Britain was being boring right now as he stared outside the living room window thinking for a while. He wasn't sad or upset anymore, he was just tired and lazy and he was starting to gain some weight around his belly. That meant that he really didn't have the right to criticize America about his fattening diet anymore. Time was passing by and it was getting closer to the late 20th century. Pretty soon, new ideas for the brand new inventions will be created and become the most popular things in the world. It was hard for people like Britain to keep up when everything was suddenly changing so much. It's not like anybody really cared or even bothered to pay any attention to the one that weren't ahead of them. The Brit didn't seem to care either. He just thought that as long as everyone was happy with another "new world" evolving, he should just go with it and see where it takes him. By now, he was trying his best to see his imaginary brothers again, especially Flying Mint Bunny.

"Reading is lame," he said to himself. "Flying Mint Bunny wouldn't ever let me feel so bored on a bright day like this."

If only he had some sort of way to contact others without having to go up to their front door or write a long letter to them.

"Besides, who would ever waste their time to walk all the way up to my front door?" he asked himself. "No one ever visits my house…well, I mean no one that I actually want to see."

Whether it was Britain's douche-y attitude or his lack of social skill, he remained living by himself with not even a brother to talk to. His house was colder, the rooms were darker, and the trees around his home were turning brown and orange faster than the others in other countries. The streets downtown were pretty empty and people were mostly grouchy all the time and the only good place to get together was at a public library. And yet, with all this gloominess and grey and unsatisfying people, Britain still had a smile on his face as he sat there on one of his chairs staring outside the windows.

"Life could still be rich," he said. "It'll turn out all right, I'm sure of it."

Britain looked down at his bare legs and grinned at the dark jeans lying on the floor in front of him. He continue to stare at the piece of clothing as he took a sip of the stinging, alcoholic liquid in the tiny cup he held in his right hand. That's exactly what it was. By drinking this unnecessary type of drink and stripping off his clothing while he was by himself in his house, he was sure to have forgotten everything. It was beginning to have an effect on himself and his personality. He wasn't the "gentleman" he always reminded himself he was. He started buying beers and cigarettes and once in a while, he'd step outside half-naked for the while world to see. Sure, Britain was kind of an ass in reality, but this? This was way worse than that. Poor old chap. What would become of him in the future?

If anyone ever found out about his nasty habits, it would destroy him. That Brit was depressed enough just to be by himself and talking to himself for no one else to listen. It would be the most mortifying thing ever.

"Maybe I should go clean myself." he said standing up, continuing to take small sips of the drink before tossing it in the sink where it had almost shattered to pieces.

He entered his clean bathroom and closed and locked the door. Britain removed his shirt and boxers and turned on the shower handle to high. As he stepped inside and felt the hot water warm up his temperature, he closed his eyes and let his hands run all over his torso as he smelled the stench of his own betrayal fade away.

Britain was enjoying himself in that shower. Moaning very loudly and making these weird noises when he was washing his private areas. Somebody ought to hear him and remind him that he left the small window in his bathroom wide open. That's why when that British dude was singing to himself about who knows what, he almost jumped when someone was knocking repetitively on the bathroom door…in his house.

Britain quickly turned off the shower and grabbed the towel sitting on the toilet next to him and wrapped it around his waist.

"Um, who is it?" he said, hiding the feeling of aggravation.

"You know who, someone who just felt like walking into your open house," the person said. "Why would you leave your damn door unlocked?" Britain scoffed.

"Well, it's probably because I was sitting in the living room, doing absolutely nothing and I just decided to jump in to take a quick shower." he said.

"You know there's a loose pair of pants on the floor?" the person continued. "And a giant stain on your carpet?"

"Um…yes, I did."

"And the whole room smells like toxic waste?"

"Yepp."

"Have you been drinking again?"

"Only for a little bit…" The person hesitated before continuing.

"Britain, that's the fifth time this week," the voice said. "Is this seriously all the kind of crap you do when you're home alone? Drink, strip yourself naked and ruin everyone else's lives?"

"Shut up," Brit replied. "You know how it is. I don't got no life anymore, or even a simple job to do, and besides, I…"

"Man, if you don't got any life anymore, why d'you think everyone still remembers you as the "British Bastard"?" the guy said.

"What?" Brit said. "I've known those people for years and I have never heard them say one word about that shit. It's like America's obsession with his own self; no one calls him the "hero" ever."

"Oh yeah, how could I forget that?"

"Look, we're coming in closer to the future way too fast for me to live out this boring life I have," Britain said. "Getting wasted is the least of my problems. Just think about all the judgmental people out there just waiting for another victim to fall under the annoying criticism they use against you. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to deal with that, because clearly, I…" He was interrupted, finally, by a loud beeping noise coming from behind the door.

"Oh, sorry dude, I gotta run." the guy ran off out the front door, coming back after remembering to lock it since the owner didn't.

"Wait!" the Brit yelled out the window. "Why'd you come here? What was it that you were gonna tell me?!" No answer. Britain grabbed another towel off the rack and wrapped it around his drenched head. He took a quick peak outside the bathroom.

"Huh, well that was random," he said to himself. "I didn't even know who the hell that was anyway."

~ (^_^) ~

Earlier that same day, Finland was settling down at his partner's house folding clothes and cleaning up all the cobwebs that started to form on the corners of the walls.

"There, that's done!" he said. "Now I just have to wait for the boys to come back home. I sure hope they're all right." Then he blushed and turned his head to face the dishes he was now cleaning as Sweden walked down the stairs. Apparently, he wasn't feeling tired at all like usual. He was well rested, fresh and clean from his morning shower. Finland could hear him pausing for a brief second to stare at him and watch him wash the rest of the dishes. The Finn turned his head so slowly to glance and smile shyly at his partner.

"Oh, h-hi, Mr. Sweden," he said, his mouth becoming dry. "Wonderful day we're having, isn't it?" Sweden only nodded in reply. He raised his brow at the sight of the large pile of dirty dishes placed right in front of the Finn and the damp and soapy sponge in his right hand.

"Oh, I decided to wash these dishes," he responded to him. "J-just so you wouldn't have to do them yourself…" Finland was starting to feel nervous and his face was hot.

"'Kay, thank you." he responded to the younger one. There was an awkward silence between the two, and Finland was getting even more and more uncomfortable by the minute. Actually, as he finished his task, he soon came to realize that the Swede didn't have that tough facial expression he wore all the time. He might even be…smiling at the moment. No one has ever seen that side of Sweden except for the one that always had stuck by his side ever since that faithful day when they were both traveling away from that antagonizing Dane. Finland sighed as he relaxed his hands on the edge of the counter. He turned his head and saw that Sve had moved to another place so that he could secretly "spy" on him and everything he did that morning. But he didn't see him, so he thought that the coast was clear for him to walk to the room he called the "library" and take a peek at the titles and covers of the ancient literature engraved on them.

He paced from one bookshelf to another, examining every book and tracing his fingers along the printed words on the spines. A novel that was about two shelves above him had caught his eye and made him stop to study it. Now he wished that he was just about as tall as Sweden was, or maybe even taller than that. He stretched his arm as far above his head as he could, whimpering as he bit his tongue and struggled some more. Finny was just about to give up when something appeared behind him, and the person was so close to him that he could feel the man's chest touching his chilled back. He couldn't look now, or he'd freeze up. The man stretched his arm only half the length of Finny's arm span and grabbed the book off the shelf.

"Oh, um…t-thank you, Su-san," he said as the Swede handed him the book from behind. "I'll be careful with this old thing. I really love this book. Don't you love it?" Sweden shrugged. Finland sighed and stared at the blank walls in thought.

"I remember the very first time I picked up this book, it was such a long time ago," he told him. "I was so happy I picked it up, it was so amazing! Anyway, about a long time ago, I remember the first time I saw that little kid running around the grasslands, and I also remember that that time when we were both beaten up in America, and when our houses were both taken away. And then that time when we were escaping Mr. Denmark's house, and that time when we were sleeping next to each other in the cold and…" He stopped as he saw Mr. Sweden's eyes widening a bit as how much he wanted to remember at that specific time sequence.

"Oh well, it…really doesn't matter anymore," he said turning to face his partner. "I guess I'll be in the living room, reading this very magnificent book." Finland walked off, leaving the Swedish man hanging, and he shook his head.

~ (^_^) ~

Sealand raised his brow, deep in his thoughts about how he was going to figure this whole thing out. It could be more than just a boulder. It looked like a piece of rock, felt like a piece of rock, and maybe it could even taste like a piece of rock, but of course, the young boy had decided to use his little imagination to make this a lot more interesting. He'd hoped that his friend would come back and join him in this investigation.