And here's the end of the Christmas arc! Your vote duly counted and tallied up…and the winner is-
MUSIC!
That's right…save the first segment underneath this, I'm going to put a song for each segment…going down toward Charice! And once we reach her Christmas segment, she'll have her own song! And yes, this will be separated into segments. Ahahahaha~!
/= [DAY 100] =/
There's something about the word "Christmas" that enlightened everyone. For one thing, everyone had a day off from school and work. And another thing…well, they had to party in the school anyway. Everything had already been set up for Christmas festivities and this time some New Yorkers are going to be invited to play along. Strange, but it works.
Charice didn't work on the Christmas festivities for nothing, of course!
The minute she walked out of the dormitory, everyone was already going out spreading holiday cheer…at least, the Christian countries did. The other nations were doing their best either to stay out of the way or at least pretend to understand what was going on. As she walked through with her bag of gifts, she couldn't help but see Feliciano looking around before seeing Charice.
"Chari-chan~!" He waved to her.
"Feli-chaaan~!" She jumped to his side. "Yaaay, I can give you your present now!"
"Ve~~~! Thank you, Chari-chan!"
She didn't know why: she didn't give him pasta like she used to. This time, she opted on giving him a new cooking pot. She got it from one of America's shops, able to cook the entire pasta at once. The minute Feliciano took a glance at it, he couldn't help but squeak in happiness in response.
"VEEEEEEE! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you Charice!"
"No sweat! Besides, on the off-chance that someone else gives you the same present, do me a favor and keep both of them~!"
"I cook lots of pasta! I'll use them all!"
Oh. Right. "Oh, speaking of which…I might as well give you my present for Doitsu-ki…"
"Ve? Oh, all right!" He placed it in his bag. "Charice?"
"Hah?"
"Do you think that Doitsu will like my gift for him?"
"Well…I'm sure he'll like it! It's from you, of course, so he'll definitely love it!"
"…t-that's good. I already gave him so much so I didn't know what else to give him…"
"I guess so…but heck, it's Christmas! It's a holiday that's all about being with people you love instead of sharing gifts around, right?"
"Ve~~~that's right…it's a holiday that I can spend with Doitsu…"
"Well…if worse comes to worse and he doesn't end up liking your gift, you always have the option of *FOGHORN BLARE* him until his brain starts leaking out of his *OHHHH~*."
"Ve?"
Unfortunately, Ludwig was nearby.
"Hey, don't blame me. That's what Alfred said happened after his first night with Arthur! Poor guy almost forgot his name afterwards!"
And so was Arthur.
…
…
…
…
…
"I'm just gonna go now…"
/= "Total Eclipse of the Heart" =/
Matthew tapped his fingers together as he wandered around with Kumajiro looking for Alfred. No one else is going to remember him this Christmas, so he might as well find his brother. He looked around and found nothing more than other people uniting and talking about their Christmas plans. After a few minutes, he saw a glimpse of familiar blond hair.
"A-America…!"
He ran after him until he saw the full image in front of him. That's when he froze in shock. It wasn't Alfred that he saw…it was his reflection. He had mistaken his own reflection on a mirror for his brother…the same mistake that everyone else had done upon him. Hot tears fell upon his lips.
"Eh?" Kumajiro looked at the reflection. "Who's that?"
Matthew couldn't answer back, thinking about all the incidences where he had been mistaken as Alfred. Sometimes it would be minor things, like being bumped into in the hallway and being asked about how the Glee club was working or the next meeting with Arthur in England or something. And sometimes there were incidents that just tore him apart. Of course there were moments where he would be ignored on his birthday in favor of America's, but there were years where even Tino would confuse his orders and give Alfred all of his gifts. To make things even worse, sometimes he would even spend Christmas alone. He spent it alone in 2007.
No one ever remembers me…not even if I speak up…so why bother…?
That was the reasoning that he had. He never spoke up because no one listened. Everyone used to call him an echo, and then a shadow, and after those words were gone he wasn't called anything but his brother. And that was when he was lucky. He wasn't even a fragment of his image anymore. He was just a broken shadow…nothing. There were more people that notice him, but they're going to spend the day with others. The ones that he really wanted to know him didn't. He was gone. Canada no longer existed in the eyes of the others.
"Who are you?" Kumajiro asked.
Matthew looked down, slowly putting him down at his feet, before turning back to the mirror. He could almost see his life flash back onto the shining surface. On the left, he could see Francis taking care of him with a smile that he treasured to this day. Below it, Arthur had taken him away from his only father. If that hadn't happened, he probably wouldn't have looked so much like America.
More images and faces flashed onto the mirror, those of his brother…his father…his friends…Carlos…god, he missed him. Sure, he would mistake him for Alfred all the time…but once everything had been cleared up, he didn't have to ask who Canada was. The conversation would be reverted back to normal as if they had stopped from somewhere. Few people had that privilege…
"Aww…don't worry, man! I'm the hero, and I'll always save you!"
"Huh? You're not America? But you sure do look like him."
"Canada? Where's that again? Is that a newly formed nation or something?"
"Oh, I get it! You're a colony of Alfred, aren't you? Sucks that you had to have him as a leader, huh?"
The images continued to flash over the mirror, of all the people talking to him. After a few minutes, they were overlapped by his own tears and then all that was left were the broken boy and the poor bear that still wanted to hear an answer. He stared at the young boy who finally came to terms of who he really was.
"…who are you?" He asked with more insistence.
"…" He smiled through his tears. "I'm…I'm America."
"Really? America? Your hair is a little long to be that idiot, right?"
His head darted up and he stared at the mirror, seeing the image of Gilbert leaning on the window behind him with that familiar grin on his face. Matthew couldn't help but smile at the form. This had to be his Persona trying to make him feel better, right? It was the image of this very problem, being solved right? He shook his head.
"Maybe I wanted to be a skater." He argued.
"Well, that's unawesome. Skaters get hurt all the time. You don't want that pretty face of yours to be damaged, right?"
"…no…no, I guess not…" He shook his head again. "But I guess it's the only thing that's different of me, huh?"
"Not really. I mean, your glasses are more angular…your curl is a lot longer than his Nantucket…not to mention that you're whispering everything that you say."
"…no one listens to a ghost, Gilbert." He stated to the image. "They either can't hear them or are scared and run away from them…"
"Ghosts stay because they have something to say, Matthew. They are only satisfied and move on once someone actually listens. In those terms, you would be a ghost…just waiting to move on."
"What am I moving on from, if not death?
"The shadows. The ones that you've been hiding in for years."
"…yeah…hiding…" Matthew sighed. "From what?"
"Hatred. You've seen how all the anger and hatred are focused toward your brother. It terrifies you, it scares you, and after a while you don't want to deal with it. So you hide from everything…you quiet down, you hide behind your brother, and as a result you are safe from the world."
Matthew looked down.
"And with that safety comes nothing. No one knows you…no one needs to plot against you…you no longer have obligations that might hurt someone else…you're just an observer."
"…I don't want to be an observer anymore…I want to live with everyone else." Matthew looked up. "But…where do I begin…?"
He saw the image of Gilbert lift himself from the window and walk toward Matthew, almost as if he was going to come out of the mirror and touch him. The image stopped short of Matthew's reflection, and then leaned toward its ear with strange swiftness that it sent chills down his spine.
"Turn around, bright eyes."
That's when he realized that it wasn't an image.
How in the world he didn't realize that was beyond him. But what happened afterwards was that he darted his head in shock and accidentally crashed his lips onto the Prussian. The man made full sure that he couldn't escape his hold, and wasn't surprised that the Canadian gave up so easily. The fingers reached up to his face and he felt soft skin caress his cheeks, and when they parted a soft blush had appeared on his face. Gilbert couldn't help but laugh.
"You look cute with that…"
"R-really…?"
"Would I be that unawesome and lie to you?"
"…no…I guess not…"
Their chests started glowing, scaring the crap out of both of them but neither willing to let go. They stared at it as they saw their Persona cards glowing and come out of their chest, transforming into a shining diamond flush before returning back to their bodies. They started back to each other.
"…well…that was creepy."
"…yeah…that was creepy…"
"So…how's your Christmas?"
"Um…I'll be fine. But I didn't get you anything…sorry."
"Ah, all's well. I already got what I wanted."
"Eh?"
And he leaned in for yet another kiss, hearing the satisfaction coming out of his mouth. As he parted, he heard a strange chuckle from the Prussian.
"Man…screw Ita-chan. You're the cutest thing out there!"
/=+=/
AHAHAHAHAHA…SUFFER WITH ME AND DO THE PARTS!