Addison chatted with Lauren a lot. Addison liked to talk, saying, "The trees are very pretty! We have a lot of trees, but we have fires nearly every summer! You know what's sad? Arkansas's grass hasn't turned green since the last couple years of droughts! The weather doesn't allow time for enough moisture to replenish the plants! In the winter time, we get dry air from that dumb jet stream, but in the summer, all moisture is sucked out! The air is wetter during the summer, sadly!"

Lauren pouted, saying, "Ah, I'm so sorry for Arkansas..."

"It's okay!" Addison said, rubbing her cracked hands. "It's dry, but I'm used to it. Hugh and I argue over who owns Texarkana, though."

"Who's Texarkana?" Lauren asked.

Smiling, Addison said, "A town situated right at the border between Arkansas and Texas! Did you know that Johnny Cash was Arkansan? Wal-Mart was first in Arkansas! The Quawpaw Indians invented popcorn, and they were Arkansan! We're renowned for courtesy in Arkansas, thanks to our Native Americans! The river people welcomed the French, Spanish, and English who all came up the river to explore! We fed them, clothed them, and all that stuff!"

Lauren was greatly brightened up by Addison. She would love to have Addison as a friend. She said, "That's great!"

"Yeah!" Addison said, "I'm really proud of my history! My most proud moment has to have been the Little Rock Nine!"

That confused Lauren. What was a Little Rock Nine? She asked for clarification, and Addison said, "Integration! Nine brave African-Americans in Little Rock, my capitol, went to an all-white school, and the military and everything had to go to the school the first day! I am ashamed of how everyone acted, but I am so proud of my darling Nine who took that first step! I'm so dark skinned from the mix of African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans in my state!"

Lauren smiled and said, "That's great!"

Hugh and Lillian came skipping up, grabbing Addison in either arm, and said in unison with two different accents, "YO, TAKE US TO AIL-DOE-RAY-DOE!" (El Dorado)

They began to drag Addison away, kicking and thrashing, who barked, "ELL-DOOR-AWD-OE DOESN'T HAVE GOLD THERE SHUT UP YOU" her screaming faded away into the crowd as nations mingled and chattered. A young man with a tan coat over his shoulders approached Lauren, unique, curly dark brown hair falling in waves, and he asked in a hushed voice, "Hello, who are you?"

"I'm Lauren," Lauren said. "I'm Quebec. Who are you?"

He held out his hand, and she shook it as he said, "Heracles; Greece."

"Greece?" Lauren gasped, "Like, Sparta, Athens, home-of-democracy? I love democracy!"

Nodding, Heracles said in the same hushed, sleepy tone, "Yes, I do too. And I like to sleep."

Lauren's eyes widened, "Sleep? I love sleeping! I think that sleeping in the winter is the best, because it's so snug to curl up under a blanket and sleep the months away!"

Heracles smiled and said softly, "I like sleeping, too. Want to sleep with me?"

As Lauren was about to point out how awkward that sounded, a slightly older male with tan skin, stubble, a white mask, and a green hoodie appeared, saying, "Haha, Heracles, don't you know how perverted that sounds?"

Heracles looked embarassed and angry, spinning around to spit some harsh words at Sadik, who was Turkey. Lauren instantly sensed this and began to run away, and Sadik said, "OH, LOOK, YOU MADE HER RUN AWAY! WAIT, YOUNG LADY, WHAT'S YOUR NAME?"

Sadik walked around Heracles, about to follow Lauren, when he saw who she was running to, so he cringed and turned around on his heels, beginning to march away, and said, "Well, not going there. GUPTA, YO, GUPTA!"

"Huh?" Heracles asked, then looked over his shoulder. He saw what Sadik meant and said, "Oh."

Lauren saw three young men cringing, backs against a wall, path blocked by a tall man wearing a long beige coat and a long scarf. The man held a pipe, and he was smiling at the three scared nations. Lauren slowly came to a walking approach, trying to assess the situation. The three little guys are being bullied, Lauren thought. And what do you do when you see someone being bullied? You'll be a bully if you just watch, and Lauren wasn't in a mood to tell one of those other nations about it, as in to call an adult for help if you see a bully, because she would likely get into another crazy situation and the three countries would stay victims.

She got even closer to the four men, hearing the tall one say in a kind, Russian-accented voice, "You are happy to be seeing me again, da?"

One of the three guys had chin-length brown hair, green eyes, and looked kind of cute to Lauren, but more like a dog than a boyfriend. Another one had neatly-cropped hair like Kurt's, but he looked a little dorkier, more innocent, and had glasses. The last one was adorable, like a hamster. He had curly blonde hair and purple eyes, and he looked to be about twelve years old. All three of them looked terrified, nodding in fear to answer the Russian. Actually, some start to nod, others shake their head, then they begin to do the oppposite, now all of their heads were moving in circles, frantically trying to answer.

The tall Russian man straightened up, asking, "Nyet?"

Quivering and shaking, the three guys started to whimper like wounded dogs. Lauren couldn't stand it, and she calmly shoved herself between the four as the Russian raised his pipe into the air. All four froze, the three no longer shaking, staring at Lauren with wide eyes of fear, confusion, and thanks, the tall Russian staring at Lauren with an odd look of pleasure and confusion.

Lauren had her back to the three shaking young men, looking up to the tall Russian calmly, feeling fear snack upon the back of her brain. She said as calmly and clearly as she could muster, "I'm new here. I would like to be introduced to everybody before the meeting starts."

She held out her right hand to the Russian, who was Ivan if she remembered correctly, and said, "I'm Lauren. I stand for Quebec."

The Russian took her hand in his. He had a large, strong, firmly-gripping hand with a black glove on it. He didn't shake her hand; he just held it firmly, as if not planning to let it go. Ivan smiled at Lauren and said, "I am Ivan Braginski. I am being Russia. You become one, da?"

As calmly as Lauren could manage, she said, "Perhaps, after I get introduced to everyone. Nice to meet you, Mister Braginki."

Lauren slipped her hand out of his, feeling her fingers be cold from momentary lack of blood, and sheturned to the three countries, holding out her arms as if to hug them, and said, "I'm Lauren."

Gulping, they all looked at each other. The brown-haired one straightened up to be Lauren's height and stature. He couldn't help but think of how cute this Lauren was. Sure, she had good...land, but she was just cute. The way that she dressed was pleasant, cool, yet colorful, and her hair was like his, besides the braids. He shook her hand and said, "I'm-I'm T-Toris Laurinaitis. I'm Lithuania."

Toris felt Ivan's presence heavily, and he strained to ignore him to greet the girl. She would probably leave quickly after being introduced, leaving them at the mercy of the Russian, whose cruelty would be building by the second.

The girl beamed at him cheerily, making Toris feel more relaxed, smiling at her. She shook the Estonian's hand next, who introduced himself as, "Ed-Eduard v-von B-Bock...E-E-Estonia."

Lauren smiled at him equally warmly, maybe even more so, as if to make him smile like he ended up doing. She then bent her legs a little to look the Latvian in the eyes, and she said pleasantly, "I'm Lauren. Who might you be?"

With a gulp, the boy stammered, "Raivis Galante...I-I'm L-L-Latvia..."

Baltics... Lauren thought, pondering why Russia would be interested in those three countries, other than the fact that they used to be in the Soviet Union.

She planned to save them from Ivan. She straightened up, saying cheerily, "You guys know the other countries well, yes?"

Gulping, they all nodded.

"Would you mind showing them to me?" she asked, "I lost my family, and I don't want to go meeting other nations alone."

Toris sensed her cunning and nodded, saying, "Yes, w-we will. Come on, g-guys."

Lauren held Raivis's hand, and the little boy's face turned warm at the feeling of her soft hand in his. Her hand was about the size of his hand, only he had longer, thinner fingers. Lauren gently took hold of Eduard's hand in her right hand and began to lead them away, Toris in front of her. Ivan watched them go, smiling innocently. Lauren...she looks like Toris, but with Yekaterina's land... His facial expression changed a bit, and he thought, Quebec...she isn't really related to Francis, is she? She is too brave...

Ivan felt a familiar presence behind him, and he heard an evil voice, "Big Brother...marry me..."

Now instantly filled with fear, Ivan cried, "NYET!" He wished that Lauren would come save him! He preceded to run away into the crowd of nations.

Raivis squeezed onto Lauren's hand, as did Eduard, and Toris asked Lauren, "W-Why did you s-save us?"

Smiling at the nation, Lauren said, "Why would I not? That would be cruel."

Eduard asked, "B-But why cross I-Ivan? D-Don't you k-know it's d-dangerous?"

Lauren understood their fear, but she quoted her thoughts, "I refuse to be afraid of the dangerous, because if you face your fear with a straight face and the nerves to ignore the fact that it can hurt you, then it won't hurt you. Say if I were to walk up to a grizzly bear in the woods and stare it down. Do you know what happens when you stand your ground against a bear?"

Raivis answered softly, "You get eaten?"

"No," Lauren said with a giggle, gently brushing the top of his head. He cringed a little, flashing back to Ivan pressing on his head, but when he felt her warm hand on his head, he wasn't afraid of being crushed. She then slippered her right hand back into Eduard's hand and continued, "The bear will leave, because you will have the aura of strength and power, even if you are smaller than it. Show the bear that you are better than it. Straighten you back, puff out your chest, but do not look a bear in the eyes. That is a sign of aggression."

Toris asked, "T-Then w-what's standing up s-straight, if n-not aggression?"

With a smile, Lauren felt glad to say, "Showing equality. Every heard of 'pick on someone your own size'? If you are smaller than the bully, then the bully will be obliged to pick on you. But if you are his size, he won't want to mess with you, for chance of being beaten at his own game. But don'tlook like you're too big, or else you'll appear to be challenging his ranking as dominant. If you look like you're challenging his position as meanest or toughest, then he'll fight you."

The three Baltics were glad for the information, yet wondered if they would stand up to the bear of the opportunity presented itself. Lauren continued, saying, "Now, don't go seeking the bear, or else that's a challenge. Just wait for the bear to come to you, and be prepared, yet don't plan for it. Then you'll fail if you plan. Murphy's Law; anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, if you plan for it."

Somewhat, the countries understood. They all nodded, and Lauren said cheerily, "Isn't this nice? I made some new friends, right?" She looked at all three of them, a calm look in her eyes. She hoped that they would be her friends. The more friends that she had, the less alone she was in the world.

Jennifer came walking up, playing with the neck on her sweater, and she told Lauren, "Matthew's looking for you." She saw the three Baltics and asked, "Who are you friends?"

Lauren introduced them, Raivis not letting go of her hand yet, and she said, "These are the Baltics. They're going to introduce me to the other countries."

Nodding, the Mainiac shrugged, saying, "Cool, but Matthew is really worried."

Matthew! Lauren couldn't believe how hateful she had been to Matthew! She didn't want him to be upset! She told the Baltics, "I have to find my brother. Do you want to come with me?"

The three all said very quickly, "Yes" in unison. Lauren smiled and laughed, glad that they wanted her company. Jennifer left to go do something-probably to find the other States-when Lauren heard an American-accented voice behind her, saying, "Hello, who are you?"

Lauren turned around to see a teenage girl, about sixteen, standing there. She smiled at Lauren in a welcoming way, saying, "I'm Indie Carter. I work here, sort of as a maid, I guess. Who are you?"

"I'm Lauren," Lauren said, holding out her hand to shake Indie's. Indie shook her hand as Lauren said, "I'm Quebec. So, how long have you been working here?"

"A couple months," Indie said. Indie had dark brown, almost black, hair that went down right past her shoulder blades. Her eyes were very pretty hazel-like color, seeing as they were dark brown with a hint of dark green. Lauren tried not to stare because she thought that she wa spretty. Indie's eyes had a light fold over the corners, and she was about 5'5, taller than Lauren by half an inch. She also had large breasts like Lauren (Lauren thought, Thankies, I'm not alone in the world!) and an athletic build, similar to Lauren's, but Lauren was a little thinner with thicker yet shorter legs. Indie wore a black denim jacket over a pink shirt advertising some anime, and she wore stylish boots-though not really equipped for snow-that had fuzzy little balls hanging off of them. Lauren's attention dropped to those boots, and she purred, "OH~~ LOOK, YOUR BOOTS ARE ADORABLE!"

Lauren dropped to her knees and pawed at the fuzzy little balls that hung by threads. Indie laughed awkwardly, yet was happy that someone had shown interest in the boots that cost her a lot of her hard earned money!

Realizing that she looked stupid, Lauren stood up and said, "I'm glad to meet you! I love your outfit!"

"Thank you!" Indie said, glancing down at her otaku get-up. She had run out of formal clothes due to her sister being a doofus while doing the laundry two days ago, so she had to wear her punk otaku outfit that suited her personality.

Indie asked Lauren, "Is there anything that I can get you?"

An obnoxious laugh came from behind them, and Lauren turned around to see Gilbert, Francis, and Antonio come strolling up, Gilbert saying, "JA, SCHATZ! I vant some awesome German coffee!"

Wanting to take the strain off of Indie, Lauren said, "I'll get it for you."

"Thanks," Indie said, steam visible coming off of her head, "but no thanks, if I'm being paid for this, I'm doin' it."

Lauren smiled, liking Indie even more. Someone with that mindset would go far in life, get good jobs, get good grades in school, all of that.

Indie began to walk away, but Lauren offered again, "I'll go help you, though."

Looking over her shoulder, the American stared at the Canadian for a moment. Finally, a personification that wasn't annoying as heck! She nodded and said, "Totally; thanks!"

Lauren began to follow, when the three Baltics began to shiver, asking, "What if M-Mister Ivan comes back?"

Oh, shoot. Lauren hadn't thought of that. She scanned the crowd for a certain face, and she finally saw Addison. The state known for helping people! She told Indie, "Wait, please" and gestured for the Baltics to follow. She called to Addison, who came over. She gestured to the three and told Addison, "Addy, take care of them while I'm gone? Don't let Ivan Braginski get them, please?"

Saluting, Addison said, "Of course not! I'm the KING of helping people!"

"Aren't you a girl?" Hugh asked, popping up. Kurtis slapped him upside the head, and Addison said, "Queens don't do anything but live for ninety years! KINGS MAKE DECISIONS!" She threw her arms around the Baltics and said, "I can tell you about anything! Or you can tell me about anything! I'm totally not picky!"

Toris couldn't help but be a little reminded of Feliks, and Lauren left with Indie.

They went down to the nearest coffee shop, and Indie turned to Lauren, saying, "Oh shoot. I forgot to ask Gilbert what he wanted."

"He probably wants black coffee," Lauren said, trying to remember what Gilbert had drank while they shared a home. "So lets put some creamer in there, then. He also probably wants some whipped cream or something, so let's put in more creamer, and he probably wants chocolate sprinkles, so let's give him some ice cubes. Who doesn't like iced latte?"

Indie smiled at Lauren. Lauren was going to be pretty awesome to have around. They ordered the anti-Gilbert drink, applied their own ice cubes and creamer, then left. They laughed on the way, Indie saying, "You're freaking brilliant! How will he react, though?"

"Angry," Lauren said. "But did you notice the red bump next to his eye?"

"Yeah?" Indie asked. She had noticed, and had made it a point to ask what caused it, but hadn't had the time.

"I caused it," Lauren said. "He scared me, and I started swinging a broom, and I hit him on accident."

Laughing, Indie said, "You're a riot! Dude, I need to hang around you more!" Lauren smiled and said, "I didn't mean to hit him, and I still feel kinda bad about it, but it was funny."

Slapping Lauren's back, Indie said, "Don't worry, if you meant to and got a bunch of pleasure from it, you'd be a sadist like Ivan and his sister, Nataliya!"

Speaking of the devil, when they entered the building again, Indie and Lauren saw Ivan cringing behind the Baltics, who were cringing behind Addison, who had her knees locked and eyes clenched shut, shaking, and she said hurriedly in the fastest chipmunk voice ever, "IcanonlybesohelpfulImeanI'mArkansasbutevenwehaveourlim itsImeanholycrapwewereneveru nderattackunlessyoucountthec ivilwarandeventhennotalothap penedImeanIcan't handlethishelpfulnesscanonly gosolongpleasejusttakesomepo pcornandgo..."

(I can only be so helpful; I mean, I'm Arkansas, but even we have our limits; I mean holy crap we were never under attack unless you count the civil war and even then not a lot happened; I mean I can't handle this; helpfulness can only last so long; please just take some popcorn and go)

They were all cringing way from some pale-haired woman with a knife, dressed similarly to Lauren. Indie resisted gritting her teeth, hating seeing Nataliya preying on Ivan again, because that meant that more nations would be dragged into the mess.

Lauren saw Addison and the Baltics in trouble, instantly feeling like a protective mama bear, then saw Ivan Braginski, terrified and shivering as well, and for some reason felt even more protective. Ivan might be a bully, but he was a fellow nation! She forced the calmness she had while protecting the Baltics from Ivan and began to walk toward the group, until Indie said sharply, "Hold on, what're you doing?"

"Hold on a sec, American," Lauren said. "I gotta protect them, even Ivan, because no one has the right to be tormented."

The Canadian began to walk toward them, and Indie hissed, trying to figure out if she should try to help or not. She decided to stay and watch, to run for assistance if anything bad broke out; she would help, herself, but it would be wiser to pull in other nations to help.

Lauren walked between Nataliya and the shivering group. She heard all five breathe out soft sighs of relief behind her, and she faced Nataliya. She stared the woman in the ice blue eyes. Geez, she was horrified of this chick. She was freaky, and she looked like some evil version of Lauren.

By this point in time, Heracles had noticed, and remembering how Lauren had succeeded in saving the Baltics earlier, wondered if she could defend herself against the sum of all evil. He found Sadik, who was hanging around with Yekaterina Braginskaya, and he told them in a stangely urgent voice, "Guys, Nataliya is-"

"Nataliya?" Yekaterina gasped, making her breasts bounce. Hearing the name, many countries stopped their arguments and discussions to look at Heracles. He pointed over his shoulder and said, "Lauren-"

"LAUREN?!" Lillian, Ludwig, Arthur, Matthew, Gilbert, Alfred, Kurtis, Hugh, Elizabeta, and Roderick all gasped in different tones, pitches, accents, and emotions.

"Lauren is protecting the Baltics, Ivan, and Addison-"

"ADDISON?!" The Yankees gasped.

Half of the world followed Heracles to where the stand off was. Nataliya was hissing at Lauren, sounding like a demon as she said, "Move out of the way or I will kill you."

Lauren stayed calm, fear only barely noticed as she said in her light tone of voice, "Ivan can become one with you, but you shouldn't scare him like this, or else he'll never want to be one."

"YOU WILL NEVER SEPERATE ME AND BIG BROTHER!" Nataliya hissed, throwing herself and her knife at Lauren. Many countries and states gasped, about to try and stop. Lauren ducked a little, throwing herself at the floor, and grabbed onto Nataliya's legs as she did so. They slid for a few feet, Nataliya hissing while Lauren spat out commands to stop.

Ludwig threw himself at the two, barking, "STOP ZIS, NOW!"

Lauren threw Nataliya off of herself, then jumped on top of the Belarusian instantly. Lauren held onto Nataliya's wrists, curling her fingers around the wrists as tightly as she could, yet not wanting to hurt Nataliya.

Nataliya stared up at Lauren with a look of pure hatred, trying to pull her hands free and slash at Lauren. Lauren stared Nataliya in the eyes, saying, "I'M NOT TRYING TO SEPERARE YOU TWO!"

Ivan cried, tears streaming fro his face as he shouted, "Nataliya, stop this!"

Ludwig tried to grab onto Lauren's back and pull her off, but she held so tightly onto Nataliya that Nataliya's back started to lift off of the ground. Indie threw the coffee at Gilbert, splattering it over his face-which basically pushed the magic button on his face that replays all the German cuss words that he knew-and she threw herself at the fight, shouting, "STOP IT!"

She swung a kick at Nataliya's right hand, which held the knife. She kicked the knife out of the fascist country's grasp, sending the knife flying through the air, yet in doing so, she kicked Lauren's hand. Lauren screeched, yanking her left arm away. In doing so, Nataliya threw a punch, making Lauren's head snap back, blood streaming down from her nose and down her lips.

Lauren was enraged. She didn't know what happened next, but within the next moment that she could register actual things going on around her, she had her right arm out in a punching motion, Ludwig falling back onto the floor. She saw a blue blur to her right, streaking for the knife, but everything went black again. She was now curling her fingers around Nataliya's neck, pressing her head against the wall. Out of the corner of her eye, Lauren could see Addison laying on the floor, unmoving, the knife a few inches away from her head.

Screaming at the top of her lungs, yet not understanding why she was saying this, Lauren cried, "DO NOT TOUCH THEM! IF YOU TOUCH THEM, I WILL KILL YOU! YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF FASCIST CRAP!"

Hugh's arms wrapped around her back, but Lauren didn't budge. She banged Nataliya's head against the wall, away from the wall, back at the wall, back, against the wall. She was making a dent in the wall, yet no blood was spilling! Lauren screamed something inaudible, for some reason, wanting blood to spill. What was this monster? Kurtis came up from behind Hugh, afraid of what Lauren was becoming, and he threw his arms around the two, prying Lauren away from Nataliya. Nataliya fell unconscious on the floor while Kurtis and Hugh struggled to throw Lauren to the side.

The Canadian smacked the floor with a thunk, feeling her bones jar. Her braids had come undone, her hair crazy, uneven, and frayed. She lay on her hands and knees, panting like a wild animal, not seeing anything.

Indie came up from behind Lauren, holding her in case she started to rampage again, while Ivan and Yekaterina dropped to Nataliya's side, crying and begging for her to open her eyes.

Lauren opened her eyes for one last time, not understanding what was going on, not remembering anything that happened, yet knowing that she prayed desperately to never black out again.

Gilbert wrote in his diary, saying, What happened was this; cold coffee that tasted unawesome hit me in the face, and when I could see again, Lauren had been punched. She was something else completely! She threw Ludtz off of her back and kicked Nataliya in the face. Ludwig tried to stop her, but Lauren turned around and punched him, knocking him out!

Nataliya then dove for her knife, and Addison screamed, "HELPFULNESS!" and jumped onto Nataliya just as she reached the knife. Nataliya grabbed the knife and tried to stab Addison, and Lauren saw this and became hysteric! The awesome me could do nothing; that was how crazy it was!

As Lauren ran for Nataliya and Addison, Nataliya jumped onto her back, crushing Addison underneath her, just as Lauren reached her. Lauren kicked Nataliya in the ribs, making her fall off of Addison and drop the knife. Ivan and Yekaterina were screaming, begging for the two to stop it. Lauren checked on Addison for a moment, but she wasn't Lauren; she was like some monster, and she only slapped Addison for a reply. When she didn't get it, she howled like some wild beast and grabbed Nataliya by the ankles, dragging her along the ground on her stomach, screaming things like, "YOU DARE HURT MY FAMILY AND I WILL KILL YOU! YOU WITCH, I WILL SLAUGHTER YOU!" I can't remember; even the awesome me can't remember, because it was too fast.

Even Elizabeta-big bad and tough!-merely grabbed onto Roderick, crying into his chest! Like, so unawesome! Then I can't remember how it got here, cuz I was looking at the two losers, but Nataliya was against the wall, Lauren sitting on her, strangling her, pounding her head against the wall!

Geez, she's freaky. One punch, and she turned into the Hulk or something! Oh, wait, someone's knocking on the door...I gotta go. See ya later, from the Awesome Me! Gilbert placed the book mark in his diary, closed the diary, hid it in his desk, and got up to answer the door.