Hey, hey, hey! It's PRK! I had to. For some reason, Fat Albert has crept into my mind. I have no idea why. ^^'

Welcome to the second chapter of Two Hearts, One Soul. Thanks Angel the Neko for reviewing! :D

This chapter isn't as sad like chapter 1. In fact, it's much happier. And, other countries are introduced. Romano/Lovino is one of them!

Note: Tenements are small apartments. I will be using tenement/apartment throughout the chapter.

Here is a mini translation of Spanish phrases Antonio says throughout the chapter:

¡Oye!- Hey!

¡Vuelve aquí ladrón!- Come back here you thief!

Pequeño- In this case, it means "little boy"

Enjoy! :3

Chapter 2 Why Are You Here?

Antonio grins in excitement as the train he was on opened its doors to the Lower East Side of Manhattan. However, as he looked around, his smile faded. He noticed the dirty streets and hundreds of poor immigrants shuffling through the desolate streets. Some looked so poor that Antonio looked like royalty compared to them.

Antonio then reached in his pocket and took out a slip of paper and money that he originally had and some that was actually given to him before he boarded the train. Right before Antonio left Castle Garden, he was given some money and a piece of paper with directions to a place called a tenement. Antonio had no idea what "tenement" meant, but it was apparently a place to stay, so he didn't even bother to ask for further information.

"I just need to find 97 Orchard Street... what is that?" Antonio wondered.

Streets were different in Spain, and as Antonio looked around his huge environment, he had no idea where to even look for this "97 Orchard Street".

Antonio spotted a middle aged man walking leisurely through the filthy street. He had some sort of official uniform on, so Antonio assumed he was safe to go to.

"Um, excuse me." Antonio called, walking up to the man. "Do you know where to find 97 Orchard Street? I'm new here to this wonderful New York, and I have no idea where to go."

The man, who was actually a police officer, scrunched his nose prejudicially at the Spaniard.

"Ah, so you're a new Mexican here." He spat rather meanly.

Antonio blinked, a bit put off. Thinking he made an honest mistake, Antonio smiled and said, "Oh, no, I'm not from Mexico. I come from the beautiful country of Spain."

"You all look and sound the same to me." The officer rolled his eyes. "If you're looking for that filthy tenement, then this is what you do. You're currently on Grand Street. Walk that way east for a block until you see Allen Street. Then, you turn right and keep walking down Allen Street until you see the Orchard Street sign. Then, you turn right onto Orchard Street and you'll see your destination, trust me."

Antonio stood there, looking a bit confused at the detailed directions.

"I'm assuming you can read, right?" The officer snapped.

"Y-Yes sir, I can." Antonio replied quickly.

"Ha, you're the first immigrant I've encountered that can speak English, let alone read." The officer laughed mockingly. "Be on your way then."

"Of course! Thank you very much." Antonio said before walking away.

I hope all Americans are that nice. Antonio thought naively.

"Let's see... he said Allen Street..." Antonio muttered.

As he was looking for the street sign, a small boy walking behind him accidently bumped into him.

"Sorry." The boy apologized quickly before walking ahead.

"It's no problem." Antonio smiled.

Then, Antonio felt an abrupt emptiness in his pocket. Slightly alarmed, Antonio dug through both of his pockets and even peered into his suitcase. His money was gone! Antonio looked up and saw the boy walking faster into the crowd.

That pequeño took my money! Antonio realized.

"¡Oye!" Antonio cried as he ran after the boy "¡Vuelve aquí ladrón!"

The boy turned around and his eyes widened when he realized that he had been discovered. He took off into the crowd, trying his best to escape the Spaniard.

Antonio was persistent, and he picked up his speed. He hasn't been in Manhattan for five minutes and already his American dream has already been stolen from him.

The boy zigzagged through the streets. Whenever he has been caught, he has a special alleyway he goes to that leads to his tenement, and he loses his pursuer. The boy smiled in relief when he spotted that alley. He quickly made a pivot and ran down the dark alley... only to realize that he turned down the wrong one. The boy came to a dead end.

"Damn it!" The boy shouted, pounding the wall with a balled fist.

"Hey!" Antonio shouted, finally catching up to him. He was panting slightly as he glared at the short boy. "Give me back what you stole right now!"

The boy had never been caught at a dead end before, so he cowered in fear.

"I-I-I-I'm sorry!" The boy cried. "I'll give back what I stole, yes? So please don't kill me!"

Antonio looked at the boy. He obviously wasn't from America as he listened to the boy's accent.

"...who are you?" Antonio asked, walking closer to the frightened boy.

He shrank further into the wall as Antonio got closer. "I-I am Raivis Galante, otherwise known as Latvia." He told him.

Antonio smiled softly. "There's no need to be afraid of me, Raivis."

The Latvian boy sighed in slight relief. "O-Ok. The way you looked earlier reminded me of my former boss Ivan Braginski. Creepy Mr. Russia... he's so scary!"

Antonio chuckled as Raivis returned the money to him. He took this opportunity to get a good look at the boy. He wasn't very tall, maybe about four and a half feet tall. His light face was dirty with dirt and mud, his hair was greatly disheveled, and his pants and shirts were tattered and had holes. Raivis's shoes were the only clothing that looked okay. The last time Raivis pickpocketed someone, he was able to purchase new shoes.

"Hey Raivis..." Antonio began. "If you really need money for something... you can keep it."

The Latvian boy gasped in shock. "W-What?"

"I just got here today, so I have a chance to find a job. But you look like you've been here a while. And you're so young... how old are you?"

"Fifteen." Raivis replied slowly.

"I see..." Antonio smiled, putting the money in Raivis's hand. "Well, adios."

Antonio turned and walked away, leaving Raivis shocked and feeling really guilty.

"Okay... he said after I get on Allen Street, I have to look for the Orchard Street sign..." Antonio muttered to himself.

The Spaniard looked around and spotted the sign. He turned right as he was instructed.

"I guess I have to look for a 97..." He said.

However, it wouldn't be that easy. Orchard Street was lined with tenements, and to find the specific one wouldn't be a walk in the park.

"Looks like I have to ask for directions again." Antonio sighed.

As throngs of people walked past him, most of them poor, he tapped a random person on their shoulder.

"Sorry to bother you, but can you tell me where the 97 in 97 Orchard Street is?" Antonio asked.

The extremely tall man turned around and stared down at him. He had an intimidating look on his face, and his ice blue eyes looked hard through his glasses. His clothes were tattered like Raivis's, and his face had what looked like ash on it. Spain almost flinched, but he kept his smile in place.

"Ya, sure." The man replied in monotone. "In fact, that is where I'm going now."

"T-Thank you very much." Antonio replied a bit nervously.

The towering man terrified him a bit, but he followed him nonetheless.

The two walked in silence for a little bit until Antonio decided to break the ice.

"I'm Antonio Fernández Carriedo. I from the beautiful country of Spain where my life lies. And you...?"

The tall blond man looked down at Antonio, his expression never changing. "I am Berwald Oxenstierna of Sweden. I have a wife at home, and I want you to meet him."

How cool, he has a wife... wait, he said "he"! Antonio realized, sweat dropping.

"That's, uh, interesting. What is your wife like?" He asked, avoiding the pronoun "he".

"He's very..." Berwald trailed off, deep in thought. "...sparkly."

Okay, I'm ending the conversation here. Antonio thought to himself.

"Here we are." Berwald pointed to the tenement.

"Thanks a bunch Berwald." Antonio smiled.

"Before you can rent a room, you have to talk to the landlord. I'll take you to his office and you're on your own from there." The Swedish man told him.

"Sí, I got it." Antonio replied.

Berwald led Antonio into apartment #97. The lobby was okay looking. It was somewhat clean, but very small. Antonio could see some stairs, and a weird contraption.

"Berwald, what is that?" Antonio asked, pointing the rectangular object.

"That is what they call an elevator." Berwald explained. "I don't recommend taking it. The stairs are much more productive."

Berwald led Antonio to the landlord's office. Berwald knocked, and a very annoyed "Come in!" could be heard. He opened the door, and the landlord jumped in fear when he realized it was the Swedish nation. Even the landlord is afraid of him.

"W-What can I do for you, Berwald?" The landlord asked nervously. "Do you want me to postpone your rent? I can do that-"

"No." Berwald interrupted. "You have a new customer."

With that, Berwald walked out, closing the door behind him, leaving Antonio by himself. The landlord took out a handkerchief and dabbed at his forehead, sighing in relief. Then, he regained his composure and looked at the Spaniard irritably.

"Show me your papers. The last thing I want is an illegal immigrant." He spat.

"Oh, yes! Of course!" Antonio replied, digging in his suitcase.

He presented the landlord with the official documents, and he looked over them carefully. Then, he took out a hug book with all of the tenements in #97 and looked through them to see which ones weren't completely full.

"Alright. Y you'll be in Apt. 123 on the top floor. I will write you in as coming here on April 5th, 1917. You'll pay rent of five dollars every six months."

For some reason, when the landlord said that date, it ran a shiver through his spine.

What was that...? He wondered.

Little did Spain know that the next day on April 6th, 1917, his life would change... along with the rest of the United States...

"Apt. 123..." Antonio reminded himself as he climbed up several flights of stairs.

I should have taken that elevator thing. These stairs are horrendous! Antonio thought.

As Antonio passed each story, he looked down the dirty hallways. He could hear children crying and families arguing in some of the rooms.

"It sounds like there are ten people in some of those rooms." Antonio said softly.

After climbing four flights of stairs, he was at the top floor. He then walked down the hallway to his left.

"118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123." Antonio counted, looking at the numbers on the door.

Antonio used the brittle, copper key the landlord gave to him and unlocked the door.

Antonio screamed in shock and dropped his suitcase when he saw that there were eight men in the room.

In turn, four of the seven screamed back, just as startled as Antonio was.

"W-What's going on? Why are a bunch of you in my apartment?" Antonio asked.

"Your apartment?" A blond man smirked. "Are you like, kidding me? These apartments totally don't belong to like, one person. Most people share an apartment with like, ten other people."

Then, a small boy who was one of the males who screamed looked at Antonio.

"You... you're that guy who gave me money!" He cried.

"Eh? Raivis, is that you?" Antonio asked.

"Wait, how do you guys like, know each other?" The man from before asked.

"Feliks, this is the Spanish guy who gave me all of his money, even though I stole it from him!" Raivis explained.

Tears began to fall down his face as he shoved Antonio's money back to him.

"Please, take it back! After the kindness you showed me, I never want to steal again! You need this money more than I do! And I won't take no for an answer!"

"Uh..." Antonio didn't know what to say.

"You'll have to excuse him." Feliks told Antonio. "After being under the control of Russia for so long, he's turned into a bit of a crybaby."

"Ai ya! What noise is this?" A Chinese voice asked.

Then, an average heighted man walked from another small room into the current small room.

"We have a new inmate, Yao!" Feliks told the Chinese country. "We should like, totally introduce ourselves. I'll start!"

Feliks cleared his throat. "I am Feliks Łukasiewicz of Poland. It's totally awesome to meet you!"

Yao looked up at the Spaniard and gave him a slight smile. "Uh, ni hao, I am Yao Wang of China. Welcome to our tenement. It's rather small, but it's better than what we could have gotten. In fact, one of our inmates, Berwald, scared the landlord so much that he gave us a room with four beds, a kitchen, bathroom, and even a small TV." He explained, pointing to the intimidating nation. "On months we don't have enough money to pay the rent, all Sweden does is stare at him and he gives us as long as we want to pay."

"Oh, I know Berwald." Antonio said happily. "He's the one who took me here. He said he had a wife, and I would like to meet this wife." Antonio was yet again careful not to use the pronoun "him".

A short haired blond squeaked at the mentioning of "wife". Antonio looked at him curiously.

"B-Berwald is mistaken." The young man told Antonio. "W-We aren't married."

Berwald eyed his "wife" before putting his attention back on Antonio.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Mr. Not Berwald's Wife." Antonio replied. "I am Antonio Fernández Carriedo of Spain."

"Oh! Um, I'm Tino Väinämöinen of Finland."

Feliks poked a brown haired young man in the side. He jumped.

"Introduce yourself." He instructed, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, forgive me!" The young man stood up and smiled lightly. "I am Toris Laurinaitis of Lithuania."

Feliks looked around for a second, trying to find someone.

"Hey, Lovino! You should like, totally come out from your brooding corner and meet our totally cool inmate!"

An irritated sigh could be heard from the other side of the room. Then, out from the shadows, came a young man. He had dark brown hair with a long curl that came off the right side and hazel eyes. Even though his face was dirty, Antonio could still see his olive complexion.

He has the looks of a Spaniard. Antonio mused.

The man's brow furrowed. "Who the fuck is this cheesy-grinning bastard?" He asked, his Italian accent hard.

All the admiration Antonio held for the man flew out the window as he heard his profanity filled sentence.

"E-Excuse me?" Antonio asked.

"Don't be mean." Yao scolded the Italian. "Be nice for once and introduce yourself."

The man rolled his eyes as he faced the Spaniard. "I am Lovino Vargas of Southern Italy."

No wonder! His country is close to mine!

"It's nice to meet you! I am Antonio Fernández Carriedo of Spain! Your country is close to mine, no?" Antonio replied with a huge smile.

"I didn't ask for your name." Lovino snapped. "Now go away. You're cheery mood is making this room smell of unicorns and puppies."

With that, Lovino turned away and walked to the one of the beds and sat down.

Antonio blinked. What was his problem?

"Ignore him." Feliks sighed. "He has a terrible attitude. Sure we're in poverty, but it will be over soon."

"So, Antonio, sit down at the table and I go make tea." China told Antonio.

"China actually brews his tea and sells it at a stand in the street. It's really tasty." Toni told Antonio, smiling.

Now I know why Berwald thought of Toni as sparkly. Antonio thought to himself.

Antonio sat down and the other countries sat with him. As Antonio looked around the room, it was small, but somehow fit four beds, a tiny stove and cabinet, a table, a bathroom, and a TV.

"So, why are you here?" the voice of Lovino called from the other side of the room.

Antonio looked up to see the Italian staring at him, his arms crossed.

"Most of us came here because of our countries in poverty. Is that why you're here?"

"Why yes, it is." Antonio said. "I was once rich and powerful, but then I lost everything. I was forced to live on the streets for about a year, and then I was given the opportunity to come to America and start over. I hope I can become the country I was once before."

Lovino snorted scornfully. "One thing I've learned here is that dreams like that are impossible."

"So Antonio, tell us about your journey here." Toris interrupted, trying to change the subject.

Antonio, a little hurt by Lovino's snide remark told them his tale.

"And then, the doctor had to check me for some weird thing called cholera..." Antonio was saying.

"Ouch!" Feliks winced. "I totally remember going through that. It was like, the worst thing in the world."

Lovino snorted again. This time, Feliks glared at him.

"Don't try to act like, all tough. When they stuck that swab inside you, you were totally crying harder than Raivis."

"S-Shut up!" Lovino snapped, his face turning red.

Antonio chuckled. "I screamed like a child. I was not expecting that at all."

"I hated that so much." Toni sighed. "I was freaking out big time. Some of these Americans are so scary and mean."

Antonio looked up in thought. "Hmm, not all of them are mean. There was this guy in a uniform, I think a policeman. He thought I was a Mexican, and said that I was the first immigrant he encountered that could read and write, but he did give me directions. That was nice, no?"

Lovino rolled his eyes. "You are so stupid. A fucking idiot. That guy is un razzista. You'll learn about this place soon enough."

"You talk about America as if it's the worst place in the world." Antonio frowned. "So why did you even bother coming here?"

Lovino looked at Antonio and then looked at the ceiling. "The only reason I came here is to find my stupid brother Feliciano. Somehow, he has gotten himself involved in World War 1." He said bitterly.

Antonio's eyes widened. "What? There's a war going on?"

"Yeah." Yao said warily, serving the tea he made. "And I've heard rumors that the United States will get involved too."

"Wait a minute... how long has this World War 1 been going on?" Antonio asked, bewildered.

"Since 1914." Lithuania replied.

Are they saying that I decided to move to America... right in the middle of a war?

The plot advances! What does poor Feliciano have to do with WWI? Will Lovino stop being a meanie? Will Toni ever become Berwald's wife? I'm not so sure. XD

I'm sure you're noticing pairings starting to form. Here are the confirmed ones.

Antonio X Lovino (obviously)

Feliks X Toris

Berwald X Toni

Ja ne! :3

PRK