk. For some reason this office seemed way larger than the other offices he had ever been in, and Matthew couldn't help but to wonder why that was. The soft ticking of a grand father's clock was the only thing Matthew could hear inside the office and for some reason when he took a long breath through his nose he realized that the room smelled of warmth, sweat and something almost sweet and salty that he couldn't get his finger on.

It was only after what seemed like forever that he heard a toilet flush from the other side of the office, and suddenly a door behind the office opened and a man appeared. In an awkward gesture Matthew tried his best to turn around and get to the door knob but the voice of the man echoed inside the office.

"Who goes there? I don't believe we have an appointment."

Matthew tried to ignore the man, and attempted to turn the door knob once more. When he figured that the door had probably been locked from the inside or that it wasn't working well Matthew decided to turn to face the man again, only to find a fun pointed at his face.

"I'll only say it one more time: Who are you?"

I should have stayed home today, Matthew thought. "I'm Canada. Sorry to disturb you sir I was just hiding from someone and I got here while I was running for my life and I don't know why I'm rambling and now I'm just scared of your gun and I don't know what to do!"

Everything had come out as a ramble, but it didn't matter at this point; he was most likely never going to be able to leave work alive by the end of the day at this rate anyways…

"Oh!" The other man had a funny face towards Matthew's rambling, and just as if he had realize that the gun was still up in the air he brought it down and smiled. "Sorry about that. I usually do not get any guests as long as they have an appointment with me. I am America."

What?

Matthew gasped. Time stopped at the last word the man had said, finally realizing who was standing in front of him. They hadn't seen each other for years and years and now… here of all places?

"A… America you said?"

The other man frowned before laughing as loud as he could. "Ha! You must be death or something? Yeah, they call me America, but my real name is –"

"Alfred."

It was the other man's turn to gasp. Matthew noticed that the other man was now staring at him confused by something, and his right hand with which he still held the gun was trembling.

"No one knows my real name. Only my father does. How do you know that name?"

Could this mean… he has forgotten about me? Matthew thought as he looked at his twin brother's eyes and saw only confusion mixed with a glimpse of fear.

"Oh, erm… I guess you could say that Britain and I know each other pretty well 'is all." Matthew tried to laugh, thinking that he and Britain would need to have a talk sooner than he thought and try to figure out why his twin brother didn't even recognize him.

This time Matthew saw something in his brother's eyes that he thought he had imagined; there was something broken inside that man, he thought as he tried to clear the idea out of his head that America had shed a tear at the sound of Britain's name.

And then a mumbled as Alfred turned around to head back at his desk.

"That fucking bastard."

Matthew should have felt anger that a guy – especially his own brother – would speak this way about his own father but for some reason, deep inside of him, he felt the same way as Alfred. After all, their father had separated them a long time ago, long enough that somehow Alfred had forgotten about him.

What happened to him that made him forget about me? Matthew thought when a sudden sob came from his mouth.

His eyes were closed now, and he leaned against the door thinking about how everything had been since he had last seen his brother. At first his father would come for short visits, possibly just to make sure that he did his job as he was taught to do. And then one day, Britain had stopped visiting.

"Looks like things are much busier than before, Canada," his father had told him in a letter. "I'm afraid I won't be able to make it again."

Even then his father couldn't even handle calling him by his human name anymore. Alas, he had become just another country, like the rest of them all. It was then that Matthew remembered the last message he had received from his father then…

"One thing I ask of you, dear son, is to not attempt to meet with your brother anymore. I will be meeting with you soon. I love you. Britain."

Matthew had wondered the reason of this letter until the day of the War of Independence began on his brother's land. Britain had been smart to ask of him not to join his brother in fear of losing more territory and so, like the obedient son he had always been, he had decided to never attempt to speak to his brother again.

Until today.

"Hey dude, are you okay?"

Matthew woke up from his thoughts as he realized that someone's hand was touching his forehead.

"Chill out, man! You're going to get sick if you don't relax!"

Matthew tried his best not to freak out. Yes, he remembered now that his brother and father had fought and were not on speaking terms anymore and somehow by getting that letter before the war Matthew had accepted to be on his father's side without even knowing what had been going on.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" Matthew sobbed.

Without even thinking or even thanking Alfred – America – for not shooting him for entering his office Matthew got up. He didn't dare look at the other man's face again, in fear that he would start crying like a little child in front of one of the strongest nations in the world. He nudged the door knob as fast as he could and managed to get it opened.

"Dude! Wait!"

But he couldn't wait, Matthew realized as his legs didn't stop the running. Hiding from Russia had to be the second worst thing to have happened today, and it broke his heart knowing that this simply wasn't the wait he had wanted to meet up with his brother again.

Matthew only stopped the running once he got to his small office, which was on the first floor in a space that looked like an old storage room. It was dark inside but not the same dark it had been inside Alfred's room. This darkness was cold and ugly, a place that only he would ever go in and where no one would ever dare come to visit him.

He shut the door behind him and turned on the light to see the grey walls welcoming him in. It had been the last available office from what he had been told but somehow he knew that they had lied to him and they had given him a space that didn't matter. Once he caught up his breath Matthew sighed and walked to his small desk where most of his personal belongings – even the ones from outside of work – were. When he got to his seat he opened the bottom right drawer where a white stuffed polar bear was comfortably lying on its back. For some time now Matthew had even stayed at the office to sleep, knowing that there was no point in leaving to go home since he didn't have much there, and had even made a bed for his precious bear to sleep in when he would stay overnight.

Matthew took the bear in his hands and got it close to his chest, hugging the toy as hard as he had ever done before. He didn't give a shit if someone would suddenly barge in and see him crying while holding the bear the way he did; right now all he wanted was to be alone with his thoughts and remember the times he had as a child…

… right back when he and his brother were together and happy.

A friend who read this before I posted it suggested that America didn't see Canada's face since only the desk lamp was on. What do you guys think? Would America still recognize his brother? Let me know in the reviews what you think! I'm actually going to wait for a few reviews before posting what's next! We'll get back to the Daughter of Evil storyline shortly so stay tuned!

America's turn is next again! :D