1763~ aph

The battle shortly ended after England had gotten hold of Matthew, much to the dismay of France. England called off his men after he had made it to his home safely with the little tyke, much to the dismay of Matthew.

France sat in his scorched house. He laid with his back on the floor and his legs kicked up on a bed staring at the ceiling. He thought it was over, the last battle. What could have he done different? What could have he done to change the course of the battle, so that Canada was still with him? That question would haunt him for a very long time. Among other things, his mind kept wandering back to one thought: What was happening to Matthew now?

Matthew was still very shaken from the whole ordeal and was silently sobbing as England's men held tight to his small wrists. England gave them some orders incoherent to Matthew, still heart broken. The guards let go of his hand and went to go do whatever England told them to do. Matthew was so weak he just helplessly collapsed to the floor, not knowing at all what he should do. England was looking down at him, his eyes no longer filled with hatred or rage, but with sorrow and kindness. Just as Matthew was about to get to the peak of his sobbing, England scooped him up, no longer able to watch the child suffer. Matthew didn't even know who it was, all he could do and think about was letting his heart's sadness pour out, no longer able to contain his tears. England just let him, knowing that he was only a helpless child, who couldn't do anything to defend himself. After awhile, England slowly began hushing him, gently gripping onto his hair. Matthew was venting out all the tears he felt like crying when Francis had left, and tried hard to stop, but at the same time, didn't want to stop. His sobs slowly died down, feeling very emotionally run down, and had a case of hiccups. England held little Matthew tight and carried him up stairs, hiccuping occasionally, seeing all the sobbing he had done leave him super tired. By the time he made it into the room, he had already fallen asleep in his arms. England placed him down gently next to Alfred, kissed them both on the forehead and left them to sleep.

England, who was still in his battle stained outfit, went to go quickly check on the guards he had commanded earlier.

"AHHH!!!!" Alfred had woken up and found a stranger in his beloved bed, startling little Matthew out of his peaceful slumber. Alfred looked horrified, he wasn't used to strange children waking up in his bed. Matthew started to tear up a little from Alfred's sudden outburst. England burst into the room and saw both of the kids crying and shouting, Alfred for England and Matthew for France. It was only 6:15 and it was way to early to deal with children. The reason Alfred was awake at such a time was because he liked getting up early to have the house all to himself, while Arthur slept for at least another hour. England knew he had to do something quick, Alfred could get slightly violent just out of self defense, not knowing he wasn't in danger. England trudged over to them and started to intervene, which calmed down Alfred more so then Matthew.

"Matthew calm down, you're alright." England sighed in a hushing tone of voice, calming down Matthew a little, but was still slightly shaky. Apparently, waking up to a yelling six year old wasn't pleasant for him. England knew he was going to have to introduce them sooner or later, but didn't think he would be doing it this early in the morning!

"Right..." England cleared his throat. "Uhm, Alfred, this is Matthew. Matthew, that's Alfred. Matthew will be staying with us for awhile." England totally didn't know what to say, but maybe, just maybe, since it was early in the morning they wouldn't bother questioning him.

"....but why?" Alfred liked to know things, even if it wasn't any of his business.

"Because"

"Because why?"

"Because, I say so. And what I say goes."

Alfred looked over at Matthew, who was still freaked out over everything. Alfred started examining him, inching closer, feeling an 'okay' from England. He also started playing with his hair curl thing, which made America giggle, making Canada feel even more uncomfortable. England, seeing the two getting along perfectly fine, took it upon himself to go back to sleep, leaving the two kids alone in the room.