1st part takes place during American colonial times

2nd part takes place approximately one year after the War of 1812

3rd part takes place during WWI (soon after America joined the war)

4th part takes place during WWII

5th part takes place during present-day

America squirmed, attempting to escape my arms and the hand that covered his eyes. "Where're we going, England?" he squeaked.

I smiled at my little brother, continuing to walk through the house towards the porch. "It's a surprise, America. Just wait a little bit, okay?"

He fell silent, but continued trying to get out of my grasp. We reached the door to the porch and I nudged it open with my hip, my arms being full trying to hold the small nation down. I sat myself down on the step and released him. He blinked in the sudden light and gasped.

The air outside was filled with faeries of all shapes and sizes, dancing, giggling, playing together on the green. America looked around, trying to take in all of it at once. "England! What's going on?"

I put a finger to my lips. "Try to keep your voice down, okay?"

He repeated the question in a loud whisper.

"You see, America," I said, gesturing towards the carefree creatures in the air, "every year, on Midsummer's Day, the faeries all gather together, all around the world, and frolic without a care in the world. The same thing happens on the solstice of winter, but I thought it would be too cold for you to see it."

"Wow," he said, turning his head this way and that. He turned to me excitedly. "I want to play with them! Can I, England?"

I opened my mouth to refuse, but he was already jumping off of my lap and running into the midst of the magical creatures. I called after him, alarmed; I'd never dare disturb the faeries on Midsummer's, for folklore told it was forbidden.

But the faeries seemed quite agreeable. Within minutes they had started up a game of tag with my little brother, who seemed ecstatic playing with his new friends. One faerie, a male with hummingbird wings and a leaf toga, flew over to me and asked if I wanted to play with them.

"Oh, I don't—" I started to say, but he grabbed my finger and pulled me towards the game. Faeries are surprisingly strong, especially when you consider their diminutive size; then again, I wasn't exactly offering up much resistance. I ended up playing with my little brother and the faeries that evening.

I waited on the front step, having knocked on the door thrice. America opened the door, cheerfully saying with a twang in his voice, "Howdy! What can I do for—?"

He stopped when he saw that it was me and his face fell. "England? What is it?" I noticed that he had lost almost his entire former accent.

I cleared my throat. "America… I… wanted to say that I'm sorry about the war. It was really irresponsible of me to start it in the first place… but things are just so stressful over there. I suppose that I just snapped. I'm very sorry."

He stared at me for a bit before smiling. Speaking now in a very pompous British accent, he said "I graciously accept your apology, good sir!" He laughed and clapped me on the back, almost sending me to my knees. "Seriously, it's okay. I'm sure everyone's stressed over there."

I smiled. "Thank you, America. Er, listen, I was wondering… would you like to go outside and watch them like we used to?"

He looked confused. "What? Watch who?"

"Do you remember what today is?"

He counted on his fingers. "Err… Tuesday?"

"No – well, yes, but that's not what I meant. Today's Midsummer's, America!"

His face cleared. "Oh… yeah! Sure, we can go! I can bring out some chairs to the backyard…"

He carried a chair on each arm out to the yard, where I saw that the faeries were already frolicking. I adjusted my chair slightly and sat down. He looked around expectantly.

"They sure look like they're having fun, huh?" I said to break up the silence. He looked at me confusedly.

"What do you mean, England? There are only about ten faeries there… and either I need glasses or they keep fading in and out…"

I became slightly alarmed at this. He'd always been able to see them up until now… "Please, look harder," I insisted. "They're everywhere!"

He squinted, rubbed his eyes, and nodded. "Oh, yeah, there they are," he said unconvincingly.

America put a hand to his head as if in the grasps of a migraine. I straightened some papers and glared at him. "America, you've only just joined the war. It can't possibly be that stressful yet. Stop putting on a show and get to work!"

He looked at me despondently. "England, it's not about that! It's… well, I think I'm…"

"What? Speak up now."

"I think… I think I'm losing the Sight!" he burst out. I stared at him in shock.

"W… what did you say?"

"I… I can barely see them anymore. The faeries… they're disappearing right in front of my eyes. Sometimes I think I see one out of the corner of my eye, but by the time I turn around, it's either gone or it turns out to be a bird or butterfly or something…" He grabbed my shoulders and looked at me with a desperate feel in his eyes. "Please, England, help me! I want to be able to see them!"

"…and that concludes the meeting." I folded up my papers and packed up along with everyone else in the Allies. As France, Russia, China, and America left, I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

"Hello, Arthur!"

"Minty!" I said happily. "You came to see me again? You didn't have to do that!"

"But I wanted to see you!" The rabbit-like faerie flew around my head. "We're friends, aren't we? And guess what! Everyone else came, too!"

I looked up to see my other friends hovering towards me. Laughing with delight, I chatted and played with them, worries of the war momentarily forgotten.

As I left the building, my friends hovering down a different hall to return to their own homes, I bumped into someone.

"Oh, excuse me…" I looked up. "America?"

He was smirking for some reason. "Hey, England. Talking to your invisible fairy friends?"

I stared at him. "America… those were my friends of the fae folk. You've met them before, remember?"

He waved a hand. "Yeah, but unlike a certain large-browed nation, I don't play make-believe for that long. Seriously, when will you stop?"

Tears threatened to rise up and spill over my eyelids. "America," I shouted, "don't you dare do this to me! I know that you've seen them! You remember Minty and the others! You remember watching the faeries on Midsummer's!" I hesitated. "Don't you?" I pleaded.

A shadow, a flicker of something crossed his face. It was gone in an instant, so I couldn't be sure of what I saw. "Of course not," he said. "I do remember playing games and pretending that there were fairies, though." Turning around, he waved and called over his shoulder "Try a doctor if you keep seeing things!"

It was yet another dull G8 meeting. However, this one happened to take place on Midsummer's Day. I watched as a few faeries fluttered in the window and floated in front of people, making faces and tapping them on the shoulder, things like that. America made no reaction whatsoever to the taps and faces.

So he really… couldn't see them…

I must have spent the last minutes zoning out, because when I snapped out of it, Germany was calling for an end to the meeting and people were packing up. I quietly gathered up my papers.

"Oi, England!"

I looked up at the familiar obnoxious voice. Sure enough, he was waving at me from the door. "Wanna go get some dinner with Mattie and I?" he yelled. "I'm starved!"

"Just a second," I called back. "I'll be right there!"

He shrugged and disappeared inside the door. I took a long time cleaning up my papers, thinking about poor America losing the ability.

The thought finally sank in and tears spilled from my eyes.

"What's wrong?" squeaked a faerie, hovering over to me. "Are you sad?"

It was a young one, a young faerie that couldn't have been more than nine months old. I wiped my tears. "No, I'm fine, thank you…"

"Okay! Do you want to play with us?" She did some loop-de-loops in midair.

"No… I'm sorry, but I have something to do today. Thank you anyway."

"Okay~! Goodbye~!" She did some more airborne acrobatics before zooming out the window. I watched her go before drying my eyes and heading to the door to get something to eat with my family.