Marcy

We sat on the floor in the living room, playing chess. Matt had brought a couple battery powered heaters into the room, but it was still kinda cold. Probably only 60 degrees, but I get shivery very easily. So, Matthew asked Kumajiro if he would sit in my lap. I didn't complain when he sat down, immediately warming me.

"Move your knight to-," Kuma said, trying to play for me. This was our fifth game and, while I was slowly getting closer and closer, I hadn't come anywhere near beating him. So Kuma had decided to dictate my every move.

"Ohmigosh, Kuma, please stop," I giggled quietly, "If I'm gonna beat a nation at chess I wanna do it myself. Sorry."

"It's okay," he squeaked, "I'll just help that guy instead."

I smiled, "You're evil."

"I'm Kumajiro."

Silence rang out for a few minutes. Then, Matt sighed.

"Hey, Marcy, are you bored?"

That seemed a little random.

"No," I answered, "I'm really having fun."

"That's what I'd say," he said, almost a whisper, "If I were bored."

I frowned. "Why do you think I'm bored?"

"Because you're normally really rambunctious and excited, but right now you're being really quiet and even more polite than normal."

I stared at him for a second, then laughed. "This might come as a shock, but I'm actually very quiet. I've just been so hyped up by everything around me that I got this insane, uncontrollable burst of energy. I mean, sorry if this is rude, you're a nation! A personified nation! I've been researching this crazy theory for years with only one person to back me and I accidentally made this massive breakthrough. That, and my mood tends to mesh with whoever I'm currently around. So like, with America and Prussia, I'll be a little louder, a little bouncier. But with you," I took his rook, "I feel like I can be myself. Like I can let a long pause go on forever and it's not awkward or anything. It's just, nice." I realized I was staring at the chess game rather dreamily. I cleared my throat, "Sorry, I can get a bit preachy sometimes."

Matt looked me in the eyes. It hit me suddenly that his eyes were a soft lavender, almost gray, but with a small spark of color.

"I'm sorry," he said finally, "I shouldn't have judged you on just our first meeting."

"No, that's totally fine," I replied, "You were worried about me and I didn't notice. I should've said something."

Really, though," he said, "I'm really sorry."

"Well, I'm really, really sorry," I said with a grin.

Matthew closed his eyes and shook his head, smiling.

I giggled, "We just had a polite fight."

Once again, silence took hold.

I sighed. "Hey, do you think they're okay?" I asked in a near whisper, "I'm kinda really worried about them."

"Don't worry," Matt said, putting a hand on my knee and smiling reassuringly, "They're safe. I know Alfred's in my country. Call it a nation's sixth sense, eh?"

I nodded, "Okay, thanks Matt."

"You're welcome," he replied, "Check mate."

I scoffed and began resetting the board. "Best six out of eleven?"

xxxxx

Diana

We sat in darkness, broken only by steady the light of my iPhone on the dash. We'd decided to use mine, so Alfred's phone would still have charge if the signal came back. But if the steadily growling pile of snow on the windshield was any indication, the snowstorm wouldn't be letting up any time soon.

We sat curled up in our seats, watching our breath escape our stinging throats. Alfred's near-permanent smile was gone, replaced with a rather neutral expression. He stared forward absently into the darkness. It seemed even he was trying to conserve energy.

I was pulled up into the seat, as much of me as possible curled into the inner sanctum of my jacket. I let my hair fall haphazardly around my face, it offering some small comfort. My slacks were decidedly not meant for freezing temperatures.

I began musing on just how 'superhuman' the nations were, and what the limits of their strength might be.

Alfred's voice brought me back to the present.

"Man," Alfred mumbled, blowing into his gloved hands.

I hesitated a moment, then sighed softly to myself and pulled my hands from my jacket. "Here..." I took one of his hands and cupped both of mine around it.

"What are you...?" The confusion on his face quickly turned to surprise. "Dude! Your hands are WARM! I can feel that through my gloves!"

"Yeah," I said, fighting a smile. "I'm kind of a space heater."

"Dude, that so cool!" Alfred's face lit up with a huge smile. "That's, like, a superpower!"

"If by 'superpower,'" I said, letting go and taking his other hand, "you mean getting a fever every freaking time you take a nap, then yeah."

"A fever?" He asked, a bit concerned.

"I'm not sick," I assured, letting go of the second hand and pulling my hands back into my jacket. "I just run warmer than most people."

"That is so cool!"

I rolled my eyes, failing to keep back a smile any longer. "I could make a horrible pun right now..."

Alfred laughed anyway, unbuckling his seatbelt. He started shifting around, and the next thing I knew, he was pulling himself into the backseat. I ducked out of his way as best I could, staring at him in bewilderment. He settled into the wide seat behind the driver's spot, putting his back to the car door.

"Come on!" He waved me to join him.

I stared. "What."

"Just... Come on!"

"No!"

"Dude, it's freezing, and you're like, really warm." He held out his hand.

I halted, at a loss.

He sighed. "Just trust me."

His words stumbled around in my head, before settling in my gut. I sighed, giving up. I took his hand and he helped me climb my way into the backseat. But once I got there, instead of letting go, he pulled me towards himself. The next thing I knew, my back was to his chest, and his arm was wrapped tightly around my torso.

I mixture of surprise and fear jolted through me. I grabbed the arm around my waist.

"Alfred, what are you doing?!"

"Getting closer to the space heater," he said, humor in his voice.

"Let me go!"

"No!" The humor was gone.

"Alfred...!" I growled.

"Not until you tell me why you're so mad at me!"

I froze, whipping my head around to look at him, and...

He was angry. Oh hell, he was angry. Not a threatening angry, but still. His blue eyes flashed behind his glasses, giving me a glare just sharp enough to make my heart falter.

It took me a second to even find my voice box, let alone use it. "I'm... not..."

"Then how come you're constantly fighting me, huh?" He snapped. "You're treating me like the enemy!"

"No, I..."

"And nothing I ever do seems to be good enough! I'm doing everything I can think of, man!"

Something inside me snapped.

"SO AM I!" I screamed over him. "You keep RUNNING AROUND LIKE CRAZY and DRAGGING US ALONG like it's NO BIG DEAL. Marcy's off her NUT right now! She's acting crazy! I'M SUPPOSED TO BE THE CRAZY ONE." I gestured to myself. "But now I'M trying to take care of HER, I have YOUR GOVERNMENT breathing down MY neck, and I don't…" My voice shook. "I don't know what I'm doing! I'm scared out of my mind. I can't…"

My voice failed. I fell silent, I mashing my palm into my cheek to wipe away a tear that had escaped me.

Silence hung heavily.

Alfred's arm released me and fell limply to the side.

"Don't ever tell anyone..." Alfred said, suddenly quiet. "But when we declared independence, I was scared out of my mind."

The air around us grew still. My breath caught in my throat.

Alfred continued. "It was crazy. We were already barely keeping it together, and the fight had me exhausted, and then we tried to kick start a brand new government?" I..." Alfred hesitated. "I honestly thought I was going to die." He sighed, bowing his head. His hair brushed my shoulder. "I almost did."

Heart twisting, I dared to glance back at him.

Alfred's deep blue eyes were miles away, staring distantly down at the seat. His face was stern, his shoulders bowed from the weight of centuries.

I saw a world-weary man that never dared show his face.

Suddenly Alfred's eyes flicked up and met mine, their sparkle back. He smiled widely, expertly masking the heavy emotions he'd been carrying a split-second before. "But it worked out ok. Just like always. I mean," he smiled a bit sheepishly, running his gloved hand through his hair, "I've definitely made some big mistakes... But so far, it's all worked out."

I looked at the now-boy, a warm smile starting to spread across my face.

I was finally starting to understand him.

"WELL ENOUGH OF THAT." Alfred shoved past me, nearly knocking me to the floor and he reached into the front seat. His long arm swiped my phone off the dash. "LET'S PARTY TO SOME MUS-IIIC!"

'Starting to' were the key words there.

"Alfred, give me my phone!" I swatted at him, trying to grab my phone.

"HAHA. Nope!" His arm grabbed me again, pulling me just of the reach of my phone.

"ALFRED!"

"Dude, you better not have a ton of boring music on here…"

"GIVE IT!" I lunged forward, managing to snatch away my phone my some miracle. I curled around it, shielding the screen from Alfred's view as he hovered eagerly over my shoulder. I quickly scrolled through my music, punched one of my favorites, turned the volume all the way up, and hoisted the phone up over my head proudly.

The opening guitar plucks of "Raise Your Glass" by P!nk spat rebelliously through the small speaker.

"DUDE!" Alfred gave me a huge grin.

I grinned back.

Our very loud, very obnoxious singing drifted off into the night.