It's me again! Ready for the nest chapter, because here it is!
I woke up to a feeling I'd not felt for far too long. Francis had his arms wrapped around me protectively; warm against my skin and strongly pulling me closer to him. Before I had time to truly appreciate how nice it was to be wrapped in his arms again, I was struck by another bout of nausea. Like every morning, I barrelled down the corridor, not caring for the stares I got from a couple of passers-by and locked myself in a cubicle, before spilling the contents of my stomach into the porcelain bowl. We meet again I thought, smirking slightly before retching again into the toilet. Despite how often this was happening, I never got used to the feeling that would send shivers up my spine and cause my throat to burn more painfully each time. When I was certain that it was over, I wiped my mouth with a tissue from the packet that I kept in my pyjama pocket. Flushing the toilet, I walked out of the cubicle and to the water cooler.
"Hey Arthur!" it was Alfred, waving over at me from the cooler "I figured that the best to find you would be here!" I rolled my eyes tiredly.
"What do you want?" I asked, thinking that is was way too early for me to have to deal with the annoying American.
"So you made up with Francis then?" He asked grinning. I blushed, and took a sip from my cup.
"Sh-shut up!"
"Awh! But it was so cute! I mean that was totes adorable!" I could feel even my ears heating up at this statement, and my head too. That French idiot had decided to carry me all the way from the car to my bed! I had made it very clear that I was very annoyed about his doing this, but it was hard to stay angry at a face like his.
"Shut up; I'm not a child!" In human years I was about sixteen. The idea of someone carrying me to my room was ridiculous to me. I was sixteen for pity's sake! I wasn't supposed to be being carried to my room, sleeping like a child.
"But seriously dude, I'm way happy for you!" he added gleefully.
"I'm glad… I'm going back to my room now; I'll talk to you later." I said, leaving him at the cooler. I didn't think I would be able to take his obnoxiousness so early in the morning, so I went back to the room and slid back into the bed with Francis. He stirred a little, probably because I was colder than he was inside the covers, but he didn't wake. He just pulled me close, burying his face in my hair.
After having fell asleep for a second time, I felt much better and decided to even brave having breakfast with Francis. "Can I carry you to the canteen, Mon amour?" He asked laughing lightly in a way that made me want to throw a brick at his pretty little face.
"No you cannot." I said harshly. He still insisted on holding my hand walking to the canteen. I tried to ignore the people who were watching, but I couldn't help but blush a little. I kept my gaze fixed straight ahead, and tried to think about something else. I started wondering how Ravis was doing, as he'd been so upset when I'd seen him in the woods. I almost walked into the door for the canteen as I was daydreaming a little too much; luckily Francis held it open for me and let go of my hand so I could get some food.
There was a large assortment of tasty looking foods on display, making sure to cater for each and every country's needs. I picked up some crumpets and made my way to my table where China, India, Canada, Seamus and Alistair were already sitting. I started eating my food in silence, but was interrupted by one of my brothers.
"So you and the frog got reacquainted then?" he asked smirking like the little git he was.
"Shut up…" I replied, taking another bite of my crumpet. A few of the other nations around the room were snickering too, but I did my best to ignore them.
"That's a yes!" he said elbowing Alistair in the ribs, causing him to spill his cereal.
"Hey! Watch it! I almost got myself covered in cereal, you idiot!" he sputtered, irritated.
"Oops! Sorry!" he said still laughing. I rolled my eyes at the scene, wondering if my family would ever not irritate me. The chances were looking slim. It was embarrassing to have to call the squabbling pair family, but unfortunately blood is thicker than water and they're meant to be important to me. When I finished my breakfast, I promptly left from the table and went back into my room. I didn't feel like reading, so I pulled out the embroidery I had been working on, and continued from where I'd left off.
"You're still doing that?" Francis walked in, looking at my embroidery.
"Yes, do you have a problem with it?" I said without looking up at him.
"We're going out." He said bluntly.
"Where?" I asked curiously.
"To see your boss, and then to see mine." He took the embroidery from my hands and put it back in the draw "Come on." He pulled me off the bed, and out of the door. I stumbled after him, protesting loudly that we should wait until a later date to break news like that, but he just kept going. I really hated the way he always got his own way, whereas I was always forced to make compromises.
Both of us were silent on the drive there, unable to say anything without it being incredibly awkward. When we pulled up on the drive, I walked over to the receptionist "Hello, it's Arthur Kirkland; Britain. Could you inform my boss of this visit please?" The man in reception eyed Francis suspiciously, but let us through. I sat by the door to my boss's office, nervously twiddling my thumbs. "It'll be fine, Angleterre. I promise." Francis said with a nervous smile.
"You may enter." I heard a voice from inside the office call out.
"Well, it's now or never…" I said taking a deep breath and opening the door. Francis and I strode into the room with as much confidence as we could muster and looked my boss dead in the eye. "Hello sir." I said with a slight smirk at his shocked expression.
"What is he doing in here, Arthur?" my boss said pointing to Francis. I felt my insides lurch as I said my next line.
"That's a bad way to refer to the father of my unborn child." It was hard to keep the smirk on my face, and not crumple in front of my bosses steely glare. His expression changed. He looked angry and confused, but mostly angry.
"How is that even possible?" He asked angrily "Arthur, last time I checked you were male, weren't you. So tell me how this is even possible." He said; I could tell that he was trying to keep his voice level, because of the way he took deep breaths between each phrase, and was speaking in dangerously hushed tones.
"Magic sir, it was fairy magic." I said matter-of-factly.
"Well, I thought I told you to break it off with this… this…idiot! Now you're telling me that not only have you allowed him to soil your loins, but you are now carrying his bastard child!" his temper was rising as he continued to speak "I've always wanted what's best for you, Arthur. Why have you done this to me?" he asked disappointedly.
"Because I love him." I said without faltering.
"Would you still love him if I were to have the empire abdicate? If you don't abort the child and end your relationship with that French idiot, I will disband the empire. It will just be you, your brothers, and a few islands. How does that sound?" my insides felt like the just disappeared, but I had to show him how serious I was about this.
"Fine; you can disband the empire. Some things are more important." Not to mention the uprising that would be happening soon if I didn't let certain countries go. My boss blanched. It was obvious he believed I was going to grovel at his feet like a dog, and beg for him to let me keep the empire. In truth, the empire was becoming more of a burden than anything else to me, so I was really hitting two birds with only one stone. I didn't want to lose my empire, and that was sure, but it was getting harder to maintain and as much as I wanted to keep control of the countries, I had to let them go in order to pacify my boss.
"Sir," Francis began "I would like to ask for Britain's hand in marriage." My eyes went wide. This was completely unexpected and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Francis was asking for my hand in marriage. "I am completely serious about this, and with your permission, I would like to be wedded to him." He said calmly, holding out a box to me.
"Francis I… I don't know what to say." I said staring at the emerald stone in the box, shimmering. My eyes were wide, and I may or may not have cried a little.
"Say yes, please?" he offered, looking up at me from his knees. My boss was at a loss, unable to cope with the situation unfolding in his own office.
"O-okay," I said smiling, as he put the ring on my finger. "It's beautiful…" I said gazing at the ring. "When did you get this?" I asked, containing my joy.
"It was my mother's, and now it is yours." He said, standing up to face me properly.
"Wait just a damned minute!" My boss suddenly said "When did I agree to this?" he said, breaking the mood. "You can't marry him! How would an alliance between your countries benefit anyone?" he said, his anger rising again.
"Sir, you just disbanded my empire, do you really think you can deny me of this." I said turning my back to him "I've told you what you need to know, sir, now we will be leaving." I walked towards the door, and left with Francis in tow. As we left, a grin was plastered on both of our faces. We were going to get married, whether my boss agreed or not! He took my hand and squeezed it, leaning against me slightly as we walked side by side out of the building. The receptionist didn't say anything as we passed, but frowned slightly at our open affections. I was too high on what had just happened to care; I couldn't wait to tell flying mint bunny and all of my other magical friends too!
"That went well." He said happily. I couldn't have agreed more if I tried. After that, we got back in the car which would take us to Francis's boss's offices. Luckily, his boss had been pushing him to get with me for a while, and even threatened him with death, but this time would be different. I could only imagine his boss being pleased about it. Giddy from the success with my boss, we strode into the building where Francis's boss worked "Francis Bonnefoy to see his boss~" he said airily to the secretary, who smiled shyly and let us through.
"Come in!" he boss called out, rather like my boss had done. Francis swung the door open and glided into the room; I just walked in behind him awkwardly. "To what do I owe this visit, Francis?" his boss said, not threateningly like my boss, but still powerfully and enough to keep the French boy in his place.
"I have come with excellent news!" he cried out happily "Angleterre and I are to be married, and he will have my child!" he said with exuberant passion and joy. I sighed in slight embarrassment and exasperation. He was such a drama queen at times "Isn't it wonderful!" he said, smiling widely at his boss.
"Finally… I'm happy for you Francis! What about his boss… I thought he wasn't very happy with you?" his boss said doubtfully, not even thinking to question as to how I managed to get pregnant.
"We worked things out with him…" Francis said, grimacing slightly.
"I'm losing the empire, sir. That was the catch." I said solemnly. My good mood had died, as I thought of how much I would miss being in charge of so many countries like that.
"Oh… you must really love him." His boss said simply, and let us go "Thank you for telling me the news, and I look forward to the wedding." He said, smiling warmly to me. I smiled back a little, but my heart wasn't in it anymore. I was going to lose my entire empire, for Francis. I was giving up the life I loved to become a father to a child that was never planned and was going to make a lot happen in a short space of time.
"What's wrong, Angleterre?" Francis asked, noticing the change in expression as we walked to the car.
"I'm losing my empire, Francis. The empire I worked so hard to build… that's all." I said quietly.
"You mean you don't want to marry me?" he said looking hurt.
"No, it's nothing like that! It's just… it hurts to lose something you've worked so hard one, you know?" I said quickly, so that he didn't think I wanted to break it off with him.
"Oh, I guess so…" his face was solemn "I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble…" he said quietly. This statement took me by surprise, because it was such an uncommon thing for the Frenchman to apologise about something of his own accord, and admit he did wrong. It also took me by surprise, because I didn't think he even thought he'd done anything wrong. "I have to go and visit Seychelles, she's been asking for me to visit for a week or so, so I ought to see her" he said when we arrived back at the school.
"Ok, I'll just go back to my room… see you." I said waving him off as he went to the elementary campus. When I arrived at my room, I saw Ravis inside, quivering on the floor in the dark "Ravis, what are you doing in here?" I asked, kneeling beside him.
"Russia was chasing me, because I slipped and broke his favourite vase!" he cried. I pulled him onto my lap and held him as he cried.
"What were you doing with his vase?" I asked kindly.
"He asked me to dust it, because Lithuania and Estonia were busy." He cried into my chest. I rubbed his back gently.
"Why were you with Russia?"
"I'm in the soviet union… I have to be." He cried, fisting at my T-shirt. I just held him close, rocking him slightly.
"I don't suppose you could easily leave it then, if Russia's in charge?"
"I'm too weak; he would just force me to go back." He sobbed for a long while, before looking up at me "I-I didn't know where else to g-go!" his eyes were red and puffy "But I remembered that you helped me before when I was in the forest, so I came h-here." I smiled sadly at him and stroked his slightly messy hair.
"Ok, I'll tell you what, if ever you need somewhere to go, you can come here, ok?" I said with a smile, not knowing what else to do with the crying Latvian boy. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, so I set Ravis on the ground and looked out of the spyhole. "You have a friend here, Ravis." I said brightly. I opened the door to let Peter in who bounded up to the crying boy.
"Hi Ravis… what's wrong? Is it Russia again?" he said, reminding me of Alfred when he was younger. The Latvian boy nodded, looking up at my brother. I felt my insides warm a little, at the scene. Peter pulled Ravis into a swift hug "Don't worry! I'm here now! He wouldn't dare hurt you with me around!" Ravis laughed a little, returning the hug. "Come on, let's go back to mine! We can play on my Xbox!" he said pulling the boy up.
"Thank you, mister England!" the boy said quietly, before following Peter away to the elementary campus.
Awwwh! Peter has a friend! That was cute ^_^ Wow… my chapters just get longer and longer don't they… ah well ^_^ Question time!
What will Iggy's boss do; he's not happy with the way things are going at all?
What will everyone think about the empire disbanding?
Will America ever let Iggy live it down?
What's going on between Peter and Ravis? (I'm not sure if they should just be friends, or a really adorable couple)
Will Iggy ever manage to finish that Embroidery? (We know how much Francis likes to mess with his needlework))
Okay ^_^ I'm done for now, reviews are love, so please tell me your thoughts on this chapter!