Epilogue, Pt. 1

The shrill ringing of a phone broke the silence about the house, forcing Rima to jump from her seat. It had been 7 years since the incident back with the nations, and the thought of it had hung onto mind like a hand grenade.

Grabbing the phone, the 19-year-old picked up immediately.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Rima! It's been so long!" A happy, American voice blurted out form the other end. He hadn't changed a bit.

"…America…?"

"Yeah! How've you been?"

Rima shunned herself, feeling her face heat up.

"Ah… G-Good… you?"

"Awesome! So, I know it's been a while, but are you seeing anybody at the moment?"

"No, w-why?" Rima's heart began to pound.

"Alright, that's great! So I'm gonna be in Japan for a bit to see my friend Kiku- Er, Japan, you know. So do you wanna go out and grab a bite to eat sometime? I know this really great fast food restaurant, one I'm pretty sure you must have heard of- You know, McDonalds. So what do you-"

"I'm sorry, America, I really can't," She lied, hoping he now wouldn't have to see her making a fool of herself. "Maybe another time, alright?"

"Oh… sure… 'kay, see you…" There was a distinctive click from the other line, and Rima dropped the phone and shook her head. If only Kusukusu had seen her act like a fool, maybe the Chara would have been able to help her; but the Guardian Character had long since gone back to her egg, and Rima was hopelessly lost and serious without her. Dragging herself back to the couch, she plopped down and sighed.

'I wish I wasn't so serious all the time…' Letting her thoughts wander, Rima dozed off to sleep.

"HEYYYYYY! Get up!" A loud voice shouted, snapping Rima from her drowsy trance. Her eyes flying open, Rima's eyed instinctively widened at the sight of her old Chara floating above her.

"K-Kusukusu?"

"Come on! We need to get you back on that phone! America's not gonna sit around and wait for you forever, you know!" Grabbing the girl's cheeks and pulling, Kusukusu laughed lightly. "Come on!" She darted over to the phone, pulling it up and dumping it on Rima's lap.

"Kusukusu, why… are you here? I thought… I thought you went back to your egg, right?"

"But you wished to be less serious again, so I got to hatch one more time! Now come on, call America! Call Americaaaaaa!"

Rima laughed, picking up the phone and hitting the redial button as she brought it up to her ear. The tone sounded once or twice until America picked up.

"Y'ello?"

"A-America…?"

"…Hey, Rima."

"Um… I'm sorry I turned you down before, but… it turns out I can go. Can we go somewhere?"

"Sorry, Rima, I've already made plans. Another time, maybe." The click sounded again, and Rima threw the phone at the wall.

"Whoa! Angry!"

"Yeah… I am angry…" Rima turned herself over, shoving her face into the pillow and sighing loudly.

"Come on, Rima, don't be that way! I bet if you find Japan, he'll manage to set you two up!"

"Yeah, right."

"RIMAAAAAAAA! Come on! Please?"

"…Ugh, fine…" Rima, dragging herself from the couch, picked the phone up from across the phone. "…What do I do?"

"What do you mean?"

"What number do I dial? Japan and I never kept in touch. He'd barely even hatched before he had to leave with the others. I… I could call Greece and get his number. They were close, weren't they?"

"Do you have Greece's number?"

"…Dammit…"

After hours of phone number hunting and an awkward conversation with Japan, Rima had managed to secure a date with America- she hoped.

See, the American hadn't actually agreed, and Rima only hoped Japan was either good at convincing people or had something up his sleeve. It didn't matter what happened between her and America, as long as she got to see him one more time…

Rima leaned up against the wall of the McDonald's, waiting for the American to show. This was where he'd wanted to eat in the first place, and Japan had promised to make sure America met her there when he came into town. She only hoped this worked…

As America strolled the streets of Japan, he came up on the McDonald's and joined Rima gingerly.

"Hey."

"Oh! Hey!" Rima stood up straight. "You actually came…"

"Well yeah, you wanted me t- I mean, Japan told me to be here…"

"Listen, I'm sorry…"

"Hey, it's ok. You clearly lost interest."

"Wha- What do you mean lost? When did I ever-"

"Oh, come on, you totally liked me. Everyone knew," America laughed lightly, grinning, and Rima returned with a small smile.

"I… yeah. I did. And I never lost interest… I still do, you know."

"Then why did you turn me down? Come on, I'm the hero! You shouldn't yank my chain, bro!"

Rima laughed.

"I didn't want… to make a fool of myself in front of you." Rima sighed. "I have a nasty habit of doing that whenever you're around."

Suddenly, without warning, America pulled her into a tight hug.

"There is no way you could make a fool of yourself in front of me."

Rima laughed nervously, face flushing.

"You know, I guess that's true."

A/N: I am SO SORRY this took so long! How long's it been, 4 months now? Maybe 3? Anyhow, now that I've finally finished this piece, I'll try to get over my writer's block and finish the next chapter of TAH. And then maybe work on Courage some. I don't know OTL

Long story short, the next part of the epilogue is gonna take a while ^^;