Summer of 1741
The Russian Empire was nearing its fourth anniversary, with Siberia taken over and expansion in the east and south stagnating, Peter the Great looked to expand the empire elsewhere, somewhere out west, somewhere... new.
Over the past few centuries the New World has taken the world by storm. A mystical land beyond the vast oceans that held untold riches and untouched land.
At first it seemed like something out of legends, or simply a delusion conjured up by some poor soul that had lost their way in India. But as time went on it proved to hold some merit as Spain, France, and eventually England began bringing in hundreds of ships filled to the brim with silver and other goods, all while telling stories of cities of gold and endless resources. They also mentioned strange people the color of rusted iron, who were uncivilized and tribal, and most strangely having no desire to acquire any of the infinite riches around them. Outlandish stories indeed, but all except the golden cities proving true.
These three powers exploiting such a massive well of goods brought much envy from the rest of the world, especially Russia. They realized that if these three European powers were left to grow in power unrestricted, then any hope of expanding the empire east would vanish.
That's when Peter got an idea. If the world truly is round as Columbus said, then that would mean the Pacific Ocean must circle around to the New World, or possibly even another continent undiscovered by anyone else. That would give them a leg up against any other country, as from what they know the western, and more so the northwestern half of North America was almost entirely unknown and completely unclaimed.
This theory proved too intriguing to pass up, and so he put together an expeditionary team to set sail for North America. At the head of this team was one of the best explorers available, a round-faced Danish man by the name of Vitus Bering.
Vitus Bering was renowned for his voyage around the East Indies, and had later joined Peter's fleet as a sublieutenant, making him the perfect candidate for this challenge.
The first expedition took place on July 13, 1728, in which Vitus sailed from the Kamchatka peninsula into the Pacific Ocean. While sailing through the Bering Straight as it would later be called, he was unsuccessful in finding North America due to bad weather. But he did at the very least discover the Diomede islands and confirm that Asia and the Americas were not connected.
That brought them back to more recent times, in which another expedition would be taking place under Empress Anna. This time on top of the expedition crew, Vitus was tasked with taking along three others to see the New World. There were two adults and one child, and they were all siblings. He didn't really understand why they were tagging along, but if the Empress ordered it then they must be some important nobles or something.
This was of course Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. After gaining so much land, Russia had gone through quite the growth spurt. Now in his early twenties he towered over his older sister, and made his younger sister look like a baby in comparison.
How they actually got Natalya here was quite a strange story. At this time period she was still part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which had expanded across much of Eastern Europe taking Minsk and Kiev. While both capitals were taken over, there was a tiny part of Ukraine left in the Crimean Khanate, allowing Ukraine to get away and find her way back to her brother. That was a daunting task in itself, as the Crimean Khanate enslaved Ukrainians, but luckily she was able to get out and get to Moscow.
Natalya on the other hand, unfortunately had her entire territory within Lithuania's empire. This resulted in her being separated from her family for, at this point, 505 years, with visits few and far between and only when her siblings would be in Lithuania on business. (No wonder she hates Lithuania.)
Things only got worse for her when Poland had joined during the formation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, so not only was she kept from her family but now there was this screechy annoyance she had to deal with constantly for the past 172 years.
If on top of that she also had to deal with Lithuania constantly trying to date her, then she might've lost her mind, but luckily with him having an empire to run he aged up quicker than her.
Even though they were in a backwards time where all types of weird and illegal in today's society sort of shenanigans happened, Lithuania was an honorable man. And it's because of that kindness that he accepted when he got the request from Russia asking for his sister to visit.
Lithuania's boss had at first refused, believing if she were allowed to leave then her brother would take her away forever, but Lithuania was able to convince them otherwise. He reasoned that Natalya was extremely unhappy being part of the empire, so it would actually benefit them to allow her to see her family, as that would improve her opinion of him and their union as a whole.
And so with permission for Natalya to go and an escort sent to bring her all the way to eastern Siberia, it all led up to today, in which they've all been out at sea for days with nothing to see but the big deep blue.
Russia stood on the deck staring out into the ocean, his long scarf billowing in the cool summer wind. How come even with an entire part of the Pacific Ocean to himself he can't get a warm water port?
From behind him Vitus walked over and stood at their side as he stared out to the horizon as well. "Quite beautiful isn't it?" He asked in Russian.
"Da. Quite beautiful indeed," Russia responded. The two stood around for a moment as they watched the waves roll and the sun shimmer off of them.
"So where are the other two?" Vitus wondered, having observed so far that the family is practically attached at the hip, sometimes literally as the youngest one would more often than not be found latching onto and dangling off of her brother.
"My little sestra got seasick since she's never been on a large ship before, so my older sestra is trying to soothe her," Russia explained, which the other man empathized with. "Poor thing. The first time is always the worst."
Russia just nodded as the two looked back out to the ocean. Time seemed to move like molasses, Russia would stare aimlessly into the distance, Vitus would leave to jot down another coordinate, then come back for some small talk or to scan the waters. Hours passed with nothing, to the point where even an immortal being and a seasoned explorer were becoming agitated.
Finally when Russia was about to leave and go see what his sisters were up to, he noticed a dark line rising from the ocean northeast of the ship.
Shielding his eyes from the bright sun, he stared for a little bit to make sure his mind wasn't playing tricks on him, just as Vitus started walking over to him again.
Hearing the man nearing him, Russia removed his attention from the growing landmass. "I believe we have arrived."
"What?!" Vitus nearly screamed as he marched forward and pulled out his spyglass, looking around frantically for what Russia saw. Finally when he spotted it he almost jumped for joy as he put the spyglass away and spun around to shout to the captain, "captain, turn the boat 35 northeast, we've hit land!"
The captain followed the order and slowly turned the ship directly toward the shore. At feeling the excited energy and loud shouts all over the ship, Ukraine stepped out while carrying Natalya to see what the commotion was about.
Seeing Russia standing at the bow with a group of sailors, she walked over and pulled on his coat sleeve to get his attention. "What is happening?"
Russia gave her a pleased smile "We have reached land. We can finally leave the ship."
Ukraine lit up and gave him a large open-mouth smile. "That is wonderful news. Honestly I'm not sure how much our sestra could take." As she said that Natalya grumbled and curled deeper into a ball.
"We'll drop the anchor soon, once we get to shore you'll feel all better," Russia reassured as he rubbed his little sister's back. Natalya turned her upper body toward her brother and stuck her arms out with a serious face. Russia laughed out loud and took her from Ukraine to hold himself.
A few minutes later the ship had anchored offshore and the dinghies were lowered to take the nations and crew to shore. The second they stepped foot on the rocky beach Vitus began madly sketching a map with coordinates to later add to the main map.
The three nations were next to leave the boat, greatly relieving Natalya who was now relaxed against Russia.
As everyone else came to shore they took a little while to explore the new land, unaware of the two pairs of eyes cautiously observing them from the woods.
"Alright men, time to set up camp," the captain ordered. The men all got in single file as they awaited their given task.
"Group one, set up the tents. Group two, collect some wood and get a fire started. If this is anything like Siberia then it's going to get really cold when night hits. Group three go unload some of the food and supplies from the ship, and group four and Mr. Bering, go do some exploring and scout out for any possible threats."
The groups all nodded and split up, leaving the three nations alone. "I suppose we should explore as well," Russia said as he set Natalya down.
And so the nations began leaving the beach to head into the forest with the others, picking a spot nice and far away from the areas where everyone else was heading. Unfortunately for the two people watching, the nations were heading straight in their direction.
"Come on, let's go before they see us," one of the voices said before pulling the other away to go deeper into the forest. Only about twenty seconds later the three nations walked right through the bush the pair was previously hiding in.
No matter how far they ran it seemed like the nations were following right behind. Not wanting to get caught and accidentally lead them back home, they ran to a nearby ditch and hid within the foliage.
The two held their breath as the group slowly started strolling by. The tension was growing incredibly thick, as they waited huddled together with their heads down for the strangers with the weird language to leave.
After a minute of being on edge, one of them turned to the other and asked, "are they gone?" The other raised their head a little before getting to their knees. "Let me check."
Slowly they raised their head up to above the bush, getting startled when they saw the group right in front of them. As fast as they could they shot back down to their stomach, but in the process they accidentally crushed a twig and caused a loud snap. In horror the two looked at each other, knowing they were busted.
At hearing the noise the three siblings turned their heads to the bush and froze. Who knew what kind of predators were lurking around here.
With Russia being the strongest and the closest to the bush, he slowly began sneaking toward it, but stopped as Natalya sped past him screaming, "I'll protect you big brother!"
Russia panicked and reached out to her. "Sestra wait!" But he wasn't fast enough as she dived into the bush, colliding into something and tumbling into the ditch behind it.
Russia and Ukraine rushed over to the ditch in immense worry, which turned to confusion as they found their sister at the bottom laying on top of a small boy. The two started walking forward to get their sister off the poor kid, but Ukraine stopped as she looked down and saw another little boy still hiding in the bush and staring up at her in fear.
After getting over the initial shock of rolling into a ditch, Natalya sat up and grabbed the boy by the collar, pulling him closer to berate him with threats about coming close to her big brother. All the while the boy just stared up at her with a confused expression on his face, as he tried his best to understand what this girl was saying.
He didn't have time to decipher any of it before Russia walked over and lifted Natalya up off of him from under her arms. As she was getting scolded, the other boy ran over to get away from the tall lady and to make sure the other was ok.
Ukraine was quick to follow, bending forward a little and squirming as she held her warm cheeks. "Aren't you two just the most adorable little things?" She cooed.
The two boys had the most beautiful blond hair, one wavy and one wild, with a curl and cowlick respectively. The one with the curl also had giant purple eyes, just like Ukraine's siblings, while the other had sparkling blue much like her own. Observing them further she realized how similar they were, they were twins.
Seeing her cheerful attitude calmed down the two young boys slightly, who were now just watching her fawn over them in wonder. It reminded them of their mother.
"What do you think they are saying?" One whispered to their brother. "I don't know. But I don't think it's anything threatening," the other responded much louder, enough for Russia and Ukraine to hear.
The two shared a look, as they could decently understand what the kid said. For a while they've been attending the world meetings, which at this point most often took place in England as Germany had not yet become a country. Over time they've been able to pick up bits and pieces of his language, for as difficult as it is to understand.
But if this is North America as they theorized, then why is there English speakers so far out west? England's colony is on the east coast, unless they already beat Russia here.
With a defeated sigh Russia stepped forward and got down on one knee so he wasn't towering over the boys so much. "So, I am supposing your village is nearby?" He asked slowly, his English very broken and almost impossible to understand with his accent.
The boys both stared in awe as the large man spoke, but eventually the louder one burst out into laughter. "Your voice sounds funny. But no we're here alone."
Their brother turned to them in terrified anger. "You hoser! Why would you tell them that?!" He quietly yelled. "What if they are here to hurt the natives too, eh?"
"Then it's better to be friendly with them. It's not like we can make them leave, and running away won't do anything," the other brother reasoned.
After the quiet argument they turned their attention back to Russia, who was waiting for them to stop talking to continue. "So why are the kids like you out here alone? It is dangerous."
"Oh that's alright, me and Mattie learned how to survive by ourselves forever ago," the boy stated proudly. "It's Mattie and I, and don't use my name!" Mattie said in an embarrassed squeak.
"Jeez, you're starting to sound like Artie," the other kid mocked with a roll of his eyes. Russia's eyes widened as he heard these names. During some of their meetings England and France would brag about their colonies, France praising his "petit Mathieu" while England would boast about how his "little brother Alfred was far better than Spain and that frog put together." Then he would get all embarrassed and mumble something about how they called him Artie again.
"So you are Fredka?" Russia blurted out in surprise. The blue-eyed kid turned his head and knit his eyebrows. "Fredka? What kind of name is that?"
Russia realized his mistake and gave the boy a polite smile. "Apologies, I was meaning Alfred." That made the boy's eyes sparkle like the three nations have never seen before. "You know me?!"
"Da, your older brother England does the talking of you a lot," Russia replied, which got Alfred even more excited.
"Did you hear that Mattie?! He said England, they're nations too!" He cheered while bouncing in place. Despite Canada's own excitement, he pushed it down and thought more rationally about it. "But what if that means they want to take us away?"
Russia's eyes narrowed in thought for a moment. If he took these kids then rather than just the west he could take the whole New World for himself. But that thought was quickly put to an end as Ukraine slapped him on the arm. "Don't even think about it. You leave those precious boys alone," she spoke seriously in her native tongue.
Turning to her he saw the face like that of a protective mother. He knew better than to mess with her when she was like that.
"So who are you guys?" Alfred wondered, shocking Ukraine out of her tense expression. She crouched down in front of him and gave a beaming smile. "I am Ukraine, it brings me the great happiness to be finally meeting of you... America?"
Alfred nodded confidently and extended a hand. Ukraine stared in confusion for a moment before taking his tiny hand in hers and shaking it. "England's description is giving you none of the justice for how adorable you are."
Alfred smiled proudly and put his hands on his hips. "If you think I'm adorable then you need to meet my brother," he said as he grabbed Canada by the arm and pulled him over.
The boy very slowly raised his eyes up and looked at Ukraine nervously. "I-I'm Canada. It's nice to meet you." He said so quietly that Ukraine could barely hear it. He extended his arm to her, which she grasped and shook ever so gently.
"You are having the most beautiful hair," she complimented, making Canada grin shyly. "Thank you, you have very nice... um... eyes?"
She laughed softly and let his hand go. "Well aren't you the flirt?" Canada looked down at his feet while fidgeting with his hands. Besides his mom he hasn't met a single female nation besides Monaco, who was basically a sister to him. "W-Well, papa France always told me to be nice to women."
Russia and Ukraine shared a cautious look. Hopefully France keeps this boy pure, as unlikely as that would be.
After another few moments of conversing, Ukraine moved away for the next person to step up, which was Russia.
While Ukraine made him nervous, Russia absolutely terrified Canada. He looked like a giant, and despite the smile plastered on his face something about him felt hollow and cold, and if something can make Canada cold then it must be bad.
"Hello, I am Russia. Your eyes are just like mine. Are you perhaps the cold nation as well?" He asked while stretching out his massive gloved hand. Canada wrapped his whole hand around one finger and shook it. "Y-Y-Yes."
Russia then clapped his hands together and grinned wider. "Then we shall become the best of friends and be bonding over our hatred of the cold, da?"
"But I like the cold," Canada pointed out, going unnoticed as Russia skipped over to their southern brother.
"So you are America... would you like to be the friends?" He asked with hope brimming in his voice. Two new friends in one day? And one being the adopted brother of his rival no less. That would definitely be advantageous if he could get the boy on his side in any future conflicts with England.
"Of course, I'm always up for making new friends," Alfred accepted enthusiastically as he reached out to shake hands, only to feel his slapped away as Natalya ran over and protectively clutched to Russia's arm, while glaring holes into Alfred's face.
"Stay away from big brother, he's mine!" She screamed in her own language, leaving Alfred confused once again as he rubbed his hand.
Russia pried her hands from him and knelt down with a cross look. "Sestra that is rude, apologize at once."
"Nyet, he's trying to take you away from me!" She argued as she crossed her arms and looked at the ground with a red face.
"He is doing no such thing, he's just introducing himself," Russia explained, but his sister was hearing none of it.
Eventually he stood up with a defeated sigh and put his hands on her shoulders as she turned her toward the other two kids. "This is my little sestra. As you can be seeing she is much your age."
"You can be calling her Ruthenia," Ukraine said while cracking a smile. While Natalya couldn't understand what she was saying, she could at least understand the word "Ruthenia," which angered her greatly.
"I am not Ruthenia, I am Belorussia!" She yelled as she stamped her feet. Ukraine gave her an uneasy look. "I know sestra, I was simply joking. Honestly sestra you were so calm earlier, what's gotten into you?"
Turning to the two boys she smiled softly. "I was just doing the teasing, she is actually known as Belorussia."
"I could understand that much," Alfred said as he took a step forward toward the girl. She was only a few inches taller than him, and had platinum blonde hair that was now grown out to her modern style rather than the short boyish hair from when she was younger. Though she still had the large blue bow that kind of looks like a leaf.
He gave a bright smile and extended a hand for her to shake, but as she turned and faced him she gave him a dark look and tried to swat at him. Before she could Russia caught her by the wrist and brought her attention to him. "Be nice."
Natalya yanked her arm away, but not able to deny her brother she eventually reached out and shook Alfred's hand, then pulled her hand away in disgust as she wiped it off.
"You guys wanna come to our house? We can talk about nation stuff like Artie and Franceypants do," Alfred said as he grabbed Russia by the sleeve and began pulling him along with a level of strength not expected from a child. It seemed like he wasn't really giving them a choice.
Natalya ran up and wrapped around Russia's other arm, while a cautious Canada was close behind, followed by Ukraine at the back.
They walked for a little bit, Russia freeing his one arm from Alfred but with his other still firmly locked in Natalya's grip. Trying to shake her off to no avail, he turned to the marching American. "On the topic of England and France, shouldn't they be doing the watching of you?"
Alfred momentarily stopped walking as his smiled twitched, but then he continued again and grinned wider. "Francis had some work to do in his country, and Artie is down fighting a war in South America."
"But England and France must have been leaving you in their colonies, so what are you doing here? From what I heard the Americas are quite large place."
"After papa France had to leave I told Alfie about it, and he offered to come up to Montreal and visit. Then we wanted to go exploring my country and kind of just ended up here," Canada explained sheepishly.
"So what is this place?" Ukraine wondered. Alfred shrugged and scratched at his head. "Some of the natives call it Alaxsxaq, but then I hear others say Alyeska, so whichever you prefer I guess."
'Alyeska... I like that,' Russia thought to himself. They all continued walking for a good hour or two, until finally coming up to a small cabin in the middle of the woods.
The twins were the first ones to walk in, followed by Russia, but as he stepped through the doorway a white blur sped toward him and crashed into his leg.
Looking down at his feet, Russia was taken aback when he found a small polar bear gnawing on his boot. Natalya attempted to take a step forward, but Russia held her back as he continued to watch in awe.
Canada quickly sped over and picked up the bear nervously as he tried to calm it down. "You have polar bears?" Russia asked.
Canada nodded his head and held the bear to his chest. "Yes. This is Kumajiro and he's my pet."
"Who are these guys?" The bear asked, which startled the three siblings. "This is Russia and his sisters Ukraine and Belorussia," Canada answered. "They're nations like us, eh."
That seemed to finally calm the polar bear down, so Canada set him down and let him walk away before turning back to the nations. "Do you guys want some pancakes?"
"Oh, no thank you. We could not possibly be leaving a child to make dinner," Ukraine declined, only for Alfred to run up and stand in front of her. "Come on, you have to try Mattie's pancakes. They're the best!" He begged while giving her massive puppy dog eyes.
She immediately melted under the kid's gaze. "Alright but I will be in kitchen to help, this is not something a child should be doing alone."
The two boys smiled at each other before Alfred grabbed her by the hand and sped off to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
That just left Russia and the spider monkey dangling off his arm. Finding a nearby chair, he walked over and set her down on it, then carefully unraveled the arms and legs wrapped around him.
Now with him free of her she tucked into a small ball and looked away with an angry pout. Russia sighed and sat in front of her. "Sestra we've been over this, he's not going to take me away."
Natalya frowned deeper as her cheeks puffed out. "But you have been giving him all the attention."
"It is because I just met them. I'm simply trying to learn about their personality," Russia defended. "And what about Canada, why aren't you angry with him as well?"
Natalya stared at her feet as her glare hardened. "Because he's weak and afraid of you. But that other one isn't, that makes him a threat to our future together. You already became friends so quickly. Do you... do you like him more than me?" Her glare disappeared as her bottom lip started to wobble.
Seeing she was about to cry, which even as a kid was rare for her, Russia put his hands on the sides of her face and prepared his thumbs for any tears he may have to wipe away.
"Of course not, you are my little sestra. While I do enjoy new friends, they cannot hold a candle to you. I'm only doing this so I can get on the two boys' good sides. Hopefully if I play my cards right I can obtain a colony, then I will be able to exploit the resources of this land. That will give me enough strength to push farther into Eastern Europe and then I can finally take you back from Lithuania and Poland, maybe even take them in the process."
Natalya finally looked up to him, her eyes now full of hope. "Really? You'll be able to take me back, then we can be together as one forever?"
Russia smiled sadly and patted the top of her head a few times. She's so clingy, but he can't really blame her after being separated for so long. "Da."
"Promise?" She asked, nervousness creeping into her voice. Russia chuckled quietly and gave her a reassuring smile with his eyes shut. "I promise. Before the end of the century I will have you returned to me."
She was overjoyed and jumped off the chair to give him a crushing hug, but was stopped as he grabbed her out of the air. As he held her up he gave her a serious face. "But in order for this to work we all have to stay on their good sides, so please try to be nice to them, especially America."
Natalya sulked and let her body hang limp in her brother's hands. "But do I have to? He's so loud and annoying!"
"I know you don't like him but do your best, for me, and especially our sestra," Russia requested. Natalya continued sulking but nodded her head slowly.
Russia grinned and finally brought his sister into his embrace, which she was quick to reciprocate.
Getting to his feet he carried her to the kitchen, opening the door to find Alfred standing by his feet and right next to the door frame. "Were you doing the spying of me?" He questioned, almost forgetting to say it in English.
Alfred started sweating a little and got all flustered. "S-Spying? I wasn't... I just heard you say something about Canada and I got curious."
"I was telling my sestra about you and your brother, as she can not be understanding of you," Russia lied, which made Alfred raise an eyebrow and tap a finger on his chin. "But I thought I heard you say something about promises."
That left Russia speechless for a long few moments, then he blinked and tilted his head. "You understood that? But you had not been understanding me earlier."
Alfred rubbed the back of his head and laughed pridefully. "Artie always told me I catch onto languages quickly. If you keep talking long enough I'll eventually pick up on it. Especially if more people come that can speak your language."
"I will be keeping that in mind, but what I had been saying was about the personal family matters. It is not anything of the concern," Russia stated. "That's boring. Hey I think the first pancakes are done, you want some?" Alfred offered, unaware of the insult he just made.
Russia childishly laughed. "You certainly are the blunt one, huh?" Alfred looked way up at the tall nation and scratched his head. "What do you mean?"
They were astonished by the obliviousness, and almost said something about it, but bit it back and hid it under a polite smile. He's a young kid, he gets a pass. "Nevermind, I would be loving some of the pancakes."
"Sweet, you're really big so we'll put extra maple syrup on yours," Alfred announced as he momentarily left the room to grab extra chairs to bring to the table.
"Maple..." Russia started, "syrup?" Ukraine finished. An uncharacteristically thrilled Canada hopped off the step stool in front of the wood stove as he ran off somewhere, returning a few minutes later with a jar full of a thick brownish liquid.
Removing the cap, he began pouring it all over a stack of finished pancakes then set it on the table with a fork.
Setting down Natalya at one of the table's chairs, which Alfred had brought in, Russia sat down in front of the plate of food and picked up the fork, cutting off a piece of the pancake and putting it in his mouth.
After some very slow bites taking a few seconds to savor the flavor, he swallowed the pancake before turning to the awaiting nations. "These pancakes are fluffy like cloud, and the maple syrup has the sweet and stickiness like candy."
"It basically is if you let it freeze," Alfred pointed out as he brought his own plate over, sitting in the seat next to Russia and opposite of Natalya, who did her best to hide her anger. Looking over at Alfred, Russia could barely see their face due to the massive stack of pancakes on the plate. No way a kid could eat that much.
"So what is maple syrup exactly? Pancakes have been around since Ancient Rome, but I am not knowing of a brown sauce you are putting on it. Usually it is eaten with the fruits and spices," Ukraine explained to Canada as they walked to the table with their own plates.
As they sat down at the table they began eating, while Canada began the story about maple syrup's origin.
"Maple syrup was created by the Native Americans over in the east, as that's where the maple trees are. Originally they would poke a hole into the trees and take large pieces of bark to hold the sap that poured out. Then they would leave it outside to freeze overnight, which would separate the water and leave the syrup behind. Later they figured out that if they put the sap on hot coals then they could boil out the water much faster, and then later again when they began using clay pots they could boil a lot more at one time."
"I am not thinking I have heard you talk so much," Ukraine pointed out, which made Canada bashful all over again as he grabbed a nearby Kumajiro and hid his face in their fur. "I really like maple syrup," they could hear his muffled voice say.
"Yeah, Mattie is totally hooked on the stuff. A long time ago our..." Alfred trailed off as a flash of pain glazed over his eyes. Instantly it was gone as he shook his head very briefly. "Our... friend took us to where they were making it. Ever since then Mattie can't seem to get enough, so he learned how to make it himself."
Turning to his brother, Alfred's grin somehow got bigger than it was. "That reminds me, I think I saw some maple trees somewhere southeast of here."
"I saw those too, eh. I'm pretty sure they're Rocky Mountain maple. Not as good as sugar maple though," Canada pointed out, which made Alfred laugh. "You're such a maple nerd."
"It's probably better that you learn as well, so we don't end up with another one of those syrup experiments of yours," Canada shot back, which made Alfred visibly cringe at the memory.
The Slavic family looked back and forth between the two brothers with immense confusion, though Natalya was by far the most confused as she couldn't even understand them.
Reaching over she tugged on her brother's sleeve to get his attention. "Big brother what are they talking about?"
Russia wasn't too sure himself. "Well they were initially talking about maple syrup, which is that brown liquid on our pancakes. But then they started talking about maple trees and now something about experimenting with syrup. I'll try to figure out more."
Raising his hand, he gained the attention of the two boys. "Question, what are these syrup experiments you mentioned?"
Both boys grimaced but surprisingly Canada was the first to regain the courage to explain. "When I started making my own syrup for the first time, Alfie got really curious and started trying to figure out what syrup could be made from other tree saps."
Alfred nodded grimly and continued where Canada left off. "I took pine sap thinking it would make something good, but when I ate it it was super sticky and my mouth got sealed shut."
Russia leaned over and whispered that part to Natalya, getting her stuck between thinking it's funny and thinking Alfred is an idiot. Probably a little of both as she gave a low, sadistic giggle. Alfred laughed along with them, even though it was at his own expense, but unlike Canada or Ukraine he didn't seem to notice or care about Russia and Natalya's creepy laughs.
"Do they always laugh like that?" Canada asked as he turned to Ukraine. She put a hand on her cheek and looked at her siblings in second hand embarrassment. "Nyet, they have quite the adorable laughs. But they cannot be helping it when the source of their humor is at the humiliation of another."
"I... see," Canada understood as he turned back to his brother, whose boisterous laughter was drowning out the other two.
"Is he always that loud? I can be barely hearing you sometimes because of it," Ukraine wondered. Now Canada was the one feeling second hand embarrassment. "Most of the time yes, but he can be quiet if he really wants to. He's just really excited to see other nations, Arthur has been gone for a while now."
"Oh? How long have they been gone?" She asked. Canada began to open his mouth but then closed it as he looked down at his fingers and began counting off of them. "Fifteen to twenty years I think. Before going to war in South America he was in his country on business."
Ukraine gave a sad, empathetic smile. "You see my little sestra? We have not been seeing her in years, centuries even. This is the first time we are having time to be spending with her outside of meetings."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Canada said, but Ukraine shook her head. "No need to be apologizing little one. I am glad we can be keeping each other company, it is making the limited time with our sestra so much better."
Trading small smiles with each other, they looked back to their siblings, who had finally stopped laughing.
"Alfie eat your pancakes, they're probably all cold now," Canada reminded them. Alfred looked up and down at his still untouched pancake tower, his eyes growing large at the realization. "Thanks Mattie, I completely forgot."
Immediately he began digging into the food, the Slavic family all watching disturbed as this tiny kid inhaled pancakes one after the other. He didn't even properly chew most of them.
"How can you be eating that much?" Ukraine asked in horror as Alfred licked the plate clean. Wiping off the syrup that had gotten on his face, he turned to her with an innocent smile. "I've always been like this. But Artie told me to eat plenty if I wanted to grow big and strong."
"But this is the very extreme. You will be growing big but not strong... unless you are crushing someone," Russia joked, getting a disapproving look from Ukraine but a laugh out of Alfred. Turning to his sister he gave her a smirk. "See? He is liking it."
As his laughter died down Alfred rubbed at his teary eyes. "You're probably right. You know, you're really funny." That made Russia all fuzzy inside. He usually scares children away, he's never gotten the chance to make one laugh besides Natalya.
For the rest of the night they entertained each other and had a good time, until finally it was nighttime and the young kids were getting tired.
"You sure you don't want to stay here for tonight?" Mattie asked. Beside him Alfred rubbed his eyes while yawning, then looked up at them as well. "We have mats and stuff you can use."
"There is honestly no need, we have to be getting back to our camp before they are beginning to get worried," Russia justified while adjusting the half asleep Natalya in his arms.
"If you are wanting we can come back tomorrow," Ukraine suggested, which made the twins smile.
So after saying their goodbyes the Slavic family turned and walked out of the house, waving goodbye as they reentered the woods to go back to camp.
The twins waved as well before shutting the door, quickly going to their bedroom and passing out.
"Such wonderful kids," Ukraine sighed in delight as they walked. Russia hummed in agreement. "They are quite the unique pair."
"They are both so adorable, especially little Matvey and his little polar bear," she gushed like an aunt seeing their new nephews. "I see you have taken the liking to little Fredka. He's so bubbly and cute."
"Da, Fredka is quite the interesting one," Russia agreed. "Something about him is reminding me of myself."
"I am just so happy there are more of the nations Natalya's age. Hopefully she will be warming up to them soon," Ukraine thought optimistically.
Russia looked down at his little sister in his arms, who was seconds from sleep as she leaned into him with a small smile. He smiled as well with hope in his eyes. "I am hoping so too."