A/N: Oh, Arthur. You're killing yourself over this, aren't you? ^^ Anyway, thank you for your support! I've gotten a lot of faves and alerts on this one story, which is really cool~ So keep the reviews coming so I'll want to write more, haha. Anyways, don't own Hetalia. Or USUK would be cannon. (It nearly is)
The drive to Washington wasn't too bad. That is, they only had bathroom breaks four times (not counting the number of times they pulled up to a Mc Donald's drive-through, an experience Arthur was growing to loath) and Alfred's music was tolerable, so it was survivable to Arthur. As survivable as listening to three hours of country music can be, that is.
"Ah, here we are! My capital! Ugh… I think I need to sleep," Alfred said, walking out of the car and collapsing against it. Arthur let out a whine to remind the nation that he needed to let someone else out of the car. Alfred gave him an unsteady smile and Arthur could see that his eyes were a little tired, which was worrying. This was America, the most energetic nation (besides Italy running from a fight) in the whole world. Feeling tired. Was this the end of the world?
"Sir? We didn't know you'd be here today; we aren't done-" Alfred held up a hand as one of the security men walked up, looking like something out of a Hollywood movie. Ridiculous, in other words.
"I just drove six hours from my New York penthouse to get something. I'm staying here or in a hotel, whether you like it or not. Oh, and this is England's dog, Arthur. Call him Artie." 'Artie' let out a sharp bark, prodding over to Alfred's side. He had only been to Alfred's Washington home a few times, surprisingly. Most of the world meetings the nation held were actually in New York, since it was the location of the Untied Nations head quarters anyway. Despite that, Arthur had been to D.C itself many more times then he could count. Alfred was always very proud of his capital, like any other nation.
"O-Ok sir." The guard seemed a little uncertain on how to react to Alfred, and Arthur figured he was new. All the old guards knew that America was not your typical nation. For one, he hated having too much security, and kept things down to a minimum while he was actually in the building (hence the large security sweeps before and after). Another was that he rarely used any kind of honorifics. Arthur wasn't sure he knew the definition of being polite, since he just said whatever he wanted.
It was nice, Arthur thought as he followed Alfred, to hear someone so honest on occasion.
"I, like, need twenty hamburgers and thirteen packages of fries stat, or I'll die from hunger. Oh, and a really large coke. Like, the huge thirst buster size!" Alfred said as he walked inside. He ignored the stares of the new guards, the others more or less used to his antics.
On the other hand, Arthur thought, Alfred could learn the definition of 'dieting'.
Alfred let early that morning, with a pat on the head and a quick trip to the backyard for Arthur to 'do his business'. He didn't bring England, but all he said was 'you'd get in the way'. Slightly offended, Arthur found himself sitting on Alfred's armchair with his green eyes staring at the TV. Alfred had 'helpfully' put it on, and now he was stuck watching some bizarre cartoon where a mouse tricked a cat into falling into the most ridiculous and strange traps. It was slightly amusing to replace the cat with Francis, however, and pretend it was the frog that was getting beaten up.
At least that bloody alien wasn't there, much to Arthur's relief. He wasn't sure what he had done to annoy Tony, but the alien had hated him since the day they met. It was, of course, a mutual feeling. After all, the thing didn't do anything other than play video games and continue Alfred's obsession with space, when the bugger should be worrying about his failing economy… Blast it, Arthur thought as he stood up from the armchair and leapt down. I need to do something interesting before I loose my mind.
Looking around, Arthur decided to take a look around the large house. It hadn't changed much since the last time he was there, but it was still somewhat refreshing to see everything from a dog's point of view. Refreshing in a strange way, of course, since he wasn't able to see anything on tables or any relatively high surface, after all. If he had, he might have been able to see the notebook lying on Alfred's desk, labeled (not very sneakily) 'journal'. And, well, he might have tried to read it.
As it was, Arthur found himself jumping out of an open window to venture around Alfred's Washington D.C property. After all, it wasn't like he could get lost or anything, right?
Blast it; I could have sworn that the turn was the right one… Oh, bugger. If I'm lost, and in a foreign country, what am I supposed to do? And I'm a bloody dog, on top of it all, Arthur thought as he walked around the empty road. Alfred, Arthur knew from before, had two houses in the D.C area. One was a small apartment in the actual capital. The other was more in the countryside, where he'd stay if he needed to be by D.C but didn't want to be in the city itself. And, as Arthur was quickly finding out, it was far too easy to loose oneself in the large forest around Alfred's property.
At least I found a road, the nation-turned-dog thought moodily. He wasn't sure where it would lead, but it had to go somewhere, right? And he was wearing a collar, so he'd be able to get back to Alfred eventually… Arthur let out something resembling a snort, shaking his head as he continued to walk alongside the road. Stupid git. It's all his fault. If he hadn't annoyed me at the last meeting, I wouldn't have tried to turn him into a bleeding dog. And if I hadn't tried to turn him into a dog, the spell wouldn't have backfired…
Which is how I got here in the first place. The stupid American's fault. Arthur let out a huff as he shook his body, trying to get a little warmer. It wasn't like he wasn't used to the cold, but it felt weird, since he was a dog. Not uncomfortable, just weird. Fur is weird, Arthur decided. And besides, it's trapping all this water… In fact, it had rained last night, and Arthur's fur was starting to get fluffier because of the moisture in the air. At least, that was what the island nation figured. He wasn't an expert at animals, after all… No, that was someone like Australia, or maybe China. The man was always walking around with some weird cat thing, after all.
Arthur let out a yelp as a car suddenly sped past him, soaking him to the bone with water. Bloody Americans, driving too quickly for their own good… And on the wrong side of the road! Arthur thought with annoyance. He shook his fur, water spraying everywhere. When I turn back, I'm going to strangle America for putting me through this… It's all his blood fault! Arthur let out a sneeze.
Great, I'm getting a bloody cold. And it's not economy related either, it's because I'm walking around Washington D.C soaked to the bone! What kind of country is this, where a nation is walking around, stuck as a dog, because another nation isn't intelligent enough to realize the dog is actually England? Of course, I should have expected this. After all, I am in America…
England was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't realize there was a car stopped next to him until a car door opened and he heard someone shout his name. What the bloody hell? He thought, moments before he was picked up and pulled into the most awkward hug of his life (and he had plenty of bad ones before).
"Arty! You're safe! But, wait, what are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay in the house!" Alfred cried out, grinning at the dog. "I told you I'd be back. Were you so lonely you needed to see me? Aw, I'm touched!" He said, frowning a little as Arthur struggled to release himself from Alfred's grip. No luck, though. He quickly found himself being turned around so he could see Alfred's beaming face, his grin blinding. "I have what I needed, so let's get going!" With that, Arthur was put in the passenger seat and Alfred buckled his seatbelt, only to take off at ten miles over the speed limit to Alfred's Washington house.
Arthur was slightly annoyed to see that he had been walking in the wrong direction.
"Ok, I just need to send this to Norway, and then I'll be able to get Iggy back!" Alfred said, opening up the car doors so Arthur could jump out. With the speed a certain American had been going, they had made it back to the house in what felt like record time. Either that or Arthur had just been too distracted trying to look behind the seats towards a large, obviously old, box that held whatever 'this' was. "I'll let you in, and then I'll be right behind you, ok?" Alfred said cheerfully. He opened up the garage door and made sure it would stay open, before heading back to the car to grab the box.
It wasn't very large, in all honesty. Maybe big enough to fit a smaller nation like Italy in, but Arthur really hoped it wasn't a nation. Still, he was completely stumped as to what he could have left at Alfred's main home. He hadn't stayed there since… Well, truth be told, he never had stayed there. So what in the world could Alfred have of his? The first thing that came to mind was a suit, but surely America would have returned them by now. And surely England would have noticed if one of his suits went missing…
"Careful, there, Artie. Almost stepped on yah!" Alfred said as he walked past the brooding dog. Arthur let out a snort as he followed Alfred into the living room, where the larger nation opened up the box after he set it on his couch. Almost immediately, Arthur jumped onto the couch to get a look inside.
No bleeding way, Arthur thought. I haven't seen those in… Well, since the Revolutionary War. In fact, I was almost certain the brat had thrown them out. Why in the world had he kept them? Despite the fact that it was touching to see his old suits, it was mostly puzzling. Sure, Arthur had several old toys of Alfred's, but that was only because he never got around to cleaning up his house. It wasn't like he actually missed being close to Alfred or anything.
"Ha, it's funny… Y'know, I kept these suits right where Iggy left them, when we broke apart… I kept his room the same, too." Alfred looked at Arthur, a sad gleam in his eyes. "I've never told anyone, but I used to go into Arthur's room when it was really rainy, or when I was in a lot of pain… Even though it was because of him, usually, I still found comfort in his room. The smell of tea, of old books, of… of Arthur. It just made me feel better. Like everything was going to be ok." Alfred let out a sad laugh, shaking his head and closing the box. "I'll send this to Norway. He'll be able to find Iggy, right?"
With that, the larger nation walked to get packing materials. Arthur was left sitting on the couch, completely and utterly stunned.