Hey guys, extremely sorry for the late chapter! Sorry if it's a bit rushed, I was busy all Saturday, so a majority of this is written Sunday, and Monday, I had a lot of homework too, so sorry! Welp, enough of my excuses and onto the story!
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America woke up to the sound of a crash, and then a thump. He quickly looked around the room to see Prussia on top of Romano. Only one thought ran through his head at that moment. What the hell?!
"What the heck did I just see?" America whispered, trying his best not to wake up Peter, who was sleeping on his lap.
"You saw nothing." Prussia whispered in a funny voice, and got off the angry Italian.
"Bastardo! I'm trying to sleep here! You-" Romano ranted, before he was interrupted.
"Both of you be quiet! You're gonna wake up Peter, take your argument elsewhere." America hissed at them. He heard mumbled sorry's, as he watched the two of them tip toe elsewhere. He felt Peter shift around in his lap, and begin to open his eyes.
"Good morning, uncle Alfie." Sealand said as he yawned and stretched his arms.
"Good morning Peter! Now go brush your teeth." America said with a smile. He felt a pang of happiness hearing Peter call him uncle. He could be the cool uncle he always wanted.
"Okay." Sealand said, as he slowly walked to the bathroom.
"Oh! What do you wanna eat for breakfast?" America quickly asked, as he began to walk with Peter.
"Can we have pancakes? Please!" Sealand asked with desperation in his voice.
"Okay! I'll go ask Mattie to make some! But, first I gotta brush my teeth too." America exclaimed.
They both finished and joined with the others at breakfast. Everyone was smiling and joking around.
A site almost never seen with the countries. Things were getting better. The invisible walls that once kept the nations apart, have finally began to slowly disappear. Slowly. However, the walls are still there, not all will disappear, after all, many still hold secrets, many still hide their pain, many are still playing the acting game. Most of the nations still haven't seen past all of the acts everyone does plays. That's the hard part. No one's gonna stop the act voluntarily. And people's perspective will not change easily. This is what the Ancients wanted to change. Change their views on each other, and stop a world war 3 from happening. And the best way to stop world war 3, is to help the misunderstood, be understood. Create connections, and help them all become a big family. Prevent history from repeating itself again. It already happened twice, it can't happen again. The next time a war breaks out, there might not be a world to help. They will be successful no matter what it takes.
"Mattie could you get some pancakes for Peter?" America asked while waving his hand.
"Okay, how many pancakes?" Canada yelled back.
"Four please!" Sealand exclaimed, with excitement.
"What about you Al, what do you want?" Canada asked, as he flipped some pancakes.
"I'll take one pancake, and a fried egg." America responded. He'd been slowly eating again. It's been a challenge, but with everyone supporting him, it felt much easier.
"Okay! Coming right up!" Canada yelled. Al's been eating again, and with everyone else supporting him, he's been getting better.
"Well, since we've found out that you're Berwald's son, we've all unanimously agreed that you're apart of our family too. After all the more the merrier!" Finland explained with a smile. Alfred always looked so lonely. Even with his loud, hero antics, he could tell the Alfred was extremely lonely. In a way he could relate. Sometimes, he felt so lonely even though he was surrounded by so many people like himself. It was like he couldn't connect with them. That was probably how Alfred felt all the time. But, for him he found the people he could connect with. He can now give Alfred that chance too.
"Thanks. I don't know what to say, but thank you so much. Maybe now I can find where I belong." America said as he cried into Tino's shoulders.
"It was nothing really. Either way you're still family to us. Remember, all of the Nordics are gonna be visiting you, so be prepared." Finland said.
"Al! Your food's ready!" Canada yelled. He felt a pang of jealousy. Why couldn't he be a better brother? It hurt watching him with his new family, but he wants the best for Al, but it hurts. It hurts, it stings, it burns. They had all lost their chances, they stepped on Al over again, they ignored the signals, over and over again. They lost their chance a long, long time ago. They can never regain what they've lost.
"Hey, guys! Do you wanna come visit?" America asked his other family.
"You want us to visit?" England asked in confusion. Why would Alfred want them to visit? Didn't he want them out of his life?
"What do you mean? Of course I want y'all to visit, you're all my family, so why wouldn't I?" America responded, extremely confused. They're his family, without them, who would he be? No matter what happened they would always still be a family, at least to him.
"Well, we'll see you after all of this, oui!" France exclaimed.
"The more, the merrier, you know!" America yelled, with pancakes stuffed in his mouth. He heard laughter ring around the room, and people asking if they could visit too.
"Of course! Everyone can come!" America exclaimed with excitement. He was excited, but at the same time, he was scared. The toll it would take on him would be heavy. But, he wanted his kids to meet all of the countries. He wanted his kids to be happy. And he would do anything to make them happy. It was as simple as that.
"When you're done go to the meeting room!" Switzerland instructed. It's been a rough couple of days. It was finally coming to a close. That's what he hoped at least.
Everyone was soon in the room and began to sit down. All of them a bit nervous of what's to come today. The secrets have become heavier and heavier. What comes next is a complete mystery to them all.
"Who would like to read first?" England asked, waving the thin book in the air.
"I'll read it." Iceland said. He quickly walked up, and grabbed the book. He sat back down and opened up to the page they left off on.
"America has taken every insult into consideration and writes one positive statement for each bad on in a notebook. He leaves that notebook anonymously on the front porch of a nation who's feeling bad about themselves. He has written 384 books." Iceland read out, with a small smile on his face. A rare occurrence to say the least.
"It was you?!?" England exclaimed with confusion. He felt so thankful, because now, he can repay America back. During his tough times, the notebook did so much for him. It helped him so much. When he couldn't believe himself, Alfred's notebook, help him believe in himself. After all, depression was a problem most countries had. The sad part, most of them forgot that the others had the same problem. If that wasn't the case, then they wouldn't be sitting here forced to watch everyone's secrets get unfolded.
"Yeah." America replied, a hint of embarrassment now his face. All he wanted to do at that moment was hide from everyone. Attention was a thing he seeks, but at the same time he fears it. Attention didn't help with his anxiety much, and well it doesn't end good most of the time. Along with it's buddy social anxiety it makes everything worse. Then a wild depression appears, joining the duo, bringing ruin to all those unlucky enough to be targeted. Well, he's one of those unlucky victims, and it's quite hard, especially with his old act. He hates talking, because he was scared of embarrassing himself, and saying something stupid. But, in order to hide his emotions, pain, and secrets, he had to act stupid, loud and obnoxious. He hated it, he hated the person he appeared to be in the outside. But, in a world as merciless as this one, he would have to keep playing the fool. He had to fool, the other fools, in a world like this. Choices were a rare thing for him. If he had choice in anything, he would've made a lot of different decisions.
"Thanks, with that notebook, you helped me through my tough times, I don't know what I would've done without it. To this day, I still keep with me everywhere I go." Iceland pulled out the small, brown notebook, and held it showing the whole room. "So, thanks Alfred, you saved me more times than I can count at this point. I don't know how to pay you back, but I'll try."
"It's really no big deal. The only thing you need to do, is live life to the fullest, and do things that make you happy. That goes for everyone else here. Got it?" America said loudly. He wanted people to be happy. No matter what. No matter what the cost is. He wants to be happy too, but how does he construct a path towards happiness? The world is a confusing maze, just like our own minds. Finding the exit, may take forever, it may take not too long, it may never happen, just like our own minds. Sometimes the maze never ends.
"Please continue." England asked politely, as he saw Iceland nod. He watched Iceland's face change from an emotionless face, to face of sadness.
"America doesn't drink alcohol. Not because he doesn't like it, but because he's petrified of becoming what he was before the Prohibition Act." Iceland read quietly.
America looked so deathly scared. Extremely scared. His eyes were widen, as if he saw a ghost, or a monster. He was shaking. All throughout the room, you could hear the shaking of the chair, and the chattering of his teeth. He was as pale as snow. Too pale, especially for America. His breathing and heartbeat rapidly rose. No one moved, their legs just wouldn't move. All scared of scaring Alfred even more.
"Hey, it's okay. We all had our problems, and you are no exception." Sweden said, trying to calm down the time bomb, called America. It was quite clear, that he wasn't helping. He seemed to get even more scared.
"Hey, poppet it's okay, I have a bit of an alcohol problem too. You know I can barely hold my alcohol at all." England tried to joke, his nervousness quite apparent. He heard America laugh. He thought he was successful, but he was quite wrong.
"You think you were bad, have you seen me? I was crazy, hysterical, I hurt my kids. I scared the living hell out of them. I was a monster. A monster that shouldn't exist. I couldn't stop drinking. It helped me forget everything. I had so much stress, and with the civil ending a couple months ago, back then, I couldn't stop. My guilt wouldn't let go. I was just a mess. I'm a pretty bad dad aren't I? A pathetic excuse." America cried out. He was broken that was the truth. He couldn't pick up his pieces and continue on, like usual, this time it was different. He killed his brother and the father figure for some of his states. He took that all away, because of his duty, because he had to for the future of this country, but in reality, he wished that he was the one killed instead. But, at the same time he had to survive. He had to for his country.
"It's okay comrade. I used to drink lots of alcohol, I still do, to this day. The Baltic's probably remember me when I was drunk, probably the only thing they remembered me for. But, we all make mistakes, but at least you tried to fix your's, I still haven't even tried." Russia said, his face showed how ashamed he was of himself. There were things he did he wished he didn't. So many things he wish he could change. So many. But the past is long gone, there is no going back. He has somewhat accepted that, but America still has trouble accepting that. Most of the nations have the same problem too. The past will always be a thorn in all of their sides.
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Sorry for the late chapter, hope y'all enjoyed it. The chapters might be more late often because of exams and the amount of homework I have so please be patient with me I'll try to at least update every week. Author-san out! ❤️✌︎