WILD AMERICA

~Christopher Columbus~

Christopher Columbus stepped onto the land that he was certain was Asia. He had been travelling in his ship, Santa Maria with his men, younger brother Bartolomeo, and his thirteen year old son Diego for the past year. Finally, after struggling to survive several storms, he had finally arrived.

"Mark this date, October 12, 1492" Columbus said to his navigator who stood beside him, a scroll in his hands of the surrounding territory, or at least what they suspected to be the surrounding territory, "This is the day we arrived in Asia."

"If this is Asia", grumbled his brother who had grown quite bored with sea travel over the past few months. He was more than happy to finally be setting his feet down on solid land.

Christopher just ignored his brother as he sucked in a deep breath and smiled.

"How gloriously lush", he stated.

"Father", came the voice of his son Diego, "might I go look around?"

Chris hesitated. Should he let his son go off alone in a strange land such as this?

"I suppose, but don't wander far and if you see or hear anything strange come back immediately. Understand?"

"Yes father", he replied with a smile as he took off towards the trees.

The boy loved adventure just as much as his father, something that often got him into trouble, but it was as though the very desire was imbedded in his soul.

As the boy stepped through the bushes of the forest, the green light surrounding him as the sun cut through the branches of the trees standing miles above his head. Roots snagged his feet and pant legs, but he kept on, enjoying the freedom he had in a world as unknown as this one.

A small rustling sound caught his attention. Upon hearing it, the boy backed up a pace before deciding he was being a coward and crept forward to peek into the greenery. He laughed when a rabbit jumped out, nearly startling him enough to send him falling to the ground on his behind.

"Scared me little fella, I thought for sure you were…"

A growl stopped him mid-sentence and he gulped as he turned to face the aggressive noise. He came eye to eye with one of the largest mountain cats he had ever seen in his life.

"G-Good kitty", he whispered as he backed up a step.

The growling increased.

"Good kitty, you d-don't want to e-eat me", he whispered again, taking another step back, "nice kitty cat."

The mountain lion stepped forward, his body crouching. Diego had been with his father enough to hear stories about mountain cats such as this one. He knew when they growled it was a warning and when they crouched…well…they were planning to attack. Diego knew he shouldn't run, but his fear got the better of him and turned and fled before he had even thought things through.

"Papa!" he screamed, "Papa!"

The Italian Explorer heard the far off cries of his son and immediately the man and his shipmates set out to find the boy. He knew he shouldn't have let him go off alone.

H~H

America and her twin brother had been playing outside since morning, enjoying the cool sunny day that came with the usual October temperatures. It was one of her favorite seasons, fall. She loved it when the land shed its skin to become anew.

"Why do we always have to play here in the trees?" whined her brother, "I prefer the fields."

America sighed.

"The fields don't have anything fun", she said as though it were obvious, "come on North, you can't seriously think that the grain fields can beat the beauty of fall."

North didn't say anything, but he obviously did think they could. That was just how North was. He preferred a calm relaxing day in the meadows enjoying the sunshine and the open fields while America only wanted the beauty of her nature and the creatures roaming their lands, the freedom of adventuring into the wild.

"Well, we could…" she stopped when a sound in the distance caught her attention.

As the personification of the land of America, she had become increasingly more aware over time of her ability to see all that transpires throughout her beautiful lands. This included when strangers landed. North who had been waiting for her to finish her thoughts looked up, curious.

"What is it?" he asked genuinely interested in what his sister was seeing. She could always seem to sense things better than he could most of the time.

"Strangers", she whispered, her eyes shining.

Her memory leapt back to the time when she had met Leif. The man had become her friend and the two had hung out for a while before he finally claimed the need of returning home. However before he had gone, he had stopped to meet and speak to her mother, Anahi aka Native America. To this day America wasn't sure what they spoke about, but she wondered about it often.

"When you are older, I will explain", she had simply told her daughter.

America wondered how much older she would need to be before her mother told her. It had already been 500 years since Leif's departure back to his homeland. She wondered when he might return so that they could play again.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a loud roar came through the trees, seeming to echo around them. She froze again when she followed the sound and found an even more frightening one. The sound of crying.

"He's in trouble", she whispered.

"Who is in trouble?" asked North who had been watching his twin sister all this time when she had been deep in her thoughts. It wasn't uncommon of her to do, but it was rare she ever remained silent longer than a couple seconds.

"The boy", she whispered, "I need to help him!"

She took off running through the forest and North chased after her, concerned when he noticed the panic on her face.

"America! Wait!" he yelled, his breath coming in harsh pants, "explain to me what is happening!"

"I told you to call me Libellee", she called behind her "mom will get mad if you don't!"

North frowned. He hated having to go by his native name, but America…or should he say Libellee, seemed to love it.

"Hurry up Matai or I will leave you behind!"

He grumbled as he shot forward faster, trying to catch up to his impatient and irritating twin.

H~H

Diego was breathing incredibly hard, tears running down his cheeks as he burst out of the dense forest and straight onto the edge of a small cliff. Groaning and fearful, he turned to face the large mountain cat stepping out of the trees.

"P-Please…" he begged as he backed up to the point he was near the edge, "please leave me alone."

The cat just huffed as though laughing at him as it crouched once again, preparing to attack. He closed his eyes as he began to fall backwards off the cliff.

"No!" screamed a voice.

He tried to stop his fall, but as he eyes snapped open and he flailed his arms, he couldn't regain his balance. His body tumbled over the side of the cliff and began descending towards the raging river down below.

At this point, Diego truly expected to die. However the feeling of arms grabbing hold of his waist startled him as he looked down. He couldn't stop the open mouth gape he gave as he noticed exactly who it was holding onto him. A small girl, no older than maybe five held onto him for dear life. Her eyes were clenched closed, but she refused to let go. Diego had no idea where she had come from, but he didn't want her to die with him. He grabbed a hold of her and prepared to allow himself to slam down first before her.

She had other plans.

America felt what the boy was trying to do for her and quickly altered that plan by twisting, putting her own small body in front of his. She had never fallen from such a height before, but she knew from past experience that she couldn't easily die and even then, her mother had told her death wasn't necessarily the same type of death for them as it was for humans. She sincerely hoped that was true as the two of them slammed down into the chilled waters below and didn't immediately resurface.

H~H

Christopher and his men had just gotten to the cliff face when he saw the body of his son vanish over the edge.

"Diego!" he screamed, right at the same time as another voice screamed out, "No!"

He watched in stunned silence as a child darted past him and flew out over the edge of the cliff after his son. He stared in horrified fascination as the two swiftly fell to the rivers calling.

"Libellee!" Screamed a voice.

Chris and the other men stood there in stunned silence as another child ran out of the forest. He was around five years of age in appearance with dirty blonde hair and a single loose strand that hung over his eyes, curling at the end. In his hands he clutched what looked to be a baby white bear and his clothes of deer skin hung loosely over his small frame.

"Libellee!" he screamed again, his eyes wide and horrified at what his sister had just done. The fall wouldn't permanently kill her, but he knew it could kill her at least temporarily.

So caught up in his own ramblings of the mind and his own horror at the scene that had just taken place, he failed to realize that the men who had been staring at him were getting closer. Christopher however wasn't going to hurt the child. He merely wished to know what happened to his son and who the child was that had dived in after him.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

It finally dawned on North that someone was speaking to him. Turning, his eyes widened when he noticed the dozen humans staring at him with something akin to fascination, curiosity, and concern.

"Y-Yeah", he whispered out gulping. His sister had always been better at talking to strangers than he was.

"My name is Christopher Columbus. That was my s-son that just went over the cliff. Could you tell me where it empties so that I might find him?"

North took a deep breath as he felt panic and his own concern rising. He needed to find his sister.

"I can better than that", he finally stated, "I will show you where it empties. My sister…she jumped in after your son."

The man didn't say anything, but nodded in thanks as North began showing them the way to where the river lets out miles down. He could only hope both of them were alive upon arrival.

H~H

Diego coughed and choked as he crawled onto the rocky bank. He wasn't sure how he survived a fall like that, but he was thankful either way. Breathing heavily, he wondered if he could just fall asleep for a while.

Just as he closed his eyes, they snapped back open. 'The girl!' his mind screamed, there had been a girl who had fallen with him, saving him by taking the plunge first. Opening his eyes wider and sitting up, he looked around the area. At first he didn't see anything but the shadowed trees and the sloshing river. He feared she was pulled down below the waves and had gone further down river than he had.

A small coughing sound pulled him out of his devastating thoughts and he turned, surprised, when he noticed the small girl lying a little behind him, her body unmoving, though the shallow breathing he could hear along with the occasional cough told him she was still alive.

Crawling over to her, he collapsed beside her as he grabbed ahold of her arm and rolled her so that she was facing up at him. Her face was pale and pulled tight in pain and it didn't take a genius to realize she was hurt pretty badly.

"A-Are you okay?" he whispered.

The girl in question cracked open her eyes. When she saw the boy leaning over her, she smiled. It surprised him to no end how she could smile while in so much pain.

"Y-You are…alive", she whispered, still grinning.

He sighed.

"Yeah, thanks to you", he said and tried his own attempt at a smile.

She only grinned wider until a cough tore from her throat and she closed her eyes, once against struggling to properly breathe.

"Hang on", he whispered as he gently picked her up into his arms, "I will try to find us somewhere safe to rest."

America couldn't say a word as she snuggled into the warmth of his arms and drifted fast asleep.

H~H

Christopher and North had been walking for the past hour. Some of the men had turned around to send word to the ship of what had occurred, while others continued on, hoping to find the child alive. So far, Chris counted them lucky that they hadn't run into any wild animals themselves, but there was something about the child in front of him that made him think that even if an animal did meet them, it wouldn't attack.

"Where are we going?" Chris finally asked, hoping at least to start a conversation with the boy.

"To the river's down way", he replied.

Chris didn't know what that meant, but he decided it probably was where they might find his son and the boy's sister.

"So", started Chris and North sighed in irritation. He honestly wanted nothing to do with the strangers, but he couldn't blame the man's curiosity. "How old are you and your sister?"

North paused, trying to think up a reasonable answer. Obviously they were much older than they appeared, though he couldn't even guess at how old they really were. He supposed giving them a human age would be the safest and most understandable answer.

"My sister and I are…" he paused again, knowing for a human toddler, the way he and his sister spoke and acted was older than most four or five year old children, which is the age he and America seemed to look. "We are seven, just small for our ages."

The man nodded, accepting this answer.

"What are your names?"

North fought hard not to scowl at the strange man, but he had to remind himself the man was an explorer by nature and he was currently concerned over the safety of his son.

"I am called Matai and my sister is called Libellee."

"Ah", the man replied. What interesting names.

The two walked on in silence until North finally spotted the rivers outlet.

"There", he pointed, "that is where the river lets out and where it would be most easy for the two to escape onto dry land."

Chris only nodded as he followed the small boy down to the shoreline. He was devastated and a bit angry when he didn't see his son anywhere in the vicinity.

"I thought you said they would be here", he growled, though inside he was fearful.

North ignored the human's anger and nodded.

"They should be", he replied as he stepped forward. He soon came upon some marks in the sand and he gave a sigh of relief which Chris noticed.

"What is it?"

"Here", North pointed, "this is where the crawled out of the water. By the looks of it, both made it out alive, but only one set of footprints vanishes into the tree line."

Chris stayed silent, knowing his son was the one with the bigger footprints and the only one who seemed to be walking.

"I am guessing he is carrying Am-Libellee", North quickly corrected.

Christopher nodded, unsure of what to say to the small native boy.

"I-I am sorry", he replied.

North just shrugged. He knew the human child wouldn't have bothered carrying his sister if she hadn't been still alive. He was hopeful that they would find them both soon and alive.

H~H

Diego stopped to rest as he leaned against the rocks of a nearby hill. He had been trying to find somewhere safe to rest and so far, he hadn't had much luck. He didn't know enough about wildlife to know what was considered dangerous, but he took a good guess about specific things. So far, he hadn't seen much he felt very comfortable with.

The little girl in his arms squirmed as she struggled with consciousness. Her blue eyes peering up at him in confusion before recognition replaced it. He smiled down at her.

"You alright?" he whispered as he began walking again. He wouldn't admit that she was getting heavier in his arms. He owed her. She had saved his life.

The little girl gave a short nod before pain lines tightened around her eyes, but she made no noise. He still noticed it however and it worried him.

"Can you speak?"

America stared at him before sighing and nodding. He stopped walking and knelt, gently placing her down along the dirt path, leaning back against the rocks.

"Where do you hurt?"

She thought about that question. Honestly, she thought the better one would be more along the lines of 'Where didn't she hurt?'

"Everywhere", she whispered and grinned sheepishly.

Diego smiled back.

"I see, well I am afraid I can't take care of everything, but maybe I can help with a couple things?"

America just shook her head.

"I'm alright", she said instead.

He frowned, not believe that for a moment, but for now he decided to let it go.

"Do you know where we are?"

America looked around. She could feel the emotions of those looking for them and smiled when one particular one jumped out at her. North, her twin brother.

"Yes, but we must head back the way we came", she whispered, "I am certain…my brother is looking for us."

Diego wasn't sure what it was about the girl, but when she spoke, he immediately believed her. He didn't even think about questioning her as he scooped her back into his arms and headed back towards where his father and her brother were located.

"Would you mind answering me a question?" he whispered as they walked.

"Hmm?" she hummed as she leaned into his shoulder.

"What is your name?"

The small female personification could have easily said Libellee, but something about the way he asked caused her to look up at him. She could see the deep wonder in his eyes and she realized he knew there was more to her than just being a small, brave little girl.

"My name is America", she whispered.

The boy smiled when he heard her words, knowing she had chosen to trust him with the truth.

"Very pleased to meet you", he replied, "My name is Diego Columbus and I am sure you and I will become fast friends."

AUTHORS NOTE*

Alright guys, here was the second chapter. So what did you think?

I know history is more about Christopher Columbus but when I discovered the man had two sons: Diego and Fernando, I decided to make the story more about Diego who I figured could relate to the children version of the countries more.

Also for you history buffs, in truth, Christopher Columbus only traveled with one of his sons, Fernando, when the boy was 13 on a different voyage. Diego never went traveling with his father, at least I didn't see any information about that if he did. Chris was an Italian who traveled with his brother Bartolomeo and did sail on the Santa Maria. He did struggle to survive many storms in his travels and he thought, after one large storm that got him mixed up in direction, that he found Asia when in actuality he found the new world of North America, exactly 500 years after Leif Erikson did. The only difference was, Leif told no one about finding America while Christopher Columbus took word back to Europe and it earned him instant fame. The Italians then established a colony for a short time until Mexico, Spain, England and France became the primary owners.

For those who are wondering, yes, North is Canada, but Canada did not yet have its proper title so I gave him a new name for the time being.

Also, Libellee and Matai are my idea of "native names" that are to be used before they get their proper names that England and France bestow upon them.

Anyhow, more of history soon to come in the next chapter! Look forward to it!