A Truly British Christmas

Chapter Eight

Author's Note: Please don't actually attempt to summon the dead-

"Let me get this straight," Wales sighed, wet hair gradually soaking through her dressing gown, "You think that Fath- Monarchy is possessing UK via ancient Roman curses and is leaking his memories into her head? England, I don't know how to tell you this, but-"

"You've gone mental," Northern Ireland finished bluntly.

"No I haven't!" England insisted, cheeks flushing a startling shade of strawberry. "Right, UK?"

"Well, um... You just seem a bit... y'know... delusional..."

"Do you have a better idea?!" England retorted.

"It's not that we don't trust you, but-"

"Why don't we find out?" Scotland interrupted, "We do have a load of magic books in the loft. Won't hurt tae do a bit o' reading through, will it?"

Reluctantly, the others agreed, and - after some considerable swearing - Scott managed to yank all of the spellcasting novels from the dusty attic, which he emerged from looking like a snowman. The reading itself took hours - so long in fact that North fell asleep - however the research was eventually halted by Scott himself, who flung aside his book, standing up suddenly.

"Why don't we ask them?" he yelled out of the blue.

"Who?" UK asked, glancing up at him.

"Have you gone mental as well?" North remarked, finally awaking from her slumber.

"The counties! There's a spell to speak with the dead in that thing!" he grinned, pointing to the abandoned book on the floor.

"Do you think they'd even understand what we meant?"

"Worth a try, innit?" England interrupted, nodding to his brother.

"This is a bad idea," North frowned, standing up and leaving the room.

"Wales, are you going to-"

"Erm... Well... No, sorry, North's right, this is a terrible idea! Just try not to get hurt, ok?" With that, Wales left too, leaving England, Scotland and UK alone together, the former two already skimming through the spell.

UK curled up in the corner of the sofa, watching her brothers lay out candles and shut the curtains, both grimacing with determination as they lit each individual candle, only pausing to sniff the cinnamon and apple ones, which smelled of Christmas, according to Scott. At last, their ring of candles was complete, filling the room with the aroma of burning wax and a variety of fruits, making it suffocatingly warm.

"And now, Brit," England grinned at his sister, "you stand in the middle and read from the top of page five hundred and twenty-two, ok? Oh, and do you remember any of their names? You'll need one, I think."

"Erm," UK muttered, "I dreamt of a girl called Anna last night... And there was that Rose from last week..."

"Good," Scott nodded, eyes sparkling with mischief, "Just add whichever one to the end of the last line! In Latin, though, obviously."

"So... do I start...?"

"Why not?"

Trembling slightly, UK stepped into the centre of the ring of fire, careful to position herself exactly as the book had instructed: feet shoulder-width apart and head facing True-North. Once she was certain that everything was exactly perfect, she began reciting the spell, trembling as the raw power of the incantation pulsed through her veins.

"....Et Annam nunc huc adduco." she finished at last, glancing around at the room, where nothing had seemingly been changed by her magic. Did she do it wrong? What if something horrible happened instead? What if-

Gradually, her vision began to blur, making the dark room spin away from her as she was enveloped in a stormy, grey cloud. Brit squinted, searching for any sign of life that lay within the fog, but it was useless; for now, she was blind.

What felt like hours later, the intense mist began to clear. UK shut her eyes to the sudden light, spluttering and falling to her knees on the cool marble below her.

"A-Are you alright?" someone whispered from above her. Uncovering her face, UK glanced upwards, meeting the gaze of a young woman whose blonde hair glittered in the harsh light and swayed around her waist in the gentle breeze that came from seemingly nowhere. Her sapphire-blue eyes stared inquisitively into Brit's own, though her gaze seemed little... apprehensive, in a sense.

I suppose you would be a bit suspicious if some random person appeared in the middle your room from out of a grey tornado thing.

Awkwardly, UK nodded, still a little dizzy from the constant spinning she'd left behind only moments ago.

"Well... what's your name? You seem hurt... I'm Anna, by the way. Lovely to meet you!"

"H-Hello," UK stammered, surprised by the county's generosity, "I-I'm U-UK..."

"Are you a new here? Are you lost? You don't seem like one of us..."

"I-I'm a country," UK stuttered, "Your country, actually..."

"You are?" Anna exclaimed, "Aren't you supposed to be alive, then?"

"Yes, but I need to talk to you, it's urgent..."

"Oh," she blinked, frowning confusedly. "What do you need?"

Somewhat hesitantly, UK recited the saga once more to Anna, who had by now sat down beside her and offered her some water, which materialised from out of thin air, much to UK's astonishment.

"England's your brother? I remember him!" she grinned, "He was definitely Monarchy's favourite, but then he went and made friends with a few of the counties that sought for a republic. He ignored it until the Gunpowder Plot-"

"The what? I mean, what's-"

"A couple of counties tried to blow up Parliament and kill the king. It was a religious thing, I never really understood it, myself."

"Oh..."

"Mhmm. Everyone was heavily punished after that. The first dream you mentioned was from a small revolt the next year. A few friends of mine were angry about how much land Monarchy owned, so Rose went and cut down a load of fences, which upset Monarchy and... well, you saw the rest... His mood was very fragile, you see..."

"Do you think England's right?" UK asked. Anna frowned a little at this, considering the question carefully.

"He's always wanted back power over the country," Anna began uneasily, "and he was weird around the baby, always casting bizarre spells on it... Wait, that was probably you, come to think of it...

My point is, he's capable of magic and he's always been power-hungry... He could be attempting mind control, I suppose..."

"Mind control?!" UK exclaimed, "He's going to possess me?!"

"Eh, maybe... What he'd probably do was embed himself into your brain first, which'd explain the dreams as leaks from his brain into yours..."

"Can we stop him?" UK asked, now looking a little pale, gazing anxiously up at Anna.

"Of course! You could always-"

Without warning, the white room fell away, a familiar fog sweeping UK up, pulling her downwards, until she fell onto solid ground once again, back into the centre of the smoky living room.

Too smoky...

"PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!" England screamed, hopping around the room, shaking his foot furiously.

"I'M TRYING!" Scott yelled, "STOP MOVING! YOU'RE KNOCKING THE OTHERS OVER NOW!"

Gulping, Brit turned around. Sure enough, England was flailing around with his foot alight, kicking over most of the candles in the process, while Scotland threw abandoned glasses of lemonade over his brother, most of which missed entirely, in a last-ditch attempt to extinguish him.

"STOP!" Brit screeched, pointing in horror to what lay behind her brothers, "THE CURTAINS ARE ON FIRE! THE WHOLE ROOM WILL GO UP IN FLAMES IN A MINUTE!"