Beyond the Illusion Part 6/?
Title: Beyond the Illusion
Characters/Pairings: America, England, France, Japan, Canada, Russia, various others
Word Count: 1,570
Rating: PG
Summary: When a nation feels stressed, overworked, and backed into a corner, he has the option to let it all go for awhile. Start a new life as a human, with no memories of the past. It happens automatically, as if by magic. But nobody knew this could happen until one day, America mysteriously disappeared after running out of a meeting. After two and a half weeks of searching the country, they finally found the right Alfred F. Jones in the form of a 10 year old boy. But how can they get him to remember that he was once the United States of America? How will they change him back? And, more importantly, does he even want to be changed back?
Part 1: Part 2: Part 3: Part 4: Part 5:
“Well, at least now we’re making some progress,” said Arthur.
“Does this mean you remember now?” Francis asked; a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
“No,” Alfred answered, shaking his head. “But I do know that that’s my brother, so I have to believe you… I think.”
“Well, it’s a start,” said Matthew earnestly. “He knows who I am… That’s more than I can say for most-”
“So Mattie,” Alfred interrupted. “If I’m America, what country are you?”
“I’m Canada.”
“Oh… right… Canada…”
“Do you know where that is?” he asked
“Umm, I think so. Is it that really big country above us where it’s really cold and almost nobody lives there?” Matthew frowned
and cast his eyes downward.
“… Yes.”
“Ok! Then I definitely know where it is! Wow… You’re so tall, Mattie! Am I gonna be as tall as you when I grow up?” The Canadian smiled.
“Yeah, Al; you’re going to be just as tall as me. You’ll just be bigger, stronger, and a whole lot louder than me, so no one ever seems to noti-”
“That’s’ so awesome! I can’t wait to get big like you, Mattie!”
“That’s good to-”
“I’ll be able to reach the top shelf of things, touch the ceiling… Oh, and I’ll be able to ride any roller coaster I want! Hey, when I get tall again, can we go to the amusement park?”
“Sure,” Matthew said briefly, avoiding the risk of being interrupted again. Alfred jumped up out of his chair and threw his arms around Matthew, who blushed at this sudden burst of affection. Alfred didn’t notice though, and he continued to cling tightly to the folds of his brother’s shirt. For the first time in days, he finally had somebody he knew and trusted with him; he wasn’t about to let that go.
“I missed you so much, Mattie! It’s been so weird around here, and I’m so confused… Please don’t leave me. You’re gonna stay with me, right? Right?” He leaned his head back to look into Matthew’s eyes, waiting for an answer.
“Of course I’ll stay… As long as you need me.”
“Good.”
“Now, Alfred, is it ok if we bring in some more people?” Francis inquired. “There are a lot of them in the room next door, and they’re very eager to see you.”
“Why?”
“Because they know you, just like we do.”
“Ooooh, ok, got it! Sure, I guess they can come in…” Hey, if Canada was his brother, then maybe he’d find that some of these other countries were his friends and family. So as they poured into the room, he scanned the crowd for faces he recognized. Once they were all inside, Francis went over to shut the door, and Arthur asked him if he recognized anyone. Alfred thought about this for a moment as he took another look around the room. “Well, I’m pretty sure these two guts sit at my lunch table,” he said, pointing to a tall blonde haired man and the shorter, copper haired man next to him. “Uhh, Feliciano and Ludwig?”
“That’s right,” England assured him, nodding his head. “Anybody else?”
“Umm… I think that guy’s in my math class… But- I’m not so good at remembering names except for-” He cut off mid sentence as he caught sight of a short, dark haired man, with huge, almond brown eyes. That neutral expression- that quiet demeanor… how could he have not seen it before? It was his best friend! “KIKU!!!!!!!!” He shouted, rushing to hug the man that he had been close with since kindergarten, in the same class with since first grade, and his video game buddy since second grade, after he finally convinced his mom to let him get a wii. Kiku appeared to be a little startled by the hug, but that was normal for him. Still, he did return the hug, however more gently.
“It is good to know that you remember me, Alfred-san,” he said quietly. “And you are much easier to hug now that you’re small.”
“Yes, he is very small now, isn’t he?” came a voice from the other end of the room. Alfred’s blood went cold. He knew that voice… He definitely knew that voice. Slowly, he turned around to face the man he knew to be Ivan, the school bully. He was horrified to see how unbelievably tall he was. He was even more horrified to see how close Ivan was now standing to him.
“Don’t… don’t come any closer,” he warned the tall man. Alfred tried to sound threatening; he really did. But his shaking voice just didn’t want to cooperate. As much as he hated to admit it, Ivan’s new even larger size was intimidating, to say the least. As a kid, Ivan stood about six inches taller than Alfred. But as an adult, it felt like Ivan stood six feet above him, and the way he looked down at Alfred, it was almost like how a bird watches a small mouse before it swoops down and eats it. (He had seen that all the time on animal planet.) So Alfred took a couple of small steps backward. Ivan took a few huge steps forward, and suddenly, he was less than an arm’s length away. He smiled.
“I take it you remember me then?”
“Y-yeah, I do, so don’t you dare even think about touching me!” he snapped back.
“That’s too bad,” he said, patting down on Alfred’s head. “You’re awfully cute like this… still got quite a mouth on you though…” Alfred cringed; the weight of Ivan’s hand was crushing down on his skull, and the pressure was almost too much to bear.
“Get off of me!” he whined, trying to push the man’s hand away, but failing miserably. Ivan chuckled.
“…Arthur, I like him better this way… can’t we keep him tiny and weak like this forever?” A couple of the nations smirked at this and nodded in agreement, but Arthur dismissed this right away.
“Of course not! He’s still just a human right now; he’s not fit to be a world leader!”
“And he was fit to be one before?!” someone asked bitterly. The room went silent, but Alfred wasn’t sure why. All he knew was that the mood had darkened very suddenly. All eyes seemed to be focused on him, as if they were waiting for him to say something. (Though, surprisingly, Alfred had nothing to say at the moment.) This went on for about a minute, until Arthur broke the silence.
“I think we could all use a break before we get down to business. Why don’t we all meet up back here after lunch?” he suggested. The others seemed to agree with this idea, and they all left just as quickly as they came. Pretty soon, it was just Francis, Alfred, and Arthur again. Alfred looked up at Arthur for some sort of direction as to where they were going next. But Arthur clearly had his mind on something else entirely; he was looking at Alfred, but it was almost as if he was looking past him instead, looking at something deeper, or trying to read his mind. He looked concerned… Francis wore a similar expression, but he appeared to be slightly less tense.
“What?” he asked, confused as to why the two of them were staring at him. Immediately, Arthur snapped out of his trance.
“Umm, nothing. Nothing…”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“…Sure.”
“Well, I saw my brother, my best friend, and some of my enemies… but I didn’t see my parents. Do you know if they’re here?” Arthur froze, unable to respond, so Francis stepped in for him.
“Well, Alfred, um… so you’re America, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re in 4th grade, so surely, you know enough American history to know who had control over America during colonial times, non?”
“Ehh, you see history class is right before lunch, so I’m really hungry by then, so I can’t really concentrate on anything except what the cafeteria is gonna be serving…”
“Oh, for goodness sake, work with me, Alfred!” shouted an impatient Arthur.
“Ok, ok… Well, I guess England, and… France?” Francis smiled and nodded.
“Tres bien. So who do you know that have British and French accents?” And suddenly it clicked.
“YOU guys are my PARENTS?!” he exclaimed. Suddenly, their earlier argument made sense now. He started laughing.
“What’s so funny?!” Arthur demanded.
“I… I just… You don’t look anything like my mom, Arthur! My mom’s a girl!” Arthur blushed a deep shade of red, while Francis giggled as quietly as he could manage. Alfred turned to Francis. “You kind of look like my dad, but… are you sure YOU guys
are my parents?”
“Oui, Enfant- why?”
“Because… my parents LOVE each other!” Francis’s eyes widened, as he looked to Arthur for help. Arthur turned an even brighter shade of red, which Alfred didn’t think was possible, and left the room.
“… Why don’t we go outside and get some fresh air?” Francis said finally, once he had composed himself. “We can go do some sightseeing and get you reacquainted with your capitol.”
“Ok. Can Mattie come with us?”
“Sure, we can bring Matthew along. And maybe while we’re out, we’ll get some ice cream.” Alfred’s eyes lit up. Skipping school to go to DC and ice cream… this was turning out to be a pretty good day.
*NOTE: sorry for the huge gap in updates- college papers have been eating up all my free time lately! D:
Characters/Pairings: America, England, France, Japan, Canada, Russia, various others
Word Count: 1,570
Rating: PG
Summary: When a nation feels stressed, overworked, and backed into a corner, he has the option to let it all go for awhile. Start a new life as a human, with no memories of the past. It happens automatically, as if by magic. But nobody knew this could happen until one day, America mysteriously disappeared after running out of a meeting. After two and a half weeks of searching the country, they finally found the right Alfred F. Jones in the form of a 10 year old boy. But how can they get him to remember that he was once the United States of America? How will they change him back? And, more importantly, does he even want to be changed back?
Part 1: Part 2: Part 3: Part 4: Part 5:
“Well, at least now we’re making some progress,” said Arthur.
“Does this mean you remember now?” Francis asked; a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
“No,” Alfred answered, shaking his head. “But I do know that that’s my brother, so I have to believe you… I think.”
“Well, it’s a start,” said Matthew earnestly. “He knows who I am… That’s more than I can say for most-”
“So Mattie,” Alfred interrupted. “If I’m America, what country are you?”
“I’m Canada.”
“Oh… right… Canada…”
“Do you know where that is?” he asked
“Umm, I think so. Is it that really big country above us where it’s really cold and almost nobody lives there?” Matthew frowned
and cast his eyes downward.
“… Yes.”
“Ok! Then I definitely know where it is! Wow… You’re so tall, Mattie! Am I gonna be as tall as you when I grow up?” The Canadian smiled.
“Yeah, Al; you’re going to be just as tall as me. You’ll just be bigger, stronger, and a whole lot louder than me, so no one ever seems to noti-”
“That’s’ so awesome! I can’t wait to get big like you, Mattie!”
“That’s good to-”
“I’ll be able to reach the top shelf of things, touch the ceiling… Oh, and I’ll be able to ride any roller coaster I want! Hey, when I get tall again, can we go to the amusement park?”
“Sure,” Matthew said briefly, avoiding the risk of being interrupted again. Alfred jumped up out of his chair and threw his arms around Matthew, who blushed at this sudden burst of affection. Alfred didn’t notice though, and he continued to cling tightly to the folds of his brother’s shirt. For the first time in days, he finally had somebody he knew and trusted with him; he wasn’t about to let that go.
“I missed you so much, Mattie! It’s been so weird around here, and I’m so confused… Please don’t leave me. You’re gonna stay with me, right? Right?” He leaned his head back to look into Matthew’s eyes, waiting for an answer.
“Of course I’ll stay… As long as you need me.”
“Good.”
“Now, Alfred, is it ok if we bring in some more people?” Francis inquired. “There are a lot of them in the room next door, and they’re very eager to see you.”
“Why?”
“Because they know you, just like we do.”
“Ooooh, ok, got it! Sure, I guess they can come in…” Hey, if Canada was his brother, then maybe he’d find that some of these other countries were his friends and family. So as they poured into the room, he scanned the crowd for faces he recognized. Once they were all inside, Francis went over to shut the door, and Arthur asked him if he recognized anyone. Alfred thought about this for a moment as he took another look around the room. “Well, I’m pretty sure these two guts sit at my lunch table,” he said, pointing to a tall blonde haired man and the shorter, copper haired man next to him. “Uhh, Feliciano and Ludwig?”
“That’s right,” England assured him, nodding his head. “Anybody else?”
“Umm… I think that guy’s in my math class… But- I’m not so good at remembering names except for-” He cut off mid sentence as he caught sight of a short, dark haired man, with huge, almond brown eyes. That neutral expression- that quiet demeanor… how could he have not seen it before? It was his best friend! “KIKU!!!!!!!!” He shouted, rushing to hug the man that he had been close with since kindergarten, in the same class with since first grade, and his video game buddy since second grade, after he finally convinced his mom to let him get a wii. Kiku appeared to be a little startled by the hug, but that was normal for him. Still, he did return the hug, however more gently.
“It is good to know that you remember me, Alfred-san,” he said quietly. “And you are much easier to hug now that you’re small.”
“Yes, he is very small now, isn’t he?” came a voice from the other end of the room. Alfred’s blood went cold. He knew that voice… He definitely knew that voice. Slowly, he turned around to face the man he knew to be Ivan, the school bully. He was horrified to see how unbelievably tall he was. He was even more horrified to see how close Ivan was now standing to him.
“Don’t… don’t come any closer,” he warned the tall man. Alfred tried to sound threatening; he really did. But his shaking voice just didn’t want to cooperate. As much as he hated to admit it, Ivan’s new even larger size was intimidating, to say the least. As a kid, Ivan stood about six inches taller than Alfred. But as an adult, it felt like Ivan stood six feet above him, and the way he looked down at Alfred, it was almost like how a bird watches a small mouse before it swoops down and eats it. (He had seen that all the time on animal planet.) So Alfred took a couple of small steps backward. Ivan took a few huge steps forward, and suddenly, he was less than an arm’s length away. He smiled.
“I take it you remember me then?”
“Y-yeah, I do, so don’t you dare even think about touching me!” he snapped back.
“That’s too bad,” he said, patting down on Alfred’s head. “You’re awfully cute like this… still got quite a mouth on you though…” Alfred cringed; the weight of Ivan’s hand was crushing down on his skull, and the pressure was almost too much to bear.
“Get off of me!” he whined, trying to push the man’s hand away, but failing miserably. Ivan chuckled.
“…Arthur, I like him better this way… can’t we keep him tiny and weak like this forever?” A couple of the nations smirked at this and nodded in agreement, but Arthur dismissed this right away.
“Of course not! He’s still just a human right now; he’s not fit to be a world leader!”
“And he was fit to be one before?!” someone asked bitterly. The room went silent, but Alfred wasn’t sure why. All he knew was that the mood had darkened very suddenly. All eyes seemed to be focused on him, as if they were waiting for him to say something. (Though, surprisingly, Alfred had nothing to say at the moment.) This went on for about a minute, until Arthur broke the silence.
“I think we could all use a break before we get down to business. Why don’t we all meet up back here after lunch?” he suggested. The others seemed to agree with this idea, and they all left just as quickly as they came. Pretty soon, it was just Francis, Alfred, and Arthur again. Alfred looked up at Arthur for some sort of direction as to where they were going next. But Arthur clearly had his mind on something else entirely; he was looking at Alfred, but it was almost as if he was looking past him instead, looking at something deeper, or trying to read his mind. He looked concerned… Francis wore a similar expression, but he appeared to be slightly less tense.
“What?” he asked, confused as to why the two of them were staring at him. Immediately, Arthur snapped out of his trance.
“Umm, nothing. Nothing…”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“…Sure.”
“Well, I saw my brother, my best friend, and some of my enemies… but I didn’t see my parents. Do you know if they’re here?” Arthur froze, unable to respond, so Francis stepped in for him.
“Well, Alfred, um… so you’re America, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re in 4th grade, so surely, you know enough American history to know who had control over America during colonial times, non?”
“Ehh, you see history class is right before lunch, so I’m really hungry by then, so I can’t really concentrate on anything except what the cafeteria is gonna be serving…”
“Oh, for goodness sake, work with me, Alfred!” shouted an impatient Arthur.
“Ok, ok… Well, I guess England, and… France?” Francis smiled and nodded.
“Tres bien. So who do you know that have British and French accents?” And suddenly it clicked.
“YOU guys are my PARENTS?!” he exclaimed. Suddenly, their earlier argument made sense now. He started laughing.
“What’s so funny?!” Arthur demanded.
“I… I just… You don’t look anything like my mom, Arthur! My mom’s a girl!” Arthur blushed a deep shade of red, while Francis giggled as quietly as he could manage. Alfred turned to Francis. “You kind of look like my dad, but… are you sure YOU guys
are my parents?”
“Oui, Enfant- why?”
“Because… my parents LOVE each other!” Francis’s eyes widened, as he looked to Arthur for help. Arthur turned an even brighter shade of red, which Alfred didn’t think was possible, and left the room.
“… Why don’t we go outside and get some fresh air?” Francis said finally, once he had composed himself. “We can go do some sightseeing and get you reacquainted with your capitol.”
“Ok. Can Mattie come with us?”
“Sure, we can bring Matthew along. And maybe while we’re out, we’ll get some ice cream.” Alfred’s eyes lit up. Skipping school to go to DC and ice cream… this was turning out to be a pretty good day.
*NOTE: sorry for the huge gap in updates- college papers have been eating up all my free time lately! D: