Ukraine woke up with a jolt, haunted by another nightmare of her family falling apart. She's been having the same dream for days now, and it never got better.
Sitting up on her bed, she looked over at her alarm clock. 1:30 A.M. She's been waking up at the same time since the nightmares started. So following her routine, she first wiped the tears from her eyes, got up from her bed, then left to go into her sister's vacant room.
While on her way over, she passed by Russia's room, hearing both him and China sleeping inside. She paused and stared at the door, before angrily marching away. That old man has been nothing but trouble.
Oh yeah, she heard all about his little insults toward her sister, and she was not at all surprised to find out her sister killed him for it. Though that brought up the whole issue with the aftermath that followed.
She was absolutely mortified when Russia told her what he did. Who cares if he instantly regretted it, an older brother should never harm their siblings. He's supposed to protect and care for the younger one, and instead he beats her into the ground and tells her to never come back.
As of right now she's no longer on speaking terms with him, and will remain that way until he fixes everything. Their relationship was already getting strained from all the tension between their countries, but now it was about as bad as the beginning years of the Soviet Union.
Without even realizing it, Ukraine had made her way over to and inside Belarus' room, even closing the door behind her subconsciously. Following what she's done the past few days, she began dusting everything and making sure everything was tidy.
Once that was done, she sat on the floor in front of her sister's Russia shrine. It was covered in pictures of him and all sorts of little trinkets she either collected or Russia had given her. It was sweet in a way, albeit extremely creepy.
Ukraine remembered when her sister was extremely young, before her obsession with her brother began, in which she had a family shrine instead. It was adorable when Ukraine would lose things, only to find Belarus playing and setting them all over her room. She would get so mad when Ukraine took everything back.
That brought a small smile to her face, but it didn't last long as she looked around at the empty room. Due to Belarus' attachment to her family she was always here, so seeing this room empty for so long gave Ukraine an unsettling feeling, like this was how the room would be forever.
Tucking her head into her knees, Ukraine curled up and silently cried to herself. The memories of baby Belarus and her once happy family were too overwhelming to handle.
For about two hours she stayed in that room, only exiting when she exhausted all her tears. So after pounding a large glass of water, she returned to her room, only to find it impossible to go back to bed. She couldn't tear her eyes from her phone, deciding whether she should attempt to call her sister.
Would she even pick up? Most likely not, she wanted to be alone last time. But now? She probably shut off her phone and is currently hiding out in a cabin or something.
'Though it couldn't be hurting to try, right?' She thought as she picked up the phone and selected her sister's contact.
Surprisingly, the call went through instantly.
"Sestra?" She asked.
"Da," Natalya responded.
"...it's good to be hearing from you," Ukraine said with a sniff as she wiped away tears of joy.
"Sestra are you alright?" Natalya asked, her voice laced with concern.
Ukraine nodded, even though Natalya couldn't see it. "I am now."
Both remained in silence, Natalya waiting for Ukraine to say something while she sniffled and wiped away more tears.
"Sooooo... how have you been?" Ukraine asked.
"Fine," her sister answered. "Though I should be asking you that. Isn't it around 3:00 A.M. where you are?"
Ukraine scratched her head and laughed in embarrassment. "Da, but I wasn't able to do much of the sleeping."
Natalya grew silent, a feeling of guilt creeping up inside her. She never did say where she went, so her sister was probably worried sick... again. "Sorry for leaving again, I know this is the second month in a row I've done this," she apologized.
Ukraine frowned and shook her head. "No apologizes, if anyone is having the fault it's our brother. I told him to be waiting longer to make up, but he was the too impatient."
"Da. . . so how's he doing now?" Natalya wondered. Ukraine sighed and laid her head on her pillow. "I am not knowing, we haven't talked since he told me what he did."
Natalya's face paled as she began panicking. "Are you sure that's a good idea? He's already damaged from me leaving, I'm not sure if he can handle losing you too."
"I'm not leaving. I'm just trying to force him to make the things right," Ukraine elaborated.
Natalya was relieved to hear that, but she was still concerned about the divide in her family. Ukraine was too, but she was a little more optimistic that things would go back to how they were.
"Soon he'll probably begin trying to be calling or finding of you. So be expecting that soon," Ukraine said.
"Tell him to call," she requested. "Meeting me might be a little difficult right now.
Ukraine raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Where are you then?" Natalya cringed as she looked out the window at the dry New Mexican desert. "America."
"Again?" Her sister asked. "Da," she responded as she glanced over at Alfred. Her eyes widened when she found his head right next to hers, leaning over to listen to her conversation.
She roughly grabbed the side of his head and pushed him away. "Jaki čort ?! Idzi preč, bliadź!" She screamed.
I'm shworry, yuw said muh name," he tried to defend with his face smushed against her hand.
"Hello? Sestra? Who's there?" Ukraine asked, worried about the commotion on the other line.
"Nobody! It's just a nobody," Natalya assured as she struggled to keep Alfred away. "Yo Ukraine!" He yelled after freeing his face from her grip for a second.
"Can you put it on speaker?" He requested. "Absolutely not!" Natalya refused. "Now stop listening and focus on the road."
She then put the phone back to her ear. "Sorry about that sestra, just some guy being stupid."
"Was that America I heard? Put him on the speakerphone," Ukraine requested. Natalya frowned immensely but did what her sister said, turning on speakerphone and holding it up in the air.
"America are you there?" Ukraine asked.
"Yup, how are you doing?" He asked her.
"Good," she answered happily. "It brings me the great joy to see you still taking care of my sestra."
"Still?" Natalya asked. Alfred looked over at her when she said that, turning white when he found her giving him a dark look.
"Y-You weren't supposed to say that Ukraine," he stuttered as he felt Natalya's aura swirling around him.
"Huh? What do you— oh... uh oh," she trailed off, flinching as she felt her sister's aura coming through the phone.
"Explain shithead," Natalya demanded. Alfred shortly nodded and nervously tapped on the steering wheel. "Right. So while I was dropping off Lithuania, I maaaay have told Ukraine about taking you to my house and stuff."
Natalya's eye twitched rapidly. "You mean the one thing I specifically told you not to tell?"
"I'm sorry, your sister was crying and pleading to know where you were. I'm the hero, I can't just ignore that," he exclaimed.
"He's right sestra, don't be blaming of him. I did my persuasion crying on him," Ukraine defended.
"Wait, that was fake?!" Alfred yelled. "I got duped!"
Ukraine blushed a little bit and laughed. "A little bit, yes."
Natalya grumbled but remained quiet. She couldn't blame Alfred, she knew all about her sister's ability to sway emotions, even more so than Alfred's puppy eyes. Slowly her aura drew back, relieving Alfred and Ukraine greatly.
Alfred nervously laughed to himself. "Man, you scared me for a second there Nat."
She loudly gasped and slapped him across the face. "Don't you dare call me that you ass!" Alfred rubbed his cheek and looked at her in confusion.
Ukraine jumped when she heard the slap over the phone. "Don't be hitting him sestra, he was just saying your name."
"Yeah dudette, I thought I just got nickname rights again," he pouted while continuing to rub his face. His childish face was pissing her off, mainly because it was working in making her feel guilty.
She set her phone on the dashboard next to him and turned over in her seat to look away from him. Stupid baby face, stupid dorky baby face!
Alfred gazed over at her sadly, but still slightly confused. What was the difference with him addressing her by her name when it was in private?
There was a good minute of silence until Ukraine spoke up. "So how did you learn of sestra's name?"
"She told me it a little before the last meeting," he answered, not wanting to go into specifics about that night.
"Really?" Ukraine asked, genuinely surprised. "It usually takes a lot for her to be giving out her name. If I am remembering correctly it took her nearly 300 years to be telling Lithuania her name, and that was only because she was the part of the same country at the time."
Alfred laughed and looked over at Natalya. "Is that a fact?" Ukraine nodded with a smile on her face. "Da, she doesn't even like giving out her name to humans. She is usually referring to herself as "Ms. Arlov— "sestra stop!!" Natalya screamed.
Alfred looked over at her, seeing that her face was beet red and only getting darker. She glanced back at him and jumped, before quickly dropping all emotion from her face and turning away from him. "I only told him because I was drunk. I would never tell him otherwise."
Ukraine sighed the way a disappointed mother would. "Sestra you really shouldn't do the drinking, especially in a country where it is the illegal at your age."
"Me?! America was the one drinking in the first place! He would've fallen off the roof if it weren't for me," Natalya argued.
"America I didn't know you did the drinking," Ukraine said sadly.
"I don't. It was a one time thing," he said.
"Oh, well... ok, just be careful," she requested.
"Right," he promised.
Natalya rolled her eyes and fell back in her seat. What the hell was that double standard? Alfred's pitied while she's a disappointment?
"I never did the asking, where are you two?" Ukraine asked while leaning deeper into her bed. She could fall asleep to this.
Alfred nervously looked over at Natalya. She was still looking away from him, so he had no clue what her reaction to the question was. Could he answer it? Or would she get mad?
He took her silence as a yes, so he decided to answer. "We're actually on vacation right now. First we went to the Everglades then climbed a mountain in Colorado. Our next stop is a short visit to Monument Valley on the Arizona and Utah border, but the real next destination is the Grand Canyon."
"Ooh, well that sounds like the fun," Ukraine said, her motherly tone returning. "Though it is sounding like a lot of the flying."
"Actually we're doing to the whole thing as a road trip," Alfred corrected, surprising Ukraine. "Really? That seems like it will take a while."
"Yup, but we've been having a great time," he assured. Natalya gave a dry laugh. "If you consider fighting a giant crocodile, driving into a tornado, and dislocating my arm while trying to scale a cliff... then yes we've been having a splendid time."
"Shcho?!?!" Ukraine screamed while nearly flying off her bed. "Are you ok?" She was borderline having a panic attack.
"Da sestra, I'm fine," Natalya said with an annoyed huff. Ukraine fell back onto her bed with a relived sigh, holding her thumping heart.
"Don't worry, the rest of the trip shouldn't be nearly as dangerous... y'know, unless Nat-Belarus picks somewhere dangerous," Alfred said, which both relieved and worried Ukraine more.
"There's all sorts of cool places to pick: The Petrified Forest, Valley of Fire, Death Valley," Alfred named off, scaring the hell out of Ukraine.
"Stop it, you're scaring sestra," Natalya scolded. Alfred quieted down and pouted. "They were just suggestions."
The three continued talking for a good hour, only stopping when Ukraine let out a long yawn.
"Sestra, you should get some sleep," Natalya suggested. Ukraine nodded and pulled her blanket up to her neck. "I am guessing this is goodnight then."
"Or good day for you," Alfred joked. Ukraine laughed and agreed. "I am supposing so."
The two traded a few more jokes, making them laugh but annoying Natalya. "Ok, goodbye now sestra," she quickly cut them off while grabbing her phone to hang up.
"Just be remembering to expect our brother to call soon, ok?" Ukraine reminded her.
"Mhm," Natalya hummed.
"Oh, and America... be keeping my sestra safe and away from those valleys of death," Ukraine urged.
"I will," he promised with a chuckle.
"I'm hanging up now," Natalya warned.
"Have the great fun you two, and be making sure to tell me about it at the next meeting!" Ukraine requested while mentally waving goodbye.
"We will," Natalya swore. "Bye now." She then hung up before her sister could say anything else, sighing and leaning back in the seat while stuffing her phone in her pocket.
"She's nice," Alfred commented with a large grin. Natalya twitched her nose and frowned. "Da, but it's obnoxious how much she tries to mother me."
"Well what's so bad about that?" Alfred asked. "Sure you'll get nagged at a bunch and probably have to do chores, but having someone adore and take care of you sounds awesome."
Natalya stared at him with a solemn gaze. He was smiling like always, but his eyes had a distant look to them. It was pretty obvious what he was thinking of.
"I thought England raised you, how would you know what a mother is like?" She asked, seeing if she could bait him into revealing his mother himself.
"He did. You do realize it's not that hard to know what a mother is like, right?" He questioned.
Natalya frowned at him. 'This lying bastard.'
No matter how many questions she would ask, Alfred would either play dumb, dodge it, or flat out lie. Until he finally got fed up.
"What, do you have a mother or something? Like the Kievan Rus or whatever?" He asked.
"No. Sestra was the Kievan Rus," she answered.
"Ok, and you know what a mother is. So how is it so hard to believe I do too?" He asked with a slight irritation to his voice.
Natalya crossed her arms and looked ahead. "I was just asking questions, there's no reason to get mad."
Alfred sighed and slouched a little. "I'm not mad, I was just weirded out with all the questioning."
He suddenly pulled off onto the side of the road and shut off the RV. "Anyway, it's getting late. Let's wrap it up for today, then tomorrow we can go to our next destination."
Natalya agreed and the two went to their bedrooms, or rather bedroom and couch. But while Alfred quickly fell asleep, Natalya stayed up so she could get in some reading.
May 12, 1866
All these lowlife outlaws keeps robbing me and taking my damn cattle. Well two can play at that game, I've always been told I'm a great shot.
August 2, 1866
Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to invent the gatling gun. I may have won the gunfight but not before getting minced. I'm afraid if this thing starts improving then wars will get far deadlier.
September 23, 1866
I took up a job as a bounty hunter, that way I can track down the outlaws better and also get paid for it.
December 26, 1866
This has probably been the strangest Christmas ever. My single present was a bundle of 50 for hunting down a group of outlaws in the Bayou. Turns out they were all inbred beyond belief. Some of them were so deformed they could barely walk or talk... poor bastards.
January 6, 1867
I had another nightmare about the Confederacy. This one showed him in the middle of a circle of strange people wearing robes and hoods. He was wearing all red and lighting a fire under a massive cross.
I'm not sure what any of it means, but when I woke up my scar began hurting again, so it can't be anything good.
July 1, 1867
Mattie has finally become independent today, funnily enough almost a whole 100 years after me. Maybe I should go pay him a visit to congratulate him and celebrate our birthdays. I haven't seen him since we fought all those years ago.
The only problem is that it would mean abandoning my current bounty. What's more important, Mattie or the entire James-Younger Gang?
July 7, 1867
He's gotten older, I think we may finally be the same age again. Also he has glasses now just like me, I wonder where he got them.
July 9, 1867
He gained his independence... by asking? He straight up just talked his way to independence from Britain of all people.
That's so unfair! I had to fight a war for eight goddamn years!
This is a trick, it has to be. Yeah, Britain probably let him go because he knows Mattie's gonna fail, then when Mattie is desperate for help Britain will take him back and convince him to stay forever.
July 13, 1867
Since he's now independent he wants to go meet the other nations. I told him it's not a good idea, but he's already made his choice. The worst part is he's trying to drag me along.
Absolutely not, I've been separated this long, I don't have any need to go near them. Also I'm certain most of them hate me.
Obviously there's Britain, who I personally don't want to talk to because he gave supplies to the Confederacy. There's some other European nations that did similar things, so I don't like them either. It's part of the reason I had to put up a fucking blockade.
The other nations I don't really know or care about, but I'm sure they know about me at this point. And they will most likely try planning on either trying to take over, or be mad since their people are moving to my country.
Whatever the reason, I think it's a terrible idea and would much rather go back to my ranch.
July 20, 1867
How the hell did he convince me to do this? Now I have to ride on this stupid boat and sail all the way to London of all places. This isn't going to be fun.
July 28, 1867
I haven't seen this place since I was a kid... and I would be lying if I said I missed it.
August 5, 1867
Tomorrow is the world meeting, my first world meeting.
This is a mistake, maybe I can sneak onto a boat back to America.
August 5, 1867
Mattie caught me before I could escape. Why is he making me do this? I swear I'll pull the freedom card, he can't force me to attend.
August 5, 1867
I don't want to do this. I Do Not Want To Do This!
August 6, 1867
Ok, today's the day.
Fuck!
August 6, 1867
That wasn't so bad... I don't think.
Britain did what I thought and yelled at me the second he saw me, Prussia nearly crushed me in a bear hug, Japan kinda just stared at me, France said some possibly perverted stuff about how big I was getting, then the others I knew didn't really do much except wave or smile.
After me and Mattie's introductions it was time for everyone else to introduce themselves, which took a while since there were so many. So for simplicity's sake I'm just going to name off the intriguing ones.
Nations:
Austria — Age: N/A, Height: unknown. Description: The husband of Hungary, he has brown hair with a cowlick and glasses very similar to myself. He also has a mole on his chin and violet eyes. According to Hungary he really likes the piano and hates Prussia.
Belarus — Age: 17, Height: 5 ft. Description: The youngest of the Slavic family, she has platinum blonde hair and deep violet eyes. She has a pretty face but a fierce glare that aims to kill anyone that goes near her brother. Has a love for knives, bows, potatoes, creepy things, and an unhealthy obsession over her brother. (This is all according to her brother because she refused to talk to me).
Belgium — Age: 21, Height: unknown. Description: The younger sister of the Netherlands and older sister of Luxembourg, she has brown hair, light green eyes, and a strange mouth that looks like a cat mouth. She apparently makes really good waffles, which is awesome because I love waffles.
China — Age: 4000?!, Height: 5ft 6.5. Description: The only remaining Ancient, he has long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and light brown, possibly hazel eyes. He likes to carry around a panda and calls everyone else "immature western nations."
Estonia — Age: 15, Height: unknown. Description: Middle of the Baltic trio, he has blond hair and greenish blue eyes. No offense but he kinda looks like me if I gave up.
Germany — Age: 18, Height: 5ft 10. Description: Prussia's younger brother, he has bright blue eyes and slicked back blond hair. No wonder I reminded Prussia of him, if he had a cowlick then we would be almost the same. Compared to most of the other nations he appears to be one of the more serious and sensible ones, let's see how long that lasts. (He's not actually a nation but Prussia lets him attend.)
Greece — Age: 25, Height: unknown. Description: long brown hair and green eyes. (I thought green eyes were supposed to be rare.) He is almost always sleeping or playing with a cat.
Italy — Age: 18, Height: 5ft 6.3. Description: He has auburn hair with a long curl on the side of his head. For some reason his eyes are always closed, so it took a lot of watching to see he has amber eyes. He is addicted to pasta and has a tendency to randomly surrender. Ironic because he's directly related to Ancient Rome.
Latvia — Age: 13, Height: 4ft. Description: The youngest of the Baltics, he's a tiny kid with curly blond hair and violet eyes. Apparently the reason he's so small is because Russia crushed him. Didn't realize this meeting had child abusers in it.
Liechtenstein — Age: N/A, Height: unknown. Description: A cute little girl with blonde hair and green eyes. She has a little bow and likes to wear dresses. I couldn't learn anything else about her because her brother threatened to shoot me. I'd like to see him try, I'm a certified gunslinger.
Lithuania — Age: 17, Height: unknown. Description: The oldest of the Baltic trio, he has shoulder-length brown hair and green eyes. I can tell just by looking at him he gets the brunt of Russia's abuse. I can also see he likes the Belarusian girl, though she obviously wants nothing to do with him and would rather injure him. He doesn't seem to mind or even react to the pain, which is not only hard to watch but also brings up the grim question, how much abuse can one take to the point of numbness?
Poland — Age: 17, Height: unknown. Description: Blond hair that parts down the middle and once again, green eyes. He doesn't seem that bright, and talks to a pony he drags around everywhere. Though he also seems like one of Lithuania's only friends, so that's one good thing.
Portugal — Age: 23, Height: unknown. Description: Looks a lot like Spain, but with a ponytail and even greener eyes.
Romania — Age: 20ish?, Height: 5ft 7.7. Description: Reddish blond hair and red eyes, and fangs? Is this dude a vampire?!
Romano (South Italy) — Age: 21, Height: unknown (roughly the same as Italy.) Description: He has green eyes and brown hair, with the same curl as his brother but in the middle of his head. Him and his brother are also twins, the same as Mattie and I. And just the same as us, the Italy brothers' appear to have completely opposite personalities. Italy is nice to everyone and a little oblivious, while Romano is vulgar and doesn't appear to like anyone. He called me a "cowboy bastard!"
Russia — Age: N/A, Height: 5ft 11.6. Description: Silvery blond hair and purple eyes, he also has a scarf that he refuses to take off no matter the temperature. I knew the second I saw him he was bad news, not only do I remember him from all that land he's taking up north in me and Mattie's land, but he also gave me this super creepy smile. It pissed me off, so I naturally gave him a similar look. I can't tell if I'm enabling his creepiness or if he was genuinely happy. Needless to say I think I should avoid him if I can. Another thing, his heart can just randomly fall out. That's not normal!
Switzerland — Age: 16, Height: unknown. Description: He's got the generic blond hair and green eyes just like every nation. From what I can tell he really likes guns and is hyper protective of his sister.
Turkey — Age: N/A, Height: unknown. Description: He has brown hair and a strange white mask on his eyes, so I have no clue what his eye color is. He's constantly arguing with Greece and threatens Europe with total domination. Apparently he comes from the Ottoman Empire which has the goal of taking over the world. He better not come to the Americas, for his own sake.
Ukraine — Age: 26, Height: unknown. Description: Platinum blonde hair and light blue eyes. Her appearance and personality are completely different then her younger sister and brother (Belarus and Russia.) She seems like a little bit of a crybaby but is very polite. When I first introduced myself she gave me a huge hug, in which I became fully acquainted with her, "assets." I guess they are like that because of her large tracts of land, which honestly got me less thinking about her and more about what would happen if Mattie, Russia, or I were girls.
It was nice meeting some of these people, but I don't think I'm going to be coming to a lot of these. It's too loud, too many people, and honestly a waste of time since my country isn't a part of it.
- Alfred F. Jones
Natalya decided to stop for now, she only got through two years but the bright screen and her tiredness were giving her painful eyestrain.
So she put away her phone and quickly went to bed, dreaming about the memory of that dopey nation going around and asking everyone about themselves.
But by the next morning that dopey nation wasn't so dopey, he was still smiling and joking of course, but Natalya could still see the far-off look in his eyes.
That only seemed to change when they stopped at a small town in the middle of the desert. Alfred stood up from his seat and started to leave. "You can stay here, I just have to drop off something then we'll get going," he said before exiting the cockpit.
After a couple minutes of digging around in the back, he took out a small cardboard box and walked around the RV. It instantly caught the attention of Natalya, who watched him as he walked into town with the package.
She left the cockpit as well and opened the RV door, recoiling as a blast of hot air hit her in the face. After a long moment of amping herself up for the blazing sun, she left the safety of the RV and quickly made her way over to a shady spot under one of the small houses.
Slowly she followed Alfred through the town, getting weird looks from all the people she passed. It wasn't everyday they saw a slavic girl in their town.
At one point Alfred stopped walking to talk to a man in front of a tent, giving Natalya ample time to move close enough to be able to hear what he was saying.
She couldn't tell if it was because she was a ways away, but it sounded like he was speaking complete gibberish. Everything was incomprehensible, yet the man he was talking to was responding just fine.
The two then walked into the tent, the flap closing behind them. Just as Natalya was going to move forward to eavesdrop on them, a hand grabbed her by the upper arm.
She spun her head around and came face to face with a woman. She had jet black hair full of braids and little beads and flowers, and her skin was a reddish brown that rivaled the sands of the desert around them. She must've been around her mid to late 30s, evidence by the smallest of wrinkles at the edges of her eyes and mouth. She looked so familiar, but from where?
"Hello miss, are you feeling alright?" She asked while waving her hand in front of Natalya's face. She snapped out of her thoughts and refocused on the woman's face.
"Da, now who are you and why are you grabbing me?" She asked while pulling her arm away.
"Your face is very flushed and you're hiding in the shade, I was just wondering if you were too hot," the lady admitted.
"It's fine, I'm just waiting for my friend," Natalya said while looking back at the tent. Alfred still hadn't come out.
"You sure you don't want to get out of the heat? I have air conditioning," the woman offered. Natalya just shook her head. "Very well," the lady shrugged.
Just then Alfred walked out, looking at the ground with a crestfallen expression. As he brought his eyes up, he instantly locked them with Natalya's. "Yo Nat, what are you doing out here? It's like a bazillion degrees!" He asked while running over to her.
"I was just talking to this lady," she excused, but when she turned around she was pointing at nothing. "Huh?"
"Oh great, you're having hallucinations now. Come on, let's get you back to the RV," he said while grabbing her arm and guiding her back through the town.
She looked down at her arm in complete confusion. 'But I felt her grab me, there's no way that was my imagination.'
While walking back to the RV, her head was on a swivel as she tried finding where that woman went. Suddenly she slowed down when she found the same woman next to a house, petting a bald eagle that was perched on her arm.
Both the woman and bird turned to Natalya and the woman gave a large smile. It was just then she remembered the pesky bald eagle at Alfred's house. 'There was no way it was all the way out here, right?'
As if reading her mind, the bald eagle gave a small nod before turning back to the woman. Natalya was completely baffled, to the point where she froze in place and refused to budge.
Alarmed by the sudden stop, Alfred bent his head down to be level with Natalya, inadvertently blocking her view of the woman. "Nat, what's wrong?" He asked.
Silently she extended an arm and pointed to where the woman was, which was now empty. "I saw her again."
He looked over at the spot where she was pointing, then back at Natalya with a very concerned expression. He placed a hand on her back and urged her over to the RV quicker.
Just as she was about to go through the door to get back in the vehicle, she took one last look at the town, glancing up and seeing a bald eagle and golden eagle flying side by side.
'Who the hell was that woman?' She thought while finally getting in the vehicle. With that the two left the town, but instead of going west like he has been, Alfred began driving east again.
"We're going the wrong way," she pointed out. Alfred remained silent and continued driving down the road. "Hello? Are you even listening?"
"Sorry it's just... I need to check out something real quick," he apologized, his downcast expression making a return. "It should only take an hour or so to get there anyway."
About an hour and a half later of driving in a big circle, he parked the RV at a parking lot and got out, Natalya following close behind while he paid the admission fee and began walking down a long path.
Across the canyon she could see what looked like some stone buildings on the underside of a cliff, or more accurately ruins since they all had damaged parts.
Alfred paused for a few moments before continuing to walk, eventually crossing over and walking on top of the same cliff the buildings were under.
The cliff then opened up to a long road, which for some reason Alfred began following rather than taking the RV. This weird moodiness he's had since yesterday was beginning to get on Natalya's nerves.
Almost two miles down the road in the blazing heat, the two came across another structure, but this one was on top of the canyon, and was surrounded by some nice trees Natalya could take shelter under.
As she cooled down in the shade, she observed as Alfred strolled around and glided his hand along the orange stones.
"What is this place?" She asked. Alfred quickly removed his hand from the stone and looked back at her. "It's a sun temple. The Anasazi used it to... well, track the sun," he shrugged.
"Though that's not entirely true, they also used it for solstice alignments, tracking the Orion constellation, doing complex geometry, and pointing to Cliff Palace," he said while pointing out into the distance. "It's basically an ancient observatory."
"How old is this place?" She asked while walking forward to get a closer look at the structure.
"This place was built around the 13th century, but the actual Anasazi were around since somewhere in the first century," he explained. "This temple was actually a lot taller, but got worn down throughout time."
"Were? What happened to them?" She asked. She's just full of questions today.
"No one is completely sure. Disease, drought, migration. Maybe even the Toltecs were responsible, we may never know," he answered.
"Toltecs?"
"We don't talk about the Toltecs, they were a little too cannibalistic for my liking," he grimaced, he really didn't like cannibals. "Anyway, let's go see the Cliff Palace," he announced while marching away.
After a long walk around the end of the canyon, the two had made it to a platform with a long staircase snaking down to the bottom of the cliff. And at the bottom of that was the trail leading directly to the massive cliff dwelling.
Natalya was no stranger to ancient ruins... she lives in Europe of all places... but it was still surprising to see structures from so long ago, especially from a country as young as Alfred's. And these ones were especially ancient looking, with cave paintings only making it more fitting.
While she explored the underground city, Alfred followed close behind while looking at each building with fondness and nostalgia. Suddenly a family obviously on vacation passed them, going unnoticed by Natalya but catching the attention of Alfred.
He watched as the little girl skipped around in pure joy, a hand holding onto and swinging around an arm from each parent, standing on either sides of them and smiling down at their child. He was envious of them, it's been so long since he had that.
He eventually broke his gaze from the family, closing his eyes and sighing to himself. Ever since that talk with Ukraine he's been in a funk, and meeting up with the village only made that worse. After a moment he opened them again and slowly turned around, finding Natalya giving him a blank stare.
"What?" He asked. She silently turned back around and continued walking. Alfred sighed again and followed after her.
Long after exploring the dwelling and a few more that were close, the two took a break to set up camp and stay put for the night. While Alfred kept going out to get more firewood, Natalya stayed put and poked the fire with a stick in boredom.
"Couldn't you have brought the tent or something?" She huffed the second Alfred came back. He set down the firewood to the side and sat next to her. "I wasn't expecting to be here all night, that was all you. Besides, we're surrounded by buildings, just sleep in one of those."
She looked over at them then back at him with a cross gaze. "Where it's unstable and caved in, are you insane? Is there really no alternative?"
Alfred unclipped a hand-sized bag from his side, before handing it to her. She raised an eyebrow while trying to read the label by the light of the fire. "This is a sleeping bag?" She asked while unrolling it to its full size, revealing it was indeed a sleeping bag, and a nice one at that.
"An emergency sleeping bag, just in case," he informed her with a wink. Natalya ignored him and moved the sleeping bag under her to separate her butt from the dirty ground.
"So... how do you know this place?" She asked while glancing back at the old buildings. Alfred looked back at them as well, giving a small smile.
"Mattie and I used to come here when we were children. Of course there were actual people, and these were less ruins and more normal buildings," he sighed, crossing his arms on top of his knees and resting his chin on them. "But that was a long, long time ago."
Natalya looked down at him as he sulked and started drawing circles in the sand with his finger. Either he was really bad at hiding his emotions, or had the idiotic notion that it was dark enough to where she wouldn't see him.
"For all it's worth, I think these ruins are remarkable," she complimented. He cracked a warm smile and looked to her. "If you think this is cool you should've seen Tenochtitlán."
She raised an eyebrow at the gibberish he was spewing. "Umm, can you repeat that?" Alfred quickly realized his mistake and laughed it off. "Right, sorry. Tenochtitlán was the capital city of the Aztec Empire, a huge Native American group in Mexico some five centuries ago."
His whole face seemed to brighten up as he described everything about it, from its sheer size to its floating gardens. But his smile faltered a little when he mentioned some guy named Cortés.
He quickly raised it back up and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, that dude kinda ruined the entire place, but the Aztecs sacrificed people and cut their hearts out so I'm not gonna cry that they're gone."
"Oh."
He laughed at her reaction. "Yeah, they were bad dudes. But it's alright now, because now it's all American and no more... Native... Americans," he finished as his smile dropped fully.
A few minutes of silence passed, and America slowly dragged a hand up to rub the side of his face pointing away from her. "Sorry, I'm bumming you out, aren't I?"
"Da, what is up with you?" She asked. "Your sadness is annoying me."
He gave a short laugh at her little comment and wiped his one eye. "I don't know... ever since we talked to your sister I've been thinking about stuff... like family stuff."
"Like your mother?" She asked. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head, before he quickly calmed down and looked at her with a dumb face. "Excuse me?"
"Don't play dumb, I saw the picture of you and her in that tent thing in the woods," she explained, suddenly pausing and putting a finger on her chin as she thought to herself.
'That's it! The face, the smile, that annoying bald eagle. That woman at the town was Alfred's mother!'
"Alfred, what was that town we stopped at before?" She asked. He stared at her completely befuddled, too caught up with the revelation that she knows about his mother.
"Alfred!"
"Huh? Oh, right. That was a Navajo village," he answered after snapping back to reality.
"Navajo? Are they also a group of Native Americans?" She asked. Alfred nodded. "Yes? What are you getting at?"
She went quiet again and continued thinking, getting him nervous about what she was going to ask next.
"I think I saw your mother at the town," she eventually stated. Alfred's mouth hung open in disbelief, before closing and frowning at her. "Just because you saw a Native American woman doesn't mean it's my mom, that's racist y'know."
"I'm not being racist! I saw her, she had that dumb smile you always have, and that stupid eagle that stalks me at the house. And when I looked to where she was she disappeared and there was a bald eagle and golden eagle flying away," she explained, shocking Alfred. His shock quickly soured as he got to his feet and stared down at her with a furious glare.
"That's impossible, my mom is dead! I watched her die dammit!!" He stomped, sending a dusty shockwave that nearly blew out the fire.
Natalya was unaffected and stared at him blankly as he raged. "I know what I saw."
"Oh ho, is that a fact?" He dryly laughed. "Then why couldn't I see her then, huh? Because if I remember correctly all I saw was a girl getting heatstroke after only a few minutes in a measly 96F."
"Because she kept disappearing. If she can turn into a bird I'm pretty sure she's fully capable of other magic," Natalya suggested.
"Magic isn't real, and even if it was why would she do that? If she were really here she would do everything to see me again," he argued.
"I'm not sure, but I'm certain she was there," she said. The bird and the magic is some concrete evidence, but Alfred couldn't comprehend the possibility of her being back without going into confused and angry denial.
"Or you're crazy and seeing things," he commented, earning him an elbow to his stomach that sent him on his ass.
"Or maybe she just doesn't want to see your obnoxious bitch-ass," he snapped back. She was expecting some sort of whiny argument to ensue, but instead he bit his lip and looked at the ground with a sad and guilt-stricken face. She completely forgot he partially blamed himself for her death.
"I'm sorry, that was too far," she apologized while crouching down right next to him. He continued staring down at the ground until he buried his face behind his hands. If he wasn't crying already he had just about reached the brink.
Natalya raised a hand and suspended it above his back, planning on setting it down to comfort him, but she hesitated and put her hand back on the ground.
After a little bit he lifted his head from his hands and took a large inhale and exhale. "I'm sorry too, it was wrong to call you crazy."
"Da, it was," she agreed. Alfred laughed and turned to her. "Usually people reject the apology and continue with their own. You know, when they keep apologizing to each other and end up sounding like my brother."
"One apology is all you get," she stated, a tiny smile on her face. "That's fine, getting one apology from you is more than enough," he responded with a smirk.
Natalya smirked right back at him. "Good, because I don't plan on apologizing even if I say anything offensive. You're being too bitchy for me to feel bad anymore."
The two kept trading passive-aggressive comments for awhile, until they began to get tired. After a little more time Natalya had curled up in the sleeping bag and Alfred laid close by the fire.
The last thing Natalya saw through her heavy eyes was Alfred's face outstretched in a prolonged yawn.
A few hours later, Natalya's eyes slowly opened to the darkness of night. The fire had long gone out at this point and even though she was unaffected she could tell it was significantly colder.
She looked over at Alfred, who was sleeping with his back to her. Even while in his sleep he was shivering like crazy, and she could hear his teeth clattering together.
Slowly she unzipped the sleeping bag and climbed out, sleepily walking over and lightly kicking him in the back. "Hey, get up."
"W-What, w-w-why?" He stuttered out, the clouds of cold breath puffing in front of him. Natalya rolled her eyes and got down on her knees. "You're freezing, go get in the sleeping bag."
"...B-But you're s-sleeping t-t-there," he argued. She huffed and wrapped an arm around one of his in an attempt to lift him up. "Just get your ass in the damn sleeping bag."
He eventually agreed and got to his feet, clinging to her warm body as they walked over to the bag. He quickly took off his shoes and crawled into it, sighing in relief as he was surrounded by warmth.
Natalya laid down and got into it next to him, startling him for a second, but he was accepting of the extra warmth. She rezipped the bag and turned over away from him.
"You turn that way, I don't want to wake up with your gross arms wrapped around me," she instructed. Alfred shakily nodded and turned over the opposite way, their backs touching in the cramped space.
The heat against his back and sides quickly warmed him up and calmed down his jittering. He gave a tired and shaky smile and leaned deeper against the bag. "T-Thank you, Nat."
Natalya lightly pushed against him as she inhaled a large breath. "Mhm. Now get some sleep."
Jaki čort ?! Idzi preč, bliadź! - What the hell?! Go away you fucking creep!
Shcho?!?! - What?!?!