Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia.

Chapter 3

Alania gave an easy smile and took the empty seat next to Japan. She was careful not to get too close to the Japanese man, knowing how he valued his personal space.

"America-san, I'm having lunch with Germany-san and Italy-kun," he replied politely. He shifted slightly and glanced over to Germany. "Would you like to join us?"

She nodded. "Of course. Let me just grab my lunch from the fridge."

She got up from her seat and made her way to a small room next door. It acted as the "kitchen", equipped with a sink, refrigerator, and microwave.

She wrinkled her nose as she entered the room. Obviously, someone had put fish in the microwave. It hung in the air and seemed to be in all corners of the room. And it was only when she opened the fridge, when she received a reprieve from the stench.

She scanned the refrigerator for her food. One time she had forgotten her lunch in a rush to be on time for a meeting in Copenhagen. So, she had tried to steal Denmark's food. It ended in a rather pissed off Danish man chasing a young girl down the street of downtown Copenhagen.

But, that had been a long time ago. It had been a simpler time when she could still mess around. When the British Empire had been a superpower, she barely spoke to Iggy. She could barely acknowledge him in formal settings…and it killed her.

Thankfully, that time had passed. But now, she had to take responsibility no time for games or Danes chasing her in the middle of a major city.

She grabbed her lunch and jogged, as best she could, back to the table where Japan and the others were seated. Her eyes met with Mattie, who was seated at another table between England and France. The two said nations were in deep conversation, almost ignoring Mattie completely.

His eyes seemed to caution her and remind her to be careful.

She shot him a look and pretended not to care. But, that cautionary glance made her wonder why he was so worried. She was going to sit with Japan, Germany, and Italy. Granted they were all former Axis Powers, but they were close allies now with her. And, on a personally level she considered herself friends with each of them.

"Hi guys," she said as took her seat, setting down her lunch in front of her. She looked over at their meals. "That looks good guys."

The trio seemed to peer over at her food.

"What?" she asked as she took a fork and stabbed her meal.

"Ve- don't you usually have a burger for lunch, America?" Italy asked a dopey smile on his face. "Are you sick? Is that why you're a girl and eating a salad?"

She gave an awkward smile and set down her fork. Sure she did liked burger but she didn't eat them all the time. She actually preferred a salad and a bottle of water. The grease from burgers made her skin crawl. And eating a burger made her feel fat.

Germany whacked Italy lightly upside his head.

"I'm sorry about him," the German said to her apologetically. "He wasn't thinking, as usual."

She faked a smile. "It's okay. And to answer Italy's question, I'm not sick. And, I happen to like salads." She gave the Italian a pointed look. "But, if I can ask. Why are all of you, not just you three, everyone looking at me like I have three heads?"

'Was it something I did? Was it something I said?" she wondered to herself, the frantic thoughts circling in her mind. "Did my boss do something and they're taking it out on me?"

By now several conversations had stopped and nations were staring. The Nordic table was eavesdropping not very well. The Asian table consisting of China, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Thailand were falling noticeably quite. And she was sure she could feel Russia' morbidly concerned gaze and her family's stares.

Her widened and she could feel her breath hitch.

No one is as powerful as you. No one is as powerful as you. No one is as powerful as you. No one is-

"I don't feel well," she mumbled as she got out of her chair. "Pardon me for leaving."

She stormed out of the room. Her eyes stayed on the door, ignoring all the odd stare and whispers. She forced the door open and broke out into a run, taking off her shoes, her feet hitting the wooden hall floors soundlessly.

XXXoooXXX

As soon as America fled the room, Canada got out of his chair and tried to follow. If Alania was anything like Alfred, she would want to be alone right. It was always America's default setting to isolate his/herself when pressured.

"Canada?" England.

"Mathieu?" France.

Those two thought they knew America. But, they didn't. As children they had each other. It was the only thing they always had before England, before France, before Europe. It was Alfred and Matthew. Matthew and Alfred, them against the world.

He dashed out of the room and traveled down the hallway. He was familiar with the UN building, since they were all modeled pretty much the same way. He had grown even more familiar with the UN setup after Prussia had convinced everyone to have an impromptu game of hide and go seed throughout the building. And everyone had nominated Germany as the seeker. The poor German, who hadn't even known that the game was going on, spent the rest of the day searching for everyone.

He scanned the number of doors searching for the girls' bathroom. If it was something he learned from pop culture, when girls needed to burn off steam or just cry, the go to place is the bathroom.

He peeked cautiously into the restroom.

"Hello?" he whispered.

He moved his head in further, after seeing a blonde headed girl sitting on the floor. Her head was in her hands and had her back against the wall.

He opened the door more and awkwardly entered the bathroom. He had never been into the girls' restroom before and it smelled nicer than he had expected it to be.

"Alania, are you alright?" he asked the petite blonde. The said blonde wasn't crying but looked like she was tired. She had bags under her eyes and her gaze was fatigued, lacking its usual spunk.

One thing he loved about America was that in either gender, he/she was rarely weepy. It was something he loved about America. He/she handled his/her feelings well. And it spared Canada the experience of dealing with a weepy super power.

But, the habit had proved self-destructive. He had once found America alone in his bathroom, crying on the tile floor. In a nearby room, he discovered his brother's laptop still running on his bed. He had been looking through anti-American blogs. Mattie guessed with that, plus the usual insults America received during world meetings, had proved to be too much.

"I'm okay, Mattie. Promise," she mumbled, rubbing at her eyes. "I just needed to get out of there. I don't know what came over me. It was stupid."

"Hey," he said taking her hand and staring her straight in the eyes. "It's not stupid. It was a gut feeling. And you always say-"

"Trust your gut," she finished a small smile on her face. "Thanks Matt. You always know what I need." She stood up and brushed herself off. "Now, c'mon Mattie. We need to get you out of the girls' restroom."

She flashed a true and wider smile to him.

"It smells nice in here," he deadpanned causing her to laugh.

"I bet it does, Matt. I bet it does."

XXXoooXXX

England was so thoroughly confused by the whole situation. America was now a girl. Japan was flushing a bright shade of pink. France was whispering something horrid, and by Canada's numerous expressions, suggestive.

"Bloody hell," he murmured as Canada sprinted out of the room to chase down America.

America was somehow both easier and harder to handle as a girl. The American was more professional, driven on a getting work done, and healthier. But in spite of all of the new traits, England had lost the ability to read the American with ease. It was like he/she was closed off.

But, he had to admit. Alania was very pretty. Her short blonde hair seemed to frame her face perfectly. He azure eyes were determined and had a newfound spark of life. And her pink lips looked so soft and…

'Why the hell am I thinking that!' he mentally screamed at himself. 'This is America for heaven's sake.'

"Ah, Angleterre," France smirked. "Someone's having a dirty mind, non?"

He spluttered for a moment. How dare that fucking, French frog think him so low that he would think…that.

"No way, in hell," he replied shortly. "I'm just concerned for America. That's all."

France laughed his odd, annoying laugh and sauntered away to visit Prussia and Spain.

America was many things to him but, lover was not one of them. He had to fix America, for everyone's sake. Because if he didn't get America fixed some serious shit was going to go down.

XXXoooXXX

AN: Hi guys! I'm sorry if the chapter's kind of crappy. And I'm sorry about any grammatical errors here. This was unbetaed. But, I wanted to post this before I left to New York City for a trip. I leave in two days and I still have to pack. So, I have no time for fanfiction But, here I am…. ^.^

If anyone wants to be a beta for this story, please PM me.

Anyways, thank you for reading and feel free to drop a review in the box below.